by Becky Durfee
At that point a car approached, changing the expression on Willy’s face from confusion to delight.
“Is that them?” Rob asked.
“It sure is.”
Before long, a young girl came running out of the back of the car. “Grampa!” she yelled as she approached Willy, her smile about as wide as it could get, displaying a distinct and precious lack of front teeth.
“There’s my Rosie,” Willy replied as she practically form tackled him with a hug. “How’s my baby girl doing today?”
“Good.” She let go of her embrace and looked at her grandfather. “Can Brianna and Sarah have a sleepover tonight?”
Rob laughed out loud at the request. “That has to be a new record. I knew the question was coming, but it only took about ten seconds.”
Willy placed his hand on the little girl’s head. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with Mr. Denton.” He turned to Rob before adding, “The girls can sleep here tonight if you want…that’ll give you and Amber a little break.”
Rob raised his eyebrows. “I just might take you up on that.”
A smiling woman approached, followed by a lanky boy who appeared to be in his early teens. He had cornrows in his hair and a faint moustache, his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets. He looked at the ground and shuffled his disproportionately large feet as he walked. As with many kids his age, awkward had apparently opened its mouth and swallowed this boy whole.
Willy addressed the woman. “Hey, Sherry,” he said with a hug. “How are you doing?”
“Good, Dad. How are you?”
“Can’t complain.”
She smirked at Rob as she released her father’s embrace. “I hear the girls are already conjuring up a sleepover.”
“Of course,” he replied. “Tonight would probably be the best night to have it, because we’re actually going to head out of town soon.” He explained the renovation to Sherry, adding that it would be easier for everyone involved if the family wasn’t home. “We’re going to visit my sister in Savannah for the weekend.”
“Well, at least the girls get to have a little bit of time together before you leave,” Sherry said pleasantly. “I know Rose has been looking forward to seeing them for weeks.”
Willy turned to the lanky young teen. “What’s the matter, Shawn? You too cool to say hi to your ol’ Grampa these days?”
A smirk appeared on Shawn’s face, revealing a mouth full of braces, but he didn’t say anything.
“Okay, I get it,” Willy said. “You don’t have to hug me. But you do need to give me a handshake. A real handshake. None of that chest-bump thing you kids do these days.”
Shawn shook his grandfather’s hand goofily.
“My goodness, he’s getting tall,” Rob noted.
Sherry’s eyes widened. “You are not kidding. He’s grown six inches in the past year. This year I am literally buying his school clothes on the last day of summer; any sooner than that and I’ll be sending him off to school in high-waters.”
Willy turned to both of the kids and said, “Okay, now you two go on in there and give your grandmother a hug. She made cookies for you.” He patted his grandson on the shoulder. “That means you too, Shawn. You’re never too old or too cool to hug your grandmother, you got that?”
Another goofy grin signaled that Shawn had found the comment amusing, but he didn’t want to admit it. Rose eagerly bounded into the house with Shawn shuffling his heavy feet behind her.
Focusing his attention on his daughter, Willy spoke once the kids were out of earshot. “It’s starting to look like Nate didn’t kill Stella Jorgenson.”
Sherry’s face reflected dismay. “What?”
He gestured toward Kyle and Jenny. “That’s why they’re here…they’ve re-opened the case.”
Looking as if she were contemplating the implications, she took a step backward. “So Nate went to jail when he didn’t do this? And the Minnicks had to sell their house?” She looked at her father. “And the person who did this has been out on the street all this time?”
“I know,” Willy agreed. “It’s so scary to think that the guy could have come back and gone after one of you kids.”
Jenny’s phone rang, so she looked at who was calling; her eyes grew wide when she saw the name. Glancing at Kyle she announced, “It’s Charlie Patterson.”
Kyle seemed confused. “Who?”
“Charlie Patterson,” Jenny replied, “Megan’s ex-husband. He was at the cookout.”
After stepping away from the group to have her conversation with Charlie, Jenny returned with a smile. Kyle eyed her suspiciously, asking, “Okay, what did he have to say?”
“Well, it appears we can cross one Mr. Ed Pryzbyck off the list of suspects,” Jenny announced.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yup. Charlie said they were all at a movie while the murder took place…Rainman, to be precise. Charlie, Megan, Ed and Renee had gone to a matinee.”
Kyle nodded as he absorbed the words. “So, I guess our focus is back on the Burke family?”
“It looks that way.” Jenny smiled, exuding that all-too-familiar I’m about to ask you a favor look. “And along those lines, I’m wondering if there’s someone you can find for me.”
With her belly full from dinner, Jenny sat with Zack at the dining room table, once again looking through documents from the case. She rubbed her tired eyes. “This is exhausting. There is so much paperwork here.”
“Indeed,” Zack muttered.
Jenny reached over to the pile of papers, pulling a fresh one off the stack. As soon as she placed the page in front of her, she felt an undeniable wave of familiarity come over her. Looking at the document more closely, she noticed it was a hand-written letter on lined paper.
An image flashed in her mind. Stella lay on the floor covered in blood; the coffee table was overturned; papers stuck out from underneath it.
Papers.
“I think I might be on to something, Zack.”
He set down the document he was reading. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“It looks like a letter…to someone named Karen.” She glanced up to look him in the eye. “It’s only half done.”
Seeming confused, Zack posed, “How did that get in there?”
“I think it was part of the crime scene,” Jenny replied. “It looks like Stella may have been in the middle of writing this when the attack happened.”
He scooted his chair a little bit closer to Jenny. “What does it say?”
Jenny scanned the letter. “The beginning is just your typical stuff,” she disclosed. “Asking how this ‘Karen’ is doing, congratulating her on her raise at work…but then it gets interesting.”
Zack didn’t respond; he simply raised his eyes to look at her.
“It says here, I screwed up. Last weekend I accidentally invited Shane and Colin to the same cookout. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was able to keep things civil, but it wasn’t easy. It took a little creativity on my part.
“After that night, I decided this whole thing was getting out of control. I think Colin is in love with me, and Shane has been getting a little too possessive. He has started to act like he doesn’t want me to talk to any of the guys at work…he never came out and said that, but I can sense it. I told him on Thursday that I think we should cool it for a while. He didn’t seem too happy about that, but I don’t know how upset he can really be. The man is married, after all. I just hope he doesn’t make life too difficult for me at work. I should have known better than to get involved with a co-worker.
“I plan to have a similar talk with Colin this weekend.” Jenny looked at Zack. “And that’s where it ends.”
“I thought you told me that Doctor Burke had broken up with Stella.”
“That’s what he’d claimed,” Jenny confirmed, “but when I spoke to Ed Pryzbyck, he said that Stella had been the one who was getting tired of Doctor Burke.” She looked back down at the letter in her hand. “It looks like Ed’s versio
n of events is a little more accurate.”
“I think that’s petty damning,” Zack noted. “Stella broke up with Doctor Burke, she ends up dead, and then the good doctor claims that he’s the one who initiated the break up? It sounds to me like he might be trying to cover something up.”
Jenny tapped her finger to her chin. “You know, all this time I thought maybe Trevor had done this, and he had been acting on behalf of his mother.” She looked up at Zack. “Is it possible Trevor did this because he was acting on behalf of his father?” Before Zack had the chance to respond, she answered the question or herself. “But Trevor hated his father, or so it seemed. Why would he have committed murder to avenge him?”
“Is it possible Trevor committed the murder for himself and not for either of his parents? Maybe he personally had something against her.”
Jenny’s eyes widened as she pointed at Zack. “You know what? He did. He said he despised her and every woman like her, meaning women who fell for Shane’s lines and obvious BS. He insinuated that they were too stupid to recognize a man who was genuine.”
“Like him?” Zack raised an eyebrow in Jenny’s direction.
Jenny was stunning herself with her own revelations. “Do you think maybe Trevor had a thing for Stella? Could that be what’s going on?”
“Well, the way I see it, if he made a specific point to mention that girls couldn’t recognize a genuine guy, I would imagine he was referring to himself.” Zack shrugged his shoulders. “He may have had feelings for Stella, or he may have just been bitter in general.”
“Oh my God,” Jenny said with dismay. “This may be it. This may be the motive we’ve been looking for.”
“Did Trevor say where he was the day of the murder?”
She shook her head. “He claimed to have no idea what he was doing that day.”
“Maybe that’s something you ought to look into.”
“I imagine Kyle might be doing that already.” She gave the notion some thought. “Although,” she added, “I did task him with finding a Miss Danielle Church, one of Shane Burke’s young mistresses. I want to get a feel for what it was like to date the good doctor, or at least what tactics he used to attract these women. In order for an older man to have so many younger mistresses, he must have had some tricks up his sleeve.”
“Or big bills in his wallet.”
Unwilling to make a conjecture on the matter, she simply said, “Maybe I should give Kyle a call. It may be more important for him to find out what Trevor was doing that day instead of tracking down Danielle Church.”
Zack nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”
With the touch of a button she dialed Kyle, who had been put on her speed dial long ago.
“Hello, Mrs. Larrabee. Long time no see.”
Jenny smiled. “I know; I’m pestering you a lot this week.”
“No, you’re not pestering me at all. In fact,” he replied, “I was getting ready to call you. I’ve got a couple of pieces of information for you.”
“Oh? Does one of those pieces happen to be Danielle Church’s contact information?”
“Why, yes, it does, although her name is now Danielle Kraemer.” Kyle proceeded to give her Danielle’s address and phone number.
“Did you ever know that you’re my hero, Mr. Buchanan?”
Kyle let out a laugh. “You might want to wait a minute before you say that. I haven’t disclosed my second discovery yet.”
“Uh-oh. Does this mean I’m not going to like it?”
“I’m pretty sure you won’t. You remember that incredibly nice neighbor, Willy Sanders? The one who witnessed Nate Minnick running from the house?”
“Yes.” Jenny felt her blood beginning to run cold.
“Well, it turns out Mr. Sanders has a son.”
Chapter 13
“You’re right,” Jenny said as she hung her head. “I don’t like that news.”
“I knew you wouldn’t—but we’ve got to investigate all angles, remember?”
She sighed with defeat. “What made you look into that?”
“Well, I remember Willy saying something about you kids running around the backyard with a killer on the loose. That’s what started me thinking. I guestimated Sherry’s age to be in her late thirties, which would have put her in her early teens in 1988. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that she might have had an older brother, and it turns out she did…in addition to three younger siblings.”
“How old was the older brother when the murder happened?”
“Seventeen.”
“Seventeen,” Jenny repeated with dismay. “Don’t you think that’s a little young to commit such a brutal murder?”
“Yes, but we can’t ignore the fact that Stella’s last words were to look for the son.”
Indeed they had been. Although, Jenny had to admit that she hated this idea; the Sanders family had seemed like such a nice group of people. The last thing she wanted to do was bring Nate’s loved ones some peace, only to turn around and strip it away from Willy’s family. She much preferred the idea of the killer being one of the Burkes.
“Well, I had a different idea about what she meant,” Jenny said, hoping she was going to turn out to be right. “I was thinking she’d been referring to Trevor Burke, but maybe his motive had been more self-serving than I had anticipated before. He said he didn’t like Stella or any woman like her…maybe his anger and hatred got the best of him.”
“It could be,” Kyle said. “I’m certainly not suggesting we zero in on Marcus Sanders. I am just trying to prevent us from getting tunnel vision with the Burkes.”
Jenny nodded slightly. “I can respect that. I have developed—and zeroed in on—theories in the past that have turned out to be wrong.”
“We all have,” Kyle replied, “which is why you keep looking at different suspects until the proof against one becomes irrefutable.”
“Okay then, can you look into Marcus Sanders a little bit while I talk to Danielle Kraemer? I’m hoping I can get ahold of her tomorrow.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Kyle said. “And for the record,” he added, “I’m also hoping this investigation into Marcus Sanders turns out to be a bust.”
Jenny was grateful to get under the covers. She turned to Zack, who had already gotten into bed, and asked, “How did things go with your father after I left?”
“About like you’d expect,” Zack said. “He walked around undermining everything I did.”
“You know something?” Jenny began. “I think if you just approach things a little differently, you might be able to tolerate your dad a little better.”
“And how, exactly, should I be approaching things?”
“Well, I’ve only known Andy for a few days, but there are some things that I have already learned about him…like, for instance, he will always be critical of the choices you make. As soon as he asked you what material you planned to use on the handicapped ramp, I knew he was going to come up with a reason why it was a bad choice, no matter what you said. Honestly, honey, there was no way you could have answered that question correctly.”
“Okay, if you’re trying to get me to like my father better, it isn’t working.”
Jenny laughed. “You haven’t let me finish. What I’m suggesting is that you stop trying to win his approval. You’ll never get it. And that’s his hang-up, not yours. If you just learn to expect the criticism, it won’t be so frustrating when it comes.”
“See, what gets me, though, is that he only directs that kind of criticism toward me. If my brother Tim was building the ramp, there would have been no way he could have answered the question wrong. He could have told my father he planned to make the ramp out of dog shit, and my dad would have been like, Oh, dog shit. That’s great! What a creative use of natural resources. Maybe I’ll make my next ramp out of dog shit, too.”
Jenny found herself giggling again, although she said, “He would not have said that.”
“You want to make a bet?”
At that moment Jenny felt a flutter in her stomach. She paused for a second, lying frozen, wondering if she had just felt the baby move for the first time.
Unaware of what she’d experienced, Zack replied, “It’s hard not to take it personally when I’m the only person he directs it to.”
The flutter returned. “Zack,” Jenny said with muted excitement, “put your hand right here.” She guided his hand to the spot on her belly where she’d felt the sensation.
“Did the baby move?” Zack asked.
“I’m not sure. I think so,” she replied. “Just give it a minute.”
After what seemed like an eternity, she experienced the tapping sensation again. “Did you feel that?”
“Yeah, I did,” Zack said with a huge smile. “It’s little Steve, knocking on the door to get out.”
Jenny looked down at her belly and poked it with her finger. “No big ideas, baby. You’ve got a few more months before you get to come out.”
“He’s eager to start playing some football,” Zack noted.
“I don’t know,” Jenny said. “It felt more like she was practicing her tap-dance routine to me.” She leaned up on one elbow. “And speaking of our daughter, I thought of a girl’s name in the car today.”
Zack held up his hand. “I don’t know why you would focus on such foolishness, but continue.”
“What do you think of the name Ashley?”
Zack remained quiet for a moment. Finally he muttered, “Ashley Larrabee. That does have a nice ring to it. Too bad it will never happen…unless, of course, one of our sons marries a woman with that name.”
Flopping back down on the bed, Jenny playfully muttered, “You are such a butthead.”