The Next Victim (Kali O'Brien series)

by Jonnie Jacobs

  “That’s not an issue.”

  A contingency fee, in other words. “You’re in a position to gamble like that?” Kali asked. “It’s likely to be an expensive trial.”

  “Unless it settles first,” Carmen Escobar observed pointedly. “These cases almost always settle. Sooner or later.”

  Outrage bubbled in Kali’s chest. What the attorney was suggesting was nothing short of extortion, though it happened often enough. Sue and chances were you’d wind up with something. Defendants tended to shy away from costly courtroom battles.

  “We’re not interested in settling,” Kali told her.

  “Just something to think about. The Perez family is willing to be reasonable.” Carmen Escobar paused just long enough to punctuate her remark. “Oops, I’ve got a call on another line. Speak to you later.”

  Kali slammed the phone into its cradle.

  “What was that all about?” Sabrina asked.

  “Sounds like the Perez family has hired themselves a piranha. She’s hoping we’ll settle out of court. Mr. and Mrs. Perez, and their lovely attorney, will walk away with money in their pocket merely for stamping their feet a few times and waving their arms.”

  “Why would we settle?”

  Kali handed Sabrina a cup of coffee. “We might lose if we go to trial.”

  “But if John’s death wasn’t an accident—”

  “Even if we had proof of that, it doesn’t let him off the hook for the murders of Sloane and Olivia. But I agree, it certainly changes things.”

  <><><>

  Kali and Sabrina spent over an hour in the luxuriously furnished office of Albert Geddes, the attorney who’d drafted John’s trust and will. He was a quiet, balding man with a pinched face and a no-nonsense manner. Although lacking in charisma, he seemed to know his business.

  “It’s not a complicated estate plan,” he told them. “The bulk of the assets is in trust. There’s a bequest to each of his nephews, but in the main, the assets will flow directly to the two of you. Because of the trust, there’s no need for formal probate, but there will still be a fair amount of paperwork, particularly with regard to date- of-death valuation and estate tax. I’m happy to work with you in whatever capacity you wish. I can handle it all, or only what you don’t want to do yourselves.”

  “Thank you,” Kali said. She could easily manage the transfer of assets, but she had no desire to immerse herself in the minutiae of tax matters.

  “I’ve got some inventory forms here that will help you get organized.” Geddes pulled a packet of papers from a file cabinet behind his polished walnut desk. Then he folded his hands. “To the best of my knowledge John hadn’t amended the trust. But he did set up an appointment for next week to discuss some possible changes.”

  Kali looked at Sabrina, who shrugged and said, “News to me.”

  “Do you have any idea what changes he had in mind?” Kali asked.

  “No. I never spoke with him directly. He talked to my secretary. Not that it would make a difference if I had. The document stands as written.”

  Still, Kali wanted to try to honor John’s wishes. “Did my brother ever mention the names Ray and Martha Adams?”

  Geddes shook his head. “Doesn’t sound familiar. Aside from the estate plan, I only talked to your brother now and then about tax issues. I’m afraid I don’t know much about his personal life.”

  Outside, Sabrina asked, “Do you think John was going to change his will because of the Adams couple?”

  “Got me. There are a lot of odd pieces here. I’m just trying to see if any of them fit.” Kali pulled her dark glasses and car keys from her purse. “I’m off to see if I can track down Olivia’s brother. You’re okay with going alone to see John’s doctor?”

  “Sure. You think the brother will be able to tell us something about Olivia and John?”

  “Probably not or he’d have spoken up before now. But there’s a lot we don’t know and I have to start somewhere.”

  <><><>

  Tony Perez worked at a Logan Foods store near the university campus. He was bagging groceries at a checkout counter when the clerk at customer service pointed him out to Kali.

  “He’s got a break coming in about five minutes,” the clerk said. “Might be best if you waited until then to talk to him.”

  Kali stood by a magazine rack and watched Tony work. He looked to be in his early to mid twenties, three or four years older than Olivia. He was lean but muscular, with wavy dark hair trimmed short and a full mouth set off with dimples. He wouldn’t have been her type even when she was younger, but he had the kind of brooding good looks that had undoubtedly broken a few hearts over the years. His movements were methodical and his face expressionless, but she noticed a quick smile whenever a customer engaged him in conversation.

  She waited until he moved off, presumably for his break, then approached and introduced herself. “My name’s Kali. I’m an attorney involved with your sister’s death,” she said. Not altogether untrue. “I’d like your input on a few things. Can I buy you lunch, or coffee? I don’t want to impinge on your break time.”

  Tony snorted. “It’s not like there’s a lot I can do in a grocery mall anyway And half an hour’s too short to go anywhere else.”

  “So what do you usually do on your breaks?” She fell into step beside him as they moved outside.

  He shrugged. “Have a smoke. Think. Listen to music.”

  “You hungry?”

  “Nah. Coffee’s fine.”

  They settled on a Starbucks next door to the grocery. At home, Kali was loyal to Peets, which she far preferred on both principle and taste, but the one good thing to be said about Starbucks was that it was everywhere.

  She had an iced coffee, black, and Tony ordered a Caramel Chocolate Frappuccino Blended Creme with extra whipped cream and cocoa sprinkles. More milkshake than coffee. The girl behind the counter greeted him by name and they exchanged banter while Kali paid for the coffees.

  “You working with that bitch my parents hired?” Tony asked when he and Kali were seated at a small round table near the window.

  The bluntness of his words caught her by surprise. “Not exactly,” Kali said, again stretching the truth. “But our work overlaps. You don’t like her?”

  “She’s pushy, is all. I don’t like bossy women, even if they are lawyers.” He gave Kali a punk version of a flirty smile, then settled back and focused on his Frappuccino.

  “How do you like working at Logan’s?” she asked, easing into the conversation.

  “Bagging groceries isn’t exactly my life’s ambition.”

  Probably better than being unemployed or in jail, which, in light of what Linette Logan had said, were the options he’d left behind. “How long have you worked there?”

  “Got the job a few months back. They made me start as a bagger but promised I could work up to checker. Not that being a checker is my life’s ambition either.”

  “What is?”

  He shrugged again, gave her another smile. “I’m still finding my way.”

  “Tell me about Olivia.”

  Tony spooned a scoop of whipped cream into his mouth. “She was okay.”

  Okay? His sister had been murdered and all he could come up with was okay? “Were there just the two of you?” Kali asked.

  “Yeah. She was my half sister, really. Same mother, different fathers.”

  “Where’s your father?”

  “Gone. I never knew him. Not sure my mother did, either,” Tony added snidely. “Olivia is the success of the family. But you know that, right? She was always good in school, good at being what people wanted her to be. Like that lizard—what’s it called? The one that changes colors to blend in.”

  “Chameleon?”

  “Yeah, like that. If she had to be purple with green spots to get what she wanted, she’d do it. She knew how to work the system.”

  “What did she want?”

  “Money, clothes, excitement. Mostly she wanted to get ou
t of Dodge.” Tony laughed without humor. “You know my parents, right?”

  “I’ve met your father. Your stepfather, I mean.”

  That laugh again. “Then you know what I’m talking about.”

  I loved my daughter, no matter what people say. “What were things like between your dad and Olivia?” Kali asked.

  “Better than between him and me. That’s not saying much, though. He’s got a mean streak and he doesn’t much care who he picks on. He never liked me. Or Olivia, for that matter, and she was his own kid.”

  “He doesn’t like children?” Kali asked.

  “Doesn’t like anyone.” Tony took a long slurp of his Frappuccino.

  “Even your mom?”

  Tony’s mouth curled in contempt. “He likes that she earns a paycheck.”

  Not exactly a warm and loving family. “It must have been hard having a sister who was a super-achiever,” Kali said.

  “Being a super-achiever isn’t everything.” Tony poked his straw around the bottom of the plastic cup. “I’m alive. She’s dead. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun. Look what putting on airs got her.”

  Kali regarded him with surprise. “You know mythology.”

  He looked up. “Just because I didn’t get into U of A on some fancy scholarship doesn’t mean I’m illiterate.”

  “I wasn’t implying that.” Though on some level, she realized, she was. She’d made assumptions about Tony that might not be warranted.

  “You asked my life’s ambition. I’ll tell you what it is.” Tony leaned across the table. His dark eyes narrowed with intensity. “It’s to be a writer. Writers are like gods. They’re in charge of the worlds they create. And they get inside readers’ hearts and minds. The good ones anyway.” He sat back and drilled into her with his eyes. “That’s power.”

  Tony spoke with a passion that was both impressive and a bit scary. “Good for you,” Kali said. “What do you write?”

  “Poetry,” Tony replied. “Stories. I started a novel but I haven’t done much with it.” He ran his hands along the edge of the table, clearly uncomfortable with having revealed so much of himself. “Probably nothing will come of it.”

  “Or it might.” Feeling guilt at having perhaps judged him too harshly, Kali now sought to sound encouraging.

  He shrugged, gazed through the window at cars in the parking lot.

  “Do you know many of Olivia’s friends?”

  “A few, not many. We weren’t close.”

  A lot like Kali and John.

  She showed Tony the photograph she’d found in John’s office. “Do you recognize either of the other two girls?”

  Tony glanced at the photo, then shook his head, but not before recognition, if that’s what it was, had flickered across his face. “Never seen them,” he said flatly.

  “Are you sure? It looked to me like you reacted there for a moment.”

  Tony licked his lips. “It must have been seeing my sister alive. All happy and smiling.”

  Kali hoped he was better at writing than at lying. “How did Olivia feel about working for Sloane Winslow?”

  “You kidding? She thought it was really cool that she got to live in a fancy house and run around like she was someone important. I told her, ‘You’re a fucking house cleaner, not lady of the manor.’“

  “What about John O’Brien? Did she ever mention him?”

  Tony’s expression darkened. “The guy who killed them?”

  “He was a police suspect, but he was never arrested. Did she know him?”

  “Was?”

  Kali swallowed. “He died.”

  “Well, I never heard of him except what the cops said. Besides, I thought he worked with Sloane Winslow or something. Why would Olivia know him?”

  That’s what Kali wanted to know, too.

  Chapter 20

  Kali had a two o’clock appointment with detectives Safer and Parker. She was sure they’d agreed to meet with her again only because the sheriff’s department valued community relations. Shafer’s tepid response to her earlier phone call told Kali that Sloane Winslow’s murder was no longer a priority.

  Michelle Parker was in the entryway of the sheriff’s station, talking to a male officer, when Kali arrived. She raised a hand in greeting and appeared glad to grab the chance to extricate herself from the conversation.

  “Men,” Michelle said, with a shake of her head. “They can be so stubborn sometimes.”

  “How true.”

  She laughed. “But it would be a pretty dull world without them.”

  “That’s true also.” Kali chuckled in female comradery.

  “You married?”

  “No. How about you?”

  “Not anymore. First time was such a disaster I’m not sure I have the courage to try again.” Michelle nodded to another officer as they took the stairs to the second floor. “Don’t ever marry a cop,” she told Kali. “They want to call all the shots.”

  Although she and Bryce had never spoken of marriage, sometimes determinedly steering the conversation in the opposite direction, it was something Kali thought about now and then. Whether or not it was something she wanted, she hadn’t decided, but Michelle’s warning resonated with her own well of doubts.

  Michelle took her through the double doors to the violent crimes unit. Shafer was on the phone at his desk, but he held up a finger to indicate he’d just be a minute. There was a tightness to his expression Kali hadn’t seen before. She hoped it wasn’t because he was irritated with her.

  But when he hung up the phone, he greeted her pleasantly and gestured to a chair. “I understand you have information you think we might be interested in hearing.”

  “Right. There are actually a couple of things I thought you should be aware of.”

  The detectives sat opposite her and gave her their full attention. Shafer seemed eager to hear what she had to say.

  “First,” Kali said, “John had a doctor’s prescription for Valium and a practically full bottle of the stuff in his medicine chest. If he wanted pills to help him deal with the stress of being a suspect, why would he go to the trouble of buying a baggie of Xanax on the street?”

  “We don’t know that he bought it recently,” Michelle pointed out.

  Kali ticked off a second item on her fingers. “Another thing, John seemed distracted when I talked to him the night he died.”

  “That’s not surprising, given that he was high at the time.” Shafer hooked his thumbs over the edge of his desk and drummed first one thumb, then the other. “Besides, if I remember correctly, you said it wasn’t much of a conversation.”

  “Enough that I formed an impression of what was going on,” Kali said. “I heard a voice in the background. At the time, I assumed it was the television. Now I think someone was there.”

  Shafer stopped his drumming. “Why’s that?”

  “John didn’t like mayonnaise. He couldn’t stand it, in fact. But the housekeeper said when she got there the next morning she cleaned up the kitchen. This was before she discovered John was dead. There were sandwich makings on the counter, including a jar of mayonnaise.”

  Shafer rocked back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. “This is the important new information you wanted to see us about? Mayonnaise?”

  “And the prescription for Valium. Also, the housekeeper said the inside lights were off when she arrived. She didn’t think anything of it at the time because it was morning. But John died during the night. The lights would have been on.”

  Michelle frowned, a nice blending of irony and skepticism. “What are you suggesting? That your brother’s death wasn’t an accident? That someone killed him?”

  Kali took a breath. “Yes. And that bears on the question of John’s guilt.”

  The muscles in Detective Shafer’s jaw twitched. “None of what you’ve told us changes the evidence we have tying your brother to those murders.”

  “But there could be—”

  “And nothing you’ve sai
d sheds any light on why this phantom killer might target your brother.”

  “I admit there’s a lot we don’t know—”

  “We?” Shafer’s palms came down hard on the desktop. His hawk-brown eyes turned cool. “I’ll tell you what we know, Ms. O’Brien. Those of us actually authorized to investigate murder know that the evidence points overwhelmingly to your brother, and that we’ve been unable to turn up a single other viable suspect. This poppycock about mayonnaise and lights makes as much sense as a Ouija board.”

  Shafer pushed back his chair and stood. “Excuse me, I’ve got other matters to attend to.” He turned and left the room.

  With sudden clarity, Kali realized the detectives had been hoping her new information would give them further evidence of John’s guilt. The exact opposite of what she’d actually delivered.

  “Sorry,” Michelle Parker said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I don’t know what’s eating him lately. He’s not usually so brusque.”

  “But you weren’t persuaded by what I had to say, either.”

  The detective spread her hands. “I have to be honest. I think you’re grasping at straws. Even if your brother made a sandwich for someone, it doesn’t mean that person drugged and killed him.”

  “I realize it’s a bit of a leap, but it feels important to me. One of those little mind tickles that doesn’t make sense, if you know what I mean.”

  “I do, but feelings are notoriously unreliable in situations like this.” Michelle’s voice softened. “I know you probably feel guilty for not making time to talk to your brother that night. And you don’t want to believe he’s capable of murder. That’s only natural.”

  She paused. “I think Detective Shafer was a bit harsh just now, but bottom line, I think he’s right.”

  Maybe she was grasping at straws. If the roles were reversed and she found herself in Michelle Parker’s shoes, she’d probably be skeptical too. And, in truth, Kali wasn’t convinced John was innocent. He’d had Olivia Perez’s photograph, after all. That compounded his link to the murders. For all she knew, his death might actually have been an accident.