by Taylor Lee
Nodding fiercely, Shirley blurted. “Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying. But it was more that. They were his lovers. All of them.”
“Including his mother?”
Skylar held her breath when it was unclear if Shirley would answer Jude’s startling question.
After a lengthy pause she answered, “Yes. At least, that’s what Charlie told me.”
“I see.” Jude tugged on his chin thoughtfully, then faced the disconcerted woman and said carefully, “I understood you to say earlier that Charlie thought you were crazy.”
Shirley’s voice rose sharply. “He did, at first. But when I confronted him, he finally admitted that I was right. Even more right than I thought.”
Jude was silent for a moment, then caught Shirley’s gaze. “What caused you to confront your brother, Shirley? I can imagine that was a difficult thing to suggest. Particularly since Charlie was married to Alicia at the time, correct?”
Bright red splotches marked Shirley’s fleshy face. She swallowed several times before she answered. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer, less belligerent as if it pained her to say to say the words. Refusing to look at Jude or her mother, she looked up at Skylar.
“It was six months ago. I was at a party at Charlie and Alicia’s house. I hated going to their parties because of the way the Parkers treated Charlie.”
“All the Parkers, including Mr. and Mrs. Parker?”
“Yes. They treated him like he was a big buffoon. Mr. Parker called him ‘the jock’ as though it was proof that Charlie was stupid or uneducated, which wasn’t true. They never included my mother in their invitations, and rarely invited me. They constantly referred to how ‘poor’ we were. We weren’t really, it was just in comparison to them. I didn’t care, but I hated watching them make fun of Charlie.”
“Was Alicia also disparaging?”
“Not at first. She and Charlie sorta seemed happy. Then I noticed Charlie was upset a lot of the time. He stopped inviting me to their house, as if he was ashamed or something. I think it was because of the way they all made fun of him right to his face.”
“Even Alicia?”
Shirley snorted. “Especially Alicia.”
Skylar asked, “What happened at the party six months ago, Shirley?”
The pained woman sighed then began to speak. “It was late. Most of the people had gone. I wanted to say good night to Charlie, but he wasn’t in the party room. I didn’t care if I said good-bye to anyone else, but at least I wanted to let Charlie know I’d left. I…I knew that some of the people had been out in the gazebo, and I thought Charlie might be there.”
Skylar prompted her, “Was he in the gazebo?”
Shirley shook her head and closed her eyes, as if blotting out a frightening sight. After a long pause, she said, “No, but Blake was. And Charlotte, Marion, and Alicia were there.”
After another long pause, she added, “I didn’t see their mother at first.”
Skylar stood and went over to the small refrigerator and brought out several bottles of water. She put one in front of Mrs. Berkley and handed the other to Shirley.
When Mrs. Berkley just stared at the bottle, Jude reached over and taking off the cap, handed the opened bottle to her. “Please, Mrs. Berkley, drink this. I know this is challenging. But you need to keep up your strength.”
As she was drinking the water, Skylar pulled out the chair next to Shirley and sat down beside her. Taking advantage of the proximity, she asked, “What were they doing in the gazebo?”
Shirley’s face flamed a dark scarlet, almost purplish hue. “They were…drinking and talking. I heard someone laugh, and I was going to ask them where Charlie was, but…”
“You stopped because of what you saw?”
Shirley nodded and looked up at Sky.
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Sky prompted, “Could you see what were they doing, Shirley?”
Shirley slammed her eyes closed then blurted, “Blake was standing in the middle of the gazebo. And…and…Charlotte was kneeling in front of him. At first…at first, I didn’t understand, and then I realized that Blake’s pants, his trousers, were…down to his knees.”
Shirley rested her head on top of her arms on the table. When she didn’t speak, Skylar put her arm around the shaking woman’s shoulders and asked quietly, “From where you were standing, could you see that Charlotte was performing oral sex on her brother?”
When the shaken woman merely nodded, Sky exchanged a glance with Jude, then asked, “What were Marion, Alicia, and their mother doing?”
Shirley raised her head and faced Skylar. Her mascara was smudged, and tears swam in her eyes. Unlike before, she wasn’t angry. Rather, she looked confounded. “They…they were watching…and chatting.”
Chapter 28
Skylar was still reeling from their challenging conversation with Shirley Martinson and her mother. While she explained to the shell-shocked women how critical it was not to tell anyone the truth about Charlie’s death, Jude arranged for one of his female lieutenants to take them home and stay with them for the next several days.
When the women left, Sky tried once more to contact Blake. She met Jude’s gaze and shook her head. “I’m getting his voicemail. I’m not surprised Blake isn’t answering. I left a message for Marion asking how he is, but she hasn’t called me back either.”
Jude was clearly as concerned as Sky was.
“In my message for Marion, I reiterated how important it is that we speak with Blake. If I don’t hear from her shortly, you and I are going to drop in on the Second Chance Boutique.”
Bernice buzzed to say that Marion Parker was on line three. Jude put the call on speaker.
“Good morning, Marion. Ms. Hughes is here with me. As you know, we each left you a message indicating that we need to talk with Blake. When will he be available?”
Marion’s response was curt. “As you saw yesterday, Jude, my brother is ill. He is under a doctor’s care and is currently heavily medicated. Obviously, he isn’t up to having visitors.”
“Excuse me, Marion, but our need to speak with Blake doesn’t fall within the realm of a social call. Blake asked Ms. Hughes to meet him yesterday, indicating that he needed to talk with her. He was insistent. If Blake has information that can help our investigation of your parents’ murders, it is essential that we talk with him.”
Marion hesitated, then responded in a more conciliatory tone, “I understand, Jude. I can assure you that if Blake had information about our parents’ murders my sisters and I would also have it, and we would have shared it with you. As for Ms. Hughes, apparently Blake finds her interesting. My assumption is that his interest is personal. While I can’t imagine what he sees in her, there is no accounting for taste, as they say.”
Jude winked at Skylar and shrugged. “Regardless of the reason, Marion, Blake was insistent that he needed to talk to Skylar. I want you to call me as soon as he is able to talk with us.”
He nodded when Sky handed him a note with the word ‘doctor?’. “Oh, and Marion, I need the name of Blake’s doctor.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I want to know the nature of his illness and also what medication he is on. Ms. Hughes was concerned that he may be dangerously combining medications in a way that—”
Marion interrupted. “Now Ms. Hughes is questioning our physician? Really, Jude. How outrageous can that woman get? I have no intention—”
“Let me stop you there, Marion. Two things, and Marion, these are not requests. Ms. Hughes and I need to talk with Blake as soon as he’s able, and I need Blake’s physician’s name right now.”
After a long moment of silence, Marion said curtly, “Our family physician is Dr. James Samuels. I will tell him that you’ll be calling.”
“You do that, Marion. And remember that I expect you to call me as soon as Blake is able to talk.”
The dial tone signified that Marion had hung up without answering Jude’s directive.
&n
bsp; ***
Dr. Samuels’ tone was cordial, concerned. “I’m sure you understand, Detective Justice, that I’m not accustomed to discussing my patients’ treatments. However, given the unusual circumstances and Marion Parker’s request, I will tell you what I can about Blake’s illness.
“Blake has been under my care for years for a combination of severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety. I’m sure you understand that his parents’ deaths have greatly exacerbated his condition and symptoms. I am treating him with relatively high dosages of Paxil, an antidepressant and SSRI drug, shorthand for a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Blake had been responding well to this medication, but after his parents were killed, he went off the deep end. It’s been difficult to manage his dosages. I understand from Marion that he may not have taken his correct dosage, causing the behavior that you and Ms. Hughes witnessed.”
“Dr. Samuels, this is Skylar Hughes. Thank you for talking with us. I am familiar with Paxil and SSRIs in general. However, when I saw Blake yesterday, he was clearly in severe distress. Much more so than he should have been if he was taking his Paxil as you prescribed.”
Skylar let the implication stand and exchanged a knowing glance with Jude when Dr. Samuels rushed to explain, “You need to understand, Ms. Hughes, and you too, Detective, Blake Parker is a very fragile individual. He has been under the care of a psychiatrist for some years now. I can’t confirm that he has been taking his medicine as I prescribed it.”
Jude broke in smoothly. “And the name of his psychiatrist is?”
Dr. Samuels hesitated and then said, “To my knowledge he has been seeing Dr. Samuel Claxton in Minneapolis.”
After they ended the call with Dr. Samuels, Sky shook her head. “I don’t like this, Jude. Blake was definitely taking something in addition to Paxil unless he’d tripled the dose. Marion has to have known that. And good God, after what Shirley told us, how can we possibly trust anything that Marion tells us?”
“Unfortunately, we can’t. We also can’t arrest Blake without additional evidence. I’m going to talk with Dr. Claxton and see what I can get him to tell me about Blake’s ‘condition.’ Depending on how forthcoming he is, we’ll determine our next steps. Unfortunately, the chances of the shrink confirming Shirley’s accusations are minimal at best.”
Sky nodded in agreement. “I want to go back to Lars Larson. I’ve been thinking about the personal accounts the siblings set up. Can we get a subpoena to see those accounts if Lars resists?”
“I’ll check with Jorden. See what you can get Lars to reveal. I think we scared the shit out of him yesterday. Methinks he may be more amenable to our requests knowing that we have him in our crosshairs.”
As Sky stood up to leave, Jude rounded his desk and reached for her. “Let me hold you, Squirt. I know I don’t have to tell you, baby, that we’re on to something important. We don’t know what role Blake played in his parents’ murders, but my gut is sending signals that can’t be ignored. Between Lars and Dr. Claxton, we may be able to get enough evidence to bring him in for questioning.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Jesus, Sky, wouldn’t it be amazing if wimpy Blake really did have something to do with the murders?”
He tipped up her chin. “So be careful sweetheart. And remember that no matter what happens today, you and I are going to be in each other’s arms tonight.”
Later that afternoon, Skylar remembered Jude’s assurance that they would be together tonight and scoffed at her naïveté, wondering how she could have been so gullible.
***
“Son of a bitch, Jude. I always knew those women were protective of Blake. But damn, bro, if Shirley is correct, this is waaaay beyond weird.”
“Yeah, Jared, tell me something we don’t know. But if you had been in that room and listened to Shirley Martinson…I’m telling you, this was not a tale she was happy to tell. She and her mother were obviously frightened by what she saw.”
Jude paused for a long moment and looked at his three brothers. Jared, Jake, and Jorden came to his office when he had called them. They’d had to wait for Jorden to finish in court and it was nearly six o’clock now, which made the Maker’s Mark they were slugging a welcome treat.
Jude continued laying out the suppositions. “Let’s assume for the moment that Shirley was correct. She also claims that Charlie was aware of the sexual relationship among the siblings. Which puts an interesting cast on Charlie’s murder. At least it raises the possibility of him blackmailing Blake.”
At the frowning agreement from his brothers, Jude continued, “Also, assume that Sky can find evidence that Blake was siphoning money from the Parker accounts. She’s been at the Larson, McClellan office most of the afternoon and the last I heard from her, she felt she was getting close. Which is the primary reason I need a subpoena, Jorden. Lars appeared to open the books to her, but she felt certain he was holding back information on the siblings’ personal accounts. And given my conversation with that pompous shrink Claxton, we’re gonna need to at least threaten him with a subpoena to get any information from him. He was fierce about physician-patient privilege.”
“I’ve got both requests to Judge Taylor now. He was in court all day, but will be back in his office by eight o’clock. Knowing how cautious Taylor is, we’ll be lucky to hear back tonight, but should have authorization to review all of the Parker accounts by tomorrow morning.” Jorden added, “I’m not so sure about the request for his medical records. The courts are strict about patient privacy.”
Jude shrugged. “I’m telling you, if Blake’s condition is anything close to what Sky and I saw yesterday, we’ll be lucky if we can question him in the next couple of days. Sky is convinced he’s ingesting a hell of a lot more than Paxil.” He added thoughtfully, “I don’t have to tell you this, but without Skylar’s uncanny insights we truly would be dumb cops sitting around with our thumbs up our asses.”
Jared chuckled and shared a grin with Jake. “I do believe our lead detective said something close to that, but that was when he was disparaging ‘Specs’, as he called her then. He indicated that her ‘erudite analysis’ might actually be useful. That we ignorant cops could always use an IQ boost to help us analyze a crime instead of stumbling around with our thumbs up our asses like we usually do.”
Jude put up his hands in defeat and grinned. “What can I say, bro? How the hell did I know I was going to fall under the Sprite’s spell?”
Jorden looked up in surprise, glancing to his brothers. His eyes widened at Jude’s diffident shrug, and Jared and Jake’s obvious delight. “Wait just a damn minute. Am I missing something here? My cynical brother, the most chauvinistic asshole we all know, is gooey-eyed over a member of the female persuasion?”
Jared crowed, “None other, bro. And all it took to turn our never-before-love-bitten brother into mush was a five-foot, four-inch pixie with coke-bottle glasses that mask the most gorgeous eyes any of us has seen, and a brain as impressive as our womanizer brother’s.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Jorden whistled and shook his head in amazement. Meeting Jude’s sheepish smile, he pressed, “Are you for real, buddy? Not only did you fall, but you fell for a real woman—not one of the plastic bimbos that you usually associate with?”
Jude shrugged. “What can I say, man, except that I’ve never met a woman like Skylar. She’s in a class by herself.”
“Okay, Jude, I’ll give you that,” Jorden agreed. “Every one of us, including the Judge, has been thoroughly charmed by the inimitable Ms. Hughes. She might be the most interesting woman I’ve met. Certainly the most complicated. But let’s face it, man, she doesn’t exactly meet your—what do you call it? Your required rack to ass ratio?”
Thoroughly embarrassed by his older brother’s on-target assessment of his customary disdain for women, Jude couldn’t let that impression stand. “Let’s just say, brother of mine, it’s obvious that you haven’t, and may I add that you never will, have the pleasure of spending the night w
ith her.”
At his brothers’ shrieks of surprised laughter Jude didn’t try to undermine his assessment of Skylar. Instead he put up his hands in defeat. “All I can say is that under those baggy clothes and Clark Kent glasses is the most beautiful, enticing woman I’ve ever known.” He added seriously, “But you’re correct, Jorden. She’s complicated, and has a tyrant of a father who’s filled her head with more destructive shit than anyone should have to hear in three lifetimes. And yeah, she’s so damn smart she’s scary. But she’s also funny, clever, and frankly, sexy as hell.”
Jake rose to his feet and lifted his glass in a salute. “Christ Almighty man, this is the best news you could give me. Jude, I love you as much as I love anyone. But I gotta tell you, dude, I’d given up hope for you as far as women are concerned. Skylar Hughes is everything your women aren’t. She’s smart, and, yes, beautiful. But she is also kind, and generous, and shy. And man, I don’t have to tell you, given that father of hers, she’s vulnerable as hell.”
Jared left the table to take a phone call. When he came back to the group his eyes were dark with concern, his expression rigid. He pinned Jude with a hard gaze and shook his head. “Goddamn, the last thing I want to do is rain on this parade. Fuck it, man, I’ve been pulling for you and Sky since I saw you fighting like hell to keep from giving in to your interest in her. Which, although you wouldn’t admit it, was from the first time you saw her.”
Jared sucked in a deep visible breath then blew it out in an audible sigh. “Unfortunately, sometimes our past comes back to bite us in the ass. In this case, man, looks like your past got to Skylar. In the form of the most vicious bitch that ever offered her bimbo ass to every one of us Justice brothers—Jerri Ross.”
Chapter 29
“We thought you weren’t coming, Sky! Hailey said you weren’t, that you had your nose in financial files and it would take a case of C4 to blast you free. Get that cute little butt of yours over here. You have some serious drinking to do to catch up with us.” Mitzi was emphatic.