Little Girl Blue, a Seth and Ava Mystery

by Claudia Hall Christian

  Switch finished with an imitation of Ava’s mother.

  “She did not say that,” Ava said.

  “No,” Switch said with a wide grin. He raised his index finger to point. “Btu she should have.”

  Shaking her head, Ava sighed.

  “It’s a big deal. For me,” Ava said. “It’s the first thing that I’ve achieved on my own since my father died.”

  “That’s not exactly true, is it?” Switch asked. “You got married. You’ve solved a number of high-profile cases. Been in the paper quite a bit. There was something about meeting the Queen of England.”

  “You know what I mean,” Ava said.

  “I do,” Switch said. “The rest is also true.”

  Ava’s eyebrows moved up and down in agreement.

  “What happened?” Switch asked.

  “We started the grant,” Ava said. “The very first thing that happened was that Seth got a call from the Sheriff of Kiowa County. ‘Solve this old cold case.’ The Sheriff asked Seth to use the grant on this case before Seth even knew that he was on the grant!”

  Ava gave an angry shake of her head.

  “My fault,” Ava said.

  “Did he blame you?” Switch asked.

  “No,” Ava said. “It’s not the point, either. We decided to look into the case. I drove out there with Bob and Nelson. Then everything went off the rails. We found two dozen historic-remains . . .”

  “Two dozen?” Switch asked.

  Ava nodded to the grim details.

  “And we’re working this case,” Ava said. She put her hand on her chest. “I didn’t select this case. It just showed up via Seth. And . . .”

  “It led right back to your father,” Switch said.

  Ava flipped her mug against the wall. It shattered into pieces. Isabella laughed hysterically.

  “Nice to know you’re not upset about it,” Switch said.

  “Sorry,” Ava said.

  “Not a problem,” Switch said. “I’m pretty sure you’re not the first person to do that.”

  Switch picked up a towel and tossed it onto the site of the spill. Switch was an Olympic medal marksman, so the towel hit the exact spot where her tea had spilled out of the cup.

  “I’ll get it when I clean up the rest of this,” Switch said.

  “I can’t go home because I’m furious with O’Malley for putting me in this position,” Ava said.

  “You think he knew?” Switch asked. “Would he trick you like that?”

  Ava stopped for a moment. His question jarred her into slowing down and thinking it through. After a moment, she shook her head.

  “Seems kind of diabolical for O’Malley, given that he’d have to take out time from obsessing over his piano to make plans to trick you,” Switch said.

  Ava nodded.

  “How did all of this happen?” Switch asked. “Lay it out for me.”

  “Which part?” Ava asked.

  Switch gave her a hard look.

  “You’re wondering why I’m here,” she said with finality.

  “I have asked,” Switch said. “Politely, no less.”

  Ava grinned at him, and he laughed.

  “Bob and I went to talk to the family of the case we’re working. You know,” Ava said, adding between her teeth, “O’Malley’s case.”

  “Now we just went over that . . .” Switch said.

  “Ugh,” Ava said. She blew out a breath. “You’re right. It’s not O’Malley’s fault.”

  “It’s your father’s,” Switch said.

  “It’s my father’s,” Ava said.

  “So, you went to see the family?” Switch asked.

  “The grandmother of our victim used to work for my dad,” Ava said. “At the DA’s office. She followed him to the state. She was one of his paralegals. He used her in his campaigns as proof that he wasn’t a racist.”

  “So?” Switch asked. “I bet a lot of people worked for your dad.”

  Ava shook her head.

  “I remember when my victim died,” Ava said.

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  Twelve

  “You do?” Switch asked, looking surprised.

  “I not only remember the night she died, I remember my dad waking up my mom,” Ava said. “My room was right next to theirs. He was freaked out. She got up, and they went downstairs.”

  Ava shook her head.

  “They were up all night,” Ava said.

  Switch watched Ava’s face.

  “What should I do?” Ava asked. “I guess that’s why I’m here. To ask Éowyn what to do.”

  “You think your father killed this young woman,” Switch said.

  “He and his buddies,” Ava said.

  “Do you think O’Malley knows that your father was involved?” Switch asked.

  “I don’t know.” Ava’s voice was meek.

  She wouldn’t have put her fear into words. Had Seth set her up? Had the Sheriff?

  “I feel like I can’t get away from old Aaron Alvin,” Ava said with a sigh. “I’m haunted by his actions, his problems. Every time I get out from under it, get ahead, succeed — he or some evil crap he did is right there to remind me what a piece of shit I am.”

  Isabella laughed. Ava looked at the child and saw that the baby was looking at Ava’s hair. Ava put her hand up to her hair.

  Wetness.

  The baby had gotten her with the orange goo. Ava smiled at Isabella.

  “You’re right, dear Isabella,” Ava said. “I’m taking it all too seriously and getting all paranoid.”

  Ava looked at Switch.

  “That’s what Bella used to say to me,” Ava said.

  Ava got up. She went to the cabinet for a clean towel. She wet the towel and pulled the goop from her hair. Wetting the towel again, she went back to the baby to help clean up.

  “Doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you,” Switch said.

  Ava grinned as she finished wiping Isabella’s face.

  “You think that’s why they gave you this grant?” Switch asked.

  “You’re the second person to say something about me getting the grant,” Ava said as she went back to the sink to rinse out the cloth.

  “Big headline: ‘Young forensic analyst wins exclusive grant,’” Switch said.

  “The article was about how O’Malley made it happen,” Ava said. “The young harlot wooed the great O’Malley to get her what she wanted — or something like that.”

  “What if the article was a cover-up?” Switch asked. “What if you did get this grant and were pushed in the direction of this case specifically so that you could hide something your father did?”

  Ava stared at him.

  “The only question you should be asking yourself . . .” Éowyn’s voice came from the door to the kitchen.

  Wearing a professional suit jacket and skirt, Éowyn came into the room carrying a briefcase. Isabella cooed and laughed at her mother’s sudden appearance.

  “Pumpkin? Really?” Éowyn asked Switch.

  “She likes it,” Switch said.

  “She likes a mess with it,” Éowyn said.

  “So?” Switch grinned at Éowyn. “It’s easier to see than the more-neutral-colored ones.”

  In the way of eldest sisters everywhere, Éowyn took the cloth from Ava and re-wiped her daughter. She went to the sink to rinse out the cloth. She bent to kiss Switch on the lips and then looked at Ava.

  “You were saying?” Ava asked.

  “The only question you need to ask yourself is whether you’re willing to pursue this case knowing that you might uncover another horrible deed of your father’s,” Éowyn said.

  “Yes,” Ava said. “Absolutely.”

  “Then let’s go talk to Mom,” Éowyn said. “Just give me a minute to change out of these clothes.”

  “There’s no ‘us’ here, Éowyn,” Ava said. “This is my case . . .”

  “Ask yourself,” Éowyn said. “Will Mom tell me — Ava — the
truth, or will she be more likely to tell Éowyn the truth?”

  Ava scowled at Éowyn. Switch pointed at Éowyn.

  “As I thought,” Éowyn said. “I just need to change.”

  Éowyn ran out of the room.

  “Do you mind taking care of Isabella for longer?” Ava asked.

  “She’s my child,” Switch said. “If I minded taking care of her, I might have thought about getting the snip.”

  Ava grinned at him. As if she knew what her father had said, Isabella laughed. He reached over and softly swiped a missed bit of pumpkin off her face with his thumb.

  “Happy,” Switch said. He looked at Ava. “I’m really happy to take care of her. Any time.”

  Ava grinned at him. He gave her a wide smile. Éowyn came through the kitchen again. She kissed Switch, touched the top of Isabella’s head, and started out the door.

  “That’s it?” Ava asked at the door.

  “If I linger, she cries,” Éowyn said.

  “Where’s the dog?” Ava asked.

  “In the car,” Éowyn said. “O’Malley called. Said he’d tried your cell a few times.”

  “My bag’s in the car,” Ava said.

  They went out to Éowyn’s small hatchback SUV. Ava grabbed her backpack from the lab car. Taking out her phone, she saw that Seth had called five times. She stuck the phone back in the backpack. Éowyn’s Wheaten Terrier named “Fluffy” was sitting in the passenger seat. She moved to the back seat as soon as Ava opened the door.

  “I knew that if you came here, it probably had to do with our scumbag father,” Éowyn said from the driver’s seat.

  She started the car.

  “Did he set me up?” Ava’s voice came out in a gasp.

  “O’Malley?” Éowyn asked. She grinned at Ava. “I wondered why you were so dark and morose.”

  “Well, did he?” Ava asked.

  “He said that he hadn’t realized the connection between Mrs. White and our father,” Éowyn said. “He’d always thought that our father and his cronies were involved in this case, but he never knew that Mrs. White worked for him or that our father might have killed the poor girl. He said to tell you that he would never, ever put you in that position.”

  “Did you believe him?” Ava asked.

  “Listen to what you’re asking,” Éowyn said. “You’re wondering if your husband had the wherewithal to know that our father was involved in a crime, set you up to figure it out, and to do it all in secret while convalescing from a gun shot wound.”

  “And?” Ava asked.

  Éowyn laughed.

  “Do you know your husband?” Éowyn asked. “What was the first thing he wanted to do when he got home from the hospital?”

  Ava didn’t respond.

  “Fine, I’ll answer: his piano,” Éowyn said with a laugh. “What did he complain about being deprived of in the hospital?”

  “I’m just scared,” Ava said.

  “I’m sure you are!” Éowyn said. “I can’t imagine being party to all of the details of this girl’s death and suddenly realize that our father might have been involved. I would freak out.”

  They drove along for a while before Ava turned to Éowyn.

  “You would freak out?” Ava asked.

  “If I were you,” Éowyn laughed. “I’ve already accepted that there’s no level of depravity too low for our father.”

  Éowyn turned into a housing development in Granby. Ava’s mother had moved to Granby to be near Éowyn and the baby. Of course, once the baby was born, Ava’s mother had more pressing socialite things to do than take care of a baby. She and her second husband, former Sheriff Jeb Elliot, were now fixtures in the retiree golf and ski scene.

  Ava and her mother had never been very close. There was even more distance now that Ava, through Seth, had bought her mother’s home and paid for the attorney who’d won her their father’s pension. That’s not to mention the fact that Vivian Alvin Elliot was currently living off an allowance Ava gave her from her salary at the Denver Crime Lab.

  Ava’s mother would never forgive Ava for her own dependence on Ava.

  “Let’s go see if that’s true for our mother as well,” Éowyn said.

  They pulled up to a modest-sized house on a cul-de-sac.

  “This is a nice place,” Éowyn said, mildly.

  “Seth has good taste,” Ava said.

  “And a deep bank account,” Éowyn said with a smile. “Are you still . . .?”

  Ava nodded.

  “You?” Ava asked.

  “No way,” Éowyn said. “She can get a job.”

  “How likely is that?” Ava said. “Aaron Alvin completely disabled her. She couldn’t get a job if she wanted to. She doesn’t have the capacity for work.”

  Éowyn grunted.

  “You know that I’m right,” Ava said.

  “Doesn’t make me like her any better,” Éowyn said.

  Ava laughed.

  “I don’t like her,” Ava said. “I just support her because I can. I’m so grateful for Seth and . . .”

  Ava’s eyes instantly welled with tears. She sniffed and looked out the window.

  “He’s a good man with a kind heart,” Éowyn said. “You’re a wonderful person. I am not that nice of a person. As far as I am concerned, she deserves every bit of humiliation and cruelty simply for not preventing Bella from going to see our father. Bella would be alive if she were even one-tenth of an actual, caring mother.”

  Ava sighed. The sisters looked at each other for a long moment.

  “Come on,” Éowyn said.

  Éowyn got out of the car. She went around to get Fluffy out of the backseat of the SUV. Ava met them at the back of the car.

  “Seth told me about the creepy lady in Chivington,” Éowyn said. “What do you make of her?”

  “I wanted to ask Mom,” Ava said.

  “What did you think?” Éowyn asked.

  “I thought . . .” Ava paused for a moment. “Instinctively, I liked her. I could easily see myself as her when I’m her age. You know?”

  Éowyn stopped walking at the end the path that led to their mother’s door. Fluffy went potty on her mother’s lawn. Éowyn groaned.

  “No bag?” Ava asked.

  Éowyn shook her head.

  “Switch took them out of my car,” Éowyn said. “He was out, and . . .”

  Ava took an evidence bag out of her backpack and picked up the poop.

  “Totally appropriate,” Éowyn said wryly.

  Ava smiled.

  “So, the lady? I think that she thought we were bullshit,” Ava said as she walked to her mother’s trash bin. “Not worthy of her time or attention.”

  Ava tossed out the dog’s poop.

  “Even though you were there working to figure things out?” Éowyn asked.

  “Because I’m an Alvin,” Ava said.

  Éowyn empathetically touched Ava’s shoulder, and they walked up to their mother’s door. The door opened before they knocked.

  Their mother’s second husband, Jeb Elliot, was standing on the other side. Friends from childhood, Vivian Alvin had reconnected with Sheriff Jeb Elliot in the middle of the complicated murder case that had left their father and sister dead. They were married a little more than a year after their father was killed.

  “Ladies,” Jeb said.

  He stepped aside to let them in.

  “We came to see Mom,” Éowyn said.

  “This is about the murder case Ava is looking into?” Jeb asked. “The cold case?”

  “It is,” Ava said meekly.

  Jeb gave her a solid nod and closed the front door.

  “It’s time to get this sorted,” Jeb said.

  He took Ava’s arm and led her into the living room. Fluffy bounded ahead, and Éowyn followed. Ava turned the corner to see her mother sitting in an elegant reclining chair. The thick, double-paned windows looked out over a wide blue lake and gorgeous snowcapped mountains. The room was furnished with comfortable couches. The
walls were lined with books on bookshelves.

  Vivian’s faux blond hair was perfectly coiffed, her makeup was on, and she was ready for battle. The only softness about Vivian was a soft, hand-knitted blanket on her lap. A fire raged in the fireplace. When Vivian looked up, she gave them the placid look preferred by minor princesses or manipulative mothers.

  “Ava,” Vivian said with pretend delight.

  When Éowyn entered the room, Vivian visibly brightened.

  “Éowyn!” Vivian said.

  She held out an arm. Éowyn leaned down to kiss Vivian’s cheek.

  “How are you?” Vivian asked. “Did you bring Isabella?”

  “Mom, we’re here in an official capacity,” Éowyn said. “We are both sworn officers of the court. We’d like to ask you a few questions about the murder of a young girl.”

  Vivian’s face soured. She looked at Ava.

  “You got your sister involved in your sinister work,” Vivian said with a sniff. “She has an infant at home. Do you have no shame?”

  “She stuck herself in the middle of my work,” Ava said.

  Vivian shook her head to dismiss what Ava had said. Ava sighed. She shot Éowyn a look, and Éowyn happily took over. Ava’s phone made a Ding! and she looked down at it.

  “We are going to tape our interview today,” Éowyn continued.

  “Why?” Jeb asked.

  “Our hope is to avoid having our mother dragged down to Denver Police Station in handcuffs,” Éowyn said.

  “Why would she?” Jeb asked.

  “Because she’s right in the middle of the brutal murder of a young woman, no more than a girl,” Ava said. She held up her phone. “The lab got the DNA results back from the victim’s clutch handbag. Your trace DNA is on the victim’s handbag.”

  Ava raised her eyebrows at her mother, but her mother’s face was completely closed.

  “If you wish to ask me questions, I need to have my solicitor,” Vivian sniffed.

  “How are you going to pay for him, Mom?” Éowyn asked. “You can’t ask Ava to pay for an attorney so that you can defend yourself against Ava’s questions. That’s just dumb.”

  Vivian’s eyes flicked to Ava before she sighed.

  “Answer our questions — all of our questions,” Éowyn said. “Ava deserves your answers — all of your answers. The whole truth. It’s the very least you owe her.”