Burning Justice (7 page)

I
wished
I’d had a picture of Evangeline to show to Gerta. It would be pretty easy to get one and come back, but I wasn’t sure Gerta could reliably recognize her, anyway. She said she’d never gotten a good look at her. Unfortunately, her ears weren’t in much better working condition than her eyes and she couldn’t say what they were fighting about—she’d heard the loud voices but not any of the actual words.

Evangeline had never told me that she’d gone to Jenny’s and argued with her, but she was probably embarrassed. Had she gone there seeking confirmation about the affair? But why go more than once? Was the last fight a confrontation with Jenny? Maybe that’s what set Jenny off to kill Evangeline. Maybe Jenny was just one of those fatal attraction killers. But Nathan must have helped her—she couldn’t have pulled that off alone, could she? And if she did, wouldn’t she have known that Nathan would look guilty?

I left Gerta with instructions to call me if she remembered anything or saw Jenny come back, and I headed back home. I wanted to see if Artemis had come up with anything from the super shuttle terminal videos.

When I got home, he was just copying the videos from the Internet to his internal database.

“I was just about to watch them. Do you want me to display them on the projection screen and we can look for her together?” he asked.

“Sure. Wait a minute. I don’t even know what she looks like.”

“I’ve got that covered, too. Hold on.”

We went into the living room and Artemis stuck his finger into the entertainment center. An image of a brunette woman flashed onto the screen. I could see why Evangeline had thought Nathan was having an affair with her. The woman was an exotic beauty with shoulder-length hair, cut in the unusual fashion of being shorter on the left and longer on the right that was becoming more popular. It curled just slightly under her chin in the front, accentuating her strong, high cheekbones and wide-set, almond-shaped hazel eyes.

“That’s Jenny Sparks?” I asked.

“Yep. I got it from her driver’s license.” Artemis fiddled with the entertainment unit a little bit more and asked over his shoulder, “Did you get any information from Gerta?”

I relayed my conversation with Gerta and he turned back toward me, his right eyebrow quirked upwards. “And you think the blonde was Evangeline? Why would she be there?”

I shrugged. “You got me. All I can figure is she must’ve confronted her.”

Artemis leveled me with a look. “Normally, when one confronts another person that only happens once. You said that Gerta saw her there more than once. I don’t like what’s going on here. Something does not compute.”

I had to give it to him, he had a point. Something didn’t compute, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. The case was getting complicated, but the only thing I could do was trudge forward and see if I could fit the clues together.

“I know. Let’s look at the super shuttle video and see if it leads to an answer.”

An image popped onto my projection wall. It was the typical surveillance camera image that hadn’t changed much in the past sixty years—a grainy image of the super shuttle terminal with a digital timestamp in the upper right. I watched as a throng of people walked past the camera, getting into various lines on the opposite side of the terminal. Would we be able to pick her out from the crowd?

“Are there other cameras?” I asked.

“There is one other camera on the opposite corner of the wall this one is on. But this camera has the angle that shows the people coming off of the shuttle that Jenny took. I figured we could watch this one and then switch to the other cameras if she heads in that direction.

“Good thinking.” We were both silent, our eyes glued to the screen, mine flicking from the people to the digital timestamp on top.

“This is just about sixty seconds after her shuttle came in right now. We should be seeing the people coming from it on screen any second,” Artemis said.

We both leaned forward, our elbows on our knees.

“That’s her!” I leapt up and stabbed my finger against the wall at a figure briskly walking from the bottom left of the screen to the top right. We could only see her from the back, but she had the same lopsided haircut and it looked to be the same shade of hair as her driver’s license.

“That
was
the same haircut. But she can't be the only person who wears her hair that way,” Artemis pointed out.

“Can we get one of the other camera angles to see her face?”

“No. The other camera is here.” He pointed to the lower right. “There is no camera facing her. We can only get a partial side view, but maybe I can use some 3D modeling software to model her license into a side view and we can match that.”

He looped that section through again and I noticed something. “Wait a minute, we may not need a side view.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Play it back, but slower this time.”

He played it back and I leaned closer to the picture. “Stop.”

He freeze-framed it, showing her in the middle of the screen. I tapped her shoulder. “Can you enlarge that?”

Artemis did as told, the image zeroing in just behind her and slowly getting larger.

My suspicions were confirmed. The woman had to be Jenny—there were two things that identified her. I could see it being a different woman if she had only one of them, but not both. One was the haircut. The other was the luggage—purple leopard print.

I
knew
it was Jenny at the super shuttle station. The question was … was she running away from Nathan because she knew he was a killer, or was she running away because she was an accomplice? I needed solid physical evidence linking one or both of them to the boat fire.

I wondered if the police had been sifting through the evidence and if they’d found anything. Fires were problematic since the evidence tended to go up in smoke. But there was always some clue that things weren’t right. Were they coming to the same conclusion about Evangeline’s death being murder instead of an accident? Did I dare approach them about it?

I was debating that very thing when I met up with Lexy and Cassie on the roof later that night.

It was one of those warm, early fall nights. The kind where the air is crisp and you can almost hear the leaves crackling. When the chirping of crickets and peepers seems most intense, as if the creatures know they only have a short time before winter sets in and they have to burrow down into the earth until spring.

A host of insects and reptiles had found their way to our rooftop garden and they were singing in full force tonight. If I didn’t know I was six stories in the air, I would have sworn I was sitting in a field on solid ground.

Lexy and Cassie were bent over the pumpkin patch, admiring the giant pumpkin when I came out onto the roof.

“Look Cal, I think it’s grown a foot since the other night.” Lexy moved the dense leaves aside and I caught a glimpse of the large, orange orb nestled underneath. It did look much bigger and was twice as big as the others.

“That’s getting huge,” I agreed.

Lexy released the leaves and the two women straightened.

“We have iced green tea over at the table.” Lexy tilted her head toward one of the smaller bistro tables at the edge of the rooftop. I noticed they’d already set out three glasses. I guess they were expecting me.

As we sat down, Cassie squinted at the horizon. “You expecting a delivery today, Lexy?”

Lexy twisted in her seat. “No. Why … Oh, drat, one of those delivery drones is headed our way. I don’t think it’s for us, though.”

A giant brown package dangled precariously from the clutches of the drone as it zoomed over our heads, stopping for a quick second just above us. I got the distinct impression it was actually looking at us, sizing us up and deciding what to do. Then it blinked its camera-like eye and zoomed off to the rooftop of the apartment building next door.

“I wonder what they’re getting.” Lexy’s eyes followed the drone as it hovered over the building, then dropped the package from twenty feet in the air. It must have been heavy. We could hear the muffled thud from where we sat.

“It was pretty big,” Cassie said. “I heard they were installing a brick pizza oven over there. Maybe that was part of it.”

My stomach grumbled. Brick oven pizza would taste good right now. Considering what I’d been getting out of the Meal-A-Tron, any solid food sounded like heaven.

I poured the amber liquid, along with several ice cubes, from the pitcher into my glass. The tall tumbler was cool against my palm, the tea itself smooth and slightly sweet. The ice cubes clinked together as I took a sip.

“So, Cal, tell us about the case.” Lexy and Cassie listened with rapt attention as I brought them up to date on Jenny Sparks.

“That’s interesting. I never had a case where the mistress did it. Maybe she’s crazy,” Cassie said.

“That’s a definite possibility,” I replied.

“You better be careful, then. You might need me to go with you in the field more for protection,” Lexy joked.

“Actually, you were quite helpful with Nathan Barrows. I don’t understand how you knew what dentist she went to, though. If you were guessing, you took a hell of a chance."

Lexy waved her hand in the air. “I didn’t take a chance. I used an old trick that my grandmother taught me. Remember when we went in the house and I knocked the mail off the counter?”

“Yeah.” I’d thought she’d just stumbled.

“That was no accident. I did it on purpose. As I was picking the mail up, I shuffled through it looking for certain pieces of mail. See, the trick is that you find a reminder card or a card from a store or restaurant. Then you know the person went there and you just say you know them from that place. Works like a charm every time.” Lexy sat back in her chair, a self-satisfied grin on her face. “The dentist reminder card was perfect because I actually do go to Dr. Richfeld.”

“He’s wonderful.” Cassie turned to Lexy. “Don’t you think?”

“Oh, yes. I’m not surprised she went there. Most of the people in town go to him for their various … ahh … dental needs.” Lexy winked.

Lexy and Cassie had told me about the various anti-aging treatments they’d had done at Richfeld’s. Apparently, he was a whiz with the Botox needle in addition to the king of porcelain crowns. Cassie had also just had her eyelids done recently, so apparently he was branching out into surgery. I wasn’t surprised. Many dentists were doing that these days. And I wasn’t surprised a woman with the kind of money that Evangeline Barrows had would want to avail herself of the latest anti-aging enhancements.

“Well, I don’t see how the police can’t be catching on to this. Surely they don’t still think it was an accident. Unless they aren’t as smart as John and Jack were.” Cassie and Lexy exchanged a wistful look at the mention of their late husbands.

“They probably aren’t as smart,” Lexy said. “But I bet they are starting to see it wasn’t an accident. Have you heard anything from them, Cal?”

I shook my head. “No and I don’t want to call. I gave them what I had and I’m sure Hale won’t give me the time of day, anyway. Plus I’m not sure I want him to know I’m looking into this.”

“Right. You need more concrete evidence, anyway.” Lexy turned to me. “What do you plan to do next?”

I sank back into the chair. “I’m not sure. My resources are limited because I’m not with the police and, technically, I don’t even have a client. But I wish I could talk to someone at Barrows Investments. Evangeline said he had something bad going on at work. I’m hoping if I find out more about that, I can figure out more about his motives. The only problem is that I don’t have an ‘in’ at the company.”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Lexy said.

I lifted a brow at her. Did she have another sneaky trick to interrogate company employees?

She continued. “I know the perfect place to talk to people who worked with Nathan and he won’t suspect a thing.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Where is that?”

“Why, at the wake, silly,” Lexy smiled. “All his friends and co-workers will be there and, since I was such a good friend of Evangeline, I wouldn’t miss attending … and naturally, I’ll need you—my granddaughter—to drive me.”

M
cGreevy’s
Funeral home was an old, antique Victorian house just outside of Brooke Ridge Falls. I’d gone to my office in the morning, and when I pulled my PTV up to our building that afternoon to pick up Lexy, she was waiting on one of the benches outside the front door in a smart navy blue suit. She practically leaped into the vehicle, exhibiting a lot more excitement than anyone going to a wake should have.

“I’ve been to lots of these in my day, you know,” she said as she settled into the squeaky leather seat and pulled the top of her jacket out of the restraint belt so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “On investigations, I mean. They haven’t changed much in sixty years. You follow my lead. I know just what to do to get the scoop.”

I didn’t bother to remind her that I had been a private investigator for several years and also knew what to do to. I didn’t want to spoil her fun and besides, she
had
been pretty helpful at Nathan’s. Maybe she had some other tricks up her sleeve. I just hoped they didn’t involve bumping into a piece of furniture, especially not the casket.

I parked in the back of the funeral home and followed Lexy to the front of the building where she practically ran up the granite steps. She wrenched the eight-foot tall honey-oak door open, startling the somber, dark-suited doorman who had been poised to push it open for us from the inside. She stood there holding the door and gesturing for me to hurry up.

Inside, snatches of hushed conversation drifted into the foyer. Everything was muted, as if the plush carpeting absorbed most of the sound. I could hear soft weeping coming from the blue room down on the left, the ‘slumber room’ as it was called. I figured that’s where they had Evangeline, or at least what was left of her.

We’d timed our arrival purposely for the middle of the viewing hours so as to be able to overhear as many conversations as possible, and the place was crowded. Lexy made a beeline for the slumber room and I followed, jostling through the crowd in the hall.

The cloying scent of flowers hit me as I turned into the room and I stifled a sneeze. The mahogany casket was set along the wall to the right. Both sections were closed and it was draped with a blanket of white roses. A large picture of Evangeline was propped up on top. Flowers on pedestals and tables crowded all three sides of the room. Two giant arrangements guarded either end of the casket. The somber tones of organ music drifted out of unseen speakers somewhere up in the ceiling.

A line had formed and I took my place at the end, just inside the doorway. To my direct right was the guest book which Lexy was already eagerly signing. Nathan Barrows stood directly across from the door, the first stop after the line filed past the casket. He wore an expensive and well-cut suit. His face looked haggard, his eyes and the tip of his nose red and raw. His hands were clasped in front of him, and the white ends of a wad of tissues peeked out from his fist. I watched as he shook hands and accepted condolences from the people streaming by. Every so often, his eyes would drift in the direction of Evangeline’s casket, then jerk back to whoever was in front of him.

Lexy leaned back toward me, cupped her hand over her mouth and whispered, “He sure does look genuinely upset. He must be a good actor.”

My thoughts precisely. I kept my eye on him as we advanced in the line. He certainly was doing a good job. He even broke down a couple of times in tears.

We made our way past the casket and over to Nathan, who looked at us as if he recognized us but couldn’t quite remember where from.

“Lexy grabbed his hand and held it between hers. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Barrows. It’s me, Lexy Baker. I came to your house the other day…”

“Oh, yes. You knew Vangie from the doctor’s office, right?”

“The dentist,” Lexy corrected him. “This here’s my granddaughter.” She gestured toward me and I murmured something appropriately sympathetic. More people had piled in the line behind us and I could sense their impatience. We were holding the line up, so I knew we couldn’t spend a lot of time talking to Nathan. I was more interested in listening to the murmured whispers and speculation amongst the other mourners, anyway.

Lexy dropped his hand and we moved along. Lexy skirted the metal folding chairs and headed back out into the hall toward a narrow room off to the side.

“This is where they usually keep the refreshments. I like to come in here and check up to see who they’ve got providing them.” She glanced into the room, her face pinched in disapproval. “Looks like grocery store goods. They should have my great-granddaughter supply them from the bakery, but people are so cheap these days.”

She slipped inside, plucked a napkin from the pile then proceeded to unfold it, stuff it full of lemon cookies and shove it into her large, tan patent leather purse. She saw me watching and winked. “Anyway, this is the place to hang out. it's where all the good stuff gets talked about.”

I already knew that, but pretended like she’d just given me the tip of the day. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Nathan’s brother, David, making the rounds. As he talked to various mourners, he cast furtive glances in Nathan’s direction. I figured he was probably trying to make sure Nathan didn’t break down. I sidled over in his direction, my mind busy trying to think up a way I could ask him about Nathan’s suspicious absence the night of Evangeline’s death and Jenny Sparks disappearing without it seeming as if I was interrogating him.

He caught my eye and recognition flashed across his face. He remembered me from the other day at Nathan’s house.

“Callie?” He stuck out his hand and we shook. “Is your grandmother here?”

I inclined my head toward the small room where Lexy was still sampling the cookies. “She’s in the refreshment room.”

He glanced over, a smile quirking his lips. “Oh, right. Those little old ladies do like their refreshments. It was so nice of you both to come. I know Nathan can use all the support he can get. He’s really torn up about this and … well, honestly I’m worried. He’s been acting so odd.”

My ears perked up. Odd? Then again it was probably normal to act odd when your wife had just burned to death on your boat. “I imagine this has been very hard on him. It’s so sudden … and violent. Especially since they’d had a fight and he was away at their cabin. I hope he doesn’t feel guilty thinking he could have done something to save her if he’d been home.”

David looked at me funny and I hoped I hadn’t overdone it. I didn’t have much of a choice, though. I’d have very few opportunities to talk to him and I wanted to feel him out.

“Yes. He does seem to blame himself. He’s just so out of sorts. Not remembering things correctly. I’m sure he’s confused about when he was at the cabin,” David said.

I tried to keep my brows from shooting up to my hairline and feigned disinterest. I didn’t want David to know that he’d piqued my interest. “Oh, you mean he was at home that night?”

David scrunched up his face. “Well, I’m not exactly sure. He did say he’d gone to the cabin, but the cabin is on an isolated dirt road and there is only one way in. He’d have to drive by a neighboring cabin, and I talked to those neighbors yesterday and they never saw Nathan drive by.”

“Maybe they didn’t notice. I mean, they don’t watch the road all night, do they?”

“No, but Myra—that’s the neighbor—was awaiting a drone delivery and was on the lookout. You know how those drones can be … you have to watch them all the time.” David shrugged. “I talked to Nathan’s doctor and she said he might have some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. I just hope he gets through this okay. He did love Evangeline quite deeply … even though they might have been going through a rough spot.”

I nodded as if in sympathy. I was so excited at this new information that I could barely contain myself, but I still wanted to know more. “A big shock like that can wreak havoc on your mind. I can imagine that he can barely think straight with everything he’s going through, especially with his domestic helper disappearing. That’s just an added stress that he probably doesn’t need at this time.”

David pulled a face. “His domestic helper?”

“When we came to pay our respects, he’d said the housekeeper never showed up for work. My grandmother said she probably just got spooked by what had happened and took off. You know how help is so unreliable these days.”

“That’s true, but I don’t think that’s the case with David’s housekeeper. I know she didn’t show up
that
day, but when I was over there last night, I’m pretty sure she was there. At least, I think it was her.”

“Oh? Why do you say that?”

“I only stopped over real quick to drop off the mass cards from the funeral parlor, but there was a strange car in the driveway and I heard noises in the back. Nathan said someone was cleaning up in the kitchen so I assumed it was Jenny. I never went inside. I just dropped off the cards, but who else could it have been?”

Who else, indeed. “Well, what kind of car did she—”

“Callie Justice! Is that you?” The voice was slightly familiar and I spun around to recognize Suzanne St. Thomas, a former classmate of mine from the private investigator licensing course I’d taken.

“Suzanne?”

David touched my elbow and I switched my attention back to him.

Shoot! I couldn’t let him get away but Suzanne had already appeared at my other elbow.

“I need to go talk to some relatives over there. Thank you so much for coming,” David said and then disappeared before I could stop him.

Dang!

I’d wanted to know what kind of car had been parked in front of Nathan’s. I could easily find out what kind of car Jenny Sparks drove and then I’d know for sure if it was her. But we’d
seen
her leave town on the super shuttle. Had she come back? Or was it someone else at Nathan’s house? Was another person involved in the murder?

“ … seen you in ages!” Suzanne was saying. She threw her arms wide and enveloped me in a hug. We’d been close in PI school and had spent many nights together studying over beer and pizza. We’d drifted apart in the years after and hadn’t kept in touch. Still, it was good to see her and I returned her hug eagerly.

“I know. It’s good seeing you, too,” I said.

She held me at arm’s-length. “You look great. What have you been up to?”

I glanced around to make sure neither Nathan or David were within hearing distance and lowered my voice. “I opened my own private investigator business.”

Her eyes went wide. “How do you like that? I’ve thought about venturing out on my own, but the security of a paid job and the benefits make it hard. “

I knew what she meant. Even with the new government insurance programs, the insurance premiums were astronomical. Not to mention liability insurance and not knowing when your next client would appear. But still, I loved the freedom.

“Where do you work? And what brings you here?” I asked.

“I’m in corporate security. I work for Barrows Investments. Nathan Barrows is technically my boss, so I’m here paying my respects.”

She glanced uneasily into the room at the closed casket.

I couldn’t believe my good luck. One of the missing pieces in my investigation—having an 'in' to talk to at Barrows Investments—had just fallen right into my lap.

Artemis’s search for people I knew at Barrows Investments hadn’t found Suzanne because I'd taken those PI classes before I’d acquired him. He only had people I currently knew in his database and didn’t know the connection between me and Suzanne.

I would have loved to have asked if she knew anything about Nathan’s misbehavior at the company right then and there, but I knew she wouldn’t spill her guts with all her co-workers around.

“We really need to get together and catch up. It’s been way too long,” I said.

“We do.” Suzanne’s gaze drifted over my shoulder and I turned around to see two women at the end of the long receiving line jerking their heads for her to join them. “My coworkers are in line. I better go join them.”

She reached into her purse, slipped out a business card and handed it to me. “Give me a call and we’ll get together and chat.”

“Absolutely,” I said as she headed off toward her friends.

I smiled at the business card in my hand. Attending the wake had been very productive. Not only had I gotten a great contact inside Barrows Investments, but David had given me a valuable clue. As I had suspected, Nathan Barrows may not have been at the cabin when his wife was killed.

Now all I had to do was prove it.