Done to Death (17 page)

‘No video surveillance at all?' Mattie asked.

‘The only camera she'd let me install is out by the gate. But look at this place, more than anything it's why she picked it. It's got natural borders. No one's coming across the river. There's a ten foot fence around the perimeter, with razor wire on top. There's thirty-two acres of forest that buffer the house, and the only road in and out has the gate.'

‘No reporters? Fans?' Mattie asked.

‘I used to think that would be an issue,' Clarence said. ‘It wasn't. Most of her fans are older, not the fence-climbing types. She mostly stayed in the city, so if anyone wanted to see her they'd hang outside her apartment building or at the studio.'

‘Where does the feed for the video go?' Mattie asked.

‘I'll show you.' He walked them from the kitchen to a small study off of the living room. There was a monitor on the desk that showed the now open double-width gate. ‘Here, how far back do you want to go?'

‘Go hour by hour,' Mattie instructed.

They clustered around and watched the parade of vehicles in reverse. Kevin, then Mattie and Jamie, a crime scene van, Arvin's truck, a Grenville cruiser and the first crime scene van.

Mattie scanned the time and date on the bottom of the screen as they saw the first responders come through the gate. ‘Who opens the gate?' she asked.

‘Usually me. You want to see?'

‘Sure.'

He paused the tape and went back to the live feed. He pressed a button on what looked like a garage door remote on a braided lanyard. ‘This is the microphone, and then this opens and closes it.'

‘How many of those are there?'

‘Quite a few. We keep them in all the cars and there's at least three in the main house, one in the cabana and I always have this one on me.'

‘That's a lot,' she commented. ‘Do you know exactly how many?'

He shook his head. ‘No, trouble is they're easy to lose. I can't tell you how many times I had to give Rachel mine. I was thinking that next time I ordered them I'd try to get GPS chips installed; at least that way when she drops one at some nightclub we can track it down.'

Mattie nodded. ‘Rachel and Richard: what was their relationship like?'

‘Not an easy answer. You guys want more coffee?'

They all declined, and Mattie waited.

Clarence looked back at the screen. ‘Crap.'

There was silence.

‘Everything's going to come out, isn't it?'

‘Pretty much,' Mattie said. ‘So this is another secret?'

‘They're not bad kids. And for what it's worth, I can't believe Rachel killed him. Torture him, make his life miserable in other ways, but not this.' He stared at the screen, the image frozen on the closed gate. ‘They were having sex.'

‘With who?' Jamie asked.

‘Each other, and for a long time … years.'

‘Is this fact or speculation?' Mattie asked.

‘I'd say ninety-nine percent sure it's fact. I always thought that Richard went along with it to keep her happy.'

‘You weren't kidding about the secrets,' Mattie said. ‘Is that all of them?'

Clarence turned and faced her. ‘One more … and it's a doozy. She was going to have a baby.'

‘Rachel?' Jamie asked.

‘No. Lenore.'

‘I
s it Grenville?' Lil asked Ada, who was propped in bed with a cup of tea. It was five a.m. Neither of them had gotten much sleep, the news of Richard's murder kicking up so many bad memories of their own recent brushes with death … and with murderers.

Lil was on her laptop trying to work on her column, while simultaneously surfing the Internet for details on Lenore's, and now her son's, murder.

‘Did it say where they've taken Rachel?' Ada asked. ‘That poor girl.'

‘It just said into custody. So here, I guess.'

Ada pictured the too-thin blonde whose moods shifted with the wind. ‘It's not us, is it? That crack that Aaron made …'

‘Please.' Lil stared at the screen. ‘It looks like they think she killed her mother and her brother.'

‘Horrible,' Ada said. ‘And if she's pregnant and in jail … it's too awful. I can't see her surviving this. She seemed fragile. For what it's worth, I don't think she killed her brother. Not that I had more than a fifteen minute chat with her. She struck me as the kind of girl who'd hurt herself but not someone else.'

‘Are the two that far apart?' Lil asked.

‘I think they are,' Ada said. ‘We've both been around the block; people behave kind of like you'd expect. Sure, people have secrets, so what's on the surface isn't always what you get. So let's just say it wasn't Rachel … who else would profit from Richard Parks' death?'

Lil sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Ada, we're not getting involved in this.'

‘We already are. And don't even pretend that you're not curious. So play along … I don't think it's Rachel … so who?'

‘Well,' Lil said, abandoning any reticence. ‘You've started with an assumption that could be dead wrong.'

‘Which was?'

‘You said “profit from his death”. What if the motive has nothing to do with money?'

‘You're right. But there's so much of it. If it's not money, we've got what? Revenge, jealousy, crazy stalker. And of course, are the two murders separate or related?'

‘I'll make the assumption this time,' Lil said. ‘Mother and son killed a day apart − these two things go together.'

‘Agreed, and if Rachel's not the killer, then is she also a target?'

Lil looked at Ada. ‘Oh God.' She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and called Kevin Simpson's cell. After she'd dialed she looked at the clock and was about to disconnect when he picked up.

‘Hello?'

‘Hi Kevin, I'm sorry to call so early.'

‘Mrs Campbell?'

‘Yes, dear. Look, I know this is none of my business, but Ada and I were talking about Richard Parks.'

He chuckled. ‘Of course you were.'

She ignored him. ‘Dear, sarcasm doesn't suit you. Anyway, let's for argument's sake say Rachel didn't kill him. Until we know why both Lenore Parks and her son were murdered, I think she could be in terrible danger.'

‘She's safe.'

Lil paused. ‘Who's heading the investigation?'

‘Mattie Perez.'

‘Wonderful! Is she there?'

‘Mrs Campbell—'

‘Yes, I know, Kevin, this is none of my business,' she said, thinking
you have to give to get
. ‘But both Ada and I have spent the past couple days around the Parks family. We might have information that Mattie would want. Just tell her I called. It won't hurt my feelings if she says no, but please just ask.'

‘Fine.' His tone letting her know it wasn't fine at all. ‘I'll ask her.'

Lil held on the line and looked at Ada. ‘You do realize,' she said, ‘there's something very wrong with us.'

‘I know nothing of the sort. If you get her on the phone, invite her for lunch.'

‘Good idea.' And she heard the familiar rasp of the detective's voice.

‘Lil?'

‘Hi Mattie. Can't keep away from our lovely town.'

‘No. So it's not even six in the morning. Please tell me the two of you don't have a scanner by the bed.'

‘Not by the bed, although it could be fun.'

‘So … is this a call from you the reporter, or you the concerned citizen, or …?'

‘The nosy neighbor,' Lil said, rounding out the options. ‘A bit of all of them,' and she laid out her and Ada's whirlwind two days with Lenore Parks Productions.

‘You actually saw her wheeled out?' Mattie asked.

‘Yes, and the strangest thing … they held the meeting anyway. The company president was just shot and it was business as usual.'

‘And now the acting CEO is dead,' Mattie commented. ‘What did you think of Rachel?'

‘Let me put Ada on,' she said. ‘I barely talked with the girl. You know she's pregnant?'

‘What?' Mattie said.

‘Yeah, I'm pretty sure.'

‘Hell, no. Kevin!'

Lil listened to Mattie over the line. ‘Did they do a physical on Rachel Parks?'

‘No. Just a search, and the routine screening stuff. Why?'

‘She could be pregnant.'

‘Crap, no.'

‘Yup.'

‘Mrs Campbell told you that? How does she know this stuff?'

‘Beats me. But you need to get a doc in and probably a shrink as well. I've got a bad feeling about her in lock-up. We might want to think about a locked unit someplace.'

‘Like a psych hospital.'

‘It might be better.'

Ada's cell rang from inside her pocketbook. ‘That can't be good,' she said, getting out of bed. She pulled it out, but didn't recognize the number on the read-out. ‘Hello?'

‘Morning, Ada.' It was Melanie.

Ada figured that, regardless of what Barry had said, she was about to be told that her short-lived career in reality TV had ended.

‘We're about five minutes away. Do you want a bagel, breakfast sandwich, English muffin?'

Ada was flummoxed. ‘So the show must go on?'

‘Of course. If Lenore were alive nothing would stop her from taping. She even taped on Nine Eleven … in Manhattan. So, bagel?'

‘Sure.'

‘Great, see you in a few.'

Lil came up to her, phone in hand. ‘You want to talk to Mattie?'

Ada nodded; she felt dazed. ‘Sure … hi Mattie.'

‘Feels like Old Home Week,' the detective commented. ‘Lil said you had a conversation with Rachel Parks yesterday.'

‘I did,' and she gave the detective a synopsis.

‘What did you think of the two of them together?'

Ada caught the nuance in Mattie's voice. She thought back to the brother and sister duo at the cemetery. ‘There was tension between them, but I wouldn't say it was hostile. He seemed very protective, and also … what's the word? Not that he was scared, but sort of on eggshells. And Lil told you about her pregnancy theory?'

‘I'm still trying to process that one,' Mattie admitted. ‘Incest resulting in a pregnancy. It's fairly heavy, and then add in that these are the children of a major celebrity.'

‘I'll tell you this,' Ada said. ‘They seemed genuinely close, possibly too close. Admittedly, I talked to the girl for maybe fifteen minutes, but she's deeply troubled, very intelligent and the kind of person whose mood changes in a heartbeat.'

‘Act first, think later?'

‘I think so. That's certainly how they portray her in the tabloids. Richard seemed reserved, kind of her polar opposite.'

‘What do you think of the incest theory?' Mattie asked.

Ada remembered the looks between brother and sister, like they had their own silent language. ‘It's possible. There was something about them. Lil said that when she first saw them she thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't know if this matters, or if and how it's connected, but they're going ahead with shooting this reality show.'

‘Seriously?'

‘Yeah. The crew will be here in a few minutes. And about that, here's an interesting tidbit. Richard Parks didn't want them filming this, and he certainly didn't want them using his mother's estate.'

‘What are you talking about?'

Ada told her about the argument between Richard and Rachel. She hesitated before adding the piece about Richard yelling at Barry Stromstein. ‘I didn't actually hear it, but I could see that Barry seemed upset, and Richard looked like his head was about to explode. It's understandable, the guy's mother is murdered and someone's proposing to film a show about selling off her furniture.'

‘You gals really are a piece of work,' Mattie commented.

‘Don't say it. We're painfully aware of how morbid this all is.'

‘I'll need to talk to this Barry.'

‘Should I have him call you?' Ada asked.

‘No. I prefer the surprise. So it looks like we'll be catching up later.'

Ada thought about Lil's lunch suggestion but, based on yesterday's shooting schedule, she realized anything before sundown wouldn't work. ‘You with Jamie?' she asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘The two of you want a home-cooked meal tonight?'

Mattie laughed. ‘I'm assuming we're talking Lil's cooking and not yours.'

‘I'll have you know I am very skilled at the microwave.'

‘No doubt. And yes, that would be great if we have time. Let's confirm later.'

T
romping through the woods of Lenore's estate with Kevin Simpson and Clarence Braithwaite, Mattie's thoughts played over the evolving investigation. She now knew that her original assumption − Rachel Parks shot and killed her brother, and possibly her mother as well – was wrong. The trail of blood from Richard's bedroom to hers was the first tip, followed by the absence of any powder residue on Rachel's blood-smeared hands. An hour ago she'd made the decision to have the girl transferred by ambulance to an area hospital. She'd called Rachel's psychiatrist, Dr Amos Ebert. He'd prefaced their conversation with, ‘As her psychiatrist I can certainly listen to anything you have to say, but without a release I can't tell you much.'

She'd told him about how Rachel had acted in her cell. ‘Spaced out like she's not quite there.'

‘She dissociates,' he'd said. ‘When the going gets too hard, she has the ability to check out. She's done it since she was a kid.'

‘Like split personality?' Mattie had asked.

Ebert had coughed. ‘That's dangerous territory, detective. And not something I'd bring up within earshot of Rachel. It's too easy to make people with borderline pathology decide they're Sybil. It's called hysterical conversion and, once you flip that switch, it's a free fall down the rabbit hole.'