Evidence (7 page)

Bettina
Sanfelice said, “Personal?”

Milo’s
eyebrows said
Take it from here
. Sheryl Passant said, “They mean sex,
Teen. Because Des was a horner from day one, right? Like he was put on this
earth to
do
it.” The corners of her mouth turned up as she bent over her
straw. Conspicuous slurp.

I
said, “Helga and Marjorie Holman both told us about a meeting where Des was
discussed by all of you.”

Passant
grinned. “Where we all admitted doing Des.”

Bettina
Sanfelice’s hand shot to her mouth.

“Stop
being dorky, Teen. You did him, we all did him. So what?”

“Omigod.”
Sanfelice hung her head.

Passant
laughed. “I have always been her bad influence, that’s why her mom has always
hated me. Put a horn like Des with a bunch of girls, what do you think’s going
to have happened?”

I
said, “Helga said it didn’t happen with her.”

“That’s
because she’s never been human—stop
spazzing
, Teen, it’s
biology
.”

Sanfelice said,
“I
need to go to the bathroom.”

“In a
sec, hon,” said Milo.

No
argument.

Passant
said, “The moment you met Des it was pretty clear he was after one thing.”

I
said, “Marjorie said he was pretty direct, just came out and asked.”

“At
first, I thought it was gross. Like, are you kidding? But the way he did it
made it not gross.”

“How
so?”

“Not
pushy, kind of … friendly. Des made it all
real
friendly.”

Her
foot rested on mine. Pressure just short of pain. I slid away. She smiled.

“Was
it a onetime thing, or did—”

“Seven
times for me. Lucky seven.”

Bettina
Sanfelice gasped.

“I
know I told you three, Teen. Didn’t want to freak you out but it was seven. Now
you’re gonna ask why wasn’t it eight? I don’t know, it just kind of stopped.
Like he’d become my brother or something.”

I
said, “Too friendly.”

“Yup.”

“Did
Des take you anywhere in particular?”

“Coffee,”
she said. “Sometimes food.” Back to caressing my shoe with her sneaker.
“Afterward.”

“Was
there a particular place for before?”

She
faced me. “You really
are
personal. No, there wasn’t any one place. He
took me to sites.”

“Building
sites?”

“He
just called them sites. Like unfinished buildings, or sometimes there was just
dirt, sometimes parts of buildings. When there was just dirt, he had a blanket
in his car. Basically, he got off doing it outdoors. A lot of people do.”

I
said, “Where were these sites?”

“I don’t know the street, it was dark … they were all
in the Valley—is that where he got killed? In the Valley?”

“No,”
I said.

“Well,
with me it was always in the Valley. He’d pick me up at my apartment, say he
had a new site.”

Bettina
Sanfelice mumbled unintelligibly.

Sheryl
Passant said, “Now you can tell them about Des and you.”

I
said, “I think we know enough.”

“You
said it was two, Teen. Remember what I said when you told me that? Two for the
road. You said he took you to sites, also.”

Sanfelice
whimpered.

I
said, “We’re fine, Tina—”

Passant
reached across the table for her friend’s hand. “Chill, Teen, no one’s going to
tell your mom. They don’t care about us, they care about who killed Des.”

“Any
ideas about that?”

Both
women shook their heads.

I
said, “Marjorie Holman told us she and Des had a one-night stand. Do you think
that’s true?”

Passant
said, “Could be, she’s old and baggy.”

“How
did you guys come to be discussing Des?”

“We
all had been drinking, you drink, you talk.”

“It
wasn’t a business meeting?”

“That’s
what she called it. The Notz. Guess it was, because there wasn’t any
business—it wasn’t like a real job, you know?”

“No
assignments.”

“We
just came in every day and mostly sat around except when the Nazi wanted to
talk about stuff no one understood. One day, she came in and said, ‘There’s no
coherence, we need coherence.’”

Sanfelice
said, “Cohesiveness. ‘There’s no
cohesiveness
.’”

“Means
the same, Teen. Anyway, Helga-notz said we need to have something social to get
co-hesiveness, so we went out for drinks.”

“Just
the women,” I said.

“Girls’
night out.
Gerrrrls’ niyett ote
. Like it had been something
she’d heard in a chick movie or something, like she had
been trying to be American, you know? But what the hey, she’s paying, why not?
She found a place near the airport, you heard planes coming in, they served
these humongous margaritas. Remember those glasses, like for a plant, Teen?”
Rubbing my leg for emphasis.

“How’d
the topic turn to Des Backer?”

“It
had just kinda happened. You remember how, Teen?”

Head
shake.

Passant
said, “I guess we had been talking about stuff and that started it to talking
about guys. And that started it to talking about it being a girls’ night out.
And that started to someone saying I wonder how Des would have liked this,
being with all these girls.”

“Who
said that?”

Bettina
Sanfelice said, “Sheryl.”

“I
did?”

“Yes.”

Passant
grinned. “If she says I said it, then I said it. I was pretty much happy-time
happy. I don’t worry about what people think, anyway, always just say what’s in
my head.”

I
said, “So you brought up Des and—”

“And
everyone piled on. Like Truth or Dare without the dare.”

“Everyone
piled on except Helga.”

“Everyone
with a beating
heart.”

I
said, “What did Helga do during the discussion?”

“Sat
back and listened. I started and told them about Des and me and then Tina broke
in and said, ‘I was with him, too.’ Now,
that
had freaked me out because
Tina had always been the shy one and she’d never told me nothing.” To her
friend: “Nothing like four margaritas to get truth past the dare, huh?
Go
,
girl.”

Sanfelice
stared at the table.

I
said, “So Marjorie Holman spoke last.”

“It
was almost like she had been feeling left out, you know? Wanted to be young.
Like us, younger and hotter and doing it with Des.”

“Still, she was your boss. That was pretty
uninhibited.”

“She
drank more than anyone and she wasn’t the real boss, anyway. Helga was. And the
way she said it—Marjorie—was weird. Not coming out, more like a … something
weird.”

Bettina
Sanfelice said, “She said, ‘That experience is common to yours truly, as well.’
When I figured it out, it really shocked me, Ms. Holman always seemed so
stern.”

Passant
said, “Stern with her legs wide open. And she even got into more details.”
Winking. “She said he did her standing up behind a trailer. Facing her, it was
real friendly, almost like they were having a conversation, except they
weren’t.”

Bettina
Sanfelice said, “She made it sound like his being inside her was a surprise.”

The
three of us stared at her.

She
burst into tears. Retched and slapped her hand to her mouth and motioned
frantically with the other. Milo scooted out and she ran to the bathroom.

Sheryl
Passant said, “She always had a bad stomach.”

I
said, “She said the same about you.”

“Me?
No way. I’ve liked chili and spicy my whole life.”

“After
Marjorie told you about Des, what else did she say?”

“Nothing.
She just shut up and drank some more. We had to sit there a long time until she
could drive. Helga left first, me and Tina and Ms. Holman sat there looking at
each other, like no one had anything to say anymore. There was
CSI: Miami
on a big plasma and we just watched then we all drove home.”

“What
happened the next day?”

“What
do you mean?”

“No
mention of the discussion?”

“Nope.”
Her hand dropped to fool with her napkin, again. This time she lingered at my
crotch.

I
shifted away. “I’m going to make sure Bettina’s okay.”

“Don’t
bother, she’s okay—all right, fine, but she’s really okay.”

It took nine minutes for Sanfelice to emerge from the
ladies’ room. Her steps were wobbly and her eyes were raw. When she saw me, she
gasped.

“You
all right?”

“I’m
terrible,” she said.
“That
was terrible.”

“Sorry.
I didn’t intend for it to get that detailed—”

“With
Sheryl it would have to. She likes to show off. Her dad’s a drunk and he beat
her mom all the time, Sheryl never did well in school and her mom died a few
years ago. My mom says she’s a slut but she’s had it hard.”

Glancing
toward the booth. “You
won’t
tell my mom, right?”

Passant
and Milo weren’t talking. Passant looked bored.

When
Bettina Sanfelice settled back in, Milo said, “A woman died with Des—”

“Omigod—”

“—and
I’ve got a picture of her. It’s not disgusting or bloody, but it was taken
after death. Can you handle looking at it?”

Passant
said, “I just saw it, Teen, it’s no big deal and you don’t know her.”

Sanfelice
took a deep breath. “How can you be sure?”

“I
didn’t know her, so no way you did.”

“That
makes no sense, Sher. Show it to me, sir.”

Milo
produced the death shot. Sanfelice studied. Smiled triumphantly. “I’ve seen her
with Des.”

Passant
said, “Sure you have.”

Milo
said, “Where and when, Bettina?”

“Just
once, sir. It was after work. Des and me were the last ones in the office. I
was sweeping up and Des was drawing stuff on the computer.
Our
cars were parked in the lot out back and we walked out together.” Tapping the
image with a finger. “She was there, standing next to his car. Waiting for him,
he wasn’t surprised or anything.”

“Was
he happy to see her?”

“He
wasn’t happy or unhappy. Kind of … in the middle.”

Passant
murmured, “Once upon a time …”

Sanfelice
said, “I
definitely
saw her. I can tell you what she was wearing, sir.
Tight jeans and a black tank top. She had a real good body. I remember thinking
Des had himself a hot one.”

Glaring
at Passant.
As opposed to…

Passant
huffed and slurped her drink.

I
said, “Did Des address her by name?”

“Nope,
they didn’t talk at all. He just kind of nodded at her and she nodded back.”

“Did
they leave together?”

“I
can’t say for sure. I drove off first and didn’t see.”

Sheryl
Passant picked up the photo. “I wouldn’t call her hot.”

Milo
said, “How long ago did this happen, Bettina?”

“I
can’t tell you exactly when but it was way before GHC closed down, I’d guess
two months, maybe a little longer, like two and a half.”

“Anything
else you can tell us, Bettina?”

“No,
sir.”

“Okay,
thanks, you’ve been really helpful. If you think of anything else, here’s my
card.”

“She
won’t think of nothing, trust me,” said Passant. “And give me one of those,
too.”