False Prophet (49 page)

“How’d Davida get this?” Decker patted the yearbook.

Ness looked sick. “Shortly after I came here to visit, my sister’s room was burglarized. Nothing but personal things were missing. Kelley thought it might have been a weirdo who works in the kitchen, a guy who had a crush on her. But she didn’t want to make a big scene. She was new here and I can’t tell you what this job meant to her. Things like independence… Anyway, she forgot about the burglary. Then I got this phone call from a person who I won’t mention by name. Break-ins and personal stuff missing… see any parallels here, guys? The Q-Bee’s M.O.”

“Why would Davida break into
Kelley’s
place and steal her
yearbook
?” Marge asked.

“Q-Bee probably wasn’t
out
to steal the yearbook specifically. She was just looking for employee
dirt
in general. That’s what Miss Bee did. Gather dirt against anybody she could.” Ness’s eyes went to the yearbook. “She got a direct
hit
on
me
. So I became one of her errand boys just like her sons. Only she expected
more
from me.”

“You had an affair with her?” Marge asked.

“Why are you talking in the past tense?” Ness frowned. “What difference does it make anyway?”

“What happened with Kingston Merritt?” Marge asked.

Ness pushed hair out of his eyes. “I’d say someone miscalculated her errand boys. I don’t know why anyone would want to use scum like
Russ, especially
when someone like me might have helped out.” He paused. “She claimed she was trying to protect me. Maybe she was.”

“So what happened after she sent Russ over to Kingston’s office?” Marge asked.

“Who knows?” Ness said. “
I
wasn’t there. Next thing I knew, someone suggested that I check out King’s office.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Russ and King… both of them were floating in blood. I’ve got a strong stomach, but it made… the smell… I got out of there as fast as I could.”

“You got Eubie to take care of Russ’s body?” Marge asked.

“Go reread Eubie and Kelley’s statements,” Ness said.

“Eubie agreed to help you out because he owed you, didn’t he, Mike?” Decker said. “For covering for him the night of Lilah’s rape.”

“That wasn’t the only time,” Ness said. “You meet Eubie, you meet a guy with a perpetually runny nose and loose zipper. Lilah would have fired him a long time ago if I hadn’t intervened.”

“So why’d you do it?”

“’Cause I’m a
jerk
, that’s why.”

“Did Davida put a hit out on her own son?” Marge asked.

“Well, Q-Bee is one cold-blooded reptile, but that’s not her style.” Ness shrugged. “She likes them alive so she can squeeze them dry. I think Davida’s telling it true. I think they did shoot each other. But I really don’t know, because I wasn’t there.”

“But you did check out Merritt’s office.”

Ness shrugged again. “Hey, what does it matter? I’m just talking theory, not fact.”

“Two men were shot and no guns were found in Merritt’s office, Mike,” Decker said. “Happen to have any theories about the weapons?”

“Might make more sense to ask
what
are the weapons. And the answer might be they’re sheet metal. Recycling is very good for the environment. Can we finish up and put a lid on this whole mess?”

“Mess is right,” Marge said.

“Yeah, it’s been a mess.” Ness was quiet for a moment. “Not that it hasn’t had its benefits. Once we established ground rules, Q-Bee’s been all right. Did you know Davida wants to build her own spa… a much nicer one than VALCAN. We thought Palm Springs would be a good location.”

“We?” Marge said.

“Kelley and I would be silent partners,” Ness said. “Our expertise’ll be our contribution to the partnership. We’ve almost got all the papers signed — a few more glitches to iron out and I’ve
finally
got a piece of the action. Kelley and I have learned a lot from Lilah. It was good that I came here. But it’s time to go forward.”

“You’re going into competition with Lilah,” Marge said.

Ness grinned. “I’m not going into competition with Lilah, Detective.
Davida
is.” He looked at his watch again, then at the yearbook. “Can I have that?”

“Why was this so important to you, Mike?” Decker said. “You could have told Lilah that the name Michelle Ness was a misprint.”

Ness’s laugh was forced. “God, you didn’t look closely, did you? Not like Davida did.”

“What’d we miss?” Marge said.

Ness buried his hands in his face, then looked up. “What the hell. I’m beyond humiliation. Maybe you’ll take pity on me.”

The room was quiet.

“Mike Ness,” he whispered. “AKA Michelle Ness — tennis team, volleyball team, softball team, basketball team, and… the
cheerleading
squad.” He laughed softly. “I was a
cheerleader
. No chick on earth could jump as high as I could. It was all the hormones, you know.”

“You were taking male hormones?” Marge said.

“Didn’t have to take them, Detective, I was
born
with them. You look at my birth certificate, you’ll see I’m a male.”

“We know that.”

“You know—” Ness laughed. “Man, you guys are dedicated. Now can I have the album?”

Decker said, “One more question, Mike—”

“I know the question. A variation on the old
who am I?
game. In this case, it’s
what
am I?”

Decker was quiet. He watched Ness pour himself another Scotch. Comfortable in the room. Decker wondered how many times Davida had called him down here to do her bidding — sexual or otherwise. Ness took a big swallow of booze.

“I’ve got this condition called CAH — cortical adrenal hyperplasia. I’m missing this enzyme… a genetic screwup. Without this enzyme, the adrenal glands go nuts and pump out gallons of extra hormones — androgens.”

He faced them, eyes hot with anger.

“Know what androgens do to fetuses? They turn little baby girls into little baby boys. Wasn’t until I was a year and a half old that some doctor finally figured out my balls weren’t gonna descend because I
had
no balls. In fact, I wasn’t even a boy. I was a girl born with fused labia that looked like a scrotum and a clitoris as big as a dick. Got that way because my adrenals had been feeding me testosterone since I was conceived.”

He took another sip of booze.

“The condition wasn’t life-threatening. Matter of fact, my mom could have done nothing about it and just raised me as a boy. Other than the fact I’d be sterile and would wind up with a small dick — small but I could do the job — I could lead a pretty normal life.

“But
my
mom didn’t want that. My chromosomes said I was a girl and Mom was a firm believer in God’s plan. If God wanted me to be a boy, he would have made me a real boy. So Mom decided to turn me back into a girl. So… we moved to another neighborhood. After a year and a half of being Michael wearing overalls and playing with firemen, I suddenly became Michelle wearing dresses and playing with dolls. I remember being very confused.”

He finished his drink and quickly poured another one.

“Let’s see, I was on doca, cortisol, then one estrogen after another. My parents could have done corrective surgery right away, but Mom was a fanatic about things being perfect. Because I was so much
less
than perfect, she insisted on the best surgeon in the country, which cost a fortune. She and Dad decided to save up and do it right. Meanwhile, I’m a little girl with a bulge in my underwear. I learned real fast that private parts were kept
private
. The hormonal therapy did shrink my dick a little but I never looked like a real girl. I never, ever
felt
like a girl.”

He gazed into his drink.

“I wanted to
die
. Only thing that kept me going was Kelley. God, I loved her. I was a monster and she was
perfect
. A perfect little girl with a perfect little body. She reacted like a little girl, too… something I could never get the hang of. Screaming when she saw spiders or worms.” He raised his voice to a falsetto. “‘Mitchy, Mitchy, kill it, kill it!’”

He laughed.

“I was her insect henchman. Kell used to follow me around and sic me on whoever was giving her a hard time. Everyone knew Kelley’s sister didn’t take no shit.”

He rubbed his hands over his face.

“Course everything got worse during adolescence. I stopped taking my meds regularly ’cause I hated the way they made me feel — soft and moody. Soon as I started skipping them, I started changing back — hairy legs, peach fuzz on my face, deeper voice. It was slow so people didn’t notice real fast. What happened was I was turning into a real
ugly
girl. What made it a real nightmare was I started
liking
chicks. Gym was a sick joke — me looking at all those naked girls, getting hard under a towel. It was
hideous
.”

The room was silent.

Ness said, “I didn’t have a friend in the world except Kelley. I was a fucking
freak
. But man, I could do the splits like no chick alive.” He laughed. “The
in
-girls were
furious
when I made cheerleader. Course they couldn’t say it out loud. I wasn’t only strong, but junkyard mean. Any girl gave me or my sister a hard time, I’d take care of them. They knew I meant business.”

He let out a soft laugh.

“Their boyfriends would come after me and try to intimidate me — push me, poke me, yank my hair. Then I’d jump ’em and beat the
shit
out of ’em. The guys wouldn’t really fight me because they thought I was a girl, spent all their energy trying to block my punches. By the time they realized I wasn’t fighting like a girl, I’d done serious damage. They never dared to say anything — too embarrassing. Even
I
had my few moments in the sun.”

He smiled again at the recollection.

“Eventually, everyone just left me alone. Life was never good, but at least it was calm. Then my wonderful parents knocked on my door one day and announced they’d saved enough money to get me a first-class surgery job.”

His eyes made contact with Decker’s.

“Know what
I
heard, Sergeant? We’re gonna take you to a doctor and he’s gonna cut off what little remains of your dick.”

He shook his head fiercely.

“Uh-uh, no way, man! I had the unmitigated
nerve
to tell my parents that I wanted to be a boy — fuck the meds, fuck the surgery, fuck the senior prom — which infuriated my mom because she’d spent a hundred dollars on the gown.

“My wonderful, wonderful parents promptly told me they’d disown me if I went back to being a boy. So I did… and they did. Only one who stuck by me was Kelley. So they started getting on
her
case. Finally, they kicked her out of the house ’cause they were fighting so much. She was just seventeen and had no way to support herself. An A student and they wouldn’t give her a red cent.
I
supported her. I got us an apartment and put her through college. All this crap raining down on me and my sister because my parents couldn’t accept what
their
genetics had done to me.”

Ness flicked his wrist and checked the time. He let out a lungful of air. “I gotta go… five o’clock yoga. I’m late.”

Decker stood, then tossed Ness the album. Ness one-handed it and tucked it under his arm.

“I
told
you guys I didn’t rape Lilah.”

Decker didn’t answer.

“Thank you,” Ness said.

“You’re welcome,” Decker said.

Walking into the station house, Decker was philosophic. They’d found nothing at Davida’s bungalow — the memoirs were probably a lost cause — but at least he’d be home before Shabbat with time to spare. Hollander grunted and lifted his butt from the chair.

“You guys just missed Ms. Eversong.”

“She’s gone?” Marge said.

“’Bout twenty minutes ago. You guys want some coffee?”

Decker picked up his phone messages and began to sift through them. “Thanks, Mike. Coffee sounds great.”

“They couldn’t keep her longer than an
hour
?” Marge complained.

“You need a
reason
to detain someone, Marge,” Hollander said. “What are we going to bag her on? Not reporting a crime?”

“What about Freddy?” she said to Decker. “We still have Freddy.”

“Want to know what I think, Margie?” Decker said. “I think Ness is right. I think Freddy’s going to recant. I think we’re going to end up with less than what we started out with.”

“So she’s just going to walk?”

“’Fraid so,” Hollander said. “And Morrison suspects she’ll probably throw us a lawsuit for harassment. At least
this
time, it’ll be a suit we can probably beat. You see him on the boob tube? I thought he came off okay. I didn’t see you two, though.”

“You didn’t see my ‘Hi, Mom’?” Marge asked.

“It’s probably videotape on the editing floor,” Decker said.

“Yeah, the story was just a couple of sound bytes,” Hollander said. “With Davida released, it’s yesterday’s news.”

“Where is Morrison?” Decker asked.

“Out.” Hollander shrugged. “He did leave a message for you guys. On your desk, Rabbi.”

Decker walked over to his spot in the squad room and picked up a plain white envelope resting on his desktop. He pulled out the contents and read the note to Marge.

“Burbank’s prelim of the Merritt homicide jibes with Davida’s account, but they’ll do follow-up… Devon-shire’ll do follow-up on Donnally…. Lilah’s assault ruled self-inflicted…. Davida’s jewels have been recovered…. Charges dropped against Totes. Good job… time to move on.”

“That’s it?”

“It looks that way.”

“That stinks!” Marge banged her fist against her desk. “
I’m
gonna follow up on this.”

“Better be on your own time, Detective,” Hollander said. “I took the liberty of giving you a new two-forty-one. Girl was attacked in the underground lot of a parking mall in daylight. She was checked out, sent home. I contacted her, started the initial paperwork. She’s real scared and I had a problem with rapport. She jumped when I asked her if she wanted a female detective. You should probably interview her before the weekend starts. I’ll take your two juvey cases in exchange.”