NAILED (14 page)

“Were you two still seeing each other all this time?” I asked.

“No. Once she got back with Victor, our affair stopped, but we were still friends. I cared about her and she needed someone to talk to. I’m certain she would have left him. She and I would have been together now. Probably not living together like I would have liked, but we would have been dating and building a life. But she went to Maine with Victor and she never came back. Excuse me.” Brian went into a little powder room off the kitchen and came back with a couple of tissues. “Sorry.”

“Her sister thinks Victor killed her. She wants me to try and prove that. Did you ever think Victor killed Jenna?”

“Everyone thought that. It was the perfect crime, wasn’t it? No witnesses. Out in the middle of nowhere. I hated seeing that guy every day dropping Moshi off. It was almost like he was taunting me.”

“Did you know that before he and Jenna went away, they took out life insurance policies?”

Brian’s pale face went from flesh tone to red almost instantly. “Then it’s true. He did kill her. He got what he deserved!”

“Do you think he knew about you and Jenna?”

“I don’t know. I told Jenna not to keep a diary, but it was something she did since she was a kid. She liked to write down her thoughts. She said she had a great place to hide it and he would never find it. But he must have. Sometimes when he would drop his daughter off, I’d catch him looking at me. If he found the diary, then he knew Jenna had an affair. Maybe he was just checking me out to see if I fit the bill. He never said anything, though. He never confronted me. But I’ll bet that’s why he arranged that trip to Maine. He found that diary and he killed her. But how do you prove that?” he asked me in a skeptical tone.

“I don’t know that I ever will be able to prove it,” I said.

“Jenna would have never wanted Moshi to be raised by Vic and that mother of his. If you ask me, Victor getting killed is the best thing that could have happened for Moshi. Maddi and Hal are great parents, very active at the school. They’ll take good care of her. I really did love Jenna. I would have taken good care of them and the three of us could have had a wonderful life. I would have done anything for Jenna.”

I left Brian in the kitchen and as I walked back to my car I had to wonder if that included killing Victor.

It was getting late and I was hungry. I headed for home with one more stop to go. If Victor had indeed found Jenna’s diary, that might be considered a pretty good reason for him to kill her. Of course, none of this would probably ever be confirmed, but it might help Maddi move on knowing the truth about how her sister died. Maybe the police would even re-open their investigation, but with Victor dead, they may not want to bother. But still, I wanted to know if Victor had any idea about what Jenna had written, and if he did maybe he confided in his mother.

The Sanjari house stood quiet. It looked sad somehow, and I wondered if Maddi would have a hard time selling it. No crime actually took place in the house, but if it turned out Jenna was also murdered, knowing that both the previous owners were killed might put off potential buyers. Or maybe encourage others. There were all sorts of ghouls out there.

I rang the bell and heard nothing. I was about to leave, but remembered how Ruth had passed out the last time I was here. Maybe she was inside and needed help. I tried the door knob but the door was locked. I tried leaning over the railing to look in the front windows, but couldn’t quite reach, and from the ground they were too high for me to see through. I walked around to the back, and that’s when I noticed the back door was open. I crossed the patio and entered the kitchen. A noise was coming from somewhere down the hall. I should have called out, but the noise seemed furtive somehow, not like an occupant would make. I made my way quietly toward it to a small room that looked like an office. I looked in and saw a young woman rummaging through the drawers of a desk.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked. I didn’t think the woman was Delilah Sanjari. She was too young. She looked up at me and put her hand to her chest.

“Oh my God! You scared the daylights out of me.”

“Who are you and what are you doing in the Sanjaris’ house?”

She stuck out her chin. “I could ask you the same thing. You don’t look old enough to be Victor’s mother.” She was a tiny little thing, with an adorable haircut like the actress Michelle Williams.

“I was looking for Ruth. And you?” I reached into my purse and pulled out my cell phone. Of course I had to turn the darned thing on and by time it powered up this pixie could be long gone.

“Hey! No need to call anyone. I was like, just looking for my things. I think I’ll be going.” She tried to move past me.

“Not so fast. You still haven’t told me who you are.”

“Fine. My name’s Elizabeth Applegate.”

“Nice to meet you, Elizabeth Applegate. What were you doing going through these drawers?”

“I told you. I was looking for my stuff.”

“And why would your stuff be here?”

“Because, you know…forget it. It’s not here, so never mind.”

I still had the phone in my hand. I looked down at it and poised my finger over the nine.

“Okay. Okay! I just wanted to get my stuff that I left here. Since Vic died, I was afraid someone might find it and it was private, you know, like just between me and Vic. I didn’t want his mother or daughter to find it.”

“What was private? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“The pictures. The ones Vic took of me.” She looked at my left hand. “You’re married. You know, like pictures.” She tossed me a shy smile.

I tossed her a blank look.

The smile disappeared and the eyes rolled. “The nudies. I didn’t want anyone to find the nudies.”

I shook my head. “Victor Sanjari took nude photos of you?”

“Gee, pervert. It wasn’t like that! We were like dating. Victor and I were in love.”

Victor. Dating. Nude photos. In love. These were words I wasn’t expecting to hear together. All I could think of for the moment was why would this young woman, who had to be no more than twenty-two or three, want to date Victor Sanjari? And how long had this been going on?

“You were dating Victor Sanjari? You were in love with him? We are talking about
Victor Sanjari
, the man who was recently murdered, right?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. Gee, lady. You make it sound, like, nasty or something.”

Lady? I wasn’t even forty yet, for pity’s sake.

“Alex. My name is Alex. Sounds better than
Lady
.”

At that Elizabeth smiled.

“So how long were you and Victor together?”

“About six or seven weeks.” She held up her hand. “I know, not a long time, but, well, like we just clicked, you know. He wasn’t like any of the other guys I’ve dated. He was older and knew how to treat a woman.”

“We’re really talking about Victor Sanjari?” I should have Elizabeth speak to my sister and Maddi to find out how Victor treated women.

“I know who I’ve been dating. He was a great guy and someone killed him. How is that fair? Why would anyone want to kill him? We had plans.” A tear escaped her eye and she sniffled.

“What kind of plans?” I asked.

“He wanted me to move in here with him, but first he needed to find a place for his mother.”

So Mr. Annunzio was right when he told me about hearing Victor and Delilah arguing over Ruth.

“Did you see Victor the night he died?”

Elizabeth shook her head and her eyes misted over. “He was supposed to meet me at a restaurant in New Haven. I’m living there with a friend for the summer. I go to UCONN. Anyway, he never showed up. I sat there for like forever, and then I ordered dinner thinking he’d walk in while I was waiting for my food, but he never did. I had them box it up and then I drove here, but I didn’t see his car. Lights were on and I could see an old lady walking around. He didn’t want me to meet his mother yet, so I just left and went home.”

“How did you find out that he died?”

“My roommate told me Thursday morning. She saw it on TV. When he didn’t show up for dinner on Tuesday night I called him and it kept going to voice mail. I didn’t know what to think. I thought maybe he was, like, mad at me, or something came up with his mother. He said she was a handful. And then Kara told me he was dead.” Elizabeth sniffled and used the sleeve of her cotton shirt to wipe away a tear.

“So you decided to come and find your photos.”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t want anyone to see them. Victor used one of those cameras where you get the picture right away. He didn’t want them on his phone because his daughter might see them. We were just playing around. You know how it is when you’re newly in love.”

Yeah, the
Lady
could still remember the good old days when she didn’t call her husband
Detective
.

“How did you two meet?”

“I was waitressing at a private party Victor attended. I walked over to him with a tray of wine and he grabbed a glass and gave me a smile. He had a great smile. A while later I passed him again and he took another glass. This time a champagne cocktail. We chatted a bit and he gave me his card before he left and told me to call him, so I did.”

“And what will you do now?”

“I have a summer job at
The
Food Co-op
and I teach crafts to kids at a community center a couple of afternoons a week. And then school starts up again. I have one more year.”

“No family?”

“They live in Europe. My dad’s in the military.”

“Well, if you’re done with your search, I think we should get out of here,” I said. I stared at Elizabeth, and that’s when I heard a voice that wasn’t coming out of her mouth.

“What the hell is going on? Who are you people? Don’t move. I’m calling the police.”

I had been so engrossed in Elizabeth’s story that I never heard anyone else come in.

Two women stood by the entry to the small room in which Elizabeth and I now stood. I recognized Ruth, still in sweat pants and a tank top, though in a different color than the one she had on yesterday. The other woman had on a long calico skirt with a long-sleeved black turtle neck top despite the heat. Over that she wore what looked like a crocheted vest that went down to her knees. It was in the same thin yarn my mother used to use to make tablecloths and doilies. To complete the look she had a cross body bag made from an assortment of brightly crocheted squares draped across her front.

I put a smile on my face and tried not to look like a person who was just caught inside another’s home without permission.

“You must be Delilah,” I gushed. “I’m Alex Harris and this is Elizabeth Applegate. I came by to see Ruth, and when she didn’t answer the door I came around back to make sure she was okay. And look, here you are, Ruth.” I threw my arms out in a welcoming gesture. “You look good!” It sounded inane, but it was the truth, I did come by to see Ruth, though the looking good part was a gross exaggeration.

“I don’t know you,” Ruth Sanjari said.

“Yes, you do. I stopped by yesterday. Remember? I had a few more questions for you.”

“And her?” Delilah pointed to Elizabeth. “Who’s she?”

“Ah, just a friend. She was with me. We were out shopping when I remembered a few more things I wanted to discuss with Ruth.” I saw no reason to get the kid in trouble.

“That’s right, and you know what, Alex, I just remembered I’m late for…something. I’ll call you. It was fun.” Elizabeth took off like a shot and was out the back door before I could stop her.

Darn! I wanted to talk with her some more, but hopefully I could track her down via her job or school. I turned back to the two Sanjari women and smiled.

“I still think I should call the police,” Delilah said. “You can’t just come into people’s homes like this.”

Despite the fact that at some point Delilah Sanjari had felt at one with her Indian heritage, her looks were more in line with a throwback to hippie days in San Francisco. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a thin ponytail trailing down her back, and her skin was tan and lined, making her look older than she probably was.

“Well, technically it’s Moshi’s house and Maddi is the guardian, and I know for a fact that she wouldn’t mind my being here.”

Delilah put a scowl on her face, clearly not happy about the ownership of the home. “What did you want to ask my mother?”

“I wanted to know whether Victor ever mentioned to either one of you anything about finding a diary. Jenna’s diary.”

“He told me he found some money in her underwear drawer under those little panties she liked to wear. Didn’t sound like much to me, but he never said nothing about any diary. Delilah, where’d you put my cigarettes? Got nothing to drink in this place, at least let me have a smoke,” Ruth said.

“If you’re going to have to move back in with me, you better get used to no smokes and no alcohol, or you’ll find yourself out on the street.”

Ruth gave a snort and looked at me. “Do you hear how she talks to her mamma? I bet you don’t talk that way to your mother. And my son? He was trying to get rid of me even before he died. You do all you can for them growing up and this is what you get in return. What kind of kids have I raised? Huh?”

Ruth looked at me like she was expecting an answer. “I don’t know, Mrs. Sanjari. Was there nothing left to either one of you?” I didn’t envy Mr. Annunzio having these two women living above his shop.

Delilah huffed. “My brother told me I was executor of the trust, but guess what? He lied. The sad part is I believed him. After knowing him my entire life, I actually believed him. Well, he got the last laugh, didn’t he?” Delilah looked as if she was trying to control her temper. “Princess Maddi gets everything. Jenna made sure that her family made out if anything ever happened. Victor wanted Jenna back and he told me Jenna said she’d only come back and try again if he would agree to set up the trust. As soon as she died, he told me he had changed it, but looks like he never got around to it like he said. I’m going to be stuck with her again,” Delilah nodded in her mother’s direction. “You tell me how that’s fair. And how the hell am I supposed to pay my rent? Huh?”