Silent Witness (13 page)

''Sure. Go ahead.''

''She should do the dishes. At least clear the table,'' Archer complained as soon as Hannah was gone. It was a picky, suburban, married kind of comment and it made Josie testy.

''I don't think who clears the table is high on the list of things I worry about these days, Archer.'' Josie fingered the bowl of her wine glass, picked it up and finished what was left. Trying to be patient she offered Archer a closed lip smile. ''Are you feeling better?''

''Aspirin's helping with the swelling,'' Archer's answer was accompanied by a shrug. ''Work will take my mind off all this. I've put in calls to a couple of buddies of mine. They're going to get me my arrest report and Tim's accident report. I need to refresh my memory about that day. It's been a long time and I . . .''

''Okay Archer.'' Josie shoved her wine glass away and she crossed her arms on the table. ''Haven't you already screwed up enough by going to see Roger McEntyre? What was that? Following, him, for Christ sakes. Archer, he could have brought charges.''

''But he didn't.'' Archer objected sharply before retreating reluctantly. ''Look, I'm sorry. It was stupid. I just did it. I waited for him outside his office, I couldn't think of what to say to him and he got away before I could figure it out. I just followed. . .and. . .''

Half listening as Archer tried to rationalize his behavior, Josie reached for the wine and refilled her glass even though a drink was the last thing she wanted. Archer stuck with beer and he twirled the bottle like he was trying to dig a hole in the table. Hannah was big on water and light on food these days. Josie would have to talk to her about that when all this blew over. For now, she would talk to Archer and it didn't matter that she cut him off mid-sentence. If she didn't control him now there would be no controlling him.

''Why didn't Lexi file a wrongful death suit, Archer?''

''What purpose would it have served?'' A question posed to a question bought time – a trick of someone with something to hide - and Josie knew enough to nip that in the bud.

''Let's not get philosophical,'' she countered. ''You and Lexi knew a hundred lawyers who would have handled a wrongful death suit for you. Why not let one of them file?''

Archer lifted his beer, took a long pull. The refrigerator hummed and twitched. Max slept, snoring, yelping once as he dreamed of something urgent. Outside, they heard voices. Archer cocked his head as if waiting for the people to pass before he confided in Josie. Josie waited. Both of them knew they were pretending to talk; both knew this was an interrogation.

''What good would it do to have a lawyer sucking the life out of her for thirty-three percent when cancer was doing such a good job of it?''

It was a good question and Archer didn't notice Josie flinch at his disparaging remark. He didn't really notice Josie at all. He was thinking about Lexi and decisions and death.

''Nope, Jo, a couple of continuances, Lexi would be dead and I wouldn't have any standing. Tim wasn't my boy. Nobody was going to touch that kind of action. Does that answer your question?''

Archer's eyes slid toward her. In the dim light his bruised face looked evil. Josie wondered what she would hear if she didn't fill the quiet. What she heard was Archer speculating.

''Is that what they're saying, Jo? Are they saying I killed Tim because I thought I was going to share in some big payday?'' Archer let his head roll to the side. He let out a sound that seemed like a laugh, a moan, an utterance of disbelief all in one. ''Christ. That's a damned stupid motive.''

His sigh of disgust pulled out like taffy until it was so thin Josie hardly heard it anymore. She dropped her eyes. Archer swept the bottle of beer up again and found it empty. He let it dangle from his fingers. The kitchen clock ticked. Music came from Hannah's room – something dark - drums that put an irregular heartbeat into the house.

''You know, Jo, maybe Tim's accident was a blessing. With him gone Lexi could deal with her own dying.'' Archer put a big hand over his eyes and drew it down his face as if that gesture helped him come to grips with the past. ''Lexi wouldn't have survived as long as she did if she had to worry about what was going to happen to Tim. She needed her strength. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that he died. Not a bad thing in the end.''

Josie's stomach turned. No matter how much Archer valued Lexi's life, to say Tim's death was a blessing – even to Josie – was incautious at best and damning at worst.

She pushed back her chair and stood abruptly. She stacked the dinner plates, keeping her head turned away so Archer couldn't see the stain of doubt in her eyes. In the kitchen Josie put her hand on the faucet and said:

''Don't say that ever again, Archer. Not to me. Not to anyone.''

Josie rinsed the dishes and put them aside only to stop half way through her chore. Her hands cupped the lip of the sink. She hung her head and hunched her shoulders. That tape was an albatross around her neck; Archer's comments were tightening the noose that held it.

Suddenly, Archer's arms were around her waist. He pulled her close. Josie wasn't sure she wanted that but she also knew she was powerless against him. Instinctively Josie leaned against him, her hands covering his. It still felt so right.

''We'll be okay.'' Archer buried his lips in the small space behind her ear. His chest rose and fell against her back. Archer was steady as an innocent man would be. She believed in him, but it was easy to doubt. His lips moved to her brow and back to the fringe of hair near her ear. ''Once we hear what the DA has I'll call in every marker I've got. I'll make this go away. I promise, Jo.''

Josie turned in his arms. She put her hands flat on his chest. It was enough to make him back off. Josie's life hadn't been easy, Archer had fought through a couple of hells himself, so she didn't believe all would be well because Archer said it would be. Life didn't work that way. Not for people like them.

''Save the markers, Archer. You're not going to be tracking down anything.''

''That doesn't seem too smart, Josie,'' Archer said quietly. ''This is what I was trained to do. I promise, I won't mess around anymore. No more tailing anyone, no more confrontation. Straight out questions, Jo. Above board investigation.''

Josie slipped away. Confused, Archer followed her into the living room. She reached for her purse, holding it close before she pulled out the video.

''You can't chase down what they've already got. The DA doesn't want you intimidating witnesses and, if McIntyre chooses, he can make a whole lot of trouble for us by filing a harassment complaint. Jesus, Archer, if you had just waited for me to come home before you pulled a stunt like that I could have told you it was dangerous to try to run down witnesses.''

''Lord, Jo, what witnesses? To what crime? There was no crime.'' Archer threw up his hands. Their quiet time was gone. Their rope bridge was swaying under their feet and only Josie saw that it was already beginning to unravel.

''There is a list of them, Archer.'' Josie hunkered down and slipped the tape into the deck. Her fingers hovered above the button. She spoke just before she pushed it. ''You're in a whole lot more trouble than you know.''

The show started. The light from the television illuminated Josie's face but not the corner where Archer stood watching. Slowly he came forward, close enough now that she could have leaned back against his legs. She heard him catch his breath as he saw Lexi. Another intake as Tim fell.

''Again,'' Archer whispered when it was over.

''Archer, you don't have to. . .''

''I said play it again. I want to see it again,'' Archer commanded.

Josie replayed the tape. This time she didn't watch. Instead she looked over her shoulder and up at Archer. His eyes glittered; his body was rigid. When he spoke his lips barely moved.

''They're going to use that piece of shit against me?''

''The ride operator says you put Tim into his harness.'' Josie looked up at him. ''Did you, Archer?''

''Yes. I did. And if anyone bothered to ask me I would have told them that Tim was strong as an ox and big for his age. He could be belligerent and impatient and dangerous when he thrashed around. I wasn't going to trust some kid with Tim. I was doing the right thing, and you're telling me that operator said I sabotaged the damn harness?''

Josie stood up, eye to eye with Archer.

''Calm down,'' she ordered. ''I won't know until I talk to him. Luckily he won't be too hard to find since he still works at Pacific Park. At least I got that much out of Ruth Alcott.''

''Well, we'll just get a whole lot more from that lying little sack of. . .''

Archer stopped short. Josie looked at him quizzically and then felt it, too. There was a vibe in the dark room. They weren't alone. Both of them turned and both of them saw Hannah. A shadowy slip of a girl whose presence was invasive, whose existence they had forgotten. The look she gave Archer trailed suspicion and anger with it. When her eyes moved to Josie questions and curiosity came along.

''I needed some help with my English.'' It was a request that shut out Archer.

''Okay.'' Josie busied herself, ejecting the tape, getting up and turning on the light near the couch. She wondered how much Hannah had seen.

''I'm going.'' Archer hesitated as he drew alongside Josie. ''And I am going to help. My life, my case, babe.''

''No, Archer. Your problem, my case,'' Josie answered evenly. She included Hannah in the next sentence. They were a family – they were supposed to be a family. ''You can help by getting Hannah to school in the morning. You can keep track of the information the DA is going to drop on my doorstep. That's how high your profile is going to be on this thing.''

Archer glanced at Hannah and back to Josie, clearly unhappy but equally clear that he wasn't going to spend any time arguing about it in front of the girl who cut into his time. She wasn't a part of them and Archer would never let her be.

''Right.'' The word seeped out through his swollen lip. ''I'll pick her up at seven thirty.''

The door closed behind him. Josie and Hannah weren't really alone. Archer hadn't really gone. His antagonism and bitterness lingered.

''It isn't you, Hannah. It's the whole situation,'' Josie explained but neither of them believed it.

In a split second Hannah was out the door. Josie followed, hovering near the gate when she saw Hannah had caught up with Archer fifty yards down. They were bathed in the yellow light of the city fixture. Hannah had hold of Archer's arm with one hand. Her face was tipped up, the breeze pushed her long curls in her face and she pushed them back with her free hand. They were too far for Josie hear what Hannah was saying but she could see that Archer was listening. When she was finished, Hannah stepped back and, without a word, Archer continued on his way.

Gratitude tugged at her heart as Hannah strolled back, oblivious to Josie scrutiny. Her fingers tapped the top of the low wall Josie had built around her house. Tapping twenty times, indulging herself in her counting, thinking she was alone until she was brought up short by the sight of Josie. They considered one another. Josie smiled.

''Thanks for whatever you said to Archer,'' Josie said.

One finger tapped against the stucco wall. Hannah's head was doing that cocky thing that warns adults to back off because they may not want to hear what's coming next. But Josie couldn't read the signal. She was too new at the mother thing.

''I was just telling him he didn't have to pick me up in the morning. I'm going to walk to school.'' There was a split second before she finished cruelly the way teenagers can. ''I didn't want to be in a car with him just in case he could have killed a boy who couldn't defend himself.''

The edges of Hannah's lips twitched, her eyes were unreadable. When she had given Josie enough time, when she found Josie's confusion annoying, Hannah went past her. The perfume of youth trailed her and suddenly Josie felt old without being wise. Hannah turned around at the front door, giving Josie one more chance to demand an apology or an explanation. When it didn't come Hannah put a hand on her hip, pressed her luck and dared Josie to get in her face, choose Archer over her.

''Are you still going to help me with my homework?''

CHAPTER 13

Very few things surprised Josie Baylor-Bates. To be precise, there were very few things Josie reacted to with surprise. Bad news, strange things, coincidences, accidents - she seemed to take these all in stride. Even accepting responsibility for Hannah had been handled matter-of-factly. It was understandable that Josie believed the cure for her empty heart was in proving that she was nothing like her mother, that she was as capable as her father.

Her unflappable sense of right and wrong, the belief that she could handle anything were the things that drew people to Josie. But her composure faltered when she saw Wilson Page.

Josie had seen fat, she had seen portly and she had seen big-boned. Josie had even seen obese, but she had never seen anything like Wilson Page. A good five inches shorter than Josie, he carried four hundred pounds on a frame put together like an erector set. Wilson was made up of right angles, blocks upon bulges. Legs, torso, arms, neck and head. His range of motion was limited to up and down. Around didn't seem to register with Wilson Page's joints. The hand that grasped Josie's was like a baseball mitt. Josie, who could palm a volleyball felt almost childlike as he closed his fingers around hers. He spoke with a sharp intake of breath every third word.

''How are you?''

Breathe

''Nice to meetcha.''

Breathe
.

''Have a seat.''

Breathe.

''Over there. No. . .''

breathe, breathe.

''. . . there.''

He directed Josie to a couch and then a chair and finally settled her back on the couch with a flick of a sausage-like finger. There Josie sank into a very distinct pothole in the upholstery. Wilson, it seemed, had a preference when he sat on the couch because Jude, watching with amusement, sat a good three inches higher than Josie.