Silent Witness (35 page)

''What happened? Do they know yet?''

''He sat down and died.'' Jude shrugged, turned on his heel and walked a few more steps. ''His heart gave out or he suffocated under his own weight or he choked on something.''

''Will they do an autopsy?'' Josie asked trying to channel his grief as best she could.

Jude shook his head and pulled one hand through his hair. He seemed dazzling in the dark. Every stray ray of light caught a plane of his face or a glint of gold in his hair or the pain in his eyes that was brittle as hard candy.

''I don't see any reason to. I mean, he's so big. . .'' Jude turned away slightly. ''. . .so damned big they don't think they can get him on a table. I should have been here for him. I should have. . .done something.''

''We do what we can at the time. We do our best, Jude.''

''No. I never did my best for Wilson. I used him. . .'' Jude lamented.

''He worked for you. . .'' Josie argued.

''He thought I was his friend. . .'' Jude confessed.
''You were, his friend I saw it. That is not even in question,'' Josie said impatiently and that slowed the flow of self-recriminations. Jude thought about his next objection then offered it solemnly.

''Then why didn't I make him lose some of that weight. I had enough money to send him to any fat farm in the world. I could have paid to have his stomach stapled. It would have been chump change to me.''

''Hey. Come on.'' Josie leaned back against the trunk of that stately tree; she put one foot up against it. ''Wilson had issues, Jude. I hardly knew him, but I could see that. There were reasons he ate so much and cut himself off from the rest of the world. You couldn't have turned that around if you devoted your whole life to him.''

''But I could have tried.''

''Bull.'' Josie's head swiveled toward the street then back to Jude. ''Jude, you can't change what someone is at the core. My mother left me as suddenly as if she had sat down in a chair and died like Wilson. I couldn't change that.''

''But I could see what needed to be fixed,'' Jude insisted.

''And I felt what needed to be fixed with my mother. And I loved her, too. But, Jude, no matter how much we loved those people, or liked them, or sympathized, or admired or whatever you want to call it, we would never have been able to fix them. Nobody is that powerful. Not even you.''

''So we just say what the hell, that's another one down?'' Jude walked up and down in front of her, tangling fiercely with the knot in his tie. It wouldn't come loose but he still struggled with it.

''Don't put words in my mouth. Just don't do that.''

Josie pushed off the tree, ready to walk away. Instead, she changed her mind and caught Jude on the next pass. He didn't want to stop, but she insisted, putting her hands on his shoulders until he stayed still. Josie Baylor-Bates put her fingers on Jude Getts's tie. She loosened the knot, working it down until she slid it from under his collar then stashed it in his pocket.

''I'm sorry you lost a friend, but it wouldn't have changed anything if you'd been there when it happened.''

''He wouldn't have been alone, Josie,'' Jude pointed out sadly. ''That's what would have been different. Wilson wouldn't have been alone.''

''He wasn't if that makes you feel any better.'' Simultaneously, Josie and Jude faced the coroner's man. He had come up so silently they hadn't noticed. ''Sorry to break in but there's a kid inside. He says there was someone with your friend tonight probably right around the time he died.''

CHAPTER 36

''Is that him?''

''Yes.''

Jude's eyed the shroud covered Wilson. All plans to move him had been curtailed. Yellow tape was strung across the entrance to the house designating it a crime scene. All the people who had once been there were gone, replaced by a detective, a forensics team, a uniformed cop and a photographer because of this person – this boy – with the long blond hair whose name was David Gibson. His eyes were almost hidden by a thatch of Prince Valiant bangs. He was wearing the blue shorts and white shirt of a catholic school uniform and he had cried foul.

''I never saw him for real. Think I could look under the sheet?'' David asked, shaking out his hair like a puppy in from the rain.

''Trust me. I don't think you want to see him for real now.'' Jude said.

''Let's get out of here. We don't want to contaminate the scene any more than we already have. Come on.'' Josie put her hand on David Gibson's arm and cocked her head

Josie, Jude and David Gibson – CheezeWiz to his friends on the internet - ducked under the yellow tape, walked quickly down Wilson's ramp, went past the magnificent magnolia and settled in Jude's Mercedes: David in the back with Jude, Josie in front, swiveling around to look at them. The overhead light was on. It was warm. It was quiet. David had given his statement to the police, Jude had been questioned because he was the one who found Wilson and now Josie and Jude wanted to hear for themselves what David had to say.

''I was really freaked. I can't believe he's dead.'' David head banged to music only he could hear. ''I figured something was wrong, but I didn't think it was anything like being dead.''

''Let's start at the beginning,'' Josie suggested. ''First, how old are you?''

''Twenty-two. I just turned twenty-two.'' David blinked his liquid blue eyes once then twice as Jude and Josie exchanged a skeptical look. David dug in his pocket for his wallet. ''No. I really am. I can show you my ID.'' He whipped a wallet out of the pocket of his navy blue shorts. ''See. Twenty-two. I just look really young.''

Josie checked out the ID while Jude checked out the real thing. Skinny as a rail, as near to emaciated as a healthy human being could be, David was as pale as if he lived in a hole on nothing but bread and water.

''What's with the St. Paul's polo shirt? The whole uniform thing?'' Jude raised his chin and gave the ensemble a once over.

''Nothing,'' David shrugged. ''I just haven't grown since I got out of high school. I don't want to throw good money away on clothes. I mean, have you ever worn this stuff? Catholic school uniforms are like iron, man. The shorts stand up by themselves. I've got three pairs of these, one pair of long pants, ten shirts and a sweatshirt. At my personal rate of wear, the amount of physical activity I participate in, the number of times I do the wash, the pants should last me another ten years if I maintain my current weight. The shirts aren't so good, though. Four years on the outside. But that's okay.''

''And you don't feel just a little strange wearing that in public?'' Josie asked as he put his wallet back into his pocket.

''Ah, you're assuming I go out in public.'' David raised one finger high, an elfish grin on his face as if it pleased him to stand so far outside the norm. ''That's why it took me so long to get here. Since I usually have no reason to go out in public, I have no reason to have a normal means of transportation. It took me a couple of hits before I found someone who would lend me a car. Then I had to find out where Wilson lived and that took almost forever. It was weird. Usually I'm really quick with that kind of reference search, but I think I was just freaked and that's why I wasn't working to full capacity.''

''Okay, you're here. Take it from the top starting with how you know Wilson,'' Jude suggested, his patience already wearing thing.

''Geez. Let's see.'' David put a long finger to his chin while he calculated. ''I was fourteen and having some trouble with my calculus. I went online to get some help and there was Wilson. He was cool. Totally awesome. He helped me out with the calculus and then I saw some of his sites and those were so cool. Totally awesome.''

The head banging stopped as quickly as it started but the story was seamless.

''Then Wilson got me a job testing software and, instead of going to college like my parents wanted, I just work on my computers. You know, I pick up some gigs here and there to pay the bills but mostly I play chess - mostly against the computer. Wilson and I talked when we couldn't sleep. He had it worse than me, though.''

''Do you mean you talked on the phone or on the computer?'' Jude was impatient for real information.

''The computer,'' David scoffed, looking at Jude as if he was from outer space.

David pulled back his shoulders, his neck lengthened; he moved his head from side to side.

''Hey, I really need to get back to my place. I need to let everyone know about Wilson, don't you think? We'll have a wake on-line''

Jude took a deep breath, the sound of which filled the car. Josie was stunned. David was oblivious. The guy was living in The Matrix and she had thought it was just a movie.

''First things first. Why did you think something was wrong about how Wilson died?'' Josie asked.

''I was actually testing out a new firewall. You know, feeding in some of my own viruses to see how quick I could breach the thing. Anyway, I switched over to my other PC to check in and see who I could talk face to face. . .'' His shoulders hunched once again and the fingers of his hands intertwined.

''I thought you said you'd never seen Wilson,'' Jude interrupted.

''Not in person. I saw him through a webcam. Wilson was mammoth,'' David Gibson informed them with an astonished blink. ''I could see his face and some of his shoulders. I mean those cams don't exactly give you a panoramic view. If you're at the computer you're up pretty close to the camera.''

''But you can see into Wilson's apartment?' Jude asked.

''Sure. I've seen you a hundred times,'' David smiled. ''I've seen you slip a couple of bills under Wilson's books on the desk. That was funny. Wilson was always so surprised when he found that money. He'd sign off so he could order some of those lemon cakes he liked so much. You wasted a whole lot of money on Wilson. He was rolling in the dough. He contracted with half the software companies in the country. Wilson was a genius.''

David looked at Josie, pleased with himself for a minute before that smile faded and that hair shook again. David's fingers, nails bitten to the quick, clutched at his bony knees. Josie saw the notes etched onto his forearm with blue pen. He was still an adolescent, growing up without a handle on the passage of time, a Peter Pan who lived on the fairy dust of bits and bytes.

''Anyway, I was looking in on Wilson and I see this other guy in his house. I thought it was you,'' he gave a nod to Jude, ''but it wasn't. This guy's suit wasn't as nice as yours, but it was okay. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. I saw his back. I saw him leaning over Wilson's big chair.''

''Could you tell what he was doing?'' Josie asked quietly.

David shook his head earnestly and this time the hair stayed put.

''No. He just leaned over Wilson kind of like this.'' David contorted his skinny body but it did nothing to jumpstart Josie's imagination. ''Then I see him walk into the other room. Then he comes back again after about four minutes. When that man went into the bedroom, I thought that was strange. Nobody ever goes into the bedroom at night, not even Wilson.''

''And you didn't see his face?'' Jude prodded.

''I told you, it was getting dark and Wilson's camera set up isn't exactly state of the art so the range was limited. I told him he should have upgraded,'' David said matter-of-factly. ''Anyway, I saw this guys chin. I saw his shirt, his tie, the suit. I saved a couple of images but I don't know how clear they are. The scary thing is, this guy was working Wilson's machines. Nobody has ever touched those computers but Wilson and then this man just leaned over and worked them like he owned them.''

David sat back. He raised his hands and widened those eyes baby blues and shook his hair out. He was done. The end.

''How long was this guy in the apartment?'' Jude asked.

''Best I can tell, ten minutes. Not long.''

''Did you hear anything?''

''I can't hear. It's a webcam not a sound system. We just had the picture and we'd IM. . .''

''What's that?'' Josie rearranged her long legs. The right one was going to sleep. She wanted to get out and walk around but knew the privacy inside the car was better.

''Instant message,'' David explained patiently. ''You know, real time. We'd type the same way we're talking right now. Wilson always had the camera going with me. He had a nice smile.'' David shifted in his seat and finally raised one hand to fiddle with the collar of his boy's school shirt. ''Anyway, when Wilson didn't come on after this guy left, I knew something was up. I tried to call even though I knew Wilson wouldn't like it. I watched and he didn't even move when the phone rang. I was really freaking. I tracked down his address, I called the cops – and that was a weird experience, man, calling the cops – and I found a car and came here. I only came because I didn't want the police at my place.'' David wiped the palms of his hands on those made-of-iron pants of his. ''It's good to know I'm not agoraphobic or some such thing. I was a little worried about that.''

David continued talking, speculating about his socialization when Josie touched Jude's knee.

''They're leaving.''

Jude and David Gibson looked in time to see four men wheeling Wilson down the ramp toward a flat bed truck that had just pulled up. A spattering of neighbors had gathered. They pointed and talked among themselves while the men in charge of Wilson's body struggled.

''Jesus Christ,'' Jude muttered angrily and threw open the door.

Josie let him go. No one could transport Wilson in a dignified manner but Jude wasn't in the mood to understand that as he stormed toward the men. He stopped them and Wilson's huge body tippled, almost falling off the furniture dolly. Two men – one on either side – shored the body upright while the detective, calm and businesslike, reasoned with Jude.

David Gibson's eyes widened beneath the shock of rope thick hair. He was enthralled with real life drama but content to watch it play out from the sidelines. He didn't really know Wilson after all. He didn't know the sound of his voice, or the way Wilson lumbered instead of walked. David didn't know how gracious Wilson could be or how kind Jude was. Yet, there were some things Josie bet David did know. She leaned over the seat in the Mercedes and tapped David on the shoulder. He fairly jumped out of his skin at the contact.