A Dead Husband (Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery) (15 page)

Jessica looked at the stacks of clothing and other items that she had to get into her car
. She asked Courtney to bring back a garment bag, a large suit case, and an overnight bag to pack the items for Laura.  That way Laura could take them home with her whenever it was safe to return to whatever place she might eventually regard as “home.”  Courtney sped off to get the luggage and other items while Amelia began ringing things up at the register.  Jessica kept her own things and the gifts for Sara and Bernadette separate.

When the transactions were complete and the goods stowed in the trunk and back seat of her beemer
, or more properly her “bimmer,” as a diehard BMW enthusiast had pointed out a few months ago, it was nearly six.  Despite the stress of the day, bone-deep fatigue and pain from her wrestling match with the intruder at Laura’s house, Jessica felt good.  She wondered if this was how mothers felt when they went shopping for their kids’ school clothes.  She enjoyed shopping for others as much as she did for herself.

A
t this point, she hoped Laura would be okay with the whole idea of letting Jessica help her. Not just accepting the clothes and other items, but by agreeing to move in with Jessica.  She had started the engine and was waiting for the air conditioning to catch up with the heat of the day when the phone rang.  “Uh oh,” Jessica thought, recognizing the phone number.

CHAPTER 12

“Uncle Don, I was just about to call you,” Jessica said
, lying through her teeth.

“What did I tell you Jessica about getting into things?  I just spoke to Hernandez
, for the second time today, I might add.  He said you got into a whole lot of trouble at Laura’s house. He says you were in a bad way when he got there.  Sounds like you could have been killed messing around in this thing.  What did you think you were doing?”

Jessica tried to remain calm and hang onto that nice post-shopping-binge endorphin rush
, but was taken aback by his abrupt tone.  She was a professional, after all, with responsibilities to her client, not to mention the need to help out a friend.

“Look, Uncle Don, I’m sorry you’re upset about this
.  It wasn’t my fault. My colleague and I
were
in the right place but just happened to be there at the wrong time.  The police were done at the scene or I wouldn’t have gone in there.  I had to get documents for Laura so she can begin to get her life back on track.  She has a dead husband to bury, a house that’s uninhabitable at the moment, and didn’t even have a change of clothes.  What did you expect me to do?”

“Well, you could have had an officer meet you there.”

“Why would I do that?  I had no reason to believe some creep would be there.  And, I didn’t go there alone.  The investigator I brought along was with me most of the time.  Look, he feels bad that he didn’t check the master bedroom before I went in there, but none of the other doors had been jimmied in the rest of the house. How could we have guessed a maniac was hiding in the closet?  Besides, Uncle Don, we were there for almost an hour before I went in the bedroom to get some things for Laura.  We didn’t hear a sound or see anything out of the ordinary, for a crime scene anyway.  The idiot must have been stuck in that closet the whole time we were there.  And, for the record, I almost got the bastard. Even though he got away we have information that might help identify him later.  This has got to give the police something to think about before they jump to the conclusion that Laura killed her husband. Looks to me like Roger had something somebody wanted, bad enough to break into a crime scene and maybe, bad enough to kill for.”  She was getting winded from ranting, so she just shut up.

“I get it, Jessica
.  You’re just damn lucky this didn’t go terribly wrong, that’s all.  Your parents would never forgive me if something happened to you. I’d never forgive myself.  What I’m trying to say is I want you to run from danger, not toward it.  Hernandez is good at what he does and he’s not the kind of guy to rush to judgment, especially when we’re talking about homicide.  The County has put their CSIs on the job so they’re on top of things.  You’ve just got to be patient.  Nobody’s going to railroad Laura into getting charged with something she didn’t do.  I won’t let that happen.”

“I hear you Uncle Don
. Detective Hernandez seems like a straight shooter.  I’m sorry if I worried you. It was a freak thing, you know?  What are the odds?  Why would he be there at that hour when he could have waited until after dark with much less risk of being spotted?  I can’t figure out how Roger could be mixed up with a guy who looks like a thug,  jailhouse tattoos and all.  I suppose he could have hired toughs as day laborers to do demolition work, hauling or clean up.  But at this point I haven’t been through his files so I don’t even know what projects he had going, much less who was working for him.  If this day will ever wind down I plan to start sorting that out.  Right now I’m on my way to Laura’s sister’s house.  She doesn’t know it yet but I’m going to insist that Laura stay with Bernadette and me so she’ll at least have a gate and rent-a-cop or two between her and anyone who might think she’s got something they want.”

“Hernandez is going to want to talk to her about this latest incident
. I don’t think she ever signed off on her statement about discovering Roger’s body, right? So you can tell her she’s going to be hearing from him.”

“I know, Uncle Don
. I’ll be there with her when she speaks to the detective.  I already gave her a heads up that there was more trouble at the house today, and I’m on my way to fill her in now. I don’t want to traumatize her further but I do plan to get her to take this seriously enough to get her to go home with me.”

“That’s all I want you to do too, Jessica
.  Take this seriously, and back off, or for God’s sake, or at least be more careful.”

“I hear you, Uncle Don
.  Thanks for caring so much.”  It took a lot of will power to speak calmly, even more to thank him for chewing her out.  She could hear the concern in his voice and didn’t want the old guy to stroke-out on her.

“Look, call D
etective Hernandez tomorrow and set up a time for him to meet with Laura. He said he’s going to have the preliminary reports from the scene on Saturday and from the coroner’s office available for you sometime tomorrow. It’ll be another day or two before they can pull together a report about what went on today, but of course you already know a lot more about that don’t you?  Did you really try to stop the guy by yanking on the pantyhose he was wearing? Sheesh, what were you thinking?  They had a good laugh about that one. From what I heard it, wasn’t that funny, especially given the shape you were in when they found you.”

“I’m glad I was able to bring a little levity into the lives of first responders everywhere
.  I did get in a couple blows of my own, by the way, and I hope the bastard looks as bad as I do.  Try not to worry, Uncle Don.  I gotta go.  I promise I’ll get to Detective Hernandez tomorrow first thing.  Bye, Uncle Don.  And thanks.”

“Sheesh
, who says sheesh anymore?”  Jessica muttered as she checked her rearview mirror, backed up the car and headed to Cathedral City.  Uncle Don had a point about upping the ante on self-protection. She should at least be carrying some pepper spray or something. Not to mention brushing up on her self-defense moves.  She had been a little slow to respond to her predicament earlier in the day and he was right that it was sheer luck that things had gone as well as they had.

Her drive to Sara’s house in Cathedral City was short and uneventful
.  By the time she pulled up to curb the sun had started to relent for the day.  The wonderful golden glow that sets in late afternoons and early evenings had spread over everything. It was only one of the beautiful displays of light that made the desert so enticing. The play of light cast shadows that changed daily, creating a varied palette of colors in the mountains and surrounding desert that eluded capture by even the most adept plein air artists.  Perhaps the reason they flocked to the area year after year, trying to capture the desert’s beauty on canvas.

Jessica stepped out of the car and removed her sunglasses for a couple minutes to absorb the golden glow
.  She could have put her sunglasses away or at least shoved them up on top of her head since she didn’t need them. It would be less shocking to Laura if she used them to mask the worst of the damage to her face. As she rang the doorbell, Jessica mulled over her strategy for convincing Laura to a) take all the stuff she had bought at Saks and b) climb into her car and head back to Rancho Mirage with her. She wasn’t quite sure about the order in which to tackle the two matters.

H
er friend was proud, had a well-developed work ethic, and didn’t want to take advantage of Jessica.  Laura had long ago given up the hope of keeping up, but had always tried to do her part, here and there.  At times, they wrestled over checks for dinner or drinks or even spa days.  Jessica hoped Laura would just let it go, without a fight, this time.  She was too tired to do any more wrestling, literal or metaphorical.

If she could get her to the house, Bernadette would help get Laura settled in
.  Jessica needed time to sort out the stuff she and Jerry had hauled away from Roger’s office.  She longed for a soak in the pool or hot tub, and she needed a couple more aspirin for her head, which was starting to hurt again.  Most of all, she needed hydration, with water, not margaritas. Somebody in the neighborhood was cooking out and her stomach was starting to growl.

Just as the door to Sara’s house opened, Jessica decided to fight dirty
. She hoped that would make it easier to convince Laura to agree to hide out in Mission Hills. She whisked off her sunglasses as Laura appeared in the doorway. Laura took one look at Jessica and turned a pale, sickly color.  She let out a little startled cry as she took a couple steps away from the door and started to sway.  Jessica rushed forward to grab her, dropping a gift box she had in her hands.  The box contained the luxurious robe and comfy slippers for Sara. They were a parting gift of sorts, since she planned to abscond with her sister.

“
Laura,” Jessica said trying to hang on to her as she slumped toward the floor.  “Do I look that bad?” 

“What’s going on?” Sara asked coming up behind Jessica
.  Jessica looked up at Sara from where she was bent over Laura who was down, but not out.

Sara gasped
.  “Oh my God, Jessica, what the hell happened to you?”  Sara was alarmed but not on the verge of collapse like Laura.

“I’m okay
.  I told Laura there was a bit of a problem when I went to her house today.  I take it the police still haven’t called.”

“No, no one called today, right Laura?”  Laura nodded in agreement
,  kind of robotically, but back in focus.

“Help me get her back on her feet and I’ll explain, okay?”

Sara and Jessica hoisted Laura up, and Sara guided her into the family room.  Scooping up the package she had dropped, Jessica followed them, after shutting the front door.  As she walked past the mirror on the wall in the foyer she caught a glimpse of her face. The color had really set in around her right eye and a shadow had formed under her left eye.  Her lip was puffy and a little scab had formed over the split in her lip. The whole right side of her face was puffier than usual and the scrape on her cheek was more noticeable than she had imagined.  She was lucky the women at Saks hadn’t taken one look and called 911. “Ah, the power of the AMEX black card,” she thought, filled with guilt about her decision to take off the sunglasses. 

“I am so sorry Laura,” Jessica said, slumping down in the first chair she reached in the family room
. “I guess I should have done a better job of warning you when I called.  I didn’t realize I looked this bad. It’s worse than it was. I must have sweated off a lot of the makeup I had on when I left the house.  I didn’t mean to scare the hell out of you.”  Well, actually, that wasn’t completely true. She had intended to make an impression.

“Jessica, are you really okay?  Tell me what happened today
. All of it!” 

“Laura, I’m okay, but I need you to listen to me carefully.” 
Sara and Laura stared intently, almost without blinking, as she explained what went on at the house. It was a sort of “good news-bad news” saga at this point.  The good news: you’re not the only person of interest the police will pursue. The bad news: some psycho in pantyhose may just think you have something he wants and might not mind roughing you up, or worse, to get it. 

“Look, Laura, under the circumstances you can’t go back to your house and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay here either
.  It’s not safe.  I want you to come back with me to Mission Hills.  Bernadette and I want you with us until the police can get a better handle on what’s going on.”  Laura looked bewildered, but not in shape to put up much of a fight. Before she could object, Jessica continued her pitch.

“You’ll be a lot safer at my house
.  Bernadette and I can help you figure how to take care of things for Roger.  Besides you won’t be running the risk that somebody might figure out you’re here and hassle Sara and Dave or the kids.”  That did it.  Sara’s eyes widened a little.  Laura looked at Sara, at Jessica, and back at Sara again.  Jessica could see the wheels turning in Laura’s head and the growing resignation in her body language as she made the decision to go. “Thank God,” Jessica thought.  Without saying another word Laura nodded and stood up.

“Ju
st give me a second to say goodbye to Dave and the kids will you?  Do you have my things in the car?”

For the first time, Jessica realized there was a dull roar of squealing and laughing
coming from the back of the house. An adult male voice chanting something about “huff and puff and blow the house down.”

“Dave’s getting the kids ready for bed
. It’s story time,” Sara offered.

“Uh, yeah
,  I have your things in the car.”  Well that was true.  They were
her
things, just not her old things.  “Sara, this is for you.  I thought you could use a surprise, a good surprise, given how much you do for everybody else.”

Sara was
surprised alright, and touched by the gesture.  Her eyes brightened as she opened the box and ran her fingers over the soft fabric of the robe. She had both feet in the plush slippers in a matter of seconds.  Then her eyes filled with tears.

“Laura look at this unbelievably beautiful robe Jessica brought me
.  You have to touch it. It’s so soft.”  She held the robe up in front of her then rushed over to Laura, hugging her like she might never see her again.  Jessica felt another wave of guilt about, maybe, overplaying her hand in order to get Laura to leave her sister.  Better to be safe than sorry, and she had promised Uncle Don to be more cautious. Laura left to say her goodbyes to Dave and the kids. A new wave of playful shrieks erupted from the back rooms.