Grievous Sin (32 page)

“She got fed up with one mom, tried Marie, then got fed up with her as well.” Marge returned her attention to the
phone, explaining the situation to the detective on the other end of the line.

The bedroom door opened. Emerging from the hallway was a shriveled man in a wheelchair pushed by Hetty. He was bald and painfully thin, his bony wrist and fingers clinging tightly to the blanket on his lap. His dark eyes were sunken; his skin was bilious and translucent.

Hetty said, “Say hello, Geoff.”

“Geraldo,” he whispered.

“Geraldo is what your parents called you, sweetheart,” Hetty said. “It was your barrio name, Geoffrey. Why you’d want to go back to it is beyond me. But your behavior has always confused me. Look where it got you.” She looked at Decker and Marge. “Can you imagine this man was once dubbed the stud of Berkeley’s English department?”

“Hetty—”

“Sweetheart, I don’t see any of your paramours running to minister to you. Or am I missing something?”

Roberts lowered his chin to his breast.

Hetty said, “When Geoff got sick, who came to help him? Did Beth or Jeanie or Pat or
Marie
come?”

Roberts’s mouth began to quiver.

“Who came, sweetheart?” Hetty asked.

“You,” Roberts whispered.

“That’s right, sweetheart. You called me, because no one else came when you called. But I came, didn’t I?”

Roberts’s hands began to shake. “Yes.”

“Yes, I came. Because I still love you, Geoff. Despite all you put me through, I still love you.” Hetty sighed and patted his bony shoulder. “And I’ll never leave you the way you left me.”

Tears rolled down Roberts’s cheeks. “Promise?”

“Promise. Would you like your breakfast now? A bacon omelet?”

“Please.” Roberts lifted his sickly face. “And could you turn on the TV for me?”

“Of course, Geoff.” Hetty wheeled him into the corner of
the room and turned on a small portable TV that rested inside one of the bookshelves. “I’d do anything for you. You know that.” She looked over her shoulder to Decker. “Baby’s going to need to be fed. You want to do it?”

Decker said, “The baby seems well nourished.”

“Of course she is! What do you think I am? A child abuser?”

Decker gave the woman a weak smile. “Let’s wait for Social Services before we give her anything to eat.”

“Why?” Hetty went inside the kitchen that was an out-pouching off the living room. “Do you think I’m going to poison her?”

A chill ran through Decker’s spine. “Just routine procedure.”

Hetty frowned and took out a slab of bacon from the refrigerator. “Are you hungry?”

“No, thank you.”

“It’s your loss.” Hetty smiled. “I make a terrific omelet.” She began to chop up bacon.

Decker said, “Mrs. Roberts, you’ve known all along your daughter is still alive. Why’d you lie?”

Hetty didn’t answer.

“Mrs. Roberts?” Decker said.

“The whore told me to,” Hetty said softly. “To protect Tandy.”

“Protect her from what?”

Hetty shook her head. “I need to speak to my lawyer.”

“Fair enough,” Decker said.

Hetty suddenly turned to him, her eyes ablaze. “What
difference
does it make if Tandy’s alive or dead? Tandy could never raise a child.”

“This isn’t her child.”

“I don’t
know
that.”

Decker said, “Do you know where Marie is?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t
care
! I took the baby because I thought it was Tandy’s. That’s the only reason I have this child!” Hetty took out a bowl and began to scramble some
eggs. “I was only trying to help my daughter. She can’t cope now, she certainly couldn’t have coped then. This only justifies what I did ten years ago.”

“What did you do?” Decker asked.

Hetty bit her lip and didn’t answer.

“You forced her to have abortions, didn’t you, Hetty?”

“Just one abortion. The second pregnancy was in her mind.”

Sounds familiar,
Decker thought.

“Stupid girl. I told her to be careful. Then it happened and she never forgave me for doing the right thing.” Hetty stared at the bacon. “She called me an underhanded bitch and a liar. I told her to save her epithets for her father. He was the one who deserved them.”

“How’d you get her to do it?” Decker asked. “Did you drug her?”

“She thought she was going in for a routine examination. She never had an exam before, so she didn’t ask questions when the doctor put her to sleep. I meant the best.” Hetty took out an iron skillet, placed it on the stove, and threw the diced bacon inside the pan. Seconds passed and the fat began to sizzle. “When’s this Social Service Department supposed to get here?”

Decker looked at Marge, who was still on the phone.

“Soon, I hope.” The bundle in Decker’s arms suddenly felt leaden. He realized the baby was sleeping and placed her gently over his shoulder. “How far along was Tandy in her pregnancy when she had her abortion?”

“Tandy told everyone it was six months.” Hetty stared at the skillet. “But it was much earlier than that. Tandy and her overactive imagination. It wouldn’t have worked.”

“Who was the father?”

“Some crazy flouncy photographer. He was just as relieved by Tandy’s abortion as I was. He wanted nothing to do with the kid.” She paused. “Even if he
wanted
the kid, it wouldn’t have worked. With
that
kind of father, no matter what you do, it won’t work.”

“By ‘that kind of father,’ do you mean a bisexual?”

“Yes. And don’t start looking at me as if I’m from the Dark Ages. They can’t be helped. They may start out with good intentions, but in the end they’re not father material, no matter how hard they try.
I
know from experience.”

“Your husband has AIDS, Mrs. Roberts?” Decker asked.

“Yes, Detective, my husband has AIDS.”

“How many times
do we have to go
over
this?” Tandy flipped black satin off her shoulders. “I don’t know anything about this baby!”

Marge felt hot and sticky underneath her cotton blazer. The interview room had air-conditioning, so the heat had to be a result of internal fuel. She felt sweat pouring into the pads underneath her armpits. It wasn’t the first time she had conducted interviews that had made her perspire, but over the years she’d gotten smart. If she was going to sweat, she might as well prevent her jacket from requiring an expensive dry cleaning.

“Out of ten million people in the greater Los Angeles area, Marie Bellson just
happened
to choose
your
parents?”

“What can I tell you?” Tandy responded.

Silence.

That was cool. Pure control.

Tandy crossed coltish legs and lit a cigarette. Marge was surprised. She had figured Tandy for a my-body-is-my-temple type. Then she remembered: One addiction substituting for another. Was it smoking now?

“Any speculation as to why she chose your parents?”

Tandy shrugged.

Decker walked into the interview room and closed the
door. Tandy gave him a brief glance, then returned her gaze to her cigarette.

“What’s in store now? Good cop, bad cop?” She crushed her cigarette into the overflowing ashtray. “I’ve been here over an hour, and I haven’t told you what you want to hear. Why don’t you guys give it a rest?”

“Just want to ask you a few questions,” Decker said.

Tandy flicked an ash off the table. “Why don’t you two compare notes so I don’t have to repeat myself.”

Decker studied the young girl. At the moment, she seemed crazy like a fox. She was one of the most exotic-looking females Decker had ever seen—dark and sleek and feline. The perfect femme fatale.

“No need to repeat yourself.” Decker sat across from her and leaned his elbows on the table. “I’ve been watching you through the one-way mirror.”

Tandy’s eyes went to the reflective wall. “I was wondering why the mirror was so dark.”

“Now you know.” Actually, Decker had just walked into the station house not more than a minute ago, but he could surmise what Marge had talked about. They’d discussed the line of questioning as they split their assignments. It had taken Decker hours to finish up the paperwork on Henrietta and Geoffrey Roberts né Robles. While in custody, Hetty had secured a lawyer. Counsel was trying to spring Geoffrey on grounds of ill health. At last count, Hetty was in an interview room at the Pacific Substation, her attorney at her side.

Decker said to Tandy, “Do you want anything to drink? Maybe something to eat?”

Eat!

Tandy twitched nervously.

Eat! Eat!

The low one.
The
stupid
one!

“Shut up!” she mumbled.

“Pardon?” Decker said.

Tandy twitched again. “Do I
look
hungry?”

A
sore spot.
He saw the twitch, saw the nervousness. Decker said, “Just a simple question.”

“Like you don’t have a reason for being nice,” Tandy muttered. “I know what you’re doing.”

Control.

“You’re trying to make me nervous,” Tandy stated. “It won’t work.”

Decker was impassive. Then he said, “Sure you don’t want something to eat?”

Control.

Eat!

Control!

CONTROL!

Tandy sighed. “Look, I
really
feel bad for what that poor girl went through. I know what it’s like to lose a child. But at least she got her baby back.”

“More than you got,” Marge said.

“You’re right about that,” Tandy said.

“It’s especially hard when it’s your
own mother
who takes your baby away from you,” Marge said.

Tandy snapped her head upward. “What else did
Mommie Dearest
tell you?”

“She told us you thought you were going in for a routine visit,” Decker said. “That it was your first experience in a gynecologist’s office. Otherwise you’d have known they don’t put you to sleep.”

“Must have been quite a shock to wake up and suddenly find yourself unpregnant,” Marge said.

Decker said, “What kind of doctor would do such a thing?”

“What kind of
mother
would do such a thing?” Marge said.

Tandy blinked her eyes in rapid succession.

Eat! Eat, eat, eat—

Shut up!

“Tandy?” Marge said.

“Think you’re going to
win
me over by beating me down?” she said softly. “Or do you just like nosing into other people’s pasts?”

“No, we’re simply wondering what kind of doctor would
do
such a deceptive, unethical thing,” Decker said.

“I’m still amazed by your mother’s action,” Marge said.

“Not as amazed as I was.” Tandy’s voice was flat. “I wanted to kill her.”

Marge and Decker exchanged looks.

Tandy lit another cigarette. “The office looked so clean and efficient. I thought to myself…‘This is going to be a snap.’” She let out a bitter laugh and lit another cigarette. Realizing she had one in her mouth, she blushed slightly and put them both out. Fury seeped into her eyes. “If you’re so curious about my mother’s motivations, why don’t you question her?”

Decker said, “I sort of did just that.”

Tandy paused. “What’d she say?”

That you were unbalanced, girlie.
Decker said, “That she thought she was doing what was best!”

“That’s a laugh,” Tandy muttered.

“A mother deceiving her own daughter like that,” Marge repeated. “You must have felt such betrayal.”

“To say the
least.
” Tandy flipped her hair off her shoulders again. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to build
rapport
! Get me to confess something. If you’re looking for suspects, arrest my parents. They were the ones with the kid.”

“Your parents are being dealt with,” Decker said.

“That’s good. I hope a judge locks them up and throws away the key.” She was suddenly impatient. “Look,
Marie’s
missing, not
me
! If I was going to kidnap a kid, do you think I’d be stupid enough to drop the kid off with my parents, then
stick around
?”

No one spoke.

Crazy like a fox, Decker thought.

Tandy said, “I haven’t talked to my parents in years. I didn’t even know they were back together again.”

“Bet you’d never thought that would happen,” Marge said.

“You’re right about that,” Tandy said. “Life’s full of surprises. Anyway,
my
feelings about my parents have nothing to do with this kidnapping business.
I’m
still here, guys, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m going about my daily life. Marie’s gone. And talk about motivation for wanting a baby.
Geez,
what can I say?”

“What can you say?” Marge asked.

“If you’d spent as much time on Marie as you did on me, you’d
know
that Marie’s going through menopause. She’s only forty years old. The whole thing was a real shock to her system. She probably flipped out.”

Decker said, “Marie began treatment for menopause less than a year ago. If you haven’t seen Marie in a couple of years, how’d you know about her condition?”

Again the twitch.

“I never said Marie didn’t call me. But we weren’t close anymore. Not like we used to be.” Tandy smiled. “My choice. Marie turned out to be overbearing, just like…”

She stopped talking. Decker filled in the blanks. “Overbearing like your mother?”

“You said it.”

“Marie looks like your mom,” Decker said.

Tandy twitched. “So what?”

“Ever met Marie before you worked at Golden Valley Home?” Marge asked.

Kill her!

Shut up!

Kill her!

Marge repeated the question.

Kill her!

Shut up! Shut up, shut up
—

“Tandy?” Decker asked.

“If you’re asking do I know that Marie had an affair with my father twenty years ago, the answer is yes.” Her eyes were
moist and shiny—like newly lacquered ebony. “So
what
? My father had affairs with lots of women. He’s a jerk…an evil jerk!”

“He had affairs with lots of women, but he fell in love with Marie,” Decker said. “In fact, I do believe Marie was the reason your parents got divorced.”

Tandy twitched. “I don’t remember much. I was five years old.”

“What do you remember?”

“Only that my life was falling apart…my mother’s anger.” She stared at the wall, then refocused on Decker. “It’s history. And it has nothing to do with this baby. Either charge me or let me be.” Her eyes glazed over. “Let me be in peace…please.”

Once again Decker and Marge exchanged glances.

“How’d you find out about your father and Marie?” Marge asked.

Tandy blinked rapidly. “I just did.”

“You just did?” Decker said.

Tandy bolted up from her seat and began to pace. “Look, I spoke to you guys without a lawyer because I didn’t do anything wrong. But if you keep hammering away at my past, I’m going to walk out this door—”

“Why were you using Lawrence McKay’s nursing license, Tandy?” Marge asked.

Kill her!

The high one.

She hated the high one!

The high one was malevolent. Malevolence. The wicked queen in
Snow White.
Mirror, mirror on the wall
—

“Tandy, why were—”

“Stop!” Tandy whirled around and glared at Marge. “Just…oh,
now
I get it! It’s dig-up-dirt-on-Tandy time. Maybe I
should
get a lawyer.”

Decker pushed the phone across the table until it rested in front of Tandy’s nose. “Be my guest.”

Tandy stared at the machine. The room fell silent.

Decker said, “Your dad was evil, Tandy?”

Tandy looked at him blankly. “They both were.”

“Your father and Marie?” Marge said. “Or your father and mother?”

“All of them,” Tandy said softly. “They’re all very evil people.”

“Including Marie,” Marge said.

“Including Marie,” Tandy said.

“How did you find out about Daddy and Marie?” Decker asked.

“I just did.”

“Did you recognize Marie when you saw her at the Golden Valley Home?” Marge said.

Tandy’s eyes became sharp and focused. “Are you asking me if I recognized someone I last saw when I was five?”

“Why are you using Leek McKay’s license, Tandy?” Decker said.

“Because it was
convenient
! I didn’t want to have to go back to school just to learn things I already knew! Marie said I was better trained than most RNs she worked with. Why should I waste my time?”

“Because it’s illegal to use someone else’s license.”

“So
arrest
me!”

Decker looked at the tape recorder.
She had him.
Yes, he could arrest her on the petty charge of impersonating a licensed professional. But the collar would make him look as if he were reaching. The woman was dancing around his traps. She was the sanest person he’d ever met.

“Look,” Tandy said, “you have nothing to connect me to this kidnapping. You don’t even have anything to connect me to Marie. The only thing you have is my parents with a baby that
Marie
kidnapped. Marie probably panicked and thought of old Geoffrey. Like you said, they used to be lovers till she dumped him. Maybe she thought she could play him for a sucker ’cause that’s what he was.”

“If you were only five years old, how’d you know Marie dumped your father?” Marge asked.

Kill her, the whore!

You’re a whore!

Again Tandy’s eyes blinked. “Mom told me.”

“So you
knew
Marie was your father’s lover when you met her at the home.”

“No.” Tandy shook her head. “No, I didn’t. My mother never mentioned Marie’s name. Just called her the whore. Mom always referred to her as the whore.”

Consistent with the way Hetty spoke.
Decker said, “So how’d you find out that Marie was the whore?”

“I don’t remember.”

How
did
she find out? Decker wondered. Was Marie’s name buried in her unconscious? Did it pop up when she actually met Marie again? Or did Tandy come across some tangible evidence of the tryst? Maybe while she was staying in Marie’s apartment, she saw something. Yet Decker had
combed
Bellson’s apartment and hadn’t come up with a thing. He looked at Tandy. She smiled slowly.

Back in control!

“Look, even my parents aren’t saying I have anything to do with this. So you’ve got
nothing
on me.”

“How do you know what your parents are saying, Tandy?” Marge asked.

“If they implicated me, you wouldn’t be floundering. Either arrest me or let me go.”

“You falsified your credentials,” Marge said. “That’s illegal.”

“So I won’t work as a nurse anymore. Can I go now? Or are you going to charge me with impersonating a nurse?”

Decker was quiet. She fit the profile of a baby kidnapper—an unbalanced person who longed for a child. To wit: the pseudocyesis. But he had
nothing
on her. On her parents, yes. On Marie, yes. But nothing on her!

Maybe she
didn’t
have anything to do with the kidnapping.

It was a little thing that bugged him. That one unanswered
question. How did Tandy find out about her father’s affair with Marie?

Surely, Marie didn’t tell her. Why would she do that?

And she couldn’t have come across something in Marie’s apartment that clued her in. Decker had scoured the place. Nothing about Marie’s past except some old books. No letters, no photographs in her desk—

Her desk!

The key under it.

The frigging lockbox!

He stood, gave a quick glance to Marge, then smoothed his mustache. “You know your apartment is being searched. We pulled the warrant.”