The Body on Ortega Highway (3 page)

The lieutenant says, “My
ex-husband sure seemed to be.”

Clarissa and Jane nervously
laugh.

Jane says, “What do we know about
the girl?”

Clarissa says, “I’ve just
come back from vacation and haven’t had a chance to even look at
the evidence yet.”

Her boss says that Desiree
was an honor student at Tustin High.

Jane says, “Talk to her
friends and her family. Talk to her teachers. They might be able to
give you some clues.”

Lieutenant Harris
says, “Unfortunately, we have very little trace
evidence. He must have been wearing gloves.”

Clarissa
says, “Can I see the pictures from the crime
scene?”

Harris
picks them up out of the files and gives them to
Clarissa.

She
says, “How horrible. He really beat her up. What does the
pathologist’s report say she died of?”

Harris
says, “She bled to death.”

“How long was she dead before her
body was discovered?”

“
Only twelve hours, according
to the report.”

“Who found her?”

“A hiker.”

“
What do we know about this
hiker?”

“
She’s twenty. She sounded
generally shocked when she called 911.”

“And rightly so,” says
Clarissa.

Jane says, “Her
hands weren’t found. Just her arms.”

Clarissa says, “Oh my God. I
didn’t know that he chopped off her hands, too.”

The profiler answers, “Yes.
They could have his DNA evidence under her fingernails if she
fought him off.”

“Were her hands found?” Clarissa
asks.

Her boss says, “No. But
officers are combing the area looking for them.”

“
Maybe he kept them as
souvenirs?”
Clarissa suggests.

“
Either that or he burned or
buried them somewhere. If we had her hands, it would really be
helpful. This guy is smart. He thinks things through.”

“
You’re doing the right
things so far,” the profiler says.

“
Thank you so much for all of
your help,” Lieutenant Harris replies.

“
Here’s my card,” Jane says.
“Let me know if you have any questions. I want to help you catch
this sick bastard.”

Chapter Five

Clarissa spends the rest of
morning looking through the evidence. She decides that she’s going
to try to talk to Desiree’s
mother after
lunch. Desiree’s father died five years ago and she lived alone
with her mother. Clarissa calls Mrs. Beauchamp and asks if she
could come by the house and look at Desiree’s bedroom. They plan to
meet at 1:30. Clarissa walks back to her house and grabs a quick
bite before she sets off in her car.

Mrs. Beauchamp
lives in Old Town Tustin, Clarissa’s old
neighborhood. The victim’s mother owns a Craftsman Bungalow that
has a plaque out front stating it is an historical property. The
flowerbed in front of the porch is beautiful with lots of tulips
and daffodils blooming.

Mrs. Beauchamp has been
looking out her front window and sees Clarissa when she drives up.
She greets her
at the door. Clarissa
expresses her sympathy and asks to see Desiree’s bedroom. Her
mother directs her upstairs to a large room that looks like a
private suite. It has paneled pine walls and Adirondack-themed
lamps and knick-knacks. When Detective Vente had visited earlier,
he took Desiree’s computer’s hard drive, so it’s back at the police
station in the evidence box. This afternoon, Clarissa is searching
for anything he might have missed. She turns over pictures on the
wall to see if anything is taped on the back. She rummages through
the pockets of the girl’s wardrobe and reaches into the toes of
Desiree’s shoes. She pulls out her dresser drawers and feels the
undersides of the bureau. She looks through boxes and PeeChees full
of school reports. In one of the PeeChees, she finds a poem
entitled, “The Ballad of a Hooker.” Desiree wrote it for her
English class and received an A+ from her teacher. Clarissa is
shocked by the language and subject matter:

Ballad: Life of a Hooker

Under a street lamp clothed in
slitted skirt,

Waits a hooker, prepared for her
night’s work.

Clutching her apartment key,

Anticipating her work’s fee,

She’s the best known hustler this
side of the Mississippi.

Looking for a kick,

Waiting to turn a trick.

Prostitution,

The only solution,

Her body is saturated with filth
and pollution.

Pimp’s arranged a $100 job,

With a married john from
Frisco, probably some slob.

That awful pimp,

A puny wimp,

Who drains her dry to buy his
hemp.

No fringe benefits, working
conditions rough,

Perverted male minds, it’s murder
coping with such stuff.

Pocketbooks untighten,

Income heightens,

But when business slacks, her
sanity slightens.

What other trade is she
prepared,

When seized by old age, wrinkled
and gray-haired.

This harlot’s beauty will be
drained,

But for no other job will she be
trained.

She’ll be forced to surrender the
title she once reigned.

Thrust into the street, no
alternative but to marry,

She will no longer be available to
every Tom, Dick, or Harry.

She will live life slow,

On her husband’s steady income
flow.

Recalling the insecure days of long
ago.

Clarissa thinks that this is
very shocking subject matter and wonders if Desiree’s
mother has any idea that her 16-year-old daughter
had written it. She thinks, ‘If I were a teacher and read this, I
would have told the guidance counselor in school to have a little
talk with the girl.’ Clarissa walks downstairs to show the mother
what she’s found.

Her mother reads it and is just as
shocked as Clarissa was. Clarissa asks her, “Do you think that
Desiree may have been a prostitute?”

“I can’t imagine such a thing.
She’s just a girl.”

“Well, she has some very
experienced and sophisticated ways of looking at sex for her
age.”

“Kids are exposed to all kinds of
things on the internet and in movies.”

“
How did Desiree get to and
from school?”

“
Since we live close to the
high school, she walked there.”

“By herself or with other kids from
the neighborhood?”

“By herself.”

“
Mrs. Beauchamp, I don’t want
to be preachy or anything, but it’s never a good idea for girls or
women to walk by themselves. Neither day; nor night. When I was
younger, I used to walk to school and guys were constantly pulling
over and asking me if I needed a ride. Even after I’d say ‘No’,
they’d still slowly circle the block, watching where I was
heading.”

“That must have been
frightening.”

“
It was. That’s why I’m
telling you, for your own safety, never walk alone.
Okay?”

“
Okay. Thanks for the advice.
I never thought that it would be unsafe in the daytime, too. I’ve
never had that kind of trouble; but there’s always a first time, I
suppose.”

“
Yes. There are self-defense
classes that I advise all women to take.”

“Okay.”

“
Mrs. Beauchamp? Can I borrow
some pictures of Desiree. I’ll make copies and give them
back.”

“
That other detective who was
here took some. And he hasn’t given them back yet, like he
promised.”

“I’ll see to it that they will be
returned by tomorrow. In the meantime, would you please lend me a
few recent pictures of her?”

The mother
shows Clarissa a picture from last year’s school
yearbook.

“
Pretty girl,” Clarissa says,
and tries not to think about how very different the girl looked in
the crime scene photos. “Can I borrow this yearbook?”

Mrs. Beauchamp says, “Okay,
but please give it back to me later.”

“Of course I will.”

Mrs. Beauchamp says, “I’ve
already given a list of Desiree’s friends to that other detective
who was here.”

“Yes. I saw in his notes that he’d
interviewed them already.”

“
Did they have any idea how
this happened to my daughter?”

“
His notes don’t show any
evidence of that, but I promise I will catch that bastard who did
this to your pretty daughter. I guarantee you.”

“Thank you.”

“
You’re welcome,” Clarissa
says, standing up to leave. “And no more walking by yourself,
okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter
Six

When Clarissa gets back in
her car, she makes a call to Tustin High and
tells the receptionist that she needs to talk to Desiree’s
English teacher right away. She gives her phone number and drives
over to Tustin High to talk to the librarian there. Clarissa used
to work in the school library, so being there brings back lots of
fond memories. She walks inside the library and searches for the
head librarian. A woman behind the desk greets her. Clarissa shows
her badge and tells her why she’s there. The librarian doesn’t
recognize Desiree when Clarissa shows her the picture from the
yearbook.

Clarissa asks, “Are there any other
librarians or aides I could ask?”

The librarian introduces her
to the rest of the library staff; but none of them recognize
Desiree. Clarissa’s feels like she’s hit a brick wall. She sits
down at one of the tables in the library and takes out her lap top
to Google the English teacher, Mr. Turknette. She discovers that
he’s a former priest who left the priesthood to get married five
years ago. He’s been teaching Sophomore English and Creative
Writing for five years at the high school. He finally returns her
call and agrees to meet in the library.

A balding and slightly overweight
forty-year-old man enters the library. The librarian recognizes him
and says, “How are you, Mr. Turknette?”

Clarissa stands up to greet
him. They sit down at a secluded table and she says in a quiet
voice, “I’d like to talk to you about one of your students, Desiree
Beauchamp.”

“Yes. The poor girl who was
murdered.”

Clarissa reaches into her
computer bag and pulls out “The Ballad of a Hooker.” He recognizes
it and says, “Oh, yes. I remember that story. It was a creative
writing assignment. I asked the kids to try to write a ballad. We
were discussing ‘Ode to Billy Joe’.”

Clarissa says, “I see. Weren’t you
alarmed that she chose to write about prostitution?”

“I was. But then I saw that she was
trying to put a little humor in it. It’s kind of cute the way she
put words together.”

“Well, it isn’t very cute what
happened to her.”

“I’m not discounting that. You
misunderstood me.”

“
Did she ever make any
inappropriate advances to you?”

“
To me? You’ve got to be
kidding.”

“I’m dead serious.”

“No. She was never like that.”

“How was she with the other boys in
class? Was she popular?”

“She was quiet. Studious. And a bit
of a loner. She was a very good student. She got ‘A’s on all of her
tests and papers. She had so much potential. It’s such a waste and
tragedy what happened. We all feel terrible about it.”

“Can you think of anyone who might
have wanted to hurt her?”

“
No. Absolutely no
one.”

Clarissa gives him her card
and says, “Take this. Call me if you can think of anything that
might help us with our investigation.”

She drives back to her office
and goes over the interview notes that Detective Vente has already
completed. Reading the interviews with Desiree’s friends, she
learns that Desiree
recently broke up with
her boyfriend. Detective Vente interviewed him and wrote in his
notes that he didn’t think the boyfriend was capable of killing her
because he seemed genuinely shocked and upset about what happened
to her.

At about 4:00, she packs up her
stuff and goes home to start making dinner. Ron has been working
late all week. He promised to come home by 5:00 tonight. He has
been spending a lot of time in the dockyards in Long Beach. He
works undercover in the auto theft task force. Stolen cars have
been packed up and shipped off to Europe and parts unknown. The
D.A. suspects that organized crime is involved.

She drives over to Von’s and
buys a roasted chicken, some asparagus, and strawberries. She also
buys a bottle of Columbia Crest Chardonnay. Dinner is ready and the
table is set, all ready for him to come home. She waits and waits.
The clock turns 5:00 than 6:00, and still he doesn’t call or show
up. Usually, he’s really considerate about calling when he knows
he’s going to be late, but not tonight. This is so unlike him. She
worries that something may have happened to him. She calls him and
he doesn’t pick up. At about 7:00, he finally comes
home.

He walks into the house and is
greeted by a very angry wife. He tries to hug her, and she pushes
him away. He says, “What’s wrong, honey? Aren’t you glad to see
me?”