Trespass (11 page)

Chapter 23

A
s I watched Taylor walk away from me, I couldn’t help myself; I had a good cry—right there in my car. Never mind the people who walked by, trying not to notice. After I pulled myself together, I knew I had to process the enormity of seeing him again. I didn’t want to do it alone. Thirty minutes later, I parked in the lot of the Women’s Center of Milwaukee where Lisa Rayburn happened to be working that afternoon. When I called, I caught her with time available and she invited me over to the office she uses when she volunteers at the center.

After she greeted me, I told her what had just happened, including my meltdown in the parking lot, then waited anxiously to hear what she would say. After a brief pause, she asked, “What are you feeling now, Gemma?”

I should have known she would ask a question rather than make any kind of comment. I grabbed a tissue and wiped under my eyes. I hadn’t even checked my makeup; my mascara must have been down to my chin. “It’s hard to explain. I seem to be all over the place.”

“If you were to pin down your most prevalent emotion, what would it be?”

My eyes took in the room while I examined my feelings. I couldn’t help but compare the utilitarian space to Lisa’s tasteful and comfortably decorated office on Pewaukee Lake. The economy-sized box of tissues seemed to be the only thing the two places had in common.

“I think I’m actually feeling a little relieved.” My answer surprised me. Until I voiced the words, I hadn’t acknowledged any feelings of relief, just sadness.

“Why are you relieved?”

I squirmed in my chair, which was difficult since my suede skirt clung to the fake leather. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because I’ve been fantasizing about him forever and now it’s over; I’ve seen him.”

“Were you disappointed?”

“No, he looked just as I’d imagined him, really not much different than he did sixteen years ago.”

“Is it possible some of your relief is based on his assurance that he still cares about you?”

I couldn’t deny it. “I suppose. But I’m also relieved that I was able to walk away from him when it would have been so easy to stay. I’m thirty-seven years old. I can’t let myself fall in love again with a man I could only have on a limited basis.”

“Gemma, if meeting him today represents a kind of closure for you, it might mean a breakthrough on your sleep paralysis. Give this some thought: it’s possible your night visitor represents the hold your past has on you. If you can come to terms with it, the release of that burden could make a difference. I know the meds have helped, but it’s time to try sleeping without them.”

“I have been for a few nights now. Of course, now that I’m setting those crazy number boards out every night, I haven’t had an episode.”

“I’m glad to hear you’ve been sleeping without medication. Maybe this new insight will end the sleep paralysis for you in the long run, or hopefully the episodes will no longer be frightening.”

I doubted that that, but she’d given me a lot to consider. I left the office feeling better than I had in days.

When I got home and brought in the boxes of Norman’s things, I noticed the house was unusually quiet. Clyde always greeted me when I came in. “Let’s pray,” was a typical hello from the bird.

Since I’d taken Clyde from the Krauses, his behavior had appeared to be that of a normal bird. Now he sat pressed to one side of a wooden perch that ran the length of the cage, his eyes half-closed. I had no idea how to tell if a bird was sick, but I didn’t like the way he looked.

I rushed over to the Krauses’ back porch and knocked loudly until Lucian opened the door. “Is your mother here?”

“No. She went to work.”

He didn’t ask me what I needed, and his body language told me that the boy would prefer if I left. The few interactions I had with him before had made me uncomfortable. I felt guilty about it, given his condition. I didn’t know much about cherubism but had been told he didn’t suffer any pain because of it. I imagined any physical pain he bore probably paled next to the pain of rejection he received from his peers.

“I need to ask you about the parrot. Would you have the name of the bird’s vet?”

“We never needed a vet. Can’t help you.”

I thanked him despite his rudeness right before the door closed in my face. I went back to Clyde and talked softly to him until he made a few low-pitched, barely identifiable chirps. The phone rang before I could open the Yellow Pages to find a vet who specialized in birds.

Jon Engel said, “Hi, Gemma. I wanted to let you know that the claims you submitted for damage to your house from the explosion have been approved. Don’t look for a check right away, though. It usually takes at least a month.”

“Thanks for letting me know. You’re working late, aren’t you?”

“I don’t keep real regular hours. I have an assistant who’s here eight hours a day and keeps the phone manned. Or I guess I should say womaned—if that’s even a word.”

I smiled into the phone. “I don’t think so, but I knew what you meant. You wouldn’t by any chance know where I can find a veterinarian that sees birds, do you?”

“Don’t tell me the preacher’s sick?”

I recalled his fascination with Clyde and his calling Clyde “the preacher.”

“I’m pretty sure something’s wrong. He’s quiet and not moving around at all.”

“A friend of mine has a relative who raises birds. I don’t remember what kind, but if you like, I’ll give him a call. If he can give me the bird guy’s number, I’ll get right back to you.”

I went back to Clyde. I never had felt a lot of affection for the poor thing but I’d fed him, cleaned his cage, and let him live in the home he had been accustomed to. Feeling sorry for him now, I opened the door of the cage and reached in to stroke his feathers. This was the first time I had tried to touch him. He surprised me by stepping onto my wrist and slowly climbing my arm to sit on my shoulder. I had no experience with birds before I rescued Clyde from the Krause household, and now I felt bad that I hadn’t taken the time to find out more about his care. His weight on my shoulder was a new experience. He stayed close to my neck, his beak softly tapping the side of my chin while he traveled with me back to the kitchen. The phone rang again as we entered.

Jon said quickly, “I talked to the bird man. He got pretty excited when I described Clyde, said he’s an African gray, an expensive bird. He told me he does most of the doctoring on his own birds and offered to take a look at him. Tonight, if you want.”

I must have hesitated a bit. TJ was supposed to come over to help me go through Norman’s boxes earlier today, although we put that on hold when I had been sidetracked by my meeting with Taylor.

Jon added, “Listen, if you’re uncomfortable having a stranger over, I’ll come with him.”

Jon Engel was the sort of person who made everything seem so simple. Being uncomfortable with a stranger wasn’t my problem, but I could use a big dose of simple. I would meet with TJ tomorrow.

“Sure. That would be nice.”

Chapter 24

T
J picked up JR from Janeen’s house after Gemma called to cancel their meeting. Richard had accepted her invitation to dinner. She had JR down for the night, two steaks thawing on the counter, and she was chopping vegetables for a salad. A bottle of his favorite wine waited on the table next to two wine glasses.

“What’s the occasion?” he asked, taking her in his arms.

She knew he would ask that and had her answer ready. “Nothin. Just thought it would be nice. We haven’t had a special dinner in a while.” She needed Richard in a good mood when she asked him about the case. She needed to pry information from him about the Jackson woman. Even though it wasn’t Milwaukee’s case, Richard would be privy to what was happening if he wanted to be since the victim resided in Milwaukee.

While the steaks grilled, they sat in the dining room drinking wine. It was time. She launched into the speech she had ready, explaining her suspicion that Teschler’s death tied in with the others. Richard listened without comment, a cop’s skill he excelled at. He waited until she concluded before commenting.

“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t take a case that required you to be armed.”

She had already admitted to wearing her gun. This little talk wasn’t going as planned. “Yeah, but when I took the case, it didn’t have that feel to it. I told you that. Thought I’d just nose around a little, probably have to tell her it was a dead end and the inspector was right—it was a freak accident.”

Richard leaned back, linking his hands over his head. “I don’t know, TJ. You said everyone knew Teschler had lost his sense of smell and that he had a cigar every night. If the explosion were deliberate, that would narrow it down to someone he knew. I hardly see how his death would be related to the others. And don’t forget, the Chapman girl’s death could have been an accident.”

“I know, but now the explosion’s more suspicious, right?”

Richard sighed. “I suppose you’re leading up to ask me for information about the Jackson murder.”

He knew her too well. “If I knew more about it, maybe I’d know they weren’t related.”

“Don’t try to manipulate me. You know that never works.”

She did. He couldn’t always read her, but he could always smell a con job. She had to drop it and wait for him to follow through in his own time.

He got up to check the steaks. When he came back, he said, “I’ll make you a deal. You promise you’ll let me know if your case gets ugly, and I’ll find out what I can about the Jackson murder for you as long as anything I tell you isn’t for publication. It won’t be much, since I’m not on the case, but Tosa’s promised to keep us updated on their progress. I’ll touch base with them tomorrow.”

TJ raised her glass. “Deal.” She watched him step out onto the porch and admired his tall body, which was that of a much younger man. Richard believed he owed it to the job to stay in shape.

It was funny how things turned out. Unfortunately, like Norman Teschler’s home explosion, Jeff Denison’s death had been ruled “cause undetermined,” because the killer had made it look like a suicide. She and Jeff had been friends first and had just begun to explore a relationship as lovers when he was killed. Richard had never berated her for the pregnancy. Doctors had told TJ she would have a hard time getting pregnant, so she never bothered with birth control. It had felt like a minor miracle that she conceived JR in one evening of passion.

After they ate, Richard reached for her hand when she started to clear the table. “Sit for a minute. I have something I want to talk to you about too.”

It had been such a nice dinner. She hoped this wasn’t going to be bad news. He finished his wine. Whatever it was, he needed liquid support.

“Remember when JR was born I asked you if you wanted to get married?”

Her stomach sank. She wasn’t prepared for the marriage talk. “I remember, but do we have to talk about it now?” Feeling bad about dashing his topic, she said, “I’m sorry. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“You know how much I love you and JR,” he began. “I know how you feel about marriage, so I’m not asking you to reconsider. I’m just thinking it might be time I got rid of my apartment and moved in here. I would pay half of all the expenses. I know you have a perfectly good security system, but I’d feel better about your safety if I were here every night.”

TJ had thought about it many times but always held back from suggesting it out of guilt that she didn’t want to marry him. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, she did, and even more so since JR was born. Her feelings seemed to be all over the place; one day she worried he was slipping away from her, the next she worried about marrying him.

He stood and came over to her, lifting her out of the chair and taking her in his arms. “Think about it. There’s no time line on the offer.” They kissed, left the dishes until later, and headed for the bedroom.

Chapter 25

J
on and the bird expert, Harley Jaspersen, arrived at my door barely an hour after I talked to Jon on the phone. Jaspersen, only about five five, looked nearly ninety, and still stood straight. He had probably been in the armed services back in the day.

His blue eyes lit up when he saw Clyde on my shoulder. “He’s a Congo gray. See, there are two kinds of African grays, the Timneh and the Congo, named after their home regions in Africa. The Timneh is a dark charcoal gray, with a rather maroon tail, and the Congo, like your Clyde here, are a lighter gray with a red tail. He’s not looking too bad right now.”

“I know. I almost called you back because he perked up a lot since I talked to Jon.” I ushered Jon and Jaspersen into the kitchen where I had a fresh pot of coffee waiting.

He took Clyde from my shoulder. Clyde seemed to like him and clung to his wrist while the man inspected him. “He looks good. Seems well fed, healthy.” He turned to me. “Tell me what happened today.”

“I was gone for about four or five hours, but that’s fairly routine. I work from home mostly, but he’s used to being alone on the days I go into the city to work. But today when I came home he didn’t have anything to say. Usually he has a blessing or tells me to pray, something along those lines, because his previous owners were very religious.” I quickly explained Clyde had belonged to the former owners of my house and spent quite some time with the Krauses before I brought him here to live with me.

“Today when I came home, he just sat on his perch, cowering against the side of the cage and his eyes weren’t all the way open. He’s never done that before. I don’t handle him, but after I called Jon, I reached in his cage. I was going to just stroke his feathers, but he hopped on my hand, then moved up to my shoulder and stayed there. I haven’t had the heart to put him back in his cage.”

Jaspersen held Clyde in front of his face, his eyes studying every feather.

“He came to me real easy. You’ve got a gray here that likes being up close. Not all of them do. You live here alone?”

“Yes.”

“Anybody else have a key, come and go?”

“I use a cleaning service, but they aren’t due for a week. Why?”

He returned Clyde to his cage. The bird didn’t seem to mind and spouted, “Hail Mary, Hail Mary!”

Jaspersen laughed. “Goofy bird. Well, not knowing him, I’ll venture a guess here. What you described sounds more like he got scairt’ of something. Or someone scairt’ him.”

“I can’t imagine how that could have happened,” I said.

Jon had been standing at the entryway to the screened porch. He came closer, frowning. “Did you have the locks changed when you moved in?”

“No. I didn’t think it was necessary. I had Norman right across the street. He had a key of course, but no one else did.”

“That you know of.”

I hadn’t thought of that. It was possible the former owners had given a key to friends or neighbors. “I’ll have them changed.”

“I would,” Jon said. “Changing locks is one of the points we make to new homeowners when they apply for insurance. Did you check the house when you got home?”

When I got home my mind had still been preoccupied with Taylor. Then there was my concern for Clyde. “No, it never occurred to me.”

“Want me to look around?” Jon offered.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Jaspersen stood to leave. “I think your bird is going to be fine. He seems to like a lot of attention. Talk to him a lot. He’ll like having his cage door open, and you might want to get him one or two perches so he can be in the room you’re in. He likes you, so he’ll be happier close by. Gotta warn you—they do like to chew. Get him some toys to tear up. The pet stores will have some for parrots.” He handed her a small card with his name and number. “Call me if you have any other questions.”

I walked him to the door. When he turned down my offer to write him a check, I grabbed a fifty from my purse and stuffed it in his pocket before he could object. He shook his head at me and left.

Jon was waiting for me in the kitchen. He had poured himself a cup of coffee and was sitting on a chair next to the cage, talking to Clyde.

“I really like this bird. I didn’t know parrots had so much personality.”

“I didn’t either, and I didn’t realize I’d become so attached. I’ll have to pay more attention to him.”

Jon stood, looking tall next to the cage. About six three, he had a body that didn’t see a gym very often but was tall enough to compensate for the extra weight. His reddish brown hair, thinning at the top, highlighted a face not-quite handsome but pleasant. His wire-rimmed glasses and easy, blue-eyed smile reminded me of William Hurt, one of my favorite actors.

“I checked all your doors and windows and I didn’t find any signs of a break-in. Take a look around and see if you find anything out of place.”

“I haven’t noticed anything. Do you really think someone may have been in here?”

“Hard to tell. But Jaspersen seemed to know his birds.”

I left him with Clyde and moved through my house looking for anything out of place and noticed the number posters. Earlier, I had quickly picked up the ones from the kitchen, dining room, and living room where my guests might see them. But Jon had already gone through the house and would have seen the ones in the other rooms. He hadn’t asked about them, and I wondered if I should explain. I decided it was better to say nothing and let him think me quirky rather than get into the long story of my sleep dysfunction.

I didn’t notice anything out of place. Not until I got to my bedroom. I shuffled the posters and put them out every night, numbers showing, without looking at them. I was pretty sure the one in my bedroom this morning had been number four. The poster propped at the end of the room now was number three.

When Jon asked me if everything looked all right I told him I was pretty sure it did since there was no way to be certain about the poster.

“Better check your computer. If someone came in looking for something, that might be where they landed.”

The last time I was in my home office I had stacked the boxes of Norman’s things on my desk. We moved them to the floor, and I opened the computer.

Jon stood next to me. “What the last things you did online?”

“I believe I just checked my e-mails.”

“Open your history. See if the recent activity looks familiar. There are probably more sophisticated ways to find out if someone was using your computer, but that’s the easiest.”

I opened my history and saw a list of sites I knew I hadn’t been in recently. I felt my nerve ends unravel.

Jon sensed my reaction. “I take it those aren’t yours?”

“No. I’m sure I didn’t look at any of them today.”

“So you did have a visitor. I wonder what they did to freak out our boy Clyde.”

My fear became rage that someone had invaded my privacy and frightened poor Clyde. I swallowed it and studied the history again.

“Norman. They were looking at anything pertaining to Norman.”

“Interesting. Seems like it would support your theory that the house explosion wasn’t an accident.”

“I’ve always believed it wasn’t, but this makes my suspicions more credible.”

“If you can afford it, I’d recommend you get a security system. Your first-floor windows are low to the ground, which would give an intruder easy access.”

“But this has been such a safe neighborhood.”

“Do you want me to tell you how many times I’ve heard those same words after someone calls me to report a robbery?”

He was right. There were no longer any neighborhoods that were truly safe. “I’ll look into security companies tomorrow and see if I can get someone right away.”

“I can give you the names of the best ones in this area. Get your locks changed first thing tomorrow, though. Do you have a friend or relative that could stay with you tonight?”

I didn’t. There was Carter, who I was certain would be here in a heartbeat, but I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression by turning to him in a crisis. “No. I’ll be fine.”

“Why don’t we give TJ a call? She needs to know about this anyway. I don’t think she’ll want you to stay here alone either. If you didn’t have Clyde I’d suggest you go to a hotel.”

I hated to lie to him, but I didn’t need someone to stay with me. I had something better—the pistol Carter had given me. When we were married, he thought I should have protection when he had to be in Singapore. “Don’t bother TJ. I’ll call my ex-husband.”