A Justified Murder, page 16
The pastor said it was a time to remember the good of a person’s life, not the bad that had ended it. He stepped aside to let Megan Nesbitt take her place by the microphone.
Megan had note cards with her and she read a highly edited story of the kindness of Janet Beeson. She left out the part where her brother had described Janet as what a witch looked like. Megan made the story of painting “Witch” on the garage sound like the innocence of children. It was just play. She ended with “But Janet forgave them.”
Kate drew in her breath. That was the opposite of what Megan had told them. “Janet never forgave her brother,” she whispered to Jack.
He turned to her with a frown and nodded. He also saw the change.
Next came the three teenage girls. Again, it was a different story. This time around the girls were humble, taking all the blame onto themselves. No bragging about Britney’s talent at mimicry.
Britney said, “I felt so bad that I didn’t want to live anymore.”
The girls looked at the audience, then put their arms around each other.
“But Mrs. Beeson saved her,” Ashley said. “She saved all of us.”
What they said and the way they presented it was so well-spoken, so well played, that Jack and Kate turned to Sara.
“Everett Gage,” Sara said in disgust.
At the same time, in the same tone, Chet Dakon also said, “Everett Gage.”
In delight of their words spoken in unison, the two older people looked at each other as though they might start giggling.
Jack and Kate leaned back against the hard oak pew. “Now I wish he’d go away,” Kate muttered.
“Get in line,” Jack said.
The next person up was Valerie Johnson. They hadn’t met her but the guards had spoken of her. She’d won the local crocheting contest. “I gloated,” she said. “I had the sin of pride and I played it up to dear Janet.” She looked at the audience. “Later, when my studio burned down, it was Janet who helped me. In spite of everything I did, she was a good friend to me.”
It was then that the sobbing began. Loud, deep, soulful sobs. A broken heart was showing itself in tears. And it came from one person.
The four of them turned to look. Two rows behind them, Everett had his head on the back of the pew in front of him and was crying hard and loud. It was genuine misery.
“He sees his father-in-law’s furniture catalog before him,” Jack said.
Chet whispered something to Sara, then she whispered to Kate and Jack. “No one else is crying.”
They looked around the church. There were at least two hundred people there. The walls were ringed, the pews packed. Everyone was staring and listening. But there were no tears being shed.
Chet was the first to turn back to the front. Another woman was at the podium. She told how kind Janet had been to her after an accidental bad hair dye job in her salon.
Last came the only man. “Drugstore,” Kate whispered.
It was Eric Yates, the pharmacist. “I made a fool of myself but Janet forgave me” was all he said. His face was red with embarrassment.
After he sat down, two women and a man got up from the front pew and sang “Tears in Heaven.”
After they finished, the pastor led the congregation in prayer. When the service was over, the people began to leave. What little they spoke was done in whispers.
Outside, all four of them went to Jack’s truck and leaned against the long bed. They were watching the people file out.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Jack said, “but I feel like I’ve just come out of a two-hour therapy session.”
“The question,” Sara said, “is whether we were the patient or the doctor.”
Chet gave a snort of laughter at that, then stepped forward and looked at them. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I’d really like to talk to you three. Flynn says you know a lot about this case.”
“We told him everything we know.” Jack sounded hostile.
“There were a few things we left out,” Sara said. “Were you the one who told Everett about the cross sewn into the baby bootie?”
“Yes.” He nodded toward a big green SUV. “That’s mine. I brought some boxes of info about the case with me. I thought I’d get a hotel somewhere, unload them, and you could look at what I have.”
Since his eyes never left Sara’s as he said this, they weren’t sure if his “you” was singular or plural.
“We can put them in my dining room.” Sara walked with him to his car.
“Think we should check into a hotel?” Jack muttered.
“I’d tell you to be nice but I feel the same way,” Kate replied.
When they saw Sara get into Chet’s SUV, Jack opened the driver-side door of his truck.
Kate got in and scooted across. “My suggestion is that we make a run to Chipotle and pick up a lunch for four. Otherwise, you and I will probably be relegated to being houseboys.”
Jack and Kate looked at each other and smiled. It felt good to be together on this.
It took over an hour to go to the restaurant on University, then get back to Lachlan. As they neared the house, Jack said, “Maybe we should go see a movie. Give them time alone.”
“Good idea,” Kate said. “However... I am a tiny bit curious as to what files he has on the White Lily Kidnapping. Do you think Aunt Sara will tell him about hearing Tayla on the phone, then about...? You know?”
“Your father and Charlene?”
Kate nodded.
“Your dad was Sara’s brother. I don’t think she’s going to tell his ugly secret to a stranger.”
“I hope not.”
“I wonder—since he’s former police—if he knows anything more about Janet’s personal life. Where she came from, her family, that sort of thing.”
“How long ago was it that he talked to Everett?”
Jack nodded. “And what else did he tell that blabbermouth that Gage didn’t tell us? He certainly sugarcoated their stories at the memorial.”
“Oh yeah. When the teens told us, they were...”
“Insufferable,” Jack said.
“Right, but today they had a studied remorse.” She looked at him. “It was perceptive of Mr. Dakon to notice that no one was crying.”
“Except Gage. But then, his life as a reporter might be over. No wonder he was bawling.”
“Catalog writing! Pretty horrible fate. But if he could help break the White Lily case, it would all change.”
Jack was turning into the driveway. “I wonder where Janet got that bootie?”
“And where is it now?” Kate asked.
Jack pulled into the garage and turned off the engine. Sara’s MINI was in place and he’d seen that Dakon’s SUV was in her favorite spot to the side of the house. “Maybe we could be of some help in figuring out the answers.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Kate could feel a bit of excitement running through her. “It really is a mystery of who, why, how. Was Janet’s murder connected to an old kidnapping? What did Sylvia have to do with it?”
“If anything.”
Kate looked at him. “The photo!”
Jack smiled. “Ah yes. The man who got away.”
“The one who wanted his picture taken. Maybe Chet could find out who he is.”
“So, it’s gone from Mr. Dakon to Dakon and now it’s Chet?”
“You should tell about Kyle’s extreme jealousy since you understand it so well.”
He ignored her jab. “Megan left out the jealousy part in her oh-so-clean little speech, didn’t she?”
“Everyone left out all the juicy bits. In fact, no one told how truly nasty they’d been to Janet Beeson.”
“But she forgave them all.”
Kate opened the truck door. “I’m hungry. You hungry? Maybe Chet wants to eat. Maybe while we’re being chummy over green chili, we can ask him a few questions.”
“Are you saying we should suck up to this intruder who seems to be stealing our beloved Sara away from us?”
“Jack, you are reading my mind.” She got out and closed the door behind her.
Smiling, he grabbed the big bag of food and followed her into the house.
Inside, it wasn’t what they’d expected. Not that they’d discussed it, but Kate and Jack were surprised. The kitchen table was covered with unfurled rolls of plans of the houses Jack had remodeled.
Chet, his back to them, was bent over the plans. Sara was standing inches away from him. “Jack does a brilliant job in the design as well as the construction.”
“I like this kitchen,” Chet said. “I need a lot of work space as I make a mess when I cook.”
“What do you like to cook?”
“Meat.” Half turning, he looked her small body up and down. “I bet you’re a vegan and do Pilates.”
From behind them, both Jack and Kate gave snorts of laughter.
The older couple turned to look at them.
“She’s a carnivore and she boxes.” Jack’s tone was like a put-down but it backfired.
Chet turned to Sara and looked her up and down again, only this time in a predatory way. “Yeah? Boxing?”
When Jack started to say something, Kate stepped in front of him. “You like the plans? You should see the Morris community. Jack is making it into beautiful affordable housing. They have a clubhouse and a pool.”
Chet was looking at her fondly. “I saw it yesterday. Flynn drove me over there.”
Jack’s face had not lost its look of contempt. “Sheriff Flynn showed you my work? That’s hard to believe.”
Chet’s handsome face turned serious. “He had nothing but good to say about you. He told me of your father and how you overcame everything to become a leading citizen of Lachlan.”
“A...? Leading?” Jack just blinked, unable to speak.
Chet turned to Kate. “And I hear you’re Kirkwood Realty’s number one salesperson.”
“Well...” she said modestly. “I’ve had help. I—”
Jack put his arm around Kate’s shoulders in a possessive way. “Don’t let her fool you. She eats, breathes, talks her job. A snowbird family drives through town and Kate is there telling them she can rent them an apartment cheaper than a hotel.”
She slipped out of his grasp. “Not quite, but I do look for opportunities.”
Sara spoke for the first time. “Is there food in that bag? Why don’t we eat while we talk?”
Kate began rolling plans while Jack pulled plastic containers out of the bag. She nudged him to look at the kitchen. As though they’d known each other for years, Sara and Chet were preparing drinks. She pulled lemons from the fridge and he smashed them down over the juicer.
It didn’t take long before they were seated at the round table. Outside was the pool and Sara’s beautifully landscaped terrace. In other circumstances they would have eaten out there, but they all knew that there were serious things to discuss. Palm trees and warm breezes didn’t lend themselves to talk of murder.
“When did—?” Chet began.
Jack cut him off. “Tell us about yourself.” It was spoken like an order.
Chet’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Jack in amusement. “Been a cop since I was a kid. Never known any other job. Married my high school sweetheart when we were twenty-two and—”
“Married?” Kate sounded alarmed.
Chet went on. “Not blessed with children until we were early forties. A daughter.” He looked at Jack in an appraising way. “She’s twenty-six now, a lawyer. Tall and blonde like her mother. I spend a lot of my life nagging her to give me grandkids.”
Jack blinked a few times then looked down at his plate.
“Your wife?” Kate asked again.
Chet looked away.
Sara’s voice was soft. “She died three years ago. When she was diagnosed with cancer, Chet resigned as the chief of police in Atlanta and moved to Sarasota. It’s where his wife grew up.”
Chet looked back at them. “Where she lived until the tenth grade anyway. Her dad’s company transferred him to Atlanta. Carol Jean walked into my English class and that was it. Neither of us ever looked back.”
Like now, Kate thought. With my aunt. She glanced at Jack and knew he had the same idea. She looked down at her plate, piled high with guacamole. What about the romance that Sara’s one true love was Jack’s grandfather? she thought. Something had separated them so they didn’t spend their lives together, but Kate had been told they spent a lifetime yearning for each other. Jack had even hinted that maybe his grandfather and Sara had met at times during their lives. Maybe—
Everyone was looking at her. “Did I miss something?”
“You just looked a million miles away,” Sara said. “Chet was telling us that his daughter works in Miami and he’s been thinking about moving closer to her.”
“Think you can find him a house?” Jack asked.
Before Kate could speak, Chet said, “How about Janet Beeson’s house? I’d like to buy it and take it apart. I’d put it under a microscope.”
“Got a million and a quarter?” Kate asked.
“That’s not what Beeson paid for it.”
“You have done your homework,” Sara said.
Jack pushed his empty plate away. “What else do you know about her?”
“She had a tough life.”
“Oh?” Sara encouraged. “Let’s go to the living room. Jack? Kate?”
They knew what she meant. They could clean up from lunch.
“Houseboys,” Jack whispered when he and Kate were alone.
“I think he’s staked you out to be his son-in-law. How tall do you think his daughter is? How blonde? Natural color or a box? And a lawyer. You know what they say about 25,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea. A good start.” She put the trash in the bin and firmly rolled the door shut. “Bring the pitcher.” Turning, she left the room.
It took Jack a few moments to lower his eyebrows from where they’d risen up under his hair. It couldn’t be possible but it almost sounded like Kate was, well...jealous.
Couldn’t be, he told himself, then dumped a bag of bakery cookies onto a plate, grabbed the pitcher, and carried both into the living room. He took a seat beside Kate, facing Sara and Chet on the other sofa.
“Not much to tell,” Chet said. “Janet Parker lived a very ordinary life. Only child of comfortable, not rich, parents. It was while she was at the University of Wisconsin that things changed. Her father was a mechanic and he invented something...” Chet waved his hand. “He created a gadget that made air conditioners work better. He sold the patent for millions. Mr. Parker immediately retired and he and his wife began to travel. Enjoying the good life.”
Chet took a drink, picked up a cookie, took a bite, and said, “Until right after Janet graduated, that is. Her parents went skiing in Colorado and they were never seen again. Their bodies were never found.”
“I guess Janet inherited everything,” Sara said.
“She did. Millions. But the odd thing is that she kept on working. Nothing serious, just—”
“By serious, do you mean like being a lawyer?” Jack smiled at Chet.
“Exactly!” For a moment he looked back and forth from Kate to Jack, as though trying to analyze them. “She never stayed anywhere for long. In 2004, she married her widowed boss, Carl Olsen.”
When the three listeners drew in their breaths, Chet stopped. “What bell did I just ring?”
“We’ve heard the name Carl recently,” Jack said. “They lived in Arizona, right?”
Chet smiled. “Put that together, did you?” He sounded proud.
Sara went into the family room and returned with her big iPad, the foot-wide one, and brought up the photo Jack had taken of the man who spied on them outside the Wyatt house. “Is this her husband?”
“Could be. I’m not sure. The Carl Olsen I saw is about three hundred pounds. I’d have to run it through facial recognition software. You have other photos?”
“A few,” Sara said modestly.
Chet looked at each person in speculation, then back to Sara. “I read the report you gave Flynn. Very well written. Most police reports are barely readable, but that one should be published.”
“That’s what Everett hopes,” Sara retorted.
Her smart-aleck remark made them smile, but Chet’s eyes were calculating. They were seeing the man who’d worked his way up from the bottom to the top of the police force. “Anyway, Janet left Arizona and changed her name to Beeson.”
“That’s why it was so hard to find out about her past,” Jack said.
Chet nodded. “So what happened to make you think this man was Janet’s husband?”
“Bits and pieces,” Sara said.
The three of them closed their lips tightly. They weren’t going to say that Tayla—one of their own—had said the name.
“All right.” Chet stood up. “Maybe I could show you a small...” He emphasized the word. “A small bit of what I’ve found out about the White Lily Kidnapping over the years.”
“Did Janet and Carl divorce?” Kate asked.
Chet gave a smile, letting her know that he had no intention of answering that question. “I’ll get a box or two. Just a few of them.” He quickly went out the front door, closing it behind him.
“I think we hurt his feelings,” Kate said.
Sara let out a laugh. “Ha! He’s playing us—and giving us time to decide what to tell.”
“You sound like you know him well,” Jack said.
“Kindred souls. Now! What’s our vote? Tell or not tell?”
But Jack wasn’t through with his bashing. “Are you sure we are the ones to ask? You and he seem to—”
“Tell!” Kate said loudly. “I vote we tell him everything. My hunch is that he won’t go to the sheriff and blab.”
“I agree,” Sara said, then she and Kate looked at Jack.
Reluctantly, he nodded. “He seems to be set on show-me-yours-I’ll-show-you-mine. If we want to find out anything, I think we have to tell what we know.”
