A Killing in the Valley (37 page)

“Some trouble involving a girl.” He took a hit off his beer. “I shouldn’t talk about that,” he said guardedly. “It isn’t my business, and I don’t know for sure.”

“Boys have girl trouble, girls have boy trouble,” Sophia agreed. “That’s what screws the human race up ninety-nine percent of the time.”

“Speaking from experience?” he asked. He was trying to keep it light, but she could hear the anxiety. The unasked questions: is there someone else out there other than me? Am I going to get dumped? Am I going to be hurt?

“Not personally,” she answered. “I haven’t gotten close enough to a boy yet to feel the pain of unrequited young love. But I’m sure I will someday, and I’m sure it’ll hurt. It happens to everyone, doesn’t it?”

“I hope not to you,” he said sincerely.

You are such a sweet puppy dog, she thought. The perfect starter boyfriend.

She knew she could push him further. He was afraid of saying “no” to her. “So this girl who messed up your roommate’s mind,” she continued. “What’s his name again?” He hadn’t told her.

“Peter,” he answered. “Peter Baumgartner.”

“Peter, right. Was it a girl from school or a girl from home?”

“Neither one,” he answered. “He met this girl, nothing much happened, and then things turned to shit.”

“She dumped him?”

“She died.”

Sophia gave out a low whistle. “What happened to her? Some kind of accident or something?” She hesitated. “Was he with her when…”

“She died?” Jeremy shook his head. “No. I don’t know what happened to her,” he continued. “All I know is she showed up dead, later on.” He wrapped his arms around his legs, as if to form a protective shell. “He only met her once, for a couple of hours. I was with him, so I met her, too. It’s one of those incredible things you hear about, but you never expect it could happen to you—being around someone who died. Someone young.” He turned to her. “Like you.”

She involuntarily jerked back from him. “Like me how?”

“She was your age.” He paused. “I think she went to your high school.”

Sophia inhaled and exhaled slowly. “You’re not talking about the girl who was murdered this fall, are you? Maria Estrada was her name.”

Jeremy licked his lips nervously. “I didn’t know her name. I didn’t even know about her dying until weeks later—I don’t read the newspaper much or watch the local news. I’m still not completely sure.”

“But your roommate must have known about it,” Sophia pressed. “If her dying—being killed—caused him to leave school.”

Jeremy shook his head obstinately. “It’s not like that. It’s not that simple,” he insisted. “It’s like all this shit was coming down on his head, and then this girl he’d met
one time
turns up dead…”

“The police say she was murdered,” Sophia interrupted.

“Killed, murdered, how do they know?” he countered. “They weren’t there, and dead women tell no tales. The point is, he had been with her just before she died. He was afraid of being connected to it.”

“Do the police know about this?”

Jeremy shook his head. “No.”

“Why not? Didn’t you go to them? Did
he
go to them?”

“No,” he answered obstinately.

“Why not?” she asked again. “It could be important.”

“Or it could get us into a shitload of trouble for nothing. Hell, I’m not positive the girl that was found out on that ranch is the same girl we met. Who my friend met,” he quickly readjusted.

“How could you get into trouble?” she pressed. “Do you know anything about how she died? I mean, was killed?”

“No, I don’t. But we were with her…he was,” he corrected himself again. He wiped his face in his hands. “I shouldn’t have told you this,” he lamented. “I should have kept my mouth shut.” He wheeled to face her. “Are you going to tell anyone about what I just told you?”

“Who would I tell?” she parried. Knowing full well who.

“The police. Who else?”

“But you didn’t have anything to do with Maria getting killed.” She paused. “Did he? I mean, does your roommate know anything about it?”

Jeremy looked away. “No. He doesn’t.” He looked back at her. “It’s irrelevant now, which is why I didn’t go to the police when I finally figured out who that girl might be.
Might be,
I want to be clear about that. I don’t know for sure.”

Yes, you do, she thought. You’re perfectly clear about it. As clear as my friend Tina is. Who didn’t go to the police, either.

“You should talk to somebody about this,” she told him.

“Like who? I shouldn’t have even told you. Shit,” he groaned.

“I’m not going to tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she assured him. Which was a blatant lie, she couldn’t wait to tell her mother. “But you could tell a lawyer. Lawyers are sworn to secrecy.”

Jeremy stared at the ceiling. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Why doesn’t it?”

“Because they found out who killed her,” he explained. “Some guy from out of town. He’s in jail now. He’s going on trial in a few months. So there was no point in my—our—getting involved.”

She sat cross-legged on the bed, facing him. “What if the police find out you and your roommate knew Maria?” she asked. “What if they found out you were with her right before she died? That will look like you’re hiding something. What are you going to do then?”

He went ashen. “How are they going to know? You’re not going to tell them, are you?” He looked like he was about to have a full-blown panic attack.

“No, I’m not going to tell the police. But what if somebody saw Maria and your roommate together?” she threw out, to see how he would react.

He started shaking. She had hit a nerve.

“Peter isn’t connected with her being killed,” he said stubbornly.

“Are you positive?” she challenged him.

“Yes,” he insisted. “He had nothing to do with it. They have her killer, in jail.” He got up. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ve already said more than I should have.” His grip was firm on her arm. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you? I can trust you, can’t I, Sophia? Please tell me I can trust you.”

Sophia looked into his eyes. “Yes, Jeremy. You can trust me to try to do the right thing.”

“Mom!” Urgent whispering, even though there was no one else in the house. “Wake up, Mom!”

Kate came awake with a start. What time was it? She looked at the digital clock on the television cable box. 11:40.

“Hi, honey.” She shook her head to clear the cobwebs. “I must have fallen asleep a few minutes ago.” She distinctly remembered the weather report, which came on halfway through the eleven o’clock local news. Had she seen the sports, too? She didn’t remember. “How was your evening?”

Sophia sat down next to her. “Mom, we need to talk.”

L
UKE, KATE, AND SOPHIA
met in Luke’s conference room. Sophia had called in sick (Kate did it for her), so she could take the morning off from school. The bombshell she had dropped on her mother last night had to be dealt with immediately. She could return after lunch, so she wouldn’t miss play practice.

She recited her story to Luke, leaving out the names.

“Who’s the friend who told you she had been with Maria and these boys?” Luke asked her, after she had finished.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I promised her I wouldn’t,” Sophia said intransigently. She and Kate had danced around this last night for hours. She had given Tina her word that she wouldn’t betray her, and she was going to stick to that, no matter what.

“You know, Sophia, I could subpoena you as a witness and take your testimony that way,” Luke said. “Then you’d have to tell us, and at the same time it wouldn’t be like you were giving up your friend.”

Sophia shook her head doggedly. “I wouldn’t do it, even under oath.” She turned to Kate. “If you did that to me, I’d move out, Mom. I’d go back up north and live with Aunt Julie.”

Her in-your-face statement—indictment—was so harsh, so unexpected, it took Kate’s breath away. All these months of bonding, and her daughter would think of something that hurtful? She could feel her heart pounding away, somewhere in the vicinity of her knees.

“You can’t,” she threw back gamely. “You’re still in high school.”

“I’m over eighteen,” Sophia countered. “I’m legally of age. I can do whatever I want. And live wherever I want.”

Luke jumped in. “Ladies. Let’s not get crazy, all right? No one’s going to force you to do anything, Sophia. It was a suggestion, to help you get around what I know is a sincere moral dilemma for you.”

Sophia took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She looked at Kate, who was almost white, the color drained from her face. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean that, you know I didn’t. I was just—”

“I know,” Kate answered. She was sucking wind. For a moment she had actually thought she was going to faint. She looked at Sophia. “It’s Tina, isn’t it? She’s the one who was with Maria and the boys.”

Sophia stared at the floor.

Kate answered her own question. “I knew it. Why won’t she talk to us?” she asks. “Was she…” She hesitated.

“She wasn’t in on Maria getting killed, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Sophia told her sharply. “Not a chance.”

“Who’s Tina?” Luke interjected.

“A friend of Sophia’s from high school,” Kate explained.

“Why can’t she talk to us?” Luke asked Sophia. He glanced at Kate, then added, “Whatever you tell us is in confidence. We won’t betray it. That’s a promise.”

Sophia ground her fists against her temples. “Oh, shit! I’ll tell you why,” she blurted out. “Because she’s in this country illegally! Her whole family is. If she had to go to a trial and testify in public they could get busted and sent back.”

“That’s the reason, for real?”

Sophia nodded.

“Well, it’s understandable,” Luke said. “Which is why she didn’t go to the police, I assume.”

“Yes,” Sophia answered. She had betrayed her friend. She felt absolutely miserable.

Kate took Sophia’s hand. “Honey. We can figure some way out to help Tina, but she has to talk to us. It’s vital.”

“You can’t talk to Tina, Mom. You can’t!” Sophia said fiercely. “Didn’t you hear what I’ve been telling you? I promised her I wouldn’t tell anybody, not even you. Now I’ve broken my promise, but I’m not going to let
you
break it,” she added, her voice shaking with moral intensity.

“Okay,” Luke said calmly. “We hear you. Let’s shelve this for now. What about this boy? What kind of promises did you make him?”

“The same,” Sophia answered. She was disconsolate over this. There was nothing worse than betraying a confidence. Now she was betraying two. “That I wouldn’t tell anyone.” She looked at Luke. “He doesn’t know my mom is working on the case. He’s going to kill me when he finds out.”

“You’re using a figure of speech, I hope,” he said. He leaned forward. “There’s a point where protecting a friend, or keeping your word, runs up against the law, Sophia. Which may have happened in this case. Tina’s situation is a gray area, but the boy’s…what’s his name?”

“Jeremy. Musgrove.”

“Is clearly beyond any moral protection. He doesn’t have Tina’s problem with anything illegal, does he?”

Sophia shook her head. “No.”

“He knew what had happened, but he didn’t go to the police. What reason could he have had?”

“They were afraid of getting involved,” Sophia said wearily. The more she thought about Jeremy’s reason for not going to the police, the flimsier it sounded.

“The roommate who’s gone missing. Do you know his name?” Luke asked.

Sophia nodded. She had committed it to memory. “Peter Baumgartner,” she said in a hollow voice.

“He lives in L.A.?”

Another nod.

“You’ve started this ball rolling, so you’re in this now, whether you want to be or not,” Luke told her without pulling his punches. “But I don’t want to see you get into any trouble because these friends of yours didn’t do the right thing. For now, I’ll hold off on the girl,” he promised her. “If she has to testify at the trial, there’s a way to grant her immunity so she won’t have to fear that her family will be exposed.” He tilted back in his chair, thinking. “Okay,” he said, rocking forward again. “We’ve talked about this enough for now,” he told Sophia. “Go back to school.”

Sophia looked at Kate. “What about…?”

“Everything you’ve told us stays in this room,” Luke promised her, “until we figure out how to do this without hurting anyone more than we have to. But I want you to remember something, Sophia,” he said gravely. “Steven McCoy has been accused of a crime that will send him to jail for the rest of his life if he’s convicted. My duty is to defend him the best I can, which I am going to do. I understand your friends’ concerns, although I think they’re selfish and misguided, particularly this boy’s. But for now, we’ll keep this to ourselves.” He squeezed her shoulder. “This is incredibly helpful. This could turn the tide for us.”

“Thank you,” she said wearily. “I have play practice after dinner again,” she reminded Kate. “Less than a week to go. So it’ll be a late night.”

Kate stood up and hugged her. “You did the right thing, honey,” she assured her daughter.

“I know, Mom,” Sophia answered glumly. “But that doesn’t make it feel any better.”

After Sophia left, Luke and Kate stared at each other across his desk.

“This could be a total snipe hunt,” Kate said hopefully. She so didn’t want Sophia dragged into this case. “Do you believe his story? The motivation?”

“No,” he answered flatly. “It’s too glib, too rehearsed.” He fiddled with a pencil. “I can understand why they kept this hidden. They thought they would come under suspicion, although they probably have credible alibis, or the boy wouldn’t have spilled his guts to Sophia, no matter how besotted he is with her.” He baton-twirled the pencil between his fingers. “Legally, of course, they didn’t have to come forward, but as good citizens, they should have.” He pondered their options for a moment. “No one else knows about this?”

“I can’t believe this boy would have told anyone else,” Kate assured him. “The boy only told Sophia because he’s hung up on her, as you recognized.”

She was going to blow her daughter’s budding romance out of the water. Every time she thought they were making progress, up sprung another leak in the relationship. She didn’t know how many more it could take before it sank. Witness how Sophia had almost come unglued a few minutes ago.