A Seahorse in the Thames (15 page)

Priscilla nods and follows Isabel out the door. She doesn’t even try to talk me out of it. I think she knows by now it would be useless. I’m determined to unravel at least this one mystery regarding Rebecca.

When they are gone, I head to my computer first to do a name search. I try searching for a Ronald and Mindy Bettendorf in Redondo Beach, but I only come up with one Ron Bettendorf in California, in Costa Mesa. I write down the phone number and take the slip of paper to the kitchen to give it a try.

The phone rings twice and then a woman answers.

“Mindy?” I say.

“Who is this?” The woman sounds immediately annoyed.

“This is Alexa Poole in San Diego. Is this Mindy?”

“No it is not. If this is some kind of joke—”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Are you her lawyer?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Well, you’ve got the wrong number. Mindy does not live here, okay?”

I’m starting to get the idea perhaps Mindy is no longer married to Ronald Bettendorf. “Well, do you know how I can find her?” I ask.

“You want her phone number?” the woman replies, but not in nice way.

“Well, yes, I would.”

“Fine. I’ll give it to you. And then you give
her
something. You give her this message. You tell her to get a life, okay? You tell her she’s not getting another penny from us.”

“And you are?”

“I am Mrs. Ron Bettendorf now. That’s who I am. Do you want that number or not?”

“Yes. Yes.”

She rattles off the number and then hangs up before I can thank her, if indeed I would have been so inclined.

I look at the numbers I’ve written. The area code is in San Diego County. Mindy is somewhere close by. I press in the numbers.

It takes four rings but finally there is a voice on the other end.

“Hello.” If it is Mindy she sounds sleepy or ill.

“Mindy?”

“Yeah. Who is this?”

“Mindy, this is Rebecca Poole’s sister, Alexa.”

She lets an expletive slip off her tongue but she is not angry. She is surprised.

“Mindy, I know you and Rebecca haven’t kept in touch and I apologize for intruding on your day like this—”

But she laughs and interrupts me. “Intruding on my day? Intruding? That’s a good one. Very funny. Hey, who gave you my number? It’s unlisted.”

“Oh. Well, I got it from… I have no idea what the new wife’s name is.

“I’m just messing with you. I know who probably gave it to you. Darla hates my skinny guts. She’s probably hoping you’re from the IRS. You’re not, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I—”

“Good. Well, well, well! I haven’t seen Rebecca since, since my wedding! Oh man! That is a riot!” She laughs again like she has told a very funny joke. “So is she still living at that place?”

“Actually, Mindy, that’s why I have looked you up. Rebecca’s run off. We think she may have eloped and—”

“Really? Eloped? Well, go figure.”

“And I have been trying to figure where she went. I found something in her room, Mindy, and I have been at a loss to figure out what it means. I thought maybe you could help me. Someone who knows about this mentioned your name. I don’t know if it will help me find her but I feel like it will help me understand what was going through her head.”

Mindy, for a blessed moment, is at last silent.

But then she speaks and her voice is suddenly charged with curiosity.

“Oh, I know what you found,” she says rather slyly. “You found the check.”

P
riscilla is not overly thrilled when I join her on the beach and tell her I not only found Mindy but that we are also going to stop and see her in Carlsbad on our way to Dad’s. Her first concern is that Isabel will be with us and she doesn’t want her daughter overhearing troublesome talk. I quickly assure her that I have arranged to meet Mindy at a city park. Isabel can play on the playground while we chat. I also tell her that Mindy has a child of her own and will most likely bring him.

“She knows about the check, Priscilla,” I tell her as I sit in a beach chair next to her. “She mentioned it before I did. As soon as I told her I had found something unexplainable in Rebecca’s room, she knew it was the check.”

Priscilla nods and looks out toward the shoreline where Rafael and Serafina are building a sand castle. Isabel is near them building one of her own, a monolithic-looking thing that will surely topple within minutes.

“I hope we’re not stirring up something Rebecca would rather we had left to lay still,” Priscilla finally says.

“But I can’t help but think Rebecca was pressured into doing something she later wished she had not done. And you know what else? I think Mindy got a check, too. But Mindy cashed hers and Rebecca didn’t. I think Gavin McNeil owes us an explanation if nothing else. Don’t you wonder why Leanne just honked at the curb the night of the accident? And why Mindy and Rebecca had had an argument on the phone earlier that evening? And why Gavin and Kevin McNeil kept showing up after the accident to visit with Rebecca?”

“Actually, Lex, I really haven’t wondered those things. What’s done is done. Nothing Mindy can tell you will change what happened.”

I pause for a moment. “I know that. But I look at how that night changed us all and I cannot help but think we deserve an explanation. Our family was never the same after that, Priscilla. It altered Rebecca’s life in countless ways. It drove you away from Mom and Dad—and even from me—it made Mom a paranoid wreck and it destroyed our parents’ marriage.”

Priscilla bolts up from her beach chair. “I don’t want to discuss this anymore, Lex. You want to see Mindy, we’ll go see Mindy.”

She walks away from me just as Isabel’s creation folds in on itself.

“Ne pas s’inquiéter, cherie
,” Priscilla says in French as Isabel lets out a cry of frustration. “Just build another one,” she adds in English.

I stay where I am, watching as Priscilla clears away the “rubble” so Isabel can start over.

We leave at 3:30 PM, freshly showered and somewhat mentally prepared. Isabel has fallen asleep in the back when we arrive in Carlsbad. I park near the children’s playground as Mindy suggested. If Isabel wakes up, she will be able to stay close to us. Priscilla opens all the windows and we get out of the car to sit at a picnic table a few yards away. Isabel snoozes away.

A few minutes after four, a silver Honda Accord pulls up and though the years have changed her, it is obviously Mindy nee Fortner at the wheel. Next to her on the passenger side is a boy who looks like he is about ten. They get out and the boy immediately heads for the play structure. Mindy walks up to us, holding a can of Dr. Pepper and a pack of cigarettes. She is visibly startled at seeing Priscilla and me. She verbalizes an expletive that is really not needed.

“I forgot how much you two look alike. It’s scary!” She walks over to us and sits down at the table. Priscilla and I had stood when she arrived but now we sit also. Mindy is lean, tanned and just beginning to wrinkle, and her sandy blonde hair is dry and brittle like it has been overly processed. She is wearing a sleeveless black tank top and white capris. Several toe rings decorate her feet.

“So which one of you is which?” she says, tossing her pack of cigarettes onto the wooden tabletop.

“I am Alexa. This is Priscilla,” I say.

Mindy looks around. “So one of you has a kid?”

“Isabel is asleep in the car,” Priscilla says, almost coolly. She and Mindy never did get along.

“Is that accent for real?” Mindy says, clearly amused.

Priscilla bristles beside me and I quickly answer and change the subject. “Priscilla has lived in London the last few years. Is that your son?” I nod with my head to the boy who had been in her car and is now swinging with all his might several yards away.

“Yep. That’s Alex. He’s the only good thing that came out of my marriage. Well, him and child support.” She turns away from looking at Alex and addresses us. “It’s not enough, though. Not for southern California. I wonder if those judges ever tried raising a kid on their own with what they order fathers to pay.”

I have no desire to discuss Mindy’s financial woes, which appear to be many. I clear my throat. “So, Mindy, about what I found—”

“Can I see it?” Mindy interrupts.

“If you mean the check, no, I did not bring it,” I answer.

“Why not?” Mindy seems disappointed.

“Because you obviously know what it is for and I felt it best to keep it in a safe place.”

Mindy smiles. “I can’t say as I blame you there,” she says, winking. “That check may turn out to be worth a lot more than $50,000, if you know what I mean.”

Priscilla stirs beside me. If we were still kids, Priscilla probably would’ve hauled off and slugged Mindy by now. I want to be done with this conversation as much as she does. But first, I want answers.

“Can you tell us why Rebecca has it?” I ask, masking my growing dislike for Mindy’s personality.

“Oh, can I!” she says, clearly enjoying herself. “I thought for sure Rebecca had torn that thing up. Lucky for her she didn’t.”

“What happened? Why did Gavin McNeil give it to her?”

“Because he is a lying…”

Mindy then proceeds to describe the kind of liar Gavin is with language that I don’t use or care to hear.

“Was it a bribe?” I say, struggling to maintain a civil tone.

“You’re darn right it was a bribe!” Mindy exclaims, and of course she doesn’t say the word ‘darn.’ “And it wasn’t nearly enough for what he expected us to do for him!”

“What did ask you to do?”

“You really want to hear the whole thing?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, but if you’re going after Gavin, I want to be in on it. We split it fifty-fifty. Half for you two, half for me.”

Priscilla stiffens beside me. “Lex,” she says through her teeth.

“Fine. Just tell us what happened,” I say.

“Okay, okay. Well, it started with Leanne and this loser of a guy she met at the library our freshman year at UCSB. He was a poet or an artist, I don’t know, but he was certainly a bum. He lived in someone’s backyard; he slept on a chaise lounge, if you can believe that, and I know he only came to the library to meet rich college girls. His name was James Leahy.

“Okay, so one day he meets Leanne and he likes her of course, ’cause her dad’s got money, and he starts writing her poetry and stuff and laying it on thick like he’s Don Juan. Well, Leanne falls for it and pretty soon she decides she just has to marry the guy. Rebecca kind of thought he was cute and harmless, but I could see right through him. I knew he went after Leanne for the bucks.

“Anyway, Leanne comes home one weekend and tells her parents she has met the man she is going to marry and that she wants to bring him home the following weekend so they can meet him. Well, as soon as Leanne tells Gavin that James is an unemployed poet living on someone’s patio furniture, he has a fit and tells her there’s no way she’s marrying him, that a guy like that is no doubt only interested in one thing: the McNeil bank account. Leanne comes back mad and hurt, ’cause, you know, she thought her dad was saying she wasn’t pretty or nice, because he said all James wanted was money. She tells Rebecca and me she’s going to run off and elope. She calls her parents and tells them that’s what she’s going to do if they don’t change their minds, and Gavin tells her if she does that, he will disinherit her.

“Well, Leanne is head over heels in love with the bum, so she hangs up on Gavin. And she and James start making plans. The very next day, guess who calls Rebecca? Gavin McNeil. He tells her he loves his daughter and doesn’t want her to throw her life away on this scoundrel. He tells Rebecca that as Leanne’s best friend, he knows she doesn’t want Leanne to throw her life way, either. He says he has a proposition for her. Bring the poet down to San Diego without Leanne’s knowledge so that Gavin can have a word with him. He tells Rebecca that he knows that the guy just wants money and Gavin is prepared to give some to him. He just needs a few minutes of his time. And he will pay Rebecca to do it.

“So Rebecca tells Gavin she won’t do it alone. And Gavin tells her to bring me along. He will pay us both. So that’s what we did.

“That Thursday morning, when we knew Leanne had classes all day, Rebecca and I skipped our own classes, drove over to the house where James was, you know, ‘staying’, and we told him Leanne’s father had asked to speak with him and that we would take him and bring him back.

“Well the guy comes with us and the whole drive down he’s talking like this is the opportunity he’s been wanting; a chance to talk to Leanne’s parents himself, because he really loves Leanne, blah, blah, blah. And Rebecca, I can tell, kind of likes this guy, and she is starting to think maybe he’s really not interested in the money after all.

“Anyway, we get to Leanne’s and it’s midday. Kevin is there, but Lenore is not. We’re told to wait in the kitchen while the men talk. Gavin and Kevin and James go into Gavin’s study. Well, I didn’t drive three hours to listen to the fridge go on and off, so I sneak over to the study door to listen and Rebecca follows me.

“It doesn’t take long for Gavin to get all hot and bothered. He starts to raise his voice because James isn’t accepting any of his offers. Gavin says something like, ‘This is my last offer, buddy. You’d better take it. I won’t offer it again and you won’t get a penny of my money if you marry Leanne.’ And James says something like, ‘I don’t want your money. I love your daughter. And I am going to marry her.’ And then Gavin says, ‘You are making a huge mistake by messing with me. I know what you are up to.’ And then we hear something big and heavy hit the floor and Kevin shouts, ‘Dad!’ And then there are more shouts and we can hear fighting and stuff breaking and Kevin yelling the whole time. Then it got real quiet.

“Rebecca and I start looking at each other, wondering if they knocked each other out. Then we hear Gavin say, ‘Get out and get out of my house!’ And Kevin says, ‘He’s not coming around!’ And Gavin curses and tells Kevin to get some brandy.

“Okay, so right then the door opens and Rebecca and I get caught with our ears practically glued to the thing but Kevin just walks past us. We can see inside the room. James is lying on the floor and his face is all bloody and his nose is squished up. Gavin is yelling at him to get up. Then Gavin leans down and grabs James by the shoulders, shaking him, and that’s when we see James’ eyes. They are rolled back in his head, open but not open, you know what I mean? Kevin walks in with the bottle of brandy and he sees James’ eyes, too. Gavin lets James fall back on the floor and there’s not a sound from him. No moaning or anything. He was
dead
. I knew he was.

“My God!” The words are out of my mouth before I can make them a true appeal to the Almighty. I can hardly believe what I’m hearing, but I’ve no doubt Mindy is telling the truth.

“Yeah, well, get this. Gavin turns to Rebecca and me standing in the doorway. Rebecca is crying. First he tells Kevin to get Rebecca and I out of there. Then he gets up and comes over to us and says James is just unconscious. He’ll come around. And when he does, he will pay him and send him on his way. We don’t need to worry about it or hang around. But he’s not fooling me for a second.

“I ask him what we’re supposed to tell Leanne? And Gavin says, ‘You tell her nothing. She’s not going to ask why he isn’t sleeping on someone’s patio anymore. For her own sake, tell her nothing. Tell no one anything. And I said to him, ‘That’s a big secret to keep, Mr. McNeil,’ because I knew what he was asking us to do. I knew James was dead. And that weasel looked at me and said he would make sure Rebecca and I were well-compensated for protecting Leanne from a money-hungry loser. That’s what he said, ‘well-compensated.’

Mindy pauses. My mind is reeling with images. I can scarcely picture Rebecca witnessing all of this. Partnering with Gavin in this horrible charade. Priscilla is silent next to me. I can see her chest rising and falling but she says nothing.

“So he paid each of you fifty thousand dollars for your silence?” I ask.

“That’s right. He paid us fifty grand to pretend we didn’t see him kill a man.”

“And you’re sure James was dead?”

“Oh, he was dead all right.”

“I don’t see how a simple fist fight—” I begin, but Mindy cuts me off.

“That’s because it wasn’t a simple fist fight. Gavin had a black belt in karate, remember? I bet you a million bucks that he struck James in the nose with the back of his hand. All those little bits of bones slammed into James’ brain. He was dead when he hit the floor. I’m sure of it.”

Priscilla moves slightly next to me. “How do you know this is possible?”

“Because I took Tae Kwon Do in high school, dearie. You can do the same thing with a well-placed elbow strike if you hit hard and fast.”