The Next Victim (22 page)

"But there's
got
to be a connection."

The refrigerator was depressingly empty. Kali shut the door and got herself a glass of water instead. "Yeah, probably. But it could be that John was part of something along with Sloane or Olivia."

Sabrina's brow creased. "Part of what?"

"I don't know," Kali snapped. "What if the third girl was murdered, too?"

"So what do we do?"

"Try to identify the girls and figure out what John was doing with that photo. Then we'll go to the authorities." She locked eyes with Sabrina. "No matter what John got himself involved in."

Kali didn't really want to go out again. It had been a draining day and she was exhausted. But she was also agitated by the discovery that John had been hiding a photograph that included two young women who had been murdered. Tired as she was, there was no way Kali could twiddle her thumbs until morning.

Olivia's high school friend had given her two names: Joanna Sommers, who'd worked in the library with Olivia; and a guy named Randy, who had a great body. Joanna was the obvious place to start. At least Kali knew where to find her.

The university was a good half hour from John's house, and although it was rush hour, most of the heavy traffic was headed in the opposite direction. With classes done for the day, Kali had no trouble finding a parking spot near campus. Unfortunately, the heat was not done for the day, and by the time she had walked through the long, open quad to the library, Kali felt flushed and lightheaded. The moment she walked through the wide doors of the entrance, she headed for the drinking fountain. She was beginning to understand the appeal of air-conditioning.

Kali approached the pimply-faced young man at the information desk and asked if Joanna Sommers was working that evening.

"I don't think so," he said.

"I need to talk to her. I don't suppose you know her phone number?"

"Why would I know that?" He sounded almost offended. "Try the student directory on the U of A Web site. There's a whole bunch of computers downstairs."

Kali descended the stairs and found that the entire basement, the size of several football fields, was given over to modular workstations and glassed-in group-study areas. It was an impressive sea of well-designed technology at work. Kali looked on with envy, recalling her own college days in dark and cramped library carrels.

She found an empty machine and logged onto the university's main Web page. From there, she found the directory of faculty and students. Joanna Sommers was a sophomore with an undeclared major. No address was listed for her, but there was a phone number. Mindful of the signs warning students to turn off cell phones or set them to vibrate, Kali stepped outside to make her call. When Joanna answered, Kali introduced herself as an attorney who wanted to speak with her about Olivia Perez.

"About her murder, you mean? I don't, like, really know anything about that." Joanna's voice had a soft, almost breathless quality.

"Mostly it's just background information," Kali said.

"Well, okay, uh, sure. I guess."

"I'm on campus. Is now a good time?"

"Yeah, now's fine. I'm just heading back to the dorm. I can meet you in front in about ten minutes. I'm in La Paz. It's near the stadium."

Kali went back to the information desk and asked the pimply-faced student to point her in the right direction.

Only a handful of students milled about in front of the dorm, which wasn't surprising given the heat. They were engrossed in conversation and didn't even glance in Kali's direction, so she assumed none of them was Joanna. She pressed herself into a spot of shade to wait.

A few minutes later, a ponytailed blonde in a tank top and thigh-length skirt wandered up the walkway. She looked at Kali, hesitated, then approached.

"Joanna?" Kali asked.

"You must be the attorney."

Kali nodded. "I appreciate your meeting me on such short notice."

Joanna tucked a couple of stray hairs behind an ear. "I don't mind. I've got, like, nothing to do tonight but homework. What is it you want to know?"

"How well did you know Olivia?" Kali asked, inching back toward the shade. "I understand the two of you worked at the library together."

"I still work there," Joanna said, with a sigh. "We lived in the same dorm, too. We hung out together and stuff. We even, like, talked about rooming together this year. Then she got that job and was going to, like, live in a fancy house. I was totally jealous." Joanna's face clouded and her voice grew tight. "But if it hadda been me that got the job, I'd be dead instead of her. And that's really freaky, you know?"

Kali nodded. She was reminded again how very young nineteen was.

"I still have trouble believing she's gone. Olivia was so alive. You know what I mean?"

"I'm sorry. I know how hard it is to have someone close to you murdered."

Joanna's chin quivered and she looked at the ground without saying anything.

"I've got a photo of Olivia and a couple of friends," Kali said. "Are you up to looking at it?"

When Joanna responded with a wordless nod, Kali showed her the photo. "Do you recognize either of the girls with Olivia?"

Joanna took the photograph and studied it a moment, shielding it from the sun. "This one"--she pointed to the golden-haired girl--"it sort of looks like Crystal. She has a birthmark just like that."

A birthmark, not a bruise, as Kali had initially thought. "Crystal who?"

"I don't know her last name."

"Do you know where I can find her?"

Joanna shook her head. "I'm pretty sure she's not a U of A student."

"A high school friend?"

"No. She's someone Olivia met a couple of months ago."

"What about the other girl?"

"I don't recognize her."

"What can you tell me about Crystal?" Kali asked.

"Not much. Only time I met her was at a party. There were a lot of people there. Music, dancing, you know, but not a lot of real talking."

"Was she with anyone in particular?"

Joanna gave an exasperated sigh. "It wasn't like I was watching her."

Sensing Joanna's growing impatience, Kali moved on. "When did you last talk to Olivia?"

"A couple of days before she was killed." Joanna's eyes had been tracking the students coming and going around them. Now she turned back to Kali. "We hung out together, like all the time last year, but this year, with her living off campus and everything, it wasn't the same. We didn't even have any classes together this semester. Besides, her job kept her kind of busy."

"Her job?" Kali said. "You mean working for Sloane Winslow?"

"Well, that too. But she had another job." Joanna's face clouded again. "I really miss her. I missed her before she was killed. This year just wasn't the same."

"What other job?"

Joanna shrugged, let her gaze drift to a group of students exiting the dorm. "I don't know, but it was better pay and better hours than waiting tables at the River Inn, which is what she was doing before. She hated that."

Kali had worked as a waitress for a stint while she was in college. It was hard work and she'd hated it too. "Tell me about Olivia. What was she like?"

"Smart. She got really good grades without even trying. But she liked to have fun, too." A hint of a smile tugged at Joanna's mouth, as she relived some private memory. "She liked nice things, not that she could afford them. But that was part of her dream. With Olivia, you knew she'd get what she wanted eventually."

"Does the name Randy ring a bell with you?" Kali almost added that he supposedly had a great body, but she thought the comment might be misunderstood.

"I knew a boy named Randy in high school."

"But no one Olivia knew?"

Joanna shook her head. A couple of male students passed by on their way into the dorm and waved to Joanna, who seemed suddenly eager to be off.

"Are we done?" she asked Kali. "I've got stuff to do."

"That's it. Thanks for your help."

Joanna adjusted her ponytail and followed the men into the dorm.

Back in her car, Kali pulled out her cell phone and debated calling Reed. He'd been willing enough to blame John for his sister's death when all he had to go on was police theory, but things were different now. It was beginning to look as if John, too, might have been murdered. If Kali explained her growing suspicions, maybe Reed would be open to the possibility that John was innocent. And if she wanted to find out what John had been up to--what his connection was to Olivia--Reed was as likely to know as anyone.

Kali had found Reed's home number programmed into John's cell phone, but when she tried calling him now, she got the answering machine. Without leaving a message, she tried him at work. It was already 5:30, so she wasn't surprised when the receptionist told her he'd gone for the day. On impulse, Kali asked to speak to A. J. Nash instead.

"Another couple of minutes and you'd have missed me," Nash said amiably. "I was just packing up my stuff."

"Sorry, I can call back tomorrow. I don't want to keep you." Kali opened the driver's-side door to let in some air. As she did, she noticed a midsized beige sedan several spaces back with its engine running and, no doubt, its air conditioner blasting away. Definitely a better option for cooling off in ninety-degree heat than merely opening the door.

"Not a problem," Nash said. "What can I do for you?"

If only it were that simple. Kali didn't even know what questions to ask. "It's about John. I guess I'd just like to talk to someone who knew him."

"I understand. I was the same way when my dad died."

"There are things about him I don't understand," Kali said. "I know that sounds awfully vague, but you said you were a friend of his and I thought--"

"I'd be happy to talk with you, although I'm not sure I'll be much help. Are you by any chance free for a drink?"

"You mean now?"

"Right. I've got time. Are you still staying at John's? I know it's a bit of a drive into town, so if you'd rather--"

"No, now is good. I'm actually near campus at the moment. And I'd love to meet with you."

Half an hour later, Kali was sitting across from Nash in an upscale bar sipping the Cosmopolitan he'd insisted she order instead of her usual wine. He was wearing a suit, as he'd been the day she'd met him at Logan Foods, but he'd removed his jacket and tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves, revealing tanned arms and a platinum Rolex watch.

"How is it?" he asked, referring to the ruby-tinted concoction in her martini glass.

"Good." It was, in fact, a little too sweet for Kali's taste, but far more drinkable than the very dry gin martinis she'd tasted in the past. It was also strong. She'd have to remember to sip slowly. "I hope I'm not putting you in an awkward position with regard to Reed and the company," she said.

Nash shook his head. "There's been no company directive, official or otherwise. Reed, himself, has said very little, in fact."

"When I talked to him, he seemed convinced that John was responsible for Sloane's murder."

"From what I hear, the police had fairly convincing evidence." Nash sipped his drink and regarded her appraisingly over the rim of the glass. "But you're a defense attorney, if I recall correctly. You're probably a bit more skeptical than the rest of us."

A hint of a smile flickered in his eyes. He was, Kali decided, a good-looking man in an urbane and refined sort of way. Not the kind of guy she usually found attractive--she preferred a less polished look--but with his lean build and hazel eyes, he cut an impressive figure. She hadn't appreciated that until now.

"Defense isn't all I do," Kali told him. "It wasn't even what I set out to do initially."

"Which was what?"

Kali laughed. "Make a lot of money. Well, I did work for the DA's office for a few years right out of school--no money there. But then I joined one of the hot boutique San Francisco firms and worked my tail off for five years. I was on the brink of making partner when the place went belly up."

"So you jumped into criminal defense?"

"It's more like I stumbled and fell into it," Kali said.

"How's that?"

"The short of it is, a friend of mine was a suspect in her husband's death and I got involved with the case. My personal life was tanking right about then, too. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I ended up in Silver Creek, where I grew up, with a criminal defense practice."

"But you're back in the Bay Area now."

Kali nodded. "But there's no short version to that switch."

Nash leaned forward. The amber flecks in his eyes glimmered in the light from the tabletop candle. "Some day I'd love to hear the longer version of both."

She shrugged. "It's not very interesting."

Nash caught the waitress's eye and ordered another round of drinks and a plate of nachos.

Kali protested. "I shouldn't really--"

"We haven't even begun to discuss whatever it was you wanted to see me about."

And somehow she'd finished the entire Cosmopolitan. "What the heck?" She settled back in her chair. "What about you? How'd you end up working for Logan Foods?"

"I didn't have a lot of options, I'm afraid. I went to law school at night--you know the kind of place, accredited but not exactly a
name
school. It's worked out well, though. I can't say that my job's exciting, but I like what I do and I like the people I work with."

"That's what counts."

Nash nodded. "You wanted to talk about John?"

The noise level in the bar had increased as it had filled with patrons shouting to be heard over one another. The big-screen television over the bar, broadcasting a baseball game, didn't help.

Kali, too, raised her voice. "I'm not convinced John's death was accidental," she told Nash. "I think someone may have been at the house the night he died."

The waitress brought their order. Nash waited until she'd left before responding. "Have you told the police?"

"They weren't interested." Kali scooped a nacho into her mouth, catching the dripping cheese with her free hand. Then she leaned back and sipped her drink. "It's not like I have hard evidence. But I called John the night he died and I heard a voice in the background. I'm thinking they had a snack. The cleaning woman found sandwich makings on the counter the next morning--and drinks. That could be how John got the drugs into his system."