The Next Victim (44 page)

"I never thought of it before, but you're right. There is a resemblance."

"That makes her our niece."

Kali felt an odd sensation, like warmth blooming inside her. "John's child," Kali said, in wonder. "Our niece."

Sabrina pulled a chair closer to the hospital bed. "I think Sloane recognized Crystal when she came around the house to be with Olivia. She must have told John she suspected Crystal was their daughter. Probably over dinner the night she was killed. Sloane must have been worried because Crystal disappeared so suddenly. Didn't that neighbor boy tell you she'd asked him where she could find Crystal?"

Kali nodded gingerly, with as little head movement as possible.

"John must have driven to Sloane's after their dinner that evening. Maybe he wanted to talk to her further. Or maybe he wanted to ask Olivia about Crystal. I'm betting Sloane asked for his help in locating her."

"Crystal's okay, isn't she?" Kali asked anxiously.

Sabrina nodded. "Physically, she's fine. She's with Children's Protective Services at the moment. She's only sixteen, you know. A child. I tried to get them to release her to me--"

"To you?"

"Just temporarily, although I'd love for it to be longer. Crystal is blood, but more than that, she's a scared kid who's been through hell several times over. I'm not 'licensed,' though, and bureaucratic wisdom prevailed." Sabrina's eyes burned with the injustice of the decision. "At least they didn't send her to juvie."

"Why would they? She didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, the cops are trying to figure all that out. They want to question her, but I said she needed an attorney to be there."

Kali nodded. "Good for you. They've appointed one?"

"Crystal wants
you
."

The hospital released Kali the next afternoon. On Monday she met with Crystal and Detectives Parker and Morgan in a conference room at the main sheriff's department station--the same conference room where she and Sabrina had first learned that John was a murder suspect.

It was a room without windows, but there was carpeting on the floor, and photographs of historic Tucson hung on the wall. Not elegant, but a far cry from an interrogation room, and for that, Kali was grateful--for herself, but mostly for Crystal.

The girl--her niece--was surprisingly articulate. Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, and sipping a Dr Pepper provided by the detectives, she answered their questions clearly, without getting defensive or trying to gloss over her own questionable behaviors.

All three girls had posed for a guy who ran a porn Web site. Then Olivia got a role in a film produced by a "real" studio and decided she wasn't interested in "low-end" work anymore. She told Hayley and Crystal about a guy "in the business" who wanted a couple of girls to work a private party--dancing, stripping, flirting. Olivia had been to some parties like that in the past. She said the work was easy and the pay was good. If you wanted to give guys blow jobs, you'd earn even more.

Kali cringed for her, but Crystal treated the whole thing in a matter-of-fact manner.

Hayley liked the idea of getting into "real" films, Crystal said, and thought the contact might pay off. The party thing sounded better than straight stripping anyway. Crystal was simply interested in the money. It was that or panhandling, which, she confessed, she was never very good at. "It's embarrassing to beg for money," she told them somberly.

Kali wanted to ask if it wasn't equally embarrassing to have your body plastered on Internet porn sites, but she didn't want Crystal to think she was judging her. When you were all alone at sixteen, what kind of options did you have?

Crystal took a sip of soda. "That's what we expected when we showed up at the house that...that man told us to go to. But it turned out not to be a party at all. It was just him and a video camera. I was kind of pissed that it wasn't what he promised, but Hayley said it didn't matter. He was nice enough, and the house was nice, and he was paying us. He offered us booze and Ecstasy and coke. At first it was just posing for some photos. Then he took some video of the two of us just, you know, simple stuff. Dancing, undressing, stuff like that."

"So he didn't force you to do anything?" Michelle asked. "You did everything freely?"

Crystal nodded. "Except that Hayley was drinking a lot and snorting coke. I'd never seen her take drugs before, and I think if that man hadn't been pressuring her to take more and more, she wouldn't have." Crystal looked down at the table and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I told her to slow down, but she wouldn't listen."

"You can't blame yourself for the decisions she made," Michelle said kindly.

Crystal looked doubtful. "Anyway, he wanted to do some S&M stuff. At first it was just me and Hayley. Then he wanted to be part of it, too. That's when it all went bad. Hayley was face down on a mattress with this collar thing around her neck and a leash--" Crystal's voice broke, but when Detective Parker put her hand on the girl's, she pulled it away. "I'm okay." She took a breath. "He was on top of her and I was supposed to spank him. I did, but not hard enough, he said. Then Hayley started bucking. I could tell she was choking. I screamed and told him to stop, to get off, but he wouldn't. I tried to pull him off, but that seemed to make him fiercer. He kept riding her and she kept thrashing, and then suddenly she jerked violently and went limp."

"What happened then?"

"When he realized she was dead, he freaked. He slapped me hard across the face and started calling me names." Crystal was crying now, and Kali felt the urge to comfort her. "He made it sound like it was my fault, like if I hadn't messed up, everything would have been okay. He hit me and shoved me hard. I was afraid he was going to kill
me
, too."

Crystal paused to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. "He was bundling Hayley up in the bedspread when I ran out of there. The man was totally crazy."

Kali felt sick. It would have been hard for her to imagine Nash as the man in Crystal's tale if Kali hadn't seen that same crazed Nash the day he shot her. What he'd done was despicable. That he'd tried to blame it on Crystal made it worse. She'd have hated him even if he hadn't tried to kill her.

But it was Crystal who Kali was focused on right then. She seemed so young. Innocent in a way that had nothing to do with whatever use she'd made of her body. Behind the facade of words, which were chillingly frank, Kali sensed a girl who was scared and confused and lonely.

That she was John's daughter made the ache in Kali's heart more agonizing. She understood Sabrina's desire to shelter Crystal. Kali felt the same.

When the interview ended, Kali walked outside into the hallway with the detectives. They explained that Nash was in custody, charged with the murder of Hayley Hendrix. They were hoping they'd have enough soon to charge him with Sloane's and Olivia's murders as well.

"I'm afraid we might not be able to pin your brother's death on him," Michelle told her. "Not with enough behind us to stand up at trial. But we do have evidence of an ATM transaction on Nash's account in the area of your brother's house the night of John's death. We've also got a credit card record showing an Internet purchase of Xanax. We'll see what the DA says."

"Just as long as Nash goes away," Kali said.

"Oh, he'll do that. You heard the girl."

Kali was a defense attorney. She knew how a witness could crumble under tough cross. "Attempted murder maybe, for shooting me," Kali told her, "but Crystal is young. I'm not sure how she'll stand up at trial."

"I doubt it'll come to that. The house where Hayley died is a vacant rental owned by an investment company Nash heads. We found the address written on a map in Hayley's car."

"You think he'll plead out on that?" Kali knew it would never happen.

Michelle shook her head. "Not just that. We searched Nash's house. We've got his gun, his phone records, his--"

"None of that is solid."

"No." Michelle grinned. "But we've also got the whole thing on film. Well, not film, but disk. He was recording everything that happened with Crystal and Hayley."

"And he was stupid enough to keep it?"

Michelle nodded. "I guess he couldn't bring himself to destroy it. I mean, if you're a sicko, action like that's got to be gold."

Kali remembered Nash saying the police would never think to tie the murders to him. Stupid, yes. But arrogant, as well. The double Achilles' heel of criminals.

"May I talk to Crystal alone?" Kali asked. "I'll just be a few minutes."

"Take your time. We're not holding her. We just need to wait until someone from Protective Services comes to pick her up."

"And then what?"

Michelle shrugged. "That's not up to us. My guess is they'll ship her home."

Kali went back into the conference room. Crystal had moved from the chair to one of the framed photographs of old Tucson hanging on the wall. She had her back to Kali, but she turned at the sound of the door.

"How're you doing?" Kali asked.

Crystal shrugged. "Okay, I guess. How about you? You're the one who got shot."

"But thanks to you, Nash's aim was way off."

"Does it hurt?"

Kali nodded. "Some. But I'm going to be fine."

"I feel bad about tricking you, but I'm glad you showed up."

"I'm the one who inadvertently led Nash to you, remember?"

"He would have found me eventually." She pulled a tube of lip gloss from her jean's pocket and applied it. "I was scared all the time. It's good to have it over."

"Why didn't you go home?" Kali asked.

"Home? Where's that?" Crystal's laugh was clipped. "What's going to happen to me now?"

"I don't know. They'll probably send you back to your dad's."

"No way. He doesn't want me and I don't want to go. I'm not even his, you know. My parents adopted me. My mom said they chose me because I was special and they loved me, but all my dad cares about is his new family."

"Then foster care, maybe," Kali said slowly.

"Like Hayley? She was in foster care. You should have heard the stories she told."

"I think my sister would like to have you live with her. I don't know if the state would allow it, but--"

"Why would she do that?" Crystal asked skeptically.

"Well, she's a kind person. She has three kids of her own."
Because you're special
. Kali hesitated. "Do you know why Sloane Winslow was looking for you?"

"No, I hardly knew her. I only met her a couple of times. She was kinda strange. I don't mean bad strange. She was a nice lady. But she asked me a lot of questions about where I was from and my parents and stuff. And she made us all pose for photos." Crystal caught herself and looked at Kali, embarrassed. "Not those kinds of photos. Just, you know, the three of us hanging out. She said we were the same age as her daughter and she liked having young people around. But Olivia told me afterward that it was a lie. Mrs. Winslow didn't have any kids. So I figured she was just a little weird."

"She did have a daughter," Kali said. "She gave her up for adoption sixteen years ago. I'm pretty sure she thought you were that daughter."

"Oh, my God." Crystal's eyes widened. She moved back to the conference table and sat down again. "My God. You mean she was my...my birth mother?"

"I think so. And my brother was your father."

Crystal looked at Kali in stunned silence. "That would make me and my sister your aunts."

The color had begun to return to Crystal's face. Now a small smile pulled at her mouth.

"We could tell for sure with a DNA test," Kali said. "That is, if you wanted."

"So that your sister would take me, you mean?"

Kali shook her head. "No, I think Sabrina wants you to live with her regardless." She let the words sink in for a moment. "Would you like that?"

Crystal nodded. "I've never had an aunt."

"And now you've got two of them." Kali hesitated, remembering how Crystal had pulled her hand from Michelle's during the interview. "Can I give you a hug?" she asked.

"Sure, I guess." Crystal stood awkwardly.

"It's more like a half hug, considering my arm," Kali said, then slid her good arm around Crystal and hugged her. When Kali started to pull away, Crystal clung to her tightly, like a small, frightened child.

Kali pulled her close. She could feel Crystal's heart beating in syncopated time to her own. John was gone, but he was here, too. And maybe, just maybe, Kali would have a chance to know his child in ways she'd never known her brother.

Erling rarely stopped off for a beer after work, but the last few days he'd made a habit of it. Not simply to brace himself for the tension at home--he also needed time to dig himself out from under the bitter disappointment of being shunted off to the side of his own case. It was his own damn fault--he understood that--and the fact that he'd brought it on himself only made the disappointment harder to swallow. At least he hadn't been fired or permanently reassigned. All things considered, the lieutenant had been more than fair. Still, it rankled to watch his case coming together without him.

He saw Michelle come into the bar and head his way. "I thought I might find you here," she told him, sliding onto the stool next to his. The bartender set a napkin in front of her. "Whatever you've got on draft," she said to him.

"How'd it go?" Erling asked. Michelle had been good about keeping him in the loop, and he was grateful to her for that.

"Crystal was cooperative. We've got Nash dead to rights for Hayley. We've got a good case against him for Sloane Winslow and Olivia Perez, too. With both Crystal and Kali able to testify about his admission of guilt, and the evidence we found when we searched his house, I think the DA will go with charging him on those counts as well."

"Even without conclusive evidence?" Erling knew they'd found a gun and ammo at Nash's, but they couldn't definitively tie it to the murders. They'd also found traces of type-O blood, Sloane's blood type, on the floor mats of Nash's car, and a hand towel in his closet that matched those in Sloane's guest bath. A good defense attorney could blow holes through all of it.