The Queen of Cool (14 page)

“
After I left?” Mandy
asked.

Lo nodded.

“
Trust or ask. I told my
last boyfriend that,” Mandy said. “Is that what you were thinking
about?”

“
That night, the night my
mother died,” Lo said. “He came up with 'trust or ask' on the way
to get Lisa and Larry. He would call me if he was freaking out, or
he would trust me. It worked most of the time.”

“
He still freaked
out.”

“
He was deeply damaged by
his life and profoundly blessed by it,” Lo said. “I couldn’t take
the compassion, kindness, and generosity he developed in response
to his father’s cruelty and toss away the jealousy and pain. I
loved him. I still love him.”

Mandy hugged Lo.

“
Where’s your sister?” Lo
asked. “We’re supposed to go over the air conditioning company’s
client list today.”

“
She sent me to get you,”
Mandy said.

“
Oh Mandy,” Lo said. “I
don’t think I can handle looking at another resume today. I thought
we’d decided to wait before hiring more people.”

“
We did,” Mandy said. “She
has a surprise.”

“
We don’t have to cover our
eyes, do we?” Lo asked.

Shaking her head, Mandy smiled.

“
Come on,” Mandy
said.

Mandy tucked her hand in Lo’s elbow and led
her back to the garage. Looking very proud of herself, Alisha was
standing in front of the last garage where Don’s truck had been
parked.

“
What’s going on?” Lo
asked.

Alisha whipped open the stall next to the
stairs revealing a fully equipped weight gym.

“
Ta da!” Alisha
said.

“
Wow!” Lo said. She went
from the barbells to the free weights. She checked the barbells and
touched a bench. “Wow! Alisha! This is perfect. Just like our gym
at home.”

Lo held out her arms and Alisha hugged
her.

“
I knew you weren’t working
out,” Alisha said.

“
But how could you afford
it?” Lo asked.

“
I have plenty of money,”
Alisha said. “Don’t worry Mom. I wanted to do this. Plus, I thought
you could train me while I’m here.”

“
I’d love to,” Lo said. “Do
you want to start today?”

“
Sure, but I have to get
dressed,” Alisha said.

“
You’re going to train me
too, right?” Mandy asked.

“
Of course, let’s get
changed and we can…”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw two men
walking up the driveway. The men were a study in contrasts:
Detective Manny Rodriguez was stocky and solid while, the other man
was tall and thin; Manny’s warm brown skin and modern pompadour
seemed exaggerated next to the other man’s close-shaven head, light
milk-chocolate-colored skin, and a fawn-colored Cowboy hat; the
black mustache Manny had worn since high school sprawled across his
upper lip, while the other man wore a close shaven goatee. The
girls followed her look.

“
Manny?” Lo
asked.

“
Hey Lo,” Manny said. “Did
you get a new gym?”

“
Alisha did this,” Lo said.
“You want to work out? We were just going to change.”

“
Billy?” Mandy asked. She
tilted her head to look under his cowboy hat.

“
Detective William Wallace,
Ms. Downs. You can call me Detective Will.” He took off his cowboy
hat. “At your service.”

“
I thought you were back
East...” Mandy started.

“
Nice to see you again,
Will,” Lo smiled at the young man and Mandy.

“
What’s this about,
Detective?” Alisha stepped between Lo and the
detectives.

“
It’s okay, Alisha. Manny’s
an old friend,” Lo said.

“
Sorry, Lo, we’re here on
official business,” Manny said.

“
And what might that be?”
Alisha asked.

“
Don Downs was murdered,”
Will said.

Shocked to hear her suspicions confirmed, Lo
fell to her knees. Looking up, she said, “You’re sure?”

“
Yes,” Manny
said.

Q

Thursday morning—11:45 a.m.
Main Fort Worth Police Station

Days: 39

Detective Manny Rodriguez set a water bottle
in front of Lo and sat down across from her. She smiled her thanks.
The detectives had allowed her to shower and get dressed. With
Yazmin’s help, Lo managed to keep herself together. She’d hoped one
of her family could come with her, but Manny insisted he needed to
speak with Lo alone.

This was official business.

The detectives escorted her back to the
station. Manny promised he would call a good public defender if she
needed one. He also insisted she was there just to answer a few
questions. She was not under arrest.

Of course, after almost an hour locked in an
interview room, Lo felt like she was in serious trouble.

“
Sorry for the delay,”
Manny said. “There’s a conversation as to whether I’m capable of
conducting this interview.”

“
Because we went out in
Junior High?” Lo asked.

“
Because you’re my lifelong
friend,” Manny said. “They think it’s colored my
judgment.”

“
Has it?” Lo
asked.

“
We’ll see,” Manny smiled.
“We’ll start when Will gets here. If I’m too soft, I’ll be
removed.”

“
I thought I wasn’t a
suspect,” Lo said.

“
You’re not,” Manny said.
“But we need good information that we believe only you
have.”

Lo nodded and took a drink of water. She set
the bottle down and raised an eyebrow at Manny. He shrugged.

“
When did Will get back?”
Lo asked.

“
I didn’t know he was
gone,” Manny smiled. “He made detective last week. He’s young for
it, but he’s kind of a wiz kid.”

“
Like you?” Lo
asked.

“
I made detective when I
was his age,” Manny said. “That’s probably why we were partnered
up. He and Mandy have something?”

“
In high school,” Lo said.
“They went out for a couple of years – quarterback and head
cheerleader. They were even prom king and queen. But he cheated
with some track star. The track star got pregnant and Billy, I mean
Will, married her.”

“
He’s not married now,”
Manny said. “You think…”

There were two taps on the mirrored
window.

“
That’s my notice that I’m
being too friendly,” Manny said.

“
So noted,” Lo
said.

They waited in silence for a few more
minutes before the door opened.

“
Sorry,” Will
said.

Manny nodded to the chair next to him and
Will sat down. Manny cleared his throat and pointed to his head.
Will took off his cowboy hat.

“
I know we spoke about this
in the garden, but will you go over Friday night and Saturday with
us?” Manny asked.

“
You mean when Don died?”
Lo asked.

“
That’s correct,” Manny
said.

“
Um… let’s see…” Lo said.
“Friday?”

“
Yes,” Manny
said.

“
I used to take Fridays
off,” Lo said. “I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. Don
went with me.”

“
Doctor’s appointment?”
Will asked.

“
Fertility clinic,” Lo
said. “We were trying for a baby.”

“
What was the nature of
your visit?” Manny asked.

“
Don had some surgery in
the fall,” Lo said. “Do you really need to know this? He’d be
mortified if…”

“
We need to know,” Manny
said. “We’re trying to pursue justice for Don, Lo.”

“
Don was… injured in high
school,” Lo said. “We didn’t know it until we started talking to
the fertility folks last fall. Um, in September. I won Ms. Fitness
Olympia on Sunday and we went to the clinic on Monday. I had to
gain weight, fat in particular, and he had surgery.”

“
How was Don injured?” Will
asked.

“
His father hit him… um…”
Lo looked at the men to see if she could avoid answering. Seeing
their steely looks, she added,”…in the testicles with a tennis
racket.”

“
On purpose?” Will
asked.

“
You really need to know
this?” Lo asked. “This is Don’s very personal business.”

“
Yes ma’am,” Will said.
“Pursuit of justice.”

“
The Medical Examiner has a
number of questions about Don,” Manny said. “It’s an area we hoped
you might help us understand.”

“
How so?” Lo
asked.

“
Don Downs was in excellent
shape,” Will said. “He was in near perfect health. For an almost
fifty-year-old man, he had none of the expected age-related
deterioration – no blocked arteries, no organ swelling, joints in
great shape, nothing.”

“
It’s common practice in a
suspicious death for the ME to x-ray the… victim,” Manny
said.

“
At some point, Mr. Downs
had broken almost every bone in his body, including a number of
spinous processes,” Will said. “He had a silicone implant for his
left cheek bone and a realigned nose.”

“
I used to call it his
designer nose,” Lo said.

“
The ME says the fractures
had healed some time ago, but he couldn’t be sure when or account
for the extent of the injuries,” Manny said. “We’re wondering if
you can help us with that.”

The detectives looked at Lo. In an effort to
get her to respond, they let the silence lag.

“
What are you asking?” Lo
asked. “Are you asking if I beat up my husband?”

“
Yes,” Will said, at the
same time Manny said, “Not exactly.”

The two detectives looked at each other.
Manny stared down Will. The younger man nodded and turned back at
Lo. Order restored, Manny asked the next question.

“
How did Don Downs get his
injuries?” Manny asked.

“
His father used to beat
him when he was a kid,” Lo said. “It was… bad. Social services and
the police didn’t intervene because Henry Downs was a US
representative and then a senator. Even the doctors who set Don’s
bones, treated his concussions, sewed up the tears, holes, and
cigarette burns, refused to intervene.”

The detectives were silent while Lo
collected her thoughts.

“
Don had a
memory of his father beating his mother to death,” Lo said. Turning
around to the mirrored glass, she said, “Why weren’t you pursuing
justice when
that
happened?”

Glaring at her own reflection, she sniffed
and turned around.

“
The cheekbone?” Manny
asked.

“
The last time Don saw his
father.” Swallowing hard, Lo began peeling the label off the water
bottle. “It was just before he left Sue Ellen so Mandy must have
been a baby. His father appeared at the front door of what’s now
Sue Ellen’s house. Henry was drunk and ready for a fight. Don was
able to get Sue Ellen and the girls out of the house before his
father went nuts. His father broke Don’s nose, cheekbone, jaw, and
a bunch of other things. Don fought back and gave what he got. I
think he would have killed his father, but his father took out a
revolver and pistol whipped Don. Fractured his skull. He passed out
after Henry shattered his cheekbone and nose. His father continued
beating Don until the Sheriff arrived. Of course, the Tarrant
County Sheriff arrested Don!”

She turned around to glare at the glass
again.

“
Of course,
the Fort Worth PD was busy pursuing justice somewhere else
that
day,” Lo curled her lip at the men behind the mirrored
window and turned back. “When he got out of the hospital, he found
Sue Ellen with another man. He took the girls, moved across the
street and they divorced. Don had years of reconstruction surgery
and rehab. When I met him almost six years later, he was still
recovering from that beating. That’s how I got into working out and
stuff… uh, for Don’s recovery.”

“
There’s no arrest record
for Don,” Manny said.

“
Henry smoothed things over
when he sobered up. He didn’t want to make a fuss over such a
personal matter – or that’s what he said. Of course, Don had one of
those nanny cams and had a video of the entire thing,” Lo said.
“Don never saw his father again. Henry died of liver cancer a year
or so later. I never met him.”

“
And the surgery Don had
last fall?”

“
I don’t know what exactly
they did,” Lo said. “I know we were lucky, because one of his
testicles wasn’t completely destroyed. It was more a matter of
reconnecting things, I think. Does that fit with what the ME
found?”

“
Yes,” Manny said. “Let’s
get back to that Friday.”

“
Don and I went to see if I
was pregnant,” Lo said. “I wasn’t. The surgery was moderately
successful. We talked about our options – taking meds, in vitro,
whatever. It was still early, so they didn’t want to go to what
they called ‘extreme measures.’ I don’t know what that means. We
didn’t get to that.”

“
Was Don with you the
entire time?” Manny asked.