Two-Faced (10 page)

CHAPTER
THIRTY ONE

Jess tried to sort out her thoughts on the ride home. Maybe Ally was right and she was worrying for no reason. She had nothing to do with her father's murder after all and it was ridiculous for anyone to think she did. All she
’d done was a favor for her sister, and if push came to shove, she would have to eventually acknowledge that. Ally would have to understand--if it ever came to that.

Of course she didn
’t want to get into trouble for smuggling, but even if there had been drugs inside that hat, that wasn’t as bad as murder. The important thing was to not get flustered around Detective Sykes, even though he seemed to constantly try to keep her off balance.

Jess checked the time on her phone and hurried into the house. She had to pick up the
cookies she'd baked the previous night and get them to Danny's school for the spring vacation party. As she rushed in, she saw that the light on her answering machine was blinking. Damn.

She hit the "play" button, but there was no message. Only the sound
of someone breathing, then the click of a hangup. Checking the caller ID, she saw the words,"unknown caller." Probably a wrong number, she thought, as she grabbed the cookies from the counter, glanced at herself in the mirror and left the house.

Jess fou
nd Danny's classroom and smiled at the teacher as she walked in. She looked around for Danny and found him playing musical chairs with the other kids. He was so intent on his game that he hadn't even seen her come in.

She put the cookies down on the treat
table and joined the other mothers who were standing around, chatting. Loud shrieks of excitement erupted from the kids as the music stopped.

"Gee, I'm really glad we have all these sugar-filled snacks to give them some energy," Gina Gleason joked. "Hey,
what are you guys doing for spring break––how about a play date with Sammy?"

"Sounds great," Jess said. "But you'll have to set it up with Lars, He'll be taking Danny for the week."

"Ah, at least someone's getting a real vacation. I’m jealous.”

Jess smi
led in response. She had to admit, that she was relieved to have some time to herself. It seemed lately there was one crisis after another, and she was feeling both physically and emotionally drained. Not to mention economically.

Mr. Collins hadn't said anything or put any kind of pressure on her, but she didn't know how much longer she could rely on his goodwill since she wasn't bringing in much in the way of business. For the next week and a half she intended to concentrate as m
uch as possible on her job and only her job.

"Oops that's me," Jess said as she heard the familiar strains of "Ode to Joy.”
She rummaged through her bag for her cell phone but it was too late. The call had already gone to voicemail. She called in for the message and again, there was only the sound of breathing and then a hang-up. She checked caller ID.
Unknown
.

The thought crossed her mind that it was detective Sykes, playing some kind of head game with her. Who else would wait on the line without saying an
ything? And it had to be someone who knew her since they knew both her phone numbers.

"Mommy! I didn't get a chair!" Danny said, running over to her at full speed and bumping into her. 

"That's all right..." Jess bent down to hug him but before she could, he ran back over to the game, adding his screaming voice to the chorus of other children’s.

Thirty minutes later, the party was winding down and the children's sugar-highs were wearing off. Everyone seemed exhausted and in need of a nap. Jess glanced out
the classroom window and saw Lars’ Mercedes idling in the parking lot.

"We have to go, Danny" she said taking hold of his sticky hand. 

Exiting the school, Danny immediately spotted Lars waiting by his car and ran over to him. "Daddy!" he called out.

"Hey, kiddo" Lars said, bending down to give him a hug. "Ready?"

"I'm ready" Danny said excitedly.

"I'll just get his suitcase from the car," Jess said. She walked over to her SUV at the other end of the parking lot. As she reached into the backseat for Danny's small bag she glanced out the back window. She couldn't believe it. Standing not fifty feet away, was detective Sykes—just standing there.

How dare he pursue her here! At her son
’s school of all places.

She walked back to Lars, trying to control h
er anger.

"Is this it?" Lars said taking the small bag from her hand.

"Yeah. And Gina's probably going to call you for a play date with Sammy."

"Great,”
Lars said and Jess couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. In the past the thought of arranging Danny's social life would have been unthinkable but lately he'd pretending to be father of the year--obviously in preparation for their custody battle.

Jess glanced over to see if Sykes was still standing there. He was. He'd probably called her of
fice to find out where she was and they’d mentioned that she always picked up Danny at this time.

"Jess, did you hear what I said?"

"What, Lars?"

"I asked if you were taking off over the vacation."

"Oh, no." Jess said, taking another glance back at Sykes. She couldn't believe his gall. "No, I'll be working," she said vaguely.

"We have to get together and go over the will," Lars said. "I'll have Judy call everyone to set it up.

"Let's go, Daddy!" Danny said tugging on his father's arm.

"Okay, kiddo. O
ff we go."

Lars got into the front seat as Jess buckled Danny into the passenger side.

"Bye, honey," she said, giving Danny a hug and kiss on the cheek. “I'll see you soon."

As the sports car rumbled off, Jess waved goodbye to her son then she glanced over to see Sykes still standing there. Without giving it another thought, she strode over to him.

"Detective Sykes," she announced.  “How dare you follow me to my son’s school! If you want to talk to me I’d appreciate it if you’d do it when I’m alone, not when my child is around.”

She was about to turn and storm off when she spotted the cell phone in his hand. She looked at it, her eyes narrowing. “
And you don’t need to keep calling and hanging up, either. I know you’re just trying to rattle me but it won’t work.”

Sykes watched her, a faint smile in his eyes. It was as though her little outburst amused him. Which enraged Jess all the more.

“This isn’t funny,” Jess said. “I think it it’s harassment or...”

"Hey, Dad," a young boy interrupted.

Jess turned to see a smaller, thinner, 9 year old version of detective Sykes standing behind her.

"Hey, Kev, How was your party?" Sykes asked.

The boy shrugged in an attempt to look cool. Sykes nodded at him, then turned back to Jess. "Mrs. Parks, this is my son, Kevin."

"Hi, Kevin" Jessica mumbled. She could feel her face turning bright red with embarrassment. "I didn't realize…”
She took a deep breath. “You know you could have stopped me before I made a complete fool of myself.”

“
I don’t think anyone could’ve stopped you. You were really on a tear.”As he loaded his son’s backpack into the backseat, Jess couldn’t help but notice the resemblance. The same dark eyes. The same dark straight hair, with a cowlick near the temple.

"He's in sixth grade,”
Sykes said, looking proudly at the boy who was climbing into the passenger seat of the car. "I have to drop him at his mother's and get back to work unless there's something else you wanted to yell at me about." He looked at her, awaiting an answer.

She shook her head
‘no.’

"Well then. I'll be in touch.”

He was about to get into the car when he turned back. “By the way, what was that you mentioned about phone calls?

“
Nothing. I Made a mistake . It was nothing,” Jess mumbled. But she couldn’t help but wonder--if it wasn’t Sykes that kept calling and hanging up—then who was it?

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Jess put her purse down on the small, wrought iron table in the foyer and picked up the mail she'd allowed to accumulate over the past few days. Then she flopped onto the couch, kicked off her pumps and turned on the TV. She glanced over at her answering machine relieved to see it wasn’t blinking.

Since she
’d confronted Sykes about the hang-ups the day before, she hadn’t received any more of them. And though he denied knowing anything about them she couldn’t help but wonder whether he was lying. There was just something about him that was hard to get a handle on. He seemed to enjoy baiting her, for some reason. It was as though he wanted to find a reason to believe she was guilty of murder.

Not that she considered herself an expert at reading people- espec
ially not since Zach, but there was just something about him.

The ringing of the phone was loud and insistent. For a moment Jessica wasn't sure where she was, then she realized she had fallen asleep on the couch. Her heart pounded from the sudden shock of being startled awake.

She grabbed the phone, breathless and heard only silence in response.

“Hello. Who is this?” she yelled into the phone, picturing Sykes on the other end of the line. “If you’re trying to rattle me it’s not working, dammit. I’m going to report you for harassment!”

She was about to hang up when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hello Miss Jessica.”

“
Maria?” Jess said, in surprise.

Her father
’s maid was the last person she expected to hear from. “Maria, I’m sorry I went off on you. I’ve been getting some hang-ups lately and I thought…”

“
I need to talk to you,” Maria interrupted.

"Is everything alright?”

"No. Not on the phone. In person."

“
Oh,” Jess said, wondering what this was all about. “Well I guess you could come by the office sometime next week or..."

"No,”
Maria interrupted. “Tomorrow.”

“
Maria, is this about a reference? Or…”

“
It’s about your father. You come to my house tomorrow at. At 222 Olivado Drive," she said and hung up abruptly.

Jess clicked off, wondering what that was all about. Had her father made some sort of promise to Maria that she wanted to make sure was honored? Well, she'd find out tomorrow, there was no use in worrying about it now.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

Jess pulled up in front of Maria's house five minutes early. Though she’d never been there before, she had no trouble finding the two story Craftsman cottage. Eyeing the charming, well-kept house, Jess noted that it was freshly painted in a tasteful cream color and the lawn was perfectly trimmed. It would go for really big bucks if it were only situated in a different part of town, a few miles to the west.

She went to the door and
rang the bell—the sounds of the TV coming through the open windows as she waited. A curly haired little girl of about 6 opened the door.

"Ola?" she said breathlessly to Jess.

"Ola. Hi, is Maria home?" Jess was unsure if the girl could understand her. She’d barely gotten the words out when Maria appeared, sweater and purse in hand.

"My sister's daughter," she explained to Jess as she stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her. "Let's walk to the bench across the street. We can talk there."

Jess nodded and followed Maria to the curb. They waited without speaking, for a break in the traffic then quickly jay-walked across. As they sat down on the bench next to each other, Jess looked at Maria. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a lot of time today. You said this was about my father?”

Maria stared at her, blinking slowly. "I saw you, Miss Jessica. I know what you did," Maria finally said.

"What?" Jess said, stunned.

"I saw you," Maria repeated. "That night. Outside your father's house.”

"Maria,what night? What are you talking about?”

Maria looked down at her lap, then looked at Jessica in the eyes, speaking slowly. "I know you killed your father."

Jess jumped to her feet. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

"No, Miss Jessica. I saw you. When I left the house that night, I saw your car parked across the street. I know it was you."

"That's crazy. How could you think that? It was probably a car that looked like mine or…”

“
No. I saw
you
. There was someone else in the passenger seat, I couldn't see who. But you got out of the car to look in the trunk and the tie from your coat fell off. I saw it and picked it up after. I knew what it meant, the next day when I heard your papa was killed."

"Maria, you
’re wrong."

“
I worked for your father for 30 years. He was a cheap old man. And mean. I deserve something..." 

“
What are you saying?”

"You're going to be a very rich woman, Miss Jessica. I didn't tell the policeman about the belt tie. But I can." 

Jess was speechless. She shook her head and turned away. Then she turned back.  "You have it all wrong! I never... I wasn't there. It wasn't me. You have to believe me."

"You think about it, Miss Jessica. Or I give the tie to the police.”

"Maria please..."

Maria stood up. "I have to go in. I'll call you in one week. You think about it.”

Jess drove back to her house in a daze, so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t remember making the trip back. Was it possible that Maria had murdered her father and was trying to pin it on her? It was, though there was another explanation that seemed much more likely.

She tried to push the thought away but couldn
’t.

There was one way to know for sure.

Rushing into the house, she hurried into her bedroom and rummaged around in the closet, knowing, even before she even looked, exactly what she would find. Or wouldn’t find.

The trench coat. The one she
’d worn to Ally’s. The belt that went with it was missing.

She searched among the clothes but knew in her heart it was h
opeless. She wouldn’t find it there. Nor would she find it on the floor.

It was gone.

Jess sat trembling on the bed. It was Ally. It had to have been Ally. There was no other possible explanation.

Ally had killed their father.