Two-Faced (8 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Jess opened her eyes to the bright morning sunlight stre
aming in through her bedroom window. It took a moment to figure out where she was and what had happened, then she remembered. Mexico.

She marveled at the fact that she
’d actually gone through with it—the whole thing felt like a bad dream. But it had all been for Danny, she reminded herself. And now it was over. She stretched slowly and luxuriated in a newfound sense of freedom, then padded into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The steaming hot water ran over her body and down the drain, taking the stress of the last few days with it.

She hadn't seen Danny since before her trip and not being able to hug him until later that afternoon felt almost physically painful. Maybe she wouldn't wait. She didn't have any appointments, only routine paper work that
could wait another day. Maybe she’d surprise him at school. She’d pick him up early and take him to the zoo or wherever he wanted to go.

Emerging from the shower, she wrapped a towel around her wet hair and slipped into a short white terry-cloth robe. The
n she settled into her pale pink bedroom chair and dialed the phone. "Hi Sally? It's Jess."

"Oh, Jess, how are you? Feeling any better today?"

"Um, no. I'm still feeling under the weather." Jess was aware how easily the lie left her lips and hoped it wouldn’t become a habit. "I think I’d better take today off also.”

"No problem, Jess. You take care...oh, hold on, Maddy walked in and wants to talk to you.”

"Hey, Jess, still feeling sick?"

"I'm okay, Mad, I just needed to take the day off."

"Right. There
're some papers here from the Persling deal that need your signature."

"Oh, darn. I forgot about that. Can you fax them?”

"Tell you what, I have to show a house in your area in five minutes. How about I stop by when I'm done and bring them to you?"

"That
’d be great. I’ll make you breakfast."

"Sure thing. See you in about an hour"

Jess chopped up the mushrooms, onion and green peppers for the omelet and scooped them into the frying pan. While the vegetables were sauteing she ground the coffee beans and emptied them into the French press––a luxury that she usually reserved only for weekends. Then she reached into the cupboard for plates to set the table when the doorbell rang.

Maddy was early.

She hoped that didn't mean the showing had gone poorly. Jess wiped her hands on the dish towel and went to the front door.

"Maddy, you're early..." she said, as she opened it.

Two men stood in the doorway, the older one held up a badge.

She stared at it unable to speak or look away.

"Are you Jessica Parks?”

With
his jowly, hangdog face and stocky, wide-legged stance, he bore a distinct resemblance to a bulldog.

She stood paralyzed with fear. “
What is this about?” she said softly.

“
I’m Detective Mathers and this is my partner Detective Sykes. LAPD.”

Jess looked fr
om one man to the other.

"Ma'am can you tell us where you were last night?”
the older cop asked.

She reached out to the doorframe for support.

"Ma'am can you tell us where you were last night?" the younger of the two men asked again.

"I...I was here...ho
me sick," she said forcing the words out. 

The older cop scribbled something on his note-pad and looked at her with narrowed suspicious eyes that bored right through her. "Can anyone verify that?"

Jess felt her knees give way and held more tightly to the door-frame. What would come next, she wondered. Handcuffs. Then they’d read her of her rights. Then they’d lead her away.

“
What?” she asked, vaguely. She realized that the younger detective was speaking but she couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. His eyes seemed to be looking at her with concern, telling her she ought to sit down.

But that made no sense.

"I don’t understand. Please…” she whispered. “Just tell me what's going on.”

The two detectives looked at one another and finally the younger one, Sy
kes, spoke."I'm afraid we have some bad news. Your father was found dead last night."

Jess stared at them in shock.

Sykes helped Jess over to the couch. She felt as if she were in someone else's nightmare where nothing made sense. "I don't understand," s
he said, shaking her head, trying to clear the fog. “He was in perfect health. I just saw him.”

“
When was that exactly?" Mathers asked.

Jess looked at him blankly. “
What?” She realized she was shivering, though she didn’t feel cold.  “Was it a heart attack?” asked, looking from one to the other of the men.

"No," Mathers said. "He was murdered.”

She looked down at her shaking hands. “
No, that can’t be.” None of this made sense.

The acrid smell of coffee mixed with burning onions assaulted her nose and a wa
ve of nausea swept over her. She had to get up and turn off the stove.

But she couldn't move.

Mathers looked at his notepad. "So you said you were here home sick last night? Anyone to corroborate that?"

Detective Sykes shot him a look and whispered, "Je
eze, Mathers. Not now. Go get her a drink or something."

As Mathers walked towards the kitchen Sykes pulled up a chair. "Is there anyone we can call for you, ma'am? Your husband? A friend?"

Jess shook her head. "I'm separated," she said softly. "A friend's on her way over. We were going to have breakfast."

Mathers returned holding a cup of coffee. "I found a pot on,”
he said, handing the cup to Jess. "Turned off the stove too. Guess your breakfast got burnt."

Jess nodded blankly. She held the cup of cof
fee, staring out at nothing. She should get up. Call Ally. But she couldn't summon the will to move.

"Look, do you know when your friend will be here?" Sykes asked.

"Soon..." Her voice trailed off. “Who would want to kill my father?”

“
We’re looking into it. Do you know if he had any enemies?”

Jess shook her head. “
None of this makes any sense...”

"It was last night," Sykes said gently. "Sometime around eight when he was taking what I understand, was his nightly walk.”

"His walk," Jess nodded.

Again she b
egan shivering. She placed the coffee cup on the cocktail table realizing she must in shock. She’d been through it before when her mother died. There’s always shock. Even when you expect it—like when her mother died after a long illness.

But this…
sudden, violent death.

She
’d never get to say goodbye. And worst of all, her last meeting with her father had been an argument. How could she have said those things to him? And now to never see him again.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

It had been two h
ours since Jess heard the news about her father and in that time she’d been too numb to cry. It helped to have Maddy there, to keep her company and make calls to various distant family members, but Jess knew that until she reached Ally, it wouldn’t feel real.

She
’d left several messages but her sister still hadn’t returned any of her calls.

Murdered--it didn
’t seem possible.

Jess heard the phone in the other room, then listened as Maddy answered, speaking in a soft voice. She came into the bedroom and hand
ed Jess the phone.

“
It’s Ally,” she said.

Jess took the phone. "Ally?”

“Hey, Jess. What’s up?”

“
Ally, did you hear? About Daddy?" Jess's voice began to quiver.

"Yeah, I heard," Ally said in a voice that betrayed not a hint of sadness, at least none that
Jess could pick up on over the phone. “I got the messages you left on my voicemail about it, and the cops were just here. Bummer, huh?" Ally said.

"Ally, please..."

“Please, yourself. I didn't like the bastard when he was alive and I'm not going to pretend to care now that he's dead. Why are you so upset anyway? He wasn’t exactly father of the year to you either."

"But…
you know deep down he loved us."

Ally's overly-dramatic sigh came through the phone, loud and clear. "Jess, you
’re so naive. Always making excuses for him. I guess that's why you're still in the will and I'm not. Not that I give a shit. You can have his money...after all, he bought your loyalty.”

Jess fought back the rage stirring inside her. But now was not the time to argue. "Listen the
reason I'm calling, we have to plan the funeral and..."

"You'll have to do that on your own," Ally interrupted. "I don't think I'll be able to make it.”

"You're not going? To Daddy's funeral?”

"I'm not a hypocrite. Oh, and by the way. Jess…” Ally’s voice grew pensive . “You didn't tell the police where you were last night--did you?”

"Of course not," Jess snapped.

"That's good. So what did they ask you?"

"They wanted to know where I was last night and I told them I was home sick."

"Good girl! I knew I could count on you."

Jess could hear the relief in Ally
’s voice, which made her blood boil. Why bring that up at a time like this? The trip to Mexico and lying to the police were last thing she wanted to think about now.

"Look, I'll talk to you later, I
have to go," Jess said and hung up quickly. Tears spilled from her eyes and she wondered how she could still be surprised by Ally's behavior. It was so typical. She didn’t know how she ever could have thought that Ally had changed.

She broke into uncontro
llable sobs.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

The funeral was four days later. As the priest spoke solemnly about what an impressive man her father had been, Jess glanced down Danny, who was sitting next to her. She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, wondering just how much he understood of what was going on.

Several days before, had sat
him down and, told him about his grandfather’s death without going into detail. But she knew he didn’t fully understand what it meant and was certain there’d be many more discussions about it in the future. Perhaps in time she too would understand what happened. But for now, she kept her mind focused on things that had to be done.

Lars was sitting on the other side of Danny, his arm around his son
’s shoulder. He glanced over at her sympathetically but she turned her head without responding. Though he’d left a kind message of condolence on voicemail, and had seemed to genuinely care about her father, Jess could not find it in her heart to overlook his betrayal in setting her up with Zach. And the trouble it had caused for her with her father.

As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Jess said a silent goodbye, wishing again that she could take back those last angry words to her father. The service over, she stood, still holding Danny’s hand and they walked away from the gravesite, receiving condolences and expressions of sadness from the other mourners–––most of whom were business associates of her father.

Ally, true to her word, was a no show.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jess spotted detective Sykes wandering among the other guests. At first she mistook him for a fellow mourner, but upon recognizing him, she wondered what he was doing there. She was about to go over and ask when an old friend of her father’s approached

“
Oh, Jess, I’m so sorry,” the woman said, taking her hand. Jess nodded as she glanced over at Sykes. It was distracting, his being there, lingering on the outskirts of the group. Watching.

If he had information about her father's murder, he should give it to her right away. And if not, what the hell was he doing, intruding on such a priva
te moment?

She tried to focus on what the tall, elderly woman was saying. What was her name? Something French-sounding. Giselle? Lisette? She was the wife of one of her father's old business partners, but for the life of her, Jess couldn't remember her nam
e––it was something that would have fit well on a poodle, she recalled.

"So remember dear, if there's anything George or I can do...please let us know," the woman continued. Jess nodded politely as George came over and put his hand on his wife's back. "Gi
gi, there you are."

Gigi, that was it. George leaned in and gave Jess a hug, speaking softly. “
So sorry, my dear.”

Jess nodded politely, then excused herse
lf to find Danny. She spotted him talking to Maria's youngest son near the iron gate at the cemetery entrance.

Jess decided to let him play a little while longer. As she walked toward the limo to wait for him, she scanned the area for detective Sykes. She
wondered where he’d disappeared to.

As she opened the limo door, she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Jess."

She turned abruptly to find Lars standing behind her. He reached out and took both her hands in his. "Please, Jess, let me know if there's anything else I can do.”

Jess pulled away. "You've done more than enough."

"What?" he said, a wounded look on his face.

"How dare you act hurt!" She was surprised by her own anger but couldn
’t stop it. “Thanks to you, my last conversation with Daddy was a fight. Over money!"

Lars appeared taken aback. "I...What did I do? Jess...please..."

Jess glared at him without answering. Finally he mumbled something about how sorry he was about her father, and headed to his car.

Jess watched Danny and his young friend as t
hey continued their investigation of the stone angel at the cemetery gate. She was tired and wanted only to go home alone, but knew she had a long day ahead of her. There would be the guests stopping by, the drinking, the eating, the endless expressions of sympathy. She would somehow manage to get through it.

At least Danny seemed to be back to his usual self. Of course Jess wanted him to understand that his grandfather was gone, but she didn
’t want him too hurt by the loss, especially coming so soon after the breakup of his family. And if his pursuit of the lizard crawling around the angel's wings was any hint, Danny would survive this latest crisis just fine.

The warm sun felt soothing on her face as she leaned against the limo door, not wanting to interru
pt Danny just yet. Soon enough they would go back and face all the sympathetic well-wishers, but for now she wanted to give him––as well as herself––– a break.

She turned her face towards the sun to drink in the last of its soothing warmth, when she sense
d someone close by. She opened her eyes to find herself staring into the brown eyes of detective Sykes.

"Sorry to startle you, Mrs. Parks," he said.

Jess looked at him thinking he didn’t appear sorry at all. Suddenly alert, she stood up straighter. "It’s okay, you didn't.”

She could feel his eyes on her, watching her closely. Perhaps this was something they taught you in police school, this method of unnerving a person just by looking at them. If it was, Sykes had clearly mastered the trick and then some.

"You are Jessica, right? I have trouble telling you and your sister apart."

Jess nodded, though she didn't know why she bothered. He knew exactly who she was, she was quite certain of that. Just another police trick probably.

"What is it you want? Do y
ou have news about who murdered my father?"

"Just a few questions. Though they can wait, if you need to get going."

"No, go ahead.”

He nodded and looked down at the small notepad in his hand. He flipped a few pages, obviously looking for something speci
fic, though again Jess was certain he already knew exactly what he wanted to ask her.

"You said you were home sick on Thursday evening, the night your father was killed. I just wanted to know how you knew on Wednesday that you were going to be sick on Thu
rsday."

"What? I didn't..."

"Well your husband told us that on Wednesday, you asked him to take Danny for the next day. How'd you know?"

"I...just..." Jess, shook her head. She had called Lars the day before her trip to Mexico wanting to be sure he coul
d take care of Danny while she was gone. She had claimed she had a late meeting that night and certainly didn't expect to have to account to anyone for her actions.

"I just..I'd planned to go to a…
an open house with Maddy on Thursday, so I asked Lars to take Danny. Then, when I felt sick the next day, I thought he should go ahead and pick Danny up, as planned."

Sykes eyed her without comment. She wished he'd give her some kind of human response, like a nod. An,
‘Is that so?’ or even a "You’re lying through your teeth." Anything other than this intense scrutiny that made her feel like she was a science project, a helpless specimen he was preparing to dissect.

"I'm not accusing you," he said, unsmiling. "These questions are routine when a fam
ily member’s killed."

"But you said it was a robbery."

He nodded, "His watch and wallet were stolen. But we're not so sure that’s all there is to it."

“
Oh? Well, I have to get my son.” She turned and started to walk away. 

"Just one more thing, Mrs. Pa
rks...” Sykes called out.

Jess stopped and turned to face him.

"The maid...uh..." He flipped through page after page of notes.

"Maria," Jess filled in for him.

"Right. Maria. She said that you and your father had a fight over money the last time you saw him. Would you mind telling me what that was about?"

"A car." The lie came surprisingly easy to her lips. "I was having trouble with my car and I thought it was time to get a new one. I asked my father for help in paying for it."

Again Sykes looked at her without comment. It was unbelievably frustrating staring into those unreadable, brown eyes. She could just imagine the hopelessness of ever getting into an argument with this guy. His poor wife, she thought, if he had one.

"Did your father give you the
money?"

"No, I decided to keep my car for a while longer," Jess said, knowing full well that he didn't believe a word she said.

"Well I guess that won’t be a problem for you now.” He gave her that same irritating, unreadable look.

Jess didn
’t respond.

"Do you have any idea how much you and your sister stand to inherit?"

"Why don't you ask my husband?" she said coldly. "He was my father’s lawyer after all. Though, since you clearly spent some time talking to him earlier, you probably already know that. You probably also already know that my sister was cut out of the will years ago and doesn't stand to inherit a thing."

Jess couldn't believe she was talking to him this way. She was usually so intimidated by authority figures. So terrified of getting into
trouble. But something about his arrogant, cool manner brought out a sense of overpowering rage in her. Which seemed to only egg him on. He didn't even pretend to consult his notes for the next question. "Maria said he threatened to cut you out of the will as well. That last time you saw him." 

“
My father threatened a lot of things, detective.”

"So you don't think he got around to doing it?" 

“I don't think he ever meant to really do it." Jess said curtly. "Is this interview over?" 

"For now."

Jess could feel him watching her as she walked away.

She called over to Danny who scampered into the limo without an argument
––undoubtedly as tired as she was. She needed to get away to think things through. Buying a new car had been a good excuse, though if Maria was listening at the door that day, she would know there was more to their fight than a new car.

As to the lie about planning to go to the open house with Maddy on Thursday night, Jess would ask Maddy to corroborate what she'd told Sykes. In a way, it wa
sn't even a total lie since had brought up the open house. They just hadn’t made definite plans. 

The limo pulled out.

Jess sat back, put her arm around Danny and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. She hugged him close and looked out the window. Sykes and Maddy were standing together, already deep in conversation.