4 Arch Enemy of Murder (10 page)

“What’s up?” she said.

“What are you doing here?” he whispered as he closed the door behind them.

“I have no idea.”

“I thought you didn’t like this woman.”

“She terrifies me.”

“Then what are you doing here?” he asked.

“She requested me,” Lacy said.

“So what? Clearly, her wheel has stopped turning and the hamster is dead. You should have said no.”

“I couldn’t,” Lacy said.

“Give me one good reason,” Jason said.

“Tosh asked me to help,” she said.

Jason’s jaw popped.

“He doesn’t think she did it, obviously, or he never would have asked me to get involved,” Lacy said.

“I suppose it never occurred to him that if she didn’t do it, then someone else did and he would be involving you in a dangerous murder investigation.”

She stopped short, mouth ajar. “He probably didn’t think of that,” Lacy said.

“Of course he didn’t,” Jason muttered.

“Does that mean you don’t think she did it?” Lacy said.

“If I didn’t think she did it, she wouldn’t be here. Unlike my predecessor, I don’t bring people in without just cause.”

“I know you don’t,” Lacy said. He was so angry. Her lower lip quivered and she bit it to make it stop.

He took a deep breath and released it. “I’m sorry. My frustration has more to do with lack of sleep and work stuff than you. And I’m worried you’re in over your head here.” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She could only imagine what it looked like as it slowly sprung free from the haphazard bun. “Geez, you look good for the middle of the night,” he said.

“Clearly sleep deprivation has made you delusional. Did you sleep at all today?”

He shrugged. She took that as a no.

“Someday your lack of sleep is going to catch up with you. You’re going to crash and sleep for days.”

“I can’t sleep without my teddy bear.”

“You have a teddy bear?” she asked, sure he was teasing her.

He nodded. “She has red hair and green eyes. Killer lips.”

“My hair is strawberry blond,” she said.

“Who says I was talking about you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he smiled. “I think I hear Arroyo. Let’s go back in and pretend I haven’t been flirting on the job.”

He opened the door. They scooted inside and sat just as the other detective returned. “Mrs. Merleputter, you do realize that this form gives Ms. Steele your power of attorney,” he said as he placed the form in front of Pearl.

“Power of attorney?” Lacy echoed. “I don’t want that.”

“You have to if you want to represent her; it’s the law,” Jason said.

“Pearl, don’t sign that. You should never give anyone your power of attorney,” Lacy said even as Pearl picked up the pen and signed. “And, by the way, your last name is Merleputter? Pearl Merleputter?"

“That’s my married name. I go by my maiden name,” Pearl said. She slid the signed form across the desk toward Jason.

“What’s your maiden name?” Lacy asked.

“Clutterbuck,” Pearl said.

Lacy clamped her jaw shut and faced forward. She dared not look at Jason who was doing his best not to look at her. He cleared his throat and pulled out a digital recorder. “Let’s begin.”

“Wait,” Lacy held out her hand and everyone looked at her. “Pearl, you really shouldn’t say anything without your attorney present.” That much she had learned from television.

Detective Arroyo tapped the form Pearl had just signed, the one that made Lacy Pearl’s attorney of note. “Oh,” she said. “Right. Go ahead, I guess.”

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Jason said. “You and your husband were estranged, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Pearl said. “I left him a while ago. I wanted a divorce, but he wouldn’t give me one.”

“Was there a reason you left him?” Arroyo asked.

“He was abusive. Physically, verbally, and emotionally. If I didn’t do exactly what he wanted when he wanted, then he would hit me. He berated me constantly. It took years for me to gather the courage to leave. I was terrified he would come after me, but he let me go. At least for a while. Something must have changed his mind, and he decided he wanted to reconcile.”

“Did you know he was coming to town?” Jason asked.

“Yes,” Pearl blurted at the same time Lacy said, “Don’t answer that.”

“How did you know he was coming to town?” Jason asked.

“He sent me a letter,” Pearl said as Lacy again said, “Don’t answer that.”

“This letter?” Arroyo asked. He held up a piece of paper with chicken scratch writing on it.

“Yes,” Pearl said while Lacy said, “La, la, la, la.”

The two men paused and looked at her. “What are you doing?” Arroyo asked.

“She wouldn’t listen to me when I told her not to answer, so I thought I would try talking over her. Can I not do that?”

“No, you can’t do that,” Arroyo said. “Will you read the letter out loud for us?” He slid the paper to Pearl.

“’Pearl, I’m coming to get what’s mine, and you better be ready, woman. It ain’t right for married people to live apart like this when you’re not doing your rightful duty. You better not give me any trouble about it if you know what’s good for you. I’ll be there Tuesday. Have your stuff packed because I don’t want to have to stay any longer than I have to in your stink hole. Oh, and you can’t keep your cats. They’re going to the shelter. Jonah.’”

Lacy regarded Pearl with a pitying glance. Perhaps her odious husband helped to explain some of Pearl’s outlandish behavior. Though she didn’t seem like a shrinking violet to Lacy, she had apparently been abused for many years. When the mess was over, she decided to try and be nicer and more understanding toward the woman. “I’m sorry, Pearl,” she said. Tentatively, she reached out and patted Pearl’s shoulder a couple of times before quickly jerking her hand away. She didn’t yet trust Pearl not to smack it away or punch her in the face for offering up good will. Pearl didn’t respond beyond a shrug. She folded the letter and slid it back across the desk to the men.

“You knew he was coming Tuesday, the night he was killed,” Jason said.

Pearl nodded.

“Out loud, please,” Jason said.

“Yes,” she said.

“Where were you Tuesday?”

“I worked until five.”

“And after that?”

“I went home. Alone.”

“Did you go anywhere, see anyone?” Jason asked.

She shook her head.

“Out loud, please,” he prompted.

“No. I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t see anyone. I was home alone all night.”

Arroyo leaned forward. “We removed a shotgun from your home. It had been recently fired. Do you have any explanation for that?”

“I enjoy guns and shooting. I’m a member of the local range. I shoot often, and I’m an excellent shot.”

Lacy groaned inwardly. She had no idea what to do or say to stop the avalanche.

“Excellent enough to shoot a moving target at night?” Jason asked.

Lacy leapt out of her chair and covered Pearl’s mouth with her hand. “Pearl, I am begging you not to answer that question,” she said. Pearl nodded.

“Out loud, please,” Jason prompted.

With a sigh of defeat, Lacy dropped her hand.

“Yes,” Pearl said. “But I didn’t kill Jonah.”

“May I have a moment alone with my client, please?” Lacy asked.

“Seriously?” Detective Arroyo asked.

“Yes, please,” Lacy said. She sat and folded her hands on the table in an attempt to look professional. Jason and the other detective slid their chairs back and excused themselves from the room. Lacy waited until the door clicked closed before she spoke. “Pearl, what are you doing? If you wanted to confess, then why did you bring me here?”

“I didn’t confess,” Pearl said. She looked thoroughly baffled by the question.

“You might as well have. You admitted you knew your husband was coming, you don’t have an alibi, and you admitted that you have a rifle and are an excellent shot.”

“All of that is true,” Pearl said.

“That doesn’t mean you have to say it. You have the right to remain silent. If you don’t say anything, then they have to do the work to prove your guilt. You just handed them a golden ticket,” Lacy said. “Why did you want me here if you won’t listen to my advice, paltry and ill-informed though it is?”

“Because I want you to figure out who killed Jonah so I can get out of here.”

“What are you talking about? Why me?”

“Because you solved Eddie’s murder, and that Blake woman, and I looked up in the New York paper what happened. I know you solved another murder there.”

Lacy pressed her fingers to her temples. “I didn’t solve any of those cases. In fact, I got them horribly wrong. It was only by the grace of God that I wasn’t murdered or arrested myself.”

Pearl shook her head. “You solved them; I know it. And I need your help, I need you to do it again.”

Lacy massaged her temples as she stared at Pearl in dismay. How was she to reason with someone for whom reality was a strange, new land? “Pearl, please get a real lawyer. I’m messing this up for you in a big way. You could go to prison for the rest of your life. Do you understand that?”

“I’m not afraid of jail,” Pearl said. Lacy thought her fellow inmates were the ones who should be afraid. She shuddered to think of the poor schlep who would be forced to room with Pearl.

Jason rapped on the door before pushing it open. “Minute’s up, and so is our question and answer session. Stand and put your hands behind your back, please. Not you, Lacy. Sit down.” Lacy sat and watched while Jason cuffed Pearl. Despite her dislike of the woman, it was a sad sight.

“Pearl Clutterbuck Merleputter,” he paused and placed his hand over his mouth to cover a cough that sounded suspiciously like stifled laughter. He cleared his throat and continued. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney.” He paused to glance at Lacy and shake his head. “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I have just read them to you?”

She nodded.

“Out loud please.”

“Yes,” she said. She sounded small and weak, and Lacy’s heart wrenched again.

“Let the record show that the suspect has been advised of her rights,” Jason said, and then he clicked off the recorder. Detective Arroyo opened the door and reached for Pearl’s arm.

“I’ll take her from here so you can see your girlfriend out.” The way he said “girlfriend” left little doubt as to his feelings on the matter of Lacy’s involvement with the case. Jason sighed as Pearl and the detective walked away, but he still put his arm around Lacy’s shoulders as he ushered her from the room.

“Are you going to get some sleep now?” she asked.

“Paperwork,” Jason mumbled.

They paused on the jail side of the door. “Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need me to get your mail?”

“No, uh, Cindy’s getting it for me.”

She eased from under his arm. “Oh.”

“There is one thing you could do,” he said.

“What?” she asked, though some of her earlier enthusiasm was missing.

“Stay away from this case.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Just like that?”