The Mystery of Jessica Benson (6 page)

The Blue and Green Diamonds were the tallest buildings
on Miami Beach. They reminded Karen of the twin towers that
had risen over New York City, before being leveled by terrorists.
She turned into the entrance and was struck by the splendor of
the landscaping. Subtle lighting drew attention to the tropical
plants and flowers bordering the driveway and decorating the
grounds. She remembered something from years ago when the
buildings were young. One of the towers was going into
bankruptcy. Apparently, it had survived, because nothing about
either of these towers spoke to anything but comfort and wealth.

An immaculately uniformed valet had the door open
before the engine of her car was off. He extended his hand and
helped her from the car. She asked which entrance was for the
Blue Tower and he told her that the one entrance was common to
both buildings. “Once you’re inside the concierge will direct
you. Will you be staying the night?”

The question caught her off balance, and a quick picture
of what that might be like crossed her mind. She couldn’t
suppress a grin. “No, I shouldn’t be too long.”
Dammit!

“I’ll keep her up top here for you then, Miss.” She
nodded, wondering if it was that obvious. “Miss?” She headed
inside.

The interior of the building was as elegant as it was
understated. The lobby overlooked the ocean, dark now, save for
a shimmering beam of moonlight dancing on the water. Erte
prints lined the walls and verdant plants warmed the atmosphere.
The concierge stood behind a reception desk of dark marble,
which was surrounded by a wall of black and white television
monitors flashing a labyrinth of hallways. He too was
meticulously groomed and sported a well manicured goatee.

“Good evening. May I be of assistance?” Very slightly
accented English.
“Hello, uh, yes, thanks. I’m here to see Kyle Sands.”
“Ah, yes, of course. Mr. Sands called down a few
minutes ago. You would be Detective Brandt?”
“I would.”
He pointed to a bank of glass elevators. “The first one on
the left side is the express. It’ll take you directly to the
penthouse. Mr. Sands resides in Penthouse II. I’ll let him know
you are on your way up.”

Kyle had just finished showering when the concierge
buzzed. He pulled on jeans and grabbed an old team jersey as he
trotted to answer the ringing doorbell. He wasn’t sure why she
was here. He didn’t know her anymore, and the thought crossed
his mind that it wasn’t going to be any kind of a private meeting
as she had stated, that she might have handcuffs out, ready to
arrest him.
Why she would have lied
, he thought, other than to
make sure he wouldn’t bolt and he’d be relatively calm. He
couldn’t figure it, but it had been bothering him all afternoon.
Maybe it was because she’d sounded nervous when they’d
spoken, a sure sign that something wasn’t what it was supposed
to be.

That was not the case. There was no nasty partner, no
handcuffs, and no gun pointed at him, just the face of someone
very special he had known so well during his youth. Older, but
still fresh and open, perhaps even more beautiful with the extra
years and the maturity they brought.

The two stared at one another for a moment, but after the
initial awkwardness of the situation, Kyle put his arms around
her and gave her a long, tight hug. Then, realizing that might be
really bad form, he let her go and stepped back. He shook his
head and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Karen. It was just my gut reaction. I’m sure
the chief suspect hugging the detective is a breach of some kind
of cop etiquette.”

He thought to himself that if she were angry at him for
his display, she was putting forth a cordial enough face. But she
didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his indiscretion and smiling,
asked, “Are we going to stand out here all evening or may I
come in?”

He led her to his living room which had floor-to-ceiling
windows. Starlight shimmered over the ocean on this dark night.
A rich, hunter green leather sofa and two armchairs separated by
a mahogany coffee table sat on a thick, sculpted area rug of
patterned jewel tones and formed a conversation pit. The wall
displayed floating glass framed life-size paintings that froze
dramatic moments on the football field. Kyle was the subject of
none of them. In fact, there was nothing in the room that
highlighted him or his career save for two photographs: one of
his family and one of her brother Brett.

Book shelves lined the inner apartment walls, filled with
an eclectic collection of classics, mysteries and atlases, all in
hardcover. There were the complete works of Shakespeare,
Bartlett’s Quotations, Elmore Leonard, Tennessee Williams,
John Sandford, and Barbara Parker. Al Franken’s latest lay open
on a coffee table. He was not your stereotypical
dumb jock
.

Kyle motioned toward the sofa and told her to make
herself comfortable. “May I get you a drink?”
“Water, please.”
“That happens to be something I have plenty of.”
He went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of
Zephyrhills and a lead crystal glass of ice with a lime wedge
affixed to the rim. He handed her the glass and placed a coaster
and cocktail napkin on the table. He stood, towering above her,
not completely sure of what to do next. Finally, he shrugged and
sat beside her on the sofa.
“What? No Perrier?” Then, feeling a little stupid for her
comment, “I could lose my badge for being here.”
Kyle gave a tight grin. Still into the Perrier comment,
“Nah, not into the designer waters, sorry.” A second later when
the remark about losing her badge penetrated, he continued,
“Does that mean you’re not going to arrest me tonight?”
“I think I can safely assure you that I’m not. Failure to
supply designer water is not an arrestable offense in Miami-Dade
County. Beverly Hills, maybe.” She smiled an open, guileless
smile, her eyes twinkling. He felt it throughout his body. Then
suddenly, she knit her brows together, and looking quite serious,
said, “Unless of course, you decide to confess and surrender
yourself to me.”
“Not in this lifetime, little girl.”
“I’m not a little girl anymore, Kyle.”
“No, you’re sure enough not, Karen. You grew up to be
a cop like your dad, though, just like you always said. And here
you are, gold shield and all. If it weren’t for this ugly situation
I’m in here, I’d be damned happy to see you right now, and right
proud to boot.”
She looked down, not wanting to break the spell he
seemed to be casting over her, but needing to tell him, “He
passed away, you know. Two years ago.”
“I’m sorry. No. I didn’t know. Funny how you seem to
lose touch with the people you care the most about. And your
mom, everything okay with her?”
“You know. Mom’s Mom. She hasn’t changed much
really. Well, maybe she’s a bit more cynical than she was before
she lost the two most important men in her life. But considering,
she’s dealt with it all better than most would have. At least I
think she has.”
Again silence. Then Kyle decided to help her get to
wherever it was she was going.
“I know you’re not here to make small talk with me,
Karen, under the circumstances.” He grimaced and continued.
“This is some ugly mess I’ve gotten myself into, do you think?”
“Yeah, I do think. Look, Kyle, I had to talk to you alone.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I could lose my badge for this, but I
couldn’t leave you hanging out to dry. My partner has a real hard
on for you. If it were up to him, he’d have closed the case
Saturday. I can’t believe, even though so many years have
passed, that the Kyle Sands I knew would ever be capable of
murder, certainly not a murder this violent, th-this horrific!”
“I didn’t murder her, Karen. I swear it.”
“I believe you. I believe you because I know you. I grew
up with you. I saw you with my brother when he was dying,
when none of the other kids could even look at him, he was so
emaciated, and, uh, oh, damn! Kyle, I know you couldn’t murder
anyone. But it couldn’t look more like you’d done it if you’d
signed your name to it. If you know
anything at all
about what
happened to Jessica, please be straight with me. I know my
partner is intimidating. He takes pride in it. But the truth is,
we’re after the same end.” Her words came in a rush, but then
she stopped for a moment, apparently to compose her thoughts.
When she spoke again, her words were measured.
“There’s a chance that you might know something that
you don’t know you know.” She smiled for a second. “I sound
like who was it? Bush’s guy? Rumsfeld! ‘Known knowns and
unknown unknowns.’” She went quiet again, and looked to Kyle
as though she were trying to shake something free from her mind
and translate it to him in words. “I’m sorry. Being here with you
is harder than I had anticipated.”
Yeah, it isn’t much of a picnic for me either, kid
, he
thought. He wanted to say something clever, maybe lighten the
moment a little for both of them, but he was unable to find the
right words.
A tiny scar just above her right eyebrow caught his
attention and he flashed back to the afternoon she had tripped
over a bat lying in his backyard. She had fallen hard and gashed
her head on the sharp edge of a tiny rock. She was a tough kid,
always trying to show Brett and him she could go toe to toe. But
whether from shock, embarrassment, or pain, that day she was
just a little girl with a boo-boo, and had broken down and cried.
And the two of them had taken turns hugging her and trying to
make it all better.
“So even after all these years you’re still wearing that
gash over your right eye, huh? It’s looking damned sexy now
though.” He had a fast thought that he was out of line big time
now.
But Karen’s mouth dropped open and she laughed out
loud.
“You haven’t changed a bit, Kyle Sands. Someone’s
been killed, your life is at stake, and you go making a joke. What
are you thinking?”
“Well, for starters, it wasn’t a joke. It
does
look sexy…”
“Thank you, then. No one’s ever put it to me quite that
way. And I’d love to go on sharing sexy scars with you, but we
really ought to save it for some time when the balance of your
life isn’t hanging over our heads.”
And that sobered them both for the moment.
“I hear what you’re saying, but I wish you could see it
from my view. I wake up one day and the world as I knew it
ceases to exist. People who aren’t accusing me of murder are
telling me I should be able to figure out who did kill her. One of
the homicide detectives wants my ass well done, not rare. I’ve
got my coach telling me to shake it off or lose my starting job.
Two games left and he’s hassling me about keeping my mind on
the fucking game…” He stopped suddenly and took a deep
breath, letting the air slowly out. “Wow. I guess that’s more than
you needed to know, huh?”
Kyle held her eyes with his for a moment and an
undeniable spark of electricity passed between them. He realized
that although three years had been an insurmountable difference
in age when they were kids, as adults it was nothing.
Jessica had
been only twenty-five
, he thought. Then he looked away from her
and the spell was broken.
“I’m sorry, Kyle. I can’t even begin to imagine what this
has done to you. It’s the most vicious murder I’ve ever
investigated, probably one of the most sadistic ever on the
Beach. The killing has ‘passion’ written all over it, and her last
night with you plays out like a ‘B’ thriller. That’s the reason
you’re at the top of the list of suspects. And the reverberations of
your break-up that night seem to have hit everyone in town one
way or another.”
He croaked a humorless laugh. “And I’m a passionate
kind of guy, is that the deal? I hear what you’re saying, but I
have no way to prove I didn’t kill her. Christ! The evidence is so
damning that I wouldn’t believe I hadn’t done it if I didn’t know
for sure. I’ve lost my life right along with Jessica’s. They just
haven’t thrown the last shovel of dirt over me yet.”
“Cooperate with me, Kyle. Someone killed her in a mad
rage, If not you, then who?”
“God, Karen! Don’t you think I would answer that
question if I had the first clue? It seems everyone I speak to
knew Jessica better than I did. It’s as though I’d been dating a
vision of my own creation.”
Karen saw the torment in his face and heard it in his
voice. She fought the urge to hug him, and the implications of
her feelings shook her to the core. Objectivity in this
investigation was cloudy for Karen, and if that became public,
she’d be a homicide detective without back up. Will Kaufman
was not the only cop who would turn his back on her, and he
would. She would become a pariah in the Department with
support from no one. The virtual signing of her resignation.
Kyle watched silently as she chewed on her lower lip.
Something was clearly bothering her and he half-worried
whether he had said something incriminating. The painful
silence continued until Kyle, unable to stand it, spoke her name.
She reacted with a deep sigh and placed her hand on his arm.
Something passed between them again, yet she was clearly not
giving in to the moment. She quickly pulled her hand away and
the sense of connection between the two dissolved.
“I’ll do whatever I can to help you without crossing the
line any further than I already have. Will knows me too well.
He’s been angry with me since our interview with you. I feel like
he’s watching my every move. I know it sounds trite, but I really
do love my job. I always wanted to be a cop. Remember when
you used to send me on ‘missions’ around the neighborhood
when I was a kid? You had me recording license plate numbers
of suspicious vehicles in the area. I wrote up every car within the
five blocks I was allowed to travel. You guys were just trying to
get rid of me, but I took my job very seriously, and at night I’d
show dad the fruits of my labor and he’d tell me I’d have my
gold shield before I ever got on the force. I started college and
joined the Department as a clerk. I was a dispatcher by my
sophomore year and when I graduated, just like dad predicted, I
moved right up the ranks. Up until Friday it had all been so black
and white to me. Idealist that I am, all I had to do to make the
world safe was get the scumbags off the street. It was always so
easy, until your name came up as one of the scumbags. Now I’m
caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.” She closed
her eyes for a second, and then seemed to will herself to go on.
“You’re a strong suspect. I know you recognize that. If
you weren’t the quarterback for the Demons, they probably
would have hauled you down to the station and read you your
rights by now. But the unofficial word from the top is to handle
you as gently as possible, which, of course, makes Will even
more determined to take you off the streets.” She stood suddenly,
but kept her eyes on his. “Please listen to me, Kyle. It’s best you
keep to yourself. Don’t give any interviews, and when you talk
to an arm of the law, have your lawyer with you. Don’t take any
chances. Whoever killed her is still out there. I’ll do everything
in my power to find him, or her. I won’t let you go down. Now I
better get out of here real quick, before I ruin things for both of
us.” She turned to leave.
Kyle stood and reached for her. There were sparks. He’d
been right about that. He grabbed deep inside himself in an
attempt to find the right words. “I’d take that chance.” He
smiled, but made no move to let go of her.
She looked as though she wanted to scream, but she
spoke very softly. “It’s your
life
, Kyle. They may cut you slack
during the investigation because of who you are, but if you’re
charged, they’ll bury you for the same reason.” She walked to
the door.
Kyle realized that for the first time in two days he was
not thinking about Jessica Benson.