Roadkill

by Cheryl Bradshaw

  “Off, like what?”

  “The way he talked, for starters.”

  “Seemed all right to me. A bit dramatic, maybe, but all right.”

  “He lied to us.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “Gut feeling,” Ford said.

  “What do you think he’s lying about?”

  “I’m not so sure he knew about Parr’s condo. What I mean to say is, I’m not sure Jonas told him about the condo.”

  “Why would he lie about it, though?”

  “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”

  CHAPTER 38

  I texted Seth to tell him I was leaving and going to a hotel, also letting him know Anna was with me. I figured maybe then he’d come home. I was halfway through writing the text when Ford called.

  “I was just going to call you,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “I’m with Jonas’s wife, Anna. She said he received a phone call last night at dinner, and he seemed bothered by it.”

  “What time?”

  I told him.

  “Hang on.”

  I held on. I heard what sounded like the shuffling of paper. Seconds later, he returned to the line. “According to his phone records, there were no incoming or outgoing calls made around that time. What was the call about?”

  “She doesn’t know. He excused himself and took it in his office.”

  I knew what he was thinking—the same thing I was thinking. It was possible Jonas had two phones. I wondered if Juliette did too.

  “Are you still at your brother-in-law’s house?” he asked.

  “For the next few minutes.”

  “And then?”

  “I’m going to a hotel, and after the funerals are over in a couple days, I’m needed at work, so I guess I’ll head home. I’m only staying long enough to get what I need to done.”

  “You should stay.”

  “What?”

  “Stay where you’re at.”

  “Why?”

  “Or maybe it would be best for you to return home for now.”

  Ford’s tone was different. Nervous.

  What is he getting at?

  “Yeah, maybe if you head home, it would be best,” he continued. “Whitaker and I will figure things out, and I’ll keep you in the loop, just like I promised.”

  It wasn’t about him keeping me informed anymore. I couldn’t rest until I knew the whole story about what happened. Right now there were too many variables at play, too many things that weren’t like they seemed. I don’t know how I knew it. I just did.

  “I’m staying—at least until I’m able to bury my sister and find my niece.”

  “You hear from your brother-in-law yet?” Ford asked.

  “Not yet. I’m guessing he is staying away because of me. But Seth can take care of himself. I’m sure he wants to be alone now so he can grieve without me in the way. Is everything all right?”

  “It’s ... ahh ... it’s ... do you travel with a gun?”

  Do I travel with a gun? “I have a concealed weapons permit.”

  “You have it with you, then?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you have?”

  “A Beretta Nano.”

  “Good choice. Where do you keep it?”

  “In my bag,” I said. “How many questions are you going to ask me before you tell me what’s going on and why you’re asking?”

  There was a short pause. I waited.

  “A woman is missing. Her name is Kimberly Crosby.”

  “Why are you telling me this? How is she related to the case?”

  “Police ran a search on the property where she’s been living,” he said. “It’s owned by JP Enterprises.”

  “What’s JP Enterprises?”

  “It’s not a what; it’s a who. Jonas Parr. Police aren’t sure yet whether she was just renting the place from him, or if she was another woman on the side. Since everything has connected to him so far, it’s possible something’s happened to her too.”

  “How long has she been missing?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “How do you know she’s really missing, then?”

  “Kimberly’s next-door neighbor called the police late last night. She was in bed and said she could hear what sounded like a little girl crying on the other side of the wall.”

  “Does Kimberly have any children?”

  “She doesn’t. The neighbor couldn’t take the crying after a while. She walked over with her husband and knocked on the door. She said Kimberly looked exhausted when she answered. She wouldn’t say who the girl was. She only said she wouldn’t be there long. While they were talking, a little girl came around the corner. Kimberly scolded her, told her to get back in bed. The neighbor left, and a couple hours later the crying started up again. The neighbor switched on the TV to drown it out and saw the missing-person’s photo on the news. She called the police and said the little girl she saw at Kimberly’s house was Nora.”

  My hands shook so much I struggled to hold the phone. Could it be true? Could my sweet niece still be alive? “How could the child be Nora?”

  “I don’t know yet. After the call, the police went to the house, but no one answered. They went back this morning with a search warrant and went inside. There was no sign of Kimberly Crosby, but her car is still parked in the garage.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “They’ve collected some hair samples and lifted a few prints. Forensics will be running tests shortly.”

  “I’d like to run my own tests. Can you make that happen?”

  “I ... I’m not sure. Maybe.”

  “Find out and let me know. How sure is the neighbor that the girl she saw was Nora?”

  “She’s positive. Her husband is too. LVMPD is keeping it quiet for now while they look into it.”

  Women weren’t good at keeping secrets, especially this kind of secret. “Aren’t they worried she’ll start telling people? Do you think it could be Nora? Do you think she could be alive?”

  “Before I answer your questions, there’s one more thing. I’m texting you a photo. Take a look and tell me if you recognize it.”

  I removed the phone from my ear and watched the screen, waiting. An attachment came in a few seconds later. I clicked on it and felt all the breath in my body rush out of me.

  “Hey, did you get it?” Ford asked. “Are you okay?”

  The photo was of a unicorn. A pink stuffed unicorn. I put the call on speaker. “Yes, I recognize the stuffed animal. It’s Nora’s.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I bought it for her.”

  “Where did you find it?”

  “Under the bed in the spare bedroom at Kimberly Crosby’s place. We’re looking at two things now: neighbors who swear they’ve seen your niece and a stuffed animal you claim belongs to her.”

  “If this is true—”

  “It calls Jonas’s note into question. Maybe he wrote it. Maybe he didn’t. Or maybe he did and he lied. He said Nora died in his arms. If that’s true, where did the stuffed unicorn come from? And why was Nora seen at a house Mr. Parr owns more than twelve hours after she would have been dead?”

  An even bigger question was—why did Jonas come up with such an elaborate lie in the first place?

  “Where is the stuffed animal now?”

  “Zipped in a bag in an evidence locker, waiting on forensics testing,” he said. “Why?”

  “Tell someone to squeeze the head of the unicorn.”

  “Does it play a song or something?”

  “Close. It’s a recording of my voice. It says ‘Happy birthday, sweetheart, Auntie Raine loves you.’”

  “Can I put you on hold for a minute?”

  I agreed and the line went silent.

  Anna had been standing a couple of feet away from me, listening to the conversation. Feeling like it was my turn to have a fainting spell, it was Anna who rushed to my aid this time.
She handed me the cup of coffee I’d made myself earlier and said, “Raine, are you all right?”

  I accepted the coffee and chugged it, even though it did little to soothe the dryness in my throat. “I’m on hold. I’ll explain everything in a minute.”

  Ford returned to the line. “You still there?”

  “I am. What did you find out?”

  “You were right. The unicorn belonged to Nora.”

  CHAPTER 39

  I ended the call with Ford and turned toward Anna, and began to fill her in on the other half of the conversation, the part she didn’t hear. “Did you know Jonas owned a condo?”

  It was a question I didn’t need to ask. Her facial expression conveyed complete shock.

  “There must be some mistake. This house is the only home we have. If we had something else, I would have known about it.”

  She reminded me a bit of Seth. Juliette and Jonas may not have fit together, but I had a feeling Anna and Seth would have been excellent together.

  “Detective Ford just told me Jonas owns a condo in the city. He seems certain about it.”

  “Who’s the Kimberly you mentioned on the phone?”

  “She had been staying at the condo. Who do you think she was to him?”

  Anna fiddled with her wedding ring, twisting it around her finger. She opened a few kitchen cabinets and said, “Does Seth have any wine around here? I don’t care how off my stomach is. I could go for a glass right now or maybe several glasses.”

  We located a merlot and pulled a couple of glasses off the shelf. I popped the cork on the bottle and poured.

  “Thank you,” she said when I handed it to her.

  “The question I just asked isn’t easy to answer, but I’m hoping you will.”

  She lifted herself onto the kitchen counter, her feet dangling as she sat there. “I met Jonas in high school. In all the years we were together, I never questioned his love for me. I did question his faithfulness, though. There have been other women. I just don’t know how many.”

  “How long had you suspected him of being unfaithful?”

  “Depends on your definition of unfaithful. It started when we were teens. Sometimes his flirting went too far, but it didn’t always lead to sex. I know of three other women he slept with after we married. If he was having sex with Kimberly, she makes four, and your sister, five. And those are just the ones I know about.”

  “Did he suspect you knew about his affairs?”

  She shook her head. “He’s always seen me as an oblivious airhead. I’m not. When I found out about the first woman, I planned to confront him. I remember thinking even if he came clean, even if he said he wouldn’t do it again—or even if he never said anything like that—it wouldn’t make a difference. I was hurt, but I wouldn’t leave him.”

  “Why not?”

  Anna sipped her wine. “I loved him. You probably think I’m stupid for staying when most women would have left.”

  I did because it was something I’d never do. But I wasn’t her. “It’s not my place to judge you.”

  “You are judging me, though. I can tell.”

  “I wouldn’t stay if a man cheated on me. I couldn’t. It’s not in me, no matter what the excuse.”

  “Has it ever happened to you?”

  I shook my head.

  “Then you really don’t know what you’ll do until it does.”

  “I suppose I can see your point.”

  She stared past me, focusing on a magnetic photo of Seth and Juliette on the fridge. “Have you ever loved a man so much the thought of being without him made your insides hurt? I felt that way about Jonas. And now it’s worse because he’s really gone.”

  I’d never loved anyone that way. “Did you tell the police he cheated with other women when they talked to you?”

  She shook her head.

  “Why not?”

  “I should have. I know. I’m embarrassed about it, I guess. He’s dead. I thought it wouldn’t make a difference. Now that this other woman has gone missing, I probably should have.” She tipped her head back and downed the last of the wine in her glass. Then she hopped off the counter, poured another, and returned to the countertop again. “Earlier when I said I was surprised he had an affair with your sister, it wasn’t because I couldn’t accept he’d cheated. Like I said, she just really wasn’t his type. Not the kind of girl he was attracted to—not in a sexual way.”

  “Did you ever know what any of the other women looked like?”

  She nodded. “They were the opposite of me in a lot of ways, and they all looked similar, kind of ... wild looking, I guess, and hard. I think he loved what I represented.”

  “Which is?”

  “A good girl. A woman he could rely on. Sophisticated, kind, and soft.”

  Women were either one or the other. A good girl or a bad one. If her assumption was correct, he couldn’t have ever had everything he wanted with one. Maybe that’s why he had two or more, not that it justified his cheating.

  Discussing her dead husband’s liaisons with me had been rough on her. Even with the wine kicking in, I could tell she was having difficulty keeping it together.

  “It’s hard when the unexpected happens, isn’t it?” I said. “I question everything now—my sister’s death, Jonas’s death, what happened to Nora. Whether or not she’s still alive. I wish I knew where to turn for answers.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  We sat in silence for a moment. What hadn’t I thought to ask yet?

  “Tell me more about Jonas,” I said. “If you don’t mind.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Where did he work?”

  “He managed hedge funds for Prosperity Investments.”

  “How long did he work there?”

  “Five years.”

  Hedge funds, a sticky business, and potentially dangerous if Jonas angered the wrong kind of people. Money was a drug. It had the ability to make people crazy—even crazier when they lost it. Five years at the investment firm meant Jonas had worked somewhere before. “Only five years in the business?”

  “He started after he retired from the military.”

  I didn’t know why, but it surprised me.

  “What was his job in the military?”

  “He was a sniper.” She looked away and frowned. “Okay, I’m not being completely honest. He didn’t retire from the military.”

  The conversation just kept getting weirder. “What do you mean?”

  “He was discharged for bad conduct several years ago.”

  “Bad conduct?” Despite the fact that I sounded like a parrot, I couldn’t help myself. “What happened?”

  “He was driving one of the military vehicles one night. It was dark. A soldier crossed in front of the vehicle. Jonas didn’t see him until it was too late. He hit him, and he died.”

  “He was discharged for accidentally killing someone?”

  “Not just killing him. His death could have been prevented. Jonas was drunk at the time.”

  I nodded. “Oh. I see.”

  “Thing is, he hated the guy—the one he accidentally killed. I don’t think everyone else knew that, but I did. He complained about him all the time to me.”

  “Are you saying you question whether the death was really an accident?”

  She nodded. “He swore he didn’t run him down on purpose, but I’ve never felt right about it. And now, after what’s happened with Juliette and Nora, I feel my suspicions were right.”

  “What happened after he was discharged?”

  “We moved here. He wanted to live in a place where he could leave it all behind.”

  So he went to Vegas? Interesting choice. To me, leaving it all behind and starting fresh would take a person to a small town. Somewhere cozy and friendly. Inviting.

  “Did he have any experience doing investments before moving here?”

  “None.”

  “And yet he went from being a sniper to an investment banker?”<
br />
  “I know. I thought the same thing at first. I never pictured him shuffling papers around at some desk job. He isn’t the type. He was good at it, though. His boss, Max Duran, saw his potential right away and moved him into a higher position.”

  I set my half-empty wine glass in the sink, knowing my stomach was too knotted up for me to finish it. “What made him apply for the job in the first place?”

  “He was out looking for work right after we moved here, and one of the places where he interviewed at said they weren’t able to hire him, but they knew someone who would.”

  “So you’re saying the job just fell into his lap, even though he had no prior experience?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, they liked him. I’m not surprised. He was always gifted at charming people, and I guess he got lucky.”

  He got lucky all right.

  He married a wife who accepted any bullshit story he told her.

  CHAPTER 40

  Anna was in the middle of packing a few clothes into a suitcase when the doorbell rang. She checked the time. Her friend Faunia wasn’t due to arrive for another twenty-five minutes. It had to be someone else.

  Patrol cars had been cruising her street all evening, and Detective Whitaker had even dropped by in the last hour to let her know they were watching, but just to be on the safe side, he had her check that all doors and windows were locked. It made her feel good to know they were looking out for her. Even so, she decided it best not to open the front door until she knew who was on the other side.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Anna?”

  “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Max. Max Duran.”

  Anna had always liked Max. At company gatherings, he’d always gone out of his way to accommodate her, to make sure she was having a good time. Given the outgoing person Jonas was, he often walked away from her during work functions to engage with friends, leaving her sitting at the table at times for longer than expected. Max always seemed to be aware when it happened, and unlike Jonas, he’d walk away from whomever he was talking to and join her. Over the years, she’d started to look forward to their time together a lot more than she cared to admit. And although nothing ever happened between them other than a little casual flirting, she’d developed feelings for him, which she had never acted on, but had always made her feel guilty.