The Hate Crime

by Rachel Sinclair

  “No, I don’t think that.” She crossed her arms in front of her, and gave me a scowl. “Listen, you need to get off this line that you’re on. Trust me on this, I know where you’re going with it, and you need to get off of that.”

  I took a deep breath and looked at Heather for a little while. “Why do I have a feeling that somehow, someway, the murder of Reverend Scott is tied in with all of this?” There was so much that she wasn’t telling me, it wasn’t even funny. “Heather, I think that you need to be completely honest with me about everything. Everything, absolutely everything. If you don’t, I’m going to have to withdraw from the case. I don’t like flying blind, and I don’t like the fact that it seems like you’re stonewalling me. It’s almost as if you’re trying to protect Jordan Kennedy. And I don’t know why that would be.”

  She shook her head. “Listen, I’m not trying to protect Jordan Kennedy. I could not give a shit about that guy. He’s a low-level nobody. The guy served time in prison, because William Page rolled on him. He served time in prison. What does that tell you?”

  “It tells me that there’s a bigger fish above him. And that’s the person who William Page was afraid of, so afraid that he became Adele Whittier.” The picture was starting to come into view, but there were still so many more unanswered questions. “And that bigger fish is probably the person who killed Adele. That makes a lot of sense. Especially if the bigger fish was somebody who also had it in for Beck.”

  “You think you know what happened, but you don’t know anything. You don’t know nothing. What I can tell you is that you shouldn’t be looking in this direction.” She looked around the office. She looked as if she was trying to see if somebody had followed her and was going to kill her. “Listen, you’re going on a dangerous path, and it’s a path that’s going to be a blind end. I know who that bigger fish is, and, trust me on this, he has no idea that William Page became Adele. He didn’t know that. As far as he knew, William Page died two years ago. Why don’t you do some investigation on that? On what happened to William? The person who helped William become Adele covered his tracks very well. Nobody knew that this happened. Nobody except for Beck himself.”

  “And apparently you,” I said. “Apparently you knew that William Page became Adele. You seem to know everything about William/Adele. Which is odd to me. I don’t know why it is that you didn’t just come out and tell me about it in the first place. You had to know that I was going to figure it out sooner or later. That’s not something I wouldn’t uncover during my investigation.”

  “I was hoping that you wouldn’t find out about it. I don’t know why I was hoping for that, but that’s what I was hoping. I knew that if you found out what had happened, your mind would go down that road. And that’s a dangerous road. Trust me on this, it’s a dangerous road. It’s a road that you not only don’t want to go down, but is going to lead you into a place where you don’t want to be. And it’s not going to lead you to who really killed her. And yes, I still refer to Adele as ‘her.’ I know what you’re thinking, that Adele wasn’t really transgendered. But she was. She really was.”

  “Again, you’re saying that.”

  “Yes, I’m saying that. The reason why I’m saying this to you is because it’s true. Listen, William had the choice to become somebody else, and he didn’t choose to become another man. He chose to become a woman. That tells you something right there. I knew Adele, and I knew that she identified as a woman. When William became Adele, it was something that he wanted to do in the first place. He always wanted to become a woman. So, Adele was transgendered. I don’t want you to be unclear about that.”

  “Okay. So she was transgendered. Why is it so important to you that I know that? Of all the things I need to figure out about this case, why is it that the fact that Adele is transgendered is the most important thing on your mind?”

  “It just is.” She shook her head. “Listen, you have to understand one thing. When somebody goes from a man to a woman, it really looks bad on all of us when they do that just for convenience. Like when there’s somebody who’s maybe running from the mob, or something like that, maybe they enter the witness protection program, and they decide that they’re going to become a different sex. They do it because they’re really underground and they want to make sure that their tracks are really covered. They might even have their fingerprints burned off, they’re that scared about being found out. It looks bad for people who are truly transgendered when someone becomes a different sex just because they’re afraid of being found out. That wasn’t the case with William. He really did identify as a female, and I just think that’s important to know. No other reason than that. I just don’t want to ruin Adele’s reputation, especially because she’s dead. That’s all.”

  I thought it was odd that Heather was focusing on this minor thing. Then I realized that it was probably not minor to her. But, to me, it really did seem to be beside the point. The point, of course, was the fact that apparently Adele, or William, was afraid of somebody. Another important point was the fact that apparently William wasn’t given a new identity by the government. Rather, he took a completely different identity on his own.

  Or did he? I did a little research online, and I found out that it used to be relatively easy for people to change identities. It was easy to get a new Social Security card and a new birth certificate. I also found out how difficult it was in today’s day and age, because of the whole issue about crosschecking death certificates, to get a new birth certificate. Again, I came back to the “coincidence” surrounding the fact that the death certificate was misfiled, but I knew that it wasn’t a coincidence at all. No, it seemed to be very deliberate. Which meant that somebody had to get to the clerks in Massachusetts, and I had a feeling that if I was going to look into Adele’s suicide, I would find that it wasn’t a suicide at all. My thought was that she was targeted by somebody. Somebody who wanted to specifically take her identification.

  I was going to have to find out more from Anna about Adele Whittier to flesh out my theory that she was actually murdered for her identity. If she was, why was she targeted? Why would William just pick her name out of a hat and set his sights on killing her and taking her identity? Yes, it was unfortunate for her that she had no living kin, therefore it would have been much easier for someone to assume her identity than somebody who had family alive. That might’ve been one of the reasons why she was targeted, if she was targeted, but there had been a lot of other people who were in the same situation.

  I had a feeling, therefore, that William Page had help in all of this. Somebody helped him become somebody else. I had no idea why this person would do that. Whoever it was who did that went through a lot of trouble to make sure that this happened.

  “Heather, who helped William become Adele?”

  She crossed her arms. “I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that question. Listen, I can tell you one thing. I didn’t know that Adele was once William Page, until after she was found dead. You have to believe me about that. That’s something that nobody knew, except for Beck himself.”

  I took a deep breath. “Beck himself. And the person who helped William. Listen, Beck is kind of a low-level guy. He’s not somebody who would be able to pull off something like this. I think that there was some tampering going on at the clerk’s office, because there was a SNAFU with the death certificate, and it was just too convenient. I also think that William had to have help to target the person whose identity he took. There’s somebody who’s behind all of this, pulling the strings, and you’re afraid of him.”

  “Yes, I am afraid of him.” She tapped her foot on the floor. “I’m afraid of him, and you should be too. And, as I said, you’re looking at the wrong person. The fact that Adele was killed has nothing to do with what happened before, with her stealing money from Jordan. You have to believe me about this. But I can tell you one thing – if you go down this road, you’ll be in danger.”

  “Heather, I have to ask this questi
on. This person that you’re afraid of, does he or she know what happened with the Reverend? It seems to me like you’re trying to protect people who would be able to turn you in for what happened to the Reverend Scott. You wanted to protect Beck, so you begged me to take his case. And I think that you’re now trying to protect a person who might also know about it. Am I going on the right track?”

  “No, you’re not going on the right track there. Only Beck knows about what happened that night. Well, Beck and Charlie.”

  “Why is it that you trusted Charlie in the first place with this? From what you tell me, you and Charlie don’t have a very good relationship. Weren’t you at all worried that Charlie was going to turn you in? Why would you get him involved with this entire thing?” That was always something that was nagging at me. Charlie, from what Heather told me, was somebody who was not to be trusted. Not only was he a drug dealer, but he really had no love for her. He threatened her life, and she owed him money, which was the reason why she had to do his drug runs. She was much like Tina in that way. Once she paid him back, however, it was my understanding that she no longer had a relationship with him. So why was he the first person that she called?

  There was a buried story in this whole situation, and it was making me very suspicious. She knew more than she let on, that much was certain. And what she didn’t tell me was stuff that was extremely important. To say the very least. And now, here she was, telling me not to go down the road that I thought was going to be the most fruitful path of all. If I could get to the nub of who helped Adele become William, I could probably try to figure out the other pieces of the puzzle. However, I also had to find out who the bigger fish was and who William was afraid of in the first place. Heather wasn’t going to help me with any of that.

  Why she wasn’t helping me with any of that, I didn’t know.

  She was still sitting there, watching me. She shook her head. “Listen, I know you feel like you’re going on the right track, but you’re not. You need to look in another direction. The person who killed Adele is not the person you think it was. You need to trust me on this when I tell you.” She looked around. “I’ll give you all the help that you need, but not if you continue down this path. I just don’t want you to get lost in the weeds and try to accuse somebody who had nothing to do with any of it. You’re gonna be overlooking the person who really did it. I don’t know who that person is, and neither do you, but you need to find out. I’ll help as much as I can to find the real killer.”

  “Are you going to help me out?” I suddenly had a feeling that she wasn’t going to help me out at all. That disappointed me, of course, because Heather was the person who roped me into this case in the first place. I was doing this case for her, and I was doing it for free. Yet, here she was, stonewalling me. I crossed my arms in front of me. “Listen, Heather, I don’t have time for your games. I’m helping you out. Or did you forget that fact? I have to make sure that Beck gets a good defense, and hopefully he gets acquitted. If he’s acquitted, then, as far as I know, you’ll be in the clear. If he isn’t – all bets are off. I would think that that alone would encourage you to be straight with me.”

  Heather nodded her head. “I wish that I could be straight with you about all of this. But I just want you to not go down the road of accusing somebody that you shouldn’t be. You just don’t know how dangerous Jordan’s boss is.”

  “No, you’re right about that. I don’t know how dangerous Jordan’s boss is, because I don’t know who he is. Care to enlighten me on that?”

  “You have to find that out for yourself. I can’t tell you. If I do, trust me on this, I’ll be in so much trouble.”

  I sighed. “Okay. I guess that if you’re going to play games, there’s nothing I can really do about it. I can tell you one thing – the more information I have, the better defense Beck is going to get. I would think that that would motivate you to tell me everything you know. I guess not, so…” All at once, I wanted Heather to leave my office. She was pissing me off. I was going to figure this stuff out, with or without her. It just would be easier if she would cooperate with me.

  Her face seemed to soften. “Listen, the main reason why I don’t want to tell you who Jordan’s boss is is because I don’t what you to stop there. I just don’t think that the person who you think did this is the one who actually did it. Now, I don’t know who the person is who did it, I just don’t –”

  “I know, I know.” I looked at the clock, and saw that it was almost time for my next court appearance. I had a burglary client that I was going to plead out. “Okay, then. I think that we’ve gone round and round on this enough. If you’re not gonna tell me what I need to know, I guess I’m going to have to find out this information from somebody else, and that’s just the way it’s going to be. But, rest assured, I am going to figure that out.”

  “I know you are. I just want don’t want it coming from me. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Duly noted.”

  At that, Heather left, and I went to my court appearance. I was still pretty pissed at her, but, in a way, I kind of understood it. Somebody was making her nervous, that was for sure, and that person might or might not have been responsible for Adele’s death.

  I was going to figure that out, but it was going to take me longer.

  Chapter 21

  I went to see Beck in the jail, because I needed to find out exactly what was going on. I needed to ask him what his relationship was with William and why it was that he would lie to me the way he did. I had no idea what he was going to say to me. What excuse he was going to bring me.

  He came swaggering out, as usual. “Yo dog, you know I’m getting out of this joint pretty goddamn soon. I got my homies, they be giving me the money to break out of here. So next time you see me, I’m gonna be at Chez Beck. I know, I know, I rock this orange jumpsuit, but just wait ’til you see me in my regular clothes.”

  I cleared my throat. “I needed to ask you some questions. I hope that you’ll be straight with me, because it’s been clear that you haven’t been straight with me yet.”

  “Sure dog,” he said. “Ask away. I ain’t got nothing to hide.”

  “You can start by telling me why it is that you claimed to me that you didn’t know Adele, when you clearly did. You knew her when she was William, and you knew her when she became Adele. In fact, it’s my understanding that you’re one of the few people who knew that William Page was the same person as Adele Whittier. Now, I have yet to figure out how it is that you know all of this, but it seems that you do.” I leaned back in my chair, and stared at him. I didn’t know what kind of excuse he was going to give me, or if he was going to give me any excuse at all.

  He grimaced. “How’d you find all that out?”

  “I talked to your sister, and I found out some information about Adele. I found out that she changed her identity because she was apparently running from somebody. I’m still trying to figure out why it was that Adele Whittier, the actual Adele Whittier, was targeted by whomever helped William Page change his identity. I’m hoping I can put that puzzle piece together. I think that the clue to who killed her is in this whole scenario. But I needed to know why it was that you lied to me.”

  For once, Beck actually looked kind of scared. Gone was the cocky guy, and in his place was a kid who suddenly looked younger than his age, who was shaking. His blue eyes didn’t meet mine. He blinked them a couple of times, and it looked like he was almost about to cry.

  That was weird. I didn’t expect that reaction.

  Then he abruptly got up. “Dog, I ain’t gonna answer that question.”

  “You will answer the question. Either you answer the question, or I find out the answers from somebody else, so it’s your choice. You can either tell me in your words why you lied to me, and how you knew William Page, or I’ll just find out from somebody else what the story is. Plus, I think that you knew the actual Adele Whittier, or if you didn’t know her, you somehow knew exactly why it is that W
illiam Page took her identity. And I think you also know who arranged all of it. I think you know everything. Why it is that you’re not telling me everything, is beyond me.”

  He stared at me for a few minutes. I could see, in his expression, that he was trying hard to decide what to do. How much to tell me.

  He finally decided, apparently, to come clean. “Adele Whittier, the actual Adele Whittier, she was a chick who pissed off somebody that she’s not supposed to. You don’t get on the wrong side of Larry Rodriguez, I can tell you that. And she did. She pissed him off. You don’t piss off someone like him. If you do, you’re a dead man, or woman.” Beck made a slicing motion with his hand and his neck to prove the point.

  I was getting somewhere. “And what did Adele do to Larry to piss him off so much?”

  “She was banging some dudes while she was dating Larry’s brother Miguel. Larry’s brother lives in Boston, which was where Adele lived too. She was living with Larry’s brother, and she was getting with every cat in town. She was a real slut. So, Larry finds out what she’s doing, behind Miguel’s back, and he has her killed.”

  “Just like that, huh?”

  “Yeah, just like that. So Adele Whittier, the actual Adele Whittier, she’s dead. And here comes William, he needs help. He stole from somebody he shouldn’t have been stealing from, namely, Jordan Kennedy, who’s working for Vincent Sharpelli, one of the biggest mobsters in town. Now, Larry, he’s dying to find out more about Vincent Sharpelli and Vince’s operation. Turns out William knows a little bit about Vince’s operation, because he was in it. Larry decides that he’ll go ahead and help him out. He decides to help William become somebody else. And what do you know, he just killed, or had killed, Adele Whittier out in Massachusetts. Pretty convenient. He just had to figure out how to make William become Adele.”