“I wasn’t close to my father, Sheriff.” Jess’s eyes drifted toward the coroner van. The scarlet-headed medical examiner was examining his father’s bloodied body. She was bundled up in a parka and sweats; the 911 call had obviously pulled her out of bed. “We didn’t see eye to eye on most things. If we did, maybe I would have never left. It’s even possible I would’ve been working for the man. The truth is, I hardly knew him. Yesterday was the first time I had talked to him in over seven years.”
“At least you got to spend some time together.”
Jess thought back on seeing his father the previous day. The weakened man on the lanai. The nasty patriarch by Clark James’s pool. Neither version of Walter Stark was going to rank up there as a fond memory to hold onto.
But what did stick in his mind was his father asking him for help. And how Jess had done absolutely nothing.
“Not enough,” he honestly replied.
“You know what he was doing all the way out here in the middle of the night?”
“I’ve no idea. He died before he could say anything.”
“We’ve been looking for his car but it’s not here. The only two in the parking lot belong to you and your buddy.”
“Maybe someone dropped him off,” suggested Jess.
“We’ll check up at the house. He could have called for a taxi. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
Burke asked Jess to tell him exactly what had happened. Jess recounted the banging noise that woke him up. The sheriff suggested it might have been a car door dropping Walter off. Jess said it sounded much more violent, like something being slammed against the wall in the desert wind. He mentioned the scratching sound, which led him to the door where he found his father with the life oozing out of him.
“I wonder what he wanted to tell you,” said the sheriff.
“Maybe the name of the person who killed him?”
Burke’s eyes narrowed. “Jumping to conclusions, aren’t we?”
“His body was covered in blood.”
“He could’ve been in some kind of accident. Wandered off the road.”
Jess couldn’t believe the ludicrous theory the man was offering up.
“And he ended up right outside his son’s motel room? Right after seeing him for the first time in years? A little convenient, don’t you think?”
“I’m supposed to believe that someone murdered Walter Stark and dumped him on your doorstep.”
“Sounds just as likely a scenario to me.”
Burke looked dubious. “And who do you think killed him?”
“Who knows? My father might have done all the great things for this town that you say, but I’m sure he pissed off bunches of people and stepped on lots of toes along the way. Maybe you oughta start with whatever he was trying to write in blood on that wall.” Jess pointed at the bloody “T” next to his room.
“You said you opened the door and found your father?” asked Burke.
“That’s right.”
“Ever occur to you he held onto the wall for support and his bloody hand left that imprint?”
“Looks drawn to me.”
“Sounds more like an overactive imagination.” Burke shook his head. “Look, Mr. Stark, you’ve had quite a couple of days. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in shock. You ought to let the paramedics take a look at you when they’re done…”
“I’m fine, Sheriff.”
“Okay. Say that you are.” He stuck his notepad in his back pocket. “I’ll tell you what I know. Your father had a disease that completely stumped Doc Rice. No telling what kind of toll it was taking on him. I’ve got to believe a midnight stroll didn’t help matters any.”
Jess was trying to keep track of everything. “You know Edward Rice?”
“This town is a lot smaller than you think, son.”
“You’re going to stand here and really tell me that my father died from natural causes?”
“I’m saying he was a very sick man with an undiagnosed disease. Burke pointed toward the medical examiner. “Lilah will file her report and then we’ll get a better idea of what’s what. In the meantime, maybe you should let me do my job while you go on about your grieving.”
Burke patted Jess on the back, signifying that the interview was over. The sheriff crossed the parking lot to confer with Lilah, the medical examiner. Jess stood in the doorway and watched the proceedings. Half an hour later when the coroner van pulled off with his dead father and the cops trailing right behind, he was still standing there.
It was starting to warm up.
But Jess still felt that deep chill.
“How long are you going to stick around for?”
Benji and Jess were back in the rockers. Benji was working on another six-pack; Jess was nursing a water bottle. “Can’t say for sure. I’m still working up the nerve to head up to the house.”
“Your dad just died. I’m sure your family wants you around.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jess told Benji about the party and ensuing fight between him and his father.
“What was Tracy doing the whole time?”
“Trying to decide whether to break it up or run for the hills. I tried to keep her out of it.”
“What finally happened?”
“I actually threatened him. Then I stormed off in a huff. Can’t say I was quiet about it.” Jess lowered his eyes. “Or proud.”
“That’s not good, man.”
“No kidding.”
“I didn’t mean you, Jess. I was thinking about Burke.”
“The sheriff?”
“Let’s say you’re right and they find out your dad was actually murdered. They’re going to be looking for someone with a motive.”
“I’m sure there’s a laundry list. He screwed over tons of people in business.”
“And they just happened to pick last night to kill him? The same day you come back to town after not seeing your father in seven years? A man you’ve made no bones about hating. Now you tell me you got into a big fight with him?” Benji pointed his beer at Jess’s room. “Six hours later he’s dead outside your door.”
Jess saw where Benji was headed. “I called 911 right away.”
“Burke would just say you were trying to be clever, bro. It’s not going to stop him from looking at you as Suspect Numero Uno.”
10
Jess was in the kitchen with Lena when Kate got home from the mortuary. Jess’s mother looked like she’d put on ten years since the previous evening. She wore a simple black dress and shoes; he couldn’t help but notice that she had the perfect bag to match. Kate immediately opened her arms and he dutifully went to her.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he said while they were still entwined.
Kate eventually let go. She wiped her tear-welled eyes and nodded. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you, finding him that way.”
“What was he doing out there? Did he tell you why he was coming to see me?”
“I didn’t even know he was gone.”
“I don’t understand.”
Lena brought over a freshly brewed cup of tea. Kate thanked her and then turned back toward Jess. “Ever since your father got sick, we thought it better to be in separate bedrooms. He had such trouble sleeping, I didn’t want to risk waking him when he finally drifted off. You know how it is when you aren’t well. You don’t want to be bothered with anything or anybody. Imagine feeling that way day after day. Week after week…”
Emotion flooded over her. She broke off and gripped the teacup with trembling hands. Lena leaned in to steady the cup but Kate indicated she had a grip on it. She held onto Lena’s hand for a moment. Despite everything Lena had witnessed in the Stark house over the decades, Jess could see a deep-rooted affection and devotion between these two women that nothing would tear asunder.
“He never mentioned me?” asked Jess.
Kate offered up a sad smile. “Oh,
he mentioned you. I came outside looking for him at the party and he said the two of you had fought. When I pressed him about it, he refused to say anything else.” The ensuing silence made it clear she wanted Jess to fill in the blanks.
“It was just the same old stuff, Mom. You know Dad and me. One says black. The other mentions every color in the rainbow before agreeing on anything.”
“I’d concocted some fantasy in my head that the two of you would forget about the past and start over again. But your father was so damn stubborn.”
The cup started to shake again. This time he reached over and took Kate’s hand. “At least we know what side of the family I got that from.” As easy as it had been for him to get a rise out of his father, Jess could always offer a soothing balm to Kate.
“No question about that,” mumbled Lena, who was preparing sandwiches by the sink. Kate and Jess shared a laugh of relief.
“Now that you know he left the house, think back. Do you remember hearing a car? Anything like that?”
Kate shook her head. “I was pretty wiped out after the party. I made sure your father was in bed and then went to my room. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.”
“So, Dad got undressed, put on pajamas?”
“I actually helped him,” Kate said.
“And there weren’t any wounds or blood at that point.”
She shook her head. “That’s when we got to talking—well, tried to talk—about you. He was all worked up. I was happy to see it. He’d been so weak these past few weeks. I actually went to bed thinking maybe we’d gotten over the hump with his illness. I was crazy enough to finally feel a little hope.”
Jess felt plenty of sympathy for his mother, but his curiosity won out. “He obviously wanted to see me for some reason. It wasn’t an afterthought. He got himself fully dressed—different clothes than he wore to the party. Casual slacks. A white shirt that…”
Jess stopped mid-sentence. The least he could do was spare his mother the gruesome details.
“He tended to wander around at night.”
Those words came from Edward Rice as he walked through the garage door. He placed a car key in a bowl on the kitchen table. Once again, Jess was disturbed by the sense of familiarity the physician had in the Stark house. It was a whole lot more than Jess had ever felt in his two decades under the same roof. Kate could sense her son’s discomfort.
“Edward was kind enough to take me to the mortuary.”
Jess chose to ignore that for the moment. “What do you mean he ‘wandered around’?”
“Walter had taken to sleepwalking over the past couple of weeks.” Rice looked over at Lena. “When did you find him out by the pool at four in the morning? A week ago?”
Lena rinsed her hands and nodded. “It was very strange. A noise outside woke me up. I thought it was the wind. Then I noticed the alarm was off. So I got a flashlight and went outside. That’s when I found Señor Stark standing by the pool. He was only wearing the pajama pants and no shoes—and it was ice cold. I told him to come inside before he froze to death. But he didn’t answer. He was asleep!”
“In the night air?” asked Jess.
Lena nodded. “I tried to shake him awake. He kept saying ‘Noooo, noooo’ when I pushed him toward the house. He was still moaning like that when I called the doctor.”
Rice took up the tale. “Walter didn’t wake up till the next morning. Couldn’t remember a thing. He thought he’d been in bed the whole night.”
Jess attempted to reconcile this with what he had experienced early that morning. “You’re saying that my father sleepwalked himself six miles to my motel in the middle of the desert?”
“Not at all,” said Rice. “But he could have wandered out of the house that way. If he got as far as the pool the other night, maybe this time he made it down the driveway. Some motorist could have picked him up, took him where he wanted to go. You were obviously on his mind from your fight earlier in the evening.”
Jess was surprised the physician knew about the altercation with his father. But then he realized word of it must have spread through the party like the plague after Jess stomped out the side gate.
“Supposing that was remotely feasible, don’t you think that person would have noticed he was drenched in blood?”
“I don’t think your mother needs to be saddled with details, Jess.”
“No secrets, Edward. We agreed,” Kate said. Jess wasn’t happy to see her hanging on Rice’s every word.
“Walter was probably fine till he got to the motel. He must have gotten confused and wandered into the desert. He could have stumbled through cacti and sustained his wounds that way, which would account for all the scratches the M.E. found.”
“You talked to the medical examiner?” asked Jess.
“I just got off the phone with Lilah Webster. I know her quite well. You run a geriatric hospital, you’re going to cross paths with the M.E. more than a few times.”
“What else did she say?”
Rice hesitated. But Kate wasn’t going to let the doctor off the hook. “Edward. What else?”
“There were bite marks. A lot of them. Lilah thought he must have fallen and some wild animals probably went after him.” Rice turned back and addressed Jess. “He somehow managed to get back on his feet and make it to your motel room.”
“I didn’t see or hear any animals.”
“They wouldn’t follow him out of their natural habitat. Especially with cars, people, and the highway nearby. From her preliminary examination, Lilah seemed to think it was cardiac arrest.”
“I would have known if my father had a heart attack.”
“Ever witnessed one before?”
Jess couldn’t admit that he had.
“What exactly transpired when he passed away?” asked Rice.
“He was weak. Having trouble breathing. He said my name, closed his eyes and… faded away.” It had been much worse than that, but Jess found he was carefully choosing his words for the benefit of his mother.
“That sounds like a heart attack, Jessie.” Rice’s tone became much more somber. “These past few months were extremely traumatic for your father. His disease took quite a toll. Last night was probably the final straw. By the time he went through those last exertions to reach you—it was too much. His body finally gave out.”
Rice turned to Kate. “Lilah should be through with the autopsy by tomorrow. You can proceed with the funeral arrangements and cremation after that.”
“Cremation?” asked Jess. “What about the police investigation?”
“According to Lilah, there isn’t going to be one. Her report is going to say Walter died from natural causes. Case closed.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Jess whirled on his mother. “You can’t agree to this.”
Kate didn’t respond. Instead, she stood up and handed her teacup to Lena. “Could you show Dr. Rice into the living room and let me have a moment with Jessie?”
“Absolutely, Señora.” Lena motioned for Rice to follow her out of the kitchen.
“You shouldn’t overdo it, Kate,” the physician said.
“I’ll be with you in a few minutes, Edward.”
Lena led the doctor out the kitchen door but not before tossing a sympathetic I-wish-I-could-help-you look Jess’s way. The moment the door closed, Kate’s mood did a one-hundred-eighty-degree swing.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Looking for things that aren’t there? Why can’t you just accept the facts you’re being told?”
Jess was completely caught off guard by his mother going on the offensive. “I just want the truth, Mom.”
“Your father is dead, Jessie. No truth is going to change that.” Anger bubbled to the surface as Kate spoke. Jess could only imagine how long it had been submerged. “Maybe if you hadn’t left the party last night things would have been different. Have you considered if you’d stuck around and talked to your f
ather in a civil tone, maybe he wouldn’t have had to go chasing after you in the middle of the night…?”
Kate trickled off. She choked back a sob.
“So now you’re blaming me for this?” Jess asked quietly.
Kate looked startled, realizing that was exactly what she had been doing. She tried to correct course. “I never blamed anything on you, Jessie. I just missed you.”
“I got the impression from Sarah that everyone couldn’t stand me.”
“That’s Sarah being Sarah. You’re my son. The only thing I hated was that you felt you had to run away from all of us.”
Jess knew he should have left things at that. But now that he was face to face with his mother, he desperately wanted to know more.
“Did Dad ever tell you why I left?”
Kate shook her head. “I didn’t care. I still don’t. I’m just glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad I could be here.”
For a moment Jess thought he might have been throwing his mother an emotional bone. But then he realized it was the honest-to-God truth.
“It would be good for you to stay and grieve with your family,” Kate said. She leaned over and kissed her son gently on the cheek. “Don’t run away so quickly this time.”
Jess followed the sound of the bouncing ball into the Stark backyard. An Olympic-sized pool, a guest house, and tennis court were strategically situated for optimum sunlight. A basketball hoop hung atop one fence on the tennis court. Harry was shooting free-throws from the baseline that doubled as the makeshift court’s charity stripe.
He watched his younger brother’s methodical approach. Harry was so wrapped up in shooting and rebounding the ball that he was unaware of having an audience. Jess felt regret begin to sink in for all the years he’d missed with Harry, when the boy became a young man who could have used his older sibling’s shoulder to lean on and look up to. It was time they would never get back and Jess wondered if it would have an enduring distancing effect on their relationship going forward. In that moment, Jess knew the onus was on him; he couldn’t let that happen.
Jess waited till Harry made five in a row (which didn’t take long) before entering the tennis court.
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