A Dead Nephew

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “Hello,” I said, a little out of breath. I’d had to run around the room searching for my phone. I’d left it in my bag which had become buried under a pile of papers on the credenza in Dad’s office. After lunch and a few stolen minutes with Frank, I’d vowed to get through all the information Valerie Taylor had sent us. As I answered the phone, I became concerned that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Jessica Huntington, who do you think you are?” A woman screamed into the phone.

  “What?” I asked. “Who is this?”

  “Tessa Lugo, that’s who! What were you doing in my home with poor, crazy Auntie Agnes? How did you talk my ex-husband into digging up my son’s body? Why can’t you let Sacramento rest in peace?” Her voice broke when she finished the last question.

  “I’m sorry. I took it for granted that you and your ex-husband had both approved the exhumation and autopsy. I should have guessed he wouldn’t bother consulting you since you’d filed for divorce.”

  “You’re certainly well-informed about my life, aren’t you?” Tessa paused and breathed deeply. “I’m so angry, but I shouldn’t take it out on you. John forged my signature. It isn’t the first time he’s done that when he wanted to move ahead and thought that asking for my opinion would slow him down. He could at least have given me a heads-up about what he’d done and why. Now, John won’t even take my calls. Will I have to see it spelled out in the papers before I understand what’s happening?”

  “I can fill you in about what’s happened since John decided to have the autopsy done by the county’s medical examiner. I understand that he also hired his own doctor—a well-known forensic pathologist—to observe the proceedings. I can’t be certain about his motive, but I can give you the bottom line from the preliminary findings if you want to hear them.”

  “Go ahead. I’m already sitting down.”

  “The preliminary autopsy report suggests Louie Jacobs didn’t kill your son,” I said in a soft voice. “Do you want me to explain the findings used to draw that conclusion? The fact that John and his doctor haven’t challenged them suggests they’ve accepted the results thus far.”

  “I’d prefer not to hear the gory details unless it’s absolutely necessary. If Louie didn’t do it, who did?” Tessa asked in a shaky voice.

  “We have a suspect the police took into protective custody earlier today.”

  “Please don’t tell me it’s one of the horrid men in the tribal police force that John loved to order around.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. I was stunned that a member of the tribal police force had been her first choice as a suspect. Was it that clear Timothy Ridgeway and Billy Castro were out to get Sacramento? Tessa hadn’t mentioned anyone by name, so I wasn’t sure how much detail I should reveal. It’s not that I have any obligation to protect Timothy Ridgeway or Billy Castro since I don’t represent either one of them.

  “Attorney Huntington, I can only conclude by your silence that I’m right.”

  “Tessa, please call me Jessica. Forgive me for responding so slowly. You, of all people, have a right to get the most reliable information from me that I can give you. The situation is still so fluid and complicated that I don’t want to mislead you. The police arrested Timothy Ridgeway several days ago as a suspect in Sacramento’s murder. He was released on bail and went into hiding, so until today I hadn’t had a chance to get his story.”

  I spent a couple minutes explaining the incident at the crime scene that led to his arrest. That included the quasi-confession he’d made and his belief that Sacramento was already dead when he arrived at the campsite.

  “I’m confused. Why did he believe Sacramento was dead?” Tessa asked.

  “This is where the situation becomes more complicated. Timothy Ridgeway found a hypodermic needle near Sacramento’s body, and when he couldn’t hear him breathing, he assumed Sacramento had died from a drug overdose.”

  “Why would he believe such a thing? Sacramento didn’t use drugs like that! Louie didn’t either. I know because I asked them when John worried that Sacramento was spending time with an addict. Sacramento got angry with me because I made Louie show me his arms. His feet, too, because John claimed addicts hide their addiction by shooting the drugs between their toes. Sacramento did the same, trying to make me feel some of the shame Louie must have felt.”

  “I can’t prove it yet, but I suspect the two men your husband hired were feeding John misinformation about Sacramento. From a short visit I had with your ex-husband, he had several outrageous ideas about Sacramento that are flat-out wrong from everything we’ve learned during our investigation.”

  “I warned John to call off the dogs. Sacramento told John how much Timothy and Billy disliked him, so why wouldn’t they lie about him? He also told me they humiliated him in public, shoved him around, and even knocked him down. When I told John about the physical abuse, he concluded it was good for our son. It would make a man out of him, teach him to fight back, or some stupid idea like that. At times, John was as insulting and contemptuous toward Sacramento as the men he sent after him. I should have left and taken Sacramento away so he could have gone to college and had a life and…” Tessa began to weep.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know your son, but I wish I had. I’ve learned that he was a thoughtful, creative young man with courage and conviction. Despite all Louie’s problems, Sacramento was a good friend to him. From what you’ve said, those virtues must have come from you.” I fought not to break down and sob along with her as I blinked back tears.

  “I wish I could say it’s because of me, but I doubt it. John was unfaithful more than once during our marriage. I was so miserable and angry that it was hard to be the mother Sacramento deserved. The main reason I didn’t pick up and leave John sooner, though, was that Sacramento loved him. My son was more forgiving than I ever was and believed his father would find his way if we stood by him.”

  “According to Louie, Sacramento knew you loved him. That’s despite your problems with John. Sacramento was also aware of the trouble you had with John because you supported his desire to make his own choices about college.”

  “John had one path in mind for Sacramento and one path only—to follow in his footsteps. At one point, I was sure that Sacramento was going to run away from home. In fact, I told him to go if he promised to tell me where he was so I could visit him.”

  “When he turned eighteen, he became eligible for an income of his own from the tribal authority. That would have made it possible for him to do what he wanted,” I suggested.

  “Eventually, yes. It takes some time, though, and John certainly wouldn’t have helped speed the process along. On a whim one day, I gave Sacramento the means to leave. It would have been his one day anyway.”

  “Do you mean the beautiful medallion?” I asked almost before she finished her sentence.

  “Yes. How do you know about that?”

  “The day we visited your home with Auntie Agnes, we found it hidden in Sacramento’s room. Auntie Agnes has it. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.”

  “I told John I’d worn it and lost it,” Tessa responded hesitantly. “He refused to believe me and insisted someone had stolen it. I argued with him. I told him the clasp was old, and the necklace slipped off during a charity golf tournament I’d entered. That didn’t change John’s mind, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. Since Sacramento hadn’t returned it to me, I thought he’d sold it. I didn’t want anyone to get into trouble. John had already asked me if Louie and Sacramento had attended the golf tournament that day. How did you find it?”

  “Louie told us Sacramento had a secret hiding place, although it wasn’t a secret to Auntie Agnes,” I admitted.

  “She’s always in the middle of everything, isn’t she?” Tessa sounded exasperated. “That’s what I thought when she raised questions about Louie being the one who killed Sacramento. Louie admired Sacramento so much, I found it hard to believe too. When he confessed, I assumed I’d been wrong
about him. I’ll admit that whenever Agnes has stirred up trouble, it’s been to help Sacramento. Still, what she said about someone called the Cleaner Man can’t possibly be true if…”

  “Where did the hypodermic needle come from?” Tessa asked after a pause.

  “The Cleaner Man’s one of the reasons I said this is a complicated investigation. We’ve identified two victims who appear to have been killed by an injection of toxic substances. There are similarities between what happened to them and what happened to Sacramento. A third victim was recently transported to the hospital soon after the Cleaner Man injected him. He’s stable and likely to recover, although no one can say what long-term effects he’ll experience. Labs are working to determine what was injected into him.”

  “Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Tessa stated. “There is some nut job Auntie Agnes is calling the Cleaner Man, and he tried to kill Sacramento. The jerks who work for my husband believed the Cleaner Man succeeded, although they thought it was an overdose and not a murder, right?”

  “Something like that appears to be what happened. Timothy Ridgeway found Sacramento and thought he was dead. He spoke to Lenny Morgan and your ex-husband on the phone, and then went to the outdoor shop in the casino’s mall, let himself in, and helped himself to a brand-new hunting knife. After he used it to stab Sacramento, Timothy Ridgeway knocked out Louie and placed the knife in his hand, hoping to pin the murder on him.”

  “Did Timothy say whose idea it was to set up Louie?”

  “Yes, but there’s one more issue that’s made our investigation more complex. You don’t have to answer my next question without checking with a lawyer first.”

  “That sounds ominous,” she replied.

  “Did you have any reason to believe that John and Lenny were involved in any underhanded behavior related to a new development they were planning?”

  “I’m not sure how careful I should be, but I doubt you’d bring this up unless you thought it was related to Sacramento’s murder. So, here it goes. I heard John and Lenny cursing about a problem with the development. I asked them what was up, and John said, ‘not enough lizards in the Mojave Desert if you can believe that.’ When I asked him what that meant, Lenny told me John was kidding and not to worry about it. They shut the door on me, which didn’t make me feel less worried. I knew John wasn’t kidding, although I didn’t understand what he meant.”

  “Okay, well, that sounds like they were aware they had a problem and weren’t happy about it,” I responded. “There wasn’t anything underhanded in what you heard them say.”

  “No, but I never trusted Lenny Morgan. He’s a smooth talker and as untrustworthy as John when it came to his marriage vows. More than once, I had to tell him to back off. That John was his friend, and Belinda was my friend didn’t seem to bother him a bit. That was more evidence to me that John’s faith in him was misplaced.”

  “Did John know you had to fend off Lenny?”

  “No. I should have told him, but I was scared to do it. If he’d continued to bother me, I would have. What I did do, was check out Lenny Morgan. As I suspected, he had more than one blemish on his record as a developer. John didn’t want to hear about it even though I did try to tell him. Anyway, since I didn’t understand why they were upset about a lizard, I went to Sacramento. Sacramento told me they were going to have trouble getting their project approved unless they did something to protect an endangered lizard. The location they’d chosen was in the pathway of the lizard’s migration or would destroy its habitat—something like that. Sacramento was obviously upset, but he didn’t come right out and say they were doing anything illegal. What he did say was that they’d tried taking a few shortcuts to fix the problem, and I shouldn’t worry because he wasn’t going to let that happen. At that point, he’d already spoken to Andy Clearwater, who was on it.” At the mention of the lawyer’s name, my stomach did a little flip-flop.

  “Sacramento told Louie something like that too, although he didn’t use Andrew Clearwater’s name. I’m afraid their shortcuts would likely have landed them in prison. Did Sacramento say anything to you about a letter?”

  “Uh, no, but Andy did. Andy didn’t say it had anything to do with the lizard problem. He called and asked to speak to Sacramento. When I said he wasn’t home, he asked if Sacramento had given me a letter. I assumed it had something to do with his tribal allowance or his school plans. I told Andy no, but that I’d ask Sacramento about it if he wanted me to.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Not to bother. That it wasn’t necessary since he’d left a message for Sacramento on his cellphone. Of course, I didn’t listen to Andy and asked Sacramento about it as soon as I could. At the time, I thought Sacramento was frustrated with something that had to do with the letter. Thinking back on it now, he was angry—anxious too. When he said he’d take care of it, I let it go.”

  “Did Sacramento say he planned to give the letter to Andrew Clearwater?”

  “No. I should have asked more questions. What’s in the letter?” Tessa asked.

  “I’m not sure what’s in the letter, but my guess is that is has something to do with submitting a fraudulent Environmental Impact Report to deal with their lizard problem. Another source has given me information suggesting there’s more to it than fraud, including bribery, blackmail, and extortion.”

  “There can’t be too many people angry or scared enough to give you that kind of insider information. I hope you have Valerie Taylor squirreled away somewhere safe. Her relationship with John wasn’t a very well-kept secret, but apparently, John’s new love interest was quite a shock to Valerie. He’s lucky to be alive, given how angry she was.”

  “Did she tell you that?” I asked, wondering if Valerie had acted out publicly in some way that would diminish her credibility as a witness.

  “No, but Lenny and Belinda walked in on them when she and John were hashing out the problem. He told her in no uncertain terms that she had no hold on him and, if she didn’t move on graciously, her services as his secretary would no longer be required.”

  “He wasn’t worried about sparing her feelings, was he?”

  “No, he wasn’t, and I’m giving you the polite version according to the story I got from Belinda. Having the power to fire her is one of the advantages of picking a mistress who’s also an employee. What can she do if she needs her job?” Tessa paused. “In this case, it sounds like she can do plenty if she’s willing to play whistleblower. Did she recruit Sacramento to help get revenge on John?”

  “That’s a very good question. I don’t know how Sacramento became involved, although he had materials in his possession that must have come from his father’s files. If we can find the letter, maybe it’ll shed light on the subject.”

  “Or Valerie will. Turning John’s son against him would have been irresistible. I’d hate to believe that his business dealings had anything to do with Sacramento’s death,” Tessa said and sighed heavily. “Don’t keep me guessing or waiting to hear it on the news. What were Lenny and John doing?”

  I did my best to explain what I’d learned about the fraud Lenny and John were engaged in by going through the materials. On paper, they’d altered the location of the proposed development site. According to a very angry Valerie Taylor, they’d paid off the writer of the report to look the other way at the changes they made to it. Valerie also pointed out that estimates of proposed costs for infrastructure improvements like roadways, grading and drainage excavation, electrical, water, and sewer didn’t change. They weren’t planning to use different parcels of land at all.

  In one email, when John had raised a concern about what to do if someone inspected the project and raised questions, and Lenny said not to worry. No one would bother to look too closely at parcels of desolate tribal land and, if they did, money talks.

  “Besides, who doesn’t have a secret or two they’d prefer to keep under wraps?” To which John had responded:

  “Yes, you’ve made that clea
r already.” Valerie claimed they were talking about her. She attached a receipt for a bonus paid to her to keep her mouth shut when she’d reacted badly to her breakup with John. To seal the deal, Lenny had made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, promising a lesson in the importance of keeping secrets if money wasn’t enough to shut her up. I didn’t mention Valerie’s name, but Tessa did.

  “Wow,” Tessa said in a soft voice. “They need to stop this from getting out, don’t they?”

  “I agree. This is an awful question to ask, so please bear with me. We’re talking about the loss of lots of money if the project gets shut down. There’s also the prospect of prison time for fraud, blackmail, extortion, and bribery if even some of the issues raised in a portfolio of dirty tricks turn out to be true. Would John have been upset enough with Sacramento to have ordered someone to kill him?”

  “John is a greedy, unfaithful, overbearing man. If for no other reason than to leave someone behind bearing his name, he would never have intentionally killed his son. Sacramento’s death was devastating to him. As usual, he took it out on me—blamed me for allowing him to have Louie Jacobs here. It never occurred to me that John would go to such extremes to get Louie. He’ll never get over it if he had anything to do with Sacramento’s death. If you’re right about Timothy Ridgeway’s role in this disaster, he’d better enter witness protection. Even prison won’t be good enough to keep John away from him.”

  “You came to that conclusion quickly,” I asserted. “I take it John’s not opposed to resorting to violence if he deems it necessary.”

  “I was afraid of him at times, but he never struck Sacramento or me. I’m more concerned about Lenny, who has shown less restraint during confrontations with women. Why be more restrained if a multi-million-dollar deal was at stake? Prison might not worry him too much with clever Andy Clearwater at his side. If Belinda’s right, though, he can’t afford to have this deal go under.”

  “Their finances will be one of the first things someone in the D.A.’s office will check. The D.A. won’t hold Lenny’s lawyer in such high esteem once he gets a chance to review the evidence against Lenny and John. A clever lawyer would have warned them not to communicate about business by email or text—even using their private email and phone accounts. Especially since they also used them to make arrangements with the women who they treated so badly.”