Death, Deceit & Some Smooth Jazz

by Claudia Mair Burney

  “Apparently, she and your sister have had difficulty reaching you this afternoon, even though you didn’t have to work. All she wanted to do was tell you what Carly shouldn’t have told her.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “We got his DNA results.”

  I braced myself. I knew what he’d say, but it would hit me like a Sherman tank just the same.

  “Your boyfriend’s skin is under his wife’s fingernails.”

  It took my breath away. I collected myself and said, “I could have told you that. But what about the hair you found? Did you match the hair to his?”

  “Your boyfriend has brown hair.”

  “You have brown hair, Maguire.”

  “It ain’t my hair.”

  “Is it Jazz’s hair?”

  He leaned back in his chair, which made a very unpleasant noise under his weight. “We don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? Surely you’d be anxious to say the hair was a match?”

  “We lost it.”

  “What?”

  “We lost that piece of evidence.”

  “I cannot believe that, Bobby. How could you lose that kind of forensic evidence? Jazz Brown sure doesn’t have it. It sounds like a setup to me.”

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “How am I supposed to stay calm with this kind of incompetence going on? A man’s life is at stake.”

  “A man with brown hair and his DNA under his dead wife’s fingernails.”

  “She’s hisex -wife, Maguire.”

  “Nice ring, Amanda.”

  I touched my wedding band protectively. I had started not to wear it, but it was so beautiful…

  “Didya get married recently, Amanda? Your mother didn’t tell me that.”

  “What makes you think I got married?” I knew my body was betraying me. The tiny beads of sweat forming at the top of my lip. The tremor in my voice. A tiny twitch in my left eye. It screamed all the information Bobby Maguire wanted to know, and I couldn’t help it.

  “The wedding band on your finger.”

  Among other things I’m sure he wanted to add.

  “Who says this is a wedding band? Lots of single women wear rings there. Maybe it’s a promise ring.”

  “What’d he promise?”

  “Maybe it’s just a cute ring that I want to wear.”

  “Maybe you got married.”

  “Did you know she was pregnant?”

  “Who, Amanda?”

  “Kate Townsend.”

  “You mean theformer Mrs. Brown.”

  “Did you know she was pregnant, Bobby?”

  “Theformer Mrs. Brownwas pregnant. My question would be, how’d you know that?”

  “Ms. Townsendwas pregnant.”

  “We told your sister not to give you any more information regarding theformer Mrs. Brown.”

  “Ms. Townsend. I didn’t find out she was pregnant from my sister.”

  “Who’s your source?”

  “Was it his baby?”

  “Why don’t you ask your husband?”

  “Why don’t you ask my mother if I’m married? Are you going to answer my question, Bobby?”

  “Whether or not she was pregnant is police business and theformer Mrs. Brown’s personalaffair, Amanda.”

  He went back to picking doughnuts out of the box.

  I didn’t know what happened. One moment I seemed to be okay. I knew I was stressed. I knew he was irritating me, but when he seemed to dismiss me for doughnuts…My hands seemed to act of their own accord. They shot out and slapped the box off the desk and onto the floor.

  I found this strange woman who looked like me yelling, “Listen to me. I’m sick and tired of playing games with you. A woman was brutally murdered, and one of your own was accused.” The room went quiet. Everyone stared at me. “You people are supposed to be there for him. He would die for you. For any one of you. And what is this? You let him down because he’s good-looking?”

  Bobby put on his body-language armor. He crossed his arms and wiped his hand across his mouth. “Take it easy, Amanda.”

  “Don’t tell me to take it easy. I’m taking this hard. You’re letting down somebody very important to me.”

  “Why don’t you sit down, okay?”

  “Why don’t you get up and find out who did it.” I turned all the way around slowly. “I know it was a cop. And I’m telling you, I’m not gonna rest until I find outwhat cop. Do you all hear me? A cop killed Kate Townsend.”

  Bobby Maguire grabbed my arm. “Sit down.”

  I snatched my arm away from him. “I’m serving all of you notice. I won’t rest. Until——”

  “BROWN!” a voice shouted behind me.

  I turned. Archie IAD stared me down with fire in those ordinarily cold amber eyes. His chiseled features were distorted into a mask of rage.

  Maguire stepped in front of me. “Amanda was leaving, Archie.”

  “She’d better be leaving. Fast. And let me tell you something, Miss Brown. If I ever see you in this building again, you’d better be on your way to jail, or you will seriously regret it. Do you understand me?”

  I didn’t say anything, which put him in a bigger rage.

  “Do you?” he shouted.

  Maguire sighed. “I’ll make sure she understands. I’ll talk to her, Archie.”

  And on the way out of the building, he did just that.

  chapter twenty-three

  LORD,IWISHI didn’t have to go home to an empty apartment todaywas my silent prayer of desperation as I wearily climbed the stairs. In the hall leading to my door, I could smell something rich and exotic cooking.Mercy, I thought.I wish I had some of that food.

  I should have wished for ten million dollars and a trip to the islands while I was at it. As soon as I unlocked my door and swung it open, a strong breeze from a Caribbean kitchen blasted me in the face.

  Jazz came out, still wearing his suit from the morning, sans the jacket. His tie was gone, and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone. They teased me to take a few more down and reveal what treasures lay below.

  In his Ricky Ricardo voice, he bellowed, “Lucy,I’m hoooooome.”

  I laughed.What a charmer he is.

  The smells may have been island, but the look of my place had a distinctively Christmas flair. As I scanned the room, my eyes lit on one delight after another. He’d set up a Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, near the table Amos’s cage sat on; the decorations, still in their boxes, were piled beside it. “You brought Christmas with you,” I said.

  Sweet and mellow Christmas sounds drifted from my CD player in the living room. A bottle of bubbly chilled in one of my saucepans on the coffee table. I laughed at the sight of it. Eggnog, sugar cookies, presents! He’d done it all.

  “You silly man,” I said, hanging my coat in the closet. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to come back to get my…you know.”

  I kicked out of my snow boots. “Your what? Your toothbrush?”

  “Sure. Why not? Among other things. And since I knew I was coming, I brought some man food and a little holiday cheer with me.”

  “You really do think of everything.”

  “You have no idea. Yet,” he said.

  “I’m not going to touch that one.”

  “Aw. Where’s your sense of adventure, my bride?”

  I started to protest, but he’d hung Christmas lights all around, and everything looked twinkly and full of promise. “I’m in a really cranky mood,” I said.

  He stepped over to the coffee table. “We can’t have that, my queen.”

  I groaned. “Don’t start with the queen stuff.”

  He looked surprised. “You have a problem with being called my queen?”

  “Next thing I know, you’ll be giving me an African name and writing bad poetry about me being your Nubian sistah.”

  “Is that an Adam thing? I didn’t mean to trigger a bad memory.”

  Lord, Go
d! Help me.I got upset because he’d called me his queen. I felt a soft Holy Spirit nudge.You’re afraid he’ll get to be king.

  Not right now, God, okay?

  I sighed, looking at Jazz’s embarrassed expression. My braids felt like they weighed a ton. “That one was my fault. I’m sorry, Jazz.”

  He laughed. “Calling you baby is fine with me.” He reached for me. “Come here. Let Daddy take the edge off.”

  I went to him. Couldn’t help myself. “Daddy?”

  “I’m practicing. Have a seat.”

  I sat on the couch, lulled by the warmth in the room, the smells, the heat from his hand rubbing circles at the back of my neck. “How does that feel?”

  It felt heavenly, but something in me wouldn’t allow me to enjoy it. Maybe it was the conversation with Christine. Maybe the one with Maguire or Archie. I felt frustrated and more than a little angry. I stiffened and pulled away. “What are you cooking?”

  He reluctantly released me. “I’m finished now. It’s jerk chicken, peas, and rice.”

  I asked more harshly than I intended to, “How did you find time to do all this?”

  His expression hardened a bit. “I don’t have anything else to do these days.”

  Why didn’t I just shoot him? A kinder option than death by hostility. “Sorry.”

  He stared at me. “Where’ve you been?”

  I’d already led off with my “How did you find the time?” comment. Why not suck all the joy out of the room? “I said I had some things to attend to.”

  “You’ve been gone for hours. What things?”

  “Jazz, I’m a little busy. That’s all. What do you think, now that you’re my husband, you can demand to know where I am all the time?”

  “Actually, I can, and I’d have no problem telling you where I spend my time.”

  I didn’t respond.

  He tried to recover his good mood. “Are you hungry?” Then it tanked again. “Or did you have a moment of being not so busy and eat dinner?”

  “I’m hungry, Jazz. And tired. Too tired to tango with you.”

  “I’m not here to tango. At least not this way. I thought doing these things for you would make you…”

  “What?”

  “Never mind.”

  We sat in silence for a moment. I didn’t feel like we could kill the mood any more than we had. “Your DNA test results came in.”

  “I know. I talk to my lawyer every day.”

  “So you know it’s your DNA under her fingernails.”

  “We both knew that, Bell. And I’m not talking about me and my lawyer.”

  “Did they test the baby’s DNA?” I asked, as if that were an innocent question.

  He sank back into the cushions. “What are you talking about?”

  “Did they test Kate’s unborn baby to see if it matched your DNA?”

  “I don’t really know. He didn’t mention that to me.”

  “Did he mention your ex’s pregnancy?”

  “No.”

  “Did he know about it?”

  “I pay him very good money to know as much as he can.” We were quiet. Several minutes passed. “Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know? Your——as my dad would say——burning question.”

  I decided not to dillydally around this time. I tried to plunge in, but all that came out was “Did you…” I tried. Honestly, I did, but suddenly, it felt like something was squeezing my chest.

  “Try again, Bell. Your burning question.”

  “Did you see her while we were falling in love?”

  “What do you mean, did Isee her?”

  “You know what I mean, Jazz.”

  “If you mean did I ever come across her, yes. I told you, a few times a year she came on to me. Ask your burning question.”

  The anger simmering inside went to full boil. Rage bubbled out of my mouth. “Did you sleep with her during those times?”

  “That’s your question? C’mon, baby, we went through this at my parents’. Ask me what you want to know.”

  “I want to know if you knocked her up.” I couldn’t believe I’d use such coarse language with him.

  “No, I wasn’t sleeping with her, and I didn’t knock her up.”

  “When did you find out she was pregnant?”

  “When she came over that night.”

  “So you two must have been nice and cozy. All that intimate personal conversation.”

  “I wouldn’t say it was all that.”

  “A beautiful woman in a skimpy black dress telling you all her little secrets? She must have gotten some encouragement from you. Why else would she try to seduce you?”

  “Kate never needed encouragement for that.”

  “Were youreally good friends with her?” I practically spat the words at him.

  “Not at all.”

  “Oh, but she told you her secrets sometimes.”

  That pretty woman with the perfect body and the face of an angel. That woman so unlike me.

  He blew air from his cheeks.

  “You didn’t turn her away, did you?”

  “No, but I didn’t touch her.”

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “I’m a decent guy.”

  “I heard you’re a rascal.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “What would the two of you talk about?” My own posture went on the defensive. I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “She did most of the talking. She either talked about wanting to be with a man again, or she talked about some madness between her and Christine.”

  “Madness like Christine choking her?”

  “How did you know about that?”

  I crossed my legs. “Did you know Christine hurt her badly enough that Kate took pictures?”

  “I’m the one who took the pictures for her. She was in pretty bad shape, and I told her to go to the police. You could see bruises around her neck in the shape of Chris’s hands. How did you know that?”

  “So you were her protector?”All I had to do was tell you to go, and you walked away from me without a fight.

  “It doesn’t appear that I was, does it?”

  “It appears that she knew she could go to you when she was in trouble.” I wanted to ask him:Did you still want her? But I couldn’t.

  “A lot of people in trouble come to me. She needed help. I took pictures. That’s it.”

  “What did you talk about with her on Monday?”

  “Do I have to recount every conversation I’ve ever had with her?”

  “No, just the one you had with her right before she died.”

  Did you still love her?

  He shifted his position on the couch. Turned his body toward me. His knee touched my thigh. “What do you want to know besides whether or not I was still into her?”

  I couldn’t bring myself to ask. “Why did she tell you she was pregnant?”

  “She felt nostalgic.”

  “Nostalgic?”

  “She said it made her think about us.”

  “Did it makeyou think about the two of you?”

  His eyes bored into me. “Yes. You may want to keep in mind that wasn’t a pleasant memory for me.”

  “Whose baby was it?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Why didn’t you mention her pregnancy when we were brainstorming at your parents’ house?”

  “There were a few things I didn’t mention at the house.”

  “I noticed that.”

  He touched my hand and I took a deep breath. “What do you want to know, Bell?”

  I want to know if you love me——if you really love me.

  “What was the big secret that your family knew but you wouldn’t tell me?”

  He cradled my hand in both his. “That’s not what you want to know.”

  “Tell me!”

  “Okay. I was involved in an undercover investigation. Apparently, we had a dirty cop, and we thought he may be in homicide. I was working with I
AD to try to find out who it was.”

  “With Archie?”

  “How do you know Archie Dandridge?”

  “I met him. Not a very charming man.”

  Jazz hmmphed. “Good ol’ Archie, my childhood rival, doing what comes naturally.” He shook his head. “No, I don’t imagine you’d like him. He’d have a ball with you, though, just because you’re mine.” He grazed his hand through his hair.

  “I’m not yours.”

  “I’ve got a license that says you are.”

  Neither of us spoke for a minute.

  “Youhave been busy, Mrs. Brown. Obviously, you’ve had a little talk with Christine. You’ve spoken with Maguire. With Dandridge. Remarkable for a woman I asked to stay out of this.”

  “I’m in it. I’m married to the prime suspect! What could your undercover investigation have to do with Kate?”

  “I asked you not to sleuth. I told you it could be dangerous.”

  “Do I look like I’m hurt?”

  “You want the truth? Yes, you look hurt! There are more ways to be hurt than physical.”

  I faced him again. Took a deep breath. “What happened with the undercover investigation?”

  “You’re not going to acknowledge what I just said?”

  “The investigation, Jazz.”

  “When Kate died like that, I initially thought someone had sent me a message. I didn’t like that message.”

  “What kind of message?”

  “That they knew I was on to them and they’d make my life hell. Killing Kate was a whole lot more cruel than killing me. I’d go to prison for the rest of my life for that. And who knows, maybe they had a little vendetta against Kate, too.”

  “And you couldn’t tell me that?”

  “I didn’t know if they got Kate because it was Kate, or if they would have hurt anybody who happened to be in my life. It occurred to me that maybe they’d want to devastate a cop by hurting the woman everybody in Detroit called my girlfriend.”

  “So why are you here now?”

  “Because IAD figured out who the dirty cop was. He had a solid alibi for the night Kate died.”

  “What was it?”

  “A bullet in his head since Sunday. They found him Tuesday morning in his apartment. He knew we were on his trail, confessed his crimes on a cassette tape, and took the easy way out. And that’s that. Anything else you want to know?”