by Tim Kizer
“Did she try to find me?”
Garcia shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Did she live in this house?”
“Yes. We bought it six years ago.”
“What was Vera like?”
“She was kind. And funny. She had a great sense of humor.”
“When did you get married?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Did you know Vera?” Alice asked Julia.
“No, I didn’t.” Julia smiled.
“Excuse me.” Alice pulled out her phone and called David.
“I’ll be out in fifteen minutes or so,” she told him.
“Okay,” David replied.
Alice stuck the phone back in her pocket.
“You know, it feels so weird,” David said to Alice. “I’m looking at you and I see Vera. I feel as if I’ve gone back in time.” He sighed. “She died so suddenly.”
Alice nodded. “What did she do for a living?”
“She was an interior designer.”
“What college did she go to?”
“Academy of Art University.”
“Did Vera try to find our parents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she love her adoptive parents?”
“Yes, she did. By the way, would you like to meet them? They live in San Jose.”
“I met her adoptive father last night after I talked to you.”
“Natalie wasn’t home?
“No, she wasn’t. Do you keep in touch with the Walshes?”
“Yes. They come here to see Bobby a few times a month.”
“When did you marry Julia?”
“A year ago. You never visited us when Vera was alive. Why?”
“I didn’t know I had a sister until a month ago.”
“They say that twins have a special connection, that they can feel each other’s pain. Did you feel anything the day Vera died?”
“I don’t remember. Did she die on October twelfth?”
“Yes.”
A little boy in Spiderman pajamas walked into the room and climbed onto Garcia’s lap. Garcia put an arm around his son and kissed him on the forehead.
“Hi, Bobby,” Alice said to the boy.
Bobby smiled shyly and whispered into his father’s ear: “Is she my mom?”
Vera’s son was adorable, and Alice felt a little pang of jealousy as she looked at him.
How could Vera have left her amazing child behind?
“Bobby, this is your Aunt Alice,” Garcia said. “She’s your mom’s sister.”
“Your mom and I were identical twins,” Alice said.
“You look like my mom,” Bobby said.
“Yes, I do. I look like your mom because we were twins.”
Did Vera miss Bobby? Did she ever secretly watch her son play in the front yard? Did she visit Bobby when Andrew Walsh babysat him?
If Vera was sentimental, she came to watch her son on his birthdays.
“Where do you live?” the boy asked.
“Pasadena.”
“Is it far?”
“Not very far. It’s near Los Angeles. Have you been to Los Angeles?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember the last time you saw your mom?”
Bobby shook his head.
If Vera had met her son in the last couple of years, she must have worn a disguise when she did it.
“He’s so cute,” Alice said to Garcia, smiling. “When is his birthday?”
“April fourteenth.”
Bobby’s next birthday was too far away.
“I’ll be sure to send you a birthday present next year,” Alice said to Bobby.
“Thank you,” the boy replied.
“Who do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A magician.”
“He loves David Copperfield,” Garcia said. “We saw his show in Vegas three months ago.”
“He made a dinosaur appear on the stage,” Bobby said excitedly. “It was awesome.”
“Can you do any magic tricks?” Alice asked the boy.
Bobby nodded.
“Show Aunt Alice the coin trick,” Garcia said.
“Okay.” Bobby slipped off his father’s lap and left the room. He came back half a minute later with a glass Coke bottle in his hand. He showed the bottle to Alice and said, “This bottle is empty.” He shook the bottle. “Can you see that it’s empty?”
“Yes,” Alice said.
Bobby reached into his pocket and brought out a quarter. “This is a regular quarter.” He showed both sides of the coin to Alice and then tried to push it into the bottle, without success. “It won’t go in. It’s too big.”
“Right.”
Bobby placed the bottle on the coffee table. “Now I’m going to make this quarter go into the bottle.” Bobby put the quarter in the mouth of the bottle and, holding the coin between his thumb and forefinger, slammed his hand down on it. There was a clinking sound. Alice looked at the bottle and saw that Bobby’s quarter was inside it.
“The quarter is inside the bottle now,” Bobby said. “Can you see it?”
“Yes. That’s amazing.”
Bobby picked up the bottle and turned it upside down. With a clink, the coin dropped to the neck of the bottle but didn’t go through it.
“The quarter didn’t fall out of the bottle,” Bobby said.
“No, it didn’t. It’s an awesome trick, Bobby.”
The boy smiled and then shook the bottle three times. The coin did not fall out. His brown eyes shining with pride, Bobby put the bottle on the table, and Alice began to clap.
“How did you do it?” she asked.
“Magicians never tell their secrets. I know several other tricks. Want to see them?”
“Next time.”
“When are you coming again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Want to hear a joke?”
“Sure.”
“Two flies are sitting on a pile of dog poop. One asks the other, ‘Do you want to hear a really good joke?’ The other fly replies, ‘Yeah, but nothing disgusting like last time. I’m trying to eat here.” Bobby giggled, his big brown eyes sparkling.
Alice laughed, too.
She had heard this joke before, hadn’t she? From Kevin Munroe (who wasn’t really Kevin Munroe).
“I love this joke,” Alice said. “Where did you hear it?”
“Grandpa told it to me.”
“Grandpa Andrew?”
Bobby nodded.
Had Munroe heard this joke from Andrew Walsh, or vice versa?
It was not a popular joke, so Alice didn’t think it was a coincidence that both Munroe and Walsh knew it.
Alice now had no doubt that Vera was alive and that Munroe was her partner.
“Justin, do you know any of Vera’s close friends?” Alice asked Garcia.
“Yes.”
“Can you give me their phone numbers?”
“I stayed in touch with only one of them. His name is Richard Swinson. Let me get my phone.” Garcia stood up and left the room.
“You have a nice home,” Alice said to Julia.
“Thank you.”
“When are you leaving?” Bobby asked Alice.
“In a few minutes.”
“You can’t stay longer?”
“No, I can’t. Sorry.”
Garcia came back and told Alice Richard Swinson’s number.
“He lives in Los Gatos,” he said.
Los Gatos was only twenty miles from Santa Cruz. She should stop by Swinson’s place and see if he was Kevin Munroe.
Chapter 41
1
Andrew Walsh knew Vera was alive. He probably knew Vera had abducted Melissa thirteen years ago. He was friends with Kevin Munroe.
He could be Jeb.
If Walsh was Jeb, then he knew Vera had killed Melissa.
Walsh must know where Vera lived. Alice was sure that Vera visited her adoptive father regularly. Walsh probably visited
her regularly, too.
“Does he know Vera’s alive?” David asked when Alice came back from Justin Garcia’s house.
“No.”
“Did he tell you anything useful?”
“Yes, he did.”
Alice went on the Internet and looked up Richard Swinson’s name on peopletrace.com. There was only one Richard Swinson in Los Gatos, and his age was between thirty-five and forty. Munroe was in his mid-thirties.
Alice purchased a full search report for Swinson. When she entered Swinson’s address into the GPS, David said, “Why are we going to Los Gatos?”
“I need to check something out. It won’t take long.”
2
Seventy yards from Richard Swinson’s house, Alice pulled over to the curb and parked. Big trees and nice homes with flower gardens and manicured lawns lined the quiet street. Alice opened Kevin Munroe’s picture on the tablet and showed it to David.
“Who is he?” David asked.
“Vera’s partner.”
Alice texted Swinson’s address to David and said, “Go to this address and ask for Richard Swinson. I think he might be this guy.” She pointed at Munroe’s photo.
“What should I do if it’s him?”
“Nothing. Just go back to the car.”
As Alice watched her boyfriend go down the street, she thought of Bobby.
What a lovely boy! Garcia must be a very happy man.
When am I going to have a baby?
She was thirty-three. Her biological clock was ticking.
Wasn’t it unfair that women over fifty were too old to have a baby, while men could father children in their eighties?
She had asked David once if he wanted to have kids and he had said he did. He’d said two children would be enough.
If she had a baby next year, she’d be fifty-two when her child graduated from high school. And she’d be fifty-six when he or she finished college.
She had delayed starting a family because she had wanted to focus on her career—and it was a reasonable choice—but the time had come for her to make having a baby her number one priority.
She must conceive a baby this year.
This month. She would conceive a baby by the end of August.
Alice looked toward Swinson’s house and saw that David was coming back to the car.
“No one’s home,” David said when he closed his door.
Swinson might be out of town. He might be in Los Angeles with Vera.
“You want to wait?” David asked.
“No. We’ll stop by on the way home.”
3
The trip to San Francisco was fun and brought Alice’s stress level down a few notches. As they strolled through Fisherman’s Wharf, Alice told David that she had bought a pistol.
“What do you need it for?” David asked.
“Protection.”
Twenty minutes later, as they watched sea lions lounging on the docks at Pier 39, David said, “You think Vera wants to kill you?”
“Yes.”
“I think you should stay at my place until she’s arrested.”
That was a good idea. In her current situation, it was dangerous to live alone.
“You’re right. Thank you, honey.”
They left San Francisco at three o’clock.
Richard Swinson wasn’t home. His girlfriend told David that Swinson was in Los Angeles and that he’d be back on Monday.
Alice decided to ask Detective Hagan for Swinson’s picture.
Would she be able to convince Hagan that Vera was alive? Alice believed her chances were fifty-fifty.
How was she going to find Vera?
She could stake out Walsh’s place until Vera showed up. It was an effective but rather impractical solution.
The police wouldn’t stake out Walsh’s house because that would be too expensive.
Hagan could try to get Andrew Walsh to tell him where Vera lived. Alice doubted Walsh would talk.
She could torture Walsh until he told her Vera’s address. Torture would work.
Vera and Walsh probably called and texted each other. Hagan could get Walsh’s phone records and search them for Vera’s number. The police could tap Walsh’s phone. They could install spy cameras in Walsh’s house.
There were a thousand kinds of spy cameras sold on the Internet, so she could put them in Walsh’s house herself.
If Walsh was Jeb, Vera’s number might be in the phone records for Jeb’s number.
4
When they arrived in Pasadena, Alice packed some business and some casual clothes, and then they drove to David’s apartment.
As they lay in bed that night, Alice said, “I realized something today.”
“What?”
“I want a child.”
She was going to point out to David that if they had a baby next year, he’d be fifty-six when their child graduated from high school.
David rolled onto his side facing her and said, “Let’s do it.”
“Do what?”
“Let’s have a baby.”
Alice’s heart filled with warmth. She’d never loved David more than she did at this moment. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” David kissed her. “Let’s move in together.”
Alice nodded. “Okay.”
She placed her hand on his crotch. His penis was hard and erect.
“Let’s make a baby,” David said, and pulled off his boxers.
Chapter 42
1
When Alice came to David’s apartment from work on Monday, she called Detective Hagan and asked if he had found Vera’s adoptive parents.
“I was about to call you,” Hagan said. “Yes, I found them. I just spoke with Vera’s adoptive father. He told me that Vera died in a car crash four years ago.”
“Vera’s alive. The car crash was staged. And her father knows she’s alive. He’s covering up for her.”
“Did you talk to Andrew Walsh?”
Hagan didn’t ridicule her theory. That was a good sign.
“Yes. I met him last Saturday. I believe he knows that Vera abducted and killed Melissa. He probably helped her stage the car crash.”
“Why would Vera fake her death?”
“Maybe because she thought that sooner or later I’d find out she abducted my daughter.”
“Why do you think Vera’s alive?”
“You have a witness who saw her with Melissa on June twenty-seventh.”
She thought Hagan would say, ‘It might be you who the witness saw with Melissa,’ but he didn’t.
Hagan asked, “Do you know if Vera was cremated?”
“Yes, the body was cremated. Did you tell Walsh why you were looking for Vera?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Please don’t tell the Walshes or Vera’s husband that Vera’s a suspect.”
“Okay.”
“I have some ideas on how to find Vera.”
“Go ahead.”
“I think she keeps in touch with her adoptive father and I think he knows where she lives. Vera’s number could be in his phone records. Can you check Andrew Walsh’s phone records?”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“Check his phone records for the last three months and February.”
“Why February?”
“Her birthday is February fourth. Walsh probably called her on that day. Check if he has more than one phone number. What number do you have for him?”
Hagan told her the number; it was the same number Walsh had given Alice.
“Can you tap Walsh’s phone?” Alice asked.
“Yes.”
“You could put a spy camera in his house. I believe Vera visits him from time to time.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Please don’t tell Walsh we know that Vera’s alive.”
“Okay.”
“Can you write down a phone number?”
“Go ahead.”
Alice told Hagan Jeb’s number. “It’s a d
isposable number. I think it may belong to Walsh. Can you check if I’m the only person who was contacted from it?”
“Okay.”
2
At six-thirty, David came home and helped Alice move all her clothes to his apartment. Alice decided to rent out her house until Vera was caught. She was going to sell her place if Vera wasn’t arrested by the end of the year.
After putting away her clothes in the closet and the dresser (David had cleared out half of his closet and three dresser drawers for her), Alice browsed websites selling spy cameras for an hour. She needed a camera that was powered by household electricity and could transmit live video over the Internet. She found fifteen cameras that met the criteria, and in the end she chose one disguised as a smoke detector.
“How long does it take to replace a smoke detector?” Alice asked David.
“About five minutes.”
“Do you know how to do it?”
“Yes.”
“I want to put a spy camera disguised as a smoke detector in Vera’s parents’ house. Will you help me?”
“Sure.”
Alice showed David the camera she had picked out and asked if he could install it.
“Yeah, I think I can,” David said.
3
On Tuesday, August 15, Alice picked up her pistol at the store and spent an hour practicing shooting at a firing range in La Puente. She discovered she enjoyed target shooting.
If Vera showed up at David’s place, she would shoot her on the spot. She would empty the magazine into that bitch.
After the shooting session, Alice called her father and told him that she had picked her gun.
“I’ll come get my gun on Saturday,” Walter said.
Chapter 43
1
Could Vera Garcia be alive?
Her body had been burned beyond recognition in the crash, so it was impossible to tell if it really belonged to Vera.
Hagan supposed Vera might have faked her death.
It turned out that there was only one phone number registered to Andrew Walsh. Walsh’s phone records for February, June, July, and August contained twenty-two different phone numbers, six of which belonged to women. Hagan obtained these women’s photos and discovered that none of them looked like Vera Garcia.
There were no disposable phone numbers in the records.
Perhaps Walsh used a burner phone to communicate with Vera. Or maybe he didn’t keep in touch with her.
