Jailhouse Glock (A Dead Sister Talking Mystery)

by Liz Lipperman

  A week after Tony’s dad learned that the FBI was actively investigating him, he’d begun making plans to uproot his wife and two sons and move to Dallas. He’d been so sure the grand jury wouldn’t have enough evidence against him, he’d even bought a house in a wealthy suburb. Two weeks later the indictment came down and the plans were put on hold.

  After his conviction, Tony’s mother wanted to stay close to her husband and refused to leave New Jersey. Shortly after that, Mario was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer and died five months later.

  A year later, Tony graduated from Harvard Law School, and he, his mother, and his brother followed his father’s last wish and moved to the Metroplex. With the help of his father’s old friends back in Jersey, Tony had been hired as an associate with one of the most prestigious firms in Dallas. Like the other first-year associates, he’d started at the bottom and quickly worked his way up.

  That had been eight years ago, and over that time he had turned the law firm into one of the most successful in the city. Soon after that, he’d put out his own shingle and now had his pick of clients, most of them rich and famous—and guilty.

  His brother had majored in business and moved back to the East Coast three years ago to work with his father’s old “friends.” That’s when Tony started getting calls from New Jersey, with requests for little favors. At first it was only things like helping a widowed woman win a lawsuit against her landlord or keeping someone’s teenage son out of juvie.

  And although the requests had increased lately, none were as involved as this latest one. Tony hoped it wouldn’t be a precedent to future favors.

  Madelyn Castillo didn’t fit the profile of his usual wealthy client. She’d made it perfectly clear that it would be a challenge to scrape up enough money for the retainer even though he’d quoted her a figure that was only a fifth of what he’d normally required up front.

  He’d thought it best to ask for some money to keep her from becoming overly suspicious. But what Maddy didn’t know was that he’d been prepared to take her on as a pro bono client if it had come down to it. All he’d been told about the case was that the request had included a specific goal.

  “Find out what the scumbag told her that night in jail. See if she knows anything about the necklace,” the voice had commanded.

  Necklace. Somebody in New Jersey wanted him on Maddy’s defense team to find out if she knew anything about a necklace.

  Must be one helluva piece of jewelry.

  _____

  Maddy placed the French toast in front of her daughter, struggling to find the right words to ask about the picture taken on their porch. She didn’t want to scare her, but she had to know why she’d been talking to Bernardi.

  “Don’t forget, Mom. We’re going on a field trip to the Dallas Aquarium today, and I won’t be home until after five,” Jessie said as she poured way too much syrup over her breakfast. “Mrs. Delgado said she’d drop me off afterward.”

  “I know. She called and told me. You’ve never been to the aquarium before, so it should be a lot of fun. Do you need extra money?” Maddy was glad her back was toward Jessie since her daughter could read her better than anyone else.

  The truth was, money was tight right now, and she wouldn’t get paid until Friday. Most of last week’s paycheck had gone toward the ten grand retainer for her defense lawyer. Anthony Pirelli was making a second trip to Vineyard on Friday to finalize the financial arrangement and to discuss any new findings on her case. He was bringing his entire legal team to spend a couple of hours going over the details of the night Bernardi was murdered, and he’d made it clear he would need the money then.

  So far she’d managed to scrape up nearly eight thousand dollars, counting the money both Lainey and Deena had contributed. She’d worry about the other two grand later. Right now she was more interested in why the police had found a picture of the dead man standing on her front porch the week before he’d been killed.

  “I just need a couple of bucks for a hot dog and a soda or something.” Jessie studied Maddy’s face before adding, “but I can take a cheese sandwich and an apple instead.”

  “Who are you and where’s my daughter?” Maddy joked. “You’d give up a hot dog and a Coke for a cheese sandwich?” She reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. “Here, sweetheart. I’m sure there’ll be a special souvenir you’ll want to bring home, too.”

  She pictured her daughter eating from a bag lunch while her classmates pigged out on all the overpriced food available at the aquarium. Cotton candy and kettle corn were half the fun of going on field trips. There was no way she’d allow Jessie to give up something like that, even if it meant pulling her own budget reins even tighter. This was her mess, and she intended to find a way to make it go away.

  She’d already given up her daily Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks and figured that alone saved her over twenty bucks a week. The next thing that would have to go was cable TV. They barely had time to watch it, anyway.

  A second cup of coffee in hand, she grabbed the manila folder from the counter and sat down at the kitchen table opposite her daughter. When Jessie popped the last bite of French toast into her mouth and reached for the glass of orange juice, Maddy decided it was now or never.

  “Hey, sweetie, I have a question for you.” She opened the folder and pulled out the picture of Bernardi and Jess on the porch. After sliding it across the table, she asked, “Do you remember talking to this man?”

  She held her breath waiting for the response. If Jessie told her that Bernardi had said or done anything inappropriate, she didn’t know if she’d be able to handle it. She already felt guilty enough as it was that her daughter was a latchkey kid. But afterschool care was pricey, and with Maddy occasionally doing shift work down at the station, it wasn’t worth it. She’d been surprised to find out she’d have to pay the weekly fee to a day care center even when she worked the night shift and didn’t need for Jessie to go there after school. She had argued that her job required her to work all hours and they should consider that, but the school wouldn’t relent. Policy is policy, they told her.

  That’s when she’d made the decision to allow her ten-year-old daughter to ride the bus home from school and to stay at home alone for the two hours before she could get there after working the day shift. Even though she insisted that Jessie call her every thirty minutes after she was in the house with the door locked, the guilt still overwhelmed her. Especially at times like this when she felt like such a bad mother.

  She was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn’t notice her daughter picking up the photo until after she’d laid it back down. Neither said a word but it was obvious by the look on Jessie’s face that she thought she was in trouble.

  “Yeah, I remember the guy.”

  The knot in Maddy’s stomach tightened. “I told you never to open the door when I’m not here.”

  “I didn’t, Mom. Honest. I couldn’t find my notebook and thought maybe I’d dropped it on the walk from the bus to the house.” Her eyes pleaded with Maddy to understand. “He pulled up in a big fancy car. I hurried to get into the house, but he just kept following me and asking questions.”

  “What kind of questions?”

  “Stupid ones. I think he was lost or something.”

  Maddy closed her eyes so Jess wouldn’t see the tears that had formed. That was the classic MO of a pedophile.

  “He showed me a picture of some guy at a bar with a woman. Said the guy lived here.”

  “Oh my God, Jess, you should have run into the house and locked the door. You know I told you to call 911 if you ever felt like you were in trouble. He could’ve been a pervert.”

  “I had my phone with me, Mom. And Mrs. Rutledge was out in her yard pulling weeds. If the man had tried to grab me, I would have screamed, and she would have come immediately.” Jessie leaned over and wiped the lone tear that had escaped down Maddy’s face.

  Maddy took a deep breath and tried t
o smile. No sense making this a bigger deal than it was.

  “I didn’t tell you because I knew you would freak—just like you’re doing right now,” Jessie continued. “Besides, I only talked to him long enough to tell him there were no guys living here. I told him it was just you and me and that you were a cop. Figured that would scare him off. I even offered to call you at the station to see if you knew this Alan person he was asking about, but he got really nervous and left right after that.”

  Maddy’s head jerked up. “Alan?”

  “Yeah, that’s the guy he was looking for.”

  Maddy scooted her chair closer to her daughter’s. She had no idea why this seemed important but her police instincts kicked in and she pressed on. “Think, Jess. Did he mention the guy’s last name?”

  “Yes, but I’ve forgotten it. I remember thinking it sounded like some kind of animal.” She shot up from her chair and leaned over to kiss Maddy’s forehead. “Gotta run or I’ll be late. Don’t worry about me, Mom. I’m ten, remember?” She grabbed her backpack from the counter and headed for the door.

  Maddy got up and walked out to wait with her for the school bus. Her gut told her it was too much of a coincidence that Bernardi had shown up at her house the week before she was accused of killing him. And why had the police found the photo at his house when they’d tossed it after his murder? He couldn’t have taken it himself, so there had to have been an accomplice. But why take it at all?

  And why did he think someone named Alan lived there? She’d bought the house from Barney Krieger, a widower whose children were grown and long gone. The elder Krieger had decided that the house was too much to take care of alone and he’d gone off to one of those swanky seniors-only places in North Dallas.

  And if Maddy remembered correctly, he’d only had two daughters.

  After hugging Jessie one last time, she watched her climb onto the bus, hiding her fears as she waved before the bus pulled away. She was beginning to get a bad feeling about all this and wished she could talk to Rogers right now. Maybe he could shed some light on all of it.

  What she’d really like to do was pick up the phone and run this by her brother-in-law, but that was out of the question. She wasn’t in the mood for one of Colt’s hour-long lectures about how she’d promised to stay out of the investigation.

  But how could she? This whole thing was becoming more and more personal. Someone had deliberately set her up and had worked really hard at it the week before Bernardi was killed. They’d made contact with her ten year old, for God’s sake!

  Even though she’d only talked to Gino Bernardi briefly, she had no doubt the man couldn’t have known he’d be shot that night. He had been so confident he’d be getting sprung from jail by morning, he’d even invited her to a steak dinner—served with an orgasm for dessert—the next night. Plus he was way too egotistical to agree to a plan that ended up with him dead.

  No, either someone had double-crossed him and decided to conveniently tie up a loose end, or he was merely an innocent pawn in an intricate plan to blackmail her. But if he was a loose end, that meant the other guy in the cell next to him could have been the target all along.

  Dammit! She wracked her brain trying to remember the other prisoner’s name, but she kept coming up blank.

  She turned and walked back to the house. With only half an hour before her sisters would arrive to decide what their next move would be, she needed to grab a quick shower. Halfway up the steps, she froze in her tracks.

  Then she sprinted back to the kitchen and grabbed the manila folder. Flipping through the pages, she finally found what she was looking for. There in black and white on the police report was the name of the guy who had positively ID’ed her as the person who had shot him at the police station.

  Alan Foxworthy.

  She shook her head as if she could get rid of the confusing thoughts overwhelming her right now. She’d never believed in coincidences, and she wasn’t about to start now.

  A wave of nausea pulsed through her as her daughter’s words just a few minutes before came back to her. When she’d asked Jessie if she remembered the last name of the man Bernardi was looking for at their house, she’d said it sounded like an animal to her.

  The fact that Gino Bernardi had been looking for someone with the exact name of the guy he’d fought with at Cowboys Galore and had ended up next to him in a Vineyard jail cell had to mean something.

  But what?

  Everyone had assumed that Bernardi hadn’t known the guy he’d nearly killed in the bar that night. What if both of them had been part of the setup?

  thirteen

  Deena bit down on a breakfast burrito and reached for a second one from the opened box in the center of the table. “Rosa’s Cantina makes the absolute best breakfast burritos in town. It was a great idea to order in, Maddy.”

  “Lainey brought these.” Maddy placed a nearly full bottle of orange juice and four glasses on the table. “Help yourselves.”

  “Then kudos to Lainey,” Deena said. “Thanks, sis. I needed this.”

  “You’re welcome.” Lainey reached for a burrito before they were all gone. “I figured Maddy had her hands full trying to prove she didn’t kill Bernardi. Besides, Rosa’s was right on the way, and I had a couple of two-for-one coupons from the other night when Colt, Gracie, and I ate there.”

  “After all the hospital food I’ve eaten for the past couple of days, this tastes like I’ve died and gone to Mexican food heaven.” Kate poured on the hot sauce before shoving the last bite of burrito into her mouth.

  Watching her sisters sitting around the dining room table doing what they did best—eating—Maddy felt a sudden surge of confidence. When the Garcia girls put their heads together to work on a project, nothing stopped them. Seeing them all together again gave her a renewed hope that they’d be able to get her out of the mess she was in. She remembered their success the previous year when they’d worked relentlessly to find Tessa’s killer.

  Maddy stopped midway through a huge bite and glanced around the room. Where was Tessa anyway? Her younger sister had always been the social butterfly of the group, and if anyone knew what went on behind closed doors in Vineyard, it was Tessa. She needed to be here with them now. Although she wished she could summon her up somehow, Maddy knew that Tessa’s ghost popped in and out randomly. Even Tessa herself had no control over when she made an appearance. At least that’s what she said every time they fussed about it.

  Maddy glanced at the clock above the sink. It was almost ten, and she still hadn’t given her sisters an update about what she’d uncovered the past two days. She couldn’t wait any longer for Tessa, figuring she could bring her up to speed later. Right now, she needed to get the meeting started.

  Taking a big gulp of her orange juice to wash down the last of her breakfast, she faced her sisters. “Okay, first off, we need someone to take notes.” She shoved a pad and pencil Deena’s way. “You’ve always been pretty good at that, Deena. Do you mind?”

  Deena beamed like someone had just told her she looked like a million bucks—which was far from the truth, if Maddy was being honest. Her eyes were puffy, making Maddy wonder if her sister was battling insomnia or eating too much salt. And her hair was about a month past due for a cut and style. Sporting a pair of slacks and a dingy white blouse that looked as though it had been washed with a load of darks, the always spruced-up Deena hadn’t even bothered to put on makeup. This was so not Deena, and it worried Maddy.

  She decided she’d have a private talk with her after the others left. Although Deena was two years younger than her, they’d grown up best friends, sharing everything with each other. Both could tell how the other was feeling with just a look.

  And after taking another peek, Maddy was sure something was definitely up with her sister. She wondered if whatever was bothering Deena was something recent. Or had they all been too busy with their own lives lately to notice that something had been going on with her for a while? Regardless, she
vowed to take care of that today, mentally scolding herself for not being there for her sister.

  “Here’s what we know so far.” She proceeded to tell them about her trip to the bar with Tom Rogers, purposely leaving out the part about the hot cowboy who’d unnerved her with his intense stare.

  “Something smells fishy,” Kate interrupted when Maddy repeated what the bartender has said about Bernardi. “Why would the guy suddenly get bent out of shape over someone flirting with the woman when she’d obviously been using the bar to pick up guys all along?”

  Maybe because he got a taste of her himself and decided to go all macho and possessive on her.

  Maddy turned just as Tessa walked from the living room into the kitchen and pulled up a chair next to Deena.

  Or maybe he was her pimp and didn’t like the guy’s attitude. Have you given any thought to that, sis? She plopped down and pointed to Deena’s hair. What’s up, girlfriend? You need a new ’do.

  “I did think of that, but if it’s true, why would Bernardi nearly kill the guy if he was actually her pimp? Isn’t that like throwing money away?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” the three sisters asked in unison.

  “Oh, sorry,” Maddy said. “I forgot I’m the only one who can hear Tessa. She’s wondering if Bernardi was a pimp.”

  “You know, that’s a real possibility,” Kate said, narrowing her eyes. “But I still don’t get why he was so outraged and pounded on the other guy for getting chummy if he and the girl were turning tricks together.”

  “From what all the witnesses at the bar said, it appeared the two men didn’t know each other.” Maddy shook her head. “It just doesn’t add up.”