A Killing in the Valley

by JF Freedman

  Sophia was glad her mother had shown up when she did. She didn’t know how far Jeremy would have pushed it.

  Jeremy looked from daughter to mother. “Do you really keep a gun in your house?” he asked, his voice almost rising an octave. He was starting to freak from the thought that he could have been mistaken for a burglar. Or worse;—that this woman would have caught him forcing himself on her daughter, and applied some immediate frontier justice.

  “It’s locked up,” Kate assured him. “I don’t believe in guns lying around the house. People can get accidentally killed that way. Or deliberately.”

  She glanced at Sophia, who knew they were thinking the same thing: Maria Estrada. She had been killed by a gun that had been negligently lying around.

  If Jeremy made the connection, he didn’t show it. Now that he wasn’t in mortal danger, he was starting to calm down. There was something cool about a woman who keeps a gun in her house, he thought. This woman could take care of herself, that was obvious. And so could her daughter. He had known that about Sophia from the first time they had been together. One of the reasons he was so attracted to her. That, and her pretty face and killer body.

  “How many guns do you have?” he asked Kate.

  “Just one,” she answered matter-of-factly. “It’s a Sig Sauer P239, 9 mm. I’m a woman, so my hands aren’t that big.” She held a hand up to show him. “I want a compact weapon, but one that could stop an elephant.” She smiled. “Although I’m opposed to hunting, on principle.

  Jeremy was agape. “Are you a cop?” he asked, his eyes darting to Sophia. Jesus, what a monumental blunder this would be, the way be had spilled his guts to her about being with that girl who was murdered. What kind of trouble was he in here?

  Kate shook her head. “Not anymore. I’m a private investigator now.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “That must be interesting,” he managed to say.

  “It can be,” Kate answered dryly. She sized up the situation. “Why don’t you two go into the living room? I’ll make some hot chocolate.”

  Jeremy looked at Sophia. “I should be going,” he stammered. “It’s pretty late.”

  Too late for you now, Sophia thought. I tried to keep you away, but your penis was more powerful than your brain.

  “No, stay,” she said, grabbing his hand. “You need a hot drink to calm you down, after my mother busted us like that.” She turned to Kate. “How would you like it if I walked in on you and some guy?” she asked.

  I wouldn’t bring him into the house with you here, that’s for sure, Kate thought. Her daughter still had a lot to learn, but she was a quick study, that was obvious.

  “I wouldn’t,” she said. “I apologize.” She smiled at Jeremy. “I won’t mistake you for a burglar again,” she told him. “Now that I know you.”

  How weird is this, Jeremy thought? He hadn’t sat up with a girl and her mother since high school. Now here he was with Sophia, who the more he learned about her the more complicated she was turning out to be, and her mother, a pistol-packing detective. His family wasn’t into guns—he’d never fired one, or even held one. It would be cool to try it. Maybe Sophia’s mother would let him shoot hers.

  He and Sophia sat on the couch. Kate sat across from them. One leg was casually crossed over the other. Her nightgown under her robe was resting on her knees. He could see some of her thigh showing underneath. Nice legs, he thought. For an older woman she was pretty sexy.

  He could feel Sophia’s thigh, grazing his. It felt good. He could feel his hard-on coming back again. He shifted slightly, so that he could cover it with his free leg.

  “How’s the cocoa?” Kate asked.

  “Very good,” he answered. He blew on it to cool it off, took another sip.

  “Ghirardelli chocolate, from San Francisco,” Sophia told him. “You can get it at Trader Joe’s.”

  “It’s really good.” He took another sip. “Thanks.”

  Kate got up. “I’ll be right back,” she told them. “Don’t go away.”

  She left the room. Jeremy put an arm around Sophia’s shoulder.

  “You’re cruising for a bruising, dude,” she warned him. “She’ll be back in a minute.”

  “I’m not going any farther than this,” he told her. “I’ve figured that one out.”

  He sipped more hot chocolate, and leaned over to put his cup down on the coffee table. When he looked back up, Kate was standing in front of him. Her gun was in her hand. It was pointed in his direction, but not directly at him.

  He recoiled. “Is that thing loaded?” he stammered.

  “Yes, but the safety’s on, so there’s no danger,” she said. She looked at Sophia, who was staring at her intently. “I thought you’d like to see it.” The barrel drifted toward his face again.

  “Uh, sure,” he stammered. He looked at the weapon in her hand. It wasn’t that big, not like the ones in the movies, the kind Clint Eastwood brandished. You feeling lucky, punk? Go ahead. Make my day. One of his favorite expressions. Now that there was an actual gun in his face, he wasn’t sure how much he truly liked it.

  “Mom, put that thing away,” Sophia scolded her. “You’re scaring the shit out of Jeremy.”

  “Sorry,” Kate said. She laid the automatic on the table between them. “Want to know a secret?”

  “What?” Jeremy asked. He was nervous as hell again.

  “It isn’t loaded. I took the bullets out before I showed it to you. Because accidents can happen.”

  If he was going to rise to the bait, this would be the time. But no. Not a twinge, no facial tic. He didn’t seem to have a clue.

  For Sophia’s sake, Kate was glad this boy didn’t know the specifics of Maria’s murder. But she still had to find out what he did know. She looked at Sophia. “Have you told him anything?” she asked.

  Sophia shook her head. “No.”

  Jeremy looked from one to the other. “What is she talking about?” he asked Sophia.

  Sophia girded herself. No more screwing around. “What you told me about you and your roommate being with Maria Estrada, the day she was killed.”

  Before Jeremy could begin to absorb that shock, Kate threw in the kicker. “I work with Luke Garrison,” she told him. “He’s Steven McCoy’s lawyer. The man who is on trial for murdering Maria.”

  Jeremy sat on the edge of the couch, his head between his knees. He had been hyperventilating for several minutes. Kate made him blow into a paper bag to get his breathing under control.

  He lifted his head and stared balefully at Sophia. “You are a prime bitch,” he spat out at her. He didn’t care if her mother was right there, with a gun in front of her—he was going to blast Sophia. “Goddamnit,” he self-flagellated, “I should have known better.”

  Kate regarded him coolly. How many times had she seen this happen? In her experience, betrayal, or the perception of it, was the hardest emotion to deal with.

  “I’m sorry, Jeremy,” Sophia said. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Bullshit,” he whined. “You set me up, you scheming little cunt.”

  “No, I didn’t,” she fought back. “No one forced you to tell me about your being with Maria. You should have used some self-control, Jeremy, instead of crying on my shoulder,” she reproached him.

  Kate was glad Jeremy was lashing out, rather than cowering into a ball of unreachable fear. She could deal with this attitude. He might not cooperate, but he would hear what she had to say to him.

  “You can continue this argument later,” she said, breaking into their catfight. “And you can walk out of here right now, Jeremy,” she told him. “But…” She raised a hand to stop him before he could get up. “You’re going to talk to someone about this. If you walk out of here now, I’ll call the police the first thing in the morning, and you’ll be talking to them. Which can be extremely unpleasant, believe me. If you’ve never been the focus of a police grilling, it’s no fun. It’s a lesson most people don’t ever want to learn.”


  Her threat was a shuck—no way was she going to bring the police in on this. That was the last thing she and Luke wanted. But this boy didn’t know that. Visions of jailhouse nightmares were exploding in his mind.

  “Or you can talk to me,” she told him. “Those are your options. You can talk to me now, or the police tomorrow.” She sat back. “Your call, Jeremy. Make it right now.”

  Eyes downcast, Jeremy told his story in a monosyllabic mumble. When he was finished, he collapsed back against the couch.

  “That’s it?” Kate probed. “Everything?”

  Jeremy nodded. “Yes.”

  “That’s important information. Why didn’t you go to the police?”

  “Because I was afraid to, what do you think? First of all, I didn’t even know about it until I saw her picture on TV,” he said defensively. “By that time, they’d arrested this guy who did it.”

  “Allegedly did it,” she corrected him sharply.

  “Yeah, whatever,” he said grudgingly. “And what were we supposed to tell the police, anyway? That we were with this girl and her friend for a couple of hours and then dropped them off and never saw them again? They would’ve been all over us. We figured they had the man who killed her, so let sleeping dogs lie. It didn’t matter after that.”

  “It mattered enough that your roommate left town,” Sophia sharply threw back at him.

  “He didn’t leave because of that,” Jeremy insisted. “One had nothing to do with the other.”

  “The police would think differently,” Kate told him, keeping the pressure on. “Your actions feel suspicious.”

  “It was a coincidence,” he whined.

  “Time will tell about that.” She thought about the next step. It was already after two in the morning. “All right, Jeremy. Here’s what we’ll do. Monday morning, you’re going to meet with me and Luke Garrison, Steven McCoy’s lawyer. You’re going to tell Luke what you’ve told me. You’re going to tell him everything you know about Maria Estrada,” she said pointedly. “Everything,” she repeated.

  He was shaking again. “Am I going to have to go to the police?”

  “That’ll be up to Luke. He makes those decisions.” She stood up. “I’m sorry I had to put you through the grinder, but it couldn’t be helped.”

  “They got the killer,” he cried out. “Why do I have to get dragged into this? This could ruin me.”

  “Maybe not. Luke Garrison will do his best to help you. But you are going to be involved, there’s no getting around that.” She thought about what else. “Your roommate. He knew about what happened to her, didn’t he?”

  His head slumped again. “Yes.”

  “Before or after he dropped out of school.”

  “I don’t remember,” Jeremy answered. “That had nothing to do with her,” he said stubbornly.

  Kate glanced at Sophia. “The other girl you were with. What’s her name?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t remember. Just some nobody Maria grabbed ahold of, so we’d be a foursome.”

  She’s not a nobody, you asshole, Sophia seethed silently. She’s got more integrity than you’ll ever have.

  “Have you ever seen her again?” Kate asked.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Would you recognize her if you did?”

  Jeremy thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. She was Latino. On the thin side. Pretty enough, but nothing special.”

  Sophia exhaled. She was relieved, but also, she was angry. How could you be so crass, she thought? She was nothing more to you than someone to get high with and try to fuck? She felt like washing her mouth out from having kissed him earlier.

  Jeremy crumpled the paper bag into a ball “Can I go now?” he asked sullenly. “I’ve answered all your questions.”

  “Yes, you can go.” Kate scribbled on a piece of scratch paper and handed it to him. “Here’s Luke Garrison’s address. Be there Monday morning at nine. No excuses. Do you understand me?” she asked him piercingly.

  He stared at her. “Yes.”

  “Make sure you do. If this blows up, you’ll be the one picking shrapnel out of his butt, not me.”

  Jeremy was thoroughly beaten. “I’ll be there.” He got up and turned to Sophia, as if he was going to say something; then he decided he’d said enough for one night. He went out, closing the door behind him. A moment later, they heard his car start up and drive away.

  “You scared his titties off, pulling a gun on him like that,” Sophia said.

  “I wanted to get his undivided attention.”

  “You sure did that. I was afraid he was going to crap his pants. Do you think he’ll keep his mouth shut? He opened his guts to me, and I was a stranger.”

  “I think I put the fear of God in him sufficiently.” Kate fell back in her chair. “This has been grueling. You must be completely wrung out.”

  “I’m beat,” Sophia admitted.

  “That was courageous of you, pulling him into this,” Kate praised her. “I don’t expect you to do my work for me. I don’t even like you to. It’s too dangerous for someone your age.” She smiled. “But I’m glad you did. You’ve really helped us, honey.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Kate stared at Sophia. “I hate to tell you this, Sophia, but sooner or later, Tina is going to have to tell her story in public.”

  “I know,” Sophia said unhappily. “But what will happen to her? To her family?”

  “Luke will work something out,” Kate said, making a promise she wasn’t sure could be kept. “The District Attorney isn’t interested in busting undocumented workers, especially with her family’s good credentials.”

  “I hope so,” Sophia said dejectedly. This balancing act she was attempting was excruciating. On one side was Tina, who had become her best friend, and who had really put herself out on a limb. On the other side was Steven, an innocent man who was her future lover. She didn’t want either of them to be hurt.

  “Let’s go to bed,” Kate said. She pulled a weary Sophia to her feet. “Tomorrow’s a busy day. Your last performance. Juanita’s going to bust a gut, she’ll be so proud of you.”

  “I wish Steven could come,” Sophia said.

  Kate gave her a questioning look. Where did that come from? Sympathy for the underdog, or something more? “They’re taping the play, aren’t they?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You can give him a tape.”

  “It won’t be the same. But that’s a good idea. I’ll bring him one the next time I go to the ranch.”

  29

  THE CAST SAVED THEIR best performance for last. Juanita, sitting with Kate, Wanda, and the Garrisons in the center of the fourth row, laughed and squealed and applauded at all the right places.

  “Isn’t she wonderful!” Juanita trilled loudly at intermission. “She steals the show!”

  “I agree heartily,” Riva Garrison chimed in. They were all her mothers today.

  “Shh,” Kate hushed them, looking around nervously to see if any other parents of kids in the show were within earshot. “They’re all good,” she said.

  “Of course they are,” Juanita said, lowering her voice. “But there is a quantum gap in quality. I’ve been attending plays and movies for many years, Kate. Longer than you’ve been born, by a long shot. This girl has the goods! She should think about majoring in acting in college.”

  God forbid, Kate thought. Her daughters were going to have professional careers. Wanda, of course, was on her way. She was overwhelmed with her first-year med school classes, but she’d still taken the time to drive down from San Francisco this morning to see her baby sister perform.

  “Mrs. McCoy’s right, Mom,” she whispered, leaning over to Kate. “I never knew Sophia had this talent in her. Did you?”

  “No,” Kate answered. She was in heaven. “No one did, not even her.”

  “I’m really happy for her. This is her own thing. It has nothing to do with you or me. It’s hers alone.”


  That’s so true, Kate knew. Everyone needed something unique to call their own. She still wasn’t sure what hers was, and she didn’t know if she’d ever find out. But her daughters had special qualities in spades.

  This was as good as being a parent gets, she thought rapturously. The years of not being able to be there for her daughters all the time was washing away on the waves of Sophia’s performance. Right now, this moment, was why she was alive.

  They went for early dinner to Emilio’s, on Cabrillo Boulevard at the beach. Juanita insisted on picking up the tab. “My treat!” she cried out, overriding Kate’s and Luke’s protestations. “I am going to be able to brag that I was there when Sophia’s star was born,” she sang out gaily.

  “Juanita,” Sophia protested. She was blushing, but she was glowing inside. “It was only a high school play.”

  “I don’t care. You have it, my dear. It can be a high school play or a fancy Broadway show, if you have it, you have it. Meryl Streep had to start somewhere, too, didn’t she?”

  “From your mouth to God’s ear,” Riva kicked in. She tapped her knife on her wine glass. “A toast.” Everyone raised their glasses, except Sophia, who was too embarrassed. “To Sophia Blanchard,” Riva pledged. “The first of a long line of wonderful performances.”

  The entire table seconded her proclamation. Kate looked at her daughters, who were sitting side by side. They were smiling at each other, lost in their own special world.

  Jeremy was at Luke’s office at a quarter to nine Monday morning. Luke listened attentively as he recited what had happened with him, Peter Baumgartner, Maria Estrada, and the unknown girl who had gone with them up to the Riviera the afternoon of the day when Maria disappeared.

  “That’s it?” Luke asked, when Jeremy finished.

  Jeremy nodded. “Yes.”

  “You didn’t leave anything out.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Whose car were you driving that day? Yours or Baumgartner’s?”

  “His,” Jeremy replied. “Mine’s an old piece of crap. He’s got the pussy…” He stopped and glanced at Kate, who looked at him without raising an eyebrow. “He has a really nice car.”