by Lynne Hinton
“Ordered?” Evangeline asked. “How did they order you to do that? They haven’t made an arrest, have they?”
Megan shook her head. “No. The detective just told me that if I didn’t come back to New Mexico and answer their questions here, they would send an L.A. cop out to my house. Well, I didn’t want police cars in my driveway or some officer stopping me at a restaurant or out in public or on set. That can ruin a career!”
Evangeline nodded.
“So I came back last week for just a day. And that’s when I called Captain Jackson. I thought the first interview was bad, but this was like they really think I’m guilty. I felt as if I was playing a part in some police drama.” She shook her head. “They knew practically everything about what I’ve been doing and who Chaz and I used to see, our old friends.” She faced Evangeline. “They’d obviously talked to his ex-wife. There’s no telling what she’s told them about me.”
“Well, what kinds of things did they ask you about that make you think they consider you a suspect?”
“They told me they had some evidence that suggests I know more about how Chaz died than I’m letting on. They said that I was the last one to see him alive.”
Evangeline hadn’t heard this fact before. “Were you?”
Megan tugged a piece of hair behind her ear. “I guess,” she answered. “Well, I mean besides whoever killed him.”
“When did you see him last?”
There was a pause before Megan gave a response. “It was the night before he disappeared.”
Evangeline studied her guest closely. The answer was not what she expected. She was confused. “Wait, I thought you said you were in California, that you were meeting him at the airport there. I thought you were in Los Angeles while he was here.”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth,” Megan replied. She started picking at her fingernails.
“What is the truth?” Evangeline asked.
“That sounds just like a question that would come from a nun.”
The voice coming from the hall startled both women. They glanced up to see Captain Jackson Divine, walking with his crutches, heading in their direction. Evangeline couldn’t help but smile. Trooper stirred and gave a bark.
“Way to go, Mom,” she muttered under her breath as she got up to give him her place on the sofa.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“You were saying?” the Captain asked. “About you and Chaz?”
“I was here with him,” she confessed. “Here in Madrid. We were supposed to get on the plane together and fly to Los Angeles, but he left in his car sometime before the driver was scheduled to come get us. He just never showed back up.”
Evangeline leaned the crutches against the wall, walked over to the other side of the room, and sat down in the chair across from the sofa.
“Did you tell the police this information?” he wanted to know.
Megan shook her head. “But they knew it already.”
“I guess it wasn’t hard to verify that you were on the plane he was supposed to be on going from Santa Fe to Los Angeles instead of waiting at the airport in California for him,” he surmised.
“Yeah, I guess,” Megan agreed. “Do you think the police talked to the pilot?”
The Captain studied her. “Why? Is there something he might say that would be incriminating?”
She appeared confused. “Incriminating?” she asked.
“Something that raises their suspicions,” Evangeline jumped in to explain. “Something that could make you look guilty.”
The Captain turned to his daughter, and she lifted her eyebrows in question.
“What?” she asked.
He didn’t respond, just gave her a look of annoyance and turned his attention back to their guest. “What kind of information would the pilot have that the police might find interesting?” he asked.
Megan leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She was obviously thinking. She opened her eyes and faced the Captain. She shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered unconvincingly.
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” he asked. “And, Megan—” He stopped. “The truth this time.”
She rubbed her forehead as if she were getting tired of answering questions. “I woke up and he wasn’t anywhere in the house. His car was gone. The driver came to take us to the airport, and I made him wait while I kept calling Chaz’s cell phone. I also called the pilot to tell him what had happened and see if he drove himself there. He hadn’t. So the driver and I waited for an hour and then went to the airport. I was very upset that Chaz hadn’t shown up, and I made the pilot wait a couple more hours, but then I thought that maybe he had just made other arrangements to meet us in L.A. So I had Terrance—the pilot—just go ahead and take off.”
It was easy for both Jackson and Evangeline to see that she had more to say.
“Go on, Megan,” the Captain pushed.
“I was upset, so just before we left I took a pill to calm down and I fell asleep.” She appeared nervous. “He had to wake me up when we got to L.A.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” Evangeline asked.
The Captain and Megan looked at each other knowingly.
“It doesn’t really make her appear that concerned about Cheston if she’s taking a nap,” Jackson answered and then waited for Megan to add more.
She glanced away. “The pilot, Terrance, he doesn’t really like me,” she noted. “He’s friends with the ex.”
The Captain turned to Evangeline. “Cheston’s wife,” he explained.
She nodded. “Yeah, I figured that one.”
“When we landed, Terrance called Mr. Polland, the producer, to tell him that Cheston wasn’t on the plane. Mr. Polland told him to turn around and go back and wait for him.” She paused. “That’s when he woke me up, not until then.”
“And what did you do?” the Captain asked.
She shrugged. “I made him wait while I called a few of Chaz’s friends to see if they had heard from him, see if he had gotten back to L.A. some other way. And then I called Mr. Polland and asked him to let me go back to try and find him.”
“And he said that was okay?” Evangeline asked.
Megan nodded. “He was glad to have me go look for him. Like I’ve told you, Chaz was costing him a lot of money.”
“So the pilot flew you back here?”
She nodded again. “He didn’t want to, but after he got on the phone with Mr. Polland, he did.”
There was a long pause as everyone seemed to be thinking about the sequence of events that took place on the day of Cheston’s disappearance.
“Why were you afraid to tell me the truth?” the Captain asked.
Evangeline inched forward a bit in her seat. This was a question that bothered her as well.
Megan looked down. “I was the only one with him until the time he left,” she responded tearfully. “I flew over from L.A. the day before he was supposed to come home because I thought he was using drugs again, and I thought I could get him cleaned up before he had his meetings. When I got here, I found out he wasn’t high. And he was really mad that I came. He said it showed that I didn’t trust him and that I was no better than his ex-wife.” She reached for the napkin next to her cup of tea. She dabbed at her eyes. “We had a fight and I went to bed.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what happened after that except that he got in the hot tub for a while. I never heard him leave and I didn’t see him again.”
The Captain leaned over and patted her on the arm. “Well, just because you were with him in the house at the time he disappeared, and just because you had a fight with him, and just because you fell asleep on the flight to Los Angeles, that’s not enough evidence to arrest you for his murder.”
She turned her face aside. Both Evangeline and Jackson noticed the response.
“Megan, that’s all they have, isn’t it?” he asked.
She didn’t answer.
“Megan,” he prodded. “What else?”
“Before I left I took some things from the house,” she confessed.
Captain Divine locked eyes with her. He waited.
“I was mad at him so I took some of his jewelry.”
Evangeline sat back, shaking her head. She didn’t know much about solving crimes, but she knew that burglary wouldn’t help the young woman’s case.
“His ex-wife noticed I was wearing his silver necklace when she saw me at the hospital. It’s a little gold-and-silver bear pendant on a silver chain, has some turquoise in it. He bought it on one of his first trips to Santa Fe. She told the police that he never took it off. She told them I stole it.”
“And did you?” Evangeline asked.
Megan nodded. “I took it when he was in the hot tub. He always takes it off before he gets in because something in the water tarnishes silver. So after he got in the hot tub, I saw the necklace and took it, along with his bracelet, and went to bed. If he missed them, he didn’t come to look for them. I put them in the pocket of my robe. Both the necklace and the bracelet were still there when I woke up. Later, I just put the necklace on and forgot about it.”
Captain Divine chimed in. “I remember it,” he said. “You had it on when you came by the office.”
Megan nodded. “Once I knew something was wrong, I kept wearing it to feel close to him.”
“Where is it now?” Evangeline asked.
“The police have it,” Megan replied. She reached in her purse that was by her feet. “But I don’t think they know about this,” she said as she pulled out a wide silver bracelet and placed it on the coffee table.
The doorbell rang, startling all three of them. Evangeline glanced first at the door and then at the table. She was surprised to see that the bracelet had been snatched up by either Megan or the Captain and was already hidden away.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“I’m looking for Mr. Jackson Divine,” the young man said. He was standing on the porch as Trooper and Evangeline waited just inside the screen door.
“It’s pronounced Diveen,” she informed him. “And he’s in here.” She gestured to her left but didn’t yet open the door to invite the visitor in. She was concerned about Megan wanting her privacy, and she wasn’t sure of the man’s identity or his reason to be standing on the front porch. “Might I tell him who is here to see him?”
The young man seemed confused by the question. “Ma’am?”
“You are?”
“Oh, I’m Ricky. I work with Atlas Prosthetics, and I brought Mr. Divine’s, I’m sorry,” he said, correcting himself, “Mr. Divine’s prosthetic.” He hesitated. “We had an appointment for this morning.”
Evangeline still didn’t open the door. She had forgotten the appointment. And now it wasn’t their guest she was worried about. Now she became concerned for the Captain. She wasn’t sure this was the best time for the fitting of his new leg. She had just gotten him out of bed, after all, just gotten him interested in something other than what had happened to him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to turn his attention back so quickly to his situation, back to his loss.
“For heaven’s sake, Eve, let the boy in the house,” the Captain shouted.
Evangeline opened the door and Ricky walked in. Trooper gave her greetings and then headed back to sit near the Captain.
The young man glanced over at the sofa, nodding at the two still seated. He didn’t seem to recognize Megan.
“So, you got me a new leg?” the Captain asked without getting up.
“Yes, sir,” Ricky answered. “It’s in the truck. I didn’t bring it in because I wanted to make sure it was okay to do the fitting this morning.”
“Good a time as any,” the Captain replied. “Eve, why don’t you take Megan and go get a cup of coffee at Twila’s?”
She was being asked to leave. Eve hesitated as Megan jumped to her feet. “Don’t you want me to stay and learn with you how to put it on?”
He was shaking his head before she even finished the question. “That’s not necessary,” he replied. “What did you say your name is, son?” he turned and asked the young man still standing near the door.
“Ricky,” he repeated.
“Ricky and I will figure this out together.” He winked at the visitor. “Man-to-man,” he added.
There was an awkward silence.
“Go on now,” the Captain instructed. “I’ll be fine. Get yourself one of those chocolate coffees you used to love.”
Megan grabbed Evangeline’s arm. “Where’s the keys to the truck?” she asked. “This’ll be my treat.”
Evangeline shook her head. She wasn’t sure it was the best idea to be away while the prosthetic was being fitted for the first time. She was anxious about what might happen if the Captain became angry or upset. She worried that she might need to stay just to help manage any outburst.
“Evangeline Louise Divine,” he said, his voice raised, “I said I’d be fine.”
She hesitated. “Okay,” she agreed. “We’ll be back in an hour. You know where to call if you need me.” She retrieved the two coats from the hooks by the door and the keys that were in a bowl on the kitchen counter, as well as a notepad. “We’ll be at the Java Junction,” she told Ricky as she carefully wrote down a number. “Call me if you need me,” she said, handing him the piece of paper.
“A mocha,” Megan exclaimed. “That’s even better than peach tea!”
Evangeline watched the two men carefully as Megan pulled her out of the house and down the front steps. The two of them got into the truck. Evangeline noticed the young man as he followed behind them and opened the back of the company van. She was driving away as she saw him pulling out a large, narrow box. The Captain’s new leg, she thought.
“Why are you so worried about him?” Megan asked as they stopped at the end of the driveway before Evangeline pulled out onto the dirt road.
She shook her head. “He’s just so hard to get along with,” she responded as she carefully made the turn toward town.
“What? No,” Megan said. “He’s just a big teddy bear.”
Evangeline turned to look at her passenger and then turned back to watch the road.
Megan smoothed down the front of her tight jeans. “Does this mean he’ll keep my case?” she asked. “And that you’ll help him?”
Evangeline hadn’t thought of this. “Didn’t you get a lawyer?” she asked.
“Sure,” Megan replied. “I got one of those as soon as Jack told me to.”
Evangeline drove a few miles, signaled, and made the turn into the parking lot of the coffee shop. It was almost lunchtime, well after the morning coffee rush, and there were lots of open spaces.
“Do you think you’ll take the case?” Megan asked again.
Evangeline put the truck in park and turned off the engine. She waited a second. There was something else bothering her about the question from the young woman. She realized it wasn’t just about the Captain. She was being enlisted to do detective work. Had that been what she’d really had in mind when she asked Megan to visit?
She shook her head. “Megan, I’m not a detective,” she replied.
“I know. You’re a nun,” she responded. “But you and your dad seem to work well together, and I know he’d love to have your help. Besides, the lawyer can only do so much. He can’t find out what really happened to Chaz, who really killed him. I need Jackson to work on this. I need you both.”
Evangeline opened the door and stepped out of the truck. The young woman followed suit.
“Look, Megan, maybe I made a mistake asking you to come to Madrid.” She walked around the truck where the young woman waited. She touched her arm. “I thought your story might get the Captain out of bed, give him something to get interested in, and it seemed to work.” She dropped her hand. “But I’m not sure I thought this through well enough. He’s not one hundred percent,” she explained. “He’s got to learn to walk again.” She shook her head. “Maybe this isn’t the time.”
Megan di
dn’t respond right away. She pulled her lipstick out of her purse, blotted her lips with the color. “Maybe you’re right,” she agreed, placing the tube back in the front pocket of her leather purse. “And I don’t want to push your father too hard before he’s ready.” She glanced around the parking lot. It seemed she wanted to say something else but was unclear how to move forward.
Evangeline noticed the hesitation. “What is it, Megan?” she asked.
“Well, I’m not sure it’s really my place to talk about this.” She paused, shifted her weight from side to side, fidgeted with her purse. “Sister Evangeline, how much do you know about your father’s …” She paused again.
Evangeline was interested. She waited.
“Your father’s financial situation?”
Evangeline didn’t know what she expected to hear, but it wasn’t this question. She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. Not much, I guess.”
“I think I found out something that you might not know, that he doesn’t know I know.” Megan looked apprehensive. She seemed unsure if she should continue.
“Yes?” Eve asked.
“Eve, I don’t know how to tell you this.”
Evangeline was getting impatient. She was about to tell the young woman to quit stalling and to spit it out but instead just bit her bottom lip. Wait, she told herself. Be patient.
“Eve,” Megan tried again, “I’m pretty sure the Captain is broke.”
TWENTY-NINE
“Hey, Sister!” Twila was walking toward the front counter from the rear of the shop. She set the two large cans of coffee she was carrying on the bottom shelf behind her.
“Hello, Twila,” Eve responded, reaching her hand across the counter between them. She had not replied to Megan’s announcement about the Captain’s possible dire financial situation. She had simply turned away from the conversation and walked into the coffee shop.
The woman grabbed the outstretched arm, pulling Evangeline around the counter.
Twila was a large woman and strong. She gave her friend a big hug, finishing it off with a couple of slaps on the back. “You on your bike?” She glanced out the window.
