When they got to the hospital, Marcus went to the waiting room while Carolyn headed to the nurse’s station. “Please, if you see a young black man anywhere near Jude Campbell’s room, call 911.” She gave them a full description of Reggie Stockton, and told them that he’d just been released from jail. The charge nurse, April Cooksey, said she’d tell the other nurses and place a note in Jude’s chart.
“Is Dr. Samuels here?”
“He just left,” Cooksey said, a black woman in her fifties. “Jude had a rough day today. He changed her pain medication to Delaudin. It seems to be helping. Dr. Samuels said her arm is healing nicely.”
Delaudin was a powerful narcotic, generally used to treat cancer patients. It was also similar to heroin. Carolyn started to say something about Jude’s drug problem, but stopped herself. With what she’d gone through, she deserved whatever comfort she could get.
Carolyn quietly entered her room. Jude appeared to be sleeping, so she just sat there in a chair, lost in her thoughts. If Drew had abused Jude, as her diary clearly implied, why had he been the first person she’d asked for? And she’d turned herself into an object of contempt when she’d changed her story that day at the DA’s office. How could she have wanted the person who killed her mother to go free?
Reggie Stockton was the murderer.
The more she thought about it, the more fantasies she developed about killing him. She stared out over the dimly lit room as she began to formulate a plan. Gary Conrad was tailing him. Hopefully, he hadn’t lost him. She could call Gary on his cell phone, find out where Stockton was, and tell him Hank had called off the surveillance. Then she could corner Stockton somewhere and shoot him.
Carolyn wanted Stockton dead, but she didn’t want to go to prison. It wouldn’t be fair to Marcus or Rebecca, let alone her son, John, who would be coming home from MIT for Thanksgiving next month. All these happy events she’d planned to celebrate with her new husband and family no longer seemed important. She felt trapped in a dark, bottomless pit, where grotesque images kept clicking off inside her head like a slide show. Veronica’s round, pretty face was now a hideous death mask. She saw Haley Snodgrass’s hands shaped into claws, and could almost hear her pitiful cries as her killer covered her with dirt. She imagined Jude’s bloody, severed arm, and remembered Drew’s gratitude that she had picked him up from jail.
The police had found no signs of forced entry at the house. Jude probably had a garage door opener inside her Taurus, or Stockton had stolen Drew’s key the night Jude overdosed. Carolyn had given her key to Drew, so his key must have been somewhere inside the house. According to Hank and Mary, it wasn’t there after his murder.
Stockton had found opportunities to kill everywhere he went. He’d even used Veronica’s gun. How many lives had this despicable man destroyed?
Someone had to stop him.
Carolyn needed a clean gun, but she couldn’t walk into a gun store and buy one. Many cops had “throw down” pieces, guns they carried on the off chance that they shot an unarmed person. They’d place the weapon in the person’s hands, so his fingerprints would be found, thereby substantiating the use of deadly force. Generally the police officers strapped their “throw down” gun to their leg, or some other inconspicuous place on their body.
Her plan had too many holes in it. Everyone knew how she felt about Stockton, including Lou Redfield. Besides, she wasn’t a cop, so she doubted if Gary Conrad would abandon his assignment without first checking with Hank.
Carolyn had always believed in the system. She had despised people like the former forensic scientist, Robert Abernathy, who had made a mockery of it. She didn’t mind stepping outside the rules on occasion, but killing someone didn’t fall into that category. What she had to do was figure out a way to trick Stockton into confessing and then recording it. The problem was she didn’t know how she could manage it without violating his rights, which would make the confession inadmissible.
She wanted Stockton to be processed through the proper channels, but the proper channels had washed their hands of him. There appeared no other way to stop him except to kill him.
“Hi,” Jude said in a soft voice. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long,” Carolyn said, taking up a position beside the bed. “How’s the pain, honey? I heard the doctor put you on some new medicine.”
“Better,” she said. “It still hurts really bad, though. The doctor said he couldn’t give me anything stronger without putting me back in a coma. Is Reggie going to prison?”
Carolyn couldn’t force herself to tell her.
“They didn’t believe you, did they?” she said, seeing the answer in Carolyn’s eyes. “I was afraid that might happen.”
“Jude, what happened to your Taurus? Does Reggie have it? Is that the car he hit you with?”
“Yeah,” she said, the drugs causing her to slur her words. “The bastard stole it from my house when my dad was in jail. I wanted it back when I took off so I’d have a way to get around. I called Reggie and he promised to bring it to my house. He never showed up. That’s when I overdosed. I used the money I stole from Rebecca to buy the heroin. I felt bad about what I’d done to my father. I was also sad about my mother.”
“But why would you call Reggie?” Carolyn said, her voice harsher than she intended. “He beat you, used you. You also told me you were certain he killed your mother.”
“I wanted my car back,” Jude told her. “I don’t make rational decisions, okay? I’ve been living in a fantasy world my whole life. I can talk myself into something, then talk myself out of it in an hour. I thought I was in love with Reggie, so maybe I was in that kind of mood. I get weird when I’m alone. Leave me alone too long, and I’ll open the door to Hannibal Lector. That’s the way it was for me with sex, too.”
Was she saying she was a pathological liar? Carolyn wondered. “But you had two brothers and a sister. I would think it would be the other way around, that you’d want some privacy.”
“I’m almost eleven years older than Stacy. Since Mom and Dad both worked, they left me with this crazy old lady. All she did was read the Bible to me. Mom had to take me to a shrink because I kept having nightmares about the devil. That’s why she decided to have another kid. Dad didn’t want any more. I know because I heard them fighting all the time about it.”
Carolyn recalled what Drew had told her about Jude dislocating Stacy’s leg when she’d been an infant. Although she probably would have been as upset as Veronica and Drew, children did foolish things. “I’m going to ask you something, Jude,” she said, her tone firm. “You must swear on your life that you’re telling me the truth. This isn’t a game, just something to entertain you while you’re convalescing. If you’re lying now, there could be terrible consequences.”
Jude smiled. “What are you going to do, cut off my other arm?”
Carolyn knew she had to be firm with her. “The drug they’re giving you for pain is extremely strong. Are you alert enough to answer my questions, or should I come back some other time?”
“They’re giving me Delaudin. I know it’s like heroin. They even sell it on the street. It doesn’t really make you feel good like heroin, or maybe it’s because I hurt so much. Anyway, I have a high tolerance for narcotics. Ask me anything you want. I like you, Carolyn. You’re the only person who’s come to visit me. You didn’t even hold it against me that I stole Marcus’s Jeep and the money from Rebecca’s room.”
Carolyn sucked in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Is every thing you told me about Reggie the truth?”
“I swear,” Jude said, locking eyes with her. “I swear on Peter, Michael, and Stacy’s life. They were the only ones who ever really loved me.”
“Why would Reggie kill your father?”
“Because if the police didn’t believe my dad did it,” the girl told her, “they might figure out he killed my mom. He said Louisiana prisons weren’t the same as California prisons, that they even had chain gangs, whate
ver that means.”
“Tell me precisely what happened the night you were hit by the car, from the time you left the district attorney’s office.”
Jude stared up at the ceiling. “I didn’t have any money or anywhere to stay, so I clipped that court reporter’s wallet when she wasn’t looking. I got lost inside the building. When I found a door that would open, I saw the entrance to the jail. I didn’t know the jail was back there. I freaked, thinking I was going to run into my dad.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I got a cash advance on the American Express card.”
“How? Don’t you need a PIN?”
“I’m not a thief,” Jude told her. “But things like that aren’t hard to figure out. I had the lady’s driver’s license, so I tried her birthday and it worked. Then I decided to buy the airline tickets. I used the computer at the library. I couldn’t make up my mind where to go, so I bought tickets to different places. They were first class, so I knew I could trade them in for other tickets, or maybe sell them.” Jude stopped and asked Carolyn for a drink of water. She stared at her bandaged arm. “I’m going to look like Frankenstein, aren’t I?”
“You’ll be fine,” Carolyn told her. “You’ll have a scar but you can cover it up with long-sleeve shirts. Try to stay focused on what you did that evening.”
“I took a nap at the library,” she said. “After they closed, I went to see if I could buy some dope and get high. I was hanging around on Dos Caminos where I’d scored in the past when I saw Reggie coming up the street in my Taurus. I jumped out and waved my arms to get him to stop. He saw me ’cause I looked right at him. The last thing I remember is the headlights.”
“And this is the God’s honest truth?”
“Yes,” she said. “How many times are you going to ask me?”
“If someone killed Reggie, how would you feel?”
“Good,” Jude said without a moment’s hesitation. “I’d like to kill the fucker myself, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Are you going to kill him? Is that why you’re asking me all these questions?”
“Of course not,” Carolyn lied, staring at a spot over her head. “I don’t believe people should take the law into their own hands. I just wanted to see how you’d react. I believed you when you told me your father abused you. How can I be sure you’re not lying about Reggie?”
“I’m not the same person I was then,” Jude said, her slender fingers curling around the bed railing. “I’d do anything to change things. I deserved to have my arm cut off for saying my dad did those horrible things to me. I loved my mom and dad. I just wish they’d loved me.”
Such a sad story, Carolyn thought, leaning over and stroking her cheek. She felt something wet, and realized Jude was crying. It didn’t matter that she was eighteen and legally an adult. Even ten years from now, she would still be a child without a parent. Carolyn waited until she fell asleep, then headed to the waiting room to find Marcus.
“Where have you been?” Mary Stevens said when Carolyn answered her cell phone.
“Marcus and I are having dinner at the Chart House,” she told her. “I turned my phone off at the hospital. I just turned it back on. What’s going on?”
“We found Jude’s car. It was parked in the driveway of an unoccupied house on the west side of town. Forensics said it’s definitely been in an accident. Stockton must have cleaned it, but they found blood on the right side of the front wheel. We also found a fingerprint that came back to Stockton on the passenger door panel.”
Carolyn placed her palm on her forehead, then stood and walked out of the restaurant without saying so much as a word to Marcus. She felt as if she’d just been granted a reprieve on a death sentence. “Did you talk to Redfield?”
“Yes,” the detective said. “You’re not going to like what he said, Carolyn.”
“Tell me.”
“He still refused to file murder charges against Stockton. He even took it to the top. He said all we’ve established is that the car was used in the hit-and-run. Since Stockton and Jude know each other, it doesn’t prove anything that his print was found in the car. If it had been found on the steering wheel, we would have a better case.”
Carolyn was so enraged, she began hyperventilating. Marcus stepped up beside her, but she stared right through him and turned away. “These people are insane!” she shouted. “Stockton’s already on the street. You can’t tail him forever. He may commit another murder. He might even come after me or a member of my family.”
“Redfield said to wait until forensics finishes processing the car to see if we can come up with more evidence that links back to Stockton. If you want to blame someone, blame Sean Exley. Since he’s been running the DA’s office, we’ve encountered these kinds of problems on a regular basis. Exley has political aspirations. He won’t file on any case he can’t win. Redfield told you that, didn’t he? The county has the highest conviction rate in the state. Exley wants to use that as a platform to become mayor.”
“Tell Redfield that I demand my rights as a citizen,” Carolyn said, her voice shaking. “I want Stockton arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.” She was walking around in a circle, flailing her arms around. Since she was only a few feet from the front door to the restaurant, people were staring at her and whispering. “I’ll swear under oath that it was Stockton who attacked me. I’ll even swear I saw his face.”
“That’s a no go,” Mary told her. “I mentioned it to Redfield. He agreed to do it until he read the police report. He threatened to charge you with falsifying information if you did something like that. Try to see it from their perspective. The county is still paying off settlements because of Abernathy.”
“Let me go,” Carolyn said, her voice trailing off in despair. “I’m going to drown myself.”
“Don’t say stupid things like that,” Mary shot back. “You’re a big girl. On my side of the tracks, we run into problems like this all the time. You’re just used to getting these guys after they’ve been convicted. Welcome to the wonderful world of police work. Now go back and eat your damn dinner. That handsome man you’re engaged to is going to find someone else if you don’t start paying him some attention.”
Marcus held up her purse. “You left this under the table.”
“I’m sorry,” Carolyn said, disconnecting and explaining what had happened. “What about our dinner?”
In his other hand was a takeout bag. “We can finish eating at the house. If we don’t get out of here, they’re going to sic the dogcatcher on us. You’re scaring the customers away.”
Carolyn lay awake beside Marcus until she was certain he was asleep, then snuck out to call Emily. In protest against cell phones and being forced to listen to other people’s conversations like she’d done to the customers of the Chart House, Marcus had installed an old-fashioned telephone booth in the hallway. This was one of the things she liked best about the house. No matter how close you were to the people you lived with, everyone occasionally wanted to have a private conversation. She opened it and stepped inside, pulling the folding door closed behind her. It was after eleven, but she didn’t care.
A groggy voice came on the line. “Emily Robinson.”
Carolyn identified herself and filled her in on the situation with Jude, as well as the funeral plans she was arranging. “You need to be here, Emily.”
“As soon as you set a date for the funeral, I’ll book a flight. I thought Veronica wanted to be cremated. You spent more time with her in recent years than I did, so maybe she just said that to save money. I don’t think the kids should come. They need to put this behind them.”
“I didn’t mean just for the funeral,” Carolyn told her. “You need to be here for Jude. You’re her aunt. I’m just a friend of the family. She needs to see the kids as well. Surely the judge will grant you a postponement if you explain the situation.”
Emily’s voice rose to a shrill level. “Jesus Christ, I can’t do everything. My apartm
ent looks like a frigging nursery school. I can’t even walk there’s so much junk in here. I’m trying to settle up with the insurance company. Once I get the money, I’ll buy a house outside the city. All three of the kids are sick with the flu. As soon as I mop up one barf, another one throws up. The nanny I hired quit yesterday. Now that I’m in trial, I need my assistant to run the office, not be stuck here babysitting. I had to get the older kids enrolled in school and in therapy. It’s been a nightmare. I can’t stop everything and fly to LA to sit with Jude. I hardly know the girl. Just do whatever you can. No one’s expecting you to turn into Mother Teresa.”
Hank had certainly pegged Emily right, Carolyn thought. He’d said she would go after the money, buy a big house, and hire nannies. “Go back to sleep, Emily,” she said. “I’m sorry I called.”
“Don’t lay a guilt trip on me,” the woman shouted. “I’m trying to cope with the fact that my sister was murdered. To be perfectly honest, I’m afraid to come to LA. Think about it. Both my sister and her husband have been killed. Someone maimed my niece. How do I know they won’t come after me? And wouldn’t I be irresponsible if I brought three young children into this nightmare? I haven’t even told them their father is dead, let alone what happened to their sister’s arm. Cut me some slack or I’m going to put them up for adoption.”
Carolyn had her head pressed against the glass as she listened to Emily rant. When the dial tone came on, she realized the woman had hung up on her.
She went back to bed and tried to sleep. After thrashing around for an hour, she got up and put on her robe, padding barefoot on the wood floors to the kitchen.
She opened the Sub-Zero refrigerator and felt a blast of cold air. There were bowls full of fresh fruit, and all kinds of vegetables. She slammed the door closed. Who wanted to eat vegetables? What she needed was chocolate. Marcus didn’t allow it in the house because he considered it junk food. He said if it was there, even he might be tempted to eat it. He was a health nut, and took pride in his appearance. Sometimes she thought the roles had been reversed. While women were serving as CEOs of major corporations and working under enormous stress, with barely enough time to take care of the kind of things that were absolutely necessary, such as showering, shaving their legs, or every now and then getting their hair cut, men were buying expensive clothes, obsessing about their weight and what they ate, having manicures, and getting their hair dyed. She missed the good old boys. There was something warm and cuddly about a guy with a beer belly. So what if they guzzled booze and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day? A good old boy would bring her boxes of chocolate.
Revenge of Innocents Page 31
