A Case of You

by Rick Blechta

  Shannon shook her head disgustedly. “We have to share this information with Palmer, you know. I told him I wouldn’t hold out on him, and I keep my promises.”

  Both women were silent while they thought about the situation.

  Jackie spoke first. “Do you think it’s wise to tell Palmer about the California connection?”

  Shannon made no immediate response. “You’re assuming that being involved with Olivia was the reason for Maggie’s murder. From what I’ve gathered, Palmer is going with the prostitution angle. If he’s working that, then he’s looking for a john she might have been shaking down, or one who was worried she might be indiscreet, or maybe just some crazy.

  That’s assuming the idiot isn’t still trying to pin it on Curran.” “But if we use my hypothesis, then telling Palmer about Sunnyvale and its connection to Maggie could put Olivia in danger.”

  “Why would the people running Sunnyvale want Maggie dead?”

  “I don’t have an answer for that.”

  With a heavy sigh and shake of her head, Shannon said,“I hate these moral dilemmas.”

  “Why don’t we see what Curran wants to do before calling Palmer? If he decides he knows all he wants to know, then we’re off the hook.”

  “He’s already given us the go-ahead to keep working on this. Sure, I can warn Palmer about protecting Olivia, but will he do it? He’ll go for the arrest if the trail leads there, and that will be his sole concern, if I know him.” She shook her head again. “Shit!”

  As she fumed over what Jackie had done, Shannon also decided to use the conference area of her office for the meeting with Curran. Trouble was, it was a mess. Since she was already angry with Jackie, she told her to clean it up.

  After that was done, she threw Jackie her car keys.“Go to the restaurant down the road and get them to make up a tray of sandwiches. I don’t think I could face another Timbit. I want some cream for the coffee, too. Edible oil won’t cut it today, either. And don’t forget to wash out three coffee mugs when you get back. They’re looking pretty disgusting.”

  As her employee went out the door, Shannon said a few rather unladylike things under her breath.

  “So that’s what we’ve come up with as far as Maggie goes,” Shannon said as she sipped a rather good mug of coffee. Jackie had taken it upon herself to find a decent roast. Where in this industrial wasteland, she had no idea.

  The meeting had been going on for over an hour, during which time Shannon had laid out everything they now knew. Curran, staring at the wall above her head, seemed lost in thought.“It certainly makes me feel a lot more sorry for her than I did,” he finally said.“Maggie had a pretty awful life.”

  Shannon remained silent until her client looked at her. “Andy, how far do you want to take this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you came to me, you said you just wanted to find out what happened to Olivia. I think we’ve answered that question pretty thoroughly. Do you really want to go on? This is the point where it’s liable to get real expensive, real fast.”

  She let him think about that while she got busy gathering up the papers on the table while Jackie laid out the food.

  Finally, he spoke. “I can’t get rid of the vision of those bastards shoving Olivia into that car, taking her back to somewhere she doesn’t want to be. Despite what you’ve found out, I think she’s a good person. Do you remember the last thing she said to my daughter when she called was, ‘Tell your daddy I’m sorry’?”

  “I remember.”

  “When I first came to you, I said I was ready to borrow against my house if necessary. That offer stands.”

  “In that case, how much money you spend depends on what results you want.”

  “What I want...” Curran repeated, then zoned out again as he looked vacantly down at a paper he’d picked up.

  Jackie, after a nod from her boss, poured more coffee.“So what’s the verdict, Andy?” she asked impatiently.

  Shannon looked at her sharply but nodded at Curran when he looked up at her.

  “I just want to make sure that Olivia is okay,” he said almost to himself. “From all I’ve heard, she probably needs to be in that institution.”

  Goode shifted uncomfortably. “Can we be certain of that?”

  “Jackie,” her boss said warningly.

  “No, I think this needs to be said. I’ve looked at all the documents over a dozen times, and I have questions about what happened. First and foremost, though, the whole thing is just too damn convenient. The mother dies, the father dies, the son is murdered and the daughter is committed. Who wins in that situation? The stepmother. Am I the only one bothered by that fact?”

  Shannon held up her hand. “Don’t you think the police investigating the brother’s murder would have considered it?”

  “With the amount of money up for grabs, don’t you think people can be bought off?”

  Shannon, sticking up for law enforcement, answered tightly, “Things don’t necessarily work like that.”

  The effect of her words on her junior operative was galvanic. “You don’t know shit!” she snarled, then turned on her heel and walked right out of the building, flinging the outside glass door shut with enough force that Shannon thought it might shatter.

  Clearly, something was very wrong, but that didn’t excuse the way Goode had behaved in front of a client. A lot of the excellent work Jackie had done on this case had just been wiped out by her inability to control her temper. An operative who couldn’t keep a lid on personal issues was worse than useless. She was dangerous.

  “I’m sorry about my employee’s outburst,” she said to Curran and covered for Goode with a bit of a white lie. “She’s been under a lot of pressure lately.”

  Whether he believed that or not, Curran nodded. “We should find out if Olivia was given a square deal.”

  The detective felt as if she needed to be blunt. “I fully realize there’s a romantic complication to this situation. If riding to Olivia’s rescue is the motivation behind your decision, I should warn you it’s a bad reason to go down this road. I’ve read the same reports Jackie has, plus I spoke to the one reporter who aggressively went after the murder story. My conclusion is that Olivia is a very troubled person. You should get yourself ready to be very disappointed.”

  “Do it anyway.” He sighed. “You’re right about her being troubled. I know that. Really, I do, but there’s also what she can do with her voice. You listened to the CD I gave you?”

  Shannon nodded.

  “And what did you think?”

  “It was...overwhelming.”

  “That sort of talent deserves to be shared, not locked away in some institution.” He stood up.“I also firmly believe Olivia’s calling to me for help. And I won’t let her down.”

  So there they were, her marching orders. “I’m going to need more money from you.As I said, this is where it’s going to get expensive. Someone is going to have to go to California, New York and maybe Florida.”

  “I can write you a cheque for four thousand, but that’ll clean out my bank accounts. Will that cover it for the moment? I’ll go see my bank manager tomorrow about a loan or a mortgage, if needed.”

  “Four thousand will do just fine.” She got up, then noticed the sandwiches. “I guess this meeting got a little sidetracked. Want to take one for the road?

  Curran took three. Musicians, she thought with a shake of her head. No matter what, you can always count on them taking free food.

  Working on the hunch that she hadn’t gone far, Shannon found Jackie Goode about three blocks away, sitting on the curb, head down. She pulled up, crossed the road and sat down next to the woman.

  “Want to tell me about it?”

  Goode didn’t look up. “I got screwed by the cops once, totally hung out to dry. I never talk about it to anyone, just try to keep it out of my mind, but my father... he was a real piece of work. A man’s man, they all called him.”

  “He abus
ed you?”

  “Oh, yeah. Used to beat all of us up, too, when he felt like it. I finally worked up the courage to take it to the local RCMP detachment. They didn’t believe me. I was stunned. You see, they all knew my father, didn’t think he was capable of something like that. Next thing I know, he’s down at the cop shop, and I’m getting grilled as if I’d done something wrong! It was sick.” She had her arms wrapped around herself tightly, rocking. “I’ve never been so scared.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Fourteen.”

  Shannon put an arm around her. “I’m so sorry I made this all surface.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “And your father?”

  “Dead. Heart attack. Serves him right.”

  “And the rest of your family?”

  “Mom’s dead, and my brother ran away, too. I never heard from him again.”

  “Friends? A significant other?”

  “Three friends. Two of them have moved away in the last year.” Jackie sniffed once. “I really blew it, didn’t I?”

  Deciding that bluntness was best, Shannon answered, “Yes. I’ve got to be able to trust the people who work for me, Jackie. You know, ‘all for one’ and all that bullshit.”

  “I really wanted this job.” She sniffed again. “Me and my goddamn big mouth...”

  Shannon stood up. “Come on. My bum is getting cold sitting on the curb. Let’s go back to the office.” Jackie still didn’t get up. “Okay?”

  Goode shuffled across the street, head down, and once in the SUV, sat with her body twisted towards the side window.

  Inside the office, Shannon handed her a sandwich and commanded, “Eat. You’ll feel better.”

  Jackie looked up and managed a wan smile. “You sound like a mother.”

  “I am. Got two great kids. Robbie’s thirteen, and Rachel is about to be eighteen going on thirty.” She looked into the distance. “I had a husband once, too. I thought he was the love of my life. Found out he liked sleeping around on me. I actually caught him in one of our investigations, and it was damned painful.”

  “But now you’re seeing Quicksilver,” Jackie said, using Michael’s stage moniker.

  “You have done your homework, I see.”

  “I remember reading it in the paper. Kit Mason is one of the friends I mentioned. She told me all about him.”

  “It never fails to surprise me how incestuous the music business is.” Picking up half a tuna sandwich, Shannon took a bite. “I told Curran one of us is going to have to go to California.”

  Jackie’s eyes registered shock. “You’re not showing me the door?”

  Shannon met her eyes and held them. “Not yet, but I’m going to have to give this a lot of thought.”

  The other woman nodded solemnly.

  That night, instead of putting in some much-needed time on her business’s books, as she’d set out to do, Shannon wasted most of the evening mulling over how best to skin this cat that was Curran’s case.

  Around ten, her mother came into the kitchen to find her daughter drumming her fingers and staring off into space.

  “Would you like a cup of tea, dear?”

  “As long as you’re making one for yourself.”

  After putting the kettle on, her mom sat down across the table. “Troublesome case?”

  “I just can’t make up my mind which way to jump on this one,” Shannon said disgustedly, “and it’s driving me nuts.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “Not so much what to do as who should do what.”

  “And the issue is?”

  “I’ve taken on a new operative, and she’s turning out to be a bit of a loose cannon. I don’t know if I can trust her to exercise good judgment all the time.”

  “Can you use one of your other people?”

  “They’re all busy with their own assignments, and I can’t move them. To top it off, one is about to leave on vacation. My problem child is the only person I can spare.”

  The kettle’s shrill note interrupted, and Shannon watched her mom prepare the tea, always done with a proper teapot and china cups.

  “Which is the more critical thing that needs doing?” the grey-haired woman asked over her shoulder.

  Shannon was at least clear on that. “Interviewing people involved with the family at the centre of the case and poking around in a sixyear-old murder investigation. That part would be pretty delicate.”

  “You should handle that.” Mother handed daughter a cup and saucer then pushed some bank statements aside to place a small plate of homemade cookies between them. “What’s the other job?”

  “Go out to California and poke around at an institution that specializes in problems of the rich and famous. It could possibly be dangerous. I might be way off base, but someone employed by them could be responsible for that murder in the east end last week.”

  “This loose cannon you’re speaking about, I once knew a young lady whose father described her in exactly those terms and was constantly worried about her, God rest his soul.” The older woman smiled. “And look how she’s turned out.”

  “Yes, and her bad judgment almost got her children killed, not to mention herself and her boyfriend.”

  “We all make mistakes.”

  “But in this business, they can turn deadly in a second.”

  “Just trust your good sense.”

  “That’s been in short supply lately.”

  Shannon flashed a tight smile as she came to her decision. After Jackie had ticked her boss off this morning, it was certain she would be doubly careful next time out. But what if she weren’t?

  ***

  As she sat at the kitchen table in her tiny apartment that night, Jackie felt like crawling into a hole and dying. She couldn’t remember having endured such a bad day in a long, long time.

  With a bottle of beer getting warm on the table in front of her, Jackie sat thinking about what had happened that morning – and why.

  She could have sworn she’d put aside the traumas of her childhood, but today’s outburst had shown that to be a crock. Where had it come from? Her mouth had been in gear before she’d even had a chance to realize what she was saying.

  The most logical explanation was the way Olivia had been taken advantage of, since she was incapable of defending herself. Because of her own background, that sort of thing had always made Jackie’s blood boil. Coupled with the fact that her boss seemed to be blindly accepting of what the cops had concluded about Olivia’s brother’s murder, Jackie had just lost it.

  What really frightened her was that she had no control over it.

  Picking up the beer, she turned it in her hand, staring but not seeing it, then swallowed a mouthful. It tasted like cat piss. She slammed the bottle down, then swept it off the table, where it shattered all over the floor.

  “Ah, fuck it!” she said and put her forehead down on her arm.

  A few minutes later, her cell phone rang. Retrieving it from her coat pocket, she flipped it open. “Yeah?”

  “Jackie, it’s Shannon. Is your passport up-to-date?”

  Chapter 11

  It felt quite strange being back in my house, knowing that numerous strangers had trooped through it in my absence. Everything in the kitchen was exactly the way I’d left it, though, including the carton of half and half, which reeked and came out as lumpy sludge when I dumped it into the sink.

  While getting my drums out of the car, I ran into Bennett, who was just arriving home, a different beautiful lady on his arm. What was this guy’s secret?

  “Andy! I was wondering when you’d show up again.” Turning to his lady friend, he handed her his keys. “Karen, how about going inside and getting comfortable? I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Don’t be long,” she said.

  “How’d you make out with Howard?” Bennett asked.

  Howard Heller was the lawyer he’d hooked me up with when the police decided they wanted to pry into my life.

>   “He did the job,” I answered, weary of everything and aware Bennett wanted to know more. “Thanks for your help. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

  He clapped me on the back. “Sure, sure. Anyway, I have to be getting inside,” he added.

  Back in the kitchen, I took just about everything out of the fridge and dumped it in the garbage. Tonight, I’d order out and do a big shopping trip in the morning.

  Later, I poured myself a large snifter of brandy that I’d bought on the way home and sat in the living room, lonely and very blue. None of my favourite musical companions – Coltrane, Brownie, Lennie Tristano – had anything to say to me.

  By ten o’clock, tired of sitting in the dark, I went upstairs, another large brandy in my hand. Warning voices told me I shouldn’t be doing this, but tonight I felt I had to. Instead of going to my own room, I went to Olivia’s and lay down on the mattress on the floor. With her reading lamp focused on the wall behind me, I looked up at her starry sky, arms under my head. By some trick, she’d managed to make the stars seem like they were twinkling, or maybe that was the effect of too much brandy. I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.

  For tonight, it was enough that they twinkled.

  Next morning, I woke up in my own bed with a head the size of a bass drum, and a throbbing backbeat to drive the point home. Before taking the pledge, I’d woken up many mornings feeling like this, not sure how I’d gotten into bed. Somehow, back then it hadn’t seemed quite so bad. I thought that it was because I was out of practice, but knew I could never go down that path again.

  If anything could be said to have sent Sandra looking for comfort with another man, it would have been that. The really ironic thing about the collapse of our marriage was that I’d stopped drinking a good six months before it had happened.

  Shortly after ten, Shannon phoned. “I’m at the airport, waiting to board a plane for New York. Jackie is heading out to California later today. I figure I’ll be gone two, maybe three days.”

  “And Ms Goode?” I answered in what I thought was a neutral tone voice, but she immediately sussed out the way I felt.