by Pam Richter
"So he really did it," Julia said.
"I have the eye witness accounts." He picked up his briefcase and put it on the table in front of them, snapping the locks open. "I'll show you some of the evidence, although I'm not supposed to. But you are closest relative of the deceased. You wanted the case about your brother investigated, so we could say that Robin was working for you. This is some of the evidence he collected."
He opened the briefcase and handed Julia the copy of an interrogation. "That's one of the nurses who was on the floor." As Julia started to read the report about an intensive care nurse noticing a small dark man in a orderly's uniform that she had never seen before in her hospital, Tony interrupted.
"Well! Congratulations, Julia!"
She looked at him, surprised, when he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "What?"
"He's been keeping that ring in his pocket for the last couple of weeks. We all told him he was crazy to carry it around like that. It's far too valuable. But I'm so glad, for both of you."
"No," Julia said, looking at the ring in shock. "This isn't real?"
"What do you mean?" Tony asked, gazing back at her with equal surprise.
Julia was still staring at the ring in dazed astonishment. "It's a fake ring. I know it is."
"Oh, no." Tony was looking at her in anguish. "Oh, please don't tell me you thought it was fake? Cause if I jumped the gun here, Robin's going to kill me."
"He would never kill his best friend," Julia said mechanically, still staring at the gorgeous ring. "It can't be real. It just can't be. Robin even made a joke about it. Said it would turn my finger green. It's as fake as his cheating heart."
Tony was shaking his head, distraught. "First there was the wager you found out about. Now this...about the ring. He'll never speak to me again."
"You mean this is a real diamond?" Julia asked, looking at him in confused surprise.
"Several real diamonds," Tony said, dismally. He sounded like he was giving dire predictions of the end of the earth. "The yellow ones are very rare."
"Oh, my God." She looked at Tony. "I don't believe it."
"I am up shit creek without a paddle," Tony said. "I've ruined the whole thing and he'll never forgive me."
Robin's heart was as fake as the diamond, Julia was thinking. It felt like she had sticky candy cotton in her brain. She couldn't fully grasp the facts as she gazed into the gigantic middle diamond, as though mesmerized. And the diamond was real!
Julia could hardly catch her breath and her heart was thumping away like mad in her chest. She could hear it pounding in her ears. It made a thundering noise. She immediately burst into tears of relief, covering her face with her hands. She was so happy she felt she could float like a balloon right through the ceiling; as though she had chugged far too many glasses of champagne far too fast.
Then she had a terrifying thought. Maybe the diamond really wasn't for her. Robin had put it on her finger under duress. To keep Quijada from hurting her.
"Ah, now I've made you sad," Tony said, patting her back softly, like he was burping a baby. "You really don't care for him?"
"No. No!" Julia said urgently, wiping away her tears. "Are you sure this ring's for me? That it isn't supposed to go to someone else?"
"Are you crazy? He's been miserable since you left. Absolutely intolerable to be around. Totally insufferable, to tell the truth. And then he showed the ring to me, after he bought it, and asked me what I thought. If you would like it. Course it's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. So I said I thought you would like it. As an understatement, you know? And he muttered, Thanks for the opinion. But he seemed to be uncertain that it would fit or something. He was kind of anxious."
Julia threw her arms around Tony and hugged him tight. Then she started smiling. "You and Robin had a secret bet about me. Now you and I will have a secret together, too. And we won't tell Robin."
Tony nodded at Julia, who was still looking at the ring and smiling with a stunned expression on her face.
"Show time," he said.
She looked up and saw through the one-way glass that Robin and Jay were entering the room. It was like a movie theater. No one else was in that room for a while as they sat down and started putting legal documents on the table in front of them. Then a woman dressed in a police uniform went into the room. She had a dictating machine that she plugged into a wall socket. She sat down in a corner of the room, at a small desk, and set up the machine.
"The first interrogation is Mike Garcia," Tony whispered in Julia's ear. "His attorney has advised him to make a clean breast of the whole thing, hoping to plea bargain. If he's an accessory to murder he could get the death penalty, so he has nothing to lose by telling the truth. Hopefully, he'll incriminate Juan Carlos."
Tony became quiet again as they waited.
Mike Garcia was led into the room, hand-cuffed, with a hulking man she thought must be a prison guard in a dun colored suite. Another tall cadaverous man with a briefcase them in.
It was kind of surprising to hear them all talking suddenly. Everything had been quiet, like a silent movie. Julia hadn't expected to hear them all so clearly. Evidently there was some kind of audio equipment in the room where she and Tony were sitting that had just been turned on. There was also a videotape camera in a corner of the interrogation room and Julia saw the red light go on when the interview started.
"Can I take pictures?" Julia whispered to Tony.
"They might see a flash through the glass."
"This film is made for night photography. There won't be any flash."
"I don't see any reason why not then," Tony answered.
Julia nodded and set up the equipment on the desk.
As the interrogation started, Mike Garcia evidently had, indeed, decided to give a truthful version of what happened on the night of Brian Monay's nearly lethal beating. Mike looked sullen and defeated, like a hulking small-time thug, from his time in jail. He was not a loquacious or articulate fellow, so he slowly started describing how he and Juan Carlos had gone to the gardener's cottage where Brian had been living for a couple of months, writing Quijada's autobiography.
"I didn't know nothing about what was coming down that night. You gotta believe I'm innocent. See, when we went inside, Brian was working on his computer. He turned it off, real fast. Like he was hiding something. He kept working, though, filing papers and cleaning up his desk.
"We told him we just wanted to borrow a couple of beers because Quijada was out of brew in the main house. He said, 'Sure, go ahead.' I was making a racket in the kitchen and watched through the open door. Juan Carlos sort of crept up behind Brian and bashed him over the head with a short iron pipe. Man, was I surprised. He hit Brian real hard. Brian slipped right out of the chair to the floor."
As Julia listened to how the two men carried Brian's limp body out of the cottage to Juan Carlos's car, she couldn't bear sitting in one place. She paced back and forth behind the table, listening, while tears coursed down her face.
Tony got up, put an arm around her shoulders and walked with her as the grim narrative continued.
"Pete Estandos came out of the main house, got in the car, and we drove to East Los Angeles and stopped under this noisy freeway. Pete and Juan pulled Brian out of the car. He was conscious now, and struggling, but Pete held him while Juan Carlos beat him until they thought he must be dead. He hit him with his fists mostly. Kicked him some, too. Grisly, man. I didn't even watch most of it.
"Man, were we surprised when these two old winos came out from behind one of those concrete pilings that hold up the overpass. They started yelling at Juan and Pete to leave the poor kid alone. The two homeless guys were drunk and harmless, but Juan Carlos was afraid there were witnesses to the beating. That they might identify them.
"Juan and Pete picked up Brian and shoved him back in the car. He was bleeding, dead or unconscious. I drove them a few blocks away and Juan dumped Brian on the side of the road, like trash in the street. Then, to m
ake it look like a robbery, they took his wallet and watch. And his shoes.
"You gotta believe, I didn't know what was going down. I'm innocent. Was just doing a job, you know, driving the car."
Then he started in again, describing how the two other men had assaulted Brian in detail, in answer to specific and pointed questions from Jay and Robin.
Pete Estandos was brought into the interrogation room next. He was blond and handsome with large watery dark eyes. Julia took pictures of him through the glass.
His interrogation went quickly, as he had already been questioned. He was read the testimony given by Mike Garcia and he concurred that everything was correct. When Pete was asked who his orders came from, he said he had been following the orders of Juan Carlos. It was just a job. He said that he didn't hit Brian Monay, but held him down while Juan Carlos used his fists and kicked him.
Julia found it scary that such an innocent looking, handsome man could have performed such a horrendous act for money. She was shocked and horrified by the violent underworld that normal society knew nothing of, as Pete repeated again, in explicit and gory detail, how Brian Monay was assaulted.
"That's it," Tony burst out. "That's enough, Julia. You don't have to listen any more." He had been watching for the last fifteen minutes, and it was he who couldn't stand seeing her suffer. It was like watching slow, painful torture. "I don't know what Robin was thinking about. Bringing you here tonight."
Julia looked at Tony, her large eyes reddened from crying. "I knew what happened. I knew Brian was murdered. And I would have heard it all at the trial, eventually. This way is better. Robin warned me it would be painful."
Julia left to find a bathroom down the hallway to wash her face before they brought Juan Carlos in for the final interrogation of the night.
Tony sat in the viewing room, waiting for Julia to come back, and for the interrogation of Juan Carlos. He had been moved to tears himself, watching Julia cry, and he surreptitiously pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket to wipe his own eyes.
Robin burst into the room like a tornado. "Did you see that! We got Juan Carlos. And maybe Quijada, too."
Tony looked up at his best friend, who was positively radiating triumphant energy. "You fucking bastard," he said tonelessly.
"What's wrong? Where's Julia?"
"Probably crying her eyes out in the bathroom. You insensitive fuck."
Robin slumped as if he had suddenly deflated and pulled out a chair, sitting down. "I warned her it would be hard to listen to."
"Hard? Oh no," Tony said sarcastically. "It wasn't hard to hear that her only brother was brutally hit with pipes, fists and kicked senseless. Then left dying, bleeding, and having seizures on a filthy roadway. It was fucking torture you just put her through. You've been so close to the damned case that it's just a story. To her, it was like reliving the whole thing, blow by painful blow. Each time Garcia would describe how they hit her brother, Julia would let out a tiny moan, like she was feeling it herself."
"Poor thing," Robin said sadly. His voice was low. "But it would be worse to hear in court. At least now she knows the truth. At the trial they're going to bring out the photographs of her brother, when the police discovered him. I wanted to prepare her for that."
Tony glowered at him.
"When she found Brian at the hospital she saw him all bandaged up. She didn't see his head caved in by the blows. And all the blood. I know this is rough. And it's going to get worse at the trial."
Tony nodded again, but he was still glaring at Robin.
"She believed her brother was getting better, when he was in the hospital, but I don't think he would have survived. The beating is most important, because that's what really killed Brian. Juan Carlos just speeded up the process, when he tampered with the machines. Julia had to understand that. And, Tony, you're the best person I could ever find to be with her through this," Robin added sincerely. "I really appreciate it."
Tony sighed. "Sorry I yelled. It was just so sad. I thought she might faint dead away when Jay started questioning Pete Estandos. She was breathing so fast. Probably hyperventilating with the stress." He smiled for a brief instant. "She tried so hard not to cry."
"God, I better go find her," Robin said, jumping up and leaving the room.
Tony sat there, glad that he had spilled the beans and Julia knew Robin had not given her a fake ring.
Julia was splashing water in her face in a small one-stall, one-sink bathroom and really crying hard, now that she was alone. She knew that she had to get herself under control, so she could go back into that viewing room again and watch her brother's murderer go through his interrogation. But she couldn't seem to stop crying. Every time she would almost stop, the terrible scene in her mind would close in, as though an evil projectionist in her brain would not let her go.
Julia thought of her baby and pressed her abdomen gently, trying to picture the tiny curled infant inside, instead of the horrible scene of her brother being beaten. This type of painful emotion wouldn't be good for the little one. She hoped the baby would be a boy, so she could name it Brian, in memory of her wonderful dead brother.
That started her sobbing again. This pregnancy was causing havoc with hormones and her emotions. She had to get control. Then there was someone knocking on the door.
"Just a moment," Julia managed to say, between sobs. It was probably Thomas McQuery, who had run down the hall after her when she had bolted out of the viewing room. Now she really did have to stop, Julia thought. She might miss the whole interrogation; cause people to worry about her needlessly. She frantically splashed more water in her face and then got some rough paper towels from an ancient rusting dispenser and dried herself. She had splashed water all over herself in her haste and was glad the black clothing she wore hid it.
There was more knocking. "Almost out," Julia called out, with fake cheer.
Maybe some police woman had to use the room. Julia unlocked the door and opened it. Someone big was in front of her but the tears in her eyes made the person a blur. She tried to walk around without looking up, knowing her face was swollen and her eyes fire engine red.
"Julia?"
She walked right into him and felt his arms fold around her for one exquisite moment of peace. She let herself relax in Robin's arms for just a few seconds, leaning her head against his chest. Then she pushed him away, hard. When she looked into his eyes, she saw how badly she'd hurt him.
"I didn't mean to be that abrupt," Julia apologized. She wanted to explain and everything went out of her mind. She felt like she was drowning in his eyes. When she tried to look away she couldn't. They were magnetized.
"I should never have brought you here," Robin said. "I'm so sorry."
"No," Julia said, blinking hard and fast. "No, you were perfectly right. I can handle the truth. Not knowing is much worse." She was looking into his large light blue eyes, which were still gazing at her with pain and dismay. "It's just that if I get any sympathy right now, I'll start crying again. Once I start, it's hard to stop. Don't take it personally." She tried to smile at him and started to hiccup.
They turned around and started back down the long hallway toward the viewing room. She was aware that Robin started to put his arm around her and then moved away.
Julia took a deep breath and hiccuped. She couldn't think about the ring. Maybe it wasn't an engagement ring as she had first thought. It might be a sympathy gift, although diamonds meant forever, didn't they?
They reached the viewing room and Robin had to leave her. She took hold of Robin's arm to get his attention. When he turned toward her, she looked straight in his eyes and blurted out, "When you find your paragon, that perfect dream woman, I hope she understands that she's the luckiest person on this earth."
Jay was out in the hallway, beckoning for Robin to hurry up. "Come on. You're holding us up."
Robin stood still, gazing at Julia in surprise. He grabbed her arm. "What'd you say?"
Julia smiled up
at him, "You heard me."
He was grinning down at her. "I need a repeat."
"I was thanking you, Robin. For me. And for my wonderful dead brother. For the justice you've given us. I'm so proud of you. What you've done for my family."
Then she hiccuped, turned around, and went back inside the viewing room.
CHAPTER 27
As Julia sat down again in the viewing room, Tony told her that investigators from the D.A.'s office were on the way to Juan Carlos's residence, to impound his car. There might still be blood stains. If they could match them to her brother's blood type through DNA analysis they would have positive physical proof for the trial against Juan Carlos and Pete Estandos. It might not work in the blood had degraded too much, though. In the meantime they would start the interrogation, hoping forensic investigators would call to let them know whether they could proceed with new physical evidence.
Julia soon saw the ferret-faced Juan Carlos through the viewing glass. He slouched into the room insolently with his lawyer. Juan Carlos was sporting a dark mossy beard, his black slanted eyes darting around. Julia could see him looking hard at the mirror, as though he could actually see through it.
It was horrifying to face him through just a thin glass mirror, now that she knew the truth. Julia felt nauseated and had to fight her rising gorge. This time she knew her reaction was not caused by the pregnancy. The roiling in her stomach was precipitated by the violence this small, ugly man had performed on her own brother. It was also because of the lies he was telling. He said he was with a girl, a prostitute, that night, and claimed that this woman would corroborate his story.
