Hit and Run

by Rayna Morgan

  “Then let’s come up with a plan to proceed.”

  “Don’t forget the recording Sean mentioned.”

  He stroked his chin. “We need to get our hands on it before anyone else does, especially the killer.”

  They heard a door slam and Barbara’s voice. “I’m home.”

  Warren put a finger to his lips. “Not a word to your mother.”

  They smiled with relief at the sight of the pizza box she carried.

  • • •

  After dinner, Warren tuned into a baseball game and the women adjourned to the porch.

  “I’ve decided to stay a few days if you don’t mind,” Lea said. “I don’t have any new projects and the break will do me good.”

  Her mother reached over and covered her daughter’s hand with her own. “Of course I don’t mind. You’re always welcome but you needn’t make excuses for your stay.”

  Barbara leaned back, enjoying the cool night air.

  “I saw you and your father with your heads together when I came home. Based on today’s service, I assume you were discussing Cate’s death. It stands to reason that you’re considering taking a closer look.”

  Lea should no longer be surprised at her mother’s instincts where her family was concerned.

  “I hope you aren’t angry or disappointed. I know Dad promised to take it easy.”

  “Slowing down works for some people. Your father isn't one of them. He’s not good at retirement. For some people, it’s all they wait for. Others, like your father, don’t know what to do with their time.”

  “Has he become a handful since his recovery?”

  “Quite the opposite. He’s never been more agreeable. He takes me shopping, escorts me to art class, and picks me up at book club. Your father even tries to watch my cooking programs.”

  “Sounds as though he’s turned over a new leaf.”

  “It’s beginning to get on my nerves. Having him to myself was a dream come true when he first retired. But if he suggests seeing one more exhibit at Balboa Park, I’ll scream. We’ve gone out to eat so often, I’ve gained ten pounds. I’m glad to have you take him off my hands.”

  Lea smiled with relief. “I’m happy to do that.”

  Barbara raised a finger. “All I ask is that you—”

  “I know, Mom. Don’t worry. We’ll be careful.”

  “Will you be speaking with Denise and Ralph again?”

  “Yes. There’s information we need from them.”

  “Try to catch Denise alone, if you can. A mother senses things about a daughter…”

  “You’re being vague.”

  Barbara looked toward the neighbor’s house.

  “It may not differ from how your father would act about you and Maddy but Ralph turned a blind eye when it came to Cate.”

  “Sean expressed a similar sentiment. I’ll make a point of spending time alone with Denise.” She shivered slightly. “The air is getting cool. Let’s go in.”

  As they entered the house, Barbara wrapped an arm around her daughter. “It’s good to see the sparkle back in your father’s eyes.”

  Chapter 5

  The next morning, Lea poured a cup of coffee and stared out the kitchen window waiting for an opportunity to follow her mother’s advice. When Ralph’s car backed out the driveway, she rinsed her mug and walked across the lawn.

  Her neighbor answered the door dressed in a robe and slippers. Her face, bare of makeup, revealed colorless skin.

  “I hope I didn’t wake you,” Lea said.

  “Not at all. Now that the funeral’s behind us, Ralph has returned to work. I’m taking the week off.”

  “I don’t mean to intrude at this difficult time but I wonder if we might talk about Cate.”

  The woman registered brief surprise before responding. “Go in the living room. I’ll bring coffee.”

  Everything looked the same as when Lea was growing up, absent Denise’s meticulous housekeeping. A thin layer of dust covered the furniture. The couch was strewn with newspapers. Lea picked up a brochure which had fallen to the floor and placed it with others on the table advertising burial at sea.

  Denise pushed aside the papers to make room for a coffeepot and cups. “Excuse the mess.”

  “Please don’t apologize. I can only imagine the week you’ve had.”

  The older woman poured coffee and handed a cup to Lea. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “I don’t mean to upset you but Sean has doubts about Cate’s death. He’s asked my father and me to look into it.”

  The response was neither the shock nor the anger Lea anticipated.

  “I’m not surprised. Sean can’t accept the fact that random tragedies occur. Any cause other than accidental would make it more bearable for him.”

  Lea hesitated to present the idea of murder. Instead, she asked, “Have you had thoughts along those lines?”

  Denise shook her head. “If you’re suggesting someone forced Cate’s car off the road, I can’t imagine a reason.”

  The quick response betrayed her. Lea was certain that Denise had, in fact, entertained doubts similar to those of her son. She proceeded with caution.

  “Was there anything in Cate’s recent activities which might lend validity to Sean’s suspicion?”

  “What has he told you?”

  “Until recently, his sister was involved with a bad crowd, club-hopping and abusing alcohol. He claims her boyfriend associates with people in the drug business.”

  Denise looked away. “Sean’s right. It was easy for Cate to fool her father. He sees in her what he wants to see. But I noticed changes after she dropped out of school.”

  “Did you know about her affair with a married man?”

  “I suspected as much. Her refusal to talk about the relationship was an indication of the man’s marital status.”

  “With whom did she have the affair?”

  “Cate never mentioned his name. I refrained from playing the part of a snoopy mother by asking.” She snapped a loose thread on her robe and twisted it around her finger. “But I was relieved to hear she had a new boyfriend.”

  “Are you talking about Mario?”

  “Yes. I liked the young man when she brought him to dinner but Ralph wasn’t impressed. He told Cate the boy wasn’t good enough for her. Cate didn’t pay much attention. She knew there would never be anyone good enough in her father’s eyes.”

  “Did you consider Mario good enough?”

  Denise folded her hands in her lap and stared out the window.

  “I thought they had a chance. At least, I hoped they did. She would have been twenty-eight on her next birthday. A person doesn’t want to wait forever for grandchildren.”

  A moment passed. When Denise spoke again, her voice was muffled. “That relationship didn’t work either.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Last time she was here, she told me she was breaking up with Mario.”

  “Did she give a reason?”

  “We didn’t talk much about it. She didn’t want her father to know for fear he would chastise her about relationships.”

  “She and Mario were living together. Did she intend to send him packing?”

  Denise nodded. “I asked if she had enough money to pay rent without Mario’s share. She told me I shouldn’t worry; she had a way to make more than enough. When I asked for an explanation, she brushed me off. That’s the last I heard of Mario.”

  “Maybe Cate ending the relationship angered Mario to a point where he hurt her.”

  “That’s hard for me to imagine but I suppose we never know what a person is capable of.”

  “Can you think of anyone else who might have a reason to hurt Cate?” Lea asked.

  “No one I know of.”

  “Will you give me the names of her friends?”

  Denise took her time responding. “I haven’t met her friends for some time. I was vigilant while she was growing up about knowing everyone she spent time with. On
ce she moved out of the house, she stopped introducing me to her companions.”

  “How about Sean? Were he and his sister still close?”

  “As far as I know, although he complained about her not staying in touch.”

  “He seems very shaken by her death.”

  “It's understandable. You never imagine your darkest wish coming true.”

  Lea leaned forward. “I don’t understand.”

  “Do you remember how Cate and Sean argued?” Denise asked.

  “They were no different from most siblings growing up.”

  “In the heat of anger, Sean complained he’d rather be an only child.”

  “Do you think he wished for more attention?”

  “He felt we favored Cate. I like to think that isn’t true but I’m not sure a parent knows if they show favoritism.”

  Lea tried to ease Denise’s guilt. “Nor do we know how our children interpret our actions.”

  “It doesn’t change his feeling guilty over childhood wishes. Blaming someone else for Cate’s death may help him relieve his own guilt.”

  “How do you feel about the idea Cate was murdered?”

  “A time will come when I want to know the truth, whatever it is. Right now, I’m focused on getting myself and my family through this tragedy.”

  • • •

  Lea returned in time to talk with her father before he left the house.

  “I’m on my way to the station to see if I can get my hands on the accident report,” he told her. “Did you get the names of Cate’s friends from Denise?”

  “She gave me contacts for Cate’s high school friends but she doesn’t think Cate stayed in touch with them. I doubt they will have a bearing on this case.”

  “What about current friends?”

  “The only name she could provide belongs to the owner of the catering business Cate worked for part-time. That woman and Cate were apparently close.”

  “How did Denise react when you told her about our investigation?” Warren asked.

  “She doesn’t appear to have a strong opinion one way or another but I don’t think she gives Sean’s suspicion much weight. She did, however, admit to seeing the side of Cate which Sean described. Denise was more open to what was going on in Cate’s life than Ralph.”

  “I know he was in a state of denial when it came to wrongdoing by his daughter. I learned that after her arrest for intoxication.”

  “Did Ralph know about the lecture you gave her?”

  “He thought it was unnecessary because he convinced himself the entire incident was a mistake. Her friends may have been drunk, he insisted, but not Cate. According to him, his daughter’s only failing was exercising bad judgment about the company she kept.”

  “Then he won’t be receptive to any dirt we dig up.”

  “That’s the danger of seeking the truth, Lea. You never know what you might uncover. Be sure you’re ready for those kinds of consequences before you start this investigation.”

  “I’m prepared to deal with whatever we find.”

  She grabbed her purse and they walked outside.

  “It sounds as though Sean was jealous of his sibling growing up,” Warren said. “Perhaps that’s a reason for him presenting his version of Cate to you.”

  “Are you suggesting it’s a way for him to get the spotlight now that Cate will no longer be the center of attention? If that’s the case, it’s his parents’ attention he should garner, not mine.”

  “What other reason might he have to suggest Mario ran Cate off the road?”

  Lea pondered her father’s question before issuing a reluctant admission.

  “To throw me off balance and get me to look in the wrong direction.”

  Chapter 6

  Warren breathed a sigh of relief when he walked through the entrance of police headquarters. The officer on duty at the front desk was someone who wouldn’t question his reason for being there.

  “Hi, Bertie,” he said. “How’s the family?”

  “Nice to see you, Chief Conley.”

  “You can drop the chief now. Call me Warren.”

  “To me, you’ll always be chief. My family is fine. Thanks for asking.”

  “Who’s working traffic these days?”

  “Mike Morris, if you call it working. In my opinion, he should spend less time complaining about what’s wrong with the department and the world, and more time being part of a solution.”

  Warren smiled at Bertie’s comment about an officer whose frustrations and disappointments with life paralyzed a once promising career.

  “It sounds like things haven’t changed since I left,” he told her.

  Bertie chuckled and waved her arm. “Go on through. I think he’s back there.”

  She pushed a button under the counter. The door to the inner sanctum buzzed open.

  Warren’s second break came when he passed the police chief’s office. The room he once occupied was empty. He smiled inwardly at the probable reason for his successor’s absence.

  Attending one of the endless administrative meetings, he thought. At least I won’t have to explain my presence in the building.

  When he reached the bullpen, there was only one detective present. Warren was not surprised to see Mike Morris hunched over his computer at a desk furthest removed from the chief’s office. While other detectives hit the streets, Mike spent a large part of each day on the phone, a method Warren referred to as the lazy man’s version of police work.

  With his back to the center of the room, Mike’s well-developed torso filled the chair, testament to endless hours in a gym. Time better spent, Warren thought, doing the necessary grunt work of all investigations. It was one reason Mike didn’t keep partners for long. He didn’t pull his share of the workload.

  “Detective Morris.” Warren intentionally avoided putting them on a first name basis.

  The officer hit a button and an image on the screen disappeared. He spun his chair around. “Well, well. If it ain’t our old chief.”

  “How are the wife and kids?”

  “The wife is fine. The kids are good, as teenagers go. What are you doing here; retirement driving you up a wall?”

  Warren ignored his sarcasm. “I hear you’re working traffic.”

  “I don’t work Vice no more, thanks to you. The Captain busted me down to this division.”

  “What can you tell me about the hit-and-run involving Cate Palmer?”

  “What’s your interest?”

  “She’s the daughter of our next-door neighbors. I’m trying to give them some peace of mind by finding out if you tracked down the driver.”

  Mike cracked his knuckles, an irritating habit used in the interrogation room to rattle a person he questioned. “Don’t worry. We’ll inform the family, when and if that happens.”

  “Do you have any doubt about it being an accident?”

  Mike raised an eyebrow but answered the question. “Nope. It’s a clear case of felony hit-and-run. From the way the second car swerved, the driver was drunk or took his eyes off the road for some reason. Maybe he was texting or a deer ran in front of his car.”

  “If it were an accident, why do you suppose he didn’t stop?”

  “Give me a break. You and I both know nice guys don’t exist in our world. In the place you and I inhabit, everyone looks out for themselves and protects their own skin. When Palmer’s car went in the ditch, the other motorist obviously panicked and took off.”

  “Are you any closer to identifying the driver?”

  “If the driver is smart, he’ll torch his car so we’ll never be able to get prints.”

  His cavalier attitude irritated Warren. “If you were the investigator you claim to be, you’d know that’s not true. Even in a burned car, the crime techs can develop latent prints.”

  “Sure thing. Whatever you say.”

  Despite efforts to be cordial, the two men were getting on each other’s nerves.

  “At any rate, it’s a close
d case,” Mike said.

  “A closed case in your mind or based on facts?”

  Another detective entered the room.

  “Hey, Mike,” he called. “Your ex is in the lobby. Says you’re late on support payments again.”

  An ugly scowl crossed Mike’s face before he yelled back. “Yeah, yeah. Tell her to cool her heels. I’ll get to her in a moment.”

  Warren looked surprised. “I didn’t know you and Sheila had split. I thought you said she was fine.”

  “She’s fine, all right. Having the time of her life with her new boyfriend but refusing to marry the jerk so I have to keep paying alimony.” He cracked his knuckles again. “That’s something you wouldn’t know about, Conley. Your marriage is perfect.”

  Warren sighed. “I’ll let you get back to your business. Call me if you find the driver.”

  Mike spun his chair back to his computer. “We’ll let the family know. Get the news from them.”

  • • •

  Warren needed more information but it was obvious he wouldn’t get help from Mike. He went in search of the last partner he worked with before his promotion.

  Meg Dahlstrom was kicking the snack machine in the hall.

  “Did it eat your money again?” he asked.

  She looked up and smiled. “Hey, partner. Do you still have the magic touch?”

  He placed his hip against the side of the machine and rocked it back and forth. Meg grabbed the package that dropped to the shelf.

  “How’s retired life?” she asked, offering him a cracker.

  He declined by shaking his head. “It’s becoming less retiring. In fact, I was hoping you might do me a favor.”

  “For you, anything. What do you need?”

  They walked to her desk. It was strewn with files, post-it notes, and scraps of wadded paper.

  “I see you haven’t changed your filing system,” Warren said.

  “You know me. I’m not neat but I can find something when I need it.”

  Warren scribbled a name on a pad and handed it to her. “Can you run this name through the database and let me know what you find?”

  Reading the name, Meg raised an eyebrow. “I heard Morris mention this guy’s name in connection with that hit-and-run.”