Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 06

by Grievous Sin

  “He claims he doesn’t have them. He doesn’t know what happened to them. I told him that wasn’t what I asked. I asked him if he filched them. He hemmed and hawed, and the upshot is, he thinks Tandy lifted the records herself.”

  “How?”

  “Leek didn’t want to go into detail. Lord only knows why. He wasn’t shy about confessing his other crimes. As far as involvement in the kidnapping goes, I don’t have any evidence that points in his direction.”

  “But we’ve got him for embezzlement.”

  “Yes, we do. But now that we’ve got him, I’m not quite sure what I want to do with him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His arrest record is clean. Which means if the case goes to court, his lawyer’ll plead nolo contendere. Which means he’ll probably be sentenced to probation. First thing he’ll have to do is pay back the money he took from the old folks. Unfortunately, it won’t go to them, it’ll go to the home. He’ll probably have to do some community service as well—which in a way, he does anyway. He arranges entertainment for the elderly at the home; he’s in charge of the home’s Halloween party, Christmas party, Easter party—”

  “Pete, you are not going to let him get away with embezzlement?”

  “I’m just saying if he’s sentenced, he’ll undoubtedly lose his license. Which means the home’ll lose a nurse the old folks are crazy about.”

  “Decker, the sleaze can’t break the law.”

  “I’m not suggesting for a moment that we let old Leek get off scot-free. But not everything has to bollix up in the courts.”

  “Pete—”

  “McKay and I took a nice little drive over to the home after confession time was over. I set him up with one of the home’s management and told him to spill out his dirty deeds. Then I left. I’m waiting to hear back from them. If they decide not to bring charges against him, what case do I have?”

  “You can press them to charge McKay.”

  “If it’s necessary.”

  “I don’t believe I’m hearing this!”

  “I also told McKay to place a call to the Board of Nurses’ Examiners. Tell the board that he suspects Tandy Roberts of using his license number—”

  “But he knew she was doing it.”

  “So he suddenly got an attack of conscience. Let’s concentrate on what we know. Leek gave Tandy his license number as a way to guarantee her silence. She knew about his embezzling…discovered it by talking to the old folks. At first, Tandy used the information to blackmail him into an affair. Eventually, he got her pregnant.”

  “He got her pregnant, too?” Marge shook her head. “That’s three pregnancies. Girl’s a fertile Myrtle.”

  “Three pregnancies?” Decker said. “When was number two?”

  “When she was eighteen, still living in New York.”

  “How’d you find that out?”

  Not wanting to rat on Cindy, Marge smiled mysteriously. “We all have our sources.”

  “Margie…”

  “It’s not important how I found out. What is important is we now know this girl, Tandy Roberts, supposedly lost three babies in a relatively short period of time.”

  Decker said, “Lost them? Leek said she aborted.”

  “Lost? Aborted? Who knows?” Marge shrugged. “Tandy sounds unstable to begin with. First starving herself, then eating her way to obesity. And she used to talk to herself. If we throw in all these lost or aborted babies, it adds up to one psychologically compromised girl.”

  “You interviewed her, Margie. Did she seem really crazy?”

  Marge tapped her foot. “Actually, she seemed very sane. A typical self-obsessed California girl.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “We have a motive,” Marge said. “Tandy doesn’t have children and neither does Marie Bellson, who was going through menopause. They were once great friends. Maybe they became great friends again with a common goal. They both cracked at the same time, each one working up the other one until they both went nuts and did the ultimate grievous sin. Isn’t there a psychological term for that—two nuts working each other up?”

  “Yeah, two nuts working each other up.”

  Marge gave Decker a sour look. “I’m sure they’re in cahoots together. I just feel it.”

  “Their bond to each other being they both lost babies.”

  “Yep,” Marge said. “We’ve got to start looking into Tandy’s background. She was born in Berkeley, moved to Manhattan when she was a kid, had a lot of connections in the fashion industry….” She paused, then said, “I’ll do a complete background on her. In the meantime, what are you going to do about Leek? You can’t let this little piece of navel lint get away with stealing.”

  “I’m going to let the home decide how they want to handle it. If they want to prosecute, I’ll testify to back them up. But if they want to handle it more discreetly, I’ve got better things to do than come down on a nurse who changes bedpans for the elderly. It’s in the home’s hands.”

  “I don’t understand you!” Marge was frustrated.

  “Drop it, Marge!”

  They both were quiet for a moment. Then Decker said, “Okay, so you’ll do a thorough background check on Tandy. See if we can dig up more links between her and Marie. But we’d better move quickly. The feds were called in this morning.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Wish I was. They just can’t wait to play big shot.”

  “Bastards!” Marge tossed the newspaper off her lap and began to pace. “How about this for a link, Pete? What if Marie was Tandy’s mom and gave her up for adoption?”

  “The timing doesn’t work, Marge. Marie was still living at home with her mother, and Lita’s sure her daughter never became pregnant as a teenager.”

  “And you trust Lita’s memory?”

  “No, not entirely. But she seemed cogent.”

  The front door opened. Ginger stood and wagged her tail, jumping on Cindy as she came through the door. With Cindy was a girl around the same age, both of them slightly sunburned and with wet heads.

  Cindy kissed her father’s cheek. “You remember Lisa Goldberg, don’t you, Dad?”

  “Hi, Lisa,” Decker said. “How are you doing?”

  “Not bad.” Lisa smiled and shrugged shyly.

  “We went swimming,” Cindy explained. “I just came back to change. We’re having a one-year mini–high school reunion. A bunch of us are going to dinner and the movies tonight. I should be home at one, maybe two at the latest.”

  “Take the car phone,” Decker said.

  “My lifeline to the outside world.”

  “Don’t be fresh.”

  “I know it’s because you care.” Cindy sneaked a look to Marge, who winked. “See you all later.”

  As Cindy left, she mouthed a thank-you to Marge. Decker caught it. “What’s that all about?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  “No, tell me now. What are you and Cindy planning behind my—” Decker interrupted himself. “I just thought of something. About two years ago, when Tandy was pregnant with Leek’s baby, she was still very good friends with Marie, right?”

  “I think so,” Marge said. “Why?”

  Decker smiled slyly. “You and my daughter can keep secrets—so can I.” He picked up the phone and, as soon as the line connected, asked for Dr. Meecham, telling the receptionist his call was an emergency. Meecham picked up the call within minutes.

  “What’s up, Sergeant?”

  “I’m about to ask you to compromise your ethics again.”

  “Sergeant—”

  “It’s less painful if you remember a baby’s life may be at stake. Listen, let’s just play it theoretical….”

  “Sergeant, I thought you said this was an emergency. C’mon! I’m a busy man!”

  “A missing infant is an emergency.”

  “Get on with it, Sergeant.”

  Decker knew he was putting Meecham in a precarious position and fel
t bad about it. But not too bad.

  “Suppose I assume that about maybe two years ago, your patient, Marie Bellson, brought you a young, distressed obese woman who had a problem.”

  Meecham paused. “Go on.”

  “Let’s just suppose that this young obese woman was in the family way and came to you for a possible termination of pregnancy.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good supposition at all, Sergeant.”

  Decker waited a beat. “Okay, perhaps this girl may have had her pregnancy terminated by someone else. Maybe he even did a botched job, and Marie brought the girl in to you to fix up someone else’s butchery.”

  “Interesting theory. Unfortunately, it’s fiction.”

  Decker tried to organize his thoughts. “Okay, suppose this obese woman miscarried—”

  “I don’t like that supposition, either.”

  Decker thought. Tandy didn’t miscarry; she didn’t abort. That left just one more option. “Perhaps you became this imaginary young woman’s obstetrician and delivered her child at term.”

  “Perhaps I didn’t.”

  “Maybe someone else did?”

  “No.”

  Confused, Decker was silent. Then he said, “Thanks for your forbearance, Doc.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with your dilemma. Now I really must go.” Meecham paused a moment. “On a conversational note, Sergeant, did I tell you I attended a very interesting lecture last month as part of my continuing education? It was on Pseudocyesis.”

  “Pseudo—what?” Decker took out his notebook. “How do you spell that?”

  “Look it up, Sergeant,” Meecham said.

  And with Meecham’s parting line, Decker was on the receiving end of a dial tone.

  31

  “Pseudocarp, pseudocarpous, pseudoclassic, pseudomorph, pseudonym…” Decker bit his lower lip. “Pseudonymous, pseudopod, pshaw, psi…what is this bullshit Stan’s giving me? How can I look it up if I can’t find or spell it?” He picked up another dictionary and flung it open, flipping through the pages until he came to the P’s. “Pseudocyesis…Do you think cyesis is with an s or a c?”

  Cindy and her friend Lisa came into the living room. “It’s with a c, Dad.”

  Decker looked up. “You know what pseudocyesis means?”

  “It’s false pregnancy.”

  Decker put down the dictionary. “Where’d you learn about that?”

  Cindy said, “English history. Queen Mary Tudor, better known as Bloody Mary, had a false pregnancy. She was married to Philip the Second of Spain, who was much younger than she was. A couple of months later the State announced that the queen was with child, to the cheers of her good countrymen. After a full ten months of so-called pregnancy, Mary gave birth to a lot of bloat and gas. Philip was not pleased. He left England for his beloved Spain and never returned.”

  Decker shook his head. “Just shows the difference between a high school and college education.”

  “And here you were, wondering about the high price of my tuition,” Cindy said.

  Decker thought about that: fifteen grand a year to learn about Bloody Mary’s psychological problems.

  Marge said, “By false pregnancy, do you mean the woman fakes being pregnant? Or does she honestly think she’s pregnant?”

  Cindy shrugged. “I don’t know. I learned about it in history, not in psychology.” She turned to Lisa. “You’re premed.”

  “I’m still mastering the Krebs cycle, Cin,” Lisa answered. “You need a medical textbook. Or just call up any ob gyn. They should have the information you’re looking for.”

  “Who had a false pregnancy?” Cindy’s eyes brightened mischievously. “Is it our friend?”

  “Don’t you just love how kids butt into conversations?” Decker said. “Good-bye, Cindy. Have a pleasant evening.”

  “I didn’t butt in. You engaged me.”

  “Cindy…” Marge said.

  “Don’t worry, Marge, I remember my promise.”

  “What promise?” Decker asked.

  “I promised Marge I wouldn’t interfere with your investigation.”

  “When was this?”

  “Now who’s butting into whose conversation?”

  Lisa said, “I’ll wait outside for you, Cin.”

  “Good idea.” After Lisa closed the front door, Cindy said, “You know, Dad, you have a double standard….”

  “Cut it, Cynthia. You and Marge are keeping something from me. I want to know what it is right now!”

  Cindy ran her toe along the seam of the Navaho rug. “I paid a visit to Silver’s Gym….”

  “You what!” Decker homed in on Marge. “And you let her?”

  “I saw her coming out, not going in.”

  “But you didn’t tell me.”

  Marge shrugged. “No, I didn’t, Pete.”

  “How could you do that!” He glared at Cindy. “And how could you do that! Between the two of you, I don’t know who I’m more pissed off at.”

  “Why don’t you save your anger for assholes like Leek McKay?” Marge said.

  Decker remembered Rina was sleeping and lowered his voice. “What exactly are you saying, Marge? You’re keeping secrets about my daughter from me because you’re pissed at the way I handled Leek McKay? That makes a lot of sense.”

  “It’s not that,” Marge retorted. “You’re frustrated, and you’re taking it out on the wrong people—”

  “Hell, yeah, I’m frustrated. Especially when my partner colludes behind my back—”

  “I wasn’t colluding—”

  “The hell—”

  “I’ll see you guys later,” Cindy said.

  “Don’t you move a muscle, young lady,” Decker said. “I’m not done with you.”

  “Daddy, Marge dressed me down enough for the both of you. Believe me, I’m very sorry I butted into your affairs. It was dumb but I did it because I cared. I cared about the baby, I cared about Lourdes Rodriguez, I cared because it could have been Hannah. I almost blew Marge’s tail on Tandy, and I feel very foolish about it. I didn’t ask Marge to keep it a secret, but she did. And I appreciate that—her trust in me. I was going to tell you. I was just trying to find the right time.”

  Cindy sank into one of the buckskin chairs. “Stop growling at me, Daddy, I’m just as worn out as you are.”

  Decker folded his arms across his chest and tapped his foot. Finally, he blew out air. “What did you possibly hope to accomplish by going to Silver’s?”

  “In my naïveté, I thought maybe I could get Tandy to talk to me. And she did talk to me. She talked a lot. Unfortunately, she didn’t talk about Marie Bellson or Caitlin Rodriguez. But she did say she lost two babies in New York.”

  With clenched teeth, Decker said to Marge, “So that’s where you picked up Tandy’s second pregnancy.”

  “We all have our friendlies.” Marge’s smile was tight. “So what do we have? Two pregnancies in New York and a false one that Meecham was referring to.”

  “Maybe all of them were false,” Decker said. “The woman has been described to us as a fruitcake. Who knows what the hell we’re dealing with?” To Cindy, he said, “What else did you and Tandy talk about?”

  “Divorce—her parents’ divorce,” Cindy corrected herself. “She was really bitter over it, still grieving over the ordeal like it happened yesterday.”

  “When did it happen?” Decker asked.

  “When she was young. I think around five.”

  Decker paused. “Tandy’s twenty-five…the divorce would have been around…what? About twenty years ago?”

  “I guess.”

  “Marie Bellson would have been around twenty back then,” Decker said. “Cindy, did Tandy say where she was from?”

  “Oh, no!” Marge exclaimed. “I must be the world’s biggest moron! Marie Bellson went to school in Berkeley.” She faced Cindy. “Didn’t you tell me Tandy’s father was a prof at Berkeley?”

  “Yeah…”

  “A prof who
couldn’t keep his pants on?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Pete, Lita Bellson said her daughter screwed everything in sight, including professors. Betcha Professor Roberts was one of her past amours.”

  “The connection between Tandy and Marie,” Cindy said.

  “I told you the girl was a natural,” Marge said.

  Decker tossed her a dirty look, which Marge returned in kind. Cindy felt uncomfortable, knowing she was the reason behind the tension in the room.

  She cleared her throat and said, “Once Tandy started on her parents, it was hard to get her to stop. She hates them. Just puts them down mercilessly. She kept repeating how horrible they were to her, always screaming at her, telling her how bad she was for getting pregnant.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?” Decker asked. “Wasn’t she living only with her mother?”

  Cindy just shrugged. Marge said, “Pete, you know we have Tandy and Marie living in the same neighborhood when two traumatic things happened in both their lives.”

  “What’s that?” Cindy put her hand over her mouth. “Or aren’t I allowed to ask?”

  Decker felt a wave of resignation wash over his body. “Tandy’s parents got divorced, and Marie supposedly lost a baby around the same time. Not to change the subject, Cynthia, but I think your friend’s waiting for you.”

  “Omigod, I forgot about Lisa!” Cindy kissed her father. “I’m very sorry, Daddy.”

  “It’s all right.” He gave his daughter a bear hug. “It’s only because I love you so damn much.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you going to keep your promise?”

  “I swear.”

  “Good,” Decker said. “Now go have some fun.”

  “Sure. Bye.”

  “Cindy, I may have a couple of questions later on for you, okay?”

  Cindy grinned. “You call the shots, Father.” She bounced out the door but remembered to close it quietly.

  Decker glared at Marge, who returned his angry stare. She said, “If you want me to apologize for not telling you about Cindy, forget it. She’s an adult, Pete. I treat her like an adult. It wasn’t my place to fink on her.”

  “You don’t understand, Marge,” Decker said. “It isn’t your fault, because you’ve never had kids. But your kid is your kid no matter how old she is. And the worrying never stops. Remember how angry you were at your father for not telling you he had surgery for cancer?”