Tuesday's Child

by Fern Michaels

  Chairs were pushed back, and the six law students prepared to leave the room. “You just ruined a guy who gave his all to the system, you know that, right?” Beth snarled. “You and the goddamn media. You all think you’re God! Tell us all, because we want to know, how does Ryan Spenser get his life back? He did his job, and did it better than any prosecutor we came across, and he’s been vilified. This whole thing damn well stinks!”

  The door closed with a bang behind the students. Patty sat for a long time, just staring at the stacked boxes. She felt sick to her stomach. She wondered what Kala was going to say. What could she say, when it came right down to it? She tried to drown out her thoughts by thinking of Sophie’s arrival, but Sophie was suddenly taking second place in her mind.

  Patty reached for her cell phone and called Kala, who had elected to stay home to make Jay happy. She answered on the fifth ring. “You are interrupting my bubble bath, Patty,” Kala said before Patty could even identify herself. Caller ID, in her opinion, was a curse. She liked the element of surprise as to who was on the other end of the phone.

  “No one I know takes a bubble bath at two o’clock in the afternoon. Please don’t tell me you have scented candles burning and are drinking wine,” Patty retorted.

  “Well, since you guessed what I’m doing, then I don’t have to confirm or deny it, and I know at least one other person who takes bubble baths at this hour. Why are you calling me anyway?”

  Patty told her why. Kala was silent for so long, Patty had to prod her to see if she was still on the line. “I heard you. I’m thinking. Do me a favor. Call Spenser’s house and ask him if I can stop by. Tell him I need to discuss something important. Forty-five minutes. He doesn’t live far from me. And no, he is not hiding out, although I wouldn’t blame him if he was. Don’t worry, I’ll be at the airport in plenty of time to meet Sophie with you all.”

  “Kala, did you finish going through the journals?”

  “I did last night. Why do you think I’m taking a bubble bath at two in the afternoon? I didn’t even go to sleep last night. There’s nothing there. We need the last and final journal, and it’s nowhere to be found.”

  “Maybe we’ll never find it, Kala,” Patty said, sadness ringing in her voice. “Who is the other person who takes a bubble bath at two in the afternoon?”

  “Jay, and he likes blue cypress and lavender bath salts because they calm the nerves,” Kala said as she broke the connection.

  “Oh,” was all Patty could think of to say, but she made a mental note to buy some blue cypress and lavender bath salts.

  Patty eyed the boxes in front of her before she swiveled her chair around to peck at the phone console. She pressed Jay’s extension and waited. “All the files are in the conference room. Your licensed investigators can have them all now. But be warned, there is nothing in them. Spenser did absolutely nothing wrong. I called Kala and told her. She asked me to call Spenser to tell him she’s on her way to his house, and I’ll do it as soon as I hang up. Then I’m going home to shower and change. I’ll see you all at the airport.”

  Ryan Spenser opened the door and stared at Kala, who was wearing a red hibiscus over her left ear and a white one over her right ear. “Covering your bases, eh?” he said, grinning.

  “Sort of, kind of. Damn, it’s hot out there. You got anything cold to drink, Spenser?”

  “I do. Name your poison.” He grinned again.

  “How come you’re so chipper?”

  Spenser shrugged. “The weight of the world is off my shoulders. I’m a free agent for the first time in my life. I like the feeling.”

  Kala eyed the man who had been her adversary for so many years. It still stunned her that she actually liked him. She smiled at his attire: cargo shorts that were frayed at the hem, a stretched-out T-shirt that said he was a member of some fraternity whose letters were all but washed out. He was barefoot and hadn’t shaved. She liked this new Spenser. Even though he was smiling, his teeth didn’t look so polished. They just looked like he had a good dentist.

  “Sun tea. I make it myself.” Spenser reached into the freezer for two glasses that had frost all over them. Kala thought they looked like beer mugs.

  “This is good!” Kala said, drinking deeply.

  “I know. Take a load off,” he said, pointing to one of the wooden stools in the kitchen. “What brings you here at this time of day?”

  “You sound just like Patty Molnar. Why does everything have to work around a certain time of day? Why can’t I take a bubble bath at two o’clock in the afternoon? Why can’t I come here to your home at three o’clock in the afternoon? Is there some book out there that says we have to conform to a time schedule?”

  Kala didn’t realize how shrill her voice was until Spenser held up his hand and went, “Whoa there, Nellie!”

  “Sit down, Spenser. I want you sitting when I tell you this, so when I offer my apology, you won’t fall over.” To make her point, Kala plucked the two flowers from her hair and placed them in the middle of the table. “Every one of your old cases came up whistle clean.... Why are you looking at me like that, Spenser?”

  “Because I told you I did nothing wrong. And this all surprised you. That’s why you’re surrendering with the flowers?”

  “Well, yes, I guess so. How could you be so damn perfect? Everyone screws up at some point. You never did. How is that possible?”

  “All those other people you’re referring to don’t have a father like mine. I don’t want to go there right now, Kala. I appreciate your coming here to tell me, though.”

  “I want to hold a press conference and tell the world, you standing right there alongside of me, with Sophie Lee in the middle. Tomorrow I’ll arrange it. Sophie’s plane lands in a few hours. I called her on the way over, and she’s all for it. Believe it or not, Spenser, she holds no ill feelings toward you. She knows and understands you were just doing your job. That’s not to say that during her ten-year incarceration, she didn’t plot your death every night of her life when she was falling asleep.”

  “So what you’re saying is, when I apologize in person, she isn’t going to kick me in the nuts.”

  Kala smiled. “No, Sophie is not going to do that. That’s not who she is. All along I’ve tried to tell you what a remarkable young woman she is. If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be just like Sophie Lee. I haven’t mentioned it to her yet, but I’m going to suggest she forfeit the second ten million.”

  Spenser was off his chair in a flash. “Oh, no! No, no! That young woman deserves every penny you can milk out of this state. If it was up to me, I’d vote for fifty million. You could have gotten it, too, Kala, if you’d played ball a little harder. That’s what they were prepared to pay out. Over time, of course.”

  “Now you tell me!” Kala drained the last of her sun tea.

  Spenser laughed so hard his shoulders shook. “I did tell you, you just didn’t pick up on it. I told you not to go for fifty million. That was supposed to be your clue, but you let it fly right over your head.”

  “Imagine that,” Kala drawled, as she mentally calculated what a third of $50 million would come to for Aulani coffers. She shrugged. Win some, lose some.

  “Yeah, imagine that.”

  “There was nothing in the journals. I brought one to show you. Audrey Star could barely write. I made myself crazy trying to decipher her daily recordings. It was all just your basic girly stuff, gushing and prattling on about nothing. We found where Adam hid all the jewelry that wasn’t kept in the safe-deposit box. Right there on the same bookshelf as the diaries. Take a look at this,” Kala said, reaching down into her briefcase to pull out one of the leather-bound journals.

  Spenser leafed through the elegantly bound book and let loose with a soft whistle. “I had no idea. I had no clue the woman was mentally challenged. There was not even a hint from Adam Star. Not that it would have mattered in the end. It might have created more of a circus atmosphere, which would have really played hell with your client
at trial. I’m glad we didn’t know it because I would have exploited it to the nth degree. It would have been my job to do that.”

  “I know, and I’m also glad none of us knew it. Let that poor woman rest in peace. I wish I knew, though, why Adam married Audrey. For some reason I don’t think it was the money. He said it wasn’t. But then look what he did.”

  “Yes, look what he did. I know he confessed to killing his wife, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t ring true to me. I’m very glad for Sophie Lee’s sake, but for some reason it just isn’t adding up for me. For the life of me I cannot figure out what it is. Do you have any ideas about it?”

  Kala shrugged as she got to her feet. “I’ll have the office call you later today after they arrange for the press conference. I promise to be humble tomorrow.”

  Spenser laughed. “Enjoy your meeting with Sophie.”

  “I will. Thanks for the tea. You can keep that diary. We have a ton of them. All but the last one. Give it some thought, Spenser. You were there that day. Try to remember if you saw it, didn’t think it was important, whatever.”

  “Kala, I can’t afford to lose any more sleep over this. When I can’t figure something out, I can’t sleep. I was hoping tonight for a good night’s sleep.”

  “If I can’t sleep, why should you?” Kala quipped.

  Chapter 26

  THEY WERE EXCITED, BABBLING TO EACH OTHER, AS THEY watched the sleek charter plane’s wheels hit the runway. The late-afternoon sun coated the plane and the surrounding air in a golden sheen that looked like a glistening nimbus. That did not go unnoticed by any of the six people waiting expectantly for Sophie Lee’s arrival.

  The plan was for all of them to return to the Aulani offices, where two bottles of Dom Pérignon were chilling for a small celebration. And then, Kala had said, “us old people will go about our business and let the young people get reacquainted.” Meaning, of course, Sophie, Patty, and Nick. Patty had argued with Nick for hours, saying Sophie needed to stay with her. Nick could see the logic of it, and, of course, he was invited along, but still he didn’t like it. He wanted Sophie to himself. He wanted so much, but he knew that Sophie couldn’t be overwhelmed right then.

  “Slow and steady” had been Ben’s fatherly advice, and he knew it was good advice. Following it would be the hard part. His good hip ached. He ignored the ache and concentrated on the plane, which had just come to a standstill. Even though he wore sunglasses, the glare of the sun was blinding. Would he even be able to see Sophie clearly when she first appeared in the cabin doorway? He could hardly wait to drink in the sight of her.

  Jay sidled up to Kala, his cell in hand. He read from a short text he’d just received. “Press conference is scheduled for ten o’clock at the courthouse. Spenser confirmed. We’re good to go, Kala.”

  Kala nodded. Her big problem was what color flower to wear in her hair. Red or white? A wicked thought raced through her mind. She wondered if she could convince Spenser to wear a white hibiscus in his lapel, and she’d wear one in her hair. A united front. The bullshit is over. We’re a team who in the end just wants justice to be served. No one’s ego had to be stroked. Done. Over. Her heart kicked up an extra beat.

  “The door is opening,” Patty squealed.

  “You look too serious, sweetheart,” Ben whispered in Kala’s ear. “Lighten up. By the way, when we go home, we are going to go through those mail sacks. An old friend of mine called me this morning to tell me he sent me something he wanted an opinion on and wanted to know why I hadn’t responded. I explained about the mail, being away, then coming back to this circus. I promised to read through it this evening and get back to him ASAP.”

  “Works for me. I don’t have anything planned for this evening. And you’re right, I can’t back out my convertible because Patty dumped the sacks behind it. That means we have a plan. Are you going to grill some tuna for us? I’ll make the salad, and I’ll even clean the grill.”

  “Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse. There’s our girl, Kala!”

  And there she was. Sophie wore a white waffle-weave sundress that showed off her glorious tan. Kala blinked at her fashionable haircut, the highlights in it, but she was stunned to see a cluster of white hibiscus tucked behind her right ear. She frowned and didn’t know why. Around her neck, Sophie wore a scarlet lei that looked professionally made. The frown stayed on Kala’s face. Even from where she was standing she could make out the gold locket around Sophie’s neck. She wondered why the young woman wasn’t moving. It looked to her like Sophie was posing, so that the moment was frozen in time. And then she saw the big dog heading down the steps. Sula! She’d forgotten about Sula.

  Kala looked down at the shopping bag at Patty’s feet. Jon’s ashes.

  The sun dimmed as a puffy white cloud sailed underneath. All of them sucked in their breath as Sophie picked up her feet and ran toward them, Sula sprinting ahead.

  Sophie stopped short at the gate, Sula at her side. She looked at everyone and started to cry before she walked through to her loved ones.

  Nick wanted to hold out his arms and wished with all his might that Sophie would rush into them. She did, but not right away.

  Patty, tears rolling down her face, could only say, “God, I missed you, Sophie.”

  Jay and Linda smiled as they, too, wondered about the white flowers tucked into Sophie’s hair.

  Sophie stepped to the side of the little group and homed in on Kala. Her smile rivaled the sun that was shining again. Kala watched as Sophie advanced and withdrew the scarlet lei and draped it around her neck. “I made it myself on the way here. I picked the flowers fresh and kept them cooled in the refrigerator on the plane. I made it just before we landed.” She hugged Kala so tight, Kala thought her ribs were cracked.

  “Welcome home, Sophie,” Kala whispered.

  Sophie went down the line, kissing, hugging, and crying until she came to Nick. She stepped into his outstretched arms and kissed him on the cheek. “There are no words to tell you how much I missed you, Nick,” she murmured against his cheek.

  The three young people moved forward, leaving Jay, Linda, Kala, and Ben. A string of marshmallow clouds slid past the sun, allowing Kala to see the strange expression on Jay’s face.

  “Time to celebrate, people! Our girl is home, and this whole sorry mess is finally over. Why are you all looking like that?” Ben asked.

  “Like what?” Kala asked testily.

  “Like you suddenly lost your best friend. You all just got your best friend back. We should be happy, and there should be a spring in your steps. You’re lagging,” Ben responded.

  “Yeah, why is that?” Linda asked.

  “I think it’s your imagination, Ben,” Kala said. “Sophie looks beautiful, doesn’t she, Linda?”

  “She sure does. On my best day, I could never look that good,” Linda said, but there was no envy in her voice.

  “Honey, you are every bit as beautiful as Sophie every day of your life.”

  “That was certainly the right answer. Even if it isn’t true.” Linda giggled.

  “That girl has come into her own. She’s set for life. She doesn’t have a worry in the world right now. What’s that old ditty, Kala?” Not waiting for a response, Ben came up with the answer. “Ah, yes, the world is her oyster. Meaning, of course, there is a priceless pearl in said oyster. Did I get that right, Kala?”

  Kala smiled. “Close enough, dear. Look at them! Have you ever seen a happier trio in your life? Such a remarkable friendship. Such deep loyalty. And they’re orphans,” Kala said. She didn’t expect a comment, and there was none forthcoming.

  The driving arrangements completed, everyone got in their cars to head to the Aulani offices for the celebration of Sophie’s return.

  An hour later, the first champagne cork flew across the room. They all toasted Sophie’s return. They drained their glasses as Linda popped the second bottle. “This one is to sip before we call it a day,” she said happily.

&nb
sp; Conversation was light and merry, the mood exuberant. Smiling faces abounded.

  Ben Jefferson made the first move by nudging Kala. It was time to leave. Another round of hugs followed.

  Kala and Ben were the first out the door, followed minutes later by Sophie, Patty, and Nick. Linda and Jay stayed behind to tidy up and close the office.

  “Okay, Jay, spit it out. What’s bothering you?” Linda said as she swept the plastic champagne glasses into the trash basket. The empty champagne bottles followed. “And don’t tell me nothing is bothering you. I know you too well.”

  “I just had a ... kind of eerie feeling out there at the airport. I think Kala did, too. I think ... I know this is going to sound silly, and maybe it’s a girl thing, but I think it had something to do with the flowers.”

  Linda laughed until the tears rolled down her cheeks. “The flowers! The lei? Or the white flowers in Sophie’s hair? You’re right, that is silly. Sophie learned how to make the lei. She made it fresh just for Kala. And the white flowers in her hair the way Kala wears hers ... that was just to show Kala she appreciated all that she’s done for her.”

  Jay listened to his wife because he always listened to her. She had more street smarts and common sense than anyone he knew, and that included himself. “Okay, then maybe it was the color. Red is when Kala goes to war. White is for winning and victory. So why was the lei red? I think Kala was wondering the same thing. So there, Miss Smarty Pants. Explain it to me.”

  Linda laughed again. “Is it even remotely possible that when it was time to pick the flowers, the red ones were the prettiest? Maybe you didn’t notice it because you’re a guy, but there were tiny white flowers in among the red ones. Did you miss that, my genius husband?”

  “Yeah, I guess I did. This is one of those whatever kind of things, I’m thinking. Do you want to go out to eat or cook at home?” Jay asked, a clear indication that any further discussion about red or white flowers was over and done with.