The Next Victim (Kali O'Brien series)

by Jonnie Jacobs

  “Erling?” Michelle’s voice cut through his thoughts.

  “Let’s hit him now,” Erling said. “The sooner the better.” He was eager to get the case wrapped up, and himself off the hot seat—both at home and at work.

  “Shall I meet you there?” Michelle asked.

  “You’re at the station? I’ll come by. I should be there in about thirty minutes.”

  “I’ve got Boskin and Dutton lined up to assist.”

  “Good. I don’t expect trouble but you never know.”

  He returned to the dinner table long enough to brush Deena’s cheek with a kiss, and to ruffle Mindy’s golden brown hair. “I have to go out again. We’ve got a warrant to search the house of the man I was telling you about.”

  “Take care, Dad.”

  “I’ll probably be in bed when you get home,” Deena said flatly. “Try not to make too much noise.”

  Chapter 5

  Kali hauled her duffel and sleeping bags into her house in the Berkeley hills and dropped them on the tiled entry-hall floor, shaking loose a fine layer of dirt and plant matter. She removed her shoes before venturing farther onto the hardwood floor of the main rooms. She was far from being a fastidious housekeeper, but given the amount of dirt she’d accumulated in a week of outdoor living, she figured it was a wise move.

  Parched and hungry after the three-plus-hour drive back to the Bay Area, she collected the week’s accumulation of mail and padded in stocking feet to the kitchen.

  The fridge was largely empty, as she knew it would be, but she found a half bottle of Diet Coke that had gone flat, poured herself a glass, and leaned back against the laminate counter. Her message machine light was blinking furiously, there was a small but steady stream of ants on the drain board, and the air inside the house was stale and smelled of the cabbage she’d cooked the night before heading for the mountains.

  But it felt wonderful to be home.

  With no one else around.

  Despite her early misgivings about the vacation, Kali had ended up having a good time. And she’d truly enjoyed being with Bryce. He was kind and funny and generous, and there were moments she thought she might even love him. So it brought her up short to realize how pleased she was to be alone and back in her own space. In fact, she was so happy she was humming as she gave the mail a quick sort through.

  She listened to her phone messages while wiping up the ants with a damp paper towel. John had called again, twice. And Sabrina had called on his behalf. “John’s been trying to reach you,” she’d announced. “Don’t be such a jerk. Just call him.”

  He must want something from her, Kali decided. How typical. He could ignore her messages, rebuff her attempts to keep in touch, forget holidays and birthdays, but when there was something he needed, he’d hound her until she rolled over and played nice.

  Well, he could just wait a bit longer.

  Kali called her neighbor Margot and left a message that she was home, then headed for the shower. Twenty minutes later she was clean (or at least cleaner than she had been—mountain dirt, she discovered, had a way of imbedding itself in skin) and had just begun to unpack when Margot showed up at the door, springer spaniel in tow.

  “I was on the other line when you called,” Margot explained, waving an arm weighted with chunky metal bracelets. “Thought I’d just drop over on my way out since Loretta here has been pining for you all week.”

  “Not!” Kali snorted.

  Margot shrugged. “She’s got playmates at my house is all. It’s nothing personal.”

  Loretta was half the size of Margot’s wolfhounds and not nearly as well mannered, but she usually preferred their company to Kali’s. To her credit, though, Loretta was now making a show of squirming at Kali’s feet and wagging her stumpy tail.

  Leaning down to scratch the dog’s head, she asked Margot, “You want to come in?”

  “Can’t. I’m on a tight schedule. How was the wilderness adventure?”

  “Good.” Kali stood up. “Great, in fact.”

  “And the romantic escape angle?”

  Kali hesitated. “Good.”

  “But not great?”

  She was still sorting that one out. She grinned. “There were definitely some great moments.”

  “That’s more than I can claim.”

  Given that Margot had been a man for the first thirty years of her life, her difficulty finding suitable companions didn’t surprise Kali. In fact, Margot was still technically male. Not that Kali had any knowledge of this beyond Margot’s often melodramatic grousing and grumbling. Margot was a friend—vivacious, impassioned, and with many fine qualities Kali wished she herself possessed—but there were details about her life Kali wasn’t comfortable knowing, even if Margot was more than willing to supply them.

  After Loretta’s initial show of excitement, she settled into her spot near the window. Kali put in a load of laundry and watered the houseplants. She found a can of minestrone in the cupboard and heated it on the stove. Not much of a dinner, but she was too tired to go out to the store. Then she poured herself a glass of wine and settled in with the magazines and catalogues that had arrived while she was gone.

  It was after ten by the time she remembered John. Was it too late to call? She didn’t want to wake him but he had phoned twice. Well, too bad if he was in bed.

  The phone rang four times before John picked up. “Huh?” he mumbled.

  “John? It’s Kali.”

  “Hey, Kali.” The words were slurred, his voice more gravelly than usual.

  “Were you asleep?”

  “Huh? No, I’m just . . . just killing time.” He made a sound something like a cross between a hiccup and a laugh. “I’ve been trying . . .” His voice faded off for a moment. “Trying to reach you. I need your help.”

  “Are you sure I didn’t wake you?”

  “Nah. Listen, we gotta talk. It’s important.” There was a shuffling sound in the background, the sound of another voice.

  Drunk, not asleep, Kali guessed. And John either had company or was glued to the television. She was irritated. These were the last hours of her vacation and she didn’t want to spend them dealing with an incoherent and self-indulgent brother. “Why don’t you call me in the morning?”

  “Wait, don’t be like that. You gotta help me.”

  She hesitated. “What’s up?”

  “I can count on you, can’t I?” His voice faded, and Kali thought maybe he’d fallen asleep.

  “You there, John?”

  “I’m just having a little trouble—”

  “Focusing. Because you’re drunk, right?”

  “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.” He laughed.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said. “Try to be sober.” She hung up. But not, she realized a moment later, before he’d hung up on her. Well, screw him.

  She brushed her teeth and washed her face, half expecting the phone to ring. When it didn’t, she crawled into bed, which felt particularly roomy after the close quarters of a sleeping bag. True, there was no glorious star-studded sky overhead, but the mattress was more forgiving than the thin foam pad had been, and there was a bathroom with a flush toilet and hot running water nearby. Kali fell asleep with the thought that she’d have made a terrible pioneer.

  <><><>

  The next morning Kali sat at her office desk sipping the latte she’d picked up at Peet’s on her way into work. Mail was stacked to one side, message slips to the other. In the middle was a commercial lease she was reviewing for a client who wanted to open a children’s clothing store in north Berkeley. Her thoughts were far away, however, drifting between pleasant musings about Bryce and uncomfortable speculation about John.

  One night of overindulgence didn’t mean anything, Kali told herself. God knew she drank too much sometimes herself. If she hadn’t been so tired last night, so desirous of a quiet evening with no one to think about but herself, if she hadn’t put up with stuff like this from John before, she’d have shown
more patience. A tiny niggle of guilt worked its way under her skin. She should have been more patient. There was clearly something on his mind.

  But he’d hung up on her, she reminded herself. And he hadn’t bothered to call back.

  Jared knocked on her open door as he breezed into her office. He slid into one of the wood-frame chairs she used for clients, his long limbs splayed at odd angles around him. Jared Takahashi- Jackson got his height from his father, his delicate and handsome Asian features from his mother. He was smart, hardworking, and refreshingly willing to speak his mind, but he couldn’t sit upright in a chair if his life depended on it.

  “Glad you’re back, boss. Just in time, too.”

  “For what?”

  “Daryl Jensen got picked up again.”

  Kali groaned. “What for?”

  “According to him, nothing. According to the cops, he was creating a public nuisance and threatening his soon-to-be ex.”

  “Can he make bail?”

  “Not clear. I’ve got a deposition at ten and I was just trying to figure out how I could be in two places at once.”

  “I’ll take care of Daryl. Any other fireworks?”

  “Nope. It’s been so quiet I’d occasionally check the phone to make sure it was working.”

  Kali was relieved to know she hadn’t made herself unavailable during a crisis, but a quiet law office wasn’t good either. Not when there were salaries and rent to be paid.

  “Did you have a good time?” Jared asked.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “And you and Bryce are—”

  “Still speaking,” she said, eyeing him levelly.

  “Whoa, that was terse. Am I going to get the longer version?”

  Kali laughed. “You’re not supposed to ask about your boss’s sex life.”

  “What’s the fun in that?” Jared swung one leg over the other. “You sure you don’t mind heading downtown the minute you’re back home?”

  Mind, yes. But Daryl Jensen was a client, and clients paid the bills. “Not a problem,” she said.

  <><><>

  “You saved my butt again,” Daryl told her. At his behest, they’d stopped at Taco Bell after leaving the jail. All six foot of him was now hunched over, elbows and forearms spread out on the plastic tabletop as though he were guarding his three tacos and two burritos from Kali’s reach.

  Kali nibbled at her own chicken taco, thinking longingly of the fresh salad she’d planned on picking up for lunch. “Your butt shouldn’t need saving so often,” she said.

  “I didn’t threaten her.”

  “She’s hearing voices, you think?”

  Daryl grinned, his teeth flashing white against his chocolate skin. “Might be. That bony-assed white woman’s nuttier than a fruitcake.”

  “Then why’d you marry her?”

  He glared at Kali in response, then went back to eating his burrito. Daryl Jensen had been a rising basketball star until an automobile with a drunk driver at the wheel had crossed the double line and shattered his left leg. Kali had handled the case and he had walked away, limped away actually, with a very nice settlement. Daryl was a decent man with a hot temper and bad judgment, but his post-injury indiscretions and scrapes with the law made him a consistent client.

  “I’ll agree Brandy isn’t the most grounded person I’ve met,” Kali admitted.

  “She’s a vampire. Only she sucks money, not blood.”

  “Still, you’ve got to watch yourself around her,” Kali said. “Especially until the divorce is final.”

  “She’s keeping me from seeing my son.”

  “We’re going to get that straightened out. For now, the court has mandated a short visit every other weekend, so that’s the way it’s got to be. You’re not going to win any points spitting in the face of the court.”

  Daryl polished off the rest of his meal and she drove him home. Not to the stunning redwood and glass house in the Oakland hills, which his wife had grabbed in the settlement, but to an older and far more plebeian condo downtown. It was several rungs below what he’d been used to.

  “I fucking can’t stand that woman,” he muttered when Kali pulled up to the curb.

  “You talking about Brandy?”

  “She’s Satan with tits.”

  “She’s the mother of your boy. You two are going to be part of the same world for a long time, so you’d better figure out a way to be civil.”

  “Easy for you to say. Just wait till you’ve got a devil on your tail.”

  <><><>

  Kali was just pulling into the office parking lot when her cell phone rang. She picked up quickly, expecting John.

  Instead it was her sister, Sabrina. “Where have you been?” Sabrina asked accusingly.

  Her siblings seemed to expect her to be at their beck and call. If Kali hadn’t just returned from a mellowing vacation, she’d have been annoyed right back. Instead, she responded with enthusiasm. “You won’t believe it. I was camping.”

  Sabrina wasn’t interested. “It’s John,” she said, her voice breaking.

  “What about him?”

  “He’s . . . he’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Kali stopped the car where she was. Thankfully no one else was coming or going in the lot. Sabrina’s words pounded in her head. “What? That can’t be. I just talked to him last night.”

  Only they hadn’t really talked. Kali had brushed him off and hung up.

  “There was an accident. That’s all I know. I just got the call.”

  “An accident?” Kali wasn’t thinking straight. Her brain had locked up. She couldn’t think at all.

  “They asked me to come in and take care of some paperwork.” Sabrina’s sobbing was muffled.

  “My God. He’s really dead?”

  “I can’t do it. Not alone. I really need you, Kali.”

  It took a moment for her to understand what Sabrina was suggesting. “You want me to fly to Tucson? Today? You’re only a two- hour drive away.”

  “Please.”

  How could John be dead? Her only brother, gone.

  “We can go in together,” Sabrina said. “I’m not saying I won’t go at all.”

  “I just got back from vacation.” Feeling numb, Kali thought of the draft lease on her desk, Daryl’s troubles, the clients whose work she’d already put off for her trip with Bryce. “Saturday,” she offered. “I can come then. It’s only a few days from now.”

  “This is our brother we’re talking about, for Christ’s sake. Your stupid job’s more important than him?”

  “Of course not, but—”

  “Or me? What about me?”

  “Sabrina, it’ll be a signature and a—”

  “You know I can’t handle this kind of thing!” she shrieked. “Not by myself.”

  John was dead. Kali felt a burning in her throat, the sting of tears in her eyes. It finally hit her. He was really dead.

  “Please, Kali.” Sabrina’s tone was imploring. “We need each other.”

  Her family. Sabrina was all she had left now. Jared could continue to cover at the office, and Margot would be happy to take Loretta again. Her brother was dead and her sister needed her. That was what mattered.

  “Of course,” Kali said. “Of course we should be together. I’ll fly down right away. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve made a reservation.”

  I’m sorry, John. I should have returned your phone calls sooner. I shouldn’t have hung up on you. I’m so sorry.

  Chapter 6

  Erling had just gotten off the phone from talking with the lieutenant when Michelle signaled to him. “John O’Brien’s sisters are here,” she said.

  “Sisters—plural?” He’d spoken over the phone with a sister living in Scottsdale, the only name he had.

  “Two of them. I put them in the conference room.”

  Conference room was something of a euphemism, but the windowless space was an improvement over the two standard interrogation rooms, and it was often used by deputies
for interviews and group meetings. It was larger, brighter, and generally cleaner.

  “How do they seem?” he asked.

  “Upset and confused. Pretty much what you’d expect.”

  Erling rose from his desk and grabbed his gray flannel sport coat from the back of the chair. “Might as well get this over with.”

  He hoped the sisters weren’t the weepy, hysterical type. Displays of raw emotion made him uncomfortable. They reminded him painfully of his own despair following Danny’s death. Besides, he was hoping the sisters would be clearheaded enough to shed some light on their brother’s interactions with Sloane, maybe even offer up something of a confirmation that John O’Brien was capable of murder.

  Erling followed Michelle down the hall to the conference room. The two women, looking somber, were seated side by side at the rectangular government-issue table.

  Michelle made the introductions. Sabrina Ashford, with whom Erling had spoken over the phone, and Kali O’Brien, who’d flown in from California. The two women appeared to be about the same height, but Sabrina was a little heavier, and prettier in the conventional sense. Her hair was a warm shade of honey blond, a color, according to Deena, that came naturally to no woman past the age of twenty-five. Sabrina wore it short and soft around her face. Kali had a lean, athletic build, a mane of auburn curls and a strong handshake. Sabrina would turn heads when she first walked into a room, Erling thought, but Kali would be the one who lingered in people’s memories.

  “Can I get you a soda or some coffee?” he asked the women.

  “No, thank you.” Kali spoke without consulting her sister. “We’d like to know what happened.”

  Direct and to the point. A take-charge kind of woman. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with hysterics, although he found her edginess slightly off-putting. He pulled out one of the plastic molded chairs at the table and sat down.

  “I’m sorry about your brother.”

  “We both are,” Michelle added kindly, taking a seat next to him. “We know this has got to be hard for you.”