by Becky Durfee
“Well, he didn’t anticipate a certain B.S. artist showing up in his restaurant this afternoon. I got Archer to spill his guts.”
“Holy shit. What did he say?”
Jenny felt a twinge of guilt as she said, “Well, Lena had a medical condition that made her unable to speak properly. She preferred that people believe she couldn’t speak English over knowing the truth. And her family moved from Russia to Richmond to get her medical help for her condition. I imagine they were tight lipped about that to the original investigators because they were also protecting her secret.”
Elijah sighed heavily. “Do you know how much time got wasted pursuing the Russian Mob theory? I wish her parents would have just been honest to begin with.” After a pause Elijah said, “Wait a minute. How the hell were you able to get all of this information out of him?”
“Well, I kind of threw you under the bus,” Jenny confessed with a wince. “I had to pretend I didn’t like you in order to befriend him. Once I had him convinced that I hated you as much as he does, he was like putty in my hands.” Jenny selected her car key from the ring and let the rest fall. She pressed the button to unlock her door.
“Well done,” Elijah said. “I think you’re a natural at this.”
As Jenny reached her car and saw her reflection in the window, she noticed something that stopped her in her tracks. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” she said to Elijah. Focusing more intently on the reflection in her window she added, “I think Archer just heard every word I said.”
Chapter 14
“What?” Elijah exclaimed with horror.
Jenny turned around to see that Archer was indeed standing just a couple of feet away from her. “Yes,” Archer informed her, “I did just hear every word you said.”
She stood frozen, unsure exactly what to say. Elijah continued to shout through the phone. “Jenny, where are you? Are you in danger? Is anyone else with you?”
“I-I-I’m sorry, Archer,” Jenny said, ignoring Elijah’s concern. “I’m only trying to get Lena’s case solved.”
Archer shook his head with disgust. “I should have known. I should have known I couldn’t trust you. Anyone who would associate with Elijah Murphy must be just as much of a low-life as he is.”
Elijah started to speak again, and Jenny quickly said into the phone, “Don’t say anything.” She was having enough trouble concentrating without Elijah’s words distracting her. For her own protection, though, she allowed her thumb to slide over the speaker phone button before she lowered her hand to waist level.
“I know how this looks,” Jenny said rationally. “But we really only have Lena’s best interest at heart.”
“And so that explains why you’re proudly calling yourself a bullshit artist and bragging that I was putty in your hands?”
Jenny lowered her head in shame.
“And to think I believed you. I trusted you. You promised me you wouldn’t tell Elijah about Lena’s secret,” Archer continued. “But apparently you just couldn’t wait to tell him, could you? It was the first thing you did. Well, not the first thing. Obviously you had to get laid first.”
Elijah chimed in. “That’s enough out of you, Archer. What are you doing, following her?”
Jenny rolled her eyes when she saw the anger on Archer’s face intensify. Hadn’t she told Elijah not to say anything?
“Yes, Elijah, I was following her. After a while I figured out that she was probably working together with you and that telling her Lena’s secret was a mistake. She was asking just a few too many questions. See, Elijah, unlike you I have good detective skills, and I know how to follow up on them.”
“Jenny, where are you? Are you someplace safe?” Elijah posed, ignoring Archer’s dig.
“I’m in a parking lot.”
“Don’t go anywhere with him,” Elijah warned.
“I have no intention to.” Did he think she was stupid?
“For once in your life, will you just shut the fuck up, Murphy?” Archer demanded. His anger was escalating, making Jenny feel like Elijah’s attempts at making her safe were only putting her in more danger.
“Elijah, really, I’m okay,” Jenny said before turning her attention to the furious man before her. “Archer,” she began calmly, “I have a confession to make. The reason I was able to know about Lena’s inability to form words was because I’m a psychic, and I’ve been hearing her voice in my head. She’s been communicating with me, but what she says doesn’t make sense. The only two words she’s been able to say properly have been stop and Lena. Aside from that it’s been incomprehensible.”
Archer made a face. “You expect me to believe that?”
“You don’t have to believe it,” Jenny said in a near whisper. “It’s the truth.”
Rubbing his forehead, Archer also spoke in a calmer tone, but his seemingly tranquil demeanor actually frightened Jenny more. “At this point I don’t know which one of you I hate more. Quite frankly I despise all three of you—you, Elijah and Jacob. I would love to see each one of you meet the same fate that Lena did, knowing that you’ll spend eternity burning in hell.”
Jenny didn’t say anything; her phone remained quiet as well.
“I swear some people don’t deserve to walk the face of the earth,” Archer grumbled as he turned and walked away.
It wasn’t until this moment that Jenny realized just how fast her heart had been racing. With Archer a fair distance away, she opened her car door and quickly hopped in, locking the door behind her. She turned off the speaker phone, placed the phone to her ear and reported with a deep exhale, “He’s gone.”
“Are you in your car?” Elijah asked.
“Yes.”
“Drive,” he insisted. “Drive in circles, looking in your rearview mirror. Make sure he doesn’t follow you.”
Jenny backed the car out of her parking space, and in doing so she watched Archer get into his own car and pull away. He drove off down the road, disappearing from sight. “I don’t think I have to,” Jenny told Elijah. “He just left. I watched him.”
“Still be careful,” he said. “Where are you?”
“At a hotel. I plan to spend the night here.”
“I think maybe you should switch hotels,” Elijah said. “And get one with valet parking so you never have to be alone.”
“Okay,” Jenny said, although she wasn’t sure she was going to heed his advice. He didn’t realize she already wasn’t alone. “But can I just add one thing?”
“Sure.”
“The next time I tell you not to say anything, can you please not say anything? He got ten times madder every time you spoke.”
“Sorry,” Elijah said. “It was scary for me, that’s all. I’m five hours away. Do you know how helpless I felt?”
Understanding he was well-intended, she remarked, “I’m sure it was scary for you, yes.”
“But I do promise,” Elijah said. “The next time you tell me not to say anything, I’ll keep quiet. I’ll be a little more trusting of your judgment.”
“Thanks, Elijah.” As Jenny’s nerves settled she managed a slight smile. “For everything.”
“How does this keep happening?” Zack asked, wiping the confusion out of his sleepy eyes. “How do you keep getting into trouble? When I fell asleep, you were lying here safely next to me. But then I wake up to find out that you were in the parking lot having an argument with a guy who may or may not be a murderer.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jenny threw her hands up. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m being careful, but somehow danger finds me.”
Zack held his arms out wide, inviting a hug. “Come here.” Jenny leaned into him in an embrace that, admittedly, was just what the doctor ordered. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He kissed her on the top of the head, holding her for a while. Then he added, “What were you doing out there anyway?”
Sitting back up, Jenny giggled as she said, “I was going to buy us pajamas and toothbrushes.”
He
looked sympathetically at her. “That was very sweet of you, but not worth risking your life over.”
“I didn’t realize I was risking my life.”
“I think from now on you have to assume you’re always in danger. Not just in this case, but every case.”
Jenny climbed over Zack, who remained under the covers, and she resumed her old spot on her side of the bed. She propped up the pillows and reclined against them as she said, “I honestly didn’t know he was behind me. I had no idea anyone was following me.”
Zack made a sound as if he was contemplating something.
“What?” Jenny asked as she crossed her legs.
“That’s just weird, don’t you think?”
“What’s weird?”
“That you didn’t know he was behind you. Doesn’t his presence usually trigger Lena in your head?”
Jenny thought for a minute. “You’re right,” she said with disbelief. “Why didn’t I know he was behind me?”
Zack rolled over onto his side to face Jenny. “Maybe he’s not the one who’s been causing Lena to act up.”
Jenny sat up straight, wringing her hands as she concentrated. “Maybe it wasn’t him. But then who could it be?”
“Well,” Zack began, “who have you been with when you heard Lena?”
Jenny tapped her pointer fingers together. “The first time I heard her I was at my grandmother’s house, while I was talking to Elijah.”
“Is it possible he did it?”
“No,” Jenny said as she shook her head with certainty. “I mean I guess I can’t prove that, but I would be incredibly surprised if it turned out to be him. I sincerely believe he’s been desperate to solve her case for over a decade.”
“So when was the next time you heard Lena?”
“At the restaurant. I met Elijah, Jacob and Pam there.”
“Do you think it was Jacob or Pam?”
Jenny once again shook her head. “I doubt very seriously that Jacob would have left his own party. I doubt he could have left the party without being noticed. I’m sure he’s got a few dozen alibis for the whole night. And Pam wasn’t even there; she was a freshman and not part of that crowd. She probably didn’t even know the party was going on.”
“Okay, so scratch them off the list,” Zack concluded. “Who else was at the restaurant?”
“Nick, Adam and Mark were at the bar, and Archer was sitting with his friend Larry by the restroom. Lena got unbearably loud when I went to the bathroom.” She started waving her finger back and forth. “And then I heard her again at the reunion, where Archer was—perhaps with his buddy Larry. And then I heard her again today at the Archway Grill.”
“Do you think Larry was at the restaurant? Are they business partners or something?”
“Not that I know of,” Jenny said, deep in thought. “But I got this feeling when I looked at one of the pictures on the wall. Remember when I took that picture with my phone and you asked what I was doing?”
“Yeah…”
“Maybe one of the people in that picture was Larry.” Jenny hopped off the bed and retrieved her purse from the top of the dresser. She found her phone and, grateful for speed dial, literally called Elijah with the touch of a button. “Do you know of a guy named Larry that Archer was friends with?” she asked immediately when Elijah answered.
Elijah sucked in a breath. “No, I’m afraid not. I didn’t really associate that much with Archer’s crowd.”
Disappointment seeped into Jenny’s bones, but only for a second. “But Pam’s sister did, right?”
“Yes, she did,” Elijah said. “What is this about?”
“I’m just wondering if Pam’s sister saw a picture, would she be able to verify that a guy named Larry was in it?”
“If Larry was a high-school friend of Archer’s, then she could probably recognize him.”
Jenny paced in circles as she spoke. “Would it be possible for me to get Pam’s sister’s phone number? I do have a picture that I’d like to send her.”
“Yeah, I can get you that if you want.” Elijah said. “So what do you think the deal is with this Larry character?”
“I’m not sure,” Jenny said, “but I had a hunch before this, and now my hunch is growing into a suspicion.”
“And that suspicion would be…”
Jenny sighed, trying to determine how she could concisely say what was on her mind. “Archer told me that he became friends with Lena in high school—spending a good deal of time with her—and the two of them always hung out alone. They did that to keep her disability a secret. But you have to consider that every night Archer hung out with Lena was a night that he was ditching his other friends to do it.”
“His other friends like Larry,” Elijah surmised.
“Exactly.” Jenny continued to walk in circles. “I’m thinking that jealousy just might have been the motive for her murder, but maybe it wasn’t Archer that had been jealous. Perhaps Archer’s friends were jealous that he wasn’t hanging out with them anymore.”
Elijah seemed to contemplate that scenario for a moment. “Why are you now skeptical that it was Archer? Didn’t you hear him say he wished we’d all essentially die and burn in hell?”
“I did hear that,” Jenny said. “Believe me, I heard that. But what I didn’t hear was Lena while I argued with him. Wouldn’t she have been frantic if I was being threatened by her killer?”
More silence from Elijah. “I would imagine so,” he admitted. “But I’m still not ready to dismiss Archer as a suspect. Or Mark Smalls. Or Adam DeWalt for that matter. I think right now the only theory I’m willing to dismiss is the Russian mob theory, which had seemed like a stretch to begin with.”
Jenny wondered if Elijah had always been so negative. “Okay,” she conceded. “But will you give me Pam’s sister’s number? I think I remember her name was Debbie.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” he said. “Just give me a minute.”
Soon enough a phone number appeared on Jenny’s screen, and she sent the picture with a quick note to Debbie. She anticipated an immediate response, but that didn’t come. In order to help pass the time until she heard something, she climbed back into bed and curled up with Zack. He clicked on the television with the remote, and the two wordlessly watched television.
It wasn’t until late evening that Jenny received a call from Elijah, and by then she was a bundle of nerves. “Hey,” she said anxiously when the phone rang. “Did you hear anything from Debbie?”
“I sure did,” Elijah replied. “Are you sitting down?”
“Uh oh,” Jenny said. “That big, huh?”
“Well, as you suspected, a guy named Larry Goldberg was in the picture. He was the one in the blue t-shirt all the way to the right.” Jenny tried to no avail to envision his face; she’d need to look at the photo again.
Elijah continued. “He and Archer were good friends in high school, and his relationship with Archer did suffer when Lena entered the picture.”
“Do you think he was jealous enough to kill for that?”
“Possibly, because there’s a little more to it than just your average friendship.”
Jenny thought she knew what Elijah meant, but she wasn’t sure. “Are you telling me they were involved?”
“I’m not sure I can say that,” he said, “but it appears Larry is homosexual. Maybe he had feelings for Archer which may or may not have been reciprocated. Either way, that might have given him a reason to want Lena out of the picture.”
“Is Archer gay?” Jenny asked.
“Debbie didn’t know that. I’ll have to look into it.”
“Good luck getting Archer to tell you anything,” she said solemnly. “He wants us both to burn in hell, remember?”
“Oh, I remember,” Elijah assured her. “I’m definitely going to have to do a little digging on my own to get answers about Archer. I know there’ll be nothing that comes straight from the horse’s mouth.”
A thought occurred to Jenny. “Isn
’t it a little strange that Debbie doesn’t know if he’s gay? Archer said they’re still in touch. He knows about her current research project at work; I would think she’d know his sexual orientation.”
“Maybe he’s never really been in a relationship,” Elijah suggested. “He’s not exactly a catch.”
Reluctant to believe Archer could go a lifetime without anyone being attracted to him, Jenny considered her first client, Elanor, who had foregone romance to focus on her career. Perhaps Archer had chosen to do the same thing.
Elijah continued. “In the meantime I’ll try to get in touch with Larry himself. I may want to have him into the station to ask him a few questions.”
“Do you happen to know if he was at the reunion?”
“I’m not sure, honestly.”
“Can you add that to your list of questions? I can’t help but think the killer was at the reunion, based on how anxious Lena sounded while I was there.”
“Consider it added.”
Jenny concluded her phone call with Elijah and turned toward Zack, pointing at him excitedly. “Not only was this Larry character in the photograph, and not only was he sitting by the restroom at the steakhouse, but he also may have had a motive to murder Lena.”
“I heard,” Zack said. “Perhaps a little love triangle?”
“Indeed.” She twisted her face. “Although I’m not sure how that would work. If Archer is gay, then Lena wouldn’t have been a threat to Larry. If Archer isn’t gay, then Larry wouldn’t have stood a chance with him anyway.”
“He could be bisexual,” Zack posed. “Archer, I mean.”
Jenny wiped her face with her hands. “This is getting complicated.”
At that moment Jenny’s phone rang, and she looked down to see who was calling. Her heart sank when she saw it was Greg.
“Speaking of complicated,” she said as she silenced her phone. “It appears Greg wants me back.”
“Is that him calling?”
“Yup,” she said, tossing her phone into her purse. “And I don’t feel like dealing with him right now.”
