The wild card in all of this was Walter Winters. He had returned Hill’s money when his mother died, why would he want to find him now? If he went looking for Roger and found him out of town, it made sense that he would go to see Steven. Perhaps they had argued, but again, why would Steven take a shot at someone only to let that person turn his gun against him?
Maybe Winters wrestled the gun from Steven and shot him before he could get to the gun safe for another weapon. There was no way Valerie could have overpowered Steven, but maybe Winters could have. At least that scenario made sense, assuming Winters had come to Casper. Jake’s head was spinning when his computer beeped.
“Well, I’ll be darned.” Jake printed the screen and called Matt. When his phone went to voicemail, he called Brugnick. “Cross Winters off your list, Morty.”
“He was definitely somewhere else when Hill died?”
“Yep.”
“Can anyone verify his alibi?”
“The State of California can. Walter Winters died three months ago.”
***
Saturday morning found Jake and Emma standing outside of Cecily’s apartment, waiting for her to answer the bell. “Why are we doing this again?” Jake had asked when Emma made him put on a suit and tie.
“CeCe likes you. The minute I mentioned your name, she got all excited.”
“But a suit? On a Saturday? Really?”
“It won’t kill you and I think CeCe will be pleased. She might even vote for you.”
“Do I have to do this every time I meet a voter? Shouldn’t I just be myself?”
Emma had tilted her head and looked at him. “You have a point. Lose the tie.”
The older woman answered and her face beamed when she saw Emma. “Emma! I’m so glad you’ve come. Always easier to get to know a man when you’ve got his wife around to make sure he tells you the truth.”
She shook Jake’s hand, then pulled them into the apartment, offering Emma the same chair she’d sat in the day before. Jake sat down next to her while Cecily busied herself in the kitchen, then joined them, bearing a plate of home-baked cookies.
“I’m real glad to know you, Jake,” she said, pressing him to take one of her oatmeal raisin cookies.
“I’m happy to know you, too,” said Jake, biting reluctantly into the cookie. “This is really good. Emma you need to get CeCe’s recipe.”
The woman grinned, obviously pleased. She peppered Jake with questions, more about his character than his politics. Emma was impressed with how well Jake handled himself, answering each question with patience and candor. When Jake had answered all of her questions, Cecily seemed satisfied. She stood up but motioned for Jake to stay seated.
“I’ll be right back,” she told them, then disappeared into the back of the apartment. She returned a few moments later, pulling on the arm of the young woman they had been searching for since Steven Hill’s funeral. “He’s all right, Valerie. You can tell him.”
The young woman looked ready to bolt, but Jake had risen and was holding his hand, his most charming smile encouraging her to stay. She didn’t take his hand, but she did sit down.
“Jake, this is my great-niece, Valerie Smith.”
Jake raised his eyebrows and Cecily chuckled. “I know, but her name really is Smith. I teased her when she got married. Told her she ought to have him take her name instead.”
“Smith is a perfectly good name, Aunt CeCe.” Emma recognized her distinctive accent.
“You’re from California. So am I. Born and raised.”
“What part?”
“Santa Barbara. What about you?”
“Northridge.”
There was an awkward silence and Cecily nudged Valerie. “Go on, tell them.”
Tears brimmed in Valerie’s eyes. “I just can’t, Aunt CeCe. I can’t do it.”
“She’s had a tough time since she got here. Do you want me to tell them?” Valerie nodded. “Valerie’s mama, she died when Valerie was knee high to a grasshopper. All she ever had was her daddy. He was my sister’s boy.”
“Was?” asked Emma gently, watching as Valerie blinked hard and rubbed her eyes.
“He died a few months ago.”
“I’m so sorry, Valerie.”
“It was his heart,” she said, sniffling. Cecily handed her a box of tissues and Valerie took one. “Doctor told him last year he better quit smoking but Daddy always had to have his cigar after dinner. I tried to get him to stop.” A sob escaped and she wiped her eyes with the tissue. “He told me life wasn’t worth living if he couldn’t have his cigars.”
“Now, child,” said Cecily. “Your daddy didn’t mean anything by that. It was just his way, is all.” She looked at Emma. “Valerie went over one Sunday morning after church, like she always did. Only he didn’t answer the door. She found him lying there, poor thing.”
“Oh no.” Emma went to sit beside Valerie, pushing Jake over and putting her arm around the girl. “I’m so sorry.”
“I was going through his things, getting ready to sell the house. I found some of my grandmother’s things in the attic.”
“That was my sister,” injected Cecily.
“I read her diary, from when she was pregnant with Daddy.”
“Valerie’s expecting her own baby now,” added Cecily, as proud as thought Valerie were her own child.
“I just wanted to see, I don’t know, what it was like back then. I never dreamed…”
“She never dreamed her grandfather wasn’t really her grandfather!” Cecily finished for her. “It was a shock to me, let me tell you. My sister having another man’s child. I was never so stunned in all my days.”
“You didn’t know about it when it happened?”
“I was just a kid when Trudy left home. Thought she’d make her way in the world. My folks might’ve known, but nobody ever told me anything.”
“Your grandmother’s name was Trudy?” asked Jake.
“Yes.”
“Trudy Winters,” said Cecily. “That was her married name. Klingman’s our family name.”
“And you came here looking for Roger Hill, your biological grandfather?”
“How did you know?” Valerie looked frightened.
“Did you find him?”
“It said in the diary he was from Casper, so I came to visit Aunt CeCe. She got his address and I went over there, but he wasn’t home. His grandson said they were on a cruise around the world.”
“Can you believe that? Who takes a cruise all the way around the world?” asked Cecily but Jake ignored her.
“Roger’s grandson answered the door? When was this?”
“A couple of weeks ago.”
“On a Saturday?”
“I don’t think so. Aunt CeCe, do you remember?”
“It was a Thursday. Trash day.”
Jake nodded. “How do you know the man was Roger’s grandson?”
“He told me his grandparents were on a cruise. When I asked when they’d be back, he said maybe another month. I said I just had to talk to him so he told me his uncle would know how to reach them.”
“What happened then?”
“He wrote his uncle’s name and address down for me and I left.”
“Did you go see his uncle?”
Valerie started to shake. “Go on, child. You didn’t do anything wrong.” When Valerie shook her head, Cecily picked up her story. “She tried, but nobody was home. Took her all the way ‘til Saturday to catch him.”
“Was Steven’s wife there when you went to the house Saturday?”
Valerie shook her head. “I didn’t see anybody but him.”
“What did Steven say when you told him why you were in town?”
Valerie started twisting the tissue in her hands. “He laughed at me. Told me I was a liar and I just wanted his father’s money. I told him I didn’t know anything about any money. I just wanted to meet him, you know. Know what he was like, what kind of person he was.”
“Steven didn’t b
elieve you?”
“He said I didn’t have any proof so I showed him the diary. He took it and he wouldn’t give it back! I grabbed at it and he shoved me. He pulled a gun out of the closet and told me to get out and forget I ever heard about his family.”
“What did you do?”
Valerie stared at Jake, her eyes wide. “What do you think I did? I got outta there!”
“And the next day, he was dead,” said Cecily. “That’s why she’s been afraid to tell anybody she was there. She’s been afraid someone would think she killed him.”
“You came to Steven’s funeral?”
Valerie nodded. “I knew Roger Hill would be there. I just wanted to see him. I couldn’t make him believe me without the diary, but I came so far. I just had to see him.”
“But you looked so angry,” said Emma.
Valerie twisted the tissue until it tore. “It made me mad, seeing them all like that. I couldn’t even have a funeral for Daddy. Just had him cremated and I scattered the ashes. Nobody would’ve come to a funeral anyway, ‘cept me and Davy.”
“That’s her husband,” offered Cecily. “He’s in the movies.”
Valerie blushed. “He’s a day player. Does crowd scenes, that kind of thing. He’s back in L.A. I should go home, too, only my car got towed and I can’t afford to get it back. I’ve been looking for work, but everybody keeps saying they don’t want to hire me ‘cuz I’m not from Wyoming.”
“Did you ever get a chance to speak to Roger?” asked Emma.
Valerie’s eyes looked fearful again, so Cecily answered for her. “She went to his house. Took her a whole week to get up courage.”
“Older lady let me in. I don’t know who she was, but she was at the funeral. She said she remembered me from the funeral and asked if I knew Steven. I told her I wanted to pay my respects to his dad so she took me back to see him.”
“Did she stay in the room?”
“No. She knocked on the door and told him I was a friend of Steven’s. Then she pushed me into the room and shut the door behind me.”
“What did Roger say when you told him who you are?”
“I couldn’t. Not at first. I just stood there, like an idiot. I didn’t know what to say. Finally, he said I looked so familiar and he got this look on his face. He said I looked like someone he knew a long time ago.”
“She’s the spitting image of Trudy at that age.”
“He had such an, I don’t know, wistful look on his face, I just poured it all out to him.” Tears brimmed in her eyes again. “And he believed me. He cried, can you believe it? He said was glad to see me. We sat and talked. He was so nice.”
Valerie stopped and smiled, her eyes unfocused. “I told him about Davy and the baby. He promised to help us out, help us get on our feet until Davy’s career takes off. I told him I didn’t need any help and that wasn’t why I wanted to see him, but he insisted. He said he was changing his will, with Steven gone, and he’d have his lawyer put in a provision for me, just like he was doing for all his grandchildren.”
“So he was in a good mood when you left him?”
“He was tired. He was rubbing his chest like Daddy used to do when his heart was hurting him. I asked what I could do to help him, but he said he had medicine for it. He asked me to come back in a few days and see him again.”
“And then what?”
“Then I left. There was a big French door to the side yard and I left that way.”
“And Roger was fine when you left him?”
“He was ringing a little bell. He said his wife knew when he rang it, to bring his medicine right away. I wanted to stay to make sure he was okay, but he said he didn’t want her to find out about me like that.”
“Have you met with anyone else in the Hill family? His daughter, Pam Young? His wife, Della? Maybe Steven’s wife, Maddie or her daughter, Melody?”
Valerie shook her head as Jake listed each name. “I haven’t seen anybody else. I’m starting to think God doesn’t mean me to be part of their family.”
“I just have one question,” said Emma, looking at Cecily. “When I told you Jake’s name, I may be mistaken, but it seemed familiar to you.”
Valerie answered for her aunt. “It was in the box, with the diary. There was an envelope with Joseph Rand, Attorney at Law on the return address. Aunt CeCe couldn’t find anybody by that name, but she thought maybe he was your father.”
“Yes. He was Roger’s attorney. He forwarded money every month, from Roger to Trudy. I sent the checks after he retired, but the address I sent them to wasn’t in Northridge.”
“Grandma Trudy lived in San Diego. She died quite a while ago.”
“I’ll see what I can do about getting your car out of hock. You know I’m going to have to speak to the police about what you’ve told me.”
“We know that, Jake,” said Cecily. “That’s why I asked you all those questions before I brought Valerie out. You’re an honest man and we trust you to do what’s right.”
“I’ll be in touch when I have news. Please don’t leave town.”
“I have no money to go anywhere.”
“Valerie didn’t kill anybody,” insisted Cecily.
“I know you believe Valerie, but she needs to cooperate with the police for them to believe her.”
Cecily threw her arms around Jake. “I knew you could help her. I might even vote for you!”
***
“Do you believe her?” Jake was driving Emma to her office. She had been juggling her schedule but there were clients who needed her and who couldn’t be put off. She had three appointments, but the first wasn’t for another forty minutes.
“Yes and no. When she talks about her father, her grief seems genuine, but there are other parts of her story that seem a little rehearsed.”
“I agree. By her own admission, she was with Steven before he was killed and she was with Roger before he died, though the coroner says he wasn’t murdered. Valerie says Della let her in, but Della never mentioned Roger having a visitor.”
“Valerie says Steven pulled a gun on her to scare her into leaving town, but if she’s the one he fired the shot at, why wouldn’t she mention that? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless she was lying about the whole thing.”
“She’s not lying about being there. Nobody lies to put themselves at the scene of a crime. There’s something she’s not telling us. When did Valerie’s car get towed?”
“Not until after Steven’s murder. The other part of her story that doesn’t ring true is her running into Ryan Young at Roger’s house. Why would he be there? Talk about putting yourself at the scene of the crime, Valerie’s three for three.”
“You think she made it up, hoping to pin the breakin on Pam’s son? How would she have the alarm code or the combination to the safe?”
“Before I met Valerie, I wondered if she might be having an affair with Steven. Maybe she’s making up the story about being Roger’s granddaughter. I haven’t heard of the police finding a diary.”
“That would make more sense, but that would mean that CeCe’s lying, too, and I don’t get that feeling.”
“Little old ladies can lie, just like everybody else. Sometimes better because they’ve had more practice.”
“I thought you liked CeCe.”
“I did, but we don’t know her. We don’t know what she’s really like.”
“If Valerie’s been in California, CeCe may not have seen her in years.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning what if Valerie’s an imposter? CeCe thinks she’s telling us the truth because that’s what the fake Valerie has told her.”
“Em, you read too many mystery books. That’s ridiculous. Walter Winters was Trudy Klingman’s son by Roger Hill. We can confirm whether Valerie Smith is Walter’s daughter.”
“And whether our Valerie is the real Valerie.” Jake slammed his hand on the steering wheel, making Emma jump. “Okay, fine. You hate my theory. You don’t have
to break your hand.”
“It’s not that. It’s Valerie’s car. Matt said both the car and the license plate had been reported stolen.”
“That means Valerie really is lying, which means CeCe is lying too. That’s sad.”
“I can’t believe I forgot that. I’m such an idiot. How does Matt keep all the details straight?”
“You’re not an idiot. Matt’s been specially trained to be a detective and he’s been doing this a lot longer than we have.”
Jake parked in front of Emma’s building. One of the perks of working on a Saturday was easy parking. “Come on. I’ll use Kristy’s computer while you’re working. I want to see what I can find out about Valerie Smith. What did she say her husband’s name was?”
“Davy.”
“David Smith. I can’t imagine how many of them there are in L.A.”
“Why don’t you work backwards from Walter? Start checking with crematories and see if you can verify her story that way.”
“I knew there was a reason I married you.”
“I hope there was more than one reason.”
16
By the time Emma’s last client left, Jake had been able to verify at least some of Valerie’s story. He had spoken to a man at Chapel Hills Funeral Services who confirmed that Walter Winters had been cremated and his daughter, a woman fitting Valerie’s description, had handled the arrangements.
There was a David Smith in the Screen Actors Guild and the age looked about right, but the actor’s credits didn’t match how Valerie described them. There was no personal information available. He could find no marriage license on file for David and Valerie, nor any record of her high-school graduation. He did find Valerie’s birth certificate, listing Walter as her father, and he’d located her mother’s death certificate dated six years later.
“I’ll give this to Morty,” he told Emma as they drove home. “Police have access to information I don’t. Maybe he can find something.”
“Let’s see if everyone can come over for a meeting tonight.”
“Already done. I called ahead and warned Grace. She said she’d make a pot of chili.”
Death Changes Everything Page 17
