by Dale Mayer
The detective straightened and became more businesslike. “Just a few more things here.” He ripped through the next few questions and then said, “Okay, you two can go. We’ll get Jenny to sign her statement, and then she can leave too.”
Raina stood, addressing Jenny. “May I have your phone number to contact you, if needed? I still have my sister’s estate to take care of.”
Jenny nodded and shared her cell phone number. “And thank you,” she said. “This letter means everything to me.”
Raina smiled at her gently. “I’m glad I found it.”
Reyes placed a hand on the small of her back and nudged her toward the doorway. There, he turned and smiled at Jenny. “Thank you very much for coming in.” Then he stepped out.
As they walked back to the Jeep, Raina turned to look at him. “There’s no reason not to believe what Jenny said, is there?”
“No,” he said. “I feel fairly confident she’s telling the truth.”
“I like her,” Raina said with a smile. “It’s so hard not knowing what happened.”
“I know, but we have a whole new line of questions. There were men in Reana’s life. Jenny didn’t particularly like that, but that does give us other suspects.”
“Only if we can figure out who they are.”
“And now that we’re not standing right beside Jenny,” Reyes said, “I highly suggest we have a talk with her brother. He’ll have a very different take on their relationship than Jenny has.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Raina said. “We should have asked her for his contact information.”
“Don’t have to. It’s on the company website.”
“I doubt we’ll get in touch with him tonight. Maybe we can set up a meeting with him tomorrow.”
At the Jeep, Reyes pulled out his laptop and checked for the number, then called. As he expected, there was no answer, so he left a message.
“He may or may not call us back tonight.” He put the Jeep into gear and drove toward the hospital. “Now I’m the one who said we should go to the hospital, but, if you’re not ready to, just speak up.”
“What I need,” she said, “is to find out why my mother did what she did. But I can’t guarantee she’ll be any closer to telling us the answer to that question.”
“We also should go through your sister’s condo again. I know Jenny lived there, but Vince did find your sister’s cell phone. So, in some way, your sister—and possibly her murderer—had to have been there, potentially leaving clues behind.”
“It’s on the way to the hospital,” Raina said impulsively. “We can take a quick detour. That place is empty, so it’s not like there’ll be a whole lot to search through.”
Reyes changed lanes and took the next left. A few blocks later, he pulled in front of the brownstone. “We’ve learned a lot since we were here last,” he muttered. “Let’s hope this time we get a bunch more answers.”
As they walked up toward the front door, the neighbor was getting out of her car. She looked up and smiled. Raina walked over to her.
Reyes stuck close to her and said, “Thank you very much for that letter.”
Raina said, “I passed it on to Jenny.”
The neighbor’s face lit up. “I’m glad to hear that. You were asking about any men … There was one man. He appeared to be fairly close to the woman with the long brown hair, Jenny. I saw them hugging. He seemed to be quite concerned about her. At one point, I do recall seeing her crying on the front porch and him holding her, trying to soothe her. He left in some fancy little sports car,” she said. “And, of course, I have absolutely no clue who he was. The woman went back inside when he left.”
Reyes nodded and tucked that information in the back of his mind. He highly suspected it was Jamie. It didn’t seem like Jenny had too many other male friends. Reyes snagged Raina’s fingers with his own and said, “Thanks again.”
The two walked over to the brownstone. They stood in the front hall, deciding where to search. He started at the front closet, checking the top shelf, running his hands down the walls, making sure no loose boards were on the floor. He went systematically through the rest of the house. The kitchen was completely empty, holding absolutely nothing of interest. The entire downstairs was empty.
When they got upstairs to the two bedrooms and the two bathrooms, it was the same story. In the master bedroom, they stopped and studied the empty room.
“When Jenny moved out, she moved out,” Raina said with a smile. “As a tenant she must have been a godsend.”
“I wonder if she was paying rent though,” Reyes said. “But it’s a good point.”
“I highly doubt she murdered Reana over not wanting to pay rent,” Raina said thoughtfully. “But I suppose murder has occurred for an awful lot less.”
He glanced around at the floor. “If any foul play happened here, everything has been completely cleaned up. No sign of bloodstains. No smells that anything nasty occurred in this place.”
“I know,” she said. “When we first walked in, I held my breath, hoping I wouldn’t smell anything bad. Now I’m actively trying to detect something and sense nothing.” She turned to face Reyes. “With those last phone calls Reana made to me, do you think my sister was trying to tell me about Jenny? Or that she was in trouble when she called me over and over again?”
“That is likely a mystery we won’t get an answer to. So let’s fill in the details in a way you can live with. Maybe she was planning on telling you. That could have been her first step in convincing Jenny that Reana was serious. On another note, the police have Reana’s vehicle. It would be nice to know if they think she was murdered there or if she was moved into her car and then left elsewhere.”
“Will they tell us?”
He pulled out his phone. “Let’s find out.”
When he put his phone away ten minutes later, he shook his head. “They believe she was killed and placed in her vehicle and parked behind the coffee shop.” He watched as her shoulders sagged.
“Ugh. I know I asked, but…”
“You can’t blame them,” he said, “but I might have a way around it.”
He sent Ice a text, asking if she had any local connections who could find out if they had a primary crime scene and where it might be.
He received an answer almost immediately. He grinned. “See? There’s a difference between law enforcement and the company I work for. Law enforcement basically says, Get the hell out of their case, and they won’t tell us anything. Ice is like, Let me check. I’ll see if I have a source who can get that information for us. The police might want to hold it back from the media at this point.” He looked up, smiling to see Raina looking at him in surprise.
“Really? Ice will do that?”
He nodded. “She has connections everywhere. And right now we could really use them.”
She smiled. “Lucky you.” She turned and walked over to the bedroom window and stared out at the backyard. “It seems so odd to think that I knew my sister and then to find out I don’t know anything about her.”
“That’s sad.” He came up behind her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, loving it when she turned and snuggled in close. They stood there at the window, looking out at the small empty grass yard, completely fenced, just like every other little cubicle along the strip. “You forget I was engaged to her, and apparently I didn’t know anything about her either.”
He could feel her head move slightly as she asked, “Do you ever think back on that time?”
“No. At the time I walked away, I just wanted to forget. I couldn’t figure out how I’d made such a mistake, but then I figured she had to have been an active part of that mistake because obviously she didn’t want to be with me.”
“It sounds like she didn’t know where she wanted to be.”
“I think she wanted Jenny,” Reyes said sincerely. “I don’t think Reana knew how to make it happen without having the rest of her world implode.”
They hung on to each o
ther like that for several long moments. Then she whispered, “I’ll be very grateful when this day ends.”
He nodded. “It should have ended already. It’s late, so let’s stop our search for the moment to go see your mother. Then I’ll drive you home.”
She leaned back, looked up at him and smiled. “I forgot what a nice guy you are.”
“Shhh,” he said with a wicked grin. “Don’t tell the world that.”
Her smile turned to a grin. “It’s a myth that everybody wants a bad boy and that all the good guys are gone. Because a very good guy stands right in front of me.”
His lips quirked. “Yeah? Then how come you never showed any interest in me?” he challenged. “Only your sister did.”
“That’s not true,” Raina said with a laugh. “I was interested way before my sister. But, once she understood I liked you, she had to go after you. And, once you saw her in that light, you fell like a rock.”
He stared down at her. “You said something like that before, but I didn’t really believe you.”
“It’s true,” she said, stepping out of his arms and moving a little farther back.
He let his arms drop. “Seriously?”
She tossed him an amused look. “Of course. Why would I lie about something like that? It was years ago.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “And how do you feel about me now?”
She froze, turned to look at him and frowned. “You’re not seriously bringing up something like that right now, are you? With everything else going on?”
“Why not?” he asked. “Because I liked you first. I assumed you didn’t want anything to do with me.”
Her jaw dropped. “How could you ever have gotten that assumption?”
“Because you never appeared to like me,” he said.
She chuckled, and it soon turned into a great big laugh.
He stared at her in surprise but found his own sense of humor surfacing. “Or is this two quiet introverted people not really sure about how to come together?”
She giggled. “Absolutely. I kept looking at you sideways to the point that your mother chastised me for having a crush on you.”
“Really?” He shook his head. “I never saw it. She never said anything about it. She actively pushed me toward Reana.”
“Wow. I’d forgotten that,” Raina agreed. “It seems like a long time ago in so many ways.”
He thought back and nodded. “It has been years.” He stopped and frowned. “You had a boyfriend back then.”
“I had a friend back then,” she corrected. “He was gay and was using me to get through life without other people questioning his sexuality,” she said with a heavy sigh. “That’s why I’m very saddened at my sister’s inability to tell me about her own sexual orientation. I would never have judged her. I would have been happy that she had finally figured it out. Because, from what I understand, coming to terms with it can be very traumatic for some people.”
He turned and nodded and walked toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go to the hospital—see if we can get one more thing checked off. And then you can get to bed.”
“Great,” she said. “Bed. Where I get to lie there and stare at the ceiling all night.”
He tossed her a look. “Hopefully not tonight. It’s been a very long day. You need sleep.”
Chapter 11
Raina might need sleep, but she wouldn’t get any; she knew that. Ice sent a text along their way to the hospital, saying the police weren’t releasing the information on where her sister had died. Discouraged, Raina studied the hospital building on their approach. As they pulled into the parking lot, she stared up at the big building with a foreboding that wouldn’t leave her alone.
“I don’t want to go in there,” she confessed.
“Why?” he asked as he pocketed the keys. He opened the door and stepped out, going around to her side. He opened the passenger door and helped her out. “Is something wrong, or are you just not sure how to handle your mother?”
“Who knows? Maybe I’m just too damn tired to sort any of it out.” She looped her arm through his. “How long are you staying?”
“A couple days,” he said. “Would you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
She slid him a sideways look. “As old friends? Or is this a date?”
His lips quirked in that same old movement that had her heart hitching in response.
“How about both?” he asked. “Can’t old friends go on a date?”
She chuckled. “Maybe. I’m not so sure what you’d call that though.”
“When you figure it out, tell me,” he said lightly. “Because we’ll probably spend all day together too. I just thought that we might share a nice meal too. Find out if we like each other—really like each other.”
“In that case, yes,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure how I feel about you at the moment.”
It was his turn to raise his eyebrows.
“Sorry,” she rushed to say. “I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded. I’ve always liked you, and you being here, with everything else going on, has my emotions in a mess.”
“I’m not asking for any promises, but I would like to ask you to keep an open mind. At one point, we might have had the promise of something, until I allowed myself to be sidetracked by your sister.”
“As did I,” she said. “I’d like to think now that I’d fight for what I want, instead of letting my sister take over.”
“And I’d like to think I would recognize true love, instead of allowing myself to be distracted by a shiny penny,” he admitted. “And what I’d really like to do is spend more time with you.” He squeezed her fingers and led the way to the front entrance.
Her heart melted a little more. This was why she’d really liked him in the first place. He was a whole lot of hero mixed with a very old-world gentlemanly charm. Something was almost innocent about him. It didn’t match what she knew was the very capable man inside, but, when it came to relationships, there was a grace to him, a serenity. And she really liked that.
Inside the hospital, things were quiet. As they approached the floor where her mother was, it appeared to be visiting hours, as the noise grew louder the closer they got to the ward. As they entered her room, the room was empty of people, except for her mother.
Raina walked over to the bed and whispered, “Mom, it’s me. Are you awake?”
Her mother opened her eyes and stared at her, hope in them at the sound of her voice, until hope faded as she realized it was the wrong sister.
Raina steeled herself against what she knew would be more pain, understanding there was just no way to get around it. Her mother would have to deal with the fact that she’d lost her favorite daughter.
Raina sat down beside her and said, “Reyes and I are both here.”
Her mother narrowed her gaze as she studied Reyes. “Did you kill her?” she asked in a harsh whisper.
Reyes shook his head. “No, I did not.” And then, almost as if he were tired of people accusing him of that, he asked in a forthright manner, “Did you kill her?”
Raina sucked in her breath. She watched her mother’s face. First there was shock; then there was a realization, followed by tears.
“Why would you say that to me?” She squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment, then finally shook her head. “No,” she said, “I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I just couldn’t handle the news after Annemarie told me what had happened.” She plucked nervously at the sheets and whispered, “I still can’t.”
“Why would the balcony be open in your room?” Raina asked. “I found you on your bed, but your window and the double glass doors were open. You never have those open.”
Her mom looked at her, her bottom lip trembling.
Raina grasped her hand in hers. “It doesn’t matter why that was. Just tell me, so I know. We’ve come up with all kinds of crazy scenarios—from an intruder to even Reana coming to see you.”
Her mom shook her head. “Think about what I
was trying to do and think about what’s below my small balcony. I was looking out the window and realized the possibilities.”
Raina thought for a moment and then said, “A patio is down there.”
Her mom nodded. “I would have thrown myself over the edge of the railing.”
Raina gasped. She couldn’t imagine finding her mom’s body broken on the patio. She shuddered, then mustered the courage to ask, “Why didn’t you?”
“I was afraid it wouldn’t do the job.” Her mother’s voice was broken and clogged with tears. “I was afraid I would just be more broken, more helpless afterward.”
Raina bent over and kissed her mother’s hand. “That’s probably what would have happened because, while it looks like a long distance, I don’t think the balcony would have been high enough from the patio to do more than maybe break a few bones.”
“Exactly,” she said. “And I wanted it to be complete.” She stared around the hospital room. “And I failed in that too.”
“Yes, you did,” Raina said. “But this, this is about second chances.”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I get that. You know Reana and I had a special bond. Living without her is not something I want to do.” Her voice was trident and clear.
Raina sat back, stared at their clasped hands and nodded. “I know you two shared something special, and I know you don’t want to listen to me when I say, This too shall pass, and that you will feel better down the road when the grief is not quite so strong.”
“No,” her mother said. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to get past this point. I don’t want to go on. I loved your sister more than life itself. And to think of a day without her at my side is not something I want to struggle through.” She started to sob again.
Raina looked at Reyes and shrugged. She didn’t know what to do.
Reyes leaned down, patted her mother on the shoulder and said, “You might want to consider the fact that Raina has to make arrangements. Do you have any preference about what happens to Reana’s body?”
