"You can't investigate without wheels, Savannah, and the nearest car rental is in Vancouver. I checked when mine was acting up."
"All right then. Pick me up at my motel at five-thirty. We'll grab the tire, then I'll take you out. I promise to feed you only dinner--no more false leads." I glanced out the window. "Oh, can you drop me off here? I've got some legwork to do."
He parked on Main Street. "So, are you going to tell me what happened with the bike?"
"Tire blew."
"I saw that. If there was an ongoing problem with it, though, you would have noticed. And if you'd run over something, you would have stopped."
I told him what happened. When he finished cursing out Cody, I said, "I could be wrong. Maybe I did just run over a nail or something."
"And he just happened to drive past slowly to admire the scenery?"
"I'm trying not to be paranoid."
"I'd say you have a right to be. You--" He noticed the hardware store clerk staring at us through the store window.
"We look like we're on a stakeout," I said. "We're making the townies nervous."
He opened the door. We got out and stood on the sidewalk.
"You need to be careful, Savannah."
"Um, no, I need to teach this control-freak scumbag that he can't mess with me."
Michael's mouth opened, then closed.
"What?" I said.
"I'm just asking you not to egg him on. You did the right thing today, not confronting him."
"I'm glad you approve."
He leaned against his car. "Okay, I've overstepped, obviously. I should mind my own business. Let you goad him into another strike."
"What better way to catch him if he's the killer?"
"You're right." His gaze frosted over, and his words were sharp. "Go right ahead. See if he'll go after you again. Make sure he does some damage, too--it's far more convincing if we have hospital records. Better yet, morgue records."
"I'm not stupid--"
"No, but maybe you are just a little bit reckless."
I shook my head.
"What?" he said.
"You sound like a guy I know."
"Well, he's a smart guy, then, and maybe you should listen. Cody Radu could have killed you out there. I'm not saying to back down. Stand firm, just don't goad him."
Adam would tell me the same thing--he was always the last person to stop me from standing up for myself, but the first to tear a strip off me when I got reckless.
"All right," I said. "I should ease off him for awhile anyway. I'm not getting anywhere."
"I've got my own appointment with him tomorrow morning. I'll give him a shake. See if anything comes loose. Maybe some of those pearly whites, if we're lucky."
I hesitated. The problem with my job is that the two priorities-solving the case and uncovering any supernatural involvement--sometimes clashed. I wanted to find Claire's killer. Yet I needed to keep Michael from finding any supernatural angles. I weighed the threat potential of what I was about to say and decided to go for it.
"I have a lead that might link Claire and Cody," I offered.
"What?"
"Legit this time. I won't play you anymore. I don't want to tip him off until I have details, but there's a good chance he had a conversation with Claire the day before she died. Also, he's definitely up to something illegal." I told him about the conversation I'd overheard with his lawyer friend. "A delivery. That's all I know."
"I can use that. Thanks. A lot." He stepped closer, gaze holding mine. "Really, I appreciate--"
"Are you guys done arguing?" a voice asked.
We looked over to see Kayla. Michael stepped back.
"Hey," I said.
"I saw you arguing earlier and I didn't want to get in the way."
"We weren't arguing," Michael said. "Just debating strategy."
She looked disappointed.
"I know we met, Kayla, but not officially." Michael held out his hand. "Michael Kennedy, I'm Claire's brother and I'm--"
"A police detective. I've heard." She lifted her chin, as if to say others might be impressed by his credentials, but she wasn't.
"I'm just heading over to see your grandma," Michael said. "Will I see you there?"
"Probably not." She turned to me. "Are you busy? I need to talk to you." A look Michael's way. "It's private."
"Okay," he said. Then to me, "Pick you up at five thirty?"
I nodded. Kayla waited until he was gone, then turned, expression unreadable.
"You're going out with him?" she said.
"A good private investigator uses every method at her disposal." I winked as the BMW roared from the curb. "Plus he's cute and drives a really hot car."
She rolled her eyes so high they threatened to disappear.
"Okay," I said. "You wanted to talk. I heard this town has ice cream--"
"Later. Did you see Dorothy?"
"She wouldn't answer the door."
"I'll get you in. Come on."
eighteen
I knocked. When no one answered, Kayla opened the door.
"Hey, Dorothy! It's me. Aunt Rose sent some of that peppermint tea you like."
A wizened old woman with fire-engine-red hair peeked around the corner. Spotting me, she scowled. "Kayla Thompson, you're a lying little--"
Kayla held up a bag. "Here's the tea. Oh, and this is Savannah Levine. She's investigating my mom's murder. I told her you saw Cody and Claire arguing, but she needs to hear it from you."
Kayla marched past her into the kitchen. "I'll make your tea while you tell her."
Dorothy followed. "I'm not telling her anything, Miss Kayla. I don't know what you heard--"
"You saw Claire and Cody arguing behind the hardware store."
"Who told you--?"
"You did. I heard you at Aunt Rose's."
"So you were eavesdropping."
"Yep." She filled the kettle.
Dorothy turned to me. "Kayla heard wrong. I never saw--"
"Yes, you did." Kayla plunked the kettle on the stove, flicked the burner, then parked herself on a kitchen chair. "You don't want to tell Chief Bruyn because you're still mad at him for egging your house when he was twelve."
"And thirteen. And fourteen."
"So you don't want to help him. That's okay. You're telling Savannah. You don't have anything against her, do you?"
Dorothy's look said just give her time and she'd find something.
"If she solves the case, it'll make Chief Bruyn look bad," Kayla pointed out.
Dorothy's eyes glittered, but after a moment, she shook her head. "I don't want to get involved."
"That's up to you," Kayla said. "Just as long as you don't mind having a killer in your town. One who might have seen you spying on him that day."
Dorothy scowled at her, then finally waved me to a chair.
She settled across the table, looked me over again, then said, "It was the day before that girl died."
Dorothy had been in the hardware store, trying to return a frying pan she'd left on the stove too long. Cody had been in line behind her, getting impatient as she argued with the clerk, which I'm sure only made Dorothy all the more determined not to step aside.
That's when Claire came in. She'd walked past Cody and smiled.
"The hussy," Dorothy sniffed. "Don't you ever behave like that, Kayla. That's how your mom got into trouble."
"If my mom hadn't gotten into trouble, I wouldn't be here," Kayla said.
Dorothy harrumphed and resumed her story. Claire had smiled at Cody. Then she'd walked out the back door, tossing another smile over her shoulder. Cody--"being a man, and you know how men are"--forgot whatever he'd been there to buy and followed Claire out.
That's when the clerk gave up and agreed to exchange Dorothy's frying pan, so she didn't notice what was transpiring outside until she was about to leave, and caught a glimpse of Cody and Claire out the back door.
"That girl wasn't smiling anymore. She was saying som
ething and Cody didn't like it one bit. He caught her by the wrist. She shook him off and tried walking back into the hardware store, but he stepped in front of her. Grabbed her arm. I headed for them. That girl was stupid, flirting with a boy like Cody Radu, but I wasn't going to stand by and let him hurt her. Cody saw me and let her go real fast. She came inside. He took off down the alley, I bet. Coward."
"Did Claire say anything to you?" I asked.
"I told her she ought to be more careful, and she agreed. Looked real shook up, too. Felt kinda sorry for her."
Not sorry enough to tell Bruyn about the fight. Claire had flirted to lure Cody outside, meaning they hadn't been lovers. What had she said to him? And, more important, was it worth killing her for?
As WE LEFT Dorothy's, Kayla reminded me of my ice cream offer. We'd just turned onto Main Street when a familiar silver SUV roared past.
When Cody saw me, he braked and squinted out the window, like he was hoping for a limp, a broken nose ... I waved. He sped off.
"I hate him," Kayla said, almost too softly to be heard. "Even if he didn't kill my mom, I hate him."
She led me into the diner. We got ice cream and went back outside.
"Grandma decided I should talk to you," Kayla said. "On my own, without her there. That's why I came over when I saw you with that cop. I think she figures I'll tell you things I wouldn't with her there. She's still worried that Cody might have hit me."
"Did he?"
She hesitated, and my heart slid up to my throat. Shit. I wasn't prepared for this. I had no idea what to do and I was sure that whatever I did would be the wrong thing and it would be so important to do exactly the right thing--
"Would he go to jail if I said he did?" she asked.
"If he did hit you, then yes, that would help." I noticed her expression was studiously blank and said, slowly, "But if you lie about it, that could make things worse."
She sighed, shoulders slumping. "He never did. When they started dating, it was good. I mean, Cody didn't want anything to do with me, but I didn't care because Mom was happy." She looked up at me. "Really happy. Like I'd never seen her before. She said she'd finally found the right guy and he was going to be my dad one day. I didn't want him to be, but if she wanted it ..."
"Then you were okay with that."
She nodded. "She said she was going to clean up, so she could be a good wife for him. She gave all her dope to Brandi, and she hardly drank at all. She showed me how to paint my nails, and one day we went into Battle Ground and got our hair done at a real beauty parlor--Grandma usually cuts mine--and Mom had the lady do our hair the same way and it was cool." Her gaze dropped. "It was really cool."
I waited for her to go on. After a moment, she did.
"Only Cody didn't want her to clean up. He'd bring her stuff--dope and booze--and if she didn't take it, he'd hit her. Brandi said that was okay, he liked her just the way she was and she should be happy."
"Was she?"
"For a while. One day, when she was high, she took me to Cody's house. His family was away for the weekend. She found the key and took me in, and she said it was going to be our house one day. She had me pick out a bedroom and everything." She watched ice cream drip down her fingers. "I didn't like that. Taryn--Cody's oldest daughter-was in my Girl Scout group before it closed down, and she was nice. That was her house. Her bedroom. I ... I didn't like it. But it made Mom happy."
Again I waited, and she went on.
"Then Cody got worse. He brought my mom more drugs, and she was worse than ever, but he wouldn't let her stop. He started telling her what to wear--sexy clothes and more makeup. Once, he came over after I was in bed, and he brought this friend. I heard Mom saying she didn't want to do something and I heard him hitting her, and I snuck into the living room to make sure she was okay and she was ... doing stuff. With the friend."
Oh, shit. "Do you want to talk about that? What you saw?"
"I know what it was." Her cheeks reddened. "I just ... I never saw it before."
A girl her age shouldn't. Especially not when the one demonstrating is her mother.
I asked Kayla how she felt about what she'd seen, which seemed the right thing to do, but she squirmed and blushed, and I decided just to tell Paula, so she could deal with it.
"After a while, when Cody didn't leave his wife, Brandi told Mom she should at least ask for a better place to live. A good place, so Brandi could move out of her mom's house and live with us. There were lots of empty apartments around and Brandi figured that Cody could get us a good place super cheap."
"Did she ask?"
"I think so. I came back from school one day and she was drunk. She said we weren't moving--not into Cody's house or anyplace else--and it was all my fault." Kayla's voice went monotone, like she was reciting the times table. "She said she wished I'd never been born. She said Grandma was a selfish bitch for not taking me so she could be happy and marry Cody."
"You know that wouldn't have made a difference, right? Cody was just looking for an excuse and he blamed you. He wasn't going to leave his family. If your grandma took you, he'd have found another reason.
"I know." She got up and walked away, and I thought Shit, I've said something wrong, but she only dumped her half-eaten cone in the trash, then came back.
"After that, things got really bad," she said. "Mom was crying all the time, and she wasn't taking care of herself, having showers or anything, which only made Cody madder and made him hit her more. Brandi didn't help at all. She never did. Grandma told Mom not to listen to Brandi--that she only wanted the booze and dope Cody brought--and Mom should leave him. She wouldn't. Grandma tried getting Mom to talk to Dr. Graham about it, but that only made Mom get mad ..." She looked out across the street. "It was bad."
"You know your grandma was trying to help, right?"
Kayla nodded. "That's when she told Mom she'd take me, but Mom said it didn't matter because I'd still be around. She'd still have a kid."
If I'd worked up any empathy for Ginny Thompson, it died at that moment. Hearing that your mother wanted you not just out of the house, but out of her life ...
There were some parallels between me and Kayla--never knew our dads, mothers who weren't exactly PTA material. But whatever my mother's faults, I'd been the center of her universe.
Even when I'd gone to live with Paige, as overwhelmed as Paige had been, she'd loved and protected me. She'd risked and lost everything to keep me. I could not even begin to fathom Kayla's experience. I only thanked God she had her own Paige now in Paula.
"Then Mom and Cody broke up."
That startled me out of my thoughts. According to everything I'd heard, they'd still been dating at the time of Ginny's death.
"When did that happen?" I asked.
"About a week before she died."
"But they got back together?"
She shook her head. "Cody hadn't come over to our place all week and I heard Mom telling Brandi that he wasn't answering her text messages. Brandi gave Mom all these ideas for getting him back. She said Mom had to get Cody back."
"Did you tell Chief Bruyn this after the murders?"
"I did, but Cody said I was lying, and Grandma said maybe I misunderstood. But I didn't. Cody was the liar."
If Cody had dumped Ginny and she'd desperately wanted him back, she might have threatened his family. Or threatened to expose his underground business. Either was a motive for murder.
nineteen
Kayla and I talked a bit more after that. I asked her if she had anything to share on the caseany tidbits she'd picked up in her detective work. She liked that and gave me information that offered a fascinating glimpse into Columbus and what a child can hear when no one's paying attention to her.
I learned that the grocer, Mrs. Dean, was planning to leave her husband when their last child, Rob, went off to college. I learned that Mr. Martin told his wife he was looking for work, when really, he was just driving around, knowing there were no jobs for a fifty-
year-old mill worker. I learned that Emily Rossi was sneaking into empty buildings to meet Rob Dean, though her parents told her she wasn't supposed to see him anymore, and they were planning to run away after they graduated high school. All very interesting, even if it didn't add anything to my investigation.
When we got back to Kayla's place, Michael was still talking with Paula. That made Kayla decide to play outside. I went inside and asked Michael if I could speak to Paula alone. He was cool with that. I sat her down at the kitchen table and told her that Kayla overheard Ginny say she didn't want Kayla around--at all. Then I told her how Kayla had seen Ginny with Cody's friend.
That last part was tough. I'm not sure what was worse, explaining it or seeing Paula's reaction. She was horrified ... and guilt-stricken that she hadn't known. Kayla had gone to a therapist after her mom died, she said, and she was going to get in touch with the woman again.
I WALKED BACK to the motel after that, and on my way, I called Jesse with a rundown of my progress. I mentioned the tire blowout, but downplayed it. I told him I was going out with Michael and, no, it wasn't to trick him into giving away leads. I was hoping that after the tips I'd given him, he'd willingly offer some of his own.
Jesse was a little nervous about bringing Michael into the investigation. Typical ex-con--wary of cops and their motivations. I assured him we weren't teaming up. Nor, though, was I going to turn down the opportunity to share information with him.
I called Adam, too, in case I didn't get a chance later. No, I wasn't planning to bring Michael to my room, however well the evening went. Been there, done that. In my late teens I'd gone through a phase where I'd decided relationships, even short-term, weren't my thing. Sex was, though. Ergo, I had sex without the relationship. Which was fine at the time, but the appeal wore off. These days I took my time.
I updated Adam on the case, then we chatted until I reached the motel, and I realized Michael would be picking me up in about ten minutes.
"I'll call you tomorrow afternoon," I said.
"With any luck, I'll already be on my way there."
"Here?"
"Um, yeah. That's what I said, right? That I'd swing by after the conference? Help you out?" When I didn't answer, he said, "I won't get in the way, Savannah. I'm just coming to help. And wake up after this conference. I'm in serious need of an adventure fix."