Forgotten Girls, The (18 page)

Jay hadn’t been back home in a
long time, he realized sadly, as he and Ridley turned down their old street in
Jay’s black jeep Cherokee. It was strange enough seeing the old neighborhood,
even stranger to turn onto his old block. But to be doing it with Ridley in the
car made him feel like he was in an episode of
The Twilight Zone
, like
he had entered another place and time and didn’t quite know where he was or
what he was doing.

Having a face-to-face with a real
drug dealer had been the most dangerous encounter he had ever had. They had
made it out of their meeting alive and Jay just kept thanking his lucky stars
over and over again. Ridley hardly spoke until they got over the bridge but,
once he started, he couldn’t stop. Hearing his mother brought Joslyn to Mugger
B behind his back, exposing her to a guy like that, and her being killed days
later—it was all too much for him. It was as if the floodgates opened and all
the hurt and pain and sorrow of his entire life came pouring out. Jay listened
as Ridley vented, vacillating between boiling rage and grief, swearing he would
kill his mother one minute then sobbing the next. It was as though his whole
childhood had blasted itself into sharp relief and finally, painfully, he was
allowing himself to see it.

By the time they turned onto their
old block Jay had pretty much gathered that Ridley had taken the heat for his
mother as he long suspected, though Ridley was in such a state of frenzy Jay
wasn’t sure that Ridley was even aware he had blurted this out during his rant.
Now, on their childhood street, Ridley had become eerily quiet. Jay noticed the
houses hadn’t changed much and, before he knew it, he was slowing down in front
of the driveway he had known so well as a boy: the one he had learned to ride
his bike in, the place where he caught his first frog, the spot where he hid each
year on Halloween to ambush trick-or-treaters. It was Ridley’s driveway, not
his own. At that moment he felt a pit in his stomach for what life had done to
Ridley and to their friendship. He looked over to Ridley and saw the look in
his eyes, as he too stared at the driveway. At that moment, their childhood
seemed both a distant memory and like it was yesterday: He could see in his
mind’s eye two boys, two brothers, and all the shenanigans they had shared. He
remembered so well and barely remembered at the same time.

Jay didn’t let Ridley out of the
car. He didn’t trust what might happen if he were to walk down that driveway
and into that house. He had driven him back to Greenvale with the intention of
bringing him to the station house and hiring him a lawyer, but had agreed to
drive down their old street when Ridley made the request. Jay was not going to
let Ridley be thrown to the wolves this time. He was here to help him see this
one through. They sat in the car for a moment until Ridley nodded his head.
Then they backed out and headed to the station house to see Dennis.

Rosie walked over and poured her
two new friends some coffee. “Well, I think you have officially made us destination
101 for law enforcement in this case,” she chuckled. “What am I gonna do when
this case is over and I don’t see you two no more?”

Bella and Mack had struck out at
the Freeds and the Jordans—neither Jamie nor Jenna were home, the two people
with whom they wanted to speak before their trip up north. Mack politely
answered Rosie’s questions about the funeral and listened to her yap a little, but
Bella was preoccupied, feeling off kilter at how complicated this thing had
become.

She hadn’t expected a quagmire.
She had assumed this would be black and white, easier than normal. She had also
assumed she would not feel for her victim the way she normally did. She had
been wrong about that too. Now she wondered why she had made these assumptions,
why she had been so flippant from the start.

Rosie’s voice interrupted her
thoughts.

“Well, all I know is that poor
husband of hers, and those children, they’re gonna need some good help when
this is all over, that’s for sure. But he’s such a rich man. I am sure he will
get his daughters the best psychologist he can find. Ahh, those poor, poor
girls,” sighed Rosie before she launched into a one-minute soliloquy about luck
and fate.

Rosie’s comment about a
psychologist jogged something in Bella. She thought of how Kim had seen Dr.
Weber and Jenna at the diner together one day and Bella realized she had never asked
Rosie about it.

“Hey, Rosie, are you by any chance
familiar with a psychiatrist in town named Dr. Weber?”

“Never heard of her,” Rosie
answered casually.

“We heard she comes in here from
time to time.”

“I don’t know any shrinks, though
I could use one that’s for sure,” Rosie laughed. “But I sure as hell can’t
afford one.”

“This one’s hard to miss,” and
Bella described her.

“Wait a minute. Are you kidding?”
Rosie looked surprised, resting the coffee pot on the table and putting her
arms on her hips. “I have seen that woman! She comes in here a lot, always
alone. She’s a shrink? Wow. Sure doesn’t look like one. Or act like one.”

“What do you mean?” Bella asked.

“Ahh, nothing.” She shrugged,
picking the pot of coffee back up. “It’s just that the couple of times I seen
her with someone I noticed it, ’cause like I said, she’s always alone. She was
in here yesterday morning, actually, right before you guys got here!” Rosie
became excited. “She was with another woman.”

“Really?” Bella and Mack looked at
one another, curious. “Anyone you know?”

“Naah,” Rosie replied. “She was
real done up. Looked like one of the rich moms in town. They were just a
strange pair, ya know? And now that I think about it, I saw them in here one
night a while ago too. Place was pretty empty.”

Rosie looked like she was
remembering for the first time.

“Do you remember what this other
woman looked like?” Bella asked.

“Yeah, dark hair, real straight.
Real tan, looked like one of those fake tans you can get. Real thin. And really
white teeth. It was crazy.”

“What was crazy?” Bella asked
coyly, looking full on at Mack to see if he was feeling as excited as she at
that moment. Mack’s interest was fully piqued.

Rosie looked uncomfortable for a
moment. She looked back and forth between them, then leaned forward and
whispered:

“I saw them kiss.”       

*

Mack and Bella sped through the
huge gold Glen Oaks sign straight up to Jenna’s front door, only to find her
gone. Neither Doug nor her girls had heard from her all day and, apparently,
she wasn’t answering her cell. Their trip to Arlington postponed, Mack and
Bella drove back to the precinct for a new round of talks with Weber, only this
time her beefy defense lawyer, Arthur Godfried, would join them.

Billy managed to get Arthur to
agree to the interview by threatening his client with a very public arrest.
While it was painful for Arthur to turn down such an unabashed moment of PR, he
did the right thing and convinced Weber to come back. Rosie’s spotting them
kiss felt like a pivotal turning point for Bella. Pieces were slowly starting
to come together. Now, Bella and Mack sat uncomfortably with Weber in the
cramped, airless interview room, with Arthur by her side.

“We called you back because some
new information has surfaced that might change the direction of our case,”
Bella began. This was the part of her job she loved most—getting to interrogate
a hostile witness.

“We would like to know more about
your relationship with Jenna Jordan,” Bella continued calmly.

“Before she says anything, tell us
why she was called back in,” Arthur demanded.

Arthur Godfried was a well-known
criminal defense attorney known for grabbing the limelight, then turning it on
himself. He was a publicity whore, with the reputation for being able to
deliver a biting cross-examination and outsized courtroom theatrics, but he was
also known for his sloppy legal work. He was short, stout, gruff, and
perpetually tan. His stocky build looked somehow off in his pin-stripe suit, as
though the stripes would lend him an air of refinement and respectability he innately
lacked.

“It has come to our attention your
client may be carrying on an intimate relationship with the parent of one of her
patients in Greenvale,” Bella answered seriously.

“So what?” barked Arthur.

“So considering we are looking at
your client for these murders we are interested in hearing about whether this
is true.” Bella smiled.

Arthur gave Bella a skeptical
look.

“What is she intimating, Jimmy?”
Arthur asked Mack, ignoring Bella completely.

Jimmy? He must know Mack, Bella
realized.

“I am not intimating anything,”
Bella answered for herself. “I am coming right out and using the word
‘affair.’”

Weber interrupted. “I am not
having an affair with anyone and I resent the accusation.” Weber looked at
Arthur when she spoke.

“You heard her then,” Arthur said,
as though that were that.

“Come on, Arthur.” Mack grinned
slowly, like he was sharing a joke with an old friend. “We’re on the clock
here, man. Don’t have time for bullshit. We get she doesn’t want to fess up. We
get it, we do.” Mack turned and said directly to Weber, “But, at this point,
she either comes clean or we raise the heat. You get what I’m saying?”

Arthur considered Mack’s words.

“Whose the parent you are referring
to? The father of which kid?”

Weber lifted her head and looked
at Mack as though she knew what was coming next.

“He means the mother of which kid,
doesn’t he, Marion?” Mack grinned.

Arthur looked momentarily off
guard, as he turned to Weber with questioning eyes. She didn’t return his
glance. Her eyes remained fixed upon Mack.

“We believe your client and Mrs.
Jordan are intimate,” Mack spoke smoothly. He seemed relaxed and comfortable.

“Define intimate,” Arthur teased
with a smug smile, without missing a beat. Weber was pure stone, her eyes
fixated on something in her lap.

“I would rather not,” Mack
countered.

Bella looked straight at Arthur
and avoided Weber’s eyes.

“We have a witness who saw the two
of them kiss. On the lips.” Bella emphasized the last part of the sentence.

There was a moment of silence,
then Bella tilted her head and chided, “That was a bad move, Marion. What
happened? You simply couldn’t control yourself a minute longer?”

Marion’s face turned red and
Arthur saw it.

“Who is this witness?” Arthur asked
dismissively.

“Irrelevant,” Bella responded.
“All you need to know is she’s very credible, very much alive, and very willing
to testify to what she saw.”

“Since when is kissing a woman a
crime?” Arthur queried mockingly.

Bella and Mack had agreed beforehand
not to reveal what they knew of Dunmore’s history and Weber’s part in it.

“When you’re suspect number one in
a triple homicide everything you do matters, Arthur. You know that,” Mack
interjected with a patronizing smile. “And sharing a kiss with a married mother
in town whose patient you are treating, well, there’s gotta be a conflict of
interest in there somewhere, no?”

Weber’s face twitched slightly.

“If you’re worth your salt you
would advise her to think this one through,” Bella said.

A look of concern did shoot across
Marion’s face, but only for a moment. She shook her head, closed her eyes, and
gazed down into her lap.

“What information do you have that
gives you any reason to believe my client had anything to do with these
murders? She shared a kiss with a woman and you think she’s a serial killer?”
Arthur exclaimed.

Bella paused, leaned back in her
chair, and observed Weber, who looked more upset than Bella had seen so far.

“We are giving you a chance to
clear things up, Marion. Do you really want to take the rap for someone if
you’re not involved in this?”

“What are you offering?” Arthur
growled at Mack, to whom he directed all his communication. She didn’t care—as
long as they got Weber to speak.

“Don’t know yet. Gotta hear what
she has to say,” Mack answered.

Arthur looked peeved.

“You’ve got a few minutes, Jimmy.
Not much leeway.”

He turned to Weber and whispered
something in her ear. She looked like she didn’t much like what she heard and
stiffened in her chair, straightening her back and taking a deep breath. She
looked directly across the table into Bella’s eyes with a seething glare.

“How well do you know Mrs.
Jordan?” Bella asked Weber directly.

Weber’s features tightened and the
corner of her lips curved slightly.

“Are we to take your silence as
some kind of an answer?” Bella inquired. She couldn’t stand this woman.

“Not well.” Weber’s eyelashes
fluttered when she said this.

“It seems Jenna may have skipped
town,” Bella said casually, like this was the most predictable thing in the
world. “Any idea why?”

At this, Weber’s expression
changed markedly. Whether it was hearing the name Jenna, or finding out she
left town, Bella did not know. But it was clear to anyone paying attention
Weber was affected by what Bella said.

“No,” she quietly replied.

“Do you know where she is?”

“I do not,” Weber answered. “I
hope she is not in danger.” She actually looked sad for a moment.

“How thoughtful of you,” Bella
remarked sarcastically. “Where did you two first meet?”

Marion pursed her lips tightly and
shrugged. “I don’t recall.”

“You don’t recall, huh?” Bella’s
disbelief rang clear.

“That’s enough, little lady,”
Arthur interrupted. “You want this interview to continue you better watch how
you speak to her.”

“What did you call me?”

Before he could answer Mack
intervened. “Relax, Arthur. No need to get your knickers in a twist. Just asking
a few simple, straightforward questions, that’s all.”

“Nothing simple or straightforward
about them, Jimmy. And I don’t like your partner’s tone.”

He spoke as though Bella were not
in the room.

“Boo-hoo,” Bella shot back. “I’ve
got a feeling your client can more than handle me.”

“She doesn’t seem to want to talk
much,” Mack answered.

“She’s answering the questions.
You just don’t like the answers you’re getting,” Arthur defended her.

“She’s stonewalling and you know
it,” Bella said.

“Arthur, you’re not going to pretend
you are happy she’s so reluctant to talk,” Mack stated

“You two are pissing me off.
You’ve got a few more questions then we’re outta here,” Arthur threatened.

He turned to Weber, put his hand
over hers, and rubbed it sympathetically.

“You can continue. It’s OK,” he
comforted.

She looked like she wanted his
hands off hers. Immediately.

“OK, you don’t remember where you
met Jenna. Do you remember when you met her?”

Marion’s slow wide grin revealed her
horrid, yellow teeth as she shook her head no and shrugged her shoulders. It
was a disturbing grin, one even Arthur turned away from.

For a brief moment Bella imagined
the women at Dunmore, those poor souls who were not only crazy but were
confined to an asylum with Weber as their savior. She thought about what Billy
had said, how she had ruled the female ward all those years. How she must have
known about the abuse and rape of all those forgotten women who were really
more like demented girls. But she hadn’t protected them, Bella thought to
herself. Instead, she had covered her own ass and Barker’s. Even as the one
entrusted with their treatment and care she had abandoned them like everyone
else in their life. Shocking that she didn’t feel enough to jump in and act. Just
then a thought entered her head and, before Bella had a chance to process it,
she blurted it out.

“Do you know Jenna from your days
at Dunmore?”

Mack and Arthur turned to Bella,
stunned at the question.

Marion simply stared, an eerie
smile plastered across her face.

“You have some imagination, Detective,”
was all she said.

“I’ll take that as a no?” Bella
asked calmly.

“Take it however you like,” Weber
replied.

“Well, I need an answer, Marion,”
Bella smiled, “so that my imagination doesn’t run away with me.”

“Let it run if it must. It’s all
in good fun,” Weber challenged. She was not answering the question. A simple “No”
would have sufficed, but she was not saying no. She was more interested in
toying with Bella.

“You seem particularly protective
of Jenna,” Bella replied slowly. “I am wondering why.”

“That’s enough!” Arthur smacked
his hand down on the table. “We’re done. Until you tell me why my client is
under suspicion I am advising her not to say another word. Do your own
detective work if you’re so interested in Mrs. Jordan. My client isn’t going to
make a case for you against her for the hell of it. Or anyone else for that
matter.”