Remember Me (10 page)

"Hey, mister," I said. "They're talking about me in there, and I want to hear what they're saying. Let's get a move on."

In response, he took a deep swallow and coughed. I probably would have left him right then if I hadn't noticed that he had a CB radio in his truck. It cracked to life, and he set down his bottle and flipped it off. He withdrew a handful of breath mints from his coat pocket and began to chew them down, one after another. When he was done, he picked up his pint and took another huge hit. It amazed me that such a wasted individual could afford such a nice truck.

After finally capping his bottle and stowing it under the seat, he climbed out and grabbed another handful of mints from his jacket. I followed him to the front gate. I couldn't smell his breath—I couldn't smell anything—but I doubted that he was drunk; his step was firm and direct.

He pressed the button to Beth's condo—number 413.

"This is Garrett," he said, clearing his throat.

"Do you know Beth's family?" I asked, for all the good it did. The gate buzzed open, and I followed Garrett inside. I trailed him all the way up to the fourth floor. He was headed the same place I was. He walked into Beth's place without knocking.

All those who had been at the party—Daniel, Beth, Jeff, Jo, and Amanda—were sitting in the living room. They looked shocked, but no one was crying. Daniel was on the loveseat with Beth. Jo and Jeff were seated in individual chairs.

Amanda was alone on the couch. Standing with Jimmy in the dining room were a couple of police officers.

One strode over to greet Garrett, holding out his hand.

"Hello, Lieutenant, I'm Officer Fort," he said. "This is my partner, Officer Dreiden. And this is the deceased's older brother, James Cooper. Have you been assigned to this case?"

"Yeah," Garrett said, shaking his hand briefly.

This was the lieutenant who had been assigned to my case?

I asked myself, horrified. I didn't even know what my case was, but I certainly didn't want a boozer put in charge of it.

"Just you?" Officer Fort asked.

"Yeah." Garrett turned to Jimmy. "Why don't you have a seat, son." Jimmy did as he suggested, sitting on the couch beside solemn Amanda, who took his hand and held it in her lap.

Garrett spoke to Officer Fort. "What are we looking at here?"

Fort was cut in the same mold as the cop at the hospital: young, blond, handsome. He had, however, a high, annoying voice. He began to annoy me the moment he opened his mouth.

"It looks pretty clear-cut," he said. "The kids were trying to have a stance when the deceased, Shari Cooper, got upset over a couple of remarks the kids made and ran to the balcony and jumped off."

"What?" I shouted, standing in the center of the floor. "I jumped off the balcony? I didn't jump off the balcony. I fell off it. I—"

I stopped. How could I have fallen? The blasted rails reached practically to my neck. I looked toward the balcony.

The rails were still in place, standing straight and firm. It was funny, but it wasn't until then that I began to question how I happened to be dead.

"Shari would never have done that," Jimmy broke in, bitter.

"Were you here when this happened?" Garrett asked.

"No," Jimmy said. "I was home in bed, sleeping."

' 'Were the rest of these young people here?' Garrett asked Officer Fort.

"These were the only ones present."

Garrett addressed the group. "Does everyone agree that Shari jumped?" he asked.

"She must have," Beth said.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed.

"No!" I screamed.

Garrett looked at Jeff. "Well?"

Jeff shrugged, trying to light a cigarette. He appeared as cool as usual, except he couldn't get his match to light. "I don't know what happened."

"You didn't see her jump?" Garrett asked.

"No."

"I didn't, either," Jo said. She didn't appear unusually upset, which upset me a great deal.

But Jo, I had to remind myself, seldom showed anything when she was hurt or hurting.

"Did anyone see her jump?" Garrett asked. No one responded, although Amanda moved closer to Jimmy. Sighing under his breath, Garrett turned to Officer Fort. "I want to have a talk with these kids," he said.

"Now?"

"Yeah. Alone."

Officer Fort didn't like the idea. "The couple who lives here has been notified about what happened. They should be here any second."

"So?" Garrett said. "You and your partner go downstairs and welcome them.

Tell them the place is off-limits for tonight."

"The whole night?"

"Yeah."

Fort glanced at his partner. "Dreiden and I have already questioned the kids at length.

Don't you want to hear our report?"

"I can't imagine there could be anything you could add to the report you've already made," Garrett said dryly.

"Are you sure you don't want our help?"

I could not be certain, but the way Fort held Garrett's eye as he spoke made me feel that Fort believed Garrett incapable of handling the situation, that Fort might in fact be aware of Garrett's drinking problem. But since Fort had already classified me as a suicide, I wasn't inclined to favor him .over Garrett.

"Yeah," Garrett said, obviously growing tired of the sameness of the questions.

He made a gesture of dismissal toward the door. The two uniformed policemen left reluctantly.

"Can I stay?" Jimmy asked.

"That'll be fine," Garrett said. Then he spoke to the group. "I know all of you have had a bad night. Try to relax for a few minutes while I take a quick look around."

Garrett disappeared into the hall. Nobody spoke for a long while. Finally, Daniel asked nervously, "What's he looking for?"

"Evidence that Shari didn't jump," Jo said.

"She didn't jump," Jimmy said softly.

That killed the conversation right there. Amanda stroked Jimmy's hand. I had to look away. I had tried to do the same thing in the car on the ride over.

When Garrett reappeared, he took a chair from the dining table and placed it at the end of the living room, sitting down and pulling a pen and notepad from his coat. I was just glad he didn't pull out a bottle. Yet I was having to revise my initial impression of him. His blue eyes were bloodshot, true, but they were also sharp. As he scanned the group, I didn't believe he missed much. Except me, of course, and I could have told him a thing or two.

"We have a simple floor plan here," he began. "We have a living room, with attached dining area, a kitchen, and a balcony. We have two master bedrooms.

The one at the end of the hall has its own separate balcony, which faces south, down the coast. The other bedroom leads directly onto the west-facing balcony and faces the ocean. Tell me, when Shari ran from here, did she go through the kitchen or the first bedroom?"

"The kitchen," Jo said.

Garrett apparently wanted to get that point out of the way before anything else.

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and resting the tip of his unpolished black right shoe a fraction of an inch from the edge of Beth's beautiful glass coffee table and a foot above the red wax stain on the floor.

They had put the candle away.

"Tell me what happened," he said to Jo.

"Me?" Jo asked.

"Yes, you," Garrett said. "Please."

Jo didn't hesitate. "We were trying to talk to the spirits.

We were using Shari as a subject. She was lying on the floor here near the table. We were trying to put her in a trance by talking about her as if she had crossed over."

"Come again?" Garrett said.

"We were pretending she was dead," Jo said. "It's a common method of putting people in a state where they can channel. We had her pretty deep, I thought, when she suddenly jumped up and ran out onto the balcony."

"You say we, " Garrett said, obviously wondering if this was a normal teenage activity.

"Wasn't one of you leading this thing?"

"Yes, I was," Jo said.

"While you were putting her into her trance, " Garrett said, "what kind of suggestions did you make?"

"Like I said," Jo replied, "we were acting like she was dead, saying how much we were going to miss her and stuff like that."

"You didn't by any chance make any suggestion as to how she had died?"

Garrett asked.

"No," Jo said, surprised at the question.

"Did she say anything while she was in her trance?"

"Not really," Jo said.

"She did say something." Daniel broke in.

"What?" Garrett asked.

Daniel glanced at Beth. "I don't remember," he said.

"She said she was a ghost," Jeff said.

"That's right," Jo said, nodding.

"Anything else?" Garrett asked.

"No." Jo glanced around the room. "I don't think so."

"Why did she suddenly leap up?" Garrett asked.

"I'm not sure," Jo said. "I think she got scared."

"Did she say anything when she jumped up?" Garrett asked. "Was anything said to her?"

"Yes," Jo said. "Jeff asked her—that's Jeff there—asked her why she had stopped. Then I told her she shouldn't have jumped up. Like I said, she looked scared. Amanda asked her what was the matter. Shari said it was nothing.

Then she ran out to the balcony."

"And jumped?" Garrett asked. "She jumped right away?"

"Oh, no," Jo said.

"How long was she on the balcony before she jumped?"

"A few minutes," Jo said.

Garrett frowned. "Did anyone leave the living room during this time?"

Now Jo hesitated. "We all did."

Garrett sat up and clicked down the point of his ballpoint pen. "Who was the first one to leave the living room after Shari?"

"I was," Amanda said quietly, speaking for the first time.

Garrett glanced over at her and stopped. I don't know why.

Maybe it was her beauty. Maybe it was her sorrowful eyes.

Then again, Garrett could not have known that Amanda was often grave.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Amanda Parish."

"How long after Shari left did you leave?"

"A couple of minutes."

Garrett jotted down a note in his pad. "Where did you go?"

"I went into Beth's bedroom."

"The bedroom at this end of the hall? The one that leads to the west balcony?"

"Yes," Amanda said. "I had to go to the bathroom."

"Did you see Shari on the balcony before you went into the bathroom?"

"No."

"Do you recall if the sliding glass door that leads onto the balcony was open or closed?'

"No."

"How long were you in the bathroom?"

"A few minutes."

"What did you do when you left the bathroom?"

"I returned to the living room."

"Who was there?"

"No one. At first. Then Jeff came in from the hall."

Garrett paused and then scanned the room again. I waved to him, but he didn't wave back.

"Who left the living room after Amanda?" he asked.

"I did," Jeff said, a lit cigarette in his hand.

"What's your last name, Jeff?"

"Nichols."

"How long after Amanda left the living room did you leave?"

"A minute or so."

Garrett made another note in his pad. "Tell me about it."

"I had to go to the bathroom," Jeff said. "I went into Beth's bedroom, but there was already someone in there. So I went into the bedroom at the end of the hall and used that bathroom instead."

"Did you see Shari on the balcony when you went into Beth's bedroom?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure it was her and not Amanda?"

"Yeah, it was Shari."

"What was she doing?"

"Standing by the rail, looking out at the ocean."

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Was the sliding glass door open or closed?"

"It was closed."

"Was it locked?"

"I don't know. I didn't try opening it."

"Could there have been anyone else on the balcony besides Shari?"

"I doubt it."

"How close did you get to the door?"

Jeff took a puff of his cigarette. "Maybe ten feet."

"Did you have a clear view of the entire balcony?"

Jeff hesitated. "No."

"What portion of the balcony couldn't you see?"

Jeff considered a moment. "The area behind the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom."

"How did you know there was someone in the bathroom?"

Jeff shrugged. "The door was closed; the light was on."

"It was you who was in there, right?" Garrett asked Amanda.

"Yes," she said, her hand on Jimmy's knee.

Garrett turned his attention back to Jeff. "How long were you in the bathroom in the master bedroom?"

"A couple of minutes. Then I came back into the living room."

"Who was in the living room at that point?"

"Amanda."

"What was she doing?"

"Sitting on the couch, looking at a magazine."

"Who left the living room after Jeff?" Garrett asked the group.

"Beth did," Daniel said. He glanced over at his big-breasted object of desire. He had to shake her. "Beth?"

"Yes, we were good friends," Beth said suddenly, blinking. Garrett uncrossed his legs and leaned toward her.

"You were a good friend of Shari's?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. Studying her closer, I realized she must have been crying before Garrett and I had arrived. Good girl, I thought. But she was still a slut.

"What is your full name, Beth?"

"Elizabeth Palmone."

"How long after Jeff left the living room did you leave?"

"Not long."

"How long?" Garrett asked.

"Less than a minute."

"Where did you go?"

"Into my bedroom."

"Did you see Jeff or Amanda in there?"

"No."

"Did you see Jeff leaving your room?"

"No."

"Did you notice Amanda in the bathroom?"

"No. I mean, I noticed there was someone in the bathroom. But I didn't know who it was."

"What did you do in the bedroom?"

"Nothing."

"Did you see Shari on the balcony?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"Yes." Her eyes strayed to Daniel. "I went out on the balcony. I didn't see her.