Shallow Grave-J Collins 3 (34 page)

Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that. Don’t know what lies that screwed up woman told you about us—”

“Hold on. June didn’t hire me; the sheriff did. And while I appreciate your concern, I need to talk to Jeff in private—”

“Th

en maybe you can catch him at the sheriff ’s of-fi ce, since that’s where he’s at.” She pinched the cigarette butt from her mouth and fl icked it to the ground.

“What’s he doing there?”

“Givin’ a statement about June.”

I frowned. “June? What about her?”

Jeannie sneered, “She’s dead.”

“Dead? Since when?”

392

“Jeff found her yesterday afternoon, her neck broke, at the bottom of the bluff where Lang got kilt.”

My guts twisted into a knot. “What happened?”

“Looks like she got drunk and jumped over the ledge in the last coupla days, I guess. After Lang’s funeral she told everyone to leave her alone. Jeff couldn’t get a hold of her on Sunday or Monday so he went lookin’ yesterday and found her.”

Th

en he went to Bare Assets to comfort himself with nubile young naked fl esh after fi nding his dead sister?

Talk about stone cold. I’d bet a month’s worth of cover charges little wifey hadn’t known where her husband had been drowning his sorrows last night.

“Didn’t he talk to the sheriff after they found June?”

“Yeah. Jeff didn’t get home until late, but he still had to go back fi rst thing this morning.”

So Jeff
had
lied to his wife about his whereabouts.

Why?

And why hadn’t Sheriff Richards called me with this disturbing news about June Everett? It directly aff ected the case he’d passed off to me.

Th

en again, I hadn’t been home last night and when I had stumbled in, checking my phone messages hadn’t exactly been on the top of my agenda.

Jeannie glowered at me like I was a bill collector.

“Anything else?”

393

“No.” I couldn’t muster a smile. “Th

anks. I’ll try

to catch him there.”

“Don’t keep him too long. He’s got responsibilities to tend to here.” She didn’t gift her children with a loving look; she continued to glare at me like I was responsible for keeping her beloved husband from home and hearth.

Weird. I left before I said something I’d regret, which might’ve been a fi rst for me lately.

As I drove to the sheriff ’s offi

ce, I realized Jeannie

hadn’t seemed particularly broken up about her sister-in-law’s passing, or worried about her husband’s frame of mind. Just . . . territorial.

I cooled my heels in the parking lot next to a dirty red Dodge truck. It shouldn’t take too long. Th e quiet

gave me time to sort out truth from conjecture.

Was June’s death being ruled a suicide? I had my doubts on whether June purposely pitched herself over the edge in a fi t of grief.

Unless . . . when the identity of the remains was made public, maybe June had recognized the name of the victim and realized the connection. Realized it wasn’t bad or random luck the bones had been discovered on their land.

But where was the connection? To who? Lang?

Not Lang. If he’d had something to do with ini-394

tially burying the body fi ve years ago I doubted he’d be insistent on bringing the cops in.

Another reason I didn’t see June killing herself: I remembered from our previous investigation of Lang’s workman’s comp claim he had a decent life insurance policy, around 150K. Th

e claim would pay out quickly.

With Lang’s demise on tape there’d be no suspicion of foul play. Out from under the thumb of a man who beat her, and a cash windfall? I didn’t see June throwing it all away.

Maybe I was looking too deep. With all the shit that’d gone on in my life, I had a tendency not to focus on the obvious. Could be June wanted to feel close to Lang, headed out to the bluff and had fallen. Accidents did happen. Lang Everett was the perfect example.

Before I could ponder other scenarios, Jeff shuffl ed out.

“Hey, Jeff .”

He faced me with a frown. “Umm. Hi.”

“Julie, remember? Sorry about June. I just heard.”

“Th

anks.” He shot a glance over his shoulder, then back at me. “Why are you here?”

“Instead of working at Bare Assets?” I countered.

Jeff ’s doughy face paled further. “I-I thought June said you were a friend of Lang’s?”

“No. I’m a private investigator. Sheriff Richards hired me and I’ve been investigating a case at Bare Assets 395

in the last week. Imagine my surprise when I saw you there. Twice.”

“Have you been following me?”

My immediate response was why? But I amended it to, “No.”

“Th

en how did you fi nd me?”

“Jeannie. I stopped at your house fi rst.”

“You didn’t tell her about the strip club, did you?”

I lifted both brows. “And if I did?”

Jeff turned on his heel. Paced. Came back. “Because I’d be in deep shit, okay? Jeannie don’t know I still go to them once in awhile. She don’t understand.”

“Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“Right. So you can judge me? Look down your nose at me?”

“Not my concern or the reason I’m here.” Since my boyfriend owned the joint I’d be the last one to pass judgment.

“Th

en why are you here? To make me feel guilty about having a fantasy? For a few hours I can forget my lousy life and pretend a beautiful woman is dancing just for me.”

“Again, your fantasy life isn’t my concern. Th e reality is the dead girl found on your land used to work at the club you, your cousin, and Lang have been known to frequent. Th

e chance that’s merely a coincidence is get-396

ting smaller and smaller.”

Jeff shoved a hand through his stringy hair.

“Now June has had an accident?”

His whole body seemed to shrink within itself.

“Jeff , tell me what’s going on. Let me help you.”

No response.

“Why is your sister dead?”

When he looked at me, his red-rimmed eyes were small and hard as stones. “What’s goin’ on is I ain’t thinkin’ straight. You sayin’ my sister’s dead, fast and mean like that? Is that supposed to bring the reality of her being gone home to me?

“Don’t you think I know she’s dead? I found her for Christsake. My sister . . .” His voice broke. “What gives you the goddamn right to chase me down and ask me a bunch of questions at a time like this?”

Every muscle in his body was rigid with rage. I automatically stepped back.

“You got no respect for grief. You went around June’s express wishes, dragging a buncha strangers out to the place her husband died, on the day before she buried him. She asked you to wait. Did you? No. You did what you wanted, not what was right or decent.”

Spittle fl ew from his mouth. “Do you even know what it feels like to lose someone close to you? Or several someones? To have your whole world turned upside 397

down? Your heart ripped out? Do you?”

His animosity toward me seared my vocal cords shut.

“Back off . Leave me alone.”

I remained motionless as he peeled out of the parking lot. Smoke from Jeff ’s burning rubber hung in the air. I didn’t smell it; I couldn’t take a breath. I was suf-focating in my own self-righteousness.

Th

e legitimacy of his words slapped me. Who the hell did I think I was? Charging after him like I had a right to fi nd justice, no matter what, no matter how, no matter who I steamrolled to get it.

When had I become an automaton in the pursuit of truth? When had I lost my empathy and respect for those souls plunged into the black pit of grief?

Disgusted with myself, I didn’t go in and talk to the sheriff about the new developments. I drove straight to work.

398

Kevin had meetings scheduled with prospective clients so I dug into the employment checks I’d left un-fi nished. I didn’t glance up at the clock until I closed the last folder.

Two o’clock. Time fl ies. My stomach growled.

I scrounged up a package of peanut butter crackers and a Diet Pepsi from the conference room. Th e phone

rang as I trudged back to my desk.

“Wells/Collins Investigations.”

“Julie?”

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“Leticia. And before you hang up, or we start swapping insults, hear me out and give me a chance to explain why I called you.”

“I’m listening.”

399

“Look. We’ve never pretended to like each other.

I don’t even remember how this whole rivalry between us started.” She sighed. “It’s gone on long enough. It should’ve ended when we buried Ben. I’m not suggesting you and I will ever be the best of friends, but I’d like to come to some kind of understanding.”

Bullshit. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. But that stupid voice in my head— the one that’d pointed out my single-mindedness to the exclusion of my humanity earlier today— asserted itself again and urged,

“Go on.”

“Since our last run-in I’ve spent a lot of time talking to my mother. She thinks I’m wrong in believing Abita has ulterior motives for bringing Jericho here. My mother wants to have a relationship with her only grandson, and she feels the friction between you and I will keep that from happening.”

I bit my tongue against blurting out that she’d been right, Abita did have a motive and it was much worse than hitting us up for money; she was giving us a living reminder of Ben, then yanking him away.

But it wasn’t my place to tell Leticia or Yvette of Abita’s plan to have Jericho adopted by her fi ancé. If I brought it up, I’d come across as petty, especially in light of Leticia taking the fi rst step toward some kind of rec-onciliation.

400

“I wouldn’t do that, Leticia, keep Yvette from Jericho. At least not on purpose.”

She sighed again. “I have a free hour right now.

Could we meet for a cup of coff ee or something and hash this out face to face?”

“Sure. You could come here.” Th

en I’d have home

fi eld advantage. Plus I could smoke.

Leticia laughed. “Parking downtown sucks during the day. How about the coff ee shop at Mostly Chocolates? It should be pretty quiet.”

“Th

at’ll work. I’ll be there in fi fteen.” I slowly hung up the receiver, not sure what to make of this strange turn of events.

M M M

Leticia held court in a corner table.

I salivated over the display cases packed with truffl es

of every fl avor. Th

e heady, almost orgasmic aroma of

chocolate permeated every air molecule. I ordered an extra large, no frills coff ee, and a hunk of milk chocolate macadamia nut fudge the size of my palm.

Leticia didn’t smile. In fact, I don’t know if I’d ever seen a real smile from her. She moved her cup and made room for my enormous indulgence.

We didn’t bother with small talk.

401

“Would you have made this overture if it weren’t for the appearance of Jericho?” I asked.

“No. It shocked me my mother had known Ben was seeing a girl in Arizona. It’s strange, how you think you know someone and then something happens and you realize you don’t know them at all. Everyone keeps secrets.”

“True.” I tore off a chunk of fudge. Sipped my cof-fee and the decadent goodness melted down my throat like an elixir of the gods.

She prompted, “You didn’t know about Abita either?”

“No. Ben and I had lost contact for a few months.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “I was separated from my husband.

Hated my job. Shit like that.”

Leticia went to the counter for a coff ee refi ll and returned with a portion of fudge a quarter the size of mine.

“Yours looked good. I couldn’t resist.”

When her mouth was full I asked, “Although I wasn’t responsible, why haven’t you ragged on me about the explosion that leveled the casino? You spent what, four years planning it? And now it’s dead?”

“Ah ah ah. Not dead. Merely derailed. Momentarily.” Th

ere was the cunning smile I’d expected from her. “Don’t count the casino out. I will get that sucker built. Eventually.”

“Even if the tribe doesn’t want it?

402

“
Shee
. Th

e tribal members or council don’t know

nothin’ ’bout what they want, eh? Hey, man, ennit cool

’bout getting my cuzin Leroy in offi

ce? He a righteous

dude, he’ll make shit happen, eh?”

She’d shed the cultured speech and slipped into the Lakota dialect so quickly it freaked me out.

“Th

ey’re waiting for a sign from the Great Spirit. I just have to convince them
Wakan Tanka
are speaking through me and we need that goddamn casino.” Her hand froze on the candy as if she were surprised she’d admitted that aloud.

“Is that what Ben was supposed to do when he was working for the tribe? Convince members that building a casino would be the best way to honor the Great Spirit?”

“At fi rst. Th

en he wouldn’t even do that. He was

too damn busy—” Leticia caught herself. Smiled. “You remember, Ben could charm and cajole
anyone
when he put his mind to it. We wanted to utilize those skills.

“But Auggie insisted Roland Hawk be included in the project, and the next thing I knew, Marlon Blue Legs was involved.” She scowled. “I entrusted my vision to a thug, a cripple, and a slacker, which is why all three of them were fi red. Owen had to run interference with the locals and do damage control.”

Silence descended. We drank coff ee and pretended we weren’t mentally loading up snappy comebacks.

403

“If Ben was a slacker, then I’m surprised he had the initiative to travel to Arizona on his own.”

“He didn’t. Th

e tribe decided to send him down

there to work within the Navajo casino system. We’d need experienced managers, surveillance crews, dealers, money handlers when the Sihasapa casino was fi nished.