Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 05 - Till Death Do Us Part Page 10

  “Are you sure?” He asked.

  It was time to change the subject. “Is there any news on the two women who were killed in Anaheim?”

  “No, and stop trying to change the subject.”

  “I don’t want to talk about the other subject so if that’s all you want to talk about. I’m going to put in a DVD and watch it.”

  Tom blew out a long exasperated breath. “How did the wedding planning go today? Did you order the invitations?”

  “Not yet, I have to find the place first.”

  “That makes sense. I like the idea of red on the invitation and in your bouquet to match your hair.”

  “Well, Savanah thinks we should go with either a red with some pink in it or purple. She doesn’t think we should go with a color exactly the same as my hair.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. What about your dress? Did you find one today?”

  “Yes, I did. It’s beautiful.”

  “Did you get everything you wanted?”

  I thought back over the day’s events. I didn’t get the dress or veil I thought I wanted, but the one I chose, or Savanah helped me choose, was beautiful.

  “Liza?” Tom interrupted my reminiscing.

  “The dress is beautiful and you will love it.”

  “I love you in everything, especially nothing, Liza. What about the veil?”

  “You know a lot about wedding attire, Tom.”

  “Been there, remember? Pamela wore a beautiful dress and veil but she didn’t look like herself. By the time they piled up her hair and added enough makeup to enroll her in clown school, I barely recognized her when she came down the aisle.”

  “My veil is very nice and I’ll be wearing my hair up, too.”

  “Ah, Liza. I like it down.”

  “Me, too. But Savanah says that it’s just not done. All brides wear their hair up, so they can wear the head piece and veil.”

  “I don’t think I like this Savanah. So far she’s changed the color of the invitations and the flowers. She’s talked you into wearing your hair up. Tell me you got exactly the gown you wanted, right?”

  “Yes, I did.” Well, I thought, I got the one that looked fabulous on me.

  “Okay, just don’t let this Savanah person railroad you into doing or having anything you don’t want to have or do, okay?”

  My phone clicked and I saw that Justin was calling.

  “Justin’s on the other line, Tom.”

  “I’ve got to go anyway, Liza. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Call me before I go to bed. I like talking to you when I’m lying in bed.”

  “I like lying in the bed next to you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Talk to you later.”

  I clicked over to Justin.

  “Hey, Teach. I talked to my mom and she said she has seen a couple of people in the neighborhood in the last few days. She saw the maintenance men for the complex. They were mowing the lawns, trimming the hedges, and generally making enough noise to drive Shelby crazy.”

  “She does love the lawn people.”

  “Love is not the right word, Teach.”

  I laughed. “They generally come on Friday. I wonder why they came so early in the week.”

  “Well, it’s been really hot, maybe they needed to make sure the lawns weren’t all dying.”

  “They were looking rather brown. And the weather man says another week of this hot weather.”

  “Yeah, they probably needed to change all the timers so figured they’d mow the lawns while there were there. She also says that she’s seen a black car several times but it never stops, just drives through.”

  “That’s weird; maybe they were looking for an address and couldn’t find it.”

  “Probably, did you find your bracelet?”

  “Nope.”

  “Figure out anything about the two women who were killed?”

  “Nope. I’m zero for zero.”

  “Probably nothing to find with the two women, or we don’t have enough, or the right, information.”

  “I would agree. If we think it’s a serial killer with a victim type, these can’t be the first two women he’s ever killed.”

  “Unless there was some kind of stressor that caused him or her to start killing.”

  I laughed. “You and I watch too much cop television.”

  “It’s good television, especially the real cop shows rather than the dramas.”

  “If it wasn’t a stressor then there has to be more dead women. Can you do a search and see?”

  “What criteria you want me to use?”

  “Run it several ways, on each of the stats. Run one for women killed by stabbing with long hair, then long dark hair, another with my height, and then weight. Let’s just see what comes up.”

  “Do you want me to concentrate in California?”

  “No, open it up to the entire country.”

  “Okay, you got it Teach. I’ll call if I find anything.”

  “Thanks, Justin.”

  “Super Cyber Sidekick away!”

  I laughed and ended the call. The name Tom gave him so long ago had certainly stuck. Justin painted it on the sides of his wheel chair. And he was a great sidekick!

  I watched the first two Die Hard movies and then wanted something to eat. My refrigerator was empty, so I grabbed Kenny’s keys and went into his condo. His place was meticulously clean. He bought a dark brown leather couch, leather recliner and heavy iron and granite coffee table and end tables the first week he moved in. I opened up his refrigerator.

  “Thank you, Kenny.” There were four containers of Chinese food. I took it all out, grabbed a fork and sat at his high dark cherry dining room table. I loved sitting at it and swinging my feet. I finished the asparagus and beef and several pot stickers. I put the rest back and took the two leftover pot stickers for Shelby. They’re her favorite.

  Kenny’s phone rang and I heard his voice.

  “Hey, this is Kenny. Hopefully I am hanging out with my best friend and not working. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you unless Stretch and I do something crazy together.”

  I smiled. I liked hanging out with him, too, and crazy was what we did best.

  “Hello, Kenny,” a woman’s voice said. “You’ve missed your last three appointments. It’s a condition of your release that you see me at least once a month and I haven’t seen you for two months. I had to track you down. When did you move to California? You’re not supposed to leave the state without telling me. If you are going to stay there I need to transfer your case to another therapist in the county you’re in. I miss you. Please call me.”

  Kenny was seeing a therapist? What for? And she missed him? What was that about?

  I picked up my cell phone and dialed his number.

  “Hello, Stretch. Miss me already?”

  “I miss you every minute you’re gone, you know that.” I told him.

  “Where’s Shelby? I don’t hear her.”

  “I’m at your house.”

  He laughed. “Are you raiding my refrigerator?”

  “Of course. Mine was empty. You finished the last piece of pizza a few days ago.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Hey, some lady called and left a message on your machine while I was here. It’s a therapist from Nashville.”

  “Okay, no problem, I’ll give her a call.”

  “When did you start seeing a therapist and why is it a condition of your release?”

  “I went a little crazy, tore up my mom’s apartment and crushed all the crap that Earl had given her when my mom died a couple of years ago. Did you know she kept it all?”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, and then I took several swings at the two cops who came when the neighbors called. Used some of the moves you taught me and brought both of them down. More came. Then I spent a couple of weeks in the loony bin.”

  “I’m sorry, Kenny. I wish I could have
been there for you.”

  “Me too, Stretch. It probably would have saved my insurance a ton of money. Those crazy places are expensive.”

  “So you’re what, on probation from a psychiatric facility?”

  He laughed. “I guess so. When I was ready to leave, I told them, or rather they told me, I would have to see a therapist once a month for three years. She’s really cute, so I didn’t mind.”

  “Is that why she said that she missed you?”

  Kenny laughed. “She misses all the exercise she gets with me.”

  “Oh, Kenny.”

  “Remember I told you it is more fun with a partner.”

  I laughed. “I remember and I have to agree.”

  “I’ll give Shirley a call when we hang up. Are there any cute therapists in California?”

  “I’m sure you can find one,” I told him. “How’s it going with your house?”

  “Put it on the market and have cleaned out my office.”

  “Does that mean you’ll be coming back to California soon?”

  “Should be leaving in a few days.”

  “Good.”

  “How’s the wedding plans going?”

  I told him all the plans I had made and how Savanah had been such a big help.

  “She sounds like a bitch, Stretch.”

  “No, she’s really nice and helpful. I wouldn’t be able to pull this off in a month without her.”

  “Okay, just don’t let this Savanah person railroad you into doing or having anything you don’t want to have or do, okay?”

  “Tom told me the same thing just a little while ago,” I told him.

  “Well, I agree.”

  “Oh, by the way, Tom put your name into his little cop computer.”

  “Uh oh, came up with my rap sheet, did he?”

  “Yes, but he didn’t say anything about you going crazy.”

  “That’s psych stuff and confidential.”

  “He thinks you killed Earl.”

  “I did,” Kenny said.

  Chapter 13

  “What?” I asked. My best friend had really killed two people?

  “Sure. I went out that night to find him and tell him to stay away from my mom. I found him stinking drunk at that bar. He brought out a knife and stabbed me in my arm with it. I took it away and stabbed back. I knew the cops would look at the last guy I killed in self-defense and think it couldn’t happen twice, so I drove my bike into the ditch and came into the ER.”

  “It was self-defense.”

  “I know that and you know that because you know me, but I bet you won’t be able to convince Tom.”

  “Probably not.”

  “Hey, you know I’d never ask you to lie for me, so if he asks, you can tell him what I said. I can deal with the consequences although I’m not sure they’d be able to prove anything at this point. Earl was cremated, and his ashes were spread over the garbage dump.”

  “Did you do that?”

  Kenny laughed. “Karma’s a bitch, remember?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Okay, Stretch. I’ve got to go. I’ve got a lady waiting.”

  “You’ve always got a lady waiting.”

  “Ever since we did it, I just can’t get enough.”

  “I told Tom about that Halloween party.”

  Kenny coughed and said, “How did he take it?”

  “Okay, and the technique for stopping my panic attacks came in handy when he set me down on the dead woman.”

  “What? Back up. What should I ask first? Okay, let’s start with – you are having the panic attacks again?”

  Leave it to Kenny to be more worried about me than the dead woman. “Yes, I’ve had a few in the last few years.”

  “When you were in danger, when you were pursuing those other cases?”

  “Yes and he had no idea how to help me control them until I told them how you’d done it when we thought I might be pregnant.”

  “Those were scary days,” Kenny admitted.

  “Yes, they were,” I agreed.

  “Okay, now tell me about the dead woman.”

  I told him all about the two women, in our normal rapid speech. I explained who was killed and how my bracelet had gotten on the woman’s wrist. It only took a minute to relay the entire event.

  “So you think you might have accidentally taken it with you in your suitcase?”

  “I can’t think of any other possible way it got in Anaheim and on that woman’s wrist.”

  “Did the other woman have a piece of jewelry on too?”

  “Yeah she had on a necklace.”

  “Was the necklace hers?”

  “I don’t know. The police report didn’t say anything about it, either way.”

  “How’d you get the police reports?” Kenny asked. But before I could answer, he said, “Never mind, it had to be Justin. He’s a damn computer whiz. I remember all the things he got for you on the other cases.”

  “Yes, it was him. I have him looking into other women’s deaths to see if there are other unexplained deaths that we might be able to attribute to this same killer.”

  “There are always unexplained deaths, especially women’s. They seem to be the target of choice of serial killers.”

  “Yeah, but the jewelry angle is unique, so we might be able to find other cases like that.”

  “The jewelry is his signature, then the deaths might not all be by stabbing.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that, but you could be right. I’ll see what Justin comes up with and then have him expand the search to all deaths, not just those by stabbings.”

  “Good idea. Let me know what you find.”

  “Okay, I’m headed home.”

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Stretch.”

  “Good night, Kenny.”

  “Love you, Stretch.”

  “I love you, too, Kenny.”

  I ended the call, locked up Kenny’s house and thought about what I just learned. Kenny killed Earl, was hospitalized for a month and now was supposed to see a therapist once a month and was sleeping with her instead.

  When I got home, I gave Shelby her pot stickers and she gobbled them up in one bite. Then I called Justin.

  “Hey, Teach.”

  “How’s the search going on the dead women?”

  “Lousy, I found maybe two more, but nothing you’d expect from a serial killer.”

  “When I told Kenny what we were doing, he made a suggestion.”

  “What?”

  “He said the jewelry was the key and that the method of death or even the type of person might be different in each case.”

  “You mean like he killed a man and gave him a watch?” Justin asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “Okay, I’ll expand the search. I was getting nowhere with the other one, anyway.”

  “Okay, happy clicking,” I said as I heard Justin’s keyboard.

  “Night, Teach.”

  I took a shower, changed into my pajama shorts and T-shirt, and crawled into bed. I set the phone on my nightstand. I would wait for Tom’s call and hope he didn’t ask about Earl.

  I feel asleep and was awoken by the phone.

  “Hello?” I said and then dropped the phone.

  “Liza?” Tom said.

  I picked up the phone and said, “Hi, Tom.”

  “Did I wake you?”

  “I was lying in my bed waiting for your call and I must have fallen asleep.”

  “Go back to sleep, Liza. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. I love you.”

  “I love you, too, honey, sleep well.”

  “Thanks, you too.”

  In the morning, I woke up later than I wanted to. It was almost nine o’clock.

  I called Savanah.

  “Good morning, Liza. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my car, so can you pick me up?”

  “Of course. I’ll be there at nine.”

  “Great.”

  I hung up, took a very quick sho
wer to wake up, changed into a pair of blue capris and a tank top. The weather had been hot this week and the Modesto area would be even warmer.

  When I pulled into Savanah’s driveway, she came right out. I hoped I could go to the door and get her. Her office was decorated so nicely, I wondered what her apartment would be like.

  She opened the door and said, “Good morning Liza, are you ready to pick a place for your wedding?”

  “Yes, I am. So where are we going?”

  “One of the places is in Oakdale and the other is in Ceres,” Savanah said as she fasted her seatbelt.

  “Tell me about the place Oakdale. Pros and cons,” I asked as I pulled out of the driveway.

  “This is the place with the nice garden area for the ceremony and the building for the reception. It’s a nice place but there isn’t much parking. It’s all street parking, so that’s a con.”

  “What does the building look like?”

  “It’s an old classic red brick building with high ceilings and tall windows.”

  “Like a barn?” I asked.

  “If your barn has elegant iron chandeliers, decorative lighting and a rustic mirrored bar area.”

  “Okay, that sounds nice.”

  “There’s also a beautiful fountain in the private garden patio.”

  “Okay, that sounds very nice.”

  “I think you’ll like it, you’ll just need to compare it to the place in Ceres. Do you want me tell you about it?”

  “No, let me see the one in Oakdale first and then the one in Ceres. I’d like to compare them myself.”

  “Okay, no problem.”

  We were going along just fine until an idiot pulled out from a side street on the other side of the highway, just outside of Oakdale. He misjudged our speed and slammed on his brakes when he knew he wouldn’t be able to get in front of us. I laid on my brakes. He hit the side of my new Jeep, Savanah screamed and I rocketed toward the large ditch on the side of the road.

  Chapter 14

  I tapped my brakes trying to slow the Jeep down. I didn’t want to slam on them or I’d go sliding further, maybe even spin out and hit a passing vehicle. There was no way I wouldn’t end up in the damn ditch. I got the Jeep slowed down a bit, but we still slid off the road. My body jerked as we slammed into the side of the ditch. I looked at the road. The guy never stopped, he just took off and left us there.