Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman Read Free Book Online Page B

killed? In the Valley?”
    “No,”
I said.
    “Well,
with me it was always in the Valley. He’d pick me up at my apartment, say he
had a new site.”
    Bettina
Sanfelice mumbled unintelligibly.
    Sheryl
Passant said, “Now you can tell them about Des and you.”
    I
said, “I think we know enough.”
    “You
said it was two, Teen. Remember what I said when you told me that? Two for the
road. You said he took you to sites, also.”
    Sanfelice
whimpered.
    I
said, “We’re fine, Tina—”
    Passant
reached across the table for her friend’s hand. “Chill, Teen, no one’s going to
tell your mom. They don’t care about us, they care about who killed Des.”
    “Any
ideas about that?”
    Both
women shook their heads.
    I
said, “Marjorie Holman told us she and Des had a one-night stand. Do you think
that’s true?”
    Passant
said, “Could be, she’s old and baggy.”
    “How
did you guys come to be discussing Des?”
    “We
all had been drinking, you drink, you talk.”
    “It
wasn’t a business meeting?”
    “That’s
what she called it. The Notz. Guess it was, because there wasn’t any
business—it wasn’t like a real job, you know?”
    “No
assignments.”
    “We
just came in every day and mostly sat around except when the Nazi wanted to
talk about stuff no one understood. One day, she came in and said, ‘There’s no
coherence, we need coherence.’”
    Sanfelice
said, “Cohesiveness. ‘There’s no cohesiveness .’”
    “Means
the same, Teen. Anyway, Helga-notz said we need to have something social to get
co-hesiveness, so we went out for drinks.”
    “Just
the women,” I said.
    “Girls’
night out. Gerrrrls’ niyett ote . Like it had been somethingshe’d heard in a chick movie or something, like she had
been trying to be American, you know? But what the hey, she’s paying, why not?
She found a place near the airport, you heard planes coming in, they served
these humongous margaritas. Remember those glasses, like for a plant, Teen?”
Rubbing my leg for emphasis.
    “How’d
the topic turn to Des Backer?”
    “It
had just kinda happened. You remember how, Teen?”
    Head
shake.
    Passant
said, “I guess we had been talking about stuff and that started it to talking
about guys. And that started it to talking about it being a girls’ night out.
And that started to someone saying I wonder how Des would have liked this,
being with all these girls.”
    “Who
said that?”
    Bettina
Sanfelice said, “Sheryl.”
    “I
did?”
    “Yes.”
    Passant
grinned. “If she says I said it, then I said it. I was pretty much happy-time
happy. I don’t worry about what people think, anyway, always just say what’s in
my head.”
    I
said, “So you brought up Des and—”
    “And
everyone piled on. Like Truth or Dare without the dare.”
    “Everyone
piled on except Helga.”
    “Everyone
with a beating heart.”
    I
said, “What did Helga do during the discussion?”
    “Sat
back and listened. I started and told them about Des and me and then Tina broke
in and said, ‘I was with him, too.’ Now, that had freaked me out because
Tina had always been the shy one and she’d never told me nothing.” To her
friend: “Nothing like four margaritas to get truth past the dare, huh? Go ,
girl.”
    Sanfelice
stared at the table.
    I
said, “So Marjorie Holman spoke last.”
    “It
was almost like she had been feeling left out, you know? Wanted to be young.
Like us, younger and hotter and doing it with Des.”
    “Still, she was your boss. That was pretty
uninhibited.”
    “She
drank more than anyone and she wasn’t the real boss, anyway. Helga was. And the
way she said it—Marjorie—was weird. Not coming out, more like a … something
weird.”
    Bettina
Sanfelice said, “She said, ‘That experience is common to yours truly, as well.’
When I figured it out, it really shocked me, Ms. Holman always seemed so
stern.”
    Passant
said, “Stern with her legs wide open. And she even got into more details.”
Winking.