Grievous Sin (25 page)

“Tandy Roberts.”

“Cindy.” Her answer had an odd rhythm because she didn’t state her last name. Just in case Marge had given her Dad’s business card. She felt her face go hot.

“Your hands are sweaty,” Tandy said.

“I’m nervous.”

Tandy laughed. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Don’t you get nervous when you’re in a strange environment?”

“I used to….” Tandy’s dark eyes peered into Cindy’s. “But I don’t anymore.”

“It’s great to have that kind of self-confidence.”

“I owe it all to building. It’s given me control over my life.” Tandy turned to Eric. “Did you work out a routine for her yet?”

“I’ve just finished measuring her. She’s got potential. Lots of raw material.”

“Potential, huh?” Tandy’s smile was secretive as she walked over to the weight rack. “So let’s start with something a little bit more challenging.”

Lifting a fifteen-pound weight from the rack, Tandy sat on the bench. She supported her right arm by resting the elbow on top of her left hand. She extended her right arm downward until it was straight, then slowly brought the weight up to her shoulder by bending at the elbow. “That’s called a curl…an arm curl. See?”

Cindy nodded, watching Tandy’s bicep bunch as she curled the weight again.

“Do you want to try it?” Tandy asked.

“Sure.”

“Come sit. Remember to keep your feet planted firmly on the ground. Don’t use your back when you lift. And breathe normally.”

“You’re
not
giving her a fifteen-pounder,” Eric said.

“You said she had potential.”

“Stop teasing her, Roberts. Give her a three-kilo. If that’s too easy, give her a five.”

“I’ll try the fifteen,” Cindy said.

“It’s too heavy for you,” Eric stated. “You might hurt yourself, and that would be really
dumb.
”

Cindy thought a moment. If she didn’t try it, she knew
she’d lose Tandy’s dare and respect. The idea was to get close enough to talk to her—woman-to-woman. She said, “I’ll be careful. And if I fail, big deal. I don’t mind looking like an idiot.”

Eric said, “Tandy’s just being evil.”

Tandy laughed. But Cindy knew where the truth lay. “You said the idea was to get mean.” She glared at Tandy. “Give it here.”

With a slight smirk, Tandy handed it over to her. Then she added, “Really. Watch your back.”

The weight was heavy, Cindy thought, but didn’t seem unmanageable.

“Breathe out first,” Eric said.

“What?”

“Exhale, Cindy.” Tandy blew out air forcefully. “Then inhale. While you’re lifting, you exhale again. You always exhale on the exertion, okay? Like this.”

Cindy watched the perfect breasts heave as Tandy demonstrated the curl. Eric was hypnotized, and Cindy understood why. The woman was exotic, as captivating as a black widow. When she was done, she handed the weight to Cindy.

“Your turn.”

Cindy shrugged. “Here goes nothing.”

Slowly, she brought the weight upward, her muscles feeling a sizable tug as the dumbbell neared her shoulder. Carefully, she brought the weight back down, then curled it two more times. By the time she was done, she was surprised how sweaty she had become. She was also shocked by how
good
she felt, despite the strain in her arm. “I think that’s it, guys.” She placed the weight on the floor and massaged her overworked arm. Looking at Tandy and Eric, she thought they seemed stunned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Eric smiled. “See, Roberts, I told you she had good raw material.”

“I did well?”

Eric’s smile formed to a grin. “Don’t let it go to your
brain, Cindy. Even though you have the potential, you’re still a sack of fat.”

“Nothing like a backhanded compliment to massage the ego.” Cindy’s eyes fell on Tandy, and she remembered why she was here. Her heart began to hammer in her chest. “Would you mind working with me? Even if it’s just for today. I told Eric that I’d really prefer working with a woman. I guess I’m a little shy.”

“That’s not good,” Eric chastised.

“One thing at a time, okay, Eric?”

He-Man smiled. “Up to you, Fat Sack.”

“Oh, go stuff it!”

“Now,
that’s
more like it!” Eric stated. “Got to get mean, Cindy. Only way to reach your full potential. Lifting is not a game. It’s a commitment, and it’s not for wimps.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Eric.” Cindy laughed. “Do you mind helping me out, Tandy?”

Tandy looked down, then up. “Hey, it’d be my pleasure. I’m impressed.”

Cindy studied Tandy’s face. She really did look impressed. Impressed and mean.

Marge tossed the
magazine in the passenger seat of the Beemer and was ready to start the car. But Tandy wasn’t walking toward her Audi. Instead, she was chatting animatedly with a redhead, the two women crossing the street in the direction of the juice bar. Quickly, Marge picked up her binoculars and began focusing on the moving figures. Then her hands began to shake. In shock, she lowered the glasses to her lap and tried to unscramble her thoughts.

If Marge
didn’t
intercede, Pete would strangle her as well as Cindy. But if she
did
intercede, it would blow the tail, putting Tandy wise to their suspicions. But Tandy was being watched as a suspect in a kidnapping/murder; she could be dangerous. How could Marge, in good conscience, allow Cindy to remain in the presence of this woman?

Of course, she and Decker had no
evidence
that pointed to Tandy’s involvement. But Roberts was a nutcase. Marge knew that by letting Cindy proceed, she could be endangering the teenager’s life.

Marge swore out loud. Decker’s kid must have gotten a taste of excitement, and the adrenaline had kicked in. Teenagers—pains in the butt. The shy ones got eaten alive, and the bold ones believed they were immortal. Pete wouldn’t be the only one who’d have a few choice words to say to Cindy. What to do! What to do!

The girls had gone inside the juice bar. Marge could either put a stop to it now or wait. Again Marge cursed, trying to be rational and careful at the same time. After a minute of conflict, pros and cons competing for brain space, Marge finally decided to cool her heels. She could see the entrance to the bar as well as the Audi. Tandy couldn’t escape without Marge detecting her getaway.

Let the ladies have their chat. Afterward, when they went their separate ways, when Marge was calm, she would have a long, long talk with Cindy.

But the decision gnawed at her gut. What if Tandy went crazy?

Marge could see the screaming headlines: mass murder in juice bar: people die as cop looks on. Subtitle:
Victim daughter of cop’s partner.

Forced to resign in humiliation, Marge would spend the rest of her life as a security guard in a mall—guarding
teenagers!

She shook exaggeration from her thoughts. Passing seconds seemed like hours. Eyes darting back and forth, Marge felt the tension of every muscle in her body. She thought, Why should Pete have the honor of killing Cindy? The pleasure should be exclusively hers.

Darlene Jamison lived on the ground floor of a two-story beige stucco apartment. Each unit had an individual entrance, and Darlene’s was located on the left side. Decker knocked on the door and waited. He had to knock again before Darlene answered the door. The petite woman was swallowed up by a tentlike algae-green smock that approximated the color of the place’s swimming pool. Her hair was tied back, her round face mottled and doughy. She stepped backward, allowing him to come inside the small living room.

“I’m on the phone. Take a seat. I’ll be off in a minute.”

The nurse disappeared behind a closed door, and Decker walked around the generic apartment living room—shagged brown carpet and white walls. A six-foot sofa provided the
seating for the area. It was upholstered in brown-and-white-striped fabric and had brown Naugahyde strips around the couch’s sides for decoration. Facing the sofa, against the wall, was a sixteen-inch color TV on a metal stand.

The back end of the living room bled into a dining area filled with a Formica-topped round table and four chairs. To the right was the kitchen stocked with a freestanding stove and fridge, but it did have a built-in dishwasher. A homemade installation job, judging from the carpentry that surrounded it. On the wall were samplers, one of which read
Busy Hands Are Happy Hands
in ornate embroidery scroll. He didn’t have time to read the others, because Darlene had returned. She sat down on the sofa and clutched her hands.

“Have a seat.”

“Thank you.” Decker sat down on the opposite end of the couch and pulled out his notebook. “I just finished speaking to Lily Booker’s mother. I’m not in a very good mood. Let’s both try to be as cooperative as possible.”

“Lily’s mother?” Darlene sounded hopeful. “So Lily
is
with her mother!”

“No, Darlene,” Decker said. “Lily is not with her mother. There’s a possibility that Lily might be the body we found in Marie’s burned-out Honda. I had to ask Mrs. Booker for her daughter’s dental X rays to see if they match the teeth of the body.” He shuddered, rehearing the woman’s sobs, then looked at Darlene. She seemed stunned, her eyes watering.

“I can’t believe…are you saying…are you
sure?
”

“I’m not sure of anything yet.” Decker’s eyes went to the blank page of his notebook. He wrote down Darlene’s name and the time and date. “When was Lily Booker supposed to show up for work?”

Darlene didn’t answer, her eyes moist and glazed. The mottled face had turned ashen. She looked ill.

“Darlene, do you need a drink of water?”

Slowly, Darlene shook her head. “What about the baby?”

“We’re still searching.”

Darlene gazed at the wall. “If what you say is true, then I’m responsible….”

“Responsible for what?”

Again Darlene was silent. Decker said, “Darlene, when was Lily supposed to show up for work? I’m trying to get a time frame. I need your help.”

Finally, Darlene whispered, “Lily showed up for work around eleven.”

Decker jerked his head upward. “Come again?”

“Lily’s shift started at eleven….”

“She showed up for work?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you tell me she called in
sick
?”

“Could you stop yelling?”

“Just
answer
the question, Darlene. On the phone this morning, you told me that Lily Booker called in sick.”

“I was protecting her….”

“From
what
?”

“I didn’t want her to get into trouble for leaving early. Especially since Marie told me she had been called away for a family crisis. I didn’t think it was fair to involve—”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Decker realized he
was
shouting and lowered his voice. “I’m confused. Start from the beginning.”

“Oh,
Sergeant
!” Darlene burst into tears. “I really
messed
up this time!” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed openly.

Decker leaned back on the sofa and ran his hand over his face. He waited until the weeping subsided, then said, “Darlene,
when
did Lily show up for work?”

Darlene dried her eyes with a tissue. “At the beginning of her shift. She showed up at eleven.”

“So Lily came to work.”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone who questioned you about that, did you? Because you were protecting her.”

“Yes. I didn’t see the point of getting her involved if she wasn’t even there.”

“But she was there, Darlene. She may have been involved. Or she may have been a victim. Either way, you should have let us know everything. We could have been looking for her. We
should
have been looking for her!”

Darlene’s face crumpled. “Yes, I know.” The sobs came back. “I’m
sorry
I messed up! You maybe could have found her. And I didn’t tell you, so you didn’t even know. In my own way,
I’m
responsible for that girl’s death!”

Darlene rushed out of the living room and slammed the door to the bedroom. Decker followed, afraid of what the nurse might be contemplating. He found her on her bed, weeping into her eyelet-trimmed pillow. Chewing on his mustache, he wondered how Rina was doing. She seemed okay when he left this morning, but she was so fragile right now. Just like this sobbing woman. Decker’s focus fell upon Darlene. He felt her pain. She was trying to protect her trainee and she fucked up.

“Darlene, everyone makes mistakes. To equate your mistake with murder is absurd. Let’s work together. Let’s find the bastard or bastards who might have hurt Lily or the baby. I want to get them before they can hurt again. But I need your help.”

Darlene cried out, “I don’t deserve to be a nurse! Nurses
help
people, not put them in danger!”

“You help people. You’re going to help me. Now I want you to focus in on that horrible day. I need a time frame if I’m going to figure out what happened. Stop your crying and
concentrate
!”

Still sniffling, Darlene sat up, eyes crimson and swollen. “We should go back and talk in the living room.”

“Yes, that would be a good idea.”

The two returned to the living room. After Decker reorganized his thoughts, he asked, “When did Marie tell you that Lily had left the hospital due to a crisis in the family?”

“I’ve got to think about it.” After a long period of silence,
Darlene said, “When I met her in the hall…the last time. She said she was going back to Nursery J ’cause Lily had to leave. Must have been ’bout an hour or so before we…we discovered the missing baby.”

“So that would make it what time?”

“Around midnight, twelve-thirty that morning,” Darlene mumbled. “I think. I remember Lily hadn’t been on shift all that long, maybe an hour. But I talked to her several times before she left. That’s why I didn’t…I saw no reason to penalize her for a family crisis. I was wrong, Sergeant! Not that it does Lily any good, but I was…”

The tears started coming. Decker broke in, “Did Marie seem upset when she told you about Lily’s crisis?”

Darlene nodded and wiped her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “But I just figured it was because without Lily, we were real short-staffed—working with a skeleton crew.”

An apt choice of words, Decker thought. His face must have registered cynicism.

“I know, Sergeant. Your wife and baby were there. You must be very upset to hear insider stuff like this. I wish I could say it was a freak thing, but it isn’t. We often have to do double or triple our load because some cheapskate administrator would rather have new office furniture than hire needed staff.” The nurse put her hand to her mouth. “I suppose you’re not interested in hospital politics.”

“I am, but not right now,” Decker said. “So tell me about Marie. She was upset?”

“Yes. She told me to float in nurseries A through F, and she’d take care of nurseries G through L. She told me to check in with her in about an hour.”

“And you didn’t see her after that?”

“No.”

“Did she have blood on her uniform?”

Darlene’s eyes widened. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Did she seem messy or disheveled?”

“I don’t remember real clearly. Just that she was in a hurry. She was walking fast, mumbling about Lily as she
walked. I figured she was jogging ’cause of the workload.”

“If Marie was headed back to Nursery J, who’d been watching the babies in Nursery J?”

“Probably no one, with Lily gone.” Darlene looked down. “Dear Lord, what I’m telling you. Opening myself up to a dandy lawsuit…not to mention the hospital. I’ll probably never work in the city again.”

“I’m not going to sue anyone. Lourdes Rodriguez is another story. So the babies were left alone?”

“They may have been. Chris and a few temps were helping me. Marie had a few temps as well. Maybe one of the temps was watching the nursery.”

“Either way, that’s understaffed to me.”

“That’s true. If it’s any consolation, Sergeant, I assure you that’s not our standard procedure.”

Decker didn’t answer.

“I know. I must seem like a negligent person. I also should have told you about Lily. It just never dawned on me that Lily could be involved. You must think I’m the stupidest person on earth.” Her cheeks became wet. “Another road to hell paved with good intentions.”

“I’ve had a few of them myself, Darlene.”

Darlene wiped her face. “That was a nice thing to say.”

“We’re all too human.” Decker tapped his pencil on his notebook. “Do you know a nurse named Tandy Roberts?”

“
Tandy?
Is
Tandy
involved?”

“You
know
Tandy?”

“Not well, but I knew her. She used to be very close to Marie. They had some kind of falling out. Poor Marie. She felt very hurt, though she didn’t say much. But I could tell.”

“Did you happen to see Tandy at the hospital the night of the kidnapping?”

“No. Why?”

“I don’t know. I’m grasping at straws now. It’s hard for me to imagine Marie murdering Lily…if the body is Lily…and kidnapping a baby all by herself. I’m assuming
she had help. And this Tandy Roberts was at one time a close friend of Marie’s.”

“I haven’t seen Tandy in a couple of years.”

“You’re sure she wasn’t at the hospital that night?”

“I’m not
positive.
But Tandy’d be a hard woman to miss.”

“Did she ever work at the hospital?”

“Marie got her a part-time job at Sun Valley, but Tandy only lasted a couple of months. I thought she was a dull girl, but Marie was wild about her. Like I said, Marie always took pity on the underdog. But she really took a shine to Tandy. Like she was her own kid or something.”

Her own kid—
a weird choice of words. Decker did some quick calculations. Roberts was around twenty-five, and Marie was forty. He frowned. Marie’s friend Paula had said that Marie had been around twenty when she had “lost” her baby. But maybe Paula was wrong. Maybe Marie’d had a baby at fifteen and had given her up for adoption. Maybe Tandy was
that
baby—the “lost” baby.

A big leap with a few holes. Surely, Lita Bellson would have noticed Marie’s pregnancy. When Marie was fifteen, she was still living with Lita. And the old woman distinctly told Marge that Marie never had babies, only abortions.

But perhaps the old woman was senile.

Worry about that one later on.

Decker said, “When I asked administration about Tandy, they told me she wasn’t on the hospital’s work roster. Wouldn’t she have been on it if she worked for the hospital in the past?”

“She was pulled from the roster because she had some trouble with her license. Marie told me she got that fixed up, though.”