Grievous Sin (26 page)

“What kind of trouble?”

“Marie told me it was some clerical error, but I think she was covering for her. I don’t think she was licensed as an RN.”

“Tandy wasn’t a nurse?”

“No, she was an LVN—a Licensed Vocational Nurse—but not an RN—a Registered Nurse.”

“What’s the practical difference?”

“RNs have more training, higher status, and make more money. I never got the feeling that money was Tandy’s thing. But she was real interested in status. Being that much over-weight, I bet she wanted to be important at
something.
But it doesn’t make it right—morally or legally.”

Decker nodded in agreement.

“Marie said the rumors were garbage. That Tandy was an RN. But like I said, she was wild about Tandy. She was always attracted to the downtrodden.”

“Downtrodden?”

“Well, Tandy wasn’t exactly a basket case, but she was overly shy.” Darlene paused, then said, “Once I remember her crying in one of the supply closets. When I asked her what was wrong, she became flustered. Finally, I got her to tell me what was bothering her. She kept saying they were putting her down again.”

“Who was putting her down?”

Darlene seemed surprised by the question. “I don’t know if she ever said. I just assumed that she meant her parents. ’Cause of the way she was talking. ‘They always tell me I’m no good, I’m too fat, I’m a disappointment….’ Things like that.”

Decker was writing furiously. “What happened after you talked to her?”

“She stopped crying and went back to work.”

“So you knew her pretty well.”

“Not
very
well, but well enough to notice if Tandy had been in the hospital that night. Someone that heavy…the eye just can’t help but notice. I would have spotted her on a dime.”

“Darlene, suppose I were to tell you that Tandy is now around a hundred and twenty pounds—
Vogue-
model slim and beautiful to boot. What would you say?”

“I’d say you were pulling my leg. That girl was pathetic-looking.” She paused. “You are kidding me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not kidding you. My partner interviewed her. I’m telling you what she told me.”

“But the girl musta weighed over three hundred pounds! Her face looked like she was on steroids, she was so swollen up.”

Decker said, “Let’s suppose someone passed you in the hallway the night of the kidnapping. And all you caught was a glimpse of that person—someone weighing around a hundred twenty pounds. Think you would have recognized Tandy at a hundred and twenty pounds, Darlene?”

The nurse closed her eyes, then reopened them slowly. “I was very busy that night. Maybe I would have, but maybe I wouldn’t have.”

Hearing the RTO call out his unit number, Decker picked up the mike of the unmarked. Marge was put through a moment later.

“I got news.”

“So do I,” Decker said. “Should we meet at the station house, or do you want to grab a cup of coffee somewhere?”

“I can’t leave where I am. I’m watching Tandy’s Audi.”

“Okay, so I’ll come to you.”

“No,
don’t
do that!”

Decker was taken aback by Marge’s forceful tone of voice. “What’s cooking, Detective Dunn? Why don’t you want me crowding your space?”

Marge didn’t answer right away. Then she said, “I just don’t want the unmarked anywhere in sight. I think this gal is really clever.”

“Okay. So should we exchange info over the airwaves? Remember you’re on a cellular phone and that’s not private like a tactical line.”

“We’ll keep it short. You go first.”

“First just tell me if Tandy Roberts was working at Tujunga Memorial the night of the kidnapping.”

“She was, Pete,
but
she was off shift at eleven. So she could have taken a little drive over to Sun Valley Pres.”

“Great.” Decker recapped his conversation with Darlene Jamison. “It’s very possible that Tandy
was
there at Sun Valley Pres, and even people who
knew
her wouldn’t have recognized her. She could have been skulking through the halls, still dressed in her uniform, and even if Darlene had caught a glimpse of her, Tandy would have just looked like a thin, anonymous floater.”

“So the timing is on our side.”

“Now all we need is evidence linking her to the kidnapping or at least to Sun Valley.”

“We should go back to Sun Valley and pass around current pictures of Tandy,” Marge said. “See if
anyone
remembers seeing the slim version.”

“She hasn’t officially worked at Sun Valley for a couple of years. She was pulled from the work roster because of licensing problems. Consistent with what Leek told you about her at Golden Valley Home. Seems the girl is passing herself off as an RN.”

Marge said, “You mean, ‘
was
passing herself off.’ Past tense. I asked about her license at Tujunga Memorial. They told me she was a licensed RN. Gave me her license number and everything.”

Decker thought a moment, then asked, “Is there a Board of Nurses’ Examiners in Sacramento?”

“I’m sure there must be,” Marge said. “They regulate just about everything except palm readers.”

“What about the tarot-card interpreters?”

“They have their own board,” Marge said.

Decker smiled. “Call up Sacramento. Find out about Tandy’s license from
them.
I’ll find out if Mike dug up any interesting gas purchases billed to Tandy.” He paused. “So, we have Marie and Lily at the scene, Tandy possibly at the scene. Where’s the thread?”

“Tandy and Marie both lost babies. Maybe one took the kid and the other is abetting. Maybe they were in it together.”

“Why would Tandy help Marie if Marie took the kid?”

Marge paused. “I don’t know.”

“So reverse it,” Decker said. “Why would Marie help Tandy if Tandy took the kid?”

Marge said, “Didn’t Darlene say that Marie treated Tandy like her kid? Maybe she
was
her kid.”

“You’ve seen both women,” Decker said. “Do they look alike?”

“No.”

Decker said, “Did Lita Bellson mention her daughter giving birth at fifteen? She certainly told you everything else about her daughter.”

“No, Lita never said anything like that. But Lita’s kind of out of it. Tell you what, Pete. Why don’t you pop over to Golden Valley and ask her?”

“I’ll do just that.”

“In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on Tandy.”

“Right.”

Marge said, “What’s your take on Darlene? Do you think she might be involved?”

“I’m not ruling out anybody, but my instinct tells me she just honestly fucked up.”

“Sounds like you feel bad for her.”

“Part of me is angry as hell. And the other part says we’re all human.” Decker didn’t speak for a moment. Then he said, “I’m outta here.”

“Kiss Hannah for me.”

“A big kiss from Auntie Marge, huh?”

“Auntie Marge?”

“The kid doesn’t have a lot of extended family,” Decker said. “We improvise.”

He cut the line. Marge laughed and hung up the phone. Her eyes had never left sight of the entrance to the juice bar. They had been in there for almost an hour. She was getting antsy.

Ten minutes later, the women emerged. Marge breathed a sigh of relief. Tandy headed back to the gym; Cindy appeared to be walking to her car. Marge waited until the doors had closed behind Tandy to sprint over to Decker’s daughter,
catching her totally off guard. Cindy turned red and looked at her feet.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

“Be thankful it’s me and not Daddy.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” Cindy followed Marge over to the Beemer. “Nice car. Is it yours?”

“Just get inside and don’t ask questions.”

Quietly, Cindy slipped into the passenger’s seat.

The house was
cemetery quiet as Decker came through the door. Figuring someone had to be asleep, he tiptoed through the kitchen and went out the back door. Once again Nora, the nurse, and Magda had set up camp around the patio table, chatting happily as they sipped iced tea and munched grapes. Hannah was snoozing in her new cradle—a gift from his brother, Randy—and Ginger had curled up under the tabletop. The setter didn’t bother to greet Decker with her usual yipping and yapping, just raised her head and lowered it. For some reason, that bothered him. He took it as a neurotic sign that he was being displaced.

“How’s everyone?”

Nora said, “I’m glad you had that little talk with your wife. She’s been resting all morning. It’s what she needs to make her heal.”

“Good to hear.”

“Do you want some iced tea, Akiva?” Magda asked.

“Maybe a little later. How’s my baby?”

“Sleeping like one,” Nora said.

“Isn’t she a good girl?” Magda said. “Just the best?”

“No argument from me,” Decker said. “Is Cindy around?”

“She went out early in the morning,” Magda said. “I think she go swimming. She has with her a swimming bag.”

“Really?” Decker said. “That’s great. She must have hooked up with some friends.”

The women stopped talking and smiled at him. His presence must be wearing thin. Or maybe it was the other way around. He smiled and said, “I’ll just go inside the house. Get myself a snack and check in on Rina.”

The women nodded enthusiastically, as if they couldn’t wait to get rid of him. He reentered his kitchen, took an apple out of the refrigerator, and ate it before he remembered to wash it. So what’s a little weedkiller between friends?

He picked up the phone and dialed Florida. His father’s gruff voice came over the answering machine:

Leave a message. Beep.

Decker left his message. He hadn’t spoken to his parents since the baby was born; they kept missing each other. But the congratulations card in yesterday’s mail along with the lengthy handwritten note told Decker his parents had received the news and were excited. Ordinarily, his mother never wrote more than a couple of perfunctory sentences.

How are you? We’re fine. Bye.

Initially, they had been disappointed in his selection of a spouse. Nothing personal against Rina, but like Decker’s first wife, she was Jewish. His parents, being good Baptists, didn’t cotton to her rejection of the Savior. And when he announced he was joining his wife’s faith, he knew his mother would be heartbroken.

He had made the move after much deliberation. Accepting Judaism had taken him full circle, back to the faith of his biological parents. Even though Decker considered his adoptive parents his only parents, he knew his renunciation of Christianity was tantamount to renunciation of his parents in his mother’s eyes. For a while, the relationship with his parents was sticky. But things were improving. Mom genuinely liked Rina as a person.

And now the baby…their granddaughter.

Time and babies heal all wounds.

Not really hungry, Decker decided to peek in on Rina. He
opened the door to the bedroom. She was curled into a ball and wrapped in her blanket, only a tiny area of skin showing from her face. He bent down to kiss her cheek, and she opened her eyes.

“Nora says you’ve been resting. That’s good, darlin’. The only way to heal.”

“You mean it’s good for
her
,” she squeaked out.

“Rina, if you don’t like Nora, I’ll fire her right now.”

No response.

“Honey, do you want me to get rid of her? We certainly don’t need another interfering nurse around here.”

Rina pulled the blanket off her face and turned to him. “What do you mean, ‘another interfering nurse’? Who was the first one?”

Decker winced. “No one. I’m just babbling.”

“You were referring to your case, weren’t you?”

“I suppose it’s all blurring. Is Nora preventing you from taking care of Hannah?”

“No, not at all.” Rina fell back on her pillow. “I suppose she feels she’s doing the right thing by helping me rest. She just makes me feel
useless
!”

“You’re not useless.”

“Useless and uterusless.” She let out a bitter laugh. “That’s me!”

Decker said, “Rina, I love you and need you and want you and find you sexy, and I’ll keep saying those words over and over until you
believe
me!”

“I believe you.” She sighed. “I just want my baby, and I’m too tired to care for her. I’m cranky.”

“You can be cranky.”

Rina tried to smile. Instead, the mouth turned down into a look of despair, and she started crying. Decker bit his mustache. All this outpouring of emotion was wearing him down. Rina’s catharsis was so honestly expressed—but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. He felt like galloping his stallion around the corral, building up a sweat until his muscles ached with that satisfied throb of physical work. But instead,
he lay down next to his wife and held her in his arms, trying to sympathize with her plight without being consumed by it.

“I love you, baby,” Decker said.

“I love you, too.” Rina sniffed. “I feel so much
better
when you’re here.”

Decker thought about that one as she sobbed in his arms. He supposed crying was a definite improvement over catatonic depression. “I’m glad, Rina. Just give me a few more days on this case, and I promise, I’ll take a few weeks off. I’ll do everything I can for you. We’ll work through this together.”

“I
hate
when I drag you down like this.”

“You’re not dragging me down. I’ll finish this case, and then I’m all yours.”

Rina broke away, propped up her pillows, then laid her head down and folded the sheets across her lap. “Thanks for being so wonderful.”

“Any time.” Decker glanced at her nightstand, and picked up a handwritten note.

Palm Springs—April.

“What’s this?”

Rina read the slip. “Oh. Abba and Eema Lazarus called to congratulate us.”

Decker smiled weakly. Abba and Eema Lazarus—the parents of her late husband.

The boys’ grandparents.

“That’s nice. So what does their call have to do with Palm Springs?”

“They invited us to go with them to Palm Springs for
Pesach.
”

Decker frowned. “Palm Springs for Passover? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the saying ‘Next year in Jerusalem’?”

“One desert’s the same as the next.”

“I think you’re missing a crucial point.”

Rina smiled. “Jerusalem is lovely, but Palm Springs is a little closer.”

“What’s in Palm Springs besides golf?”

“Sonny Bono.”

“Rina—”

“They have this huge Kosher for Passover tour. I’ve spoken to people who have been there. They take over a resort hotel and turn it into a Club Med for the Orthodox. The hotel has a pool, spas, tennis courts, a health club. The tour provides activities—Israeli dancing, cooking, wine tasting, a bingo contest—”

“My heart can’t take the excitement.”

“No, Peter, it’s not chasing felons, but I bet your body could use a real rest. Anyway, I didn’t refuse them outright. It’s up to you.”

“Up to
me
?” He paused. “Do you actually
want
to go?”

“My first instinct was to say no. But then I thought, Rina, what’s wrong with lying around the pool all day? If we stay home for the holidays, we’d just wind up working around the house.”

Decker was silent.

“You don’t want to go, we won’t go,” Rina said. “They’re just trying to be nice. This is the honeymoon the Lazaruses
wanted
us to have. They felt terrible about last year. Calling us to come for the holidays, then making you work.”

“It wasn’t their fault a kid decided to run away with a psycho.”

“But you wound up spending all your vacation time looking for him. They felt lousy about it. They want us to have some fun. Remember fun?”

“Describe it to me.”

Rina touched his cheek. “I think it involves lots of time in bed—sleeping or otherwise.”

“It’s coming back…
slowly.
”

Rina punched his good shoulder.

Decker smiled. “They know I won’t come to Brooklyn. They want to see the boys, don’t they?”

“I’m sure that’s a big part of it. You can understand that.
And even if Channaleh isn’t technically their own, they feel like she is.
Eema
’s already booked us two rooms—one for us and one for the children.”

“Nothing like pressure.”

“I never committed. Don’t go if you don’t want to. Life’s too short for doing things you don’t want to do.”

“Who else is going?”

“Just
Eema
and
Abba.
It’ll be just the seven of us.”

“What about your parents?”

“They’re going to Israel to be with my brother.”

“What about your former sisters-in-law and their families?”

“
Eema
and
Abba
spend plenty of time with them. They just want it to be the seven of us.”

Decker rubbed his eyes. “Would it make you happy to go?”

“Spending some time
alone
with you would really make me very happy. And it’s free.”

“That’s not the issue.”

“It’s a legitimate issue if you saw how much these things cost. They wouldn’t take our money anyway. They want it to be
their
treat. But it’s totally up to you, Peter. I mean it.”

Decker bit his mustache. The poor people had lost their only son from illness. Now, more than ever, he could feel their heartbreak. It seemed so cruel to deny them their grandsons, too. And it would please Rina and wouldn’t involve going to Brooklyn. Plus, to be honest, the idea of having nothing to do for a week except make love and lie around the pool did sound pretty damn good. A free family vacation with built-in baby-sitters and kosher food provided to boot. Rina wouldn’t have to drag along pots and pans and kosher food packed in an ice chest. And if he said yes, he’d look like a prince in Rina’s eyes.

“If it’s just them…” Decker massaged his temples. “Sure, we can go.”

Rina’s smile was wide and happy, and for a moment Decker saw her old self. He knew it would take time for her
to get over her trauma, and he hoped his agreeable attitude was helping her along.

Rina gave him a big kiss on the cheek. “You really are a nice person. Just the best!”

“No prob, darlin’. It’s worth it to see you smile.”

Marge said, “Just answer me one question, Cindy. What in the world could have possibly gone through that
brain
of yours?”

“I got some very important information, Marge.”

Calm, Marge told herself. Just remain calm. First thank God she’s not your daughter, then treat her like any other dingbat witness. “And what is that information, Cynthia?”

“I know why Tandy might have taken the baby…if she did take the baby. I mean, I don’t
know
that she took the baby. But I have a motive if she did.”

“She lost a baby when she was fifteen,” Marge said.

Cindy stared at her, disappointment clouding the sunshine of her eyes. “How did you
know
?”

“Because I
interviewed
her, Cindy. That’s what the
police
do. And they don’t even have to pose as bodybuilders to do it. I don’t have to tell you how dangerous and stupid your little stunt was. Your dad and I aren’t TV detectives with cute little mannerisms who wrap things up in an hour minus twenty minutes for commercials. We get things done by putting in long hours and trying out different tactics that often lead nowhere. It’s hard, it’s tiring, and it’s
frustrating
! What we don’t need is someone blowing all of our careful planning by being
stupid
!”

The girl looked as if she was going to cry. Marge softened her tone. “Did you have a good workout at least?”

Cindy didn’t answer.

“Look,” Marge said, “no harm done.”
She hoped.
“What’d you two talk about in the juice bar? You were in there for almost an hour.”

“Nothing much.” Cindy sighed. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I’m keeping an eye on Tandy.”

“You’re watching her car?”

“Yes. Promise me you’ll back off for good, okay?”

“I was supposed to return to the gym tomorrow—”

“Cindy!”

“They have this whole routine worked out for me. They say I have lots of talent.”

Marge stared at her. “Cynthia Decker, if I find you within a mile of this place, I’ll arrest you and throw you in the clink with all sorts of unsavory women.”

Cindy smiled. “I’ll stay out of your face, Marge.”

“You’ll stay out of our
business
!” Marge took a deep breath. “Now…what did you two talk about?”

“Just talked—about school, about guys, about our families. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her my father’s a cop. I’m not stupid, only adventurous.”

“No, Cynthia, it’s stupidity!”

Cindy smiled sadly. “And here I thought I discovered something really important. I was going to lay a real insight on you.”

“So I beat you to the punch. How did losing the baby come up in conversation?”

“She talked about her modeling career. How one of the directors made her pregnant.”

“How long was she a model?”

“Since she was five. A kid’s model at first for clothing catalogs. Then she graduated into haute couture and the cat-walk. She told me how brutal the whole thing was. How mean everyone was to newcomers, how she had to
starve
herself to stay thin. She was bulimic. Even when she was pregnant, she used to starve herself, didn’t start showing until she was in her sixth month. She wound up losing the baby shortly afterward. Afterward, she was five-nine, ninety-five pounds.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah, a real skeleton. Even her
agent
told her to gain a
few pounds back. Which she did. She worked for a few more years. Then she said she got pregnant again and lost that baby—”