CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR•
The Sixth Week—Revelation
When I got home, Jim was searching the Internet for job opportunities. I asked him to give Laurie a bottle while I slept. I napped two hours and woke feeling semi refreshed to a ringing phone. Would I ever wake up feeling that I’d gotten enough sleep ever again in my life?
Jim hovered over me. “Are you awake?”
“Sort of.”
“It’s Galigani.”
I grabbed the phone.
“Congrats, kid. I heard you’re responsible for a drug bust.”
“Yeah. I’d put my own brother-in-law, a new daddy, behind bars. Yippee.”
Galigani tsked. “You are not responsible for other people’s actions. Only your own. As for your brother-in-law, he committed a felony. He’s old enough to commit the crime, he’s old enough to do the time. Which we hope will go a long way toward making him a better father.”
“I hope you’re right.” I worried about Kiku and the new baby being all alone. I’d have to find a way to help her. After a moment, I said, “What about Jennifer, do you think she really did it?”
“Why not? The cops think so.”
“But she was released and now she’s pointing to Mrs. Avery.”
Galigani guffawed. “Mrs. Avery? Hell, is she reaching or what? Look, Jennifer Miller was released on a technicality. Not enough evidence for the DA to prosecute doesn’t mean ‘not guilty.’ McNearny will keep digging until he finds something the DA likes. As for you, you don’t work for the DA, so it doesn’t matter what he says. You just need to satisfy your client.”
“Something’s not right. I just don’t know what it is.”
“That happens. What I do when I’m stuck is go over all my notes again. Just read everything in your notebook and think. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, but you can’t see the forest for the trees. It helps to get a little rest and not think about anything for a while.”
I snorted.
Galigani laughed. “How’s the baby?”
That evening I followed Galigani’s advice and tuned everything out. Jim and I watched a football game and carved pumpkins. I read every single line I’d written in my notebook and reread Galigani’s book for good measure.
Feeling no closer to solving the case, I reviewed my to-do list.
To Do:
1. Help Jim find a job.
2. x Find George AGAIN.
3. x Figure out what Michelle’s reports mean.
4. Research day care for Laurie.
5. Prep for return to the office.
6. Stock up on pumped milk.
Depressed about having to return to corporate hell, I logged on to the computer to check e-mail. I found a note from Paula.
Kate! Sounds like you have too much going on to be healthy. Launching a new business sounds good, but girl you just had a baby for crying out loud. I’m going to have to get home soon to knock some sense into you. Either that or join you :)
Oh and about Carol? The only Carol I remember from high school was Carol Reilly, she wasn’t friends with Michelle, but was she friends with Michelle’s sister? Can’t remember, high school was a long time ago and since I’m pregnant I can’t even recall what I ate for breakfast.
Baby due in three and half months, not that I’m counting!
Say hi to your mom and Jim. Kisses to the tiny one.
Love, love, love you guys! Write soon.
Inspired by Paula’s note, I searched through my garage for an old yearbook. I found the one from our freshman year and flipped through it.
Pictures of Paula and Michelle and me covered the pages.
I located our sophomore yearbook and searched the pages. There was a photo of Michelle and me in the school play. Michelle had inscribed a message in purple handwriting: “Kate, best of luck to you in the theater!”
My junior yearbook was missing. I vaguely recalled lending it to Paula. She’d probably never returned it.
I leafed through our senior book. Pictures of the prom splashed across the page.
I found a picture of Rich. There he was, with Carol Reilly. Whatever happened to her?
Then I saw it. Brad staring back at me. A pretty date on his arm. A familiar bracelet on her wrist.
I dropped the book.
Hmmm? How had her bracelet ended up in George’s bag?
I picked up Galigani from his home on Telegraph Hill. He limped to the car.
“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice,” I said.
“Hey, I’m not supposed to be out. But who listens to doctors anyway?”
I nodded and steered toward the Haight district. There was no traffic to speak of at this hour of the night. Galigani and I rode in silence. I wondered if he was falling asleep and eyed him suspiciously. He jerked his head up and glared at me.
“What?” He smiled.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fair to middling. Did you see my scar?” He opened his shirt a bit. A fresh scar crossed his entire chest.
“Ouch!”
“Funny thing is, this one doesn’t hurt so bad. It’s my leg. I’ve got a scar there that runs down the whole thing. It’s where they took the veins out to put into my heart.”
I found parking in front of the apartment house. We climbed out of the Chevy. “My legs hurt, too,” I complained.
With a pang I remembered my pain relief pills sitting on my kitchen counter.
“Too much running around for just having a baby,” Galigani acknowledged.
Who did I think I was?
He patted me on the back. “You’re doing great, kid. I knew you were a bulldog from the start.”
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“Sure. Bulldogs are persistent and smart.”
“They’re also short and ugly,” I retorted.
Galigani laughed.
“If I was so smart, I would have figured this out a long time ago,” I continued.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You got no experience.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “What you need is a mentor.”
I held my breath. “You’re supposed to be retired.”
“Right.” Galigani laughed. “We can talk about the future later.”
Despite the gravity of the situation facing us, I smiled. “You got your gun?”
Galigani nodded. “Always. So should you. We’ll see about getting you a license, training, all that.”
He said “we”!
“Although we won’t need it tonight,” he continued. “She won’t try anything with both of us there. Even if we are both crippled.”
I laughed as we limped toward the apartment building.
“I don’t want to ring the buzzer and alert her prematurely,” Galigani said. “Let’s wait for someone to leave.”
We didn’t wait long. A blond man in his early twenties exited the building. Galigani grabbed the door saying, “Ladies first.”
We both hobbled up the stairs and took a mini break outside the apartment to catch our breath.
Galigani asked, “Ready?”
I threw my shoulders back, took a deep breath, and nodded. Galigani banged on the door. The redhead opened it a few moments later. She was wrapped in a robe, her hair enveloped in a towel.
She smiled widely to see me. “Kate Connolly! What can I do you for?”
Galigani flashed his investigator badge. “May we come in? I don’t think this is a conversation you want to have in the hallway.” He walked past her without waiting for a response. I followed him into the living room.
He circled around the room, then made himself comfortable on the couch. KelliAnn and I remained standing. Galigani eyed an opened box of chocolate chip cookies lying on the coffee table. He picked up one of KelliAnn’s magazines and flipped through it casually. “Can you tell us, again, about your whereabouts on the night of June fifteenth?”
S
he blinked. “What are you talking about? You two need to leave or I’ll call the police.”
I watched her fidget with the towel on her head.
“We have reason to believe you were at El Paraiso,” Galigani said.
KelliAnn rolled her eyes. “Come on. My stupid neighbor killed Brad. The police know all this. They arrested her.”
“You were still in love with Brad after all these years,” I said. “You took him to the prom. You never got over him.”
KelliAnn laughed. “That’s absurd!”
Galigani jumped in. “You overhead Brad and Jennifer that night. You knew he was leaving your sister. You heard Jennifer reject him.”
“Maybe you thought you’d try a last-ditch effort to get back together with him,” I said.
The corners of her mouth twisted downward, creating a half-crazed look on her face. “This is ridiculous! You can’t come over here and accuse me of this!”
“I have something of yours, KelliAnn,” I taunted. “Something you lost that night at El Paraiso. It must have slipped off your wrist when you reached into George’s bag to take the gun you killed Brad with.”
Her eyes flashed. She blinked rapidly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You broke into both my cars, looking for your bracelet. Michelle saw it fall from George’s bags. She told you I had it, right? She suspected you were involved. Is that why you killed her? Because she’d figured it out?”
KelliAnn shook her head frantically, the towel unraveling, her red hair falling to her shoulders. “You’re wrong. Michelle killed herself. And Jennifer . . . They found the gun at Jennifer’s place.”
Galigani tsked. “That would have been easy for you to plant. What with her being your neighbor and all.”
“The handyman in 101 must like you a lot, huh, KelliAnn?” I winked. “He let you into Jennifer’s place, didn’t he?”
KelliAnn snarled. “Jennifer is an ungrateful bitch. She was unemployed and pitiful when she moved here. I asked Michelle to hire her, as a favor to me, thinking Jennifer would be a good little spy. I knew Michelle and Brad had a racket going on, but I didn’t know what.”
Galigani scratched his head. “Your plan backfired. Brad fell for Jennifer.”
KelliAnn swung her hair, trying to appear nonchalant. “Please, I didn’t care about that.”
“You cared about him enough to lure his child into a lake.”
KelliAnn took a step back from me, paling. Her expression told me I had hit the nail on the head.
“You didn’t think anybody knew about that, did you?” I asked. “Svetlana confided in Jennifer that she thought someone had lured her little girl, Penny, into the lake. The way I figure it is, you ran into Svetlana and Penny, or maybe you were following them like you did George, and when you saw an opportunity, you lured Penny—”
“Or just plain grabbed her and drowned her,” Galigani said from the couch.
KelliAnn gasped, then abruptly covered her mouth.
“You must be really sick, lady,” Galigani continued. “You couldn’t stand the thought of Brad being with anyone else, much less having a child with her. You get rid of the kid, hoping Brad would blame Svetlana for negligence—that’s one way to ruin a marriage. But instead of rushing into your arms, Brad finds comfort in your sister.”
“You have no proof,” KelliAnn said, her eyes flaring.
“George went to Svetlana for help,” I said. “He knew you were following him. You didn’t find the bracelet in my cars, so maybe you figured I had given it to George. One day at the pier, you cut me off in Michelle’s Mercedes. George saw you and ran. When he told Svetlana, she confronted you, is that right? She had it all pieced together. You killed Svetlana, her little girl, her ex-husband, and your own sister.”
Galigani stood. “Then you pointed the police toward Jennifer. What better motive? She kills her ex-lover and his wife, then kills her boss. Everyone has a motive to kill their boss.”
“The other day you were at Michelle’s with Rich.”
KelliAnn’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know—”
“This what you were looking for?” I pulled out the bracelet from my pocket.
She impulsively reached out to grab it. I closed my fist around it and tucked it safely away into my pocket. Now it was my turn to smile. KelliAnn stared at me, her mouth pressing into a thin line.
“I thought Rich might have been looking for the business ledgers I found. But now I get it. He’s the one who helped you get rid of Brad’s body.”
KelliAnn’s eyes darted back and forth, landing on the side table next to Galigani. On the table was a heavy lamp and a small jade phone.
Was she thinking of calling for help?
“I overheard Rich say something about a fight,” I continued. “You fought with Brad. He didn’t want you romantically. You got upset, found George’s gun, and killed him. You needed help with the cleanup, right? Rich was willing to help. Why not? With Brad out of the way, he could buffalo Michelle, Svetlana, and Mrs. Avery about the business profits and pocket more money. And you, of course, would keep quiet about all of it. If he turned you in, you’d tell the police about the drug operation. Ruin his game.”
Galigani said, “Rich probably hadn’t factored in that you’d totally lose control and kill Michelle and Svetlana, too. Who would have been next? Rich? George? Only now they’re safe behind bars.”
“What I don’t understand is how you could kill your own sister,” I said.
KelliAnn’s face turned as red as her hair. “My sister? Yeah, right. She didn’t care about me. My dad’s the only one who really loved me,” she said. “My mother passed away when I was fourteen. I was sent to live with Dad and that awful woman and Michelle. Michelle always wanted a sister, and I guess, at that age, she didn’t realize the implications. She didn’t . . .” KelliAnn moved toward the mantel and reflected on a ceramic vase. “I was her father’s child and we were only a few years apart. Michelle didn’t realize that that meant her father had been living with my mother while he told Michelle and her mother that he was away on business trips. He was really living a double life.”
“Rough,” Galigani said, sidestepping the coffee table and squaring himself off with KelliAnn.
KelliAnn closed her eyes, lost in the past. “He was a commercial airline pilot. I guess my mom and I were the ‘other port’ for him. It’s okay. I forgave him. I loved him. The bracelet was from him. He engraved it for me, with BERRY, because of my ‘berry berry red hair,’ like he used to say. I never took it off.” Tears streamed down her face. “He did his best to take care of me, even though it ruined his other marriage and, eventually, his relationship with Michelle.”
Galigani surprised me by saying, “The other marriage was already ruined before you got there.”
“Michelle and her mom never really accepted me. I see that now,” KelliAnn said. “At the time I didn’t. Something like that is difficult to explain to a fourteen-year-old whose mother has just passed away. Yes, I was the red-headed stepchild, quite literally. They tried to send me to the same school as Michelle. Your school,” she spat, eyeing me contemptuously. “It was obvious that I didn’t fit in there. And wouldn’t. You know how that school was with ‘problem’ children.’ ”
“I remember you were there only a short time.”
“Yes,” KelliAnn said, gripping the ceramic vase. “I was sent to a ‘special needs’ school.” She let out a blood-curdling scream and hurled the vase at Galigani’s head.
He ducked and it smashed against the back wall. I dove behind the sofa. KelliAnn continued to scream as she grabbed the lamp next, knocking the phone off the table. I’m sure she would have loved to peg me with it but decided Galigani in the open room was a better bet. She swung the lamp from its cord in a wide circle. Galigani dodged her.
I surfaced from behind the couch long enough to grab the phone.
No dial tone.
The cord had fallen out the back. I jammed the co
rd in place as KelliAnn closed in on Galigani. “I’m not going to an institution!” she screamed. “Never again!”
I watched in horror as KelliAnn swung the lamp again and this time hit Galigani square in the chin. He stumbled back and hit the wall dazed. She changed her grip from the cord to the base of the lamp. I dropped the phone and seized the moment to charge her. She raised the lamp above her head ready to smash Galigani just as I tackled her from behind.
She crumpled beneath me, taking the lamp down with her. It broke in several pieces, leaving KelliAnn with an ugly jagged piece in her hand. She rolled me off her quickly and waved the piece near my face.
Galigani regained himself and grabbed KelliAnn’s hair. This pulled her off me long enough for me to retreat to the phone. I dialed 9-1-1.
Even though Galigani had her by the hair, KelliAnn was still swinging and, because she was on the ground, found his weak spot. She was going for his groin but missed and hit his right leg, which was still fresh from surgery. Galigani went down like a rag doll.
The 9-1-1 operator came on the line, although it was difficult to hear because KelliAnn was laughing hysterically. To my terror, she was staring at Galigani’s exposed ankle holster.
Adrenaline shot through my body with a force I’ve never felt before, and with what seemed like supernatural strength, I dove right for KelliAnn.
If she got to Galigani’s gun, I was a dead woman.
Laurie’s face flashed in my mind and I hardly realized I was screaming and crying as I descended onto KelliAnn, smashing her nose with my elbow.
She recoiled, momentarily dazed, her hands covering her bleeding nose. I fumbled for Galigani’s gun but perhaps he mistook me for her, or maybe instinct took over, because he scissored my hand between his ankles.
I drew back, which gave KelliAnn the opportunity to kick me in the ribs. Winded and in excruciating pain, I doubled over.
She took advantage of this and grabbed my head, wrapping her fingers into my hair. This really pissed me off because recently it seemed my hair was falling out left and right.
Postpartum hair loss and this bitch was going to pull out the few remaining strands!
With a fury only a mother can know, I heaved myself up and rammed my hard head into KelliAnn’s face. As my head connected with her no doubt broken nose, she yelped and released my hair. I quickly pulled her face into my knee. She moaned and fell to the ground.
The room was finally silent, until I heard the voice through the phone.
I lunged to grab it, only to hear sirens down the street. I put the receiver to my ear.
“Help is on the way, ma’am,” the operator said.
I was shaking uncontrollably. “Thanks,” I muttered into the phone.
Galigani stirred. He observed KelliAnn lying at his feet. “You did great, kid. Only next time, try to tackle ’em before they hit me.”
•