Part 9 (1/2)
I called back. ”Take your time.”
Ben stood straight and tall in cut-off jeans shorts and a gray LSU Athletic Department T-s.h.i.+rt. Every kid in Louisiana was probably issued an LSU T-s.h.i.+rt at birth. He led me through a s.p.a.cious home that was neat and orderly, but still lived-in and comfortable and clearly feminine, with plenty of photographs in delicate frames and pastel colors and plants. The entry led into the family room and the kitchen. Everything was open and casual, with the family room flowing into the dining area, which looked out French doors across a brick patio and a large backyard. Tennis trophies filled the shelves of a wall-sized entertainment center in the family room, but pictures of Ben and books and ceramic animals were crowding out the trophies. I liked that. Balance.
Ben leaned against the counter that separated the kitchen from the family room, watching me. I said, ”You play tennis like your mom?”
He nodded.
”She's pretty good, huh?”
He nodded again.
”Can you beat her?”
”Sometimes.” He c.o.c.ked his head a little bit to the side and said, ”Are you a detective?”
”Doesn't it show?”
He shook his head.
”I left my trench coat at the motel.”
”What's a trench coat?”
Times change.
He said, ”Is it run?”
”Most of the time it's fun, but not always. You thinking about becoming a detective?”
He shook his head. ”I want to be a lawyer like my dad.”
I nodded. ”That'd be good.”
”He practices corporate law in Shreveport. He really goes for the jugular.” I wondered where he'd heard that.
Lucy came through the family room and smiled at me.
”Hi.”
”Hi, yourself.” I held out the flowers. Mr. Charming. ”I didn't want to come empty-handed.”
”Oh, they're lovely.” Her eyes crinkled nicely when she took the flowers, and I flushed with a kind of pleasure that made me return her smile. She was wearing khaki hiking shorts and a loose white cotton top and sandals, and she seemed relaxed and comfortable in her home. Looking at her made me feel relaxed, too. ”Let's put them in water.”
Ben said, ”Can I set the coals?”
”Not too many.”
Ben ran out the back, slamming through the French doors. Someone had set up a Weber grill on the patio, and he went to work with the coals. Lucy said, ”I picked up potato salad and cole slaw from the market. I thought we'd grill hamburgers since we're going to work Something simple.”
”Hamburgers are great.”
”Would you like a gla.s.s of wine?”
”Please. That would be nice.”
She took an unopened bottle of Sonoma-Cutre Chardonnay from her refrigerator, offered it to me with a corkscrew, and asked if I'd mind opening it. She put out two winegla.s.ses, then used kitchen shears to trim the flowers before placing them in a simple gla.s.s vase. I poured the wine. When the flowers were finished, she said, ”They're absolutely lovely.”
”Drab. Drab and plain next to you.”
She laughed. ”Tell me, do all men from Los Angeles come on this strong?”
”Only those of us with an absolute confidence in our abilities.”
The laugh became a smile, then she put on the red reading gla.s.ses and motioned at the folder, jammed with the doc.u.ments and handwritten notes and phone bills. ”Why don't you tell me what happened while I see what we have?”
I went through everything that had happened since I'd last seen her, up to where Ren+! and LeRoy brought me to Milt's farm. I had arranged the papers with the state doc.u.ments on top, so she saw those first. As I spoke, a vertical frown line appeared between her eyebrows and she no longer looked happy and relaxed. She said, ”These are real. These are court-sealed doc.u.ments. How could he get these?”
”I don't know.”
”Illegally possessing these is a felony under state law. They're numbered and referenced, and I can have their authenticity checked, but these are real. These papers do in fact show that Jodi Taylor was born Maria Johnson. I can't believe he has these.”
”Had.”
Ben came in to tell us that the coals were ready to be fired and Lucy went outside to make sure he did it safely. I sat at the counter with my wine, watching them, and found myself smiling. Ben struck the big safety matches and tossed them on the coals while Lucy supervised. They looked comfortable and at ease with each other, and you could see Lucy in his features and in the confident way he carried himself. Reflections. When the flames were rising and the grill was in place, Lucy returned and smiled at me smiling at her. She said, ”What?”
”You guys look good together. Happy. I like that.”
She turned and looked at her son. He had left the grill and was climbing into a pecan tree. A knotted rope hung from the limbs, just like the tree in the front yard, but he didn't use the rope. She said, ”You seem to have pa.s.sed the test.”
”What test?”
”He's leaving us alone. He's very protective of me.”
”Does he have to guard you often?”
She looked smug. ”Often enough, thank you.” She took two plates from the Sub-Zero, one with hamburger patties and the other with sliced onions and tomatoes and lettuce, both covered with Saran Wrap, and put them out to warm. She returned to the file, now skimming Rebenack's handwritten notes. ”Who's Leon Williams?”
”I don't know, but you can tell from what's written that these are the notes Rebenack made when he was digging into Jodi's past, so Williams might be significant.”
Lucy made a note on the legal pad. ”I've got a friend at the Baton Rouge Police Department. I'll see if they have anything.”
”Okay. Here's where it gets worse.” I showed her Jimmie Ray's phone bills. I pointed out the long distance calls. ”Do you recognize these phone numbers?”
She shook her head. ”They're calls to Los Angeles.”
”This is Sid. This is Jodi. Rebenack had at least seven conversations with Sid Markowitz over the past five months.”
Lucy didn't move for a very long time, and then she left the kitchen. She came back a few minutes later with a leather datebook jammed with notes and papers and business cards. She opened it to a phone index and compared the numbers she found there with the numbers on the phone bill. She shook her head. ”Sid never mentioned this to me.”
”Nor to me.” I pointed out the longest call. ”Three days after this call Rebenack deposited thirty thousand dollars into a checking account. He used the money to buy a car.”