Long Shadows

Chapter 74

The flash of their creds made Fellows’s large eyes widen even more.

“You were the one who left a message last night. Look, why are you harassing me? Talk to my accountants. They’re handling everything. I just spend the money, I have no idea where it comes from. And I know nothing about taxes!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said White. “We’re investigating a series of murders.”

Fellows almost fell against her car. “Murders? Why the hell do you want to talk to me about murders?”

“Maybe we can go someplace very private and talk it through?” suggested Decker. “Like your home?”

They followed her back to her house, driving through the open gate after her.

“Wow,” said White as they pulled up in front of the three-story mansion set right on the water. “So this is how the other half lives.”

“It’s not half,” replied Decker. “It’s more like a handful.”

They were led inside by Fellows and passed a woman in a maid’s uniform. “Coffee, Jane, by the pool,” Fellows said to her.

“Yes ma’am.”

Decker looked around and noted a large shelf full of photos. He walked over and ran his gaze along them. “Your father?” he said, indicating one large photo of a group of people.

She crossed the room and joined him. “Yes. This actually is his home and all of his things are still out.” She gazed at her father’s picture. “He looked every bit the politician, didn’t he?”

“Were looks deceiving?” asked Decker.

“Did you ever watch the film The Candidate, with Robert Redford?”

“Yes.”

“Well, God bless him, that was my father. He was a delightful man. Loved to campaign, loved glad-handing people, loved the limelight, but was clueless about what the job entailed and didn’t want to put in the work. He never managed to write and pass a single piece of legislation in all his years on Capitol Hill. I’m not telling tales out of school, it was common knowledge.”

“And yet they reelected him over and over,” said Decker.

“Seems to be the norm now, doesn’t it? Okay, let’s get to it, shall we?”

They followed Fellows out to the rear lanai, where an infinity pool was situated along with luxurious plantings, furnishings, and sculptures. Just beyond was an enormous dock, where a boat large enough to qualify as a yacht was tethered.

“So, you have tax problems?” said White, looking around as they sat down at a table.

“Everyone in my income bracket has tax problems. As I said, my accountants are handling that.”

“And your husband?”

“Divorced. That’s why I have tax problems. My father inherited a lot of money. He had great financial advisors who turned that inheritance into a lot more money. He set up trust funds for me starting when I was a little girl. I was a millionaire many times over by the time I was a toddler. My ex-husband did his best to make me poor. But because of my prenup he’s poor, and I’m just working through some issues. I’ll still be rich when I die. Now, why are you here?”

Decker gave a brief description of the case before getting to the night in Miami in 1981. He did not mention Kanak Roe.

“Were you there with your father?” asked Decker.

She said sharply, “Where are you trying to go with all this? My father has Alzheimer’s.”

“We know. And where we’re going with this is, if you were there with your father, do you have any recollection of anything unusual that happened the night of the speech?”

“Okay, yes, I was there. My father was originally from New York, but we moved to Florida when I was little. My parents liked the weather, and the taxes were a lot lower than New York’s. We lived in West Palm at the time. I traveled with my father to Miami. I wanted to meet the president. I was only fifteen.”

“So, anything unusual?”

“Unusual how?”

“Anything out of the ordinary.”

“Not that I can think of. The president gave his speech, then my father followed him with his remarks. There was the photo op and shaking the hands of all the big donors. I got to meet Reagan. He was quite charming. And looked quite robust, considering he’d almost been killed not that long before. Then the president left. No one could leave before him — that’s standard procedure, you know.”

“And then what?”

“And then I went back to the hotel with one of my father’s aides. Then I went to sleep.”

“And your father?”

“I’m sure he came along later. He had some more people to glad-hand.”

“But you didn’t see him that night?”

The maid brought the coffees out and then departed.

Fellows took a sip of hers. “I don’t think I saw him after I got back to the hotel. I mean, I wasn’t a little child he needed to tuck in.” She paused and added, “Why do you think anything unusual happened that night?”

When she said this last part her gaze dipped, and her hand shook a bit, Decker noted.

White said, “That night a Secret Service agent saw something that, let’s just say, changed his life completely. He was never the same since.”

Fellows looked startled. “A Secret Service agent? You mean from Reagan’s detail?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not suggesting that the president—”

“No, of course not,” said Decker. “Reagan was in bed long before then, surrounded by his protection detail. And the agent in question was off duty. Some of his fellow agents went out for dinner and drinks, but he didn’t. He stayed at the hotel.”

Fellows looked thoughtful. “And that’s when you think he saw something unusual?”

“Yes.”

Decker watched her closely. “But since you never left your room and saw nothing, I guess you can’t help us...?”

White added, “And that means the recent murders we’re investigating, I guess the guilty people go free.”

Fellows shot her a stern look. “So now you’re trying to guilt me into talking, I guess?”

“We’re just trying to get to the truth,” replied Decker.

She took another sip of coffee and then looked down at her freshly done nails. “I was very excited that night. After meeting the president and all.” She glanced up, seemingly trying to read their reaction to this. “It made it difficult to sleep.”

Decker shifted his large bulk in his small seat as he perceived what she was trying to do. “And when you couldn’t sleep, what did you do?”

“I might have gone out into the hall and... walked around, gotten some fresh air.”

“And saw... something, perhaps?” interjected White.

“What did this Secret Service agent look like?” Fellows asked abruptly.

Decker took his phone from his pocket, pulled up a file, and showed her a photo of a far younger Kanak Roe from his company’s website.

She looked at it and nodded. “Yes, that looks like the man I saw that night. At least I think so. It was a long time ago, after all,” she added with a touch of defiance. “Memories are not infallible, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Decker, drawing a surprised glance from White. “What was he doing?”

Fellows suddenly became rigid, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “I really don’t want to revisit this. There’s no point in dredging up the past. No good can come of it.”

White leaned forward. “I know this is hard, Ms. Fellows. I really do. But there are some people who could unfairly be found guilty of murder and go to prison, or worse, if we don’t get to the bottom of this. And what you tell us will go no further. We just need some information, that’s all.”

Fellows pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. After a few moments she said, “I... I heard raised voices from a room.”

“Could you hear what was being said?” asked Decker.

She shook her head. “But the door was open a crack. I... I took a peek.”

“What did you see in the room?”

“This agent, and another man... and a woman. A young woman.”

“What were they doing?”

“The...” She looked away and rubbed at her eyes with the tissue. “I really had forgotten all this. And now you come here and stir everything back up again. It can’t possibly matter one bit now.”

“It does matter,” said Decker. “A great deal to some people. Enough to kill over, in fact. And I don’t think you ever forgot it. You just didn’t want to ever think about it again. Because the possibilities were too frightening.”

She shuddered. “Are there really innocent people who might go to prison, after all this time?”

“There is no statute of limitations on murder,” White pointed out.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe this has come back to bite me in the ass.” She looked out toward the Gulf for a few moments before turning back to them and saying in a low voice, “They were... wrapping her in... sheets.”

“Was she dead?” asked White.

“I... I don’t know, but I think so. She wasn’t moving. She looked... limp.”

“Who was the other man?”

“I... I think he might have worked on my...”

“On your father’s campaign?” prompted White.

“Yes, but I never knew his name. Hell, I’m not even sure he did work for my father. He just looked the type.”

“Didn’t they see you?” asked White.

“No. I was very quiet and just peering through the slight gap.”

“So they were wrapping up the body?” said Decker in a prompting manner.

She closed her eyes and dipped her head. “They... they put her in a suitcase. I... I ran away before... they could see me.”

“So you don’t know what they did with it?”

“No.”

“Did you recognize the woman?”

Fellows shook her head.

“Can you describe her?” asked White, taking out a notebook and jotting some things down. “I know it was a long time ago.”

Fellows said quietly, her gaze downcast, “She was Black, in her twenties, long dark hair, slender, quite beautiful, even in... death. And she... was naked.”

“You saw all that peeking through a crack in the door?” said White skeptically.

“Well, maybe it was open more than a crack.”

“Why would they have left the door open at all if they were putting a dead, naked woman in a suitcase?” asked White.

“It wasn’t the door going into the hotel room. It was a two-room suite. It... it was the door going into the bedroom.”

“But then how did you get into the room?” asked White.

Decker held up a hand. “Just continue with your story,” he told Fellows. “Did you see any wounds? Any signs of trauma, or blood?”

“No, nothing like that. And I think I would have on the white sheets. She was just... not breathing, or moving.”

Decker leaned in. “Why didn’t you alert someone in the hotel? Or call the police?”

“I... I don’t know. I was just a kid, really. I was scared. Confused. I... I just wanted to run away and forget what I saw. And I have, all these years.” She snapped, “Until you showed up.”

Decker said, “I think there was more to it than that. Far more.”

“What the hell do you mean?” she exclaimed, looking fearful.

“It was your father’s room, wasn’t it? That’s how you got in, right? You had a key to his room.”

Fellows broke down and started to sob.