Robert B. Parker’s Damned If You Do

24

Jesse located a Martha Becquer living in east Paradise, in a small tract house adjacent to the railroad tracks.

“Chief Stone,” she said when she opened the door. “Whatever brings you here?”

He looked at her more closely. She was a small, weathered woman, wearing a flowered kimono over black sweatpants and a faded T-shirt.

“I know you,” he said.

“By another name,” she said. “Greeley. I used to be married to Dick Greeley.”

“You’re Janet Greeley’s mother.”

“I am, although we both now go by the name Becquer. My maiden name.”

“Janet Greeley. That’s who she was.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry,” Jesse said, shaking his head. “I couldn’t quite place her.”

“Janet?”

“Yes.”

Jesse stood distractedly on the porch for several moments.

Then Martha said, “Would you like to come in?”

“What? Yes. Please.”

She ushered him through a small, cramped living room into a kitchen that opened onto a tiny backyard that abutted the train tracks. Carefully tended flowerbeds and a small vegetable garden were both just coming into bloom.

Jesse took a seat in the breakfast nook while Martha prepared a fresh pot of coffee.

“Do you want to tell me why you’re here,” Martha said. “Is it something to do with Janet?”

“You’ll have to forgive me. I didn’t make the connection between the names.”

“Nasty divorce.”

“I see.”

“So?”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”

“About Janet.”

“Yes.”

“She’s in some kind of trouble,” Martha said.

Jesse sat silently for several moments.

Then Martha said, “She’s dead, isn’t she.”

Jesse nodded.

“No positive ID has been made yet,” he said. “But I now believe that it’s her.”

“How?”

“She was killed.”

“Killed how?”

“She was murdered, Martha.”

“Oh my God.”

Martha turned away and appeared to shrink into herself. When Jesse got up to comfort her, she gently pushed him aside.

“Give me a minute,” she said.

She opened the kitchen door and stepped into the yard. Jesse watched as she wrapped her arms around herself and stood quietly for several moments. Then she wiped her eyes with a corner of her kimono, took several deep breaths, and returned to the kitchen.

“Where is she,” Martha said.

“At the Paradise coroner’s office.”

“How did she die?”

“She was stabbed. Once in the heart. Mercifully, it was quick.”

Martha looked away. She took two coffee mugs from a shelf in her china cabinet. She placed them on the stove.

“I don’t know what to say. I guess I’ve always expected a visit like this.”

“I didn’t realize that it was her,” Jesse said.

“How could you have. It’s been years.”

“She was what then, twelve?”

“Yes.”

“Doping. She was one of the girls who were doping.”

Martha nodded.

“I had this feeling that I knew her,” Jesse said.

Martha poured the coffee and joined him in the breakfast nook.

“The doping incident was just the beginning,” she said. “She wasn’t a stupid girl. She wasn’t venal. In fact, she was quite clever. Smart, even. It’s just that she was seriously misguided.”

“I remember having a number of discussions with those girls about the perils of drug usage. I thought I’d gotten through to them.”

“Actually, you did. At least as far as Janet was concerned. She never had any kind of drug issues again. She still ran with the bad girls, but her problems weren’t drug-related.”

They sipped their coffee in silence for a while.

“I’m assuming that you want me to identify the body.”

“Yes.”

“May I ride with you?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t know if I could face it alone.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll go change. I’ll only be a few moments.”

“Take your time,” Jesse said.