Shoot from the Lip

21

The following morning, Kate and I ate breakfast on the back porch. She’d made a bagel run and as promised brought home cinnamon raisin as well as the two-ton, whole grain, generously seeded kind she prefers. Kate wasn’t in when I got home the night before, so at least I didn’t have to lie about being at Jeffs place. In fact, both of us avoided the subject of the previous night altogether, instead focusing on the house she’d fallen in love with and how she hoped they’d take her cash offer.

“Who wouldn’t?” I said.

“I’m afraid the owner will change his mind or something,” Kate said.

“The house is empty, Kate. Why would he change his mind?”

She grinned. “If I don’t have something to worry about, life seems so empty.” But despite the joke, she and I both knew who the pessimist in the family was.

She said, “The armoire and the bedroom set I let Aunt Caroline keep when I moved in with Terry will soon have a new home.”

“I picture her being completely shocked that you would take back furniture you’d given her.”

“She knows they’re mine, Abby.”

“Hey, I’m preparing you, okay?”

She looked out at the cloudless sky. “Buying all new furniture would be cleansing, wouldn’t it? A brand-new start?”

“You don’t want to ask her for your stuff back, do you?”

Kate smiled. “Not really.”

“Coward,” I said.

I heard the doorbell ring through the open porch door, and Webster started barking-seemed he was already getting protective of my place. Kate and I went inside the house, and while I went to the foyer to see who was there, Kate took our plates and coffee cups to the kitchen.

DeShay’s smiling face appeared on the security monitor when I turned it on. I opened the door and let him in. He wore a navy sports jacket and striped tie.

“You coming from church or are you working?” I asked.

Before he could answer, Kate joined us. “Hi, DeShay. Bet you’re missing Jeff almost as much as Abby.”

“Hey, Kate. You are looking particularly gorgeous this morning.” He avoided the Jeff question, as I had yesterday.

“You’re between girlfriends again, I take it?” she said.

“You think I’m hitting on you?” He looked at me. “Abby, she thinks I’m hitting on her.”

We all laughed. DeShay does like the ladies.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He’d brought a manila folder with him and opened it. “Check this out.”

It was a mug shot of a woman with blond hair, smeared makeup and lifeless eyes.

“This is the woman I told you about. Fiona Mancuso, aka Diamond Monroe, aka Loretta Mancuso-I won’t bore you with all the other names she’s used. This has to be Christine O’Meara’s friend.”

“I’m sure Rhoda could tell us for sure, except I doubt the motorcycle shop is open on Sunday,” I said.

Kate was staring at the mug shot, and I could tell she’d switched to therapist mode. “I hate seeing someone that young look so empty.”

“If it helps, she hasn’t been arrested in nine years.” DeShay looked at me. “I checked the databases and there’s nothing recent. She’s never had a driver’s license using any of the aliases we know about. Either she died or she went down the straight and narrow into oblivion.”

“What about her social security number?” I asked.

“You don’t exactly need one of those when you turn tricks for a living. No number was ever recorded on any of her arrest reports.”

“Great. All we’ve got is a pimp to help us. And why should he do that?” I asked.

“If he knows anything, he’ll cooperate. Not hard to dig up a reason to send a lifelong criminal back to jail.”

“Ah,” I said, nodding. “What about Emma? If this was her mother’s friend, maybe she saw her at least once. There were parties at the house before the last baby was born.”

“Can’t hurt to show her the mug shot, I guess,” DeShay said.

“I’ll give her a call right now,” I said.

I learned Emma, Shannon and Luke were headed for Mass, and she said she’d stop by when the service was over. DeShay had no problem with this arrangement, as there were bagels and cream cheese to enjoy. I put on a fresh pot of coffee and had just poured three mugs when the doorbell rang. I checked my watch and was thinking they went to the shortest Mass they could find, but the monitor showed Clinton Roark’s smiling face.

I called for Kate, then let him in.

“Good morning, Abby. Is Kate-Oh, there you are.” His smile grew wider, and they had eyes only for each other.

I left them eyeball-to-eyeball and heard Kate say, “You feeling better about your family problems this morning?” as I walked away.

Roark said, “If my son doesn’t want to spend time with me, I can’t force him.”

Bet Kate was loving this. She could rescue this guy from his pain.

A minute later, as DeShay and I were enjoying some damn fine coffee, I heard Kate call out that she and Clint were going for a drive.

DeShay said, “She’s already found a new man? And you think I’m bad?”

“I’ll admit I’m a little worried.”

“Rebound,” DeShay said. “I’ve done it myself, especially when a girl had that extra something. I saw Terry moping around Travis Center once this week on a psych consultation. Wonder how the good shrink is getting over her?”

“I should call him,” I said. “But I’m afraid I’ll be tempted to ask if he knows about Clint Roark.”

“Call him. He’s still your friend. Anyway, while we’ve got a minute, what’s with Jeff? I assume you’ve seen him?”

“Yesterday. He told me he had to tell you he was in town, but right now he doesn’t want anyone else to know. He has business to take care of first.”

“What kind of business?”

“The details have to come from him, but I can tell you it has to do with his family.”

“But I’ll help him with anything. He knows that.” DeShay sounded hurt.

“You do know him, which means you understand he has to do things his own way, in his own time.”

“Yeah, but-”

“DeShay, I don’t doubt for a minute that when he’s ready, he’ll sit with you in that bar you two go to, and spit out more words than you ever thought he could. For now, I think we have to respect his wishes.”

“You’re sure he’s okay?” he said.

I nodded and changed the subject, asked if they had any new leads on the Billings murder.

“Before White took off yesterday, he found out where Billings’s AA meeting was. A church. Nothing unusual happened there, according to the janitor who cleans up when the meeting is over.”

“Did anyone besides Mr. Aguirre hear or see anything at the apartment complex?”

“I bet they did, but since half the complex is filled with illegals, no one’s talking. The preliminary autopsy report came in. Billings was cut from behind, left to right. There were hesitation marks, and you saw that ugly wound. The weapon may have come from the kitchen, a dull knife.”

“Could the attacker have been a woman?”

“Unless we’re talking domestic violence or gangs, women don’t try to overpower a man with a knife, Abby. They prefer guns or blunt objects.”

“I trust your experience, but Billings was a skinny, small man, and-”

“According to the report, the attacker was taller than the victim. They’ll probably be able to figure out exactly how tall, but that will take time.”

Before I could ask more questions the doorbell rang.

When I let Emma in, she hugged me with both arms-a good sign that she was almost mended.

“Where are Shannon and Luke?” I asked.

“Youth group meeting.”

“Good. They probably don’t need to hear about this anyway. Come into the kitchen for coffee.”

While she greeted DeShay, I poured her a mug of French roast. She took it black and smiled after the first sip. “Now, this is some good coffee. You need to give the hotel a lesson.”

“I have a photograph for you to look at, Ms. Lopez,” DeShay said. “We believe this woman was a friend of your mother’s, and perhaps you can confirm that.”

“Like I’ve told Abby, aside from her parties, my mother never brought her friends home unless they were male.”

We sat at the kitchen table, and DeShay reached for the folder. “I understand. Maybe seeing this face will jog a memory.” He removed the photo and slid it in front of Emma.

She stared for several seconds, and her wide eyes told me she did recognize Fiona Mancuso. “Oh, my God,” she finally said. “That’s her.”

“She came to your house?” I asked.

“No, no, she’s the bus stop lady.”

“The bus stop lady?” I echoed.

“Yes. I haven’t seen her in the last couple of weeks, but to save gas, sometimes I leave my car at work if I don’t have to drive a carpool for the kids. I take the bus, and this woman”-Emma tapped the mug shot-“she was at the same stop pretty often. We talked a lot. Really nice person.”

“She tell you her name?” DeShay asked.

“No, but I must have told her mine, because I remember once she called me Emma. That’s strange, isn’t it? That I would give her my name without asking for hers?”

“Unless she knew who you were,” I said.

“This woman was my mother’s friend?” She glanced back and forth between us.

“We think so,” DeShay answered. “Anything in particular you remember about her?”

“She’s small, has a really bad dye job-jet-btack-and I know she works for a maid service. She wears a turquoise uniform with a togo-I can’t recall what it says, something about maids, though. And she has this odd tattoo on her hand-on her left ring finger. A diamond.”

DeShay slapped the folder and grinned. “That’s our girl.”

“You’re thinking she talked to me because she knew who I was?” Emma said.

“Probably,” I said. “How long since she first approached you at the bus stop?”

“Probably five years ago-even when I was in school, I worked part-time at Green Tree Realtors and took that same bus.”

“And she always wore a uniform?” I said.

“No, not always. She dressed like she needed help as much as we did. She always steered the conversation away from herself, though. Funny, I shared my whole life story and I don’t even know her name.”

“Her name is Fiona Mancuso,” I said. “Remember how the letter to Reality Check indicated the writer had been watching you?”

“Yes-oh, my God. She wrote to them?”

“She knew your mother. I don’t think it was a coincidence she found you at a bus stop,” I said.

“And because she knew my mother, she knew my baby sister had disappeared.”

DeShay said, “We need to find this woman. The logo on the uniform. Think hard, try to picture it.”

Emma closed her eyes for several seconds. “I-I can’t remember.”

We turned for help to Houston’s two-volume yellow pages, searching under maids, housekeepers and housecleaning. We found no ads that conveniently offered photos of what their employees wore to work, and the sheer number of companies made it impossible for Emma to pick out any name she remembered.

While we were still perusing the yellow pages, Kate and Clint came in through the back door.

Kate introduced DeShay to Roark and then explained that they came back to get Webster and take him for a run at the dog park. Now he wanted to bond with the dog? This was getting serious.

“It’s a beautiful fall day. Why are you cooped up in here?” Kate asked. “At least get out on the porch.”

I said, “We’re hoping Emma can remember an important detail about something she saw. Not having much luck.”

Kate bent and fastened the leash onto Webster’s collar. “Remember, Abby, I do hypnotherapy in my practice. Let me know if I can help.”

Then she and Roark were off again while DeShay and I exchanged smiles.