The Blood Red Indian Summer

CHAPTER 9

“It’s good to see you again, Miss Thing.”

“Right back at you, Lieutenant Snipes.”

“Cut that Lieutenant bull.”

“I’m so proud of you, Yolie.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, girl.”

“Yes, you could. And you did.”

Des and Detective Lieutenant Yolanda Snipes of the Major Crime Squad were catching up outside the entrance to Middlesex Hospital while Yolie’s sergeant parked their car. They’d shown up there at Des’s request from the Central District headquarters in Meriden. It was not an official request. It was Des reaching out to a friend who happened to be so smart, tough and good that she’d finally blasted her way through the concrete ceiling and made lieutenant. Her promotion, as Des saw it, was way overdue. But it hadn’t been easy for Yolie Snipes. She was half-black, half-Cuban and all pit bull-an intimidating, fearless hard-charger who did not play well with others. She stood five-foot-nine barefoot and was into power lifting. The sleeveless knit top she had on showed off her tattooed guns.

“How’s the Deacon doing?” she asked Des.

“Better every day.” Which was entirely true… from the neck down.

“And your boy, Mitch?”

“Actually, he’s the reason why you’re here. Our sexual assault victim washed up on his island. If she is a victim. That’s up in the air right now.”

“What’s she saying went down?”

“She isn’t saying.”

“Well, who’s the complainant?”

“There isn’t a complainant.”

Yolie looked at Des doubtfully. “Girl…”

“Just hear my thing, okay?”

“No prob, I can do that,” Yolie said as her female sergeant came marching across the parking lot toward them, arms pumping, fists clenched.

They’d given her a pint-sized young brunette to break in. She was a feisty-looking little thing in a shiny black pants suit who had the sort of sculpted big hair that Des thought went out with leg warmers and Pat Benatar. Her boobage was big, too, and she wasn’t shy about displaying it. The top three buttons of her tight red blouse were unbuttoned to reveal cavernous cleavage.

“What’s the deal, Loo?” she demanded, her chin stuck out at them.

“Master Sergeant Des Mitry, kindly give it up for Sergeant Toni Tedone,” Yolie said with a grin on her face. “She’s Rico’s younger cousin.”

Des’s eyes widened. “No way.”

“Totally way,” Yolie said, nodding.

Rico “Soave” Tedone had been Des’s semi-bright weasel of a sergeant back when she was a homicide lieutenant on Major Crimes. Until, that is, she blew up her career-with a not-so-generous assist from Rico-and got demoted to resident trooper. When Rico made lieutenant he was assigned Sergeant Yolie Snipes. Now Yolie was a lieutenant and Rico was living large on the state’s Organized Crime Task Force, strictly because he was a Tedone and therefore hard-wired into the Waterbury Mafia-the Italian-American clan of brothers, uncles, cousins and in-laws who pretty much ran the Connecticut state police. The Brass City boys were a force within the force. And there were so damned many of them that, well, Des supposed it was inevitable one of them would turn out to be a she.

“Rico is all up in my face about you,” Toni informed Des. “I’m supposed to watch how you walk, talk, work the room. I was, like, do I have to follow her into the bathroom and watch how she takes a crap, too? And he’s, like, just pay attention, okay? And I’m, like, you think I suffer from A.D.D. or something? And he’s like, whatever.”

Des waited for her to come up for air. She was definitely a Tedone-raring to go, chippy, knew it all. “Pleased to meet you, Toni. How long have you two ladies been partnered up?”

Yolie glanced at her watch. “Two days, three hours and seventeen minutes. So who’ve we got here, girl?”

“A sweet, innocent, eighteen-year-old girl named Kinitra Jameson.”

“No one who’s eighteen is innocent,” Toni shot back. “Trust me, I went to Catholic schools my whole life.”

“Kinitra washed up on Big Sister early this morning in her underwear, half drowned. She had bruises around her throat and wrists and she was terrified. She’s a talented young singer who’s been living in one of the waterfront mansions on Turkey Neck with her big sister Jamella-who is married to Tyrone Grantham.”

Yolie’s eyes widened. “Okay, this just got a lot more interesting.”

“Tyrone’s cousin, Clarence, threw a big party at the mansion last night. Kinitra claims she got high on wine and weed, took herself a midnight dip and accidentally got swept up in the river current. But her doctor at Shoreline Clinic found no trace of alcohol or drugs in her blood. The rape kit results were negative but the doctor did find scarring from repeated, forcible vaginal and anal penetration. Kinitra’s also eight weeks pregnant. Jamella went nuts when she found out. Says the girl’s never had so much as a boyfriend.”

Yolie peered at Des. “And what’s Kinitra saying?”

“That she’s in a consensual relationship and they like it rough.”

“Which you don’t believe?”

“No, I do not. Someone’s been raping this girl, Yolie. Someone who either lives in the mansion or has access to it. I think she jumped in that water last night to get away from him-and then decided to try on suicide for size. They’re keeping her here overnight for a psych evaluation. Slipped her in under the media radar. Nobody knows she’s here. Her family would like to keep it that way.”

Toni raised her hand. “Can I ask something, Loo?”

“Put your damned hand down, will you? This ain’t no classroom. What is it you want to ask?”

“Who’s the complainant?”

“There isn’t one.”

“Then what are we doing here?”

“Responding to a resident trooper’s request for assistance.”

“But we’re the Major Crime Squad and, hello, no crime’s been committed.”

“Des thinks otherwise. Sometimes you have to come at things a little sideways.”

Toni shook her big hair. “But how do we write it up?”

“We don’t. Not yet, anyhow. And we stick together. We don’t go running our mouths about this to our cousins and uncles over Sunday dinner, got it?”

“I don’t have Sunday dinner with them anymore,” Toni said defensively. “I’m tired of them trying to fix me up with every wop cop in Connecticut who’s single and under thirty. Like I want to hang with someone who’s exactly like me. I mean, I’d go completely nuts.”

“Let’s go talk to the girl,” Yolie said, starting toward the door with Des.

“What’s my role here?” Toni asked, scampering along behind them.

“Listen and learn,” Yolie answered between gritted teeth.

“Okay, I can do that.”

Kinitra had a private room on a high floor with a view of the Connecticut River. Her orange-streaked up-do was combed out and she wore some grape-colored gloss on her plump young lips. Jamella was seated in a chair next to her bed leafing through a fashion magazine. She’d brought Kinitra a whole stack of them. Also her iPod, which Kinitra was listening to when Des arrived in the doorway with Yolie and Toni.

Kinitra removed her earbuds and smiled. “Hey, Trooper Mitry,” she said in that sing-songy little-girl voice of hers.

Des asked Jamella to step out into the hallway for a moment. Jamella hoisted her huge self out of the chair and joined them. After Des had made the introductions, she said, “We’d like to talk to your sister alone, if you don’t mind.”

Jamella’s eyes narrowed. “You think you might get more out of her if I’m not around. Is that it?”

“We might. It’s certainly worth a try.”

She hesitated. “How do I know you won’t try to bully her?”

“Because we don’t work that way,” Yolie said.

“That’s my baby sister in there. I’m trusting you. Don’t make me sorry.”

“We won’t,” Des promised her.

“I’ll be in the waiting area,” Jamella said, waddling off down the hall.

“God, I love those,” Toni said, watching her go. “I wonder who made them.”

“Made what?” Yolie demanded.

“Her gold sandals.”

“Keep your eye on the ball, Sergeant!”

They went in the room, closing the door behind them.

Kinitra looked at the three of them a bit warily. “Where’s Jamella?”

“She’ll be back soon,” Des said. “These are my friends Yolie and Toni from the Major Crime Squad. They’d like to talk to you some more about what happened.”

“You don’t want to wait for Jamella to come back?”

“It’s just going to be us, okay?” Des kept her voice gentle. “And whatever you tell us stays with us. We won’t repeat a word of it to her if you don’t want us to. You’re an adult. So we’re treating you like one, understand? Now how about you tell us what really happened last night.”

She rolled her big brown eyes. “ Nothing happened. I already told you.”

“The evidence tells us otherwise. So just talk to us, okay? We know you’re afraid. That’s why we’re here. You can count on us to protect you. And we’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”

Kinitra’s hand went to her bruised throat, fingering it gingerly. For a brief moment she seemed genuinely frightened and ready to spill. But then the moment passed and she lowered her hand to her lap and said nothing.

Yolie started in now. “Des told me you’re carrying your boyfriend’s baby.”

“So?…”

“So is he the one who attacked you last night?”

“I wasn’t attacked. I already told her that.”

“Girl, we do this for a living. Stop disrespecting us, will you?”

She blinked at Yolie. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“For starters, why don’t you tell us about your boyfriend?”

“What’s the deal-you won’t go away until I do?”

Yolie crossed her big arms in front of her chest. “Pretty much.”

“Well, okay,” Kinitra said defeatedly. “But if you repeat one word of this to my sister I’ll swear you made it up. There was… this boy in Glen Cove over the summer. That’s where we were living before Tyrone got suspended. A whole bunch of his teammates lived in the same neighborhood. It was really fun. Somebody was always having a barbeque or showing a movie. Raymond Harris, who plays strong safety, lived right next door. And a boyhood friend of his named Lonnie came to stay with him for a few days. Lonnie Berryman. He plays linebacker for the University of Georgia. He’s a junior this year. Big and strong and so cute. The first time he smiled at me, I swear, all of the breath just went right out of my body. I played him some of my music. He liked it. He liked me. And one thing led to another. You know how that goes. Jamella has this idea that I’m some kind of virgin. I’m not. Boys like me. And I like them. Lonnie… he was definitely a little rough. But I’m cool with that. He also liked to do certain things that some girls don’t like. But I’m cool with that, too, if I really like the guy. And I really liked Lonnie.”

“Let me make sure I’m hearing you,” Yolie said. “You had consensual vaginal and anal sex with Lonnie. He got rough with you but you didn’t mind. And he’s the father of your baby.”

Kinitra nodded her head vigorously. “That’s right.”

“Why didn’t he wear a condom?”

“He doesn’t like to. He says they diminish his pleasure.”

“Why didn’t you insist? I haven’t known you for very long but you don’t seem like a total idiot.”

“Stuff happens,” she answered with a shrug.

“It most certainly does. And where’s Lonnie at now?”

“Back down in Athens playing ball. He was just visiting Raymond for a few days, like I said.”

“Does he know you’re pregnant?”

“No.”

“Why haven’t you told him?”

“We hooked up is all. No promises.”

“Do you do that a lot?” demanded Toni, who’d apparently had her fill of listening and learning.

“Do what?” Kinitra asked, frowning at her.

“Get skanky with guys who you barely know.”

“I like to have fun. And why are you being so nasty?”

“I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“Well, talk nicer to me or I’m going to make you leave.”

Yolie shot a chilly look at Toni, who promptly backed off. Then Yolie softened her gaze at Kinitra and said, “Let’s talk about that party last night.”

“I’ve got nothing to tell you. I didn’t go. Just stayed inside and worked on my music all evening. Little brother Rondell was right across the hall in his office until he went up to bed. By then the party was over and everyone had gone home. But I was totally wired, like I told Trooper Mitry. So I drank me some wine. And smoked some reefer I found out on the patio.”

“You had no trace of alcohol or drugs in your system,” Des reminded her.

“I can’t help what some stupid test says. I’m telling you I got wasted, okay? Then I went for a swim and got swept up in the current.”

“What about those wraparound bruises you’ve got?” Yolie asked.

“Talk to the people who revived me on the beach.”

“I have,” Des said. “They told me you had those when they found you.”

“And you believe them?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because they’re just covering their booties. That little old man put his hands all over me. That much I remember.”

“That little old man happens to be my fiance’s father.”

“Sounds like you’re the one who has the problem, not me.”

Des gazed at Kinitra Jameson sternly, wondering how many hurtful lies she was prepared to tell. Who was she so afraid of? “Do you wish to lodge a sexual assault complaint against him?”

“No, I’ll let it go if you don’t tell Jamella about Lonnie.” She hesitated, lowering her eyes. “Will you be talking to him?”

Yolie frowned. “Why are you asking?”

“Because if you do, tell him I said ‘hi,’ okay? Not ‘hi’ like I’m missing him. Just ‘hi’ like from a friend.” She sounded like a twelve-year-old passing messages in class. “Know what I mean?”

“We’ll play it just right,” Toni promised her, girl to girl.

Kinitra smiled at her. “I like you much better now.”

“I think we’re all done here,” Yolie said. “Thank you, Kinitra.”

She reached for her iPod earbuds. “Sure thing.”

They went back out into the hall, closing the door behind them.

“What do you think now?” Yolie asked Des.

“I think she was play acting. I didn’t believe a single word that came out of her mouth.”

“Me neither,” Toni agreed. “She was spinning a total schoolgirl fantasy. I know she’s pregnant, Loo. I get that. But, trust me, that is a full-time practicing virgin in there. Plus she’s way immature. My fourteen-year-old sister is more grown up than she is. Your average college horn dog would know that in less than thirty seconds and hit on some other girl. Especially a big-time football star like this Lonnie Berryman is supposed to be. Guys like that do not waste their time on dreamy little teeny-weenies. They don’t have to.”

Yolie nodded. “Agreed. So let’s say she was raped…”

“Oh, she was definitely raped,” Des said.

“Are we looking at two different men or did the same man who got her pregnant two months ago in Glen Cove come after her again last night?”

“Two different men is so much more of a long shot,” argued Toni, who Des was starting to think had some game. She was definitely smarter than her cousin Rico. Then again, so was a rutabaga. “If it’s different men then that would make her a full-time hurt-me machine.”

“I’ve seen it happen,” Yolie countered. “Especially with cutesy girlie-girl types like her. There’s a certain breed of guy who loves to pound the crap out of that. Des, what do you think?”

“I think you’d better smile,” Des answered as Jamella waddled down the hallway toward them, her sandals clacking on the polished floor.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked, her brow creasing with concern.

“Your sister told us she was in a consensual relationship this summer,” Yolie answered.

Jamella flared instantly. “Who with? Did she give you his name?”

Yolie nodded. “In confidence.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she chooses to keep his identity private. And we’re obligated to respect that.”

“This is crap,” she fumed. “Was it Clarence? Because he’ll hit anything that moves. I swear, if he touched my baby girl, I will cut his-”

“She didn’t name Clarence,” Des told her.

“Then who did she name?”

“We’ll keep you posted,” Yolie said. “Just be patient, okay?”

“Don’t you tell me to be patient! Somebody attacked my baby sister!”

“And we will find out what happened,” Yolie said calmly.

“You’d better,” warned Jamella. “Because if you don’t, then Tyrone will-and heads will get busted. Trust me, you do not want to go there.” She turned her back on them and went in Kinitra’s room, shutting the door behind her.

They rode the elevator down to the cafeteria in silence. Shared the ride for two floors with an orderly who was transporting an old, old man in a wheelchair. The old, old man was hooked up to an IV. Looked as if he had about a week to live. Des had to avert her eyes. She hated hospitals.

Down in the cafeteria the three of them got coffees and found a table.

“So what’s your professional opinion?” Yolie asked her new sergeant. “Is there a case here?”

Toni took a nail file out of a jacket pocket and went to work on her fingernails with controlled fury. “Oh, absolutely, Loo.”

“And who are you liking for it?”

“The man himself. It’s so totally obvious. Tyrone Grantham’s wife is massively pregnant. Her hot little sister’s available. And he has a history of getting rough with women. Naturally, Kinitra’s terrified to say anything. So she made up that story about Lonnie in the hope that we’d back off and let it drop. Tyrone Grantham has been raping her, no question. I say we go right at him.”

“The man’s an NFL superstar,” Yolie pointed out.

Toni’s eyes gleamed eagerly. “And if we nail his balls to the wall, it’ll be huge.”

A Tedone to the bone, Des reflected. They were pub sluts one and all.

“Slow it down,” Yolie cautioned her. “There are a lot of other possibilities. And even if it is Da Beast, we still have Kinitra’s privacy to respect.”

“Sure thing, Loo,” Toni said, working that nail file back and forth, her big breasts jiggling inside her unbuttoned blouse. It was downright dizzying.

Des sipped her coffee and said, “Lonnie Berryman ought to be easy enough to run down. Assuming he exists, that is.”

“True that,” Yolie acknowledged. “Sergeant, go back to the headmaster’s house and see if you can find the man through the University of Georgia Athletic Department. If he’s real then get him on the phone and hear what he has to say. Who knows, maybe we’ll get freaky lucky.”

Toni frowned. “Freaky lucky as in?…”

“As in maybe he’s been visiting his good friend Raymond Harris in Glen Cove these past few days. And maybe he was at that party last night. If so, have the Glen Cove P.D. pick him up and hold him.”

“On it, Loo. Anything else?”

“We need a guest list.”

“Talk to Clarence,” Des advised. “It was by invite only-until the girls’ father, Calvin, let in pretty much anyone who showed up with a hottie. That’s what Trooper Olsen told me. He was on the gate to keep the media at bay. Clarence and Calvin both have priors, by the way. Got their sheets in my ride.”

“Reach out to the media people,” Yolie told Toni. “The tabloid outlets won’t cooperate but the local TV news channels will. You need a look at their footage of who went in and out. Run the license plates of anybody and everybody who was parked nearby. And if you’re able to download a photo of this Lonnie, run it past Trooper Olsen. Maybe he’ll remember seeing him.”

“You got it, Loo. Is he cute?”

“Is who cute?”

“Trooper Olsen.”

Yolie glared at her. “I’m sorry, did I just wander into a slumber party?”

“Come on, it’s just us girls. Can’t we vibe? My sisters are married. My cousins are married. They’re into babies. I’m into violent crimes.”

“That’s the job. If you don’t like it, get out now.”

“I love it, Loo. But I’m a first-of. There’s never, ever been a Tedone woman doing what I’m doing. I have no one to talk to. Sure, my cousin Rico counsels me-”

“Um, okay, this is scary on so many different levels,” Des said.

“What do you mean by that?” Toni wondered, filing, filing.

“Oh, nothing. I used to be the one who counseled him. You saying that makes me feel old, that’s all.”

“He really admires you. Thinks you’re the smartest person he ever worked with.” Toni glanced at Yolie and said, “You he’s just plain afraid of.”

Yolie watched Toni file her nails. “Do you have to do that right now?”

“It helps me think.”

“It’s driving me crazy.”

Toni made a face. “Whatever. I’m going outside for a shmoke. Feel free to talk about me behind my back.” She got up and marched out of the cafeteria.

Yolie heaved a sigh. “I fantasized for years about making lieutenant. I finally make it. And what do they do? They give me a Tedone with ta-tas.”

“Yeah, I noticed them. Couldn’t help it.”

“They call her Toni the Tiger at the headmaster’s house. I’m supposed to be seasoning her.”

“She’s not a complete idiot.”

“Not a slacker either,” Yolie had to admit. “She does the donkey work and then some. What, you think I should go easier on her?”

“No, no. Do what you have to do. Although you could talk to her about that blouse.”

Yolie let out a laugh. “You hate the Brass City mob even more than I do. Are you getting soft on me?”

“Not a chance. But I know what it’s like to be a woman on this job.”

“And I don’t?”

“She’s one of us, Yolie.”

“She’s not one of us. She’s a Tedone.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

Yolie sipped her coffee in brooding silence for a moment. “ Something has been happening to that little cutie upstairs. That doesn’t mean we can build a case out of it. But I’m with you. I’ll chalk it up as a teaching tool if my captain reams me. Who else should we be looking at?”

“Tyrone likes Stewart Plotka for it.”

“The cat who’s suing him for that Dave amp; Buster’s beat down?”

Des nodded. “Plotka claims that Tyrone raped his girlfriend, Katie. Could be that raping Kinitra is his idea of payback. He is a sniveling creep. And he’s been grabbing pub outside the Grantham place lately. And we found a hole in Tyrone’s brand new fence. Plotka could have snuck in last night and attacked her. It does play. You’ll want to establish his whereabouts down to the minute. He and his high-priced lawyer have rooms at the Saybrook Point Inn.”

“Who else?”

“Tyrone has had problems with his next door neighbor, Justy Bond.”

“As in ‘Just Ask Justy?’”

“That’s him. He has been nothing but pissed off ever since Tyrone moved in. Hates his fence, his dock, his boat, his music…”

“Let me guess-his pigment, too?”

Des smiled at her. “There’s definite animosity there. I’m also hearing that Justy beats up on his women. His son, June, keeps a sailboat tied up at Justy’s dock. Sleeps out on the thing. Maybe June heard something down there last night. I can sound him out. Or stay out of it. Whatever you want.”

“Girl, I’m partnered with a rug rat. What do you think I want?”

Des also told her about the beating that Clarence had given Winston Lash for biting Asia’s booty. And how it was Winston who’d tipped off Mitch to the hole in the fence.

“Let’s hear more about this Winston. Could he be our attacker?”

“He’s a seventy-two-year-old dementia patient. Kinitra’s on the small side but she’s still a strong, healthy girl. She could have handled him.”

“You sure about that?”

“I’m not sure about anything,” Des replied. “Except that Toni isn’t wrong. Tyrone himself has to be considered the prime suspect. It fits his profile.”

Yolie studied Des across the table. “You like him for it or not?”

“That all depends on which him you’re talking about. He told me he’s trying to change his badass ways. And he’s plenty persuasive-right up until he loses his temper. Once that happens anything’s possible.”

“Who else lives there with him?”

“Rondell, his kid brother. He takes care of the man’s financial affairs. Also worships the ground Kinitra walks on.”

“Maybe he’s been doing more than worship it. He have a sheet, too?”

“No, Rondell’s a real straight arrow. Has an MBA from Wharton. Plus he’s on the twerpy side. The boys’ mother, Chantal, lives there, too. She’s a former working girl and crackhead. Heavily into the Lord now. Or doing a pretty fair imitation of it. A slow girl named Monique helps her around the place. That’s everybody.”

Toni returned to their table now, reeking of cigarette smoke.

Yolie glanced up at her. “Ready to get some honest work done now, Sergeant?”

“You bet, Loo.”

“Then let’s ride. Oh, and, sergeant?…”

“Yeah, Loo?”

“Button your damned blouse up, will you? This is the Major Crime Squad, not Hooters.”