guarantee you he knows nothing about this little adventure and he will not be pleased to find out she… why in the hell are you grinning at me like that?”
“Because this is the first time you’ve acted like you in I don’t know how long. I’ve tried everything. Honestly, Daddy, I was at my wit’s end. And the answer’s been staring me in the face all along-I just had to go rogue.”
“This is not funny, Desiree. There are rules. And those rules-”
“Exist for a very good reason, I know.”
“I cannot believe you roped in Yolanda.”
“She was free to say no. She’s her own woman.”
“Nonsense. She looks up to you. And who in the hell is Toni Tedone?”
“Their first she on Major Crimes. They call her Toni the Tiger. You’ll like her a lot.”
“That’ll be the day.” The Deacon despised the Tedones with every fiber of his being. It was Captain Richie Tedone of IA who’d tried to squeeze him out when he went in for his heart surgery. The asshole would have succeeded, too, if Des hadn’t squeezed back. “I should apprise their captain of what you have them doing. You’re just lucky that, technically speaking, I’m still on medical leave.”
“You could still pick up the phone. Why don’t you?”
He looked out at the lake. “Because I happen to agree with you. This one smells nasty.”
“Jamella has genuine doubts about Tyrone.”
“With good reason.”
“He says he’s cleaning up his act.”
“Not a chance. Men don’t change. They are who they are. He’s been Da Beast for his entire adult life. He’s made millions of dollars being Da Beast. He relishes it. This suspension by the NFL is nothing more than a minor bump in the road for him.”
“You haven’t met him, Daddy.”
“Don’t have to. I’ve known his kind since I was a boy in the schoolyard.”
“He’s complicated.”
“He’s a bully. There’s nothing complicated about it.”
“What did you and Calvin talk about while we were inside?”
“Calvin’s failure to assume responsibility for his own life. He’s filled with regret. And he knows more about this matter than he was willing to let on.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Calvin has spent a big chunk of his life in the yard. A man like that always holds on to a choice morsel or two of information. Information is power.” The Deacon thumbed his chin thoughtfully. “He’s also frightened.”
“Of?…”
“A few months ago the man was scuffing around the streets of Houston. Now he’s living in a waterfront mansion. If Jamella leaves Tyrone over this mess, he’ll be back out on the street again. He’s feeling vulnerable. And a little bit ashamed. It’s no fun for a middle-aged man to be dependent on his daughter.”
“Are we still talking about Calvin?”
The Deacon fell silent. He’d always been emotionally walled off. It had driven Des’s mother so nuts that she’d finally left him after twenty-five years of marriage.
“Daddy, you can go home tomorrow. And back to work whenever you’re ready. The doctor has cleared you. The only thing holding you back is your own uncertainty. Which I totally get. But you’ve still got game.”
“I couldn’t even hold off that piece of dirt Richie Tedone. You had to step in and save me.”
“Which I was glad to do.”
“There was a time when I would have eaten Richie Tedone for breakfast.”
“You were sick. You’re not sick anymore. You’re fine.”
“Sure, I’m fine,” he said in a hollow voice.
“Just let me change my clothes lickety-split, okay? You ready to go?”
“I don’t feel like company this evening, Desiree. Think I’ll just stay here and watch some TV.”
“But you’re all dressed.”
“So I’ll get all un dressed.”
“Please don’t do this to me, Daddy. The Bergers have flown all the way up here from Florida to meet you. They’re nice people. And you like Mitch. Please come to dinner with me.”
He looked down at his big hands. “Sure, okay…”
Des darted into her bedroom with her stomach in knots. Changed from her uni into a white silk blouse and tan linen slacks. She was trying to decide whether or not to dab on lipstick when her cell rang. It was Yolie.
“What’s up, Miss Thing?”
“Just had a surprise visit from Jamella and her father,” Des informed her. “She’s afraid that Tyrone’s the father of Kinitra’s baby.”
“Well, that’s fairly damning.”
“Yeah, we thought so, too.”
“By ‘we’ you mean?…”
“My father and me.”
Yolie let out a gasp. “The Deacon know I’m working this with you?”
“I’m afraid so. But he’s cool. Well, not cool but he won’t say anything to your captain. What’ve you picked up?”
“Toni tracked down Lonnie Berryman through the University of Georgia Athletic Department. I just spoke to him on the phone. He told me Kinitra has been leaving him like twelve, fifteen text messages every day. Keeps telling him how much she loves him and wants to be with him again like when they were together in Glen Cove. Except, hear this, Lonnie swore to me they never were together. He told me he spoke to her for a little while at a pool party. She played him some of her music. And that was that. He never went near her. Just thought she was a cute kid. And now she’s practically stalking him. I asked him if he’d submit to a DNA test should it become necessary. He said he’d be happy to comply. Has no reason not to. The man sounded credible-unless he’s a lying dog.”
“Which is always a distinct possibility. What else?”
“We just caught up with Stewart Plotka and Andrea Halperin having themselves a drink by the pool at the Saybrook Point Inn. She jumped all over me when I asked Plotka where he was last night. Demanded to know why the Major Crime Squad was interested in his whereabouts and whether there was a criminal investigation underway and if so, what kind. I told her it was an unofficial inquiry. She told me I could unofficially go to hell. After some more warm, fuzzy sparring she decided to cooperate. Realized it was the only way she might learn something. Plus Plotka has nothing to hide. Or so she’s been led to believe. The two of them had dinner together last night right there at the inn. She went up to her room after dinner and worked until bedtime. Plotka hung out at the bar by himself and tried to hook a hottie. The waitress there, a good-looking blonde, told me Plotka kept bragging to her that he’d be coming into a lot of money soon. She was incredibly not interested. Thought Plotka was total scum.”
“This is a girl with keen instincts.”
“Plotka left the bar at about eleven. He told me he went straight to bed. But he has his own car parked out there in the lot. A Toyota Camry. The guests can access their rooms directly from the parking lot. Don’t have to go in and out by way of the front desk. Meaning he could have slipped out and driven to the Grantham place. Burrowed through that hole in the fence, gone after Kinitra and then returned to his room undetected. Toni’s at the New Haven newsroom of Channel Eight right now running their footage of the party for license plates. Maybe she’ll turn up Plotka’s Camry. She tried to get a guest list out of cousin Clarence but he wasn’t very helpful.”
“I smelled reefer smoke when I got there. He’s probably afraid that this could lead to a drug bust-which is the last thing in the world Tyrone needs right now.” Des dug a pair of sandals out of her closet and stepped into them. “Plotka’s media savvy. I don’t believe he’d park his car in full view of the news cameras. He’s not that dumb.”
“He’s that something.”
“Are you liking him for it?”
“Let’s just say I object to him using up our planet’s air, water and non-renewable fossil fuels.”
“But other than that, you’re a fan.”
