Tuesday’s Child

“I wouldn’t do that, Kala. It’s solid gold.”

“Well, in that case,” Kala said, texting Jay, “I’m going to have Jay deposit it.”

“The quicker the better,” Spenser said, getting up off his chair and walking over to the bush that held the hibiscus and handing it to her. Then he sat down and reached for a sugary pastry. He laughed when Kala stuck the flower behind her ear.

“So, partner, what’s our next move?” Kala said, before she jammed one of the sticky buns in her mouth.

Patty Molnar stood by the window, her back to Rob Pope and Bonnie Garrison as they reported in on Audrey Star and her husband, Adam. She only heard half of what they were saying because she was so intent on watching Kala and Ryan Spenser down in the little garden where they were sitting. What was going on? They looked to her like they were suddenly new best friends. Her reporter’s instinct kicked in. Something was up. Even from where she was standing, inside the building, she could smell it, feel it in every bone in her body. What? Did it have something to do with the evidence box? Had she missed something? Well, if she missed it, then so did the others.

Patty blinked when she saw Spenser get up and pick a white flower from the bushes and hand it to Kala, who then stuck it in her hair. What the hell did that mean?

Now she was cranky. She turned back to her two investigators, and said, “Okay, this is all really good. Thanks for getting on this so fast. Just leave me your reports and check with the others to see if they can use any extra help. I’ll call you later this evening.”

Patty wandered back to the window, the thick file in hand. She needed to go somewhere quiet and read through it before she handed it over to Kala. What were they talking about down there?

Out in the hall, Patty ran into Jay, who had a jubilant look on his face. He waved a white envelope under her nose. “I am on my way to the bank with ten million dollars. I have never seen ten million bucks in my life. Do you want to see it?”

“Sure, why not? Show it to me,” Patty said. Jay showed her. She was not impressed.

“Big deal. It’s just a bunch of zeros. What’s going on with Kala and Spenser? I could see them out the window. They suddenly look like best buds.”

“I have no idea. Some kind of plan, I guess. How’s the investigating going? You getting any dirt, any smoking guns or secrets?”

“It’s all right here,” Patty said, waving the papers in her hand. She wondered if it was wishful thinking on her part.

Chapter 22

PATTY WALKED BACK TO THE LITTLE OFFICE THAT HAD BEEN ASSIGNED to her at the rear corner of the building. Before she settled down to sift through the reports in her hands, she went over to the window. Kala and Spenser still looked like they were having a very intense discussion. She figured it all must be good for Camp Aulani since Kala had stuck the white hibiscus in her hair. To Patty, that had to mean Ryan Spenser was no longer Public Enemy Number One. But how and why was it happening? She hoped Kala would call a meeting once Spenser left and fill the staff in on what was going on.

Back at her desk, Patty separated the interviews, two for Audrey Star and two for Adam Star. The female version and the male version of an investigation. She marveled at the tidy reports and the thoroughness. Well, the two law students turned investigators were just a hair away from becoming full-fledged lawyers, so they knew a thing or two about thoroughness when a client’s well-being was hanging in the balance.

Patty started with Rob Pope’s report first. A male’s perspective always intrigued her because, unlike women, the males left out the little things that sometimes had a way of making an entire case; then there was that aha moment when the lightbulb went on. Patty rifled through the pages and had her aha moment herself when she saw that Bonnie Garrison’s report was eight pages longer than that of her partner Rob.

Before she settled down to read, Patty headed to the kitchen for a fresh cup of coffee. Back in her little nest, she got comfortable. Who first, Audrey or Adam? She flipped the pages and went with Audrey. After all, Audrey Star was what this was all about.

Patty read steadily, marking sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs, with a yellow highlighter. When she was finished, she read the summary and was pleased with the information Rob had submitted. What intrigued her most of all was the final sentence, which was a question: “Where are Audrey Star’s journals?”

Audrey Star had been born to Edith and Henry Star on August 7, 1965, in Marietta, Georgia. She weighed in at seven pounds, nine ounces. She was an only child. Her parents died in a boating accident when she was nineteen. The Star fortune was held in trust for her until she turned twenty-five. At that point, she had one aunt on her mother’s side and two uncles on her father’s side. All were deceased now. No cousins to be found anywhere. Nannies and various caretakers over the years were all deceased. Audrey was a pleasant child and went to private schools, young ladies’ finishing academies, “whatever they were,” Rob had written. Her early academic reports indicated that Audrey Star was slow. She showed no interest in the three R’s or anything else, such as spelling, science, or geography. She “failed” every psychological test she was ever given. One brave soul, a psychiatrist named Arnold Rosenberg, had brazenly stepped up to the plate and written that Audrey Star’s mind had never progressed past the age of sixteen. That same brave soul went on to say that Audrey Star was functionally illiterate though one could understand what she wrote despite the misspellings and total lack of grammatical structure, and that she worked very hard to cover up her deficiency. Because she was so bad with numbers as well as monies, she had credit lines out the wazoo, and all she had to do was sign her name, which she was able to do with no problem.

Patty closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to recall if any of this had come out at the trial. She had no recollection of it at all, so obviously it had not come out. Was that because Spenser didn’t root around in Audrey’s past because she was the victim or because he didn’t know where to look? Or maybe the Star people put a lid on the information they were willing to divulge. Patty wondered if Adam had known all these details. If he had, he’d never shared them with anyone, at least not to her knowledge. Then how was it two third-year law students, a.k.a. investigators, were able to find all this information?

Patty scribbled some notes to herself. Ten years was a long time, and maybe the people who did finally talk were aware of Sophie Lee and wanted to right some wrongs? People? So far the only live person who had talked was this Dr. Rosenberg. Where that kind of thinking would take her, Patty had no idea.

Rosenberg, she read, was the doctor who had informed the board of directors of Star Enterprises that Audrey was not mentally capable of handling her fortune and that a trust lawyer was needed to oversee Audrey’s fortune. Things went smoothly when that was done, with Audrey flitting all over the globe partying and enjoying herself until the day she met Adam Clements. A note in the margin, handwritten, forced Patty to turn the paper sideways to read it. Audrey stayed under the care of Dr. Rosenberg until the day she died. Rosenberg was the only person Audrey let it all hang out with. She understood when the good doctor told her she wasn’t on par with other people her age. He encouraged her to keep a journal, and only he and she would be privy to it. If she felt she didn’t want to voice something, she’d write it and let the doctor read it. He had to explain to her dozens of times about patient- doctor privilege. Audrey saw him on the average of twice a month and stayed in touch if she was traveling the world. Along the way, there were many one-night stands, short relationships, and several broken engagements. Men used her. However, she was never brokenhearted when a relationship ended. She simply moved on to the next man waiting in the wings.

Patty turned the page and saw a short report from someone named Derek Saxton. Rob Pope penciled in a note saying, “This guy’s summary is pretty much what all the guys said in regard to Audrey Star. She was coy, kittenish, often resorting to baby talk to get her way. She was easy on the eyes and didn’t mind spending money-not that I was a gigolo, mind you,” Saxton said. “But I did appreciate the pricey gifts. Who wouldn’t like a Maserati?” Audrey was incapable of carrying on any kind of meaningful conversation even if it was about the weather. She liked to be complimented on her clothing, her hair. She was just okay in bed but really didn’t like sexual intercourse. She did like to cuddle and talk about someday. She was a terrible driver, had had numerous accidents, smacked up or totaled more than a dozen cars, until finally the DMV revoked her license, and she had to