'By the way, Louise and I have reconsidered. No matter what she said to that attorney of yours, you're welcome to come back and finish out your program.'
I couldn't believe he was serious, but he was, continuing on with bland indifference.
'You'll need to check first and make sure we have room. We generally run a ninety-five percent occupancy rate, but we'll work you in.'
'Thanks for the offer, Calvin,' I said firmly. 'I'll think it over.'
With that, I stepped onto the sidewalk and hurried toward the Subaru, inhaling the clean, sharp air of the cool desert night. Above me, myriad yellow stars winked bright against the velvety black sky.
One of those distant, twinkling diamonds had to be mine, I thought thankfully-my own personal lucky star. After all, Louise Crenshaw had wanted me, and I hadn't even noticed. Unwittingly, without even noticing the trap, I had blundered away slick as a whistle.
I felt eternally and abjectly grateful.
CHAPTER 13
Ames had left the handset of his wireless phone just inside my door, and its cheerful chirping woke me early Saturday morning.
'Daddy,' Kelly said when I answered. 'Is that you? Are you awake?'
'I am now,' I mumbled. 'Barely. What time is it?'
'Just after seven, California time. Sorry to disturb you, but I've got a date to play tennis at eight. It's a little late, but happy birthday. Hope you had fun.'
'Thanks. Ralph Ames took me out to dinner.' My early morning engines hadn't quite caught fire. Since Kelly and I have never operated on quite the same wavelength, what followed was a long, awkward pause.
'Scott said you wanted to talk to me.'
'That's right. I do.'
'What about?' Her question was abrupt. She was worried about whatever was coming and wanted to get it over with.
'Joey Rothman,' I answered quietly.
There was another long pause, but when she spoke she sounded exasperated. 'Daddy, I already told you, nothing happened. I mean, we didn't go to bed or anything, if that's what you're worried about. Don't you trust me?'
Her whimpered question seemed to be verging on tears. That was the last thing I wanted. 'Please, Kelly. Don't get upset. What you tell us may very well help us figure out what happened to him, that's all.'
'You mean you're working on the case?'
'Something like that.'
'Oh,' she said, but she didn't volunteer any further information.
There was dead, empty silence on the other end of the phone. So that was how it would be. If I was playing cop and looking for answers, Kelly wasn't about to make it easy. It's the kind of diversionary strategy she learned at her mother's knee. My best countermeasure was to tackle the problem head-on.
'Did Joey tell you about Michelle Owens?' I asked. 'Did you know they were going together?'
I heard the sharp intake of breath. 'No.' There was a small pause. 'He lied to me about that, but it didn't matter.'
'What do you mean, it didn't matter?'
'Daddy, are you listening to me? We weren't going together. It wasn't like that. We talked mostly, just talked. I thought he was really rad. You know, exciting.'
'Like forbidden fruit.'
'Maybe. Anyway, we were just getting to know each other.'
As far as I can tell, the word 'rad' roughly translates into something my generation would have called 'cool.' As for the words 'getting to know each other'-those must have changed entirely since I was Kelly's age. The probing kiss I had seen Joey plant on Kelly's lips had been well beyond the glad-to-make-your-acquaintance stage of human sexual relations. I'm not so far out of touch that I'd mistake a kiss like that for a platonic one. My daughter and I were suffering from a classic case of failure to communicate.
'So what did the two of you talk about, Kelly?'
'You.'
Her one-word answer surprised me. 'Me?' I echoed.
'Joey was more interested in you than he was in me. He wanted to know exactly where you were a police officer and what kind of work you did. You know, robbery, homicide, that kind of thing. When I told him you had a lot of money, he said you were probably on the take. We almost had a fight about that, but I told him. You know… about Anne Corley.'
She was finally opening up a little, telling me more than the bare minimum, but I knew the next question could turn her off again, just like a faucet, but she had brought up something that sounded like a common thread.
'Did he ask you for money, Kel?'
'No. Why would he do that?'
'I just thought he might have, that's all.'
'Well, he didn't. He must have known I didn't have any.'
I didn't know whether to be relieved or sad that my 'common thread' had so quickly become a dead end.
'And then what happened?'
'We talked mostly and…'
'And what?'
'And stuff.'
'What kind of stuff?'
'You know. I mean, you saw us.'
'I saw you necking.'
'Daddy, you don't understand. All the boys around here are such children, and Joey seemed so…'
'Experienced?' God help me, I couldn't keep from filling in the blank, although I wanted to bite my tongue as soon as the word passed my lips.
'Yes,' Kelly whispered.
Joey Rothman was dead, but I think Kelly was still more than half infatuated with him. I wanted to shake her, tell her to wake up and smell the coffee. With any kind of luck, maybe she would grow up enough to see that being experienced is only half the battle. You also have to know what to do with those experiences.
'Joey was wrong about you, wasn't he, Daddy?'
'Wrong about what?'
'When he said you were working undercover for the DEA. I told him that was crazy, that you do homicide not drugs and that you were there for treatment just like everybody else.' she stopped and took a breath.
'Yes, kelly,' I answered wearily. 'I was there for treatment. Period.'
'And you weren't working undercover.'
'No.'
'That's what Mr. Joe said too. You know, the counselor back at the ranch? In his office that day he said you were a substance abuser just like the rest of them and that he was sure you didn't have anything to do with what had happened to Joey.'
Suddenly, Scott's remark about good old Burton Joe being on my side clicked into focus.
'I've gotta go now, Daddy. My ride's waiting outside. Did that help?'
'As a matter of fact, it did,' I told her. 'A lot. Thanks.'
'Okay.'
'And, Kelly? One more thing.'
'What's that?' A guarded wariness came into her voice, as though she dreaded what other intrusive questions
