Born Under a Blond Sign Read online

  “Maybe we could get the evidence ourselves—”

  “You know what? Forget the prints,” I said. “Sometimes, I forget I’m not still a cop. I can’t do things the way I used to. Besides, if this guy was smart enough to stage the crime scene so that it looked like Gilbert did the shooting, then he was smart enough to wipe the gun clean.”

  Brigit set down her purse on her desk. “Okay, so what’s our next move?”

  I tapped my chin. “Well, if we don’t have prints, we could use eyewitnesses. But there aren’t any, because they’re all dead. We do have the word of three people that he was in the room, but they were all trashed drunk, so I don’t know how reliable—”

  The door opened.

  Huh. That was odd. If someone was coming into the building behind us, I thought that I would have seen them. But no matter.

  A man walked in wearing a suit and a briefcase. “I’m, um, looking for…” He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Ivy Stern?”

  “That’s me,” I said. “Can I help you?”

  He crossed to me, holding out his hand. “Al Jones, ASPCA,” he said. “I’m here to investigate your call about your neighbor and her dog?”

  Brigit’s eyes got big. “Oh my God, Ivy, you can’t let this man think—”

  “Ignore her,” I said, taking the man by the arm. “Let me take you upstairs to Kitty’s apartment.”

  “Well, that’s okay,” said Al, “I don’t need to speak to her yet. I just need to ask you a few questions.”

  “All right,” I said.

  Brigit folded her arms over her chest. “Ivy, you have to stop this right now. You can’t possibly think that you can—”

  “Actually, Al,” I said, “I think we’d be more comfortable in my office. Alone.” I gave Brigit a pointed look.

  Her nostrils flared.

  I escorted Al back into the inner office and shut the door after us.

  “So, how can I help you?”

  He opened up his briefcase and took out a clipboard. “Why don’t you just start by telling me what exactly made you call us?”

  “The dog’s miserable,” I said. “I hear her crying and whining all day long. She’s shut up in a space that’s too small for her as a punishment, and I don’t think the punishment fits the crime.”

  He nodded. “Okay, then. Have you observed the dog in the space?”

  “I have,” I said.

  “Is the space littered with broken glass, feces, or garbage?” he said. “Is the space located so that there is no shelter during inclement weather? Does the animal have adequate access to food and water?”

  “Um…” Technically, none of that really applied. “Well, it’s a bathroom,” I said, “and if the dog is in there for long periods of time, she wouldn’t be able to go outside to do her business, so yes, I think there could be feces littering the area, and I don’t think there’s any access to food or water either.”

  “Mmm hmm,” said Al, scribbling on his clipboard. “Have you observed the animal? Is the animal badly groomed, badly injured, or far too thin?”

  Well, not really. But if I said that, would Al really take me seriously? “All three,” I said. “You need to get that dog away from Kitty Richards as soon as possible.”

  * * *

  “Did you find out anything about the computer yet?” I asked Miles. This time, he’d let me inside his house, all the way into the living room. It was a sparse room, containing only two black leather couches, and it usually looked clean, but this time, I really felt like the place was practically antiseptic.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Damn it, I forgot. I swear I’ll check, though. Really.”

  “It’s all right.” I gestured. “Can I sit down?”

  He cringed. “Yes.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded fiercely.

  So, I sat down the couch.

  He swallowed.

  “Miles, what is up with you?”

  “It’s just that you’re… contaminating…”

  I raised my eyebrows, and then I got up off the couch. “Sorry. I’m really—”

  “No,” he said, and the force of it surprised me.

  I jumped.

  “Sit back down,” he said in a quieter voice. “If you play along with me, it only serves to enforce the phobia.”

  “Play along?”

  “It’s not rational, is it? You and I both know that sitting on a couch does not actually make it dirtier than it was.”

  “Well…” I considered. “I mean, I guess it does. They are always saying that there are microscopic amounts of germs on everything—” I broke off. Maybe that was a bad thing to bring up.

  “Sit down,” said Miles.

  I sat down.

  He took a deep breath. “See, germs are not actually scary, though. They’re there, but they don’t actually… hurt you that much. And you can’t protect yourself from getting sick. Or from getting dirty. And, oh hell, I don’t even know what that means anymore.” He thrust his hands into his hair.

  “Miles—”

  “All I’m saying is that nothing bad is going to happen from you sitting on my couch, and I know that. So, you should sit there.”

  “But if you know that,” I said, “then why…?”

  “Why does it bother me?” He sat down next to be, letting out a helpless laugh. “I don’t know. No one knows that. Figure that out, Ivy, and you can cure us all.”

  I looked at my hands. I felt very uncomfortable all of the sudden. This was a such a bald display of Miles’s weaknesses, and I hadn’t seen him like that very often. The Miles I knew was very ordered and controlled. He was strong. The only time I’d seen him so vulnerable…

  I remembered his voice in the darkness as we lay naked together, our bodies pressed close, asking me if he’d done it right. My heart surged at the thought of it. I loved him. I wanted—

  And I shut that down. It was best not to think about that kind of thing if I could help it.

  “But you didn’t come to talk about this. You came to talk to me about what you’ve found out about Gilbert. So, what do you know?”

  “Not much,” I said. “What I do know isn’t good.”

  “How could it be good? He shot five people.”

  “Apparently, he was doing drugs that day,” I said. “No one is sure what kinds, but there’s some speculation about cocaine and ecstasy.”

  “Neither of those things would make him violent,” said Miles. “That doesn’t explain anything.”

  “It doesn’t upset you to know he was doing drugs?”

  “He was a kid.” Miles shrugged. “A lot of kids experiment with that stuff.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Well, I never did. Did you?”

  “No,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to be a homicide detective, so I never let myself get distracted that way. But that doesn’t mean I hold it against Gil. Honestly, I don’t hold anything against him. I forgive him for all of it. He’s my little brother, and I could never turn my back on him. I just want to know why. That’s all.”

  “I don’t know that yet,” I said. I wanted, with all my heart, to tell him our theory that Gil wasn’t responsible at all. I wanted to give him that. But we had no proof yet, and it wasn’t a good idea to get his hopes up.

  I needed to ask him some more questions, but I needed to tread carefully. I didn’t want him to suspect what I was up to.

  “Listen, Miles, about the gun,” I said. “Can you tell me a little bit about that gun? Like where did your father keep it?”

  “My father has a collection of guns,” said Miles. “He keeps them all in the study in a big glass case.”

  “Is the key to the case hidden?”

  “Not really,” said Miles. “When we were kids, we weren’t allowed to know where it was, but once we were older, Father didn’t mind if we knew about it. He trusted us to be responsible.”

  “So, it was okay to take the guns.”

  He fu
rrowed his brow at me. “Why are you asking me this?”

  “I’m just trying to figure out his state of mind. I’m wondering if having that gun means that he planned the whole thing out or if he might have had the gun for some other reason. If he shot all of those kids on the spur of the moment.”

  “Does that matter?”

  “You know it does,” I said. “So, was there any other reason he might have taken that gun?”

  Miles massaged the bridge of his nose. “Well, I guess so. Father allowed us to take them to go to the shooting range if we wanted, although I don’t remember Gil ever doing that. Shooting was more my thing, if you know what I mean.”

  “But it’s possible,” I said, clinging to that.

  “What are you after, Ivy?”

  “Nothing,” I said, trying to sound innocent. “That’s all I wanted to know. You’ve been very helpful. I promise I’ll let you know when I know something more concrete.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “So, you were saying that we need to place the drug dealer at the scene,” said Brigit, “and I was thinking that the best way to talk to these college students would be to be on their level.” She was standing in the doorway to my office.

  “On their level?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I think that you should let me handle these interviews.”

  “Brigit, I’m not letting you handle anything on your own,” I said. “Sorry. It’s just that this is really important to Miles, and I need to be personally part of everything. By the way, he did say that there was casual access to the guns at his father’s house, and that it was possible that Gilbert took the gun for a reason other than shooting people.”

  “Well, that’s good,” she said, “but you’re not listening to me. I’m only a year or two older than these college students. I speak their language. I can blend in with them. I could sort of… go undercover and find out stuff about Gilbert, you know?”

  I furrowed my brow at her. “Undercover? What, are you planning on taking classes again?”

  “No, I’d just go to some parties or go out drinking where they hang out, and I’d find some way to talk to them about what happened.”

  “Brigit, I can do that too,” I said. “I can out drink—”

  “You should stay away from alcohol,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh my God, are you ever going to let this go?”

  “I care about you, Ivy, so no, I’m not going to let it go. Not until you get help. Alcoholism is a disease—”

  “If you’re not lecturing me about drinking, you’re lecturing me about the ASPCA. You never stop.”

  “Has anything happened with that, by the way?” she asked. “Because you’re going to feel really bad when they come and take Kitty’s dog away.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “That dog is miserable with that woman. She’s not the kind of person who should own a dog.”

  “Well, you’re not doing the dog any favors. It may not like being locked up in a bathroom, but the ASPCA is just going to put the dog in the pound, and then it’ll probably get put to sleep.”

  Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. I made a face. “You really think so?”

  “That’s what happens to animals in the pound.”

  “But they wouldn’t rescue the dog and then just kill it, would they?”

  “Ivy, about going undercover. Can we talk about that?”

  “Killing the dog seems counter to everything the ASPCA stands for. I’m going to have to call them and ask, I think. Because Fluffy’s annoying and all, but she doesn’t deserve that.”

  “Or,” said Brigit. “You could just call them and tell them that Kitty isn’t abusing her dog. That’s always an option. But anyway, I’m thinking that what I’ll do is go put my ear to the ground and try to figure out where the people who were at that Monday afternoon party usually hang out. If you’re so hardcore that you’re drinking at two in the afternoon on Monday, you’re pretty much partying all the time, I figure. So, I doubt it will be so hard.”

  “Maybe they could at least call me before they put Fluffy to sleep.”

  “Ivy, stop thinking about the damned dog.” She glared at me.

  I help up a finger. “Hold on. I’m just going to go and call the ASPCA.”

  “Fine,” she said, “then I’m just going to assume that you’re okay with my plan to go partying with the people who knew Gilbert.”

  “Wait,” I said. “You’re not going off alone on this, Brigit. If you’re going to try to go to a party, then I’m coming with you.”

  “You can’t come to a college party, Ivy.”

  “Why not?” I said.

  “You’re old.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “I’m not old.” I was thirty-four. “Besides, I go to parties like that all the time.”

  “No, you don’t,” she said.

  “Well, not so much in the winter,” I said, “but in the summer, sure. Because there’s always somewhere to go after the bars close, and that’s someone’s house party. I promise you, I have been drunk in every apartment on the main street of Keene.”

  She looked at me coolly. “You shouldn’t be proud of that.”

  “I’m only saying it because I’m coming with you. Got it?”

  * * *

  “It’s because you’re here,” said Brigit.

  I didn’t say a word. I was sitting on a bench on the main street of Keene, and Brigit was standing over me. Brigit was annoyed.

  The main street of Keene divided the town from the college. On one side of the street, there were buildings that belonged to the school. On the other side were businesses. Keene wasn’t a very big town, so there wasn’t much beyond the main street anyway. Most of the town was residential. The Monday afternoon party had taken place on campus, so I thought we’d be looking solely on campus for people to “go undercover” with. But Brigit thought it was best to skirt the line, covering both town and school.

  Her approach wasn’t working, but I wasn’t going to call her out on it. Not yet, anyway. I just sat on the bench, inwardly smirking.

  This was what she got for calling me old.

  “Oh,” said Brigit. “There’s someone. You wait here. I don’t want them to think that I’m dragging you around with me.”

  “Because I’m old?’

  She just shot me a flustered look, before running off to greet the guy who was coming down the street.

  “Hey,” I heard her say to him.

  He stopped. “Um, hello?”

  “Are you headed to a party?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m going to class.”

  “Oh,” said Brigit. “Right.” She stepped back to let him by.

  He started to walk again.

  “Are you just saying that because you don’t want me to come or something?” she said.

  He started walking faster.

  I couldn’t help but snicker. I was still laughing a little when Brigit got back to the bench.

  “Shut up,” she said.

  “Well, it’s obvious that there’s no reason for me to be here. You’re doing such a good job on your own,” I said.

  “You think you could do better?”

  “I think we should go back to the area where the party was last time. Karen said that the guy whose dorm it was threw parties a lot, didn’t she? We should look for that guy.”

  “We don’t even know his name.”

  I pulled out my notepad and flipped back to the notes I’d taken. “Mason, she said.”

  “Mason,” said Brigit. “Well, that doesn’t help. We don’t even know his last name.”

  Another guy was coming down the sidewalk.

  I stood up. “Watch and learn, Brigit.” I approached the guy, who was a good-looking black kid with chin-length dreadlocks. “Hey, do I know you?”

  The guy stopped and looked me up and down.

  “You go to The Remington sometimes?” I said. That was a safe bet. There weren’t a lot of bars in town, so most people of
age went to The Remington.

  “Nah, I’m not twenty-one,” he said.

  “The Station, then,” I said. You could get into The Station if you were eighteen and over. They’d just put big Xs on your hands. The Station also sold a lot of pitchers of beer, always purchased by someone of age but often consumed by underage kids.

  “Yeah, I been there.” The guy stuck his hands in his pockets.

  “You know Mason? Mason, um, man I always forget his last name,” I said. “He lives on campus. He’s always throwing parties?”

  The guy shrugged. “Yeah, I know who you’re talking about, but I don’t really know him.”

  “Right, but you’ve been to his parties before, haven’t you?”

  “Sure, couple of times.”

  “Me too,” I said. “And there’s one going on now. Thing is, the last time I went there, I was trashed drunk, and I can’t even remember how I got there.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Well, he doesn’t even live there anymore.”

  “He doesn’t?”

  “No, it’s a crime scene. The shooting took place there,” he said. Of course it did. Why didn’t I think of that? “He lives in Yarrow now.” Yarrow was a dorm on campus. It was one of the suite-style dorms, like Gilbert’s had been.

  “Yarrow!” I said. “Seriously?”

  “I’m pretty sure,” said the guy.

  “Well, shit. We’re on the complete wrong side of campus.” I threw that last bit over my shoulder to Brigit.

  She was standing a few feet away, her arms crossed, a very pinched look on her face.

  I turned back to the guy. “Thanks so much.”

  “Uh, is there really a party going on at Mason’s?”

  I nodded. “Totally is.”

  “You mind if I walk over there with you guys, then? I was just kind of wandering around looking for something to do, and that sounds cool.”

  “Sure,” I said, smiling, thinking that he would know where in Yarrow this room was, thus narrowing everything down, making it easier.

  We all started off back up the sidewalk, the guy going back the way he came, me right behind him, and Brigit trailing along in the rear.

  After turning the corner back on to campus, Brigit suddenly caught up to me. She caught me by the arm and muttered, “What are we going to do if there isn’t actually a party at this guy’s dorm?”