Page 61 of A Hidden Past

"Somewhere, no one can read my lips."

She keeps going until we’re behind the house and out of view of the neighbors who at this point are all taking pictures of Julian Kensington in his car. I wonder how many they took of me on the porch talking to Harris.

Detective Ramirez looks at me and says, “If you repeat anything I’m about to tell you, I will a) deny that I talked to you, and b) have you arrested for possession, burglary, obstruction of justice, harassment and every other charge I can think of. Are we crystal?”

“Crystal.”

“Good.” She sighed. “The only reason you’re hearing what I’m about to say is that you might have been the last person to put a smile on Lila Kensington’s face. Despite the fact that I’m a cop and clearly only value rich people with power, that matters to me.”

“Yeah.” I shuffle my feet. “Sorry about that.”

“Shut up. Clara Kensington was on meth when she killed Lila. Lila caught her and they got into an argument over her drug use. At some point, Lila accused her of covering up Julian’s murder of Derek Hill. According to Clara, she threatened to go to us with evidence that could prove all of it. Clara said that at that point, she grabbed Lila and threw her to the ground. She says her intention was to scare her. Instead, Lila hit her head on the edge of their coffee table.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah. Anyway, she—Clara—freaked out and called Julian. Julian came downstairs and stripped Lila into underwear and a t-shirt, then dumped her body in the pool while Clara cleaned up the blood. Then they called their friend and arranged the alibi.”

“Why did he strip her first?”

“Probably because she got blood on her sweater and pants.”

“Got it. That makes sense.”

I look back toward the front of the house. “Harris told me that Julian will probably get away without prison time.”

“Harris didn’t know that Clara was going to confess to his involvement in Derek Hill’s death when he said that. It’s still going to be an uphill battle, and we probably will only get him for conspiracy unless we get lucky and find tangible physical evidence, but I think we get him for five to ten.”

I chuckle bitterly. “Five to ten for two murders, huh?”

“And the destruction of his reputation and political career. Not to mention financial ruin since Scimitar will vote him off of everything even remotely attached to him. It’s not everything, but it’s not chopped liver.”

“Yeah. I guess not.”

“You take what you can get, kid.” She looks at me. “Did Harris give you the ‘good job but do it again, and you’ll probably go to prison’ speech?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“Good. What about the ‘quit using’ speech?”

“Yeah. That one too.”

She nods. “Good.”

I hear cars approach the house, and Detective Ramirez says, “That’s my cue, kid. One last piece of advice: Walk to the street back over there. A lot of people are going to want to talk to you if you follow me out to the front of the house.”

I smile. “Sounds good. Thank you. For everything.”

She returns my smile. “Thank you. Now scram.”

I head through the houses behind the Kensington home and come out on a much quieter cul-de-sac. There are a few people out walking around, but I'm in my uniform, and no one cares what the pool boy's doing. Almost certainly, it's not anything interesting enough to warrant gossip.

I cast one last look at the Kensingtons’ backyard. I can just see Lila’s bedroom window over the fence. I smile wistfully and allow myself one final memory of Lila’s smile.

Then I look ahead and make my way out of Autumn Downs.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

The sun’s just about set when I arrive at Vivian’s home. This time, I go home to shower before coming here, so I’m dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and I don’t smell like chlorine and stagnant water.

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