Page 29 of Death in the Family
“She has my phone, Bebe,” Jade said suddenly. “Make her give it back.”
“As I said,” I repeated, “I have reason to believe this device—”
“Wait a minute, were youquestioningher?” Bebe’s nostrils flared. “You can’t do that, she’s underage! You can’t question a minor without an adult or guardian. Everyone knows that.”
Witnesses don’t usually refuse to be questioned unless they have something to hide. I wondered what Bebe didn’t want Jade to reveal. “All right,” I said. NotI haven’t arrested her, so I can question her all I like, notshe’s the one who came to me. Justall right. I needed Miles and Bebe to give me access to the kid so I could find out what she knew. If Jade shut down at their behest, nothing I said would open her up again. “Let’s talk, then. All of us.”
“I don’t think so,” Bebe said. “You should know that when this is over and done I’ll be issuing a formal complaint.”
Over and done. Like her brother’s disappearance and the blood-soaked sheets he left behind were a minor inconvenience that would soon be sorted, laughed about for years to come.
Without another word Bebe grabbed the girl’s arm and hauled her from the room. Before they were out of sight Jade looked over her shoulder at me and sneered.
This time I smiled back.
Jade’s phone was still in my hand.
FOURTEEN
My God,” said Camilla Sinclair. “You’re a mess.”
Word for word it was the same thing Norton told me minutes earlier in the kitchen, when Bebe and Jade left and he found me wet and injured staring down at the phone in my hand. I’d long since forgotten the discomfort of clothing that slurped when I moved. I had full access to Jade’s phone. Without knowing how quickly it would auto-lock again, though—my own phone was set for the standard five minutes—I didn’t have much time to nose through it before it would be rendered inaccessible. I needed to be alone. And now here was Norton.
Deep creases formed on his forehead as I told him what happened, and he apologized for my burn so profusely you’d think he caused it himself. Grabbing some ointment and gauze from a cupboard, he insisted on bandaging my hand. He was efficient, andsoon the burn was wrapped tight. I waited for him to be on his way. Instead, he ushered me out of the kitchen and down the hall to face his boss.
“Detective Wellington,” Camilla said, turning to Tim, “will you permit me to find your associate some dry clothes?” She lifted her chin, and for a second the pleats of skin on her neck were as taut and smooth as Bebe’s. The firelight gave Camilla some much-needed color, but all in all she looked worse than when I saw her last. “We’re about the same size, she and I. She can accompany me upstairs, if you like.”
A lot of women Camilla’s age talk to men as if they assume the guys are in charge. I guess that’s because in their day the guys usually were. I’d introduced myself to Camilla as a senior investigator, head of my unit, but she didn’t think to ask how I felt about her plan even though it involved me stripping down in a stranger’s bedroom in the middle of a case.
But Camilla was also a matriarch accustomed to taking charge, a woman who compelled people to obey. She was adamant that I go upstairs with her, so much so that Tim didn’t object. He tried not to stare at the gauze on my hand. Tim knew better than to ask what happened in front of our witnesses.
“That’s very thoughtful of you,” I told her, “but I’m fine.”Five minutes, if that. My window of opportunity with Jade’s phone was closing.
Camilla sighed, gripped her cane, and stood up.
Out of everyone in the room, only Norton came to her aid. The lines on his forehead deepened as he rushed to her. I noticed Abella studying the two of them with an inquisitive expression, but I was so focused on the phone I didn’t give it a thought. “I canget her something from your closet,” Norton offered, towering over the old woman.
“Helping a lady choose an outfit is my department, and I could use something to take my mind off of this... situation,” said Camilla. “Thank you, Philip, but I’m fine.” It was decided. Defeated, Norton helped her to her feet.
How long had it been? Two minutes? Three? In my pocket the phone felt like a bomb about to blow. Jade, Bebe, Flynn—all were watching. Camilla moved toward the door, her progress excruciatingly slow. What could I do? I followed.
On the staircase, she took caution with each step. At her age it was a miracle she could maneuver those stairs at all. I could hear her panting lightly as I walked behind her, close enough to deter her from pausing to rest. Her neat white bob, smooth as plastic, seemed frozen in space and time, and I realized for the first time that Camilla wore a wig.
On the third floor of the house, Camilla Sinclair’s massive bedroom smelled of some essential oil that made my nose itch. I hadn’t paid much attention to the decor during my search, but now I was struck by the sparseness of it. Every object, and its placement, was deliberate. It could have been a period room in a museum. Camilla would have had issues with my own grandmother’s disorderly, overly knickknacked house.
“I don’t suppose you’ll want something too casual.” She eased open the closet doors to reveal hundreds of options and tapped a finger against her thin lips. “Let’s see. What shall we choose?”
For the love of God, hurry up. “Honestly, anything is fine.”
Camilla selected her blandest ensemble, a white dress shirt and beige pants. “Go ahead, dear,” she said, crossing the room to sitdown on the bed. She twisted a quarter turn away from me and folded her hands in her lap. “I’ll wait.”
It was the best chance I was likely to get. In the woman’s bedroom, just a few feet from where she sat, I quietly pulled out Jade’s phone. Holding my breath, I clicked the home button. No passcode screen. It hadn’t locked. I navigated to the phone’s settings, switched the auto-lock from five minutes to never, and sighed with relief. Five minutes. I must have had mere seconds to spare.
Placing Jade’s phone on the floor along with my notebook, belt, cuffs, flashlight, and gun, I struggled out of my wet clothes. I’d bought myself some time, and Bebe couldn’t be bothered to help Jade reclaim her device, but how long would it be before Jade told her dad I took it? I had no right to hold that phone. When Jade found that out it would be gone. I’d have to sneak away again before that happened.
“I have a confession,” Camilla said.
My head snapped up. “You do?”
