Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 06 Read online

  “Describe Marie Bellson for me.”

  “Didn’t you meet her, Daddy?”

  “I want your description, princess. Tell me about her.”

  “Well, physically, she’s tall and thin. Her face is long, with lots of little wrinkles. Like sun wrinkles. Only she wasn’t tan.”

  Decker nodded. He had noticed the same thing. “Go on.”

  “A normal-size nose. She has this stern expression in her eyes, if you’ll allow me a bit of editorializing.”

  Decker smiled. “Did Marie wear any makeup?”

  Cindy closed her eyes a moment. “Maybe a spot of blush and lipstick.”

  “Any other ornamentation?”

  “Like nail polish?”

  “Did she wear nail polish?”

  “I don’t think so.” Cindy shook her head. “No, I believe her nails were short and unpolished. Utilitarian, no-nonsense hands—except for the ring.”

  Bingo! Decker said, “She wore rings?”

  “A ring—singular. On her left hand, I think. She used to play with it when she got nervous or agitated. That’s my interpretation. I don’t know for sure if she was nervous or agitated.”

  “Play with it?”

  “Slip it on and off her finger. She had bony fingers.”

  “What did the ring look like?”

  Cindy hesitated a moment. “It was like an old-fashioned school ring.”

  “A class ring?”

  “Exactly. A big, heavy gold thing. I think it had a stone in it.”

  “Do you remember what kind of stone?”

  “The round kind. Not a cut stone but smooth. There’s a word for it.”

  “Cabochon.”

  “That’s it.” Cindy stared at her father. “Did you find the ring with the wreckage, Daddy?”

  “We found a big gold lump that could have been jewelry—maybe a ring. Nothing conclusive, unfortunately, the gold was melted. But your observation was an interesting one. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can do to help?”

  “No, there really isn’t.”

  “Did Marge find out who this Sondra Roberts is?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Did she try Overeaters Anonymous?”

  “She’s waiting for a call back from them.”

  “Did you try Alcoholic Anonymous, also?”

  “What?”

  “For Sondra Roberts? Did you try AA?”

  “Why should we try AA?”

  “Because people with addictive personalities sometimes have more than one addiction. One Twelve-Step program is like another. Sometimes addicts join more than one program.”

  Decker paused. “Where’d you come up with that?”

  “Psych one-oh-three.” She grinned at him. “All that money you’re pouring into my education. Maybe you can actually cash in on something.”

  Decker rolled his eyes. “Tell me about Psych one-oh-three.”

  “You mean the addictive-personality part, Daddy. The theory is, addiction hides some other personal pain. Symptom substitution. That’s why addicts often substitute one addiction for another—alcoholism for drug addiction or sex addiction or overeating. Which means if Sondra Roberts was a compulsive eater, she might have substituted eating for alcohol. Or alcohol for sex or something else. She could be a member of a host of Twelve-Step programs.”

  Cindy uncrossed her legs and stretched.

  “Probably be easiest to start with AA, since they’re the largest. I can call them up if you want.”

  Decker smoothed his mustache. “I’ll have Marge do it.”

  “I can do it.”

  “I can’t authorize you to work in an official capacity, Cynthia. Nor do I want to. Let Marge handle it.”

  “If I want to do some snooping on my own—”

  “No, Cynthia! No! No! No!”

  “Daddy, I’ve reached my majority. I can do what I want.”

  “Cindy, I’ve just spent over an hour sifting through debris and trying to identify a body that was charred to dust. The wreck wasn’t an accident. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Cindy cast her eyes on her lap. “You don’t want me to get hurt. And I understand your concern. I just want to help, that’s all. I saw the baby in the layette, Dad. I can’t just sit passively and pretend I didn’t.”

  “Leave it up to the police, Cindy. That’s not a request, that’s an order!”

  Cindy sighed, then threw up her hands. “I’ll listen to you, because I can see you’re completely stressed out.”

  “Thank you, Cindy.”

  “You’re welcome, Father.”

  Decker regarded his daughter, then reached over and gave her a big hug. He decided to trust her. He had always trusted her, and she had never given him cause to doubt his trust. He just hoped he wasn’t making a grave mistake this time around.

  It took Decker almost twenty minutes to get through hospital security. A little late for the extra muscle and beef, but he supposed the administration would like the way it played on TV. All those armed guards looking very serious and official. As if the babysnatcher had had to break through a fortress. If only they had been a little more careful beforehand.

  Security was equally as heavy around Lourdes Rodriguez’s room. Decker couldn’t figure out the reason for that, unless someone got word that the asshole who snatched the baby was coming back for the mother. That’d be a new one. Probably it was the hospital’s way of minimizing the press passing through her room. A distraught mother wasn’t the kind of PR the hospital had in mind.

  A burly, bald guard blocked the entrance to Lourdes’s room. Decker was about to show him I.D. when he was intercepted by Georgina, Rina’s labor nurse.

  “Is this man giving you a hard time, Detective?” Georgina turned to the hospital guard before Decker could answer. “You’d better not be giving him any trouble. He’s already had enough for the year.” She returned her focus to Decker, her eyes filled with concern. “How is Rina? That poor child. I’m so sorry, Detective. Sorry for your wife, sorry you had to experience such dreadful tragedies—both personally and professionally.”

  “Thanks, Georgina.” Decker looked down. “Rina talks about you in superlatives. And we’re very pleased with the baby nurse you recommended.”

  “Nora’s working out?”

  “Very well.”

  “Thank goodness. One less thing to worry about. I just wish I could have done more for you two. Then this terrible thing came up.” She shuddered involuntarily. “I’m walking around in a daze. So is most of the staff.” She waved in the direction of Lourdes’s room. “That poor little girl in there. I just wish…” Georgina’s eyes became moist.

  Decker patted her shoulder, and the labor nurse turned it into a genuine hug. A good, caring woman, Decker thought. Georgina was a hard worker and a dedicated nurse—like thousands of others in thousands of other hospitals. It was important for him to bear that in mind as he explored the lives of a few bad apples.

  “Georgina, I want to apologize for giving you such a hard time.”

  “Don’t you dare. I thought you comported yourself decently.”

  Decker smiled. “That’s nice for you to say. I think I acted like a jerk.”

  “Of course you didn’t. If you need anything at all, please call.” Georgina straightened her uniform. “I have to be getting back to work. Keep morale up here.”

  “Not an easy task.”

  “Simple compared to yours, Detective. Take care of yourself and your beautiful family.”

  “Same, Georgina. Thanks for everything.”

  The labor nurse gave him a slight wave, and she was off, marching down the hall in a military cadence—a kind and caring woman.

  Lourdes was awake and dry-eyed, her attention given over to a young, heavyset Hispanic male. He had a bronze complexion, his cheeks full and smooth. His dark eyes were round and shaded by long lashes, his lips red and wet and topped with a wispy mustache. A chunk of dark whiskers gr
ew from the depression between his lower lip and chin. Beyond that, he had no facial hair. He looked massive compared to tiny Lourdes huddled in her blanket, her face resting against her knees. The teenager was gaunt, her reedy appearance emphasized by long, dark, unwashed hair falling down her face.

  The stocky boy looked up at Decker and yelled, “I already told you, man, we ain’t signing any of your shitty papers. Go leave us alone!”

  Decker’s eyes went from the boy to Lourdes. Frozen in her position, she hadn’t reacted to the boy’s outburst. He closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall.

  “I’m from the police.”

  The boy blinked long lashes and lowered his voice. “You look like a lawyer—one of their lawyers. I thought you was trying to get us to sign one of their fucking settlements. I’m no genius, man, but I’m not stupid.”

  Slowly, Lourdes turned to Decker. “Did you find my baby?”

  When Decker shook his head, the young girl covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders heaved, but no sound came out. The heavyset boy threw a thick arm around her shoulder.

  “Now see what you did, man?”

  “Would you rather I not keep in contact with you?”

  He bit his wet, thick bottom lip. “You dissing me, man?”

  “No, I’m not dissing anyone. I’m just trying to keep you two informed.”

  The boy’s eyes turned steely. “Yeah, well, then just what’s goin’ down, man? Heat doing anything else besides beatin’ up minorities?”

  Lourdes rebuked her friend sharply in Spanish. He fired back a retort. She snapped at his sarcasm. Before the boy could lob back an answer, Decker broke in.

  “Look, people, first of all, I’m here to help, not to create problems. Second, if you want to dis me, you’re going to have to switch to another language. I speak Spanish.” He turned to the boy. “You’re Matthew Lopez? The child’s father?”

  The boy nodded.

  “Detective Sergeant Decker.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m very sorry. I’m doing all I can. I wish I could do more.”

  Lopez looked at Decker’s hand, then took it. Lourdes stared at him. “You’re Cindy’s father?”

  “Yes.”

  “Matty, he’s the policeman who had a baby…same time I had Caitlin.” Again she cried mutely into her hands. Lopez glanced at Lourdes but didn’t offer any comfort. Instead, his eyes were fixed on Decker.

  “You just had a baby?”

  “My wife did.”

  “You’re old, man.”

  “Don’t rub it in, Matty.”

  “Your wife is young?”

  “Younger than I am. Not as young as Lourdes.”

  “You’re as old as my old man! Probably like my old man, too. Three sets of kids from three different wives, not to mention the other bitches along the way.”

  Decker patted Matty’s shoulder, then turned to Lourdes, who had stopped crying. “Can I get you something to drink? Something to eat?”

  The girl shook her head.

  “Did you find the bitch nurse who took my kid?” Matty asked.

  “We might have.”

  Lourdes’s eyes snapped wide open. “Where is she?”

  “It’s complicated, Lourdes. We think we found Marie Bellson’s car.”

  “You think?”

  “The car we found was torched. There was a body inside—”

  “Omigod!” Lourdes shrieked.

  “We didn’t find the baby inside the car, thank God.”

  “Then where is she?”

  “We don’t know. As of yet, we don’t even have a positive I.D. on the body.”

  “You found Marie, but not my baby….” Lourdes started weeping, this time aloud. “If Caitlin’s not with Marie, where is she?”

  Decker said, “Lourdes, I’m determined to find out what happened to your daughter. Believe me, I couldn’t be working any harder if it was my own kid.”

  Lourdes sobbed bitterly.

  “You’re upsetting her, man!”

  Decker silenced Matty with a glare and waited for the young girl to cry it out. Time was going to move very slowly for her. Lourdes dried her eyes on the backs of her hands. “Why did they take my baby?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I was thinking that maybe some stupid gringo took my baby. All these stupid old gringos want to adopt babies ’cause they can’t have their own. But they want white babies. Caitlin was Hispanic.”

  “The gringos can’t find white babies, they settle on Hispanic babies,” Lopez said. “Besides, you’re not real dark.”

  “I’m not a gringo.”

  “You could pass for a gringo.”

  “So maybe a gringo took my baby,” Lourdes said. “What do you think?”

  “I wouldn’t even hazard a guess, Lourdes, until I have more information. As soon as I find out anything, I’ll tell you.”

  Lourdes said, “Cindy was very nice to me. She told me she was going to try to find Marie herself.”

  Decker paused, wondering what Cindy had in mind. “Well, it looks like we may have found Marie. Now we have to find your baby. I’m going to do everything I possibly can.”

  “Yeah, you’ll work real hard until the TV cameras go away.”

  “Matty, stop it!”

  “Mr. Lopez, you can be as skeptical as you want,” Decker said. “Tell you the truth, if I were in your position, I’d probably be ripping out some walls. Not that I’m telling you to do it, just that I think you people are handling this well. Especially considering how young you are.”

  Lopez made a half-smile, then a half-frown. “I got my own method of ripping up walls, man. Wanna hear?”

  “Shoot.”

  “Lourdes and I are going to make a statement to the press. We’re going to talk about how bad the hospital is and how the hospital’s trying to make like it’s not their fault. How they’re trying to buy us off if we sign away our rights. We’re American citizens, man! We have rights just like all you rich white gringo assholes! Unless we see some real…some real…you know…”

  “Some answers?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. Unless we get some answers…and some…”

  “Compensation?”

  “Exactly, Mr. Policeman. We want compensation! And unless we get something big, we’re going to tell every fucking paper and reporter how bad they treated us. Like we was a bunch of dumb wetbacks.”

  “You’re going to make a statement, Matty?”

  “Yeah, I am. You got a problem with that?”

  Decker rubbed his burnt nose. “You might think of hiring a lawyer to represent you.”

  “Right, man. And just give away like thirty, forty percent of the settlement. They’re all rip-off artists.”

  “I’d still consider hiring a lawyer.”

  “Yeah, that’s cause you’re the lawman. They don’t fuck with the lawman. But they see me, they see some stupid choelo. They rip me off right and left.”

  “I don’t care about money,” Lourdes whispered. “All I want is my baby.” She looked at Lopez. “Our baby!”

  “Yeah, chica, I want our baby, too. But we might as well play the system for all the trouble they gave us. We deserve something for all the pain, querida.”

  Lourdes sighed. “Maybe we should get a lawyer. That’s what Mama says.”

  “Your mother? You look for advice from your mother?”

  “Matty—”

  “I know what I’m doing, man.”

  “Lourdes,” Decker said, “you met with Marie Bellson several times, didn’t you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Describe her to me.”

  “Describe her? Like what she looked like? What she wore?”

  “Yeah, that kind of thing.”

  Lourdes fluttered her eyelids. “She was a tall, skinny white woman. She wore white pants and a uniform shirt. Sometimes she’d have a mask around her neck.”

  “Did she wear anything on her shirt?”

  “Like a scarf?”


  “I was thinking more like a name tag.”

  Lourdes paused. “Yeah, she did. Marie Bellson, Charge Nurse. And she wore a little gold cross. She was religious. Once we even prayed together. I’m not real religious, but I didn’t mind.”

  Decker took out his notebook. “Did she wear any other jewelry besides the gold cross?”

  “She wore a ring. A big ugly gold thing with a blue stone. Only ring she wore. It was ugly. She was always pulling it on and off.”

  “You’re sure?” Decker asked.

  “Positive. I wondered why she wore it. If she was going to bother wearing a ring, she should wear something pretty. I was gonna tell her that. Then I thought it was none of my business. I just wanted to take my baby and go home.” Her eyes became wet. “That’s all I want still.”

  “I’m sorry, Lourdes.”

  She just shook her head. “Anything else? I’m tired. I want to rest before my family shows up. They was real mad at your questions, you know. Like they had something to do with it.”

  “We have to question everyone,” Decker said. “It’s part of the job. Lourdes, you said that Marie wore only a big gold ugly ring with a blue stone. Do you remember her wearing any other type of jewelry?”

  Lourdes closed her eyes. “Her ears were pierced. She wore gold studs, I think. Maybe they weren’t gold. But they were studs.”

  “Necklaces?”

  Lourdes shook her head. “I can’t remember.”

  “Marie was nice to you, Lourdes?”

  “Yes, she was nice. I liked her. I still can’t believe she would do such a shitty thing to me. Now you tell me you think she’s dead.” She bit her thumbnail. “I’m scared.”

  Decker patted her hand. “Honey, can you think of anything that might be important to this case? Maybe someone said something about Caitlin that you thought was a funny thing to say.”

  “Only Marie.” Lourdes insisted. “She kept saying I should appreciate Caitlin. She was a gift from Jesus. If I wanted to put her up for adoption, she said she’d help me. But when I told her I really wanted to keep her, Marie was superhelpful. She showed me how to hold her, feed her, diaper her, even how to bathe her. Then my mother would come and tell me something different. She didn’t like Marie at all.”