Part 26 (1/2)
She walked toward the VIP section of the mostly empty Beaumont Stadium parking lot and climbed into the driver's side of a silver Mercedes sedan.
Something she said set off an alert in the back of my brain, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe it would come to me later.
CHAPTER 40.
Birdie hobbled through my front door, hanging on Lucy's arm. ”My word! I had to stop back there and sit for a while because my knees started acting up. Otherwise we'd have been here sooner, dear.”
She sat down with a sigh on the sofa. ”And I'm afraid we were only able to talk to one person fitting the description of the killer. A baseball coach.”
”Yeah, I saw you guys approach him. What did he sound like?”
Birdie shrugged. ”Ordinary. His voice was normal. By the way, who was the woman we saw coming from your house just now?”
”Diane Davis. Arlo and Detective Kaplan took her husband in right after the service. They did it so smoothly, I don't think anyone noticed. Did you?”
Lucy came back from the kitchen with two more gla.s.ses of water and handed one to Birdie. ”No. We were sitting too far back.”
”Well,” I said, ”my hunch was right. You can forget about any other suspects. Davis has got to be the killer. I mean, he fits the whole description. He's tall, slender, light hair, and thick British accent-what Graciela called a 'funny voice.' He certainly had no shortage of motives.”
Birdie dug through her purse, removed one of her blue anti-inflammatory tablets from a tin pillbox, and took a gulp of water. ”Why was Diane Davis here?”
”When Arlo moved in to make the arrest, I made my way over to her. Poor thing didn't know what was about to happen, so I offered her a fast escape from any prying eyes or unkind remarks. It's a good thing I was there. She froze like a rabbit when she saw her husband being led away. I took her through a side gate and back here to the house.”
”What did she say?” asked Lucy.
”Diane jumped to his defense, just like you'd expect someone to do who was in the thrall of a control freak. She denied he could be a killer. Then she said she intended to get him a lawyer, asked where he was being held, and left.”
Birdie absently ma.s.saged her knees with wrinkled hands and fingers enlarged at the joints. ”The poor child.”
”Yeah. I don't know why, but when I suggested she call her parents, she completely rejected the idea. Almost as if she didn't want their support.”
”Or couldn't count on it,” said Lucy. ”You can never tell what really goes on inside families, can you? Remember Claire Terry.”
Lucy referred to the young woman we found murdered four months ago and the family secrets she kept. ”You're right. You can never tell, for sure.”
Birdie stopped rubbing her knees. ”If Arlo has just arrested Jefferson Davis as the killer, does this mean your friend Ed can now come home?”
”I certainly hope so.” I took a deep breath. ”Arlo came over last night and apologized for being such a jerk. He said he loves me and wants me to move in with him.”
Lucy's jaw dropped about three feet toward the ground. ”Just like that? What changed his mind?”
”I'm not sure. Maybe it had something to do with my telling him the other day I'd fallen in love with him. Maybe it was the fact he saw another man moving in on his territory. He called himself an 'idiot' for thinking I'd ever sleep with Yossi.”
Lucy choked on a drink of water. ”Oh, Lord, girlfriend. You didn't tell him, did you?”
Birdie spoke up. ”Tell him what? Has something been going on I don't know about yet?”
I told Birdie about Yossi and me. ”He's very special.”
She smiled. ”I don't doubt it, dear, but it's such a shame. I really like Arlo. He's very special too.”
And there in a nutsh.e.l.l is my dilemma.
Lucy held up her hand. ”Okay, okay. So, last night?”
”I told him about Yossi. I'm not ashamed of what happened, and I'm not sorry. Besides, telling him was the fair thing to do.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. ”These things never turn out well.”
”You're right. Last night was no exception. Arlo gave me a kind of ultimatum. He still wants me, but only if he can have all of me. We're both taking a step back to consider our options.”
Lucy asked, ”Did you speak to him this morning at the memorial service?”
”Briefly. He said both Hardistys have solid alibis for the night of the murder.”
We chatted a few more minutes and Lucy stood. ”Well, girlfriend, time to go. Looks like you didn't need our help today, after all. Good luck with the other thing.”
She hugged me; and as they walked to Lucy's Caddy, Birdie said, ”It's a shame about Arlo, isn't it?”
I waited a couple of hours to give Beavers time to interrogate and process Jefferson Davis. Then I called him to ask about Ed.
”Beavers.”
”Hi, Arlo. It's me. I called to find out when Ed is being released.”
”I'm working on it.”
”Have you charged Davis with the murder? I mean, he fits the witnesses' description to a tee.”
”You know I can't discuss this with you. There are still a lot of question marks and loose ends even you, with all your people, don't know about.”
”Did Diane Davis make it to the station? I told her where she could find her husband.”
”And thanks for that. She ran into Kaplan. Turns out they know each other.”
Of course! When Kaplan had questioned me right after I discovered Martin's body, he bragged about being an alumnus of Beaumont. Now that I thought about it, he and Diane were about the same age.
”Between their personal connection and the fact Kaplan also knew Jefferson Davis, he's been taken off the case and I'm back as lead.”
”So . . . wait a minute. If Kaplan and Diane went to school together, he must have known Dax Martin also. Were they all cla.s.smates?”
Beavers didn't answer.
”Come on, Arlo. Why didn't Kaplan say anything about knowing the victim? When you went to arrest Davis, did you know Kaplan was his former student?”