Killing Frost Read online

  So there it was: he slipped out of the bed, putting on hold Maureen’s guided tour of the city’s other eastside. He called Bailey to set up a meeting with the former state attorney general and her wayward brother. He didn’t think she’d like the idea. He was wrong, but she did have a condition. Jennifer Bailey wanted a sit-down with her brother in the morning – and not at her home.

  ‘I don’t want that bloodsucker anywhere near my home,’ she said. ‘Bloodsucker’ sounded positively obscene coming from her. ‘You and Harold can see to that, can’t you?’

  ‘We’ll need to do it early so he doesn’t get away.’

  ‘Harold will pick you up at six,’ she said.

  ‘We’re here, near the entrance to Woodruff Place. Let’s take a trip down Middle Drive,’ Maureen said when Shanahan returned. Illuminated by the gold light of the bedside table lamp. Shanahan knew that whatever damage time was doing to his body and mind, he was one lucky guy. She turned the laptop screen toward him. ‘We can park under this tree.’

  Harold backed the Lexus into a space along a chain-link fence, kept the engine running. The Nissan rental was parked by the door. Shanahan knocked. He looked around. The early morning light was thin. He knocked again. Cars and trucks could be heard on the Pike.

  Charles, skinny and frail in his white boxers, was confused and angry.

  ‘What do you want?’

  Shanahan noted he didn’t ask who Shanahan was, but what he wanted. Who Shanahan was and what he was doing at the reading wasn’t explained at the time.

  ‘Your sister wants to talk with you,’ Shanahan said stepping to the back of the room to make sure he was right that there was no exit.

  Charles followed for a few steps before coming back to the front, screaming, ‘She’s not coming here. She can’t come in here.’ He looked around. He was in a panic.

  ‘You two don’t like each other.’

  ‘She’s not human.’

  ‘That’s a little harsh,’ Shanahan said. ‘Get dressed.’

  ‘You’re nothin’ to me,’ Charles said.

  Shanahan walked to the door, motioned for Harold. The big man got out of the car, a bit unhappy about doing Shanahan’s bidding. It was a frustrating, sulking, and intimidating kind of walk. It was effective.

  ‘OK, anywhere, not here.’

  Shanahan met Harold before he got to the door. ‘If you would, call Miss Bailey, pick her up and we’ll meet at my place.’

  ‘How are you getting around?’

  ‘I’m sure Charles will give me a lift.’

  Charles did object but agreed when he was told his only other choice was to ride with Harold.

  Shanahan noticed a dark something – a small truck or a large car – pull out just as Charles made a left from the drive in front of the motel and another on to Shadeland. The shadow vehicle followed them onto Shadeland before disappearing. Maybe they only dropped back, which would suggest a pro. Then again, maybe he was imagining things.

  THIRTEEN

  ‘What brings you back to Indianapolis?’ Shanahan asked as Charles kept looking at the speedometer.

  ‘Everybody’s got to be somewhere.’

  ‘This somewhere hasn’t been very kind to you. Yet you come back. And this time you come back just a few days before your sister is murdered.’

  ‘I’m not a lucky guy.’

  ‘Luckier than your sister.’

  ‘You’ve got a mouth on you.’

  ‘Turn right on Sixteenth.’

  ‘Kidnapping is a federal crime,’ Charles said.

  ‘Tell me about Tyrus,’ Shanahan said.

  ‘What? Don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘If you didn’t know what I was talking about, you would have asked “who” not “what.”’

  The neighborhood was improving. CVS Pharmacy, a Wendy’s on the corner. Chains still, but well kept. Soon they moved onto Pleasant Run, where commerce gave way to time stopped in the thirties or forties, solid homes embedded in timeless nature.

  They pulled into the driveway. Shanahan grabbed the car keys, got out and surveyed the area for the tail. He didn’t see anything suspicious, and a sniper wouldn’t have had time to set up.

  Maureen met them at the door.

  ‘This is Charles,’ Shanahan said. ‘Charles, Maureen.’

  Charles nodded, followed her inside.

  ‘Coffee?’ she asked.

  He nodded again.

  ‘When he gets his voice back,’ Shanahan said, ‘he’s going to tell us all about Tyrus.’

  Maureen disappeared into the kitchen. Charles sat at one end of the sofa. Maureen had a fire going.

  Charles spoke, still not looking up. ‘I’m not a nice guy. You figured that out, right?’

  ‘We’re on the same page here.’

  ‘So the only reason I’m telling you is because of my safety, not yours. You’ve become a pest. Not to me, I don’t give a shit. But I suspect pest control has been called. You get my meaning?’ For the first time he looked at Shanahan, right into his eyes. ‘I don’t want to be caught up in that whole extermination thing. You know what I’m sayin’?’

  Maureen came in balancing three mugs of coffee. Quiet descended on the space. Shanahan had no more questions because it was clear Charles wasn’t giving out answers.

  The ambiance changed when Jennifer Bailey arrived with the hefty Harold behind her. The silence turned heavy.

  Shanahan, Maureen and finally Harold – though he hovered at the edge, eyes on Charles – migrated to the kitchen as the sound level rose. It was a good idea. Charles, defending himself from his dominating and shrill older sister, gave up what he had tried so hard to hide.

  ‘Easy for you, princess,’ Charles said. ‘You were given everything. An education, the best clothes, a car.’

  ‘You eliminated a university education with your poor grades and behavior in high school. They were prepared to do the same for you as they did for Alexandra and me.’

  ‘I was the stray dog with fleas from the time I was born …’

  ‘You were a devious little scoundrel from the get-go.’

  ‘Yes, there!’ he shouted. ‘From the get-go. When my life was formed, I was made out to be a criminal. And even later, when I came to you for help, some little bit of assistance to get my life on track, you refused. Your cold, brittle heart was closed.’

  ‘I helped. Many times. To find you work, but you just wanted it the easy way. Money, which you’d lose and then commit another crime, get caught and lose more years of your life. That’s why you went to Alexandra. She was a sucker for sad stories and you could wear that sad face and get what you wanted.’

  ‘She was blood. She had a heart. She understood me. She knew that this time, I would work. I’d be on my way, no burden on anyone, a success. Alexandra wanted that for me.’

  ‘That why you killed her?’

  ‘I didn’t kill her. If I was gonna kill a relative you gotta know who that would be.’

  ‘You saw her before she died,’ she said. ‘Few days, in fact.’

  ‘I did. A visit. I was here on business and ready to start my new life. I wanted to thank her.’

  Jennifer was as sharp as ever, Shanahan thought. She had pieced the puzzle together as far as the known pieces allowed.

  ‘Charles, I have a copy of her trust, the one she made out shortly after Halston died. Listed in the assets was something called Tyrus Investments. Mere months after that she went to a different attorney, drew up another legal document, which superseded the first, in which there is no mention of Tyrus. As I recall, you were between sentences at the time. You tried to hit me up for some investment having to do with solar heating. We were going to talk about it, but you never followed up. You went to Alexandra, didn’t you?’

  ‘I don’t remember. It was long ago.’

  ‘She didn’t want me to see the new will.’

  ‘She knew you’d throw a fit, didn’t she?’ Charles said, the tone childish.

  ‘S
he knew I’d put a stop to it and you knew I’d check out this Tyrus business.’

  ‘What she knew is that you have a cold and unforgiving heart. Look at you. You spent your life punishing people. She spent her life helping them.’

  ‘Only four years, Charles, enough time for the mysterious Tyrus Investments to disappear just as you did. And now you reappear at the reading. Why? Maybe she had something else for you? She didn’t, did she? In fact, she learned something that put your plan in jeopardy. You also wanted to make sure you caught all this in time and she hadn’t changed the will again. Fortunately for you she didn’t have time. You made sure of that, didn’t you? Harold!’ she yelled.

  He followed her out of the door.

  ‘Mr Shanahan and I and the police will finish up pretty soon,’ she said, stopping briefly. ‘You’ll fry, this time.’

  The living room was quiet again. Maureen went to the bedroom. Charles sat, all huddled into himself.

  ‘I didn’t kill my sister,’ Charles said.

  ‘I know. But it doesn’t matter,’ Shanahan said. ‘We can wrap all this up so that it looks that way. Motive, opportunity. Look at your past, Charles. Armed robbery. Miss Bailey is happy. Maybe I get a bonus for delivering you to death row.’

  Charles stood slowly. Shanahan tossed him the keys to the rental, then turned away, picked up the phone, dialed his own number, waited a moment. ‘Homicide please, Captain Collins.’ He went to the window, watched as Charles backed out.

  Shanahan’s conversation with Collins was brief.

  ‘You think he killed his sister?’ Maureen asked.

  ‘No.’ Shanahan set the phone down. ‘He has serious arthritis. Alexandra was shot by a skilled professional, a trained sniper, not someone who once robbed a Seven-Eleven with a thirty-eight.’

  The phone sounded.

  ‘Hello,’ he said.

  ‘How did I do?’ Miss Bailey said.

  She sent Harold back. The day was young. Shanahan wished he were. It was back out to see Margaret Tice. While it might be interesting to see who showed up for the funeral service, likely a large crowd, the only people at the intimate reading beside the attorney and himself were family, such as it was, and Margret Tice. And the family didn’t get along. Tice appeared to be the only person who knew anything of Alexandra Fournier’s business.

  ‘Do we have anything to make a sandwich out of?’ Shanahan asked, eyes scouring the refrigerator for something interesting and easy.

  ‘You know as much as I do.’

  ‘Not about sandwiches.’ He rooted through the refrigerator.

  ‘Peanut butter,’ she said.

  ‘I’m too old for peanut butter.’

  ‘That’s foolish.’

  ‘Proves my point. Egg sandwich,’ he said. ‘Goddamn egg sandwich.’ He looked at his watch.

  ‘Your pills,’ she said, bringing him a little saucer of variously colored pills.

  Margaret Tice’s dresses all seemed to be cut the same way. Even at the reading, a bit of bosom showed. Fabric tightened over butt and thighs. It was short-sleeved despite the increasingly chilly weather.

  Shanahan remembered that most of the kids at Second Chance were at school in the mornings and afternoons; there were a few children in the recreation room. The television was on and loud.

  Shanahan guided her outside. Across the street were the vacant lots destined to be urban farmland.

  ‘How often did Alexandra come down here?’

  ‘Every day.’

  ‘Did she get visitors?’

  ‘Sometimes. Potential donors. People from other places trying to duplicate what she was doing here.’

  ‘The Center already own that land?’

  ‘Yes. That was the last of it.’

  ‘What do you mean “the last of it”?’

  ‘It was from her husband before he died. He had an option on it and Alexandra cashed it in shortly after the judge died. It was his real estate savvy that got us this,’ she said, hand sweeping to indicate the entire center. ‘Some are trades or what not.’

  ‘I see. Her brother come to see her here?’

  ‘Yeah. Not for years, then a few days ago.’

  ‘Nice, civil chat?’

  ‘No. And she was real frustrated when they parted.’

  ‘She tell you anything about the conversation?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘She ever tell you anything about him?’

  ‘She said he was the “white sheep” of the family. She thought that was funny.’

  ‘The $10,000 to you, personally. You must have been good friends.’

  ‘She wasn’t someone you got close to. But she knew I cared about the center. She appreciated that.’

  ‘What will happen now?’

  ‘Operationally the center can run for a few years. And I can manage it for a long time if the board wants. But I’m not Alexandra. I don’t have the community standing or fundraising skills. I can balance the books but I can’t get rich people to write checks. I’m hoping I can get the board to find someone. Maybe Alexandra’s sister.’

  ‘She have any other visitors, especially lately?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Anything suspicious you noticed in the last few weeks or days leading up to her death?’

  ‘I don’t think so. Well, maybe. There was an unmarked police car hanging around.’

  ‘How’d you know it was police if it was unmarked?’

  ‘Everybody knew. The kids knew. He wasn’t fooling anyone. You know these unmarked cars don’t fool anybody.’

  He knew.

  ‘You didn’t find that strange?’ he asked.

  ‘Not at all. Some of the kids here are never far from the streets. The world out there offers a lot of temptation. The sirens,’ she said with a tiny smile.

  ‘Was Mrs Fournier the same during those days that led up to …’

  ‘Maybe a little distracted the day before. But it’s hard to tell with her. She was so organized, it was a little crazy.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Everything was always scheduled with her. If it was Tuesday, she’d have a tuna fish sandwich. She had a standing hair appointment on the fifteenth. She washed her car on Saturday. She signed checks on the twenty-fifth of every month. Everything was like that. She was chained to the calendar and to the clock.’

  ‘Where to?’ Harold asked as Shanahan climbed into the back seat.

  ‘Time for lunch, don’t you think?’

  ‘Could be. Your call, boss.’

  ‘Ellenberger Park.’

  ‘Ellenberger. There’s no restaurant over there.’

  ‘Got my own brown bag today. We can enjoy lunch together.’

  ‘That’s sweet,’ Harold said.

  ‘Park under a big old tree. Talk about old times.’

  ‘It’s a cinch there won’t be that many new times,’ Harold said.

  ‘I know. I see three tubes of toothpaste on sale for fifty percent off at Walgreens. And I can’t be sure I’ll live long enough to benefit from the bargain.’

  Harold laughed. ‘Live dangerously, Mr Shanahan. Don’t be afraid of green bananas.’

  ‘Not a choice anymore.’

  FOURTEEN

  The park had lost its green to the sudden frost of a few weeks previous and was half-naked. Shanahan used to walk his dog, Casey, over the gentle rolling hills. In the summer one could hear the shouts of children in the pool. In the winter, in the snow, the world was dead silent. An oddly comforting deadly silence.

  ‘Did the sisters visit each other often?’

  ‘Ask your client,’ Harold said.

  ‘I like to get different points of view.’

  ‘If you think I’m going to talk about Miss Bailey behind her back, you’re sorely mistaken.’

  ‘I’m not trying to get you to reveal any deep, dark secrets.’

  ‘She’s not paying you to investigate her.’

  ‘She is, Harold.’

  ‘How does that work?’
>
  ‘People don’t always know about themselves, how others regard them, for example. You may think you’re someone’s friend and you are an enemy. Maybe you stand in the way of what someone wants and you don’t know it.’

  Harold twisted off the cap to his thermos. ‘Maybe she did it herself.’

  ‘Maybe. It’s got to be considered.’

  ‘Are you for real?’

  ‘I have to look into it,’ Shanahan said.

  ‘Why would she hire you if she thought it would lead back to her?’

  ‘Maybe she thought if she hired a feeble old PI with brain damage, I’d never figure it out, but she’d look like she was the loyal, leave-no-stone-unturned sister.’

  ‘I’ll go along with the first part of your scenario.’

  ‘What I really believe is that Miss Bailey wants people to think that Charles did it. And she wants him to pay for it.’

  ‘Do you think he did it?’

  ‘No. He’s not steady enough to get her at that distance. And he’s not strong enough to strangle a seventeen-year-old kid.’

  ‘But he knows stuff,’ Harold said.

  ‘He does,’ Shanahan said. ‘Now, you are strong enough,’ Shanahan said. ‘And with your special combat training, you could have pulled the trigger.’

  ‘You flatter me. It’s been a lot of years.’

  ‘Some things you don’t forget. And you’ve held up pretty well.’