Last to die

“How did she get that impression?”

“I’m not sure, exactly.”

“What’s your sense?”

Again he paused, seeming to struggle. “Sally had this…job. I didn’t really like it.”

“The Hooters gig?”

He blinked twice, as if ashamed that Jack knew. “Look, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about Sally. She was a terrific mother. It wasn’t like she was going out dancing on tables or something. It’s just that, we owned that lousy restaurant I was telling you about. We had a terrible flood, no insurance, and we lost everything. We were bad in debt, needed money like you wouldn’t believe. We both had to work crappy jobs to get back on our feet. I just wish she could have found something better.”

“Did you ask her to quit?”

“We talked about it. But tips are pretty good at a place like Hooters. Tourists get a little drunk, you know how it is. Anyway, four hours a night there was like eight hours someplace else. So it left her some time for Katherine.”

“So she kept the job?”

“Yeah. Big mistake.”

“How so?”

Miguel tore open a pack of oyster crackers. “She ended up getting stalked by some loser.”

“Stalked?”

“That’s the sort of thing I was most afraid of. Some of these creeps who go to these bars think all the waitresses want it, that they’re easy. You know what I’m saying?”

“What happened? Somebody started calling her on the phone, following her home-what?”

“I don’t know all the details. She didn’t even tell me about it till after our daughter was killed.”

“Why not?”

“She knew I’d make her quit if I thought some guy was hassling her at work. And she also knew I’d break his neck if we found out who he was.”

“Did you ever find out who he was?”

“No. Chickenshit son of a bitch. Sally said he just kept taunting her with anonymous calls from pay phones, hang-ups, that sort of thing. Never got a look at him. Maybe the cops could have helped, if she’d reported it, but she said she didn’t want to antagonize him. She thought if she ignored him, he’d go away.”

“Did he go away?”

“No way.” Miguel lowered his eyes and said sadly, “And it was our daughter who paid.”

Jack paused in mid-sip, putting down his tea. “Are you saying this stalker killed your daughter?”

“Can’t prove it. Especially since Sally never told anyone about him stalking her until after our daughter was killed. If she had reported him, we would have had something to go on. As it was, the guy just vanished after the murder. Cops had no trail to follow.”

“So he was never charged?”

“No one was ever charged.”

“Did they ever name any suspects?”

“No. But they did give me a polygraph. Schmucks. Can’t find the guy who did it, so they go hassle the daddy.”

Jack paused, trying to be delicate. “How did that turn out?”

“Exactly the way Sally and me knew it would. They asked me three different ways: Did you kill your daughter, did you stab your daughter, did you harm your daughter in any way? I passed with flying colors.”

“You still think it was the stalker who did it?”

“No doubt in my mind. I mean, who else? How many enemies does an i

“Do you blame Sally for the fact that he got away with it?”

“No way. I’m a cop. I’m not the kind of guy who blames the victim.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“But somehow Sally got it fixed in her head that I thought it was all her fault. Once that happened, our marriage was over. I’m sure that’s why I’m in her little game now. I was probably the first one on her list.”

“But you’re not the only one on her list.”

“No. Obviously not.”

“Why are the others on there? Any idea?”

The waitress brought their food. “Here we go,” she said, setting their plates before them. “Anything else I can get you?”

“No, thanks,” they said in unison.

The waitress left. Miguel was pouring cocktail sauce on his conch fritters. Jack was still waiting for an answer, but with the waitress’s interruption, Miguel had apparently lost track of the question. Jack asked again, “Do you know why the others are on Sally’s list?”

Miguel had a mouthful of fritters. He shrugged and said, “You’ll have to ask them.”

Jack nodded, then looked at his plate of food. But he’d suddenly lost interest in eating. “I intend to,” he said.

Thirteen

Jack was back in his office by three o’clock. He had a deposition after lunch, and he’d expected it to last the rest of the day, but the opposition had stormed out early when Jack refused to stop asking the witness to explain how he’d completely singed off his eyebrows if, as alleged, it was Jack’s client who’d torched his own business.

“Mr. Valentes, I’m going to keep asking this question until you tell me exactly what happened to those eyebrows.”

“What eyebrows?”

“That’s my point.”

“That’s it, Swyteck. We’re outta here!”

Miami was a living and breathing anthology of the History of Stupid Criminals.

The strong smell of Cuban coffee hit him as soon as he entered the office. Maria had his afternoon jolt of caffeine ready. She’d been his secretary for almost seven years, starting with his second day on the job as a federal prosecutor and following him into private practice. With the dust barely clear from his divorce, it was comforting to know that he was actually capable of a stable, long-term relationship of any sort with the opposite sex. He didn’t consider himself picky in the romance department, but after his marriage to Cindy Paige, he did have certain minimum requirements-sanity being chief among them. Of course, his maternal grandmother, Abuela, as he called her, would even waive the sanity test if Jack would just bring home a nice Cuban girl. Too bad Maria was married.

“How’d the depo go, Jack?” she asked as she handed him his taza of espresso.

“Same old, same old.”

She smiled and shook her head, as if all too aware that a quip like that could mean anything from utter boredom to an all-out fistfight.

Jack headed down the hall to his office, past the conference room that doubled as his library. He noticed Kelsey was busy at the table, doing a Westlaw search on the computer. She was wearing ru

“Expecting clients today?” he said as he stuck his head into the room.

She checked her attire. “Sorry. I just stopped by on my way to Body and Soul.”

He assumed she wasn’t talking about some kind of new-wave religion. “Have a good workout.”

“Thanks.”

He started out the door, then stopped and came back into the room. “Actually, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Sure. What?”

“It’s on the Sally Fe

“How’d that go?”

He took a minute to bring her up to speed, telling her all about the stalker that Miguel thought was responsible for the death of their daughter. He also told her how Sally had apparently come to think that he blamed her for the whole tragedy.

“What’s your take?” asked Kelsey. “He the kind of guy who blames the victim?”

“He says he’s not. And he didn’t come across that way.”

“A good guy, or just talks a good game?”

“Not sure. I did pull his divorce file, just to see if there might be any insights.”

“And?”

“It played out just the way he said. Even though this shark Gerry Colletti was his lawyer, Miguel kept him on a pretty short leash. Sally got all the assets, Miguel took the debt. Not much of a fight there.”

“Which makes you wonder: Why is the divorce lawyer on her list of enemies?”

“Exactly,” he said. “And that’s exactly where you come in.”

Kelsey grabbed her pen and paper, as if eager for the assignment.