Trial By Fury

Instead, an attractive black woman, still puffing with exertion, came to the door. Her hair was held back by a purple sweatband. A fine film of perspiration beaded her upper lip.

She flung open the door angrily, as if expecting someone she knew but wasn’t too happy with. Then, seeing a stranger, she slammed it almost shut.

"Yes?" she asked guardedly through the crack.

"I’m Detective Beaumont, Seattle P.D." I held my ID up to the open slit of the door. "Are you Joa

There were long, brilliantly colored fingernails on the hand that took my ID into the house and then passed it back to me without opening the door further. "What do you want?"

"I was hoping to speak to your husband."

"He’s not here."

"Do you know when he’ll be back?"

"No."

She wasn’t exactly brimming over with spontaneous information. "Could I speak with you then, Mrs. Ridley?"

Reluctantly, she inched the door open a little wider. In the glow from the porch light, she looked up at me defiantly, her full lips pursed, eyes smouldering. Her hair was pulled back from a high, delicately curved forehead. I was struck by her resemblance to that classic bust of Nefertiti I had seen when it came through Seattle with the King Tut exhibit years ago.

Joa

"Why do you want to talk to me?" Her arch tone was almost a physical slap in the face.

"We’re conducting an investigation, Mrs. Ridley. It’s important that I talk to you."

"I suppose you want to come in?"

"Yes."

She stepped aside to allow me inside. My gaze had been riveted to her face. It was only when I looked down to gauge the step from the porch up into the house that I realized one of her hands rested on a wildly protruding tummy. Joa

She wore a huge pink sweatshirt that hung almost to her knees. An arrow pointed downward from the neck, and the word Baby was emblazoned across the appropriate spot. Her legs, what I could see of them, were well-shaped and encased in a pair of shiny, royal blue leotards. Joa

Padding barefoot ahead of me, she led the way into the living room. A rubber exercise mat lay in the middle of the floor. On the VCR a group of blurred aerobic exercisers were frozen in midair. She switched off the VCR and the screen went blank. I wondered if unborn babies liked aerobics, if they were willing or unwilling participants in America ’s latest health-nut fad.

Joa

"Do you have any idea how we could reach your husband?"

"No."

"Has he been gone long?"

Some of the defiance left her face. Awkwardly, she squatted down beside the exercise mat, folded it, picked it up, and wrestled it behind the couch. Once more her hand returned unconsciously, protectively to the swell of baby in her abdomen. I got the distinct impression she was avoiding the question.

"A couple of days," she said evasively.

"How long?" I insisted.

"I saw him last Friday morning, at breakfast, before he left for school. He’s a teacher. A coach for Mercer Island High School."

"He’s been gone since Friday and you haven’t reported him missing?"

She shrugged. "He lost."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The game. The Islanders lost Friday night. The first round of the championship. He’ll come home when he’s good and ready."

"He does that? Just disappears?"

She nodded. "When they win, he celebrates. When they lose, it’s gloom and doom. He hides out afterward. He usually doesn’t miss school, though," she added.

"He did today?"

Joa

She took a deep breath. "They called looking for him. Left a message on the machine. I didn’t return the call."

There was a brief silence between us while I wondered exactly how pregnant she was and whether the female reproductive system would withstand the shock my intuition told me was coming. If Darwin Ridley was missing, had been since Friday, I had a feeling I knew where he was, and I didn’t know how she’d take it.

Looking for a way to delay or soften the blow, I cleared my throat. "As I said, Mrs. Ridley, we’re conducting an investigation. Would you happen to have a recent photograph of your husband?"

Despite her bulging center of gravity, Joa

"It’s a good picture," I said.

She took it back from me and examined it closely herself, as though she hadn’t looked at it for a long time. "It is, isn’t it."

"Did your husband ever have any kind of surgery?"

She looked at me thoughtfully, considering before she answered. "On his knee," she said at last. "An old football injury."

"Right or left?"

"Left." Suddenly, she seemed to lose all patience with me and my apparently inane questions. "Are you going to tell me what’s going on?"

"Mrs. Ridley, I’m sorry to have to say this, and at this point let me stress that we’re not sure, but we have reason to believe your husband may be the homicide victim who was found on Queen A

Her slender fingers tightened around the picture frame, gripping it until the knuckles showed light against the darker skin. She stepped backward, sinking heavily onto the couch.

I hurried on. "We need someone to make a positive identification. This afternoon we discovered that over the weekend your husband’s car was towed away from the same parking lot in which the victim was found."

"You think he’s dead?" She choked over the last word.

"As I said, Mrs. Ridley. We’re not sure. From looking at the picture, I’d say it was the same man, but that doesn’t constitute a positive identification. There’s certainly a strong resemblance."

She leaned back against the couch, resting her head on the wall behind her, closing her eyes. Her breathing quickened. I was afraid she was going to faint. Alarmed, I got up and went to her.

"Are you all right, Mrs. Ridley? Can I get you something? A glass of water? Something stronger?"

She looked up at me through eyes bright with tears. "Where is he?"

"The medical examiner’s office. Harborview Medical Center."

"And you came to take me there?"

I nodded. "If you’re up to going. You could send someone else-a relative, a close friend. A person in your condition…"

She stood up abruptly. "I’ll go."

"You’re sure it won’t be too hard on you?"

"I said I’ll go," she repeated.

She paused by the door long enough to pull on a pair of leg warmers and some short boots. She draped a long yellow wool shawl over her shoulders. "I’m ready," she said.

Outside, I helped her into my car. Sports cars are not built with pregnant ladies in mind, whether or not they do aerobics. There was absolute silence between us during the drive to Harborview. She asked no questions; I offered no information. What could I say?

A brand new, peach-fuzzed night tech in Doc Baker’s office came out of the back as we entered. "What can I do for you?"

"I’m Detective Beaumont. Seattle P.D. I believe we have a tentative identification on the Queen A