Missing persons, p.27
Missing Persons, page 27
part #1 of Kate Conway Mystery Series
“He killed Theresa,” I said.
She walked closer. “Is this what you are going to do in my daughter’s memory? Is this what you think she would want? She planned to save lives, Jason. Do you think she would want you to take your own because of what happened? If you do then you didn’t love my daughter.”
Jason stared at her in disbelief then started to shake. He lowered the gun and let it fall on the floor. As soon as the gun hit the floor, he collapsed in a heap.
Sixty-eight
Jason sat handcuffed at one of the restaurant tables. There were half a dozen detectives and at least twice as many uniformed officers walking in and out of the building. Detective Rosenthal was finally sitting with the man who had killed Theresa.
“What happened, Jason?” she asked.
“I saw her the day before. She told me to leave her alone. She told me she wanted to be with that actor, who was cheating on her. I tried to tell her. She wouldn’t listen. I told her I’d followed him and I saw him with another woman. I never cheated on her. I loved her. Even after we broke up. She slept with other guys. She did things she shouldn’t have, but I forgave her. I deserved her.”
“Okay,” Rosenthal said softly. “Then what happened?”
“She told me she knew exactly who I was. She said I didn’t surprise her. Like it was a bad thing.”
“And on the day she died?”
“I followed her. I saw her with Julia’s fiancé. She didn’t want me, but she did want some guy who was already getting married. I grabbed her when she came out of the restaurant. I asked her what kind of a slut strings me along, sleeps with some good-for-nothing actor, and then goes after the fiancé of her best friend. She told me to leave her alone. She said her friends said she was crazy for talking to me. That she’d had to hide it from them. She said she felt sorry for me. But she didn’t anymore. She was going to tell everyone I was bothering her. She was going to stop talking to me.”
“Did you take her somewhere?”
He nodded. “I made her get in my car and we went for a drive. I didn’t really pay attention to where I was going, so we ended up out in the suburbs. I saw the signs for the forest preserve and I figured it would be a quiet place to talk. That’s all I wanted to do—talk. I don’t know what happened next.”
“Yes, you do, Jason.”
I looked at Rosenthal. She was sitting inches from him. She was calm and understanding: his best friend. She was me, with no camera and a far better reason for pretending to care.
Jason sighed. “She got really mad at me. She said her mother would wonder where she was. She said she had to get home. She told me she never wanted to see me again.” He clenched his jaw, but as he got to the moment of Theresa’s death, his voice was emotionless. It was like he was describing something he’d seen on television. “I hit her. And I just kept hitting her until she stopped moving. Then I put her in the ground and went home.”
“How could you do that?” The words just came out of my mouth. Everyone, including Jason, turned to look at me.
Jason shook his head. “I thought you would understand. That’s why I put the pictures out to remind you of what you had lost.”
“You left a dead bird on my porch and broke into my house because you thought I understood you?”
“I got that letter saying your show was going to find out the truth about what happened to Theresa. And then you told me that I would end up looking guilty, that people would think I didn’t love her. You were going to tell everyone that I was a bad guy. I tried to warn you off. You wouldn’t listen. Then I tried to remind you of what it felt like to be thrown away by the person who was supposed to love you. You still didn’t listen. But then I thought . . . I thought you finally knew how I felt. I thought you understood that you don’t stop loving someone just because they hurt you.”
I did. That’s why, even though everything had pointed to Jason, I hadn’t believed it. I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“I just wanted a good story,” I said.
“Well, you got it. Just make sure you say that I loved Theresa.”
He was staring right through me. I thought of what it must have been like for Jason’s eyes to be the last thing Theresa saw. Then I remembered something else. “Where’s my husband’s ring?”
Jason nodded toward an evidence bag that contained items one of the uniformed officers had collected from Jason’s pockets. The officer was just about to seal the bag, putting Frank’s ring into judicial limbo, when Rosenthal stopped him. She took out the ring and handed it back to me.
“It was one of my good-luck charms,” Jason said. “To remind me of what Theresa and I were meant to have if she would only have come back to me.”
We watched as Jason was put into the back of a squad car. Then Andres, Victor, Linda, and I gave our statements to Rosenthal. As soon as that was done, I handed her the shot tape of Jason holding me at gunpoint. I knew Mike would give me grief about it later, but he could wait until the trial was over to get it back.
Tom had been just behind Linda with a large plate of desserts that were now sitting untouched on a table. Gray, Wyatt, David, and Julia had arrived after Jason’s arrest for what was supposed to be another thank-you lunch and their meeting about a scholarship fund. Instead it was a bunch of shell-shocked people sitting around with Tom telling us he knew all along.
“Why did you know?” I asked him.
“She was my sister,” he said. “I could tell whenever his name came up she was scared. She wouldn’t get specific, but I knew.” I could hear the catch in his throat. “I’ve always been the problem child and Theresa was always the saint. I guess she figured I’d beat him up or something. She wouldn’t have wanted that. She hated violence.” He paused. “It killed me knowing that he must have done something to her but not being able to do anything about it. I never knew I could feel so much anger. I take it out on everyone, even my mom. Even you.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Tom,” I said. “I think we all grieve in our own way.”
I watched David put his arm around his wife. I still didn’t like the guy exactly, but he did love Julia, and she loved him. She looked up at me, her face streaked with tears.
“We all were so sick of hearing about Jason that I think she felt she couldn’t admit she still talked to him,” Julia said. “I think she must have felt she had to handle it on her own.”
“It may give you some comfort to know that she was reaching out,” Rosenthal said. “We found a slip of paper in her purse with three numbers on it.”
“Four, three, seven,” I said. “I remember seeing them in the evidence bag.”
“The last three numbers of a stalker hotline. We were able to confirm she’d called to get advice.”
Gray sat down next to me. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I laughed. “Thirty-seven years of the dullest life you could possibly imagine, but the last few weeks have certainly made up for it.”
“You want to go back to dull?”
“I want the new TV Guide arriving in my mailbox to be the most exciting part of my week.”
“I can’t picture you enjoying that. You’re too smart. And you read people really well.”
“I had you figured for Theresa’s lover.”
He smiled. “Okay, you read most people well. I was just . . .”
“Me. Some poor unhappily married sap who found out your spouse preferred someone else.”
“Worse. I didn’t know I was unhappily married. But as it’s been pointed out to me, I wasn’t really around enough to know.” He stared at the floor. “And I guess I’ve always felt a little smug that my wife and I never found anyone else we liked more than each other.” He paused, seeming for the first time uncertain. “I guess I was more wrong than I thought.”
“You’ll make it work.”
“Is that what you would have done?”
“I don’t know if I would have had the chance. Vera makes for pretty stiff competition.”
He smiled, then seemed to weigh whether he should say something. “I have a beach house in St. Joe’s, right on Lake Michigan,” he said finally. “I’m not going to be using it, so if you want a place to go for a while and just hang out . . .”
“You have a real knight-in-shining-armor complex, don’t you?” I said. “Thanks, but I’ll be okay.”
“I know I can be pushy. But I’ve seen too many people like Theresa. They don’t ask for help until it’s too late, so I offer even when it’s none of my business. I’m sorry, if it’s too—”
I stopped him. “It’s very kind of you. Thank you.”
He smiled. “And listen, I heard about what happened at the tea shop. I’m really sorry about your husband.”
“Tell me, Gray, do you also know where they buried Hoffa?”
He laughed. “That was Detroit. I don’t have a lot of connections in Detroit.”
We stayed together in the restaurant for several hours. Eventually we did get hungry, and the food was amazing. When I was ready to leave I saw Linda sitting with Tom and went over to say good-bye.
“I have a feeling my boss will want some comments from you,” I said, “but not today.”
She hugged me, and I hugged back. I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. It was annoying. I couldn’t seem to stop.
“Thank you, Kate. Thank you so much.”
“I think you’re the one who at the very least stopped a suicide from happening, so I should be thanking you. How did you know what to say?”
“I knew my daughter. I knew what she would have said if she were here.”
I smiled. “I know what she’d say now. She’d say she was very proud of you.”
“She’d say I was always interfering, and I was too pushy and I liked being the center of attention too much. And she’d be right. It breaks my heart we’ll never argue about those things again, but at least I know she’s not in pain.”
“I don’t know how you manage to be so at peace about it.”
She leaned in. “Believing she was alive kept me alive, and now keeping her memory alive will get me up in the morning. If I think about what I’ve lost, I’ll lose my mind. So I’ve decided to focus on what Theresa brought to my life while she was with me.” She took my hand. “And who she has brought to my life even after she was gone.”
We hugged again and I promised to keep in touch. I say that to nearly all the people I interview, but this time I meant it.
I moved over to Tom and hugged him as well. “I have to ask you,” I said quietly, “if you know anything about some money Theresa had in her account. I didn’t want to ask your mom, in case . . .”
“It was mine. I was saving it to go to New York for school.”
“Why not put it in your own account?”
He looked sheepish. “I had some trouble a while ago. Writing bad checks. It was stupid but it’s sort of followed me. I couldn’t get a bank account. But I’ve been doing catering jobs on the side, fancy weddings and shit. I gave the money to Theresa to keep so I wouldn’t do something stupid, like spend it.” He glanced at his mother, talking with Gray. “My mom didn’t know at the time that I was thinking of moving. She’s a little overprotective.”
“And then you withdrew the money after she disappeared?”
“I told my mom when Theresa went missing. She was on Theresa’s account so she took the money out. We needed it to put together a reward for information . . . It’s a little embarrassing so I hope you won’t use it.”
“I won’t.”
An innocent explanation. I could have pretended not to understand why Rosenthal had blacked it out, but I knew. If I had been doing my job properly, I would have played that up. I would have turned a nothing trip to a strip club, a few too many drinks in a bar, and some large bank deposits into a potential secret life. By the end of the show, the truth would have been revealed, but by then the damage would have been done. Rosenthal had tried to protect Theresa and her family from me. And I was glad that she had.
As I was about to leave, I thought of another question for Tom. “Not that it’s any of my business, but why did you gouge out Julia’s eyes in those photos?”
Tom and I looked over at Julia, who had joined Linda and Gray.
“She told me a few weeks before her wedding that Theresa’s disappearance was upstaging her big day. I took my revenge on her photos.”
“Is that why she and David said you had issues? They made kind of a deal out of it.”
He laughed. “Well, the photos weren’t my only revenge. They wanted chocolate cake with vanilla icing for their wedding cake. I made banana. Julia breaks out in a rash when she eats bananas. She itched all day.”
Sixty-nine
It took me almost a week, but eventually I drove out to the graveyard. The stone was new and the grass beneath it freshly cut.
“Hi, Theresa,” I said. “We didn’t meet, but I know a lot about you.”
I laid a bouquet of fresh flowers at the edge of the stone. I wasn’t the only one who’d been there. Ribbons, photos, and other bouquets nearly covered the grave.
“I just wanted to say I hope that I do your story justice. I want you to know I’ll try to keep it respectful and honest.” I paused. “You never worked in television, so you probably don’t realize just how hard that’s going to be.”
An hour later, I was in another graveyard. This time there was a bench facing a large headstone. It said, “Francis John Conway. Loving Husband. Adored Son. Devoted Friend.”
If Frank’s death had been an episode of one of my true-crime shows, it would have ended here. We always take the loved ones to the grave, often providing the flowers and balloons they leave there, so we can get that nice end shot of them mourning their loss.
Instead of flowers, I laid one of those kid’s paint sets at his grave, with a new paintbrush, and sat on the bench.
“I love you. I just want you to know that.”
The tears came easily, as they’d done all week. I’d been through three boxes of tissues and two rolls of toilet paper in just the last few days. It was getting to the point where I was thinking of buying in bulk.
“Mike—you remember Mike, don’t you, Frank? He was really happy with the footage we shot. And we even got Linda to do another interview. She said that Missing Persons had helped solve her daughter’s murder. She said it on tape. Mike is going to use that to promote the show. He’ll probably be sending me a lot more work, which is kind of a mixed blessing if you know what I mean.”
I looked at the grass beneath my feet.
“I had lunch with your parents. I’ve promised to come by once a month for lunch. Also a mixed blessing. But I told them about Theresa and they’ve contributed to the fund for a nursing scholarship and we’re even going to set up an art scholarship in your name at the community center. Some of your insurance money will go toward that and some of it has to go to getting a new roof. Remember how I used to nag you about how we need a new roof? Well, it’s leaking.” I smiled. “I guess that’s not very important. It’s just something that’s going on.
“The woman from the store where you bought the tea, she’s facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. I know she didn’t do it on purpose, but I’m helping Detective Podeski with all the information I can. It was just so careless. Right when you were finally coming into your own. I know there might be some people who think that you would have been all gung ho for a while and then lost interest in it. But I don’t think you would have, this time. I think you would have stuck with it, Frank. You would have made a success of it.”
I looked at the marble with his name carved in it. He would have thought it was too stuffy and formal, but it looked strong. Like it could withstand anything.
“I’m really proud of you, Frank.”
There was of course only silence in response. I didn’t want to, but I laughed. For so much of our marriage, when I talked, Frank ignored me. Especially when there was a basketball game on TV. I guess from now on whenever we had these little chats it would be just like Frank was watching a game.
After I left the cemetery, I drove to her house and sat in my car. I’d already told her I was coming but for some reason I was reluctant to go inside. But I saw Vera and her dogs watching me out the front window, so I had no choice. I grabbed the painting and met her at the front door.
I handed her a painting Frank had made about five years before. It was of the Montrose Avenue Beach dog park. It had been a beautiful summer day and Frank had perfectly captured the carefree fun of a summer afternoon.
“I know it was before he met you,” I said, “but you said Frank hadn’t painted anything for you yet, so I thought this might be something you would like.”
Her eyes widened and her hands came to her heart. “But are you sure? It belongs to you.”
“I have about thirty of Frank’s paintings. I gave several to his parents. Neal took one. The painting of the couple on Michigan Avenue is back over the fireplace, and I’ve put two in the bedroom, one in the kitchen, and one in the guest room. There’s plenty to go around.”
She started to tear up. “I’m sorry, Kate. For everything. I don’t know if I really said that before.”
“It’s okay,” I said. We sat in her kitchen and watched as a gardener worked out back, getting her garden into the kind of shape that Frank had planned to do. Or had said he planned to do. Of all the answers I’d found over the last few weeks, in both Frank’s and Theresa’s death, the one question that remained was whether Frank had intended to stay with Vera or come home to me.
And it was a question that would never be answered.
After about an hour I let Vera walk me to my car.
“I almost forgot,” she said as she took a key from her pocket. “Gray stopped by the other day. He asked me to give this to you. It’s a spare key to his house in Michigan. He said you might want to go there for a rest.”
