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Addy sat at the picnic table as the police divers swam around the inlet, their black neoprene heads occasionally bobbing to the surface like the seals along the California coast.
She sipped a cup of coffee and tried to clear her clouded brain from her restless night. Three cups of coffee later, the caffeine still hadn’t helped.
Karen stood by the spot where the reporter was found, her short sleeves revealing the tanned muscles of her arms. She was stunning in the morning light, her bronzed skin gleaming.
Addy’s body stirred at the sight, but when she recalled Dee-Dee’s comment, she immediately squelched the sensation.
She supposed she couldn’t begrudge Karen companionship all these years. But that she had slept with Dee-Dee, her best friend, really hurt. Anonymous sex was one thing, but this was something else.
Surprised to see Karen heading straight for her, she braced for the encounter. Karen suspected her of murder.
“Good morning.” Karen sat down.
“Officer,” Addy said stiffly.
Karen sighed loudly.
“They’ve been out there for hours,” Addy said. “Haven’t they found anything to tie me to the murder yet? Addy Cooper, with the candlestick, in the library?”
“This isn’t a game, Addy. A man is dead.”
“I know that. You haven’t let me forget it. Why don’t you search my house? Surely you’ll find some blunt object I used as the murder weapon. Of course, my fingerprints are all over everything, so it’ll be difficult to narrow your choices. Hell, I’ll make it easy on you and just confess. You can haul me away in handcuffs, get your picture in the paper and all that.”
“Dammit, Addy. Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on? We’ve got to know what Tommy is talking about. Why are you so damn stubborn?”
“Because…” Addy struggled to think of a reply, but she was too tired—of fighting Karen, of holding on to the anger she’d felt for years. She released a long breath and gave in, trying to say what she felt. “I don’t know. I was shocked that you would think me capable of such a thing. You know me better than that.”
“Oh, Addy.” Karen moved to the opposite side of the picnic table and gazed into her eyes. “I want to help you and Tommy. But I can’t if you don’t trust me.”
Trust. That’s really what it boiled down to. The tenderness in Karen’s eyes made Addy want to believe her. In the end, Karen was probably the only one she could trust.
“Here you are,” Liberty said, strolling up. She sat down right next to Addy. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Want to go for a drive? Maybe up to Baltimore for the day. The aquarium has a fantastic gallery that traces the water cycle from a freshwater pond through a tidal marsh, onto a coastal beach, and out into the Atlantic. It’s a wonderful place to study aquatic environments. Sound good?”
Liberty smiled seductively and ran a finger up Addy’s arm, which nauseated and angered Karen. She couldn’t believe the smarmy tactics the agent had used to delude Addy. Besides, what kind of date was going to an aquarium? As if Addy hadn’t been around the sea all her life.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Addy said slowly. “Let me go change. It’ll only take five minutes.”
Liberty’s eyes were fixed on Addy’s ass as she walked away.
That really pissed Karen off, and the heat rose to her face.
“I snuck up the tree last night and talked to Tommy again,” Liberty informed her. “Man, was he uptight. I tried to get any information I could about Vinson’s camera, and this time I really thought he was going to flip out. Something about that camera has him all atwitter.”
“I told you to leave him alone. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Despite the bird act, I think he does know something. His sister killed the guy, and he’s covering up for her.”
Karen laughed. “Now you’re the crazy one. What possible motive would Addy have for killing Vinson? And how in the world does that tie in with the radioactive waste you think he was investigating?”
“I was hoping you’d ask.” Liberty glanced at the house and lowered her voice. “Seems like Ms. Cooper moved home when her former employer, a Russian import/export businessman, was arrested and his company shut down. We traced some of what he was importing directly to the Russian government. I don’t have to tell you how very little control the Russians have over their nuclear arsenal. It’s common knowledge within the department, and all over the newspapers. They’d sell it to anyone for a few bucks and some exported American goods. Think about it.”
Karen stared at her. “And you think Addy was involved?”
“It’s pretty coincidental, don’t you think?” Liberty folded her arms across her chest and smiled. “She had access to God-knows-what was coming and going in that organization. We checked out her financial situation. It always boils down to money, doesn’t it? Aside from a house in Oakland and this place here, financially she’s in pretty dire straits. She’s got some serious credit-card debt, a mortgage back in California, and high taxes on this property. And she’s got no means to support herself, aside from a couple of tenants. She was selling nuclear material to some questionable people, and when Vinson found out, she got rid of him.”
“You have got to be kidding. There’s no way in hell Addy would do such a thing. She’s as American as anybody else.”
“She went to Berkeley,” Liberty said, as though that explained it all. “Cheatham and Grassley have been doing some digging. It seems Ms. Cooper protested our invasion of Iraq by participating in a sit-in that turned violent. Let’s suppose she didn’t do anything intentionally but just needed money. Soon things got out of control and she couldn’t find her way out of the mess she was in. That happens all the time. Maybe she didn’t mean to hurt him, but she was desperate, and before she knew it, he was dead. I don’t have to go for premeditation on the murder. But the nuclear stuff is another thing. She’s fucked with the environment, and nobody gets a break from me. I’ll nail her pretty ass to the wall for hurting animals, so help me God.”
“Leave Addy’s ass out of it.”
Liberty grinned. “Ah, you see? You’ve got a thing for her and it blinds you to what she’s capable of. I don’t blame you. She’s a great piece of ass, no doubt about it.”
Karen jumped up and grabbed Liberty by her shirt front.
“Karen? What’s going on?” Addy let the screen door slam behind her as she gazed curiously at the two women. They didn’t like each other, that was obvious. Were they fighting over her again? She hated to admit that she liked the idea, especially Karen’s jealousy, but even so, she didn’t want things to get ugly.
“Nothing.” Liberty removed Karen’s hands from her shirt. “Just a friendly disagreement. You ready to go?”
Addy nodded, caught between them.
“I hope you find what you’re searching for,” Liberty said to Karen. “It would be nice to know the bad guys were behind bars and the world was safe again.”
Addy glanced over her shoulder as she followed Liberty to the car. She wanted so much to run to Karen, to hold her and be held. For the life of her, she didn’t know why she couldn’t.
Tommy pulled the nylon bag out from under his bed and removed the camera. He needed to get rid of it as soon as he could. All the scary people coming to his house to ask him about it upset him. But where could he put it so no one could find it? The police were always searching the land and water, and it wouldn’t be a good idea for them to find it here. And while he walked all over the farm at night, he never once left the property. Suddenly, he knew just the place.
The painters left when the sun went down, and Addy hadn’t come back yet with that Liberty lady he didn’t like. He hoped Addy wasn’t in trouble. He saw through his window that Mrs. Bush and Chauncey were at the dining room table, playing cards.
Now was the best time to get it out of his house. As he got up from the floor, the camera strap caught on a bedspring under the mattress and jerked out of his hands. The camera fell to the floor, making the back pop open, and several parts scattered around the room. Scooping it all off the floor, Tommy closed it and hoped it wasn’t broken.
He put the camera strap around his neck and scrambled down the tree to the back porch. Quietly he opened the screen door, pausing only when its hinges creaked. The television was on inside and no one bothered to come see who was there. He sneaked into the house and peeped through the kitchen and into the dining room, where Mrs. Bush and Chauncey kept their eyes on their cards.
“Full house,” Mrs. Bush announced.
“Mierda,” Chauncey said.
Chauncey bent to remove a sock. What kind of game could they be playing? His shoes and one other sock were already scattered across the dining room floor.
“A few more hands ought to do it,” Mrs. Bush sang out, like she was excited.
Tommy tiptoed down the hallway and reached the stairs.
He was about to keep going to his grandma’s room when a key turning in the front door lock alerted him that Addy was home.
He ran as quietly as he could up the stairs and hid around the corner, peeking down to the door below.
“Let’s go to my room.” Liberty had her arms wrapped around Addy’s waist.
“Shh,” Addy said. “They’ll hear you.”
“They’re going to hear more than that if they come upstairs.”
She jerked Addy’s hand, and Tommy hurried down the hall into Addy’s bedroom. He closed the door and waited as they giggled on their way to Liberty’s bedroom. When he heard her door close, he sneaked back downstairs to his grandma’s closet and dug around inside for a place to hide the camera. First he tried a shoe box that wasn’t wide enough, then a plastic tub that wasn’t deep enough. Finding a box full of photo albums on the shelf, he put the camera on top, replaced the lid, then crept back to the door. He opened it a crack and, seeing no one in the hallway, hurried to the kitchen and out the door without a sound.
Addy lay awake, her body once again sated but sore. Liberty sprawled across the bed, snoring softly into her pillow. Her left arm was flung haphazardly across Addy’s stomach, and Addy shifted to lessen its dead weight. Despite her body’s tranquil state, her mind wouldn’t be still. She had all but decided to tell Karen what had happened that night with Tommy. Better to tell her than some stranger. But what would happen after she divulged the information?
Presumably Karen would have to report it to her superiors, who would have to investigate further. Could she shield Tommy from the onslaught of questions? Would anyone believe that Tommy had come down from his tree house and simply found a body?
She gazed at Liberty asleep and wondered what she was dreaming about or, more importantly, what she was thinking when they made love. The sexual gymnastics were becoming a bit tiring, and she wished they could slow things down. Addy preferred her sex to be gentler, softer, more romantic. Liberty seemed to be trying to impress her more than satisfy her, which wasn’t what she wanted. She had run away to California in search of something and someone new, to find only empty promises.
Now, back where she had started from, she had believed she might find meaning in a relationship with Liberty. But that too was proving futile. Only with Karen had she found the happiness she desired—Karen, whom she trusted and confided in, and who had always defended her. She had to trust Karen to believe her, which was what mattered most. But could she?
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