Prior chapters can be found in the category “Murder Mystery.”
Chapter 18
I started to make a pile of the green puzzle pieces that looked like the grass and trees, and I noticed that Goddard was doing the same with the sky and cloud pieces. The puzzle was turning out to be a God send – we could both stare at the puzzle and continue talking without having to stare at each other and any uncomfortable silences could be absorbed by working on the puzzle. “Well tell me about your mother,” I said softly.
“Yes, the beautiful and elegant Cymbaline Todd. She might have been many things, but mother wouldn’t be one of them. She was just not present in my life. She hated CutterCity, and I can’t imagine why she moved there. As far as I know, she had two loving and supportive parents, although my grandfather died when she was twelve. I think that she had a few wild teenage years, but why she decamped to CutterCity is a mystery. It is a far cry from the Murphy mansion on the beach. I don’t even know how she met my father. Have you ever been to CutterCity? It is pretty grimy.”
“Yes, Goddard, I have been there many times. I grew up right at the border and some of my friends growing up were from CutterCity. It definitely is more down scale than Santa Teresa, but I knew a lot of hard working people there.”
“I’m afraid my long training as a pretentious snob is showing through again. I didn’t mean for it to sound that way, and I actually liked living in CutterCity, better than Santa Teresa, but my mother is a first class snob, and basically she just hid the whole time she was there. Once I remember she was the snack mom – I think that I was in first or second grade, and she had it catered from that fancy bakery in Santa Teresa. Another time she tried to have a PTA meeting at our house, and she served tea in this fragile china. One of the mothers dropped the cup and it broke, and my mother started crying and all the women fled. It was pretty challenging for me at school – being the wealthiest kid when my classmates were either the children of the convicts or the guards. And of course there was my name and you can imagine the nicknames – Godlet, Goddles, but Goddy Toddy was the worst. And then did you know that Goddard is actually my middle name? Can you imagine what happened when my classmates found out my first name?
“Your first name is even worse than Goddard?” I asked.
“Yep, you are talking to one Gaylord Goddard Todd. So then I became Gayboy. It was pretty rough. And then my mother made me show up in these ridiculous pretty boy outfits – I was not allowed to wear jeans or a T-shirt – always khakis and a collared shirt. I had one pretty good friend – Butch Turner – and his mom was very understanding and nice to me. I kept a couple of extras sets of clothes at their house and I would change into them on the way to and from school. She even did my laundry. Eventually I got pretty tough. I learned how to fight and defend myself and the other kids pretty much left me alone. And then I figured out ways not to be at home. I joined every club at school, and every sports team I could think of. And then some nights I just didn’t come home – either slept outside, sometimes at the Turner’s house. I don’t think that my mother really noticed – she certainly wasn’t the type to read me a book and tuck me in. But one night, when I was 15, I met my father at two in the morning coming out of a bar with another woman. That fall I was sent off to boarding school in Switzerland. When I got there I just flip flopped my name and introduced myself as Todd Goddard and that made things much easier.”
“Did things change when Dessa was born?”
“Even though my mother was a terrible mother, she always wanted more children, and I think part of her problem was that she kept having miscarriages. So she would get all hormonal and unpredictable when she was pregnant, and then a couple of months later she would lose the baby and then get depressed. So I got sent off to boarding school and I get the message that mother is pregnant again and I just sort of forgot about it figuring it was just the same cycle all over again. Then out of the blue I get the message that Dessa is born. I thought maybe things would change, that Mother was better suited to having a daughter than a son, but when I came home that summer, my mother was totally depressed and would rarely come out of her room. She perked up a little bit when we finally moved to Santa Teresa, but she was very manipulative with Dessa. That was basically why I decided to come back and go to college at Santa Teresa – I wanted to protect her and give her some stability.”
I was quiet, hoping the Goddard would just continue, but instead he took renewed interest in the puzzle. “Hey I can’t believe that we do a puzzle in the same way – you don’t like looking at the picture either or doing the edge pieces first, do you?” He then slid a big hunk of the sky that he had been working on towards the top of the barn that I had been working on. “Look, I think that we will join up here – you keep working from the bottom up, and I’ll work from the top down.”
“Goddard, would you like more coffee? Or how about something for dessert? There is some really good apple pie in the fridge.”
“I should have known that Ralph and Fanny’s had apple pie waiting. You know, I really am happy to be back here. This place was a refuge during college – it certainly felt more like home than any dorm or that museum they built up in the canyon. Yes, I’ll take a piece of that pie, particularly if there is some ice cream to go with. I know that I need to keep on telling you my story, but this next part is the hard part.”
I was just winging it with the pie offer, and was relieved to see that there was one piece left, along with a bit of ice cream. I put it down in front of him. “Take your time Goddard.”
He polished off the pie, then stood up again and started pacing while he jiggled change in his pockets. “I spend some time on the internet once trying to find the correct psychological description of my mother, and the best I could come up with was ‘borderline personality disorder.’ That’s what they thought was wrong with Princess Diana, and my mother had some of the same traits. A bright woman sure, but she just exhausted her friends – the few she had anyway. Everything with her was such a big drama, and no matter how hard you tried – and I just gave up a couple of years ago – no matter how hard you tried it just wasn’t ever enough. Like when she was snack mom – she spent hours trying to figure out just the right snack, and then she wanted to deliver them chilled to the homeroom so she had to go out and buy some coolers, and then the coolers weren’t the right size and on and on and on, and I’m 7 or eight years old running around trying to make it right for her. And then she would always say something like, ‘It is just so hard to get proper help here in CutterCity. If only we lived in Santa Teresa.” It was very brutal. She was pulling the same sort of shit with Dessa, but she had a cruel streak as well. She would buy Dessa clothes and then take them back to the store, saying that Dessa was not good enough for them. She would encourage Dessa to have friends over to the house, and then at the last minute make it so complicated about how was going to pick up who or where, that the whole plan would just be canceled. When they moved to Santa Teresa, I thought it would be better because she was more in her element, you know what I mean, but it just got worse. Then she would tell Dessa she was not pretty enough or elegant enough or tell her she was just a CutterCity kid. She knew that she couldn’t get away with that kind of shit around me, because I just didn’t care, but Dessa still cared, always wanted to please her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Goddard, but it sounds like Dessa was getting help, your mother even said that they had gone to some sort of counseling together,” I murmured.
“Yes, there was Dr. Foster who really helped Dessa – taught her how to extricate herself from mother’s narcissism. Dessa even gave me a book for Christmas once called, “Talk to the Hand, How to Walk on Eggshells and Survive.” I once tried to talk to Dad about it and he was no help. He told me, “I have done everything that I can think of for your mother – the house, you children, I spend a fortune on her and all her charities. I have busted my butt to give her everything and now she just has to learn how to shut up and be happy and leave me alone.’ Dessa and mother went to some sort of counseling once – Dessa told me about it, the counseling ended up being all about my mother, how everyone had disappointed her, how she worked so hard for her family but never got any recognition. We had a good laugh about that, but at least Dessa got permission to have her own apartment. Dessa was damn smart and insightful, but still she fell into mother’s drama traps. I think that Dessa hung in there as long as she could and then she just had to take off, at least I hope that is what happened.”
“Goddard, was there any particular thing in the last couple of weeks that might have been the tipping point. Did you know about any blow up?”
“I usually talked with her at least once a day, no matter what, even when I was traveling, but I have gotten a little lazy in the last couple of months since I was back in town. The last time I talked with her was maybe a couple of days before she disappeared when she canceled our lunch date. She said that she was going to have lunch with a friend, and she sounded pretty normal. I was happy for her, because she had a hard time making friends – but maybe it was this Penny person who was stalking her. Oh my god.” He walked out the front door and I heard his anguished cry floating off into the night.
When he came back in, he sat down and said, “Sorry, I just need to vent every now and then. I think that I am done for the night.”
“I understand,” I said, “but I have one last question. Did Dessa ever use that apartment above the coffee shop? When I went there it looked like nobody had ever lived there. Neat as a pin, no food in the refrigerator, no books or anything personal on the shelves.”
“She lived there, but I’m not surprised that it was pretty bare. I told her that it looked like a convent. I don’t know what to think now, maybe she did have a whole separate life. If so, I tip my hat to her. I tried to have a separate life by fleeing around the world pretending to be a photographer, and now I am right back where I started with nothing much to show for it. Who was I kidding thinking that I was a photographer?” He put his head back into his arms again and his shoulders began to shake.
“Look,” I said. “It has been a long night – its 3 AM. I am a little concerned about the break-in your office so why don’t you spend the night here. But first thing in the morning please report the break-in to the police – they know about the supposed break-in at the old Murphy house, and they should be able to put the two together. We need to work with the police on this. I am going to go home, get some sleep and then start working again tomorrow. I want to cover all the bases, so I will go an talk with your Uncle Polly and then might go down to CutterCity to look up Johnny Knox. In the morning please give Ralph the description of your bar fight opponent to see if they are the same person.”
“Thanks, I need a plan, and that sounds like a reasonable one. Okay, let’s recap my day – first my photography gallery got broken into, my opening was a failure, the newspaper reporter thought I was a pedophile, and probably other people do to, and I got into a barfight and have a nasty black eye. But I’ve got to say this has actually been one of the better days since I have been back here in Santa Teresa. I feel better having talked with you, and I think that I can make things right with Dessa. Good Night.”
He stood up, gave me a mock salute and headed into the back room. I left a quick note for Ralph and Fanny and headed back home. As I drove back, I suddenly remembered that I had not shown Goddard the photograph of him and Dessa that I found in Dessa’s apartment and the partial phone number that Ralph had salvaged out of Penny’s purse. I was actually glad, since I wanted to hold back something – I did not want to force Goddard into the little lie, at least not yet.
Chapter 19
One of my many pet peeves was people who answer the phone drowsily so you immediately know that you have woken them up. Being a PI was a 24:7 kind of job, and usually it was the late night hours that were the most interesting, but when I rolled over to glance at the alarm I saw that it was 9 AM. Everyone should expect an alert answer at the respectable hour of 9:00. So I let my phone ring a few extra times before answering it, to give myself a chance to clear my voice, but I didn’t get a chance to say a peppy hello before I heard, “Sam Todd here. You were right, the police want to talk to us about Penny. A detective Grimes is going to be here at 11:00. I expect you to be here as well.”
“Good morning sir,” I said pleasantly. “Of course I will be there, but as I said, all you need to do is answer their questions. Don’t offer any more information that what they ask. Based on what you told me yesterday just tell the truth – no embellishments and no dissembling. If you don’t think that you can do that, I would recommend that you have a lawyer present.”
“What are you insinuating?” he snapped. “I never met this woman, and I don’t give a shit that she got hit by a car, and I don’t understand what she has to do with me, my wife, my daughter or my family.”
“Okay, I agree with you. Penny’s accident is not your problem, it is the police’s problem, but it will become your problem if you seem less than honest or emotional. I don’t know what the police know, but it is likely that they have figured out that Penny’s full name is Penny Knox, daughter of Johnny Knox, who seems to be an employee of your real estate business. So they might ask you about that also. Just please think about it, because they have probably also talked with Johnny Knox, and he might have mentioned your name.”
“I don’t know why you have a bug up your ass about this Knox character. I already told you once that I don’t know now him personally. Sure he might work for me, but I don’t know a lot of people that work for me.”
“Just FYI, Johnny Knox is from CutterCity so maybe you knew him many years ago.”
“Sure maybe I knew him, I knew a lot of people in CutterCity, but that dump is a long forgotten part of my life. Sounds like Knox has a better memory than I do. And why do you think that there is a connection between Knox, his daughter, my daughter, and me?”
“Well, I don’t know that for a fact,” I said, “but it does seem that Penny had taken a keen interest in Dessa, and the family connection just made me wonder – but like I say all you have to do is answer their questions. If you don’t know Johnny Knox, you don’t know him, but I just want to emphasize that you need to be entirely honest because any discrepancy between your story and Johnny Knox’s will raise their suspicions.”
“Well, knowing both the truth and how to communicate the truth is a particular expertise of mine. But I still don’t understand – if his girl died in a hit and run accident, why do they need to investigate any more?”
“The fact that they want to interview you means one of two things. First, they have not ID’d Penny, but Charles Grimes will know that Penny was concerned about Dessa’s absence,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Penny had talked with Detective Grimes about Dessa, and that is ultimately how I ended up at the reception at your house. The other possibility is that perhaps Penny’s death was not clearly an accident and they are investigating further. If that is the case, Dessa’s absence will be of greater interest to them. Would you be more comfortable if you had your lawyer there?” I said. Having a lawyer present always raised the stakes and rankled the police, but the risk was worth it. I didn’t want to be dragged down by Sam Todd going rogue on me, or a manipulative Cymbaline.
“Well, this whole scenario sounds ludicrous. I am last to know what’s going on in this household, so here the lawyer’s number, give him a call, and give him the background. His name is Gene Cartwright.” The phone clicked.
When I called Cartwright’s office, the receptionist said that he would not be available for the rest of the day, but when I told her that I was calling on behalf of Sam Todd, she connected my right away. “Well Liza Blue, do you in fact have blue eyes, and how can I help my friend Sam?” said a smooth talking Cartwright.
“Yes, Mr. Cartwright, my eyes are blue and Mr. Todd told me to call regarding his daughter, Dessa.”
“First please call me Gene, and secondly, he has a daughter? I didn’t know that. I am a real estate lawyer, so I doubt if I can help him in a family matter.”
“Well, I suppose he doesn’t really need a lawyer, but I suggested that he might want one. You see, his daughter Dessa was an acquaintance of a woman who died the other night in a car accident. I assumed that it was a hit and run accident, but the police are investigating – they might be just trying to track down the victim’s next of kin. But Sam seemed a little spooked about having lawyers sniffing around, so he asked me to call you and brief you on the situation. The detectives are showing up at 11 AM at his place.”
“Well what is the big deal. Why don’t the police interview his daughter – what is her name again, Tessa?”
“No, it’s Dessa, and that is the thing. Dessa is not around and cannot be reached. So maybe the detectives will be asking how to reach her, and Sam does not want anyone meddling into his family life.”
“Well, why is he calling me then? We play golf every weekend, but he has made it perfectly clear that his family is totally off limits. I do not know anything about his personal life. I didn’t even know that he had a daughter, never been to his house, never met his wife, though I have seen her pictures many time. And so who are you exactly?”
I remembered Sam’s warning about not mentioning Dessa’s disappearance to any business associates and tried to pick my words very carefully. “I met the victim briefly when she was trying to find Dessa, and asked if I would help her and that is how I met Mr. and Mrs. Todd.”
“Well I can tell that you don’t know Sam very well. He can be volatile, but he is the smartest man I know and knows very well how to handle legal situations – wiggled out of every one he has gotten into. He never gets intimidated and never thinks he needs a lawyer. He knows when to keep his mouth shut, which sounds like the issue here. I am sure that he can handle it. I will give him a call. Good luck Ms. Blue Eyes.” And then he hung up and I wondered if I was being hung out to dry.
Another long day stretched ahead of me, and I felt lucky to find one standard combo of white shirt and pants that was pressed and ready to go. I brought along a decent jacket and party shoes, as my father had called them, but for the drive up to the Todd’s house, I wore my Birkenstocks and a blue jean shirt. I could quickly change when I got there and save some wrinkles. I put my headset on as I drove up the canyon for the third day in a row, and dialed Charles Grimes’ cell phone number.
“Well, I was wondering when I was going to hear from you,” said Charles familiar voice. “I hear that my potential case for you turned up dead.”
“Don’t sell yourself short on the referral,” I said. “I ended up going to a reception at the Todd’s, basically just to see if Dessa was there. I was really just doing it as a favor for this Penny. Dessa wasn’t there, but I did meet the Todds, and one thing lead to another and they are now my clients. They say that Dessa often goes off on her own, but not for this long, and they want me to track her down. Standard runaway sort of stuff, I think,” I said.
“Liza, I feel like I could be talking with your Dad. This is the same type of dance I used to do with him when our paths overlapped. I know that you have more information that you cannot give me due to your client obligation, and I know you know that I know more information that I cannot give to you. But I can tell you this, since it will be public knowledge anyway – it looks like it wasn’t just a simple accident – there were tread marks and a witness saw the car accelerate as Penny crossed the road. We still don’t now much about Penny – don’t even know where she lived, except that I happened to know of her connection to Dessa, which is why we are headed up to see the Todds. In fact, I think I see your car just ahead of mine.”
“We know each other too well Charles. Yes the Todds asked me to be at this meeting, but I told them only to tell you the truth. It seems like Dessa had a pretty separate life. I hope that they can help you, but it would be a surprise to me. And I am very sorry about Penny – I really liked her, which is why I did her the favor of going up to the Todds in the first place. And by the way, when I talked to the Todds about their daughter Dessa, I did not make any mention of the lesbian angle. My job is only to find her, and what Dessa wants to tell her parents from that point is really up to her.” I was dying to know whether Grimes knew that Penny was Penny Knox, but couldn’t ask him directly. I looked in my rear view mirror, and saw Grimes’ squad car and saw two people in the car – Grimes and what looked like the other detective McNitt. I waved to Charles in the rear view mirror and he waved back. We both hung up the phones as we moved farther up the canyon. I wanted to gather my thoughts before the meeting, and I think that he wanted to do the same.
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