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Pam stared up at Officer Brooks dispassionately. “What are you talking about?”
“His body was found in the pool,” Officer Brooks explained. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“Serves him right.” Pam let out a deep sigh and turned her face into the pillow.
“Pam, surely you don’t mean that.” I wanted to shake some sense into her. Didn’t she realize that she wasn’t helping her situation?
Officer Brooks’ expression changed to one of annoyance. “Mrs. York, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave the room while I question Mrs. Hilton. Or try to,” he added.
I hesitated, worried about leaving Pam with him. She was clearly too drunk to understand what had happened. “Please, can’t I stay? She needs a friend right now.”
“That will be all,” he interrupted in a firm tone. “Please wait for me downstairs. I’ll be with you as soon as I’m done here.”
There was no sense in trying to argue with him. Besides, I already knew why Officer Brooks didn’t want me around. He was afraid that I might end up influencing Pam’s responses. What if she’d had something to do with Kevin’s death? No, that was impossible.
I left the room and descended the stairs. As I entered the living room, the front door opened and a policeman I hadn’t seen before nodded at me. “Would you happen to be Mrs. York?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m Officer Bentley,” he said. “There’s a gentleman outside asking for you. He said that he’s your boss. A Mr. Forte.”
Relief soared through me. “That’s right. Officer Brooks said that he could come inside.”
Officer Bentley opened the door and gestured to someone. A few seconds later Jacques hurried in, his face was creased with worry.
“Cin!” He put his arms around me. “Are you okay? Greg told me that Kevin Hilton is dead. What on earth happened?”
Officer Bentley’s pager beeped. “Excuse me,” he said politely. “Officer Brooks needs me upstairs. Where’s Mrs. Hilton’s bedroom?”
“It’s the first door on the left-hand side.”
We watched as he hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Jacques waited until Bentley was out of earshot and then led me to the sofa. “Sit down. Tell me everything that happened, dear.”
Wearily, I fell back against the cushions. “I was showing the house to the Meyers when they asked to see the pool. We went outside and found Kevin in it, facedown.”
Jacques exhaled sharply. “Doing a dead man’s float, you mean?”
“More like starting to sink to the bottom.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe this. What is it with you and death always knocking at your client’s door? No pun intended.”
I didn’t have an answer for him. My life had been completely death free for the last four years, with the exception of Stevie and Seth’s pet lizard who’d gone to the great, big burrow in the sky. “Jacques, I’m upset enough as it is. Please, no jokes.”
“I’m sorry, darling.” He patted my hand. “But it wasn’t a joke. You’ve got quite a track record, remember.”
“The police haven’t officially called it a homicide yet.” I thought about the ugly gash on Kevin’s forehead. Had he fallen into the pool? No, it looked more like he’d been struck with something, but I was no forensics expert.
Jacques examined my face closely. “What else is going on?”
“Nothing,” I assured him.
“Come on, out with it,” he ordered. “I thought we were a team.”
I put my head in my hands. “Pam’s upstairs in her bedroom. She’s been here all afternoon. I didn’t even know she was in the house until Officer Brooks’ and I heard her phone ringing.”
Jacques stared at me in amazement. “Why didn’t she come downstairs?”
“She’d been drinking. I don’t think she had any idea what was going on, except—”
“Except for what?” Jacques asked impatiently.
“When Officer Brooks told her that Kevin was dead, she said that it served him right.”
Jacques’ mouth dropped open. “Holy moly. Do you think that she had anything to do with his death?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that Pam understood what he said. She’s as drunk as a sailor on payday.”
He made a face. “Where do you get those weird sayings from?”
“Never mind. My mother used to say it when I was a kid. It’s an old expression.”
“It must be very old.” Sarcasm dripped from his tone. “Sounds like it’s from the I Love Lucy era.”
“Hey, I’m only three years older than you,” I remarked.
He winked. “Yes, and you still look like a million bucks. Okay, so back to Pam. She was upstairs loaded while her husband was dying in their pool. Did she hear him yell for help? Or did she pass out before it happened? Something is definitely wrong with this scenario.”
“I don’t know what she told the police. Officer Brooks ordered me out of the room so that he could question her in private.”
Jacques’ eyes widened in alarm. “And you really don’t think she had something to do with it?”
“I told you, no!”
He held up a hand. “Calm down, Cin. You don’t know for certain. People change. Pam’s husband was having an affair and making her leave her home. She had every motive in the world to kill him.”
I’d already thought of this, but it didn’t matter. I simply couldn’t believe that my former roommate was a cold-blooded killer. “No. I can’t—and won’t—believe it.”
Jacques stared down at my feet. “Where’s your other shoe?”
“Probably in the pool. I must have lost it while I was trying to drag Kevin out of there.”
Jacques rose to his feet. “I’ll go out back and look for it.”
“Officer Brooks said that they were roping off the area. I’m not sure you’ll be able to get to it.”
He lifted his nose defiantly in the air. “Let them try and stop me. It’s a shoe, not a gun, for crying out loud. I’ll be right back and then hopefully we can get the heck out of this disaster zone.”
“Tell me if Kevin is—” I couldn’t finish the sentence, but Jacques understood.
“I’ll let you know if the body is still there.” Jacques’ voice was gentle. “By the way, a lot of people are gathering out front. A few asked me what was going on, but I didn’t tell them anything.”
“They’ll know soon enough.”
As soon as Jacques shut the patio door behind him, I heard a commotion coming from the front of the house. I moved closer to the front door as someone shouted, “Get out of my way! What’s happened to my mother?”
My chest constricted with dread. The voice belonged to a young male, and I suspected it was Pam’s younger son, Nate.
The front door flew open, and a man barged in. He was the spitting image of Kevin from his college days. “Mom!” he shouted.
Another police officer that I hadn’t encountered yet came up behind him and grabbed his arm. Nate shook him off.
“Get your hands off me!” Nate started for the stairs and then stopped suddenly when he caught sight of me. “Who the hell are you?”
I blinked in surprise but tried not to let his hostility bother me. It was understandable that he was upset after seeing all the emergency vehicles outside. “Hi Nate. I’m Cindy, a friend of your mom’s and also her real estate agent.”
He nodded impatiently. “Is she okay? Where is she?”
“She’s fine,” I added quickly. “There’s two policemen upstairs with her.”
“Then what’s going on?”
My mouth went dry. I didn’t want to give him the bad news, but what other choice did I have? “Nate, your father had an accident.”
“What kind of accident?” Nate’s dark eyes, so like his father’s, were pinned on me.
I looked expectantly at the other police officer, but he’d already retreated back outside. Great. How could I tell him that his father was dead?
Before I could speak again, Officer Brooks came down the stairs. “What’s all the commotion about? Who are you?”
Nate lifted his chin in defiance. “I’m Nate Hilton. Where’s my mother? And what happened to my dad?”
Officer Brooks exchanged glances with me. “Your mother’s fine, Nate. She’s on her way downstairs for some coffee.”
Nate looked confused. “And my dad?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but your father’s dead,” Officer Brooks said quietly. “He had an accident in the pool.”
Nate closed his eyes and sank into a chair. He stared into space for several seconds, as if not comprehending what the policeman had said. “But that can’t be right,” he murmured. “I just spoke to him.”
“When?” I blurted out as Officer Brooks glared at me.
Nate shrugged. “About an hour ago? He called and demanded that I be here for his stupid party tonight.” His voice broke. “I told him I was coming home to get some stuff and spending the night at a friend’s house. Maybe if I’d done as he asked, he wouldn’t be—oh, I don’t know. Maybe he wouldn’t be dead.”
Officer Brooks shifted from one foot to another. “Why didn’t you want to come to his party?”
Nate’s lower lip trembled. “Because of those losers he’s friends with. They’re all a bunch of phonies! Especially that girlfriend of his.” He covered his head with his arms.
“Girlfriend?” Officer Brooks asked curiously.
“Yes, it’s true,” said a soft voice.
We turned to see Pam on the stairway with Officer Bentley standing behind her. She gripped the railing between her hands, her knuckles white with the exertion. “Kevin and I had already started divorce proceedings.”
Nate rushed up the stairs and threw his arms around his mother. She clung to him tightly as he assisted her down the stairs. There was more color in her face than earlier, and she’d changed into jeans and a short-sleeved T-shirt.
“Does Max know?” Nate’s voice cracked.
“I just phoned him,” Pam said. “He’s on his way.” They sat down on the couch together, with Pam smoothing back Nate’s hair. Nate’s mouth quivered, but he didn’t cry. They continued to sit there in silence as I glanced around the room uncomfortably. It felt as if I was intruding on a private family moment.
Officer Bentley said something to Brooks, who then exited through the front door. A second later Jacques appeared, the front of his blazer damp. He nodded to Pam and then addressed me. “Sorry, Cindy. The policeman out back said that your shoe is being kept for evidence, since it was found in the pool.”
Nate and Pam both looked up. “You rescued Kevin from the pool?” she asked.
Pam’s eyes had become cold and intense as they stared into mine. For a moment, I thought she was angry with me, but then she smiled warmly. “Thank you, Cindy. Thank you for trying to help him.”
“Wait a minute,” Nate said. “How could dad have died in the pool? He was a great swimmer.”
“We don’t have all the details yet,” Officer Brooks explained.
“There was a large gash on his forehead,” I volunteered.
Officer Brooks cut his eyes to me and continued. “We’ll need to wait for the autopsy report before we know for certain how he died. Until then, we are treating this as a possible homicide. Mrs. Hilton, was anyone else in the house besides Mr. Hilton and yourself?”
Nate shot to his feet angrily. “Wait a second. You make it sound as if my mother had something to do with his death.”
“Nate, the man is only doing his job,” Pam said.
“Mrs. Hilton.” Officer Brooks continued calmly, ignoring Nate’s remark. “When we were upstairs and you learned of your husband’s death, what did you mean by ‘serves him right?’”
Pam forced a smile to her lips. “I’m sorry, Officer, I don’t remember saying that. I’d just woken up from a nap and was a bit disoriented.”
Disoriented in Pam’s vocabulary must mean drunk, because it was obvious to everyone that she still was.
Nate clenched his fists at his side. “Stop putting words in my mother’s mouth. My father’s made her life a living hell the past few years. If you want to blame someone for his death, go find Katie.”
“Nate, don’t,” Pam begged.
“Who’s Katie?” Officer Brooks asked.
“My father’s girlfriend.”
The voice startled me. Max was standing under the archway that led from the dining room. He gave Jacques and me a perfunctory nod and then went to his mother, wrapping her in a tight hug. He sat down on the couch at her left, while Nate reclaimed his spot on the right.
Pam wrapped her hand around Max’s. “I’m sorry you had to hear it over the phone, dear.”
“I don’t think it’s set in yet,” he admitted. “Did you find him?”
Officer Brooks went over to Max and extended his hand. “Officer Kyle Brooks. I’m terribly sorry about your father. Mrs. York is the one who found him. She administered CPR, but unfortunately it was too late.”
Max gave me a grateful look. “At least you tried. Thank you. What happened? What caused his death?”
“We don’t have all the details yet,” Officer Brooks explained. “Were you planning to be at your father’s party tonight?”
“No.” Max gripped his mother’s hand tightly between both of his. “I told my father yesterday that I wouldn’t be coming. In my opinion, it was a sign of disrespect to my mother. Dad called me a spoiled brat, and some other choice words.”
Nate gave a snicker. “Yeah, he was either smacking one of us around or cursing us out for something.”
“Nathaniel!” Pam looked horrified. “He was your father, for goodness sake! How can you say such a thing?”
“Because it’s the truth,” Max interrupted. “He only cared about himself.” He stared up at Officer Brooks. “When he called me a spoiled brat, I told him he was a selfish jerk. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. I mean, why not let Mom have the house? He could have gone and moved in with his girlfriend. Mom doesn’t want to leave here, and she shouldn’t have to.”
Pam’s face turned crimson. “Max, there’s no need to go into details.”
“But it’s true,” Nate insisted. “The only reason he’s selling it is to get back at you for divorcing him.”
Officer Brooks addressed Max. “When was the last time you spoke to him?”
Max drew his eyebrows together. “Not since yesterday.”
Jacques nudged me in the side, and I understood what it meant. I hated to be unsympathetic to the situation, but all I wanted was to get out of here. Besides exhaustion setting in, my clothes were soaked through, I was cold, and my blazer stained with blood.
Officer Brooks reached into his pocket and handed me a business card. “Mrs. York, you and your associate are free to go. Can I please have your phone number if I need to get in touch with you again?”
I recited my number for him and then turned to Pam. “I’m sorry to bother you, but is there any chance I could borrow a pair of shoes? As you heard, the police are keeping my other one for evidence.”
Everyone in the room chose that moment to stare down at my bare foot. At least I’d painted my toenails yesterday.
“Oh of course. Cindy, I’m sorry about that.” She glared at Officer Brooks, as if this was his fault. “I believe there’s a pair of sneakers in the kitchen pantry.”
Max rose. “Do you want me to get them?”
Pam stood, albeit a bit shakily at first. “No, dear. I need to fix myself some coffee anyway. I think it’s going to be a long night.”
As she moved out of the room, Max crossed over to me. “Mrs. York, Nate and I want to thank you for trying to save our father’s life. We’ll always be grateful to you.”
His eyes had clouded over with tears, and the sight nearly made me start crying as well. Nate remained sitting on the couch, saying nothing until Max shot him a pointed look. “Yeah,” he chimed in. “Thanks for trying.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” I told them. “If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”
With a bored expression, Nate pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and started deftly moving his fingers across the screen. His father had just died, but he appeared angrier and sullener than grief stricken. He happened to glance up and our eyes met. The heated look he gave me could have melted icicles in Antarctica.
Pam returned from the kitchen holding a pair of pink and white Adidas sneakers that looked brand new. She handed them to me. “If I remember, we’re about the same size. I know that I was always borrowing your clogs back in college.” She reached forward and put her arms around me while trying to hold back a sob. “Cindy, thank you for everything.”
“Is there anything else I can do?” I asked anxiously.
Pam released me and wiped away a tear from her eye. “No thanks. I have my boys here to help me through this nightmare.”
Max laid a hand protectively on her shoulder. “We’re not going anywhere, Mom.”
“Please call me if you need anything—anything at all, or to talk,” I offered.
Officer Brooks coughed, and I sensed that was our cue to leave. Jacques nodded to everyone in the room and then took Pam’s hand in his own. “My deepest condolences, Mrs. Hilton.”
When we were back outside, we spotted Officer Bentley standing in front of the house, talking on his cell. A small crowd of people were gathered across the street, chatting amicably amongst themselves. Like a celebrity Instagram account, death always had many followers.
There was a white van in the driveway with Coroner marked on one side. Jacques and I had to wait for Officer Bentley to move his cruiser from behind my car so I could leave.
Jacques took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive, dear? I’m happy to come back with Greg later to get your car.”
“Thanks, but it’s not necessary. I’m fine.” I unlocked the driver’s door. “I hope I don’t get called in for questioning again.”
He snorted. “I think you can pretty much count on that. But for now, go home, have a glass of wine, and get some rest. Tomorrow morning after you get your tiny tot off to school, call me and we’ll meet for coffee. My treat.”
“Will do.” I gave him a hug. “Thanks for being here.”
Jacques kissed me on the cheek. “No problem. Oh, could you adjust the listing on the MLS when you get home, or do you want me to do it?”
“I’ll take care of it. Should I add a note saying that there will be no more showings until further notice?”
“Yes, short and sweet,” Jacques advised. “Or you could always add, no showings until killer is found.”
"Come on. We don’t know for certain that Kevin was murdered—yet.”
He shot me a look of disbelief. “Cin, we’ve been down this road before. Do you honestly think that Kevin drowned by accident?”
I stared down at the blood stain on my blazer. “Honestly? No, I don’t. Someone had a hand in his death.” I hated to say it out loud, but things were looking bleak for Pam right now.