chapter 1, continued
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"I'm sorry, how rude of me," Jeremy said, and Don shook his head, go on, suck up to her now, he thought, she already hates me, "My name is Jeremy Fox. I'm the other name on the door out there. At least my name was still up there last night when I left, I forgot to check this morning," he paused dramatically and continued, "see, I'm just waiting for the day when Donny here decides he doesn't need me anymore and scratches it right off. I figure he's not even gonna tell me when he does it. He'll just scratch it off the door and take it off the letterhead and lock my office up and that'll be it." He paused again and added in a hilariously stupid accent, "He's the brains of the operation, shee." A small smile cracked on Kate Richard's face, working miracles on her face,
"And what are you?" She asked, playing right into his hands.
"Oh, little ol' me. I'm the money and the meetings. And I do all our publicity stunts, well, 'cause I mean, look at that guy. . ." Kate gave a startled laugh and turned toward Don,
"Oh, he didn't mean that, I'm sure." Kate Richard suddenly looked and sounded like a happy mother, and Don felt a surge of pity. The woman was probably strained beyond belief. He probably could have handled her better. Thank God for Jeremy. . . no, he didn't have to worry about his job anytime soon.
"Actually," Don said, finding his voice again, and falling into the charming routine along side Jeremy. As long as Jeremy was there he could do this fine. "Jeremy is a superb PI himself. Not as good as me. . . but that's tough for anyone." Kate smiled at Don, and then her face fell,
"I'm sorry. I suppose I was. . . a little harsh." She gave a small apologetic laugh, "I guess--" her voice cracked, "I guess I'm just a little stressed." Another rush of pity arose in Don.
"I understand, ma'am." She gave another small smile. The effect really was startling.
"I don't think I even introduced myself, I'm Kate Richard. . . My. . . I think the Honeycuts called you about my. . . my case," she sent a pained look to Don. He acknowledged it,
"There's no other word," he said. She sighed and nodded, resigned,
"I think the Honeycuts called you about my case." It was Don's turn to nod.
"Yes, Andrew called me yesterday. Would you like to sit down?" Kate smiled and took a seat in one of the large leather chairs facing Don's desk, Jeremy happily took the other. "Tell me why the Honeycuts sent you to me," he said, hoping Honeycut Investigation would be a topic far enough away from the 'case' to open their discussion. Kate sighed.
"Melody Honeycut was my best friend in high school, then Melody Mayer. She's Mara's godmother. I asked her to help me. . . to find out who did this, and she agreed. She couldn't handle looking at. . . at the girls the way they are." Kate's voice broke again. Her eyes were red and shining. This wasn't going to be easy no matter what, Don decided. Gently he said,
"Tell me about that day," Kate drew in a deep breath. Two tears dripped off her cheek before she began.
"I was busy. I've been having a hard time at work. Mara was supposed to have soccer practice that night, but we were going to go shopping for her Homecoming dress first. Chailyn was excited because she had a dance recital that weekend. We were going to leave in about a half hour when. . ." she took another steadying breath, "Chailyn found that Ju--Juji, the dog, the puppy for God's sake. . ." Kate crumpled for a moment. Her loose hairs fell into her eyes and she covered her face with her hands. For a second it sounded like she was going to break into sobs, but then she went silent. She took down her hands and continued in a deadened voice, "Chailyn found that the dog had chewed her teddy-bear. She said she hated the dog and she hated Mara. I called Mara down and the two had a fight. Chailyn ran upstairs. Mara and I then had a fight about the way she handled Chailyn. I told her to apologize and she refused. She ran upstairs. That was the last time I saw them. We were all angry. We might never be able to apologize." She finished and a heavy silence seemed to suffocate the room.
"They're not gone yet," Jeremy said, speaking for the first time since they'd been seated. "And I'm sure they know you love them, and they know they love each other." Kate nodded, like a child being told that her gold fish had gone to heaven, not down the toilet. She'd heard it before, and she would never believe it.
"Ma'am," Don said quietly, "I know that you've already told the police, and that this is hard to tell, but it will be easier if we just do this all now so that we never have to revisit it. How did you find them?" Kate's gaze fell. She stared at the desk, tears falling as she spoke,
"It was four-thirty, I know because I was calling to them because we had to go if we were going to have time to go dress shopping before Mara's practice. I called up the stairs and no one answered. Normally they're pretty good about it, so I figured that Mara was still mad and Chailyn was distracted by the television or something. I went upstairs. Mara wasn't in her room. I was standing in Mara's room thinking that maybe they'd made up and were in Chailyn's room when Mara sc-screamed." Her voice was shaking again. "I ran to Ch-chailyn's room and th-there they w-were. . . beaten and ly-lying in their own bl--"
"You don't have to say that, Mrs. Richard," Don said quietly. "What about the dog?"
At this, Kate stiffened. "The sicko killed our puppy," she said, her voice was low and dangerous, almost a growl. "He couldn't just leave it with having nearly killing my babies. . . he-- he," her voice changed again, back to the broken, raw one, "Do you know what Juji means?" she asked. "Heap of love! She was the sweetest little thing. . ."
"Where did you find her?" Don asked, trying to sound sympathetic, but needing the information, too.
"She was under Chailyn's bed. The police found her, I didn't." Kate looked as though she thought there could be no worse fate than being found by the police rather than a family member. She looked like she was falling apart. Don hated to ask anymore. . . but he had to. And it would be easier all at once.
"I know this is an impertinent question, Mrs. Richard, but you didn't hear anything?" She crumpled into her hands-over-the-face position again, shaking her head. "Not until Mara screamed. . . and I just don't know how he got out before I got to the room. I ran. I sprinted to get to my screaming baby."
"And there were no signs of forced entry?"
"None," she responded in a hallow voice, "that's what the police said anyway. . . I have only been home a few times." Don nodded. He would be at the hospital every moment if his two children were there.
"Is Mr. Richard. . . ?" Kate's eyes met his. She blinked. She looked. . . empty.
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