Amateur City (Kate Delafield Series Book 1) by Katherine V. Forrest

Author:Katherine V. Forrest [Forrest, Katherine V.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781555837181
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2011-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

At five minutes to seven, Kate parked off Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica, and walked around the corner and down the half block to Fergus Parker’s house. She was comfortable in her jacket even this late in a February day, even in usually cool Santa Monica; warm Santa Ana winds had blown in from the desert that afternoon. A large woman in a dark blue muumuu paced the driveway beside the house. Gray roots showed along the part in the neatly combed, curly reddish-brown hair that framed a puffy face.

“Mrs. Fergus Parker?”

Red-rimmed sapphire eyes looked her over, glanced at the shield she had extended along with her ID card, and met Kate’s eyes. “Detective Delafield,” she said in a soft girlish voice, “I’ve already answered questions—an officer this morning, and the Coroner’s office a little while ago. My children have just arrived. Do they have to be involved in this?”

“Will we need to question them? I can’t think why we would.”

“They’re very upset, especially my son. Could we possibly talk in the backyard, leave them to unpack?”

“Certainly.”

Kate followed her through a latched wooden gate next to the garage, down a path to a tiny yard containing a narrow swimming pool perhaps fifteen feet in length.

“It’s a lovely night,” Helen Parker said, lowering herself into a deck chair and gathering her voluminous dress around her; rolls of fat settled around her midriff. “The Santa Anas are a lovely and unexpected respite from the winter.”

“Indeed,” Kate said, sitting across from her and taking out her notebook, thinking that under the circumstances her lyrical praise of the weather fit Gail Freeman’s ironic description of the ungrieving Widow Parker, but the red-rimmed eyes did not.

“I don’t have much progress to report,” Kate said, “or even many questions to ask. We’re still putting facts together, gathering evidence which may point to the person responsible. Perhaps we can begin with any persons you know of who were enemies of your husband.”

She was taken aback by soft peals of laughter.

Helen Parker said, “His wife. His entire management staff. Most people he came into contact with. Don’t be misled by the fact that I’ve been crying. Those were tears for my children. I have them now, and they’re never going away from me again.”

Kate cleared her throat. “I see.”

“No, you really don’t. You don’t even begin to see.” She fished in the pocket of her dress and took out a box of Marlboros with a pack of matches tucked into the cellophane, and lit a cigarette. She glanced at Kate’s left hand. “Have you ever been married?”

Warily, Kate shook her head.

“Even so…you’ll understand better than a man would.” Helen Parker drew on her cigarette. Her lips were well-shaped, with a trace of lipstick; she held the cigarette gracefully in long plump fingers.

“I haven’t had a drink today, Detective Delafield. When Gail told me this morning, I poured myself a stiff one. But then after he left I dumped it into a humidor filled with stinking cigars. I realized I didn’t have to drink anymore.

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