“Usually she tells me to fetch her whatever piece she wants. But she has a key to my house. If I were out of town, she could come in and open the safe.”
“What about the inner safe?”
“She doesn’t know the combination to it.”
“And that’s where you kept the memoirs?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else in the inner safe?”
“My mother’s will. But that isn’t exactly a collector’s item. Copies all over the place. She has one, my brothers each have a copy. The lawyer has a copy.”
“Do you know if your mother has made any changes in her will lately?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Just throwing out questions.”
“I don’t think she has. You’ve arranged a little tryst with her in the limo, why don’t you ask her yourself?”
“I take it you know the contents of your mother’s will?”
“I’ve never bothered with the specifics. I do know that the bulk of her estate is left to me.”
Decker noted that her account of her mother’s will was consistent with Freddy Brecht’s account. Maybe Brother King was actually “insanely jealous” of his sister. He made a note to contact this Merritt guy immediately.
“Did you keep anything else with the memoirs?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. Can I ask the police artist to come up and take those drawings now?”
Lilah broke into an innocent smile. “You really do believe in my powers, don’t you, Peter?”
“I—”
“I knew it. You did feel my energy.”
“I believe you’re trying to tell me something.” Decker paused. “When you … imaged these men, Lilah, you’re sure no one looked familiar?”
“Yes.”
“Lilah, what happened after the men were done? Did you hear them leave?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what time that was?”
“No.”
“Did you try to call anyone?”
“No … I was too scared to move.”
“I understand. Were you raped on your bed?”
“Yes.”
Decker paused. “Do you remember how you got on the floor?”
“He … pushed … kicked me … tore up my bed. I closed my eyes and tried to blank it out. Eventually, I must have passed out. The next thing I remember was your voice. Your … beautiful voice.”
Decker nodded and put his pad away. “You did great.”
Lilah’s eyes moistened. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Decker stood and handed her his business card. “If you think of anything else—need me for any reason—call the station house and I’ll get back to you.”
“This is the station house’s phone number?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you have another number where I could reach you?”
“No.”
She looked at him. “You don’t have a personal phone number, Peter?”
Intense anger had seeped into her eyes. Too bad, Decker thought. He felt bad for what had happened to her, but wasn’t about to give her free rein of his personal life. He waited until she seemed to sense the finality of his decision. Then he said, “This number’s better, Lilah. They can get to me twenty-four hours a day.”
She nodded without enthusiasm. “You can call me at the spa if you have any other questions, Sergeant.”
Sergeant. Her formality was a punishment for his refusal to relinquish his home number. Or maybe she just didn’t feel the need for intimacy anymore. He said, “I have a partner—”
“A woman named Dunn?”
Decker nodded.
Lilah said, “I phoned the spa last night and my executive director told me your pal Dunn was there yesterday, asking questions. Kelley was not pleased.”
“Detective Dunn is very discreet. After all, your house is right next door to the spa.”
“I realize that, but I assure you no one from the spa had anything to do with this. But if she must ask questions to satisfy your superiors, I’ll make sure Kelley cooperates.”
“Thank you. You seem to have a great deal of trust in your staff.”
She turned to him, broke into a strange smile. “As I stated before, my family’s distrustful by nature. I, on the other hand, can afford to trust because I can sense honesty. Look at the length of employment of my staff. Very little turnover. I think God gave me this power to compensate for my overbearing mother. She doesn’t believe in my powers or in me. But then again, Mother really doesn’t know me very well.”
Mike Ness adjusted the dials of his video camera, placed the instrument gingerly on the narrow wooden bench, then opened his locker. The tap on his shoulder made him jump. Goddamn, after all these years she could still sneak up on him. Generally, he took it good-naturedly. Now he felt like strangling her. Instead, he took a deep breath and let it out to the count of eight.
“Small as it is, this is the men’s locker room, Kell.”
“No one’s here.”
“You’re getting on my nerves—”
“I’m getting on your nerves—”
“Yes, you’re getting on my nerves.” He slipped off a gray T-shirt. “Everything’s fine. Quit bugging me.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Jesus Christ, you’re worse than the police.” He pulled out a Body Glove T-shirt from the locker and put it on. God, she could be a pain in the ass. “Ever think about joining the Marines? You’d make a great drill sergeant.”
“Just answer me, Michael.”
He turned around, placed both hands on her shoulders. “I was giving Davida a massage. In her room for two fucking hours listening to her prattle on about some goddamn actor she used to ball. It was thrilling. I left at twelve, then unplugged the phone and tried to get some goddamn sleep.”
“I knocked on your door—”
“Then I didn’t hear you.”
Neither spoke. Ness sat down on the bench and began to lace his Nikes.
Kelley said, “Do you know where Eubie was last night?”
“No.” He looked up. “Why?”
“The lady asked about Eubie and the rape.”
Ness let out a full laugh. “Are you crazy, Kell? Eubie wouldn’t rape Lilah. Fuck her, yes, but rape?” He faced his sister. “Wanna know where Jeffs was, ask Nadia. He probably bunked down with her.”
“Nadia’s a dyke.”
“Not according to Jeffs.”
Kelley bit her lip to keep it from trembling. “What did you and Davida talk about?”
“I just told you! She was talking about some weirdo she used