Cold Water: A Modern Crime Noir (Chapter 2)
“So Kelly, you decided to stick around.” I had decided that, not only for Jan's sake but for my own. Her house was quiet today. There were no mourners, no words of condolence.
I sat beside her and took her hand, “How you holdin’ up?”
“I’m ok, I mean, I don’t sleep but I’m surviving.” She looked exhausted. “It’s so quiet around here…” She trailed off for a moment then regained her thoughts. “Would you like some coffee?” She didn’t give me a chance to answer. “Of course, you would, you never say no to coffee.” Despite me not saying anything she headed for the kitchen. I followed her. “You’re not ok, Jan.” She stopped what she was doing and looked down at the coffee cups. “No, I’m not but it’s what people say isn’t it.” She caught her breath, she was close to tears. “Some days are better than others.” I put my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “You’re not supposed to be doing fine, so in that respect, you’re doing great. Let’s get this coffee on shall we.”
When we sat back down she seemed brighter. I asked if she had things to keep her busy. She said she had friends and charity work. Jan had qualified as a nurse but after John, their only child was born, it was agreed she would stay home and help Gerry build the business. She was quiet for a moment then asked, “When are you going home?”
“I should be leaving tomorrow.” I sipped some coffee before adding, “I’m going to be working with Chief Cuff on Gerry’s case.”
She looked up, slightly surprised by the news, “Oh?”
“Well, I’ll be offering my assistance as and when I can so you’ll probably see me from time to time.”
“That makes me feel better. She’s quite a woman, Leander, very good I think.”
“Yes, she is. I like her.” I placed my cup on the coffee table. “This does mean I might have to ask some uncomfortable questions. Are you going to be ok with that?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I know you’ve spoken to the police but do you mind telling me what happened that night, are you up to that now?”
“I think so.” She also placed her cup on the table. “It was a Friday night, Gerry called around six to say he was leaving work but he was getting gas on the way home.”
“How did he sound to you?”
“His normal, upbeat self.”
“What about before work, did you notice anything different?”
“No, he woke at six, took a shower and then we ate breakfast together. I made him lunch and he left around seven-thirty.”
“Did you speak to him at any other time that day?”
“No.” She sounded like she wished she had.
I paused before my next question. “Jan, was everything good between you and Gerry?”
“Yes… well, we had our problems but normal marriage stuff.”
Yeah, I remember that kind of stuff myself. “So you were happy?”
“I think so. I didn’t get to see him much, we’d fight about that. He worked hard to keep the life we had but I still wanted to spend more time with him.”
“Did he ever talk about work? Any problems he was having?”
“Gerry didn’t talk to me about work. After John got older, I thought he might need me back in the office, instead, he hired someone else.” Her words struck me. How could Gerry cut his wife out of the business—a business she helped to grow? What a cold bastard.
“So he hired a secretary?”
“Yes, she made appointments and dealt with suppliers—I became redundant.” She laughed a hollow laugh, “And I was too old to go back to nursing.”
“Why didn’t he ask you back to help?”
“He now thought a husband and wife working together would be a recipe for disaster. It would kill our marriage. My jealousy was already doing that.”
“What d’ya mean?”
“He spent so much time with a much younger, prettier woman—Liza—you saw her yesterday, didn’t you? Quite a delight, isn’t she?”
“I did meet her, yeah. Are you saying Gerry was sleeping with her?”
“I don’t know,” she reached for a box of tissues, “But he wasn’t sleeping with me.”
I decided to move away from the subject. “Jan, did Simone’s mom used to work with Gerry in the early days?”
“Yes, but only briefly. She arrived in town when Simone was a baby. She left Simone’s dad—he was no good and she was looking for work. Gerry suggested she come for an interview.”
“Simone says you both took her under your wing.”
“She was a woman on her own with a baby. We felt we should try and help. They became a part of our family for a while.”
“Do you know what happened to Simone’s mother?”
“She moved to LA I think.”
I sat with that thought. “Why don’t I remember her?”
“You left Cold Water just before she arrived. They lived on Main Street.” Suddenly a smile played across her face. “Simone was wild. She spent most of her teens smoking pot and making out with boys.” I can imagine Simone doing that. “But she made good grades. She was so smart.” She paused before saying, “Why are you so interested in Simone?” I almost said something about investigating a lead, which was sorta true, but really I wanted to find out more about this hot woman from the hotel lobby. I decided to be honest. “I met her, as I said, at the hotel but I didn’t know who she was until I saw her at the funeral.” Jan looked puzzled. “I slept with her.”
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