Page 78 of Den of Iniquity

Bellingham, Washington

Sunday, March 8, 2020

After sharing Marisa’s bombshell news with Mel, my next responsibility was passing it along to my client, who, in this case, paying customer or not, happened to be my grandson. When Kyle came in from another online jam session with the Rockets, Mel and I delivered the news together.

When we finished, Kyle’s first question was, “Should I give Dad a call?”

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Mel advised. “For one thing, we don’t have any way of knowing if Caroline (Mel and I were still calling Serena Caroline at this point) kept her part of the bargain and told him what’s really going on. If she didn’t, you’d be stepping in it big-time. And if she did, by now your father knows that it was all an act on her part, and he’s been played for a sucker. That wouldmean he’d be in a world of hurt. But don’t forget, there’s also a third possibility.”

“What’s that?” Kyle asked.

“Once everything’s out in the open, they may end up deciding to stay together after all.”

“Oh,” Kyle said, “I never thought about that.”

“No matter how this goes,” Mel continued, “remember how you felt when all this came to light? You showed up here in Bellingham telling us that you needed some space. If I were in your dad’s shoes right now, that’s what I’d need, too—space and lots of it.”

“Are you going to tell my mom and Kayla?” Kyle asked.

“No,” I answered. “I’m telling you because you’re my client. They’re not. If they’re going to hear about any of this, they need to hear it from your father rather than from me or from you.”

“Do you think they’ll ever get back together?”

I suppose that’s the ultimate wish of every child of divorced parents, that somehow their mom and dad will magically put the past behind them and get back together.

“That’ll be totally up to them,” Mel advised Kyle. “Even with Caroline out of the picture—which may or may not be the case—there’s no telling what your parents will do in the long run.”

“And I have to live with whatever they decide?”

“Them’s the breaks,” Mel said. “That’s how the world works. When it comes to parents getting divorced, their kids are always along for the ride.”

When Mel spoke those words, once again I knew it was the voice of experience speaking, because she had survived her own parents’ messy divorce. Kyle had no idea about any of that, but seemingly satisfied with what she’d told him, Kyle’s next question was out of left field and totally in keeping with his being a teenager.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked.

“Well,” Mel replied, “when Gramps and I were working for Special Homicide, whenever we closed a case, we always went out to dinner that night to celebrate, and closing this case is definitely worth celebrating no matter what the fallout is. With the Covid shutdown coming, there’s no telling when we’ll be able to eat out again, so I vote we head over to Dos Padres in the Village.”

Which is what we did. A couple of hours later we were at Fairhaven’s favorite Mexican food joint. By then I had pretty well given up hope that Constance Herzog would contact me, but once we were back home and watching that evening’s edition ofAmerica’s Funniest Videos, she finally sent a reply.

Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you. Yes, the quilt in question is still available, and I’m sure your wife will love it. If you’re still interested in purchasing it, please let me know.

I’m back at work starting tomorrow, and I’m on night shift this week. You could pick it up tomorrow afternoon around 2p.m.if you like. FYI, I’d prefer your using a credit card rather than paying with cash or by check.

If that’s a convenient time, please let me know and I’ll send along my address information.

Yours sincerely,

Constance Herzog

“Got her,” I said to Mel.

“Got who?” Kyle wanted to know.

He was definitely not the client on the Darius Jackson overdose case, so talking to Kyle about that one was off-limits.

“Constance Herzog, the lady in Seattle Ellen Mitchell was telling us about,” I explained.

“The one who makes quilts?” Kyle asked.

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