A Dead Daughter (Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Book 3) Read online

  A Dead Daughter

  Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #3

  Anna Celeste Burke

  Copyright © 2015 Anna Celeste Burke

  www.desertcitiesmystery.com

  Published by Create Space

  All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher except brief quotations for review purposes.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Anna Celeste Burke

  Photo by ©J Keith Howie|Dreamstime.com

  ISBN-13:978-1508620372

  ISBN-10:1508620377

  BOOKS BY ANNA CELESTE BURKE

  A DEAD HUSBAND Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #1

  A DEAD SISTER Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #2

  A DEAD DAUGHTER Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #3

  A DEAD MOTHER Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #4 [2016]

  ~~~~~

  LOVE A FOOT ABOVE THE GROUND Prequel to the Jessica Huntington Series

  *****CHECK OUT MY NEW SERIES*****

  Cowabunga Christmas! Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #1

  Gnarly New Year Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery #2 Coming Soon!

  DEDICATION

  To daughters everywhere, trying to do the right thing!

  Keep at it—trying is what matters. You can do it!

  Table of CONTENTS

  Prologue

  1 The ICU

  2 Serendipitous Events

  3 Disneyland Anyone?

  4 The Scoop

  5 Game On

  6 Tiramisu

  7 Lemon Meringue Pie

  8 A Crutch

  9 Code Silver

  10 Car Chase

  11 The Shooter

  12 An Intervention

  13 French Toast Debrief

  14 First Contact

  15 Biscochito Interrogation

  16 A Tangled Web

  17 Thor and Uber-Thor

  18 Malibu Blues

  19 Degrees of Separation

  20 Friday the 13th

  21 Field Trip Plan

  22 Condo Search

  23 A Familiar Face

  24 Red Devil

  25 Blond Wears Prada

  26 An Old Friend

  27 Trouble at Tiffany’s

  28 More Women

  29 Kierkegaard Snaps

  30 Wicked Women

  31 A Mother Speaks

  32 What Diaries?

  33 A Tipster

  34 Mutiny

  Epilogue

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book is another product of love and patience on the part of my husband. I will never be able to express my gratitude for all he does, including reading every word I write and giving me feedback. He is also a great cheerleader and a vital support when the work bogs down. That’s especially true when I’m lost in the lands of editing and marketing, places that challenge even the most intrepid authors. Thanks, Hubby!

  My sister has also continued to hang in there with me on this book. Despite a life of her own, overflowing with work and other demands, she trudges on at my side reading and editing. Thanks, Sis!

  Prologue

  Jessica used her bound hands to tug at the jacket she was wearing. Keeping it closed retained more of her body heat. With her hands under the edge of the jacket, she worked to loosen the rope wrapped around her wrists. Her back was pressed against an outcropping of boulders near one of the scenic overlooks on the Desert View Trail. She had caught a glimpse of the spectacle below, a breath-taking view she had always loved, but not now. From that vantage point she could see much of the Coachella Valley, overlaid by a grid-work of roadways and buildings. Colorful patches stood out in contrast to swaths of white desert sand. The lights in the desert resort cities below sparkled as the day languished and evening approached. It got dark so early this time of year.

  The air was crisp and fragrant with the smell of the pine trees that flourished in the Mt. San Jacinto wilderness at the top of the Palm Springs tramway. Jessica had come here, many times, while growing up in the valley below. She loved the short tram ride that carried you from palms to pines in minutes. This was her first visit since returning to the Palm Springs area, retreating to her childhood home in the wake of unfortunate events that had wreaked havoc on her well-planned adult life. Despite her best efforts to take refuge behind the gates of the tony Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, calamity prevailed. Jessica had soon fought, like a junkyard dog, to survive a series of shocking attacks. Not even an earthly paradise could keep murder and mayhem at bay. Now, here she was again. This time, in the company of another rich, pampered, 30-something woman whose life was in tatters. Libby Van Der Woert had a gun and was in the midst of a full-blown manic episode.

  “Libby, please listen. It will be dark soon. Let’s go inside where it’s warm and talk this over. We'll get coffee and talk as long as you want.”

  Jessica felt the ties give as she picked at the knots and stretched, clenched and unclenched her bound wrists repeatedly. She had been working at them since she sat on the flat-topped boulder. They had followed the trail, away from the visitor center at the top of the tramway, after Libby stuck a gun in Jessica’s ribs. When they arrived at the overlook, Libby had bound Jessica’s hands and forced her to sit. Wiggle room meant Jessica was making progress. An icy blast made her work harder.

  “No, Jessica, you’re trying to trick me. If I go back, the police will arrest me. My screwed up life will get even worse. Do you think I want to spend what’s left of it in prison?”

  “I’ll help you Libby. Nobody wants you to spend the rest of your life in prison.”

  “Oh yeah? They think I killed Shannon. Why not, since I’ve lied to everyone, over and over? Now they can add kidnapping to my rap sheet, thanks to you. I’ve had plenty of help from you, Jessica Huntington. If you had followed me the first time I asked I wouldn’t have had to use the gun.”

  Libby hopped from one huge boulder to another closer to where Jessica sat. A wave of vertigo swept over Jessica. It looked as though Libby hovered above a sheer drop into the valley. That image was deceptive. The land fell away at a slope not visible from where Jessica sat. That didn’t mean that falling, from where the hyped-up young woman now stood, wouldn’t hurt. It might even kill her.

  “Untie my hands, Libby. Let’s go back to the tram station while we still can without breaking our necks. It will get icy when the sun sets. If anyone asks, I’ll explain that this was a big misunderstanding. There won’t be any charges filed against you for kidnapping, I promise. We’ll find someone else to help you if you don’t want me to be involved.”

  “I’ve already got help. I’ve had help since I was twelve. Dr. Dick, the latest in a long line of shrinks, used me, the son-of-a-bitch. I let him do it. He believed me, Jessica. Anything I said, and the grimier the better. It was such a rush, you know, making up all this sick stuff about people? I had it all worked out. With Dr. Dick’s help I’d pay back the smug jerks for everything they had ever done.” As she spoke Libby paced along the top of a row of boulders. She pretended to be walking a tightrope, wobbling like she might lose her balance. That started another wave of vertigo, forcing Jessica to shut her eyes as she worked harder at the rope around her wrists.

  “You know what he did? He nodded with such concern in his eyes and sp
oke with so much admiration for all I had gone through. Dr. Dick was sorry I had suffered at the hands of my father and my uncle while my mother let it all happen. I was so convincing, I almost believed it myself. I even cried real tears! Lies and more lies; that's slander or libel or some crap like that, right?” She stopped pacing, abruptly, and almost lost her balance.

  “Oh my God, Libby, no!” Jessica gasped. Libby steadied herself and picked up where she had left off. A wistful note entered her voice, for a moment.

  “I thought he loved me, Jessica. I figured if I forced my parents to give me my inheritance early, I could run off with the love-of-my-life. Hell, if I waited until they died to get the money I’d be too old to enjoy it anyway. That part was Dr. Dick’s idea—getting the money, I mean. I’m the one who tried to get it for him, so let’s add extortion to slander and libel and kidnapping. Whatever.” She shrugged and went back to her pretend high-wire act. That she had help from Dr. Richard Carr when hatching her scheme to harass her parents was news, although Jessica had her suspicions about the guy. Who knew how much of what Libby was saying bore any resemblance to truth rather than more lies or delusions?

  “I'm not the first, but I will be the last psycho-tramp who falls for Dr. Dick. I pulled a ‘Monica Lewinsky’ on his ass, with enough of his DNA to make sure he never practices psychotherapy again. That’s one thing I wanted to tell you when I asked you to meet me up here. It’s all in a little blue bag, Jessica. I will not be another dead daughter for nothing!” She threw her head back and laughed, did a sudden turn like she was a gymnast reaching the end of a balance beam, and walked back. That dead daughter statement, and the routine that followed, sent a chill down Jessica’s spine that had nothing to do with the temperature up there at eight thousand feet.

  “Libby, I am so sorry Dr. Carr took advantage of you. What are you waiting for? Let’s go get him, now.” DNA evidence was one way to sort fact from fiction. Carr should not have been having sex with a client. Although Libby believed she made it all up to mislead him, perhaps the good doctor had planted the seeds of false allegations in this confused woman's head.

  “What’s wrong with you? I broke my family, Jessica. Don’t you get it, or don’t you care about family?” With that she stopped, hopped down closer to Jessica, a menacing gleam in her eye.

  “I care about my family, but I also understand how much trouble you can get into when you’re angry and confused. It’s easy to let anger take you in the wrong direction. Lots of us get in over our heads and hurt people, even the ones we love most, Libby.” Jessica felt the ropes on her wrist give again, as she spoke to Libby in a calm voice. A tad more and she could slip free. What to do after that wasn’t clear. The gun Libby held wasn’t more than a few inches away.

  “Shut up, Jessica. You don’t know what you’re talking about, except the part about being in over your head. It’s over for me, like it was for my so-called friend, Shannon Donnelly. I told them what she was up to, so it’s my fault she's gone. Why not take you with me? That’ll get to my parents. You’re so perfect, everything they ever wanted in a daughter. I'll take that away from them too. Poof!” Libby waved the gun back and forth over Jessica as if it were a magic wand. Her face was pale, her dark eyes were wild, and her hair flowed in the cold mountain air. She was like a character from Harry Potter, a mad, wizard-in-training. “You should have left me alone, Jessica.”

  “You called me, remember? I'm here because you reached out for help. Please, no more dead daughters, okay? Get rid of that gun. Toss it down below and nobody has to know you ever even had a gun. You don’t want to hurt me, yourself or anyone else. I can help you. Paul can help you too.”

  Libby squatted down, fixing Jessica with a grimace on her lips. “Like he did when I had that car accident that killed Lela, you mean? Do you truly believe that was an accident, Jessica? I should have died, too, you moron. You aren’t half as smart as you think you are.” Libby stood up again and turned her back on Jessica.

  “Paul Worthington was helpful, all right. My parents were ever so grateful and relieved that I didn’t go to prison. All he did was let me get up to more mischief. That’s what I’ve done, you know, caused a lot of mischief for Lela and Shannon and my parents. I lobbed a bomb into my uncle’s life, too, the pompous ass. I bet his new wife is not so happy about marrying into this family. Truth, my version of the truth, was the best wedding present ever! She will never see him the same way again after my phone call. I was so reasonable, Jessica. Even gave her permission to speak to my shrink who reassured her he believed every word of my tragic story—abused by my father and his brother! Why not? If one brother’s a freak the other one is too, right?” Libby tossed her head back and cackled. The action caused her to wobble again. “My parents’ lives are blown to bits. Such accomplished people with their rags to riches story, and all that overcoming hardship crap. No matter what else they ever do, they’re losers as parents. I’ve made that clear, haven’t I?”

  “Come on, Libby. I can't believe you want that for them, or for you. There’s always a chance to make things right. You just have to give it another try.”

  “Oh no, not that ‘try and try again’ line, at a time like this? Is that all you’ve got? Woohoo, Jessica, it is a long way down. Come, take a look.” With that, Libby climbed back to the boulder she had been using as a balance beam and took a couple steps back without even looking behind her.

  “Libby, please don’t back up anymore. You’re so close to the edge already. You’ve got to believe me, those rocks get slippery.”

  “Come here and take a look. Now, or I’ll shoot you!” Libby pointed the gun at Jessica.

  “Then what? Who will help you make sure Carr pays for what he’s done to you? Go ahead and shoot because I will not get any closer.”

  “Do as she says, Ms. Huntington, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  Jessica’s head snapped around, startled by the sound. There he was, on another of the boulders nearby, as if conjured by Libby’s words. The doctor’s white hair gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. Dr. Richard Carr was waving a gun of his own.

  Dr. Dick all right, Jessica thought. She was about to warn him off when Carr, belying his age, moved toward her, in a flash. He hopped from the boulder he was on to another, and then down onto the boulder near where Jessica sat. Grabbing her by the ropes, he jerked Jessica to her feet.

  “Libby has the right idea about you, Ms. Huntington. You haven’t been helpful to her at all. In fact, you’ve been a pain in the ass from day one. She’d be fine right now if you’d kept your mouth shut tight around that silver spoon in it. It is a pity you two couldn’t help each other though. Under other circumstances I imagine you might have been close friends. Two self-absorbed, poor little rich girls, with no real worries in your pointless little lives, you could have found so much to whine about over manis and pedis. You, and all the rest of the entitled children of the rich and famous in my 90210 practice, make me sick. What a bunch of naive, sheltered, self-centered monsters! Easy to manipulate, I will say that much for you, especially with the help of my liberal drug policy. Libby did as she was told until you stepped in. Now get up there, like she said, or I’ll shoot her and then you.” He motioned with the gun toward Libby.

  “It won’t work, Carr. They’ll figure out you did it.”

  “How? Nobody even knows I’m up here. It’ll be easy enough to believe you two psychos fought over the gun or something. Or maybe you decided you were Rodeo Drive’s answer to Thelma and Louise and forged a murder-suicide pact. Who knows? There’s ample evidence you’re no more stable than Libby, Ms. Huntington. You’ve been in treatment for years, with one therapist after another. Then a divorce and all the other traumas you’ve been through in the last few months. It’s enough to push anyone over the edge. Over the edge, get it?” Carr laughed at that last witty bit. His laugh was as unnerving as the ones that had issued from Libby earlier. Libby wasn’t laughing now.

  “How do you know I’ve been in treatment, or
why?” Too wound up to answer, he continued to rant.

  “I can’t believe you had the gall to put Libby up to turning on me. You, Libby, are sicker and dumber than I ever dreamed. Why don’t you do as Ms. Huntington suggested and toss that gun down below? Trust me if you make even the slightest move I’ll shoot your friend here. I know you don’t really want another dead daughter on your conscience since you seem to have found one.”

  Jessica stood, letting the new psychopath take his turn raging against the fates. His yank on the ropes had brought her to her feet, but had also loosened them enough she could wriggle free as the bastard spoke. In an instant she reached over and shoved him. Caught by surprise, he went flailing backwards. He slipped off the boulder and fell flat on his back with an audible thud and a grunt of pain. The gun flew out of his hands and wedged into a crevice nearby. Jessica scrambled up onto the boulder where Libby stood, grabbed her by the hand, and yanked her toward the jumble of rocks they needed to cross to get to safety.

  “Libby, let’s go. This is over. You will tell them all about your beloved psychiatrist. He will never hurt you, or anyone else, again.”

  As they moved past the spot where the doctor had fallen, he climbed up on the rocks behind them. He reached for Libby who teetered as she tried to evade his grasp. Libby shoved Jessica then turned as the man lunged for her. Dr. Dick grabbed hold of the arm in which Libby still held a gun and pulled himself forward onto the boulder with her. Jessica heard two sounds as she fell—a gunshot and a blood-curdling scream. The scream was her own as she plunged backward into nothingness. Maybe it was a sheer drop to the valley below.

  1 The ICU

  The room was cool and dark in the eerie twilight of the Intensive Care Unit where they had brought Jessica. It was quiet, at the moment, except for a soft, rhythmic pinging and the whooshing sound of a machine hooked up to Jessica. To her anxious mother, the room gave off a strange vibe, cocoon-like, everything suspended in time and place—a way-station on the too thin line between this life and the next. What came next was unclear, but oblivion played a big part in Alexis’ notions of the afterlife. Oblivion was a blessing when life asked too much, like now, when she was worried sick about her daughter. The wish for oblivion was for herself, not for Jessica, who barely missed an early entry into the netherworld hours earlier.