Flowers for Her Grave - By Judy Clemons Page 0,101
what?”
“This morning. Taking care of me. For forgiving my behavior this week.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And thank you from us, too.” Mrs. Parker regarded Casey with watery eyes.
Casey nodded. “You looking at pictures of Andrea?”
“One of her albums.” Krystal sat back so Casey could see the pages. Photos of Andrea. Laughing. Smiling. Arms around friends. In the pool. At work.
With Richie.
“So she really was involved with him.”
Krystal sniffed. “He’s a great guy. Terrible aerobics teacher, but super person. He and Andrea were so perfect for each other. I don’t know what he’s going to do now.”
Casey figured she knew. He would run far away with Maria and her kids, where no one could find them. But one thing still bugged her. She leaned toward Krystal, speaking quietly. “I know about Maria.”
Krystal’s mouth dropped.
“But I was wondering—did Maria know about Andrea?”
“Of course. She helped get them together in the first place.”
That made so much more sense. Maria was older than Richie—not that that seemed to matter here at the Flamingo—and seemed so put together. Casey just couldn’t imagine she really had romantic notions about someone like Richie, who seemed so young and inexperienced. “But Richie and Andrea’s being engaged—didn’t that get in the way of Maria getting citizenship?”
“Of course not. They’d promised her they would stick around until she was set.”
“But he couldn’t marry her anymore, if he was going to marry Andrea.”
Krystal let out a surprised laugh. “He was going to marry Maria?”
“Well, wasn’t he? I thought that was the best way of securing her place in the US.”
“That was never in the plan. Really. Even Richie, with all his good intentions, wasn’t going to marry a woman for a green card.”
“So what was the plan?”
“He was an advocate. Look, he may not be a fitness guru, but he’s got a way with people. He spent hours with the INS, trying to figure out just what Maria needed to be secure.”
“So if the whole love triangle thing wasn’t a problem, why didn’t Andrea go live with them? Why stay here and pretend the whole relationship didn’t exist?”
“I asked them the same thing. But as I said, they weren’t going to leave without knowing Maria and the kids would be okay, and who knew how long that would take? As long as they were here, it only made sense for Andrea to keep her job. Richie obviously wasn’t working, so they needed the money. If Andrea would have moved out, but still worked at the bank, people from here would have seen her, and that could have led them back to Richie, and we know what trouble that would have caused.”
“With Sissy.”
“Right. The old witch.”
Ouch. “But Richie stopped calling Andrea two weeks ago. Why would he do that if Maria knew about her?”
“So the cops identified his number, huh?” Krystal smiled grimly. “Yeah. Someone else identified it, too, and made threats to tell the cops. Or at least tell Sissy.”
“Brandon.”
Krystal frowned. “Asshole. He just couldn’t let anyone do anything good. As one of his final gifts, he assured Maria he’d be keeping tabs on her. If she stopped paying him off, he would go to the authorities. And he would let Sissy know where she could find Richie. He thought he was so smart.”
“So Richie really was a good guy.”
“Yeah. The best. And Andrea was an even better woman.”
Then why on earth would Maria kill Andrea? Brandon, she could see, but to murder a woman who only wanted what was best for Maria and her family? The whole thing felt so wrong.
“So who’s that?” Casey pointed at a picture on the far page that showed Andrea with a little girl.
“Oh, her.” Krystal shifted in her seat, not saying anything.
Casey recognized the child, and leaned down to talk quietly into Krystal’s ear. “She’s yours, isn’t she?”
Krystal jerked her head up. “What?”
“It’s okay. I won’t tell anybody.”
Krystal’s eyes watered. “We only saw her the one time. Andrea helped me find her. We visited, but that was it. It’s over. She’s happy where she is.”
“But she’s a secret, isn’t she?”
Krystal’s lips trembled. “For now, yes. She was…that was a hard time for me.”
“I understand.” Casey stood back up. “And now I’m going to say goodnight.”
“You’re not going to tell them we found Andrea’s murderer?” Death hovered over the photo album, looking at the photos upside-down. “And that it’s the woman who has now set off with Andrea’s fiancé?”
Casey shook her head. The Parkers were already back in their own world, looking at photos of their daughter, and