Episode 11

“She was a mermaid,” Norman said. He sat in a chair, holding a bag of ice to his swollen testicles. The melting ice had already drenched the crotch of his tight pants.

“A mermaid?” Jane Eyre shook her head, clearly disgusted.

Norman’s free hand came up, and he jabbed a finger at Don and Ben. “It was after these two cocksuckers threw me out of the club, right before midnight. It’s their fault I’m a witness to a murder.”

“Did this mermaid have a tail like a porpoise?” Ben asked.

Norman looked like a dashboard bobblehead as he nodded. “And she had long seaweed for hair, too. I saw it floating behind her as she was swimming.”

“How much did you have to drink last night?” Jane Eyre asked.

The upstairs office was almost soundproof, and it muted the music from the club to a muffled murmur. There were three desks with phones and computers on them. A second door led into a bedroom with an attached bath that management used for sleepovers and showers on long shifts. It was possible on the busiest days to start at six in the morning and get off at three the next morning, so having a comfortable, private place to crash for a few hours was a luxury.

Ben held up Norman’s fake ID. “This is too good to be counterfeit. I think someone working for the DMV must be selling these on the side.”

“We’re working on it,” Jane Eyre said. “There’s someone at the Department of Motor Vehicles earning a hundred a pop selling these things, and I’ve already tried to squeeze the information out of this fruitcake, but he always says he doesn’t remember.”

“That might be true ,” Ben said as he handed the fake driver’s license back to the police lieutenant. “I think he boiled away most of the mush between his ears by huffing glue when he was in grade school.”

“Let him go,” she said.

Ben escorted Norman out of the office and left Jane Eyre and Don alone. After the door closed, she said, “I didn’t come here to deal with the likes of that idiot. I came here to get a look at the people who came to your grandfather’s wake and talk to you.”

“Have fun, lieutenant,” Don said. “Everyone here was invited. Jonah left a long list with his last will and testament. He was a total social animal, and he knew every one of those several hundred guests by name. The food and booze is free, so help yourself.”

“What did you do in Vietnam to earn that Bronze Star?” she asked.

“I can’t talk about that. If you want to know, you’ll have to get the defense department to declassify the file.”

“There’s something about you that doesn’t ring true .” She studied his face while rubbing her chin. “I checked out your day job. What’s a former Marine and Vietnam veteran with Casanova for a family name doing teaching high school English to gangbangers in the San Gabriel Valley? That was a surprise. The more I learn about you, the more I want to know. Do your students give you a hard time because of your last name? Do they know about your night job?”

“Most of the kids I teach aren’t literate enough to know anything about Casanova. If you don’t mind, I have to get back to work.” Don went to the office door and held it open.

Jane Eyre stopped in the doorway and looked up at him. “Another thing I learned is that, when you eventually came home after Vietnam, you had a falling out with your grandfather and whatever it was you two argued about didn’t get resolved. You’ve hardly spoken to him for years; yet I understand he raised you instead of your parents. What was the argument about?”

“Lieutenant, if you think I killed Jonah, arrest me, but it won’t stick. I worked New Year’s Eve and didn’t leave the Aphrodisiac Academe until after it closed early in the morning on January first, and there are a lot of witnesses who will account for my every move.”

“I also heard you had an altercation in the parking lot and that you didn’t go home alone.”

“That’s correct, and if you want to ask me any other questions, I want my lawyer present.”

The first 20% of this murder mystery is offered free every Sunday, one episode at a time for 15 episodes, starting September 27 and ending January 3, 2015. The e-book of the novel will go on sale December 5 to 7, 2015, and be offered for three days at $0.99 (75% less than the original price).