Slow Kill - Michael Mcgarrity [29]
Parker had dressed up for the occasion. She wore a pair of dainty, open-toe shoes, black slacks that accentuated her slender legs, and a short-sleeved, partially unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt that emphasized the curve of her breasts. Without prompting, she told Kerney that Alice still didn’t understand that Clifford was dead.
“I don’t know if she’s able to process it,” Parker said as she leaned over Kerney’s shoulder and poured his coffee. “She may never be. Her mental capacity is diminishing rapidly.”
The color rose on her cheeks when Kerney looked up and thanked her. He quickly realized Parker was lonely for more than simple companionship.
“Do you have any help to look after her?” he asked.
Parker nodded as she sat and served Kerney a scone. “Trained caregivers are here at night, and I do get an occasional weekend off. But when Alice becomes confused, I’m the only one who can deal with her, so I always try to be fairly close at hand.”
“Where is Alice now?” Kerney asked.
Parker smiled as she stirred cream into her coffee. “She’s in her room. I asked the caregiver to stay over for a while to be with her so we could talk without any interruption.”
“What can you tell me about the origin of Clifford Spalding’s wealth?”
“As I understand it, he owned an old motel in Albuquerque adjacent to a very large shopping mall that wanted the land for expansion. The developer had a pending lease agreement with a national chain to build an upscale motor lodge for vacationers and out-of-town weekend shoppers. Clifford negotiated a deal that gave him some working capital and a minority ownership in the franchise. That’s how it all started.”
“When did this happen?” Kerney asked.
“Long before my time,” Parker replied. “The same year George was killed in Vietnam, or soon thereafter.”
“How did Clifford parlay his profit into a hotel empire?” Kerney asked.
Parker leaned forward, revealing a bit more cleavage. “Another hotel company wanted to establish a presence in Albuquerque and offered an attractive buyout deal for the property after the new motel was up and running. Mr. Spalding retained his minority interest as part of the deal and used his cash-out from the profit he’d made to buy a ninety-nine-year lease on a run-down motel in downtown Santa Fe. He got some investors to put up money for the renovation, and turned the place into a thriving boutique hotel operation.”
“Did he live in Santa Fe?” Kerney asked.
“No, he and Alice had a house in Albuquerque.”
Parker stood and filled Kerney’s juice glass, this time touching him lightly on the shoulder as she poured.
“Why would Alice want Clifford tied to a divorce decree that made him responsible for the continued search for George?” Kerney asked, after Parker, cheeks slightly flushed, returned to her chair.
“Partially out of spite, and partially to use every possible way to hit Clifford in the checkbook,” she said.
Kerney sipped his juice. “Explain that to me.”
“She hates the fact that Clifford never believed George was still alive. It got to the point, just before the divorce, where Mr. Spalding was publicly demeaning her about it to their friends. It was her way of striking back at him.”
“Yet Spalding cooperated in Alice’s hunt for George,” Kerney said. “He hired a private investigator, and stayed in touch with the local police.”
“I always felt he did that more to placate Alice than to really look for George.”
“What about the search for Debbie Calderwood?” Kerney asked.
“George’s personal effects included love letters Debbie had written to him while he was in Vietnam. Those letters convinced Alice that Debbie knew something about George’s military service the Army wasn’t telling her.”
“Like what?”
“That George had some secret duty, a