Chapter 21 - Baby Bamboozle?

Though a nap sounded tempting, Lee had imbibed too much coffee. He decided to check up on Rachael while he waited on Saul and Roger.

Lee observed her from the one way window for a few minutes. She seemed to be behaving. Lee went to talk to the aide at the desk who had camera watching duty.

"She's been pacing some this morning. She did eat a decent amount of her breakfast."

"No utensils, correct?"

"Paper plates, bowls and cups, not even plastic silverware."

"Good. Anything unusual from the prior shift?"

"Notes say she slept restlessly. Lots of tossing and turning. Buried herself under the blanket so there wasn't much to see."

"I'd like to go in and talk to her."

"Sure. I'll tell the master-at-arms to admit you. You know the rules for entering, right?"

"Yes. No weapons or anything that can be turned into one, which if you knew Commander MacAdam might mean I should only go in naked."

The aide laughed. "I'd pay to see that."

Lee smiled and headed to Rachael's room.

"Morning, Red. How's tricks?"

"Tick tock, tick tock."

"I want to run some things by you."

"I want to run out of here."

"No can do. Confinement getting to you already?"

"Love it. Love the decor. Don't you? Modernism at its finest."

Lee bent toward the mattress. He saw the shift in her eyes immediately. "This bed certainly isn't going to pass inspection." Lee pulled off the blanket. Lee shook his head. The corded binding of the foam mattress had been pulled apart, and the cord inside had been removed. Lee flipped the mattress across the room.

"Halfway to an impressive gallow's knot."

"Spoilsport." Rachael made a play for the noose by grabbing one end.

"You have plenty of time to come up with something else. Come sit with me and talk." Lee pulled her closer using the loop she'd crafted and held one end of. "I'm not sure this would have been strong enough even if you finished it, Red, or how you could have actually used it."

Rachael shrugged. "I didn't have much to work with."

"You were right about Melanie and coke."

"BFD."

"Unfortunately, at the moment I'd have to agree. We haven't found any useful ties to it and her being killed, but we still might. The ex-boyfriend may have dealt as well as impregnated her."

"If she really was pregnant."

"Forensics confirmed she was. Did you really doubt it?"

"I didn't believe a damn thing she said."

"You really are bitter toward her. Why?"

"Didn't you hear my confession? Neither of us were willing to share Roger, and in case you hadn't heard, I'm into assassination on a regular basis now. Gets easier every time." Rachael pretended to shoot.

"You mean like the one Roger and JimBob bailed you out of, where you hit the kid first and lost it? No sale, Red."

"Yeah, but I never believed Melanie was preggers."

"You wouldn't have chanced it. Look, I do need your insight into something, probably irrelevant, but it struck me as odd. In the bathroom at Roger's, Melanie had two home pregnancy tests. One was positive and the other was unused. For some reason I can't put my finger on, it struck me as odd. Why would she keep those?"

"I don't know. They sell them in two-packs most of the time, I think, and they're not cheap. I don't know how long they are good for, but I don't suppose you'd hurry to throw out an unneeded one. . . . Shit, I might have been right after all, at least at the beginning."

"About what?"

"Curly, supposedly she was preggers before she moved in with Roger. Why the hell would she have moved either of the tests?"

"She might have been sentimental about it."

"Seemed like she was anything but. It was a huge problem for which she needed Roger to bail her out. Would you take that positive test with you?"

"I suppose not, but the M.E. confirmed she was pregnant."

"How pregnant? Maybe she wasn't really pregnant when Roger took her in? Did you notice even a hint of a baby bump? Maybe it was all a ploy?"

"To what end?"

"I don't know. I just know the whole thing was wrong."

"We do know that Mel needed money for support right away, but Roger wasn't exactly going to be the same gravy train as her father. Frankly, he would have been worth more to her dead."

"Huh?"

"Mel had an enormous, brand spanking new life insurance policy on Roger. He even bought it for her. For her and the baby."

"I think you're a dud as a detective, Curly. In case you missed it, Roger's perfectly healthy."

"I know. I suppose that's a lead to nowhere. I think I'd best focus on the baby's father, and whether there was a baby then no baby and then a baby again?" Lee scratched his head in confusion.

Rachael laughed.

"What's so funny, Red?"

"I've got you believing now."

"Believing what?"

"What a lying, scheming bitch she was."

"How so? Maybe she was pregnant and miscarried. Roger was marrying her to share a child, so if that happened, maybe she wanted to keep up her end of the bargain."

"Curly, if that was the case, why not be honest and ask Roger to donate his sperm and give him a real baby of his own instead of using some other asshole as a sperm bank?"

"What would he have done?"

"Mr. Honorable? Please. Hand him a jar."

"I think that all just leads us back to the original question: how the real daddy felt about being used as Mel's sperm bank?"

"How would you have felt?"

"For Mel? That might have been the donation that kept on giving, in ways one could regret."

"You'd consider it for someone else?"

"Maybe. I've never been asked."

"I considered it."

"I'm flattered."

"You should be. I'm very choosy." Rachael laughed maniacally, then suddenly pushed Lee aside. "Get the hell out of here. Now."

"What's the matter, Red?" Lee wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I've already been killed with kindness once. I don't need you doing it again." Rachael abruptly pulled away and crossed to the furthest corner of the room where she slunk down against the wall, her arms folded over.