Bernadette stared out the window, not answering. I turned off the car and shifted in my seat so I could face her, but she still kept her face pointed at the window. I put my hand on her shoulder and . . .
Bernadette, my fearless cousin Bernadette, who’d broken my cousin Ronnie’s nose after he broke her heart. Who was so determined and strong, she’d not only performed an intense dance routine on a fractured ankle for the Miss Teen Shady Palms Pageant, she’d almost won. Who handled crises every day as an ER nurse. That Bernadette . . . was trembling with fear and holding back tears.
Terrible possibilities filled my head. “What happened? Did someone do something to you? Say anything while you were working?”
She still wouldn’t look at me, but at least replied. “Somebody slashed my tires. Just mine, no one else’s. I checked the entire parking lot.”
“You checked the entire parking lot? By yourself?” I stared at her, fighting the urge to shake her, to yell at her for being so careless. “What if they were still around? What if they were waiting for you to come out and attack you?”
That finally got her attention and she turned to look at me with scorn. “I can take care of myself.” Unlike you, was the unspoken implication.
Typical Bernadette bravado. It was all well and good for her to tell me I needed to be honest about my feelings, but heaven forbid anything challenge her tough girl, hyper-competent image. I counted to ten slowly in my head, the way Elena taught me, before saying, “Have you reported it to the police yet? Or at least told the security guard?”
She snorted. “What good would that do? All that trouble over some prank.”
I clutched the steering wheel to resist shaking her. “You know it wasn’t just some prank! That’s it, I’m calling Detective Park.”
I started rummaging through my purse, but Bernadette grabbed my hand to stop me. “Let it go, Lila.”
There was a warning in her voice. That tone just made me smile and start up the car. She could try and order me around, but she was in my car, at my mercy. Which she came to understand just a few minutes too late when she realized we were heading for my house, where my aunt, grandmother, and the Calendar Crew were sure to be.
* * *
? ? ?
Detective Park was there too, as it turned out, which made my job so much easier. Before Bernadette could even think to threaten me to keep my mouth shut, Tita Rosie and Ninang June had surrounded her and forced her into a chair near the detective. Like me, they only had to look at Bernadette to know something was wrong.
“There was no note, but I think it had to do with the case.” She looked at Detective Park, who was jotting everything down while watching her carefully. “I know everyone thinks that it’s all over now that Mr. Weinman is dead, but it kept bugging me. Case closed or not, everyone is still gossiping about Rob. Talking about all his past scandals and relationships. And it got me thinking . . . That rumor about the contestant who was obsessed with him. People talk as if it were all one-sided, but what if it wasn’t? What if he got that girl in trouble?”
“And by trouble you mean . . . ?” Detective Park prodded.
Bernadette sighed. “Pregnant. I heard one of the moms hint at it during one of the events, and wondered if it was more than idle gossip. So I started asking around, tried to look through old maternity ward records. I haven’t found anything yet, but I wonder if someone learned about what I was doing.”
And by someone, she meant Rob’s real killer. If they were still out there, that is. There was no evidence to support that theory. And yet.
And yet, why slash Bernadette’s tires? It was a risky move. The sun hadn’t quite set yet when I picked her up, so it must’ve still been daylight when they did it. Yes, the hospital security cameras were usually busted, but there were still security guards on the premises. And yes, Bernadette wasn’t like, the nicest girl in town, but she was respected at the hospital and had done nothing to provoke this kind of personal attack. At least not lately. Could it just be a prank, like she’d said in the car?
Detective Park refused to say either way. However, when he got up to escort Bernadette and Ninang June home, he gave us this advice. “I don’t want you all taking any more risks. I’m going to do some digging into this, but as far as you’re all concerned, the Thompson case is closed. Let it go.”
And for once, all of us, me, my aunt, my cousin, and the whole Calendar Crew, were only too happy to follow orders.
Chapter Twenty-three