The decoy

Chapt 6

Chapter Six 

            The Vail's had a five thousand square foot home and a property which swallowed up three acres and backed onto a thirty six hole golf course five miles north of Flagstaff. It was a bungalow that stretched long enough to hold six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a library, a games room, a wine cellar and something called a "great room" which was a large foyer with a fifteen foot ceiling, lots of glass. They seemed to like white leather furniture. They walked quietly to the great room where Jessie Vail offered Sebastian a chair.

            The great room had a large picture window which climbed from floor to ceiling and from which you could see the pool and then a row of bushes and gardens which seemed to spread out endlessly to a wooded area at the back of their property. Sebastian noticed a young woman sitting on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in the water. Then he turned his attention back to the widow.

            Jessie Vail was stunning. She wasn't model thin like the trophy wives that she ate lunch with at the golf club but she was slim and understatedly attractive. She was tall and blonde and although she had the melancholy air of a widow about to review the murder of her husband there was an inner strength about her. She had the composure of an athlete. Sebastian thought she was the sort of woman who gets the family ready for the day and then runs a triathlon before she starts her house cleaning. He remembered Pezzo's comments about negotiating now to buy the widow's business and Starr's comments about Jessie allowing him to run the family business but she seemed strong enough to handle both those guys.

            She was clearly uncomfortable talking about her deceased husband and Sebastian was uncomfortable asking. He wondered if his need to push the envelope on this case extended to tormenting a widow and he wished he were back grilling the mobster's son or annoying the body builder businessman. Everyone had said what a fine person her husband was and what a great couple they were and he could see why. For the first time since he arrived here, Sebastian felt that he was intruding but Jessie maintained the conversation.

            "It is difficult to talk about but I appreciate that you are helping to find the people who did this."

She sipped on her coffee and Sebastian felt it was generous of her to reassure him that his investigation was a good thing.

            "My husband and I met in high school. I guess we were high school sweethearts. We got engaged right afterwards, although I left to go to college and Paul stayed back in Winona. That's where we were both from.

His parents didn't have any money and so he worked in a grocery store and started picking up junk in the evenings. At first he made ends meet by clearing garbage for the Thompsons. They owned the grocery store but soon he was clearing trash for all kinds of places, the grocery, a couple of pharmacies and then he started working for construction sites and with a few wrecking crews.

            I did a lot of things in college during that time.  She pointed around the room and Sebastian saw what she meant. Jessie had trophies and plaques which she displayed on three shelves of a bookcase that ran the length of one wall. She was a cheerleader and she played college tennis, golf and synchronized swimming. If all the hardware on the shelves meant anything it was clear she was good at what she did. There was a single silver framed picture of her and her husband in a restaurant by the water. It appeared to be about ten years old.

            "That's Paul and I at my favourite restaurant. God we were kids then. Look at the two of us," she smiled slightly but then she seemed to fight back tears, "that was the night he asked me to marry him. The restaurant is called the Apple Tree. It's a very private little place right on the water out on Mormon Lake. We got engaged before I went away to college. I had a lot of fun in college and made lots of great friends but I came back here and married Paul and we had a great life together."