STIRRED 16 page

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 488.

"That's ridiculous! Even Chester sees the same veterinarian. You need to be on my plan. Will you do that?"

"Your plan?"

"Why not? Premier has domestic partner benefits, so we might as well take advantage of them. It's a small co-pay, and no deductible. And we have dental and eye care too."

"But then you'd be paying instead of Tony."

"So what? I'd feel better knowing that you were covered, and that there was a doctor somewhere who cared about you, and not just a billing. And that way, we could see all the same doctors. Wouldn't that be better?"

Lily couldn't believe the verve with which Anna had taken on this "domestic partner" thing. Not that she minded at all–it was thrilling to be reminded in so many ways that Anna viewed their commitment as seriously as she did.

"Okay, I'll make the switch. Tony will be pleased." Every dollar saved at the law clinic was a godsend.

"Good girl. Then you'll make an appointment for a complete physical and give me peace of mind?"

Well I certainly walked right into that! "Fine. Just let me know when the coverage takes effect."

"That's my girl. I plan on keeping you many years, you know."

"No trade-in on a newer model?"

"Nope. I'm going to see that you get regular maintenance so you'll last a long time."

"Gonna drive me into the ground, are you?"

"Yep."

"Sounds like fun." Lily's eyebrows went up. "So how soon can we get started?"

"After supper."

* * *

"I appreciate you doing this with me," Lily said, reaching across the center divide and taking her lover's hand. She had skipped her usual parody of the flight attendant's safety message today.

"I wouldn't miss it," Anna answered softly.

"I won't ask you to do this every year, I promise. But since it's the first year…”

"It's okay, sweetheart. Really."

Today was the first anniversary of Eleanor's death, and the women were flying up to San Jose for the day to visit her grave. Bill Mueller had arranged to meet them for lunch downtown, and they would return early in the evening.

For Lily, the visit was both profoundly sad and at the same time cleansing. The last time she'd been back in her hometown, her life had been in shambles. She and Anna were apart, she'd lost her job, and she had yet to get treatment for her alcohol problem. Still, her mom had been a spiritual force in the fight back from the edge, and today Lily was eager to stand before the headstone and symbolically give her reassurance and thanks.

Arriving too early for lunch, Lily gave Anna the nickel tour in their rental car of her old high school and the outfitters store where she worked summers and after school. Although reluctant to drive by her former home, she finally got up the nerve, and was cheered by the sight of a newly erected swing set in the back yard. Briefly, the women stopped in to say hello to the neighbors, Ernie and Charlotte Beck, who were thinking too about Eleanor this day.

Lily spotted the handsome doctor as he entered The Grill and waved him to their table. Quickly standing, she reached up to give a heartfelt hug. "It's good to see you again. Thanks for making some time for us." She couldn't help the misty eyes at the sight of her mother's dear friend.

"Hi Bill," Anna chimed in, standing also to greet the man.

Bill walked around the table to hug Anna too. "I appreciate you asking me. It's… a comfort to be able to share part of this day with people who understand what it means."

Lily nodded, working hard to keep her tears in check.

"So have you been to the cemetery yet?" he asked.

"Not yet. We'll go as soon as we leave here. Our plane back to LA leaves around six-thirty."

Their small talk was awkward for awhile, until Anna asked how he liked his new car. She and her father had browbeaten the man into leasing a new BMW last year.

"Are you kidding? I love it!"

Anna beamed with pride. "Another satisfied customer!"

From that topic, it was easy to move into more casual conversation, as the women caught Bill up on the Kaklis family and its new addition. The doctor spoke of his recent golf trip to Palm Springs, and Anna reminded him to call the next time he was down, just in case she was visiting her two dealerships there during that time.

Warmed by the visit, the friends said their goodbyes and promised to stay in touch. They would surely drift apart over the years, but would always have fond memories of the special role each had played in Eleanor Stuart's too-short life.

It was a gorgeous day in the South Bay, a light wind having blown away the usual haze that hung over the valley. The smooth east hills boasted a few remaining patches of green from the spring rains and the white oleander bloomed brightly along the freeways.

Lily drove to the cemetery in silence. Parking along the designated drive, the women got out and walked hand in hand to Eleanor's gravesite. It was Anna's first visit since the service, but she had helped Lily with the inscription on the headstone. The grass was freshly mown, and someone had placed a bright bouquet on top.

"It's from her school," Lily explained as she read the small card. Her mother had been principal of a large elementary school. "One of the teachers must have come by this morning already."

"That was very sweet," Anna replied. She and Lily had brought three dried sunflowers–one for each of them and a third for Chester–to crumble and sprinkle into the ground. Sunflowers had been Eleanor's favorite, and she had always preached that decomposed plants "brought new life to the garden."

When they'd finished with their small ritual, Anna rose and placed her hand lovingly on her partner's shoulder. "I'm going to go wait by the car now. Take as long as you want."

Lily nodded, smiling softly in appreciation of the depth of Anna's understanding about this day and what it meant to be able to commune with her mother like this. Turning back to the headstone as her partner walked away, Lily began.

"Hi Mom. I sure have missed you. It's hard to believe it's already been a year." Lily was almost overcome with the sense of comfort and familiarity she felt at standing here before her mother's resting place. "I figure you somehow already know all of this, but everything I talked about the last time I was here is all better now.

"I haven't had a drink in about eight months. I'm back at work–Katharine will like that part. It's still part-time but it's just with kids, so it's something I really like. And you can see that Anna and I have worked everything out. In fact, I wanted to show you this." Lily self-consciously held out her hand to show off the ring Anna had given her, as though her mother could see it from where she lay.

"She's more than I ever dreamed, Mom. I'm really glad you two had the chance to know each other, even if it was just for a while. Mostly, I wanted you to know that I have a family again. No one will ever take your place–you know that–but I don't want you to worry that I'm alone. Thanks to Anna, I have in-laws, a nephew and now a new niece. I'm going to be alright. I don't want you to worry about me.

"And I hope it's okay with you, but I probably won't come be coming back here every year. I'll stop by when I can, but don't ever think that I've forgotten you. You're still in my heart every day. I love you, Mom."

Two hours later, their plane took off toward the San Francisco Bay, banking sharply to the right in its southward turn. Lily spotted the municipal cemetery from the sky, finally shedding her first full tear of the day.

Anna took the smaller hand and squeezed tightly as the jet climbed. She felt awful that she hadn't been with Lily on her difficult trip last year, and had been determined to come along on this visit. She would do whatever she could to make certain that her partner never felt alone again.

"Anna, where is your mother buried?"

Startled momentarily by the question, Anna had to think. "She isn't, actually. She was cremated. Dad and I scattered her ashes in the water off Catalina." The memory of that final sailing trip with her father rushed back at her. George had sold the boat soon after they got back, and had never sailed again. To a 10-year-old girl, that had severed an important connection.

"Why there?" Lily couldn't believe she was just hearing this story for the first time. How could she have been so self-centered not to even ask?

"We used to sail together. Mom and Dad both loved it."

"I thought George hated boats." He never went along with Hal.

"No, he just left it behind. I guess it made him sad."

"I can understand that. I didn't want to go hiking last year after Mom died. It took me until January to finally go back up into the mountains. And I thought about her a lot that day."

"Do you feel like she's with you?"

"Every day," Lily answered emphatically.

Anna nodded in understanding. "Sometimes, I still think my mother is with me too, even after almost 25 years."

This time, it was Lily's turn to squeeze her partner's hand in comfort. If she spent the next 60 years with this woman, it would not be enough to know her.

* * *

Chester greeted their arrival with his usual exuberance, barking deeply and wagging his tail with enthusiasm. Lily dropped down to wrestle with him in the family room as Anna went off to the kitchen to prepare his nightly feast. The basset hound had adjusted well to his move to LA, thanks especially to Anna, who spoiled him absolutely rotten. The only thing he was denied was the opportunity to fall asleep alongside the two-legged humans–as opposed to his own four-legged human self–in their bed. But they didn't seem to mind that he joined them in the night.

Overwhelmed with excitement at the arrival of these larger people, Chester detoured from his dinner out the doggie door into the side yard for quick relief. Though genuinely confused at first, he had finally understood after all that they didn't really like it when he peed in the kitchen.

"You know, I'll never get tired of being greeted like that," Anna said. She had bonded with Chester the first time they met in San Jose, and had since become his favorite tall person. "Listen, I have to go into work for a couple of hours tomorrow. What if afterwards we take Chester for a long walk at Topanga? Maybe even take a picnic."

"Are you kidding? I'd love it!" Lily was used to fending for herself most Saturdays, sometimes stopping by the BMW lot just to see her girl in action.

"Then it's a date. What do you want for dinner?"

It was already after nine, which would explain those hunger pangs. Lily scoured the refrigerator and cabinets for something appealing, finally settling on Anna's favorite, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a glass of milk. "Want to take this upstairs and watch the news while we get ready for bed?"

"Sure. Let me take him for a quick W-A-L-K first, then I'll lock up and come on up."

Chester began his happy dance, running back and forth from Anna to the family room, where she kept his leash. Apparently, the dog had learned to spell.

Twenty minutes later, the dark-haired woman returned to find her lover already in bed, a blob of strawberry jam painting the nightshirt she wouldn't wear for long anyway. "Can I have the rest of that?" she asked, lowering her mouth to the stain just above the right breast.

"Mmm, why don't you hand me your sandwich and I'll smear that on me too?" Lily teased. This flirting was probably as close as they'd ever come to actually eating food from one another's body.

"San Francisco police are reporting two arrests tonight in the murder of Peyton Graves. Details at eleven."

"Wow, did you hear that?"

"I hope they nail the bastards. That was awful."

Peyton Graves was a wealthy Bay Area publisher, and founder of the Open Lands Foundation, a group of philanthropists committed to buying up land to preserve for public use. He had briefly toyed with an independent gubernatorial run last year in order to force the Democratic incumbent back to his liberal roots. Both Anna and Lily had pledged their support during an LA fundraiser for the Foundation.

A decent man with a common touch, Graves had let down his guard, inviting a strike from society's worst element. The would-be politician had been killed two months ago, apparently surprising burglars in his South of Market loft upon returning from a Warriors basketball game. He had obviously done something to anger his killers, as he was stabbed more than 20 times.

Her sandwich finished, Anna went into the bathroom to brush her teeth as the news theme began to play. From her position in the doorway, she watched the story unfold on screen: the file footage of the smiling philanthropist, then the crime scene, and now the SFPD news conference. Two shackled and handcuffed suspects–a man and a woman in their mid-20s–were shown at their arraignment.

"Gosh, put a short blonde wig on that woman, and she could be you," Anna said, barely loud enough for her partner to hear.

Lily watched in stunned fascination as the suspects' names appeared on the screen: Kenneth McGinnis and Kristie Parker.

"Oh my god… I bet she's my sister."

CHAPTER 5

IMMEDIATELY, THE BLONDE jabbed the remote, hoping to find the story playing elsewhere. Anna raced downstairs to the family room, where their HDTV was equipped with a personal video recorder. In moments, she was tracking the story, taping first on one channel then switching quickly to tape another.

"Did you get it?" Lily asked anxiously, rushing into the room at the commercial break.

"I think I got it on two stations, but only the last part. They were on it both times, though."

Lily hurried into the adjoining office, booting up the computer for an internet search. After what seemed an eternity, they finally logged into the web site for the San Francisco Chronicle. Sure enough, the story was there, along with mug shots of the suspects, including one Kristie Lynn Parker, age 24, last address unknown.

"What do you think?" Lily asked her partner nervously. It was certainly possible that she was overreacting.

"I don't know. Was there anything about a sister in any of your adoption papers?"

"No, but according to this, she's only 24. I was already seven when I was adopted, so she would have been born a year after that."

Anna shook her head, bemused by this incredible coincidence. "I don't know, hon. There must be thousands of Parkers out there."

"Yeah, but this one lives in the Bay Area near my birth mother, and she happens to look just like me," she added grimly.

"Not just like you… similar, maybe. And Parker was probably her father's last name." Anna could see how this was upsetting her lover. "Is there any way you could find out?"

Lily was already working on that in her head. She had lots of friends in law enforcement that might be able to help her track down information on the suspects, but it wasn't likely any of that information would include a parent's name. "I'll try to call Andrew Shively tomorrow and see if he can help. If she got a driver's license when she turned 16, there's a chance she lived at the same address as Lisa Parker. That's a long shot, though."

"What about Sandy?" Anna suggested.

"How would…? Anna, you're a genius!" Given her own mother's atrocious parenting skills, it was likely that any child of hers would have had a social worker somewhere along the way. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

Anna was immensely pleased at her contribution. They needed to get to the bottom of this soon, or Lily would go nuts. "Can you call her tomorrow?"

"No, she and Suzanne were going to Vegas this weekend with Pam and Tina. They won't be back until Sunday night."

"Then I guess we'll have to wait." She reached over and wrapped an arm around the blonde woman's shoulder. "You think you can last till then?"

"Guess I'll have to," she said, still in disbelief at the possibilities. "Wouldn't that be something if it turned out she's really my sister? And she's a murderer."

"You don't know any of that yet. She's just a suspect."

"Right." Maybe it all was a mistake. "I suppose we should go on to bed. Are we still on for a picnic tomorrow?" Lily knew she'd need lots of distractions to last until Sunday night when she could talk with her friend.

"Sure." Anna started turning off the lights while Lily shut down the computer.

Hours later, Lily lay awake, the picture of the green-eyed girl in the orange jumpsuit filling her thoughts.

* * *

"Hello."

"Lily? It's Sandy. We just got in. What's up?"

"Sandy… Anna, it's Sandy!" she called excitedly to her lover. Lily had spent much of the weekend downloading and studying all of the stories from the weekend newspapers, even going to the airport both days to buy a Chronicle. Quickly, she related to her friend the story of the woman charged with Peyton Graves' murder and asked if there was a way to go back several years in the system to trace any past interventions. "I think she may be my sister, Sandy. Her last name's Parker, and I swear she looks just like me."

"Your sister? You mean Lisa Parker had another child?" Sandy had gone with her friend to Oakland last year on a clandestine mission to see what had become of Lily's mother. They had found her working as a cocktail waitress at a Holiday Inn near the airport.

"I'm not sure. That's what I need you to find out. Can you look in the system and see if there's anything for a Kristie Lynn Parker?" Lily spelled the name as it appeared in the news reports. "I don't know how far back to tell you to go. She's 24 now."

"I'll give it a shot, but I can't monitor it while I'm out of the office. It may take a few days to get the results."

"That's okay. I'll appreciate anything at all you can do, Sandy."

* * *

Lily resisted the urge to call her friend on Monday, but early Tuesday morning she had left a message with more detail on the Parker woman: her date of birth, which Andrew Shively had gotten from a friend in San Francisco who had a copy of her arrest report, and the correct spelling of her first name, K-r-i-s-t-y. That might possibly narrow Sandy's search.

By Wednesday Lily was beside herself, unable to concentrate on her work. "Sandy Henke please… I see… Has she been in the office today?" She knew it was too much to expect that Sandy would forego her regular duties in the field just to check on her computer output. For all Lily knew, the social worker hadn't even had a chance to run the request yet.

At five o'clock, she said goodnight to her coworkers and headed to her AA meeting at the women's clinic. Lost in thought in the stop and go traffic of the Santa Monica Freeway, Lily was startled by the beeping of her cell phone. Anna.

Anna was worried about her partner. Lily had been totally absorbed in the news out of San Francisco, not eating as she should, and unable to sleep through the night. They needed some resolution to this soon, one way or another.

"Hey baby," she answered.

"Hey yourself. Are you going to your meeting?"

"As we speak. Though judging by all the ‘Easy Does It' and ‘One Day at a Time' bumper stickers I've seen, there are probably enough of us out here on this freeway to have a meeting on our own."

"What time do you think you'll be home?"

"Probably a little after seven. How about you?"

"I'll try to get there sooner. You want me to pick up Chinese?"

"That'd be great."

"Okay, babe. See ya then."

Lily loved it when Anna called her babe.

* * *

Lily booted up the computer as soon as she walked in the door, eager to search for today's news about the Peyton Graves murder case. "Anna?"

"In here. I have dinner."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute. I just want to check to see if there are any updates."

Anna came into the office and stood in the doorway. There was no distracting Lily from this obsession. Though she hadn't been direct…

"How about you come in and have dinner with me first this time? Then I can go on upstairs with a book and you can stay down here half the night again."

Lily froze. That was a tone she hadn't heard in a really long time. Her first instinct was to bristle and fire off a snippy reply. But better judgment ruled the moment, and instead she simply nodded and followed her partner into the kitchen.

"Anna, I'm sorry I've been so crazy this week. I just wish I knew something."

"It's okay. I understand how important all this is to you, but you need to eat and you need to rest." Anna dished out the shrimp and snow peas onto mounds of steaming rice and set them on the small table in the breakfast nook. "And I was hoping we could spend a little time together tonight."

Lily couldn't help but smile at her partner's admission. She was lucky to have this woman in her life. Reaching across the table, she covered the larger hand with her own. "Tell you what. When we're done here, give me 10 minutes to check the Chronicle site, and I'll come upstairs."

Anna smiled as her mind raced ahead. "Deal."

Two quick rings announced a call on Lily's line. "What's your guess? Telemarketer or a survey?" The Laws of Annoyance said if you were eating dinner, it had to be one or the other.

"Uh… survey," Anna guessed. The telemarketers had already called three nights in a row.

"Hello… Sandy!"

Anna got up and went to stand beside her lover at the phone. Though both had been eager for news, now she found herself nervous at actually knowing for sure.

Lily drew in a deep breath and covered the mouthpiece. "Kristy's mom is Lisa Parker," she confirmed flatly, without giving away her state of mind.

Anna put her hand on her partner's back, not knowing at all what to expect when she got off the phone.

"Can I come get them now?" she asked. "Great! I'll be there in half an hour. You're the best, Sandy."

"What is it, Lily?"

"She got the match with the date of birth. Then she found some of the old reports. That's what she printed out, so I'm going to drive over and get them," she stated, her voice now shaking with tension.

"You want some company?"

Lily nodded, relieved that Anna wouldn't make her go alone. She had worried earlier that her partner wasn't going to indulge this obsession much longer.

"Let's go, then. I'll drive."

* * *

Sandy had spread all 11 reports across their dining room table. The record of Kristy Parker's childhood was stark evidence of what might have happened to her friend had social services not aggressively intervened. That someone dropped the ball on the younger sister was evident, but it was clear that Lisa Parker hadn't stood in the way of a better placement. In fact, it appeared as though she hadn't been particularly interested in holding on to this second child at all.

"They're here," Suzanne called, spotting the sports car turning into the drive. Stepping out onto the front porch, she greeted the women as they charged up the steps.

"Hi Suzanne," Anna remembered her manners even if Lily did not. The attorney barreled directly through the door in search of her friend.

"Here it is," Sandy announced. "Pretty classic neglect and abuse. We've got five different interventions where Kristy was removed from the home. Two of them were neglect, two were physical abuse, and the other was suspected sexual abuse by Lisa Parker's boyfriend, but none resulted in any criminal charges."

Lily shuddered at the news, knowing well that few children who grew up like that were capable of a normal life. A silent rage simmered as she picked up the first report. "Is this all?"

"I think so. I started the run on Monday, working backwards through the records, but I didn't have anything when I checked back. When you gave me the date of birth and the new spelling, I put in another query working forward from that date, and that's when I started getting hits. But I had to wait to check them until everybody went home tonight."

"Why was that?" Anna asked.

"Well, technically this kind of thing is a no-no. I could get into trouble for misusing my access to information, but I've been with the state so long, I'd probably have to kill somebody to get fired."

Lily shot her an annoyed look.

"Oops, sorry. Poor choice of words." Sandy wasn't all that surprised that Kristy Parker had ended up behind bars, given her history. That Lily hadn't also was something for which they owed Eleanor Stuart thanks.

Lily paged through one report after another, noting various social workers' observations that Lisa's parenting–or lack thereof–always stopped just short of criminal. Obviously, the woman was mindful of what might lead her back to prison, and clearly she didn't want to go. "This last report was when Kristy was 14 years old. Do you think you'll find more?"

"I doubt it. If you look at the last paragraph of that one, it says she ran away from her foster home. Lisa denied knowing where she was, but the social worker suspected she was back with her mother. They probably just closed her case on her 18^th birthday, without a clue of where she was."

Lily dropped the report in disgust. "And that, ladies, is why so many kids need a guardian ad litem. I can't believe they didn't even pursue it."

The blonde was treading dangerously close to Sandy's turf. "Come on, Lily. You know what the case loads are like. Social workers don't have the means to chase kids who don't want to be found."

"I know, Sandy," she conceded sheepishly. "I just wish she'd had somebody looking out for her back then. Then maybe a good man like Peyton Graves wouldn't be dead."

* * *

"So what do you think about all of this?" Lily asked as they drove home in the darkness. She'd sensed from their earlier near-argument that Anna was losing patience, but she'd seemed very interested in what Sandy had discovered.

"I think it's all pretty incredible. It's amazing to me how you always seemed to know it was her, but I have to admit I had the same feeling that first night we saw her on the news."

"It's really ironic. After all these years, I find out that I have a sister. And, oh by the way, she's a murderer."

"We still don't know that, Lily. Innocent until proven guilty, right?"

"It's supposed to be that way. But I know they don't lock people up and deny bail without having a pretty good case."

Anna had to agree. She'd read every article Lily printed out, and the prosecution was predicting a conviction already. Still, they hadn't released any information on their evidence, and it wasn't clear how McGinnis and Parker had been identified as the perpetrators.

"Maybe I should go see her," Lily wondered aloud.

Anna knew how important this new revelation was to her partner, and she wanted to be supportive. Still, she'd have to admit that the idea of Lily corresponding with a murderer was unsettling, to say the least.

"Why on earth would you want to do that? You don't know this woman at all, Lily."

"You're right, but shouldn't I try to know her? She's my sister."

"Just because you had the same mother?

Lily sighed in exasperation. How could she expect her lover to understand? "Anna… I don't have any other family."

"That's not true and you know it." Anna reached over and took her partner's hand. "I'm family, and my family is yours too."