Closer Encounters

“Roger that. I’ll also have them check out the home health-care company. It has a twenty-four-hour number for emergencies, but the person who answered my call was goosey about releasing information until she checked with her supervisor in the morning.”

“Good enough. Maybe we can…”

Drew broke off. Head cocked, he strained to hear the soft sounds in the other room. The low murmurs came in snatches interspersed with breathy sighs.

“Something wrong, Riever?”

“I just picked up sounds from next door. Evidently the target talks in her sleep. Correction, make that sings in her sleep.”

It took only a few moments for Drew to recognize the melody.

“She’s humming the same tune she played on the computer earlier. Did you find anything on the song or the singer?”

“The song was written in the late thirties and recorded by a dozen different crooners over the years. Trixie Halston, the singer Brandt was listening to tonight, recorded her version in 1940.”

The low, seductive humming was like a drug, seeping into Drew’s veins, reheating his blood. Distracted by it, he had to force his attention back to Denise.

“Did you find anything on Halston?”

“Yeah, I did. She got her start with a small group in Nebraska and sang with a couple of swing bands before joining the Kenny Jones Orchestra. She was his featured singer from 1939 to 1941…until she took a dive off a balcony, right there on Catalina.”

The skin on the back of Drew’s neck tightened. His gut told him he knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

“What balcony?”

“The same one our target almost jumped off this afternoon,” Denise confirmed. “It happened in November 1941. Kenny Jones and his band were playing to a packed house in the ballroom. The newspaper reports said Halston slipped out to get some air after the last set. They also said she’d been known to smoke a joint or hit the bottle between sets. Apparently both were as common among musicians then as they are now. In any case, the ME ruled her death an accident. There were no witnesses and no evidence to suggest otherwise.”