The Advocate - 02 - The Advocate's Betrayal by Teresa Burrell Page A

other than she was once a hair stylist. That’s why she’s always so fussy about her hair and makeup. It’s just little innuendos that make me think she has been through a lot. It’s not like she ever complained or anything. I get the impression she spent a lot of time just trying to make a living. I know she’ll survive jail time, but if she’s convicted she’ll go to prison. I don’t think she could take that.”
    “We just have to see that it doesn’t happen. But you knew going in that was a possibility.”
    “I know. It just upsets me. She’s like an aunt to me. Not just an aunt…a favorite aunt. When I was having all that trouble last year, she baked me persimmon cookies. She invited me over for dinner and to play cards. She loves to play cards. So did John. Canasta was his favorite, but when we had four people we would play whist. You have to be from the Midwest to know that game….” Sabre stopped suddenly, realizing she had been rambling. “I’m sorry. I have to get going.”
    Bob gave her a hug before she got in her car to leave.
    All the way back to her office, Sabre thought about Betty locked up at Las Colinas. She had to find who really did this. Hoping JP had made some progress, she dialed the phone.
    “Hey, kid,” he said, the way he always did when she called. “How you doing?”
     “Fine. I’m just leaving the El Cajon Courthouse,” Sabre said. “We had Betty’s arraignment this morning.”
    “How’d that go?”
    “I was really hoping to get her released on bail, but it didn’t happen.”
    “I’m sorry, kid.”
    “Me too. How’s your investigation going? Anything new?”
    “I can’t find any enemies of John, at least nothing recent. Everyone seemed to like him. He didn’t have any real vices. I haven’t been able to find anyone who had any reason to kill him. And either he left the door open that night when he went to bed, which Betty said was highly unlikely, or he knew the person and let him or her in.”
    “Betty said there was a key hidden. Do you know if it’s still there?”
    “Yeah, she told me, and I checked it out. It was still under the rock, but someone could have used it and put it back. It had been used recently, so that’s a possibility.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Well, not necessarily used, but I could tell it had been moved. The earth around it was disturbed, but I haven’t had the chance to ask Betty how long it’s been under there. She may not even know if John had used it recently.” JP paused a moment before he continued.
    “Anything else?”
    “Not really. In fact, I’m hitting an inordinate number of dead ends.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I can’t get past the last four years for either Betty or John. I’m trying to look into their backgrounds to see if there are any enemies lurking out there. But I can’t find any schools either of them attended. No high schools. No grade schools.  Nothing.”
    “What are you saying? That they don’t exist?”
    “I found birth certificates and social security numbers, but John’s social security number has activity only for the past four years; nothing at all shows up before that.”
    “That’s odd. What about hers?”
    “There’s nothing recent. She has worked the business with John the past few years, and they filed everything together. Betty said she hasn’t worked outside of their swap meet business for a long time. I assume they filed everything under John.”
    “Is this normal?”
    “Not really, but it happens. I’ll keep looking and maybe you could speak to Betty and see if she can shed some light on this.”
    Sabre headed west on I-8 toward her office. She considered turning around and going back to Las Colinas to talk to Betty first, but then she realized she’d probably still be in lock up at the courthouse or in transit. She continued to her office.
     
    “Hi, Elaine,” Sabre said to the receptionist when she walked in. Elaine’s hair looked even shorter than