Mind If I Take a Look?
Previously: Jeannie reads Alexa’s school project and then she and Paco visit the Briggs’ home.
Need to catch up on The Spring? Visit the chapter index here:
02:03 PM - Wednesday, November 5, 2014
3425 Washington St, Presidio Heights, San Francisco
“What are you even doing here? I thought we finished on Sunday.” Tally’s voice was a terse growl as she crossed the room rapidly, barely looking at anyone. Jeannie shot Paco a glance of disbelief.
“Well, we were finished for Sunday, but I believe we said we may need to speak with you again, in fact, I’m sure we did since I reviewed your interview before we arrived.” Jeannie retorted coolly. Tally’s head snapped to look at her from her desk where she was stacking books from her backpack.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Nothing.” Jeannie gave her a placid face. “We just need to confirm a few things and we thought you could help us.” Paco looked around the room trying not to gape at all the feminine fabric everywhere. It looked like something from another time, this room. Everything soft and flowery; it was like the kind of room his grandma would pull out of the color-printed Sunday section of the newspaper that showed fancy homes. But that was a long time ago.
“What else can I possibly confirm for you.” Tally demanded.
“What’s with the attitude Tally? Are we interrupting your afternoon somehow?” Jeannie blinked at her.
“No — I just don’t know what you think I can tell you, therefore your visit is a waste of my time and I hate wasting time.”
“Okay then, we’ll be quick.” Jeannie quipped immediately. “We’d like to see your flapper dress from Friday night.” Tally turned to look at her, eyes blazing.
“What? Why?”
“We’re putting together a timeline for the party on Friday night, and your costume could help.”
“How. How could my dress possibly help? It’s just a dress.” Tally dashed toward the closet on the far side of the room, yanking the double-doors open by their brass knobs. “Here — “ she pulled a silvery slip dress out by the hanger and hooked onto the top of the door on the outside. “Here’s the damn dress. What do you need?” Jeannie glanced at Paco again, who could only offer a slight facial shrug.
“Great. Thank you. If I can just take some photos —”
“Do whatever you want. I probably won’t wear it again for a while.” Jeannie took a few photos of the dress in full hanging on the door, and then moved closer to take photos of the sequin detail at the neckline.
“Beautiful dress — it looks like —”
“It’s Lanvin.” Tally said without dispute.
“Yes, I thought it might be. Alber Elbaz has been doing a lot of dresses like this the last few seasons. The fringe is always something.” Tally looked at Jeannie, assessing. “Do you happen to have any extra sequins? Like it one of those little kits they give in case anything unravels?”
“Sure.” Tally rummaged into the middle drawer of her desk pulling out a small plastic packet of beads and sequins. “You can have it.”
Paco held out his hand. “Thank you.” Tally stared up at him challengingly as she gave it to him.
“What do you need it for?” Tally asked now that it was in his hand.
“It will help us with the timeline.” Jeannie said nonchalantly. “We’re tracking people’s costumes throughout the night to determine everyone’s location at a given time.” Paco watched something shift slightly in Tally’s eyes. “And since we aren’t quite clear on where you were, this will help us out.”
“What do you mean? I told you I walked over with Carolina.” Jeannie tilted her head at Tally, a slight smile forming. Paco could tell Jeannie had the goods but wasn’t sharing.
“We heard you might have been at Tripp’s house a while longer.”
“Who said that?” Tally’s eyes flashed.
“Someone.” Jeannie looked at Tally, whose face was practically shaking with fury. “This is a cool telescope — very old fashioned.” She offered, changing the subject immediately. There was an old telescope in the wide window, near the far side by the closet doors. Paco had seen it before and noted its somewhat steep downward angle. “You don’t strike me as an astronomy type, though.”
“Of course not.” Tally snapped. “I use it to spy on the neighbors like every normal person.”
Jeannie’s face flexed into another slight smile while her eyebrows raised.
“Mind if I take a look?”
“Do whatever you want.” Jeannie slowly looked down the scope of the old telescope, the small smile growing slightly. Paco paced in a small circle looking at the photos above Tally’s desk and then the bookcase, with her many photos with friends and sports teams. A photo with Tally, Carolina, and Charlie was on a shelf, clearly from when they were all very young.
“When was this taken?” Paco asked, gently handling the frame. Tally was on him instantly.
“A long time ago, why does it matter?”
“It doesn’t — it just shows you’ve all been friends a long time.”
“Of course we have been, we all grew up together. And now Charlie is my escort to my Cotillion next month.”
“Charlie’s your escort?” Jeannie quipped from the telescope, looking up at Tally.
“Of course. We’ve been friends with the Dagonets forever. My mother arranged it a long time ago.”
“Hmmm.” Jeannie said faintly. “Charlie never mentioned that to us.” Tally’s face went blank. “I mean, he talked about how all of you’d known each other for a long time, but he mostly talked about how he and Carolina had dated before he moved to Europe. I don’t recall him mentioning you.” Paco couldn’t help but smirk a little.
“Charlie and Carolina have been over a long time—”
“But they were together at Tahoe.” Paco interjected. “They both told us they’d spent the night together at Tahoe. Who were you hanging out with that night?” Tally’s eyes were wide as she looked up at him, her perfect blonde hair framing her face.
“I — I was — I—”
“And you didn’t walk over to Inspiration Point with Carolina, we know that too. So if you can’t remember who you were with on July 4th — I mean, that was a few months ago —” Jeannie looked at Paco skeptically, “but surely you can tell us where you were on Friday night once everyone left for Inspiration Point.”
“I— I came home here.” Tally licked her lips slightly.
“You left Tripp’s party and came home here? Why?”
“I — I needed a tampon and I didn’t have one. And none of the other girls did either.”
“Ah.” Jeannie nodded slowly. “I’ve been there.” She gave Tally a quiet moment. “So, what time would you say you left Tripp’s and came home here? How long is that walk, maybe 10 minutes?”
“About that.” Tally said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, ten minutes to home and you get your tampon, and then head back out to the point?” Paco asked. He felt uncomfortable asking a teen girl about a tampon, but tried to hide it, and he noticed that Tally looked more uncomfortable than the did. Tally nodded slowly, looking from Paco to Jeannie warily.
“And from here to Inspiration Point — well, you could go through the park, but that was probably really dark.” Jeannie began. “How did you get back to the party?”
“I had a flashlight. It was fine — I could hear the party the whole time I walked back.”
“Ah — good thinking.” Jeannie acquiesced. “Well, anything else Mayfield?” Paco shook his head at her. “Yeah, I think we’re good for now Tally, we really appreciate your help in clearing these things up.” Tally’s eyes narrowed at Jeannie and then at Paco.
“That’s it?”
“For now, yes.” Jeannie said as she opened the bedroom door. “But we’ll probably need to talk to you again once we have everything together.”
Paco felt the small plastic bag of beads in his pants pocket, gratified that they’d at least come away with some kind of evidence. Marta, the housekeeper, saw the two of them out without any word from Linda Briggs. Jeannie trotted down the wide front stairs at a clip, Paco close behind. Fergus was in exactly the same spot in the back seat as when they’d gone inside, offering a whimper and a huff. Jeannie brought Martha to life with a rattling roar and steered away from the curb, Paco finally taking a deep breath.
“Wow, man that house…was weird.”
“Yeah it was. The whole thing was weird.” Jeannie agreed. “And was it me or did Little Miss Chess Club seem like she was having a come-down? That attitude was ferocious.”
“Could be. I wouldn’t be surprised — a girl like her is the perfect fit for a coke habit. It’s almost a cliché. If anything, she needs a replenishment.”
“That was interesting what she gave up about Charlie being her escort.”
“First we’ve heard of it. Does that mean they’re like, dating?”
“No, not necessarily.” Jeannie exhaled deeply. “I’m not really sure how it all works, but from what I understand the “escorts” at the deb balls are more like family friends or brothers or something. It’s only if you really have a serious boyfriend that’s been around for a while that you get him to be your escort — and usually only if he’s from the “right” kind of family.”
“Yeah, I remember the Gilmore Girls episode.”
“Ha! Ohmigosh, there WAS a Gilmore Girls episode, wasn’t there?” Paco nodded smiling. “So, if Tally and Charlie aren’t dating — and I don’t think they are, in fact, she seemed pissed that Carolina was with him at Tahoe — and they don’t really have anything more than a friendship and some familial agreement about this “escort” situation —“
“—arranged by her mother.”
“Exactly. Always feels good to have “mother” making arrangements.” Jeannie tossed. “I mean, Tally and Charlie being a thing doesn’t add up. Neither of them mentioned it. But, it does make one wonder about Charlie getting his drink spiked at Tripp’s house on Friday night.”
“He couldn’t be sure Tally did it.”
“No — just like everything in this case, there’s plausible deniability.” Jeannie huffed and thought for a long moment as they moved down Washington Street. “I’m getting frustrated now, Pac.”
“Why? Because it’s getting weirder by the minute?”
“Yeah, and…it’s like every time we unknot one of the strings we get into more knots.” Paco looked out the window at the houses moving past them.
“What do you think about the sequins?”
“It looks like a match, but we’ll leave that for Amanda.”