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She shrugged. “It was what you’d call hell, sir. I was the first to get out. I had a boyfriend and then I had Stavros. Joey and Charlie stayed but then Joey had a bad accident and they put him in a home. Charlie didn’t like the place, he said there were roaches and it was filthy but they weren’t changing it because it was cheap. They started using some of Joey’s payments for themselves. Then they died from smoking and drinking and left us nothing but debt and Charlie moved Joey out to L.A. I said you’re leaving me? He said, I have to. And that was it. The anniversary is the first time he called me in a long time.”
Another chest heave. She wiped both hands on her apron.
I said, “Charlie broke off emotional contact long before.”
“He was mad at everyone,” she said. “Including me ’cause I’d escaped and he thought I’d left him holding the bag. Like I was supposed to stick around and never have a life? Like after I got pregnant and Stavros wanted to marry me I should abort and stick around and be apunchingbag?”
I said, “Charlie suggested abortion?”
“He didn’t have to. He just kept telling me being a mom was going to be too much for me, I’d mess the kid up. Stavros got mad and told him to fuck off—pardon the language. I didn’t want anything to happen so I said let’s be cool, Stavros. Then Charlie left so I said let’s just book, Stavros. So we booked. We just drove west, had no idea. We ended up here, it was warm, Stavros got a job at a warehouse and even though I was pregnant, I got this job, cooking chicken, and after the baby was a year, they gave it back to me. I was always good at chicken. When we could afford it. We had jobs, we had Shiloh, everything was good.”
Her lips dipped lower. Vertical wrinkles deepened.
I said, “Charlie didn’t acknowledge that?”
“How could he if he didn’t even know? The time before theanniversary when he called we had a fight. He said the place he found for Joey in L.A. was no better than the dump in Columbus, he wanted serious money to get something better for Joey, family had to stick together. I said why do you need money, everything’s covered by SSI. He said not in L.A., the place he wanted was nicer, it cost extra to keep Joey there. I said, sorry, nothing to spare, and he hung up and that was that. I was surprised when he called about the anniversary. Even though he got the wrong day.”
The on-screen image was too indistinct to make out tears but her swiping at both eyes implied them.
“If I’da had money, I’da given it. Even though Joey was never nice to me, he was the oldest, had started acting likehim.”
I said, “Like your father.”
Two emphatic nods. “Drinking himself stupid, getting nasty. That’s how it happened. He got stupid drunk, crashed his motorcycle into a tree, and got totally messed up.”
“And Charlie took over his care.”
“In L.A.,” said Katie Ionnides. “Where it’s expensive. His idea. Like me and Stavros have L.A. money.”
“Was the anniversary call the last time you heard from Charlie?”
“Nope, one more time and it was kinda weird.”
“How so?”
“Like I said, the time before he hung up mad that I wouldn’t give him money for Joey. And to be honest, I was kinda mad, too. That he didn’t understand my situation. So we basically had no contact for a while. Then the anniversary call was just…short. Then, like six months ago, he calls out of the blue and says everything’s great, he’s working all the time doing hair, plans to become famous.”
“How?”
“Through this new friend, some genius psychiatrist—she’s helping him align his spirit or something like that. Also, he changed his nameto Caspian Delage. Which I thought was stupid and bogus sounding. I’m also thinking if you can afford a fancy psychiatrist, why are you calling me while I’m cooking chicken to get my money?”
Milo said, “Did he name the psychiatrist?”
“No,” said Katie Ionnides. “Maybe he woulda but I didn’t care and I wasn’t having it.” Another eye swipe. “I hung up on him. Now he’s…so who killed him?”
“We’ve just started investigating.”
“Oh.” Another hand-wipe on the apron. “So is the…do I need to do something about him? About his…you know.”
“Disposition of the body will have to wait a while. You have no obligation but if you’re interested, I can put you in touch with the coroner.”
“Hmm,” she said. “Let me think about it. I need to think about it.”
CHAPTER
26
Wishing Katie Ionnides well, Milo thanked her and ended the session.
