Free The Body on Ortega Highway by Louise Hathaway

you’re ‘a
local hero’. Listen to this headline: ‘Hillside Chopper Surrenders
to Unarmed Detective’.”
    “Give me that paper,” she says.
“Now, scoot. I’ll be out in a minute.”
     
    *******
     
    Later that day,
he r boss calls to say that there’s going to
be a special ceremony for her on Friday night. Clarissa will be
receiving a medal and special commendation from the entire law
enforcement community.
    Her family is welcome to
attend, so she invites her cousin Charlotte,
who is a paralegal in San Diego. The two cousins are as close as
sisters and it’s been way too long since they’ve seen each
other.
    When Charlotte shows up at
their house that evening, she throws her arms around Clarissa. “I’m
so proud of you, cuz. If only Grandma were here to see you
now.”
    “ And Dad, Ivan, and my Mom,”
Clarissa adds.
    “ Well, you only have me. I
hope I’m enough?”
    “Of course you are, silly. Come in.
Do you want a glass of wine?”
    “Sure. That’s sounds great!”
    Charlotte notices the
newspaper articles. “Oh, wow! You made the front page. Oh, ‘Local
Hero’. Look at you.”
    “You’re my hero,” Clarissa tells
her cousin.
    “Moi? You’ve got to be
kidding.”
    “ I still look up to you and
admire your career path. Just like I did when I was a
teenager.”
    “Well, thanks for saying that.
You’re sweet!”
    Charlotte says, “This is just
like old times. When I was driving up here, I drove by the Civic
Center and remembered that time we sat in on that murder trial at
the courthouse.”
    Clarissa says,
“ That was fun. I was trying to decide
whether or not I wanted to be a paralegal like you.”
    “ We didn’t want to pay to
park, so we left our car in Washington Square and I got a
ticket.”
    Clarissa adds, “Oh, yeah. And
that crazy flocks of parrots crapped all over you.”
    “ And we ran away from them
and I broke my best pair of heels.”
    Clarissa says, “That seems
like only yesterday.”
    “ I know. You were straight
out of high school, wondering what you would do with the rest of
your life.”
    “ And I went down to the
courthouse and got the transcripts from Dad’s murder trial. I tried
figuring out if Ivan killed him or not.”
    “ And you met Dick Santy, the
lead investigator on the case.”
    Clarissa says, “And the rest
i s history.”
    Her cousin says, “Dick was a great
guy. But he was way too old for you.”
    “He was more like a mentor or
father than a husband.”
    “ And he took you down the law
enforcement path, right along with him.”
    “I sure wasn’t planning on being a
cop before I met him.”
    “ You wanted to be a
paralegal, like me. Or even a lawyer.”
    “ I know. I used to go the Law
Library and get information on mock trials. I’d pour over opening
and closing arguments to get an idea of the legal
terminology.”
    “ And, you like the voir dire
part of a trial the best, like I do.”
    “ Yeah! I like all the
psychology that goes into picking a jury.”
    “And you used to call me when you
were reading the transcripts and ask me what different terms
meant.”
    “ And I would go to the Law
Library and pester them about it, too.”
    “ Do you ever think about
being a paralegal anymore?”
    “Well…as a matter of fact…”
    Right at that moment, Ron walks into the house. He sees Charlotte and
says, “I didn’t know you were coming up.”
    “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
    “ Of course. I didn’t mean to
be rude,” Ron says and walks over to hug her.
    Clarissa says, “She’s going to spend the night and then we’re
going to the spa tomorrow.”
    “To Burke Williams?”
    “Yes. We were thinking about
it.”
    “Are you sure they’ll let you back
in?”
    Her cousin says, “What is he
talking about?”
    “ I’ll tell you later. Right
now I have to go get dressed for my big ‘Par-Tay’.”
     
    *******
     
    The following morning, Clarissa and her cousin leave early to go to Burke
Williams. If the receptionists recognize