by Diana X Dunn
“When was this?” Blake demanded, startling Alan who seemed to have forgotten that Blake was in the room.
“About six months ago.” Alan said after he had taken a moment to count on his fingers.
“And you were hurt and confused,” Julia spoke softly to him.
“Yeah, I just didn’t understand what had happened. The week before I’d been talking about leaving Joanne for her. We were going to run away together and start a new life somewhere else, and then she ended it.”
Julia looked at Blake, knowing that they were thinking the same thing. Cassie had been looking for a bit of fun on the side. Running away with Alan was never part of her plan. When he began to push for commitment, she’d ended the relationship immediately.
“Did you ever meet her husband?” Julia asked him.
“I didn’t even know she was married,” he answered miserably. “I thought she and Peter had a partnership agreement. Maybe that was why she didn’t want to run away with me. She never mentioned a husband.”
“What can you tell me about the neighbors on either side of Cassie’s house?”
Julia decided that a change of subject would do them all good. Joanne had begun to cry softly while her partner had described his plans to run away with another woman. Julia wanted to move on to what she hoped would be safer ground.
“We don’t really know anyone else. We met them, of course, at Cassie’s parties, but we didn’t really talk to them.” Joanne answered her, swallowing her tears and trying to speak normally.
“The Lincolns are, I don’t know, very private, as if they don’t want anyone to get to know them very well. And Richard and Serena are, well, a bit wild, that may be the best way to describe them.”
Julia raised a brow. It seemed a strange remark from a woman who had been clearly out of her head on something illegal when they arrived.
“Wild in what way?” Blake asked for clarification.
“I don’t know,” Joanne answered slowly, trying to put her thoughts into words. “She seems like she would sleep with just about anyone, and he always seems to be out of his head on Chillax and more. Neither will tell you anything about their pasts or what they do or anything. They’re just, strange, I guess.”
“Alan, how well do you know Serena?” Blake asked.
“I haven’t had sex with her, if that is what you mean,” Alan sounded offended. “She’s all about meaningless sex and that isn’t for me.”
“Do you think she might have had an affair with Peter?” Julia interjected.
“I think she would twirl anyone who looked at her twice, but I can’t see Peter giving her the satisfaction.” Joanne answered.
“Peter doesn’t seem like her type,” Alan agreed with her partner for a change.
“So who do you think killed Cassie, Alan?” Julia directed the question.
Alan looked surprised and then thoughtful.
“Well,” he answered slowly, “the husband, maybe, or if not, I guess Peter. It is usually someone you love who kills you isn’t it?”
Julia only stared back at him, her face expressionless.
“Maybe she had another lover, after me, and he killed her. Or maybe Peter found out about her and me and he killed her. Or maybe one of her lovers had a jealous partner?”
“Hmm, interesting theory, isn’t it, Joanne?” Julia smiled lightly.
“You stupid moron, you’ve just accused me of murder,” Joanne shouted at Alan. “I didn’t do it, not after all this time. Maybe he did it.”
“I couldn’t have killed her, I loved her,” Alan choked out the words and then began to cry softly.
“When did you find out about the affair?” Julia asked Joanne curiously.
“As soon as it was over. He was so upset that she’d ended it, that he told me the whole story. I confronted Cassie and told her to keep her hands off my man or I would tell Peter. She promised that it was over and begged me not to tell anyone.” Joanne shook her head angrily. “I wish I had told Peter. He’s all upset now and feeling sad that she is gone and he shouldn’t be. He should be happy.”
Alan glared at her and stood up. “I think I’ve had enough for now,” he told Julia and Blake. “Please can I just go back to bed? You can ask the rest of your questions another time, can’t you?”
Blake stood as well and then held out a hand to Julia, pulling her to her feet from the uncomfortably low seat.
“No problem. We can come back later in the week if we have more questions.”
Blake and Julia followed Alan as he shuffled out of the room and down the hall. Joanne stayed seated where she was, fresh tears streaming down her face.
Outside the house, Julia found herself breathing deeply in the fresh air. The air in the house had felt as stale and miserable as the couple that lived there.
“That was something else, wasn’t it?” Blake asked Julia as they walked away from the house.
“Your officer didn’t get anything about the affair the first time around,” she commented, mentally replaying the interview.
“No, and I can’t see how he missed it,” Blake frowned. “I’m going to have to have a little talk with Jacobs about his interviewing techniques.”
“Or lack of them,” Julia grinned. “Why do people live like that? They both seem miserable, but they stay together anyway.”
“Maybe they can’t live without each other.” Blake suggested.
“Nonsense,” Julia shook her head. “They are both young and attractive and could easily find someone else if they wanted to. Would you stay with someone who’d had an affair?”
Blake shook his head and looked at her hard. “I don’t know and I don’t really want to have this conversation.” He stopped at his transport and grabbed a mug of coffee from the center console.
Julia blinked at his tone and then smiled. “Let’s get on with things, then. Let’s go and see the widow Duncan, and let’s hope she’s a gossip who spends lots of time watching out her windows.”
Eleven
Julia stood impatiently at the end of Virginia Duncan’s driveway, waiting for Blake to catch up. Blake gulped down the rest of his coffee and arrived at her side in three long strides.
“Off we go,” he muttered under his breath, leading Julia up the path.
This time they heard movement immediately after Blake’s first knock, but it was several minutes before the door opened. The woman who opened it looked every day of her eighty-plus years and then some. She was bent over awkwardly, with thinning grey-white hair and eyes concealed behind thick glasses. Laser surgery had eliminated the need for glasses many years earlier. Julia wondered where Mrs. Duncan managed to get replacements when her old glasses wore out or broke.
“I know I’m old. You don’t have to stare,” the woman all but shouted at them as they stood on the doorstep. “You’re the police, no doubt, come about that doings across the road. I guess you’d better come in.”
Julia and Blake looked at each other and then slowly followed the old woman into the house. She took them immediately into the living room that was right where it should have been in the copycat house.
“Sit down then and ask your questions,” she said, lowering herself slowly into an overstuffed armchair. Blake shuffled over to a long low couch and settled himself onto it. Julia perched on the opposite end and took a good look around.
The room was overstuffed with things. From the looks of it, the woman hadn’t thrown away anything in eighty years. Julia saw old-fashioned photographs, framed and standing on shelves that looked ready to fall off the irregularly wallpapered walls. There were trinkets and knick-knacks and all manner of junk that Julia couldn’t begin to describe. She took a breath and felt dust tickling her nose.
“I don’t have all day, you know,” the woman interrupted the silence. “I don’t have long left, anyway, and I would rather not waste too much time with you two. I have better things to do with my time.”
Julia hid a smile, admiring the old woman’s spirit.
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br /> “We will try not to keep you too long,” Blake answered formally. “Can you please confirm, firstly, that you are Mrs. Virginia Duncan, the owner of this house?”
The woman looked at Blake as if he was completely insane. “Of course I am, and if that is the sort of questions you have for me, I’ll thank you to just go.”
I’m sorry, but we have to follow certain procedures in these matters,” Blake explained patiently.
“Bah, procedures didn’t save that woman across the road from whoever killed her, did they?” Virginia demanded, “and it didn’t stop the world from going to hell in a hand basket, neither.”
Blake glanced at Julia before he continued. “We know that you’ve already given a statement to one of our officers. What we’re hoping for today is that you can help provide more information about the neighbors.”
Mrs. Duncan shook her head. “Don’t know any of them. Don’t like any of them. I’m sorry to see anyone murdered, of course.”
Blake made an impatient gesture. Julia, worried that he might simply give up, jumped in.
“You must have some thoughts about them, and most importantly, who might have wanted to kill Cassie Knight,” she suggested.
“That one, hah, moved in here with her husband when the houses were brand new. All loved up they were too, for about a month. Then it was out with the old and in with the new. Not that it stopped her playing around. You might ask him next door about that.” She gestured toward the house that Blake and Julia had just left.
“You think Cassie had an affair with Alan Wright?” Julia clarified.
“Know they did. They weren’t discreet. Not like in my day, when you at least had the decency to be embarrassed about what you were doing.”
Julia glanced at Blake but he was studying his shoes. “Was there anyone else, more recently, that she was involved with?”
“She always had someone new. It was a revolving door over there, for both of them,” the woman scowled, clearly disapproving of the behavior.
“So Peter Henderson had affairs as well?” Julia checked.
“You should ask her over there about that,” the elderly woman pointed with her nose toward the Richards/Stone house.
Julia felt a twinge of excitement.
“He was having an affair with Serena Stone?”
“I didn’t say that,” the woman turned her head and stared at the window that looked out on the street. “I said you should ask her.”
Julia nodded slowly. “So both Peter and Cassie were unfaithful.”
The old woman looked back at her. “She was unfaithful to her husband first of all. She should have been ashamed of herself, not flaunting her new relationship all over the place. And then, to take up with other men, too…” Mrs. Duncan shook her head, muttering under her breath about the behavior of people today.
“Have you any idea who might have wanted to kill Cassie Knight?” Blake demanded, sounding eager to get out of the house.
“Someone she was sleeping with or someone she stopped sleeping with so she could sleep with someone else.” The woman shook her head again, muttering darkly about alley cat morals.
“Thank you for your time.” Blake stood up quickly. “We can see ourselves out, thanks. If we have more questions we might have to come back.”
“I’ll see you out,” the woman answered back firmly. “No idea what you might get up to between here and the door if I don’t.”
Julia bit back a laugh as Blake’s face reddened. They followed the hunched figure slowly, Julia trying not to laugh as Blake fought for composure behind Mrs. Duncan’s back. On the street again, Julia let her laughter spill out.
“There was nothing funny about that.” Blake bit out, glaring at her.
“No, sorry,” Julia forced herself to regain her composure. She didn’t want to alienate Blake.
“Maybe we should have a chat with the Halperns, then,” she suggested brightly, wisely postponing their talk about the interview they’d just finished.
“Off we go then.” Blake sounded tired again.
Julia led the way up the path to the Halperns’ door. She knocked once and they both listened as what sounded like a herd of elephants raced toward them. Julia took an involuntary step backwards as the door was yanked open and three eager faces looked out at them.
“Are you delivering a package?”
“Are you from the police?”
“Are you here about my party?”
The three faces looked excitedly from Blake to Julia and back again.
Julia tried not to stare at the girls, but it was hard not to. Except for their size, they were virtually identical. All three were wearing the same pajamas with a cuddly cartoon bear on the front. Three pairs of matching slippers were on three pairs of feet.
They were all blonde, with sparkly blue eyes and upturned noses. Julia shook her head as she moved her eyes from one to the next, moving down the stair-steps looking for differences. Behind the girls, a woman moved into view.
“Girls, haven’t I told you not to open the door to strangers?” She spoke firmly, but without any heat in her tone. “We need to be extra careful just now, don’t we?” The three girls turned to the woman and chimed “sorry” together.
“Off you go now and play upstairs. I’ll see to our guests.” The woman shooed the girls up the stairs and turned to Blake and Julia.
“Sorry about that. It is Brianna’s birthday in a few days and we’ve been getting a lot of exciting things delivered. The girls just can’t wait to see what might come next.”
Julia tried not to stare at the woman in the doorway. She seemed to have been stamped from the exact same mold as her three daughters. The hair, eyes, and nose were exactly the same. The only thing missing was the liveliness in her eyes. Mary Halpern’s eyes looked tired and concerned. Blake was quick to introduce himself and confirm the woman’s identity.
“Sorry, but Charles has just run out to the store. Getting more things for the birthday party, of course. I think we are all getting a bit obsessed with this party.”
She led them to the living room in the expected location. “Please sit down, I’ll just check on the kids and then I’ll be right back.”
As soon as she was out of the room, Julia had her M-ped out. Blake looked a question at her as she punched buttons, but Julia ignored him. Within seconds she had her answer. The Halperns had used extensive embryonic testing and engineering over the last ten years. Their three perfect blondes had been carefully chosen from a selection of embryos in order to give their parents exactly what they wanted. Julia frowned. Why would a man want three daughters that looked exactly like each other and exactly like their mother? It felt creepy to her.
Mary swept back into the room and apologized yet again. After they had assured her that they didn’t want anything to drink, she settled uneasily in a worn chair. While she was fluttering about, Julia noted that the room was full of well used and slightly worn furniture. It was clear that most of it had suffered through the abuse of three children. Embryonic engineering was very expensive and from the looks of things, this couple didn’t have the money to spare.
“We’ve already talked to one police officer about what happened yesterday,” Mary offered, before Blake or Julia spoke. “Has something else happened since then?”
Blake quickly reassured her that they were simply following up. “What we are interested in is your observations of Cassie Knight and everyone else in the neighborhood. Maybe you have some idea why someone wanted to kill Cassie?”
Mary stared at him. “I thought her husband was being charged,” she protested.
“No one is being charged with anything at the moment.” Julia interjected, wishing everyone would stop trying to blame Alex. “What did you think of Cassie?”
The woman blinked at her in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean,” she answered finally.
“Did you like her? Did you do things together? Gossip? Shopping? Chatting over the fence? Was she nice to your
daughters or did she yell at them when they kicked a ball into her yard? Was she madly in love with Peter Henderson or just staying with him until someone better came along? What was he like? Did he ever make a pass at you? Did Cassie ever make a pass at your partner?”
Julia rattled off questions, carefully watching Mary’s face flutter through a whole range of emotions. When she stopped, Mary only stared at her for a long while. Finally she shook her head clearly trying to marshal her thoughts.
“Cassie was, well, just our neighbor, you know?” She shook her head again. “I barely knew her, just to say hello to really. We would wave if we passed each other going in or out. I’m usually so busy with the girls that I rarely have time for gossiping or anything else. The girls don’t kick balls around so that was never an issue. I really didn’t know her.” Mary trailed off, looking out the window at the house opposite. “We didn’t really know her,” she repeated.
“Weren’t you invited to her parties?” Julia asked.
Mary blushed deeply. “Oh, yes, I suppose so. When we first moved in, anyway, we were invited to a few. But we only went to the one. They weren’t really our type of thing.”
Julia looked over at Blake. “What was wrong with them?” Blake asked Mary.
“Well,” the woman looked confused and upset. “Oh, it is silly really. We were probably wrong anyway.”
“Wrong about what?” Julia asked intrigued.
Mary passed a hand over her eyes. “I don’t want to say anything I shouldn’t. I do wish Charles was here.” She looked out the window again.
“Please, just tell us what happened,” Blake spoke evenly. “Even if you are wrong, it will be helpful for us to get your impressions.”
Mary wavered and then gave in. “Okay, the thing was, well,” she blushed again. “Charles and I got the feeling that there were things going on at the party.”
“Things like what?” Julia wished the woman would just spit it out.
“Drugs?” Blake suggested.
Mary looked shocked. “Oh no, nothing like that,” she paused a moment. “Well, maybe some Chillax,” she conceded, “but everyone does that sometimes.”
