Kat stayed silent, hoping it’d be uncomfortable enough that he’d feel compelled to fill the silence by giving her more information, which he soon did.
“I know it’s not exactly… conventional… but well, I belong to a nudist group. We take different outings. We chose graduation day to go to the nudist beach, because even though the beach is private, next to it is one frequented by college kids, and we’ve been hassled by them before.” He looked at her almost apologetically. “It’s a kind of… a hobby of mine. I joined one when I was out in California, and I liked it. Most of my friends are nudists. But we all try to keep quiet about it. Not everyone’s understanding about a hobby like that.”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” Kat said. “Will any of your nudist friends be willing to substantiate that you were at the nudist beach at the time of the murder?”
He looked pained again. “I’d rather not get them involved. In all honesty, I’d rather leave the whole group out of it. Some of them are prominent citizens of Lindsay, and they’ll be really unhappy with me if it gets out. But I can prove I was there.”
He got up and went into a room adjoining the living room, which Kat thought might be his office. After a moment he returned with a ticket in his hand. “The beach we go to is private, and you have to buy a pass to go there. There’s a gate guard, and he stamps your ticket with the date and time when you go in and when you come out. Look at this.”
He handed the ticket to Kat, then hovered around her awkwardly. “See? I was there all day, from mid-morning to early evening. They have a barbecue there, and we had hamburgers with all the trimmings.” He patted his big belly and smiled for the first time. “Perhaps you can tell I enjoyed it.”
Kat looked down at the ticket. Just as Randy had said, the ticket was date and time stamped for the 15th of May, from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. “This seems to confirm that you were there.” She looked up at him and tried not to imagine what he’d look like on a nudist beach. Trying not to think about it had the opposite effect. She inwardly chided herself. “Well, thank you for your time, Randy. I’ll tell the authorities you shouldn’t be considered a suspect. The ticket certainly confirms that you have an alibi.”
“Thanks,” he said, relaxing. He looked at his watch. “I don’t want to miss any more sun time. I’m trying to get a tan. My mother called to tell me I look like a ghost on camera, and I need some color to look presentable. I’m trying to go a little darker, but it’s taking forever. Do you think I should try a spray tan?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” Kat said, not quite knowing how to reply. When she’d been walking up to the door of his home, she’d noticed that his neighbors had two story homes. She wondered if he sunbathed in the nude, and if so, what the neighbors thought about it. She hoped they worked during the day so they didn’t have to see him, but she was too polite to say anything. “Thanks for talking to me and letting me bring Rudy in. See you.”
“No problem.” He actually seemed quite jovial as he opened the front door for them.
As soon as Kat and Rudy were back in her car, she called Nick.
“Hi Kat,” he said, sounding a little concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“Do you know anything about any nudist groups in the area?”
Nick burst out laughing. “I wasn’t expecting that. Actually, I do have some info on them. And no, before you ask, it’s not based on any personal experience by me. One of my investigators was tailing someone who attended organized nudist events. At that point we opened up a whole can of worms. That particular hobby seems to be a lot more prevalent than one might think. Why do you want to know about them? Thinking of joining one? Although I can’t see my brother at a nudist event.”
“Absolutely not, but that’s Randy Bryan’s alibi,” Kat explained. “He was at a nudist beach event all day on the day of the murder and has a gate guard time stamped ticket to corroborate his story.”
“Oh,” Nick said. “Oh, well...”
Kat knew Nick was imagining Randy naked and couldn’t help but giggle. “Yeah, well I guess you don’t have to be toned to go to one.”
“My mind does not want to go there, Kat.”
“I left him sunbathing in the nude in the backyard. He said he wants a little color for television.”
“Please stop telling me these things,” Nick said. “I’m learning far too much about his life already. What’s the saying? Too much information.”
Kat laughed. “You’re right. Anyway, it looks like he’s off the list. Next, I need to find out about Jenna.”
“You work fast,” Nick said. “Maybe I should hire you.”
“I love writing my books too much. Otherwise I’d jump at the chance.”
“If you ever change your mind, just get in touch,” he said. “You did take Rudy with you, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did,” Kat said. “He’s right here with me and he even went inside Randy’s house to protect me.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Thanks, Nick.”
With that, Kat ended the call, fastened her seatbelt, and began driving towards Jenna’s home.
chapter twenty-two
Kat’s GPS system on her car directed her toward a lower-class part of town, not one of the nicer areas where people kept their small homes clean and their tiny front yards immaculately tended. Kat drove past several old couches and appliances that had been abandoned in the streets, along with rusted-out trailers that had clearly been neglected for a long time.
Jenna’s house was on the right side of the street, a small home behind a yard full of weeds which were warring with dying brown grass which looked like it hadn’t been mowed since last fall. The windows were grimy, but maybe that was a good thing because they looked out at a vacant lot, which consisted of more weeds encroaching on mattresses, old curtains, broken furniture, miscellaneous castaway items, and mounds of urban trash. It made Kat depressed just to look at it.
Kat saw an old dented car parked in the driveway of Jenna’s home. A pink stroller stood on the porch. She drove a little farther down the street, parked, and decided to wait and see if there was any activity going on at the house. She angled her rearview and side mirrors so she could see any comings and goings behind her.
It was a beautiful day. The sky was deep blue, and only a few puffy white clouds were floating in the sky. Kat rolled down her car windows and switched off the air conditioner, enjoying the pleasant breeze.
Kat glanced back at the house. She was hoping that since it was a beautiful day, Jenna’s babysitter might take the little girl out for a walk. Something about this situation felt different from the one she’d just had with Randy. She had a feeling that she shouldn’t just walk up to the front door, knock, and start up a conversation. It seemed better to wait.
Rudy looked at her, his head cocked to one side, like he was confused as to why they weren’t getting out of the car now that it was stopped.
Kat couldn’t help but laugh at him. “We’re just going to wait for a while, pal, and see what happens. I’ll let you know if I need you.”
With that, Rudy snuggled down in the back seat and closed his eyes. He looked so comfortable, Kat wanted to get in the back seat with him and cuddle, but to anyone passing by, if she sat back there with him it would probably look a little strange. The last thing she wanted to do was attract attention to herself. She slipped her sunglasses on and drummed her fingers on the doorframe, watching and waiting for something to happen.
The waiting paid off.
About thirty minutes later, a Latina woman, who Kat assumed was Jenna’s babysitter, carried a little girl out of Jenna’s house and secured her in the stroller. Kat could just make out the baby talk she was making with the little girl, her voice lilting and dipping pleasantly. The little girl’s voice carried and she sounded very happy. The woman pushed the stroller down the sidewalk, in the opposite direction of where Kat was parked.
Kat really wanted to talk to her but something told her not to a
pproach the babysitter quite yet. For some reason, she had a feeling the babysitter would be spooked and clam up.
Then an idea popped into her head and she checked her navigation map system. “Wake up Rudy,” she said, grabbing his leash from her glove compartment. “We’re going to take a little walk.” Rudy didn’t need her to tell him twice. He sat up instantly, eyes bright, tail wagging.
Kat laughed a little as she opened the door and secured the leash to his collar. “Let’s go, champ.” She locked the car and they set off in the opposite direction from where the babysitter was walking. When Kat had looked at her navigation system map, she’d realized that the streets intersected in the next block. She hoped the babysitter was walking around the block and they could meet ‘by chance’ and have a ‘natural’ conversation.
It really was a balmy day, and the people living in the neighborhood seemed to be in a good mood. Several of them were in their yards and waved to Kat and Rudy as they walked by. Kat decided that maybe it wasn’t such a horrible neighborhood after all.
Kat’s intuition about the babysitter was correct. When Kat rounded the corner at the end of the block, she saw the babysitter approaching her with the little girl in the stroller.
“Hello,” Kat said, giving her a big smile. “What a beautiful day to take a walk. I’m sure your baby is just loving it.”
The babysitter looked a little taken aback. She jerked the stroller away from Rudy. “Yeah, it’s a nice day. But she’s not my baby. I’m a babysitter.”
“I see,” Kat said. “This is my dog, Rudy. He’s very calm and doesn’t bite or anything. Honestly.” She looked down at the adorable little girl and smiled. “With such a sweet little girl, I’ll bet the mother finds it hard to leave her. I’m assuming she works?”
The little girl looked up at her babysitter and smiled, and the babysitter’s face softened into a smile, too. Her posture also relaxed. “Yeah, she owns Jenna’s. It’s a diner near the university campus.”
“Oh, Jenna’s!” Kat exclaimed. “My daughter raves about that place. She’s a student at the university, and I hear Jenna’s is really popular with the students.”
The babysitter began to look worried. “Not so much these days,” she said. “Jenna says that after that newslady talked about a roach infestation at her diner, not very many people go there anymore. She’s worried she might have to close her business. If she does, I’ll lose my job.”
“Oh dear,” Kat said sympathetically. “That would be awful. I wouldn’t think that a couple of pests would make much of a difference to the students. Those things happen all the time. I’m sure the newswoman said something about other businesses being closed as well for having pests.”
“Jenna says the newslady has always hated her.” All of a sudden the babysitter seemed glad that she could confide in someone. Kat had the feeling she was lonely.
“Why would she say something like that?” Kat asked.
“She told me she went to the university with the woman and her husband. She said she used to date the woman’s husband before he met the newslady. Jenna said the newslady took him away from her. She said her life would have turned out a lot different if she hadn’t. I don’t think she likes the newslady… at least the pictures she has pinned up on the wall in that room aren’t very good ones.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not following you,” Kat said. “She has some pictures pinned up of the newswoman in a room at her house?”
“Yes, the walls are covered with them.” The babysitter looked around, to see if anyone was watching them and said in a low conspiratorial tone of voice, “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, but you just seem like a good person. No wonder this little one’s father didn’t stick around. Even though she has this adorable little girl, I think she still loves that man she dated when she was in school with him. His pictures are in the room, too. She put up a new one of him just recently. I guess he won some sort of a big prize.”
The Pulitzer, Kat thought. She wanted to see the room. No, she had to see that room, and she guessed the babysitter was under strict instructions not to let anyone see it.
“Anyway,” the babysitter said quickly, “none of that really matters. Everyone’s got their quirks, don’t they?” Her big brown eyes were a little wary now, as if she regretted saying what she’d said to Kat.
“They do, indeed,” Kat said. She was thinking if she hurried she could get back to the house before the babysitter did and have enough time to find the room that had the pictures in it. She quickly glanced at the pedometer she was wearing on her wrist, then looked back up and smiled at the babysitter. “It was great talking with you, but I’ve got to get going. I have a goal of ten thousand steps today, and I’m so far from that it’s probably not going to happen.”
The babysitter looked somewhat uncomfortable but managed to smile. “Okay, sure.”
Kat gave the baby a little wave. “Bye, sweetie pie.”
She began to take long strides and glanced back a couple of times to check on the babysitter’s progress. As soon as the babysitter had rounded the corner, Kat began powerwalking around the block so she could get back to Jenna’s house before the babysitter did. She had to see the pictures.
chapter twenty-three
Within minutes, Kat was outside Jenna’s home. “Come on, Rudy, we don’t have much time,” Kat said, hurrying into the yard. She tried the front door on the off-chance it was unlocked, but it wasn’t. Then she walked around the outside of the house to the rear where she saw an open window. The blinds, had been pulled up, allowing her to see inside.
The house was elevated a bit above ground level, so Kat had to stand on her tiptoes to look inside the room. It took her eyes a moment or two to adjust to the dimness of the room. When she was finally able to see inside it, she gasped. Every square inch of wall space was filled with pictures of Ashlee and Chance.
One of them stood out because of the red writing scrawled across it. It was a photo of Chance accepting the Pulitzer Prize on behalf of The Lindsay News. The word “DEAD” was scrawled across it, in what looked like red lipstick. At least, Kat hoped it was red lipstick.
Rudy growled, but before Kat had time to react, a woman’s voice said, “Don’t move.”
Kat froze and felt her heart miss a beat. “I’ve killed once,” the voice said, “and it will be a lot easier the second time around. My gun jammed when I was in Chance’s office, but I cleaned it, and it won’t jam this time.”
Kat gulped.
“Put your hands up, turn around and tell the dog to settle down or whatever your command is for him to relax,” the woman continued, her voice calm and steady.
Kat turned around and said, “Rudy, Settle. Easy.” She knew he’d obey her words because he was trained to, but he was also trained in hand signals to respond to danger if the person he was guarding was unable to say something. The man who had trained him also trained dogs for various police departments in the Midwest. She tried to remember what the visual signals were, but her mind was a blank.
The only thing she could think to do was talk. At the very least, maybe she could buy some time. Adrenaline pounded through her, but she tried desperately to remain composed.
“You’re Jenna, aren’t you?” Kat asked. Her throat was so dry she had to cough. “I haven’t seen you in a long time. My daughter used to rave about your place and brought me a flyer about it. You were on the front of it.”
“Cut the talk. It won’t do you any good,” Jenna snapped. She motioned with the gun. “There’s a bunch of trees and heavy undergrowth behind my house. You can see it from here. We’re going to take a little stroll over in that direction. I want you to walk next to me like we’re good friends in case anyone’s looking, and make it look like we’re just out for a walk, but I doubt if anyone will even notice.”
Terror seized Kat. Jenna had said no one would notice them walking to the wooded area. And once they were there, then she’d be alone and at the mercy of Jenna. No one would fin
d her. No one would know what had happened to her. Would Rudy be smart enough to see through Kat’s façade and ignore her previous commands? Or would he just blindly obey? For once, she wished she hadn’t gotten such an obedient dog.
Her mind raced. Would the people sitting outside their houses notice anything was strange? Kat doubted it. Being neighbors, they probably knew Jenna very well, while Kat was the stranger, the outsider.
“Even if someone is watching, they’ll never see the gun that’s pointed at you,” Jenna said. “Pick up your dog’s leash, and we’ll get started.” Kat hadn’t noticed the dense trees quite a way off behind the house, which were common in Kansas. Jenna jerked her head in that direction. “Are you blind or what? Head for those trees,” she hissed. “Let’s go.”
They began their terrifying walk.
Murdered by News Page 13
