by Adam Zorzi
***
“That went about as well as I expected,” said Dan when he came back into the den. “I told them the police were over-reacting because she'd parked the car illegally. I didn't get too far. The conversation turned into when was I going to find a job. “I'm tired.” he flopped into his comfortable club chair with his arms hanging over the sides. Tired from his run Saturday, sore from Orlo's massage, and confused by Jill's actions and the police questions. “I don't know what's up with the cops outside. Who knows how long they'll be here. Maybe you two should go home. There's nothing to do here.”
Rob and Suzanne exchanged a worried look. Rob looked reluctant to leave. “You'll be okay on your own?”
“Yeah, I'm surrounded by cops.”
“If you're sure.” Rob stood.
“I'm sure. Go.”
“Call us as soon as Jill comes home no matter what time.” Rob squeezed his brother's shoulder.
“Thanks for everything, Suzanne,” said Dan. “You made things a lot easier for Katie.” She kissed Dan on the cheek.
“Happy to help. I think Jill's trying to make a point. To make you a little uneasy. To miss her. She'll be back.”
Detective Elba stepped inside before they made it to the front door. “Mr. Ramsay,” he called from the foyer.
Dan hauled himself up and wearily walked to the front of the house.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Ramsay, may we sit for a moment?” Suzanne, Rob, and Dan returned to the living room with Elba.
“Mr. Ramsay, Officer Sanders told us that Kaitlyn spoke to her mother and that she'd asked her not to call again. That may explain the lack of contact.”
“I think so,'' said Dan. “Ten is a hard age. She wants to be more independent, but Jill is cautious.”
“Mr. Ramsay, Kaitlyn mentioned something about your family being hacked. Is that correct?”
Ah, another humiliating moment from his marriage to be revealed.
“That's what we told Katie.” Dan was so tired it was an effort to talk. His body ached from overdoing the run Saturday and his mind struggled without a regular dose of meds. He'd probably missed at least one dose of two different meds. “Jill came home from lunch with her friends one Saturday and said our credit card had been rejected when she paid for lunch. She was upset because her girlfriends assumed the worst—that I'd cut off her credit cards in addition to being a cheater. She said I'd humiliated her again.
“I'd no idea what she was talking about. I pay all our bills before they're due. When I called the credit card company, I was told the account had been closed by Jill two weeks earlier. The next time we discussed it was at dinner in front of Katie. I didn't want to accuse Jill of fabricating a scene, so I said we'd been hacked along with a lot of other customers.”
“Jill wouldn't do that,” said Suzanne.
Elba ignored her. “Did you discuss this with your wife?”
“No. I let it go. The card was re-issued.”
“Mr. Ramsay, did you think this was unusual behavior for your wife?”
“Yes. Jill isn't a drama queen. She's not vindictive. I couldn't imagine her plotting to stage a scene, but the credit card representative said the caller was verified. She knew the account number, social security numbers, and my mother's maiden name. I don't think Jill did it, and if she did, it sounded like something her girlfriends talked her into and then played along.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Elba.
“They hate me. The girlfriends would spread the story of how I'd humiliated Jill even more.”
“That's ridiculous. Jill wouldn't do that,” repeated Suzanne.
Detective Elba turned to Suzanne. “Mrs. Ramsay, you seem very certain that this would be out of character. Why is that?”
“Because I've known Jill for ten years. We're a close family despite Jill being fifteen years younger than Rob and me. She's bright, funny, and optimistic. She's not calculating at all. She doesn't plot revenge. She lets most things roll off her.
“No woman who loves her husband would let an affair roll off and Jill didn't. She was deeply hurt by Dan's affair, but the Jill I know is focused on moving forward and not on payback. Even if her girlfriends tried to talk her into it, she wouldn't do it.” Suzanne sounded as tired of inane questions as he did. Her tone was uncharacteristically brisk.
“She wouldn't do it to Kaitlyn,” added Rob.
“What do you mean, Mr. Ramsay?”
Dan felt like he was watching this conversation from behind a screen. Suzanne and Rob were defending Jill for him. He sat on the sidelines and couldn't get off the bench. He just couldn't.
“If the intention was to spread gossip about Dan, Jill would never agree. Her friends have children Kaitlyn's age. She wouldn't put Kaitlyn in a position to hear mean things about her father. Dan and Jill hadn't told Kaitlyn about the affair. They told her Dan had a medical condition that put him in the guest room. So far, none of Kaitlyn's friends passed gossip on to her. Kaitlyn would have mentioned it. She stands up to Mean Girls.”
Yes. Yes. Suzanne and Rob both made good points. “When did this happen?” asked Elba looking at Dan.
“March. The Saturday after Abbie went missing.”
“That would mean the card was canceled approximately two weeks earlier?”
“I have the exact date.” He didn't have the strength to go upstairs and look for the information in the desk. He couldn't get his mind, legs, and muscles together enough to do it.
Rob was on his feet. “Dan, I'll get it. Where is it?”
“In my desk calendar. The notebook. Not the one on the computer.”
With what seemed like amazing speed, Rob went upstairs, got the calendar, and brought it down.
“May I?” asked Elba.
“Sure,” said Dan.
Detective Elba paged through the dates in March and made a notation of the information provided by the credit card representative.
“Is this important?” asked Rob.
“Maybe. Someone might have a grudge against your brother or his wife or both of them. It's worth checking.” He stood and looked at Rob and Suzanne. “I understand you were leaving…Please don't let me keep you.”
With another round of urging Dan to get some sleep, Rob and Suzanne left.
Elba remained standing in the living room.”Mr. Ramsay, there's nothing more for us to do here tonight, but I'm going to leave a patrol officer parked in front of the house.”
Dan started to object. Elba held up his hand. “Formality, Mr. Ramsay.” He paused. “If Mrs. Ramsay isn't back by dawn, we'll start a search. I asked your sister-in-law to give us some clothing that Mrs. Ramsay wore recently. She brought us a red sweater and some Ugg boots. Does that sound right?”
Dan's stomach lurched again. Jill's clothes? Were they going to put dogs on her trail?
“You mean for…dogs?”
Elba nodded. “In case we need them.”
“Yes, Jill loves that red sweater and her Uggs. Don't lose them. She'll kill me.”
Dan couldn't believe he just said that. Great. Tell the cops his wife would kill him.
“Good night, Mr. Ramsay. I'll see myself out.”
Dan closed the door behind him, slid down the back of the door, and cried himself to sleep.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Dan woke with a start. His body was being pummeled. Earthquake. There'd been a 3.5 on the Richter Scale a year or so ago. Buildings in the county had collapsed. He needed to make sure everyone was safe. He needed to get up, but he was disoriented.
Someone was pounding on the front door. He realized he'd slept against the door all night or until whatever time it was now.
He rubbed his eyes and opened the front door. Two patrol officers stood there. The female officer spoke.
“Mr. Ramsay, it's six-fifteen. The sun's up. Mrs. Ramsay is officially missing and the search is starting. We're changing shifts.” She introduced the officers.
Dan's mind was
as gritty as his eyes felt. “Okay.” He couldn't think of anything else to say. “Wait…Should I send my daughter to school?”
“It's up to you. Mrs. Ramsay's name and photo will be aired in the media. If her school administration thinks they can contain gossip and speculation, then she probably should go. We can always collect her if there's a change in circumstances.”
Dan mumbled his thanks and closed the door. He dragged himself upstairs, peeled off the clothes he'd worn home from the health club, showered, shaved, and put on a clean polo and khaki slacks. He put on socks and shoes. He had to maintain a sense of normalcy for Katie.
“Katie,” he knocked on her door. “Time to get up. Get dressed. Meet me downstairs.”
Dan made breakfast while he called the headmistress—a formidable woman with whom he interacted little. He normally left her to Jill. The woman was understanding and promised to alert the staff and teachers to contain media to the extent possible. She'd enforce the No Cell Phone on Campus rule today. She hung up after saying she'd pray for Jill's safe return.
“Dad, it's too early. I could've slept fifteen more minutes.” Katie stood in the kitchen in her school uniform looking like a miniature of her mother. Another piece of his heart broke off.
“I want to talk to you before you go.”
Katie sat at the breakfast bar and started to eat the yogurt with strawberries and granola he set out. She looked at him expectantly.
“Katie, your mom didn't come home last night. I think she's coming home in time to get ready for work, but the police consider her missing.”
“Why?” Katie seemed genuinely curious.
“She left her car parked illegally in a state park. I told them your mom wouldn't do that. She's strict about rules. They're taking the precaution of looking for her. They're saying she's missing and told the newspapers and TV stations.”
“Oh, no, I'm going to be hammered at school.”
Dan almost smiled. “I feel the same, but she parked illegally and the police proceed according to their regulations. They have to do this.”
Katie finished her cereal. “You don't think anything's happened to Mom, do you?”
“No, of course not, Katie. I think maybe she got separated from her team at the trial and didn't get back to her car in time before the park closed. I think she'll be back in time for work.”
“Me, too, Dad.”
“Go brush your teeth, and I'll drive you to school.”
The landline rang as soon as Katie went back upstairs. Dan jumped at it.
“Jill?”
He exhaled. It was Jill's father. No, Jill wasn't back yet. He was taking Katie to school. The police were going to start a search. He was certain it wasn't necessary. He expected Jill to be back in time to dress for work. Nine-thirty. Jill had to be at work at nine-thirty. There was still plenty of time.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Detective Elba and Lieutenant Winston arrived at ten fifteen. They asked Dan to sit down. He was back in the scratchy wing chair in the living room.
Both investigators sat on the sofa, but Elba did the talking.
“Mr. Ramsay, a body of a woman was found by a park employee this morning. She matches the description of your wife, Jill Ramsay. She was found lying fully clothed in what you described her as wearing when she left Saturday morning, hands folded over her chest, a navy fleece blanket covering her. She was found in a small flower garden near the lake. I'm sorry, Mr. Ramsay.”
No. No. No. No. No.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” he screamed and put his head in his hands.
Jill couldn't be dead. She was playing a prank. Testing him. Not dead. She was thirty-eight. It couldn't be true.
“How can you be sure?” he asked as tears ran down his face.
“We have photographs if you'd take a look.”
“No,” Dan shook his head. “I don't want to see any pictures. I want to see her. It's a mistake. It can't be true. It can't.”
“Then, we'd like you to come with us, Mr. Ramsay.”
“Katie. Katie's at school.”
“Trooper Sanders will pick her up and bring her home. She'll ask your sister-in-law to meet them here.”
“Oh, dear God, please don't tell her until we're certain. Please.”
“We won't. We'll wait for the official identification, but it's best if Kaitlyn is out of school and away from any media. We'll block off this street for as long as we can.”
Dan wasn't listening. Images of Jill—laughing on their first date, beaming as she walked down the stone pathway of Ginter Botanical Gardens at their wedding, announcing her pregnancy to him—played in his head. She was joyful, happy, and funny. Her brightness attracted him and kept his dark side at bay. No one could be sad around her for long. She couldn't be gone. He couldn't lose her.
“Mr. Ramsay, I said your brother will meet us downtown. He's leaving his office now.”
He didn't respond. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak.
“Mr. Ramsay, come with us.” Detective Elba held his arm and Lieutenant Winston walked behind them. Together, they got him down the steps and into the waiting sedan. He sat in the back with Winston.
He was unaware of movement and surprised when the car stopped in an underground garage and Winston opened the car door for him. The two investigators led him through two steel doors and into a small white room that smelled of industrial cleaning solutions. It was completely silent. Dan heard himself breathing.
“Mr. Ramsay,” said Lieutenant Winston, “we're at the morgue. Just let us know when you're ready to look through the window. The woman we believe to be Mrs. Ramsay will be lying on a table with a sheet over her face. The technician will lift it so you can see her face. Let us know if it's your wife.”
“It's not.”
“Mr. Ramsay, we can have you view through a monitor into the room,” said Winston. “Would that be easier?”
“No, no, no.” Dan shook his head. “It'd be like watching TV. I want to see for myself.”
“Just let us know when you're ready.”
Dan stood there. Numb. He wanted to prove it was a mistake, but he didn't want to see someone else's dead wife, sister, daughter, mother. He knew it wouldn't be Jill. It couldn't.
He nodded his head yes.
Winston tapped on the window, the blinds were raised, a body lay under a sheet. A young woman in scrubs lifted the sheet from over the face.
Jill's face, eyes closed, rested peacefully under the sheet.
“Yes,” rasped Dan. “Yes, oh my God, it's Jill. It's my wife.”
He ran and banged on the glass. “Jill, Jill, wake up. Wake up. I'm sorry, Jill. Please wake up.”
Detective Elba pulled him away from the glass. The technician lowered the sheet and closed the blinds.
“I want to see her.”
“I'm sorry, Mr. Ramsay, you can't.”
Dan sobbed uncontrollably. “I want to hold her. She's my wife. I want to hold her.”
“You can. You will. After the autopsy.”
“Autopsy?” Dan was wild-eyed. “You can't cut her up. She's my wife. No. No one has permission to cut her up.”
Elba led him to a vinyl sofa and sat him down. Winston put a paper cup of water in his hand.
“Mr. Ramsay, we need to determine the cause of death. Her body is evidence. Let her body tell us what she can't.”
“I don't care what killed her. She's dead. Nothing else matters.”
“It matters to the law. The state is going to find who did this and punish them.”
“I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.”
Winston turned away and spoke into his cell phone. Seconds later, a middle-aged woman came in the room from an inner door.
“I'm a coroner. You,” she pointed at Elba, “know better than to put me in this position.”
She looked at Dan.
“Shock,” she pronounced. “I'll give you a wheelchair and call the ED. Take him up; they'll give him s
ome fluids and oxygen. Maybe a sedative. Wait.”
A tech returned with a wheelchair and a blanket. Elba lifted Dan into it, flung the blanket around him, and pushed through the doors to the elevator that would take them straight to the Emergency Department.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE
Dan was ushered into a room with a steel table and four chairs at police headquarters. Rob was seated with Winston. When he saw Rob, Dan started crying. Rob hugged him tightly, then held out a chair for him.
“Is this an interrogation room?” asked Dan.
“It's an interview room right now,” said Winston calmly. “It's whatever you want to call it. A private place to sit and talk.”
Elba entered with four bottled waters and a notepad. He sat. Winston continued.
“As I explained to your brother, your wife's death is being treated as a homicide.”
“Why?” Dan whispered through his tears. He couldn't stop crying. He didn't try.
“She was found in Lake Anna Park in a flower garden. She had a blanket over her. Someone took time and care to cover her face and body. There were no obvious signs of struggle or anything that would suggest a cause of death.”
Winston leaned forward, “Mr. Ramsay, if your wife hadn't been staged as she was, we'd probably think it was an accident. Heart attack. Embolism. Something natural. An autopsy would still be performed, but homicide is the only choice. Even suicide couldn't have been staged.”
“Suicide?” These guys were nuts.
“I'm speaking hypothetically. What you need to keep in mind is that this is a homicide investigation. Anything you can tell us might be helpful. We have to move fast.”
“I don't care who killed her,” Dan repeated.
Rob gasped audibly.
“I understand that you mean that right now, but you may change your mind. In any case, we're going to investigate. We don't need your permission.” Winston sat back.
Dan nodded. There was nothing to say.
“We'll be interviewing cycling club members,” continued Elba. “They probably had the last contact with her.”
