An Eye for an Eye

by Caroline Fardig

  As angry and mortified as I was about having my babysitter back, as well as about Manetti’s ultimatum, I knew I couldn’t possibly do anything so crazy again. I didn’t feel like my luck would hold out for a second time.

  “I understand.”

  Manetti stared at me for a beat, probably expecting a fight, given our tendency to butt heads over much less. “Okay.”

  Jayne asked me, “Did he say anything about Rachel?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. I asked him how she was, but he wouldn’t answer me.”

  She squeezed my hand and gave me a sympathetic smile. “At least you got some information out of him that should help the investigation.”

  Manetti glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which, we have a meeting to attend.”

  We exited her office and went down the hall to the conference room, where the rest of the team was assembled. I took a seat next to Amanda, who gave me a quick one-armed hug.

  Manetti threw down the file he’d brought on the conference table and ran a hand through his already disheveled dark hair. “As expected, the tip line went nuts last night. And when I say nuts, I mean every mentally unstable person in this part of the state decided to call in either pretending to be Justin Fox or swearing up and down they’d seen him or Rachel Miller. Sheriff Walsh, Ms. Carmack, and I, along with several deputies, spent the night running down the more credible tips. Deputy Martinez, we have a list of farm properties we’d like you to add to the list you worked last night to compile for your investigation today.” He slid a stack of papers toward Martinez. “Detective Sterling, can you tell us about the research you did with Dr. Berg last night?”

  Sterling said, “Dr. Berg and I compared the autopsies of Amy Donovan and Leann Fox. The manner of death was the same—blunt force trauma to the back of the head followed by manual strangulation. In going over the photos of Leann’s injuries, we determined that the two blows she suffered to her head came straight at her. If done by a ten-year-old boy, they would have been upswings, which her injuries did not indicate. Also, Dr. Berg is convinced that according to how the bones in her neck were broken, it would have taken hands larger than a ten-year-old’s. So we can cross Justin Fox himself off the suspect list for his mother’s murder. For my money, it’s Richard Kendrick. According to Matthews’s conversation with the serial killer last night, Samuel Fox was convinced Kendrick was to blame for his wife’s death. In my mind, there’s got to be some merit to that.”

  Baxter said, “We’re planning to speak to Kendrick’s widow this morning.”

  Manetti nodded. “Good. Chief Esparza, your report?”

  Esparza said, “I was able to track down the stolen sports car that Justin Fox took last night from the Fashion Mall. It was ditched here in town. A vehicle that was reported stolen last night in Westfield ended up at the Fashion Mall near where the sports car had been parked, so I assume that in order to cover his tracks, Fox stole more than one vehicle to get from place to place. Smart, although it was a risk to steal one car, let alone two.” He handed Baxter a file. “I also ran a full background on Linda Beasley. She’s a real piece of work. Have fun with that.”

  Anger still evident in his tone, Manetti said to me, “Ms. Matthews, would you like to share with everyone what you learned from your one-on-one conversation with Justin Fox last night?”

  All eyes swiveled toward me.

  I cleared my throat. “As Sterling said, Justin told me his father truly believed Richard Kendrick killed Leann. He’d heard about the affair from Linda Beasley, a catty coworker of Leann’s.”

  Baxter said, “I don’t get why she didn’t tell us that she’d been the one to tip off Samuel Fox about their supposed affair. She seemed to be forthcoming about everything else. The only havoc she caused by her actions was angering Fox, which resulted in getting Kendrick fired.”

  Esparza shrugged. “If she called Fox to tell him his wife was cheating, she had to have known him. Would she have called a coworker’s husband out of the blue only to narc on his wife? Why would it have mattered to her that he knew? If her intent was to get Leann into trouble or to embarrass her, it would have caused a bigger splash to tell the boss or to spread the rumor around the office.”

  Jayne said, “You’re right. It would have. If Linda hated Leann enough to ruin her marriage, why not get her fired and be rid of her?”

  Amanda said quietly, “Unless Linda knew about the abuse and was so sadistic that she wanted to see Leann suffer physically.”

  Sterling’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s pretty dark.”

  I thought back to the visit Baxter and I paid Linda yesterday. “I think it’s a possibility she had eyes for Samuel Fox and wanted to break up Leann’s marriage. When we met with her, Linda came off as…”

  “A nympho?” Baxter supplied for me.

  I shrugged. “For lack of a better word, yes. Maybe she decided she wanted him and lied about Leann having an affair. Or told the truth about it. Nobody but Linda can seem to confirm or deny a relationship between Leann and Richard.”

  Manetti asked, “Do you have a reason to believe that Linda Beasley could have been the one to kill Leann?”

  The room got quiet. I’d always imagined it was a man who’d killed Leann over an affair or over her unborn baby. It hadn’t occurred to me that it could be a woman, which would make the motive a different kind of jealousy.

  Baxter nodded slowly. “Honestly, I could see it.”

  Esparza gestured toward the file he’d given Baxter. “She has a history of assault, mostly against other women. Now, they could all have been harmless catfights, but history is history. She has no problem getting violent.”

  Baxter said, “We’re planning to have a follow-up visit with her this morning, also.”

  Manetti said, “Ms. Matthews, I think we derailed your report. Please continue.”

  I said, “Right. Um…Justin also verified what Mariella Vasquez had said about Leann and Prasad having coffee together before her death. His dad followed them and saw them together. And oddly enough, Justin got really angry when I brought up the subject of his mom’s pregnancy at the time of her death, but his reaction verified it was true. We thought since he’d alluded to it through his use of the other ‘eye for an eye’ Bible passage that he wanted us to know, but after talking to him I’m not convinced. Which I think is a good thing—he’s been pulling all the strings so far, and the more we can force him to deviate from his script the better the chances are that he’ll make a mistake.”

  Manetti asked, “How did you leave things with him?”

  I glanced at Baxter, whose expression was grim. “Not good.”

  Manetti’s jaw clenched. “Did he threaten you? Did he threaten to do something to your sister?”

  My wound throbbed under its bandage. “No, but he kicked me out of his car in the middle of the street. He was done with me.”

  Manetti grimaced, but didn’t pry any more. “Well, we all have a lot to do today. Get to work.”

  ***

  Our first order of business was to find Rajit Prasad, so Baxter and I took off for Carmel in his SUV.

  On the way, I said, “I’ve been thinking about Leann’s pregnancy and why it was such a sore subject with her son. What if she got pregnant by another man and decided to pass the baby off as her husband’s in order to save her marriage? Mariella Vasquez told us that the Foxes hadn’t had sex in a year. What if Leann had just found out she was pregnant and died before she had the chance to seal the deal with her husband to fool him into thinking the baby was his?”

  Baxter’s jaw dropped. “Do women actually do that?”

  “It happens. It would only be the difference of a couple of weeks in her pregnancy, so Samuel would probably have been none the wiser.”

  “That’s sick.”

  “Agreed, but these are not exactly healthy, well-adjusted people. Let’s focus on the case, here.”

  He frowned. “Okay, fine. So somehow the son knew about the pregnancy. Maybe
he found out by accident and Leann talked him into keeping it a secret from his dad. He didn’t see his dad again until eight years later. Maybe he told him about it then and Samuel went ballistic. If the baby didn’t belong to his dad, then his image of his mother could have been tarnished.”

  “That’s a good thought. Wish I’d had it last night so I could have asked him.”

  Throwing me a dubious glance, he said, “Why? So he could have flown into a bigger rage and gutted your other arm, too?”

  “Not funny.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to be. I hear you have your shadow back when you’re not with me.”

  I sighed. “Yes, lucky me. I’m basically on supervised house arrest except when I’m with you. They might as well get me an ankle bracelet and be done with it. Then Manetti can track my every step.”

  He smiled. “You know it’s for your own good.”

  “I feel like no one trusts me.”

  “Kinda brought that one on yourself.”

  I grumbled under my breath, but otherwise didn’t defend myself. He was right.

  We pulled up in front of Prasad’s McMansion and went to the door. After a few minutes of knocking, there was no answer. Baxter tried both contact numbers we had for Prasad, but both went straight to voicemail. His office was in a complex on North Meridian, so we decided to try there. When we arrived, the lights were off and the door was locked.

  Richard Kendrick’s widow didn’t live far away, so we headed to her house. Same story—no one was home, and no one answered the phone.

  Baxter frowned. “Where the hell is everyone this morning?”

  “Christmas shopping, probably. I would have been, if…”

  An image flashed into my head of Christmas morning last year—Rachel, Nate, and me in our pajamas opening presents. It was the first year Nate had really understood what was going on, and I had never seen the kid so excited. I struggled to put it out of my mind and focus back on the present.

  Laying a hand on my shoulder, he said, “Come on, none of that. You’ve been doing great. Don’t get discouraged. We’ve got plenty more people to talk to, and we can come back to these two later.”

  As much as I tried to bottle that memory back up, being apart from my nephew suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I miss Nate,” I whispered, brushing away a tear that escaped my eye.

  Baxter gripped my other shoulder and turned me to face him. “I promise this will be over soon and you’ll have Rachel and Nate back safe and sound. We have plenty of time—”

  “Nick, we have twenty-eight hours and still no suspect.”

  “No, we have twenty-eight hours and three excellent suspects. While I’m not convinced about Prasad’s guilt, I wouldn’t feel at all bad about pinning it on our dead guy or our nympho. Either way, no harm, no foul.”

  I scrunched up my nose. “No harm, no foul? What about tarnishing Richard Kendrick’s memory? And last I checked, a rabid sex drive is no crime.”

  He released me. “She’s guilty of something. Let’s go rattle her cage.”

  ***

  Big, wet flakes of snow had just begun to fall when we pulled into Linda Beasley’s condo complex. As we were walking up the sidewalk toward her door, Baxter got a call. He kept walking and answered it, but when he heard the person on the other end of the line, he immediately stopped and put the call on speaker.

  He elbowed me and said, “Hi, Nolan. Nice to hear from you.”

  My jaw dropped. I whispered, “The stoner from the gas station?”

  Baxter nodded.

  Nolan’s voice was rough and scratchy, like he’d stayed up all night partying. “Yeah, so I remembered something.”

  Baxter asked, “What is it?”

  “The town Justin said he lived in. Sister…wait. Yeah. Sister something.”

  Baxter and I shared a confused glance.

  “Cicero?” Baxter suggested.

  “Aw, man. Yeah. That’s the one.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive.”

  My heart clenched. Rachel was somewhere in the small community of Cicero, just north of Noblesville. This was the break we’d been waiting for.

  “Thanks, Nolan.” As soon as he disconnected with Nolan, he was on another call to Sterling. “Hey, we talked to a former coworker of Justin Fox’s. He said Justin had told him he was living in a barn in Cicero. I want every farm property in that zip code researched and cross-referenced against every person even remotely connected to this case.” After a pause, he said, “Thanks,” and hung up. Turning to me with a huge grin on his face, he said, “We’re close now. I have no doubt in my mind that we can find Rachel before tomorrow at noon.”

  Even with the biting wind that had kicked up and the snow swirling around me, I felt a newfound energy coursing through my veins. I could sense the tide turning in this investigation, enough that I could find it in my skeptical self to be optimistic. We were going to find my sister. I knew it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “Let’s get this done so we can join in the search for Rachel. I’ll be the bad cop this time,” I said, marching straight for Linda Beasley’s condo. Baxter followed, shaking his head and chuckling as I beat my fist against the door.

  Linda answered the door, huffy about the insistent pounding. “One knock would have sufficed.” When she realized who was standing there, she changed her tune. Ignoring me, she said, “Oh, why hello, Detective. Back to see me so soon?”

  I barged in and said, “Cut the shit, Linda. We know you were the one who tipped off Samuel Fox that Richard Kendrick and Leann Fox were having an affair. You neglected to tell us that when we talked to you yesterday. Why?”

  Her eyes got wide as saucers. “I didn’t… I don’t know what you’re—”

  “I talked to Justin Fox last night.”

  “The serial killer? And you’re taking his word over mine?”

  “Oh, let’s not pretend you’re some innocent schoolgirl, Linda. You’ve got a rap sheet a mile long of bar fights and catfights and bitchery of all kinds. You want to know what I think? I think you despised Leann Fox because everyone liked her and they all hated you. She was prettier than you, better at her job than you, and she was married. Plus she may have even had something on the side. She had it all, and you were jealous. So you figured you’d ruin her marriage to knock her down a peg.”

  Linda’s whole head turned beet red, and she began sputtering. Baxter had his head bowed and the brim of his hat pulled low over his brow to hide what he could of his amusement.

  I wasn’t finished. “Or maybe you decided it wasn’t enough to ruin her marriage. Maybe you wanted her out of the way so you could replace her. It was no secret that she and her husband were having trouble. You could solve his problem and walk into a ready-made family. All you had to do was kill her.”

  Linda collapsed onto the sofa and put her head in her hands. She wailed, “I didn’t kill her! I swear!”

  “Then who did?”

  “I don’t know!” Sniffling, she added, “But…I do know it wasn’t Richard.”

  Baxter asked, “How do you know that?”

  She looked up at him, tears and mascara running in rivers down her cheeks. “He and I were together that night.”

  Floored, I dropped down next to her on her sofa. “What? I thought you said he and Leann were having an affair.”

  She wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I made that up. Richard and I were the ones having the affair. One day he told me he wanted to end our relationship; that he wanted to try to reconcile with his wife. I got angry, and the way I lashed out at him was to call Leann’s crazy husband and tell him the lie about the affair. I figured he’d kick Richard’s ass and be done with it.”

  I glared at her. “You could have gotten Leann beat up in the process. Did you not consider that?”

  “I didn’t care. I hated Leann.” She grumbled under her breath, “Stuck-up bitch.”

  Baxter didn’t think this was funny
anymore. He walked closer so he could tower over Linda. “You ended up getting Kendrick fired. How then were you back together shortly afterward? He had to know it was you who called Samuel Fox and started the whole mess.”

  Sitting up straighter, she said, “Richard was mad at me, but not for long. He never could resist me.”

  “So this is the actual truth now? You lied to us yesterday, which obstructed justice. If I feel like you’re leaving anything out this time or not being honest again, I will arrest you, and you’ll spend Christmas in jail. Do you understand that, Ms. Beasley?”

  Her face went white. “I understand. I’m telling the truth, and I didn’t leave anything out. I swear on my life…on my grandkids’ lives.”

  Seeming satisfied, Baxter nodded at me. I got up from the couch and followed him out the door.

  “Decent bombshell, that one,” I said, pulling my coat’s collar tight around my neck to keep warm. “But we lost two suspects—the ones who you wanted to be guilty.”

  “True, but now we have one suspect to focus on—Prasad.”

  “But you don’t think he did it. Why?”

  As we got back into his vehicle, he said, “I guess it’s because there isn’t enough information about him to make him seem like a major player. The only thing we know is that he and Leann ran into each other by chance one day, exchanged contact information, and then later met for coffee. That’s not an affair.”

  “I agree. Justin did mention, though, that he has early memories of Prasad coming around their house and trying to chat up his mom. Samuel put a stop to it one day, and supposedly Prasad never came back.”

  “Right, and that was ancient history. The part I can’t see is the timing for Prasad. Why after over a decade come back and kill an ex-girlfriend? If he was going to kill her, why not do it when she broke up with him all those years ago? He didn’t have much of a motive at the time of her death.”

  I shrugged. “I guess it could all still go back to her pregnancy. Prasad is Middle Eastern, and the Foxes were both fair-skinned blondes. If the baby was Prasad’s, it would have been obvious, and therefore important for him to get rid of in order to keep his affair a secret from his wife.”