by Sarah Biglow
She closed the folder and spun around in the chair. Jimmy drummed his fingers on the keyboard at the front desk, clearly bored. Hoping she could get lucky twice in two days, she ambled over to him and put on her best flirty smile. “Hey there. Can I ask you something?”
Jimmy sighed and looked toward the interrogation. “Man, I wish I could be in there. I want to make detective someday. I could be learning so much from Chris.”
“I’m sure you’ll get there. Hell, you’ll probably end up running this place one day.”
Jimmy blushed and finger-combed his hair nervously. “Thanks. Did you need something?”
“Yeah, actually I was hoping you could help me out. I’m sure Chris doesn’t want Nadine going back to the house. But I promised I’d pick up her stuff for her. Overnight bag. That sort of thing. Do you know if forensics has cleared the scene?”
“Oh, yeah they did that yesterday. Wasn’t much there.”
“Do you think you could go with me? I don’t feel comfortable going alone.”
“Sure thing, Kal.”
A sound from the monitor nearby drew Kalina’s attention back to the interrogation. Chris pushed an evidence photo of what looked like rope across the table. “Have you seen this before, Miss Larrabee?”
Nadine shook her head. “No. Why?”
“We found it in your father’s study. The lab is running it for fingerprints right now. What do you think we’ll find?”
“That’s enough, Detective. If you have something to charge my client with, do it; otherwise, we’re leaving.” Adam stood up and took Nadine by the elbow, guiding her away from the table and towards the door.
“I know you aren’t local anymore, Nadine, but don’t leave town,” Chris said and gathered up his materials.
Kalina darted from Chris’s desk and raced to stand near Jimmy. He didn’t react to her sudden presence, which was a blessing. Nadine and Adam appeared and made a bee line for the door, not bothering to stop. But as they passed, Kalina overheard Adam tell Nadine she could stay with him at the only hotel in town. So at least she knew where they were going. Chris appeared next, making his way to his desk and tossing the files on top of the ever-growing pile. He rubbed at the back of his neck—a clear sign of stress—and headed for the front of the building as well.
“I need some air,” he announced to no one in particular and disappeared from view.
Jimmy rounded the front desk and held up the keys to the squad car parked in the front lot. “Ready to go?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The trip to the Larrabee house was surprisingly short. There was little need for conversation until Jimmy cut the engine at the end of the driveway. He pulled the keys from the ignition and nearly dropped them between his feet. Kalina pretended not to notice his nerves.
“You okay, Jimmy?”
“Yeah. Just … being back here kind of freaks me out a little. Don’t tell Detective Harper.”
Kalina mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. “Your secret is safe with me. Besides, being here kind of freaks me out, too.”
Together they exited the squad car and marched up to the front door. It was still unlocked. Jimmy nudged it open with his forearm and stepped inside first. The house didn’t feel any different than any other house. Somehow she’d expected it to be marked by death with a draft or scent of blood. It was a normal house that brought back memories of spending afternoons with Nadine doing homework in high school.
“I think the bedroom is on the second floor,” Jimmy announced but stayed at the foot of the stairs.
“I remember,” Kalina murmured and started up the staircase.
She stopped on the second floor landing and just took in the décor. It hadn’t changed in fifteen years, except for a picture of Nadine at their high school graduation. She looked so happy and full of potential. So much had happened to dampen her spirit. It wasn’t fair. With a soft sigh, Kalina crept up to the third floor to take a look around. From what she remembered of the layout and the position of Mr. Larrabee’s body, she ignored the master bedroom and half bathroom and headed straight for the study. It was a mess with papers strewn across the desk. There were scuff marks on the hardwood floor and the desk chair had been turned over. It certainly appeared as though there had been a struggle. Bending down to right the chair, Kalina noticed what looked like bloodstains on the tan leather armrests.
“What happened in here?”
Sidestepping the chair, she approached the window and peered down at the driveway below. From this angle she had no doubt a fall from this height could kill a person. Had the police done their test yet? Surely that would give Chris an idea of whether Nadine was involved or not. She longed to know more about what happened between father and daughter that could lead to something like this. A floorboard creaked behind her and she spun, her right hand pressed to her chest in surprise. Jimmy stood in the doorway.
“I thought the bedroom was on the second floor?”
Kalina caught her breath and nodded. “It is… I just got curious. I know it sounds awful but I wanted to see it for myself. Don’t tell anyone, please?”
Jimmy nodded and she followed him back down to the second floor landing. He waited patiently outside Nadine’s room as she gathered up the clothes strewn on the floor, tossing them in the overnight duffle bag laid beneath the window. Nadine really hadn’t been planning on staying long. The bed had not been touched; the covers still haphazardly kicked to one side. A half-empty teacup sat on the nightstand on the left side of the bed. Curiosity got the best of her and she picked it up.
“Find something?” Jimmy called.
“Maybe. Did anyone examine this tea?”
Jimmy scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Um… I don’t think so. Why would they do that? Mr. Larrabee wasn’t killed in here.”
Kalina bit her lip, unsure how much to divulge about her earlier conversation with her friend. “Nadine said she thought her father might have drugged her the night he died. Maybe some of whatever he used is still in the tea.”
Jimmy’s cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment. “Oh … right. Like with Mrs. Davies.”
“Exactly.”
Jimmy pulled out his phone and disappeared back down to the first floor. Kalina took one last cursory look around the room before joining him. Neither of them had touched the tea and so she assumed chain of evidence hadn’t been ruined. He hung up just as she got to the bottom of the stairs.
“They said I should bag it myself and bring it to the station. They’ll have someone pick it up there to run some tests.”
“Can you do that?”
He puffed out his chest. “Yeah. Detective Harper always makes us keep extra gloves and evidence bags in the squad car just in case. Us being such a small department and all.”
“I’ll wait here while you do that,” Kalina said.
Jimmy hurried out to the car and returned moments later with blue gloves and a clear baggie marked ‘EVIDENCE- ELLESWORTH PD’ on it. True to her word, she waited outside while he headed upstairs to retrieve the teacup and its potentially-drugged contents. As she waited, the third story window drew her attention. Nadine didn’t have time to wait for a lengthy police procedure to determine her guilt or innocence. Kalina would find a way to test the theory of whether Mr. Larrabee was pushed or not.
“What’s going on out here?” An older man’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
She turned her attention to the man standing just over the property line to the next house over. Mr. Martin Beech had lived there for as long as Kalina had been alive and friends with Nadine. He was a bit odd but harmless enough.
“Oh, hi, Mr. Beech. You probably saw all the emergency personnel here the other day for Mr. Larrabee.” Two days seemed more than enough time for the news to begin spreading. She was quite impressed that people weren’t spreading rumors already.
“Course I did. With all the racket they were making, how could I not?”
Kalina set down the
duffle bag on the front steps and closed the distance between them. “Did you see anything strange the night before?”
Mr. Beech waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t like to pry.”
“Oh, of course not. I didn’t mean to imply you were prying. But you are pretty observant from what I remember. Nadine and I couldn’t sneak anything past you when we were kids.”
Mr. Beech grinned, his dentures gleaming. “You girls were always a handful. But I do like to keep an eye on the neighborhood.”
Flattery at its best. “I’m sure Nadine would be really grateful if you did happen to see something the other night. She’s really torn up about her father’s death.”
“Oh, sure. Poor thing. You know, it was kind of a surprise to see her around. It’d been maybe five or six years since I’d seen her at the house. She seemed subdued when I said hello. Like she had something else on her mind. But whatever it was, she must have gotten over it because she stayed the night.”
Kalina leaned in conspiratorially. “You don’t think she had anything to do with his death, do you?”
“Little Nadine? That girl couldn’t hurt a fly. You know, now that you mention it, I did notice something odd.”
“What?”
“Well, I’ve had trouble sleeping the last few nights. The heat just doesn’t agree with me. So I was up around two in the morning.” He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. “Yes, it was two. I went downstairs to get a glass of warm milk when I saw a car.”
“A car? Did you recognize it or the person driving?”
“Well, it looked like the car Nadine showed up in earlier. I guess the fellow she was with had left but it looked like he came back. Now, I don’t mean to be nosy but that fellow went inside and then maybe ten minutes later came back out and left the door wide open!”
“So there was someone else in the house besides Nadine and her father.”
“Saw him clear as day.”
“Did Nadine introduce him to you earlier?”
Mr. Beech shook his head. “I’m afraid not.” His face lit up. “But I did write down the license plate. I thought it was rather suspicious it being so late at night and all. I’ll go get it.”
Before Kalina could ask any more questions, Mr. Beech tottered off towards his front door and Jimmy appeared, carefully cradling the cup in both hands.
“Sorry I took so long. Wanted to make sure it didn’t spill.”
“That’s okay. I was just having a nice conversation with Edwin Beech. I think he might have seen something.”
“Seen what?”
“A car coming and leaving the house between two o’clock and two fifteen the morning Mr. Larrabee died.”
Jimmy did a little hop of excitement at the news and tiny droplets of tea sloshed against the clear plastic. His cheeks reddened again and he walked, stiff-legged, down to the squad car to secure the bag. Mr. Beech reappeared and waved a slip of paper in Kalina’s face.
“Here it is.”
She plucked it from his outstretched fingers. “Thanks. You’ve been a huge help.”
“You tell Nadine I’m thinking of her.”
“I will.” Kalina retrieved the overnight bag and walked down the driveway to join Jimmy. She handed him the paper with the license plate number and they both climbed in.
“Boy did we get lucky you happened to strike up a conversation with him,” Jimmy said and nestled the teacup into one of the cup holders. He punched the license plate number into the minicomputer synced to the DMV database and let out a long whistle as the computer went ‘ping’ with a result.
“What is it?” Kalina tried to read the result but Jimmy blocked the screen.
He hit speed dial on his cell phone. Whoever he was calling picked up after the first ring. “Detective Harper, it’s Jimmy. I think you might want to bring Adam Shepard back in for some questioning.”
CHAPTER NINE
Kalina stared open-mouthed as Jimmy repeated the information. She had no problem letting Chris think it was all Jimmy’s doing. After all, she’d said she would keep out of the investigation, not do their job for them.
“I understand. I’ll see you back at the station, Sir.” Jimmy ended the call and looked at Kalina. “Nadine’s lawyer boyfriend came back that night. Wonder why she didn’t say anything before?”
Kalina shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t know. If she really was drugged then she wouldn’t remember him coming in or out.”
Jimmy ran a hand over his hair. “Detective Harper wants me back at the station. Can I drop you somewhere?”
“The shop would be fine.” She really wanted him to take her to the motel but that would have looked suspicious. If Chris didn’t want Jimmy to pick up Adam from the motel for questioning, then Chris was likely getting the lawyer to the station under false pretenses. She might have some time to get to the motel first.
Five minutes later, Jimmy pulled up to the shop. AJ stood outside, arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy. Kalina climbed out of the passenger side with the overnight bag in hand and waited for the squad car to pull away.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” her nephew asked with mock annoyance.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on. You wanted to know what’s been going on; well, it’s time I filled you in. I’m going to need your help anyway.”
They headed inside and AJ flipped the front sign to ‘Closed’. He pointed to the bag but Kalina tossed it aside.
“An old friend of mine’s father died two days ago. It looks like it was murder and Nadine is the prime suspect. There was some bad blood between her and her father but I’m not sure about the whole story. We just found out someone else was there the night her father died. Chris is investigating.”
“What do you need from me?”
“I need you to look up how to test if a person was pushed or fell from a high altitude.”
“You mean the ‘Push Jump Fall’ test.”
Kalina furrowed her brow. “Where’d you learn that?”
AJ grinned. “Heroes.”
Kalina let out a soft laugh. “Of course. Now, I need you to look up how to test it and see if you can find a dummy we can use.”
“I know just where to look.”
“You can’t tell anyone what you need it for. Chris can’t find out we’re doing this.”
AJ nodded. “So while I’m doing this, what are you doing?”
‘I’m going to the motel and, hopefully, I can get Nadine to fill in some of the blanks about her past. It might be the only way we can figure out what really happened to her father.”
“You can count on me, Aunt K.”
She pulled her nephew into a brief, one-armed hug. “I knew I could. Now, call me when you’ve got everything. And remember—”
“I know. Don’t tell anyone what we’re doing.”
Kalina picked up the overnight bag and headed out across town. She supposed she was lucky that Ellesworth was small enough to only have one motel. If anyone came to stay in the area, they usually stayed in Salem and drove down to the beaches here. She reached the parking lot some ten minutes later to find only one car there bearing a familiar license plate. Adam hadn’t left yet. What was Chris waiting for? She paid the front desk a quick visit to get the right room number and walked down three doors and stopped. She could hear voices coming from inside the room.
“I don’t understand why he wants to talk to you alone,” Nadine said.
“Don’t worry about it. Everything is going to be fine. I promise.”
“You’re hiding something. I can tell. What is it?”
“Nadine, just let me worry about it. I’m looking out for you.”
Kalina raised her hand to knock when the door flew inward and she nearly collided with Adam.
“Sorry!” she said and stepped out of his way.
“I didn’t see you there,” he said and headed for his car.
Nadine sat on one of the small twin beds with her knees drawn up to her chest. She looked paler tha
n she had two days before when her father’s death was fresh in her mind. Her hair was damp and hung around her face in stringy clumps. Adam had probably gotten the call when she was still in the shower. Kalina stayed in the doorway for a moment longer to be sure Nadine registered her presence. Then she crossed the threshold and set the bag on the floor.
“Hey, how are you holding up?”
Nadine scrubbed at her face and let out a long sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think anymore. Detective Harper just called Adam down to the station for some questions but he didn’t want me there. He wouldn’t say anything else.”
Kalina just nodded. She didn’t want to admit she’d overheard part of their conversation. Instead, she sat on the other bed and said, “I’m sure if either of them have anything to tell you, they will.” Should she say anything about Adam returning in the middle of the night?
“I wish I could remember something … anything.”
“Was there anything you didn’t tell Detective Harper in your interview?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. The reason your father drugged you all those years ago.”
“God, you think I did it! You think I had a motive.” Nadine jumped from the bed and took a defensive posture.
“No, of course I don’t.” Kalina held her hands up in front of her. “I am just trying to understand how the family I knew growing up could be torn apart so violently. What happened?”
Nadine turned to face Kalina, resting her chin in her hand. “I guess it started after I turned eighteen. My parents needed to redo their wills to get rid of the need for a guardian or something. They ended up waiting an extra year. I’m not sure why. I didn’t know the details but my dad got really upset that my mother was keeping the house only in her name and she was passing it to me when I turned 25. It was supposed to be held by the estate lawyer until then.”
