by Dale Mayer
“There’s no point yet,” he said, “because I don’t know if it has anything to do with his death or not.”
“I would give anything to find out that it wasn’t intentional.”
He gave her hug and said, “Leave it to me. I’ll talk to you as soon as I know something, but I do have to take all this down to the police station.”
She nodded and held the door open for him as he walked out. “I really wish you’d tell me something though.”
He shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “No point in upsetting you, however it comes out, until we have some facts.” And, with that, he left her. He hopped into his vehicle, headed straight toward the police station, and pulled into the parking lot around back. As he hopped out with both items in his hands, he headed toward the reception area. There he asked to speak to Kate. At the use of her first name, the officer’s eyebrows shot right up.
In a smooth move he said, “Detective Kate Morgan requested these.” He held up the laptop and the book.
At that, the woman nodded and sent a message through. He waited and waited, and, when Kate didn’t show up, he pulled out his phone and texted her himself. He got a message back not too long later.
Coming.
“Good,” he said to himself. “Obviously that works better than anything else.” At least he hoped so. Though he still had to wait another ten minutes.
When she came through the connecting door, she apologized. “Sorry, I was in a meeting.”
He understood that, as he had plenty of those himself.
She took one look at the laptop and the black book, then reached for the black book first and checked the pages and nodded. “Good,” she said. “I’ll log this in and get it to Forensics.” She accepted the laptop and turned away.
“Do I get a Hi, Simon. Nice to have coffee. Thanks very much for bringing this. Anything at all?”
She stopped and glared at him.
He waved at her and said, “No, no, you’re welcome. It’s all good.” And, with that, he turned and walked toward the door. But he was chuckling, and he heard her sigh from down the hall, before he heard her call out.
“Thank you!”
He caught the officer at the front desk, looking at him speculatively, and, with laughter in his gaze, he kept on walking. He wondered just what kind of relationship Kate had with the rest of the department. But then she was still fairly new, so maybe they hadn’t seen her with anybody with whom she had a personal relationship with. And, considering what she’d said to him, that made the most sense. She also hadn’t particularly wanted anybody to know that she might be involved with someone.
He winced at that because it was probably just a little too late for that. This exchange would stir the pot of questions and gossip, and he hadn’t done anything to mitigate that. He sent her a quick text. Sorry, but it looks like the front desk is a little too interested in us.
Whatever. Kate added a frowning face emoji, apparently just tossing it off.
He grinned at that. He wasn’t even sure what the hell they had, but he was willing to take the trip to see where it went. As he headed to his own car once again, he stopped, searching for that little deli somewhere around here. He reoriented himself and walked across the street to pick himself up some food. As he stood in line, his phone rang.
“Where are you?”
He said, “At the deli.”
“Shit,” she said, “I’m on my way.”
Surprised at that but not exactly sure what was going on, he thought about it as he got up to the counter, and, when it was time to place an order, he placed it for two specials. The employee didn’t say anything and served up everything he needed. He paid the bill and took it over to one of the small empty tables at the back. When Kate dashed in, he called her over. She sat down in the opposite chair, with a look of complete exhaustion on her face.
“You okay?” he asked in concern.
“Yeah.” But she didn’t look it. “I booked it down here to get one of the specials. They run out so damn fast.” She stared at the two plates on the table and then looked up at him.
He smiled and said, “I hadn’t eaten, and I thought maybe you could use some food too.” Then he nudged one of the plates closer to her.
Her face lit up, like a sunrise in the morning.
He stared, enchanted. “Wow,” he said, “if that’s all I have to do—”
She pulled the plate closer. “That’s one of the reasons I came running,” she said. “The specials were always gone early in the afternoon.”
“They didn’t say anything about it.” But, even as he looked up, an employee posted a sign, saying that the day’s special was sold out. “Wow,” he said, “good timing.” They both sat here and enjoyed their lunch. He wasn’t even sure what kind of soup it was, but it was delicious, and a huge thick slab of bread rested beside it. He was happy to watch her eat the rest of hers. “You’re inhaling that.”
“I try not to,” she confessed. “It’s always so good, and it seems like I have so very few minutes in a day for a break.”
“That’s because you do,” he said, with a smile. “Unless you change that.”
Soon the food was gone, and she sat back with a happy smile. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.
He nodded in wonder. “First,” he said, “I wasn’t expecting that your rush down here was to get lunch. Second, I wasn’t expecting that your full-on rush would completely stop when food was put in front of you.”
She chuckled. “It’s been one of those days.”
“Did the laptop help?”
“I won’t know for a while yet,” she said. “It should be a huge help, particularly that email. It’s taken us in a direction that we hadn’t considered. Honestly I really don’t want to go there, but—”
“Who would?” he said. “Louisa is a friend of mine. So was David. I had no idea what was going on in his life. I feel terrible about it.”
“That’s another reason,” she said. “I didn’t even think to ask her any questions. I don’t know if the officer who informed her of her husband’s death did or not. Even if he did, he likely wouldn’t have asked the questions I want to ask.”
“Go ahead and ask me,” he said. “What do you want to know?”
“Just about the relationship, what their marriage was like, things like that.”
He nodded. “I guess you have to ask that stuff, don’t you?”
She nodded. “It helps to set the scene, and it lets us know what’s going on.”
“Right.”
She brought out a notebook and asked, “How long have you known him?”
“David?”
She nodded.
“Easily fifteen years,” he said. “Beyond that, I don’t really know.”
“Good enough,” she said. “And his wife?”
“They’ve been married about twelve years I think,” he said thoughtfully, “so probably two years before that. Let’s call it fourteen years, give or take.”
“Any altercations, any problems between them?”
He looked at her in surprise and said, “Not that I know of. I’ve never seen any sign of it. You don’t think she’s responsible for any of this, do you?”
She looked at him and said, “I have to ask questions.”
“I get it,” he said, “but they’re disturbing.”
She nodded. “But, at the same time, she’s the one who gave you the little black book.”
He stared. “Which is why I would have said she was completely in the clear.”
“I get that,” she said, “but please, I just need to ask the questions.”
He settled back and answered a few more. “Yes, as far as I know, they’ve been happy. No, they have no children. I hadn’t realized that was an issue, but apparently it was.”
She looked at him in surprise.
“It’s in the chats,” he said. “One of the reasons he was there looking for help was the fact that he couldn’t have children. He really wan
ted children and felt like less of a man, unable to give her what he felt she wanted. But I don’t think she gave a crap.”
“Meaning that she didn’t want kids?”
“No, just that she didn’t want him to be so upset by it. If they came, great, but, if not, she was okay with it.”
She nodded. “Not everybody is meant to be a mother.”
“He definitely wanted to be a father.”
“And that makes it all the more difficult,” she agreed.
By the time they were done with the questions, Simon felt like he had pried into his friend’s life more than was even acceptable, even given the circumstances. When Kate was finally done, he said testily, “That was really uncomfortable.”
“Yes, I know,” she said, “and unfortunately I’ll have to ask all of those questions over again to Louisa.”
He stared. “I thought the whole point of doing this was so she wouldn’t have to be put through it.”
“This starts the process, but I have to confirm from her that this is all the truth. We have to investigate David’s death. The last three jumpers are with my team now.”
“So I suppose, if she lies, you get her caught out in it,” he said in disgust.
“I don’t do this on purpose, nor do I do it lightly,” she said. “There are other aspects to this case that you don’t really know about and that I can’t really share at this point in time.”
He pinched his lips closed and glared at her. “Well, you need to give me a hell of a lot more than that,” he snapped, “because a hell of a lot more is at stake here.”
“And I get that,” she said gently, “and I guess, at this point in time, I’ll have to ask you to trust me that something else is going on and that I need to at least write her off.”
“And doing this writes her off?” he asked in surprise.
She nodded. “Yes. These are the types of answers I need.”
He shook his head. “I’ll never understand the world that you live in.”
“And I probably won’t understand yours either,” she said, “and I get it. I really do. But this is my world.”
He sat back, stared at her, and said, “And, if I want anything to do with you, I have to live with your world, is that it?”
“No, not at all,” she said. “We don’t have to have anything to do with each other. That’s what I keep telling you.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” he snapped. “You don’t get rid of me that easily.”
She stared at him in surprise, and she said, “Maybe you should give it some thought.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not even talking about that right now,” he said. “Yeah, I’m pissed, and I’m not thrilled that you’ll take this information and put my friend through hell over it, but you’ll do it no matter what I say,” he said. “So, am I at least allowed to give her a heads-up?”
She frowned and said, “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we both go over and talk to her together?” He stared at her in surprise. She shrugged. “It would probably make her feel better if you were there for support.”
“Yes, it definitely would, although she’s likely to be quite pissed at me for having brought this down on her head.”
“You didn’t bring it down on her head.”
“Okay, so her husband then,” he said. “How will that make her feel any better, considering her husband is dead?”
“Well, hopefully we’ll end up with some answers about her husband’s death because of this.”
He shook his head. “Those answers wouldn’t come anytime soon, and it’ll just cause her a lot more torment.”
“The end result unfortunately in this case,” she said, “justifies the means.” But she wouldn’t say any more.
He glared at her, which was useless. If there was one thing she would be solid about, it was defending the truth and the integrity of the case, until she could tell him something.
“Fine,” Simon said, looking down at his watch. “Let’s do it now.” Then he got up and led the way out of the restaurant, not giving her a chance to argue.
Chapter 7
Kate knew Simon was upset with her, but she really had no other option. She just needed to make sure they didn’t waste their time looking at the wife. Wives were statistically a lot less likely to be a murderer as compared to husbands murdering their wives. But she couldn’t take that chance right now because encouraging a suicide, something manipulative like this, could be done by all kinds of people.
By the time they got to the property, Kate looked around the area and saw that it was not a high-end place by any means, but it was a good solid family housing area and would have served David and Louisa well, if they had grown their family.
When Simon knocked on the door, and Louisa opened it in surprise, another woman stood there, with her arm on Louisa’s shoulder. Louisa looked back at her friend and said, “This is Simon.”
Simon nodded. “I think I’ve met you before,” he said, with a frown. He appeared to think for a moment and then said, “Helen, is it?”
“Helena,” she said, with a hand out, shaking his. “I’ve been friends with Louisa for a long time,” she admitted. “Since grade school,” she said, looking over at Louisa, who smiled and nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct.” She faced Simon and Kate. “What’s the matter? Why are you back again?” Her gaze narrowed, and she said, “I don’t think I know who you are.”
“Detective Kate Morgan,” she said, holding out her badge. “I’m investigating your husband’s death.”
The woman looked at her in shock. “Police?” she said, then looked at Simon.
“I told you that I was taking David’s things to the police,” he said.
“Yes, yes, of course,” she said, with a shake of her head. She glanced around at the neighborhood and said, “Please, come in.”
As they stepped inside, Simon explained further. “Kate just needs to ask you some questions.”
“Oh,” Louisa said, staring at Kate in horror. “You know that I already spoke to an officer, right?”
“Yes. I promise it won’t take long.”
“Everybody says that, don’t they?” Helena said.
“I don’t know,” Kate said, “but, in my world, questions are one of the basic elements of getting to the truth.”
“Well, I don’t have anything to hide,” Louisa said, still staring at Kate, obviously perturbed.
“Good,” she said, “maybe Helena could give us a few minutes, and we could just go over them.”
“No, no,” Louisa said, immediately reaching out a hand for her friend.
Kate studied her friend and saw Helena’s hand instinctively take Louisa’s. “That’s fine,” she said. “Most of the questions are pretty general.” She pulled out her notebook.
“Oh, come on in,” Louisa said. “I’m sorry. We don’t need to stand in the hallway here. Let’s go into the kitchen. I’ll put on some coffee.”
Realizing the woman needed something to do to keep busy, Kate followed Simon, who followed Helena.
As they stepped into the kitchen, Helena glared at Simon. “Why did you have to bring the police in on this?” she snapped quietly.
“Because of something I found on David’s laptop,” he whispered back. She looked at him in surprise. He just shrugged and didn’t say anything more. “Keep in mind, his death was already something the police had to look into.”
Kate appreciated that. If everybody stopped assuming that they knew what was going on, Kate might get to the heart of the matter and be on her way. But, at the same time, she didn’t have a whole lot that she could share at the moment either.
The coffee now dripping in the pot behind her, Louisa turned around nervously. “So what can I help you with?”
Kate started with the easy questions and went through the simple ones, about how long they had been married and how long they had lived at the address. When she got into the more troublesome ones—about if they had any problems in their ma
rriage—she saw the jolt of surprise in Louisa’s face at the question.
She stared in horror at Kate. “You don’t think I had anything to do with his suicide, do you?” Her bottom lip trembled, and immediately Helena raced over.
“No, of course she doesn’t. Nobody would think that,” Helena said. She turned a hard glance toward Kate. “Do you?” she challenged.
“We’re checking into all areas, also some information that we received.”
At that, Louisa turned to look at Simon in shock.
He shook his head. “Just answer the question. She’s not looking at you for complicity in anything.” He tried to say it reassuringly, but it was obvious that the woman was still struggling.
Kate decided to carry on with the last of the questions. By the time she was done, Louisa was almost comatose with shock. Kate turned to Simon. “That’s all I need.”
He nodded and said, “I’ll see you to the door.”
“Good.”
At that, Helena broke away from Louisa, raced to the front door with them, and she said in a harsh whisper, “Make sure you don’t come back,” she snapped. “That’s the last thing she needed.”
“Maybe so,” Simon said, his voice equally hard. “But sometimes this shit has to happen in order for us to get to the bottom of the problem.”
“There is no problem here. Isn’t it enough that he already betrayed her by committing suicide, and then you just throw acid into the wound by bringing up all this stuff? The last thing that she wants to discuss is their marriage or anything else. She already feels guilty enough,” she snapped.
“I get it,” he said, his tone still hard, “but you don’t know the whole story.”
“Well, explain it to me then,” she challenged.
He shook his head and said, “No, that I will not do.”
And, with that, Kate turned to look at him and said, “Thank you.” And she turned and walked out.
“Listen to her,” Helena said, in a hoarse whisper. “You brought the bloody cops in here. She already talked to an officer. You didn’t have to raise this all up again.”
“Of course I did,” he said, his voice rising, hoping Louisa heard this part, “and I’d do it again if I found that there was a problem. You don’t know the first thing about this,” he said. “So don’t even try to tell me what to do. I acted in the best interests of Louisa. Can you say the same thing?”
