Death Grip

by Elaine Viets

  ‘That’s slander, Mrs Richman,’ Evarts said. His piggy little eyes gleamed with malevolence. ‘Detective Greiman warned me that you might say something like that. He told me Miss McKim had propositioned Mr Bellerive, and when he turned her down – after all, he’s dating an international beauty, Desiree Gale – Rosanna began spreading lies about him. That’s what that kind of woman does.’

  ‘What kind of woman?’

  ‘An unmarried young woman who is looking to catch herself a rich husband.’

  ‘You do know that Rosanna has a steady boyfriend?’ I asked.

  ‘She wouldn’t be the first woman to dump a steady boyfriend for a better match. Any girl would jump at the chance to marry Mr Bellerive – especially a Toonerville girl. Miss McKim is twenty-nine. Back in my day, we called an unmarried woman that age an old maid. They get frustrated when they’re that old.’

  He must have seen the fury on my face, because he put his hands up and said, ‘I’m a little older than you, Mrs Richman, and I’ve seen a lot more human behavior. Especially in the war between the sexes.’

  ‘Rosanna McKim didn’t spread gossip about Briggs Bellerive,’ I said. ‘She hung on as long as she could because the job paid well. But she was looking for another one. She was afraid to be alone with Briggs. He attacked her in the linen closet.’

  ‘And where did you get that information, Mrs Richman?’

  ‘From Rosanna’s mother.’

  ‘Well, of course her mother would say that.’ Evarts seemed to pity my stupidity. That look was quickly replaced with a crafty expression. ‘Why were you talking to Miss McKim’s mother?’

  ‘She’s a family friend. I went to school with Rosanna’s older sister, Diana. While I was at the house, Mrs McKim gave me Rosanna’s diary. She kept a day-by-day account of life at Briggs’s house and sent her mother the diary as a back-up. Mrs McKim copied it onto a thumb drive.’

  ‘Why would Mrs McKim give her daughter’s diary to you instead of Detective Greiman, who was in charge of finding her daughter?’

  ‘Because Greiman has no interest in solving the case,’ I said. ‘He talked to Mrs McKim and then talked to Briggs. He swallowed every lie Briggs fed him, hook, line and sinker!’

  ‘Mrs Richman! You forget yourself. I am your supervisor.’ He pounded his desk, and looked me square in the eye. ‘Don’t you forget that Briggs Bellerive is one of our most respected citizens. And he has filed a complaint against you. He says you were rude and intrusive and had no business barging into his home.’ Evarts was pointing his pudgy finger at me. ‘May I ask why you went with Detective Budewitz when he served the search warrant on the Bellerive property?’ he asked.

  ‘Because the detective asked me to.’

  ‘Oh? Why was that? Was he lonely? Did he need protection? Or was he in need of your matchless detective skills?’

  ‘No, he asked me because he thought I knew Briggs. I explained that I didn’t really know him, I’d only been to a charity event at his house once, but Detective Budewitz really wanted me to go with him.’

  ‘Are you having an affair with Detective Budewitz?’

  At first I couldn’t answer because of the shock. As I recovered, I bit my tongue and counted to three before I said to the swine, ‘An affair! Jace is a devoted family man.’

  ‘Married men have been known to cross the line.’

  ‘Detective Budewitz doesn’t. And your question is slander, sir, so please be careful.’

  ‘Come now, Mrs Richman. You seem to have a preference for police officers. You were seen canoodling with Officer Christopher Ferretti at Gringo Daze.’

  ‘Canoodling? What is this? High school?’

  ‘I used that term to avoid a more unpleasant word, Mrs Richman. That’s how I really heard this news.’

  The F-word, I thought. I bet he got that tidbit from Greiman, too.

  ‘Yes, I went to dinner with Chris Ferretti,’ I said. ‘And yes, we are dating. And yes, there’s a big difference between Chris and Detective Budewitz. Chris is single. I don’t date married men. Ever!’

  ‘Mrs Richman, I’m going to ask you three questions and I know the answers. If you lie to me, you will be fired. Do you understand?’

  I nodded. I couldn’t figure out if he was bluffing about knowing the answers or not.

  ‘Answer me! I want a verbal answer!’ Evarts pounded his desk again. Harder. If his replica desk wasn’t built like a fortress, it would have collapsed. His face was so red I hoped he’d soon show up on Katie’s autopsy table.

  ‘Question one,’ he said. ‘When you decided to visit your good friend Mrs McKim’ – I could hear mocking quote marks around the words ‘good friend’ – ‘was Detective Budewitz with you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Two. Did you read the copy of the diary on the thumb drive and report to Detective Budewitz?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Three. Did you also make a report to Detective Greiman?’

  ‘No.’

  Now he took a piece of heavy stationery out of my file folder and said, ‘Just as I thought, Mrs Richman. That’s why I’ve prepared this official letter of warning for your permanent file. I’m providing you with a copy. Please remember that two more written warnings and I can fire you for disobeying orders. You will not get unemployment benefits. You have no business playing detective.’

  I was so angry I couldn’t move. I was stuck to the floor.

  ‘You can leave my office, Mrs Richman. Because you answered truthfully, you still have your job. For now. Good day.’

  TWENTY-FIVE

  My heart was pounding and I was dizzy with rage after my encounter with Evarts. I fled down the hall to Katie’s office, flung open her door without knocking and walked straight into Jace. The detective looked surprised.

  Katie pushed forward to examine me. ‘Angela! What’s wrong?’ Her plain, serious face mirrored her concern.

  I tried to talk, but I was so angry I was gasping for breath. Evarts had left me speechless.

  ‘Slow down.’ Katie guided me around her desk and made me sit in her chair. There was barely room for the three of us in the claustrophobic space, so Jace perched on the flimsy wire chair near the door. It creaked ominously.

  Katie had a full mug of hot coffee on the desk blotter. She grabbed a spoon, some fake creamer and sugar packets out of a drawer, and whipped up a brew that was more caffeine milkshake than coffee.

  ‘OK, take deep breaths – several deep breaths, dammit! Breathe, Angela!’ Katie’s voice was rough but somehow soothing. I followed her orders and felt a little calmer.

  Katie handed me the coffee mug and said, ‘Drink this. All of it.’

  I took a sip and made a face.

  ‘Yeah, I know. It tastes like sugared cat piss, but it’s what you need right now. Hold your nose and drink it. You have to tell us what happened. Both of us. This is war.’

  While I swallowed the vile concoction, Jace filled me in on what had happened to him.

  ‘Greiman filed a complaint against me,’ he said. ‘A formal complaint. So did Briggs’s lawyer, and that one is even more serious. Briggs’s attorney says I’ve been harassing his client and the search warrant was unnecessary interference.’

  As I tried to gulp the disgusting beverage, I thought that Katie had nailed it: it did taste like sugared cat piss, with top notes of tar and chalky powdered milk.

  Jace looked like he was having a hard time, too. His usual boyish countenance seemed older. Thin lines cut the corners of his eyes and dark circles hung under them. He’d nicked himself shaving and had a tiny bit of toilet paper stuck to his neck near his ear.

  He talked quickly, and I heard anger and disappointment in his voice. ‘Greiman says I’m meddling in his missing persons case, the disappearance of Rosanna McKim. He claims Briggs’s housekeeper ran off with one of her many boyfriends, and further investigation is a waste of department resources. I said there was no proof Rosanna had a lot of lovers. I told Greiman that her mother said she ha
d a steady boyfriend.

  ‘Greiman sneered at that and said, “Exactly what you’d expect her mother to say. Who’s going to admit their darling daughter is the town pump?”

  ‘Greiman said Briggs told him Rosanna was a slut who came onto him. When he turned her down – and why would he screw a Toonerville tramp when he was dating an international model? – she made up stories about him harassing her. Greiman said that was the oldest female trick in the book, and any man would understand it.

  ‘He got really ballistic when I mentioned Rosanna’s diary,’ Jace said. ‘Greiman said she started writing a bunch of lies to cover her own skanky ways. That’s when Greiman said I was too tight with you, Angela, and I was trying to turn you into my partner. And since the search warrant didn’t give us anything useful, I’ve been told not to go near Briggs Bellerive and his house. His lawyer has threatened to sue us sideways and bankrupt the department.

  ‘In this room, we all know that Briggs is guilty. He killed those three women and terrorized and abused we don’t know how many more. We have to find a way to get around Greiman and arrest that killer.’

  At last, I’d finished Katie’s foul potion. Awful as it was, the caffeine and sugar were kicking in, and I felt a little better. At least I was able to talk.

  ‘I just left the office of that miserable worm, that hypocritical bastard, Evarts Evans. He accused me of having an affair with you, Jace!’

  The blood drained from Jace’s face. ‘But, Angela, that’s not true! I’d never even think you’re a woman. I mean, you are, and I like you, but just as someone I work with. Not like you’re not attractive or anything. I mean, you are, but I don’t—’

  His sentences were so hopelessly tangled, I stepped in and rescued him. ‘I know, Jace. Evarts is too dumb to understand that men and women colleagues can form working friendships. Greiman planted that idea in Evarts’s head, and his manure-filled brain was a fertile spot.’

  Katie snorted. ‘Why don’t you just say our boss has shit for brains? What did Evarts do that has you so upset you were speechless?’

  ‘He gave me a written warning,’ I said. ‘I’m being warned for “playing detective” and assisting Jace. He put it in my permanent file.’

  ‘Evarts did that? Really?’ Katie looked shocked. ‘I didn’t think he had enough balls to try something that drastic.’

  ‘His pair is owned by the Forest fat cats, and someone must be squeezing them hard,’ I said.

  ‘You’re making an appointment with Monty,’ Katie said. ‘He’ll have that letter taken out of your file.’

  Katie believed her lawyer lover was invincible.

  ‘I know Monty can do that,’ I said. ‘But I’m worried about backlash. I’m afraid if I win that battle, Evarts will remove the letter from my file, but he’ll get revenge in little sneaky ways.’

  ‘Monty’s good at fixing that problem, too,’ Katie said. ‘And you have to fight that reprimand.’

  ‘When this is over,’ I said. ‘Meanwhile, we have to bring down Briggs.’

  I knew my brave words sounded ridiculous, like some kid making a promise in a tree house fort. But I meant them.

  ‘And while we’re talking revenge, how do we get Greiman?’ I asked.

  ‘We don’t,’ Jace said. ‘He’s not worth it. Besides, he’s like a cockroach that can survive a nuclear blast. He’ll crawl out of the ruins bigger and stronger than ever.’

  I laughed. ‘Jace, I’m awed by how well you are learning the ways of the Forest.’

  ‘I’m learning the way I always do – the hard way,’ he said.

  ‘All right, enough with the dramatics from you two,’ Katie said. ‘Let’s get down to business. You’re going to be watched – in fact, you already are. Angela, I knew about your dinner date with the new hire, Chris Ferretti, by eight this morning. You ate chicken fajitas, by the way, and he ordered chile rellenos. I also knew you two were going at it hot and heavy on your front porch until nearly two in the morning.’

  I felt my face burn scarlet and cursed my ability to blush at age forty-one.

  ‘I didn’t – we didn’t—’

  Katie cut me off with a laugh. ‘Angela, the Forest is a small town, and despite its money, in many ways it’s a hick town. That’s what they do in small towns – watch one another. People-watching is the local sport, right after backstabbing. Everyone knows when the neighbors sneeze. They particularly like to track single women. So for now, assume someone is always watching when you leave home.

  ‘Also, assume that someone is keeping track of your work phone calls, and possibly listening in. From now on, when you and Jace have to call each other, use your personal cell phones, not your work numbers. Exchange numbers right now.’

  We did, while Katie watched. Then she gave her next instruction. ‘Jace, when you get home today, tell your wife why Angela’s number is on your personal phone. Definitely tell her about the accusations.’

  Jace hesitated and looked alarmed. ‘I’m supposed to tell my wife that people are saying I’m having an affair with Angela?’

  ‘Yes,’ Katie said. ‘Get it out in the open before that rumor causes problems. Rumors die when they’re exposed to the light. If you don’t do it now, someone will be happy to “enlighten” your wife about the so-called facts.

  ‘Finally, if you and Angela need to meet, call me on your private cell and I’ll set up a meeting here, in my office. It’s the one place that’s safe for you two without raising eyebrows.’

  Suddenly she tensed and said, ‘Shh! What’s that?’

  ‘I don’t hear anything,’ Jace said.

  ‘I do,’ Katie said. ‘Someone’s coming down the hall.’

  She peeked around the edge of the door, then hissed, ‘Damn. It’s Evarts. If he sees us together, he’ll know we’ve been conspiring. Hide! Jace, stay behind that door and make yourself as small as possible.’

  Good luck, I thought. Jace was six-foot-two and about one-ninety.

  Katie shooed the big detective behind the door, then said, ‘Angela, get under my desk. Now!’

  I felt like I was in a French farce. I crawled into the kneehole of Katie’s desk, hunched over on all-fours. She sat down in her chair and her foot landed on my left hand. I fought hard to keep from screaming in pain.

  There was a brief knock on the door, and it opened slightly.

  Katie stood up, and I moved my hand just in time. I guessed she went over to the door to keep Evarts from coming into her office and getting too comfortable.

  ‘Dr Stern,’ Evarts said, ‘do you have any information about when we’ll get the identification on the two decedents in the woods? The forensic anthropologist, Ms Murdoch, hasn’t given me an ETA yet.’

  ‘I talked with Dana yesterday,’ Katie said. ‘She said it would be another ten to fourteen days before the victims would be ready for us. We caught a break on one, though. The woman had breast implants, so we’ll be able to trace her.’

  ‘Humph!’ Evarts sniffed. ‘I wonder why Ms Murdoch didn’t call me with that information. I am in charge here.’

  And out on the golf course in the morning, and at lunch for three hours in the afternoon, I thought.

  Evarts sounded petty and petulant, but Katie rushed in to soothe his feelings. ‘Oh, Dana knows that. She called me because she didn’t want to bother you. She knows your time is important.’

  I fought to keep from laughing. Katie, you’re shameless, I thought. But her topnotch job of boss-buttering seemed to work. I could almost hear Evarts’s ego inflating as she spoke.

  ‘Well, yes, of course. I have been busy. That’s very thoughtful of her, very thoughtful. You’ll continue to keep me informed, won’t you?’

  ‘Oh, yes, sir,’ Katie said.

  Then it happened. My work cell phone, which was in my jacket pocket, chimed.

  ‘Is that your phone?’ Evarts asked.

  ‘My phone?’ At first, Katie didn’t seem to recognize the ring tone, but she recovered quickly. ‘Oh, yes, yes, my p
hone. Let me get my purse.’ She kept her purse in the file cabinet drawer. I heard a drawer slide open and the zipper on her purse. Katie was frantically rummaging in her purse.

  Meanwhile, I fumbled around in the dark kneehole, trying to turn off my phone. I caught a glimpse of the number. Damn. It was Ray Greiman, probably calling me for a death investigation, and I was turning off my phone. There would be hell to pay later. I was expected to answer quickly. Finally, I got the ringing to stop. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. I’m sure Katie did, too. I heard the file drawer slam shut.

  ‘I also wanted to warn you that we must be careful whom we accuse,’ Evarts said. ‘The search warrant served on one of our finest citizens, Briggs Bellerive, did not yield a shred of evidence. His lawyer has warned us that any further contact with him would constitute harassment.’

  ‘I understand,’ Katie said.

  ‘I had a talk with Mrs Richman today. We received a complaint that she’d been interfering in a police investigation.’

  ‘Angela?’ Katie did a good job of sounding surprised. ‘She’s the best DI we have. I’m always happy when I get her on a case. She takes the kind of meticulous notes that stand up in court. Anyone that thorough is bound to offend people sometimes. But she’s good – she’s very good.’

  ‘Yes, well.’ Evarts cleared his throat. ‘If she does as she’s told, there won’t be any further repercussions.’

  ‘I hope so,’ Katie said. ‘I’d hate to lose a good staff member.’

  ‘Well, I’ll let you go, Dr Stern. Please keep me informed on that anthropologist’s findings.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Katie said. ‘I certainly will. Have a good day.’

  She shut her office door, then whispered, ‘OK. Stay quiet and in place. Sometimes he comes back because he forgot to tell me something.’

  My hands and knee were aching, but I stayed quiet. So quiet, I could hear whimpering.

  ‘Katie? Is that your puppy, Cutter?’