When I finally ran out of words, Emma laid her hand over mine and said, “Well that certainly is a whole lot to digest. I just heard on the news about the other body they found. The cops aren’t releasing any information though. You’ve got a lot on your plate. What’s the easiest to start with?” She knew just what I needed. To problem solve in small bites.
“I guess Luke.”
“Have you talked to him about what happened?”
“No, we haven’t had a chance. I wouldn’t even know what to say.” I put my head down on my folded arms. I felt like a ten year old who just failed her first test.
“The truth. Start there. You owe him that. Clear the air and then maybe you two can start putting your heads together. Or you can spend the whole time fighting and not accomplishing anything. Up to you,” Emma said, shrugging.
Emma was right. I just needed the guts to have the conversation.
I turned my head and looked up at Emma. She had the look of pity at the mess I’d gotten myself into. “What am I going to do about George? What have you heard about Maime? There’s got to be neighborhood gossip. I know you still see some of her friends.”
“Most people think George killed her. I hate to say it. I know him, know everything you’ve told me, and even I have a hard time believing he didn’t kill her or have someone kill her. Maime has never been my favorite person, but she didn’t deserve to die.”
“We don’t even know if she is dead,” I reminded Emma.
“Do you really think she’s alive? I’ve known Maime since high school. She’s not you, Riley. She’s not one to fend for herself. I really believe if she was alive she’d contact someone.”
Part of me believed Emma was right. “I really haven’t had a chance to interview anyone yet. What are her friends saying? Has she been in contact with any of them?”
Emma shook her head no and said, “Not a peep. Claire and Gina, who are her two best friends at this point still left in Little Rock, are heading up the search. They called in a search and rescue dog team from Dallas, who also brought up a cadaver dog. They were up here yesterday and nothing. I guess we can assume he didn’t kill her at home. I heard George let them in, gave them some of her clothes. He’s being cooperative, which is about the only thing he has going for him.”
“I didn’t realize they had brought dogs in already. Where’s the rest of Maime’s family?” I knew she had a sister and two brothers, all of whom were married with kids.
“Not local,” Emma said, updating me as she sipped her coffee between tidbits of information. “Her sisters are in North Carolina and her brother is down in Dallas, I think. From what I heard from Claire, none of them have heard from her either. Riley, you have to face it. It just doesn’t look good for George. Are you going to be willing to turn him in if you find evidence?”
“What’s his motive though?” I persisted harder. “It wasn’t financial. The cops ruled that out. They were fine financially. I don’t get it. He’s had affairs before, and they made it work. I know Cooper and Luke think that’s reason enough for murder but come on, really?”
“I don’t know. You never really know what happens inside someone’s marriage. What about the other women found? Do we know if they’re connected?”
Emma caught the look on my face. She put her coffee mug down and her hand on my arm. “Riley, is there something else?”
I didn’t respond. I shrugged off her hand, got up and went upstairs. I grabbed the bracelet from my dresser and brought it back down, setting it on the table in front of Emma.
“What’s this?” Emma asked, picking up the bracelet and turning it over inspecting it.
“This is a bracelet George gave me for our six month anniversary. He had it specially made. This is also an exact replica of the bracelet found on the wrist of the woman pulled from the river last night.”
Emma continued to examine the bracelet, running her fingers over the delicate design. When she looked up at me, I saw fear in her eyes. She held the bracelet out to me and said, “Riley, this is serious. It was serious before when it was just Maime, but now there’s Maime and this connection to a dead woman. What did Luke and Cooper say about this?”
“I didn’t tell them yet. I was hoping to look into it first. Obviously, it will just make him look guiltier.”
“Did you ever stop to consider that it will make George look guiltier because he is in fact guilty?” Emma countered. “You need to stay away from him. Something is off, Riley, you have to see it.”
Looking up to the ceiling, I took a few deep breaths, measuring my response. Trying to get a read on my gut. “I know something is off, which is why I’m here. Come on, Emma, do you really think I could have fallen in love with a killer? You know me. I have better instincts than that. Yes, I missed all the warning signs that he had another girlfriend, but could I have really missed all the warning signs that he was a budding psychopath who would kill his wife and other women? I just can’t truly believe that, Emma. Can you?”
I was on the verge of crying and Emma could see it.
“Honey,” Emma said, putting her arm around me, “I don’t think you missed anything. Some people are just really good at hiding what they don’t want you to see. George never struck me as the kind of guy to get his hands dirty though. I will give you that much. Now his friend Dean I could see killing people. He’s always seemed shady.”
Dean’s whole line of work was cleaning up; spinning the press and hiding facts about his clients. I never really liked what George had told me about Dean. Meeting him this morning didn’t improve my impression of him. Emma was right about that.
Emma pushed her chair back and held up her hands in surrender and said, “You’re the investigator. I’ll concede for now about George, but it would seem to me if you want to keep him out of prison, where it looks like he’s soon to be heading, you have to find someone else with motive. And don’t, Riley, don’t you dare go off with him alone or hide evidence from the police. Do not fall for his charm again. I will not see you get taken down with him. Sophie needs her godmother around.”
“How is my little Sophie?” Thinking about Sophie and her fat little baby cheeks always made me smile. She was just about a year old when I left. Emma sent me pictures through email. We’d video chat by Skype pretty often. Emma was one of the few holdouts not on Facebook.
“She’s a holy terror. I’ll gladly drop her off to her Auntie Riley and she can stay right here with you when this is all over. Until then, come to dinner whenever you can. Joe has some firewood for you out back, too.” Emma washed her coffee cup and placed it on the drying rack. She came over, kissed me on the cheek, and made her way back out the door, reminding me not to work too hard as she left.
CHAPTER 21
“WELL IT SEEMS you’ve got more secrets than I realized. I didn’t know you kept the house when you left,” Cooper said. His eyes wide open scanning the room as he walked through my front door. He called as Emma was leaving. I figured now was as good a time as any to bring him over.
Cooper looked around my living room. “You’ve sure got a sense of style. Love the black and white photos. If you fail at being a private investigator, you should try being a decorator. I could use you at my place.”
I laughed. “Yeah not many people know I kept it. I couldn’t bear to sell it.” I lead him through the living room and gave him the five-cent tour of the house. I offered him something to drink and sat comfortably in the living room. Cooper sat on my black and white square-patterned armless chair. I sat on my favorite robin’s egg blue couch ready to get down to business.
“You go first. Tell me about the rest of the interview with George,” Cooper suggested.
I filled Cooper in on some of the basic details and left the most interesting to last. “I got George to admit that his alibi was false. He wasn’t with Dean, after all, which is what he told Luke. Dean covered for him. George was really with his mistress on Friday night.”
“That’s not really surpri
sing,” Cooper said. “I think we can assume that most of what George will tell us and the cops will be a lie.”
“Are you really convinced he killed Maime? I just want to know. Everyone seems to think so. I feel like I’m the only one who isn’t so sure.” And that was the truth. I was really starting to feel like the whole world was against George, and that I was the only one who still believed him. I didn’t blame everyone else. I could understand it. He was someone I once loved. Even my confidence in him had been rocked.
“I don’t know. I try not to go into any case with the idea that I know all the answers. What I do know is he is a liar and a serial cheater. Does that make him a killer? No. But, he hasn’t been helping himself. His life is one slippery slope after another. Why all the lies if he has nothing to hide?” Cooper asked. He leaned forward in his seat, waiting for my response.
“I think he’s hiding the cheating. He went over the last few years with me. He and Maime have no marriage at all at least in the traditional sense. It’s all for show. George has had a lot of women, Cooper. More than I ever realized.”
Cooper nodded.
I continued. “That is one of my biggest problems with him; the lying. Our whole relationship started with a lie, and his lies continued. If it’s not just the affairs he’s trying to hide, you’re right, I don’t know what else there is he’s not telling us.”
“He’s got to stop lying or we aren’t going to be able to help him. Did you tell him that?”
“I did. Or at least I tried to anyway. I don’t know how much he really heard me. I think I know who your neighbor is talking about, the nurse George was having the affair with. Her name is Laura Bisceglia. She lives in Hillcrest. I have both her address and phone number,” I said evenly, handing Cooper the piece of paper that contained her information.
“My neighbor hasn’t called me back yet, but we should pay Ms. Bisceglia a visit instead of calling her first. Can you go with me now?”
“That works for me, the sooner the better. I just want to nail down at least one fact George has told us. Tell me about this other body they found.”
“I will on our way to Laura’s place,” Cooper said, stalling me. “Tell me about George’s friend Dean first. He left me a message earlier today. I haven’t returned the call yet. What do we know about him? I’ve seen him around the county club, but I don’t know much about him.”
“You know it’s funny you should say that. Do you remember my friend Emma and her husband Joe?” Cooper nodded. “They live next door. Emma was just here. She said something funny to me. She told me that she has a hard time believing George could murder someone. But she said she wouldn’t be surprised if Dean could. I hadn’t thought too much about him until she said that.”
“Since he lied and covered for George, we don’t have his real alibi either. What do you know about him?” Cooper asked again and then jotted down Dean’s name in the small black notepad.
I shrugged and told Copper the little I knew. “Not much. Today was the first day I met him. I know he and George are best friends. They grew up together, went to the same schools all the way through college, and played football together. I know they were both members of the same fraternity. Dean runs a pretty successful public relations firm. George’s law firm is one of their main clients.”
That really was all I knew. Dean wasn’t around much when I was dating George so I didn’t really know a lot about him. Of course, looking back, I realized that I was just another affair. George had every reason not to bring me around his friends. It’s funny what you see in hindsight.
“Maybe instead of calling him back, we should just pay him a visit. I like to watch people’s reactions face-to-face,” Cooper said and then added, “I found it really strange he was at the meeting this morning and that Maime’s father would feel the need to worry about his law firm at a time like this. It seemed cold to me.”
“I agree. I think we definitely need to sort out how Dean’s involved. George gave me a list of people to interview including Maime’s friends, family and coworkers.”
I got up and walked to the kitchen table where I had all my case information. I handed the list to Cooper for him to review while I gathered up the rest of my stuff to leave.
CHAPTER 22
WE TOOK MY RENTAL AND LEFT Cooper’s truck at my house. After a few moments navigating my suburban streets, I looked over at Cooper in the passenger seat. “Okay, you’ve kept me in suspense long enough. What’s with the other body they found?”
Our eyes met in a knowing glance. Cooper looked shaken. “It’s not good, Riley. Same as the others yesterday. Woman probably in her early forties with ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. There were ligature marks across her neck, too. Medical examiner wasn’t sure how long she’d been dead. She was really bloated from the water. Looked like she’d been beat up bad.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. Is there a serial killer in Little Rock?” I was truly perplexed. I knew a lot about serial crime. So far, the similarities in victims, manner of death and dumping place for the bodies were all leading to one alarming conclusion. Worse yet, I still didn’t know where George fit in the mix.
“This woman was different though. She was heavier than the women last night, long blonde hair and one other new detail,” Cooper said. Then he touched my arm, and I gave him my full attention. “She had the word whore scrawled across her stomach in pink.”
“Is she? I mean do we know if she was a prostitute or something that would elicit that kind of description from the killer?” I don’t recall seeing prostitutes just trolling the streets of Little Rock, at least on the side of town we were on, but it didn’t mean there wasn’t an underground sex business. Every city has one.
“Luke wasn’t sure. There was no identification. Here’s the other thing. Did you notice the bracelet on the woman that was found last night?”
I shook my head yes but avoided making eye contact.
Cooper continued, “The woman pulled from the river this morning had on what looked like an expensive pair of silver hoop earrings. Luke didn’t seem to think any of it was a big deal, but something felt weird to me about it.”
It would have been the perfect time to tell Cooper about the bracelet. I didn’t. I wasn’t ready to tie George to a murder until I could wrap my head around what it really meant.
“Are you thinking it’s some kind of signature? Or did the killer just forget to remove her jewelry?” I asked hesitantly.
“I don’t know. As I said, Luke hadn’t noticed. I brought it to his attention. He said he’d look into it. I think they are focused on getting the identification of the women and cause and manner of death. But, Riley, there’s one more thing.”
“Go on, don’t keep me in suspense,” I urged him, easing my foot off the gas pedal trying not to speed.
“The woman this morning was found washed up behind George’s office. The woman last night was found less than a mile down the road and the other a little farther down the river. Luke thinks it’s significant. I have to agree it’s too much of a coincidence not to be connected.”
I rolled my eyes. Yes, the circumstantial evidence was mounting. Once a cop gets tunnel vision, there’s usually not much to get him off his one-track mind. They just start digging for more connections, no matter how insignificant.
I sighed at Cooper’s predictability and said, “I knew last night that we were right down the road from George’s office, but the river runs right behind his building and many others. She could have been dumped anywhere. The same with the others. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Cooper groaned, slapping his hand against the dashboard. “Riley, come on. His wife is missing and three women wash up dead near his office. You’ve got to put your emotions aside and look at this logically.”
“I am!” I shot back angrily. “We have to keep an open mind. The cops aren’t going to. George hired us. We work for him. The least we could do is give him the benefit of the doubt right now until we ha
ve something irrefutable.”
Cooper didn’t argue with me. He didn’t say anything for several minutes, just stared out the passenger side window. Finally, he turned to me and said, “We’ll have to tell Luke about George’s alibi. It’s not information we can hold back.”
I didn’t protest. We drove the rest of the way in silence.
CHAPTER 23
LAURA BISCEGLIA’S HOUSE was a two-story Craftsman bungalow typical of her Hillcrest neighborhood. It had greenish gray siding and white trim with two stone pillars lining either side of the porch. Cooper and I walked up the slate-tiled walkway that cut a path through the neatly manicured lawn. I noticed off to my right there was a Toyota SUV in the driveway. Cooper knocked on the heavy wooden front door. We waited. He knocked again.
Cooper stood on his tiptoes. He peered through the square window at the top of the door. I stepped around him and looked through the living room window to the left of the front door. The blinds were open. I could see into the living room. The house’s open concept allowed me to see into the dining room and open kitchen too. The house was quiet and dark.
“I don’t think she’s home,” I said to Cooper while still looking into the house. Something on the kitchen table caught my eye.
“Coop, it looks like there’s a purse and cellphone sitting on the kitchen table. Maybe she’s out for a walk or at the neighbor’s house.”
“Maybe. I’m going to walk around back and see what I can find. Maybe knock on the back door. Why don’t you check with the neighbors next door?” Cooper suggested as he walked off the porch and around the right of the house, heading towards the back.
As Cooper disappeared from sight, I stood for a moment looking at the neighbors’ houses next to and across the street deliberating who I wanted to check with first. It seemed there weren’t many people around in the middle of the day.
“Miss, can I help you?” a woman asked, suddenly appearing on Laura’s front lawn. Her voice was like honey, sweet and southern. She was older. I would guess in her sixties with short gray hair, and she was dressed like she was headed out for afternoon tea — black slacks and a cream-colored sweater with a bright multi-colored silk scarf tied expertly around her neck.
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