An Intimate Murder (The Catherine O'Brien Series) (31 page)

I nodded in agreement.

“Please don’t egg him on anymore.” She bit each word off under her breath. “I think I can get it out of him.”

I rolled my eyes up to the acoustic ceiling tiles, then looked at her, and nodded again. Louise circled on Chad, cocked one foot out, leaned back on the other and crossed her arms over her waist.

Too bad my mouth worked quicker than my brain in certain situations. If I could keep those two in harmony more often, I’d be a better detective. I guess that’s why the chief had partnered me with Louise. Louise could get top-secret information from a dead spy.

“Does your Aunt have any proof that Katie was involved with your parent’s deaths?” Louise asked.

“No.”

“Then why is she so het up to have your cousin locked away?”

“God, you guys are dense.” He let out a laugh and shook his head. “If Katie is put away who do you think gets the money? Let’s think for a second.” He put his index finger to his temple. “If Katie is free.”

He jumped up, eyes wide, as if he’d just come up with an important revelation.

“Oh yeah, and Katie’s guardian, is dead. Then a judge is appointed guardian.”

He tapped his temple again.

“But if Katie is arrested for murder, and put away for life, then she won’t need that money any more. So who gets it?”

Chad looked from Louise to me and then back to Louise.

“Any guesses,
DETECTIVES
?”

“Alright,” I said. “We get it.”

“Oh, good. I’m so glad I didn’t have to s-p-e-l-l it out for you.”

Katie Dolan was the fatted calf that Linda Myers was prepared to sacrifice. In the twisted aftermath of the last two days, Chad Luther had become just a plastic pawn in the game of who gets the family inheritance.

“It’s not insanity that runs through the roots my family tree,” he said. “It’s greed. One of the seven deadly sins.”

His eyes narrowed and he gave a cynical laugh.

“My family has always been full of over achievers.”

The soft rustle of paper drew my attention to the back of the room. Jane flipped the page of her miniature steno book over and continued to scribble notes without looking up. I had forgotten she was with us.

“Chad, we’re going to leave you here,” Louise said. “There will be an officer outside the door if you need anything.”

Louise didn’t wait for him to respond. She closed the shade in front of the mirror and then headed for the door. I motioned for Jane to follow.

Linda Meyers sat at the table closest to the door of the lounge where she wouldn’t miss us when we entered. Not that the room was huge, but during shift changes, the small area became quite crowded, like now. Linda spun the paper coffee cup like a top on the table in front of her, waiting for it to rattle to a stop before spinning it again.

When she finally saw us, she got to her feet.

“Where’s Chad?” she said, without preamble.

“Mrs. Meyers,” Louise said. “We need to speak to you.”

We led her into interview room four, but she refused to sit until we told her what had happened to Chad. So, we sat and waited for her to come to the conclusion that we’d go no further until she calmed herself.

She paced for a few moments and then finally took a seat. Linda twisted her hands on the table in front of her.

“What’s happened?” She turned pleading eyes from Louise to me. “What did Chad say?”

“Well, he didn’t say much.” I leaned back and stretched my arms out in front of me. “After we told him that Katie Dolan was in our custody at the time he claimed she had attacked him.”

Linda’s eye narrowed in suspicion. She looked between the three of us, finally fixing on Jane. Jane looked surprised by the sudden scrutiny.

“You’re lying.” Linda directed her statement at Jane. “You don’t have Katie in custody.”

Jane straightened uncomfortably and cleared her throat. Louise took a deep breath, readying herself to jump in and rescue Jane, but I tapped her elbow. Louise looked at me and I shook my head.

If Jane Katts wanted the inside track on this investigation, she might as well jump in and help.

“We do actually.” Jane’s voice was tentative.

She laid her pen and paper on the table and laced her fingers over the top of them.

“Katie Dolan was arrested early this morning.”

“That’s a lie,” Linda said. Her words came out like a gunshot of an accusation. “I don’t know why you’re playing games with me. Chad told you it was Katie.”

“Because that’s what you wanted him to tell us,” Jane said.

I sucked in a deep breath. Jane had just made the worst of rookie mistakes. You never lay all your cards on the table at once.

“I’m calling my lawyer,” Linda Myers said. “I am going to sue you and this police department. You’re harassing me, and my family, during a very difficult time. I need a phone so I can call my lawyer.”

Louise and I stood and headed for the door with Jane in tow.

Once in the hallway and out of hearing distance of Linda Myers, Jane turned to us and asked, “Why did we leave? She would have slipped up if you’d kept asking her questions.”

“Maybe she would have,” I agreed.

“Then why didn’t we keep talking?”

“Because she asked for a lawyer,” Louise said. “Anything we found out after that request would have been thrown out of court. Especially if we’d kept asking questions before giving her access to a phone.”

“Now her lawyer is going to tell her not to talk to us at all,” I said.

“We know she’s lying. We know she put Chad up to this scam, and we can’t do anything about it?” Jane stomped her foot like a spoiled brat. “That really fucking sucks.”

I nodded my agreement. “That’s the law.”

Jane stared as if there would be some loophole in our logic. There wasn’t.

“So what do we do now?”

Amusement rolled through me at Jane’s personalization of what was happening. Finally, she was beginning to understand what we did every day. She would never be an impartial bystander again, not after coming this far with us.

The cell phone in my purse chirped to let me know I’d received a text message. I slid the phone from its pocket.

“Now we visit Digs,” I said and wiggled my phone in the air. “Digs just sent me a message that says he needs to see us 9-1-1.”

“Very punny,” Louise said and shook her head. “Does he say why?”

I scrolled through the entire text.

“No. He does like his dramatic reveals. I guess this is one of them.”

“We have a ballistics match.”

Digs didn’t even wait for the door to close before making his announcement. Anti-climactic for Digs who liked to play Monty Hall, what’s behind curtain number two, every chance he got.

“I knew you’d want to know about it right away.” He was panting with excitement.

Jane, caught in Digs’ enthusiasm, gave a quick round of applause. Louise and I just waited. There had to be more. A ballistics match meant nothing. He could have matched the bullet to another unsolved murder, and our lives would have just become more complicated. Not much to get excited about.

Digs held up a report. I took it from him, and skimmed down to the facts I wanted.

I blinked at the information written at the bottom of the page and then looked up at Digs. He nodded at my unasked question.

Louise took the paper from my hand. Her eyes ran down the report just as mine had. Neither of us cared for the appetizers, we always went right for the chocolate dessert.

“What?” Jane asked. “What does it say?”

Digs rushed to tell her. “The gun is registered to Jack Meyers.”

“Holy Shit!” Jane hopped up and down with Digs in a modified Snoopy-dance of joy.

Louise handed the report back to Digs. “Who would murder a family member with a registered gun and then not run? Or at least try to hide? It’s just stupid.”

Digs and Jane stopped their Snoopy-dance and turned gimlet eyes toward Louise.

“Come on guys.” She shook the paper for effect. “This report is nonsense. Someone stole Jack Meyers' gun to frame him.”

“Which proves it had to be a family member,” I said, adding my nod of agreement. “That narrows our focus.”

“To the exact same suspects?” Jane said. “You haven’t focused on anyone except the family.”

“Not true,” I said. “We’ve eliminated your favorite suspect, V. Plus, part of me still considered Walter Wren a suspect.”

The three of them gave me the your-last-cookie-has-crumbled look.

“The old man?” Louise asked.

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“The ring, Digs found in Susan Luther’s throat.”

Digs gave a hesitant glance at Jane.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “She knows all about the ring.”

Jane arched her eyebrows at me and crossed her arms over her chest. It was a look I had seen many times before but usually from Louise.

“Well maybe not everything about the ring.” I had confiscated her tape before Jane could listen to all but an excerpt of our meeting with Digs. “But she knows about the ring.”

I waved my hands in the air as if trying to erase my words and felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. I would eventually have to break down and take one of the pain killers Doctor Dave had prescribed

“Never mind. It’s not important. Anyway, I focused on more than the family.”

They didn’t look completely satisfied, but they let it go. Chalk it up to another Catherine moment of addled confusion.

Louise drummed her perfectly manicured nails on the file cabinet she was leaning against, and stared out into space. Finally, her brows drew together and she focused on Digs.

“What about the ring?” she asked.

Jane edged forward as if straining to hear. This was the meat of the story and she had waited for it for two days.

“What have we found out about the diamond?” Louise asked. “You said the stone was local.”

“It is, but I’ve run up against the retailer’s wall of silence.”

I rolled my eyes and let out a frustrated grunt. We lost too much time to retailers, who hid behind privacy laws, so afraid of lawsuits, if they gave any information to the police. The real world certainly wasn’t like the cop shows on television.

“I got as far as narrowing it down to the right shop, but now I need a warrant.”

“Who’s issuing?” I asked.

“Judge Todd.”

Finally, we’d received a break. Judge Todd signed off on warrants like a celebrity on the red carpet signing autographs for fans. I had personally seen him approve four search warrants without more than a cursory glance over the pages.

I tapped the plastic case of my cell phone and then pointed at Digs.

“You call us the instant Judge Todd signs off on the warrant.”

“Where will you guys be?” Digs asked.

“Trying to find out if Jack Meyers really is as stupid as your ballistics report says he is.”

If Jack Meyers were guilty of the murders of Susan and Jonathan Luther, he sure wasn’t making any effort to hide from the police. We found him lounging in the reception area reading a copy of
National Geographic.

“He must be trying to throw us off his trail,” I whispered to Louise. “We could be dealing with a criminal Einstein.”

Louise smiled, but the gesture was for Jack Meyers benefit not mine. Jack spotted her and stood.

“Are you through with my wife?” His wary dog look had returned. “Can I take her home now?”

“Not yet, Mr. Meyers,” Louise said and extended her hand.

Jack gave her hand a perfunctory shake, but didn’t make eye contact.

“Would you like a cup of coffee or a soda?” I asked. “She could be awhile.”

Jack nodded.

“Come with us,” Louise said. “We’ll find you a more comfortable seat, and some current magazines to read.”

We brought Jack into the lounge. I bought him a
Coca-Cola
, and a crackers and cheese from the vending machines, then located a more current
National Geographic
. If he had felt the slightest bit of hesitation about talking to us, when we found him in the lobby, I was certain we had managed to pull his defenses down.

He took a sip of his soda, then set it down on the coffee table in front of him. “What happened to you?”

I touched the side of my face. “Accident in the bathroom.”

“You need to buy a bathmat. Most home accidents happen in the bath.”

“I know.”

We shared a laugh.

“When can I take my wife home?” He asked. “Your coroner left a message saying Jon and Susan’s body will be released tomorrow.”

He clasped his hands together and leaned forward on his knees. Then he dropped his voice to above a whisper. “We have to make arrangements. I’m really not good at those things. That’s always been Linda’s department.”