Death Angel (41 page)

After all we drank at the restaurant,
she thought, he’s going to have a dreadful hangover in the morning. Her eyelids
became heavier until finally her mind slipped away into sleep.

“Richard Warner was bisexual?” Bob Jackson
slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Is that why he was in the
forest preserve the day Jenny was killed?”

“On the nose.” Carl stared around the
table. He could almost see them absorbing the ramifications of Richard’s
elimination as a suspect.

“Verified?” Diego Garcia asked.

“In part,” Bea said. “Sather had
receipts for motel bills and restaurant tabs. He also agreed to supply us with
the names of two other men who’d had contact with Warner over the last two
years. He’s holding the names until we can give him assurance that the
interviews will be strictly confidential.”

“So Warner picks up this fag in the
forest preserve.” Tony was having trouble getting a handle on the story. His
face indicated his repugnance for the alternate lifestyle. “They hotfoot it to
a motel, do the bad-nasty then Warner runs home to the little woman, arriving
at the time he normally comes in from work only to find the kid missing. The
body’s found in the very same forest preserve where he was knee deep, if you’ll
pardon the wording, knee deep in fruits. Sort of ironic, huh?”

“For once, Torrentino, think of the guy
as an ordinary father.” Bob glared across the table. “Give his pain some
thought. You’ve got two kids. How would you have felt?”

Tony flushed and stared down at his
notes. Carl spoke into the tense silence.

“According to Sather, over the years
Richard had questioned his sexual orientation. He’d had several homosexual
encounters in college, but it was only in the last two years that he’d begun to
experiment in earnest. He’d never really come to terms with it and was terrified
that someone would discover his secret. He loved his wife, was content with his
marriage, and had a daughter he adored.”

“It’s easy to see why he lied about
where he was on the day Jenny was killed.” Bea, like Bob, was sympathetic to
Richard’s dilemma. “In the midst of such a tragedy, it was hardly the time to
declare his sexual preferences. Besides, it probably never occurred to him that
he’d become a suspect and need an alibi.”

“Why didn’t Sather come in sooner?”

“When Richard became a suspect, Sather
called him to say he’d be willing to make a statement that they had been
together, but Richard refused. He made Sather promise not to go to the police.
Even when questions were asked of the gay crowd that hung out in the forest
preserve, he held his tongue.”
 

Privately Carl thought it was probably
the fear of Sather going to the police that triggered Richard’s drunken
statement to Kate when he said “he wanted to tell.”
 

“After the official statement declaring
Richard’s death a suicide,” Carl continued, “and the general assumption that
he’d killed himself out of guilt, Glen began to have second thoughts. He’d
genuinely liked Richard and worried that his wife might think Richard had
killed Jenny. In an agony of conscience, he came in to talk to me, albeit
belatedly.”

“If Richard is definitely innocent, why
does so much of the evidence in the case point to him?”

“You think the murderer set us up?”
Diego asked.

Carl nodded. “It looks like it. I’ve
always been convinced that Jenny knew her killer, and both the person Mrs.
Warner called the Whisperer and the killer knew a great deal about the
Warners.”
 

“The next two candidates on the prime
list are Mike Kennedy and Christian Mayerling,” Diego said.

“Consider this. As Warner’s closest
friends, wouldn’t these two men have known about his sexual orientation? And if
they did, why didn’t they tell us in any of the interviews?”

“They might have been trying to protect
his reputation.”

“Maybe in the beginning, Bob, but once
Warner became a suspect they had to know the fact that he had gay leanings
would probably go a long way to clearing him.”

“Why?” Tony was clearly puzzled. “He’s
married, so we know he likes women.”

“Women, not little girls,” Bea said. “A
bisexual seeks relationships with mature adults of both sexes. For pedophiles,
children are the preferred sexual objects.”

“It’s semantics,” Tony muttered.

“No matter what it is, we need some
answers,” Carl said. “I want a microscope turned on both Kennedy and Mayerling.
Go back to the interviews for the day of Jenny’s death. Mayerling was at the
health club and Kennedy was at the hospital. Regardless of an alibi, see if you
can account for every second of their time.”

“How much more of Sather’s story needs
to be verified?” Bob asked.

“Bea and I did a quick check,” Carl
said. “Bea’s going to follow up on it. She’ll let you know if anything
important turns up, but for the moment consider it gospel. As for assignments,
Bob, I want you and Tony to take Mayerling. Diego, you have Kennedy. Everything
we’ve got on those two has to be reexamined in light of what we know now. Try
and look at it a new way. Be creative.”

“What about Nathanson, the soccer coach,
and Bushnell, the neighbor?” Tony asked.
 

Carl shrugged. “Neither of them look
very promising. However, I don’t want to take a chance on missing anything. Who
wants them?”

“I’ll take them,” Bea said.

After the meeting was over, Carl went
back to his office. By one o’clock his desk was reasonably clean, and he called
it quits. He decided to grab some lunch and then go over and talk to Kate.
She’d be pleased when he told her that he would issue a statement exonerating
Richard completely from any complicity in Jenny’s death.

The nature of Richard’s alibi was
another matter.

Pulling his car into the driveway of the
Warner house, Carl sat for a moment, thinking about Kate. He didn’t know how
she’d take hearing about Richard’s relationship with Glen Sather. He was almost
positive she didn’t have a clue. He didn’t relish being the one to tell her,
but he didn’t want her to see it on the news or read about it in the paper once
the media got wind of it. Much as he’d like to, he couldn’t prevent her being
hurt by her husband’s duplicity.
 

He got out, straightened his jacket and
put on his hat, checking his reflection in the window of the car. He rang the
front doorbell and waited. He wondered where she’d been all week. He’d tried
calling last night until well after midnight. Maybe the reason she hadn’t
answered the phone this morning was that she’d gotten home so late and was
sleeping in. He rang again.
 

When nothing happened, he opened the
screen door and knocked. Still nothing. Walking back to the garage, he spotted
flagstones going toward the back and followed the path to the backyard. On the
deck, he knocked sharply on the patio doors.

“Chief Leidecker?” The voice came from
the next yard, not the Warner house.
 

“Who’s there?” he called. The bushes
parted and Kate’s neighbor appeared. “Mrs. Granger, isn’t it?”

“How clever of you to remember. But call
me Marian.” She came through the bushes, her eyes darting up to the blank
windows of the house. “Were you looking for Kate?”

“Yes. I gather she’s not home.”

“No.” Her voice was hesitant. “Was there
anything in particular you wanted?”

He knew from meeting her before, and
from things Kate had said, that the woman was a good friend. At the moment she
seemed ill at ease in his presence.

“Something’s come up and I need to talk
to her, Mrs. Granger, uh, Marian. It’s rather important that I find Kate. Do
you have any idea where I could reach her?”

“She’s not in any trouble, is she?”

“Were you expecting her to be?”

“N . . . no.” She shook her head. “I’m
just concerned. I’ve been worrying about her.”

Making a quick decision, Carl said, “To
be perfectly candid, I have been too.”
 

At the older woman’s expression of
dismay, he pulled out one of the chairs on the patio and offered it to
her.
 

“Do you know where Kate is?” Her closed
expression gave him little encouragement. “Look, Marian, no matter how you feel
about my suspicions of Richard or my handling of the case, you must believe me
when I say I have the highest regard for Kate.”

Eyebrows furrowed in question, she
searched his face then nodded her head as if she’d made the decision to trust
him. “She’s gone on vacation.”

“Vacation?” He blinked in surprise.

“I dropped by yesterday because I hadn’t
seen her for quite awhile. She didn’t invite me in.” Her expression was
bewildered. “We stood at the door talking. I didn’t mean to pry, but when I saw
her duffle bag I was so surprised that I asked where she was going. Truly,
Captain Leidecker, I’m not usually so nosy.”

“I know from what Kate’s said you’ve
been very supportive, Marian.”

“My question flustered her. I suppose
she felt guilty because she hadn’t told me. Maybe thought I wouldn’t approve,
but really it’s none of my business.”

“And did she say where she was going?”

“Yes. She was going fishing with Mike
Kennedy.”

“Fishing? With Dr. Kennedy?” No matter
what Carl had been expecting, that wasn’t it.

“Yes. They were going up to Mike’s place
in Wisconsin. But really, Captain Leidecker, I can’t imagine why she’d go
there. It’s very primitive, you know. If she wanted to get away, she could have
gone to a thousand other places. Ones with air-conditioning and room service.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Carl said.
“When did you say Kate left?”

“Yesterday. Mid-morning.” She bit her
lip. “I think she didn’t tell me she was going away because of something I said
the other day. I teased her about some gossip I’d heard about her and Mike.”

“Did she say when she’d be back?”

“A couple of days. She didn’t seem very
sure. She’s been edgy lately. I volunteer at the hospital and ran into Mike
last week. When I mentioned it to him, he said he’d noticed it too and was
worried about her.”

“In what way?”

“He thought she was very depressed.
She’d been overwrought since Richard’s disappearance. He asked me to keep an
eye on her.”

Sensing that she had nothing more to
offer, Carl stood up.

“Thanks so much for the info, Marian.”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card. “If you think of anything else,
I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a call.”

She tucked his card into the pocket of
her skirt and walked with him down the steps into the yard.
 

“You know, Captain, I sense that you’re
fond of Kate. Mike’s just an old friend, and she needs his support right now.
Eventually she’ll get through the raw emotions of mourning. If it’s any
consolation, I know she respects you, and she’s not one to hold grudges.”

Her words startled Carl, and he glanced
over at her. Her blue eyes held a hint of amusement, but he chose to let it
pass. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Thanks for the help.”

“This is my day to answer questions
about Kate,” Marian said as they reached the front of the house.
 

“Someone else was asking about her?”

“Yes. He didn’t introduce himself, but I
recognized him anyway. I’m sure you know him. It was the assistant mayor,
Joseph Garvey.”
 

“Joseph Garvey was here?”

“Yes.” Hand on her forehead to shield
her eyes from the sun, Marian stared up at Carl.
 

“Did he say why he was looking for
Kate?”

“No. Kate mentioned she’d worked in his
office and, after a run-in with him, she quit. Maybe he wanted to straighten
things out. I told him she was on vacation, and he said he’d get in touch with
her at a later date.”

“Doesn’t sound as if it’s anything
important.” He shrugged. “Well, I better get moving. Thanks again for your
help.”

Carl was anxious to get away, reaching
for his cell phone as he hit the street. He punched the numbers to Bea’s
private line.

“I’m taking the rest of the day off,” he
said without preamble. “I’m at Kate Warner’s house. Her neighbor says she’s
gone up to Wisconsin with Mike Kennedy. A sudden trip. It doesn’t feel right.
Besides now that Kennedy’s back to being a suspect, I’m not too keen on her
spending any time with him.”

“Okay. If anything turns up, I’ll call
you.”

“Do me a favor. Get hold of Joseph
Garvey. If he’s not at his office, try city hall. Tell him I want to know why
he wanted to talk to Kate Warner this morning, then ask if he’s ever heard of
ButterSkots candy?”

“Garvey?” Bea’s voice held surprise. “Is
he a suspect?”

“No. Do you remember the wrapper I
found? I think Kate might have gotten it from Garvey.”