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Authors: Martha Powers

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BOOK: Death Angel
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Carl opened the leather folder and
extracted a white sheet of paper. He leaned forward and handed Kate the list.

The letters blurred and she forced
herself to stare at the first name on the list until it became clear. Barbara
Morrisey. Jenny’s teacher. She concentrated as she looked at each entry then
wordlessly handed the paper to Richard. Closing her eyes she tried to think of
anyone’s name she had not included. Finally she opened her eyes and stared
across at Carl.

“I can’t think of anyone else.”

“Richard?”

“It seems as if everyone is here. I’m
not positive they’re in the right order, but by and large I think it’s
complete.”

Richard handed the list back to Carl,
who folded it and slid it into the front pocket of the leather folder. Kate
watched as the police chief checked through the yellow, lined pages of the note
pad. His finger paused beside one of the handwritten notes. He reached into the
inside of his uniform jacket to remove a pen, tested the point on a corner of
the page.

She let her mind wander to the sounds
outside. The dull putt-putt of a neighbor’s lawn mower and the sharp yip of a
dog were comfortably familiar. It was hard to believe that life went on when
her whole world had been ripped apart.

“Now let’s go through your day again,
please,” Carl said.

Kate brought her attention back to
Richard. When he spoke, his voice was impassive, almost a monotone. Her eyes
moved to Carl. His loose-limbed posture appeared unchanged until she noticed
the contrast between his relaxed appearance and the rigidity of his fingers
holding the shank of the pen.
 

“What time was it when you and Kate
arrived at the hospital?” he asked.

“I think it was eight-fifteen or
eight-thirty. Is that about right, Kate?”
 

Richard’s eyes sought hers and she
automatically nodded.

“I think so. Mike would know what time
we got there.” She turned to Carl. “Richard called him when we learned that
Jenny had been taken to the Pickard Hospital.”

“You called him before you left the
house?”

“We didn’t know then what had happened.
We didn’t want Jenny to be alone,” Kate said.

She pressed her lips together, blinking
rapidly to dissipate the sudden flood of tears that blurred her vision. She
inhaled deeply. As her lungs filled, she lifted her chin, once more in control.
Richard extended his hand and she grasped it like a lifeline.

“As it turned out, Mike was already at
the hospital, but he didn’t know Jenny was there. I told him. Then we
left.”
 

“You drove to the hospital together?”

“Yes,” Richard said. “In my car.”
 

“You work in Chicago?”
 

“Yes. At Mayerling, an advertising
agency. Chris Mayerling is the owner and president of the agency. I’m the
creative director and one of three vice presidents.”

“Where did you work prior to
Mayerling’s?”

“It was my first job out of school. I
went to Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. My major was art and I took my
junior year in Rome. I ran into Chris in a bar near the Spanish Steps. I was
into political cartooning at the time and he liked my work. When I went to
Chicago during spring break my senior year, I called him for an interview. He
hired me, subject to graduation, and I’ve been there for fifteen years.”

Kate shook her head at the reminder of
the passage of time. She had never had enough time, until now. How would she
fill the minutes and hours and years ahead? She shifted, forcing her attention
back to the questioning.

“Do you drive into Chicago?”

“I take the Metra train. It’s about an
hour and fifteen minutes from Round Lake Beach. I hate driving into Chicago and
only do it if I know I’ll be working late. During an ad campaign, the hours can
get pretty long.”

“Are you in the midst of a campaign
now?” Carl asked, his head cocked to the side, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“No.” Richard sighed. “We just completed
our fall campaign for Aqua Power. They’ve got a line of fishing boats and boat
motors.”

Carl referred to his notes. “Do you take
a specific train when you commute?”

“Yes. Usually the 7:12 in the morning,
and try to get out of the office in time to catch the 5:00. It’s an express and
gets me home around 6:45.”

“You leave your car at the train
station?”

“Yes. I park it along the tracks on
Main.”

Kate was becoming more uncomfortable
with the tone of the questions, but Richard seemed unfazed. Perhaps she was
just being overly sensitive.

Carl flipped a page, running his finger
down the yellow, lined paper, stopping close to the bottom. “Were you in the
office all morning?”

“Yes.”

The single syllable was drawn out.
Richard’s voice was strained and Kate stared at him, surprised at the flush of
color high on his cheekbones.
 

Something was wrong.
 

Her eyes flashed to Carl. She didn’t
know when he’d changed position but he was no longer lounging back in the easy
chair but sitting upright, feet flat on the floor, the hand holding the pencil
poised above the yellow pad of paper.
 

“What time did you leave for lunch?”

“Around noon.”

“Could you be more specific?”

“No,” Richard responded shortly. “You
could ask my assistant, Candy Marshall.”

“She said you left while she was at
lunch.”

Richard’s head jerked up and for a long
moment he stared intently into the police chief’s expressionless face. Kate
glanced from her husband to Carl, hoping to discover some clue as to why
Richard had reacted so strongly. Both men ignored her, their eyes locked in a
nonverbal challenge that ended when Richard dropped his gaze to the coffee
table.
 

“Were you in your office on Tuesday
afternoon?”

“No.”

His response shocked her. “Richard?”

He turned, reaching out to squeeze her
hand. The gesture did little to reassure her.
 

“Perhaps you could give me some idea of
how you spent your afternoon,” Carl said.

With a final squeeze of her fingers,
Richard released Kate’s hand and pushed himself to his feet, walked to the
patio doors, and stared out at the backyard. When he turned back to the room,
his body was outlined against the light, the shadowed features of his face
almost skeletal.

“This is probably going to sound
stupid,” Richard said, “but I don’t know where I was most of the afternoon.”

He flopped down on the cushions. He
rubbed his hands back and forth along his pant legs, then propped the ankle of
his left leg on his right knee, pleating and straightening the material along
the cuff. Satisfied with the arrangement, he put his foot back on the floor.
 

He leaned forward, arms braced on his
knees. He faced Carl directly; eyes steady. His forehead was puckered as he
stared across at the police chief who waited in silence.
 

“It’s hard to explain the kind of
pressure that builds up during the last days of a major campaign. Everything
goes wrong. Film gets lost; scripts need rewriting; artwork stinks. The
deadline is constantly hanging over your head. Every phase has to be approved
by me. I’m the one responsible if the client hates it.”

Richard paused, his eyes focused on the
police chief’s inscrutable face. “Once the presentation is over, there’s a
tremendous letdown. Usually I’ve been penned up in the agency for long hours,
and when it’s over I feel claustrophobic. It’s almost like I’m suffocating.”

Kate had been aware of Richard’s
restlessness, but she had never heard him describe it. He was such a driven
person that at times she wondered how much he was in touch with his own
motivations.
 

“On Monday there were a lot of details
to wind up, but I was really anxious to get away from the office. I probably
would have left in the afternoon, but it started to rain. Tuesday, however, was
magnificent. Spring was really in the air. Just looking out the window was
almost painful, so at lunch I packed it in. I took the 1:25 train to Round Lake
Beach, picked up the car, and just spent the afternoon driving around.”

“Could you give me a list of the places
you went and the times you were there?” Carl’s voice was nonjudgmental, neither
accepting nor rejecting Richard’s explanations.

“No, I can’t.” He shook his head. “I
just started driving. I went northwest but beyond that I haven’t the slightest
idea where I was.”

“Did you have lunch?”

“Yes. At a McDonald’s. Until I saw the
sign I didn’t even realize I was hungry. And no, I haven’t any idea where it
was or what time it was.”

“I see. During this part of the day is
there anyone who would be able to vouch for your presence?”

The question jolted Kate.

“Excuse me,” she interrupted before
Richard could respond. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Now, Kate —” Richard began.

He reached out to her, but she batted
his hand away almost as if he were attempting to gag her. Her concentration on
Carl was complete.

“What are you suggesting?” she asked.

Carl sighed. “I am not suggesting
anything, Kate. This is no different from any other crime. We need to have an
accurate picture of where everyone was during the time of Jenny’s
disappearance. All I am asking is if there was anyone who could corroborate
Richard’s story.”

Despite the neutrality of Carl’s words,
she sensed a subtle shift in the tone of his voice. She glanced at Richard to
see if he had detected the change. His expression was noncommittal and for a
moment she wondered if she had been mistaken. No. She had a gut feeling that
something was wrong.
 

“To answer your question, I can’t think
of anyone who could verify my whereabouts.”

Silence built up after Richard’s
statement. Carl glanced back through his notes.
 

“At the hospital you said that you had
just gotten home from work when you discovered that Jenny was missing.” More
pages flipped. “On Wednesday you repeated the same thing. When asked how you
had spent the day, you said ‘at the office.’ Why didn’t you mention that you
left the office for lunch and did not return?”

“It didn’t seem important.” The words
were spoken in a burst of exasperation. Watching Richard’s face, Kate couldn’t
tell if he was more annoyed than concerned by the police chief’s questions.
“The only thing that mattered was that Jenny was missing. When we talked to you
at the hospital, I never thought about it. Later it seemed like more trouble
than it was worth to explain.”

The very blandness of Carl’s face
suggested he did not find Richard’s explanation particularly credible. For Kate
it was totally consistent with his character. Richard brought all his energy
and talents to the project at hand, which was why he was so good at his job. He
could focus on one thing, relegating everything else to the background.
 

Kate could just imagine that since it
had no bearing on Jenny’s disappearance, Richard’s whereabouts during the day
would have little meaning for him. Jenny was the only thing that mattered.
Suddenly Kate realized the source of her own uneasiness.
 

Carl was treating Richard as if he were
guilty of some crime.

My God! Surely he didn’t think that
Richard had anything to do with Jenny’s death. The man who murdered Jenny was a
monster. What kind of warped mind did Carl have that he could contemplate a
father doing such horrible things to his own child? The mere thought was an
obscenity.

“That’s enough.”

Richard and Carl froze at her unexpected
words.

“Kate?”

She ignored Richard, speaking directly
to Carl. “We will not answer any more questions. How dare you treat us as if we
have done something wrong? I don’t know if we’re within our rights to refuse to
continue this interview, but I want you out of this house.”

“Kate, please don’t get upset,” Richard
said. “I know this is awful, but he’s doing his job.”

She was infuriated at his inability to
see the connection between Carl’s questions and his own danger. “Richard,
listen to what I’m saying. The interview is over.”

It was obvious Richard was stunned by
her implacability, but one look at Leidecker convinced Kate that he had
expected the termination. He gave an abrupt nod and rose to his feet.

“You have the right to postpone this
meeting. I’ll call tomorrow to reschedule it. In the meantime I suggest you
seek legal counsel.”

With those ominous words, he left the
room, leaving Kate to stare at Richard in bewilderment and rising fear.

At the sound of the front door closing,
Richard leaped to his feet. “Christ Almighty, Kate! What’s the matter with
you?”

BOOK: Death Angel
6.64Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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