Saints and Sinners: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #5) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries) (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Thanks to traffic headed out of the city to the beach, it took them longer than they’d hoped to get back to Ellesworth. It was almost noon by the time Jimmy pulled into the parking lot of the police station. Kalina made a beeline for the restroom while Jimmy headed into Chris’s office. On her way back, she spotted a couple who were probably in their sixties sitting in the interview room. The door was open and no one seemed to be paying them any attention. She assumed they were the Maxwells. She heard Chris’s voice in his office and she gravitated in that direction, eager to hear what had been interesting enough to make Jimmy race back to town.

“They got her a few months after the twins were presumed dead. She didn’t speak for a while after that. Eventually, she told them her name was Verona,” Chris said.

Kalina walked in and neither man reacted. She settled in one of the chairs across from her husband’s desk and said, “I think she got the name Verona from Shakespeare. She was obsessed with his work according to Lois Hendrix.”

“Interesting fact.”

“Have you considered that maybe Patrick survived, too?” Jimmy asked.

Chris rubbed at his forehead. “I have but there’s no evidence of that. At least not yet.”

“Sir, did you bring us back here just to tell us she was mute for a while?” Jimmy asked.

“No. Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell shared with me that after she started talking again, they put her in therapy. They overheard her talking to herself, having whole conversations with herself, but when they asked her about it, it was like she didn’t remember.”

“Or she wouldn’t admit to them that she was talking to herself. I know I’m not a doctor or anything but what if she didn’t know Patrick survived? What if that was her way of coping with the loss of her brother?” Kalina said.

“It’s as reasonable a theory as anything else,” Chris agreed.

Before they could continue the conversation, the email inbox on Chris’s computer flashed with a new message. The subject line, “Maxwell autopsy results,” caught Kalina’s attention and she leaned forward to try to get a better look as Chris opened the email. He skimmed the report too quickly for her to read anything, which annoyed her a little. Her annoyance level increased when he grabbed a tablet and strode out of the room without a word. She and Jimmy exchanged confused looks and trailed after him. Chris appeared on the monitor connected to the interview room where Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell sat side by side.

“We’ve just received some medical information on your daughter,” Chris said and sat down opposite the couple. “She has old scars that are at least ten years old. Care to explain?”

Mrs. Maxwell pressed her fingers to her lips and glanced at her husband. She blinked rapidly several times before speaking. “We thought the therapy was working. She’d stopped talking to herself as much. But we didn’t realize she’d started hurting herself. It was never enough to have her hospitalized for injuries but it was worrying.”

“She got the treatment she needed and has been fine ever since,” Mr. Maxwell insisted. “She was running a small beauty boutique. She was happy and successful.”

Kalina bit her lip. They hadn’t been able to share the knowledge that Paige had abused her brother. Chris would no doubt find it useful.

“Did Verona ever talk about a boy named Patrick to you?”

“No.” Mr. Maxwell placed a hand on his wife’s forearm. “Who is that?”

Chris set the tablet down and tapped the screen a couple of times. Through the monitor, Kalina watched as he presented them with a photo of Paige and Patrick from the local paper. “This is Verona and her twin brother, Patrick, shortly before they were presumed dead in a boating accident. Her name back then was Paige. Paige Fischer.”

“Presumed dead?”

Chris nodded. “We only found out that Paige survived the boat accident when we ran your daughter’s fingerprints.”

“What about DNA? Have you done a DNA test?” Mrs. Maxwell’s voice barely carried over the monitor’s audio.

“We’re still trying to find a DNA sample from when Paige went missing to compare,” Chris answered.

“Do you think someone found out she was Paige and came after her?” Mr. Maxwell asked.

Chris was quiet for a moment, likely contemplating his next words before he answered. “We’re working every angle. Did your daughter have any enemies that you were aware of?”

“No. Everyone liked her. After she got over her trauma, she was lovely to everyone. No one had a bad word to say about her.” Mrs. Maxwell lapsed into quiet weeping.

“She was seeing someone new. She seemed quite serious about him,” Mr. Maxwell added.

“Do you have his name?” Chris asked.

“No, I’m sorry.”

Kalina looked away from the monitor to wipe at her eyes. Maybe it was the fact that she was about to become a mother, but she could feel Mrs. Maxwell’s loss for her child. Jimmy pressed a tissue into her hand and smiled at him in thanks. She was vaguely aware of Chris telling the Maxwells that he would be in touch if he found anything else before they walked out, hand in hand. Neither of them gave Kalina or Jimmy a second glance as they moved past and to the front of the building.

“I need to call the techs and see if they’ve had any luck enhancing the surveillance footage,” Chris said.

“I think you should take a break and get something to eat first. Come on, I’m buying,” Kalina said. She wanted to fill him on what they’d learned from Lois Hendrix and maybe she could convince him to let her tag along when he interviewed Abigail Fischer’s sister.

Chris opened his mouth, likely to protest, but Jimmy stepped up and gave them both a smile. “You get something to eat, Captain. I can hold down the fort here. Besides, I think Kal’s got some really good information for you.”

Kalina barely hid the smile on her face as she headed for the front of the building. She waited for Chris to join her, ready to enjoy a nice, leisurely stroll through town in the warm summer air. As she shielded her eyes from the sun, taking in the tree line that bordered the far edge of the station’s parking lot, she could swear she saw someone watching her. That same sense that had settled over her in the cemetery hit her again. Was this Verona’s killer? Had he still been in the cemetery when Kalina had been drawn to the site of Verona’s murder? A shiver danced up her spine and she wrapped her arms around her torso to ward off the chill.

“You OK?” Chris asked as he finally joined her.

“Am I crazy or is there someone over there in the trees?” she asked in a whisper.

Chris followed her gaze but shook his head. “I don’t see anyone. Come on, let’s go find something to eat. I think maybe we’re both just hungry.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

A half hour later, they sat across from each other at home. They hadn’t intended to go all the way home for food but somehow they’d just wandered by the restaurants that peppered both sides of Main Street.

“I need to tell you what we found out from Lois Hendrix,” Kalina said as she blew the steam off the spoonful of soup in front of her.

“OK.”

“She said that Paige was kind of a bully toward Patrick. It got to the point that it could have been considered abuse. But Patrick wouldn’t let her tell their parents about it. Lois was convinced that Paige talked Patrick into getting on the boat that day.”

“Did they know how to operate it?”

“Apparently.”

Chris took a sip of his drink and studied the sandwich crumbs on his plate. “That might explain some of the behavior the Maxwells observed. The talking to herself. The self-harm. In fact, they said it sounded sometimes like she was arguing with someone.”

“That’s what I thought, too. She was used to bossing Patrick around and hurting him. Without him there, maybe she just started hurting herself.”

“But eventually it stopped. The talking and the cutting.”

“Maybe she just blocked that part of her life out and accepted that she wasn’t Paige Fischer anymore. She embraced being Verona Maxwell. I bet if you’d asked her anything about Paige, she wouldn’t have a clue.”

“You mean like multiple personalities?”

“Yeah. Something like that.” She let out a sigh. “I bet it would be really helpful to see what she talked about with her psychologist.”

“Those records would be difficult to get, especially with the patient dead.”

“You have to try.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“And you should talk to Abigail Fisher’s sister, Bethany. Something about the way the Fischers died doesn’t sit right with me. I tried to find their obituaries but there wasn’t much there.”

“It’s worth looking into. Besides, maybe she kept something from Paige’s childhood we could use for a DNA match. And I’m guessing you want to come along.”

“If that’s OK with you.” She batted her lashes at him and smiled.

“As long as you aren’t running off on your own, I’ll let you tag along. I need to keep an eye on you.”

They lapsed into silence for a while and Kalina focused on her soup. The baby gave a kick or jab to her bladder once or twice but she was much calmer than she’d been earlier in the day. She had enjoyed most of being pregnant but she was eager to meet her daughter and to hold her tiny fingers in her own hand. That thought sparked an idea. “You have Patrick’s fingerprints, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Have you thought about running his prints to see if they match any adults around the same age he’d be now? To at least rule him out as a suspect. I mean if there’s nothing then there’s probably a good chance he isn’t the killer.”

“I’ll get someone on it.” He pushed his chair back and disappeared from the kitchen.

In his absence, Kalina pulled out her phone and Googled Bethany Fairfax. Lucky for her, there was only one in the entire state of Massachusetts and she lived not too far away in Marblehead. That couldn’t be a coincidence. She copied the address she’d found online to the Notes app on her phone and grabbed her purse. She nearly collided with Chris as she tried to leave the kitchen.

“I found Bethany Fairfax,” she announced. His furrowed brow told her he didn’t know who she was talking about. “Abigail Fischer’s sister. Fairfax was her maiden name.”

“Oh, right. I’ve got the lab running Patrick’s prints. Where does Ms. Fairfax live?”

“Marblehead.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep. Want to go see if the aunt has any idea what might have happened to the rest of her family?”

“I’ll drive.”

CHAPTER NINE

The trip out to Marblehead took about a half hour. The brief drive down the coast should have been pleasant, the weather had cooled off and a breeze blew through the open windows of the car, but Kalina couldn’t shake the sense of dread squeezing her chest in a vice. All of the open water made her wonder what Patrick and Paige had endured on that fateful day twenty years ago. Had they been afraid of the open water? Had they lost control of the boat or were they out on the water with the intention of visiting their aunt?

“Kal, we’re here.” Chris’s voice drew her back to the world.

“Did you call ahead?” she asked as he offered his hand to help her out of the car.

“No. I figured the element of surprise might be useful.”

“Anything yet on the prints?”

“Nothing yet, no. The lab will call if and when they have something. But there is some good news. We have an angle on one of the surveillance cameras from the cemetery that got a good shot of the guy’s face.”

“That’s great.”

“So we’ve got that running, too.”

They approached the single story, squat house that Google said belonged to Bethany Fairfax. Chris pulled out his badge and prepared to knock on the door. He didn’t get the chance because a woman bustled out in a floral-print sundress and enormous sunhat.

“Oh, excuse me,” she said.

“Are you Ms. Bethany Fairfax?” Chris asked.

“I am. Who are you?”

“My name is Captain Christian Harper. I’m with the Ellesworth police department. I was hoping I could speak with you for a few minutes about your niece and nephew.”

Bethany took a step back into her front hall. “My niece and nephew died twenty years ago.”

“I’m afraid that’s not true. Your niece, Paige, was recently murdered. Please, it’s just a few questions.”

Bethany didn’t look willing to give in until Kalina made a show of pressing a hand to her belly and grimacing. The older woman gave a sympathetic look and waved them inside.

“Thank you,” Chris whispered just loud enough for Kalina to hear.

“Bet you’re glad you brought me along,” Kalina replied.

Bethany led them to a small living room cluttered with second-hand furniture and Tiffany lamps. It wasn’t the set up Kalina had expected for a woman from a wealthy family. She eased herself onto the loveseat positioned beneath the mantle and Chris settled in a recliner next to her. Bethany paced back and forth in front of them for a few minutes before finally sitting on a wooden stool, setting her hat on the low coffee table between them.

“Thank you,” Kalina said, indicating the seat.

“Sure. When are you due?”

“A few weeks.” She looked around the room as best she could and caught a photo of Bethany and a young man who looked vaguely familiar. “Do you have children?”

“A son. Logan. He’s grown up now and moved out.”

“Ms. Fairfax, I know this news must be a shock for you but I really need your help,” Chris interrupted.

Bethany smoothed out the hem of her dress and twisted her fingers into the fabric. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but OK.”

“What do you know about what happened to your niece and nephew?”

“They went out on the family boat and never came home.”

“Do you happen to have anything that belonged to Paige as a child? A lock of hair or a toothbrush for when she stayed over?”

“Why? I thought you said she was dead.”

“The fingerprints match but we want to be absolutely sure.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. They never really stayed over here. Abigail, my sister, didn’t like them being away from home.”

That seemed odd to Kalina, given how much the Fischers seemed to travel and leave their children in Lois Hendrix’s care. But she said nothing. She caught Bethany’s gaze flit to a photo of Logan as a teenager. He was sandy-haired and suntanned with a broad grin. Still, she couldn’t shake the familiar feeling. Much like she’d had when he found Paige in the cemetery. “How’d your son react to the news that his cousins had died? They look like they’d be about the same age,” Kalina said.

“He was upset of course. We all were. It was such a shock.”

“But Paige didn’t die. She was taken into foster care and adopted. She ran a successful beauty shop until someone killed her,” Chris said.

“I don’t know what I can tell you. Until you showed up at my door, I had no idea she was even alive.”

“This may seem like a strange question but do you know how your sister and brother-in-law died?”

“I think it was a faulty carbon monoxide detector in the house. That’s what the police said when they came to notify me.”

“When was that?”

“I don’t remember. A year ago maybe.”

“Did Logan get along with Paige?” Chris asked.

“Yes. Why are you asking about Logan? I thought this was about Paige.”

“Ma’am, is it possible that your nephew could have survived too?”

“I don’t know. I think I want you to leave. I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”

Kalina opened her mouth to press the issue but Chris shook his head and offered his hand to help her up. They started for the front of the house when Kalina stopped. “Could I use your bathroom?”

“Last door on the left down that hallway.”

Kalina took off down the hall at a brisk waddle. She really did need to use the bathroom but she figured she could also use the time to look around. The hallway was lined with more photos of Logan as a teenager. There was even one of him graduating from college. Oddly, there were no photos of him younger than eleven or twelve. The suspicious part of her mind tried to convince her that Logan was actually Patrick but it couldn’t rationalize why Bethany would have kept his survival a secret. Surely she would have returned him to his parents. She passed a room on the right with a partially closed door. She nudged it open with her foot and took in the room of a guy in his late twenties. The walls were bare except for a single photo of Logan and Bethany. There was a laptop sitting open on the desk. When she hit the Enter key to wake the machine up, it prompted her for a password.

“Damn.”

The desk had a center drawer that she eased open to find a print-out from a dating website. The figure in the profile picture was unmistakably Verona Maxwell. The baby chose that moment to press more insistently on her bladder and she had to retreat across the hall to the bathroom. She returned to the living room to find Chris, keys already in hand, and Bethany with her hat back on her head.

They left through the front door and said nothing until they were back in the car. Kalina watched as Bethany strode up the street at a brisk pace.

“Well that was a bust,” Chris muttered.

“Not entirely. I looked around a little bit while I was heading to the bathroom. There aren’t any pictures of Logan before the age of ten. And it looks like Bethany lied to us about Logan moving out. There’s a room that looks lived in. I saw a computer but it was locked. There’s definitely something off about all of this.”

“You think Logan is Patrick.”

“I got that same feeling looking at pictures of him that I did with Paige. And she was definitely avoiding talking about Logan as a young child. There has to be a reason.”

“It’s looking more like we have a suspect. We just have to find him.”

“I know it’s not definitive but what if you used aging software on a picture of Patrick at ten and see if it looks like Logan now. And compare it to the surveillance photo.”

Chris leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I knew I married you for a reason.”

“There’s something else. I found a print-out of a profile for Verona on a dating website in the top desk drawer. Even if Logan isn’t Patrick, he still found Verona and it’s worth talking to him.”

Chris put the car into drive and did a quick U-turn so they could head out of town. “So let’s see if we can find Logan Fairfax.”