Wrapped up in murder, p.16
Wrapped Up in Murder, page 16
“I highly doubt that. Officer,” she greeted Matt coolly.
“Won’t be calling me that for much longer,” he said. “I’m glad Talia is free, no matter what you think.”
Cailyn narrowed her eyes, but I asked, “Is that Dorothy’s car out there? We were hoping to talk to her.” I moved past her toward the living room without waiting for a response. I heard two sighs behind me, almost in unison, then Matt caught up to me and took my hand.
“What happened to staying at my side?” he asked.
“I said you should stay at my side,” I reminded him. We stepped into the living room. Talia was on the couch, her sister at the other end, Finley, Amalia, and Daniel between them. Jack sat on the arm of the couch, his arm around Talia’s shoulders. I saw Cailyn watching them, a small smile on her face.
Matt glanced at me, but I shrugged. I’d never understood my sister’s relationships, but that didn’t diminish them. Dorothy looked up at us and scowled. “What are you doing here? You can’t even give us one night to savor my sister’s freedom.”
“We aren’t trying to stop you from doing that,” I said. “I’m glad they saw the truth, Talia. And that you’re where you belong.”
Jack’s mouth curved up at that. Then, he pressed a kiss to the top of Talia’s head and stood up. “Kids, let’s go get those cookies and hot chocolate we were talking about.” He rested his hand on my shoulder before leading the way out of the living room. Finley hesitated by the couch, but Amalia came back and grabbed their hand.
Cailyn kissed her husband’s cheek then crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down. “What are you doing here?”
“We were going to ask Talia some questions, but since Dorothy is here—”
“I already told you, I didn’t attack Chantal. I argued with her, but she was fine when I left.”
I glanced at her then back at Talia. “Did she know you were pregnant before Victor was killed?”
“Of course,” Talia said. “She was the second person I told. Well, third, but Cailyn and Jack are a package deal, so it counts.”
Cailyn let out a huff and leaned her shoulder against Talia’s. “And she was shopping with you the day Victor was killed?” I could feel Matt’s arm against my side as he let me ask questions.
“Yes,” Talia said, sounding irritated. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell all of you that.”
“I even have receipts,” Dorothy said. “We were at the mall all day.”
“Why didn’t you show us those receipts earlier?” Matt asked.
“You didn’t ask for them. And you were so set on arresting her, but if, even after she’s been released, you keep harassing my sister…”
I held up my hands. “We aren’t harassing anyone. You didn’t like Victor, though.”
Dorothy snorted. “Name one person who did.”
“He threatened your child. He—”
“He was full of hot air,” Dorothy said. “Claimed he’d get my ex custody because I dared to let them be themself. Except their father’s parental rights were terminated after the first time he put them in the hospital. No judge would reverse that. I wasn’t worried about it.”
“You were worried about what he’d do to your sister.”
“I was leaving him,” Talia said, her voice shaky. “I was getting ready to file the paperwork. Even if he’d tried to stop me—”
“I wasn’t going to let him,” Cailyn said. “Jack and I were ready to stand between her and him.”
Dorothy reached into her purse, and Matt stiffened beside me. She only pulled out a little plastic binder, no bigger than a checkbook. “That’s everything, if you’re interested in all the places we shopped that day.”
Matt started looking through the receipts, and I cast another glance at Talia, who was chewing on her lip and looking at her sister. There was something else, but I was sure she wouldn’t tell us right now. Matt nodded. “All right. And last night? Around five?”
“At home with my traumatized teenager. Have you ever stumbled over a body?”
“I have,” I said. “It’s rough. So, you didn’t put a brick through my living room window.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Seriously, Lou? ” Cailyn asked. “Do you think she’d be sitting here if I thought she had threatened you?”
I didn’t look at Cailyn, not taking my gaze off Dorothy. I believed her. I hoped not just because I didn’t want it to be her. “You didn’t do it,” I said.
Dorothy threw her arms up. “That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
“And she calls me the dramatic one,” Talia muttered.
Matt and I turned to go, and Jack waved to us from the kitchen. Cailyn followed us into the hallway. She scowled at Matt, then looked at me. “I’m glad to see you two are working things out.” Matt opened his mouth, but Cailyn held up a hand. “I know I had a part in what happened, and I’m… I’m sorry. I’d do it again, because it means Talia’s sitting on my couch right now, but I am sorry that I pushed so hard for Lou to do something they said they wouldn’t.”
“Wow,” I said. “An apology. That’s even rarer than a request for help. We should memoralize this day, Matt.”
Cailyn flipped up a middle finger and stomped back into the living room. I laughed and turned back to Matt.
He watched Cailyn, as she sank onto the couch beside Talia. “Are they…”
“Probably,” I said as I stepped onto the porch. “The last thing anyone could accuse Cailyn of being is conventional. I don’t know if she’d use the label polyamorous, she’s never cared for labels. But, yeah.”
He was silent as we walked back to my truck. I turned over what we’d learned and where it put us now.
I didn’t like any of it.
“If none of them could have committed both crimes,” I said, “then where do we go now?”
Chapter 23
I posed the same question to the group the next day when we gathered at Deke and Quin’s house. “Obviously, one of them did it.” Deke stood up from the couch and moved over to the board they’d set up in their living room. “There isn’t really another option is there? Victor didn’t hit himself hard enough with a skillet to kill himself.”
“Dorothy didn’t have the opportunity to kill him, and Douglas didn’t have the opportunity to go after Chantal,” I said.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Quin said. “Her card was used in the store during the time of the murder. Unless you can put her there directly, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Someone else could have used it.”
I remembered the look on Talia’s face the night before, and nearly groaned. Had we been misdirected so easily? “She could have done it,” I said. “And we already know she was at Chantal’s near the time she was attacked. She had the opportunity.”
“What about motive?” Cord asked. “Why would she want to?”
“The same reason Lou was threatened,” Matt said. “Maybe she realized Chantal had figured it out.”
“Did she?” Deke asked.
“Whatever Chantal knows,” Matt said, “she isn’t awake to tell us right now.”
His hand brushed my arm as if he needed to assure himself I was still right there. But, I wasn’t going anywhere. “What we need to do is figure out if Dorothy did leave the mall when she claims to be there.” I looked at Matt.
He nodded. “Already thought of that. We requested a warrant for the recordings, but it hasn’t been granted yet.”
“I can help you with that,” Quin said.
Matt cleared his throat. “I am still a cop, you know. Breaking the law with me in the room might not be the smartest thing.”
Quin shot him a grin. “They’d have to catch me doing it to prosecute.”
Matt looked at me. “I’m starting to think your friends are bad influences.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “What about Douglas? Do we know if it was him who used his access code?”
“Their system only records the access number programmed to each card,” Matt said. “We spoke to the receptionist, and she claimed not to remember anyone besides Douglas coming through that day. We did learn that there’s a door from the lab that leads out of the building through a short corridor. It’s only supposed to be used for emergencies, but there’s no sensor saying if it was used or not.”
“That’s convenient,” Quin said. “Let me guess, no surveillance on that door either.”
“Didn’t see the point in spending the money when it was rarely used.”
“Some things are worth the money.,” Quin said. “I’m in the mall’s security system. I’ll scan the cameras for the hour before the murder and see if she exited. It might take a while, though. There’s four main exits, but some of the stores also have exterior doors.”
Matt put his fingers in his ears and started humming. I laughed and nudged him before looking back at the board. “We’re still down to Dorothy and Douglas as our suspects. And no real way to prove it was either of them.”
I worried that pointed more toward Dorothy right now. I wasn’t sure what to do if it was. What would happen to Finley if Dorothy went to prison? Especially if she had killed him to protect her child. That was certainly understandable, and I wasn’t even a parent.
My phone buzzed, and I saw a message from my answering service, with an emergency call. At Nikki’s. “I think Nikki is starting to regret buying that house. Seems like it’s one thing after another.” I stood up, and so did Matt.
“I’m coming with you.”
“I’ll be fine, Matt. Really.”
“We haven’t ruled Douglas out as a suspect, and she’s his ex-wife. Someone threatened you, and I’m not leaving it to chance that he won’t be over there. I’ll stay in your truck if you want, but I’m coming with you.”
I nodded after a minute, not thinking of a way to argue with any of that. No reasonable way, at least. “Okay. Let’s go then.”
~
Matt didn’t say much on the drive to Nikki’s. I didn’t either, though I tried to work through what we knew. Either Dorothy or Douglas could be lying to us. Maybe both. Talia had seemed nervous about something. That didn’t necessarily mean Dorothy had left the mall, even if they had been separated.
I still couldn’t let go that Douglas had said he was waiting to get his kids from Nikki, when she had told me they’d been at their dad’s all week. It just didn’t add up. It also didn’t necessarily mean anything. I could have misunderstood something.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” Matt asked when we got to Nikki’s house.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” I told him, although my heart hammered away in my chest. Really, this wasn’t going to be a trap. Why would Nikki do that to me?
Matt didn’t look exactly happy with that, but he stayed in the truck as I headed up to the house. Nikki sent me a relieved smile when she opened the door. “I think a fuse blew or something,” she said. “The kids had just plugged in the Christmas tree, and all the lights on that side of the house went out.”
Definitely seemed like an electrical problem. “Where’s your box?”
“Basement, I think. I don’t like going down there. There is a light, but I swear it barely illuminates the stairs, let alone any of the shadowy corners.”
“Way to make your house seem like a horror novel.”
She laughed. “Sorry. I’ve been playing around with an idea, and sometimes it creeps into the rest of my life.”
“I thought you were a freelancer,” I said as she showed me the door to the basement. Exactly what she freelanced, I couldn’t remember. Something to do with other people’s writing maybe?
“I am. But, I’ve always loved to write my own stories. Nothing will probably come of it. Doug and I used to argue about it all the time. That I should focus on the work that already brought in a profit.”
“Sounds like you’re good to be rid of him.”
“If only it was that simple.” She stayed up on the steps as I descended farther into the basement. I took out a flashlight because she was right. The bulb hanging over the stairs could be brighter. “He’s always going to be their father, which means he’s in my life until the youngest is at least eighteen. Not much I can do about that.”
I found the box and put the flashlight between my teeth while I opened the box. “Not a fuse,” I said, after freeing my mouth once again. “You have breakers. One of them got flipped. They’ll do that if you have too much on it. Safety feature.” I flipped the breaker back on, happy to see it stayed that way. I could hear the cheer that went up from the living room. I closed the box and started back up the stairs.
“They aren’t with their father this week?”
“Not until Sunday. That’s the day we always switch.”
“Always?” I asked. “So, he wasn’t waiting for you to drop them off last Friday?”
“The day you fixed the bathroom floor? No. I already told you they were there. They had been there the whole week.”
“Maybe he did mean he was waiting to pick them up from school.”
Nikki snorted. “Douglas? Pick up his own children? As if he’d remember. He’d send his mom or his new wife. And they ride the bus. They get off at my mom’s no matter who they’re staying with. They can walk here or wait for their stepmom to pick them up. Doug rarely leaves the lab before dinner. If then.”
Sweet cheese. I had to tell Matt that. Nikki was staring at me. “Everything okay, Lou?”
“Yeah. I need to go.”
“What do I owe you?”
I brushed her off. “I flipped a switch, it’s not a big deal. Let me come back tomorrow and replace that bulb for you. A higher wattage will give you better light.”
I hurried out the door and was almost running when I got to the truck. Matt lowered his phone from his ear. “He lied, I said.
At almost the same time, Matt said, “She lied.”
We stared at each other then said “What?” at the same time.
I let out a little laugh and climbed up into the truck. “You first,” I told him.
“Talia just called me. Said she hadn’t been able to sleep last night and couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. Dorothy lied to us. She hadn’t been with Talia the whole time. There was a while when they were in different stores. Apparently Victor kept an eye on purchases, and Talia wanted to get some stuff for the baby, so Dorothy let her use her card. She gave Dorothy the receipts so she’d be able to balance her account.”
Or to be able to give herself an alibi for Victor’s murder. Swizzle sticks. That did not look good.
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Douglas wasn’t picking his kids up the day Victor was killed. Nikki said they switch on Sundays. Never on Friday. And he doesn’t pick them up from school. They ride the bus to their grandmother’s, and if it’s Douglas’s week with them, his new wife picks them up from there.”
“He wasn’t at the lab that day. That’s on record.”
“So, they both lied. Did Talia say how long Dorothy was gone?”
“Maybe an hour.”
“It takes half an hour on a good day to get to the mall from town. With the snow…”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “It would be pushing it. Possible, though, especially if she’s wrong on the time. She even said she wasn’t sure exactly what time Dorothy left or got back. She wandered the mall for a while, though.”
“Where does that leave us?”
“With more questions. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get some answers.”
Chapter 24
“I still can’t make sense of this,” I said as I stared at the board the next morning. “I can understand why Dorothy would feel she had to protect herself, her child, even her sister. If that was the case, wouldn’t she have come forward when Talia was arrested? If she was trying to protect her sister, why let her go to prison?”
I shook my head. The pieces weren’t fitting together right. Zio nudged my hand, and I sighed. “I’m probably not going to figure this out. Matt did say he planned to talk to Dorothy today. If he couldn’t get away from work, he’d come back here to get me and we’d go together later tonight.” He wasn’t shutting me out of this at least.
I gave Zio a good pat and went back to the board. I told Nikki I’d come over around lunchtime to replace that lightbulb. I still had some time to try to figure this out. I still didn’t get Douglas’s motive. The threats? Did he think Victor would get his job back and mess more things up in the lab? It all felt so weak, and I didn’t know what to make of it.
If Talia was right about the timing, that didn’t give Dorothy much of an opportunity to get to Victor’s to kill him, and get back to meet Talia again. Especially not if there’d been an argument or anything. Maybe if she’d just walked into the kitchen, hit him, and left again.
I really couldn’t see that.
Douglas had lied about where he was, so now no one could account for his whereabouts. We still hadn’t proven that he’d been in the lab at the time of Chantal’s attack. My phone pinged and I moved over to where I’d left it on the couch.
Quin: No sign of Dorothy leaving from the main exits.
Lou: Have you really been watching that since last night?
Quin: Set up a program to snapshot any instance of her face during the relevant timespan. Nothing showed up.
Lou: nerd
Quin: Thank you
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Still, it didn’t mean she hadn’t left. Even Quin had said there were other doors she could have left through.
Lou: What about what you did last time? Tracking a phone signal. Would that tell you where either of them were?
Quin: As long as I have their numbers.
Lou: I have Douglas’s
I sent the number over to him and looked back at the board. I didn’t know how long the search would take him to do. It still wouldn’t tell us anything about Dorothy’s whereabouts. Had she still been there, and shopping in another store? Or had she left? I couldn’t see any reason other than to attack Victor to leave without telling her own sister.
Yet something just… didn’t fit. It hadn’t been snowing that badly that day, but the roads hadn’t been great. Dorothy just had a little sedan. Not something that handled the snow very well.
