Passions in death, p.18
Passions in Death, page 18
Frowning, she thought of Jenkinson’s cold case. “And be there to comfort the not-quite-a-widow.”
“There would be another obstacle there, wouldn’t there? The best friend he’s with. A tribe has codes.”
“Yeah, it would take some time, some maneuvering. But it’s already taken time. Since high school.”
Eve tapped both ID shots. “These two stand out, but do they stand out because I don’t have anyone else, or because one of them did it?”
“Killing her at that place and time indicates a deep need to punish, ruin, a willingness to take the opportunity and risk in order to prevent the marriage. It may have been the gift—the trip, the dream, that pushed the killer to take that risk.”
“That’s not much time to plan, to work out the timing, make or access the weapon. But yeah, that fits. They would’ve looked in the case, and the contents? A serious pisser.”
“Misplaced trust, I agree. Someone harboring a resentment kept under control, concealed. And the gift, so very symbolic, ignited that resentment. It’s personal,” Mira added. “A very personal killing. A marriage thwarted—they will never take vows, never become wives. A honeymoon thwarted—they will never have that dream, one that includes, as honeymoons do, an emphasis on sex and intimacy.”
Mira set her mug aside. “Though planned, as you said, for the method, for the timing, it was a moment of passion. Cold and hot blood running at the same time. They’re not entitled to this, this won’t happen. I won’t allow it.”
“Because she rejected me? Or because she’s in my way?”
Mira smiled, rose. “That, I’m afraid, is for you, but whoever did this is very good at wearing a mask, and perhaps believing they don’t wear one at all. They did what needed doing, no more, no less. The wedding—that insult—will now be a memorial. Which they’ll no doubt attend. They may even grieve a little, but with no guilt.”
“Masks slip.”
“They do,” Mira agreed. “You’ll watch for that, and I believe you’ll recognize what you see beneath it when it does. I have to go.”
“Thanks for the time.”
“If you want to talk any more of it through, just let me know.”
Trust and sex, Eve thought as Mira’s heels clicked down the hall. She got more coffee, took her desk chair, and studied the board.
Hot and cold blood running together to do what needed doing.
That, she found, was an interesting thought.
She heard Peabody coming, didn’t bother to look around. “His alibi held.”
“Yeah, no way Carver could’ve done it.”
“No.” Not enough cold blood there. “He’s not in it. Let’s see if we can talk to the two best friends again—DiNuzio for Hunnicut, Decker for Albright. But separately. Let’s see if we can get them to come in—separately.”
“Divide and conquer?”
Eyes on the board, Eve nodded. “Something like that. Makes it easier to get them to dish some dirt. Give me twenty, then let me know. We’ll go to them if necessary, but I’d rather pull them in.”
“Lounge or box?”
“Box. Let’s keep it official, maybe a little intimidating.”
“Got it.”
Eve rose to rearrange her board.
Everybody wore a mask sometime, she thought. Even if for politeness, to spare hurt feelings. But put them in the box, push the right buttons, and that mask usually slipped.
You never knew what you might see or hear when it did.
Sitting again, she studied the new configuration of her board, one that put Lopez and Barney at the top, the victim in the center, and Shauna Hunnicut beside her.
Both victims—one with her life taken, one who would live her life with that loss inside her.
From there, other friends radiated with their connections highlighted. A lot of crisscrosses, she noted. Yes, a lot of intersects.
But some of those intersects had only started a year and change before, and others went deeper, longer.
The deepest and longest to Hunnicut: Barney and DiNuzio—as were their links to each other. Add Stillwater, but he was out of it, as was Rierdon.
The deepest and longest to Albright: Frost, Fleschner, Decker, Lopez.
Sitting back, boots up, she closed her eyes and let her mind circle.
Take DiNuzio and Decker first and see what, if anything, came out of it.
Another hit at Stillwater. Longtime booty buddy, and people said things in bed after sex they might not say otherwise.
Then Fleschner—devoted friend, absolute trust, first pick for helping with the surprise. Painting together, sharing that bond. What else might Albright have shared with her, or tossed off as an aside, an observation?
A tight group, sure, but even tight groups had their issues.
Push the right buttons, she thought, and maybe some of those issues spilled out.
She heard Peabody coming back. She opened her eyes, but left her boots up.
“That’s your twenty, and DiNuzio’s out running errands. She can come by in about thirty. Decker said she can come in when Shauna leaves to go with Erin’s parents to make some arrangements. They’ve decided to have the memorial right away, like tomorrow.”
“Quick.”
“Yeah, they don’t want it any closer to the wedding date. Decker needs a few hours.”
“That works.” Eve lowered her boots, swiveled around. “Here’s how to play it.”
Chapter Thirteen
When a case bogged down, backtrack and look for an area to shake something—anything—loose.
To Eve’s mind, that began with the victim’s tribe, who stood as witnesses and the suspect pool. Becca DiNuzio and Angie Decker, the brides’ best friends, topped that list.
People knew things they didn’t realize they knew, saw things they didn’t register or remember without prompting.
Or, in her cop experience, did things only they truly understood, and hid those acts under the guise of innocence.
Becca DiNuzio spent her high school years outside the shiny circle of Shaunbar. Eve well understood standing outside that sort of circle as a teenager. While she hadn’t wanted entrée—anything but, at that point in her life—she also understood many craved it.
Had there been envy, some resentment? Maybe some careless act or a few careless words that had rooted inside?
Now the one outside stood inside. Best friend of one, cohab of the other. But how did it feel to have the man she lived with “hover”—her own word—over his high school love? Had the close relationship of the two halves of Shaunbar stirred up that resentment?
Now Shauna’s about to marry, and you’re not. She’s about to see a dream come true—and you’re not.
Again, in her cop experience, people killed for less.
Opportunity? No. Other witness statements put Becca onstage at TOD. But connections crisscrossed. And there was Barney.
Albright asks DiNuzio to deliver the case. DiNuzio conspires with Barney to kill Albright.
In Interview A, Eve sat back.
“Bullshit. Smells like bullshit.”
But she’d leave it open as a possibility.
More, she wanted Becca in the box to try to pry something—again, anything—she knew, had seen, sensed she didn’t realize or understand.
She wanted a better handle of the group dynamics, the pecking order, the allegiances.
When the door opened, Eve closed the file, rose as Peabody escorted Becca in.
“Thanks for coming in,” Eve began.
“No, it’s fine. I want to help, and I was out and about anyway.” With her strawberry blond hair pulled back in a tail, her blue eyes shadowed, Becca looked around the room. “Is this where you interrogate suspects?”
“Interview. It’s an interview room. Please, have a seat. We’ll try not to keep you long. We’re going to record this.”
“It helps keep the details straight,” Peabody added. “Why don’t I get you something to drink? I don’t recommend the coffee.”
“Oh, um, can I get a Coke? I could use the boost. None of us have been getting a lot of sleep.”
“Sure. Pepsi, Lieutenant?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Eve sat again as Peabody went out. “Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, in Interview with Becca DiNuzio in regards to the investigation of the murder of Erin Albright.”
“It sounds really official.”
“It is. We’re focused on finding who killed Erin.”
With the intimidation factor firmly in place, she switched tactics.
“How is Shauna doing?”
“Actually a little better, I think, because she’s mad. The mad’s getting her through right now. But I worry about tomorrow. We’re having Erin’s memorial tomorrow.”
“That’s quick.”
“I know, but Erin’s family, and Shauna, too, wanted it as soon as possible. Because the wedding was supposed to be this weekend, and that’s … It’s hard. Erin’s mom actually knows someone who works for a memorial service company, so they were able to schedule it right away.”
Lifting her hands, she pressed her fingers to her eyes. “It’s a lot.”
“I understand. Peabody, Detective Delia, entering Interview. Is Shauna still staying at Angie’s?”
“Thanks.” She took the tube from Peabody, cracked it. “Yes. In fact, she doesn’t want to go back to the apartment at all. Ever. Doesn’t want the furniture or most of their things. One of my errands was to talk to her landlord to explain she’d sublet the apartment, and furnished, until the lease is up. She’s going to find another place.”
Eyes full of worry, she turned the tube around and around in her hands.
“I don’t know if that’s the right thing, but it’s what she wants. And she’s doing all that, deciding all this, while she’s so upset, while she’s grieving. I don’t know if it’s right.”
“You’re worried about her,” Peabody said. “That’s natural.”
“I—I went by their place and got their wedding dresses.” Becca took a deep gulp from the tube. “Took them to a consignment shop.”
“That was hard for you,” Peabody murmured.
“Oh God, it was awful. We helped them pick out those dresses. Me, Angie, Donna, Jodi. We made a party of it. But I think that was the right thing. I think that was right. How could she bear to look at them again?”
“She’s lucky to have a friend like you,” Eve put in.
“We’re lucky to have each other. She’d be there for me if anything happened to Greg. God, I can’t even imagine it, but I know she’d be there for me.”
“Longtime friends. But no, not really,” Eve corrected. “You weren’t friends in high school. Not part of Shauna’s—or Greg’s—social circle.”
“Me?” She laughed a little. “Hard no on that. They were gold, and I was the awkward wheeze who aced every test while always wearing the wrong clothes.”
“High school’s tough. It’s so easy to get wounded at that age, and carry the scars with you after.”
“I think I was too oblivious to get any serious wounds.” With the faintest smile, she sipped some Coke. “A few scratches maybe. I had a couple friends—fellow wheezes and/or nerds. One joined the navy right after graduation, and I haven’t seen her since. The other moved to London for a job about four years ago. We keep in touch when we can.”
“But you weren’t friends with Shauna or Greg?”
“No. I knew them—everybody did—and Shauna knew me, sort of, because we had a few classes together. We were lab partners on a chemistry assignment once. When we ran into each other again, I have to admit, I was surprised she remembered that, or me.”
Smiling, Becca sipped more Coke. “Still a wheeze at the core, I guess, but I dress better now.”
“And she and Greg? No rekindling of Shaunbar?”
“No. They’d both moved on. Lucky for me.”
She fingered a gold chain with its pair of interlocking hearts around her neck.
“Still, I followed the code.”
“The code?”
“You know, about dating a friend’s ex. Even though we’re talking some years. When Greg asked me out, I mumbled something about checking my schedule and getting back to him, and tagged Shauna to make sure it was okay with her.”
“I take it, it was.”
“She said she’d hoped we’d give it a try because she’d seen a spark. She’s my best friend for a reason, Lieutenant. She’s loving, kind. She’s no pushover, but I’ve never known her to deliberately hurt anyone. Even back when she was high school royalty, she never punched down.
“I hate this happened. I can’t understand how it could have.”
“You’re helping us find out how and why and who by being here,” Peabody told her. “Shauna was all good with your relationship with Greg. What did you think when you met Erin?”
“Surprised—my first reaction—because this time I saw a spark where I absolutely didn’t expect to. I said something to Shauna like did she know Erin had a crush on her, and it looked like she was crushing back. She started to brush it off, you know, then she blushed. The redhead’s curse,” she said, tapping her own hair. “She said, ‘Well, maybe.’ They just worked, fit together, made each other happy.”
“How did your other mutual friends react, to Erin, to the relationship?” Eve asked.
“I guess there was some surprise, like my initial reaction. And I guess some figured it was just a phase, but that figuring didn’t last long because it so clearly wasn’t. Greg was a little weirded out.”
“Weirded out,” Eve prompted.
“Yeah, he’s like WTF baffled. But he’s a guy, and a guy she’d been with—her first been with—and reacted like a guy. I ran into Marcus—”
“Marcus Stillwater?”
“Yeah. We just ran into each other on the street, grabbed a drink, and he was a little bit baffled, too. Guys.” She shrugged.
“Had she and Marcus ever been serious?”
“No, not on either side. Buds. Buds with bennies, but nothing more than that. And it didn’t take long for him to make buds—no bennies, but good buds—with Erin. He tossed them a little engagement party at Tippler’s. That’s a bar some of us go to.”
“It sounds like Shauna’s circle absorbed Erin into it,” Peabody commented.
“Yeah, you could say that. First, I guess, because Shauna loved her, but just as important because everyone just liked her. She was fun, talented, always up, you know? And it was so crystal how much she loved Shauna, how much she wanted to make Shauna happy, make a good life with her.”
“You and Angie Decker seem like good friends,” Eve said. “Did Erin’s circle do the same, absorb Shauna?”
“I think so. I mean Angie, Donna, and Erin went back. I felt comfortable with them right out. I’d say we’ve gotten to be solid friends with helping plan the wedding, doing the shower, all of that. From what I know now, I’d say Angie and Donna, especially, had some worries Erin would get her heart broken. You know like some of Shauna’s friends thinking Shauna was going through a phase. But it didn’t last.
“And since you’re talking circles, it’s like the circle widened, or the circles interlinked. For me, the high school wheeze, having so many women friends is a personal miracle. And we sure as hell need each other right now.”
“You’re a diverse, interesting group,” Eve commented, and opened the file as if referring to it. “We’ve talked to all of you now. Artists, managers, execs, businesswomen, professional mothers, medicals, chefs, a stripper with a family who owns restaurants and real estate.”
She glanced up. “ChiChi Lopez and Erin were involved at one time.”
“I’m not sure that’s the word for it. Maybe buds with bennies again, at least on Erin’s part. And like with Marcus and Shauna, the bennies stopped.”
“And did ChiChi accept that as easily as Marcus did?”
Becca shifted, and hesitated for the first time. “I guess so. I don’t know her as well as I do Marcus.”
Eve offered an easy smile. “You’re not as friendly.”
“Not really. I mean, we get along fine. A bunch of us went to see her perform, and wow, that was an eye-opener.” She popped her eyes wide to demonstrate. “I don’t mean just the naked part, but she’s got some moves.”
Eve waited a beat. “But?”
“Okay, well, she’s a little bit mean. Got a bite to her, and I try to avoid getting bitten, so we’re not as friendly.”
“Did she ever bite Shauna?” Peabody wondered.
“A few nips. Shauna let it go. I mean, she told me, and Shauna can bite back when she needs to. To tell the truth, I think ChiChi was a little jealous, and doesn’t like Shauna very much. Or me, either.”
She shrugged at that.
“I guess I don’t know if she likes anybody much except Erin. Like Donna told me ChiChi said to her if she was going to transition, she should’ve paid for better boobs. That’s just mean and—and ignorant. Donna said she said it like a joke, but it stung.”
“But Erin trusted her.”
“Sure. I don’t think they were as tight as they were before, but I can’t say for sure, since I didn’t know them when they were, you know, buds with bennies. But friends were important to Erin—that’s something else she and Shauna had in common. They kept their friends, they valued their friends.”
“Becca, it’s probable someone they considered a friend did this.”
“I can’t believe that. I guess I don’t want to.”
“When you were onstage with Shauna, when it was close to midnight and you were up there, did you notice anyone who wasn’t in the club? See anyone slip out, like to use the bathroom?”
“I think about it and think about it. Every time I close my eyes I go right back there. I’d had a lot to drink, and believe me, I’d never pictured myself dancing half-naked in a sex club. It’s just a blur.”
“Did ChiChi get onstage?”
“No.” Becca rolled her eyes. “A few people said she should. You know, like ‘Show us how it’s done!’ But she just said how she got paid for that. I don’t know if she even danced much on the floor. Dressed and everything, but I didn’t really pay attention or hang out with her.”
