A Killer Column (21 page)

Zach threw his hands into the air. “That’s the problem with this situation. We have reasons to suspect everyone who ever came into Derrick Duncan’s life, but that’s not getting us any closer to finding the killer.”

I nodded. “I know it’s frustrating, not being able to officially question our suspects or check out alibis, but we have to do whatever we can to figure this out.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice.” He looked at us in turn, and then asked, “Do either of you masterminds have an idea how we can start eliminating suspects?”

Jenny just shrugged, but I had an idea. “Why don’t we use the same approach we tried on Frank Lassiter?”

“Tell him we’re on his side?” Zach asked. “That was a tough sale, remember?”

“No offense,” I said, “but you have a way of intimidating people and not realizing it. Why don’t you let me try?”

“On your own? Out of the question,” he snapped. “Besides,
you’re
the one who aggravated him the first time we spoke.”

“Zach, it’s my neck on the line. Let me handle this my way.”

“I could go with her when she talks to them,” Jenny volunteered.

“You need to keep a low profile with the police, remember?”

She picked up the planner. “They couldn’t even find this, could they? I don’t think you’re getting a fair shake. I’m in, all the way.”

“Great,” I said.

Zach just scowled. “What am I supposed to be doing in the meantime while you two are out interrogating witnesses?”

“Sweetheart, there are other ways you can help.” I hugged him, which he resisted at first, but then allowed. After I pulled away, I added, “You can find out who Jenny’s stalker is. That’s as important to us as finding Derrick’s killer.”

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” he said.

“Give us one day. We’ll brace our suspects tomorrow and try to enlist them openly in our cause. If any of them refuse, we’ll keep them on our suspect list, but who knows, someone might volunteer some information just to get us off their backs.”

“Will you both at least be careful?”

“I promise we will,” I said, just as the front doorbell rang.

 

 

A
RE YOU EXPECTING ANYONE?” ZACH ASKED AS HE MOVED toward the door.

“Not really. Why?” Jenny asked as her face went pale. “Do you think it’s my stalker?”

“If it is, he picked the wrong night to show himself,” Zach replied. I moved toward him, and he said, “Savannah, you and Jenny need to wait for me in the back bedroom.”

“No,” we both said as the doorbell rang again.

“Stop arguing and do it.”

Jenny started to move, but I stood fast. “I’m not going. Now, are you going to answer the door, or should I?”

“Woman, you’re pushing me too far.”

“Then answer the door.”

I wasn’t sure who was there, but I wasn’t about to let my husband face them alone.

I certainly wasn’t expecting the visitor we got.

Detective Murphy was standing there when Zach carefully opened the door, and from the grim look on his face, he wasn’t there to bring us good news.

“
D
ETECTIVE,” ZACH SAID, AS I TRIED TO HIDE THE PLANNER and the copy Jenny had made from him.

“We need to talk,” Murphy said.

“Come on in.”

Zach moved aside, and I gathered everything together and looked around for a place to put it. Jenny was watching me, and it appeared that she was going to try to provide me with a diversion so I could accomplish it.

“Hello, Shawn,” she said as she moved toward him.

“Hello,” he said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but this doesn’t concern you. Maybe you’d like to take a walk around the block while we chat.”

“I’m fine right here, but thanks for asking. It’s been a while since you’ve been here, hasn’t it?”

He glanced around. “I guess so.” He must have spotted the opened teddy bear on the dining room table. “What are you doing, a teddy bear autopsy?”

“It’s from my stalker,” she said, blurting it out. “He’s getting bolder every minute, since you haven’t been able to catch him.”

The shocked look on his face was all I needed to hide the planner and the copy under a newspaper. What was she doing? He was one of our three suspects, and now she was confiding in him?

“Talk to me.”

Jenny looked over at me, and then she said, “We’re handling it.”

Murphy walked toward her, and from the look in his eyes, it was clear that he’d forgotten Zach and I were even there. “Jennifer, this is no time to try to be brave.”

“Shawn, I’ve asked for help, remember? And yet he keeps coming after me. What’s it going to take to stop him? Does he have to actually assault me, or do something even worse?”

There was a look of pure frustration on his face. “I can’t keep an officer on you around the clock. Give me something to work with, and I might be able to help.”

“We have suspects,” Jenny said, and it was all I could do not to put my hand over her mouth. What was she thinking? Did she really expect Shawn Murphy to help us, especially when he could be her stalker?

“Who do you think might have done it?”

Zach said, “We haven’t narrowed it down that much yet to give you any names.”

“Bull. You have a list, don’t you?”

Jenny said, “We can do better than that. We have pictures.”

She handed him the folder, and I wondered what she was doing. “That’s the wrong one,” I said as I tried to grab it. Had she forgotten that Murphy’s photograph was there as well?

The detective was too quick for me, though. He snatched it away, and then looked at the photographs. When he got to his own, he looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What’s this?”

“You’re on our list,” Jenny said, not afraid to meet his gaze.

“Jennifer, you’ve got to be kidding.”

“There you go, you just added to the case against you. Every note and reference to me calls me Jennifer, just like you used to do.”

He shook his head. “You don’t really think I’d do this to you, do you?”

“You have to admit that you took it hard when we broke up,” she maintained.

“Sure, it stung, but I’ve moved on. I’ve even got a new girlfriend now.”

“You do?”

He nodded as he reached into his back pocket. I saw Zach’s hand go to his jacket, and the move wasn’t lost on Murphy, either.

“Take it easy. I’m just getting my wallet out,” the detective said.

He gingerly removed it, and then showed Jenny a photo of him with another woman.

Jenny looked at it, and then said, “This is Nancy Waters.”

“Do you know her?” I asked.

“She’s one of the police dispatchers.”

Murphy shrugged. “I figured she’d know something about cops, so it might make things a little easier. We started dating two weeks after you and I broke up.”

“Why haven’t I heard anything about it?” Jenny asked.

“Hey, Raleigh’s not exactly Mayberry,” he said. “It would probably amaze you to learn about some of the things that go on.” He tapped the folder. “I’ll keep this, if you don’t mind.”

“We were going to show it to some of the premium toy stores around town,” Zach said. “Someone might recognize one of them.”

“It’s worth a shot. May I take the bear as well?”

Zach looked at Jenny, who nodded slightly. “Fine.”

“Good enough. I’ll start looking into this tomorrow.”

“Detective,” I said. “You never said what brought you here in the first place. Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“What makes you ask that?” he said as he stared intently at me.

“It’s pretty clear that you didn’t drop in for a social call. When Zach answered the door, I saw that look on your face. Something bad happened tonight, didn’t it?”

“I’m afraid it did,” he admitted. “Someone tried to kill Kelsey Hatcher this evening.”

 

 

“
W
HAT HAPPENED?” ZACH ASKED.

“She was walking to a restaurant and someone shoved her from a crowd into traffic. If the guy beside her hadn’t noticed, she would have been hit dead-on by a bus.”

“Did anyone see who shoved her?” I asked.

“That’s the problem. Nobody admits to seeing anything,” he said. “By the time we got there, some of the crowd had dispersed, so there was no way we could even interview all of the suspects.”

“And you think this is related to Derrick’s death,” Zach said.

Murphy scratched his ear. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Neither do I,” Zach quickly agreed.

“How’s she doing?” Jenny asked him.

“She’s shaken up, but physically, she’s fine. I can’t help wondering why someone would want to get rid of her.”

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?” I asked him.

He didn’t let up for one second. “I understand you two have already had a few clashes since she’s taken over.”

“Where did you hear that from?”

He shrugged. “Does it really matter? All I need to know is if it’s true.”

“You don’t have to answer that,” Jenny said as she put a hand on my shoulder.

“I appreciate that, but I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Zach said, “Maybe you should listen to Jenny.”

“No,” I said loudly. “I’m not hiding behind my lawyer, especially when I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It’s your funeral,” Jenny said.

I turned to Murphy. “In any new relationship, business or otherwise, there’s a period of time where the people involved have to work out how they relate to each other.”

He pulled out his notebook and jotted something down. “So, that would be yes.”

“Murphy,” Jenny said with a warning tone in her voice.

“Hey, I’m just asking questions.”

Zach stepped between them. “Then stop putting your own spin on the answers. Next question.”

Murphy stared at him a second, and then looked back at me. “Here’s an easy one. Did you see Kelsey Hatcher at any point today?”

I was about to answer when Jenny said, “Whoa. That’s enough.”

“We could do this in my office, if you’d rather,” Murphy said.

“My client and I need to confer. If you want to bully her into going downtown, I’ll simply advise her not to speak with you at all. Is that clear?”

Murphy shrugged, and then closed his notebook.

I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. “Does that mean I’m coming with you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t see the point of wasting your time or mine. Once I have more information, I’ll want to speak with you again.”

“Not without me being present,” Jenny said.

“And me,” Zach added.

Murphy smiled a quick, wry grin. “You win. For now.”

As he started for the door, his mood suddenly changed. “Jennifer, until I can run down a few leads, don’t take any chances. It would be good if you had someone with you at all times.”

“You’re not worried about me, are you?” she said.

“It just makes sense not to take any chances.” Murphy looked at Zach and said, “You’ll look out for her, right?”

“You can count on it. Let me know as soon as you hear anything about the bear.”

“Will do.”

After he was gone, I asked Jenny, “Why wouldn’t you let me answer his question? I’m sure someone had to have seen me with Kelsey today.”

“Don’t assume anything.”

“I was there,” I insisted.

“Did you shove her in front of a bus?”

I looked at her as though she’d just lost her mind. “Of course I didn’t.”

“Then don’t make Murphy’s job of railroading you any easier than it has to be.”

I looked at Zach. “And what’s with you? You were actually nice to him there at the end.”

“It was about a different case. We all know I have no official standing here. He’s not obligated to tell me anything about what he finds out about Jenny’s stalker. I need his goodwill on that one.”

“And no one else sees a conflict between the two issues?”

Zach shook his head. “I don’t. When you’re a cop, you need to compartmentalize everything in your life. The two cases don’t necessarily touch, but even if they did, I trust Murphy to do the right thing where Jenny’s concerned.”

I picked up his photograph, which he’d taken out of the folder Jenny had handed him. “I can’t believe you actually told him we suspected him of stalking you.”

“I didn’t want him to catch you hiding Derrick’s planner. I had to do something to create a diversion.”

“Why didn’t you knock a lamp off the table or something?”

Jenny touched the base of one of her lamps. “Are you kidding me? I love this lamp.”

“You know what I mean. It could have been reckless telling him we’re on to him.”

Jenny shrugged. “Think about it. Did I say one word about the cameras Zach put in?”

I thought back over the conversation, and realized that subject hadn’t come up. “No,” I admitted.