ILL-TIMED ENTANGLEMENTS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #2) (18 page)

“But Sandy…”

“Don’t push me, Kate.” He stood up. Then his cop face fell away for a moment as he looked down at her. “I wish I could give you a different answer.” He walked away.

•   •   •

When Kate rapped on Betty’s apartment door and called out loudly, “Betty, it’s Kate,” Rose, in her new wig and Betty’s clothes, opened the door.

The men were sitting in the living room area in a rather uncomfortable silence. Kate hoped to God that Rob hadn’t actually asked Skip if his intentions were honorable.

Casting about for something to break the stony silence, she said, “Any coffee available?”

“Finished the pot a little bit ago, but there’s iced tea in the fridge,” Rob said.

“Even better. Anybody else want some?”

“I’ll take a glass, Kate,” Skip answered, smiling at her.

Rob frowned at him.

Kate turned toward the kitchen cabinet before indulging in an eye roll. She got out two glasses.

“Did you tell them about our interview with
Ellen
and yours with Joe?” she asked Skip, as she handed him his iced tea.

“Who the hell is Ellen?” Mac said.

“Mrs. Forsythe. She asked Skip, but
not
me, to call her Ellen.” Kate wiggled her eyebrows and snickered, hoping to lighten the mood in the room.

Mac and Rose obliged with short chuckles. Then Mac, sitting next to Skip, noticed the pink creeping up his cheeks. Mac laughed out loud and slapped the big man on the shoulder. “Made a conquest, huh, buddy?”

“Not intentionally,” Skip muttered.

“I told them about the interview with
Mrs. Forsythe
. But I was waiting for you to report on the one with Joe.”

“Lindstrom told me that Joe has a police record.” Kate repeated what the detective had told her.

“Wouldn’t surprise me to find out that he’s a rapist. His attitude toward women would make the Neanderthal man look liberated,” Skip said. “Couldn’t get him to admit to anything regarding Doris but in general he seems to have a take it wherever you can get it attitude.”

“Emphasis on
take
,” Kate said.

“At first he pretended that he didn’t really know who Frieda was. But later on, he made a comment about her. Uh, let’s just say that neither weight nor age are major turn-offs for him.” Skip curled his lip in disgust.

The bastard had actually said that her rolls of fat would “give ya somethin’ to hang onto while yer dippin’ yer wick.”

“So the man’s a sexist creep, a thief, and maybe a rapist,” Rose was saying. “But not necessarily a killer.”

“Not unless he got caught in the act of searching for valuables in Doris’s apartment, and then whacked her over the head,” Kate said. “I think he’s quite capable of using whatever degree of violence necessary to get what he wants or to avoid getting arrested.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Skip said. “But would he kill Frieda in her sleep in order to rob her?”

“I asked if Doris or Frieda had been sexually assaulted. Lindstrom said no.” Kate was glad that Betty wasn’t there so they could talk about such subjects more openly.

“One guy could be doin’ both,” Mac growled. “Gettin’ his sexual jollies with the younger gals. Stealin’ from the old ones.”

Skip shook his head. “A rapist rapes any woman he can overpower. Age and appearance aren’t all that important, just whether or not she’s vulnerable. He wouldn’t break into an old woman’s apartment, steal from her and kill her, and refrain from raping her. Not when he already had control over her.” He looked at Kate for confirmation.

She nodded, but then another thought occurred to her. “Wait, there is another possibility… Rapists have almost always been sexually abused as children, and often physically abused as well. If this guy had been sexually abused by his father or his mother’s boyfriend, and the mother failed to protect him, he could be a rapist and
also
harbor a hatred for older women. He might then start symbolically killing his mother by murdering older women, but without any desire to have sex with them…”

“Because they’re his mother, in his mind,” Rose finished her thought.

Kate nodded. “Normally, as Skip said, the tendency would be for him to rape them too, but with psychopathic killers, the word
normal
doesn’t always apply.”

“Are you saying this could be a serial killer?” Rob said, disbelief and horror on his face.

Kate nodded again. They all were silent for several minutes, digesting that disturbing idea.

“I’m afraid I have some other bad news,” Kate said. “Lindstrom pretty much admitted that his captain is pressuring him to arrest Betty for Doris’s murder, even though he doesn’t have enough to charge her for Frieda’s.”

Rob sucked in his breath. “Shit!” He normally refrained from strong language in front of women. It was a sign of how upset he was that he didn’t even apologize to Rose and Kate for his word choice.

“I was trying to get him to agree to let us take her back to Maryland,” Kate continued. “He as much as said that if we did that he would arrest her. Actually his exact words were ‘Don’t force my hand.’”

“Shit!” Rob said again.

“Yeah,” Kate agreed with the sentiment. They sat in silence again for a moment.

“So the sooner we solve his case for him, the better,” Rose finally said.

“Back to our suspect list,” Kate said. “I think Joe should be near the top, and Mrs. Forsythe’s being in front of the building yesterday and then lying to us today puts her up there as well, in my book.”

“Mr. Forsythe is a possibility, too,” Skip said. “If he’s strayed before, maybe he did respond to Doris’s flirting, they had an affair, and then she threatened to tell his wife.”

“Ah, so you picked up on that ‘he wouldn’t risk losing me
now
’ comment.” Kate smiled at him approvingly.

“And the flash of anger when she said it.” Skip smiled back at her.

Rob cleared his throat. Kate glanced at him quickly enough to catch the frown before he schooled his face into a neutral expression. She resisted the temptation to glare at him.

“Any of the residents see anything suspicious outside Betty’s apartment yesterday?” she asked.

“Knocked on doors,” Mac growled. “Nobody saw nothin’ strange.”

“But it occurred to me,” Rose said, “that these folks are so used to seeing each other wandering around the building. If it was another resident they saw, they wouldn’t have given it another thought.”

Kate nodded. “Even someone who doesn’t live in this building, someone they see regularly, maybe in the cafeteria, wouldn’t necessarily register.”

“Nor would Joe,” Rob said. “Since he no doubt goes into people’s apartments sometimes to do maintenance.”

“He probably has a master key,” Rose said.

Kate shuddered. Skip gave her a concerned look.

Rob again had the feeling that they were keeping something from him. His chest hurt.

“Havin’ a key would explain why no scratch marks on the door, first time the bastard tried to get in,” Mac was saying.

Rob’s cell phone rang. It was Liz calling from the motel. “Got some info, Hon.”

“Hold on.” Rob put the phone on speaker and set it in the middle of the coffee table so everyone could hear.

“Chloroform’s not that easy to come by,” Liz’s disembodied voice boomed. “Can’t just walk into a store and buy it. Only schools, hospitals and labs that have a good reason for needing it can order it from chemical companies. It’s illegal, in most states, for an individual to possess it.”

“So who, among our suspects, would have access to it?” Kate wondered.

“I tried to hack into the retirement community’s records…”

“You’ve got to stop doing that, Liz,” Rob interrupted. “One of these days, you’re going to get caught, not to mention I could get disbarred if it came out that I knew you were a hacker.”

“I only do it for worthy causes, Rob. It’s not like I’m planting computer viruses or hacking into bank records to steal money.”

Rob frowned at the phone but let it go.

“So what did you find?” Kate asked.

“Not a thing, unfortunately. The only references in their computer records to residents is in their accounting program, showing when they’ve paid their rent and fees. Any personal info the folks provide when they’re applying to move in must be kept in paper files only.

“I’m thinking that if we could find out what jobs our suspects retired from, we’d know who might have been able to get their hands on chloroform. Might help us narrow down the suspect list,” Liz concluded.

“Mrs. Carroll, the community director, might know that information,” Kate said. “However, I’m not her favorite person at the moment. You could probably get her to talk to you, Liz.”

“I’ll call her.”

“Might get more out of her in person. She’ll protest that she can’t give out confidential information, but once you get her talking she’s a blabbermouth.” Kate thought for a moment. “How about I come over to keep Betty company. She and I can fill in some things on her lists while you go talk to Mrs. Carroll.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Liz said. “I’ll call and make an appointment with her. Maybe act like we’re thinking about moving here when we retire. That ought to soften her up some. See ya in a bit, Kate.”

In the back of his mind, Rob was still digesting the information he had gotten from Fran a little while ago. Not liking some of what she’d told him about Canfield’s work history, Rob had made some calls. Until he heard back from a couple people, he wanted to get the man away from Kate.

Figuring this was the best opening he was likely to get, Rob tried to keep his voice nonchalant as he leaned over to retrieve his phone from the table. “Well, Skip, it doesn’t look like there’s anything for you to do at the moment. You might as well go back to Maryland for this evening. I’ll let you know if we need you back up here later. Hopefully, we’ll catch ourselves a killer with Rose’s idea.”

There was silence for a moment as they all stared at Rob. Rose’s right eyebrow was cocked at a forty-five degree angle. She and Mac exchanged a quick what-the-hell-is-going-on glance.

Skip turned to Kate. “Are you staying?”

Kate realized her mouth was hanging open. She closed it as she thought about Skip’s question. At the moment, she was furious with Rob, but underneath that was worry for him. He really wasn’t acting like himself. She wasn’t willing to abandon him, or Betty. “Yes, I want to see this through,” she said.

“Then I’m sticking around.” Skip was careful to keep his voice neutral. “On my own time, Rob. No charge.”

“That won’t be necessary, Canfield.”

Kate gave Rob a sharp look. Skip cocked an eyebrow in his direction. Several possible retorts ran through his mind. He rejected them all.

“Nothing better to do right now. I’ll take Kate back to the motel and grab a nap. Since I was on guard duty last night, I only dozed.” Skip got up to carry his empty glass into the kitchen.

As he put it in the sink and walked back around the breakfast bar, Rob stood up, a challenging look on his face. Kate thought for a moment she might need to step between them. What the hell did Rob think he was doing? But now, in front of Mac and Rose, was not the time to confront him.

Skip’s jaw was tight but his voice remained quiet and calm. His eyes still on Rob, he said, “You ready to go, Kate?” Actually she had been considering going to the bathroom before they left but she wasn’t about to leave these two glaring at each other. She nodded.

Mac and Rose were both wearing inscrutable expressions.

“Y’all be careful tonight. Call if you need reinforcements,” Skip said, as he opened the door. After Kate preceded him out of the apartment, he said in a louder voice, “Thanks for the iced tea, Mrs. Franklin. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

O
nce in Skip’s Explorer, Kate let out a long pent-up breath.

“My sentiments exactly,” Skip said, staring straight ahead at the road. Kate noticed he was still clenching his jaw.

“If it weren’t for the fact that he called you Canfield, I could try to convince myself that he just wanted to save some money,” she said.

“No way,” Skip countered. “He’s not thinking straight. He’s gonna leave three of the women he loves on their own at the motel tonight? With a rapist and a killer in town.”

Kate laid her head back against the headrest of her seat. Heaving a sigh, she said, “Why does life have to be so complicated sometimes?”

“You gonna have that conversation with him, darlin’? The one you were rehearsing out by the bench.”

Kate gave him a sharp sideways glance. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “
Darlin’
just slipped out.”

Kate opted to ignore the jumble of feelings that word had evoked. “It looks like I’m going to have to talk to him,” she answered his question.

Skip decided a change of subject was in order. He cast about for something safe to talk about. “How’s the baby doing?” He knew she was calling to check on Edie every chance she got.

“She’s doing just fine. It’s her mother who’s not dealing well with separation. I don’t know why I’m feeling so guilty. Between Shelley and Sam, Edie’s no doubt being spoiled rotten.”

“I’ve always gotten the impression that guilt comes with the territory for moms.” Skip flashed his easy-going grin at her.

“Yeah, probably some guilt gene on the X chromosome that turns on once we give birth,” Kate replied, with a grin of her own.

•   •   •

Back at the motel, Kate suggested Skip would be more comfortable napping on one of the beds in the suite’s bedroom, while she and Betty discussed what they had learned that morning about their suspects. Kate called room service to have them send over some lunch.

She had just finished filling Betty in when there was a light tapping on the door. After checking through the peephole, Kate opened the door to take the tray of sandwiches from the young waitress. She was surprised to see Rob getting out of his car across the parking lot.

She waited as he approached. “Kate, we need to talk.” He tilted his head toward the outside door of his room. His face was grim.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be over in a minute.”