Authors: Iris Johansen
She shuddered. She could almost imagine him standing behind her, smiling.
No!
She threw the brush in the drawer and slammed it closed. She whirled, flipped off the light, and strode back into the bedroom.
She would not imagine what she did not know. She would not let him torment her. He was doing quite enough of that without her help.
She dove into bed and closed her eyes.
Don’t think of the gully.
Don’t think of that hairbrush.
Think of Lynch. Don’t push away any part of what he made her feel. It might save her from Colby tonight.
Take it. Take what I can give. You won’t be sorry.
I’m taking it, Lynch. Tonight, I choose you.
* * *
KENDRA WAS PERCHED ON THE
edge of the sofa, staring intently at her television, when Beth entered the condo the next morning.
“Aha,” Beth said. “The only thing that could require that level of concentration is the latest episode of
Real Housewives
. Or maybe
Duck Dynasty
.”
“I got up early, and I’ve been going over the video you shot of Sheila Hunter’s houseboat.”
“Even more entertaining. I went over it a couple times myself. I have a hunch that you saw more than I did though.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Does it give you any ideas?”
Kendra paused the video. “Yeah, maybe. At any rate, today we’re going to meet with the powerful CEO of a multinational media corporation and ask him a boatload of questions. No problem, right?”
“You’ve got to be talking about Robert Schultz. I saw the references to him in her phone records. You’re going to try to see him?”
Kendra nodded. “Sheila Hunter was in constant contact with him, at all hours of the day and night. I can see it on the call logs Lynch pulled for me.”
“You think something was going on between them?”
“
Something
was. It rang a bell with me when I was talking to those cops yesterday. One of them got extremely shifty when I accused him of cheating on his wife.”
Beth laughed. “You accused a cop of—”
“Not my finest hour. I kind of lost my patience. Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that some of the things that had been wiped clean might have been done to hide evidence of an affair, not a murder.”
“What?”
“The main reason that Colby wanted me to go to the houseboat was to see how clever he’d been in planting that DNA. But there might have been something else, and I didn’t see anything. Everything was wiped clean. Colby wouldn’t have wiped anything clean if he wanted me to see it. So I began to wonder if someone else wiped that crime scene down.”
“He could have been hiding evidence of his affair
and
the murder.”
“If I didn’t know Colby was responsible, I might have thought that myself. I need to talk to Schultz right away.”
“Not that I doubt you, but high-powered executives tend be a little busy. How exactly are you going to pull that off?”
“I already have. We’re meeting him at Amici Park in half an hour.”
“You’re not joking.”
“No, I have his personal cell number, remember? Plus a bit of embarrassing knowledge. Trust me, it’s a potent combination.”
* * *
IN TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES, KENDRA
and Beth were walking on the outskirts of downtown’s Amici Park, which on weekdays became the playground for an adjacent elementary school. The small park was located in Little Italy, and it offered one of the few grassy areas for dog walkers in the downtown area.
A slender man in an expertly tailored suit was already there. In his fifties, he had fine features and slightly thinning brown hair. He was leaning against the fence, skimming e-mails on his phone. Kendra approached him. “Robert Schultz?”
“Yes, Ms. Michaels.” He put away his phone. “When I suggested this place, I didn’t realize it was closed to park goers on school days. We can go somewhere else.”
“This will be fine. Our conversation isn’t going to last long.”
“I hope not.” He turned to Beth. “And you are?”
“Helping me,” Kendra replied. “Beth Avery.”
Schultz nodded. “Which means she’s cut from the same cloth.” He turned back to Kendra, and said coldly, “I don’t usually respond to tactics like yours, Ms. Michaels. I don’t appreciate threats.”
“You don’t usually find yourself in the middle of murder investigations, either.”
“I had nothing to do with what happened to Sheila Hunter.”
“I believe you.”
He stared at her. “Then what’s this about?”
“You already know. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. I know you were having an affair with her. You spent a lot of time with her in that houseboat. You were paying for it, weren’t you? It was billed under one of your midlevel executives, but you were footing that bill.”
He looked away. “Why should I talk to you?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make a lot of noise you won’t want to hear. I don’t care about your affair, Mr. Schultz. I have no interest in telling your story to the world, despite the fact that your girlfriend stooped pretty low to tell mine. But I promise I’ll do it if that’s what it takes to get the answers I need.”
He looked back at her. “I’m a married man. I have children. And Sheila worked for my company. The last may actually be worse than the first as far as my professional standing is concerned. We had to be very discreet.”
Kendra nodded. “You wanted a nice place near your office but not a place where many people would see you coming and going. Almost no one lives on their boats in Harbor Village. I imagine it was a nice spot for you two.”
“It was heaven.” For the first time, Kendra saw the pain in his eyes. “The place. The woman. Sheila understood me. We had the same values. It was the one place I could relax and enjoy myself. I hated whenever I had to leave.”
“The night she was killed … I know you were there.”
He turned sharply toward her. “I told you I had nothing to do with it.”
“And I told you that I believe you. But I know you were there.”
He looked down and finally nodded. “I found her. It was horrible. I couldn’t believe it.”
“She was already dead?”
He nodded.
Beth wrinkled her brow. “But you didn’t call the police.”
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t get involved. But I knew the police would put the entire place under a microscope. I wiped my prints off everything, every gift, every trinket that might possibly be linked back to me or my credit-card purchases. I put them in a laundry bag and got the hell out of there.”
“Everything,” Kendra repeated. “It looked pristine clean. You were in a big hurry. You probably scooped up everything in sight on the chance that it might incriminate you. Is that right?”
He shrugged. “I admit I wasn’t being overcareful about picking and choosing. I thought better safe than sorry.”
“You don’t remember any individual items?”
He shook his head. “It’s all pretty much of a blur.”
“And where did you put that bag?”
He didn’t answer.
“Believe me, I’m not looking for anything to incriminate you, not for murder or adultery. I just have to examine the contents of that bag and see if you threw anything in it that might help me find Sheila’s killer.”
“And what’s to stop you from turning the entire contents over to the police?” he said sharply. “What kind of position would that put me in?”
“It might put you in the position of helping to find the murderer of the woman who understood you, your kind of woman. Remember.”
He was silent. “She’s dead now. I’m alive.”
“Touching,” Beth said. “A love affair for the ages.”
“I’m a realist,” he said harshly. “It’s not going to help her for me to ruin my life.”
“Okay, suppose I guarantee not to turn the bag over to the police unless I find some evidence that might lead to her killer. And that I promise not to tell anyone the name of the person who removed those items from the houseboat.”
“I wouldn’t believe you.”
“You can believe me. I don’t lie.” She paused. “And the alternative is that I go to the police right now and tell them that you were her lover and you were there the night she was killed. That would start them digging very deep. How long do you think it would take for them to persuade you to tell them where that bag is now.” She looked him in the eyes. “I think I’m your best bet, Schultz.”
He scowled. “Neither one is a good option.”
She waited.
“Okay. I guess you’re right. It’s better to take a chance on you than having the police breathing down my neck.”
“So where is it?”
“I don’t have it. I tossed it that night.”
“Tossed it where?” Kendra asked.
“I got in my car and just drove. I was pretty messed up. I kept seeing her on the mast and all that blood…”
“Where did you end up?”
“I went to Mission Trails Park outside the city. I used to hike there sometimes. I thought I might bury the bag, or maybe weigh it down and throw it into the lake.”
“You
thought
you might,” Beth said. “What happened?”
“I drove out there, and I got turned around pretty quickly. It was dark, and the roads looked nothing like they do during the day. I was looking for a place to pull over, but then I was aware of a car behind me, about fifty yards back. Its running lights were on, but the headlights were off.”
“Following you?” Kendra asked.
“That’s how it looked. No matter how fast or slow I went, it was always right there.”
“Did you think it might have been Sheila’s killer?” Beth asked.
Schultz waited for an elderly couple to pass by them before he answered, “It crossed my mind. All I could think about was what that murderer had done to Sheila. I was nervous as hell. But the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed. There’s no way I was followed all the way from downtown. I would have seen it earlier.”
“So this car continued to follow you with the headlights off?”
Schultz nodded. “And like I said, it was dark. I was having a tough time navigating all those twists and turns with my headlights on. Then I began to think it was a park ranger or maybe a cop. The last thing I needed was to get stopped and caught with a bagful of stuff from my murdered girlfriend’s home.”
“So what did you do?”
“I waited for a curve in the road and chucked it out the window off a hillside. That way, even if I got stopped, I wouldn’t get caught with it. I turned off my own lights when I made the toss, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be seen doing it.”
“And what happened then?”
“I left as quick as I could. I lost sight of the car right after I left the park grounds. I’m guessing it was probably a ranger patrol. I think they were hanging back, trying to see what the hell I was doing there. If I had stopped, they might have gotten in my face. But since I just kept going and exited the park, they didn’t bother me.”
Kendra nodded. “Maybe. You never went back for the bag?”
“At first, that was my plan, but no. It’s a fairly desolate area, far from the major hiking trails. And if it’s ever found out there, I don’t think there’s anything that can necessarily be traced back to Sheila. Or me. I was mainly concerned with its being found in her houseboat.”
Kendra leaned toward him. “You have to be able to tell us about at least some of the things you removed from the houseboat.”
He thought for a moment. “There were ticket stubs for a few concerts we saw together. I removed gifts I’d given her. Things I’d charged that might be traced back to me. A necklace, a couple bracelets. Several objects I’d given her.”
“What kind of objects?” Beth asked.
“Figurines. Little statues. She loved little ceramic shoes. I travel overseas a lot, so I’d buy her things that I’d see.” He thought for another moment. “I also cleared out the few pieces of clothing I had there, along with my toiletries.”
Kendra nodded. “Guerlain Homme deodorant spray. Creed Green Irish Tweed cologne. Neroli Portofino bar soap.”
He stared at her in amazement. “Yes.”
“You took them away, but the odors remained. You’re wearing the same deodorant and cologne today.”
“Amazing,” he said.
“The cologne is especially nice. I understand George Clooney also wears that.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“So you dumped it all?”
“No, the clothes are still in my car. I stuffed the toiletries and the other stuff in a black laundry bag. I had a hard time remembering what I bought her and what was already hers, so if there was doubt, I just scooped it up. Like I said, I was just out of my mind that night.” He made a cutting gesture with his hand. “That’s it. No more. I’m through.”
“Not quite,” Kendra said. “I need one more thing from you.”
“I think I’ve done a lot for you already. My lawyer would say too much.”
“No, lawyers prefer not to deal with the police if at all possible. I’m much easier.” She paused. “But I need you to go with us and help us find the bag.”
His reply was immediate and incredulous. “No way in hell.”
“I wouldn’t ask if wasn’t necessary to help find Sheila’s killer.”
“Why is it necessary? How can it possibly help you find Sheila’s murderer?”
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss that at the moment.”
“After everything I’ve just shared with you?”
“Unwillingly shared. You’re the CEO of a corporation that owns newspapers, television stations, and some of the most popular news Web sites in the world. And just a few days ago, one of those sites held me up for public ridicule and raked me over the coals. That story was written by the woman with whom you claim to have shared your values.” She shook her head. “Pardon me if I don’t trust you with sensitive information relating to an active homicide investigation.”
Schultz opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. He managed a faint smile. “Point taken.”
“So you’ll help us?”
He checked his watch. “No, I’m catching a plane for Houston in less than two hours.”
“Postpone your trip.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You mean you won’t.”
“I can’t, and I won’t. That about covers it. I’ve told you enough, and I won’t run the risk of being caught scrambling over those hills with you. I already avoided that once. I’m not going to go for a replay.” He met her eyes. “But I can tell you exactly where I dumped it.”