He grinned a little, not from discomfort. He might actually be enjoying this. “I guess we didn’t need a first date.”
“We’re already at the next stage?” she teased.
“Two or three, maybe.” Reaching across the desk, he ran his finger over the back of her hand, soft and sensual and with a playful light in his eyes.
Tingles spread all the way up her arm and touched her heart like sparks from a fairy’s wand. She had to force herself not to fall for him too much. He was probably only teasing anyway.
Wouldn’t they have already had sex by now if they were that far along? “I think you’re afraid you won’t be enough for the woman you fall in love with.” It came back to how he saw his parents and how he always compared himself to them. They were such good people and they were both so successful.
“If I found something real with a woman, I wouldn’t be afraid to marry her.”
Okay, she did believe that, but he still had this hang-up over his self-worth. Or maybe it wasn’t self-worth. Maybe it was more of a self-discovery thing. He had to be able to look in the mirror and see a man who was, indeed, the son of two interesting and dynamic people and he was equally interesting and dynamic. He might see himself as successful, just not sure he’d followed his heart. Feeling less fascinating than his parents didn’t make him insecure. It only made him, well, pessimistic.
She couldn’t look away from his eyes, a window into a man who was not afraid of anything. Having a glimpse of that power changed how she saw him. She knew him better than before this talk. That chilled her and got her heart going faster at the same time.
His cell rang and he pressed the answer button and then speaker.
“Cooper.”
“Detective Cooper. Doctor Mortenson.”
“Thanks for calling, Doctor.”
“Sorry for the delay in calling. You said in your email that you have some questions on the Johnston death?”
“Yes. I read the report you sent Dark Alley Investigations.”
“I was surprised an agency like that took an interest in this case. That was pretty straightforward as far as I’m concerned.”
Kendra looked up from the phone at Roman. She didn’t think the report was all that straightforward and was pretty sure Roman would agree.
“I can see why you’d think that,” Roman said. “When I first saw the report I was ready to tell Kendra I agreed, but then she told me Kaelyn had plans to move back to Chesterville and was in the process of convincing her twin sister to join her. People who are planning to kill themselves don’t make plans like that for the future. That’s what made me take another look at the file.”
“It’s normal for a sibling to want closure.”
Kendra wanted more than closure. She wanted Kaelyn’s killer caught and put behind bars.
“If you look at the photos, you can see ligature marks that might suggest strangulation from a different angle.” Roman went through a lengthy explanation and waited for the doctor to look at the photos on his end of the call. “There’s also the time of death that bothers me. Did you check for lividity during your exam?”
What was lividity? Kendra waited to see what Roman would say.
“That was a while ago,” the doctor said. “I’d have to look at my notes again.”
Kendra looked up at Roman. Did the doctor seem reluctant to talk?
“There’s no mention of it in your report.”
“Then I may not have made any notes because I was sure the cause was suicide.”
“I’m not challenging your competence,” Roman assured the man. “Many others would have drawn the same conclusion.”
The doctor said nothing in response.
“It’s hard to say for sure from the photos,” Roman continued, “but to me it looks like lividity formed on the right side of her body. I don’t see any lividity at her feet, like I’d expect if a body had been hanging for so long. In fact, lividity doesn’t change after twelve hours, so even if the body was moved, the pattern of discoloration would appear the same.”
How could he have missed something like that? Wouldn’t a coroner check for signs the body had been moved? Maybe not if he was sure of the cause of death.
“Have you spoken with the police about this?” The doctor sounded much more concerned now.
“I wanted to talk to you first.”
“I suggest you do talk to them. Much of my examination is based on my discussions with them when the body is brought in. If there are now reasons to believe the Johnston girl was murdered, we should exhume her body.”
“She was cremated. The photos are all we have.”
The doctor made a disgruntled sound. “Then your best path forward is with the police.”
“Thank you for your time, Doctor.”
“Good luck.”
Roman looked at Kendra after he disconnected.
“You didn’t tell me about the discolorations. The lividity as you called it,” she said.
“I just noticed it last night. I had nothing else to do since you wouldn’t go out with me.”
She let his good-natured poking go for now. “You think her body was moved.”
“I know it was.”
* * *
The police weren’t any more help than the coroner had been. Everyone who handled her case, from the first responders to the police and detectives and finally the coroner, all seemed to assume right away that Kaelyn had killed herself. All of her friends had told of a depressed woman. No one had questioned her mother. Roman, like Kendra, had found that particularly unusual. Her mother had been notified of her death, that’s all.
Now knowing without a shred of doubt that Kaelyn had been killed took this case to a new level. He felt driven more than ever to solve her murder. He realized he felt this way every time he ran a case.
He’d spent hours looking at the kind of rope used in Kaelyn’s hanging. It was thick and the search warrant for Alex’s storage unit confirmed he’d had some. The search had also produced bank statements and receipts they’d had express shipped to them at the hotel. The warrant had also allowed into evidence Kaelyn’s cell phone, which proved she’d not only been in contact with her secret twin sister, she’d also been abused and was planning to run away.
Right now, he pored over the bank statements around the time Kaelyn was killed. Kendra sat on the floor with receipts surrounding her, organizing them into piles. He spotted a withdrawal dated the day before Kaelyn had died. She’d taken a thousand from the checking account, all but draining it.
“I found something,” he said.
Kendra stood and leaned beside him to look over the bank statement. “Withdrawal.” Then she pointed to another entry. “She also purchased gas that day.”
Roman noticed another gas purchase in West Virginia. “She drove to Chesterville.”
Stunned, he turned with her and their eyes met as the significance sank in. Had Kaelyn been killed in Chesterville or had she driven home first?
“What happened to her car?” Kaelyn asked.
“Let’s find out.” He made a call to a detective who’d helped gather the information he needed. The detective didn’t know about Kaelyn’s car and nothing had been mentioned about it in the reports.
Next, he called the prison to arrange for a call with Alex. Thirty minutes later, they had him on the phone.
“We only had one car. I rode with the guys to work every day,” he said.
“Was the car at your house when you found Kaelyn?” Roman asked.
“It was in the garage. Why?”
“Did you know Kaelyn drove to Chesterville the day before you found her?” Roman asked.
“She was home. She didn’t drive anywhere.”
“No, she drove to Chesterville.” She had been found at home but she had to have been taken there already de
ad.
“No. I didn’t know that. Why did she drive all the way there, and then turn around and drive back?”
Roman didn’t answer. Was he telling the truth?
“I did notice she got into a fender bender. I was going to get on her about it. That’s when I found her hanging.”
“What kind of fender bender?” Roman asked, excited. This could be a big lead.
“The whole side looked like she drove against a concrete divider or something.”
Or another car had driven her off the road?
“Did you tell police that?”
“Yes. They asked about the cut and bruise on her forehead. I told them it must have happened when she wrecked the car.”
“Did they follow up on the accident?”
“What would be the point? She was dead. I told the police I thought she might have taken too many of her antidepressant pills and got into a wreck. Hell, the wreck might have made her even more depressed and that’s what sent her over the edge.”
“Where is the car now?” Roman asked.
“My brother is keeping it on his farm. I got the fender repaired.”
Yes. They could find proof Kaelyn’s body had been in the car postmortem. He’d get a hold of local police and have the vehicle taken in to be searched for trace evidence.
“You would describe her as a depressed person?” Kendra asked.
“She was never happy around me.”
“Who would be happy living with someone who beat them?” Kendra asked. Did men like him not understand that?
Roman held up his hand to stop any further retaliation. He sympathized with her, but she was being too emotional.
“I know I wasn’t the ideal husband, but I did love her. I think about her every day. Mostly I wish things could have been different for us.”
In that he wished he hadn’t beaten her? Some men couldn’t control their temper and realized afterward what they did was wrong.
“So, no one knows where or how she was in this car accident?” Roman asked.
“I guess not.”
After ending that call, Kendra got a hold of Kaelyn’s adoptive mother and asked her when she last saw Kaelyn.
“A week before.”
That corroborated Glenn’s statement.
“Did she tell you she was coming back?” Roman asked.
“No. Why?”
“She drove to Chesterville the day she died,” Kendra said.
“She...that’s not possible. She would have told me.”
“Not if she was trying to escape her husband,” Roman said.
“She would have told me,” the woman insisted.
“She didn’t tell me, either,” Kendra said. Not that she would have had any reason to. They had just begun to get close again and Kaelyn had intended to talk her into moving with her to Chesterville. She just hadn’t had the chance.
“We have copies of her bank statements and one of them shows she purchased gas just outside Chesterville the day she died,” Roman said. “Maybe something happened to make her decide last minute to drive here.”
“I’m telling you, Kaelyn would have told me if she was coming to see me.”
Roman met Kendra’s eyes again.
“Maybe she wasn’t coming to see you,” he said.
After ending that call—having to calm the woman down—Roman jotted down some of his thoughts.
“Who could she have decided to come see last minute?”
“Glenn?”
“He didn’t tell us she was coming.”
“Of course he didn’t.” Why had she driven to Chesterville and not told anyone? Had she planned to see her lover, and then stay? Alex didn’t seem to know she’d left that day. Or why.
Glenn could have known she was coming and driven her off the road before she made it to town. But why...?
Chapter 11
Kendra went with Roman to a café over lunchtime, where they would find Glenn. He was a partner at a local law firm and his secretary had told them he’d be here having lunch with his wife. The café had small town charm with only about ten round tables covered in white linen with tiny, slender vases containing single blue carnations that matched the valances over French casement windows in the front. Kendra spotted the dark blond–haired Glenn sitting with a petite woman dressed in a floral short-sleeved dress. Her blond hair was shoulder-length and she wore stylish rectangular glasses. She held her fork daintily over her plate, chewing politely as she listened to her husband, who seemed more interested in hearing himself than whether his wife was interested.
“Does his wife know he was having an affair?” Kendra asked in a low voice as they approached.
“I don’t know. We’ll be tactful.”
They reached the table, Glenn stopping talking as he saw them, his blue eyes going chilly.
“Glenn, how are you today?” Roman asked.
“What do you want?” He glanced at his wife. “This is my wife, Vikki.”
He seemed to introduce her to make sure they understood if they’d come to talk to them about Kaelyn, they could do some harm.
Roman gave a nod and Kendra said, “I’m Kendra Scott and this is Roman Cooper.”
“Oh,” Vikki said. “You’re that detective looking into that woman’s death.” She turned to Kendra. “You’re her twin sister, right?”
“Yes.”
“You think she was murdered?”
“We know she was,” Roman said. “In fact, we just learned she was on her way to Chesterville the day she died.”
Vikki seemed to freeze up a moment. The news that Kaelyn had been murdered came as a shock to her. Kendra wanted to question her as to why but thought that might lead into her husband’s infidelity.
“How does that convince you she was killed?” Glenn asked. “I thought she committed suicide.”
Roman turned to him. “We have evidence that her body was moved. She didn’t hang herself, and the time of death puts her here when she was killed.”
Vikki put her hand to her chest and looked across the table at her husband. He sat staring up at Roman. Kendra couldn’t tell if he was worried or not.
“You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone who may have seen or spoken with her that day?” Roman asked.
“No,” Glenn said.
Kendra saw how Vikki lowered her head, and then looked away. She fingered the knife beside her salad bowl. Nervous.
“Are you sure?” she asked, watching Vikki.
“Yes, we’re sure,” Glenn said in a sterner tone.
Roman put a card on the table. “In case something comes to mind.”
Glenn looked up and the two men’s gazes met in silent understanding.
Kendra leaned over and slid the card closer to Vikki. “Give us a call if you think of anything.”
With Glenn’s deepening frown, Roman stepped back and Kendra followed him out of the café.
“She knows something,” she said when they reached the sidewalk. “Did you see how nervous she got when you asked if they knew of anyone who may have seen or spoken with Kaelyn?”
“They were both fidgety,” Roman said.
“How are we going to get them to talk?”
“We’ll have Glenn brought in for questioning.”
Glenn wouldn’t talk. “What about Vikki?”
“She’ll call us.”
Kendra stopped outside the restaurant. “How do you know?”
“I could just tell. She won’t be able to keep whatever she knows to herself and she doesn’t want her husband to know. She’ll call.”
He was an amazing detective. He was amazing in other ways, but she’d rather not let her daydreaming go too far right now.
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Vikki did exactly as Roman had predicted.
She called to request a private meeting.
Kendra waited with Roman in the lobby of the hotel and spotted her come through the front door, still in the floral dress.
She glanced around as though worried she’d be recognized. Unless a worker knew her, the guests weren’t permanent residents.
“Thanks for seeing me.” She moved to stand beside a plant as though it would conceal her. “Glenn doesn’t know.”
“Know what?” Roman asked.
After a long sigh, Vikki adjusted her purse strap, and then said, “Kaelyn called me the day before you said she was on her way to Chesterville.”
Kendra barely smothered a gasp. They hadn’t yet checked the phone records for that time frame.
“She said she needed to meet with me in person. She had a warning for me. She wouldn’t say over the phone, but she told me not to trust my husband.”
Kendra flashed a glance at Roman.
“I didn’t believe her. I told her not to bother coming to Chesterville. I already knew my husband was fooling around. I didn’t know with whom, but after she called, I suspected it was her and maybe she was trying to alienate me from Glenn. I confronted him. He swore to me that he wasn’t involved with her anymore and that he would be faithful from then on. We went to marriage counseling. It took me a while, but I finally forgave him. I wouldn’t say our marriage is what it once was, but it’s good enough to stay for the kids.”
“Why do you think Kaelyn wanted to warn you?” Roman asked.
“Like I said, she wouldn’t say over the phone, and after I heard she committed suicide, I thought she decided not to try and split up me and Glenn.”
“And he’s been good to you ever since?” Kendra asked.
She nodded. “Yes. He comes home right after work and at a decent time, and I don’t see any strange phone numbers in his call log.”
“Glenn doesn’t know Kaelyn contacted you before her death?” Roman asked.
Vikki shook her head. “And now I don’t know what to do. If Kaelyn was killed on her way to see me, then whatever she had to say to me must have been important. She must have discovered something when she was seeing Glenn.”
And that something had gotten her killed.
Hometown Detective (Cold Case Detectives Book 6) Page 11