If She Knew

by Blake Pierce

  “I do,” Kate said, already excited about the prospects. She was, of course, hesitant. “How is that a win-win?” she asked. “What are you getting out of this?”

  “Well, we’ll be testing out something else during this initial month. We want you to work with a partner. This is a new partner, a young woman who quite frankly, has amazing potential. She reminds me of you in many ways.”

  “Sounds like a recipe for disaster, then,” Kate quipped.

  “Maybe,” Duran said. “But she’s not gelling with any partners. We think it might do her some good to work with you. Someone seasoned and with an amazing track record.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Why can’t you just pair me with Logan?”

  “Look, this is the stipulation. You either agree to the partner or I can’t offer you the reinstatement. That’s how it’s going to have to go.”

  She was irritated but as far as Kate was concerned, it wasn’t even a choice. If she had to serve as some ambitious young agent’s mentor just to get in on this case, so be it. She figured she could have it wrapped in a day or two and then be done with the new agent.

  “Agreed,” Kate said. “Can you send me some information on this agent?”

  “I can send you the basics via email,” Duran said. “Do you still have your badge?”

  “I do.”

  “Okay. I’ll get your new ID and badge to you as soon as I can. In the meantime, use your old one. If anything arises, you can give local authorities my name and number but I’d really appreciate it if it didn’t come to that. And one more thing, Wise.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t want you active on this case until your partner arrives. When you and I get off of this call, I’m making a call with a few other directors. Your partner will be on the way down to Richmond within a few hours. I know it’s hard but I need you to hold off on being active on this until the end of the day. We have several other younger agents that could use this to cut their teeth on…and the last thing I want is to seem like I’m showing favoritism.”

  He was right. Knowing that she was in but had to wait several hours was like swallowing acid. But she also knew not to buck up against an opportunity like this. She had to be obedient, had to make sure she didn’t cross any lines.

  “I can do that. Which agent did you decide to go with? Rose or DeMarco?”

  “Kristen DeMarco. I’ll send you her details in a second. And Kate…I’m excited about this. I think everyone could come out a winner here. Play it right, would you?”

  “I’m insulted that you’d assume otherwise.”

  Duran laughed on the other end of the line, a noise that Kate cut off by ending the call. But honestly, she wanted to laugh, too. Instead, she pushed the ball of excited nervousness she felt deep down into the pit of her stomach and headed back home with her hands itching to dig her old service weapon out of hiding.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  As promised, Duran sent Kate an email less than five minutes after their phone conversation. Kate pored over it when she got back to her house and learned a great deal about her temporary partner. She did her best not to be too impressed but by the time she was done, Kate found that she was looking very forward to working with Kristen DeMarco.

  She recalled briefly meeting DeMarco during her meeting with Duran and Nash back in DC. She’d seemed calm, collected and somewhat formal. But based on what she had read in DeMarco’s dossier, Kate saw something else—something potentially special. So when the two women met at Amber Hills just after three o’clock that afternoon, Kate had high expectations.

  As Kate got out of her car and walked across the street to the generic government sedan parked alongside the curb, she tried to remember DeMarco seeming so small. It would have been hard to judge as she had sat down at the conference room table, but DeMarco looked quite petite. Five foot five at most, and maybe one hundred and twenty pounds. Still, Kate knew it was not the appearance that mattered, but the drive and commitment to the job.

  According to the records Duran had sent over, Kristen DeMarco had graduated at the top of her class from the University of Oxford, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She then went on to the FBI Training Academy in Quantico where she graduated with honors and absolutely rave reviews and comments from her instructors. She officially joined the FBI just over a year ago, coming in just as Kate had been on her way out. She’d spent most of that time in the Violent Crimes Unit until, without any real reason given, she requested to be released from that unit to work as a field agent not contained within one division.

  All of that and DeMarco was only twenty-five. And despite that impressive background, the woman Kate saw stepping out of the bureau sedan looked like she was barely out of college. She was quite pretty, her blonde hair a bit beyond shoulder length. Her svelte shoulders sagged a bit, as if she were uncomfortable. She wore a dark navy blue top and a pair of pants that were somewhere between dress and casual. Her sidearm was not concealed at all, the holstered Glock clearly prominent on her little hip.

  “Agent DeMarco,” Kate said as the two women met. “Nice to see you again.”

  DeMarco shook her offered hand and gave her a quick smile. “Same here. It’s a pleasure to be working with you. Any questions for me before we head inside?”

  “What do you know about the scene?” Kate asked. “All I know is what the State Police offered and they were pretty miserable when they realized I had been given permission to work the case.”

  “Pretty cut and dried from what I understand,” DeMarco said as they started walking toward the Thurmond residence. “The killer seems to have attacked right from the front door with a hard slash across the throat. Came inside and stabbed her at least six more times. Blood everywhere. Her daughter was upstairs the whole time but never knew a thing. The father came home around ten fifteen, screamed when he found the body, and alerted the daughter. That’s all I know.”

  “Same here,” Kate said as they walked up the lawn and toward the porch. “Let’s see if we can find out some more.”

  As they made their way up the porch, two local policemen stood in the doorway to block their way. When Kate flashed her badge, the feeling was almost too good to believe. She felt slightly intoxicated for a moment but squashed it down, not wanting to allow it to go to her head. She watched as DeMarco did the same behind her and they then filed into the house.

  They had to enter the house basically hugging the foyer wall. The entryway had been blocked off with crime scene tape, making sure no one stepped in the crimson mess that covered most of the foyer. The blood had dried but there was so much of it that it looked wet in some places. It was practically covering the floor. It had also sprayed up on the walls, one splatter reaching to about three feet high.

  As Kate moved past the roped off area, another officer came walking out of the adjoining living room. It was Randall Budd. When the Chief saw Kate, he looked a little embarrassed. Rather than scolding her right away, though, he simply took a few more steps toward her with a flare of red in his cheeks.

  I guess Duran already contacted him to let him know I’m on the case now, she thought. She was glad this was the case; it saved her an awkward conversation.

  “Chief Budd,” Kate said. “I’d like you to meet my partner, Kristen DeMarco.”

  Budd and DeMarco nodded politely to one another, their eyes both falling to the floor where the trail of blood tapered off just before it reached the carpeted area of the living room.

  Budd looked back to Kate and gave her an apologetic kind of look. “I got a call from your director, so I know the deal,” he said. “I won’t get in your way if you can promise the same thing. I understand this is your case now but please extend us the courtesy of wrapping things up on our own terms as we transition it over to you.”

  “Of course,” Kate said. “In the meantime, can you fill us in on what’s already been done so we don’t do any double work?”

  “Well, we’ve dusted
for prints and found nothing. Not on the body, not on the door, not the doorframe, nowhere within the foyer. We had a woman from the Department of Social Services come in to speak with the daughter and she’s swearing that she saw nothing, and heard nothing. She had headphones on until she heard her dad screaming his head off when he found the body.”

  “And where’s the father?” Kate asked.

  “At the station. As of right now he’s the only suspect. He was very confrontational when we started asking him questions. Half an hour in the interrogation room and he tells us that he was having an affair. He was coming home from meeting with the other woman last night. Got home and found his wife dead. The man is wrestling with some intense guilt.”

  “Does he know about Julie Hicks and how the two deaths might be related?” DeMarco asked.

  “Not yet,” Budd said. “I wish I had more to offer, but that’s all we have. We’ve only had four officers working the scene, not wanting it to get too crowded. But we’ve got nothing so far. All we know is what the coroner’s report is telling us. Lacy Thurmond was stabbed at least a dozen times, one of which was a particularly deep one straight across the throat. That seems to be the one that killed her. The others looked to be for the killer’s pleasure more than anything else.”

  “Thanks, Chief,” Kate said. “Let us know what we can do to help.”

  With that, Budd took his leave, slinking out of the door like a man who had just been dismissed from a case. Which, Kate figured, he sort of was. The two officers who had tried block the door from Kate and DeMarco filed out after him, leaving the two agents alone in the house.

  They both looked down to the blood. Kate found herself also looking up at it, trying to judge just how far it had flown.

  “Thoughts?” DeMarco asked. She asked in the vein of someone wanting to learn, not someone testing their superior. Not that Kate was her superior but regretfully the age difference made it feel that way to Kate.

  “Several,” Kate said. “I think the most important question is why Thurmond answered the door. To answer the door at that hour of the night, she would have likely known the killer.”

  “It could have been unlocked,” DeMarco pointed out. “The killer could have simply walked right in.”

  “The fact that Thurmond was right here in the foyer, by the front door, indicates that she was answering the door. And I’d say all of the blood shows that the killer wasted no time. I doubt he was even invited in. The door opened and he attacked.”

  “Probably with the deep cut to the throat first,” DeMarco pointed out. She then pointed to the walls. “Lying on her back, I don’t care what artery you hit, blood isn’t going to fly that high. Also, did you notice it was almost as if the killer tried to keep the mess in the foyer? There are only a few stray droplets on the living room carpet.”

  “Which means he’s smart,” Kate said. “He wanted to keep his chance of leaving any kind of clues or prints to a minimum. No prints on the door or the body also indicates that he was wearing gloves.”

  “Which means this murder was most likely premeditated.”

  Kate nodded, enjoying the back and forth. She was warming up to Kristen DeMarco rather quickly. “I’d also assume the husband is innocent. No reason for her husband to knock on the door. And if he admitted to an affair and he was with the mistress last night, it shouldn’t be too hard to nail down an alibi.”

  They walked further into the house, finding it in immaculate order. The only mess to speak of was a pile of wadded up tissues on the coffee table and a little black book, opened up to the Ts. Kate saw the name of a few other Thurmonds and assumed the husband had made a few very difficult phone calls last night to inform family and friends of what had happened.

  “Agent Wise, check this out,” DeMarco said.

  Kate had to admit…it was nice hearing those two words put together again. She walked into the kitchen where DeMarco was reaching into the sink. She pulled up a shot glass.

  “It’s the only dirty dish in the sink,” DeMarco pointed out. She then sniffed it and wrinkled her nose. “Tequila.”

  “Maybe that’s how the husband coped last night,” Kate said.

  “Or maybe it’s how the wife was coping. Maybe she knew about the affair already. Men are typically pretty lazy about covering their tracks, especially if the affair has been an ongoing one.”

  They left the kitchen and looked around the remainder of the house. After twenty minutes of searching, they found nothing. Kate even checked the garbage just to be sure. In the trashcan in their pantry, she found nothing but discarded Subway litter and more dirty tissues.

  “We need to speak to the husband,” Kate said. “The daughter, too, if social services will allow it.”

  “I’ll make the call,” DeMarco said, already reaching for her phone.

  Young, teachable, and super eager, Kate thought as they exited the Thurmond residence. Yeah, I’m going to get along just fine with her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kate was delighted to find that Chief Budd had meant what he said. The moment she and DeMarco got to the station, he stood aside and handed them the reins. There were just a few polite formalities and exchanges between the agents and the State Police before Kate and DeMarco were escorted to the interrogation room where Peter Thurmond was being held.

  When they stepped inside, Thurmond looked up at them like a man coming right out of a dream. He looked half asleep and absolutely miserable. The sight of two women he hadn’t yet seen since being brought into the station seemed to jar him a bit, though. That jarring became something more when Kate and DeMarco sat down across from him. Kate showed him her ID.

  “I’m Agent Wise and this is Agent DeMarco, from the FBI,” she said. “We’ve just come from your house and would like to ask you a few questions.”

  “Sure,” Thurmond said, as if he really didn’t care at all. “But I don’t know if you can ask anything new that the cops haven’t already asked.”

  “We want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, so we hope to be quick,” Kate said. “First of all, was there anyone you or your wife knew who might have had any reason to come by your house so late at night?”

  “No,” Thurmond said. “I’ve been wondering that same thing myself.”

  “What about the woman you were seeing?” Kate asked. “Did she have a husband or boyfriend who might want to exact a skewed sort of revenge?”

  “No. She’s single.”

  “You’re certain?” DeMarco asked skeptically.

  “Positive,” Thurmond said. “And by the way, I’m calling it off with her when this is all over. Lacy is dead because of the affair. If I would have been at home…”

  “How about your daughter?” Kate asked. “Do you know if she had any young boys at school who were interested in her? I ask because the fact that someone murdered your wife but left your daughter untouched seems peculiar.”

  “None that I know of,” Thurmond said. “You really think some teenage kid would be capable of something like this?”

  “At this stage, we just have to make sure we’re covering every possible base,” DeMarco said. “Another thing to consider, Mr. Thurmond, is that the killer striking on that day, at that particular time, suggests that they knew you wouldn’t be there. Was there anyone else who knew about the affair?”

  “No one,” Thurmond said. “If anyone, maybe the clerk at the motel. We used the same one every time and I think if he was really paying any attention, he might have figured it out.”

  “We understand that the police are currently holding you as the prime suspect,” Kate said. “That’s primarily because they can’t find anyone else. So here’s the deal: you’ve admitted to the affair. If you name the woman and allow us to contact her, you’ll be cleared. All you need is that alibi.”

  Thurmond nodded, looking to the table between them. “Is there any way to do all of that without my daughter knowing? Without Lacy’s parents knowing?”

  “We can see to
it,” Kate said. “Of course, what the woman you’ve been seeing decides to do with this information is out of our hands.”

  There was a pen and a pad of paper on the table, presumably from where someone else had been in earlier, taking notes during the interrogations. Thurmond grabbed them both, scribbled down some information, and pushed it over to Kate. He pushed it away as if it were some disgusting, moldy meat. Kate looked it over and found the name of the mistress as well as her cell phone number.

  “If the police are having problems with suspects, I think I know where you can start asking some questions,” Thurmond said.

  “Where might that be?” DeMarco asked.

  “There’s this tight-knit group of women in Amber Hills. Lacy was part of them. I’m pretty sure Julie Hicks was, too. At the risk of sounding insensitive, they’re mostly made up of stay-at-home moms. A few of them aren’t even moms…they’re housewives. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But I always thought that whole group felt sort of like a clique. And as ashamed as I am to admit it, I can almost guarantee that they know more about Lacy’s personal life than I do.”

  “So you mean to tell me that Julie Hicks and your wife were friends?” Kate asked.

  “I suppose. I mean, they weren’t like best friends or anything like that. But they hung in that same circle.”

  “Do you know the names of any the other women in that group?” DeMarco asked.

  Thurmond gave a shaky smile and reached back out for the pad he had just handed to Kate. He took it and wrote on it for several seconds. When he slid it back over to her, he had added four more names.