by Kelly Utt
“Everyone,” Luke began. “I’m Detective Luke Hemming and this is my associate, Detective Neil Fredericks. Cate, I believe you’re now acquainted with us both?”
“Yes, I am,” Cate said. She turned towards her parents, who were getting themselves situated in chairs which a young officer had brought into the back of the room for them. “These are my parents, Ron and Ellen Tatum.”
“Officer James Tatum is our son,” Ron added as he reached out to shake Luke’s hand. “My wife and I appreciate the good work you folks do here.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tatum,” Luke said. Cate thought Luke’s tone sounded much friendlier with her dad than it had when he was speaking with her. “As I explained to your daughter, it’s okay for you and your wife to be here and to listen, but we need you to remain silent. Understood?”
“Yes, certainly,” Ron replied.
“We wouldn’t want to get in the way,” Ellen said, affirming her husband’s position.
“Good,” Luke replied. “Now, with that settled, Cate, do we have your permission to record this conversation? It’s not required at this time and you can say no, but the recording will help us as we review the case. It might even prevent us from having to question you a second time in the event we need clarification on something.”
Cate looked at Neil for guidance, but quickly remembered that she shouldn’t do so. Instead, she turned to her parents and asked them with her eyes what they thought. Both Ron and Ellen nodded, so Cate turned back to Luke and gave her permission.
“Good,” he said as he connected the video recorder. A red light turned on and began to blink. Even though the light was tiny, Cate suddenly felt its assault on her state of mind. She wondered if that was part of the plan. She imagined a blinking red light might drive a guilty person to confess if they had to endure too many hours of it during heated questioning. It made Cate think of Chinese water torture and how small irritations could become maddening over enough time.
Cate sat down in the chair Luke had set out for her. Luke sat on the other side of the table and Neil pulled his chair over from the corner and re-positioned himself beside his partner. Cate felt outnumbered. She wondered if that was part of the plan.
“Mrs. Brady,” Luke began. “Detective Fredericks and I will ask you a series of questions related to your husband Mick Brady’s death. You are not obligated to answer our questions at this time, but we appreciate your cooperation in doing so.”
“I’m entitled to an attorney if I want one, correct?” Cate asked, to confirm.
“Yes, that’s right,” Luke replied. “If it any point during this interview you decide you’d like to have an attorney present, we will stop where we are until such time that your attorney can join you.”
“And if I cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for me?” Cate asked, thinking about Nancy and the five million dollar balance that Mick owed her. Cate could hear Ron and Ellen squirming. But they had promised to remain silent and were following instructions.
“That’s only if you’re under arrest, Mrs. Brady,” Luke said. “Do you anticipate being placed under arrest?”
Cate fiddled with one of the buttons on her sweater. “No, of course not,” Cate said, remembering that she had spoken those exact same words earlier when Luke had asked if she had anything to hide. She thought she had better vary her responses a bit or it might sound suspicious. “I mean… I certainly hope not. I don’t know of any reason I would be arrested,” she tried. He didn’t look up, but Cate could tell that Neil felt bad for her. His brow was furrowed and his shoulders looked tense.
“Let’s begin with a repeat of one of the questions Detective Fredericks asked you yesterday,” Luke said. “Where were you the night your husband was killed?”
“I told all of this to Neil… to Detective Fredericks yesterday when he asked,” Cate said, correcting herself mid-sentence. For the first time since Cate had arrived at the police station, Neil looked up and made eye contact with her. It seemed like he couldn’t help himself. He looked back down right away, but in that split-second, they had made a connection. Cate felt a warm rush spread across her body. She was beginning to realize that she really was interested in Neil Fredericks. She hoped what they had would turn out to be more than a fling.
“Humor us,” Luke said, his tone flat. “Let’s go over it again.”
Cate responded the same as she had to Neil the day before. She explained how Jilly and Aaron had ridden home with friends from the neighborhood that day and were at the house waiting when she and Niko arrived. She told the detective how she had been making homemade pizza with the kids when James had knocked on the door to tell her the bad news.
“What time did you leave work that day, Mrs. Brady?” Luke asked.
“I don’t remember exactly, but I usually leave around four.”
“And you told Detective Fredericks that you arrived home that day sometime around five PM, correct?” Luke asked. Cate could tell he was trying to trip her up.
“I believe so, yes. I wasn’t paying very close attention as it was happening. It was just an ordinary day until… We got the news.”
“Mrs. Brady, how many miles is it from your office to your son Niko Brady’s preschool?”
Cate could see what Luke was getting at and she didn’t like it. The thought of having her every step traced made her uneasy. “I don’t know for sure,” she said. “I’ve never measured it.”
“Well, I have,” Luke said. Neil’s shoulders seemed to tense up even further in response to this statement. “It’s 3.4 miles away. Does that sound accurate?”
“Sure, I suppose,” Cate said.
“And how about the distance between Niko Brady’s preschool and your home on Flock Hollow Lane?”
Luke’s line of questioning was becoming painful for everyone in the room. He could have come out and just said that he thought it had taken Cate too long to get home that day. She wished he would avoid the theatrics and settle down to the point.
“I’m not sure about that either,” Cate said. “But it’s less than ten miles.”
“You’re right,” Luke said. “It’s 8.7 miles. So 3.4 miles plus 8.7 miles, figuring in a little traffic and time to walk inside and check Niko out. Sound about right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Cate replied.
“By my estimate, that should have taken about half an hour. Yet, you claimed it took an hour. How do you explain that?”
“I don’t know,” Cate replied. “Aren’t we splitting hairs here? As I said, I wasn’t looking at the clock or checking the exact time. I didn’t do it that day because I don’t do it any day. Sometimes I leave work a little later than four. Some days, traffic is thicker than others. Sometimes it takes longer to get in and out of the preschool. There are numerous factors which could easily skew my estimate.”
“Huh,” Luke groaned. “Interesting.” Neil looked at Luke and visibly winced. It was his turn and he didn’t want to go through with it. “Over to you,” Luke said to his partner.
Neil had no choice. He had to question her. “Mrs. Brady,” Neil said, looking up again, reluctantly. It pained Cate to hear him addressing her so formally again. She thought back to their conversation at her house last night when he had asked about her maiden name. She wished he would call her Cate. It felt wrong to pretend that the two of them didn’t care for each other.
“Yes?” Cate said, trying her best to sound casual.
“I’ll get to the point,” Neil said. “We’ve spoken with someone in the accounting department of Vine Country Magazine who claims to have seen you leaving the office that day at 3:30 PM. The record at your son’s preschool shows him being signed out at 4:55. That leaves approximately an hour and a half not accounted for. Can you explain that to us?” Neil looked almost sick as he asked Cate this question. Cate had thought he was on her side, especially after last night. But she didn’t like where this was headed.
“That’s simply not true,” Cate said. “I was at work late
r that day. I’m sure of it. Maybe the person in the accounting department saw me heading out to get an afternoon tea, as I sometimes do. I don’t know what they saw. But I know I didn’t leave work any earlier than usual.”
“How can you be so certain?” Neil asked. “Do you remember specifically what you did that afternoon?”
“Yes,” Cate replied. “I was making plans to go visit the new winery that opened recently by the bay-- Valley Vineyards. I’m writing a feature article about the new business that will be published early next summer, just in time for the peak tourist season. That afternoon, I was at my desk, reading over the winery’s website on the Internet and taking notes.”
“We will need to verify that and to look at some timestamps,” Neil said. “Were you using your laptop or your desktop computer?”
“I was using my laptop,” Cate said.
“Forgive me, but that seems odd,” Neil remarked. “If you were at your desk in your office, wouldn’t you have been using your desktop computer? It has a larger screen and a more powerful processor. Internet browsing would have been faster on the desktop.”
“It’s not odd at all,” Cate replied, getting frustrated. “I often use my laptop in my office because, when doing so, I can situate myself to get a great view of the hills out my window. The cord for the desktop computer isn’t long enough to reach, but with my laptop, I can enjoy the beautiful Rosemary Run natural scenery out in the distance. Ask my colleagues. They’ll tell you I do it all the time.”
Neil took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he had to say next. “Mrs. Brady, were you aware that you are the beneficiary of an unusually large life insurance policy in your husband’s name?”
“No, I wasn’t,” she said. “I knew he’d receive a death benefit from the Navy, but I wasn’t aware of anything else. I’ve been meaning to check on that, but haven’t gotten around to it.”
“Do you have any idea how much the policy is for?” Neil asked.
“No,” Cate confirmed. “I told you. I wasn’t aware of any policy, so I don’t know how much it was for.”
“Over five million dollars,” Neil said. “5.5 million, to be exact.” Cate’s eyes grew wide as she heard the number and thought about the amount of the debt to Nancy. It probably wasn’t any coincidence that the life insurance policy Mick had taken out was just enough to cover his debt and to leave a few hundred thousand for the family. With such a payout, their home would be secure and they would have enough cushion to continue living a normal life.
“You look surprised?” Neil asked. “Is this making sense to you somehow?”
Cate turned around in her chair and looked at her parents as if she were silently requesting their emotional support. She wasn’t sure whether she should tell the police about Nancy and the promissory note or about Sean claiming to see Nancy driving away from her house around the time of the break-in last night. She wasn’t sure how much Neil had shared with Luke about what she had told him. And she wasn’t sure if James had made any progress looking into the matters she had asked him about. Cate needed to decide quickly. Luke was watching her like a hawk and recording her every move on video.
“No,” Cate said. “That’s just a really large number. That’s more money than I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t understand why Mick would hide something like that from me.”
“And that’s the first thing you’ve said today I’m certain I believe,” Luke muttered. Neil gave him a dirty look, expressing his disdain for his partner’s treatment of Cate. But they weren’t done yet. Neil had to ask her one more pointed question.
“Mrs. Brady,” he began. “Do you know how your husband died?”
Cate took a breath before answering. It saddened her to think about her husband’s demise. “I only know that he had an accident and was pronounced dead on the scene,” Cate said. “Like I told you before, Detective Fredericks, I don’t know the details. And frankly, I’m not sure I need to know the details. I’m not the type who wants to know the nitty-gritty. I’d rather remember Mick the way he was, healthy and vibrant. Besides, knowing exactly what happened will not bring my husband back.”
Neil looked at Luke, who pushed pause on the video recording device and turned to Cate. “That’ll be all for now, Mrs. Brady. Enjoy this beautiful day.”
22
In the days that followed, as October crept closer and closer towards November, things were blessedly quiet. Cate got her house cleaned up and went down to three-quarters time at work to ensure she’d have time to see that her kids enjoyed the upcoming holidays. Her boss was supportive. Cate had gotten into the habit of working at the office in the morning and then leaving around lunchtime to come home and do a few more hours from there. Much of what Cate did for the magazine was solitary anyway, so working from home had been an easy transition. In fact, Cate found that she could often be more productive at home since there weren’t any distractions. She was producing the same amount of content in three-quarters time as she had previously at full time in the office. Cate wished she had suggested the flex schedule from the beginning. It would have afforded her more time to spend with Mick before he died.
Cate had expected to receive communication from Nancy or her attorneys by now, but, so far, she hadn’t heard anything. She thought, just maybe, Nancy had decided to give up on pursuing Cate for the collection of Mick’s debt. Apparently, Nancy had inherited a lot more money than Cate ever realized. Perhaps Nancy had decided that she had enough riches left in her coffers and should allow Cate and the kids to remain in the house they called home. Cate knew that was unlikely, but it was nice to dream about.
The police department had left Cate alone for the past few days. And, as far as she knew, Cate hadn’t been followed by a man in a dark-colored sedan. She was feeling a little safer again. She and the kids had spent most of their free time decorating the house for Halloween and preparing costumes.
Aaron had decided to dress like a punk rocker with one of Mick’s old Rolling Stones T-shirts and a headband that made it look like he had a bright red mohawk. The young teenager planned to keep a guitar around his neck to complete the look. Jilly had chosen to make a scarecrow costume. She had found some old overalls and a flannel shirt at a secondhand store, which she planned to stuff with straw from Ron and Ellen’s farm. She would divide her hair into two sections and braid each side, then she’d use makeup to place large freckles on her cheeks and to draw exaggerated pink lips. The whole look would be topped with a wide-brimmed straw hat. Niko wanted to be a lion, so Cate was helping him get his costume together. She had found a pattern online and was sewing him a hood with loose loops of orange yarn strategically placed to look like a mane. Cate had purchased her young son a tan turtleneck and pants to match. To complete the look, she would pin a felt tail to his little bottom.
The kids were all excited. Cate thought it would be great. It wouldn’t be the same without Mick, but Cate was determined to make Halloween as good as it could possibly be. She thought she was on the right track. She knew more trouble was coming. But she was doing her best to enjoy the calm before the next storm.
As for Neil Fredericks, Cate had seen him twice more. They were trying to give it space, but were having a hard time staying away from each other. The evening after Cate had gone into the police station to answer their questions, she ended up at Neil’s house. It had been early evening, just before Cate had gone to get the kids from James and Rebecca’s. She had been driving around town, trying to make sense out of everything that was happening, when she called Neil’s mobile phone and find out what he was doing. He invited her over. She accepted, thinking they would just talk for a few minutes. When she arrived and Neil closed his heavy, wooden door behind her, they lasted less than a minute before they buried themselves in each other’s arms and made love in Neil’s bed. The same thing had happened two days later when Cate called Neil at lunchtime after leaving the office for the day. He was at his house for lunch and he invited Cate over again. That day, Cate
had taken off her wedding ring and secured it in a zipper pouch in the back of her purse. Despite plans to just talk, Cate and Neil couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and, once again, made passionate love in Neil’s bed.
When she was with him, Cate didn’t care what anyone thought or what consequences might come from having a relationship with a detective who was investigating her as part of a murder case. Her problems seemed to fade into the distance when Neil was by her side. Cate knew things couldn’t go on this way for long. Eventually someone would find out that she and Neil were seeing each other and word would spread around town. They would reach a point where they’d have to decide whether to pursue a real relationship and go public with it or to end things.
Cate had spent a lot of time imagining what a real relationship with Neil might look like. She had told herself that, although she never expected to fall in love a week after her husband died, it had happened that way, right before her very eyes. She often thought about Mick and about what he would say if he knew. She had been faithful to him all the years they had been together and had never even considered being with anyone else. But Mick was gone now. And Neil seemed to have shown up in Cate’s life in a way that she couldn’t ignore. She figured if fate intended them to be together, she might as well not fight it. Cate thought Mick would approve and would want her to be happy.
Even though things had gone pretty well for the Brady family for a few days, there was one thing that continued to bug Cate. It was what Pal had said about seeing Mick at Lorraine’s Diner. Even though the homeless man had said nothing else which had seemed reasonable or lucid, Cate couldn’t get his comment about Lorraine’s out of her mind. To make matters worse, James had been dragging his feet on looking into the things he had promised his sister he would check into. She wasn’t mad at him. She figured her big brother was doing the best he could, but she wanted to find out more and was willing to do the legwork herself.