On a Killer's Trail

by Susan Page Davis

  Connor jerked his head toward the study door. She hurried toward him. Her mother intercepted her and snatched her dishes from her hand.

  They entered the study, and Connor closed the door behind the three of them. He and Adrienne had turned the house’s formal dining room into an office. Both had computer desks. File cabinets, bookshelves, a fax machine and a serious-looking copier rounded out the furnishings.

  Connor nodded toward the chair at Adrienne’s desk. “Have a seat.”

  He pulled another chair out from the wall for Neil and swiveled his own desk chair and sat down. “All right, so I posted a patrolman at the scene. They’ll cover the site until we go back tomorrow.”

  Neil nodded. “I logged all the evidence in. Did you talk to the Rileys?”

  “Yes. They’ll stay at the hotel tonight and head down to Dover in the morning. William said they would keep his father there a couple of days and then bring him home before the funeral. He gave me the contact information, and I assured the elder Mr. Riley his house will be guarded until he comes back.”

  Kate watched them, in awe of their professional manner. Both men were confident and well established in their careers. She, on the other hand, was the small-town girl trying to make good in the city. Her year at the weekly paper two hours to the north didn’t count for much in this game, and she needed to show that she could succeed in the big leagues. The prospect of failing in her chosen field scared her silly. She swallowed the lump of inadequacy that threatened to choke her. Remember, girl, you’re the one listening to these two brilliant detectives discuss their case. Connor trusts you enough to let you write a story about his unit—one that could affect his reputation. So don’t blow it. She wished she had grabbed her notebook.

  Connor had been a part of her family for four years now, and she’d gotten to know him fairly well. The three weeks she’d spent with him and Adrienne in June, when she’d met Neil, had strained the family tie. She regretted that. Suddenly, his approval of her article was more important than her editor’s.

  “The preliminary report from the M.E. is a single gunshot wound to the chest,” Connor said. “He’ll remove the bullet in the autopsy Monday, and we’ll get it so we can run ballistics.”

  “Great,” Neil said. “What are we doing tomorrow?”

  “We’ll collect all the keys and do more interviews in the neighborhood. I don’t want to work all day Sunday, but we can’t let people’s memories get cold.”

  “So what does all this mean?” Kate dared to ask. “Can you tell me your overall impression of the case at this moment?”

  Connor leaned back in his chair. “If Mr. Riley killed his wife, he had to ditch the weapon. So far we don’t see how he could have done that. The evidence points to someone entering the house with a gun this morning, killing Mrs. Riley and taking the weapon with him when he left. We’ve established that it wasn’t a robbery. Nothing was taken.”

  “Mr. Riley agrees,” Neil said.

  “A robber probably would have taken the Limoges figurines off the mantel in the living room,” said Connor.

  Neil’s brow furrowed. “Maybe it was a foiled burglary attempt and he was interrupted right after he shot her. Heard her husband coming down the stairs and ran away without taking anything.”

  “No,” said Connor. “In that case, he’d have gone out the front door or a window, but everything was locked downstairs. The person with the gun either didn’t leave the house or stopped long enough to lock the dead bolt on that front door with a key. So he didn’t dash off in a hurry.”

  “Did you ask Riley about his wife’s health?” Neil asked.

  “I did. He said she had a little arthritis, but she was in good health for her age. We can check her medical records, but his son corroborated his story. No chronic health problems.”

  “Can I print that?” Kate asked. “That she’s believed to have been in good health, I mean? Because you hear stories about people killing a loved one who is terminally ill.”

  “Sure, I don’t see any harm in putting that question to rest.”

  It was a tiny fragment, but slowly she was gathering bits that would round out her story and make it a good article, not merely an adequate account of the crime.

  Connor stood up. The lines at the corners of his eyes looked deeper than usual. “I told the family they can enter the house in the morning if they wish, before they go to Dover, but not to enter the rooms we taped off. Mr. Riley may want to get some more clothes or something.”

  “So…that’s it?” Kate asked.

  He shrugged. “I can give you the name of the funeral home. I think the son was helping Mr. Riley prepare the obituary. They were talking about holding a memorial service after the body is released, but that won’t be until next week sometime.”

  “Thanks, Connor. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go type up the things we’ve talked about tonight. There’s just enough time for me to do that before my deadline. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “Go for it.”

  She stood, and Neil rose, too. He spoke as she moved toward the door.

  “Good luck, Kate. Everyone in southern Maine will be reading your words in the morning.”

  She caught her breath and looked back at him. “That’s a little scary.”

  The irresistible smile flashed. “You’ll do great.”

  Kate hurried up to the guest room and her laptop wanting desperately to believe him.

  THREE

  After Kate left the room, Neil sensed that Connor was watching him.

  “What?”

  “If you treat her badly again, I’ll kill you.”

  Neil stared at him, at a loss. “I don’t think you need to worry about that. Kate isn’t interested in dating me anymore.”

  “But you’re still interested in her?”

  “Well…” Neil hesitated.

  “Kate is family. Do you know how upset Adrienne would be if you hurt her sister again?”

  “Oh, come on, Con. You know I’m not like that anymore. I haven’t had a relationship in months, and I’m not planning on one now.”

  Connor shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’d trust you with my life, but this…”

  “I was an idiot,” Neil said. “I didn’t realize what a wonderful woman Kate is until it was too late. If it’s any consolation, she was right to break it off.”

  “You’re telling me?” Connor bristled, and Neil wished he could just change the subject. Reminders of his wild past made him feel terrible, but he knew that to keep Connor’s newly earned respect, he had to accept his friend’s judgment.

  “I don’t blame you for not telling me she was back in town. But I mean it, Connor. I’m through dating until I learn how to go about it the right way.”

  Connor nodded slowly. “Okay. But I’m serious. If Adrienne’s sister sheds even one tear over you, I’ll break every bone in your body.”

  “Got it.” Neil thought of protesting further, but maybe it was better to let actions speak louder than words. It could take a long time for people to trust him in this area.

  Connor nodded and slapped him on the back. “Great. Let’s get some coffee. And I think our gift to you is still under the tree.”

  “Oh, I’ve got a little something for you and Adrienne out in my truck, too.”

  Neil went out to the driveway and retrieved the package. Light snow was falling. When he went back inside, he wiped his shoes on the mat and went into the living room.

  “You folks aren’t heading to Skowhegan tonight, are you?” he asked Kate and Adrienne’s father, Bob Richards.

  “No, the kids are putting us up here tonight.”

  “Good,” Neil said. “It’s snowing. The interstate will probably be a little slick.” He walked over to the sofa and placed the gift in Adrienne’s hands. “Here, Adri. Just a little something for you guys.”

  She smiled. “Thank you, Neil. We have something for you, too.”

  Connor held out a small wrapped package.

>   “Thanks.” Neil sat down and removed the wrapping paper carefully. The entire family—minus Kate—watched him. In the box was a compact, leather-covered Bible. He lifted it out, unsnapped the cover and riffled the pages. He smiled at Adrienne. “New car smell.”

  She laughed. “You like it?”

  “Yeah, it’s terrific. Small enough to carry everywhere. Thanks.”

  “Did your family open their gifts today?” Adrienne’s mother, Marilyn, asked.

  “No, actually we did it on Sinterklaas.”

  Mrs. Richards smiled blankly.

  “It’s…um…St. Nicholas’ Eve,” he said. “December fifth. The Dutch people celebrate then.”

  “How interesting! But they do celebrate Christmas Day, too?”

  “Oh, yes. It’s a big occasion.”

  Adrienne pulled the wrapping paper off the present he’d given her. “Oh, too bad we put Matthew to bed. He’ll love this.” She took out a collection of stuffed nativity figures one by one and set them up on the coffee table.

  “Oh, how sweet,” said Mrs. Richards.

  “That’s nice, Neil,” Connor said. “My mother had a set she used to put out every year, too, only it was china. She used to let me set it up. I broke the donkey’s leg once, and my dad had to glue it.”

  “Well, the kids won’t be able to break this one.” Adrienne picked up the Mary figure. “All hand-stitched, I’d say. Beautiful detail.”

  “I thought maybe Matthew and the new little one could play with it at Christmastime.” Neil couldn’t help smiling. He sat back, content. Why couldn’t his own family be as calm and restful as this one? He’d thought his mother would scalp him when he left the family gathering after a scant two hours. But his mother’s nagging, the inane chatter, the noisy nieces and nephews running wild through the house and his inebriated brother-in-law telling jokes that weren’t funny…No, he didn’t miss being at his family’s Christmas celebration.

  He looked around just in time to see Kate coming down the stairs again. She met his gaze and smiled. He had to admit Kate made his Christmas a whole lot brighter.

  Connor picked Neil up at his apartment at seven-thirty the next morning.

  “You didn’t tell me the elevator was broken again,” he said when Neil opened the door.

  “Sorry. You could have just called me and told me you were parked out front.”

  “True. You ready? I just want to check in at the office before church.”

  Neil pulled his winter jacket on over his dress shirt and tie, and the two men headed for the station.

  A stack of crime scene photos and officers’ reports waited on Connor’s desk. The captain sat down and started reading, and Neil looked at the pictures. As Connor laid each sheet aside, Neil picked it up and read it. He knew it wouldn’t bother Connor; he’d done that for years on cases they’d worked together.

  At last Connor sat back in his chair, waiting for Neil to read the last report. “Doesn’t add up,” he said, shaking his head.

  “He had to come in the front door,” Neil said. “And leave by it.”

  “Yeah. Too bad the first responders didn’t think about footprints.”

  Neil shrugged. “I suppose I might have found something when I got there, but four cops had already been in and out. To be frank, I knew they were inside, and I didn’t think about messing up the prints on the front steps.”

  “I know. It’s not your fault. If the uniforms had known it was a homicide…Well, no use fretting about that. The killer used either the front door or no door at all.”

  “You mean Mr. Riley.”

  “Can’t conclusively rule him out yet.”

  Neil said, “No gunshot residue on his hands.”

  “Yeah. I guess he’s out of it. I just keep coming back to him because we don’t have anyone else, you know?” Connor sighed and stacked the reports, stuck them into a file folder and wrote “Riley” on the tab.

  Neil said, “If the shooter left by the front door, he must have had a key to lock the door behind him. Mr. Riley said he found the door still locked. So we need to know who had keys.”

  “Right. And also who benefits from Mrs. Riley’s death. Call the hotel, would you?” Connor turned on his computer.

  Neil called the hotel where William Riley had taken his father.

  “They checked out,” he told Connor.

  The captain called the officer on duty at Gerald Riley’s house and learned the family had not appeared there that morning.

  “They must be on the road to New Hampshire,” Connor said. “We might as well go to church.”

  Neil nodded. “We can call Dover later and see if they got home safely. And tomorrow we’ll find out if there was a will, and who had keys to the house.”

  Kate was a little nervous about going into the singles’ Sunday school class of Connor and Adrienne’s church. Her sister had persuaded her to meet them there, now that the trauma of seeing Neil was past. Kate wondered if she would like it and where she would fit in here. She might want to make this her new home church. She’d decided that if she wanted the total experience, she should dive in, so she left Adrienne in the vestibule and wandered into the classroom. The ratio of women to men was about eight to one. Coffee and pastries seemed the first order of the day.

  She accepted a cup of black coffee and found a seat at the back of the room, next to a plump, cheerful young woman who introduced herself as Valerie.

  “Oh, you’re Adrienne’s sister,” Valerie cried as they exchanged information. “I just love Adrienne!”

  About five minutes after the lesson began, the door at the back of the classroom opened, and Neil Alexander slipped in. He met Kate’s gaze and arched his eyebrows with a quizzical smile. She smiled back, realizing with a start that he was walking toward her and the empty chair on her other side. Valerie caught her eye and made a surreptitious fanning motion with her hand, indicating with the gesture that Neil was hot stuff. Kate did her best to keep a straight face and concentrate on what the speaker was saying. Even so, she couldn’t resist sneaking an occasional peek at Neil. He had a small Bible open. Though he fumbled a little finding the references, he seemed determined to keep up. He even took out a notebook and jotted down a few notes. He caught her looking once, and Kate blushed to the roots of her hair. Yep, that smile would mesmerize any woman. She could almost hear Valerie’s palpitations.

  When the class was over, they headed out toward the auditorium. Kate was sure the church members would assume they were interested in each other, but there was no help for it.

  “I saw your story in the paper this morning,” Neil said. “Good job.”

  “Thanks. The wire service picked it up.” She hated the flush she felt creeping up her cheeks. She didn’t feel that way about Neil now. Why couldn’t she appear cool and collected when he was near?

  “Does that mean all the papers in Maine printed it?” he asked.

  “Yes, and maybe all over the country. With my byline.”

  “Christmas Day murder. It’ll sell a lot of papers.”

  “Yeah. My editor wants me to do a follow-up for tomorrow’s paper. I’ll be talking to some of Mrs. Riley’s neighbors and garden club friends.” Kate intended to see if she could get anything fresh out of Connor later that day, too. And on Monday, she hoped he would give her some fresh information on the case that would give her another front-page story.

  “So, are you staying over with Connor and Adrienne for a while?” Neil asked.

  “Yeah. My parents and my brother are leaving today, but Adrienne asked me to stay a few more days.” She hesitated, then decided it couldn’t hurt to get an outside opinion. “Actually, she’d like me to move in. With the baby coming soon, she’s thinking I could help her out some. They’ve hired a woman to come in and vacuum and that sort of thing one day a week, but Adrienne gets tired.”

  “Sounds like it would be a good move for everybody if you lived with them,” Neil said.

  “Yeah, the more I think about it,
the more I like the idea. I could do laundry and things like that. And Connor would feel better knowing someone else was there with Adri when he’s out on those late-night jaunts you guys take.”

  Neil laughed. “Yeah, we have to work when the criminals do.”

  Kate reflected that she’d have to do better about keeping a curfew than she had during her whirlwind romance with Neil. She’d behaved badly herself during her summer visit and had worried Adrienne sick. Not everything was Neil’s fault.

  They reached the auditorium, but the Larsons’ pew was full. Kate’s parents sat beside Adrienne, and next to Connor was another couple. Travis was squeezed in beside his father, and Matthew was cuddled up next to his grandma Richards.

  “Who’s the couple beside Connor?” Kate whispered to Neil.

  “Mike and Sharon Crowley. Mike’s our boss.”

  Kate stared at him. “You mean that’s the chief of police, sitting right there?”

  Neil nodded. “He hasn’t been a Christian for long. His wife has been praying for Mike for years. He was saved not long after me.”

  “I don’t suppose Connor had anything to do with that?”

  Neil smiled. “Connor doesn’t go around shoving the gospel down people’s throats, but when the moment is right, he has a way of showing a person how badly he needs Christ. Want to sit here?”

  As they entered a pew two rows behind her family, the pianist began to play, and everyone quit talking. Kate couldn’t help noticing the faint masculine scent of the man next to her. It reminded her of the evergreen forest at the back of her father’s farm in Skowhegan. If she were a romantic…But she wasn’t. Adrienne was the romantic sister. Kate was the practical, goal-oriented one. She’d made one major mistake in her life—Neil. She wouldn’t make it again. She focused her attention on Pastor Robinson.

  After church, Connor invited Neil home for dinner as if it were an every-week occurrence. Kate felt she’d had more than enough of Neil for one day, but she kept her thoughts to herself. Adrienne kept the meal simple so that the Richards family could get on the road for their two-hour drive early in the afternoon.