But my sister’s been murdered and I hardly knew anything about her life and now it’s over. She was only twenty-one and her life is over. She’s dead.
Kelsey drew in a ragged, painful breath. To her surprise, wrenching sobs suddenly overwhelmed her.
The hospital-room door opened and the doctor, along with Truman March, stepped inside. ‘Detective, Miss March has had enough for now,’ the doctor said.
‘I didn’t intend to upset her – I mean, to make things worse for her than they are,’ the detective said humbly.
The doctor’s voice softened. ‘I understand. But as you can see, she’s had enough. She has to rest.’
‘Yes … of course … But before I go, I’m afraid I must tell Miss March one thing.’
‘Not now—’
‘Yes, Doctor, please.’ Kelsey squeezed her hands together and looked Pike in the eyes. ‘Tell me.’
‘Vernon Nott had a picture of your sister in his pocket. It’s possible he followed Lorelei to the bar for a reason.’
After a surprised beat, Kelsey blurted, ‘For a reason? You think he deliberately came to Conway’s to kill her?’
‘He had her picture. It was an odd picture. Also, he had a gun, so it’s probable that he meant to hurt her. You may feel that I’m pushing you too hard with my questions, but I want to find out for certain why this sonofabitch murdered an innocent young woman. Sorry for the language. I’ll go now and you can rest.’
How deft he is at interrogation, Kelsey thought in spite of her headache, her swirling thoughts, her torn emotions. He’s smart and he can help. That’s more important than fretting over hiding Lorelei’s possible affair. Pike turned to leave but Kelsey said, ‘Wait, please.’
He looked at her.
‘I want you to tell my father and me what was odd about the picture of Lori.’
‘I really don’t want to tire you too much, and the doctor thinks you’ve had enough.’
Yeah, sure, Kelsey thought with a mixture of cynicism and admiration. You know I won’t let the doctor throw you out now. Truman March walked to her side and took her hand. ‘All right, Detective. What about this picture Vernon Nott had of my daughter? Was it a picture from a magazine?’
‘No. In his pocket, he had a photograph of Lorelei. The film indicates that it had been taken very recently. It’s in Evidence – I can’t show it to you, but it was taken with an old instant film camera.’ He paused. ‘Are either of you aware of someone taking a picture of Lorelei with one of these cameras?’
‘No,’ Kelsey said faintly. Her father shook his head.
‘I didn’t think so.’ Pike made another note. ‘I’d like to give you some details about Nott, if you’re up to it, Miss March.’
‘Yes, I am.’
Pike stepped closer to Kelsey and she noticed how slim he was – slim bordering on skinny in his slightly rumpled pants and suit jacket. ‘Nott was in the bar all evening. As soon as you and your sister left, he came after you. We don’t know how long he’d been following your sister. Last week I saw a piece on a local newscast about Lorelei March coming home for the Kentucky Derby. Maybe he saw it too, or else he followed her on social media. Did she post messages on Instagram about her visit home?’
‘I don’t know much about social media.’ Kelsey felt embarrassingly uninformed. ‘She must have had an Instagram or Twitter account. She was a celebrity – they all do. Stuart Girard handles the social media for MG Interiors. I’m sorry I can’t give you more information about that.’
‘That’s all right,’ Pike said kindly. ‘We do need to find out how Nott knew Lorelei would be at Conway’s this evening, though.’
‘It must have been a coincidence,’ Truman March asserted. ‘You said Nott was a regular.’
‘Tuesdays and Thursdays were his regular nights, according to Rick Conway. Tonight’s Monday.’ Pike looked at Kelsey. ‘Where were you before you went to Conway’s, Miss March?’
‘Lori and I spent the afternoon shopping at the Oxmoor Mall. Then we stopped at my loft for about an hour before we walked to the bar.’
Pike looked at his notebook, then frowned. ‘Nott arrived at Conway’s almost thirty minutes before you did, so he didn’t follow you to the bar. Is it possible he knew you’d be there tonight?’
‘Only my father and people at MG Interiors knew I was spending the afternoon with my sister, but I didn’t say anything to anyone about taking her to Conway’s Tavern afterward.’
‘You’re certain?’
‘Yes, I’m certain. I thought we’d be worn out after shopping and would just stay in and watch TV, but Lori wanted to go.’
Maddeningly, Pike took his time writing this down. ‘Could your sister have been using anything – Snapchat, for instance – that could have let someone know her location when you were shopping or going to Conway’s?’
‘She left all of her electronic equipment at my apartment before we went to the Oxmoor Mall. She didn’t even take her cell phone. She said she got sick of always being on call and wanted yesterday to be strictly a sister day with no interruption. She didn’t make calls, text, Snapchat, anything.’
‘I see. But people recognized her. Maybe someone else posted the information that she was in Conway’s. Or,’ he said with a quirk of his eyebrow, ‘perhaps someone tracked her movements the old-fashioned way – by physically following her.’
‘Several people at the mall recognized her and six took selfies with her. All were women and I didn’t see any of them following us around the mall, but then I wasn’t really on the lookout for anyone.’
‘No, you wouldn’t have been,’ Pike murmured vaguely, still writing. Then he raised his head and said abruptly, ‘Richard Conway remembers a lot of details about the evening, even though he’s very shaken by what happened. Who wouldn’t be?’
He didn’t give Kelsey or Truman a chance to answer.
‘He says that he noticed that as soon as Nott got to the bar, he was acting different than usual. He drank more, looked fidgety and smoked several cigarettes. Conway had never seen him smoke. Nott made some calls on a cell phone. That was new, too. After you and your sister came, Miss March, he rarely took his gaze off you. He even followed your sister to the jukebox.’
Kelsey nodded. ‘I told you he did. When Lori came back to the booth, I asked her about the guy who stood beside her at the jukebox and stared at her. She said it wasn’t unusual and she hadn’t noticed him.’
‘If Nott was staring at Lorelei all evening, why didn’t Conway call the police?’ Truman demanded.
‘Because Nott hadn’t done anything warranting a call to the police.’ Pike gave Truman and Kelsey another one of his kind smiles before frowning over his notes again. ‘Conway says that from the day he opened the tavern Nott came to the bar twice a week. About three weeks after Nott started coming in, Conway tried to strike up a conversation with him one night. He told Conway he’d grown up in Louisville, left for a few years, got married, then returned alone six months ago after a divorce. Conway claims getting even that little bit of information was difficult. Nott seemed extremely shy and self-conscious about four circular burn scars on his face, one about half an inch from his eye. They looked like cigarette burns. He was soft-spoken, never caused any trouble and didn’t even flirt with the waitresses.’
‘So after Conway had this conversation with him, he stopped paying any attention to Nott?’ Truman said.
Pike shook his head. ‘No. Conway said that even though Nott seemed harmless he had a feeling something was off – Conway’s word – about Nott. Maybe it was because of the regular schedule he kept. Maybe he’d dodged a few too many of Conway’s casual questions. Maybe it was because Conway said he seemed tense if anyone tried to talk to him, even a waitress just being friendly, so he always kept an eye on Nott.’ Pike glanced at Kelsey. ‘As I mentioned earlier, Miss March, Conway says that when you and your sister came to the tavern Nott never looked away from you. You didn’t notice?’
‘Lorelei is –
was – extraordinarily beautiful, Detective,’ Kelsey said. ‘A lot of people looked at her – some more than others. It was only the guy who stood beside her at the jukebox that bothered me. I now know that was Nott.’
Pike cleared his throat. ‘You must not have been aware of it, Miss March, but Conway says Nott stared at both of you. He paid almost as much attention to you as he did to your sister. That caught Conway’s attention because most nights Nott seemed detached or sat with his eyes closed, nodding along to the music. Tonight, he was watchful. He drank four beers quickly then switched to bourbon.’
‘Why does what he drank matter?’ Truman asked.
‘As far as Conway could recall, Nott never usually drank anything except two or three beers. Tonight he had five beers and ordered three bourbons neat. He seemed nervous. Amped up, Conway said.’ Pike looked at Kelsey. ‘When you and your sister started to leave, Nott gulped his bourbon, got up and quickly came toward you. Conway said he tried to stop you leaving and offered to call a taxi, but you were determined to walk and then refused his offer to walk you home. When you got to the door, Conway told a waitress to call nine-one-one, but he knew that if Nott was trouble there wouldn’t be time for the police to be dispatched, so he went to the bar and got his gun. He said that when he managed a bar two years ago, a man pulled a gun and aimed it at everyone before shooting a guy, so he decided then that he’d always keep a weapon in his own bar. We checked – the incident in the other bar did happen. Conway’s gun is licensed. Anyway, he grabbed it and ran after you.’
‘If only he could have got his gun faster,’ Kelsey said. ‘Nott still had time to shoot three times.’
‘Nott shot two times, Miss March.’
‘Two?’ Kelsey echoed. ‘My eyes were closed, but I’m sure I heard a third shot. Didn’t Nott try to shoot Lorelei again and missed?’
‘The third shot came from Conway’s gun.’ Pike looked into Kelsey’s eyes. ‘Nott had his gun aimed at you, Miss March. Conway didn’t get there soon enough to save your sister, but he shot Vernon Nott in the head only seconds before he tried to kill you too.’
THREE
‘Thank you for bringing all these things to the hospital, Eve,’ Kelsey said. ‘You didn’t forget Gatsby, did you?’
Eve Daley pushed her shoulder-length, ash-brown hair behind her ears and rolled her dark amber eyes at Kelsey. ‘Forget Jay Gatsby?’ she asked, referring to Kelsey’s tabby cat. ‘How is it possible for anyone to forget Gatsby? Mr Personality greeted me at the door, meowing his head off like he hadn’t eaten for a week.’
‘He missed me last night.’ Kelsey pulled a long-sleeved T-shirt over her head. ‘He’s not used to being alone.’
‘He’s used to being treated like a king. Anyway, he’s in his carrier in your car, furious,’ Eve said. ‘I’ll ride with you to your father’s house.’
‘That’s not necessary. I can drive home.’
‘I’d feel better if I drive you home. Besides, that’s what your father wants.’
‘When did you talk to him?’
‘He called and woke up Stuart and me at about two in the morning—’ Eve stopped. Kelsey knew that Eve and Stuart Girard were trying to keep their romance a secret but Eve, off guard, had just blurted out that they’d spent the night together. Her cheeks reddened but she carried on talking. ‘Stuart answered. We didn’t get many details. Stuart wanted to come to the hospital right away – your father told him there was nothing anyone could do last night but you’d need us today.’ She hesitated. ‘He asked Stuart to tell me what happened. He knew I had a key to your loft and asked that I bring clothes to the hospital this morning and come with you to his house from the hospital. Your car is in the parking lot. Stuart will pick me up at your dad’s house around three, if that’s what you want, but I’d be happy to stay with you for as long as you like. I could leave tomorrow or the next day …’
‘I’d love you to stay,’ Kelsey said instantly. ‘I know I’m being selfish to ask but the mood at the house will be morbid, though I’m keeping you away from Stuart and leaving him with all the work to do at the store—’
‘You didn’t ask me to stay. I offered. And Stuart decided to close the store for the rest of the week. We’re only finishing up three jobs right now. Nina and Giles have them handled. All Stuart has to do is contact the people we’ll be working with, starting next week, and assure them we’ll have everything covered. You know how good Stuart is at making every client feel special.’
Kelsey crossed the room and hugged Eve. ‘Thank you. I hate to be so weak.’
Eve patted Kelsey’s back. ‘You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known, but even strong people have feelings. There’s nothing shameful in needing someone to lean on occasionally.’
‘Thank you.’
Eve immediately began chatting, trying to take their minds off last night. ‘Kelsey, you told me someone suggested you get a watchdog because you live alone, but you don’t need one when you have a cat as big and territorial as Gatsby. He stayed hot on my heels and looked at me like I was a thief while I was gathering your stuff. He positively glared at me when I was going through your dresser drawers getting lingerie. He kept weaving around my legs and trying to knock me off balance when I took things from your closet. As I was going through the apartment, I saw all the shopping bags you left before you went to the bar. You must have bought half of Louisville yesterday! I loved that Victorian lavender and blue dream of a hat with the peach silk flowers—’
‘It was Lori’s.’ Eve looked stricken, and Kelsey gave her a quick smile to let her know that the memory of the hat didn’t hurt. ‘She had it made especially for her from a picture of Dad’s great-grandmother on Derby Day.’
‘Your dad would have loved it. And now she’ll never wear it …’ Eve broke off again, her beautiful amber eyes filling with tears. ‘I’m sorry, Kelsey. You’re so composed. I wasn’t going to talk about what happened but I can’t seem to talk about anything else.’
Eve’s trembling hands covered her face and she began crying. Kelsey hugged her. ‘It’s OK, Eve. Earlier, I couldn’t stop sobbing. I was a wreck. But I’m composed now because they gave me a tranquilizer. It’s the miracle of chemistry, not my fortitude.’ Kelsey gave Eve a tissue. ‘Wipe away your tears and tell me what else you and Gatsby quarreled about this morning.’
Eve sniffled and tried to smile. ‘When it was time to go, he didn’t want to get into his carrier. You’d told me he’d only get in willingly for you, so I was prepared. Before I tried wrestling him inside, I found some really bizarre green alligator-shaped oven mitts. We had quite a battle. I actually worked up a sweat, but he didn’t manage to scratch me.’
‘Good.’
‘Gatsby doesn’t think so. He’s fuming, plotting revenge as we speak. I can feel it.’
‘Olivia gave me those ugly oven mitts as a Christmas gift.’
‘I guess that’s why the mitts were in a kitchen drawer all stiff and unused. What an awful present!’ Eve rustled through Kelsey’s clothing. ‘As for what I said earlier about Stuart—’
‘And you being together at two in the morning? I already knew you’re involved.’
Eve’s eyes widened. ‘You did? It only started three months ago. For ages, I thought he was in love with you.’
‘He’s never been close to it, Eve, and I’m not attracted to him except as a friend. If I had been, I wouldn’t have gone into business with him.’ She smiled at Eve. ‘He’s a brilliant, attractive man and you two make a wonderful couple.’
‘We’ve barely acknowledged that we’re serious, although it’s probably too early to think about getting serious—’
‘Relax, Eve. I’m happy for you. I really am.’
Eve looked troubled. ‘I’ve worried lately. When you broke things off with Brad—’
‘Brad? You thought I was trading in Bradley Fairbourne for Stuart?’
‘I’ve been worried because Brad thought you were trading him in for Stuart.’
&
nbsp; Kelsey looked at Eve in surprise. ‘What? Did Brad say anything to you or Stuart to make you think so?’
‘Not directly, but a couple of months ago Stuart told me Brad kept turning up wherever he was – odd places like the dry cleaner’s. Then he saw Stuart and me together at a little restaurant.’ Eve hesitated. ‘Kelsey, he walked over and said hello to us, then leaned close to Stuart and said, “They both wanted you but you picked the good, gentle one. If you value her, you’d better take her away from Louisville.”’
‘What? Did he mean I was a threat to you? Or to both you and Stuart?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you, but he gives me the creeps.’
‘When did this happen?’
‘About a week ago.’
Kelsey felt breathless with anger at Brad. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Stuart said we shouldn’t alarm you over what was probably just Brad being a jerk. Stuart’s concerned about you, though. We both are.’ Eve paused. ‘I never liked Brad, Kelsey.’
‘Neither did Lori.’ Kelsey sighed. ‘I didn’t break Brad’s heart when I left him. He might have talked himself into believing he loved me, but he didn’t. I guess that’s why I haven’t spent any time feeling guilty about him, but I had no idea he’d react like this.’ Kelsey sighed. ‘Well, that’s not quite true. In one way, I’m not shocked. He’d been getting more possessive for a couple of months before I broke off with him. It’s one of the reasons I ended things.’ She looked at Eve. ‘If he takes this further, though, I’m going to the police.’
Eve managed a smile. ‘I’m glad you’re not going to ignore his behavior. Considering what’s just happened …’
A chill washed over Kelsey. ‘Brad didn’t shoot Lori, Eve.’
‘I know! I didn’t mean to imply … I didn’t mean to start making crazy accusations, I just—’
‘It’s all right, Eve. We know who shot Lori and he’s dead, thanks to Rick Conway. Brad is a different matter. I’m sure he’s not dangerous,’ Kelsey said with a certainty she didn’t quite feel. ‘Bradley Fairbourne is just an annoying … mosquito. That’s all. No, he’s less than a mosquito. Brad is a gnat.’
Just a Breath Away Page 5