Kelsey glanced at the open kitchen and saw three glasses, a couple of plates and some flatware lying by the sink – not enough for a dishwasher load. She’d wash them by hand, she decided, and walked purposefully to the sink, where she squeezed out too much detergent and flipped on the hot water full blast. Suds foamed wildly as she slipped the plates into the water. She forced herself to hum as she washed and rinsed. Then she opened a kitchen drawer and looked for a dishtowel.
And there they were – the big, thick, ugly alligator oven mitts that beautiful, gentle Eve had donned before trying to stuff a grouchy, defiant Gatsby into his carrier. Both had been strong and determined and devoted …
Suddenly, all the lost faces flashed through her mind: Lorelei, Grandfather, Eve, Gatsby. She shuddered as she realized she would never see any of them again.
At last tears came and Kelsey sank to the floor, her body doubled up by deep, wrenching sobs that hurt so badly they took her breath away and felt as if they would never end.
SIXTEEN
Kelsey had planned to close MG Interiors for the rest of the week, but early Tuesday morning Nina Evans called and begged her not to shut the business. ‘I’ll come in even if it’s just to keep the door open,’ she told Kelsey. Last night Stuart had called Nina and told her about Eve’s death. Nina’s voice was still nasal from crying.
‘If I stay home, I’ll just cry all day and eat. I’m dehydrated from crying and I already weigh more than Giles and Isaac combined. Please, Kelsey, we can’t just communicate with clients by telephone. Several of them expect the personal touch. You and Stuart won’t be there. Giles’s mother had her surgery yesterday and he’s with her. By the way, I called him and she came through with flying colors. Giles is thrilled and said thanks for the flowers we sent. Anyway, we can’t seem rudderless and shake our clients’ confidence. I can talk to the people who call or stop by and assure them we’re still in control and it will be business as usual after Eve’s funeral. Stuart couldn’t tell me anything about funeral arrangements. He sounded absolutely shattered and I didn’t press for information. But about the funeral … well, where do her parents live?’
‘Pennsylvania, but I don’t think they’ll be handling Eve’s funeral. They won’t want to,’ Kelsey said flatly.
‘They won’t? Well … I know there’s a sad story. I mean, Eve never confided in me. I just thought she wasn’t close to her parents and once she said something that made me believe they didn’t approve of her. But she’s their daughter! I’d have thought they’d want some say about her burial.’
‘I’m sure they won’t want to be involved,’ Kelsey snapped, thinking of the letter Eve had received just yesterday from her mother coldly informing her of her brother’s death four months ago. And telling her not to come home, and that she would not be welcome. Then Kelsey realized how bitter she sounded. ‘I’ll let you know just as soon as arrangements have been made, OK? Please do hold down the fort at the business, if you don’t mind. I would really appreciate it, Nina. Is Isaac coming in?’
‘He will if I tell him that I expect it,’ Nina said firmly. ‘Don’t worry – I’ll get Isaac to come into MG Interiors today and tomorrow too. He’s our business manager, after all. It’s where he belongs, like that bookkeeper in A Christmas Carol. You know – the one with all the kids.’
‘Bob Cratchit?’ Kelsey asked, smiling in spite of her sadness.
‘Exactly.’
‘I guess that would make me Scrooge.’
‘Nonsense. You’re the nicest boss in the world. Anyway, Isaac needs to be here today at noon because I’m going to Conway’s Tavern for lunch. I’m craving one of their barbecue sandwiches and potato salad.’
‘Nina, did you see Eve leave yesterday afternoon?’ Kelsey asked abruptly.
‘Well, no. Come to think of it, I didn’t. She must have gone out the rear door. I’m sorry I wasn’t more observant.’
‘Don’t be, Nina. You had no reason to be keeping track of Eve.’
‘But if it’s important …’
‘It probably isn’t.’ Kelsey drew a deep breath. ‘Thanks for keeping things afloat at MG Interiors. You’re an angel. I don’t tell you often enough how valuable you are to the business.’
‘Oh, Kelsey, I’m not as talented as you and Stuart and … well, as Eve was. But thank you. If I don’t see you, please let me know about Eve’s funeral.’ Nina’s voice thickened. ‘I want to come. I liked her so much.’ She sniffled. ‘Oh, here I go again with the tears. And you don’t sound well today. You must have had such an awful shock last evening. I promised Stuart I wouldn’t ask you to describe anything and I won’t, but I just can’t imagine … You poor thing. What you’ve been through lately! Anyway, take care of yourself. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll talk to you soon.’
Later, Kelsey wasn’t certain if either she or Nina had said goodbye. And Nina had sounded as if Kelsey would be far away, not just upstairs from the business. Oh well, she’d drop in later today or maybe tomorrow to see how Nina and Isaac were doing. And she would never forget Nina’s loyalty or affection for Eve.
Kelsey had a ten o’clock appointment with Enzo Pike and, after talking to Nina, she went to her closet and stared tiredly at her clothes. She’d dozed for three nightmare-haunted hours last night but wouldn’t take a sleeping pill because she wanted her mind to be clear when she gave her statement to Pike. Having the events at the Sanderson house remain laser-sharp this morning was a mixed blessing, though. She would be able to tell Pike everything, but nothing else seemed quite real to her. Certainly not her loft, which felt big and empty and somber without Gatsby padding after her meowing and purring, seemingly fascinated by every mundane thing she did. She closed her eyes. ‘Just get through this morning,’ she said aloud. ‘You have to do this for Eve. You will do everything in your power for Eve.’
Forty-five minutes later, a freshly showered and shampooed Kelsey looked at herself in the full-length mirror on her bedroom door. Navy blue trouser pants, a white long-sleeved shirt with navy blue trim, pumps with three-inch heels, her hair pulled back into a low, loose bun, and just enough makeup to camouflage eyes puffy from tears and lack of sleep. She decided she looked professional and controlled. If only she felt as professional and controlled on the inside as she looked on the outside. But she would be talking to Pike. He wouldn’t be threatening. He would be thorough, keen, intuitive, and considerate.
Half an hour later, he greeted her with quiet warmth. Kelsey noted the dark circles under his eyes. He looked as if he’d gotten little sleep.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘I guess I am. None of it seems real.’
‘I can imagine. Frankly, it doesn’t seem real to me, either. I probably shouldn’t say that to you. I’m supposed to be the unflappable detective, but what happened to Miss Daley … well, I’ll tell you truthfully that I was shaken. And so sorry. She seemed to be a lovely woman – lovely in all ways.’
‘She was.’ Kelsey swallowed hard. ‘Before I give you a detailed account of yesterday, will you tell me what you found out about the whereabouts of Brad Fairbourne and Stuart Girard?’
‘Certainly.’ He motioned to a chair and Kelsey sat down. ‘I went to Fairbourne’s house yesterday evening. No one answered the door, and an evening newspaper lay on the porch. I went back at nine and again at around eleven-thirty last night. The house was completely dark and still.’
‘So he’s disappeared again?’
‘Maybe.’
Kelsey frowned. ‘Did you check on Megan Reid?’
‘As a matter of fact, yes. She was home with her parents. Her father seemed anxious – he wanted to know if Brad was in trouble. I said no, that I just wanted to check something with him. Mr Reid had more questions, but I got off the phone quickly.’
‘What about Edmund Albrecht?’
‘You saw Eve die a little before five-thirty. Stuart says he was with Albrecht until six. Mr Albrecht said he’d met with Girard during the afternoon
and taken him to his store. He couldn’t remember if he and Girard had parted company at four or six. He seemed extremely annoyed that I was bothering him with questions.’
‘He gets extremely annoyed about anything that doesn’t concern his interest at any moment,’ Kelsey said. ‘I think he’s a complete pain, not to mention strange as hell, but Stuart has more patience with him than I do. Also, Albrecht is wealthy and has plans for a pricey store. We’re lucky to get his business.’ She sighed. ‘Couldn’t he be any more precise about when Stuart left him?’
‘He left Stuart at the store site. He said it was raining. He didn’t mind the rain. In fact, he loves rain, but Stuart seemed antsy. His word. Albrecht thought the rain was distracting Stuart, so he cut the meeting short.’
‘At four o’clock or six.’
‘Precisely. He had on a very expensive Rolex watch. But apparently he doesn’t look at it often.’
Kelsey sighed. ‘Well, you certainly tried. Thank you, Pike.’
‘I did promise.’
‘And you kept your promise. Now it’s my turn to tell you everything I know about Eve’s movements yesterday.’
‘I’m afraid so. It’s procedure but a necessary one.’
‘I understand.’
For the next twenty minutes, Kelsey replayed every moment of the evening from the time she was leaving the vet’s and got the phone call from Eve to the horrible moment when Eve crashed through the hole for the skylight to the concrete floor three stories below. Then her memory became frustratingly blurred.
‘Did you see anyone looking down from the skylight?’ Pike prompted.
‘No,’ Kelsey said. ‘But I didn’t look up for maybe a minute. No, it must have been longer than that. I stared at her – she was making an awful, mewling noise, and blood was spreading around her head. So much blood!’ She shuddered. ‘You would have thought a fall like that would have killed her immediately.’
‘Whoever did this wasn’t taking any chances on her living through that fall. The right side of her neck was slashed, opening the external carotid artery and the external jugular vein. He didn’t cut her throat. Her vocal cords were intact, which is why she could make those mewling sounds you described.’
‘The sounds I’ll hear until I die,’ Kelsey moaned.
‘I just learned those details about the slashing in a preliminary report from the medical examiner’s office. They’re still running tests.’
‘What kind of tests?’
‘Tissue and, of course, blood. Eve could have been drugged. She also suffered a blow to the left side of her skull that could have caused unconsciousness. Maybe that’s how the perpetrator got her up on to the roof without a fight. If she was drugged or unconscious from a concussion, she might not have felt the pain of having her neck slashed.’
‘I hope so,’ Kelsey said fervently. ‘I hope she was so doped up she didn’t feel a thing!’
Pike’s somber dark eyes shifted away from her and she knew he thought Eve hadn’t been unconscious when she hit the floor at Kelsey’s feet. The sounds she’d made said she’d felt something.
‘He must have taken her up the metal fire escape stairs on the north side of the building because he couldn’t have reached any of the skylights without a ladder and the only ladders found were folded, dry, and covered with plastic. Also, we found what looks like a leather tip from the high heel of a woman’s shoe on the fire escape. One of the tips was missing from Eve’s right shoe, and the tip we retrieved matched the one on her left shoe.’
‘Well, that sounds conclusive,’ Kelsey said faintly, remembering the lovely beige and blue linen-covered high heels Eve had worn yesterday. ‘But if he took her up the outside stairs, why was the back door leading into the kitchen open?’
‘The lock on that door had been jimmied. He must have done it so you’d walk inside. Kelsey, he wanted you to be under that skylight before he pushed Eve through it.’
‘Oh.’ Kelsey felt sick. ‘How could he have jimmied the lock and also held on to Eve? She would have been struggling.’
‘Not if she was unconscious.’
‘Oh, yes, of course … Didn’t anybody see him taking Eve to the roof?’
‘We’ve canvassed the area. No one saw them. There aren’t any close neighbors and it was raining. People weren’t walking outside. Also, there’s an eight-inch-high brick parapet around the roof. That would also have partially obstructed the view of the roof’s floor.’ Pike paused before asking, ‘Was Eve supposed to go to that house?’ Pike asked.
‘No. She’d had a rough day.’ Kelsey told him about Eve receiving the letter about her brother’s death. ‘I’m not sure what time she left MG Interiors, but she was gone when I left a little before five. Giles Miller was away that day because his mother had an operation. Stuart had been gone all afternoon because he had the meeting with Albrecht, who talks so much that any meeting with him always turns into a marathon. Anyway, Eve must have gone out the rear door, because no one saw her leave. I went to the vet’s to pick up my cat. I’d just gotten back into the car when Eve called. She sounded strange. I was a little bit worried because of her state of mind, but I didn’t think something was really wrong.’
‘You didn’t see anyone leaving the scene after Eve’s death?’
‘No, I was trying to call nine-one-one.’ She paused. ‘But whoever it was took my cat out of the car.’
Pike’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You didn’t tell me that yesterday!’
‘To most people it would sound trivial after what happened to Eve.’
‘Not to me. His name was … is … Gatsby, right?’
Kelsey nodded.
‘Are you sure whoever killed Eve took him?’
‘Gatsby was in his carrier in the car when I parked behind the house. I walked through the house to the front – that’s where Eve was thrown from the roof – and stayed there until the police arrived. When I went back to my car, he was gone. I don’t know who except Eve’s killer would have taken him.’
‘Were your car doors locked?’
‘No, dammit. I wasn’t thinking about anything except Eve, why she wanted me to come to the house instead of calling the construction foreman. Gatsby’s carrier was sitting on the passenger’s seat. I found the car door slightly open. Whoever took him didn’t want to slam the door shut.’ She paused. ‘Maybe there are fingerprints on one of my car’s door handles.’
‘Maybe. We’ll check if you’ll give us your car today.’
‘OK. I don’t really need it. I’ll take a cab home.’
Pike frowned. ‘Why would anyone want your cat?’
Kelsey struggled for a moment, then told him the truth. ‘It may sound paranoid, but I think someone wanted to torture me just a little bit more.’ She looked at Pike in despair. ‘I know the murders have something to do with me – my sister, my grandfather, my closest friend. It can’t be a coincidence. Someone is trying to make me suffer.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t think I had any enemies. Well, Brad Fairbourne certainly doesn’t like me. He was fired from his law firm on Friday morning and he blames me. And Eve. And probably my father, now.’ She’d already told him about the photographs sent to her father and the roses sent to MG Interiors, but now she filled him in on what her father had said to Brad. ‘You know that Declan Adair has been sporadically watching Brad’s house and he’s almost certain he saw Brad there Sunday night. At least he saw a silhouette through the blinds that looked like Brad’s. He doesn’t know when Brad came home.’ She shook her head. ‘I know Brad has emotional problems, but I can’t imagine him murdering people!’
‘Because he has a moral code?’
‘Because he’s weak. Maybe he could hire a killer but I can’t imagine him messing with kerosene to set a barn – and an old man – on fire. I certainly can’t imagine him slashing a woman’s neck and pushing her through a skylight.’ Kelsey drew a deep breath. ‘But maybe I never knew him. Not really.’
‘
I’ve been a cop for years and I’ve learned how often people think they know someone else when they don’t. People can wear masks.’
‘You mean like Stuart Girard? Declan Adair says that Stuart has Mafia connections.’
Pike looked at her steadily. ‘Girard knows some questionable people. His father knew a lot of questionable people and did business with them. After he died, they latched on to Stuart – or have tried to latch on to him.’ He paused. ‘I’ve said more than I should. Please don’t repeat it.’
‘I won’t, but Declan already told me that Teddy Blakemore is out of prison on compassionate leave because he’s dying. I also know he’s been hounding Stuart. I just don’t know what he wants Stuart to do or if Stuart is willing to do it.’
‘And that’s not good. Not good at all.’ Pike looked distracted for a moment, then gave her a half-smile. ‘Now, I have to ask you to write down everything that happened from the time Eve called you. It’s—’
‘Procedure. I know.’ Bitterness edged Kelsey’s voice. ‘Every detail is scorched into my brain. I won’t have any trouble writing it all down.’
Kelsey took a cab home and quickly changed into a U2 Joshua Tree T-shirt, jeans and sandals. After wandering aimlessly around her apartment for a while, her gaze continually straying to the empty cushion on the bookshelf, she lay down on her bed and promptly fell asleep. She dreamed of rain falling in the gloom, of blood spreading and pooling, of a slashed neck, of a rag doll falling down and mewling, mewling, mewling …
A sound tore at her sleep, a regular, relentless mechanical ringing that wouldn’t stop until it had drawn her up from deep sleep to half-wakefulness. In a minute, she realized it was the phone.
Kelsey rolled toward her nightstand, picked up the receiver of her old-fashioned white Princess phone, and mumbled, ‘Hello.’
‘Were you taking a nap?’ her father asked.
‘Yes, Dad, but I was having a nightmare. I’m glad you woke me.’
‘Did you see Detective Pike this morning?’
‘Yeah. I told him everything about yesterday evening and then wrote it all down. It doesn’t sound like much, but I felt drained when I got home.’
Just a Breath Away Page 24