Vindicated (A Jenny Watkins Mystery Book 6)

by Becky Durfee

  “I’m going to install a wall-mounted handicap shower chair.” He flashed a smile as he headed back toward the bathroom. “Have fun.”

  She returned the smile. “You too.”

  Megan answered the phone after two rings. “Hi, Jenny. How are you?”

  “I’m doing great,” Jenny replied. “Thanks for asking.”

  “Are you making any progress on the case?”

  Letting out a sigh, Jenny said, “It’s hard to say. I’m making discoveries…only time will tell if it’s actual progress.”

  “Well, I guess that’s something.”

  “It’s better than nothing,” Jenny admitted. “Well, the reason I’m calling is because I am under the impression that Stella was in the middle of writing a letter when she was killed, and the letter was addressed to a woman named Karen. Do you happen to know who that was?”

  “I sure do. Karen was Stella’s sister in California. They used to write letters all the time…this was back when there were no cell phones and long-distance phone calls were too expensive. It was the best way for two people to keep in touch on a budget.”

  “So, I imagine they were close, then. Maybe Stella had disclosed something to her that might give us an idea about who was responsible for her death?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “Do you happen to know Karen’s last name?”

  “It was MacNamara at the time. I’m not sure if it still is.”

  Jenny jotted down the name on the back of a receipt from her purse. “Perfect. Thank you. One more thing…and this question may be a little strange. What type of pens did you ladies use in your house back then?”

  “What type of pens?”

  “Yes…did you use anything special?”

  “Well, I can’t say what we used on a regular basis, but Stella had a really nice fountain pen she had gotten for five years of service at the hospital. She used that whenever she wrote her sister.” Her voice trailed off. “She was proud of that pen.”

  “A fountain pen?” Jenny asked. “I’m not sure I know enough about pens to know what a fountain pen is.”

  “It’s one of those pens that has a metal…” she paused before saying, “thingy on it. It almost looks like a tip of a feather pen that the colonists would dip into ink.”

  Jenny understood the visual. “A very pointy metal tip is what you’re saying.”

  “Exactly.”

  She felt her nerves surge. “Well, thank you very much for that information. It’s actually very helpful.”

  “No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Will do,” Jenny said with a smile. “Will do.”

  Jenny took a seat on the Denton’s couch, reflecting on her latest theory. A fountain pen certainly could have done a lot of damage, and there appeared to be no pen at the scene. Perhaps it had been lodged into her killer and he walked out the door with it. Zack’s words entered her mind, and she repeated them softly. “Gross, but cool.” Her train of thought was interrupted by her phone ringing. It was Kyle Buchanan. “Hello?”

  “Jenny,” he said with relative urgency. “Is there any chance you can come to my office?”

  “Sure.” Jenny was surprised by the request. “When do you need me?”

  “If you could come now that’d be great,” he replied. “I got a phone call that you won’t believe.”

  Jenny stood up to head toward the door, pulling her keys out of her purse as she walked. “Who was it?”

  “None other than Katherine Burke,” Kyle said. “She’s on her way to my office right now. She said she had some things she wanted to discuss.”

  Chapter 14

  Jenny arrived at Kyle’s office to find him already engaged in a conversation with Katherine Burke. She rapped gently on the door with one finger, and Kyle gestured with his hand for her to come in. Katherine turned around with a smile. “Hello, again.”

  Jenny extended her hand. “Hi, Mrs. Burke. Good to see you.”

  Katherine shook her hand and pleasantly said, “You as well.”

  Kyle looked incredulously at Jenny. “Mrs. Burke, here, was just telling me that there was a little more going on between Stella Jorgenson and her husband than just a working relationship.”

  Jenny’s jaw dropped, but when she turned to Katherine, she saw a well-put-together older woman with her hands folded on her lap, sitting there casually as if she were talking about her favorite recipes. “She and my husband were sleeping together. At least, I assume they were.”

  Jenny made a failed attempt at responding, but all that came out was a little sound.

  Katherine continued, “You can’t possibly think I didn’t know what was going on all those years.”

  “But if you knew…” Jenny said, looking back and forth between Katherine and Kyle. She didn’t know how to finish her statement.

  “Why didn’t I leave?” Katherine asked with a knowing smile.

  All Jenny could do was nod.

  “For the same reason I married Shane in the first place…we had a child together.”

  “But…” Jenny stammered, “by the time Stella came around, Trevor was an adult.”

  “Yes, but I also had a life and a routine that I liked very much.” Katherine repositioned herself in her chair. “Believe it or not, Shane and I co-existed quite peacefully. We were friends—very good friends. My life in that house was pleasant…it’s just that when it came to getting our needs met romantically, we had to look elsewhere.”

  We? Jenny once again found herself unable to respond.

  Fortunately, Kyle kept his composure. “So, can I assume that means you had your share of extra-marital affairs as well?”

  The well-coiffed woman turned to Kyle. “No, I only had one, but it lasted for fourteen years.”

  Feeling weak in the knees, Jenny sat down.

  “He was a business associate of mine,” Katherine continued. “His name was Clint Havershack.”

  Believing the answer to her question was about to be a no, Jenny asked, “Does Shane know about him?”

  Katherine shook her head. “I don’t believe so. Shane was so concerned with himself that he never paid enough attention to me to catch on.” She rolled her eyes. “He thought he was so slick…getting away with all of these affairs without me knowing. Meanwhile, I was aware of every bit of it. He was the one who had no idea what was going on.”

  Jenny was still stunned. “How did you know about his affairs?”

  “Do you have any idea how many scorned women called the house to tell me what my husband was doing behind my back? It seems Shane infuriated a new woman every few months.”

  “And that didn’t bother you?” Jenny replied with shock.

  Katherine turned to Jenny and plainly said, “My relationship with my husband was nothing more than friendship. We hadn’t been romantically involved, if you will, in years. Quite honestly, I was very much in love with Clint at the time. I really wasn’t all that concerned with what Shane was doing…or who he was doing it with.”

  Jenny shook her head rapidly, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. “But…if you were in love with Clint, why didn’t you leave Shane and begin a life with him?”

  “Clint wasn’t the type of man you settled down with,” she explained. “He was very much married to his job. And he lived in Pennsylvania; we saw each other when I traveled there, but I had no desire to move. Like I said, I liked my life. Besides, I was happy just having a long distance relationship with him. I know this may be difficult to understand, but I liked the excitement I got to feel during those business trips to Philadelphia. In fourteen years, my relationship with Clint never got stale. If he and I had settled down together, there’s no doubt I would have eventually grown tired of him—just like I had done with Shane.”

  While the notion logically made sense, in a way, Jenny was still flabbergasted. Somehow Katherine looked much too elegant to be speaking these words.

  Kyle, on the other hand, seemed less intereste
d in the logistics of the Burke’s free-wheeling lifestyle. “Mrs. Burke, you say that you received a lot of phone calls from angry young women…did you ever happen to get a phone message from an angry young man?”

  She smiled knowingly, turning her gaze to Kyle. “Yes…and that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Although, from the sound of it, you may already know about it.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what you wanted to say, and I’ll see if it aligns with what I know.”

  Katherine began with a sigh. “Just a few days before Stella was murdered, we received a phone message from an angry young man who claimed that Shane had been sexually harassing Stella at the workplace…forcing her to date him in order for her to keep her job.” Katherine made a face and shook her head. “Now, I knew that wasn’t true. Shane valued his job far too much to do anything that foolish. He would have never jeopardized his career. Besides, he had no shortage of women who were willing to go out with him. He wouldn’t have needed to coerce anyone into a physical relationship.”

  She continued, changing her expression to be more serious. “My concern is that young man may have become angry at Stella if he realized she was lying about the nature of her relationship with Shane.” She lowered her eyes. “I hadn’t said anything about this until now because I’ve been operating under the assumption that the neighbor had done it. There was no need to bring it up. But now that I know the case has been re-opened, I felt like I needed to come tell you what I know…I just didn’t want to talk about it in front of Shane when you came to the house. When I found a business card you left for him, I decided to get in touch with you.”

  “Well, thank you for that,” Kyle said. “We were aware of the phone call already, but we do appreciate your honesty.” He casually flipped the page in his notebook and asked, “While we have you here, would you mind answering some questions about Shane’s relationship with Trevor?”

  “With Trevor?” Katherine asked, looking surprised. “I guess I can.” She seemed like she didn’t know why that would be necessary.

  “Excellent,” Kyle replied. “Did Trevor and Shane have a good relationship?”

  Katherine looked down and shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

  “What was the source of the problems between them?” Kyle asked.

  “Truthfully?” Katherine said as she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Trevor’s existence.”

  Jenny looked at Kyle with just her eyes.

  Katherine continued, “I think he always resented Trevor because he had been an accident. We were teenagers when we conceived him, and Shane felt pressure to marry me. Honestly, I believe there’s a part of Shane that thinks I got pregnant on purpose.” She looked at Kyle with wide eyes. “I assure you, I did not do it on purpose. What seventeen-year-old gets pregnant by design?”

  “I don’t know of any,” Kyle said flatly. Jenny admired his ability to appease whoever was speaking to him.

  “I actually think that’s part of the reason Shane felt the need to date so many younger women; he felt like I trapped him. He never got to sow his wild oats, so to speak. And then when I fell in love with Clint and became detached, I guess that was the final straw.”

  “You checked out of the marriage first?” Jenny asked.

  Katherine nodded, for the first time looking a little sad.” It wasn’t much of a marriage anyway. Like I said, we were really good friends.”

  Thankfully, Kyle was able to remain more focused. “So, tell me, specifically, what Trevor and Shane’s relationship looked like.”

  “It didn’t look like anything, and that’s the problem,” Katherine said. “At first, when Shane was going to college and then to medical school, he claimed he was too busy studying to have much time for Trevor. I’m not sure Trevor noticed at the time because we lived in my parents’ basement, and his grandparents spoiled him to death. But once Shane got a successful career and we moved out on our own, I think Trevor started to realize how little his father was involved in his life. Whenever Trev wanted to spend time with Shane, he was always just handed a toy and told to go play. I think Shane believed that was good enough…that Trevor was just looking for entertainment, and Shane had just provided it—by handing him a toy that was purchased with the money Shane had earned while working long hours at the hospital. But Trevor was looking for a relationship with his father, and I’m afraid he didn’t get that.

  “Now, I don’t want to make it sound like Trevor had an awful childhood,” Katherine added. “We lived in a great neighborhood—once again provided by Shane’s hard work—and he was surrounded by friends. He played a lot of sports. The one element that was missing, though, was a bond with his father.”

  Jenny leaned forward onto her elbows. “How was Trevor around women? Was he charming like his father?”

  Katherine shook her head. “No. In fact, he was just the opposite of his father. While Shane could sweet-talk with the best of them, Trevor had a difficult time even striking up a conversation with a woman. I was worried about him, actually. I didn’t think he’d ever get a girlfriend or settle down.”

  “Did he, though?” Jenny asked.

  “Eventually. He was in his early thirties, though, before he met Valerie. She was a good fit for him—her first husband had been a jerk, so she was able to appreciate Trevor’s kindness.” Pride exuded from Katherine’s eyes. “He may not have been smooth, but he was always kind.”

  Always kind, Jenny thought. Not according to her latest theory.

  Katherine continued. “Do you mind if I ask why there’s this interest in Trevor? I figured you’d be more concerned with that young man who called my answering machine.”

  “Just covering all our bases, ma’am,” Kyle said.

  Katherine looked remarkably unconcerned. “You can’t possibly believe this involves Trevor at all. That would be ludicrous. He didn’t even know Stella Jorgenson.”

  Kyle looked up at Katherine with a smile. “Then I guess you have nothing to worry about.”

  Once Katherine had left the office, Kyle and Jenny were able to speak more freely. “That was crazy,” Jenny said almost immediately after the door closed. “Here I was spending all this time feeling sorry for Katherine Burke…I never in a million years suspected that the infidelity was mutual.”

  Kyle let out a laugh. “From the sound of things, she started it. The way she described it, Shane started fooling around only after Katherine began her affair with Clint.”

  “I’m completely floored,” Jenny admitted.

  “That’s because you are new at this,” Kyle said. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen in my career as a private investigator. This is actually on the tame side.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t even want to know.”

  Looking square at her, Kyle replied, “You really don’t.”

  Disturbed, Jenny was anxious to change the subject. “Okay, so let’s talk about Trevor, shall we? He was apparently socially awkward around women,” Jenny noted. “Isn’t that often a common characteristic of the serial killer?”

  Kyle raised one half of his mouth into a smile. “Yes, it is. But first of all, we’re not dealing with a serial killer. Stella alone seemed to have been a target. And second, I believe it’s more of the rectangle/square thing. Serial killers are usually socially stunted somehow, but not every awkward guy murders women.”

  Jenny giggled. “Well, it was worth a shot.”

  Kyle flipped to a different page in his notebook. “I got some information about Marcus Sanders earlier today. It’s what I was looking into when I got the call from Katherine.”

  “Good news, I hope?” Jenny said. “Something that says that there’s no way Marcus could have done this?”

  “Nothing that good, I’m afraid,” Kyle admitted. “His record is clean as a whistle, though. No arrests…not even any parking tickets. Served as a Marine for a while, then came back and went to school.” He scanned his notes and concluded, “Nothing here that i
ndicates he would be a prime suspect.”

  “Good,” Jenny said.

  “Well, not so fast,” he remarked. “There’s nothing here that says we should focus on him, but I also couldn’t find anything that would allow us to cross him off our list, either. I think I may need to talk to Willy again to see if Marcus had any kind of relationship with Stella, or if it’s possible that she only knew him well enough to refer to him as the son.”

  Jenny laughed at her own misconception. “When you said relationship, at first I thought you meant something romantic. That would have been rather upsetting considering she was twenty-six and he was seventeen.”

  “I didn’t mean that, but it wouldn’t have been the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Holding up her hand, Jenny remarked, “I don’t want to know.” With a smile she added, “Although, there is something I do want to know. I’d love it if you could tell me the whereabouts of Stella’s sister. It sounds like they were close, and Stella may have had some conversations with her that she didn’t have with Megan. Perhaps the sister can give us some insight about whether or not Stella’s romantic life could have led to her death.”

  “I think I can arrange that,” Kyle said. “What’s her name, do you know?”

  “Well, in 1988 it was Karen MacNamara. I’m not sure if it still is.”

  Kyle started to type into his computer. “I guess we can find out.”

  Jenny hid out in the confines of the guest bedroom at the Larrabee’s house. She looked at the phone in her hand, reluctant to dial, unwilling to tell this unsuspecting woman that her sister’s killer was not the man she’d thought it was for the past two and a half decades. Time ticked by with Jenny fully aware that each passing second was one more second of peace Karen MacNamara got to enjoy. For that reason, Jenny held on to the phone for a little while longer.

  Eventually, she did dial, and a woman picked up on the other end. “Hi, my name is Jenny Larrabee. I’m looking for Karen MacNamara.”