A Killer Column (22 page)

“Then bringing him partially into the loop may make him slip, if he’s the one who’s been doing this, new girlfriend or not.”

“You’re taking an awfully big chance,” I said.

“Like you’re not?”

“That can’t be helped,” I said. I looked at my husband and asked, “Where does the attack on Kelsey leave us?”

“We keep doing what we’re doing,” he said finally. “Right now, it’s all we can do.”

“Then what’s next?”

“After we get something to eat, I’d like to talk to Sylvia.”

“You’re off the interview team, remember?”

He looked hurt for a moment. “But Murphy’s doing my job now.”

“Sorry, I don’t want anyone to be too scared to answer.”

Zach seemed to think about that, and then he said, “The least I can do is drive you two around.” He saw that I was about to protest when he added, “But I’ll stay out of the way.”

“Promise?”

“Of course I do,” he said. “Jenny, are you ready to go?”

“I’m ready. Should we get something to eat on the way?”

“I’m not about to eat at the Crest Hotel,” Zach said.

“Don’t worry,” I said laughing, “we’ll find a place where you can eat without a jacket and tie.”

 

 

W
E GRABBED A QUICK BITE ON THE WAY, STOPPING OFF at a barbeque place Jenny loved. It was delicious, a real Eastern-style menu with a vinegar-based sauce that I thoroughly enjoyed. Zach loved the tomato-based Western recipe, but we got plenty of that at home. We all agreed that the hush puppies, little deep-fried corn-bread bombs, were some of the best we’d ever had, and the sweet tea was thick enough to have trouble pouring from the pitcher to the glass, a real requirement for North Carolina sweet iced tea.

After we ate, Zach said, “I’m almost too full to drive.”

“You can take a nap in back of my car,” I said. “I don’t mind if you stay there when we go into the hotel.”

“You and I both know that there’s no way that’s going to happen.” He did take the backseat, while Jenny joined me up front.

“Are you honestly going to take a nap? We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“No, but I might rest my eyes.”

Two minutes after we left the restaurant, Jenny said, “Is he actually snoring back there?”

I grinned at her. “He can’t be. You heard him. He’s just resting his eyes.”

“And every other part of him,” she said. In a softer voice, she added, “You really got lucky finding him; you know that, don’t you?”

“I like to think he got lucky finding me, too,” I said.

“Of course he did. I just wish I could do it, too.”

“Maybe if you stop working eighty-hour weeks, you’ll be able to.”

She shrugged. “There is that, isn’t there?”

“It must limit your dating pool.”

“You’ve seen the whole sum of my love life in the past three years. There have been exactly two men, either one of which is most likely stalking me at the moment.”

I could tell Jenny was feeling morose about her dating life, but there was nothing I could do to help her. Maybe a change of topics would distract her from her thoughts.

“I wonder who pushed Kelsey,” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about that myself. It’s a clumsy way to try to kill someone, wouldn’t you say?”

“What do you mean? Using a steak knife on Derrick wasn’t exactly poetry.”

“No, but at least it was pretty reasonable to believe that it would be effective. How hard must that shove have been?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but there’s something the two events have in common.”

“What’s that?”

“Most likely they were both done on impulse,” I said. “That means our killer isn’t a planner. He or she takes advantage of a situation and acts boldly when the opportunity affords itself.”

“So they haven’t been caught because they’ve been more lucky than methodical. How long can they keep taking risks like that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But we need to start thinking like the killer if we’re going to have a prayer figuring out who it is.”

“How do you do that?” Jenny asked.

“We need to ask Zach. He’s known across the South for being able to put himself into a murderer’s shoes.”

Jenny shivered noticeably. “I can’t imagine how creepy that must be for him.”

“I wonder about that myself sometimes, but Zach finds a way to deal with it.”

He stirred in back, and then sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Did someone mention my name?”

“Go back to sleep, Zach. We’ve got at least another ninety seconds before we get there.”

“I told you, I was just resting my eyes. Now will someone tell me why my name was mentioned in conversation?”

Jenny said, “Savannah was just telling me how you can project yourself into a killer’s shoes, and we were wondering if that’s what we should be doing right now.”

“It’s not a bad idea, but we don’t have a lot of information, do we?”

“That’s not necessarily true,” I said. “We know they act spontaneously, and that there’s no hesitation to their movements. Don’t most amateurs have to work up the nerve before they commit murder?”

“It depends on the crime. If they are in the heat of the moment, there’s no planning at all. Those are the easiest killers to catch. The ones that plan carefully and act coldly are a little tougher to find.”

“Do you agree that Derrick’s murder and the attempt on Kelsey’s life were unplanned?”

I glanced at him in the rearview mirror and saw him frowning as he stroked his chin. “They appear to be spur-of-the-moment,” he finally conceded.

“So then, who do we know who isn’t afraid to make bold moves? We’ve already established that everyone on our list had a reason to kill Derrick, but who had the nerve to do it?”

“I’m not sure that’s the best way to look at it. Savannah, some of the most outrageous killers I ever saw acted in the heat of the moment, almost transforming as they committed murders, and then they reverted back to their normal personalities.”

“How does anyone ever get caught?” I asked in frustration.

He shrugged. “I can’t speak for every circumstance, but in mine, it was mostly due to brilliant detective work.”

I laughed out loud, and Jenny joined me.

From the backseat, Zach said, “Hey, it wasn’t that funny.”

“Yes it was,” I said as we pulled into the Crest Hotel’s parking lot again.

It was time to tackle our suspect list with our new “we’re on your side” angle and see what we could uncover.

“
W
HERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?” I ASKED ZACH as Jenny and I got out of the car.

“I thought I’d hang out in the lobby, in case something interesting happened,” he said.

“You’re not going to talk to anyone though, remember?”

“Come on, Savannah. Surely you don’t expect me to wait by the car and guard it, do you?”

“After what happened today, is that really such a bad idea?”

He gestured around. “Look, you’re in a spot right by the door. Nobody’s going to be crazy enough to try anything here. There are too many witnesses.”

“That’s been the MO of the killer so far, though, hasn’t it?”

“I’m not staying here,” he declared. “I’m either going to wait in the lobby, or I’m coming with you two. Take your pick.”

“The lobby,” I said.

For one split second, he looked like a frustrated little boy. “Seriously? You’re not going to let me come with you? Even if I promise to behave myself?”

“There’s not really much chance of that, is there?” Still, I had a hard time saying no to him. “Tell you what. We’ll tackle Brady and Sylvia, and when we talk to Cary, you can come along with us.”

“That I can live with. How about Mindi and Lassiter?”

“We’ll take Mindi alone, and you can come with us when we speak with Lassiter. After all, you’ve got a relationship with him already.”

Jenny laughed. “Do you two haggle over every decision you make? It’s like watching two good old boys from Georgia arguing over the price of a bale of hay and a peck of apples.”

“Hey, it’s what we do.”

We walked into the lobby, and I pointed to a set of chairs out of the way. “You can wait for us over there.”

He gave me a mock salute, and then picked up a
USA Today
newspaper before he sat down.

As Jenny and I rode the elevator up to Sylvia’s room, Jenny said, “I can’t believe he’s really going to just sit there.”

“Don’t kid yourself. If he sees an opportunity to do something, he’ll grab it with both hands. When Zach’s working on something, he’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission.”

We walked out of the elevator when it arrived at the right floor and headed to Sylvia’s room.

I started to knock when I noticed that it was slightly ajar. Someone had put a telephone book in the opening to block the door, and I wondered what we were going to find on the other side.

 

 

“
S
YLVIA? ARE YOU IN THERE?” I ASKED AS I PUSHED THE door open.

Jenny grabbed my arm. “We should call Hotel Security, or at the very least, Zach.”

“Not yet,” I said. I took another step in, to be confronted by Sylvia.

“Is there something I can help you with, Savannah?”

I saw that her suitcase was packed and sitting on her bed. “Why is your door propped open?”

She grimaced. “Can’t you feel it? The heating unit is stuck on high, and it’s become a blast furnace in here. I’m going to insist that they move me to another room.”

“Then you’re not leaving?” I asked.

“I would like nothing better than to return home, but the police have asked me to stay, and I’m complying as a courtesy, at least for now.” She glanced at Jenny and asked, “Are you still tagging along?”

“I am,” Jenny said.

“As a friend of Savannah’s, or her attorney?”

“Why can’t it be a little bit of both?”

Sylvia didn’t seem to care if Jenny was there or not. She looked sternly at me as she said, “I repeat, was there something I can help you with?”

It was clear that there was no use trying to pretend I was on Sylvia’s side. It was time to take her head-on and see what she had to say for herself. “I heard that you had an appointment with Derrick after I left him the day he was murdered,” I said.

“Where did you hear that?” she asked.

“Does it matter? I just need to know if it’s true.”

Sylvia had a face that was devoid of expression, and I wondered if she’d been drawn to bridge because of it, or if she’d developed it over the years to help her play with a poker face. I suddenly realized that what she did must take a great deal of thought and planning, bidding and playing her cards to yield the most points. It was a methodical game, one that most likely wouldn’t appeal to someone who took a lot of chances, at least that’s how it looked from my perspective. I was looking for a gunslinger, not an accountant.

Finally, she admitted, “I had an appointment, but I chose not to show up for it. We were originally going to discuss a new column, but after the way he treated me, I was in no mood to work for him on another project.”

“And you said you were here in your room the entire time, is that right?”

“I’m growing weary of the same questions over and over, Savannah.”

“Just think about how I feel having to ask them. Did you hear about Kelsey Hatcher?”

Sylvia asked, “What about her? Don’t tell me she’s rejected another one of your little puzzles.”

“Someone tried to kill her today.”

That finally shook loose a little of Sylvia’s iron expression. “Did they use a knife?”

“No, they tried to do it with a bus.”

She looked puzzled by that. “How do you commit murder by bus?”

“It’s a pretty effective weapon if you push your victim in front of one that’s still moving,” I said.

“I hadn’t heard,” she replied. “Is she all right?”

“A little shaky, but other than that, she’s fine. When’s the last time you saw her, Sylvia?”

“I don’t know that it’s any of your business, Savannah.”

“Do you mind telling me where you were this afternoon?”

Sylvia frowned, and then admitted, “I was here, working on next week’s column.” It was clear she was upset by my questions, but I couldn’t stop just yet.

“You seem to spend a great deal of time alone in your room,” Jenny said. “It’s tough to prove that you were here.”

“I had a salad sent up from room service,” she said. “Would I have been able to do that if I was out shoving people in front of buses? I waited an hour for it, if you can believe that.”

I wasn’t sure what I believed, but I did know that I was going to check up to see if Sylvia had ordered a salad as she claimed.

A maintenance man appeared at the door. “Do you have a problem with your room?”