MULTIPLE MOTIVES (The Kate Huntington mystery series Book 1) (32 page)

As she ushered them out of her office, she added, “Officer, I am prescribing a good night’s sleep for Mrs. Huntington and Mrs. Franklin. Will you see that they follow doctor’s orders, please?”

The police officer smiled for the first time. “Yes, ma’am.”

Amy Walters blinked once at the brief but radiant transformation, then she smiled back at the young woman. “See you all in the morning.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kate was awakened by Lou’s voice calling up the stairs. “Yo, Miss Kate, Ben’s on the phone for you.”

She scrambled out of bed and pulled on her crumpled clothes. Smiling at the thought that today they could actually worry about mundane things like clean laundry and groceries, she bounded down the stairs.

Lou handed her his cell phone.

Wondering why Ben wasn’t calling on the landline, Kate put the phone to her ear as she walked into the kitchen.

Liz was skeptically peering into her refrigerator. “How am I supposed to feed four people and one giant with five eggs?”

Kate shook her head in sympathy as she said into the phone, “Hey, Ben.”

“Thank God Rob’s okay. Lou told me yesterday that you were at the hospital, so I figured that’s why you weren’t answering your cell. Was Rob at that house?”

“What house?” She walked into the family room in search of her cell phone. She spotted it on the computer desk, where Rose had dropped it as they’d raced out the door yesterday.

“Didn’t you get my messages?” Ben asked.

“Oh, yeah.” She glanced over at the portable phone’s base. It was empty. The phone was lying on the sofa.

“So was he at that house on Wilkens?”

She was headed back toward the kitchen, punching buttons on the portable phone and getting nothing but a low battery beep, when Ben’s words finally registered. “Damn! Wilkens Avenue. I didn’t even make the connection.”

The excitement in her voice had Liz turning around, ignoring the sizzling pan on the stove.

“What kind of house was it?” Kate asked.

“Row house, red brick.”

“What time was she there?”

“Hang on.” Paper rustled as Ben checked his notepad. “She got there at eight-thirty-six, left at eight-fifty. Caught sight of her face in a streetlight. She looked pissed.”

“Give me the house number again?” Kate jotted it down on Liz’s grocery list lying on the table. “Good work, Ben. Rob was found on a street near St. Agnes, in that same area. You okay to stay on Cheryl today, or do you need to be relieved?”

Rose had walked into the kitchen. A questioning eyebrow was cocked in Kate’s direction.

“I’m good,” Ben said. “I’ve been dozing some at night. Her car’s such a rattle-trap, she’d never get out of the parking lot without waking me up. She’s in there now. I can see her moving around through her patio door.”

“Stay with her then.”

Kate disconnected, then turned to Liz and Rose. “Good thing Rob didn’t stick around to look at street signs. That house Ben followed Cheryl to is on Wilkens Avenue and she was there right after dark Saturday night.”

“What’s the house number?” Rose asked.

“2345.”

“That jives with the City cop’s report. Rob was found about six blocks from there.”

“You’re way ahead of me, Rose. I was about to ask if you could get that information.”

“That last hotline tip was legit after all,” Rose was saying when they smelled something burning.

Liz whirled back toward the stove. “Crap! I just ruined four pieces of French toast and there was barely enough bread and eggs to begin with.”

Rose looked in the pan. “Flip ’em over on their good side. Bet Lou’ll eat ’em.”

A few minutes later they were all sitting down to a large platter of French toast. When they’d demolished the upper layers and were down to the burnt pieces, Liz warned that they were charcoal on one side. Lou looked at the others. They all shook their heads. He scooped them onto his plate.

“Lou, would you mind finishing your breakfast in the kitchen?”“ Kate asked.

“No problem, Miss Kate.” Grabbing the syrup bottle, he headed out of the room.

“Cheryl being at that house near where Rob was found definitely makes her our strongest suspect now,” she said.

“But all we have on her is circumstantial evidence,” Rose said.

“Right. I’m not comfortable giving her name to Phillips until we have something more concrete. I’ll come back to her in a minute.”

Kate stopped and thought about who was rested and who was not. There was a lot to do today, so deploying the troops was a bit complicated. “Dad, you and Lou will take Liz to the grocery store while–”

“Groceries can wait,” Liz said. “I want to see my husband.”

“I checked in with Mac and Skip while you were fixing breakfast,” Kate said. “Everything’s fine at the hospital. I can’t wait to see him either. But there may not be a good opportunity to get food later, and we’ve gotta eat.”

Liz frowned but she gave a slight nod of her head. “Okay. You were saying?”

“Rose, you got a fresh uniform back at your place?”

Rose nodded.

“Good, you and I will go get it, then swing by my house to pick up some clothes. Whoever gets back here first needs to check the place over since it will’ve been unattended for–”

“I’ll stay and guard the house, Katie,” her father said.

She stifled a sigh. “Dad, we’ve been over this. You’re a potential target, so you can’t be alone. Now where was I?… Oh, yeah. Rose, since you and Lou were on guard duty here last night, when we get back I want you to take a nap while–”

Rose opened her mouth.

Kate held up both hands, palms out. “If one more person interrupts….”

Rose closed her mouth.

Kate softened her tone. “I’ve got a good reason for wanting you rested, Rose. I’ll get to that in a minute. Lou will take me and Liz to the hospital. We should be fine in Rob’s room, with the police officer and hospital security guard on the door. The guys will come back here to get some rest. Dad, sit on Mac if you have to, but make sure he takes a nap.” That mental image evoked several grins. “Then Lou can guard the house and–”

Liz raised her hand, as one would in school.

Kate chuckled. “Yes, Liz?”

“I’d prefer that Lou stay at the hospital. I’m not comfortable with trusting Rob’s safety, and yours, to one police officer and a hospital rent-a-cop.”

“Good point. Okay, we’ll just have to check the house over again later.”

“And what happens after they’ve all had a wee nap, Katie girl?”

“I’m going to send Mac to check out our other suspect, and Rose and Skip will bring you to the hospital to stay with us. Then… Rose, I hate to keep asking you to break the rules, but are you willing to go in uniform to that house on Wilkens, with Skip as your back-up? See who lives there. Find out what Cheryl was doing there. Maybe get into the basement and see if the set-up looks like what Rob described.”

“Then we
would
have some concrete evidence!” Liz said.

Rose flashed a brief smile and nodded in agreement.

“Exactly,” Kate said. “Let’s do it, folks.”

~~~~~~~~

As Rose drove along block after block of brick row houses, their white marble steps gleaming in the afternoon sun, she had to admit that Kate’s enforced nap had done her a world of good. The fresh uniform helped considerably as well.

When they reached the 2300 block of Wilkens Avenue, Rose parked the cruiser. She and Skip walked up the sidewalk of number 2345. Skip stayed at the bottom of the steps, arms casually crossed, his right hand tucked under the sports jacket borrowed from Rob’s closet and resting on the gun in his waistband holster.

Rose walked cautiously up onto the porch and rang the doorbell.

“Curtain twitched,” Skip whispered.

One hand now on her own gun butt in her unsnapped holster, Rose rang the bell again.

The door opened a crack, a safety chain in place. Half of an elderly woman’s face appeared an inch below Rose’s chin. She looked down to make eye contact, a rather unusual experience for her unless she was dealing with children. “Ma’am, I’m Officer Hernandez. We’re investigating an incident that occurred in this neighborhood a couple days ago. May we come in?”

“Yer no cop. They don’t ’llow no girls to be cops.”

Skip stepped forward. “Afternoon, ma’am. We truly do hate to be a bother,” he drawled. The occasional hint of the South in his voice had morphed into a thick Texas accent that sounded authentic to Rose. “It’s real important though, ma’am, that we ask y’all a couple a questions.”

The old woman’s belligerent glare softened as she looked Skip over. “Well, young man, I can see
your
mama taught you manners. Okay, you can come in, but wipe your feet.”

Cautiously they entered a small foyer that opened to the right into a spotless living room. To their left, a set of stairs led to the second floor.

“Watch the stairs,” Rose whispered. Skip nodded. She moved into the living room, where the tiny old woman was settling herself onto the sofa. “Mind if I sit down, ma’am?”

“Ain’t talkin’ to you, girlie. Now this young man here, him I’ll talk to.” It looked like she was actually fluttering her eyelashes at Skip.

Rose exchanged a glance with him, then they quickly traded places. Skip sat down in the chair Rose had been denied.

“What’s yer name, sonny?” the old lady asked.

“Uh, Detective James, ma’am.”

Rose stifled a groan. They’d just stepped over the line from investigating a lead without authorization to a civilian impersonating a police officer.

“Ma’am, could I have your name please?” Skip asked.

“Elsie Burnett.”

Yup, she’s definitely batting her eyelashes.

“Miz Burnett, a young woman was reported comin’ out of yer house night ’fore last, just after dark–”

“Weren’t nobody comin’ outta my door.” The belligerent scowl was back. “Not one of my worthless kids comes to visit no more.”

“I see. Well, ma’am, do ya happen to know a gal by the name of Cheryl Crofton?”

“Nope. Never heard of her. Hmm, got a niece named Cheryl, but her last name’s Burnett. Saw her ’while back. Can’t remember exactly when. What’s been happenin’ round here, young man?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m ’fraid I’m not at liberty to tell ya that.”

“Well, la-di-da! Not at liberty to tell me, huh? Well, then I don’t feel like I’m at liberty to tell you nothin’ neither.”

“Well now, ma’am, I sure as heck would love to tell ya ’bout it, but that’s not allowed in an ongoin’ investigation. But I can tell ya this. We think some yahoo might’ve snuck into yer basement an’ has been usin’ it for criminal activity. Miz Burnett, with yer permission, we’d sure like to take a look down there.”

The old woman grew wary. “I’m not too sure ’bout that. Maybe I should call the police station. Make sure you really are cops. Still don’t believe they let no girls be cops, ’specially not a shorty like this one. Hell, she couldn’t stop no bad guy.”

Rose gritted her teeth, but she kept her voice neutral. “They’ve dropped the height restrictions, ma’am.”

“Humph, well I think I’ll just call anyways. What’d you say your name was, sonny?”

Skip looked confused for a beat. “Detective Jones, ma’am.”

Rose winced. Wrong name. But the old lady didn’t seem to notice.

Skip quickly continued, “Well now, ma’am, lemme ask ya this. Have ya been down in yer basement lately?”

“Hmm, lemme think. I was down there, musta been mornin’ before last. Or was that last week? I go down there at least once a week or so and clean up. I clean this house from top to bottom every week.” Mrs. Burnett beamed with pride.

“But ya might not’ve been down there since this Tuesday past?” Skip asked.

She stared at the ceiling for a minute, thinking. “Yeah, coulda been that long ago. Seems like it’s ’bout time for another cleanin’.”

“Ma’am, do you have a storage room in your basement?” Rose asked.

The woman narrowed her eyes at her from across the room. “Now why you askin’ me that, girlie? You been snoopin’ ’round here when I weren’t home?”

Rose figured that was as close as they would get to an answer and this paranoid old lady wasn’t going to let them into her basement. Time to get out of here. “No, ma’am. Thank you for your time.”

She reached behind her to open the front door. Skip stood up.

The old lady ignored Rose as she struggled to her feet. She took a couple steps toward Skip. “Thank
you
, Detective, for comin’ to see me.” She laid a wrinkled hand on his arm. “Let’s you and me ditch this girlie and go on back to my bedroom, dearie.”

Rose opened the door wide. Skip ran.

~~~~~~~~

At the hospital, they had neither seen nor heard from Phillips, which was puzzling. But Kate had decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Other than a short visit from John Bennett, the morning had been quite uneventful. She and her father were walking toward the vending machines in the small lounge near Rob’s room when she realized she was bored.

Wow, what a concept!

She was trying to select something vaguely nutritious from the snack machine when she spotted Dr. Walters headed toward them.

“So how’s our patient doing this afternoon?” the doctor asked.

“Better. He’s still dozing off and on, but each time he wakes up, he seems more like himself.” Kate hoped the doctor would agree to let him go home today.

John had told her he’d had to make good on his promise and tell the press that Rob had been found. Of course they’d have discovered this soon enough anyway. By now, the killer could very well know where to find his escaped victim. It would be easier to keep Rob safe at home, where total strangers weren’t wandering past his door. Any one of them, posing as a patient’s visitor or hospital employee, could be the killer.

Or someone paid by the killer. Kate hadn’t forgotten that Grandpa had an extra eight grand in his savings account, which probably
would
be enough to hire a professional hit man. She shuddered, then opened her mouth to broach the subject of Rob’s release.

“Good,” the doctor said. “Because I had a call a little while ago from a Lieutenant Cody. He wanted to know why I was denying his detectives access to a crucial witness in an ongoing investigation.”