The Theory of Death (23 page)

“Ah, let her come,” McAdams said. “I like her company.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Don’t go there, pard, unless you really want to hear my answer.”

“Fine. Come with us. You’re way better company than he is.”

McAdams said, “I was about to say the same thing.”

Rina laughed. “As long as you are going to the farm, you might want to ask Jacob if Eli sent him a package—his research or maybe copies of what he was doing with Katrina Belfort. A lot of times, sibs keep secrets from their parents.”

Decker said, “Jacob said he wasn’t particularly close to Eli.”

“You only have Jacob’s word for that.”

“Why would he lie?”

“Misrepresent the relationship possibly. If you thought they weren’t close, you stop asking questions.”

“What are you getting at, Rina?”

“If Eli sent Jacob private stuff for safekeeping, he most likely told his brother to keep it under lock and key. Jacob’s not going to volunteer information like that. Sometimes you need to ask the right questions to get the answers you want.”

R
INA WAS IN
the backseat, half listening to one of her audiobooks, half listening to the boys, who were up front, talking business. It was nine in the morning and they were a half hour away from the Wolf farmstead. It was a pleasant forty degrees outside with a blue sky and a shining sun. Peter was driving, while Tyler drummed the dashboard nervously with his left hand. Theoretically, he had packed up for Boston, but Rina wondered if that was going to happen. He seemed way more interested in Katrina Belfort’s suspicious death than he was in passing his law finals.

“No one had the perfect alibi.” McAdams sipped coffee.

“People rarely do at three in the morning,” Decker answered.

“Ferraga and Rosser were at home, but either of them could have slipped out after the wife went to bed. Then there’s Mallon, who was at the library, but even though people saw her, no one can account for every minute of her time.” McAdams paused. “What about phone calls on her cell to verify where she was?”

“She showed me her phone,” Decker said. “There’s nothing from ten at night until she called you at three-ten in the morning. The calls could have been deleted from the phone’s software. She’d be savvy enough to know how to do it. But any call she made would still be logged into the phone-company records. Right now we can’t get a warrant to look through her log because we don’t have probable cause.”

“What about if we get her permission to look at her phone records?” McAdams asked.

“Sure, we can ask. How do you think she’ll react to that?”

“No idea. But if she agrees, it’ll help her case if she’s innocent.”

“It will definitely put her further down the suspect list. Give her a call and ask.”

McAdams made the call. It went to voice mail. He asked her to call him back, not wanting to leave a request over the phone. “Further down the list? So she’s still a main suspect?”

“Everyone who knew Katrina is a suspect because we don’t know how it happened.” Decker paused. “Katrina may have accidentally died. But she wasn’t
accidentally
dragged into the woods.”

Rina was having a hard time concentrating on the book’s narration. She gave up and pulled the pods from her ears. She said, “Do you see Mallon as having the muscle power to drag a corpse into the forest?”

“Not on her own, no,” Decker said. “She could have had help. Damodar Batra comes to mind. But like I said, no records of any phone calls from ten to three.”

“Do you really like her as a suspect?”

“No. Well, when we talked to her, she was agitated.”

“Have you given any thought to
my
theory?” Rina said.

“Sure, once you come up with a mystery woman.”

Rina thought a moment. “I still think it’s
possible
that Katrina was hiding her extracurricular activities in Mallon’s room.”

“We went over this before, Rina. Batra said that her activities would be on her computer. Why would she go about hiding papers?”

“Maybe it wasn’t papers,” McAdams said. “She could have hidden a memory stick and then erased her files so there wouldn’t be any record of them in her computer. Memory sticks would be impossible to find.”

“What’s troubling you, Peter?” Rina asked.

“I’m just thinking. It takes me a while to integrate all of your suggestions.” Then Decker said, “Everything that you two have been saying makes sense. But for some reason, I keep thinking about the ‘so-called’ suicide note.”

McAdams said, “Written on a keyboard that had been wiped clean.”

“It’s still speaking to me.”

“What’s it saying to you?” Rina asked.

“If you’re faking a suicide note, why make it sound so personal? From what we’ve discovered about Katrina, she doesn’t seem to have much in the way of personal connections.”

“That’s why it was a very badly forged note,” McAdams said.

“I have to agree with Tyler,” Rina said. “It doesn’t sound personal to me. It sounds like stock words for a faked suicide note.”

McAdams said, “The murderer was attempting to make the death look similar to Eli’s suicide. The whole thing was completely staged.”

“I agree,” Decker said. “Except Eli Wolf didn’t leave a note. Why bother with it at all? And why bother saying the pain is too much? Katrina seemed to be pretty well put together.”

“But she was doing something behind the college’s back,” McAdams said. “Maybe Rosser found out and was going to expose her.”

Decker said, “Her murder would make more sense if she was threatening to expose Rosser or someone else.”

No one spoke.

Decker said, “Katrina had to have had some kind of personal life.”

“Some people live for work.” Rina smiled. “Maybe her work was her life.”

“I’m certain she was hiding more than her sideline with the hedge funds. Mike Radar has a tech guy coming in to the station house around noon. He’s going to attempt to recover everything on her hard drive. I want to read her personal correspondence. Something … anything to tell me why someone would want to murder her.”

McAdams made a face. “I’m still puzzled why you’re so interested in an obviously fraudulent note. Why you think it’s the key to her personal life? It seems almost like a throwaway.”

“And maybe it is.”

McAdams said, “Just remember what they say about hearing hoofbeats.”

“You think I’m hearing zebras instead of horses.”

“It’s just something to keep in mind,” McAdams said.

“What do you think, Rina?” Decker asked.

“Could be Tyler’s right,” Rina said. “Then again, perhaps you live on the savanna. In that case, hearing zebras would make total sense.”

WHILE EZRA AND
Jacob Wolf were outside repairing the lambing shed, Ruth Anne had set the table with a spread: fruit, nuts, cookies, and coffee. She couldn’t quite decide what to do with her hands, so she elected to stick them in the pockets of the apron that covered her brown dress. Her blond hair was pulled back and her face wore an expression of resigned sorrow. “The coroner called us. You didn’t have to come all this way. But it was gracious for you to do so.”

Decker said, “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am, face-to-face.”

“Thank you.” She busied herself in pouring coffee. “I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days. I think …” She took a breath and let it out. “It’s all because of the accident. It did funny things to his head.”

Decker nodded.

Ruth Anne smiled. “Please sit.”

“After you.”

“Only for a moment.” The woman sat down. “Ezra and Jacob should be in soon. I’ll need to prepare their lunch.”

“Need help with that?” Rina said.

“Sure.” Another smile. “We can catch up.” She poured herself a half cup of coffee and sipped. “Good.” Then she picked up the fruit tray. “Please.”

Rina picked a bunch of grapes and placed it on a china plate. “Thank you.”

Tyler took a cookie. “I don’t think we’ve met, Mrs. Wolf. I’m Detective McAdams. I also want to tell you how sorry I am for your loss.”

“Thank you.” She paused. “We live in a very tight-knit community. Everyone has been very kind and helpful. To my surprise, no one …” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Everyone’s been remarkably nonjudgmental, especially because suicide is a sin.”

“Eli’s death is a loss for the whole community,” Rina said. “I’m sure they care deeply about your family and about Elijah.”

“I’d like to think so, yes.”

“I’m not a religious guy,” McAdams said. “I come from a privileged background. By all rights, people like me shouldn’t have a care in the world. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the rich and powerful just hanging by a thread. We’re all fragile creatures, Mrs. Wolf.”

Ruth Anne nodded and wiped another tear away. “Kind of you to say.”

At that moment, Ezra and Jacob Wolf showed up. The two men took off their boots, placed them on a mat, and hung up their heavy jackets. Ezra quickly disappeared into the house, so Jacob spoke for the both of them. “We need to wash up before we eat. Be back in a minute.”

“I’d better get lunch started.” Ruth Anne got up from the table.

“I’ll come with you,” Rina said.

Once both women were gone, Decker gave the kid a pat on the back.

“What was that for?”

“You’ve come a ways in the empathy department.”

“This is just such a sad case.” He paused. “Do you think there’s a possibility that Katrina’s murder is connected to Eli’s suicide?”

“Until we get it solved, there’s always a possibility,” Decker said. “Katrina was doing a no-no as far as the department was concerned and Eli was helping her out. Maybe he felt guilty about it … coming from an environment where ethics are stressed. Maybe it pushed him over the line. Especially with his personality changes due to the accident. Who knows how his actions interacted with his injured mind.”

Jacob reemerged wearing a long-sleeved black T-shirt and jeans, and clean socks. He said, “Thanks for coming all the way out. You know, the coroner called us already. You didn’t have to bother.”

“I wanted to express my sympathies in person.”

The kid sighed. “Well, life goes on.” He sat down. “Eli hasn’t really been one of us for a long time.”

He tried to sound matter-of-fact, but there was an overlay of harshness. Decker said, “This is Detective McAdams, by the way. He and I are currently working a case together.”

Tyler stuck out his hand and Jacob shook it. McAdams said, “The case we’re on … it involves one of Eli’s math teachers.”

Jacob picked his head up. “What kind of case?”

“A suspicious death.”

Jacob opened and closed his mouth. “Suicide or a murder?”

“It looks like murder.”

“Oh Lord.” Jacob shook his head. “That’s terrible. Is it a coincidence or …”

“I wish I could tell you.” Decker paused. “Jacob, I know that Eli had been distant from the family. But brothers sometimes tell things to each other when the parents aren’t around. I’m just wondering if maybe he said anything to you that sticks in your mind.”

Jacob shrugged.

Decker said, “Or maybe he left something with you for safekeeping.”

The boy was quiet. Then he said, “Like what?”

Ezra came back, dressed in denim farmer’s overalls. He had on a clean pair of work shoes. “I’m going to stop into Miller’s and check the mail.”

Jacob stood up. “I’ll do it for you, Dad.”

“Nah, you stay here and entertain our guests.”

“I don’t mind. Really.”

Ezra put a hand on his son’s shoulder and lowered him back into the chair. “The co-ops got a shipment of oranges in from Florida. Tell your mother I’ll bring her home a case.” He nodded to Decker. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

After he left, Decker said, “We’re not here as guests and we certainly don’t need entertaining. I hope your father doesn’t feel put upon by us showing up here.”

Jacob threw up his hands. “It’s hard to tell what he’s feeling. I could say it was because of Eli’s death, but he’s always been that way.”

The table fell silent. Jacob took a cookie and chewed it slowly. “I reckon you want an answer to your question.”

“I do.”

“The last time I saw Eli, he did give me an envelope. He told me to keep it under my bed or something because he didn’t want anyone at school to find it.”

“Did you ask him what it was?” McAdams asked.

“Of course I did. He was vague. He said something about changing his thesis and he didn’t want his teacher to know. Does this mean anything to you?”

“It’s consistent with what we’ve heard,” McAdams said. “Eli wasn’t happy with his current adviser.”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah. Okay. So he was telling the truth.”

“Did you suspect he wasn’t?”

“Eli’s been known to tell a tall tale. And he changed after the accident. I had a hard time reading him. But I’ll tell you one thing. He did seem upset … maybe ‘upset’ isn’t the right word.”

“What
is
the right word?”

“I don’t know. After the accident, he spoke more or less in a drone. It took a while to get used to it. Last time we spoke, his voice seemed more … normal. Not totally normal, not by a long shot, but a little more fluctuation, maybe. I hadn’t heard from him in a while. His voice took me by surprise.”

Decker said, “Did he tell you anything else? Take your time, Jacob.”

Jacob thought a moment and then shook his head. “Not that I recall. I suppose you’ll want the envelope?”

“Yes, that would be helpful.”

“I doubt it,” Jacob said. “It’s all math formulas. I looked at the papers after he died. I was thinking that maybe it could be a suicide note. Of course it wasn’t. I don’t think there were more than ten English words on any of the papers.”

“Do you understand anything about the math?”

“Not really, no. He told me it was some kind of analysis.”

“Fourier analysis?” When Jacob shrugged, McAdams said, “How about stochastic oscillator.”

“No, that doesn’t sound even a little familiar.” Jacob paused for a few seconds. “You know, he did tell me that he was working outside the math department on an extra project.”