you misunderstood. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking of anything like that.”
She stared at him. Loved his steely eyes. He appeared contrite, so she cooled a bit. “This is how it is. I’ll scurry around questioning anyone who cares to answer me. If they don’t want to talk to me, they can say no. You see, you don’t get to say no for them in advance. As for my authority, you can check that with the Supreme Court. Are we done here?”
He handed her license back. “I’m being straight with you, Miss Reid. We have some real problems here and don’t have time for this. If you interfere in any way with my investigation, I’ll deal with you. And I’m the one who gets to define interference, not you. If you don’t like it, you can debate the judge regarding the Supreme Court, and why you think you have a constitutional right to mess around in police business.”
“Nice try, Detective, but my personal problem trumps your job problems. You’re holding my brother for a crime he didn’t commit. On the day of the murder you couldn’t just let him wander away, I realize that. But by now, you should have crime scene reports, lab reports, and plenty of evidence that points elsewhere. Would you like to make a bet? Would you? I’ll bet my ability to set fire to the media against your evidence. We’ll see which of us folds first.”
'You’re not going to push the police around.”
'I'm not pushing.
He frowned. “You really think you can handle this crime stuff, don’t you?”
“Don’t feel bad. Big-city Philly didn’t know what hit them either. You better get this tiny burg ready for me. Why don’t you admit you don’t have enough evidence to deny him bail? He’s new in town. He doesn’t know all those people he named in his statement and how they’re connected. How could he possibly come up with that Loraine in a thong? That whole setup had to come from her, just as he told you.”
“Our investigation is—.”
She interrupted, “If you guys think if you can’t find the real killer you can always fall back on my brother, forget it, it ain’t gonna happen. You’ll love reading my interviews and watching me on TV. Innocent people will be embarrassed and everyone will wonder how the hell the guys with badges let things get out of control. I can get real loud.”
“Sounds like a threat.”
“Of course it’s a threat. Geez Louise, what do you think we’re doing here?”
She turned her back to him and leaned far over the convertible’s door to lift her briefcase off the seat. She could feel his eyes on her. She stretched out farther and took longer than actually necessary. No question in her mind where his eyes were and no chance he would forget her. She straightened and slowly walked into the real estate office.
Chapter 12
Thursday morning at eight, the chief was getting his first coffee and Goddard sat thinking about his encounter with Reid’s sister. You can ignore some people, they just blend into the background noise, and some you need to deal with. Sandra Reid didn’t give you any choice. She had so easily placed herself right in the middle of the case, his case. She was so quick to blaze away at the slightest imagined offence. Yet somehow, it seemed refreshing coming from her. Not bad looking either.
“What are you grinning about, Chip?” The chief settled in behind his desk.
Goddard recalled what Sandra Reid had said about her brother’s statement. “Think about it, Chief, we catch Reid, and he’s spouting off a bunch of names in a scenario he couldn’t possibly have put together on his own.”
“So overnight you’ve lost interest in Reid. What happened to change your mind?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that he doesn’t know all these people and how they relate. How could he possibly dream up a tale of Loraine Dellin in a thong? I keep coming back to her. She and Reid have sex—her ex-husband is shot.”
“I get your point, but Reid does know
“But he mentioned Sonny Barner too. Barner’s at the bottom of the social visibility scale. How did Reid know the guy even existed?”
“Okay, you’ve got me on Barner. Oh, you should know they’re taking away Reid’s loaner cellphone today. Moran told me he got nothing from the tap. Reid phoned his sister up there, his boss down here, and that’s pretty much it.”
“I don’t think Moran has ever gotten anything useful from his cute loaner-cell phone trap.”
“Loraine Dellin phoned me late yesterday,” the chief said.
“Really? What’d she want?”
“Don’t know, I had already left. She left a callback.”
“I’ve got to get her statement. Even without the sex-with-the-killer angle, the ex-spouse is always at the top of the suspect list. Why don’t you call her back now? Tell her you’ll send me over there to let her know about the investigation. Imply that it’s a courtesy call. If I can get her talking, maybe we can get some unrehearsed answers. Such as, did she actually tell Reid all that bullshit? Also, does she admit to sex with Reid? Maybe eliminate her as a suspect and nail him. She’ll be a little off guard because she doesn’t know what’s in Reid’s statement. Okay?”
“Okay, except for one thing. Loraine Dellin has never been caught off guard in her entire life.”
***
Detective Goddard sat at one of the white round tables on the enclosed white porch that ran across the back of Loraine Dellin’s white house, watching her arrange a teak tray with glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. From the porch, he could see out to the patio and pool area and on across to the spacious backyard. Sliding glass doors connected the porch to a family room and kitchen area. Another glass door opened from the porch into the living room. Nice location, sitting on what passed for a hill in Florida. From the second floor, there was a slight ocean view.
He knew this house, had played here as a child back when she and Al were first married. Towson was entering politics and this porch had been a popular gathering spot. As he recalled, she received this house in the divorce settlement. Back then, the house was all bright and sparkling. Even allowing for his exaggerated childhood impressions, the place seemed sullied now.
Harsh sunlight flooding the porch didn’t enhance Loraine either, but he had to admit she was in good shape. He tried to picture her in a thong as Reid had claimed, but the image wouldn’t come. He couldn’t imagine she’d actually wear one, but if she did, yeah, he’d probably look twice. “Do you use the pool much?”
“Ah, the interrogation has begun. I noticed you checking me out. I assume you’re asking do I work out to keep in shape. Yes, daily at the Club.”
He remembered her from before he went off to college. His father had just made police chief. Al Towson had just won the mayoral election. He won in spite of her cleverly exaggerating the bitter divorce proceedings into a major campaign distraction. She would have preferred to stay married and play the mayor’s wife, but it didn’t happen for her. Sabotaging his campaign seemed the next best thing. Goddard was uncertain what she had been up to the last few years.
“Must be expensive to keep up a place this size.”
“Is that code for my house appears shabby? To tell the truth I’ve been putting off some maintenance because a lot will be changed during the remodeling.”
“Big plans?”
“Yes, I’ve decided to put a major amount of money into renovations.” She passed the tea. “Everyone calls you Chip, right?”
Of course, she knew his nickname. She had called him Chipper and wiped his runny nose right here on this porch.
