He opened the office door and motioned for her to leave. “I’ll follow you out.” They walked quietly through the house. He started talking again when they were outside. “I’d never be able to explain it all. The hitchhiking, the motel stop, the bikini. Makes me sound obsessive.”
“Some might jump to that conclusion.”
“It was a mistake to bare my soul to you. My emotions overcame me. Although I do feel relieved after unloading all this. After seeing the police report, this seems to be an unimportant case for them. I’m waiting. Maybe it won’t play out the way you say. I’m not trading a possible crisis for a certain one.”
“You’re absolutely making the muddled choice once again.”
When they got to her car he said, “I realize she was manipulating me to some extent.”
“To some extent? Freddy, she was molding your libido in her hands like soft clay.”
“There you see? Being a woman, you understand what was going on in her mind. In many ways, she kept telling me the rules. I didn’t want to understand the rules because that would have left me hopeless. I kept living on that hope.”
“And that hope pushed you beyond reality.” She needed to maintain his cooperation. Possibly, he would change his mind and come forward. “There are times when a woman must play keep-away regardless of who the man is or whether she likes him.”
To Sandy’s way of thinking, what he’d described as mere infatuation easily rose to the level of a fanatical obsession. And he still didn’t seem to realize it was fateful. With such intense passion, perhaps it was inevitable that something dramatic would result. Nothing good could have come from it.
“To me she’ll always be a beautiful puzzle that I failed to solve.”
“You fell in love with her.”
“Pretty much.”
Chapter Twenty-six
While driving back to Park Beach, Sandy continued to digest the fascinating Kidde versus Betty Jo adventure. She now knew more about what had happened last November leading up to the beach scene than any other person. More even than Kidde. She was the only one who had access to the official facts from the police investigation, the schizoid thinking of Toby, and now the emotional perspective of Congressman Kidde. He would never again share the sensual details of his fantasy journey with anyone. She was certain of that.
She definitely felt a curious connection with the victim. A strange sisterly empathy with ill-fated Betty Jo Hodges. Not with the exotic dancing part, and not with the issues that apparently remained with her because of George. But an understanding of her attitude and reactions after riding for hours fending off the impassioned congressman. Sandy could look unemotionally at the saga of Freddy Kidde; he was unlikely to ever gain insight into his behavior and comprehend what went wrong.
She regretted her failure to persuade him to come forward. He was making a mistake, she thought. Although she had provided some amateur psychotherapy to him, it was uncertain whether the information he disclosed would help solve any of her own problems.
She hit Dial #1. Chip agreed to meet her at the Coffee Spot on the beach. He also admonished her to stop using her phone while driving. Can’t get the cop out of the guy, she thought.
Within the hour, they were in the Coffee Spot with its red-topped chrome stools and old-time diner decor. They first were acquainted there and it became their favorite rendezvous place. Chip had parked his unmarked vehicle next to her MX-5 behind the building and entered through the kitchen. They took their favorite rear booth with Chip facing the front door as usual. The waitress recognized them and was on the way with the thick mugs of coffee before they had settled in.
“It was sad, Chip, watching a man confess to human weaknesses that he himself doesn’t understand.”
“It’s sad enough for a man is to confess to the weaknesses he is aware of.”
“Freddy...we’re on a first name basis now...also had difficulty understanding his foolishness.” She blew on the hot coffee and sipped. “I felt sympathy and pity for him at the same time. You were right, Chip. The beach body was a stripper after all. She was stranded and Kidde picked her up in Virginia. They stopped overnight but it was plutonic, no thanks to him. Even separate motels. The stop at the beach was innocent, on the way to her mother’s home in Fort Lauderdale. Then it gets weird. Toby had spotted them when they got gas in Jacksonville and followed them down the beach. Toby saw her choke to death. This is all according to Kidde of course.”
“So he claims she was a stripper hitchhiker and not his mistress. I don’t buy that, sounds like a cover story to me. Why wouldn’t a stripper go for a big-deal congressman?”
“That’s what he would like to know. You’d believe it if you listened to his pathetic story of abject frustration.”
“And Toby followed them so he could rob them.”
“My, what a suspicious nature you have. I’m telling you this isn’t your routine Florida small town murder mystery. So, Toby gets one look at her in Jacksonville and was overcome with a severe case of the hots. After she choked, Toby wanted Kidde out of there so he could play around. He talked Kidde into leaving her in his hands, so to speak. Kidde took off. Toby stayed behind. Supposedly waiting for the police to show up.”
“Now I’ve got it,” Chip said. “So, Toby finds out Kidde’s identity—sees him on TV or something—and demands hush money. But Kidde didn’t do much wrong. Why did he pay Toby?”
“He absolutely positively didn’t want to be connected to a naked dead woman. Sure, he exercised bad judgment in not coming forward the next day when he learned she was abandoned. Would that be a crime?”
“He could claim he assumed the police arrived as expected.” Chip shrugged. “I know you want me to keep silent about all this. But Moran might just close the Privado Beach body case now with this new information. Why would Moran go after Kidde? It’s a nothing case of failure to report. Kidde is powerful and Moran wants to run for senator. He’ll need Kidde on his side.”
“I told Kidde that. For now, please withhold the info. I may have to divulge it later if he doesn’t come forward.” She motioned for more coffee. “Want to hear something horrible? The woman had been raped before at age eighteen. By a family friend. She didn’t press charges. And then this happens. If I believed in curses, I’d say that woman was cursed. And once again the evil perpetrator won’t be punished.”
“Drop it, Sandy. No doubt it was Toby, the fanatical way he was telling you about movies and magic pills. He went at that body like a shark smelling bloody water. Too bad he didn’t meet his fate earlier. But providence has punished him, if you want to think of it that way. Anyway, everyone has lost interest. Give it up. It’s all been investigated. You’d better worry about yourself now.”
“I’m going to try to deal my info to Moran. Get this. Abby showed up at Kidde’s house and told him not to worry about Toby anymore. That’s more than a hint she was going to do away with Toby. She wanted the blackmail scheme all to herself. There’s your motive. The police have already found the ten grand in Abby’s house. So Moran can possibly add blackmail to her charges, if not murder.”
“So you think you’ll give this to Moran and he’ll be so grateful he’ll drop the charge against you? I don’t think so.”
“All this makes it clear it was indeed Toby who Abby intended to shoot that night at her house. She yelled his name as she fired. Therefore, Abby’s attempted murder of Toby over money has absolutely nothing to do with me. And that also makes shooting Bruce Banks a mistake having nothing to do with me. Ipso facto, I didn’t conspire. The defense rests. The charge against me has to be dismissed.”
“Not bad. Get to Moran fast and have the deal come through your attorney. It’d kill Moran to say yes to your face.”
“You’re right. I need to get to Kagan on this immediately. Moran could call him at any time.”
She dialed Kagan. “Jerry, we’ve got Congressman Frederick Kidde involved in this right up to his designer necktie. Yes, that’s who I said. We finally have something to deal to Moran. You’ll need to meet with him as soon as you can. Let’s get together tomorrow and I’ll fill you in. Right now I’m going to give you the abbreviated version.” She continued talking to Kagan for another ten minutes.
Chip finished his coffee. “You had me check out Kevin Olin. You suspicious?”
“He asked me out for drinks to discuss the case. Thought I'd check for a record. That’s all.”
“Isn’t he trying to get custody of his daughter? You know, the noncustodial parent has been known to kidnap
