“This is a setup. That bitch across the street set me up.” She looked hard at him.
“Look, I understand how you feel. I’m going to get you out of this mess. We have to work through the system.” Darius was sure he was going to have a heart attack.
“Trust me,” he said, almost laughing at the words that just came from his lips.
“I’m getting a very good idea about how things work around here. An hour ago I saw two guys beat the shit out of each other for a deflated bag of potato chips.” Maddie drummed her nails on the table.
“I’m not going to spell it out,” she repeated.
“Just trust me. Call
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Tori Connelly stood impatiently in the reception area at the Tacoma Police Department. Her blond hair was a halo. Her blue eyes caught the light in a way that seemed almost unearthly, so sparkly, so capable of drawing someone in. Eddie Kaminski almost blinked when he met her to go upstairs to an interview room, where Cal Herzog was waiting.
“You’ve met Cal,” he said, introducing the forensic specialist on the Connelly investigation team.
“Yes, Cal,” she said.
“How’s your leg?” Cal asked, as she sat down in the interview room.
“You look like you’re doing better. No limp.”
“Are you flirting with me?” she asked.
“I didn’t mean anything personal, just asking.” She pretended to be a little disappointed.
“I’m better, thank you.”
“What can we do for you?” Kaminski asked.
“We’ve arrested your shooter, your husband’s killer.”
“I’m grateful for the attention you’re giving my husband’s case. My case. That’s why I’m here.”
“You’re welcome,” Kaminski said.
“Anything else, Mrs. Connelly? Anything else on your mind?”
“Tori. Please.”
“All right then, Tori, anything else? I mean, if you’re here for a status update on the case, I can’t tell you anything more than I already have.” Tori nodded.
“I didn’t come here for anything other than to thank you.”
“Now that you’re here,” Cal said.
“I guess we can go over a few things that I’ve been wondering about.” She looked surprised.
“Loose ends?”
“Something along those lines,” he said, looking for his notes.
“All right, shoot,” she said, then corrected herself.
“Guess that’s not the best expression to use under these circumstances.” Kaminski shook off Tori’s attempt at disarming him with a little humor.
“About the insurance,” he said.
“You didn’t know that Parker was the beneficiary, did you?”
“My husband left me well provided for. If his wish was to take care of his son, then fine. I’m grateful to be alive.” Cal took the next question.
“You weren’t devastated by his office affair?” Tori’s eyes stayed fixed firmly on his.
“You know I was. But I’ve made my peace with that. I forgave Alex. Water, detective, under the bridge.”
“Right,” he said.
“You don’t believe me. That’s because you don’t know me. I have been through a lot in my life. I can be very forgiving.” This time Cal pushed a little harder. It wasn’t good cop, bad cop. Just Cal on overdrive.
“Are you referring to your incarceration? Or the death of your first husband?” Once again, Tori did not flinch.
“I came here to thank you. You’re treating me like a suspect.”
“Just looking for some answers ... Tori,” Kaminski said.
“My record was expunged. I’m guessing someone from Port Orchard told you. Small-town people never forget things like that, though they should. I served my time. I went on with my life, and, above all, Jason Reed’s death was a terrible, tragic accident,” she said. She reached for a tissue as if she were about to cry, but there was no evidence of tears.
“I’ve talked with the Sheriff ’s Department,” he said.
“Detective Stark?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a very good friend of mine,” she said.
“She knows what I’ve gone through.”
“What about Zach Campbell?”
“What about him?”
“His death.” Tori indicated a water bottle and Cal handed it to her.
“An accident. I told you.”
“But it made you rich.” Her face tightened a little. Loveliness turned to menace.
“I loved him. Do you really think for one second that I’d have wanted his money over his life?”
“You tell us, Tori.”
“You know I came here to say thank you. I came here because I was going away for a few days and I wanted you to know how to reach me. In case you needed any help. Talk about blaming the victim. If this rinky-dink police department had a victims’ advocate, I’d go to his or her office right now and read him the riot act.” Kaminski stood and held his hands out, as if to push down the diatribe.
“Hey, calm down. Those questions had to be asked. And they will be asked. At trial, Fulton’s people will make sure that they tie you up and run the bus over you back and forth, every which way they can. They’ll make you out to be a total bitch.” Cal wanted to interject, “Which is exactly what you are,” but he refrained from doing so.
“I understand that, Eddie,” she said.
“But you have no idea what I’ve been going through.”
“Please, call me Detective Kaminski,” he said, looking over at Cal.
“And yes, I have an idea. A pretty good one.” After Kaminski walked her to the elevators and down to reception, he returned to find Cal hovering by his cubicle.
“Jesus,” Cal said, scratching his head.
“What a piece of work that one is.”
“No kidding.”
“Only one thing I got out of that.”
“What was that?”
“She likes you. I’d watch out.” They both laughed.
“Why do you think I’ve taken up running? To get away from women like her.”
Kendall Stark stood on the Harper Dock while Steven and Cody pulled in the yellow nylon rope tethered to a crab pot they’d baited and dropped earlier that day. She held her phone to her ear and listened as Eddie Kaminski called back about the condom wrapper Lainie had found in the guest room.
“Anyway, can you cut us some slack on this? This isn’t your case and, besides, Darius Fulton’s our guy.”
“I guess so,” Kendall said, not believing her own words. The air was cool and the wind had started to blow across the water. She closed her phone.
“Catch anything?” she asked as Steven and Cody teamed up to draw in the line, hand over hand.
“I should ask you the same question,” Steven said. Kendall smiled at her husband. Steven was supportive and patient. He knew the importance of catching the bad guy, or in that particular case, the bad
“Working on it,” she said. The crab pot broke the surface of the silvery water of the Sound. Inside, a large Dungeness crab clamped onto the punctured cat food tin the Starks used for bait.
“Look, Mommy!” Cody said.
