Since she had pressed Johnny Redacker for information, she had begun to wonder more about him. At first she had trusted his intel about the Kilgore murder, but the more she thought about it, it felt wrong. He had so many details about the case-almost as if he had been waiting for someone to ask.
One hour later, she pulled up in Quarry Park near Ashburn Village. Clearly he had picked the spot because it was remote-very few people came here because it was off the beaten track.
Johnny was waiting in his car when she pulled up.
He got out and they shook hands formally. This was the first time they had actually seen each other in years and he seemed to be appraising her.
“Your father told me you had turned into a beautiful woman, but I thought he was just giving the usual Dad- is-so-proud speech,” Redacker said after a minute.
“Dad has been known to exaggerate,” Kate said.
“Well, not about that,” Redacker replied.
“Thank you. So, what’s up? I assume this is not a social call.”
Redacker shook his head.
“Look, you have to understand that I thought I was telling you the truth,” he said.
“About Mary Kilgore?”
“Yeah,” Redacker said. “I would never have deliberately lied to you, but…”
His voice trailed off. Kate looked over the park area, which felt bare. It was just a field and a few benches.
“But what?” she said.
“Look, they were quite clear,” he said. “Brown called the guys in and told us what had happened-about Don Kilgore and the marriage troubles. How the arrest was going to take place. He said there would be rumors floating around, that maybe it was something else…”
“Someone like Lord Halloween,” Kate said.
“He didn’t say that exactly, but that was the gist,” Redacker said and glanced around nervously. “He said we should tell anyone-anyone-who asked all about Don Kilgore. He said he didn’t care if that got out, but he didn't want any false rumors going around.”
“And you weren’t suspicious?”
“Of course I was,” Redacker said. “I’m no rookie. It’s just-he was so adamant. Said he wanted to keep everyone in the loop. I knew something was wrong with it, but I never thought…”
“You never thought he would lie?” Kate asked. “Come on…”
“I know, I know,” Redacker said and sat down at one of the benches. “I know it seems stupid. But it isn’t like it used to be in the old days. And when you called…”
“You didn’t know if you could trust me?” Kate asked.
“Maybe that was it,” he said and shook his head. “It just caught me off guard. And I didn’t know what to say. All I had was a vague feeling of unease. I didn’t know anything specific.”
“And now you do?”
“There is no case against Donald Kilgore,” he said. “Brown must have known it. The marriage problems were real enough, but the guy was half-way across town with another woman at the time of his wife’s death.”
“And you know that?”
“Not officially,” he said. “But there is no way the case against Kilgore will stand up in court. Some of the stuff we gave your reporter, it wasn’t… It wasn’t for real. I’m pretty sure Stu made some of it up.”
“Jesus,” she said. “That could get him fired. False arrest, falsifying documents…”
Redacker waved his hands in the air.
“Do you think that matters?” he said. “You’ll never nail him down. Who gave the reporter the documents? Would he turn his source in? Stu isn’t a brilliant guy, but he is far from stupid. If you try and come after him, you won’t get far.”
“Why the deception?”
“I think you know.”
“I need you to tell me,” Kate said. “This isn’t something to just assume.”
“We don’t know anything for certain,” he said.
“Just tell me what you do know,” she said.
“Mary Kilgore? Let’s just say she didn’t seem like she was murdered in the heat of passion.”
“Give me details,” she said.
“Look, I don’t think…”
“Details,” Kate said.
Redacker put his hands up.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said.
“Consider me warned.”
“She was killed slowly,” he said and looked away from her. “Whoever did it had at least basic medical training and knew how to cut someone without killing them. The doctor couldn’t be positive, but all indications are that he started cutting while she was still alive and conscious.”
“Jesus,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry that I know the truth?” she asked. “I asked you. Goddammit, I asked you if it was him. And you lied straight to me.”
“Kate, it wasn’t that simple,” Redacker said.
“It seems that simple to me,” Kate said.
“We still aren’t sure it is Lord Hal…”
“Bullshit!” she said and stood up. “How can you sit there like that? One person is dead. I don’t know where he has been or what he has been doing, but he is back. I knew it.”
“You can’t know that,” he said. “Your dad and I think it was really Holober. This could be a copycat.”
“It’s not,” she said.
“You don’t know,” Redacker replied.
“I feel it, Mr. Redacker,” she said. “Call it an intuition or superstition, but I feel it. And you do too. You don’t believe this for a second. I know you don’t. I doubt my Dad does, either. But you are so anxious to fool each other and yourselves…”
“Maybe that’s why I told you what Brown asked us to,” he said. “I just…”
“You don’t want it to be true,” she said and looked across the field. A cold wind blew across it-she crossed her arms and shivered. Winter was coming, you could feel it in the air. “Did you find a note?”
“Brown and Stu said Donald Kilgore was just trying to throw us off the track,” he said. “He was trying to make it look like Lord Halloween.”
“Do you think that’s true?” she asked.
He paused. “No,” he said.
“What did it say?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know,” Redacker said.
Kate turned and stared at him.
“Mr. Redacker, I need to know I can trust you,” she said. “I don’t have many allies here. And I can’t trust you if you keep lying about this. I know you are trying to protect me, but you can’t. I’m older. I chose to come back here, remember?”
“Why? Your dad would freak…”
“You can tell him what you want, but you’re right, he would freak,” she said. “But I’m not leaving. Things are just getting started.”
“But that’s crazy. You don’t need to be here. If the guy is out there, we will catch him,” Redacker said.
“You didn’t before,” she replied.
“You know we tried,” he said.
“But it didn’t really cut it, did it?” Kate said. She felt her fingers twitch and gritted her teeth. “I need to know I can trust you. Can I?”
“Yes,” he said, but he put his head down.
