“So they’re here,” Burden said as they got out of the Taurus.
They marched up to the door and were about to knock when Yeung pulled it open. “We woke his wife and sons. She went to put the younger one back to bed.”
Vail, Burden, and Dixon walked into the entryway. It was a modest home with spartan furnishings. Children’s toys littered the floor in front of an old tube television. Framed newspaper clippings of what were presumably Scheer’s early articles hung over the couch.
A woman in her late forties walked in, pulling her auburn hair back in a bun. She stopped when she saw another three cops standing in her home.
Vail, Burden, and Dixon identified themselves. Vail asked, “Ms. Scheer, do you know where your husband is?”
“You can call me Kathleen.” She bent down and began picking up the mess of toys strewn across the weathered wood floor. “What’s Stephen done now? Drunk in public again? Peeing on some homeless guy?” She uttered a pathetic laugh. “He did that once.” She stopped and put a hand to her forehead. “So embarrassing. I met the editor of the paper down at the police station and had to watch while he called in a favor so they didn’t charge him. Just a misdemeanor, but it’d be humiliating to the paper.”
“Kathleen,” Burden said. “It’s not like that. We think he can help us with a case he’s been working on.”
“Must be important if it can’t wait till morning.”
They stared at her, feeling their explanation was sufficient.
Finally, Kathleen straightened up and said, “I don’t know what you want from me. Have you checked his apartment?”
“We weren’t aware he had one,” Yeung said.
“We separated last month. I’d had enough.”
Burden asked, “Did he…abuse you?”
“He had an addiction problem, Inspector. Mostly alcohol, some drugs. He’d go through rehab, then start drinking and we were off and running all over again. It was a never-ending cycle. I finally played the only card I had. I told him I didn’t want him around our boys if he couldn’t keep himself straight. I changed the locks. He got the apartment, and hasn’t stopped calling and apologizing.”
“Can we have the address?” Dixon asked.
“It’s in Rockridge,” Kathleen said, then gave them the street and number. “Is he really a witness? Or a suspect?”
“We think he has answers to a case we’re working and we really need his help,” Vail said. The truth.
“Have you noticed any strange behavior the past couple of weeks?” Dixon asked.
She set both hands on her hips. “Now that doesn’t sound like a question you’d ask about a witness now, does it?”
Carondolet checked his watch. “Please, Ms. Sch-Kathleen. Just answer the question.”
“His behavior’s always a bit strange. I mean, people with addictions aren’t normal, are they?”
Depends on your definition. “Behavior that you’d consider outside Stephen’s norm,” Vail said.
“No. But I also have been trying to avoid him, so I’m not sure I can answer that.”
And that could’ve been his trigger. “Is he an empathetic person? Does he socialize well, form bonds?”
“Stephen does what he needs to do his job well. So he socializes when he needs to. But it’s an effort for him because he’s always been a pretty closed person. Sometimes it’s hard to get close to him. He shuts me out. And that was another source of frustration for me.”
She’s holding something back. Vail took a step closer. “Kathleen. Is there something else you’d like to tell us?” Vail held her gaze. Talk to me.
Kathleen looked beyond Vail at the men. They apparently got the message because Burden said, “We’ll wait outside.”
When the door clicked shut, Vail led her over to the couch. Dixon remained standing.
“There’s more to it than Stephen just being antisocial, isn’t there?”
Kathleen looked down and waited a moment before speaking. “Stephen has a dark side. That’s really why I left him. I mean the addiction was a big part, but…” She bit her lip. “He’s always been a little secretive, and when I’d call him on it, he’d explain it away. He’s a reporter, he’d tell me, and reporters sometimes work all hours, and go away for days at a time while they’re researching a story.
“I figured he was having an affair, but I found some…things in his locked drawer. He was in the shower and I grabbed his keys and looked. He had photos of naked women, as if he’d taken them with a telephoto lens. It looked to me like he was some kind of peeping tom. And then I found a ring. A diamond ring, from the looks of it. It could be fake, I don’t know. But it wasn’t mine, I can tell you that.”
A trophy? Or nothing?
“I put it all back then found a divorce lawyer. He doesn’t know about the lawyer, I just said I needed some time.”
“Does he know what you found?”
“I haven’t told him. I was afraid…I just didn’t even want to know what it meant. I’d been hurt enough. Once I made the decision, it really didn’t matter.”
“Thank you,” Vail said. “I know it wasn’t easy telling us that. We appreciate it.” She stood up. “Call us if you hear from him.” She handed her a card, then walked out with Dixon.
They congregated outside in front of Burden’s Taurus and Vail filled them in on Kathleen’s disclosure.
“What do you make of that?” Dixon asked.
“Maybe nothing, maybe something. The voyeurism could go with the addictive personality, or it could be more significant. Some psychopaths are substance abusers. But here’s where it’s important. Their psychopathy becomes more pronounced and they become more aggressive when under the influence. That said, what we see most of are psychopaths using drugs and alcohol to manipulate and compromise their victims-like slipping Rohypnol into their drink at a bar. Either way, given what we now know, we’ve gotta look hard at Scheer.”
“What about MacNally?” Carondolet asked. “We should have some stuff on him very soon, but I don’t think we should eliminate him.”
“Absolutely. We look hard at MacNally too.” Vail grinned. “From no suspects to two in a space of a couple hours. This is a good problem to have.”
“Let’s go by Scheer’s apartment, see what we find,” Carondolet said.
Yeung’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and said, “Mike Hartman’s section chief.” He stepped away and answered it.
“We don’t have enough for a warrant,” Burden said. “If he’s not home…”
