Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #3: Books 9-12 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [reading in the dark TXT] 📗

“Yeah, that kind of thing.”

“How come she’s not in today?”

“She phoned in sick.”

I frowned. “Does she do that often?”

“No. Never. It must be bad, she didn’t call in herself, got her friend to call.”

“What friend?”

Now she looked irritated. “What am I? Her mom? How should I know what friend? A friend. I guess she has friends!”

“Did you take the call?”

“Yeah, I took it. But I don’t know her friends. We work together.”

“Man or a woman?”

“A woman! Are we done now? Do I need to sack her or not?”

I shook my head. “You don’t need to sack her. Thanks for your help, and good luck with the mass suicide. I hope it works out for you.“

“Yeah, funny, man. Thanks.”

We rode the elevator down in silence and stepped out onto the Plaza. Dehan drew breath, but I held up my hand. People jostled past us. “The immediate, obvious thing is that either Jane killed Danny using the skills she learned working in special effects or Paul killed him using the techniques that he had gleaned from talking to his fiancée. They both had motive and opportunity, and possibly the means—at least in theory.”

She scowled at me. “That’s what I was going to say. Also, remember that Danny’s dad told us he had the impression Danny might be getting serious about somebody? If that somebody was Jane, it gives Paul an even more powerful motive. They argue in the car and Jane comes out with it. ‘I’ve been seeing him regularly for the last two weeks!’ You can imagine the scenario.”

I stuck my hands in my pockets and we started to stroll back toward the car. I chewed my lip. “I can and I can’t,” I said, unhelpfully. “I can also see a scenario where Danny and Jane have been getting serious and Danny tells her it has to stop because he feels bad about his ‘bro’ Paul. And I can also see a scenario where Jane comes on to him and he tells her he is getting serious about some woman we know nothing about.”

“True.”

“A woman who somehow reminds him of Dana Scully, a committed ufologist, a bit mysterious…”

We had reached the car and I walked around to the driver’s side and leaned on the roof. She leaned on the opposite side and smiled at me. It was a nice smile.

“We are missing something, Carmen. It’s driving me nuts. It’s buzzing around in my head. Something Paul said.” I opened the door. “Let’s go and see how ill Jane really is and why she took the day off work. Maybe it will come to me on the way.”

She climbed in after me and the doors slammed like two gunshots in the Plaza. She gave me an odd look. “You don’t believe she’s ill?”

I shook my head. “And I want to know who phoned for her.”

She frowned. “You think she’s done a runner?”

“Maybe. Let’s find out.”

Fifteen

As we cruised up Madison Avenue it dawned on me that we had never been to Jane’s house. I frowned and looked at Dehan. She had her elbow out the window and her hair all over her face. Two of me frowned back at me from her shades.

“Where does she live?”

“Castle Hill Avenue, across the creek from Donald Kirkpatrick.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to visualize it. “Across the creek? To the east?”

She smiled. “Only way to get across that creek is by going east, Sensei.”

And then it began to dawn on me. My mind reached back, recalling what Paul had said. Dehan was watching me.

“What is it?”

“Paul. He said…” I chewed my lip, reaching for the words, trying to grasp them and hold them. “He said he drove Jane home…”

She nodded. “Yeah. He was a gentleman. He drove her there so…”

“No, no. How did he phrase it? He said…” I looked at her a moment, then at the long stream of traffic ahead. “He said it was the longest drive of his life…”

“Yeah, you’re right. I noticed that and I thought it was odd. Donald’s house to Jane’s is maybe a mile and a half.”

“But then he said something else. ”

She pushed her sunglasses up on her head, like a medieval visor, closed her eyes and rested her head back, speaking like an android. “He laid it on the line for her. He told her she was a shallow, selfish bitch who used him and discarded him with no consideration for his feelings. Then he said she was willing to destroy him without pity, or compassion, just so she could have her little game with Danny. Then he told her to get out of his life.”

I nodded. “That’s right, then she got out of the car and he said she had the gall to run into the house crying. Then…” I looked at her and raised a finger. “Dehan, then you asked him what he did next and he said, verbatim, and I quote, ‘I continued on my way and went home…’ It could be a trivial detail, Dehan, but I think…”

I went quiet, running through the possibilities in my mind, seeing the sequence of events. Dehan watched me a while, shrugged and spread her hands. “What, for crying out loud?”

“They weren’t at Don’s house.”

“What are you talking about?”

“God!” I thumped the steering wheel. “I have been so stupid! Of course they weren’t at Don’s house!”

Dehan was shaking her head. “You lost me, Stone. Clue me in.”

“Wait!” I began to accelerate. After a moment, I said, “Paul told us he has always lived in the same neighborhood. All of them! They have all always lived in the same damned place. Paul lives at the western end of Seeward Avenue, near the top of Soundview