He figured a little guilt trip might go a long way.
“Oh, all right.”
She opened the door. Maya Perlman was dressed in gray slacks, a light blue shirt, and sandals.
She motioned him in and closed the door. They sat in the living room, where the walls were the same color as her slacks.
“Is your husband around?”
“He’s asleep. The trip took a lot out of us, and he’s quite a bit older than I am. Second marriage,” she added in explanation, not that Decker had asked for one. “So, what is it that you need?”
“Do you know if Judge Cummins was seeing anyone?”
“Seeing anyone, you mean as in dating?”
“Yes.”
She sat back and let out a long breath. “After the divorce, Julia hunkered down, as it were. She and Barry had it bad the last few years. Lots of fights and arguments. She tried to make it work, she really did, but Barry had some sort of midlife crisis and thought he was twenty again. Right after Julia went on the bench there was some big tax issue because Barry had done something that, if not criminal, went right up to the line. After that, Julia was done.”
“Yeah, I heard all that from others. And after she hunkered down for a bit?”
“I know she used one of those online dating apps. She had a few dates from those. None of them worked out, at least that I know.”
“I’m sure she would have attracted interest around here.”
“You’d think. But lots of older men like to be the center of attention and they also like to be the ones with the money. And her being a judge probably didn’t help matters. They also like to be the professional king as well. And the men who don’t care about any of that? Well, they bring their own issues.”
“Getting her to fall for them so they can raid her piggybank?”
“Exactly.”
“So, anyone she might have just run into somewhere and seemed to like? Or someone she ran into and it became a problem?”
Perlman sat forward, looking nervous. “You mean a big enough problem that he might have killed her?”
“The crime did have elements of being one of passion, of rage. You don’t usually get that when someone is just trying to rip someone else off. And it’s hard to fake, because, well, to do to Cummins what someone did? You have to be pretty damn angry.”
She shuddered and sank back against the chair cushions. “Julia did tell me about someone she had known from her past. I mean, her past before she came here.”
“Who?”
“Someone from New York. That person moved down here, while Julia was still married. After she was divorced, they went out for a while. It didn’t last, but...”
“But what?”
“Well, Julia was upset when she spoke about it. She said he seemed very controlling.”
“Do you know his name?”
“That’s just it. I don’t. She never told me for some reason, which was odd. She just spoke generally about it. And then it was over, and I never asked any more about it.”
“Do you know who might know?”
“Doris might. She and Julia were very close. Closer than Julia and I were, at least lately. I think it might have been because I’m married and they were both divorced.”
“Okay. Next question: Did you know the judge’s secretary, Patty Kelly?”
“Just in passing. I never appeared before Julia, for obvious reasons. Why?”
“Just needed to ask.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe this has all happened. It’s like a nightmare that you can’t wake up from.”
“So, Alan Draymont? Do you remember him guarding you?”
“I believe that he did, yes.”
“I need something more definitive than that. Were you able to find those emails from Gamma with the security personnel on them?”
“Yes, I can forward them to you.”
He gave her his email address. “Thanks. That should confirm whether Draymont guarded you.”
“Anything else?”
“Not for right now. You two will be in town for a while?”
“We were planning to be. But with a murder right next door?”
“Well, if you do decide to go somewhere, can you let me know first?”
“Why? Wait a minute, we’re not suspects, are we?”
“We checked with the airlines. They confirmed you had flown to New York and returned after the murders.”
“We were visiting my grown children from my first marriage. They both live there. They can certainly confirm we were there the entire week.”
“Okay. But I might have to ask you some more questions.”
She held up her phone. “Well, that’s what we have this for, isn’t it? With it, you can reach me pretty much anywhere on earth.”
She rose. “Good night, Agent Decker.”
Chapter 38
“Mrs. Kline?” Decker was knocking on the woman’s door again. “Doris?”
He took a step back and peered up at the face of the house. Her car was still in the driveway. He tried the door, but it was locked.
He walked around back and opened the gate. The upper deck where Kline had been sitting when she noticed Cummins’s door open was unoccupied. He opened the door to the lanai and froze.
In the pool water something was floating. Or someone.
Shit.
He stepped onto the lanai for a better look. It looked like Doris Kline; he couldn’t tell for sure. She was facedown.
He rushed forward, knelt down, and grabbed her arm.
She came out of the water, screaming her head off, until she saw who it was.
A stunned Decker let go of her arm and fell back on his butt on the pool surround. Kline went under but came back up a moment later, sputtering and spitting out water.
When Kline saw him sitting there, she exclaimed, “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I was meditating. I meditate in the water.”
“Facedown, at this time of night?”
“My house, my rules. And a shrink I once dated told me about it. It’s like being in one of those floater tanks. Well, I can’t afford that, so I just use my pool. I float on my back and then flip over and hold my breath. I’m hoping it will improve my lung function. And you’re lucky because I usually do this in the buff.”
“Stopping smoking will really improve your lungs.”
“I’ve stopped more times than I can count.”
She climbed up the pool steps, revealing she had on a one-piece bathing suit with a short skirt. She dried off with a big towel that had been set on one of the chairs, then wrapped herself in it and sat down at a table. In front of her was a glass with what might be gin or vodka.
She took a pack of cigarettes off the table and lit one using her Zippo lighter. She blew smoke out, held up the drink, and said, “You want one? You can’t be on duty at this hour.”
“You got any beer?”
“In that fridge over there.”
He snagged a Corona from a small fridge set up in the outdoor kitchen, popped the top, and sat down across from her.
She said, “Now, would you care to explain what you’re doing here and why you thought it was a good idea to try to give me a heart attack?”
“I’m sorry about that. I came by before and knocked but you didn’t answer.”
“I’ve been on the lanai for the last hour. I like to come here at this time of night. It’s so dark and quiet and peaceful.”
“I was over talking to Mrs. Perlman. She didn’t have the answer to something and thought you might.”
She blew smoke out. “Okay, shoot.”
He told her about the man Perlman had mentioned who had come here from up north.
“She said they dated for a bit, and when it ended, Julia was... troubled? Do you know anything about that?”