“I think Emily Perkins took them with her. The backpack and afghan must have traces of her DNA, and after she stabbed him, probably his blood.” The detective looked at me to see if I was following what she said.
“Right, so they would tie her to the crime,” I said. Detective Heather walked around the yarn department.
“I can’t believe I’m actually asking for your help, but I really need to find that backpack and afghan. The murder weapon would help, too,” she muttered. “She let me look around her place, which makes me think she knew I wouldn’t find anything. Any ideas?”
We threw ideas back and forth for a moment. I suggested she might have thrown the knife by the side of the road or in a trash can. But Detective Heather nixed the idea. “I don’t think she’d take the chance of dumping it. I think she has it stashed somewhere. Keep your eyes open.”
She had stopped in front of a bin of rust-colored mohair. She picked up a skein and turned it around in her hand.
“That color would look good on you,” I said. She turned toward me and seemed surprised. My comment was personal—girlfriendish—and all of our dealings had always been on the adversarial side. For a moment she let down her guard and held the skein up near her face.
“You really think so?” I nodded and she gathered two more skeins.
“There’s a lot of tension in my job and knitting helps.” She caught herself and went back into professional mode and finished up our interview. After she left, I saw her take the yarn up to the cashier stand. The color really did look good on her.
Even though it was late when I left the bookstore, I went over to Dinah’s. I was pretty sure the news media was parked in front of the Perkins’ now that he was dead. I wasn’t up for dealing with trying to sneak past them. Besides I needed to sort out everything that had happened.
I expected Dinah was having some kind of aftermath from the day, too. I knew I was right as soon as she opened the door. She had a frozen, stunned look on her face. I hadn’t realized it until now, but this was her first body.
We hugged each other and just stood there for a few moments. Then we collapsed on her couch and leaned against each other for support. With the kids there, she’d decorated and the house seemed festive with the lighted tree. The kids had made another chain from construction paper and it hung over the windows. The usually clear dining room table had crayons and art supplies spread over the top. There was a foam dreidel and a jar of gold glitter. For a moment I forgot my heavy heart and thought back to the fun of making holiday decorations with kids.
“It didn’t hit me at first,” Dinah said. “I just kept going through the motions. I picked up the kids and apologized for being late. I ordered pizza and let them watch a video. Somewhere around then I started to fall apart. I kept seeing Bradley lying there.” She shook her head as if trying to get rid of the image.
I told her about Detective Heather’s little visit. “She’s decided Emily Perkins is the guy,” I said.
“Well, she is, isn’t she? We saw her with him. And then he was dead.” Dinah said.
“I agree she had motive. The man left her with a mess. And she had means. His knife provided that. And as for opportunity, she get’s points for that, too.”
Dinah noticed me hesitating. “But you don’t think it was her, do you?”
“I agree all arrows point to her, but I don’t want it to be her,” I said.
Dinah got it. I had helped Emily get the afghan. If she had killed him, I was somehow involved. “If Emily didn’t kill him, then who did?” Dinah said, bringing up the obvious question.
I had been thinking about it. “There’s no shortage of people angry enough to want to do him in. The very top of the list is Logan Belmont. He not only lost his money but his reputation as well. Nicholas said he’d lost some money. He didn’t seem that upset, but it could have just been a cover. And what about Bradley’s sister? Who knows what’s going on with her. And you could throw in a bunch of other people.” I mentioned the woman on the news who’d lost her life savings.
“Okay, but you might have noticed there was no one up there but the four of us,” Dinah said.
I thought a moment and was about to say she had a point when I remembered something. “There was someone else,” I said excitedly. Dinah seemed surprised and wanted to know who. “I forgot all about it until now. Remember the person on a mountain bike who rode past us?” I said.
Dinah processed the information and her face lit up with recognition. “You’re right. Was it a man or a woman?”
I admitted I hadn’t really noticed. They’d been moving fast and from the back all I remembered was a helmet and dark clothes. We discussed the fact that the biker had seemed to have gone past us, but we realized they could have left the road ahead and doubled back on a trail without us seeing them. “Suppose they waited until we left, and Emily left and then made their move?” I said. Dinah nodded in agreement. I commented that it was pointless to mention any of this to Detective Heather. She had settled on Emily being the killer and nothing was going to change her mind.
“All Detective Heather cares about is gathering evidence and building a case against Emily. I bet she keeps working on her, trying to get her to confess,” I said. Dinah agreed and said something about Detective Heather being relentless.
I mentioned the girlfriend moment with Detective Heather and Dinah chuckled. I got up to leave. “It’s been a killer day,” I said.
“You can say that again.” Dinah stood and walked me to the door. She seemed to have something else on her mind. Dinah was a direct person; that was how she dealt with her students, by just confronting the problem and telling them to knock it off. Her hesitancy to speak seemed odd. Finally she sighed.
“I don’t think it’s going to work out with Commander.” She sounded wistful. I shut the door and we sat down again and I asked what the problem was.
“He was supposed to come over tonight. It wouldn’t have been the best night anyway, but he canceled. He can’t seem to understand why I am involved with my ex-husband’s kids with another woman.” Dinah leaned back and looked at her hands. “Who their parents are isn’t the point anymore. I care about the kids for themselves.” Dinah left the rest hanging, but I knew what she was thinking. We weren’t teenage girls anymore, where you dumped anything or anyone that got in the way of your boyfriend. No more pretending to like anchovy pizza, even if it made you gag, just because he did. No more changing to suit someone else. “Maybe he’ll come around,” I said. I had an idea and presented it to her. “What about this?” I said. “Maybe he’s upset because he feels like he’s getting pushed off to the side. Why don’t I babysit for you one evening and you go out with Commander—just the two of you.”
My friend’s face brightened as she accepted my offer and I finally left. All the way home I kept thinking about Emily and Bradley. Everything did point toward her being the murderer, didn’t it?
CHAPTER 22
STOPPING AT DINAH’S HAD ONLY PUT OFF THE INEVITABLE. No quiet street tonight. The news vans were out in force and a clog of people were in the street in front of the Perkins’ house. As I got closer I saw the lights trained on each of the reporters. Obviously Bradley’s death had hit the news and they were preparing for live reports for the late broadcast. As I pulled in my driveway, the attention turned in my direction and I saw several of the reporters rush over. I drove up quickly and parked in the garage, ending their pursuit. Ryder was probably out there in the midst of all the excitement.
It was a relief to get inside. The dogs made a fast trip outside before I called them in and fed them. The light was flashing on my phone, and when I checked, there were messages from Barry and Mason. Both messages were pretty much the same—they’d called my cell and I hadn’t answered. Please call.