PART III Chapter Twenty-two

PART III Chapter Twenty-two
Kate was waiting for Megan when she walked through their front door. Kate waited patiently before she began asking about her date. Megan was quiet and didn’t say anything at first but she knew her mother was waiting for some kind of story about the date.

Megan said, “I know you have been waiting to hear about how my date went so I will tell you. It was a nice evening and we had a nice dinner along with some very good conversation. We even talked about the cases of Susan and Shannon.”

Kate asked, “You talked about the cases on a date?”

Kate was surprised that Megan told her that and was really surprised they did it.

Megan said, “Mom, we both work at the same place and work on the same cases. He knows they are your case and is important to you. We couldn’t exactly do the usual first date stuff of asking each other about our jobs because we already know. ”

Kate replied, “I guess that is understandable. I never dated anyone from the department.”

Megan responded, “What about Sean?”

Kate said, “I never dated Sean, he was married.”

Megan said, “You two were obviously very close and acted like you were a couple.”

Kate maneuvered the conversation to change the subject back to Megan’s date. She knew how close things got with Sean and obviously Megan was smart enough to pick up on things even from a young age.

Megan said, “Jordan and I were good friends for a while before a date was ever discussed and it just seemed a natural progression for us. He said we would have to go out again so I assume he wasn’t too scared of you being my mother.”

Kate said, “The fact you were friends before is a good thing. I hope it blossoms into something grand.”

Megan responded, “I hope things happen like they are supposed to. We went out and had a nice dinner and so far that is all that has happened. I like him but I am not in any hurry to move into anything steamy until we are both ready.”

Kate asked, “Well did you two come up with any revelations about the case while you were dating?”

Megan replied, “Well just so you know, nothing we got from Tim’s office, house or car implicates him in the murders. It shows he is a womanizer and a disgusting character but not a criminal.”

Kate said, “I guess I have to start looking in a different direction.”

Megan said, “Jordan hasn’t looked through the hard drive yet and it shows signs of things deleted. He will have to recover the deleted stuff before we can go through it. He is a computer forensics expert and if anyone can recover what there is he can.”

Kate had waited up and now tired from the late hour. She was ready for bed and she told Megan she would talk to her tomorrow to finish the discussion about the date and the case. Megan told Kate she needed to stay up a while and unwind a little before bed.

Megan sat in a chair at the dining table and thought about so many things. She thought about things from her past, her mother and how close they had become. She thought about her date and the cases they had discussed. The thoughts about her date were fresh in her mind. It had been fun, they talked the whole time and there was no dead space or awkward moments. She finally decided to go to bed. She noticed the light in her mother’s room had already turned off. 

Kate was up early, having spent most of the night tossing and turning while thinking about the cases she had worked so hard to solve. She noticed Megan hadn’t got up yet and since her daughter hadn’t mentioned running with her, Kate would make this round alone. 

When Kate returned Megan was up and making breakfast. Kate told her good morning and headed in to take a shower. When she finished Megan had breakfast completed and Kate sat at the table.

Megan asked, “How was your run?”

Kate replied, “It was good, I got to clear the cobwebs out of my mind.”

Megan replied, “Jordan called me this morning and offered me a ride to work. I said yes and he will be here in half an hour.”

Megan left the table and began getting ready for work. Kate noticed she was dressed a lot nicer than usual. Kate was glad Megan was having a good time with Jordan but also wondered what the future would look like for herself. Kate hadn’t spent a lot of time by herself. She had the child version of Megan when she was growing up, then Megan was in college but she had the grown version of Megan for a while and was enjoying that.

Kate had to not get ahead of herself, she knew that Megan wouldn’t rush things and would still be around for the foreseeable future. The best idea was to take things as they come. She would simply not worry about what might happen until it actually happens. 

Megan heard Jordan pull up out front and headed out the front door. Kate looked out and saw Megan lean over and give a quick kiss to Jordan while he stayed seated behind the steering wheel of his Toyota Prius. Kate thought at least Jordan was concerned about the planet. She watched as Megan and her boyfriend backed out of the driveway and drove down the street. Kate knew she had to hurry and be on her way to work as well. 

Kate finished getting ready and was not far behind Megan and Jordan. She was going to rethink their evidence, maybe Tim had some place he could hide evidence, a place where he could rendezvous with some of the women. She knew they should look over financial records to see if they could locate an apartment somewhere. An interview with the wife might be in order as well. If she knew everything they knew about Tim, she might be willing to spill the beans on him. She knew a wife can’t be compelled to testify against her husband but maybe she might just give some information.

Kate made a call to Tim’s wife when she was certain he wasn’t there. She knew where Tim was at all times because they had been watching him for a few days. When she called Christine she just said there were some loose ends she wanted to discuss. Christine responded with some rants about them targeting Tim for no reason and they wouldn’t leave him alone. Kate wanted to show Christine the connection they made between Tim and the murdered women and other women as well. She wasn’t supposed to reveal that kind of information but if it just slipped out it would be out of her control.

The officers who had staked out Tim’s house wrote entries in their logs about a man coming and going to the house a lot when Tim wasn’t there. They were working on identifying who the man was. Kate wasn’t sure what the significance was of the man coming to see Christine. For all she knew it might be Christine's boyfriend. Perhaps she knew about Tim and this was a revenge boyfriend. 

Kate knocked on the front door of Tim’s house and his wife Christine answered the door. She invited Kate inside and offered her a seat on the sofa in the family room. The house was in an upper scale neighborhood and it was evident that Tim made a good living. Sometimes that was enough to keep wives from leaving. Kate had a notepad full of questions and was anxious to get started. 

Kate decided not to mention the man they had seen coming and going from Christine’s house, preferring to identify that man first. Kate preferred to ask questions she already knew the answer to. This interview would be to figure out how much Christine knew about Tim’s extra activities. She would save Christine’s extra activities for after they had a chance to figure out who the man was. 

Kate started with small talk to establish a rapport with Christine, beginning with identification. She asked for Christine’s full name and verified that she was married to Tim Thomas. Kate asked Christine if she knew about Tim’s legal troubles and his connection with the murdered women. 

Christine responded as if she was completely surprised but Kate sensed that she knew more than she was telling. Kate asked Christine if she knew about the string of women Tim had been seeing. Christine answered that she had suspicions but she never knew anything for sure. 

Kate spent most of the afternoon interviewing Christine. She asked about Tim’s other women, showed her some photos of the evidence they had removed from Tim’s office. Kate admitted that nothing had been found in Christine’s home nor in Tim’s or her vehicle. Kate asked Christine about any other property she may have owned with her husband, like vacation property. Christine said they had a timeshare in Florida but that was the only thing they had together. 

Kate asked Christine if she knew about anything Tim may have owned or rented that wasn’t used by the couple. Christine told her she thought the bank had an apartment they used for high end clients and Tim would have access to it. Kate made a note to get a search warrant for that apartment, then she told Christine she was finished for this time but may have more questions later. She gave her a card and told her to contact her if she thought of anything else.