Chapter Sixteen
Kate was up early but the hangover was a major deterrent to going for a run. She took running seriously and the pounding headache would impede her abilities, much the way the alcohol impeded her reasoning last night and almost let her do something against her better judgment.
She watched him sleep on the couch while she began making breakfast for both of them. She figured there was a fifty- fifty chance Sean would throw up anything he ate but she was determined to make the breakfast anyway. She thought he looked cute laying there and she knew she could have easily let things go too far. She felt thankful she stopped things from proceeding.
She knew Sean was pretty drunk last night and possibly wouldn’t remember anything that happened. Her phone rang while she was working on breakfast and Sean’s wife Haley was on the other end of the line.
Haley asked, “Have you seen Sean?”
Kate, always a stickler for the truth, answered, “As a matter of fact I have. He slept on my couch last night saying he was worried about me staying here by myself with our perp still on the loose.” Kate figured that was mostly true, Sean did say he was concerned about her staying by herself.
Kate added, “He is still asleep, do I need to wake him.” She had thought about saying that she would have to find his clothes before he could dress and come home but she decided that was in bad taste.
Haley said, “Just have him call me when he wakes.”
Kate hung up and went back to making breakfast. She could see Sean tossing and turning and showing signs of waking. He had kicked off most of his covers and Kate got a good look at his morning wood. She thought, “Pretty impressive.” She went back to cooking and trying to think about something else.
The next time Kate glanced over to the couch she caught a glimpse of Sean running to the bathroom carrying a pile of clothes with him. When he came back out he was dressed and back to normal, except for the pounding his head was getting.
Sean looked at Kate and said, “Kate, I am so sorry about last night, I was way out of line.”
Kate smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it, I have to confess I was pretty tempted but cooler heads prevailed and it didn’t happen. We just know that we can’t and we should avoid circumstances that would lead us to that point again. By the way, your wife called this morning and I told her you slept on my couch to protect me from the big bad attacker.”
Sean replied, “She isn’t going to like that much. She is way too jealous of you. She thinks we are banging our brains out anyway. I told her you are way too sophisticated for me and have no interest.”
Kate reached out a hand to touch Sean and said, “That is not exactly true, but she doesn’t have to know that. Don’t worry about us, we are good.”
Kate saw Sean slip out the back door and take his phone with him. She knew he was calling Haley. She didn’t know what Sean was telling her but that was between them anyway. When he came back into the house she had breakfast ready for each. She had plates set and handed Sean a coffee cup and filled it while he held it.
Sean sat and sipped the coffee and then nervously stammered, “I was way out of line last night, my judgment was impaired and it shouldn’t have happened.”
Kate replied, “I said don’t worry about it. You weren’t the only one out of line. We are fine, we just know we should not drink a lot if we are going to work that closely together. What did you tell Haley?”
Sean replied, “I told her I slept on the couch and you slept in your bedroom with the door closed.”
Kate said, “Decided on the truth huh? I am not so sure a little jealousy might not hurt your marriage. She is forever taking you for granted.”
Sean replied, “She didn’t say much but I don’t think she believed it anyway.”
Kate said, “Maybe I should talk to her sometime when I run into her. If I make a special trip to see her she is going to think you put me up to it. If I just ran into her somewhere it would be more believable as coming from me.”
Sean said, “Maybe we should just concentrate on solving a homicide.”
Kate said, “Before everything else happened, I had intended to interview the people on Linda Mile’s contact list. I think we should go back and start there.”
Sean said, “Maybe we should ask the family how Linda knows the people on the contact list.”
Kate agreed that would be a good start. They were only concentrating now on the males because of what the coroner told them about the amount of strength needed to leave the marks they found on the neck.
Kate picked up her phone and dialed Richard Miles. When he answered, Kate asked, “Would a family member be able to tell us how Linda knew each person on her contact list? I guess it is safe to say we are looking for someone who doesn’t belong.”
Richard replied, “Her sister probably knows who most of the people would be, I am afraid I am not home enough to know too many of them.”
Kate said goodbye and then dialed Vicky White’s number to ask for her help. When Vicky answered her phone, Kate asked if they could bring the contact list by to see if she knew who the people were and how Linda would know them. Vicky agreed and Kate told her she would be there within the hour.
Kate and Sean rushed to her car and made their way to Vicky’s house. Kate had the contact list in her hands when she went to the front door. Vicky was cordial when she answered the door and invited Kate and Sean to come in and sit.
Kate went through the males on the contact list and asked why Linda would know each one, starting with Walter Sims. Vicky smiled and said, “I hear you have had some contact with Walter Sims yourself. Walter is a wholesaler in the fashion industry. He would bring dresses in person for Linda to try on and take back the ones she didn’t want.”
Kate was making notations beside the names as Vicky gave her the answers. Then moved to the next name, Brad Levy.
Vicky said, “Brad was a personal trainer that the whole family used, including Richard and myself. We had a small gym in the house.”
Kate said, “That is a little odd that you all had a personal trainer and yet Linda belonged to a gym?” Kate made the notation about Brad with a big question mark beside it. Then she moved to the next name, Paul Kasiskie.
Vicky said, “Paul is in the wholesale auto parts business. He was a major contributor to several of Linda’s charities.”
When Kate brought up the name James O’Neil, Vicky said that he too was a contributor to Linda’s charities. She said he owned several car dealerships in the area. Kate noted the details after each name.
Kate came to her last name, Ralph Crandon.
Vicky said, “Ralph was one of our favorites. He owned a chain of jewelry stores and would bring specific pieces for Linda to examine and sometimes even keep for a day or two.”
Kate thanked Vicky and picked up her notes and the list, which was a sign to Sean that the interview was over. She shook hands with Vicky and then walked back out to her car with Sean following close behind her.
When they got in the car Kate asked, “What do you make of Linda having both a personal trainer and a gym membership? I am not sure I am buying that; I understand they have money but it doesn’t seem logical.”
Sean replied, “Maybe we should have an interview with Brad Levy.”
Kate responded, “I already put him on my interview list.”
Sean was usually a friendly guy and normally would put his arm around Kate to escort her to the car, but he didn’t today.
Kate asked, “Are you afraid to get too close now, because of what happened at the house? We have to get past this, we have to work together and we don’t need any friction between us. It is too dangerous.”
Sean replied, “I’m sorry, I guess I am unsure of what is acceptable and what would be considered too familiar.”
Kate said, “I have to know you have my back.”
Sean said, “It wasn’t your back I was afraid of. I am sorry Kate, I will try harder.”