File M For Murder

FOURTEEN

“I’m Chief Deputy Berry of the Athena County Sheriff’s Department.” Kanesha stared hard at the newcomer. “Who are you?”

“Damitra Vane. Connor’s girlfriend.” Vane darted a poison-laden glance at Laura. “If something’s happened to Connor, you can bet she’s responsible.” She jabbed a finger with a two-inch nail, painted bubblegum pink, in Laura’s direction. She swayed slightly on her high-heeled espadrilles, and for a moment I feared she might topple over. She was rather top-heavy—a match for Dolly Parton, at the very least.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Mr. Lawton is deceased.” Kanesha spoke more gently than I’d ever heard her.

Damitra Vane goggled at Kanesha. “Diseased? Well, he sure as hell didn’t get it from me. I’m clean.” She scowled at Laura. “That tramp probably gave it to him.”

“You dimwit.” Laura shook her head in disgust. “Not diseased. Deceased, as in dead.”

“Dead?” Damitra practically screamed the word. She launched herself toward Laura, claws extended, but Kanesha stepped in front of my daughter. Damitra recoiled, but not quite fast enough. Her nails raked against Kanesha’s uniform, and several of them snapped off.

Townsend stepped forward and clasped Damitra’s shoulders in his almost dinner plate–sized hands. “You need to calm down, ma’am.” He guided her gently backward a couple of steps.

Damitra shook his hands loose. “You big moose, don’t touch me. I’ll sue you for police brutality.”

“Miss Vane, that’s enough.” When Kanesha used that tone, even big guys like Townsend quailed.

Damitra swallowed, her gaze focused on Kanesha like a cobra facing a mongoose.

“That’s better.” Kanesha maintained the laser stare. “Now, Miss Vane, I’d like you to accompany Deputy Townsend here. He’s going to take you down to the sheriff’s department, where I’ll be talking to you soon. I have some questions, and I’d prefer to talk there.”

Damitra nodded. I expected more attitude from her, but I reckoned she’d finally realized she was no match for the chief deputy. She darted a final hate-filled glare at Laura before she let Townsend lead her away.

Kanesha waited until the voluptuous blonde was well out of earshot before she addressed Laura and me again. “You called your father, you said.”

It took a moment for the question to register with me. Then I realized Kanesha had returned to the point in her questioning we had reached before Townsend called her away to show her the earring. And that reminded me: What was the significance of that earring? Did it somehow implicate Damitra Vane in Lawton’s death?

She had obviously been in Connor’s apartment. Perhaps this afternoon?

Laura cleared her throat. “Yes, I called Dad. I sort of panicked, I guess, and couldn’t think what else to do. Dad calmed me down and said he’d come over. Then he told me I should call 911. So I did.”

“What did you do while you waited for your father and the emergency response personnel to arrive?” Kanesha had her small notebook out again.

Laura’s expression went blank, and her right hand came up to her ear again. “I stayed on the phone for several minutes, but I finally hung up on the 911 woman. She kept badgering me to touch Connor.” She shuddered. “I told her I wasn’t going to. Then I guess I waited outside, because I was so freaked out by…well, you know.”

That disconcerted me, and I hoped it didn’t show on my face. Laura was definitely lying this time, because when I arrived she was inside the apartment. Why was she lying? My stomach started churning. I couldn’t believe my daughter was involved in Connor Lawton’s death, but her actions made me terribly uneasy. I had to get her alone to question her.

Kanesha regarded Laura in silence for a moment. I couldn’t read the deputy’s expression. Had she already picked up on Laura’s body language?

She might well have done, because Kanesha was sharp and experienced. I had witnessed her in action enough the past year to know that much.

I began to be more afraid for my daughter. If only I could warn her not to lie to Kanesha or mislead her. Then I realized the irony of that. I hadn’t always been precisely truthful with Kanesha myself, though I had tried to avoid outright lies. Like father like daughter, I reflected ruefully.

Kanesha focused her attention on me. “Mr. Harris, what about you? What did you do when you arrived on the scene?”

I needed to choose my words with extreme care. “The first thing I did, of course, was to assure myself that Laura hadn’t been harmed. Then I went inside to determine whether Lawton was still alive.” I described my actions while I was in the apartment. “Then, when I was about to go outside again, I heard the two policemen talking to Laura.”

Kanesha finished jotting in her notebook, closed it, and put it and her pen away. “Thank you, Mr. Harris. Now, Miss Harris, I’d like you to accompany me to the sheriff’s department for further questioning.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I spoke before I considered the implications of my words. Then I stumbled over my explanation. “I mean, Laura’s had quite a shock. I think she needs to go home.”

“I understand your concern,” Kanesha said. “But I’m afraid I have to insist.”

“It’s okay, Dad.” Laura moved close and threw her arms around me. Her sudden action threw me slightly off balance, and I turned about thirty degrees to the left, away from Kanesha. I steadied myself and held my daughter in my arms.

To my great surprise I felt Laura’s right hand slide inside my left pants pocket. Then she pulled her hand out and pushed away from me.

“I’m ready to go with you.” Laura addressed Kanesha with composure intact.

I hoped I wasn’t standing there with my mouth hanging open. I had to squelch the urge to reach into my pocket to retrieve what Laura had put there.

Kanesha shot me a glance with narrowed eyes. I thought she suspected there was something odd about that sudden embrace, but she didn’t question it. Instead she said, “You can come too, Mr. Harris, but you can’t be in the room during my interview with your daughter.”

“I understand,” I said. “Honey, I’ll be there to take you home.”

Laura nodded, and then Kanesha led her away. I followed them out of the courtyard onto the street and watched—stomach still churning—while Kanesha put Laura into a sheriff’s department car. When the door closed and the vehicle pulled away, I walked to my car, my mind racing with questions.

I waited until I was inside the car, though, with the air conditioner running full blast, before I delved into my pocket to find out what Laura had hidden there. The shape felt familiar. I pulled it out and opened my palm, and there it was, an ordinary computer thumb drive.

I stared at it blankly for a moment. Was this from Connor Lawton’s apartment? Was this device the reason Laura lied to Kanesha?

I’d have to wait for Laura to explain herself and tell me why she thought this thumb drive was important enough to indulge in covert action to give it to me. What was on it that she didn’t want Kanesha to know about?

After a moment I stuffed the device back in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. Before I headed to the sheriff’s department, I ought to call Sean and tell him what was going on. If Laura should need legal representation, Sean might as well be on the spot.

Sean answered quickly. “Hey, Dad, where are you? Justin said you tore out of here without an explanation.”

“Sorry about that,” I said. “But I didn’t really have time to explain anything. Are you at home now? Because I need to talk to you, and I don’t want you driving and talking on your phone.”

“I’m home,” Sean said. “Fire away.”

I leaned back against the headrest and tried to relax. My entire body felt tight and tense. “Connor Lawton is dead, and Laura found him.” Then, before Sean could start firing questions at me, I gave him a precis of the situation. When I finished, Sean didn’t respond for a moment.

“Bloody hell.” I heard him expel a sharp breath. “I’m on my way, Dad.” He ended the call before I could respond.

I tucked my cell phone away and put the car in gear. My hands trembled slightly, and I gripped the wheel more firmly. I tried not to think about Laura being arrested for murder on the drive to the sheriff’s department.

When I pulled into a parking space some ten minutes later, I was wrestling with a different question.

Why did I think Connor Lawton was murdered?

Lawton had a volatile, even violent, temperament, but he hadn’t appeared to be a manic depressive in my brief acquaintance with him. I didn’t see him as the suicidal type. Even if he was wrestling with the play and unhappy with the way it was developing, he wouldn’t end his life over it. Lawton was a fighter; I was convinced of that.

His death could have been an accident. I considered that possibility again as I walked from the parking lot toward the front door of the sheriff’s department. Alcohol poisoning? There was that bottle of bourbon near his body.

Even as these thoughts entered my mind, I had a nasty feeling that Lawton’s death was definitely murder.

Inside the sheriff’s department, the fluorescent lighting and chilly air brought me out of my reverie. I spoke to the officer at the front desk and explained why I was there. He nodded and pointed to a small waiting area. He said he’d make sure the chief deputy knew I was there.

I was at the water cooler, gulping down my third paper cup of water when Sean arrived. He strode over, the heels of his cowboy boots thudding against the scuffed linoleum. The officer at the desk glanced up, frowned, and went back to whatever he was doing.

Sean squeezed my shoulder. “How are you doing, Dad?”

“I’ve had better days.” I crumpled the paper cup and dropped it in the wastebasket next to the cooler. “But it’s Laura I’m worried about. Let’s go sit down and talk.”

Sean followed me to the waiting area, and we selected seats in the corner, as far from the front desk as possible.

In an undertone I told Sean the one thing I hadn’t shared with him during the phone call—Laura’s strange action with the thumb drive.

Sean’s expression turned grim when I finished. “If that turns out to be a crime scene, and they find out Laura removed that device, she could face some serious charges.”