File M For Murder

TWENTY-FOUR

Motor oil, I thought. How very strange. Was Laura’s attacker a mechanic? This certainly bore more thought. Who among the people associated with Connor might be around motor oil?

“That’s an unusual scent,” Kanesha commented. “Does it bring anyone you might know to mind?”

Laura shook her head slowly. “Not that I can think of. That really is weird, isn’t it? Motor oil.”

“At some point, you might remember something else.” Kanesha tapped her notebook with the pen. “Can you think of any reason why someone would attack you?”

Laura glanced at me, her expression one of mute appeal. “Damitra Vane has accosted Laura at least twice that I know of,” I said. “I wouldn’t put it past her to attack my daughter physically.”

Kanesha faced me. “Miss Vane was at the sheriff’s department when the attack took place.” She turned back to Laura. “Who else?”

Once again Laura’s eyes sought mine. I took a seat at the table, and Kanesha’s eyes narrowed as they focused on me. “The attacker might have been after something in Laura’s possession.” My stomach knotted as I spoke. This wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Like what?” Kanesha frowned at me.

“This.” Laura had the thumb drive in her hand, extended in Kanesha’s direction. Her hand trembled slightly.

“Place it on the table.” Kanesha stared hard at Laura as she did as the deputy asked. “What is it?”

“It was Connor’s,” Laura said. She paused for a deep breath. “He backed up all the files on his laptop on it. Have you found his laptop?”

“No, we haven’t. How long have you had this?” Kanesha’s tone was harsh.

“Since yesterday. Connor asked me to keep it for him.” Laura focused on the table as she lied to the deputy. “He was kind of paranoid about anything happening to it.”

I frowned at my daughter. What did she think she was doing? Taking the thumb drive from the scene was bad enough. Now she was compounding the act by lying about it.

“Could I have a paper towel to wrap this in?” Kanesha directed her request to me, and I hastened to comply. She took the paper towel and wrapped the thumb drive in it, then tucked it into one of her pockets.

“Thank you,” she said to Laura. “I wish I’d had it sooner, but I reckon you weren’t in too good a condition to think about it before now.”

Laura smiled faintly. “No, I wasn’t.” She still wouldn’t look at me.

What should I do? I wondered. Rat out my daughter and tell Kanesha the truth? How would Laura react if I did such a thing? I was annoyed with her for putting me in this position, but I decided that, for the moment, I’d have to go along with her.

“Have you looked at the files on this thing?” Kanesha patted her pocket.

“No, I haven’t.” Laura placed subtle emphasis on the pronoun, and I wasn’t certain whether Kanesha picked up on it. “Was Connor murdered?”

Her blunt question startled me, but Kanesha didn’t appear bothered by it. “We have reason to believe he didn’t die naturally, and I’m currently treating this as a murder inquiry.”

I waited to hear further details, but I should have known better. Kanesha wouldn’t tell us one jot more of information than she wanted us to have. I had thought all along that Lawton had been murdered, and now I was even more worried for my daughter’s safety than before. I started to ask Kanesha about protection for Laura, but she forestalled me with another question.

“Did Mr. Lawton have any enemies that you’re aware of?”

Laura appeared to be tiring rapidly. She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes as she answered. “Not enemies per se, but he definitely had people angry with him.”

“Like who?” Kanesha had her pen and notebook poised to write.

I decided to answer for Laura. The sooner this ended, the better. She needed rest. “Ralph Johnston for one. He was upset with Lawton yesterday over the way Lawton was behaving during the workshopping session. He even threatened to go to the president of the college to try to have Lawton’s contract cancelled.”

Kanesha frowned at me, whether in irritation over my answering instead of Laura I didn’t know. “What happened during this workshopping session? And what is it?”

Laura answered before I could continue. “The actors read their parts so the director—Connor, in this case, and he was also the playwright—can hear how it sounds onstage.” She shrugged. “Connor was up to his usual behavior—histrionics, yelling at the student actors, at me, you name it. He wasn’t happy with anyone, least of all himself.” She finally looked at me. “Dad, could I have some more tea?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” I jumped up to make the tea for her.

“I’ll need a list of everyone who was at this session yesterday,” Kanesha said.

“I’ll have to look at my class roll for all the names,” Laura said. “I haven’t learned everyone’s surnames yet.” She paused. “I don’t seriously think any of the students are involved. They barely knew him.”

“Maybe,” Kanesha said. “But they’ll all need to be interviewed. Who else disliked him?”

“Damitra Vane.” Laura grimaced. “She probably didn’t dislike him. She’d go on and on about how much she loved him and he loved her. But Connor didn’t, and didn’t want to be involved with her. But she wouldn’t leave him alone.”

I set Laura’s mug of tea in front of her, and she slipped her hands around it with a faint smile of thanks for me. After a moment she lifted it and had a few sips of the tea. Her face regained a bit of color.

“What about you?” Kanesha slipped the question in so smoothly that at first I wasn’t sure I’d heard it.

“Me?” Laura paled slightly. “I didn’t dislike him. He annoyed the heck out of me, sure, but I was used to him. I didn’t let him bother me.”

“You were engaged to him at one time, I believe.”

I wondered where she got that information. After brief reflection I decided Damitra Vane must have told her.

“Yes, I was. But I ended it a few months ago.” Laura drank more tea.

“He got you the job here, didn’t he?” Kanesha leaned forward in her chair, her gaze intent on my daughter.

Laura shrugged. “Yes, he did. He knew I was between gigs, plus he knew my dad lived here. He could be kind, you know.” She blinked away sudden tears.

“Were you still in love with him?” Kanesha’s tone had gained an edge.

Laura’s reply was sharp and short. “No.”

“So you had no motive to harm him?” Kanesha sounded harsh.

“No, I didn’t.” Laura’s eyes flashed as she responded. “He drove me nuts sometimes, but I’d never harm him permanently.” She stood. “I’m not feeling very well. I want to go lie down.”

“Thank you, Miss Harris.” Kanesha set her notebook on the table. “That’s all for now. I will probably have more questions for you later.”

Through all of this Diesel had remained silent—so silent, in fact, that I’d forgotten he was there. Now, however, he made his presence known. He meowed loudly as Laura bade the deputy good-bye and followed her out of the room. Her pace was slow, but steady. She appeared tired but able to make her way upstairs on her own. Diesel stayed with her.

Kanesha reclaimed my attention. “Now I have a few questions for you, Mr. Harris.”

“Sure, go ahead.” I braced myself. What should I do if she asked me about that dang thumb drive? I was going to have quite a talk with my daughter, and soon.

“Tell me about this morning,” Kanesha said. “How you came to find your daughter and what you saw.”

I drew my lightly scrambled wits together and focused on what the deputy wanted. I spent the next several minutes taking her through the events of the morning from my perspective.

When I finished, her first question focused on Laura’s olfactory memory. “Did you smell motor oil?”

“Not that I recall. I think if I’d smelled anything like that on Magda Johnston, though, I’d remember it.”

Kanesha stood. “I think that’s it for now.”

As I escorted her out of the kitchen, I brought up the subject I’d been concerned about ever since I found Laura unconscious this morning. “I’m worried that whoever attacked Laura will try again.” We stopped at the front door.

“You have every right to be.” Kanesha looked grim. “We don’t know yet what the attacker was after. It could have been random, but I don’t think it was. Until we know for sure why your daughter was assaulted, you do need to be concerned for her safety. I’ll talk to the police department to see if there’s anything they can do to keep an eye on her. In the meantime, keep her home as much as possible, and if she has to go out, make sure she doesn’t go alone.”

“Thank you, Deputy,” I said as I opened the door. “Anything you can do to keep her safe, I’d appreciate it.”

“That’s my job.” Kanesha stopped on the doorstep and fixed me with her laser stare. “Just one more thing, Mr. Harris. I know your daughter’s lying to me about something. And I don’t like that, not one little bit.”

She turned and headed down the sidewalk toward her vehicle.