Code 61 - Donald Harstad [87]
“Sounds that way,” said Hester. “You really think that's likely? Not the roof,” she added quickly. “But, I mean, if you kill her away from the house, why drag her back at all? Why not leave her there?”
“Oh, maybe because you'd rather have the cops looking at suicide, instead of a missing person. If it was a suicide, we sure wouldn't pry as much as a missing person case.”
“I don't think so,” said Hester. “To deliberately cast suspicion, you should kill her there. Otherwise, even a dumb cop is going to figure out that she was done elsewhere, and there goes your plan.”
“I'll try not to take that personally.”
“Sorry. Didn't mean it that way.” She chuckled. “So all we have to do is prove who killed her, and why, and then we can explain the evidence.”
I glanced toward her and smiled. “Simple, no?”
We drove in silence. Hester had her attaché case opened, and as I drove, she was leafing through our preliminary reports, as well as the reports of everybody else at the scene who'd had to write one. As I turned into the Mansion drive, she stacked the papers neatly, closed her case, and said, “I've got another question, that just might at least have an answer attached.”
“That'll be a relief.”
“Okay, now you're going to have to go with the flow here.” She leaned her head back against the headrest, and shut her eyes. “We've had a total of two runners: Toby and the Unknown who is probably Peel. Right?”
“So far.”
“We have no idea what Toby was up to, do we? I mean, he said he was running to get away from Peel, who was a vampire. Isn't that it?”
“Yep. That's what he said.” I slowed, to give us time to finish the conversation.
“But you don't believe him, do you?”
“Toby,” I said, matter-of-factly as we crept up the drive, “is a lying sack of shit.”
“Oh, yes,” said Hester, sounding happy. “He sure is. Now, then, hang on. We have the elusive Mr. Peel trucking out the very same door, and also into the woods, right?”
“Yep.”
“Now think back,” she said. “Don't we assume that Toby was just trying to get away, for whatever reason?”
“Yeah. I think we can do that.”
“And don't we think Toby's a general screwup, when it comes right down to it?”
I chuckled. “Oh, we do, we really do.”
“Now, and jump with me here, we also think that our Peel dude was fleeing, as well, and basically just trying to get away. Right?”
“Okay … ”
“But what if they were not running so much away from something, as running to something?”
I didn't answer for a second. Then, “And Toby is so much of a fuck-up he couldn't find it in the dark?”
“You got it.”
“Damn,” I said. “Damn. I think you might be right.”
She sat up straight, eyes wide, and said, all perky, “Oh, I am. I know I am.”
“So now, we just have to find where?”
“That's it,” she said. “If we find that, I'll just bet we find out a lot more at the same time.”
Time being short before the wake, we knew we were going to have to target one particular individual first. Did we do one of the innocuous ones first, or go for one who would produce a useful effect that we could use later? We decided to go for the latter.
“So, who first?”
She thought a second. “You think that Holly, a/k/a Huck, is the strongest personality up there?”
“Well, her or Kevin. She strikes me as the more stable one.”
“I'll go with Huck,” said Hester. “I think Kevin might be her most enthusiastic follower, though. And he might be her 'muscle' with the rest. Strong ally, you know.”
That seemed possible.
“So,” I said, “we concentrate on Holly slash Huck for our break?”
“Don't you think?” said Hester.
“Well, sure,” I said with some spirit. “Unless it turns out we have to concentrate on somebody else.”
It's nice to have a plan.
We relieved the two reserves that were stationed just outside the gate. They were curious about why we'd been summoned to the base of the