Shades of Passion

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

IT WAS DARK BY THE TIME Simon had Rita Taylor under police protection and was able to get back to SIG. Once there, he went straight to see Commander Stevens.

He told him everything—about the cards Nina had received, the mutilation of her cat and the seeming connection between those two things and the murders of two homeless men. Then he told him about Rita Taylor’s statements.

When he was done, Stevens looked as shell-shocked as Simon felt.

“What have you heard on Davenport?” he finally asked.

After talking with Rita Taylor, Simon had once again contacted the authorities in Charleston. The officer he’d talked to said they’d just been about to call him with a report on Davenport. They’d tried contacting Davenport at his home several times, but on each occasion, his house had been empty. In addition, they’d checked with his place of employment, a local landscape company, and verified he’d called in sick for the past three days. So far they hadn’t been able to find him.

“Davenport’s neighbor has said she saw Davenport in Charleston earlier this week. I’m not buying it. I think Davenport was here on Saturday morning and put that letter underneath Nina’s entry mat. I think he killed Nina’s cat on Monday. And if that’s true, he probably killed the man murdered in the park today, as well.”

Stevens sighed. “Well, you’ve done all you can tonight. You can start fresh tomorrow. Check additional flights out of Charleston. Whether Davenport has any documented connection to the murder vic or even Louis Cann. Keep in touch with your contact at the Charleston P.D. That kind of thing. Is Ward still with Dr. Whitaker?”

“Yes.”

“And will she continue to stay with her?”

Simon hesitated. Shook his head. “I’m going to relieve her. I need to talk to Nina. Find out whether she might know anything about the murder victims. I’ll make sure she has protection.”

“Right,” Stevens said again.

“She can’t shadow me tomorrow.” Simon didn’t form it as a question.

“Damn straight she can’t,” Stevens agreed. “Shadowing you isn’t a priority anymore and neither is Dr. Whitaker’s proposed program. There’s her safety to think about now. Plus, whether it’s related to her or not, we’ve got two murders to solve.”

“They’re related to her. They have to be. I just don’t know how yet.”

“So you think Davenport might have been responsible for Cann’s death? Even though the initials weren’t part of the killer’s signature?”

“Both victims stayed at Welcome Home. It’s a coincidence that can’t be explained otherwise. I’ll simply go with it for now. Can’t hurt given we’d hit a dead end in the Cann case anyway.”

“You said you’d seen tonight’s victim before and he appeared mentally ill to you?”

Simon rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes. And when I talked to her, Elaina Scott implied she thought Louis Cann had suffered from PTSD.”

“So that seems to be another connection to Dr. Whitaker. The victims are both homeless, but also both mentally ill. She treats people with mental illness. I think you’re right. There’s a connection there. Find out what it is.”

“I will. I—” Simon abruptly frowned as he remembered something. Something Elaina Scott had told him. And something he’d seen at the shelter on that damn bulletin board. “The day I visited her, Ms. Scott had just met with a doctor. A woman who’d just begun pro bono work at a nearby crisis center. Scott described the clinic as the drop-in variety. There’s probably more than one. I think I saw a flyer or two for clinics on the shelter’s bulletin board. It’s possible both victims saw the same flyer and attended the same clinic. Hell, for all I know, Nina does that kind of pro bono work and saw both of them.”

“But that still doesn’t explain the initials. Why on one of the men and not on the other. Why—if they stand for Beth Davenport—why Lester Davenport felt compelled to carve the initials into a man and a cat.”

“It could be the idea for the initials came to him afterward. Doesn’t mean he’s not good for both murders. Or...” Simon’s brow furrowed as he reached for other possibilities. “Lester Davenport hates Nina because he blames her for his daughter’s death. If Nina treated the men, killing them would hurt her.”

“And if she never treated them? Doesn’t even know them?”

“I don’t know. But what else killed his daughter? Apart from Nina’s alleged role in things? Who or what else could he blame?”

“His daughter killed herself.”

“Because she was sick. What if in some twisted way he thinks that by killing homeless men—mentally ill homeless men—he’s somehow eradicating the type of sickness that took his daughter from him?”

“So who they actually were was irrelevant. It’s the sickness he’s trying to kill. Again, it’s a stretch, but it’s good thinking, Simon. Keep thinking outside the box. I have a feeling it’s the only way you’re going to solve these cases.”

Simon looked at his watch. It was almost 9:00 p.m. “I need to get to Nina, sir.”

“Spend as much time as you need with her tomorrow. Consider her just another lead in this case. If she’s connected to the victims, even if she doesn’t consciously know it, you need to explore it. And if you don’t think you can be objective here, Simon, I need to know that right now.”

“Sir?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m assuming that after working with Dr. Whitaker for three days, you’ve come to like her. Can’t blame you, of course. What’s not to like? But you need to maintain your objectivity. I haven’t once heard you consider the fact she might know something about these murders and simply isn’t disclosing it.”

The idea of Nina lying to him about something so important floored him. “There’s nothing to indicate that.”

“Not much, maybe, but I disagree that there’s nothing. She showed up pushing this MHIT program right when our public relations problems began. And right around the time Cann was murdered. We let her in close, and all of a sudden she’s linked to it? And a subsequent murder, too?”

“What are you saying? That Nina is somehow orchestrating all this to make us look bad? So she can manipulate us into giving her program the green light. That’s ridiculous!”

Stevens ran this hand through his hair, suddenly looking weary. “I agree. Nonetheless, the theory has been posed.”

“By who?” Simon exploded.

Stevens frowned. “By me. I don’t buy it, but I’m not ruling out anything. As I said, one of us has to stay completely objective here, and something tells me that person isn’t going to be you. Am I wrong?” When Simon didn’t answer, Stevens sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Just follow every lead, Simon. Every. One. If you can’t do that, I’ll put someone on the case who will.”