“Rizzo isn’t keeping you in the loop? We told him specifically to give you a heads-up.”
“Well, he didn’t, and I don’t get it. Chief Dudley would have called me first thing. Is there some reason Rizzo is keeping me in the dark?” Jenny asked.
“Other than being a dick?” Robbie said, with a grin. But he immediately turned serious. “That’s not a joke, I’m afraid. The only opinion Owen Rizzo cares about is his own. He doesn’t listen, and he doesn’t consult.”
“It’s not anything other than that?”
Robbie looked at her closely. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. That I was close to Kate and might not be objective.”
“I doubt he knows you were friends with the victim. He’s not big on learning about the town he’s policing.” Robbie paused. “I’m getting the sense you want to tell me something about the case. Is there anything I should know?”
Jenny made an effort to keep her expression blank and her voice steady. Robbie might look like a dumb jock, but he was actually a very shrewd cop, and he surely remembered the rumors that had swirled around Lucas Arsenault’s death. She didn’t need to arouse his suspicions.
“I’m trying to understand what happened to my friend, that’s all. I assume it was a suicide?”
“I’ll tell you what I know, Jenny, but it has to stay between us. Rizzo’s the type who’d come after me for leaking information.”
“It’s not a leak if you’re talking to the mayor.”
“He wouldn’t see it that way.”
She made an irritated noise. “That’s ridiculous. But you have my word, I won’t tell a soul.”
“Okay, then. To me, I agree, this death is most likely a suicide. I think we ought to wrap it up nice and quick, and spare the family the embarrassment.”
“You think that. But Rizzo doesn’t?”
“No. As a matter of fact, he’s convinced Kate Eastman was murdered.”
Jenny drew a sharp breath. “Why the hell would he think that?”
“Apparently—forgive me, Jen, this may be hard to hear.”
“Go on.”
“Apparently the autopsy says skull fracture, no water in the lungs, so she died from blunt-force trauma before she hit the water. I’m thinking, so what, right? She jumped, and hit her head on the way down. But Rizzo went and hired some fancy outside expert, who claims this particular fracture came from somebody bludgeoning her from behind. I think Rizzo likes the idea of having a murder case in town, you know. Makes him feel like a big man.”
Jenny’s hands clenched in her lap. She forced herself to unclench them, and cleared her throat, which was thick with anxiety.
“Outside expert?”
“Yeah, some famous forensics guy.”
“How did he manage that? I never saw any request for an appropriation.”
“To be honest, I don’t know where he got the money. That’s a good question.”
“Does he have a suspect?” Jenny asked, holding her breath.
“He does. The husband.”
“Griff?”
“I’m sorry, is he a friend of yours?”
“We’re not close. I’m just surprised. He was crazy about his wife,” Jenny said.
“Those are the ones who turn violent when things head south. You knew they were getting a divorce?”
“No! That can’t be true.”
“It is true,” Robbie said. “I saw the complaint. The wife’s the one who filed, so presumably she’s the one who wanted out. Some guys flip out when they get hit with divorce papers. Rizzo might have a point there.”
A divorce action against Griff? Could that explain Kate’s courthouse visit last Friday? If so, Jenny had been freaking out for nothing.
“What do the papers say? Is there anything specific about why Kate wanted the divorce?” Jenny asked.
“No, just basic irreconcilable differences. It’s the timing that has Rizzo bent out of shape. She filed this past Friday, the same day she went missing.”
“Oh,” Jenny said, and her eyes widened.
So that was definitely why Kate visited the courthouse. Jenny never considered the possibility that Kate and Griff might split, but it seemed obvious in retrospect. Aubrey made that scene at the Labor Day party about Kate and Ethan’s affair. But then the controversy seemed to melt away. Jenny figured Aubrey had decided to look the other way. She’d done that enough times before. And Griff didn’t seem to know anything about the affair. On the surface, everything was placid. They had even planned for the three couples to have dinner together in the back room at Henry’s Bistro on Friday night, to celebrate Kate’s birthday, though then they’d changed it to girls’ night out, no guys. And when Aubrey called with word that Kate was sick, they ended up calling the whole thing off.
“Rizzo thinks the husband might’ve been having an affair,” Robbie Womack said.
“That Griff was having an affair?”
“Yeah, apparently Aubrey the yoga teacher came to collect him from the station yesterday, and somebody spotted them looking pretty cozy. She’s a friend of yours, too, right?”
“No. I mean, yes, she is a friend, but Aubrey and Griff? That’s not possible.”
“Maybe it’s just Rizzo talking out of his hat.”
“That’s insane. He has it completely backwards.”
“I believe you, Jen. Rizzo’s running off half-cocked, and good people are gonna get hurt. He’s out there right now, executing a warrant on the husband’s house.”
“The house on Faculty Row? Keniston Eastman’s house?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”
“Oh, this is out of hand,” Jenny said. “I can’t believe he would do that without consulting me.”
“We told him not to. He doesn’t listen.”
Keniston had an old WASP’s horror of public embarrassment. He would be furious that Jenny had allowed things to escalate to the point that his daughter’s death would be fodder for the tabloids, that his house would be invaded and his furniture and personal effects pawed over by the police. Jenny had spent years carefully cultivating her relationship with Keniston. He was her most important patron. She couldn’t afford to jeopardize his goodwill by having the town mishandle the investigation into his daughter’s death. Rizzo was out of control, and she had to do something to rein him in.
“Where’s Chief Rizzo now?” Jenny asked.
“Still searching the house. He’s not even using Belle River officers. Doesn’t trust us, I guess. He brought the state police forensics unit to serve the warrant.”
“That’s crazy. That place leaks like a sieve. Every detail will be in the press tomorrow morning.”
“I know, it’s a problem,” Robbie said, nodding. “If I was you, I’d be very worried. I might even drive over to the search location and call a halt.”
Jenny considered whether there was any way she could stop the search of Keniston’s house before it hit the news. On the town’s organizational chart, the mayor sat above the chief of police. Unfortunately, that was in name only. Jenny had no day-to-day authority over the police department. She could vote to fund them or defund them, and she could vote to hire or fire. That was about it.