“Leonard Walters sent me. I’m your ride. Hop in.”
Griff thought twice about getting into the car with a stranger, but what the hell. It was cold out and warm inside, and if this guy turned out to be a serial killer, it wouldn’t much matter. Griff had nothing to lose anymore, and nothing to protect.
“Randall Falk,” the driver said, handing Griff a business card.
Griff glanced at it as he settled into the passenger seat. “You’re a private investigator.”
“Yessir. Local. Working on contract for Mr. Walters. I’m the one who worked on corroborating your story. Where can I take you?”
“I don’t know. Shouldn’t I talk to Walters? Why didn’t he come himself?”
“Oh, Mr. Walters is in Arizona by now. Big case. A mom shot and killed a chaperone at a school dance for saying her daughter’s outfit was slutty. It’s getting a lot of press.”
“I see.”
“No worries, though. The bill for his services was sent directly to your father-in-law. You’re free and clear.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, I’m not saying it wasn’t a shitload of work. I spent days tracking down leads to prove your wife was alive when you left her. I got the manager from the Pinetree Inn. People from the bar you went to that night. Your cabdriver. A next-door neighbor who’s an insomniac who saw you come home at three o’clock in the morning. The whole nine yards. Mr. Walters presented the evidence to the county attorney and the acting chief of police late yesterday, and that’s how come you’re out.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“It’s what I get paid for. Uh, so where to?”
Griff gave the address to the house on Faculty Row, not because he wanted to go there, but because there was nowhere else to go.
“Wait a minute, you said acting chief of police?” Griff asked, as they headed for the highway.
“Yessir. Owen Rizzo was relieved of duty. The new guy is Robert Womack, been on the force here for some time. Unimaginative as heck, but a decent enough cop. I don’t expect you’ll be hearing from him though.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, they’ll focus on the doctor now. They’re done with you. You have Mr. Walters to thank for that. He made sure the case imploded in full view of the press. The cops couldn’t come back to you now if they wanted to. Not even if they found new evidence.”
Griff gave him a dubious look. “What type of new evidence are you talking about? You think I did it?”
“I can’t say with certainty what happened to your wife. I know she was alive when you left the Pinetree Inn, but based on the autopsy report, that was twelve to eighteen hours before she died. They’re focusing on this doctor fellow now, but your wife was seen alone at the courthouse after she left him at the Pinetree Inn on Friday morning. Where she went after that is anybody’s guess. Nobody’s paying me to look into it anymore, so it’s not my problem.”
It dawned on Griff that for the rest of his life, people would wonder if he had murdered his wife. At least, they would in Belle River. Outside the car window, the road was gray with grit and salt, and the trees that stretched to the horizon on either side were bare. Kate had hated it here, but Griff never had. He loved Carlisle too much to hate its hometown. But now all he wanted was to go far away, and never lay eyes on this place again.
“That’s not to suggest you did it,” Falk said. “I was not implying that.”
“Uh-huh. Thanks.”
“Who do you think did it? Was it the doctor?” Randall Falk asked.
“I wouldn’t know,” Griff said, and shut his mouth tight. He didn’t want to talk about Kate’s death to anybody, let alone to this idiot, who was starting to annoy the crap out of him.
“They found her pocketbook in his car,” Falk said. “To me, that’s pretty compelling. He could say she left it in his car the night before, when they met up at the inn. But that’s not possible, because she would’ve needed the pocketbook Friday morning at the courthouse. So it stands to reason she met up with the doctor again later, on the night she died.”
“I thought you said you don’t know who killed her.”
“I said I wasn’t certain, and I’m not. But Saxman had opportunity, and he had a motive. The guy has a career and three kids to protect. If she was pressuring him to leave his wife, or threatening to reveal the affair, he might’ve killed her to stop her from doing that.”
They pulled up to the house just in time, because Griff was getting ready to punch the guy out for talking about Kate like that.
“Here we are, safe and sound. My mission is complete,” Falk said.
“Thanks.” Griff handed back the business card, but Falk waved it away.
“Oh, no, keep it. Give me a call if you get curious about your wife’s demise. I’d be willing to offer a reduced rate.”
Griff nodded curtly and ran into the house to get away from that guy. Inside, it was dark and airless, and smelled of beer and of Kate’s perfume. Thoughts of her overwhelmed him. He stumbled to the living room without turning on the lights, and collapsed on the couch in a ball, pulling a blanket over his head. A draft rattled the blinds, reminding him of the day that he looked out to see Chief Rizzo and the detective ringing the doorbell, coming to tell him she was dead.
He’d finally remembered where he’d seen Rizzo before. It was at Henry’s Bistro with Kate, on a night Griff had gone out looking for her in the middle of a storm. Figures he’d be trying to make sure she was safe, while she was busy getting it on with some stranger in a bar. Rizzo was just her type, dark and intense-looking, and she never could keep her panties on. But that was ancient history now. Griff was beginning to feel like he’d lived for a long time, that he’d seen and done everything, and that nothing had turned out right. He didn’t know what to do next, so he watched the shadows move across the room, and once it was dark, he slept.
Somebody pounded on the door. Griff sat up and peeked through the blinds. It was Jenny. Strangely, he was happy to see her, or if not happy to see Jenny in particular, then at least relieved to see another human being.
He opened the door.
“Hey,” she said, rubbing her hands together and stamping her feet against the cold. “Sorry to drop by out of the blue like this, but Keniston’s been calling and calling. He said you’re not answering your phone.”
“They confiscated it.”
“Oh, no. I’m sorry. Let me look into getting that back for you.”
“Yes, thank you. They said they would mail it, but if it’s possible, I’d like to get it right away. It had pictures of Kate on it, and I want them.”
Pity leapt into Jenny’s eyes. So she thought Kate didn’t deserve his grief. Who the hell was she to decide that? Griff started to close the door.
“Hey,” Jenny said, putting her hand on the door to stop him. “I know this is a difficult time, but I need you to come with me. Keniston went into the hospital last night, and he wants to see you. He’s at Carlisle General. Griff, he stood behind you, paid for your defense. I know it’s hard, but you should go.”