“Maybe he admitted something to her, and when we came calling he got worried she’d say something.”
“So he kills her in his own bed? How does that make any sense?”
“It’s like you said, maybe he makes it seem so obvious we’ll conclude he couldn’t have done it.”
The waiter returned with their Jack and Cokes. “Your dinners should be up soon.”
Tracy sipped her drink, which was sweet, though she could still taste the sting of the Jack. She set the glass on the table, not wanting to drink too much on an empty stomach. “That’s a hell of a risk to take for a guy who, up until then, had been that careful, Kins.”
“So is having a third woman connected to you disappear under mysterious circumstances. Where there’s smoke, eventually there’s going to be fire.” Kins kept his glass in hand and sat back in the booth.
“Did Zhu say whether anybody in the building saw or heard anything?”
Kins shook his head. “Nobody else was home yet.”
“What about the businesses on the first floor?”
“Separate entrance. According to Zhu, nobody heard a gunshot. It appears the killer used a pillow to muffle the sound.”
“That’s fairly sophisticated,” she said.
“Not for anyone who watches TV.”
“Any security cameras?”
“One in the garage, but not in the elevator or the building lobby. Footage from the camera in the garage shows Megan Chen driving in and exiting her car in the direction of the elevator. Half an hour later, Strickland arrives.”
“No other cars?”
“Nope.”
“The person had to know the code to get into the building and into the loft.”
“Exactly,” Kins said. “And Chen didn’t try to run or get away, a pretty good indication she knew the killer.”
Tracy sat back, pushing her tired mind to focus. “So then why was she on her stomach?”
“Maybe she was hiding under the covers, like you said.”
“On her stomach?”
“He could have positioned her that way.”
“No way. We would have been able to tell from the blood spatter.”
Kins shrugged. “Maybe she fell asleep waiting.”
“He says he called out when he walked in.”
“Which could be a lie,” Kins said. “He could have been trying to sneak up on her. She could have also been drinking before their anticipated romp. Toxicology will answer that.”
They sat in silence again, Kins staring up at the flat screen, which was tuned to ESPN. Tracy could tell because of the distinct music—which she only heard in her house when Dan visited. The waiter returned with their food.
Kins grabbed a knife and proceeded to cut his hamburger in half. “Not that I would ever deliberately quote Johnny Nolasco,” he said, “but maybe we shouldn’t complicate this. Sometimes these things are exactly as they seem.”
“That’s the problem,” Tracy said, stabbing at her salad. “This appears to be a simple murder in what, up to this point, has been anything but simple. It seems too easy, Kins, like someone wanted it to look like it is exactly as it appears.”
CHAPTER 30
For the next two weeks, the wheels of justice turned, but Tracy couldn’t shake the thought that the death of Megan Chen was just too simple, as would be convicting Graham Strickland for that crime. And as the murder of Chen proceeded, it appeared the murder of Devin Chambers and the disappearance of Andrea Strickland—and her money—would be pushed to the back burner.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Nolasco confirmed Tracy’s concern when he entered their bull pen on a Wednesday afternoon to advise that a decision had been made—“by people with a much higher pay grade than me”—to keep the Devin Chambers matter open but only to monitor as the Megan Chen proceedings moved forward. In other words, the King County DA was going to ride Portland’s coattails. With evidence mounting that Strickland killed Chen, the Oregon DA had charged Strickland with aggravated murder, meaning he could face the death penalty. In light of that possibility, Strickland might be persuaded to seek a deal, admit to killing Devin Chambers—and maybe even his wife—in exchange for life in prison, thus saving the King County taxpayers millions in costs for a full-blown murder trial. If Strickland didn’t admit to killing Chambers, then the same powers that be would reevaluate whether the anticipated cost justified a separate murder trial. You could only kill a person once—Andrea Strickland being the apparent exception.