Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Sidekick. Purrfect Deseit. Purrfect Ruse [calibre 5.14.0]

“She doesn’t seem to think very highly of her stepdad, Max,” said Dooley.

“No, clearly she doesn’t,” I agreed.

“Look, I opened that safe only once, all right? And I never opened it again. I mean, what am I going to do with a gun? I can’t even shoot. Besides, guns kill people.”

“I thought that maybe you took it for your boyfriend?”

“What boyfriend?” asked Suzy, suddenly suspicious.

“Darryl?”

“Who?”

“Darryl Farmer. I know he was your boyfriend, Suzy. I talked to Todd Park this morning, and he told me all about it. And so did Lucy Hale, Darryl’s girlfriend before you entered the scene.”

“Okay, so fine. Darryl was my boyfriend.” She grabbed the box of Kleenex and moved it closer to where she was sitting. “But he never asked me to take that gun, okay? Darryl wasn’t into guns. Like, at all. In fact he was as anti-gun as a person can possibly be.”

“Some kids like to play a game,” said Odelia, cutting a quick glance in my direction.

The girl gave Odelia a suspicious frown. “What game? What are you talking about?”

“The game is called shoot a homeless person. So I thought—”

“You thought I would be involved in something like that? You are crazy, lady.”

“Not you, necessarily. But maybe some of the people you know—the people in the rave scene.”

“No way,” said Suzy, shaking her head adamantly. “They like to party and have fun, but not at the expense of others. And they would never use violence against anyone, most definitely not people who are less fortunate. No, you’re way off base now, lady.”

“Okay, all right. It was just an idea. So if your stepdad didn’t kill that man, and your friends didn’t, then who?”

Suzy shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea.”

“Who had access to that gun safe, apart from you and Karl and your mom?”

Suzy thought for a moment. “Honestly? If you put it like that, then it’s almost obvious that Karl killed that guy, isn’t it?”

“Do you believe that he killed him?”

Another shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe he did.”

“But why? Why would your stepdad suddenly go and shoot a person?”

“For kicks? Just like you thought me and my friends would? I mean, Karl has issues, Miss Poole. Here’s a man who lived with a cat in the house for years, even though he hates cats and he’s allergic to them. So maybe he hates homeless people, too, and decided to start killing them, one person at a time? Who knows what’s going on in that goofy head of his. But one thing I can tell you: I didn’t kill that man, and my mother didn’t, so by the process of elimination it stands to reason that Karl did, right?”

“Do you think that maybe Karl was so scared to lose his kids that he’d kill to protect his visitation rights?”

“How should I know?” She glanced out the window for a moment, then added, “But it’s definitely a possibility. Karl is crazy about those stupid brats. And I think he’d do just about anything for them.”

“Even murder?”

Suzy gave Odelia a pointed look. “Absolutely.”

Chapter 26

Odelia was back at the precinct. Kathleen Bunyon’s desperate plea had touched a chord but before she took on her case she wanted to look into Karl Bunyon’s eyes and hear it from the man’s own lips that he was innocent.

So she now sat in the interview room with the suspected killer accountant and it soon became clear that the man had no idea what was happening to him, and he was completely and utterly stunned to find himself in this predicament.

“I didn’t do it, Miss Poole, you have to believe me,” he said, wringing his hands. His left eye was twitching and he looked as close to a nervous breakdown as anyone could possibly get after spending a night in the precinct lockup.

“So what do you think happened?”

“I have no idea!” He scooted forward in his chair. “Look, I know I did a terrible thing, abducting those cats, but this murder business? I had absolutely nothing to do with that.”

“Your wife seems to think that Grace might be involved. That she took your gun from the safe and used it to murder an innocent man and put the blame on you.”

“Grace? Murdering a homeless man?” He frowned at this. “I don’t think she’d be capable of such a thing, Miss Poole. Grace has a mean streak—it took going through that awful divorce for me to discover that about her, but murder? I very much doubt she’d be capable of such a thing.”

“So what about Suzy? Is it possible she took your gun and gave it to some of those raver friends of hers?”

He shrugged. “Suzy and I get along, but that’s as far as it goes. She’s never really taken a great liking to me. I suspect she thinks I’m not the right man for her mother. Then again, Suzy was crazy about her dad, and she probably feels I pushed him out of the picture, which she resents me for.”

“She admitted that she knew the combination of your safe, and that she took a peek inside. So it’s not a big stretch to imagine that she would have taken your gun.”

“But if she did, wouldn’t her fingerprints be on the gun? Did the police say anything about that?”

Odelia sagged in her chair. “The only fingerprints found on that gun are yours, I’m afraid, Karl. But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s possible Suzy used gloves, and so did the person who shot that homeless person—our John Doe.”

“Would she be smart enough to think about such a thing?”

“Nowadays? With all the cop shows on television? Sure.”

Karl looked down at the table, a forlorn look in his eyes. “I’m really in a big mess now, aren’t I? I already heard from my ex-wife’s lawyers. They’re going to launch some kind of emergency procedure to have my visitation rights revoked once and for all.”

“Grace isn’t wasting any time, is she?”

“No, she’s got a perfect opportunity now, and she’s not going to waste it.” He tapped the table for a moment. “So do the police know who this man is? This John Doe that I’m supposed to have shot and killed?”

“Not yet. They’ve distributed his description to other precincts, and asked local TV stations to launch an appeal. So let’s hope someone recognizes him and comes forward.”

He gave her a wan smile. “Thank you, Miss Poole. Thank you for being in my corner. You’re just about the only one, I’m afraid. My former colleagues have all dropped me.”

“Your former colleagues?”

“Didn’t Kath tell you? I lost my job. Yeah, they’re not wasting any time either. Didn’t even wait to find out if I’m innocent or guilty.”

When Karl had been returned to his cell, Odelia decided to drop in on her husband, to see if there was anything new to report.

“As a matter of fact I do have a bit of news,” said Chase as he rubbed his eyes. “We finally have a positive ID on our John Doe.”

“You do? That’s great news! So who is he?”

“Well, a guy came forward who calls himself Charlie, though I doubt whether that’s his real name. He’s also a homeless person, and says that our guy called himself Pete.”

“Pete.”

“Yeah, Pete. And listen to this. According to Charlie, Pete owed him money. In fact Pete owed a lot of people a lot of money. Turns out Pete wasn’t just broke, he was also heavily in debt.”

“That’s interesting. So do you think it’s possible one of the people Pete owed money to might have killed him? Maybe this Charlie person, even?”

“Well, Charlie was seen wandering around the neighborhood where the Bunyons live, and it is conceivable, though highly unlikely, that he might have broken into the house, and it’s even conceivable, but even more unlikely, that he could have taken Karl Bunyon’s gun. But still, we’re really clutching at straws here wouldn’t you agree, babe?”