Jonathan Kellerman - A Cold Heart

“Serious about what, Ms…”

“Cranner. Stephanie Cranner. Ev told me you’d been asking him lots of questions about Julie. That you probably suspected him because he was the ex.” Her hand rose toward the bruised cheek, then stopped and dropped into her lap. “That’s ridiculous.”

“He told you we suspected him,” said Milo.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” said Stephanie Cranner. Pleasant voice- youthful, lilting, but strained by anxiety. Everything about her radiated youth and health. Except the bruise.

“Did Mr. Kipper do that to you?”

The brown eyes dropped. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. It has nothing to do with Julie- not her murder, anyway.”

Milo slumped, made himself as small as possible, nonthreatening.

Stephanie Cranner sat up straighter. “I’ve got to get back to the office.”

“You just got here,” said Milo. “Usually you take forty minutes for lunch.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’ve been watching me?”

He shrugged.

“That’s outrageous,” she said. “I haven’t done anything. I just happen to be in love with Ev.” A beat. “And he loves me.”

Milo eyed the swollen cheek. “First time he’s done that?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Ah.”

“It is,” she said. “Absolutely the first time. That’s why I don’t want to make a big deal. Please.”

“Sure,” said Milo.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

He made no move to leave.

She said, “May I go now, Lieutenant? Please?”

Milo swiveled, eased himself a little closer, made eye contact. “Ms. Cranner, I have absolutely no desire to make your life difficult. I work Homicide, not Domestic Violence. Though I should tell you, the two aren’t always unrelated.”

Stephanie Cranner gaped at him. “This is unbelievable. You’re saying…”

“I’d be less concerned about your well-being if I knew what happened.”

“What happened was Ev and I had… words. A fight. It was my fault, I lost it. Got physical and started shoving at him, kept shoving, really shoving hard. He took it for a while, then finally he shoved me back.”

“With his fist?”

“With his hand,” she said, showing Milo a smooth palm. She wore two rings on each hand. Cheap stuff- thin gold, semiprecious stones. No diamond solitaire.

“His open hand did that?”

“Yes, it did, Lieutenant. Because I was charging him and the movement- all the force, we collided. Believe me, he was a lot more upset than me. Got down on his knees and begged forgiveness.”

“Did you grant it?” said Milo.

“Of course, I did. There was nothing to forgive.” She thumped a firm bosom. “I started it. He was defending himself.”

Milo sipped iced tea and let several moments pass.

“Lunching alone, today,” he said.

“He’s in a meeting.”

“Ah.” Using the old shrink word, again. After riding Alex about it for years, he’d found it a useful tool.

“He is,” said Stephanie Cranner. “If you don’t believe me, you can check.”

“And you were in the mood to be alone.”

“Is that a crime?”

“What got you so upset that you shoved him, Ms. Cranner?”

“I don’t see why I have to talk about it.”

“You don’t.”

“Then I won’t.”

Milo smiled.

She said, “You’re not going to let go of this.”

“I’ve got a job to do.”

“Look,” she said, “if you have to know, the fight was about Julie. Which is exactly why you’re wasting your time looking at Ev.”

She folded her arms across her chest, looked smug. As if that explained it all.

Milo said, “You lost me, Ms. Cranner.”

“Pu-leeze,” she said. “Don’t you get it? Ev loved Julie. Still does. That’s what ticked me off. He loves me but he also- he can’t get Julie out of his head. Even with her being… since she died, he can’t…” A blush spread from her neck to her hairline, a reaction so sudden and deeply pigmented that it appeared cartoonish.

“Since she died he can’t what?” said Milo.

Stephanie Cranner mumbled.

“Pardon?”

“You know.”

Milo said nothing.

“Shit,” said Stephanie Cranner. “Me and my big mouth.” Her fingertips grazed his sleeves. She batted her lashes and flipped her hair and shot him a sick smile. “Please, Lieutenant, don’t tell him I said anything about… please don’t tell him, he’d…”

She stopped herself.

Milo suppressed his own sick smile, knowing what had been coming. He’d kill me.

“He’d be unhappy,” she said, too emphatically. “I had no right to tell you, you’ve got me to say things I don’t mean.”

“Let’s leave it at this: Since Julie, Mr. Kipper’s changed.”

“No. Yes. Not just in that way. Mainly emotionally. He- he’s distant. It’s all part of the same thing.”

“Emotionally,” he said. Another shrink’s trick. Echoing.

She said, “Yes! Ev cared for Julie so much that he can’t put her out of his mind and… give himself over.”

She drew back her arm, hurled the remaining piece of pretzel across the plaza. More of an assault than altruism; pigeons scattered. The mustard-crusted dough rolled, teetered, came to a halt.

She said, “I knew about Julie when I started going with him.”

“Knew what?”

“That they still saw each other once in a while. I was cool with that. I figured it would fade. And Ev tried. He wanted to give himself to me, but…”

She blinked away tears, put on her sunglasses, showed Milo her profile.

“They kept seeing each other,” he said.

“It was nothing sneaky, Lieutenant. Ev was always open about it. It had always been part of the deal.” She turned abruptly, faced Milo, again. “Ev loved Julie so deeply that he couldn’t let go of her. There’s no way he would have done anything to hurt her, let alone kill her.”

He managed to keep her there for another fifteen minutes, shifted the topic to her work and learned she was a U. grad, working as a secretary while she studied, nights, for a Pepperdine MBA. Smart, with big plans.

Seeing herself and Kipper as a potential power couple in the financial world.

She gave him nothing more about Kipper and Julie. He handed her his card.

She said, “I really have nothing else to tell you.”

Figuring she’d toss it the moment he was gone, he left the plaza, amazed that someone so young and good-looking and bright would accept the contingencies Ev Kipper had saddled her with.

Probably something to do with her own upbringing, but that was Alex’s world. Back in his unmarked, he phoned Alex at home, recounted the interview.

Alex said, “I’m inclined to agree with her.”

“That level of passion? Julie and Kipper get divorced but nine years later Kipper can’t let go? His feelings for her are so intense that once she’s dead, he can’t get it up? Doesn’t all that imply an unhealthy emotional situation, Alex? Toss in Kipper’s temper- and now we know he acts out physically- and doesn’t that add up to an explosive situation? Like I told Cranner, domestic violence and homicide ain’t strangers.”

“I’m not saying Kipper couldn’t have lost it and gotten violent with Julie. But that’s not the crime scene we’ve got. Julie’s murder was thought-out, cold and calculated just like all the others. Stalking, an optimal kill site, the use of a preselected weapon, pseudosexual posing. If Kipper had done it, he wouldn’t have demeaned Julie. On the contrary, he’d have arranged her body in as dignified a manner as possible. The only thing that would get me to change my mind is some link between Kipper and Erna Murphy. Also, the same type of guitar string was used on Julie and Levitch. That would mean Kipper murdered Levitch to cover for Julie. And that sounds like a bad movie.”