Casey Mayes - A Killer Column

“Did they have problems?”

“Let me ask you something. Are you married?”

To his credit, he didn’t look at me as he answered. “Sometimes it feels like I have been all my life.”

“Then you know.”

“Know what?” Zach asked a second before I could.

“There’s not a couple I’ve ever known who didn’t want to kill each other at least a dozen times over the course of a marriage, and that includes the ones who get along.”

I was about to answer that when Zach shot me a warning look. “She had to have had more of a reason than that.”

Lassiter raised one eyebrow as he said, “How about a little piece of fluff on the side?”

“Derrick was cheating on his wife?”

“Some gal named Mindi,” Lassiter said with a smile. “That’s not all, though. I happen to know that Cary wasn’t sitting at home being faithful when Duncan was out kicking it up.”

“She was having affairs, too?”

“Oh, yes. Sometimes I wondered why they even bothered to stay married. The worst part of it was, from what I heard around town, she was stepping out with somebody Derrick knew.”

“It wouldn’t be you, would it, Mr. Lassiter?” I asked.

Lassiter looked at me with the same expression that Zach had on his face. It said simply, Have you completely lost your mind?

“Lady, I don’t know who you are, but you’re out of line.”

“Perhaps it would be better if you waited in the car,” Zach said.

“I’ll shut up,” I promised, though all three of us knew there was no chance that was going to ever happen.

“You don’t have to. I’m leaving,” Lassiter said as he started to walk away.

“We’re not finished here,” Zach said.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Listen, if you want to be somebody’s advocate, you might want to try believing them when they’re telling you the truth.”

After he was gone, I prepared myself for a barrage from Zach, but he just shook his head and walked back to the car. I felt worse than I would have if he’d chewed me out.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I caught up with him. “I didn’t mean to push him. I should have kept my mouth shut like I’d promised.”

I couldn’t see Zach’s face, but when he glanced over at me, I could see that he was grinning.

“What are you smiling about?”

He ordered, “Keep walking. You might not realize it, but Lassiter is still watching us. I want him to think that I’m upset with you. It might get us another angle inside, if we play it right.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t started goading him when you did,” Zach admitted. “Savannah, did you honestly think I believed for one second that you could listen to me interview someone without interjecting? Give me a little credit, will you?”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment,” I said.

“It wasn’t meant to be. I figured you’d make a crack or two, and I wanted to see his reaction to you. I had a feeling that he was indeed having an affair with Cary Duncan, but you disproved that.”

“How so?” I asked as we got back to the car.

“Lassiter’s not all that fond of strong women, if his reaction to you is any indication. Can you imagine him putting up with Cary Duncan? One of the main questions about him was if he were capable of an affair with her, and I’d have to say no at the moment.”

“He could have been acting,” I said.

“Not the way he was looking at you. I’ve got a feeling Lassiter likes women who don’t talk back. That doesn’t mean he’s off the hook, though. If he lost the kind of money we’ve heard he did, that was reason enough to kill Duncan.”

“So why didn’t you ask him about that?”

“There wasn’t time,” Zach said. “I thought it would take longer for us to make him mad than it did.”

“Then at least I’m sorry about that,” I said.

“Don’t sweat it, Savannah. There are other ways of finding that out. At least we accomplished something.”

“What’s next, then?”

He glanced at his watch, and then said, “I think it’s time we sat down and had a chat with Mindi Mills. She seems to be at the edge of all of this, don’t you think?”

“Why would she kill him? She doesn’t stand to gain by Derrick’s death.”

“Maybe she killed him for another reason,” Zach said.

“True. If he were dumping her, it might give her motive. How do we find that out, though? I shouldn’t have let her go when I had the chance.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ll track her down and talk to her, then see how she reacts to our questions. How does that sound?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“Do I get to participate this time, or am I just going to be a puppet for you again?”

Zach hugged me before we got into the car. “Savannah, my dear sweet wife, you are a great many things, some of them so frustrating I want to howl at the moon, but anyone’s puppet, you are not.”

“Good, at least you admit that. We’re a team, you know.”

“Trust me, I’m well aware of it.”

As I drove back to the Crest Hotel, I kept wondering about all of the people in Duncan’s life who had a reason to want him dead. It made me wonder how a man could alienate himself so thoroughly from the people around him. Had he known how little he’d been loved? Had he even cared? It was hard to believe that he did, knowing the man as I had. He’d aggravated me a thousand times since we began working together, but I’d never disliked him enough to kill him.

It was clear that I was in the minority there, though.

Chapter 12

THE FRONT DESK HAD NO PROBLEM TELLING US THAT Mindi Mills was in room 1918. I would have suspected that Benjamin had something to do with it if they’d known I was the one asking.

“I’m beginning to wonder about the security here,” I said as we rode the elevator upstairs.

“What, with Derrick’s murder and all?”

“Sure, there’s that, too, but they just gave me the room number without a fight.”

“Just count your blessings she’s not staying at the Brunswick.”

“If she was, I’d just find a way to get Benjamin to tell me.”

Zach laughed. “So, apparently the security level is about the same, if you know how to work the system.”

“You’ve got a point.”

As the elevator doors opened, we could hear yelling the second we got off on the nineteenth floor.

“What do you suppose that’s all about?” Zach asked.

“Hang on a second.” We paused in the hallway, and I could make out Cary’s voice, though it was quite a bit louder than it had been the last time we’d spoken.

“That’s Cary Duncan,” I told Zach.

“How’d she get over here that fast?”

I looked at my watch. “We were at the park for nearly an hour. She had plenty of time to ditch Brady and come over here.”

Zach started creeping closer to the bend in the corridor, and I followed. We could start to make out words now, and they were rough ones at that.

“You shrew. How dare you?” That was clearly Cary.

Another woman’s voice, this one nearly an octave higher, replied, “I wouldn’t have been with him if you’d taken care of him better yourself.”

“A harem of women wouldn’t have satisfied that old goat. If you think you’re getting away with this, you are sorely mistaken.”

There was a real sense of outrage in the other woman’s voice as she said, “You’ve got some nerve. You’re the one who killed him. Everyone knows it.”

“Maybe in your feeble little world,” Cary shouted.