Casey Mayes - A Killer Column

Murphy smiled a quick, wry grin. “You win. For now.”

As he started for the door, his mood suddenly changed. “Jennifer, until I can run down a few leads, don’t take any chances. It would be good if you had someone with you at all times.”

“You’re not worried about me, are you?” she said.

“It just makes sense not to take any chances.” Murphy looked at Zach and said, “You’ll look out for her, right?”

“You can count on it. Let me know as soon as you hear anything about the bear.”

“Will do.”

After he was gone, I asked Jenny, “Why wouldn’t you let me answer his question? I’m sure someone had to have seen me with Kelsey today.”

“Don’t assume anything.”

“I was there,” I insisted.

“Did you shove her in front of a bus?”

I looked at her as though she’d just lost her mind. “Of course I didn’t.”

“Then don’t make Murphy’s job of railroading you any easier than it has to be.”

I looked at Zach. “And what’s with you? You were actually nice to him there at the end.”

“It was about a different case. We all know I have no official standing here. He’s not obligated to tell me anything about what he finds out about Jenny’s stalker. I need his goodwill on that one.”

“And no one else sees a conflict between the two issues?”

Zach shook his head. “I don’t. When you’re a cop, you need to compartmentalize everything in your life. The two cases don’t necessarily touch, but even if they did, I trust Murphy to do the right thing where Jenny’s concerned.”

I picked up his photograph, which he’d taken out of the folder Jenny had handed him. “I can’t believe you actually told him we suspected him of stalking you.”

“I didn’t want him to catch you hiding Derrick’s planner. I had to do something to create a diversion.”

“Why didn’t you knock a lamp off the table or something?”

Jenny touched the base of one of her lamps. “Are you kidding me? I love this lamp.”

“You know what I mean. It could have been reckless telling him we’re on to him.”

Jenny shrugged. “Think about it. Did I say one word about the cameras Zach put in?”

I thought back over the conversation, and realized that subject hadn’t come up. “No,” I admitted.

“Then bringing him partially into the loop may make him slip, if he’s the one who’s been doing this, new girlfriend or not.”

“You’re taking an awfully big chance,” I said.

“Like you’re not?”

“That can’t be helped,” I said. I looked at my husband and asked, “Where does the attack on Kelsey leave us?”

“We keep doing what we’re doing,” he said finally. “Right now, it’s all we can do.”

“Then what’s next?”

“After we get something to eat, I’d like to talk to Sylvia.”

“You’re off the interview team, remember?”

He looked hurt for a moment. “But Murphy’s doing my job now.”

“Sorry, I don’t want anyone to be too scared to answer.”

Zach seemed to think about that, and then he said, “The least I can do is drive you two around.” He saw that I was about to protest when he added, “But I’ll stay out of the way.”

“Promise?”

“Of course I do,” he said. “Jenny, are you ready to go?”

“I’m ready. Should we get something to eat on the way?”

“I’m not about to eat at the Crest Hotel,” Zach said.

“Don’t worry,” I said laughing, “we’ll find a place where you can eat without a jacket and tie.”

WE GRABBED A QUICK BITE ON THE WAY, STOPPING OFF at a barbeque place Jenny loved. It was delicious, a real Eastern-style menu with a vinegar-based sauce that I thoroughly enjoyed. Zach loved the tomato-based Western recipe, but we got plenty of that at home. We all agreed that the hush puppies, little deep-fried corn-bread bombs, were some of the best we’d ever had, and the sweet tea was thick enough to have trouble pouring from the pitcher to the glass, a real requirement for North Carolina sweet iced tea.

After we ate, Zach said, “I’m almost too full to drive.”

“You can take a nap in back of my car,” I said. “I don’t mind if you stay there when we go into the hotel.”

“You and I both know that there’s no way that’s going to happen.” He did take the backseat, while Jenny joined me up front.

“Are you honestly going to take a nap? We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“No, but I might rest my eyes.”

Two minutes after we left the restaurant, Jenny said, “Is he actually snoring back there?”

I grinned at her. “He can’t be. You heard him. He’s just resting his eyes.”

“And every other part of him,” she said. In a softer voice, she added, “You really got lucky finding him; you know that, don’t you?”

“I like to think he got lucky finding me, too,” I said.

“Of course he did. I just wish I could do it, too.”

“Maybe if you stop working eighty-hour weeks, you’ll be able to.”

She shrugged. “There is that, isn’t there?”

“It must limit your dating pool.”

“You’ve seen the whole sum of my love life in the past three years. There have been exactly two men, either one of which is most likely stalking me at the moment.”

I could tell Jenny was feeling morose about her dating life, but there was nothing I could do to help her. Maybe a change of topics would distract her from her thoughts.

“I wonder who pushed Kelsey,” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about that myself. It’s a clumsy way to try to kill someone, wouldn’t you say?”

“What do you mean? Using a steak knife on Derrick wasn’t exactly poetry.”

“No, but at least it was pretty reasonable to believe that it would be effective. How hard must that shove have been?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but there’s something the two events have in common.”

“What’s that?”

“Most likely they were both done on impulse,” I said. “That means our killer isn’t a planner. He or she takes advantage of a situation and acts boldly when the opportunity affords itself.”

“So they haven’t been caught because they’ve been more lucky than methodical. How long can they keep taking risks like that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But we need to start thinking like the killer if we’re going to have a prayer figuring out who it is.”

“How do you do that?” Jenny asked.

“We need to ask Zach. He’s known across the South for being able to put himself into a murderer’s shoes.”

Jenny shivered noticeably. “I can’t imagine how creepy that must be for him.”

“I wonder about that myself sometimes, but Zach finds a way to deal with it.”

He stirred in back, and then sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Did someone mention my name?”

“Go back to sleep, Zach. We’ve got at least another ninety seconds before we get there.”

“I told you, I was just resting my eyes. Now will someone tell me why my name was mentioned in conversation?”

Jenny said, “Savannah was just telling me how you can project yourself into a killer’s shoes, and we were wondering if that’s what we should be doing right now.”

“It’s not a bad idea, but we don’t have a lot of information, do we?”

“That’s not necessarily true,” I said. “We know they act spontaneously, and that there’s no hesitation to their movements. Don’t most amateurs have to work up the nerve before they commit murder?”

“It depends on the crime. If they are in the heat of the moment, there’s no planning at all. Those are the easiest killers to catch. The ones that plan carefully and act coldly are a little tougher to find.”