Suddenly I could hear my mother’s voice in my head saying, “You can do this, Katydid.” I pulled out my phone, found Simon’s number and tapped the screen.
“Hi, Kathleen,” Simon said when he answered. “Let me guess, Mia thinks I’m taking too long.” There was an edge of amusement in his voice that sliced me like a knife thrust into my stomach.
“Hello, Simon,” I said, working to keep the emotion out of my voice and not completely succeeding. For a moment words escaped me. Then I found them. “Mia is all right”—I knew he needed to hear that first—“but there’s been an accident.”
“What happened?” His voice was devoid of all emotion.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s your father.”
For a moment there was silence, then Simon said, “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
I nodded, then remembered that he couldn’t see me. “Yes,” I said. “Mia needs you.”
“Where are you?”
“Your father’s apartment.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Are you all right to drive?” I asked before he could end the call. “Marcus— The police can send someone or . . . or I can come get you.” I wasn’t sure if it would be all right for me to leave but I didn’t want Simon to have an accident on the way across town.
“I’m all right,” he said. “Stay with Mia . . . please.”
“I will,” I said.
He didn’t say anything else and I realized he’d ended the call.
I stood there for a moment, watching the rain run down the glass panel in the heavy wooden door, then went upstairs.
Mia was curled up on Rebecca’s sofa, wrapped in a knitted blanket. She was cradling a mug that I guessed held hot chocolate. Her tears were gone. She’d washed her face but she was very pale. Rebecca sat beside her and Owen was on duty at her feet with what I suspected was a saucer of chicken.
Rebecca gave Mia’s arm a squeeze and got to her feet. She came over to me. “The police are here,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“What do you need, my dear?” she asked. I could see the concern in her blue eyes.
I shook my head. “I’m all right,” I said. But I wasn’t. This was not my first dead body but I felt more off-centered than I ever had before, maybe because of Mia. It was impossible not to feel the raw ache of her pain.
Rebecca put her arms around me and gave me a quick hug. “How about a cup of coffee?” she offered.
“That would be good,” I said, giving her hand an extra squeeze before I let her go.
Rebecca headed for the kitchen. I sat down on the black tweed sofa. “Your dad’s on the way,” I said to Mia.
Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she wrapped her free arm around them. “I bugged him until he said he’d come for Thanksgiving,” she said.
I knew she meant her grandfather. “And he was happy to be here,” I said. I flashed to Leo Janes at the library with his granddaughter. His happiness had been evident.
Mia held out her hand almost unthinkingly and I took it. “I don’t know how to do this,” she said. “I’ve never been in a world that Grandpa wasn’t in.” She chewed the corner of her lip.
I took the mug of hot chocolate and set it at her feet. Owen gave it a curious look but seemed to know this would be a bad time to investigate any further. I put my arms around Mia, who laid her head on my shoulder. “I don’t think there is a right way to do this,” I said. “One foot in front of the other is what my mother always says. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll end up somewhere—maybe even where you wanted to go.”
“Your mother sounds pretty cool,” Mia said.
“She is,” I agreed.
Rebecca brought me a cup of coffee and I took exactly two sips from it before Simon appeared.
He wasn’t wearing a tie and the shoulders of his leather jacket and his face were wet with rain. He swiped a hand over his face and exhaled loudly. Mia was already on her feet. She went into her father’s arms and he folded her against his chest. He looked at me over the top of his daughter’s head and I could see the pain in every single line on his face.
Things seemed to speed up then. Mia told Simon what happened. She seemed steadier with him there. Marcus came in just as she was finishing. He told Simon and Mia how sorry he was about Leo and I noticed that his response was more personal than the usual, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he continued, “but I need to ask you a few more questions, Kathleen.”
“I have questions, Detective,” Simon said.
“I understand,” Marcus said. “Just let me get a few more details from Kathleen and I’ll do my best to answer them.”
“You can use the kitchen,” Rebecca said.
“Thank you,” he said. He gestured for me to go ahead of him and I touched Mia’s shoulder as I passed her.
Marcus and I sat at the small round wooden table in the kitchen. “I just want you to walk me through what happened one more time, from the moment you realized the apartment door was ajar.”
“Okay,” I said. I explained how I had knocked and called out Leo’s name. “I know I should have just stopped and called nine-one-one right there. I just thought . . .”
My hands were flat on the table and Marcus covered one of them with one of his own. “It’s okay,” he said. “You said you gave Mia a ride because she was coming to see her grandfather. Why didn’t she just ring his doorbell when you first came in?”
“She did,” I said. “Leo didn’t answer when she rang the bell. Mia thought he was listening to music but something felt off to me.” I told him briefly again how I had stepped inside the apartment, seen the body and realized that Leo was dead. “I tried to tread carefully and I only touched his neck. I, uh, I didn’t want to mess up any potential evidence.”
He nodded. “I wish you didn’t know that.”
I knew he was referring to the fact that this wasn’t the first case of his I’d been mixed up in.
“Yeah, me too,” I said.
He leaned back in his chair. “I just have a few questions for Rebecca and then I’ll talk to Simon.”
I got to my feet. “I’ll get her for you.”
He raked a hand back through his hair. “Do you think Rebecca would mind if I had a cup of that coffee?” he asked, gesturing at the pot.
“Of course not.” I managed a small smile. “You know Rebecca.” There were several stoneware mugs on the counter next to the coffeepot. I gestured at them. “Pour yourself a cup and I’ll go get her for you.”
He got to his feet, stretching his neck to one side.
I paused by the doorway. “Are you going to tell Simon how his father died?” I asked.
For a moment he didn’t move. Then he turned to look at me, his movements slow and deliberate. “What do you mean?”
“I saw his head,” I said. “I saw that metal sculpture or whatever it was on the floor.” I swallowed. “And the place where his skull was crushed. I know he was murdered.”
chapter 5
Over the next few days Marcus was surprisingly closemouthed, even for him, about the murder. He canceled our plans twice and I tried hard not to ask any questions although I had plenty of them. Tuesday morning brought a third cancellation.
“I’m sorry,” he said when he called about nine thirty. “I know I said I’d take you to lunch today to make up for bailing on our dinner plans last night, but I have a meeting with someone from the medical examiner’s office.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “I want you to find out who killed Leo Janes. If anything changes or if your meeting finishes early, call me.”