“I never thought of him that way!” she said, as if she had just watched the same tape and knew her lines. “But yes, I was married to Trent, and Amanda was my daughter, and Seth was my son. My son — do you understand? And you are about to give my son’s murderer a funeral with — with bagpipes and things!”
“No, we’re not. It’s a private funeral. No special treatment by the department.”
There was a brief silence. “Are you sure?”
“Very sure. Do you mind if I ask who told you otherwise?”
“Friends of my husband.”
“Trent Randolph’s friends?”
“No, I… I remarried. My current husband was a member of the police department for a time. He still has many friends there.”
“Dale Britton.”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Your husband had left by the time I was hired here. But I can assure you that his friends were mistaken about the funeral.”
“Oh. Well — I’m quite upset about all of this.”
Wondering if the Randolph cases could possibly become more of a nightmare than they already were, he said, “That’s understandable. Anyone in your situation would be upset.”
He heard her draw in a steadying breath. “Dale told me they’ll be reopening the investigation into the murders.”
“The cases have never been officially closed — but yes. In fact, I was hoping I could talk to you at some point—”
“Of course! I’ve been wondering, you know, if anyone was going to call me. Are you the detective assigned to my husband’s and children’s murders?”
“Yes, I am. I’ve only had the cases since late Saturday, though, so I’m just getting started.”
“We must definitely meet soon, then. Dale and I will take you to lunch today.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it for lunch,” he said, not because he already had plans, but because he didn’t like the way she was trying to take control. “Are you free at all this morning?”
“Oh… Dale has business meetings… but I’m the one you probably really want to talk to, right? I mean, I’m the one who has suffered the most in all this. No one has been hurt more than me.”
“I’d appreciate any time you can spare,” he said, working to keep his voice neutral, trying not to betray his disgust. “I can meet with your husband later.”
“I’m just leaving for downtown, but I’ll be free later this morning.”
He arranged to meet her at ten-thirty at a coffee shop not far from the newspaper, then called Irene. “Want to have lunch together?” he asked. “I’m going to be downtown.”
“Still not convinced we’ve patched things up?”
He hesitated, then said, “Have we?”
“No, but we’re making progress.”
“I’m all for progress. Meet me for lunch.”
“What brings you this way?”
“Just between us?”
“Of course.”
“Going to meet with Tory Randolph. Tory Randolph-Britton.”
“Oh, you poor thing. A front-row seat for the Me Show, starring Tory. God, she’s a bitch.”
“Tell me how you really feel about her.”
She laughed. “It’s awful, I know. I really wanted to feel sorry for her — I mean, what happened to her family was terrible. But she uses it to gain attention for herself in a truly repulsive way. No wonder Randolph dumped her — I think it’s a shame that she ended up with his money.”
He felt a mild shock — it suddenly dawned on him that in all the files and notes he had read on all of these cases, no real time had been spent on a question that had to be considered in any murder investigation: Who benefits by this death? In both the Amanda murders and Seth’s murder, obvious suspects had been pursued — even though a lot of money was at stake, and neither Dane nor Lefebvre would inherit.
“Tell me what you know about that, Irene. The money went to Tory?”
“Not immediately, and I’m sure her ex-husband never intended that she’d get any of it. But apparently his will was poorly worded. Trent Randolph knew how to make money, but he didn’t know how to bequeath it. Which was a pity for his company’s stockholders.”
“Why?”
“Randolph Chemicals was a bigger company ten years ago than it is now, and its future looked rosy. The first blow came when Trent was murdered, because he was the driving force behind the company. Everything was supposed to go to his children, but Amanda was dead, too. So Seth inherited everything, but of course, he was underage — so it stayed in trust, and he never took control. Unfortunately, because of some problem in the way the trust was set up, Seth’s estate ultimately went to Tory.”
“And now she shares it with a former member of the department.”
“Yes. Dale Britton — he quit the department before they officially dated, but she definitely met him through the investigation. Weird, huh? He went from Crime Lab Technician II to CEO when he said, ‘I do.’”
“Are you telling me Britton runs Randolph Chemicals?”
“Not now — but he did for a short time. He has a degree in chemistry, but no real background in business or manufacturing. That didn’t stop Tory from making him president of the company.”
“What happened to the company?”
“In the beginning, it looked as if it was going to be a total disaster — stock price fell and lots of their best employees abandoned ship. Some of that started when Trent Randolph was killed, of course. So just when the company was starting to recover from that setback, Tory insisted on making her new hubby the boss. Luckily, Britton was smart enough to see that if he stayed at the helm, the value of all that stock he married into was going to be a big zero. So he managed to keep some key people by ‘retiring’ and letting wiser heads rule. Things improved, and the two of them aren’t hurting for bucks, but Randolph Chemicals never regained all the ground it lost.”
“I can’t help but feel a little sorry for Tory Randolph,” Frank said. “To lose two children to murder — especially after Seth survived the first attack—”
“For almost any other mother, that would be true. I felt bad for her, too, until I saw how much she gloried in the attention she was getting. It was awful. You’ll be around her for more than ten seconds, so I know you’ll have a chance to see what I mean.”
He stopped by the lab, feeling a little awkward when he saw Alfred Larson and Paul Haycroft examining the paper airplane.
“Frank!” Haycroft said, smiling at him. “We were wondering if we should call in the NTSB on this one, too.”
“Don’t let him give you a hard time,” Larson said. “It’s a good piece of evidence. Thanks for taking the time to bring it by from the hospital. It should have been recovered by one of our people, of course, but I don’t think they could bring themselves to treat Captain Bredloe as if he were just any other victim of an assault. How is the captain? Any word?”
“Nothing new,” Frank said. “Call Pete if you’d like — Miriam said she’d call him today if there was any change.”
“And not you?” Haycroft asked in surprise.
“No — I’ve got a full day ahead of me today, and Pete’s working here in the office. Carlson has vowed to suspend him if he doesn’t clear his desk off.”
Haycroft laughed. “I’m afraid your lieutenant is fighting a losing battle.”
“So — you think you can learn anything from this?” Frank asked, indicating the plane.
“Possibly,” Haycroft said. “We’ve taken a look at the paper — it’s a better grade of twenty-pound bond, but unfortunately it isn’t all that special — it’s a type sold in many stationers and office supply stores. As you know, the more unique something is, the more helpful it is to us. I don’t know that this will lead you to the attacker, but it might help us nail him once you’ve found him. There are these cutout areas in the tail section, and if he hasn’t taken out his trash or gone to the recycling center, we might match the cutout places to the paper that has been removed. And, of course, the plane isn’t folded in an ordinary way.”