“Well, I’m not going to say, ‘Hey, you think your friend was killed because she was gay?’ if that’s what you’re worried about, Kathleen.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
Hope looked away, smoothing a hand over her hair. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that’s not what you were thinking.”
“I wasn’t,” I said. “It just seems to me that this woman cared about Dani. I don’t want to see her get hurt for no good reason.”
Hope nodded. “I get that. I do. In police work we ask a lot of people a lot of questions and, yeah, sometimes those questions stir up some painful emotions. But sometimes they help us catch the bad guy, and for the people we talked to, that’s worth it.”
It took no time, using her cell phone, for Hope to find Tanith Jeffery’s number. “Okay, I’m going to put this on speaker so you can hear both sides of the conversation, but please stay quiet.” She glanced down at the cats. “You too.” Owen yawned and headed for the basement. Hercules sat up straighter, his green eyes on the phone in Hope’s hand. “We good?” she asked.
I nodded. Hercules murped softly.
Hope punched in the number and I pulled up both legs and hugged my knees. Tanith Jeffery had a voice that reminded me of singer Bonnie Raitt. Hope explained who she was and why she was calling.
“I’ve been debating whether or not I should call you,” Tanith said. “It wasn’t common knowledge but . . . Dani and I were a couple. I feel as though I’ve been doing my grieving in secret.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Hope said. “Is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to hurt her?”
“I’ve been asking myself that question since she . . . since it happened. And I can’t think of anyone. Everyone liked her. I know people always say that when someone dies but it’s the truth.”
Hope and I exchanged a look. The pain in Tanith Jeffery’s voice was raw.
“Ms. Jeffery, are you familiar with Travis Rosen?” Hope asked.
“Dani’s college boyfriend, yes. He replaced the engineer who was helping with the field research on the project she was opposing. She’d been trying to find the right time to tell him about us. It was . . . it was hard for her. I don’t suppose there’s any way you’d know if she did.”
“I’m sorry,” Hope said. “I can’t answer that.”
I was impressed with her kindness. I could hear the empathy in her voice and I was sure Tanith Jeffery could as well.
“What about John Keller?” Hope asked.
“Yes,” Tanith said slowly.
I had my chin propped on my knees but I raised my eyes to Hope’s. Like me she’d heard the change in the other woman’s voice.
“How do you know him?”
“They work together.” She cleared her throat. “Worked, I mean.”
It was still there in her voice, a tiny bit of reticence.
“Ms. Jeffery, is there anything I should know about Mr. Keller?” Hope asked.
“They’d known each other since they were twelve or thirteen,” Tanith said.
Hope rubbed her shoulder with one hand. “Just for a minute, don’t think of me as a detective. Think of me as another woman. Is there something you’d want me to know about him?”
She exhaled slowly. “It’s really just a feeling.”
“So what’s the feeling?” Hope asked.
“I thought there was just something a little off about him. Dani didn’t agree with me, by the way.”
“Off how?”
Tanith sighed again. “It was just little things, really. For instance, they were in touch with each other a few times a year but he didn’t tell her he was applying for the foundation job until he got it. Why would someone do that? Why wouldn’t you mention you know someone at a place where you want to get hired?”
“Did he give any reason for that?”
“He said he didn’t want to take advantage of his friendship with Dani.”
Hope leaned forward and propped an elbow on the table. “Was there anything else?”
“He moved into her neighborhood. She said she’d see him at the grocery store, at the gym, getting coffee. He just seemed to be everywhere.”
I looked at Hope. Her mouth was pulled into a tight line. I wondered if she was thinking what I was thinking: that John’s behavior was more than odd. It sounded creepy.
“Detective Lind, do you think it’s possible that John Keller had anything to do with Dani’s death?” Tanith asked.
“I don’t know,” Hope said. “But I promise you I’m going to find out.” She gave the woman her cell number, urging her to call if she thought of anything. Then Hope ended the call and set the phone down on the table.
My stomach was churning. “He talks about her in the past tense,” I said slowly.
Hope gave her head a little shake as though I’d interrupted her train of thought. “What do you mean?”
“When Marcus or Travis talk about Dani they do the same thing as Tanith Jeffery just did. They talk about her in the present tense. Like she’s not gone.”
“That happens a lot.”
“Not when John’s talking about her.”
That got me her full attention. “Are you sure?”
I nodded.
Hope picked up her cup, realized it was empty and set it down again. I got up and got the coffeepot, pouring a refill for both of us.
“He has an alibi,” she said. “He was with Rebecca. I talked to her myself.”
I added cream and sugar to my cup. I wasn’t sure what to say. Hope was a good detective. It didn’t feel right to pick up the phone and check with Rebecca. I glanced down at Hercules, who looked pointedly toward the backyard. I knew what his vote was.
“Go ahead,” Hope said.
I frowned at her over my coffee. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Call Rebecca.”
“I believe you,” I said.
She pulled a hand through her dark curls. “I appreciate that. Call her anyway. It’s better if you do it than if I do.”
“Murr,” Hercules said at my feet.
Hope smiled. “See? He agrees with me. Call Rebecca.”
I reached for my cell phone on the counter.
“I’ve been thinking about your mother’s journals,” I said when Rebecca answered.
“You’re thinking John might have missed something.”
“Something like that.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” she said. “But I think you’re grasping at straws. That young man was so excited to see those notebooks. He took them and went right back to his motel room. He couldn’t wait to start reading them.” She sighed. “I wish he’d been able to find something that helped in them.”
I put my free hand palm down on the table and swallowed before I spoke again. “John took your mother’s books back to the motel?”
“Yes, but he took very good care of them and he brought them all back.”
“That’s uh, that’s good,” I said.
“Do you want me to bring them over?” Rebecca asked.
Hope was watching me. I couldn’t read anything from her expression.
“No,” I said. “If John didn’t find anything, I don’t think I would.” I thanked her and hung up.
Hope put her head in her hands. “I didn’t ask the right question,” she said. “I asked her if Keller had come to her house to see her mother’s journals. I didn’t ask if he stayed.” She lifted her head and looked at me. “That was stupid.”
“You thought you had it covered.”
“But I didn’t,” she said.
“Where did he get the car?” I asked, dropping one leg and curling the other underneath me. Hercules saw that as a sign to jump up onto my lap.
Hope looked blankly at me. “What car?”
“Dani was hit by a car and then the killer put her body over the side of that embankment. Dani and the two men had two vehicles. On the day of the murder she had one and Travis had the other. Where did John get a vehicle if he ran her down?”
I felt as though my brain at the moment looked like the kids’ game Mouse Trap and all I needed to happen was for all the little pieces to fall into place so the trap would fall down on the killer. On John, because now I was certain that’s what he was. “You know that they had no permission to be on the actual property that was going to be part of the development other than that little piece Ruby owns?”