"No, I was away at college, and I didn't see her much. We'd wave to each other when I was home. That was about it."
"Thanks. I won't keep you any longer," Kerney said.
Kerney walked to his unit wondering why Gibben had failed to mention that Kay spent several summer vacations with her as a child. Did it matter? He wasn't sure, but decided to follow up anyway. He checked the time. It was too soon to expect Penelope to be home from the funeral services. He would swing by later.
Deedee Hall lived in an upscale Roswell neighborhood near the country club, where the streets were named for trees, and the houses were mostly two-story affairs with garish touches such as towering entry ways supported by faux Greek revival columns.
Kerney sat with Mrs. Hall in her spotless country kitchen and asked her about Linda Langsford.
Deedee gave him an immaculate smile. Her blond hair was perfect her face was perky and cute, and her figure looked trimmed and toned. Except for the first touch of age lines at the corners of her mouth, she didn't look much different from the picture taken of her as a member of the high school cheerleading squad almost twenty years ago. She even sounded like a cheerleader.
Just back from the services for Langsford, she was wearing a conservative dark gray dress.
"Linda and I were best friends," she said, "from kindergarten on."
"Tell me about her as a child," Kerney asked.
"She was always at my house.
Always."
"She didn't like it at home?"
"Her mother was usually sick with allergies, headaches, and such. It just wasn't any fun to play there. We had to be so quiet. Mrs. Langsford wasn't a well person."
"Did Linda get along with her brothers?"
"Not with Eric. He's always been weird. She was much closer to Arthur and her father."
"What about her mother?"
"Linda never minded her."
"Never?"
"Well, hardly ever. Sometimes they would argue."
"About what?"
"Where Linda could go, what she could do, who she could play with. Normal stuff. If Linda really wanted her own way, she'd just go to her father."
"And Judge Langsford would cave in?"
"Almost always. He couldn't deny Linda anything. It invariably threw her mother into a tizzy."
"Were there parental arguments about the children?"
Deedee shook her head. "Mrs. Langsford would just stop talking. She would barely speak to anybody. When that happened, the judge would take Linda and Arthur camping, or on a trip to Albuquerque, or some other outing."
"But not Eric?"
"He was included until he was about six years old."
"What changed?"
"He started to act like his mother, really sullen and angry all the time in a shut-down sort of way. It was like the two of them were the family outcasts."
"Did Linda and Arthur remain close?"
"Until Linda started high school and Arthur went to college. After that, they didn't see much of each other."
"What did you think of Arthur?"
"He was okay. Big man on campus type. Real popular."
Her cautious reply caught Kerney's attention. "You had reservations about him?"
Deedee nodded. "He was real randy, if you know what I mean. He thought he could have any girl he wanted."
"Did that include you?"
Deedee laughed. "He tried."
"How did Linda get along with boys?"
"She was a real Miss. Goody Two-shoes."
"She dated?"
"Sure, and had boyfriends. But none of them got anywhere, if you know what I mean. I don't think she's met the right man. Either that, or she's just not interested in getting married again."
"Tell me about Linda's ex-husband."
"Bill? He's a sweet guy. He dated Linda in high school and then started seeing her again after she came home from law school. It was a whirlwind romance: they got married within a few months. Bill's father is the pastor of the biggest Baptist church in town."
"What happened to the marriage?"
"I guess they just weren't compatible. It didn't last a year. Bill left his job with the bank and moved up to Albuquerque before the divorce was final. Linda wouldn't talk about what happened, although I heard rumors that she was having an affair."
"Did Bill talk to you about it?" Kerney asked.
"Not really. I saw him in Albuquerque about a year after he'd moved. All he said was it had been a big mistake and that Linda wasn't the person she appeared to be. I thought that was really strange."
"Why?"
"Because they seemed like such lovebirds before the wedding."
"Have you kept in touch with Bill?"
"Sometimes I see him when he brings his family down for a visit. He remarried, has a nice wife and a cute son."
"I take it Linda doesn't like to talk about family or personal problems."
"Not ever."
"Was that true when she was younger?"
"Oh, yes. Whatever went on in the family stayed in the family. About all anybody knew was that Mrs. Langsford was sick most of the time and Eric was a problem child. That, they couldn't hide."
"Thanks."
"How can any of this possibly be helpful to you?" Deedee asked.
"It may not be."
On his way out of the neighborhood, Kerney noticed golfers in their carts puttering along on the paved pathways adjacent to the street, cruising toward the links. He noted the absence of parked cars, the clean gutters and curbs, the groomed lawns that showed no sign of the first kiss of autumn leaves, the uniform placement of mailboxes in front of each house.
Such a tidy little neighborhood, he thought, with nothing out of place.
Just right for all those people who find comfort and safety in a world of uncluttered sameness.
Parked a block down from Penelope Gibben's house, Kerney watched Kay Murray's Explorer coast to a stop in the driveway. The women talked for a considerable time before Gibben got out of the car and Murray drove away. He gave it a good five minutes before approaching the house.
Penelope greeted Kerney with a haughty look, ushered him into the living room, and immediately made her feelings known.
"This is hardly the time to be bothering people with your pointless investigation," she said.
She wore a simple black mourning dress with a single strand of pearls. No grief showed on her face, only displeasure.
"I understand Kay Murray spent several childhood summer vacations with you."
"What a perplexing man you are, Chief Kerney. You come up with all these little tidbits and wave them around like important facts. Yes, she did. My sister and her husband had very little money, and it was my idea to have Kay stay with me. I wanted to expose Kay to a better way of life. Was I remiss in not telling you?"
"Vernon would bring Linda over to play with Kay."
"Yes, he would, upon occasion. Looking back on it now, surely, it must have been a capital offense."
"Were you sexually involved with Vernon at the time?"
Penelope smiled with tight lips. "Looking for more little tidbits, Chief Kerney? I was not."
"Have you heard from Eric since he left Linda's house?"
"I have not. Good day, Chief Kerney."
Frustrated by meaningless tidbits, Kerney left, thinking that Gibben's sarcasm might well be right on the mark.
It was lunch hour and the executives had not yet returned from the funeral services when Kerney arrived at the corporate offices of Ranchers' Exploration and Development. The only employee on duty, a young secretary seated at the reception desk, greeted him as though his arrival was a relief from absolute boredom.
Kerney explained that he needed to compile a list of all past and present employees as part of the investigation into the judge's murder.