The woman studied her in surprise. “Why?” she asked.
“Because I need to know what happened back then.”
“I don’t get it,” she stated. “My son already did time for the crime.”
“I know,” she replied. “And you keep telling me that he didn’t do it. So, I don’t know whether he did or didn’t.” Then she took a deep breath and added, “Unfortunately we have another body.”
The woman stared, and her jaw dropped. “Oh no, no, no, no.” She shook her head rapidly. “I can’t go through that again.”
“It depends on if he had nothing to do with it,” she stated firmly. “In that case, then he’s free and clear, and everything he can tell us will help us find out how this all happened.”
“What do you mean, another body? You mean like—” And she stopped, then she shook her head. “You don’t understand. It was so terrible.”
“And this one is terrible too,” Kate told her, “with way-too-many similarities. So, either it’s the same killer”—and she stopped for a moment, as she studied the other woman—“or it’s somebody who knows all the details.”
The woman looked so terribly frail that Simon reached out before Kate could and helped the older woman sit down in a rocking chair on the porch. Kate crouched in front of her.
“If your son didn’t do this, then we can help clear him from the previous murder, if he didn’t do that one. I need to know if he’s told anybody in great detail what happened to his sister or if he had any other close relationships, maybe when he was in jail,” she explained. “But first we have to clear him of this latest murder.”
The woman looked at her in so much shock that Kate was afraid this would end up being a medical emergency. She looked over at Simon.
He patted the woman’s hand gently and asked, “Can I get you a glass of water?”
The woman looked at him gratefully and then nodded.
Simon asked, “Is it okay if I go into your house straight to the kitchen to get it?”
She nodded again slowly and then leaned back against the chair, her eyes closed. “Dear God,” she murmured, “the pain, you have no idea what it was like.”
“No,” Kate said quietly, “but I do have a pretty good inkling.”
The woman opened her eyes, looked at her, and asked, “Has anybody in your family been murdered?”
“No,” she stated firmly.
“Then you don’t understand,” the woman snapped.
“Maybe not,” she agreed, “but I had a younger brother kidnapped, and he still hasn’t come home.”
At that, the woman gasped, her hand going to her mouth, and she stared wide-eyed at Kate.
“So I do understand,” Kate repeated. “No, it’s not the same obviously. I wish that you never had to experience what you did, but, by the same token, I know what it’s like to lose someone close. I know what it’s like to have no answers—or answers that you can’t agree with. And it still doesn’t get any easier. It’s been a lot of years for my brother. And, no, it does not get any easier.”
The woman slowly dropped her hand. “Yes,” she replied, “you’re right. It doesn’t get any easier. When Rick was in jail, I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t. I just… I didn’t even know what to say. We moved because we had to. I couldn’t live in the same house. My husband lost his job. I had to quit working,” she added. “And this”—raising a hand to the front porch—“is what we have now. I can’t bear the thought of losing even this much.”
“And there’s no reason to think that right now,” Kate stated. “We need to talk to your son.”
“He’s at work,” she whispered.
“No, he isn’t. He ran when he saw me.”
The woman looked at her, and her bottom lip trembled. “You know he’s terrified of the police,” she replied, with hope in her voice that Kate would be understanding.
“And I get that.” Kate nodded. “I really do, but running away won’t be the answer. I must talk to him, and, if he’ll continuously avoid me, then I’ll have no choice but to have him picked up and taken down to the station, and we’ll have to interview him there. And you know it won’t be nice, even compared to the other time.”
“No,” she whispered, “it’ll be way worse.”
“He already has a black mark against him. And, as much as I can be understanding,” Kate added, “I can’t let it go. We have another body in the morgue that resembles what happened last time, and it’s way too close to ignore that comparison. If your son is not involved, then he potentially knows somebody who is.”