“Because it’scops,” he stated. “You think I care to have anything to do with cops anymore?”
“That’s not the point,” she replied. “When cops come calling, you need to answer questions.”
“No, I sure as hell don’t. Answering questions last time got my ass sent to prison.”
“And yet you confessed.”
“Of course I confessed. I needed it to stop.”
“And, if that’s the case, then I need to talk to you,” she stated. “There’s a good chance you know who did it.”
“No, no, no, no, you don’t understand.”
In the background on his phone, she heard sounds of somebody delivering an order, as if he were in a drive-through. “You’re not coming home for your dinner with your mom, huh?” Kate looked at the mom.
“No, I’m not.”
“Fine,” she snapped. “I would really like to pick you up and talk to you without any fanfare. But, if you’ll resist, I don’t have any choice, and we’ll put out a BOLO and track you down.”
“No,” he cried out, “no, no, no.”
“Then stop,” she snapped again. “Get your ass home where you belong, and let’s talk this out. I just need to ask you a few questions.” At his silence on the other end, Kate returned the mother’s phone to her. “If he doesn’t come home, I’ll have to haul him in.” Then Kate walked over to the other end of the porch.
Simon joined her. “What do you do in a case like this?”
“Pull out an all-points bulletin on him and the vehicle, and someone will pick him up within a day or so.” She shrugged. “And then he looks guilty as hell. We’ll do everything we can to get answers out of him, but he’ll get thrown in jail, and I can hold him for forty-eight hours.”
“Even if he didn’t do anything?” Simon asked.
“Even if he didn’t do anything,” she stated quietly. “Believe me. It doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Of course not,” he agreed, “and it’s not your fault.” He walked back to the woman, who sat there, holding the phone against her chest. “And?”
“I asked him to come home,” she replied in a teary voice. “Please, please don’t hurt him.”
“If he comes home quietly and is cooperative,” Kate said, joining them at that end of the porch, “there is no reason for him to get hurt at all. If it gets to the point where he resists arrest, you and I both know that things can go downhill very quickly.”
The older woman started to sob gently, as the front door was flung open, and an older man stepped out. He took one look at Kate, and his back went up, and he looked angry, like in a flash of red.
“Hi,” she greeted him calmly. “Just talking to your wife.”
“You made her cry,” he yelled belligerently.
Almost immediately, the older woman got to her feet and headed to her husband. She wrapped her arms around him and patted him gently. “It’s okay, Barney. Honestly it’s okay.”
He looked at her with concern, and yet something was a little bit off about his mannerisms.
The woman whispered to Kate, “I’ll just take him inside.” And she turned and led her husband back into the house.
Then Kate realized what was wrong. She looked over at Simon. “Did that look like his mental acuity was reduced?”
“Something is definitely wrong. Obviously there are some health issues. Neurological maybe, I’m not sure,” he replied. “What a sad life.”
“It is, indeed,” she agreed. “Very sad when you consider what this poor woman has been through. To think that her husband is now failing as well just adds to it.”
A vehicle pulled up almost ten minutes later, and a younger man hopped out with a bag of takeout food and walked up to the front door. With the overgrown vines taking over the trellises on the front porch, he didn’t see Kate standing at the far end until he was already at the front door. Simon came in from one side, and Kate came in from the other. He looked at her in terror.
She held up both hands. “I told you that I just want to talk.”