Kate nodded. “Right, well they were murdered three days ago.”
“Murdered?” the eyewitness asked, and she stared at Kate in shock.
“Yes, here on the pathway.”
She looked around. “But why has nobody said anything?”
“We always recommend a buddy system, and, of course, we had no idea that there would be a second crime.”
“Not to mention,” the woman added, relaxing ever-so-slightly, “how do you even stop something like this? So many of us have been running here forever. If I even saw the yellow police tape, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. I would have just gone under and come from the other side. And then I tend to go back down and loop around and then walk the last half home.”
“How long have you been doing it this way?”
“Years,” she replied, “literally, years.”
“Did you know these two women, outside of running here?”
“Not really. I mean, we were friendly because we saw each other on the trail all the time, but we didn’t really know each other.”
“How did they seem?”
“Competitive, all the time.” She shook her head. “I’d never run with them. They were always talking about who won thatday, who was better, who was faster, who was stronger. It seemed like their relationship was more than running.”
“Well, they were best friends,” Kate noted. “They lived only a couple townhomes apart, so their families shared a large part of their free time as well.”
The woman nodded. “That makes sense, though I wouldn’t have guessed either one of them was married. There was just something about them.”
“Like what? Did you think they were together, like in a serious relationship?”
She looked up at her and frowned. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to say for sure on that.”
“Fine, did you run here Saturday morning?”
“I did,” she confirmed. And then she stopped and put a hand to her mouth. “And that’s when they were killed?”
She nodded. “Did you see anything on that day? Anything unusual? Anyone acting odd, suspicious?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She considered Kate’s question, a frown line forming on her forehead.
“And when you say you don’t think so, what does that mean?”
“Well, I mean, a guy was here, and he had a rope, but I didn’t think anything of it. I just waved at him. He laughed and told me to have a good run.”
“A rope,huh? Was he just standing here, looking like he would climb a tree or what? Why would he have a rope?”
“I don’t know. I mean, you get runners out here.” Then she stopped. “I don’t know why he was here with a rope. I didn’t even think. It never occurred to me that anything could be wrong. I’ve been here for years, and there’s never been a problem. Obviously I didn’t think that there was a problem this time either though.” The woman started getting more and more agitated.
Kate eased back on the questioning. “Here’s my card. We’ll have to get a statement from you. One of these officers will comeover and take it, and, if you come up with anything later that you might have seen that was unusual or suspicious, please let me know.”
She nodded slowly.
“Oh, by the way,” Kate asked, as she turned to look back at the present crime scene, “did you know this couple found today?”
“Not really,” she said. “I’ve seen them here before, but not anywhere near as often as I’d seen the other two women.”
“So, you’ve seen this couple around, just not as often.”
“Yes,” she agreed.