“Nope. Any particular reason why you will?”
“Yeah,” she said, “I need to talk to him about the suicide attempt. I need to know exactly what’s going on in that mind of his.”
“Most people won’t take that kindly.”
“Yeah, well, this is a whole different deal. Suicide isn’t illegal in Canada, but you’ve got to wonder where his head is at when he’ll leave the kids behind with no living parents.”
“I know. That’s tough.” Rodney frowned, and just then his phone rang. He groaned. “I’ve got to go.”
She waved him off. “I’ll stay here and wait.”
The family came and walked in to see the patient. She frowned at the doctor, and he said, “Family first.”
She just raised her eyebrows at that. Because, if she had any reason to suspect that he was actually a party to the murder of his wife, then Kate would have been pretty aggressive about making sure the family didn’t even get in there. But no point in upsetting the apple cart at this point.
She didn’t really have any reason to object, outside of the fact that she didn’t like that he had tried to commit suicide. Just because he might be depressed and more concerned about his own world than that of his children, although that’s totally shitty, it didn’t mean he was a criminal.
When the family finally came out, teary and clearly upset, Kate called out to the woman—Agnew’s mother—who looked over at her. She identified herself. “I’m Detective Kate Morgan.”
Immediately her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “This is our son,” he stated. “It’s really not a good time.”
“I know perfectly well what time it is,” she noted. “I just need to ask a few questions.”
Immediately Agnew’s father shook his head, “No, it’s because of your questions that he’s like this anyway.”
Kate stopped. “Sorry?”
Agnew’s mom immediately rushed forward. “He was really upset about all the questioning, thinking you might have thought he was involved. We think that’s why he tried to take his own life.”
“Interesting,” she replied. “I still need to talk to him, and I would like to talk to you guys too, if you have a moment.” She tried to make it friendly, but it was obvious that she was determined to talk to them, and they were equally determined that they wanted nothing to do with it.
Finally Agnew’s mom agreed. “If you can make it quick, okay—as I’m really exhausted and need to go home.”
“I just wonder about the state of their marriage.”
“It was fine,” Agnew’s father snapped. “All you people ever think to do is get into people’s faces and make their lives miserable.”
“Agnew’s wife was murdered,” Kate declared. “I understand it wasn’t your daughter, and I won’t be shocked to learn something less than love was between you, but Robin also had a family and has somebody who really cares about what happened to her.”
Immediately he stiffened and glared at her. Agnew’s mom rushed in to soothe the situation. “We do understand. We do. She was…”
Kate stopped. “Yes?”
“She wasn’t the easiest person to get along with,” she murmured. “And I don’t want to say anything bad about the dead, but it was hard when you weren’t part of the inner circle.”
“Meaning that you were kept at a distance?”
She nodded. “That does happen though a lot with sons.” Agnew’s father snorted at that. The mother nodded. “That’s true,and you know I have seen it happen with some friends, and I did go speak to some people about it, but Agnew just seemed to never be himself. When they got married, he just suddenly seemed to do everything that she said, without any question or discussion.”
“And maybe right now he’s really grieving his loss,” Kate murmured, studying both people. The husband turned to look in a different direction, while the woman looked at the floor. “Or not?”
The mother looked up at her. “Again, I don’t want to say anything bad, and obviously he’s very traumatized over this whole thing. My son is a good person. I don’t know how tough these last few years were for him, but I can tell you with certainty that he’s much better off without her.”
“I have heard some other murmurings to that effect.”
Agnew’s mom nodded. “Damn right you have. But that’s it. Some people tell the truth, but too often everybody lies for their own sake.”
“Which isn’t what I’m doing here,” Kate clarified, hoping to keep the conversation going. “I just need to know what state of mind Agnew was in, when this suicide attempt happened.”