Key West Gone into the Night by Elizabeth Hilleren (best authors to read txt) 📗

“I’m trying to figure out motive,” Sharkey said.

“Maybe he never accepted the fact that she got pregnant by Javier. It was a vicious killing. She was on her hands and knees and he kicked her hard enough to break her neck. Whoever did that released some pent-up emotion.”

“Good point,” he said. “I’m calling Stephanie and asking her to come in. Let’s turn the boards around, except for Carl’s,” Sharkey said. “Get ready to meet someone who can be a very unpleasant lady.”

Jenny laughed. “I’ve met unpleasant people in my time, I can handle it. You might not believe what people think they can get away with when confronted with a young female officer, especially one of the softer genders.”

“I guess I never looked at it from that viewpoint. I’ll be watching to see if that makes a difference.”

Stephanie answered her cell on the first ring.

“Carl?”

“No, it’s Detective Sharkey.”

“Oh.  Is Carl all right?”

“I’d like you to come down to the station where we can talk. I have some questions about Carl, and I would prefer not to talk on the phone.”

“All…right. I’m leaving now. See you in a few minutes.”

“Thanks. We’ll be here expecting you.”

She hung up without further comment.

“She’s on her way. Let’s try good cop, bad cop.”

Jenny grinned. “So, are you feeling good or bad today?”

“I’ll let you pick.”

“I’ll be good. She already dislikes you. So that should be easy for you.”

“Okay.” Sharkey laughed at the truth and went down to pick up Stephanie in the lobby.

“Thanks for coming, Mrs. Williams.”

“Where’s Carl?” she demanded.

“Let’s go up to the office where we can talk in private.”

“Ha,” she snorted.

Sharkey led her to a table that was set up with soft drinks and a coffee urn.

“Have a seat. Would you like a pop or coffee?” he asked softly.

“I’ll have a coffee with cream and sugar.”

Jenny walked over to the table with prepackaged cream and sugar. “Hi.  I’m Officer Springfield. I’m helping Detective Sharkey on this case.”

“Stephanie Williams. Nice to have a woman to talk to,” she said, shooting a look of disapproval at Sharkey.”

“We need to know what you know about Carl Abbott,” Sharkey said.

“I don’t know why you’re picking on Carl.  I demand to know where Carl is. You’re hiding something.”

“Yes, we are. Just look behind you,” Sharkey said.

She turned and stared at the murder board. It took a second, but only a second, to realize what she was staring at.  “Oh no…no…no. Damnit. This was not supposed to happen…you incompetent fools.”

Jenney moved swiftly to her side, making her look into her eyes. “Here,” she said, pointing to her own eyes. “I know that was a terrible shock.”

She turned her away from the murder board and handed Stephanie a Kleenex but there were no tears in Stephanie’s eyes.

“This world has just gone crazy,” Stephanie said.

Sharkey went back to his desk.

“I know. We’re trying to make sense of it. But there’s a lot we don’t know.  You know some of that.  We need to share so we can move forward in the right direction.  Take a deep breath and try to relax.”   Jenny never lost hold of Stephanie’s eyes.   “I need your help,” she said in a low, even voice.  “How much did Carl tell you about his plan to get the kidnappers to meet with him?”

She tipped her head back, “Well, he thought that it was worth a try.  I told him it was a crazy plan, but,” she emphasized her word ‘but’ with her index finger, “he wouldn’t listen to reason. My heavens, he could have brought them to the hotel. I might be dead. You understand?”

“Yes. I do. Now, did he tell you that he had been contacted last night?”

“No. But,” she said, holding up her index finger again and wagging it at Jenny, “he was quite sure they would call. He said he offered them money for information. Maybe somebody saw the kidnapper take the children.”

“So, he didn’t know who was contacting him?” Jenny said, her eyes open a little wider than normal.

“Yes. I think he assumed that it would be the kidnappers. He’s Tyler’s father. So, they most likely felt that Carl would pay a ransom to get him back.”

“I see. Want something more to drink, Stephanie?”

“No, you’re very kind.” Her eyes rolled towards Sharkey then turned to slits.

“How did Carl feel about the new baby?” she asked in a calm, warm voice.

“He resented the hell out of it,” she said, flatly.

“I take it that he didn’t have much love left for Susan at this point.”

“Even when she asked him to move out, he would have come back to her. But when she got pregnant and had Javier’s kid, the writing was boldly painted on the wall that he had been rejected. I think that’s when he fell out of love with her.”

“Did he have a temper?”

“Susan was a difficult child and could be a difficult adult.  When Burt left, she was the center of my world.  I think that might have led her to believe it was okay if she became the center of her world too. She wasn’t always fair. There was a lot of taking and not much giving. Carl never, to my knowledge, got physical with her.  I’ve seen him get mad at her.  All things considered, he was surprisingly controlled.  But I guess everyone has a limit. At some point they just decided to separate. I know that was hard for him because he loved his boy.  He paid child support for Tyler. He never missed a payment.”

Jenny made some notes and then pushed back her chair and stood. “You’ve been a great help, Stephanie. You can go now, unless Sharkey has a question.”

“No. Thanks