Jericho stayed at the crime scene long enough to get a general impression and to make sure it was properly secured, ready for the lab guys to arrive. He toured the property and noticed with a sinking feeling how heavily treed the backyard was and how hard the dirt in the alley behind the house was. There’d be no tire tracks to find, and the other side of the alley was deep forest, not more houses. There was a rough path leading into the woods, and at some point he’d have to follow it and figure out where it ended. But the significant thing right then was that this was an easy house to approach without being seen. The chances of an eyewitness were low. Still, he checked that the deputies had a good list of questions to ask on their initial survey of the neighbors and then found Kayla and suggested they get the hell back to the station.
“So, you’re squeamish?” Kay asked as she drove. She didn’t sound disapproving, exactly. More amused.
“No. But I saw what I had to see, and the crime scene guys can do the rest.”
“You didn’t want to soak up the vibe?” He wasn’t sure if she was genuinely curious about his methods or was prompting him to do things the way she wanted.
“I absolutely want to. I want to soak up the vibe with the scene as it was at the time of the murder. The way it is now, with a bunch of nervous, nosy deputies? Neighbors pushing against the yellow tape and flies starting to buzz? That’s not useful to me. It interferes.”
Kayla was silent for a while before she said, “Your captain in LA told me you’ve got the makings of a topflight homicide cop. She thought you were going to burn out too early to make an impact, though.”
Jericho wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he defaulted to smart-ass. “Well, after my relaxing vacation here in Mosely, I’m sure my inevitable burnout can be significantly delayed.”
“She told me she doubted you’d come back to LA,” Kayla said, still calmly watching the road as she drove. “According to her, you always seemed like a visitor, not a resident.”
“Well, I’ve met that woman about three times in my life, so I’m not convinced she really knows what the fuck she’s talking about.”
“Is she wrong?”
“About me being a burnout in waiting? I’d like to think so, yeah.”
“So you see yourself taking it to retirement with the LAPD? I mean, after your lovely Mosely vacation, of course.”
“You don’t think I’m going to stick around up here, do you? I mean, so far I’ve been accused of corruption, dragged into undercover work I wasn’t prepared for, suspended, and when all that wasn’t happening, bored to death. There doesn’t seem to be a promising future for me with the Mosely Sheriff’s Department.”
“You forgot about getting shot.”
“Technically, that happened before you hired me. I’m giving you a pass on that one.”
They pulled into the department parking lot then, and neither of them said anything as they climbed out of the car.
“I’m not saying you’re going to stick around here,” Kayla said just before they reached the double glass doors at the front of the building. “But I don’t see you going back to LA.”
Shit. Neither do I.He’d never made a conscious decision about it, but somehow his life on the coast had started receding from his mind, and now it was so far away it was hard to even remember it. “Jesus, Kay, do we need to get into this right now? We’ve got a woman who was clearly murdered, a truly messed-up crime scene, and a chance to actually fucking do something about it instead of sitting back and watching the feds screw things up. What d’ya say: can we just solve some crime instead of having a goddamn therapy session?”
Kayla raised an eyebrow, then lifted one hand flat in the air and pretended to write on it with the other. “Patient displays strong aversion to discussion of future.”
“Patient prefers to focus on the present so he can figure out who the hell brutally murdered Lorraine Mackey,” he responded, and immediately felt guilty when Kayla recoiled. She’d been playing, dealing with the trauma of the situation in her own way, just like all cops did. And he’d shamed her for it. “Of course, patient is a known asshole,” he tried, and she was generous enough to smile at him.
They climbed the stairs and found Mr. Appleby waiting in one of the interview rooms, his hands wrapped around a mug of coffee as if he were trying to draw warmth from it. Jericho saw the man’s lips moving and realized he was praying.Shit.Looking for forgiveness, or something else?
Jericho turned to Kayla. “Let me talk to him alone first, okay? You can listen in from the observation room, but let me talk to him first.”
“Why?”
“Because Lorraine Mackey was an alcoholic, antisocial prostitute. I have no idea why Mr. Appleby was at her house, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t borrowing a cup of sugar.” It wasn’t something Jericho wanted to spend a lot of time thinking about, but that was true of just about every situation he encountered in the course of his work. “If he was there for the standard reason men visit Lorraine, he might be more comfortable telling me about it than you.”
She didn’t seem impressed, but she nodded reluctantly and headed down the hall that would lead to the observation room. Jericho pushed the interview room door open, and Mr. Appleby stood up so quickly he sloshed coffee onto his khaki trousers. He didn’t even look down.
“My God, Jericho, this is a terrible thing.” Usually, Mr. Appleby appeared younger than his age would suggest, but at that moment in the interview room Jericho could see the marks left by every year.
“It is.” Jericho turned to shut the door behind him and tried to find the gentler version of his professional voice. “I need to ask you some questions about it. There’s a camera set up behind the glass, there, and we’ll be making an audio recording as well. This is for your protection, and for our use in investigating the crime. Do you understand?”
Mr. Appleby seemed taken aback. He’d clearly been expecting a bit of commiseration before they got down to business, but Jericho couldn’t let himself think of Mr. Appleby as a friend, or as someone to whom he owed favors. Right then, the man was the sole witness in a homicide investigation. That was all.
Still, Jericho tried to smile a little as he gestured to the chair Mr. Appleby had abandoned. “Please, sit down.” He hit the buttons to start the recording instruments and couldn’t think of any other ways to delay. “Can you tell me what brought you to Ms. Mackey’s house today?”
Mr. Appleby sat, then nodded shakily. “I— He’s a good boy, Jericho. A good man. I know he’s not the same as he was before the accident, I know there’ve been some problems, but something like this? No. I won’t believe it.”
