Maybe he was.“I’ll swing by on my way home.I’m having dinner with Diana and Detective Mendoza.”
“Good for you,” Rachel said.“Anything I need to know about?”
Nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.“No,” I said.“What about me?”
Rachel said there was nothing she hadn’t already told me.“I’ll see you in the morning.”
I told her I’d be there, and hung up.“The dog’s fine.Zachary’s got it.”
“Her,” Mendoza said.“I spoke to the lawyer.Next of kin is a sister-in-law in a retirement community in Franklin.”
“Araminta Tucker.The widow of Patton Grimshaw, Griselda’s younger brother.”
Mendoza arched his brows.“Can I ask you how you know this?”
“I was going to tell you,” I said, with a glance at Diana.“I had Rachel look up the ownership of the house next door.The one where Steven and the blonde were yesterday.Araminta was listed as owner, with an address in Franklin.I drove down there.”
“Of course you did.”He sounded resigned but not surprised.
“She already knew what had happened.She saw it on the news.And she was quite disappointed when I showed up and you didn’t.She wants to see you.”
“Why?”Mendoza asked suspiciously.
“Mostly because she thinks you’re nice to look at.”I grinned at him across the table.“Partly, I think, because she thinks the whole thing is interesting.She’s pretty interesting herself, actually.”
Mendoza muttered something.I didn’t ask him to repeat it.“She says that Steven contacted her a few days ago, about renting her house.”
I explained about the university connection and the girl and the lease and all the rest of it.
“And she showed you a copy of the lease?”
I nodded.“The girl’s name is Anastasia Sokolov.Or at least that’s what she goes by.Her handwriting looks like she’s around twelve, so it was easy to make out the name”
He arched his brows.So did Diana.
“She’s not,” I said.“Zachary got a good look at her, and he said she was in her early twenties.But I guess she writes like someone who doesn’t write a lot.Or maybe it’s a Russian thing.The point is, the name was easy to read.”
“And it’s Anastasia Sokolov?”
I nodded.And spelled it, for good measure, so there’d be no question.
“That’s helpful information,” Mendoza said.
I smiled sweetly.“You’re welcome.”
He opened his mouth and closed it again.Not just handsome, but smart.“Anything else?”
I shrugged.“She didn’t like her sister-in-law.Didn’t make any bones about it.After her husband died—Patton, Griselda’s brother—she, Araminta, moved out and into the retirement place in Franklin so she wouldn’t have to be next door to Griselda anymore.She says she hasn’t seen her sister-in-law in two years.Griselda hasn’t visited her and she hasn’t visited Griselda.She didn’t mention any other family members.”
“So bad blood between them,” Mendoza said.He didn’t write anything down, but I got the distinct feeling he made a mental note.
“That’s my impression.Or maybe not bad blood, but not a lot of love lost.She said Griselda was an unpleasant person, and that she was always sticking her nose in other people’s business.Araminta didn’t seem surprised that Mrs.Grimshaw had been murdered.”
Mendoza didn’t say anything.His silence said a lot.Or maybe I was just getting better at reading it.
“Surely you’re not thinking that Araminta killed Griselda?”I asked.“Why would she?I mean, I know she didn’t like her.Or they didn’t like each other.But they hadn’t seen each other in two years.Why would she kill a woman she hadn’t seen in so long?When she could just keep on not seeing her?”
“She’s the next of kin,” Mendoza said.
