“Adelaide was crossing the street in front of her workplace building when she was struck,” the other detective said.
“Did you catch them?” he asked.
“Not yet. I’m sorry,” Detective Allemande said.
“Who are you?” Gabriel looked at Kip and Hunt.
“Mr. Matin, I’m Dr. Hunter Montgomery, and this is Kip Brennan. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“The new bosses, huh?” Gabe sighed. “I expected to see Rene and Lourdes.”
“We haven’t been in contact with them,” Kip said. “I want to extend my condolences and let you know that Chase Care will cover Adelaide’s funeral costs. And, as one of our employees, since she died while working for us, her beneficiary will receive her salary until she’d reach retirement age of fifty-five. We also will establish a college fund for Babette and Desirée.”
“That’s an awful lot. Are you guilty of something? That Band-Aid, how did you get it?” Gabriel snarled.
“Mr. Matin, those are standard benefits for all Chase employees. And I received the cut to my head getting out of the way of the accident. I was approaching her to help her with the large bags she was carrying. She volunteered to pick up the staff’s food.” Kip showed no animosity to the husband’s accusatory tone.
“The car should’ve killed you,” he whispered.
He reminded himself the man was hurting, but the words stung. Kip felt there was a ring of truth to what Gabriel said. “I’ll leave you the paperwork and a set of contact numbers. If you need anything, let me know.” He stood. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Gabriel Matin rose and stepped toe to toe with Kip. “Find the man who killed my wife.”
“We will do the best we can.” Kip stepped outside onto the lawn with Josh, leaving the rest of the group inside. He warned himself,you cannot what-if.
“That sucked, Boss. Are you alright?” Josh held the door to the Suburban for him.
In the fresh air, Kip’s head cleared. “I’m fine. I want a deep background check on Brigitte Mone, and both Gabriel and Adelaide Matin.” He chewed his lip.
“What did I miss?” Josh asked.
“Brigitte sniffled with no tears, and she didn’t shed a tear in the building either. And Gabe, no one told him she was hit by a him, or a car. And he did more than go to the park. There was a glass on the end table with melting ice and orange lipstick. There was also a slight scent of perfume. I smelled the same perfume in Jerrold Sommerstone’s office,” Kip explained.
“I need to work on that,” Josh said.
“You didn’t expect a death notification to be more.” Kip put his head back against the seat.
Hunt climbed into the back seat. “Matin calmed down. He told me to apologize for what he said to you. It’s grief.”
“It might be more.” Kip repeated what he said to Josh.
Hunt shook his head. “Hospital or building?”
“Hospital,” Kip said.
Chapter 20
En route to the hospital, Kip called Tag Dupart.
“I was about to call you,” Tag said. “It was definitely white phosphorus. Four north and all the patients were incinerated. We combed the grounds and found one tiny piece of aluminum tape and a small piece of wire. It looks like the explosion was triggered by someone opening a door. Once the first flare went off, the remaining ones triggered. There was likely one in every room on that north wing.”
“Do we have any camera footage?”
“Negative, it was on an internal circuit. All equipment was in house. Everything was destroyed in the fire.”
“Alright. Assign a relief crew and come in. Get some sleep. Meeting in my office tomorrow at…” His thoughts drifted. He was supposed to take Harper to dinner. “Um, meeting at 1400 hours.”
“Roger.”
