Page 48 of Go Alone

Kate turned to the complaining woman. “What’s your name?”

“Linda,” she said. “Linda Marsh.”

Now that the confrontation was over, tears replaced Linda’s anger. She wiped them from the corners of her eyes and said, “I came over to see if he would let me get her stuff. I saw he was dead, and…”

Her eyes widened, perhaps realizing how poor her recent decisions were. “Oh God. I didn’t touch him. I promise I didn’t touch him! I just… I just hated that he got everything.”

“So you came by at…” Kate checked her watch and subtracted two hours to account for the travel time from Millbrook and the time it would have taken Anita to hear about the body from the police and the police to hear about the body from whoever called it in. “Four o’clock in the morning?”

“I have to drive back to Cincinnati,” she mumbled, sniffling a little.

“Did you call the body in?”

Linda nodded. “Yeah, I just… I didn’t want to leave until I had my mother’s stuff. Once I hung up with the police, I realized they’d never let me get it. It would end up in evidence or probate, and she’d have to prove that it was hers, and I don’t know if she even can because who keeps receipts anymore? I just…”

She sighed. “That officer showed up first. She’s not even Upper Arlington Police, which is why I didn’t listen when she told me to leave.”

“She’s working with the FBI and local law enforcement to investigate a series of murders that match the MO of this one,” Kate said. “But I believe that you didn’t kill him.”

“So can I get my mother’s things?” Linda asked.

“Who’s your mother?” Kate returned. She really couldn’t let Linda dig around here, but she didn’t want to argue that issue and maybe set her off again.

“Beverly Marsh. Martin’s ex-wife.”

“And you said this was your mother’s house?”

Linda nodded.

“Was Martin your mom’s neighbor before they married?”

Linda scoffed. “No. He was some loser she picked up at a protest when she was still married to Linus.”

The world stopped. Kate stared at Linda in shock, which must have been visible on her face, because Linda paled a shade and stepped back. "What? What is it?"

“Linus who?” was all Kate could manage to say.

“Varne. Linus Varne. Why?”

The world snapped into place again. Kate was keenly aware of the pungent smell of liquor mixing with the vegetal odor of the potting soil, the bright yellow tint of the floor lamps casting grayish tan shadows at obtuse angles over the maple floor, the bead of sweat forming at her hairline above her left eye, the curl of copper-colored hair falling in front of Linda’s ear.

“Where is Linus Varne now?” Kate asked.

“I have no idea,” Linda replied. “You don’t think he did this, do you?”

Her tone suggested she thought that was preposterous. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Oh, God,” Linda said. “Um… I think… Maybe fifteen years ago?”

That was when Howard Greer forced Boyd Sutter from his home. “Can you describe him for me?”

Linda shook her head. “He was tall. Blonde. I can’t remember much more than that. My dad didn’t like me around him. I think he thought Linus might have been a pedophile. I don’t think he was, though. Just a deadbeat.”

“What can you tell me about him?” Kate asked. Linda might not have seen Linus in over a decade, but what Kate learned about him now might still help her find him.

Linda shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. He was a loser. That’s really all I can say.”

“What made him a loser?” Kate pressed.