“No, I won’t back out,” she assured him with a gentle laugh. “Even if I lose. Do you make a habit of going to dinner with murder suspects? I know no one has said it out loud, but my being involved with two of the victims has to mean I’m a suspect.”
“Eighty-five percent of all serial killings are committed by men,” Mike told her. “In some ways these murders don’t fit the standard pattern, but the department shrink has assured us there’s a definite ritual involved that isn’t being faked. She’s certain all the victims were killed for essentially the same reason, and very possibly by someone they knew. Did you know any of the other three victims?”
“No, thank God,” she answered with a shudder, the smile long gone. “Two in five is too many. Is it my imagination, or do you and your people expect even more murders?”
“We’re hoping there won’t be any more, but once people like this start, they don’t stop again until the imagined job is finished.” He grimaced and shook his head. “They never kill just because they get a kick out of it, or because they have a grudge against someone. There’s always a very special reason, one that’s completely logical to them. And compelling, which is why they don’t often stop by themselves. Others have to stop them, which is where I come in.”
“And let me say how glad I am that you do,” she remarked, but this time her smile didn’t make it all the way out. Mike realized immediately he’d said too much, and Tanda Grail was really shaken.
“Look, as long as you don’t deliberately involve yourself in this, you should be fine,” he said, leaning forward to touch her hand. “Always make sure your doors and windows are locked before you go to bed, don’t leave the house without doing the same, and especially don’t arrange to meet anyone in a deserted place alone for any reason. All the victims but Saxon had apparently gone to meet someone, and even he might have been expecting his visitor. If anything happens to frighten you, just pick up the phone and call me. That’s my home number at the bottom of my card.”
Handing her one of his cards seemed to help, and after she looked at it her smile was better.
“As an amateur detective, I’d say this tells me you aren’t married,” she ventured. “The invitation to dinner was a clue that can’t always be relied on, but handing out your home number to a strange woman usually clinches it. Am I right?”
“Absolutely,” he confirmed with a grin. “Men with wives do tend to keep their home numbers to themselves, even though that doesn’t always apply to cops. Which is why, all too often, cops aren’t men with wives or women with husbands. It takes a special kind of patience to put up with our crazy hours and spotty home life.”
“Not to mention the possibility that the person you’re chasing could catch you instead,” she added, sober again. “That must be terrible for some women, the ones who don’t stop to think about it. I mean, perfectly ordinary people are killed every day, in traffic accidents, or when someone goes suddenly berserk and starts shooting everyone in sight. At least your people are armed and can defend themselves. An accountant, say, in his car and about to be run off the road by a drunk driver, isn’t and can’t.”
“That’s a very good point,” Mike said, surprised and pleased. “You sound as though you’ve had occasion to think about it. Does that mean you used to date a cop?”
“For a while,” she answered with a nod, toying with her coffee cup. “We even started talking about marriage, but then he was accepted on a force in Vermont. He came from there and really wanted to go back, but it would have meant leaving my father here all alone if I went with him. He finally decided to go alone, and I stayed here.”
“I’m sorry,” Mike said, reaching out to touch her hand again. “My former wife thought being married to a cop would be no problem at all, but it didn’t take long before the life got to her. She grew to hate it when I was called out in the middle of the night, or wasn’t home on time for a meal even when I’d promised to be. I was only a sergeant at the time, but a detective sergeant is on call twenty-four hours a day. I moved heaven and earth to be sure I’d be home for our second anniversary, but when I walked through the door with her present she wasn’t there. A week earlier I’d had to miss a barbecue with some friends, and her note said that that time had been the last straw. The next time we saw each other was in divorce court.”
“That must have been horrible for you,” Tanda said, sympathy in those soft gray eyes. “These days not being married seems to mean being lucky enough to miss the divorce experience, but some people do it right. My parents wanted to be together, and when my mother died my father was glad the pain was his rather than hers. He missed her terribly, and wouldn’t have wanted her to miss him like that. Mike…is there any chance you’ll catch this murderer before he does it again?”
“All we need is a little luck,” he assured her, going back to the topic now that she was ready for it. “Saxon was obviously killed to silence him, but I have the strangest feeling that the ritual used means something very specific. Once this is all over, we’ll find he somehow fits in with the other victims.”
“I wish it was already over,” she said, running a hand through her dark blond hair. “You asked about Don’s house. Does that mean you intend to go there, to look for clues? Is that why you need to find his lawyer?”
“A team has already been out there, but yes, I do intend to go again,” Mike said. “We now have a key to match to a lock, and the logical place to look for it first is in your brother’s house.”
He didn’t add that he also wanted Don Grail’s lawyer in order to find out if the man had done more for his client than help buy a house. That could be considered official police business, at least until he knew whether something had been done that might upset Tanda. She was upset enough, and Mike wanted very much to keep from adding to it.
“When you go to Don’s house, I’d like to go with you,” she said then, not quite surprising him with the request. “I’ve never been there, and I’d like to see it at least once before whatever happens to it happens. If that would be against the rules, let me know once you’re finished there, and I’ll go alone.”
“No, I think it will be all right if we go together,” Mike decided at once. The house wasn’t a crime scene, after all, so there was no legal way to keep Tanda away from it. But if she was going to be there, he wanted to be with her. “I’ll call you tomorrow, and tell you what time I’ll be going over. Do you know where the house is?”
“From the address, yes,” she said, then gave Mike her telephone number for his notebook. “You let me know when, and I’ll meet you there.”
Mike agreed to that, joined her in talking about the weather until he’d finished his coffee, and then he left. Once in his car and back on the road, he found himself thinking about the next day. And about the dinner he’d owe Tanda when the key turned out to be an important clue after all. She was the most attractive and interesting woman he’d met in a long time, but he couldn’t help wondering how smart he was being.
“You’d better remember that no matter what you said, she is still a suspect, old son,” he muttered to the single-lane road he traveled. “Until you know for certain she has nothing to do with this mess, you’d better watch your step.”
And until you know for certain that she isn’t trying to recapture an old love, he added silently. That was the part he feared the most, the possibility that any cop would do as someone to replace the man who hadn’t loved her enough to stay with her. Mike considered the man a fool for giving up someone like Tanda Grail just to live in a particular place. The right woman could make hell into a suburb of heaven for a man, but she did have to be the right woman. Maybe…
And maybe not, no matter what the question was, Mike decided with a sigh. Right now all he could do was concentrate