Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
The portly officer had just shoved a thick sandwich of what looked like pastrami into his mouth when Liam and Natalie slid into the opposite bench seat of his booth at the diner.
Pataki put the sandwich down. “Now what?”
“What? You’re not happy to see us?” Liam asked, the question dripping in sarcasm.
“We’ve had a break in the case,“ Natalie said.
Meanwhile, Liam raised is hand to signal the waitress. “We’ll take one of those to share and two cups of coffee, please.”
Natalie shot him a frown.
“What?” he asked. “I’m hungry.”
“Fine.” She let Liam order for them both because, one, she had more important things to focus on, like catching a murderer. And two, that sandwich that barely fit on the platter in front of Pataki did look really good.
The police officer drew in a big breath that inflated his barrel chest. “You know, when Garland said she was taking a personal day today, I figured it was going to be a nice easy shift. Seems I was wrong.”
“This is important. We have information pertinent to your case,” Natalie said.
“Miss Chase. It’s not my case. It’s definitely not your case. It’s homicide’s case now.”
She nodded. “Yes, technically, but we have an advantage they don’t.”
“Oh? And what is that, Nancy Drew? He’s a doctor. You’re a shop owner. What can you do that we can’t?” Pataki asked.
Natalie hesitated. For one, she could talk to ghosts. She didn’t want to tell him that or about Ralph or Lionel… but maybe she didn’t have to.
“Well, I know—I mean knew—Lionel personally. You didn’t. And I know we assumed he had no real enemies, even though he was a bit of an ass sometimes. Most times. But he did make an enemy. And I know who.”
“Please, enlighten me.” After a longing glance at his uneaten sandwich, Pataki leaned against the back of the seat and rested both hands on his belly, waiting.
“Lionel’s killer is the boyfriend of the female TA,” Natalie announced. “And if you search the boyfriend’s things, I bet you find enough evidence to convict him.”
“And why is that?” Pataki asked.
“One, because he has motive. He was livid with Lionel. He very vocally expressed his hatred for the man at a public party just before Christmas. There are witnesses. He accused Lionel of stealing from him. Two, he had opportunity. As the boyfriend of Lionel’s TA Mia, he had access to Lionel’s apartment.
That gave him access to Lionel’s pills.”
Pataki lifted one unkempt brow. “And how could you possibly know any of this?”
“It’s all over campus,” she said with a dismissive flick of her of her wrist. “That’s where I heard it.”
Half of that statement was true, so she wasn’t a complete liar. And really, was a lie of omission really a lie at all? It didn’t matter. All Natalie knew for sure was that she couldn’t tell the cops that her witness to the boyfriend being in Lionel’s apartment was the ghost of his landlord.
“What were you doing on campus?”
“Having lunch at The Well. You should try hanging out there. It’s a hubbub of activity,” she told him.
“And there’s beer,” Liam added, lifting his coffee cup and staring down into it as if he wished it contained beer instead of coffee.
Pataki let out a huff of breath so big the force of it ruffled the edge of the bunched up napkin he’d tossed on the table in front of him. “You got a name for this kid? The boyfriend.”
“Peter… something. I don’t have his last name. But he’s Mia’s boyfriend.”
Crap. She should have asked Lionel for a last name. Maybe she could call back and get it. If he remembered it. Lionel didn’t seem like the type to worry about details like students’ names.
She continued. “Maybe I can find it—”
Pataki held up his hand to stop her. “No. No need. We have the name. He was her alibi for the night Graves was found dead. Although now we know that doesn’t matter if the pills were swapped days or weeks ahead of time.
” He let out another sigh and leveled a glare at Natalie.
“You know, this case has gotten a whole lot more complicated since you got involved.”
With a sigh, Pataki leaned forward again, reaching for his sandwich as Liam let out a snort. “You should try dating her.”