Chapter 12
TWELVE
Amanda shared the update on the victim’s identity with the CSIs, and she and Trent were on the road again. Their first stop took them to Christine’s house to see if Riley was home. When that failed, Amanda called her and had to leave another voicemail. “No answer again.”
“So I gathered. What are you thinking we should do next? Want to head back to Best Home Realty to have a chat with Marcy Maxwell, or speak to this Melanie who requested the viewing?”
“Considering it sounds like Melanie was there around the time of Christine’s murder, I say we start with her. In the least, Melanie might have seen something that could help with the case.”
“I can get behind that. But I really need something to eat before we do anything. You all right with that?”
“Why not?”
A handful of minutes later, they had hit a drive-thru and were eating fries and chicken strips in the car. She with plum sauce, and he with honey.
Trent’s phone rang, and he pulled it out. “It’s Kels. I can let it go or…”
“Answer it. We don’t know where this night is going to take us.” If they were fortunate, they’d wrap this up and get Christine’s killer in the next hour. That’s what Amanda would love to believe, but life had taught her not to surrender to hope with a freefall.
“Hey there.” Trent was smiling when he answered, showing his relationship was going strong.
She pushed a fry into her mouth and shut the container, abandoning some.
Just unable to eat any more. Her phone rang, and her caller ID told her it was “Dr. Handsome.” Becky!
Her best friend must have gotten a hold of her phone and updated his name in her contacts.
Amanda would change that before Carter saw it. She picked up his call.
“Wow. Is this Amanda in the flesh? Not a recording? I half-expected to wind up in voicemail.”
She heard his smile from the other end of the line, and unlike her ex, Carter knew what it was like to have a demanding job that didn’t adhere to fixed hours. His commentary on the voicemail was just a sign that he respected her busy schedule. “Well, you’ve got me, so what can I do for you?”
“Ooh, you know what you can do…”
She knew what he liked, but she flushed with heat thinking about his mouth over her ear, his breath on her neck. Then the way he’d nibble on the lobe, sending her into… She pulled herself out of the tailspin. “All right. Mind out of the gutter.”
“But it’s fun there.”
Amanda laughed, and it caused Trent to look over at her and shake his head. Was that the hint of a smile, or a scowl? Whatever…
“I’m getting off work for the night, miracle of miracles, and was wondering if I should come over,” Carter said.
Amanda had told Carter that Zoe was at her grandparents’ this week. “I’d love that except that Detective Stenson and I picked up a new case today. We’ll be at this for hours yet.”
“Oh, that’s never good. It means someone’s dead.”
“Murdered, to be more precise.”
“I have faith you’ll bring the victim justice.”
She appreciated his confidence in her abilities, but this one cut so close to home. Their relationship hadn’t yet developed strong enough roots for her to share that much. Instead, she responded with, “Well, that’s always the plan.”
“You’ll do it. I know you’re a night owl, so if you get in late and want some company, just call me.”
“Will do.” She ended the call and found Trent watching her, his phone away and a smile resting on his lips.
“What?” she asked him.
“Nothing at all.” He pointed at the container on her lap. “I can take it to the garbage with mine.”
“Nah, I’ll do it. You bring up the background on this Melanie and get us an address.”
Amanda took their garbage to the closest trash can, thankful for a few seconds of fresh air.
Even if that air was heavy with heat and humidity, it was preferable to being stuffed in a tight space with Trent right now.
She didn’t want to field his questions about how her relationship with the doctor was going.
It was awkward enough that Trent knew Carter, the two of them meeting during a previous investigation.
It was also when Amanda and Carter met each other.
She came back to the car and dropped into the passenger seat, sucking in the cool air coming from the vent. “So what have we got?”
“Melanie and Kent Schaefer, both in their late forties. No criminal record. On paper, they look clean. She doesn’t have a job, but he’s a chiropractor. Good-looking couple.” Trent switched screens to show their photos from their driver’s licenses.
“Sure, but if he’s the only one who works, how could they afford the house on Charmed Court?”
“I’d say that’s a question we need to ask. Their address is just a few streets over. Buckle up, and I’ll get us there.”
Amanda was ringing the Schaefers’ doorbell at five forty-five.
The heat still hadn’t let up, and any advisories to stay indoors were being ignored.
The excited screams and laughter of young children rang through the neighborhood.
Amanda was propelled back in time to when she was a kid during summer break.
Every waking hour, she was running under a sprinkler, splashing in a friend’s swimming pool, or sliding down a slip and slide.
That was until she developed and that experience became painful.
The smell of barbecued meat had Trent sniffing the air like a hound dog.
“One would think you didn’t just eat,” she said to him.
“Well, you can’t say it doesn’t smell heavenly.”
The door opened, and the woman in the license photo stood there. Amanda held up her badge, as did Trent.
“Melanie Schaefer?” Amanda asked her.
“Yes.” She was leery and appeared to strengthen her grip on the edge of the door.
“Detectives Steele and Stenson. We’d like to speak with you and your husband about Christine Lane.”
Melanie let go of the door and backed up.
“Is your husband home?” Trent asked her.
The woman nodded and went deeper into the house, leaving them in the entry. “I’ll go get him.”
The house was modest, something one would expect to be the home of a chiropractor. Again, Amanda wondered how they could afford the house on Charmed Court. Though it was possible one of them came into an inheritance that allowed them to upgrade their living arrangements.
A man came from the back of the home. “Detectives? My wife says this is about Christine Lane?”
“It is,” Amanda said. “Is there somewhere we could sit and talk?”
“Yeah, in here.” Melanie gestured toward a side room. There was a television in there, but Amanda suspected it was a secondary location as the furniture style and layout spoke more to encouraging conversation than getting cozy and watching TV.
Amanda sat on one end of a powder-blue fabric couch, and Trent sat on the other. The Schaefers each took a chair across from them.
“Did something happen to Christine?” Melanie asked. “We were supposed to meet her Friday night at a house, but she never showed up, and well… now you’re here.”
“Well, we thought it was her vehicle in the driveway,” Kent put in, correcting part of what his wife said.
The calls on Christine’s phone with Melanie went back two weeks, so it seemed logical they’d be able to identify her Lexus. “How long were you working with Christine?” She just wanted to verify.
Melanie narrowed her eyes, seemingly noticing that Amanda hadn’t answered her question. “For a couple weeks. She showed us a few houses, but when the one on Charmed Court came up for sale, my heart leaped.”
“Is that why you wanted a late-night showing? You couldn’t wait?” Trent asked, pulling out his notepad and pen.
Melanie shook her head and gestured for her husband to answer.
“I had a conference that took me out of town for the weekend,” Kent said. “Melanie fell in love with the pictures. She was confident we’d be putting in an offer on Friday night.”
“The house just spoke to me,” Melanie weighed in.
Amanda glanced at Trent and shook her head.
They hadn’t been here long, but there wasn’t one thing suspicious about this couple.
And what would be their motive for killing Christine?
The only anomaly was their financial situation.
“It is a beautiful house. Well out of my price range.” Amanda hoped it would entice the Schaefers to open up.
If not, she’d go at it from a more direct route.
“It was just time,” Melanie said.
“For what?” Amanda volleyed back.
“Kent?” Melanie said to her husband, and he nodded.
“My husband is a wonderful man and an excellent chiropractor. I admire him and what he’s built.
” She returned her husband’s smile. “He has his own office and loves what he does, but it’s not a huge moneymaker.
He helps people though, and one can’t put a price tag on that. ”
Amanda agreed that a chiropractor’s work was honest and needed. She’d follow up and see if Malone called hers. She wasn’t yet sure why Melanie had said what she did, but she had a feeling she was building up to the point.
Melanie went on. “It was just time for me to get my dream home. You see, I come from family money. I just never wanted Kent to feel I was stepping on his toes.”
And there it is…
Kent reached for his wife’s hand and squeezed it before retracting his arm again.
Amanda’s curiosity was satisfied, and the Schaefers were safely off the suspect list. That didn’t mean they still couldn’t be useful though. “When was the last time you saw Christine?”
The couple looked at each other, and after a few seconds, Kent said, “She showed us another house on Tuesday last week.”
“It was nice but not what we had in mind. You never answered my earlier question. Did something happen to Christine?” Melanie drew her gaze back and forth between Amanda and Trent.
“Unfortunately, Christine was found murdered this morning.” Since there was no more putting it off, Amanda set that out there as delicately as possible.
Melanie’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, that’s horrible. That poor woman, but why are you here talking to us about this?”
“Christine was found in the house on Charmed Court,” Amanda said. “And your call came in within the timeframe of her death.”
“Were we there when…?” Melanie’s eyes welled with tears.
“It’s likely she was killed in the moments prior to your arrival.
” Amanda wasn’t sure how much that soothed the Schaefers, but added, “Your voicemail mentioned you didn’t understand why there was no answer at the door.
Did anything stand out when you were there? Maybe you saw someone hanging around?”
Melanie snapped her head toward her husband. “Kent.” The woman blanched.
“Mel thought she saw someone inside,” Kent said.
“I assumed it was Christine,” Melanie rushed out. “I didn’t understand why she wasn’t answering the door.”
It sounded like Melanie hadn’t lost respect for Christine despite thinking she was being ignored. She also hadn’t called her cell phone again. “Did you call the real estate office this morning to try reaching her?”
Melanie shook her head. “I assumed something must have come up, and she’d get back to me as soon as she could. I certainly never imagined this.” She rubbed her arms as if frozen by a sudden chill.
This woman had likely seen the killer. That was enough to give anyone goosebumps. “Where did you see the figure?”
“All the lights in the house were on. I just saw them moving around inside through the glass in the front door, but it’s obscured so…”
“You didn’t get a good look?” Amanda guessed.
“No.”
Amanda’s mind regurgitated what Melanie had said a moment ago. I assumed it was Christine. That was one thing that might keep Spencer off the suspect list. “This person looked like a woman, though?”
Melanie bit her bottom lip. “Yes, that’s why I thought it was Christine. Now, I’m not so sure. It could have been a man about her size.”
Because of the obscured glass… Amanda’s stomach sank because Spencer was of comparable size to Christine. “And when you rang the bell, this person did nothing?”
“Nope. Not even when I banged on the front door. They just walked upstairs.”
Melanie had witnessed the killer after the murder, possibly when they were cleaning up. Just for the record, Amanda asked, “Can you tell us where you went after Christine didn’t answer the door?”
“We came straight home,” Kent said. “I still had to pack some things for the conference.”
“And can anyone corroborate that?” Trent asked.
The couple shook their heads.
“Please know we’d have no reason to want to harm Christine,” Melanie said. “She was just helping us find a new home.”
Amanda glanced at Trent, and he seemed to read her mind. He folded his notepad and tucked his pen away.
“Thank you for your time,” Amanda said while she stood. “If you could please keep any of what we discussed to yourselves for now.”
“We will.”
“And if you recall anything after we’ve left, please call me.” Amanda pressed her business card into Kent’s palm.
Back in the car, they did up their belts, and Amanda’s phone rang.
“It’s Riley Lane,” she told Trent before answering. “Detective Steele.”
After she said her name, Riley added, “I’m just returning your call.”
“Thank you. Would you by chance be home right now?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Stay put, please. My partner, Detective Stenson, and I will be there soon.”
If Riley questioned how they knew where home was, she didn’t ask. Amanda had to wonder if the girl had a sixth sense of the devastating news coming her way.