31. Ozzie
CHAPTER 31
Ozzie
K aya Strand was much more relaxed than her colleague.
“Hello, Detective.” She offered me a polite smile as I walked into the room.
I returned it with a genuine one of my own. “Ms. Strand. Thank you for coming in. Sorry about the accommodations. I wanted to record our interview.” I motioned to the camera in the corner of the ceiling as I sat down.
“That’s okay. This is serious business, so I don’t blame you.” She folded her arms on the table and leaned forward. “I have to say, though, I’m surprised you called me in. I’m not sure what else I can tell you.”
I decided to cut straight to the chase. “Marie was having an affair. What can you tell me about it?”
She blinked, surprise in her dark eyes, then sat back. “An affair?” Her forehead creased with a frown. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
The lines on her forehead cleared as she puffed out her cheeks and blew out a breath. “Wow. I mean, I guess I’m not surprised. Warren’s a jerk.”
“Do you have any idea who it could be?”
She frowned again. “How do you know she was having an affair if you don’t know who with?”
“Evidence.” Riggs and I had decided to keep Warren’s presence under wraps for now. He was tucked safely into a county jail cell in Juneau until he was charged with whatever the prosecutor saw fit for his failure to report Marie’s murder and arrangements could be made to put him in protective custody after he was granted bail.
Her look told me she knew I was withholding information, but she didn’t press the issue.
“Marie wasn’t a flirt.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “But there were a couple of our fellow male teachers she seemed to… like? More than others, I mean.”
“Okay.” I clicked my pen, poised to write down names. “Who?”
“The top one would probably be Kevin Cottrell. He’s the gym teacher. She was friendly with the middle school math teacher too. Lawrence Iverson.”
Having learned my lesson with Grace and Gabe Turner, the name clicked in my head. “Is he related to Grant Iverson?” The name wasn’t uncommon, but I wasn’t taking any chances. If one of our forensic technicians was involved, I wanted to know.
Kaya lifted a shoulder. “Not sure.”
“What makes you think either man could be her boyfriend?”
Again, she shrugged. “She talked to them more than any of the other male teachers. They’re both fairly good looking too.” She wrinkled her nose. “And Kevin gives me the creeps a bit. He’s just”—she flipped a hand—“odd. Like, he’s married, but I’ve seen him checking out some of the other teachers.”
Nodding, I made a quick note next to his name. “What about Iverson?”
“They just spend a lot of time talking. Before and after meetings, at whole-school functions, sometimes even after school I’d see them together.”
That was interesting. Kaya might think Cottrell was the more likely candidate because he appeared to be a womanizer, but my gut said Marie was looking for a companion. Not just a quick lay. Iverson fit that bill much better than the gym teacher. “Is Iverson a nice guy?”
Kaya tipped her head back and forth. “Yeah. I don’t know him that well. We’re a small school, but we’re still split up by elementary, middle, and high. I really only speak to him when we have a staff meeting or an assembly for everyone.”
“All right. Is there anyone else? It doesn’t have to be from school. Has she ever mentioned someone? A male friend? Or have you ever seen her somewhere talking to a man?”
“I don’t—” She paused, then tipped her head and stared just over my shoulder, thinking. “There was a guy.” Her gaze met mine. “A few months ago. It was just before Christmas. I remember because I was out buying gifts for my family. It was at Parker Supply.”
I nodded, encouraging her to continue. Parker Supply was one of the main stores in town. They sold a bit of everything.
“I was browsing the clothing, when I saw her near the underwear with a man. She had a lacy bra in her hands. When I said hello, she spun toward me. At the time, I thought I just surprised her, but thinking about it now, it could have been guilt on her face.”
I knew to take that with a grain of salt. People sometimes invented memories and feelings based on current circumstances. “Describe the man she was with.”
“I didn’t see him. Not his face, anyway. There was a pillar between us and a rack of coats. But he had dark hair. I saw that much as he walked away.”
Pressing my lips together, slightly frustrated, I wrote that down. I knew exactly where she meant in the store. Parker Supply was in a large cabin-style building with several log beams holding up the second story and the roof. It was also chocked full of goods. The owners crammed as much into the space as they could, which meant lots of racks, often with other displays stacked on top and small walkways throughout the store. I hated going in there. It was a damn maze.
“Okay. There’s nothing else about him that stuck out to you?”
She shook her head.
“Can you estimate his height?”
“Average?” She shrugged.
“Did he remind you of anyone you’d seen before?”
Her brow furrowed. “Maybe? But this is a small town, Detective. Even with our close proximity to Juneau, everyone knows everyone here. So, it could be someone I know, but I just can’t tell you who because I didn’t see his face.”
My head bobbed even as my heart sank. That made sense. “Okay. Do you happen to remember the date you were at Parker Supply?” They had cameras, so perhaps I would get lucky and they’d let me see the footage. If they kept it that long. December was a while ago.
“Actually, yes. December eighteenth. I went right after school, and that was our last day. Marie must have had the same idea.”
I jotted the date in my notes. “One more question.” I glanced up at her. “Did Grace Alonso ever say anything about Marie?”
Kaya frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Was she ever derogatory toward her? Or on the flip side, overprotective?”
“Like, defensive?”
“Yes.”
The woman cocked her head. “Maybe? They were closer friends than Marie and I were, so they stuck up for each other when administration tried to heap extra work on us.” Her expression darkened. “A lot of times, they managed to shove it off on someone else. I did more than my fair share of extras .”
Her tone opened a new thread in my line of theories. “Did anyone in particular take offense to the two of them teaming up to avoid extra duties?”
Kaya lifted a hand and let it flutter back to her lap. “Probably. It bothered me, and I was their friend, so it probably bothered others as well. But I don’t know who. I try to stay out of all the gossip.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s distasteful. I was one of those kids on the receiving end of rumors in school, so I don’t participate in any of it now.”
I agreed, even though I’d never been the butt of school rumors. “Not a bad idea. All right, is there anything else you can think of that might be useful to the investigation? Anyone who might have felt wronged by Marie or had a reason to be angry?”
Kaya looked away briefly, chewing on her bottom lip, her eyes searching. “Nothing’s coming to mind. But I’ll keep thinking.”
I pushed back from the table with a smile. “That would be great.” Standing, I took a business card from my pocket and held it out to her. “If you think of anything, please call.”
She rose with a nod and accepted the card. “I will, thank you.”
Once more, I unhurriedly gathered my notepad and pen, meeting Ms. Strand at the door. “I appreciate you coming in.” Keying in the code, I let us out.
“It’s no problem.” She adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder. The smile on her face faded and a more somber look drew the corners of her mouth down. “I hope you find who did this. No matter what she did or to whom she did it, she didn’t deserve to die.” With a final serious look, she walked away.
Like Grace, I watched her leave, waiting on Riggs to exit the observation room.
“Much different to the last interview, don’t you think?” I asked, eyes still on Kaya’s retreating form.
“Yeah. Let’s go get that footage from Parker’s, and see if we can ID the guy. It might be nothing, but I don’t like that he walked away without even saying hello to Ms. Strand. Not when Marie was showing him lingerie beforehand.”
“You read my mind.” Tucking my notepad under my arm, I stepped out of the doorway and shut the interrogation room door. “Do you think you could get Krieger or Garnett to conduct some surveillance on Grace? Without letting Turner know?”
Riggs’s mouth pulled. “Maybe, but I don’t want to put them in that position.” A crooked smile lifted one side of his face. “I know how to keep my mouth shut, though.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about Grace. I’ll handle it.”
I smiled, liking the chief even more. He wasn’t afraid to pitch in when needed. “Sounds good.”
“Meet me outside in two?” Riggs arched an eyebrow with a questioning look.
With a nod, I headed for my office to get my gun.
“Oscar!”
I paused, glancing over at Nina, Riggs’s administrative assistant as I passed her desk.
“I put some mail on your desk.”
“Okay, thank you.” Lifting a hand, I acknowledged her, then continued to my office.
When I rounded my desk to sit down, I saw the pile. Brushing it aside, I set my notepad down, then unlocked my desk drawer to get my gun. I’d look at it later. Right now, I had some video footage to track down.