Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Alexandru
Apolice officer is posted at the door of Varla Sims’s house. I have never seen him, but Ms. Renfield seems to know him. “That was fast,” the officer says.
“What do you mean?” Ms. Renfield says.
“Maverick left a message with you just a few minutes ago.”
Ms. Renfield pulls out her phone. “Oh, I had it on do not disturb.”
The officer shouts into the house, and Maverick comes out. “That was fast.”
“Uh, we were just over at InovaSpire, and everybody was wondering where Varla was and we were heading this way anyway so...”
Maverick squints, chewing his gum. Suspicious we arrived so quickly.
“Why did you call her?” I demand. “What’s happening here?”
Maverick exchanges a dark look with his underling and addresses Ms. Renfield solemnly. “Thought you should get a look at this before it’s on the news or the Hardware Sam crew goes crazy with it.”
I can feel the fear and ice settle into Ms. Renfield’s veins. “What’s going on, Maverick?”
“Come with me. He stays out there.”
“I will do no such thing,” I say.
“Maverick, please. Whatever this is, I’d like Alexandru to come.”
Maverick grumbles his assent and leads the way through a tidy and Spartan living room and on into a small kitchen.
Ms. Renfield gasps.
There at the far end of the kitchen is Varla Sims, laid out on the floor, a rope still attached to her neck. She’s wearing overalls with a hole in the left knee.
Just like the Cuyahoga Killer!
“She hung herself? Wearing overalls like that?” Ms. Renfield gusts out.
“Yup. That’s how we found her. Got a wellness check call for her from someone she was supposed to bike with this morning and…
” Maverick gestures at the body. “There she was, hanging in the kitchen. Regarding the overalls...I don’t know what’s going on here.
She would’ve been kids like us at the time the Cuyahoga Killer was operating. I mean, it could be a coincidence but…”
“I don’t understand,” Ms. Renfield says.
“You’re telling me you worked with this woman?” Maverick says.
Ms. Renfield speaks without looking away from the body. “Sort of. She was one of my replacements at InovaSpire. She was never my biggest fan but… I don’t understand this.”
Maverick says, “It looks like a suicide. We won’t know for sure until the ME gives us a final pronouncement, but the way the ligature marks look, I wouldn’t call it a strangulation at first glance.”
Ms. Renfield grips my arm. It is... unexpected. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Maverick squints. “You’re saying she wasn’t your biggest fan. That she replaced you at work. Maybe fixated in some way? Lotta troubled people out there.”
“But to do something like this...” Ms. Renfield waves a hand in the direction of the body.
The scent of this is wrong.
Ms. Renfield lets go of my arm and wanders to the counter to stand over a carton of fries sitting upon a flower plate. Her pulse beats a bright staccato. She has seen something.
“What the hell,” she whispers.
“What is it?” Maverick asks.
Ms. Renfield just stares at the food. “This is a Cuyahoga Killer thing. The fries on the flowered plate.”
“It is?” Maverick says.
“It’s a small detail that you can see if you blow up the photos of his kitchen where he killed himself. It was never seen as that significant, and it’s not anything anybody would really remember. Well, unless you’re on the Northern Ohio True Crime forum.”
“The Northern Ohio True Crime forum?”
“Yeah. There was this long discussion thread at one point about why the Cuyahoga Killer hadn’t eaten his fries before hanging himself.
It was a really upsetting discussion, like making a parlor game out of this stupid detail.
I tried to get the moderator to close the comments, but he wouldn’t.
One forum member in particular just wouldn’t let it go, almost maliciously. Wait a minute… Wait a minute.”
“What is it?” I say.
“This is so crazy.” She turns to Maverick. “I know this is probably not at all protocol, but did you find any kind of computer or tablet around? I’d just like to see one thing.”
Maverick frowns. “I’m not gonna be letting you onto her devices.”
“How about if I tell you about a really important clue from the crossbow murders investigation?”
Maverick lowers his voice. “How about you tell me what you know about the crossbow murders, or I take you in for obstruction?”
I have had enough. I step close to Maverick. “This woman staged her death for Ms. Renfield’s benefit, and you choose to threaten her?”
“You might want to rethink crowding me, Prince.”
Ms. Renfield settles a hand onto my chest. “I’m good, Alexandru.” To Maverick, she says, “I was just at InovaSpire where I found evidence that Varla here hacked Jerome’s computer to make it look like he is the Crossbow Killer.”
Maverick squints so hard, his entire face wrinkles. “You’re telling me you have evidence she framed Jerome?”
“Yes.”
Maverick looks at the body. “You’re not telling me this woman did those murders, are you?”
“It might be worth checking her whereabouts,” Ms. Renfield says.
Maverick chews his gum in disbelief. “And then she framed Jerome, and then strung herself up like this?”
“Yes, and she went through great pains to hide it. Alexandru and I were swinging by to see what she had to say about it.”
Maverick seems about to say something, no doubt about interfering in his precious investigation, but just at that moment, another officer comes bounding in holding a flattened cardboard box with a picture of a crossbow on the side of it. “This was in the bedroom. It’s the right kind, boss.”
Maverick examines the box, paying special attention to a sticker on it with a price and some other bits of writing. “Good work. Check around and see what else you can find. This entire property is now a crime scene. Back everyone off.”