Chapter 42 Andrea Kendal
Andrea Kendal
“My son is best friends with Cameron, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time with both Eric and Andrea, all focused on the kids.
You’d never know that Eric wasn’t Cam’s father.
Andrea yields to him on all major decisions.
It would really piss me off if I was Cam’s real father.
I asked Andrea once about him, but she said he was dead.
Lucky woman. My ex-husband is a bitch in terms of our son. ”
It was almost seven o’clock when the detectives finally released Eric and called Andrea back for questioning. They passed each other in the hall, an audience of uniforms looking on, and shared a quick kiss.
“I have to go back to the hospital to tie up some things,” Eric said.
“Okay, I’ll meet you at home.” Andrea squeezed his arm and watched as he headed to the doors and tried to read his gait, the expression he’d had on his face.
Had that been relief on his features? Possibly.
It was hard to tell through the deep lines of exhaustion.
This was taking its toll on both of them.
Maybe they could leave town for a bit. Finally take the kids to Legoland, a trip they’d been promising Cameron for ages.
Except what was that they always said in the movies? Don’t leave town. Such a melodramatic cliché, except that maybe Legoland wouldn’t happen, all because of this.
“Mrs. Kendal?” The same detective who’d taken Eric away was now standing in the entry to a private room, holding the door. “We won’t keep you too long, I promise.”
How could they promise that? How, when they had no idea of what she’d done?
She followed him into the room and took the chair beside Walter. Across the table was the same female with the severe bun and no-nonsense expression. “Hi,” Andrea said awkwardly. “I’m Andrea. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier.”
She nodded without smiling. “Detective Hanner. And you already know Detective Palentick?”
“Yes, we met before.” She set her purse on the ground and crossed her legs at the ankle, cupping her hands together in her lap. She glanced at Walter, and he gave her a reassuring smile.
“This won’t take long,” he said, and hope entered her chest. Just what the detective had said, only Walter knew her level of involvement. He wouldn’t say that if this were about Roxanne, which meant that maybe all this would be quick. Maybe Legoland was on their horizon after all.
“You were already told about the remains that we found in your neighborhood,” the woman started. “We called you in because the body was located directly behind your home, in the pond that is part of the sixth hole.”
Every ounce of stress in Andrea’s body flooded out of her. “You’re kidding,” she breathed and tried not to smile. This was nothing. This would be cleared up. “Okay. Do you know who it is?”
Walter tapped her arm. “Andrea, they have a few questions to ask you. Let them go through those so that we can get you back home to the kids. I can update you on the details.”
In other words, shut up. She nodded and pinned her lips together, looking to the detectives for their questions.
“We can’t share the identity of the victim yet, but it is a male, in case you were concerned about the Roxanne Kendal case.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Okay.” There. Walter couldn’t be upset over that. Oh. Okay. Just two words that didn’t give them anything.
A male. So David Batcher, probably. Missing persons weren’t a dime a dozen in this area, and access to the neighborhood and courses was strictly monitored and controlled.
She thought of Sara and sent a silent prayer of support over to the woman, who was probably dealing with her own questions from police, all while navigating such devastating news.
Detective Palentick cleared his throat and began. “We’re trying to establish a timeline of events here. While we don’t know the exact date that the death occurred—”
“Yet,” the female detective interjected.
“Yet,” he added, “we’re guessing that it was in May of 2021, based on outstanding missing persons from this area.”
David Batcher. Definitely.
“So I just want to make sure that you weren’t involved with Eric Kendal at that time.”
“‘Involved’?” Andrea let out a nervous laugh. “I didn’t know Eric then. I wasn’t even living in this area then.”
“Yes, this says that you were in Florida at that time, is that correct?”
Dots appeared in Andrea’s vision, and she began to feel lightheaded. “Yes?” she said faintly. This was bad. If they dug . . . if they looked into her past . . . she couldn’t afford what they might find.
“So you didn’t know Eric or Roxanne Kendal in 2021?” Detective Hanner asked.
She couldn’t look to Walter for help, not on such a simple and obvious question. “No.”
“Was it your understanding that Eric and Roxanne were living together at the time of her disappearance?” Hanner wrote something down on her pad as she asked the question.
Suspect seems nervous. Must be guilty. Andrea could just picture the words, her blue felt-tip underlining the final word.
“Mrs. Kendal?” the man prodded.
Andrea flinched. “Sorry. Yeah, they lived together up until . . .” She faltered. “I’m sorry, I don’t know the dates of when she was attacked.”
“Oh, we have that here.” Hanner smiled like a cat watching her prey. “February second. Three months, almost to the day, before David Batcher disappeared.”
“Oh, okay. So yeah, they were living there during that time.” She looked to Walter. “Is that all?”
“Not quite.” Detective Palentick stepped back in. “Did Eric ever mention the Batchers to you? Either Sara or David?”
“I mean, I know the history—that he ran off on Sara or whatever. There are a lot of rumors going around the neighborhood, depending on who you talk to. I asked Eric about it when I heard about it. That was years ago. I really don’t know when it was.
I feel like that was one of the first things I heard about when I moved into the neighborhood. That and Willow.”
“Yeah, between those two and Roxanne, there could be a serial killer in the neighborhood.” Hanner widened her eyes, almost in glee, and Andrea frowned at the thought.
“I mean, probably not. I feel like they are all three very different. At least, Roxanne is. Maybe Willow and David ran off together—that’s what some people say, though I think that’s probably not right, given how far apart they were .
. .” She trailed off at the feel of Walter’s knee, hard against hers.
Talking too much again. As her mother loved to say, she did not raise a quiet daughter.
“So what did Eric tell you?” Palentick asked.
She wrinkled her nose and tried to honestly think of what Eric’s take on the Batcher disappearance had been.
“Ummm . . . I can’t really remember what he said.
He wasn’t interested in it. You have to realize, Eric is not exactly into neighborhood drama or gossip.
I think he said they split and people were turning it into something it probably wasn’t.
” She paused, aware that she had been about to misspeak, and chose her next words very carefully.
“I don’t think he had an opinion. Eric is very based in and focused on facts.
He doesn’t buy into theories. So if he doesn’t know about something, he doesn’t speculate. ”
The two detectives looked at each other, and she tried to decipher the silent communication they shared.
“So you don’t think that Eric killed David Batcher?” Detective Hanner asked abruptly.
The question was so absurd that Andrea laughed. “No. Absolutely, unequivocally not.”
“What about Roxanne?” The man leaned forward over the table toward her.
“No,” she said immediately. “He loved Roxanne.” More than me. The words screamed silently in her head but never made it past her lips.
“He wouldn’t kill her? Crime of passion, maybe?”
“No,” she said firmly and looked between them, making sure they saw the resolution in her statement. “Never.”
They looked at each other again and seemed to believe the lie. From beside her, even Walter smiled in approval.