Chapter Four #3
McKay took the tube Peabody brought him, then turned it around nervously in his hands.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing that rises to this. I want to be absolutely transparent with you because anything that helps, I want to do. I served as a sounding board now and then. Rae might complain to me that Larry was doing too much snacking, or he’d bought something she saw as foolish while neglecting to get a new suit, that sort of thing.
He might say something about her pretending her monthly book club was anything more than a girl wine and gab fest or insisting they needed a new whatever when the whatever they had was fine.
“Just small, silly things. They loved each other, and it showed. They have a lovely family. And when Devin and I wanted to start ours, they wrote a wonderful letter to the agency who helped us.”
“Did he ever use you as a sounding board for problems or issues at work?”
“Not really, no. His work was sensitive and closely guarded. And, frankly, I doubt I’d have understood any of it. Was he sometimes stressed about work, or overtired because of it? Yes, I could see that, but he never told me any specifics.”
“Do you know anyone who contacted him, who came to the house, who gave you a bad feeling?”
He lifted both hands. “I swear no. It’s all I’ve thought of since Nate told me what happened.
Larry, he solved problems. If there was an issue, he worked to resolve it.
I can’t honestly recall witnessing any arguments—disagreements, of course, but again minor.
I can’t understand why this happened. Nate said nothing was taken, so why would someone break in? ”
“Who had access to Mr. Chu’s security code?”
“No one. He was, well, obsessive there. I have my own—it logs me in and out. And at his directive, all the codes are changed every three months. I think that level of security came from his work in the lab, and the need to protect it.
“He . . . he was meticulous. He kept things in place, left detailed instructions if he wasn’t able to speak with me directly.
But he wasn’t rigid, not in personal matters.
And—and he was understanding, especially since the baby.
If I needed time off, he was generous with it.
‘Family’s what makes us,’ he told me that once.
‘We make family, and family makes us.’ ”
Finally, Allen cracked the tube and drank.
“I can’t get my head around it. I thought by talking to you, answering questions, I’d start to understand, at least a little.
But I don’t. To my knowledge Larry never hurt anyone.
I imagine he was an exacting director at work, but I can’t imagine he’d be unfair. ”
“All right.”
“I . . . Nate told me Larry was brutally beaten, and that the office . . . He didn’t see it himself, but Rae did, and Brad. I know you’ve blocked it, but after . . . It will need to be cleaned.”
“Mr. McKay, take my word, that’s not something you can do.”
“Lieutenant, I don’t want the family to face that. Honestly, I can’t stand the thought of them facing that.”
“No, they shouldn’t.” Peabody drew his attention. “Trust us on this, none of you can or should attempt it.”
He took another drink, breathed out. “I can’t imagine then. I guess I don’t want to imagine. There are services, right? Specialty services for this?”
“There are,” Eve assured him. “We can give the family some recommendations.”
“Could I have them? This is something I could take care of for them, do for them. I don’t want them to have to deal with something like this. I don’t know if Rae will want to live there now, but this has to be done.”
“We’ll give you some contacts. It may be a few days. Do you know where Ms. Chu is staying now?”
“She’s staying with Brad and Tricia. Nate and Katrina are going in later today to get more of her things. I’m not sure she’ll ever go back in the house. It’s almost another kind of death. She and Larry loved that house.”
After he’d gone, Eve signaled Peabody into her office.
“A man with no enemies doesn’t get beaten into goo—a planned attack, as they’d dug up his security code. Clearly, he guarded that very well. A killer doesn’t go on a rampage and leave a family photo undamaged.
“There’s something under the nice, generous, meticulous scientist and family man. And if it doesn’t involve the people closest to him?”
“It’s outside of them. Work or something extracurricular he was involved in.”
“Let’s do a drop-in at Banner-Wyst. We won’t contact in advance. We’ll see what we can scratch up without giving them notice.”
“Do you want me to run the first Banner wife before we head out?”
“Run her on the way. We still have to run Jacob Wyst, but maybe we can get our impressions in person.”
“He’s the glad-hander, right?”
“That’s right. We’ll see how glad his hand is when we show up.”
“Aren’t you going to ask why people say glad-handing?”
“No, obviously it’s someone who uses his hand”—Eve mimed shaking one—“to pretend he’s really glad to see and/or meet you.”
The elevator opened. Eve took one look at the crowd already on, said, “Nope,” and headed for the glides.
“Maybe they are glad to see and/or meet you.”
“Maybe, but then it’s not glad-handing, which implies someone who makes a point of shaking everyone’s hand and putting on the glad to see and/or meet you whether or not.”
“You know, that sounds right.”
Eve just shrugged. “Some things make sense, some are stupid as shit.”
“That also sounds right.”