Chapter 2 #3
She pondered that as she waved for Rodney to join her, and they both walked outside to their vehicles.
Not that it wasn’t a family location but definitely some homeless issues were seen not too far from here.
Still, she wouldn’t have considered this apartment building to be in an especially bad area.
She asked Rodney about it as they met at her vehicle.
“Do you consider this a good area of town or a bad area?”
Surprised, he glanced around and shrugged. “I wouldn’t have said bad. I mean, he obviously was here because he could afford it. The rent was average. I would say it was just fairly typical of what we come across in this area.”
Getting into her car, she added, “The landlord seemed to think that it wasn’t a great location. He made a comment about not wanting to have to police the residents’ living arrangements, sex lives, or dating relationships among tenants, particularly in this area.”
Rodney frowned as he thought about it. “If you want to go in that direction, an adult entertainment store is around the corner. And a strip club is not far away.”
“There are?” she asked, startled.
“Yeah. We’re a couple blocks from the adult entertainment store, but it’s certainly within walking distance.”
“I hadn’t realized.” She glanced around.
“That’s the thing. … It’s just far enough out that you think it’ll all be like this, but it’s not. This is a residential area. A school is not far from here either, which would make it more family-oriented.”
“But that adult element does give rise to the question as to just what this local demographic looks like. Plus where did John work? Nobody mentioned where he worked, only that he mostly worked from home.”
“So, his phone and computer will be our most reliable information banks.”
“We’ve got his phone and his computer too. Forensics has both.”
“So, we should get that information fairly quickly, right?” Rodney asked.
She nodded. “And then the question is, Who were his friends? Damn, I forgot to ask the manager about security in this building.”
“The forensics team used a buzzer to be let in.”
“So, in theory, with a buzzer, our killer would have gained entry either via some resident or on their own,” she noted, “particularly if they had lived here for a while.”
He turned to her and asked, “Are you thinking the girlfriend killed him?”
“No, I’m not thinking anything for certain yet,” she clarified. “However, a girlfriend doing the killing suggests a crime of passion, but this murder? … It seems cold, calculated.”
“But there is a buzzer, so that might be useful.”
“Which you and I both know you can get around by planning the timing just right. With somebody coming out, you slip right in.”
He agreed, “It’s an easy-enough thing to do.”
“Unfortunately it is, isn’t it?” She nodded. “Let’s see what else we can come up with.”
“Where do you want to go from here?”
“I want to drive around the neighborhood,” she shared.
“I’ll see you back at the office then.” He got into his vehicle and took off.
Kate took a much more pragmatic approach and slowly drove around the neighborhood, pondering what the manager had said about this place. Was it a personal thing, or was it something else?
It was just one of those little questions that niggled at the back of her mind.
Everybody she had spoken to and those whom Rodney had spoken to didn’t appear to be the family-oriented types, which she also found interesting.
If they weren’t, then this was very much more of a singles’ location, as suggested by the super, and that could have something to do with the amenities around this building.
Not to mention the price, because anybody with families needed larger units and would need schools nearby, which according to Rodney there were.
She drove around looking for the school, only to find it was an alternative school, not a public school.
That just added credence to the idea that this area was not a good location for a family.
Main arterial roads connected everybody within a few blocks.
So, from a commuting point of view, it also made sense.
However, a great public transit system wasn’t in this general area, which also could make it difficult for families.
Pondering all that, Kate decided to head back to her office. Just as she was about to pull back out onto the traffic, her phone rang. She popped back onto a side street and answered. It was Simon.
“Hey,” he greeted her. “I understand you’ve caught another case. I was just checking in to see if you’re okay.”
She smiled. “You know, most people would not question a detective as to whether they’re okay or not when they catch another case.
” She didn’t know if she should be cross or happy that he obviously cared but ultimately decided that she would be in the middle somewhere.
“On the other hand, you and I both know that sometimes these cases can get a little difficult and weird—and definitely odd when you are concerned.”
“Am I concerned in this one?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.” She tried evading the question because he obviously was involved based on the text message he’d sent earlier. However, maybe not just that had happened. Had something else weird come up in his world already?
“I mean, except for the word believe, and I don’t know that it’s got anything to do with your case, does it?” he asked. When she didn’t say anything, he went on. “I can’t imagine how it would even relate.”
“No, I can’t imagine it either,” she acknowledged, “but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t.”
“Good point,” he muttered. “Anyway, I’m heading off downtown, been doing paperwork all morning here. Did you ever hear from the insurance company on repairing your apartment’s front door?”
“Not this morning,” she grumbled, “and not yesterday either.” Her insurance company was still stalling because, as Simon mentioned so aptly, she was a bad bag. “Nothing new. Why? Are you trying to get me out of there already?” The insurance company was trying to get out of paying her.
“Nope,” he stated cheerfully. “I just thought it might be something I could help you with. I am a builder after all, and I know how these insurance companies work. If you are fine with it, I can take that off your shoulders while you’re working on the case.”
“Ah,” she noted. “I’m sure the insurance company is not impressed that a cop lives there, and they’ll raise my premiums through the roof just to confirm they don’t end up in this position again.”
Simon concurred. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they did that, but let’s not jump to conclusions. And, if they can’t help you out with insurance at a reasonable rate, we’ll talk to some of my brokers.”
She almost heard the smile in his voice as he spoke. “Sure, you can do both,” she agreed. “Anyway, I’m heading back to the office now. Everything’s okay.” She had no quarrel with his words but still heard that odd note in his tone. She frowned into the phone. “What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing. I don’t have any insights. I don’t have anything. I just …” He sighed and added, “I wanted to hear your voice and to confirm you’re okay.”
She smiled. “I … am flattered. And since you’re talking to me right now, you can tell I’m okay, and I’m doing just fine.”
“Good enough,” he said. “Sorry, I know I’m turning into a lovesick puppy. I’ll talk to you later.” And, with that admission, he ended the call.
She burst out laughing because the last thing in the world that she would ever expect him to say was that. Simon was a lot of things but a lovesick puppy wasn’t one of them. And, with that, she headed her vehicle back to the office with the case on her mind.
She looked forward to whatever the forensics revealed, knowing without a doubt that Smidge would have plenty to say about it.
*
It was a dreary, wet day outside for Simon.
He shuffled into his overcoat ever-so-slightly and brushed it off.
He had an umbrella in his hand, but he really hated carrying them.
Plus he was prone to leaving them at absolutely every location.
The minute the sun hid from sight, he tended to buy them by the half dozen.
And, sure enough, usually had to repurchase another half-dozen once a year.
One of his foremen had suggested that he just leave an umbrella at every jobsite, which made sense, but somehow it just never seemed to happen.
When his foreman Joe called him not too long afterward, he sounded disgruntled. “I’ve got some issues here. So, if you wanted to come by, today would be good.”
Simon frowned at that. Joe never was one for theatrics. “Right now?” Simon waited a moment.
“Yeah, I need you to see this.”
“Why? What’s going on there?”
There was a grunt, and Joe replied, “Let’s just say that we’ll have to redo some of the structures on this one beam here.
I don’t like the look of it. I should have been watching him closer.
He was the new guy from a couple months ago, who I had to fire.
He told me he was some expert welder. No way in hell. He was a poser.”
“Then you already know what the answer is. Fix it.”
“It’ll cost though.”
“It always costs,” Simon declared. “Just do it. I can certainly trust you to determine what’ll need to be redone. After all, how many times have I come over there when you’ve said something similar, only to have me agree with you?”
“Almost always,” he noted, with a snort.
“Then go ahead and just do it.”
“We’ll fix it, but we may think twice before we use this guy again.”
“If he’s doing shit work, no need to think at all.”
“But we’re short-handed.”
“I don’t care,” Simon snapped. “Shit work is shit work, and I don’t want to redo things because somebody can’t handle the job.”
“Oh, I hear you. Come take a look when you’re nearby.” And, with that, his foreman yelled at somebody close by.