Chapter 10
Rodney suddenly arrived at Kate’s desk. “They all have Tinder accounts.” His excitement was palpable.
Kate looked up at him and asked, “Did they all have matching profiles?”
“No, but they were all on the same site.”
“That’s something, but can you tell if they have matched up with others?”
“No, and I can’t tell if anybody swiped. We probably have to get a search warrant to get Tinder to even begin to cooperate with that search.”
“And I doubt we can get through that approval process very fast. So, … they all sought out dating sites. They were all looking for partners, more or less. And these sites all have iron-clad privacy clauses.”
“Yes,” Rodney confirmed. “I can’t confirm whether this Caroline woman, who supposedly went out with Kurt and Robert, was also going out with John. We need Caroline’s picture.”
“We haven’t talked to her yet,” Kate noted, as she looked down at her notes. “That’s the one we’ll have to get ahold of.”
“She hasn’t been very responsive, has she?” Rodney asked.
“No, not at all, and she was seen dating two of our victims. What we don’t know is whether she knew John or dated him too. If she did, that’ll be an interesting conversation. I have her address, and she told me that she should be home today.”
“Oh good, that’s some progress,” Rodney replied.
“So, let’s go.” Kate bolted to her feet, sending Rodney into a fit of laughter.
He teased, “Are you sure you don’t want to get a second cup of coffee first?”
“Hell no. I want to get there before Caroline changes her mind and disappears. We can pick up coffee on the way,” she added, with a smirk. “I don’t understand what’s going on here, and, until we figure it out, I won’t be happy.”
“Oh, I get it,” he stated. “You’re very much into locking down the entire truth as quickly as possible.”
“Because people lie,” she declared. “People tell us stories that they make up in their mind, and then their memories start to go quickly when they’re asked very specific questions.
So these people are no different. We have that one woman, Angel, who supposedly was dating one of these guys, John.
Yet, upon further review, it was more of a convenience thing, friends with benefits, seeing Angel when John didn’t have anybody else around.
Once she understood the situation, she didn’t take it very kindly. ”
“Yeah, I suppose not,” Rodney agreed, “but come on? These guys were obviously players.”
“And no promises were ever made,” she added. “Even still, Angel’s not feeling very generous toward John at the moment.”
“Maybe that will help her get over the fact that he’s dead,” Rodney suggested.
“Yes, he’s dead, but so is the fairy tale she’s been telling herself. Therefore, she’s not a very happy camper, especially after being taken in as long as she was.”
“And yet was she really taken in or just allowed herself to live the fairy tale? I’m not so sure,” he muttered, shaking his head and looking skeptical.
“I don’t know either. And I really want to. So let’s go.”
Caroline’s house wasn’t all that far away, and they got there relatively quickly. It was a nice house, not an apartment.
“Well,” Kate shared, “seems Caroline is doing okay for herself.” Rodney nodded. They walked up to the front door, and it opened in front of them before she could knock.
The woman looked at the two of them and introduced herself. “I’m Caroline Lippa. You must be the detective I spoke to on the phone.” She looked at Kate.
Kate pulled out her ID badge and showed it to her and introduced herself and Rodney. “Yes,” Kate noted. “May we come in?” Caroline held open the door. As they walked in, Kate looked around and smiled. “Fresh roses.”
“Yes, I have gardens out back. I do some gardening,” Caroline shared, as she led the way to a more formal-looking living room.
Kate sat where Caroline motioned them to.
Kate frowned. This was definitely in the running as the most uncomfortable couch Kate had ever sat on before.
But she also recognized it as the furniture people chose for that reason.
So that when company came, they didn’t stay.
Turning to face Caroline, Kate began, “I understand that you were going out with Robert Blake up until he died.”
“Yes,” Caroline confirmed, “but we weren’t exclusive, obviously. I know that sounds terrible, but it wasn’t meant to be bad.”
Kate nodded. “And were you also going out with Kurt Conner when he died two years ago?”
She frowned but then nodded. “Yes, I was. I was going out with him at the time,” she stated. “But again—and this is very important—we weren’t exclusive.”
Kate studied Caroline for a long moment. The woman was a little older than both Kurt and Robert but elegant, aging beautifully, but maybe feeling that the first flush of her youth had passed her by. Kate asked her, “Is there a reason for that, the nonexclusive relationships?”
“Yes,” she declared. “I am divorced, and I’m frankly not looking to get into another marriage that wouldn’t work out. I just want to be free for a while. And, so far, at least, I haven’t met anybody who has inclined me to change that position.”
“I see,” Kate replied. “Do you have any children?”
“No,” she replied, with a frown, and her tone got frosty. “I don’t know how that matters.”
“I don’t know that it does matter,” Kate noted. “I’m just collecting information.”
Caroline sagged back. “My husband and I tried, and I never seemed to get pregnant,” she shared. “And it was a contributing factor to our breakup.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She shrugged. “It was disappointing but was one of those things that hadn’t really been that big of a deal to me. Then all of a sudden, as I approach forty, I had to face the reality that maybe that childbearing time was gone, slipping right through my fingers.”
Kate nodded. “Kind of the classic situation where you miss something that you didn’t know you really wanted because it wasn’t really ever available.”
“Exactly, and now that’ll probably never happen. So I feel as if I should have tried harder to conceive,” she muttered. “And I realize that’s a convoluted way of saying that I didn’t care enough at the time.”
“What about now?” Rodney asked.
“Right now, Detective? … I think I do care.”
Kate blinked several times at that explanation and then replied, “Got it. Now, did either of these men have—wait, let’s talk about Kurt.”
“What about him? He died two years ago. There is nothing to talk about.”
Kate countered, “That’s not entirely true.”
“Okay, ask away.”
“Did he show any signs of depression?”
“No.”
“Did you ever do drugs with him?”
“No,” she said a little too quickly. “I don’t do drugs. But he was a little bit more … active than I would have liked.”
Kate eyed her shrewdly and didn’t speak. The other woman flushed a little, clearly uncomfortable. “We did the occasional drugs,” she admitted, “but it was never that bad, and it was never serious.”
Kate didn’t budge, refusing to relax back and to let her off the hook.
After a long moment of silence, Caroline shrugged. “Honestly,” she began, looking a bit flustered now, “I don’t have a problem with a little bit of fun, but he was definitely over-the-top with—”
“So, you weren’t surprised when the cause of Kurt’s death was drugs.”
“No,” she muttered, “I was not surprised. I was upset and more emotionally involved than I realized. It was a real awakening, understanding how affected I had been and how involved we had been.”
“So, you weren’t surprised and didn’t have any questions about it?”
“No,” she stated. “Kurt was just that way. It sounds as if you think there’s a link between Robert’s and Kurt’s deaths, but I can’t see it. I mean, yes, I was involved with both of them. And they were both really good men, but they were not the kind of men who you marry,” she declared.
“How so?” Kate asked.
“It was the way they lived. They weren’t the kind you take home to meet your mother. Plus, your father would never let them in the door.”
Kate asked, “And you knew that from the start?”
“I got that right from the beginning. And I wasn’t looking to take anybody home to my parents anyway,” she stated, her bitterness evident. “Been there, done that.”
“And it didn’t turn out to be as promised, so you didn’t want to go there again,” Kate suggested.
Caroline glared at her. “I just wanted to not always be alone. If I found somebody perfect, well, that might be a different story. Yet I wasn’t out looking for a husband. Does that make sense?”
“It does,” Kate agreed. “And that’s important.
We just have to confirm that there aren’t any connections between these two men.
And I don’t really know that there is at this stage, but two men, the same company?
Of course, as soon as more information comes to light, we’ll have a little better understanding. ”
Caroline stared at her. “God, it’s terrible.
Robert was just so, … so full of life. He was so happy, so robust.” She winced.
“I know this will sound terrible, but he was so virile.” And unexpectedly her tears spilled.
“I feel as if I lost out on somebody who was hugely important to me. And I didn’t even realize it until it was too late. ”
Kate tilted her head at her. Before this, Caroline had looked completely composed and calm. Now she broke down. Kate clearly felt Caroline was putting on an act. Now they had to see if she was acting before, or if this was the play for her. “Any chance you know John Smith?”
Caroline frowned at her. “Why?”
“Because, so far, you’re the only connection we have found between Kurt and Robert, but we also have another case that could potentially be connected. Still, it’s a bit of a long shot.”
“Does he work for the same company as I do?”
“No,” Kate replied.
“Thank God for that,” Caroline muttered. “I would start looking for another job if you told me that was the case.”
“Though he is in the same industry.”