Chapter 11 #3
“Then stay in touch,” Kate declared, “because we will call you if we need to.”
“Great. Are you telling me that I should confess all this to my husband?”
“I don’t know,” Kate replied instantly. “That’s entirely up to you.
What I can tell you is that, until these three deaths are solved, the killing won’t quit.
We are going through hundreds—and I mean, hundreds of phone numbers.
If we find somebody who’s a connection to all three men, that would be perfect.
But if we find others connected to you that you didn’t tell us about, things will get a little more formal. ”
“Great. Look. I’ll spend some time and think about it. I’ve known Robert for many years. So, we’ve had many conversations over that time.”
“Right, it must be a lot. But think about why he’s doing what he’s doing, how he’s doing what he’s doing, the reasons for the keeping the women mostly out of his life, and anything else as to why.” Kate heard something shuffling in the background of this call.
“Okay. I understand what you’re saying. I’ve got to go. My husband’s coming. I’ll call you.” And, with that, Sherry disconnected.
Kate sat here for a long moment, then turned to Rodney, who had also just gotten off a call. Kate asked him, “How many of them are married?” She pointed to her phone. “I just got off with one, Sherry, who asked me to please not contact—wait for it—her husband.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that too,” Rodney confirmed. “I just talked to one who is also married but has been in a relationship with Kurt, the Coquitlam dude, for years, according to her. It was always no commitments, only if everybody was free and clear.”
“So, that’s almost the same thing I was told.” Kate added, “According to Sherry, Robert stipulated that everything had to be drama-free.”
“Honest to God, that’s a smart move on his part,” Rodney stated.
She frowned at him. “It really is, isn’t it? Plus, if he’s dealing with a lot of different partners, how does he keep them all straight?”
“Beats me. Must be hard to call them the right name. I’ve still got a lot of phone numbers to go through, but that doesn’t mean that they all stayed current.
It could have been one-night stands too.
I’ve had several who don’t know how or why their phone numbers were in some strangers’ address book or Contact list at all. ”
“Where did these guys get these numbers then?” Kate asked. “That’s what we have to figure out.”
“When I check a lot of these numbers,” Rodney shared, “it’s basically dialed once or twice and then nothing in the last six months.”
“Those are low priority,” she noted. “I started a chart, and we’ll rate those as low priority.
And then we’ll move to anybody in the last six months for all of them and see if we can come up with anybody who called all three men.
That only helps if,” she clarified, “we’re sticking with the concept that just one person is the killer of all three men. ”
“And why don’t you like that?” Rodney asked, curious.
“I don’t know, but, at the moment, I’m open to anything and nothing,” she muttered. Just then her phone rang. She looked down at the Caller ID and smiled. “And here’s Simon.” She answered and asked, “Hey, how’s your day going?”
“It’s going,” he said. “How are you doing?”
But Kate noted an oddness to his tone. “Simon, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m okay. Just a little … unsettled, I guess.”
“Is it something I can help with?”
He gave a short laugh. “No, but I know that’s—”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Oh no, no,” he told her, then sighed. “No need for alarm, as I’m totally fine. It’s got nothing to do with me or anything else on a woo-woo level.”
“Okay,” she muttered, relaxing back. But even Rodney and Lilliana stared at her, puzzled. “You’ve got us all a bit worried right now.”
“I’ve just realized that somebody is trying to sabotage me financially. I’m still struggling with that.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I’m not sure at all, but I will figure it out and will deal with it.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
“I’m just checking in to let you know that I will likely be late tonight. I’ll be with my accountant, dealing with something that popped up.”
“Interesting, not,” she replied, then chuckled. Everyone’s shoulders eased. “If you need accounting help …”
He laughed. “I know. I also know that, if I needed you to bury a body, you would be right there.”
She burst out laughing, then said, “Dear God, I hope you’re … joking.”
He replied, “Absolutely. Anyway, I won’t be home anytime soon.”
She glanced at her watch and added, “Okay, let me know when you’re coming home.”
“Will do.” And, with that, he ended the call.
Yet she stared at her phone, frowning.
“That’s not a good look on you,” Rodney stated.
“No, it’s not a good look, and it’s not a good call from him either,” she replied, pondering what he said again, her fingers tapping the top of her desk.
Rodney asked her, “Is it something you need to deal with?”
She paused. “I’m not thinking it is, but I’m also not too sure at the moment. I’ll let him handle it for now, and, if I need to run, I will.” She turned to Rodney and added, “In the meantime, we have a lot more phone numbers to call.”
Just then Reese entered the bullpen. “First, Kate, I haven’t forgotten your earlier request. I found fertility places around Vancouver but none near a church and near where our two dead guys lived.
You know, some people can’t afford that kind of help.
Just saying. Now here’s why I’m really here.
I was running names between the three victims and their Contacts data that we have so far, plus all their websites visited,” she began, “and I came up with three women who have dated all three guys.”
“Three women,” Kate repeated, staring at her. “Good God.”
Reese nodded. “But I have bad news too. I found contact information for two of them. However, one is dying of cancer and is in the hospital in a medically induced coma. And I don’t have any contact info for the third match.
However, as we know on these dating sites, these people don’t always use their real names.
So, … I’m still working on it.” Then she handed over a piece of paper to Kate.
Kate frowned at the numbers. “This is the woman I just talked to. And she told me that she didn’t know any Kurt at all but that she dated a guy for a short while with the very common name of John Smith.”
Reese shrugged, then suggested, “Maybe the men used different names. I noticed one of them with a different name on a third dating site, but he had used his own on Tinder and Romance Me.”
“Oh great,” Kate muttered, “that muddies the water. Go ahead and give me what you have so far on that third woman, and I’ll see if I can get any more out of this Sherry gal, whom I just spoke to.” Reese turned and left, just as Kate sent Sherry a text to call her.
When Sherry phoned, some twenty minutes later, she bypassed any greeting and said, “The text is better, but, damn, I really want you to lose my number permanently.”
“Did you know Hector?” Kate asked.
Sherry paused, then asked, “Hector who?”
“Hector from Tinder.”
“Oh Jesus,” she muttered. “That was an awful long time ago.”
“Yeah?” Kate asked, yet doubtful.
“Yeah, it was a brief … fling.”
“One of our three dead men used that name. So, it appears that you may have had the honor of being one of the few women who are connected to all three of those men.”
“But, … good God. Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously.”
“No, I only knew the one for sure.”
“Yes. And you told me that you weren’t sleeping with anybody other than Robert.”
“Right. That John Smith guy who I saw was a short-lived meetup. And I met Hector on Tinder a very long time ago. I wasn’t even counting those as relationships.”
“I’m counting them as relationships,” Kate declared.
“You need to take another look at what you consider a relationship,” Sherry quipped. “Look,” she began, then hesitated. “I explained to you that these aren’t relationships but hookups.”
“I hear you, but, when I find out that the same woman has slept with the dead guy in three different cases of mine, I need more details.”
“Christ,” she muttered. “Look. How about I come to the station tomorrow morning? We can talk in person then.”
“Fine,” Kate muttered. “I want you here at 9:00 a.m. sharp.”
“Great.” Sherry ended the call, her tone pissed off.
Kate looked over at Rodney and nodded. “That’s one of the three women who met up with all three dead guys. Let’s see if we can get ahold of another one.”
“I’m working on it,” Lilliana shared.
Kate looked over at Rodney and shared, “As much as I asked Sherry to come in, I don’t see her as being our killer. She sounded … more lost than angry or hurt.”
Surprised, he turned to her and asked, “Why do you think that is?”
“Because she’s married. She’s happily married, legitimately happy.”
“And yet she’s—” Rodney shook his head.
“Her husband, … he apparently has a very low libido. So, from her perspective, she’s taking care of business.” Kate gave a wave of her hand. “She’s getting the attention she feels she needs in order to keep her marriage going in a positive direction.”
“Christ,” he muttered, “but it seems wrong—”
“We aren’t marriage counselors, and enough people have asked me about that shit lately that I’m more than a little afraid more of that crap is coming my way. Do I look like a social worker for the lovelorn all of a sudden?” As she glared at him, his lips twitched.
He replied, “No, I can’t really see you as a marriage counselor. You would probably pull out your weapon and tell them to make life easier for everybody by at least talking to each other.”