Chapter 18
Kate walked up to the address in question.
She had several other black-and-whites on their way, but, when she got to the address, she decided she would take a quick look around and see if she could get a feel for what was happening.
As soon as she got into the apartment building, she glanced around.
This was a pretty standard building, not necessarily low-income but definitely not a high-income location.
Maybe a good family area, but she wasn’t hearing any kids. As she knocked on the apartment door, a deathly silence came from inside. She pounded on the door again. “Open up, police.”
Absolutely nothing came in response, but another neighbor opened her door and poked their head out. Kate raised her badge. The woman winced and went back inside and closed her door.
Kate knocked on the door again. She needed to speak to this woman.
Rodney, having driven his own vehicle, just now arrived. He walked toward her, and Kate called out at the apartment, “Police, open the door.”
Suddenly the door opened, and there stood a woman, a scarf tied over her head, tears in her eyes, probably crying steadily for some time. She stared at Kate, and venom filled her tone when she cried out, “What do you want?”
“To talk to you,” Kate replied, facing her, noting how, aside from the anger, this woman was probably once really pretty.
Was the scarf to hide that beauty? Then Kate’s wandering gaze noted a lot of poinsettias in view behind the screaming shrew—a dozen or more.
Kate frowned. “So you really like poinsettias, I gather.”
“They die after Christmas,” the woman screamed. “I don’t have anything to say to you. I don’t have anything to say to you at all ever. You’re his, and he’s not here.”
Kate raised one eyebrow. “I’m whose?”
“You’re his,” she spat. “That man, … who’s following me.”
Not sure exactly what or who she was talking about, Kate nodded. “I see.” The woman kept staring at her. “I don’t know anybody who has been following you.”
“Yes, yes, you do,” she snapped. “He’s making me crazy.”
So this must be Simon’s Sarah. Privately Kate thought that it was already too late for anybody to make this woman crazy.
To Kate, it seemed this woman was either heavily under the influence of drugs, was having a psychotic break, or perhaps was off some medication that she badly needed.
She studied the other woman and asked, “Are you Sarah Carroll?”
Sarah snorted. “You already know that. He told you all about it.”
She stared at her and added, “We want to bring you down to the station to ask you some questions.”
Sarah shook her head. “That won’t happen.”
“Really?” Kate asked. “And why is that?”
“Because he’s the one who’s in trouble for letting you get to me.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Kate muttered under her breath.
Rodney then stepped forward a bit and introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Rodney. I work with Kate here. We have some questions to ask you about a couple murders.”
“Murders?” she repeated, turning to him. “They weren’t murders. Who’s calling it murder?”
“Can you tell me what it was?” Rodney asked.
“They were justice.”
Kate stiffened, stared at her, and repeated, “Justice?”
“Yes, justice,” Sarah snapped. “But then you don’t understand anything about it. And, if it wasn’t for that bitch, you wouldn’t even be here right now.”
Kate frowned at Sarah, then eyed Rodney, who looked equally confused. “Okay, you just lost me there.”
Sarah shrugged. “That’s not hard to do, is it?”
Kate wasn’t sure where this was going, but Rodney motioned to the uniformed officers who had just arrived. They put Sarah in cuffs and then led her out to the black-and-white car. Sarah screamed the entire time.
Kate turned to the neighbor who had opened her door again, as soon as things had calmed somewhat. “Hey, can I ask you a couple questions about Sarah? Your neighbor?”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied. “She’s kind of, you know, loopy.”
“Okay, and has she been that way a long time?”
“As far as I know, yes,” she replied. “She’s got this thing about men and what justice is supposed to be. But I don’t understand what she goes on about. She’s a bit insane, but she’s harmless most of the time. She needs help.”
“I get that,” Kate replied. “And do you know anything about her? What she does? Where she works?”
“She used to work at an insurance company, as far as I know,” she replied. “I haven’t seen her leaving much at all here lately. But then I work from home, so, I can’t really keep track of any of it, and I don’t want to. I mostly try to fly under the radar.”
“Does Sarah ever have any friends over?”
“Just this one woman, and they usually end up in a fight every time. Anytime I’ve heard yelling and seen anybody leave, it’s been that same woman. No one else comes around anymore.”
“Any idea who that woman is?”
“Nope, sorry. I don’t know if the cameras outside work or not, but maybe they’ve cached something and could tell you. I don’t think she lives in this building, but I don’t get the sense that she lives very far away. I think she walks here.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I’ve not seen a car, and she never carries anything.
Not even a coat. Just like when you slip out to pop in and see somebody?
It’s like that. But last time was pretty wild.
They were yelling at each other, almost threatening.
I was about to call the cops when they finally just shut up.
I’ve never wanted to get involved,” she added, with a shrug.
Kate nodded and asked, “Has Sarah lived here long? Do you know anything about it?”
“No, I don’t have a clue,” she stated.
“Any idea when you first started seeing this other woman?”
“No.”
“Do you think they had a romantic relationship?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” she muttered, with a loopy smile, “but I guess I’ve never really thought of that. But, if they are in a relationship, they really shouldn’t be … because, I’m not kidding, it can get pretty wild between them.”
“Understood. Okay, so we’ll be in touch if I have any other questions,” she said, with a nod.
As she headed outside with Rodney, he asked her, “Do you have a clue what’s going on here?”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
He stared at her in surprise. “Goddammit, how is it that we get the same bits and pieces of information, and it makes sense to you, but it does not to me? I swear to God, I’m not a complete dumbass, and nobody else in the office puts these pieces together the same way you do either.”
“Well,” she muttered, “maybe I’ve just seen too much of the world.”
“You haven’t been a detective half as long as I have,” he muttered. “Sometimes I feel as if I’m a complete loser in this department.”
She turned to him. “No way. I will admit that my brain seems to work differently and has adapted to this job fairly quickly,” she admitted, “but you should never feel you aren’t good enough because you’re doing exactly what you should be doing, and you’re doing a damn good job of it.”
“Says you,” he muttered.
“Rodney, do you know that your timing and instincts in these interviews is perfect? I go too far, push too hard, and they clam up, and just as I’m wondering what the hell to do, you make a subtle move, ease your way into the conversation, then suddenly they are talking again. It’s brilliant.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know about that, yet I shouldn’t whine. I don’t know exactly what’s going on these days, but I’ve got to tell you, it’s been a hell of a time.”
“It has, indeed,” she agreed, with a laugh. “Now, let’s go back to the station. I have one other person I want brought in.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know who that other person is.”
“You might not right now,” she noted, “but I suspect you’ll understand when you see her.”
When they walked into the station a little later, he stood in the observation room to see who was in the second interview room. He looked back at her and shook his head vehemently. “No way. You’re wrong, or I still don’t have a fucking clue.”
She smiled. “You’ll see it soon enough.”
And, with that, she headed to the first interview room where she stepped in, checked on Sarah—who took one look at her and started hissing. Kate sighed. “That’ll make it a little more difficult to talk to you.”
“I’m not talking to you ever.”
“Okay,” Kate replied, then she turned and walked back out. As she went to close the door, she added, “I’ll just leave you here to think about that for a while.”
Then she headed into the second interview room, Rodney at her side. As they entered, the woman looked up, fear in her eyes. Kate nodded. “Hi, Caroline. I figured it was time we had a more formal talk.”
*
Simon couldn’t settle. He paced around the apartment, then finally switched into casual clothes, put on his sneakers, and headed down to the lobby.
As he walked to the front door, Edgar stopped him and asked, “Hey, are you heading to the boat?”
“Maybe,” he said, turning to him, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. “To be honest, I’m a little out of sorts. Things are happening for Kate right now, so she won’t be home anytime soon. As much as I want to go to the station, I don’t want to mess up whatever is happening in their world.”
“Understood,” Edgar noted. “That gal works too hard.”
“She does, indeed, but right now I think she’s caught a break in the case, and she’s on it,” he shared, with a shrug. “But, for me, it just feels, I don’t know, off somehow. It’s been a weird day.”
“Understood.” Edgar suggested, “Maybe a trip to the Running Mate would be a good thing.”
“I was thinking about it, but maybe just getting out and getting some walking in will help.” He shook his head. “Something to wear down some of the excess energy I’ve got.”
“Good enough, just remember good things aren’t always out there.”
“Right, and I’m not looking for good things,” he replied. “I just want to chase away some of the ghosts once in a while.”