Chapter 3
It was after two by the time I finally made it into the office. Katy had been arrested and booked. As it was Friday, she wouldn’t go before a judge until Monday morning. As I walked in the front door, Miranda and Jeanie were already waiting for me in Jeanie’s first floor office.
“Is she okay?” Miranda asked. “That poor thing.”
“Poor thing?” Jeanie said. “Have we all forgotten we’re still Team Joe around here?”
Jeanie had a glowing tan. She wore a pair of uncharacteristic capris pants and a tee shirt that read “I Love Barbados” spelled out in seashells.
“They lost my luggage on the way down,” she explained before I asked. “I came straight from the airport when Miranda texted. I’ve got six more tee shirts just like this. Guess what you’re getting as a souvenir.”
“How is Katy?” Miranda repeated.
“About how you’d expect,” I said. Already weary, I took a seat on Jeanie’s couch. “Is Emma here? Joe’s not picking up. I’m getting concerned. And a little bit pissed.”
“She took the day off,” Miranda said. “She had a meeting with her advisor this morning. Something about some graduation paperwork she still has to turn in.”
“Maybe that’s for the best. Do we know if she knows about Katy yet?” Though Emma wasn’t on speaking terms with her at the moment, Katy was the closest thing to a mother she’d ever known.
“Don’t know,” Miranda said. “She texted me yesterday evening to let me know she wasn’t coming in today. Do you want me to try to get a hold of her?”
“No. Let her focus on school. This is all going to hit the fan whether she gets a heads-up or not.” My phone buzzed. I had a jolt of adrenaline, expecting it to be Joe. But it was a text from my younger brother, Matt.
“Katy got arrested? Is Tom really dead?”
I hovered my thumb over the screen. I didn’t really want to have this conversation via text message.
“Yes on both,” I said. “Have Joe call me.”
Matt sent back an exploding head emoji. That was a definite understatement. I put my phone on the table in front of me.
“What happened?” Jeanie asked.
“I’m still trying to piece that together,” I said. “Basically, the cops are saying Katy’s housekeeper walked in on Katy standing over Tom with a knife in her hand, covered in Tom’s blood. Tom was lying in the bed in front of her with his throat sliced open.”
“My lord,” Miranda said. She took a seat on the couch beside me.
“What’s Katy saying?” Jeanie asked.
“She’s not making a whole lot of sense so far. She says she didn’t do it, of course. She says she just woke up and found him like that.”
“Wait a minute,” Jeanie said. “Say again?”
“You heard me correctly the first time. She says she woke up and he was already dead.”
“How is that even possible?”
“I don’t know. The bigger problem is she’s already changed her story a few times when talking to the cops.”
“Why was she talking to the cops?” Miranda asked.
“Sharon DePaul has apparently been promoted to detective. She claims Katy never made an unequivocal request to talk to an attorney. That’s debatable.”
“DePaul,” Miranda said. “Why do I remember that name?”
“Her dad was Bob DePaul,” Jeanie answered. “Deputy Sheriff for a while. Not a huge fan of your dad, Cass.”
“Sharon seems to have inherited the family grudge,” I said. “I think Katy could make a solid case that she was questioned in violation of due process rights. But even if she hadn’t dug herself deeper by talking to the police, she’s claiming she just woke up and Tom was already dead next to her.”
“Wow,” Jeanie said. “I mean … wow.”
“I know,” I said. “You see the problem.”
“How does a person sleep through their spouse getting stabbed to death in the bed beside them?”
“I have no idea,” I said.
“Ay yai yai,” Jeanie said. “She told the police that? Katy knows better!”
“DePaul claims Katy only asked to see her sister-in-law. Since technically she’s not my sister-in-law anymore, our newly minted detective thinks she’s in the right. She thinks since Katy never specifically said the word lawyer, everything she told her was fair game.”
“What all did she say?” Jeanie asked.
I relayed what Eric had heard as best I could.
“Oh dear,” Miranda said. “They’re going to charge her with first degree. My goodness.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“You can’t get any closer to this,” Jeanie said.
“I’ll try to find someone who can help her. She won’t get a bail hearing until Monday.”
“What do you think of her chances for bail?” Miranda asked.
“Slim to none,” I said. “I saw a picture of the crime scene. It’s pretty brutal. A literal bloodbath. The man appears to have been killed while he slept. I’m no expert, but I’ve seen enough murder scenes to know he doesn’t appear to have put up a fight.”
“Could she have sleepwalked?” Jeanie asked. “I mean … did she take something?”
“I don’t know if it does any good to go down that road,” I said.
“The good news, if there is any. I really think Sharon DePaul screwed up. Katy was in custody when her blood sample was taken. She’d been asking for me from the get-go.
They didn’t have a warrant. But it’s a catch-22.
If toxicology showed she was impaired, that makes voluntary consent harder to prove.
But one can only make that argument if toxicology is admitted. ”
“You’re already coming up with defense strategies,” Jeanie said. “You sure that’s wise? I mean, let’s be real about what we’re talking about here. Katy may or may not be a murderer. But we already know she has a motive?”
“We do?” Miranda said, her eyes widening. I hadn’t told her all of Joe’s business like I had Jeanie.
“Joe and Katy got briefly back together last year.”
“You mean after she was already married to Tom?” Miranda asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh my,” she said. “But … that would give Tom a motive to hurt Katy … or Joe. Why would Katy want to kill Tom because of her own questionable behavior?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“If Katy wanted out of that marriage,” Jeanie said. “If Tom was making it difficult for her. It’s just a mess from any angle I look at it.”
“Which is why I need to talk to my brother.”
I picked up my phone and punched in his number once again. This time, I got a message that his voice mailbox was full. I wanted to throw the phone against the wall.
“You don’t think he had anything to do with this, do you?” Miranda asked.
“No,” I said. And I didn’t. But Jeanie was right. This was a mess from all sides.
“I don’t believe her,” Miranda said. “I mean, I don’t believe she’d actually kill anybody. But I don’t believe a person could sleep through a murder happening six inches away from them. Was there any sign of forced entry?”
“I don’t have the full police report yet. Eric is also trying to find out what he can behind the scenes.”
“I want to know exactly what this maid says she saw,” Jeanie said.
“So do I,” I said.
Miranda went over to the desk and opened Jeanie’s laptop.
She clicked through to a local news app.
The story had already broken. There were news vans outside Tom Loomis’s home.
The reporter on screen looked shaken. Miranda had tuned into Tom Loomis’s station.
Their longtime sportscaster, he’d recently been promoted to morning anchor.
“Details are still sketchy,” the young reporter said, her lip quivering.
“But we’ve just received word that an arrest has already been made.
Kathlyn Loomis, Tom’s wife of two years, is being held in connection with the killing.
This is all breaking news. We’ll share details as we have them. For now, I’ll turn this back to you …”
The camera flashed to the anchor at the desk, Roxanne Rhodes.
She, too, looked rattled. Tom himself might have been sitting at the desk beside her today.
“Zoe?” she said to the reporter. “There appears to be some movement at the front door behind you. It’s opening. Can you tell us what’s happening?”
The camera went back to Zoe’s live feed outside Tom and Katy’s house.
The front door had indeed opened. A few seconds later, we watched as a stretcher emerged, carrying Tom Loomis in a body bag.
Both Roxane Rhodes and Zoe went silent. Someone in the studio let out a gasp.
Miranda reached over and closed Jeanie’s laptop.
“The local media is going to condemn her already,” Jeanie said. “Tom is one of their own. I don’t see how Katy can even get a fair trial in this town.”
“Not everybody liked him,” Miranda offered. “I’m not saying the man deserved what happened to him. Heavens. Not at all. No one does. I’m just saying, you watch. There will be plenty of armchair detectives and lawyers on this one. It’s inevitable.”
My phone rang again. This time, it was Eric. I prayed he had good news for me.
“What’s up?” I answered. “I’ve got you on speaker. Jeanie and Miranda are here.”
“Ladies,” Eric said. “Cass, I’m back at the house. I’ve got a few more details.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. “I don’t know if you heard. Katy’s set for her first hearing Monday late morning.”
“Yeah,” Eric said. “She’ll have a long weekend in jail. But that’s not why I’m calling. Cass, you better get back down to the station. You’re closer than I am so you can get there faster. But I need you to promise me you won’t lose your mind.”
“Eric?” I said.
“Joe turned up,” he said. “Apparently he marched right into the station, demanding to see Katy. I’m not sure who tipped him off as to what’s going on. Naturally, they’re not going to let him talk to Katy. But he agreed to sit for an interview with Detective DePaul. He’s with her now.”
My blood heated. “He’s talking to the detective. Right now? By himself?”
I wanted to kill him. Joe knew better than to rush headlong into something like this without talking to me. Lord knew what he’d say. Without even realizing it, he could make things far worse for Katy. But even more dire than that, he could make things go terribly for himself.
I didn’t bother to say goodbye. I was on my feet. Miranda was one step ahead of me. As I stormed back toward the front door, she tossed me my car keys.