“Which might be an awfully good motive for killing her husband,” said Michelle.
“Possibly,” said Bailey.
“How about Remmy?” asked King.
“What, that she slept around?” King nodded. “No, never,” said Bailey emphatically.
“Mason seems to really think a lot of Remmy,” King said.
“I have no doubt he does, but he’s not in her league and never will be, if that’s what you’re implying.”
King stared at Bailey for a few seconds, then decided to change the subject. He looked over at Williams. “Has Sylvia finished the post on Junior?”
“Yep,” answered Williams, who’d recovered enough from his misery to devour a chocolate doughnut and two cups of coffee. “He died from ligature strangulation, although he’d been beaten over the head with a shovel and a piece of wood prior to that. Damn lot of blood.”
“We know,” said King dryly.
“Right,” said the chief. “Anyway, Sylvia thinks she might have some trace on the guy this time. And the tech team pulled up some fibers that didn’t match anything Junior had on. And we also got a partial tire track nearby. Might be the car he got away in.”
“Better check those fibers against my clothes,” said King. “I… I had some contact with Junior when the shooting started.”
“Speaking of shooting, you got the bullets from the tires?” asked Michelle.
“They were forty-four calibers,” said Williams. “Nothing special. Hope we get a gun to match it against at some point.”
“The guy had a laser aimer, that’s pretty specialized,” said King.
“Junior’s belt buckle was also missing,” noted Williams.
“Another trophy,” said Michelle.
“Looks like Junior fought hard,” said Bailey. “Lots of defensive wounds on his hands and forearm. And a wall of studs was taken out, probably during the struggle.”
“The guy’s clearly started to make some mistakes,” said Williams. “You two happening along when you did really put a wrench into the works for him.”
“I don’t think we accomplished all that much,” said Michelle, “except let him get away.”
King studied the copy of the letter again. “This is the first time he’s referred to a victim by name,” he said.
“I noted that,” said Bailey.
“Now, why would a killer do that?” wondered Williams.
“He’s playing with us. He wants to jerk us around.”
“For what purpose?” asked Michelle.
“Because this is all part
of something a lot bigger that we’re not seeing right now,” replied King.
“And what might that be?” asked Bailey in a skeptical tone.
“When I figure it out, you’ll be the second to know,” said King, glancing significantly at Williams. “How did Lulu take it, Todd?” asked King in a softer tone.
Williams leaned back and shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t cry at all, but then, the kids were around. That mother of hers, though, damn lady went hysterical, screaming about how much she loved Junior, what in the world were they going to do without him. Lulu finally had to take her out of the room. Piece of work she is.”
King and Michelle looked at each other and just shook their heads.