Chapter40
“WINE?”
Rachel Katz was dressed in black slacks, a white blouse, and high heels. Her hair was done up in an elaborate French braid. It was nearly nine o’clock. She had arranged to meet them after work in her loft apartment. She held up an opened bottle of Cabernet.
Decker declined, but Mars accepted the offer. She poured out a glass and handed it to him. She turned back to the table and picked up her own wineglass.
“So you and Decker work together?”
“No, I’m just in town visiting him,” said Mars, taking a sip of the wine and sitting down next to her on the couch, while Decker sat across from them.
She sat back, crossed her legs, took a drink of her wine, and said, “Well, I’m sorry that your visit coincided with murder. Now, what can I do for you?”
“You look like you’re ready to go out somewhere,” said Decker. “I hope we’re not keeping you.”
“I am going out, but not until a little later.” She glanced at Mars. “It’s a new nightclub I’m part owner of. Going to check out the groove. That’s important. You do much clubbing?”
“Oh yeah. There’s a nice scene in D.C. And I’ve been dabbling in real estate up there.” He glanced at Decker and added, “Even thinking about opening a bar up there with a dance floor.”
“Well, then you’re welcome to join me tonight. This isn’t D.C., but we’ve put a lot of thought into the business model and the layout of the place. You might see something that might help you in your venture.”
“Thanks, I might just do that,” said Mars with another quick glance at Decker.
“I guess you’ve heard about Susan Richards,” said Decker. “I know it was on the news this morning.”
Katz frowned, uncrossed her legs, and sat forward. “That was truly awful. Taking her own life like that. It’s just hard to fathom. But I guess if she did kill Meryl Hawkins…?”
“So you think that she did?” asked Decker.
“I have no way of knowing for sure, do I? But it seems rather obvious.”
“And you were with Earl Lancaster at the time Hawkins was killed?”
“As I told you before, and I’m sure he confirmed.”
“His wife had to actually recuse herself from the investigation because of that,” said Decker. He paused, waiting for her reaction to this.
“I guess I could see that,” she said. “It’s like an episode ofLaw and Orderor something.”
“Or something,” said Decker. “The night your husband was killed, you said you had no idea why he would be meeting with Don Richards? Or that he was even meeting with him?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you normally know your husband’s schedule?”
“Mostly. But not always. Especially if this was last-minute. He had an office and a secretary. She would have kept his schedule.”
“We talked to her back then. But I was hoping you might remember something.”
“Well, I can’t help you there. And I don’t know why you’re continuing to bother with this. Hawkins committed the murders. That was clearly established at trial. Now, I have no proof of who killed him, but other things being equal it might be the woman who disappeared and then turned up dead from a suicide.” She took another sip of wine. “I admire her, actually. At least she had the courage to finish the guy. I didn’t.”
“Well, we don’t know that she did.”
Katz made a careless wave with her hand. “Whatever. You have your job to do. Anything else?”
“Do you happen to know Mitzi Gardiner?”
Katz looked puzzled. “Mitzi Gardiner?”