“Jesus, Barry?” She reached for her Zippo and slid a cigarette out and lit it, blowing smoke off to the side.
“That surprises you?” asked Decker.
“I always thought Barry was having too much fun in life to want to end it. But then you think you know people and it turns out you know squat.”
“He was clearly not over the divorce,” observed White.
“I just hoped he would eventually move on. Do you really think he killed those people?”
“Doesn’t really matter what I think if all the evidence points to him.”
“Okay, Julia and the guy she was sleeping with, I get. But what about this other gal, you said her name was Alice?”
“Alice Lancer. She worked with Draymont. She was killed separately, but with Barry’s gun.”
“Why would Barry kill her? Did he know her?”
“We’ve turned up nothing to show that. But she might have seen him next door that night. Maybe she was blackmailing him.”
Kline shook her head and puffed on her cigarette. “And here I thought I had nice friends.”
“It’s not been conclusively proved that Barry did it,” pointed out Decker. “His son will testify that he was at the condo when his mom was killed. But since he’s Barry’s son, a jury may not believe him.”
“Okay, but from all you just said, who else could it have been other than Barry?”
“Cummins was a judge. Judgesdomake enemies.”
“That’s true.”
“But she wasn’t receiving threats. She just used that to disguise the real reason Draymont was over there. Why would she feel the need to do that?”
“Maybe she was afraid of someone’s finding out,” said Kline.
“Other things being equal, that might also point to the stalker ex-husband,” interjected White.
Kline eyed White, blew out a final mouthful of smoke, and stabbed out her cigarette.
“I guess that makes sense, but, again, I never would have figured Barry as the violent type.”
“Did they ever have fights?” asked Decker.
“What couple doesn’t? But nothing bad. Hell, my ex and me? We’d light up the neighborhood. I could never hear Barry and Julia going at it. Julia would always talk to me later about it, though. And Barry always backed down, usually because Julia was right and had the facts to back her up. At least that’s what she told me.”
“How about the Perlmans? They seem pretty compatible.”
“Yeah, they get along fine. Most second marriages do. You figure it out by then, and even if you haven’t you don’t have the energy or lungs to scream like you used to.”
“Maybe I should think about getting married again, then,” quipped White.
Kline eyed her. “Honey, I would advise against it unless you’re damn sure, and what woman really is?”
“True, we met one recently who thought she had Prince Charming in a bottle, only to find out it was Pandora’s Box.”
“Did she manage not to open the box?” asked Kline.
White eyed Decker and smiled. “Yes, with a little help from a good Samaritan.”
“So is Barry going to prison over this?”