Dead Wrong (6 page)

“Like I said, man, she was a regular saint. Her finances are stellar. Wish mine were half as good. She spent all her free time volunteering at her church and a homeless shelter. Her neighbors idolized her. What’s to find?”

“He’s right, Mitch,” Kat added. “Everyone loved Nancy. She was the sweetest, kindest woman, and she didn’t deserve this.”

“Maybe she
is
clean,” Mitch conceded. “But that doesn’t mean her clients are. We can’t stop until we work every angle. That includes talking to her clients. And we need to go through her things and her brother’s if we can locate his stuff.”

“Nancy told me her parents couldn’t bear to deal with his things so she had them all moved to her attic,” Kat offered.

“So first thing tomorrow I’ll start on the list of clients and you two can interview Bodig’s boss.” Tommy flipped his notebook closed. “Then we’ll all meet up and go through her house.”

“I’ll work with you, Tommy,” Kat said.

Mitch could tell she was trying to sound laid back about this as if she thought spending another day with him didn’t matter, but she failed to carry it off. He opened his mouth to argue, but closed it before he said something he’d regret. Being with her wasn’t a good idea on a personal level for either of them, but he couldn’t help but get miffed each time she tried to avoid him.

“Since you know Bodig’s case so well, it’s better if you go with Mitch.” Tommy looked at Kat, his expression confrontational, very reminiscent of how he treated uncooperative suspects.

The nonverbal sparring between the old partners continued, and Mitch sat back to watch. Tommy could tell Kat didn’t want to do this and yet he was pushing her. But Tommy was a worthy opponent. Mitch had lost plenty of battles with his stubborn partner.

Still, her eyes fought back as she crossed her arms. “Mitch could interview the clients and you could come with me to see Nathan’s boss.”

“We’ll leave it like it is,” Tommy said, his eyes never leaving Kat. “It’d take too much time to bring each other up to speed to change now.”

“I agree,” Mitch added, and Kat faced him. “Two to one, Kat. You’re outvoted.”

She looked disappointed for a few moments, but then she gave a clipped nod and glanced at her watch. “So if this is settled I’d like to get going. Can you give me a ride, Tommy?”

“I’m not letting you go home tonight.” Mitch’s words flew out, and he saw her visibly recoil.

“That’s not really your decision to make, Mitch.” Her tone was soft, but there was a hint of warning hidden in its depths.

So what? After the shooting this afternoon, he wouldn’t back down. “You can stay with someone in your family or here with me. Your choice.”

She swung her gaze to Tommy, her eyes pleading. “Tommy’ll let me crash on his couch, won’t you Tommy?”

“Ah, sorry, Kat, but you know my little brother’s staying with me right now and my place isn’t even big enough for one person.”

Kat got up, her eyes never leaving Tommy. “Can I have a word with you in the other room?”

He rose and followed her. Mitch wanted to go after them to make sure Tommy didn’t cave and let her go home alone, but the last thing Mitch wanted to hear her say right now was that she’d rather face a killer than spend time with him.

* * *

Kat stormed into the kitchen, fighting her frustration at Tommy for siding with Mitch. Why did Mitch think he could decide these things for her? And Tommy. He was supposed to be on her side. Have her back. Sure, Mitch was his current partner, but she’d sat beside this man for five years. Five years, for goodness’ sake. That had to count for something.

She stopped next to the sink. “Why are you doing this?’

“Doing what, Kat?” His tone was innocent, making her madder.

“You know I can’t stay here.”

“Why not?” More innocent.

“Don’t play dumb with me Tommy Flannigan. You know what I mean.”

“Can’t say it, huh?” He grinned.

“Ooh, you make me so mad sometimes.” She fisted her hands.

He came closer and looked down on her. “Listen, Kitty Kat. Mitch is one of the good guys. I oughta know. I spend most of my day with him. He’s into you, and I’m not going to help you run away and hide from him.”

“I’m not running away. I just don’t want to be alone with him.”

“Then don’t. Go stay with someone in your family.”

“You know that’s not an option for me.”

“I get that you want to keep them safe, Kat, but they’re bound to get involved in this sooner or later.”

“Dani’s promised to hold them off as long as possible, and I hope to have this resolved before they try to intervene.”

“Then you’ll have to decide if you’re more afraid of someone you already love getting hurt or risk staying here, finding out that Mitch isn’t a bad guy and the two of you could be great together. Either way, Kat, it’s up to you.” He slung an arm around her shoulder and gave her a brotherly hug. “But I agree with Mitch. You won’t be going home tonight.”

There had to be a compromise. Something she could do to put a buffer between her and Mitch and yet not threaten anyone’s safety.

She looked up at him. “You could stay here with us.”

He erupted in a belly laugh. “You don’t think I’d make it that easy on you, do you?” He squeezed her shoulders, then released her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Feeling betrayed by her best friend, she watched him walk away. She heard him talking with Mitch then the door open and close. She couldn’t hide out in the kitchen all night, but she didn’t want to face Mitch. Tommy said he was into her. Part of her was thrilled. The other part was terrified.

Mitch lifted the plastic, that charming smile on his face again. “My guest room is more comfortable than spending the night in here.”

Her mind flew over the possibilities of what to do. Maybe someone else could stay here with them and run interference. She could call Dani. Their killer didn’t know that Kat was here so Dani would be safe here, too. Kat would have to put up with her sister’s meddling and asking a lot of questions about Mitch, but she wouldn’t try to push Kat into something the way Tommy was doing.

“Kat?” Mitch asked, uncertainty clouding his usually bright eyes.

Eyes that were intriguing and compelling her to move closer. She took a step back instead. “I’d like to call my sister, Dani, and have her drop off some things for me.”

He let out a breath as if he’d been holding it in anticipation of her answer. “Of course.”

“Oh, and by the way, Mitch. She’ll be spending the night here, too.” Kat slipped through the opening to get her phone from the dining room table. She didn’t hear him follow, so she stopped and looked back.

His eyes never left her, and he stood there strong and solid with a hint of vulnerability that she’d seen earlier and made her heart beat faster.

She had to admit he was the whole package. Tall, dark and handsome as well as kind and generous. Fortunately for her he was also bossy and domineering, and right now that was the only thing keeping her from crossing the room and getting lost in those captivating eyes.

SIX

T
he next morning, Kat and Dani sat at Mitch’s small breakfast area table while Mitch watched them over a cup of steaming coffee. The sisters were sharing their morning devotions and Kat kept trying to include him in the discussion about why bad things happen to good people.

Surprisingly, he’d almost caved and bought into the idea that God’s plan was perfect, but the angry, purple bruise on Kat’s face kept reminding him of how hard it was to believe that.

Still, it had been nice to watch the sisters interact. Since they weren’t blood relatives they didn’t look anything alike, but their mannerisms and movements were similar. Both were sparse with their words and neither of them used their hands when talking.

Dani was a gorgeous blonde, the kind of perfect-looking-woman found in magazines, but it was Kat who kept drawing his attention. And yet he had to focus on everything but her to keep from scaring her with the intensity of his interest. Maybe scaring himself.

Dani closed her Bible and slid effortlessly to her feet, clad in three-inch heels. “I need to get to the office before Cole comes looking for me.”

Kat rose, too. Her boot heels equally as high didn’t bring her anywhere near Dani’s height. “Make sure you tell everyone the investigation into Nancy’s death is going well.”

Dani raised an eyebrow, her expression clearly amused. “Translated, don’t tell them how freaked out you still are about this or they’ll come running.”

“That’s not what I said.” Kat planted a hand on her hip. She was adorable when she tried to be so tough. The little bit of a woman looked like a little puppy ready to fight a big wolf.

Dani turned to him. “It was good to meet you, Mitch. And thanks for taking care of Kat.”

Kat shot a look at her sister’s back that said she didn’t need Mitch to take care of her. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

They left the room and Mitch cleaned up the mess from breakfast. After a call from Tommy informing him that the lab found no obvious sign of tampering with Bodig’s car other than the paint residue, and then arranging a meeting with Bodig’s boss, Mitch had run out to a local bagel place and offered the meager fare on paper plates. He wished his house wasn’t such a mess or he could’ve cooked them a hot meal before going out into the unusually cold, bleak day.

At least he didn’t have to compromise on the coffee. He kept a supply of fresh roasted Guatemalan beans on hand at all times. He grabbed a couple of travel mugs and split the remainder of the pot between them.

Kat came back into the room. “What time is our appointment with Weichert?”

“Nine-thirty.” He handed her one of the travel mugs and smiled as he remembered how cute she looked a few minutes ago when she got upset with Dani.

She took the cup. “I really need this. You must be able to read my mind.”

“Not hardly, but I wish I could.”

Her smile disappeared, replaced with a frown.

He wanted to ask what put that frown on her face, but honestly, he was afraid to hear the answer so he found an ice pack in the refrigerator, wrapped it in a towel and held it out. “For your nose.”

“Thanks for thinking of this,” she said softly with no hint of residual anger for not letting her go home last night.

“We should be going.” He grabbed his jacket from a peg and stepped outside. It was cold enough to snow, but the forecast was calling for clear skies. Still a hazy fog hung over the area and he couldn’t see much past the end of his driveway as he settled Kat into the car.

“Tommy and I were talking about Bodig’s girlfriend, Olivia, this morning,” he said once he’d navigated the heaviest of traffic through the city. “Maybe you could tell me why you ruled her out.”

“For starters, she had an airtight alibi. She didn’t leave her apartment all night and her roommate was with her.”

“Any likelihood this roommate would lie for her?”

“Maybe but the alibi was corroborated by the apartment manager. He said Olivia’s and the roommate’s cars were both there at the time of the crash.”

He glanced at her. “Kind of odd for an apartment manager to know something like that, don’t you think?”

“Not in this case. He’d arranged to have a vehicle towed from a private parking space adjacent to Olivia’s space, and he was sitting outside waiting for the tow company.”

She peered at him as if she thought he might question what she said, but when he didn’t she continued. “She also gave us full access to her computer, cell phone and bank account. Dani’s a computer expert and she inspected all of it. We found no motive for why Olivia would want Nathan dead.”

“I have to admit if she got cold feet and wanted to back out of the wedding that it’s a little extreme to kill him.”

“I don’t know, it works for me.”

He shot her a shocked look and she laughed, a full, throaty laugh that he’d never heard before. Amazing, beautiful, and he wanted to find a way to repeat it. But they arrived at the brightly painted field office for the Oregon Department of Human Services, and they wouldn’t be laughing again for a while anyway.

He found a parking spot and directed Kat to the reception desk in the lobby where he held his shield out. “Detective Elliot. We have an appointment with Mr. Weichert.”

The older woman took one look at his badge and flinched. Not an unusual reaction from someone after they realized a cop had come to question someone they knew.

“He’s expecting you,” she said, her fingers already flying over buttons on her phone. “I’ll page him.”

She didn’t tell them to sit so he leaned back on the desk and watched the door. Kat focused in the same direction, and he noticed that the ice pack had brought down the swelling of her nose.

The door opened and Kat pulled her shoulders back. Ready for battle. At least she seemed to think this was going to be a battle. Mitch didn’t think the guy had anything to hide.

“Detective Elliot.” The thin man with a severely receding hairline stuck out a bony hand. “Robert Weichert.”

Mitch wasn’t surprised at Weichert’s wimpy handshake. He figured a slight wind would blow him over. “This is Katherine Justice.” Mitch nodded at Kat.

Weichert shook her hand. “Please follow me.”

He swiped a keycard and they went down a dimly lit hallway to a small office without windows. Files were piled high on a credenza, but the desk was neat and tidy. Weichert sat behind the desk and started drumming his fingers on top.

Kat gave him a hard look and Mitch recognized it as her way of telling Weichert that they were in charge of this interview. Cops did this all the time to set the stage.

“What can you tell me about Nathan Bodig, Mr. Weichert?” Mitch settled onto a hard chair and felt the stab of pain from one of the many bruises he’d sustained yesterday.

“He was such a good man. Dedicated. Hard-working. As close to an ideal employee as they come.” Weichert shook his head. “We’re all still just shocked over his accident.”

“Actually that’s what we wanted to talk about, Mr. Weichert,” Mitch said. “We’re beginning to question if it really was an accident.”

Weichert sat forward. “You mean you think someone may have caused the crash on purpose?”

“It’s possible. Can you think of anyone who might’ve wanted to harm Mr. Bodig?”

Weichert’s eyes opened wide. “No. No, of course not. Everyone around here liked him.”

“What about his clients?” Kat asked. “Was there someone who might’ve been upset with him?”

“What we do often impacts lives in what our clients think are adverse ways. They get angry with us all the time and some even take it a step further and make threats. But there were no credible threats made against Nathan.”

“When you say ‘credible,’ what does that mean exactly?” Kat ended with a raised brow.

“We investigate every threat we receive. You can never be too careful, is my motto. But our investigations never turned up anything more than clients and their families blowing off steam.”

“Do you keep these threats on file?” Mitch asked.

“Yes. Each of us is instructed to keep such a file.”

“Can we look at Mr. Bodig’s file?” Kat’s hard look said it wasn’t optional.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t remember my assistant asking me what to do with that file when she cleaned out Nathan’s cubicle. Let me check with her.” He picked up the phone and dialed. “Margaret, did you find a threat file in Nathan’s belongings?” He listened, his finger resting on the side of his narrow face. “Okay, thank you.” He put down the phone. “She didn’t find one, but Nathan was a by-the-book kind of guy so I’m sure he kept a file.”

“So where is it, then?” Kat asked, sounding as if she thought Weichert was lying.

“That’s a good question.”

“Could someone else in your office have taken it?” Mitch asked before Kat completely took over the interview.

“Why would they want to do that?”

“Maybe to cover up something.” Kat leaned closer and watched him intently.

“Like what?” Weichert’s eyes narrowed. “We have nothing to hide here.”

“We don’t think you do,” Mitch jumped in as he gave Kat a look, telling her to chill. “You’re sure there’s no one in the office that might have a grudge against Mr. Bodig?”

“I’m positive, Detective.” He sighed. “This is a stressful job, and I work hard to foster teamwork. If someone had it in for Nathan I’d know about it.”

“We’d still like the name and contact information for all of his coworkers. And the same information for his clients for the last ninety days.”

Weichert’s back went up. “You know I can’t do that, Detective. All of our information is confidential, and I can’t just hand it over. But if you’d get a court order, I’d be happy to oblige.”

Legally what the man had said was true, but officials in Weichert’s position often cooperated in investigations. Maybe Mitch could persuade him with a little push. “I have no problem getting that order, but if you make me do that, I’ll think you’re hiding something.” He turned to Kat. “What do we do when someone’s hiding things?”

“We start digging. Maybe tail the person. Wait for the least little mistake to haul them in.” She smiled at Weichert. “You wouldn’t want us to do that would you, Mr. Weichert?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Neither is the fact that Nathan Bodig may have been murdered,” Mitch said. “Either you want to help us find the killer or you don’t.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to help, but I’ll lose my job if I turn over confidential files.”

“Tell you what, Weichert.” Mitch leaned forward. “At least give me the information on the clients right now, and I’ll get to work on that court order to show the higher-ups in case anyone asks.”

“You’re not just trying to play me, are you?”

“He’s a man of his word,” Kat added with respect and admiration in her eyes that made Mitch’s heart warm.

Weichert seemed to mull it over, then turned to his keyboard and started clicking away. As Mitch shared a victory smile with Kat the printer whirred behind Weichert and started spitting out pages.

“Here you go,” Weichert said tersely as he grabbed the pages. “Now if you don’t mind I have work to do.”

Mitch rose, towering over the guy, who shrank back. “I’d also appreciate it if you’d ask around to see if anyone else might know what happened to Mr. Bodig’s threat file.”

“I will.”

“Call me if you find anything.” Mitch gave him his business card.

“You won’t forget about the order?” Weichert’s confidence had all but evaporated.

“I said I’d do it, Mr. Weichert, and that means I’ll do it.” Mitch waited for Kat to exit the room then he followed.

In the hallway, she let out a long breath. “So exactly how are you planning to get that court order without any solid evidence to back it up?”

“I’m hoping we’ll come up with something that I can use by the end of the day.” Mitch met her gaze.

“And if we don’t?”

“I didn’t actually promise to get one, just said I’d try to get one. And I will try.” They went through the lobby, and he held open the front door. “Nancy’s place to search Bodig’s things?”

“You read my mind,” she answered and they stepped into the cool morning with the sun trying to break free.

They made their way to the car and Mitch settled in for the task of navigating traffic. He loved living in Portland, but he could live without the heavy traffic.

“You think Weichert was hiding something?” Kat asked when he turned into Nancy’s neighborhood.

“Not really, do you?”

“No. He seemed like a straight shooter until we asked for the records.” She seemed confident in her opinion. “He wouldn’t be the first official who followed rules and made us get a court order.”

“It is odd that Bodig’s threat file is missing, though.”

“Let’s hope we find it at Nancy’s.”

He clicked on a blinker and turned onto Nancy’s street. “If she had the file, wouldn’t she have given it to you when you started looking into his death?”

“If it’s there, I doubt she even knew she had it. She was just like her parents. She could never bring herself to go through his stuff. I was supposed to go through it, but I was tied up on another case. Maybe if I’d gotten to it sooner—” Kat bit her lip and looked away.

“Hey,” he said as he pulled into Nancy’s driveway. “I thought you were over blaming yourself for all of this.”

“I’m trying, but after I made my condolence call to Nancy’s parents last night it all came back. I keep thinking if I’d just done something different Nancy would still be alive.” The confident woman of a few moments ago vanished.

He rested his hand on hers. “Don’t go there, Kat, okay? Remember what you told me, God has a plan here.”

“You don’t really believe that.”

“But you do. And I’m trying to.”

She smiled. “I’m happy to hear that.”

“I thought you might be.” He squeezed her hand.

The sun slipped free of morning clouds, the warmth shining through the windshield as if it’d come out just to encourage her to cheer up. Mitch made a quick visual assessment of the area. Other than an official seal on the door, you’d never know a murder had taken place in this sleepy neighborhood.

“Looks clear,” he said as his phone rang. “That’s Tommy’s ring tone. Hopefully he has some news for us,” Mitch said but Kat had already climbed out and started up the walk.