Relative Malice (23 page)

40

Ruby Rindsig shared an apartment near the University with three other women who were immediately located and brought in for questioning, as was Jeremy Dahlgren, Sienna Glausson’s boyfriend. Kendall had always suspected Ruby had her sights set on him and wished she’d gone with her instincts and taken a closer look at the girl after the Glausson murders.

Behind the trailer, they discovered a narrow path leading from the trailer to the next road over from the trailer park. Ruby’s old K-car was parked on the side street, causing Kendall to wonder if someone had helped her flee. While her roommates were being questioned, a search warrant was being prepared for the apartment.

Jeremy Dahlgren had been waiting for nearly an hour while Rindsig’s roommates were interviewed. They spilled what they knew about his involvement with Ruby since she’d moved in. He’d let the girl console him over Sienna’s death, and not only with words. According to the roomies, he’d been there overnight on a regular basis since the Glausson home invasion.

Kendall entered the room where Dahlgren waited to be interrogated. She’d confirmed his alibi for the afternoon; he’d been in classes at the university.

“Jeremy, sorry you had to wait so long. Can I get you a drink? Soda? Water?”

He shook his head, avoiding her eyes.

“You’re kind of quiet. Still grieving for Sienna?”
That shot should unsettle him.

Dahlgren shifted in his seat.

“You know why you’re here, don’t you, Jeremy?”

“Yeah. That other cop told me about Ruby—that she had the baby.’

When Kendall had interviewed Dahlgren after the murders, he’d appeared genuinely torn up about his girlfriend Sienna’s death. But only days later, he’d let another girl lead him to her bed. Kendall knew people reacted to grief in different ways, but sex with another woman before Sienna was even in the ground was just cold.
Men could be such pigs.

“That’s all you have to say? You were told
about it?”

He sniped, “That’s what happened—they told me about it.”
He was giving her attitude.
He didn’t even look like the all-American boy he’d been two weeks earlier. Gone were the high school letter jacket, neat haircut, and tidy jeans. Now his dark hair hung in his eyes, and his face sported a three-day beard. His jeans had holes at the knees. Had being with a witch like Rindsig corrupted him so quickly? Or had the sleazy version of Jeremy been lurking below the surface all along?

“So you’re trying to tell me you had no idea Ruby had Philly? You didn’t help her take the baby out of the Glausson house and bring her to the trailer?”

“Of course not!” he spat.

Kendall watched him squirm. “I’m thinking you and Sienna had a fight, you met Travis Jordan somehow, then you and Ruby decided to break into the house. Things got out of control—no one meant it to happen.”

Dahlgren’s face twisted with horror. “How could you think I had anything to do with that? I loved Sienna.”

Kendall believed him. At least about the murders
.
Love, though? Hardly.

“You say you ‘loved’ her. Past tense. Now your allegiance is to Ruby—your new love. She
did
have something to do with the murders—she took Philly. Maybe she and Travis Jordan had a thing going, too.“

His features stiffened, but he remained in control. “ I don’t know anything about that.”

She didn’t let up. “What? No pillow talk?” Dahlgren’s face flushed. “Yes, Jeremy, we know how you grieved for Sienna—in Ruby’s bed. Rather heartless, wouldn’t you say?”

“Do I need a lawyer?”

Not words Kendall wanted to hear. “I don’t know. Do you?”

Dahlgren shut down.

Worried she’d get no more from the boy, she said, “Jeremy, if you really had no part in the murders or the kidnapping, you need to tell me everything you know—now. Did Ruby know Travis Jordan?”

“No.” He pushed his hair off his forehead. “She never said anything about Philly or that Jordan guy. She just . . .”

“Just what, Jeremy?”

He hung his head.

“Unless you want us to charge you as an accessory, you’d better tell me what you know.”

Without looking up, he said, “She knew that other guy. Sharky.”

“What about Sharky?”

“I saw her talking to him one time. It looked pretty intense.”

“Did you ask her what it was about?”

Dahlgren sat up straight. “No. It wasn’t any of my business who she talked to. And anyway, she didn’t know I saw them.”

Interesting.

Kendall questioned him until she’d reached a point he’d told her all he knew—or all he was ready to give up. She’d talk to him again when he’d had time to consider what he was risking by his silence.

Alverson was waiting for her when she came out of the interview room.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Yeah, but nothing that’ll help us find Ruby. He saw her in a serious conversation with Gerald Fostvedt—Sharky.”

“Wow. Think she was the one that offed him?”

“Probably. Did the roommates have anything to say?”

He snorted. “Two of them are nursing students. Hope they aren’t on the job if I ever have a heart attack—couple of airheads. Claim they don’t know squat about Rindsig. They took her in when another chick moved out. Said they don’t hang with her. I tend to believe them, since the third one says they’re never around, out partying all the time.”

“And the third one?”

“She didn’t tell me much, but I think she knows more than she’s saying. Thought it’d be a good idea for you to have a go at her. “

Kendall’s cell phone rang before she could join the third roommate, Leslie Frank.

“Kenny, I’ve been worried sick about you,” her father said hurriedly.

Kendall wondered where all his newfound parenting concerns were coming from. He hadn’t been there for her as a kid and seemed determined to make up for it lately. For her, it never quite worked. The past was what it was; there was no going back.

“I’m fine, Dad. I thought Nash called you after my surgery.”

“He did, but that was before everything else happened. Next thing I know, you’re all over the news, catching criminals and getting treated for smoke inhalation.”

“Dad, I really can’t talk about it now. Didn’t you notice we found the Glausson baby? How about a congrats on that instead of the phony mother-hen routine?” A few seconds of silence passed. “I’m proud as hell of you, Kenny. I’m sorry if I don’t tell you often enough. I’ll let you go, but how about coming here for dinner tomorrow? Finish your work, get some sleep and I’ll cook you something that’ll make you feel better.”

“Can’t promise anything, but I’ll try, okay?”

Kendall entered the interrogation room. Leslie Frank sat in a metal chair, her wide girth spilling over its padded seat. Her dark hair, badly in need of a wash, rested on her full shoulders, and her complexion revealed the remnants of teenage acne.

Kendall took a seat across from her and introduced herself. “Leslie, I want to talk to you about Ruby. Are the two of you close?”

“No. I told that to the other cop.”

“And you aren’t friendly with the other girls?”

Leslie rolled her eyes. “Right. Like they’d be my BFF’s. They don’t have time for someone like me. But you wouldn’t know what that’s like.”

Kendall quipped, “No? I was almost six feet tall by the time I was in the eighth grade. I got called a lot of names. Want to hear a few?”

Leslie pouted. “Okay, fine. Kids were crappy to you, too. So what?”

“I was thinking Ruby wasn’t your other roommates’ type, either. They probably shunned her just like they do you. That would throw the two of you together to bitch about them. Did you and Ruby do that, Leslie?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe.”

“Did she talk about Jeremy Dahlgren?”

The girl sneered. “She really has a thing for that guy. He’s hot and all that, but everyone knew he and Sienna Glausson were tight. Ruby’s a nerd, but she’s way cute; she could have had lots of guys. She didn’t need to go after someone who already had a girlfriend.”

“Would you say she’s fixated on him?”

Leslie nodded, squirming to center herself on the chair.

“Do you recall what time Ruby got home the night the Glaussons were murdered?”

“You think Ruby killed those people?”

“She had their baby, Leslie. If she didn’t kill them, how do you think she happened to be hiding Philly Glausson?”

Frank’s complexion paled, highlighting the red spots on her cheeks. A knock on the door interrupted them. Alverson beckoned Kendall out of the room.

“I’ll be right back, Leslie.” Kendall stood. “There’s no reason for you to protect Ruby—she isn’t your friend. Think about that while I’m gone.”

Kendall followed Alverson to his desk. “They found a dead guy on a bed in the back bedroom of the trailer where the fire started—Rindsig’s father. He must have had her late in life ‘cause he was 64. Looked eighty, according to a neighbor. They’re thinking he died of natural causes, but we won’t know for sure until the autopsy.”

He pulled a dog-eared notebook from his pocket. “We canvassed the trailer park and the neighborhood. A woman in the next trailer says Ruby kept her father in booze and suspects she was pocketing his disability checks. Her mother was a lot younger than the old man and took off when Ruby was about thirteen. After that it was just the two of them living in the trailer. There were never any complaints, but the neighborhood buzz was the old guy was molesting Ruby. She moved out last spring when she turned eighteen, which would coincide with the virgin email thing. Maybe she took advantage of it and made enough on her virginity to afford rent.

“The neighbors also said Rindsig didn’t have many friends, so it looks like Dahlgren and the roommates are our best bets for info on her. But get this—a neighbor on the next street has a garage he rents out. Guess who rented it?”

“Rindsig? Why? She drives that crappy old car.”

“Right. We found it on the street next to the trailer park.”

“Get to the point. What about the garage?”

“Rindsig rented it—apparently she had another car. One she didn’t drive around town.”

“Make and model?”

“No idea. It wasn’t in the garage and the old guy that owns the garage never saw it. He’s housebound. The beater is registered to her father, and there’s nothing registered in Ruby’s name.”

“Then she must have paid cash for a car and never got around to registering it.” Kendall frowned. “That explains why we haven’t found her. We were looking at the airport and bus station. We need the make of the car. Check out the kind of dealers that would be willing not to ask questions. And sales by owner. Oh, craigslist too.”

“That could take weeks.”

“Right now it’s all we’ve got.”

She returned to the interview room and found Leslie leaning on the table, her head in her hands. “Leslie, did Ruby ever talk about buying a car?”

“No, but I saw her looking at cars on her computer one time. She closed it when I came in the room.”

“What did she say about it?”

“Nothing to me.”

“We think Ruby might have been involved in Gerald Fostvedt’s death, and we know she kidnapped the Glausson baby. If you have any information at all about Ruby, you have to tell us so we can find her. Don’t you think she should be punished for what she did?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know anything. She didn’t tell me much,” Leslie whined.

Kendall couldn’t think of a reason the girl would be holding back, but maybe nerves explained any omissions. “We have a search warrant for the apartment. If there’s anything there, we’ll find it.”

“They’ll go through all our stuff?”

“Oh, yeah.” There was something Leslie didn’t want them to see. Personal? Or about Ruby?

“Ruby didn’t have much,” Leslie added. “She said she was saving up for new clothes.”

“Did she talk to you about money? About those emails soliciting virgins?’

“I heard she did it; made some sweet cash for losing her cherry,” Leslie scoffed. “She never talked about it, but one day I walked in when she had her laptop open and she was looking at one of those investment sites.”

It was after midnight when Kendall got home. The canvasses of both neighborhoods turned up nothing further, and there were no leads on the car. Earlier in the day, Tarkowski called, offering their services in locating Rindsig. Kendall had accepted gladly. The Feds could cover the airports, trains, and bus terminals a lot easier than they could.

It was too late to talk to Brynn, so she made a sandwich and took it to the couch, enjoying being alone after the chaotic day she’d had. She looked at the message list on her phone. Two were from Nash. It might be childish, but she didn’t want to talk to him. She’d found Philly; she didn’t have to be around him anymore. Kendall couldn’t get a picture of the two of them out of her mind—Shari and Nash—they’d be a handsome couple.

She had to stop thinking about him. Rummaging through the cupboard, she found some of Brynn’s tea and let it steep while she showered. With Nash out of her mind, Ruby Rindsig popped up. Kendall had to talk to both the Dahlgren kid and the roommate again tomorrow. They both knew more than they’d told her.

41

Saturday

The next day cast no more answers to the mystery of Ruby Rindsig. It had only been two weeks since the Glausson murders. What was the connection between Rindsig, Fostvedt, and Travis Jordan? It drove Kendall crazy to think Ruby had gotten away without providing answers.

The fire department reported the fire in the trailer started in the back bedroom where a basket of clothing had been lit with lighter fluid. The body of a man identified as Ruby’s father, Edward Rindsig, had been found on the bed. He’d probably died of natural causes, but they wouldn’t know for sure until the autopsy had been completed. Could Ruby have caused his death? Kendall knew he’d been alive ten days ago when she’d been there looking for his daughter.

By the end of the day, the only new information was about the gun—the ballistics report confirmed the gun found in the trailer belonged to Ruby’s father and had been the one that killed Fostvedt. If the fingerprints on it turned out to be Ruby’s, they could add Sharky’s murder to the other charges against her. Why hadn’t Ruby taken the gun with her? But Kendall knew Ruby hadn’t planned the events of that day. Ruby probably overlooked the gun in her hurry to flee the scene.

Kendall accepted her father’s dinner invitation. She didn’t really feel like socializing but home cooked food sounded more inviting than takeout or anything she could make herself. She arrived at the house to find that her uncle and Maggie Cottingham were joining them for dinner. Her father greeted her warmly, congratulating her on taking Jordan down and finding Philly Glausson.

“You have good instincts, Kenny. You knew all along the Glauson baby was still alive. How’s she doing?”

“She’s great. Glausson’s fiancée and Philly really hit it off.”

Glausson’s attorney had succeeded in getting an emergency hearing to enable the hospital to turn Philly over to Glausson when she was released, but with Cottingham in the room, Kendall wasn’t about to reveal any details.

“How’s your partner doing? Is he still in the hospital?” Maggie asked.

Kendall turned away to fix herself a drink. “If you’re talking about Adam Nashlund, he’s not my partner. He’s going to be fine. If you’re asking about Hank Whitehouse, he’s home now and doing well.”

Cottingham didn’t ask any more questions.

The meal had been delicious even if Maggie had prepared it. The Boston cream pie she served was Kendall’s favorite. Obviously, the woman was still trying to suck up. Before leaving, Kendall went downstairs to talk to her uncle, who was getting ready to go out. He was pulling on a snowmobile suit and heavy, sheepskin-lined boots.

Looks like you’re going out to the shack,” she said.

Her uncle Al parked an ice fishing shanty on a cove of Lake Wissota every winter. As a kid she’d enjoyed spending time with him in the shack, drinking cocoa, playing cards, and waiting for a fish to bite.

“Yeah, I just put it out last weekend. Not much happening yet.” He stopped what he was doing. “Kenny, I’m glad you came over tonight. I wanted to talk to you about your dad. It’s about time you give him a break, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t the first time he’d tried to bring Kendall and her father together. “Right,” she said. “Like the one he gave me.”

“Honey, all that happened a long time ago.”

“But he stayed with my mother even after that. And he waited for her to come back for years. Now he’s turned into a ladies’ man and he can’t get enough of all the divorcees and widows in Eau Claire.”

“Kenny, he was obsessed with your mother; it took him time to get over her. It was like a disease, but he’s over it now. I know you don’t like Maggie, but she’s good to him.” He pulled a heavy coat out of a closet, and set it on the stairs.

Her uncle was right. Her father had been so focused on her mother and her needs, there had been little time left for Kendall when she was a child. She did harbor a grudge, one she’d never be able to leave behind. In her heart she blamed her father as much for ignoring what was going on as she did her mother for the things she allowed to happen. Kendall, an introverted teenager, had been ripe for seduction by her mother’s salacious lover. Her father had ignored the signs of her mother’s affair, and her mother had trusted her lover alone with her daughter. Forgiveness didn’t come easily.

“I’m trying, Uncle Al.”

“Good. You know, Maggie and your dad are planning on going to the Bahamas over the holidays. I thought they’d tell you tonight. I know you don’t like Christmas, but I’m going to be gone, too. I’m going to visit Gary and his family in Illinois. You’re welcome to come with me; they’d love to have you.”

“At least I won’t have to make excuses this year. But thanks for the invite.”

Her uncle shook his head. “I worry about you, Kenny.”

Kendall tapped on Brynn’s door when she got back to the apartment. Dressed in a robe and slippers, she invited Kendall in and offered her tea.

“Have you talked to Ryan today?” Kendall asked.

Brynn didn’t turn from the stove. “He called me this morning.”

“You’re lucky he was with you yesterday when you went to see Ruby Rindsig.” She’d decided not to ask Brynn what the hell she was thinking by going out to see a woman who was a possible murder suspect. Brynn had to have been asking herself the same question.

Brynn didn’t respond. Was it going to be another one-sided conversation? “Ryan wasn’t here tonight?”

“He had a date.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Why would it? We’re just friends.”

“Sometimes feelings can change,” Kendall hinted.

“I don’t like him that way. He’s a kid.”

Brynn set out the tea and a plate of cookies. Kendall didn’t point out that there was less than a two-year age difference between Brynn and Ryan.

Did you get that Ruby person?” Brynn asked.

“No, not yet. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. I just have some bruises.” She showed Kendall the marks on her wrists and ankles. “Do you want me to look online for you? See what I can find out about her?”

“No, you won’t need to work on it. The FBI is doing the transportation search. If I think of anything you can do, I’ll let you know. I forgot to tell you, Schoenfuss has okayed an hourly wage for your help in the Glausson case. It’ll be a week or so before you get it.”

Kendall left when she finished her tea, trying to figure out what was nagging at her. It was something her uncle had said, but what?

It came to her as she laid in bed about to drift off. Obsession. He’d mentioned her father’s obsession with her mother. Rindsig was obsessed with Jeremy Dahlgren. If Kendall was right about Ruby’s obsession with Dahlgren, Ruby wouldn’t be able to just cut him loose. Eventually, she’d be back for him. Kendall had to press the roommate again. The girl had to know
something
about Ruby’s plans.

Kendall groped for her phone.

Alverson answered, his voice thick with sleep. “What?”

“We need to put a watch on the Dahlgren kid.”

“It’s one in the freakin’ morning!”

“It’s about Ruby. She’s obsessed with Dahlgren. She’ll be back to see him.”

“No way. That chick’s sunning herself on a beach in Mexico.”

“When you talked to him, didn’t you get the feeling he was reluctant to say anything bad about her?” Kendall asked.

Alverson fumbled the phone, and Kendall could have sworn she heard a woman’s voice in the background.

“Well, yeah,” he said, “but he wouldn’t.”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“He was poppin’ her, wasn’t he? He’s a kid—fucking trumps everything.”

“Are you saying he’d be so in lust that he’d defend her no matter what?” she asked.

“Sure. Don’t forget, the Glausson girl’s friends all said she and Dahlgren weren’t getting it on. Ruby’s putting out, that makes her golden in his eyes.”

She had a lot to learn about men. “We have to put a tail on him 24/7.”

In the early morning hours, Brynn crept back into her apartment, chilled from a walk along the river in the frigid air. The bruises from her skirmish with Ruby ached under her thin skin. Hate was a new emotion for Brynn, but it was easy to despise the person who’d done this to her and kidnapped Philly Glausson. After taking a hot shower, she moved toward the bedroom where Malkin waited, curled into a circle at the foot of the bed. She walked past the computers. And stopped. It wouldn’t hurt to do a little searching before going to bed. She hadn’t promised not to.