Relative Malice (25 page)

44

Sunday

The next morning Kendall had breakfast in a small café. She ordered an omelet with a side of pancakes and was surprised how little of the huge portions she could eat. Must be the missing gall bladder. She supposed her body would adjust in time. Never one to obsess on her weight, Kendall nevertheless felt better without the pounds she’d shed after the shooting. But even the one pair of new slacks she’d bought had become too loose. It was time to find a balance with food. And everything else in her life.

After leaving the restaurant, she drove to visit Hank, who was recuperating at home. The Whitehouses lived in a small ranch-style home south of the city. Diane invited Kendall in and took her into the family room, where Hank sat in a leather recliner in front of a wide-screen TV tuned to a news show.

“Whoa. Here comes the big celebrity. About time.”

She sat in a chair across from him. “Uh, I’ve been a little busy?”

“You did good, Halsrud. I’m proud of you.” He flicked off the TV.

Hank didn’t give out compliments freely; Kendall took a moment to savor the praise. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”

“Sorry, kid. I already heard he suspended you.”

“Everyone says it could have been worse.”

“Right. How you doing since your surgery?”

“I should be asking you that question,” Kendall said. “I’m great. No problems with the surgery at all. How about you? You’re looking like your old self.”

He turned to see if Diane was within hearing distance. “I can’t stand this anymore. I love her, but being together twenty-four-seven? If this is what retirement is like, shoot me now.”

“Then you’ll be coming back?”

“The doc says not for a couple months, maybe sooner if I can get desk duty. I could take my retirement and do something else, haven’t decided. Maybe I’ll get a job at that buttwipe company where your boyfriend works. I heard they might have an opening.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. And if you’re suggesting Nash’s job will be open, Glausson wouldn’t replace him just because he’s injured.”

“You’re out of the loop. I heard he gave notice.”

Trying not to appear too interested, she asked, “Is he coming back to the job?”

“Didn’t hear what he’s gonna do. Don’t you talk to the guy?”

“We were working a case. It’s over.”

Kendall felt him studying her, knew he was trying to figure out just what Nash meant to her.

“I heard you guys worked good together,” he said.

“You spend too much time gossiping. You need a hobby.”

He shrugged. “I’m bored, people talk. Wanna hear what else I heard?”

“Go ahead. You’ll tell me anyway.”

“Heard him and Shari are getting a divorce.”

Feeling her face flush, Kendal bent over and refilled her coffee from a carafe Diane had set in front of her. She straightened, her color returning to normal. “You sure about that? His wife came to the hospital in Stillwater when he got shot.”

“Also heard it’s amicable. Just saying—he’s a good guy and he’ll be available.”

Right. Available to the next perky, petite woman he met. Not to Kendall. Her moment with Nash had passed.

Kendall’s phone chimed after she left the Whitehouses.

“Kenny, how you doing?”

“How do you think I’m doing?” she snarled. “And it’s still Halsrud to you.”

Alverson ignored the reprimand. “What’d he suspend you for, a week?”

“Worse. ‘To be determined.’”

“That blows. We kind of need you here, you know?”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s what’s not going on—the Rindsig chick ain’t talking.”

“That’s no surprise. Did she ask for an attorney?’

Alverson hesitated. “Not when I talked to her.”

Kendall should have been the one interviewing Rindsig. Alverson wasn’t the best interviewer. Ruby wouldn’t be inclined to open up to him. “Anyone else have a go at her?”

“Yeah, Burnham. You know how that must have gone.”

“What the matter with Schoenfuss? Couldn’t he put someone in there who could do the job?” Kendall realized what she’d said. “Sorry. Nothing personal.”

“No worries.”

“Damn. Now is the time for her to talk. With all the evidence we have against her, it’ll just be a matter of how many charges are thrown at her. Someone has to convince her to confess now and cut a deal, make her think it would get her sentence knocked down.”

“I hear you,” he said. “But there’s no swaying the boss when he gets his mind made up, and he’s the one that decides who goes in the box with Rindsig. We’re working on finding a connection to Jordan, but so far, nada. We’ve got plenty to charge her with, but we can’t get her for the Glussons with nothing to go on. And it looks like her old man died of natural causes.”

“You have to work her, get her worried about getting the max, and convince her to tell us what she knows about the Glausson murders.”

Kendall hung up, frustrated. She wanted to interview Ruby, but by the time her boss finally brought her back, it might be too late for her methods to be effective.

Wanting some connection with the case, she drove to Graham Glausson’s house on Lake Wissota. Nothing wrong with an off-the-record visit to see how Philly was doing. England opened the door, clutching a wide-eyed Philly on one hip. The child had one hand grasping the sleeve of England’s sweater, the other clutched the top of her white turtleneck.

Juggling the baby, England invited her into the spacious kitchen and poured her a cup of coffee. Philly, adorable in a yellow corduroy jumpsuit appliquéd with a bouquet of daisies, didn’t appear frightened. She sat quietly on England’s lap.

“How’s she doing?” Kendall asked.

England grinned. “Good. I stayed with her in the hospital. She only woke up twice after I got her to sleep. She’s been quiet, but other than that, pretty content. And hungry.” Philly tucked her face into England’s chest. “You must know about the hearing. Gray isn’t here right now, but he won’t be gone long. Once he got the right to bring her home, he had to get more things for her.”

“I’m glad you got that settled,” Kendall said. “I just stopped in to see how you guys were doing. She’s really bonded with you.”

“You know, I wasn’t too happy when I found out we’d have to take her. I wanted kids, sure, but not yet. And I wanted them to be
our
children.” England held Philly closer, struggling for words. “But she feels like my own child—already. I can’t explain it. I love her as much as if I gave birth to her.”

Kendall felt tears stinging her eyelids.

“Are you all right, Detective?” England asked.

It was all good. England’s immediate love for Philly satisfied Kendall’s concern that an adoptive parent could love a child as much as its natural mother.

“I’m fine. And you can call me Kenny.” She smiled. “All my friends do.”

45

Monday

Alverson called Kendall the next morning. “Schoenfuss wants you to talk to Rindsig.”

Kendall hesitated. “When did you become his secretary?”

“I know you’ve been panting for this, so get your ass in here.”

Obviously the boss didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of asking her to come back. She made it to the station in record time and looked for him in his office, thinking she should at least check in. His secretary informed her he’d gone out and wouldn’t be in until after lunch.

Not disappointed at his absence, Kendall immediately put in a call to have Rindsig brought down from holding. When they had her in an interrogation room, Kendall entered and offered her a cup of coffee. Ruby held it in both hands without raising it to her pale lips. Her dark bob had begun to fade, red streaks evident, the short tresses puffing out from her scalp.

Once again, Rindsig waived her right to have an attorney present. Kendall had planned just how she’d interview Ruby and began with a bitter accusation, hoping to unsettle the girl: “Tell me how you killed Sienna Glausson and her family.”

She didn’t really believe Ruby had been the one who’d murdered the Glaussons but hoped the shock value of her words would get Ruby talking.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Ruby sneered.

“That’s true, you don’t. But unless you change your mind, you could be charged with all of it. We know you murdered Gerald Fostvedt and kidnapped Philly Glausson. It doesn’t take a big leap to think you killed all of them.”

Ruby snapped to attention, her features devoid of their earlier attitude.

“But . . . Travis Jordan confessed.”

Clearly, Ruby hadn’t expected to be accused of murdering the Glaussons.

“Travis Jordan said a lot of things. Some of them were lies.”

“Maybe I should get a lawyer.” Ruby reached for her hair as if the long red tresses were still there to be twirled by her nervous fingers.

“Maybe you should. But then any leverage you have is off the table.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you didn’t kill the Glaussons, and you tell me everything that happened that night, you’ll only be tried for Fostvedt. And for taking Philly. Since no harm came to the child, you won’t get the maximum. You might see the light of day before you’re a wrinkled old crone. Go down for the Glaussons, too, and you can kiss your ass goodbye.”

Rindsig eyed her through narrowed lids. Kendall knew she was sifting through her options. She hadn’t mentioned the additional charges for the attempted murder of Philly and Brynn. Added to the others, they would make a considerable impact on Ruby’s sentence.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Suit yourself. If you don’t want to talk about the Glaussons, then tell me about the emails that trolled for virgins. Is that how you got the big bank account?”

Rindsig’s nostrils flared, but she said nothing.

“You didn’t think we’d find out about the money? You must have invested it well to have more than fifty grand in such a short time. Tell me, Ruby. Did you sell you virginity to the highest bidder?”

“It was the only way I could go to college,” she snapped. “My old man couldn’t help, and my grades weren’t that good, so I couldn’t get a scholarship. I carried a 4.0 my first quarter at UWEC.” She paused, as if to say she was proud of what she’d done to pay for college. “I answered the email ad and sent a picture. I got five grand when I got to the guy’s hotel room and was supposed to get another five after the old fart popped my cherry. He was disgusting—fat, bald, and his back was loaded with hair—gross. After he did me, he asked me to stay. I told him no way, he’d gotten what he paid for and owed me the other five grand. He gave me the five and showed me another envelope. There was another twenty in it for me if I stayed the rest of the weekend.”

She snorted. “Fool. Thirty grand to boink a virgin, and that doesn’t even count the money he had to cough up for the guy with the website. He even trusted me to take the first ten out to my car and come back to earn the other twenty. Do you believe it?”

Teenage boys weren’t the only fools. Kendall had checked the records; Jeremy had been a daily visitor. “And did you go back for the rest of the money?”

Ruby grinned. “For another twenty, I’d put up with his hairy back—and his stubby prick.”

Thirty grand for sex with a virgin
.
Hard to believe. Kendall wanted to keep Rindsig talking, and steered her to the subject of Jeremy Dahlgren. “I’m surprised you didn’t save your virginity for Jeremy.”

Rindsig shrugged. “At the time I didn’t think I’d ever get him away from Sienna. And besides, no one expects a girl to be a virgin anymore.”

“Were you seeing him before Sienna was killed?”

“I got into his study group. Sometimes we’d get together alone. He told me he and Sienna weren’t having sex, so he wasn’t real hard to seduce.”

“But he didn’t leave Sienna.”

Ruby glowered. Maybe Jeremy hadn’t been the best subject. “What was Gerald Fostvedt to you?”

“Sharky?” Ruby sneered. “He was my puppet. A couple blow jobs and he’d do anything for me, you know?”

Progress.
“What did he do for you the night the Glaussons died?”

Ruby sat back in her chair. Kendall was afraid she’d pushed too hard.

After a few seconds passed, Ruby cleared her throat and started talking again. “Jeremy picked me up for study group that night because my car wouldn’t start. He gave me a ride home afterwards, but he wouldn’t stay. I was afraid he was going back to see Sienna and was just lying to me about going home. So I called Sharky. He picked me up, and we drove over to the Glaussons’ house to see if Jeremy’s car was there. It wasn’t, but we waited for a while to make sure he hadn’t just stopped for gas or something. There was a strange car in their driveway. I thought maybe they had company that was staying over, or maybe Sienna was seeing another guy. I wanted to find out, so I got out of the car and snuck into the backyard. I saw a guy leave the house carrying a gym bag. After he drove off, I went to look inside the house. I saw Sienna’s mom and dad in the kitchen. They looked dead.”

“What did this guy
look like?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see his face.”

“Didn’t you think you should call the police?”

“I wanted to look around first.”

The bitch was an opportunist. Of course she’d want to look around.

“I told him not to follow me, but Sharky came in anyway. We found Sienna and her brother after we saw the parents in the kitchen. They looked dead too. But Sienna started moaning. I told Sharky she was all his now. He’d always had a hard-on for cheerleaders, especially her. I went upstairs and found the kid in the playhouse. By the time I came back down with her, he was putting his pants back on.”

Ruby’s story, disgusting as it was, explained the evidence. She asked, “Why did you take the baby?”

Ruby took a moment, probably deciding whether to tell Kendall that last bit of the puzzle. “I saw on some crime show you could get a lot of money for a blonde baby. So I took her. I made a little cut on her arm so there would be some of her blood on the floor. That way the cops would think the intruder killed her.”

“Sounds like you thought of everything.”

Ruby reached for a lock of hair. “I didn’t know it would be so hard to get rid of the kid. I didn’t think it mattered how long it took to get some money for her—everyone thought she was dead. Then I heard you talking about her at the station that day, telling them she was still alive. You screwed up everything.”

Kendall stiffened. She should have remembered the day when Ruby had been there; Rindsig had known she wouldn’t give up on finding Philly. “Then you were the one who shot at Gray and tossed Brynn’s apartment?”

“You got your facts wrong. I kept an eye on things, sure, but nothing like that.”

Ruby didn’t appear to be lying. She’d given Kendall what she could, but there were still loose ends. The answers had to be with Travis Jordan—if he lived—and if he ever shared them.