Gin Jones - Helen Binney 01 - A Dose of Death by Gin Jones Page A

property crime to extreme personal violence. Pierce had told her that a knife had been used to threaten one of the more recent victims, which, in hindsight, might have been viewed as a warning that the burglar was about to get violent. But Helen couldn’t find anything in the newspaper reports about a knife being used. Just random break-ins. Virtually the only consistent element of the crimes was the complete lack of violence. Beyond that, no one had suggested any apparent pattern, in terms of when they happened, where they happened, or even how the homes were broken into.
    What was it about Melissa ‘s murder that made the police think it had to be related to the burglaries? She read and re-read her printouts, and she still couldn’t see anything in the newspaper articles that could possibly lead to that conclusion.
    The police might well have evidence that she didn ‘t know about, but she couldn’t imagine why they’d have withheld information on the earlier crimes that no one was particularly interested in solving. Instead, it felt as if the police thought there was only one possible criminal in the town, so everything that happened was attributed to him. It was, perhaps, a reassuring theory for the citizens, but it didn’t make any sense.
    In Helen ‘s experience, pretty much everyone was a criminal, at least in his heart of hearts. A little tax evasion here, a little office-supply theft there. Not the sort of thing that was ever caught or prosecuted, but it set the stage for bigger things. Little larcenies could easily escalate into major larcenies if the opportunity ever presented itself, but the fundamental nature of the crime—theft—would remain the same. Over the years, several of her ex-husband’s acquaintances had been convicted of embezzlement or fraud, but she couldn’t imagine any of them committing murder, not even to keep from being caught for the underlying crime. Perhaps the tendency to stick to one type of crime was limited to politicians, whose egos had deluded them into rejecting, right up until their sentencing, the possibility that they’d be punished. A more realistic criminal might be quicker to turn to violence to avoid being caught.
    Helen glanced at the time and realized Jack would be there in a few minutes. There had to be a pattern to the burglaries, something that would help identify the criminal and show that he wouldn ‘t have been anywhere near Melissa. Unfortunately, finding that pattern would have to wait. She needed to get ready for the wake.
    Helen shoved the newspaper articles into one of her unused scrapbooks for further study and changed into the black pants and sweater set she ‘d found earlier. She fetched her back-up cane and headed out the front door to wait for Jack. As she reached the bottom of the porch steps, she couldn’t help glancing at the far side of the yard, where the police tape still marked the scene of the crime. What had Melissa been doing over there?
    She hadn ‘t reached any conclusions by the time Jack arrived a couple minutes later. He waited for her to settle into the back seat of the luxury car and then headed back down her driveway. “Are you sure you want to go to Melissa’s wake? You two weren’t exactly close.”
    “ I owe it to her anyway,” Helen said. “Besides, maybe the person who killed her will be there. Tate thinks it’s her significant other.”
    “ You don’t think it’s the guy the police are looking for?”
    “ A burglary gone wrong just doesn’t make sense to me.”
    “ That’s what I thought too,” Jack said. “I’ve known some petty criminals in my time, and they’re not usually violent. People steal little things all the time, but they’d never get physical about it. Like the other day, I was taking this guy home from the airport, and he seemed like a nice guy, didn’t complain when we ran into some traffic, and even gave me a decent tip. But then when I was taking his luggage out of the trunk, one of the