lives.”
“Then she was a friend. H-how good of a friend?”
David could see where the discussion was going. “We dated back in high school.”
“Do you want to re-think that answer?” the police chief asked. “You see, I did look into Ms. Singleton’s murder and—and I found that you had reason to kill her.”
“Me?”
“Did you or did you not spend nights—?”
“She didn’t like being alone in her home. Her husband was rarely there. You certainly didn’t do anything to help her.”
“Were you intimate with her?”
David opened his mouth to argue, but decided not to say anything.
Chief Phillips said, “I-I tried to do you a favor by closing this case as quietly as possible, but you just couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
David blurted out. “You never wanted to do me any favors. You’ve been trying to run me out of this department for months.”
“You didn’t answer my question, O’Callaghan,” the chief replied. “Did you sleep with Katrina?”
Chapter Six
The Singleton’s back yard showed signs of once having been meticulously landscaped. Remnants of the previous year’s plantings struggled to survive in spite of neglect since their mistress’s death. Sand mixed with dirt along the lake’s shore made up what had once been a private beach. Shaded by the second-level deck, a stone patio extended out into the back yard.
With the copy of the case file that Ben Fleming had given him tucked under his arm, Mac followed Archie over the stone wall separating Spencer Manor from the Singleton home, and jogged across the back yard to the patio. He peered through the French doors into what had once been Katrina Singleton’s family room while Gnarly went to work digging in the corner of the patio where the cobblestones, grass, and garage met. The foot and a half deep hole appeared to be an ongoing project.
“Gnarly!” Mac swatted in the dog’s direction. “Get away from there!”
Whining, Gnarly backed away two paces before charging back at the hole.
“There must be a rabbit in there. Leave him alone,” Archie told Mac. “No one will know that we’ve been here.” She threw open the French door, stepped inside, and punched a security code into the console on the wall.
Uncertain about the wisdom of snooping around a crime scene that didn’t belong to him, Mac stepped across the threshold into the vacant family room. “How do you know the security code?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Since the killer didn’t trigger the security system the night Katrina was murdered,” Mac pointed out, “you knowing the code makes you a suspect.”
“The security system wasn’t deactivated or triggered the night of the murder.” She grinned widely. “That’s one of the mysteries. The killer managed to bypass the system every time all the way up to the murder.”
Outside, she gestured at an oblong ceramic flower container next to the door. It contained soil, but no vegetation. “That‘s where David found Gnarly. He had crawled in behind the pot. The pot and roof from the deck above protected him from the blizzard.”
Mac knelt next to the pot. There were brown splotches of what he concluded to be a mixture of Gnarly’s and the killer’s blood. The German shepherd had put up a real fight for his owner.
Once again, Gnarly was digging at the corner of the garage.
“Stop it!”
The dog uttered a pleading bark.
“You’re going to get us arrested for breaking and entering.”
“We’re not breaking anything,” Archie argued.
“He’s breaking their yard.” Mac rose and searched the trees and privacy fence separating the Singleton property from the Hardwicks. He spotted the camera perched on a rod extending up from the corner of the Hardwick’s back deck. It was aimed at the Singleton property. He saw a bright green light lit on top of the unit. “David said the Hardwicks claimed their security camera was broken at the time of the murder. It looks
“Then she was a friend. H-how good of a friend?”
David could see where the discussion was going. “We dated back in high school.”
“Do you want to re-think that answer?” the police chief asked. “You see, I did look into Ms. Singleton’s murder and—and I found that you had reason to kill her.”
“Me?”
“Did you or did you not spend nights—?”
“She didn’t like being alone in her home. Her husband was rarely there. You certainly didn’t do anything to help her.”
“Were you intimate with her?”
David opened his mouth to argue, but decided not to say anything.
Chief Phillips said, “I-I tried to do you a favor by closing this case as quietly as possible, but you just couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
David blurted out. “You never wanted to do me any favors. You’ve been trying to run me out of this department for months.”
“You didn’t answer my question, O’Callaghan,” the chief replied. “Did you sleep with Katrina?”
Chapter Six
The Singleton’s back yard showed signs of once having been meticulously landscaped. Remnants of the previous year’s plantings struggled to survive in spite of neglect since their mistress’s death. Sand mixed with dirt along the lake’s shore made up what had once been a private beach. Shaded by the second-level deck, a stone patio extended out into the back yard.
With the copy of the case file that Ben Fleming had given him tucked under his arm, Mac followed Archie over the stone wall separating Spencer Manor from the Singleton home, and jogged across the back yard to the patio. He peered through the French doors into what had once been Katrina Singleton’s family room while Gnarly went to work digging in the corner of the patio where the cobblestones, grass, and garage met. The foot and a half deep hole appeared to be an ongoing project.
“Gnarly!” Mac swatted in the dog’s direction. “Get away from there!”
Whining, Gnarly backed away two paces before charging back at the hole.
“There must be a rabbit in there. Leave him alone,” Archie told Mac. “No one will know that we’ve been here.” She threw open the French door, stepped inside, and punched a security code into the console on the wall.
Uncertain about the wisdom of snooping around a crime scene that didn’t belong to him, Mac stepped across the threshold into the vacant family room. “How do you know the security code?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Since the killer didn’t trigger the security system the night Katrina was murdered,” Mac pointed out, “you knowing the code makes you a suspect.”
“The security system wasn’t deactivated or triggered the night of the murder.” She grinned widely. “That’s one of the mysteries. The killer managed to bypass the system every time all the way up to the murder.”
Outside, she gestured at an oblong ceramic flower container next to the door. It contained soil, but no vegetation. “That‘s where David found Gnarly. He had crawled in behind the pot. The pot and roof from the deck above protected him from the blizzard.”
Mac knelt next to the pot. There were brown splotches of what he concluded to be a mixture of Gnarly’s and the killer’s blood. The German shepherd had put up a real fight for his owner.
Once again, Gnarly was digging at the corner of the garage.
“Stop it!”
The dog uttered a pleading bark.
“You’re going to get us arrested for breaking and entering.”
“We’re not breaking anything,” Archie argued.
“He’s breaking their yard.” Mac rose and searched the trees and privacy fence separating the Singleton property from the Hardwicks. He spotted the camera perched on a rod extending up from the corner of the Hardwick’s back deck. It was aimed at the Singleton property. He saw a bright green light lit on top of the unit. “David said the Hardwicks claimed their security camera was broken at the time of the murder. It looks
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