Page 45 of Deputies Under Fire
“Rory,” she said, sounding a whole lot friendlier than Helen had been. “I didn’t expect to hear from someone in the police station. Is everything all right?”
Maybe there was someone who hadn’t heard about the murder after all. “I just want to verify something. Are you still in the hospital?”
“Oh, no. I’m home. I just had that one night’s stay. Nothing serious. Why?” she asked.
Rory evaded the question and jumped straight to the reason for the call. “Did my Aunt Helen visit you while you were still in the hospital?”
“Yes, she did,” Sheila confirmed. “That was so sweet of her.”
So Helen was telling the truth. That nixed his theory that Helen had murdered Brenda and then shown up at the hospital only to give herself a possible alibi if someone had indeed spotted her near or in town.
“A sweet surprise,” Sheila went on.
“A surprise, how?” Rory persisted.
“Well, I mean because I didn’t know she was coming. And we’re not exactly friends. Don’t get me wrong,” she continued, “she’s always been friendly enough to me, but I hadn’t actually talked to her since your mom’s funeral, and that was just to say hello and how sorry I was. It was so kind of her to think of visiting me on a trip to town.”
“She didn’t mention if visiting you was the main reason for her trip?” Rory queried.
“Golly, I don’t think so. She just showed up, and we chatted for a while before she left.”
Rory had to put a mental question mark by his earlier conclusion of Helen telling the truth. The visit could have still been to cover up her presence in town.
“Was there, uh, anything unusual about Helen during that visit?” Rory went on. “I mean, did she seem upset or nervous? How did she look?”
He wasn’t surprised when the woman didn’t answer right away. She was no doubt wondering what this was all about. “I guessshe seemed fine. She looked all right, too. What happened? What’s wrong? Did something happen to Helen?”
“Helen is okay,” he assured her. “I’m just trying to pinpoint a lot of different people’s movements that night, and you’ve helped with that. Thank you.”
He wrapped up the call with Sheila and then immediately groaned. “I should have found an excuse to have Helen’s clothes and hands tested for blood when we saw her in the hospital.”
Eden rolled her eyes. “There would have been no legal excuse for that. Helen wasn’t even a suspect at the time.”
“No, but she should have been. I should have had her on the suspect list right from the start, because of her extreme hatred for Ike. My mother’s death could have been the trigger that set all of these murders in motion.”
“Maybe, but why not just go after Ike?” Eden asked, clearly playing devil’s advocate.
“Having him rot in jail would be a lot more punishment,” Rory replied.
Of course, that didn’t explain why Helen hadn’t just gone after Diedre first since Diedre had caused Rory’s mom so much pain by having an affair with Ike.
Unless…
“Maybe Helen is planning on setting up Diedre for the murders, too,” he muttered. “That way, she could maybe get both Diedre and Ike behind bars.”
Eden didn’t disagree this time, and he could see her processing that theory. It had plenty of merit, but obviously there were some pieces that didn’t fit, and Eden voiced one of them.
“Why kill Carter?” she asked.
Rory had to shrug. “The man liked to take pictures, so maybe Helen thought he’d taken an incriminating one of her. Or one that would inadvertently give Diedre an alibi that Helen wouldn’t want her to have.”
Again, Eden didn’t disagree, but she also didn’t have a chance to dole out any more potential questions because they heard the voices in the squad room and turned in that direction. It was Ike’s legal team, and Stephen Arnette was making a beeline toward them. Judging from his irate expression and body language, Rory figured he knew what the lawyer was about to say.
“I demand that my client be immediately released,” Arnette snarled.
Yep, that’s exactly what Rory figured Arnette would demand. “It’s not happening. Your client was found at the scene with someone who’d been murdered. At minimum, he needs to be questioned and give a statement.”
Arnette’s eyes narrowed. “Is he under arrest?”
