Page 16 of Fade Out
I thought for a moment. “I imagine she was someone Rita was conning and decided she was done with.”
He smirked as though he had a secret. “I’ve been a busy boy. I’ve already requested the preliminary autopsy from the medical examiner.”
“Aren’t you supposed to ask the ASA for that?”
“Technically. But they’ll try to hold it until the toxicology report comes in. That will take weeks. The medical examiner is new. I’m hoping she’s still fuzzy on protocol.”
I doubted he’d have any luck with that.
“You know,” he continued. “We may not even have to find out who this woman is. If we can simply prove she’s not Rita Lindquist then you’d have no motive.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. Your motive is half their case. Any sane person would want to kill Rita Lindquist after what she did to you. Take that away and they have to explain why you’d kill a Jane Doe and deliver her to your own doorstep.”
“Rita’s the one who killed Jane Doe. You know that, right?”
“It crossed my mind. She’s trying to frame you. Is that what you think?”
“So she can get a fresh start. If the police think she’s dead they’re not going to look for her.”
“Yes, there’s that. And she’s got an accomplice, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of heavy work here.”
“So, you think she’s got a male helper?”
I nodded.
“One who wouldn’t mind decapitating a woman and removing her hands. Would that be hard to find? I don’t know much about straight men.”
That was a bit on the facetious side. I frowned at him and said, “Yes, I think it would be hard to find.”
“So he might be someone she already knew?”
“That’s possible,” I said. It was also kind of interesting. I needed to look at Rita’s life before she went on the run. How much contact had she maintained with her past? Was there anyone she trusted enough to tell where she was hiding? Would she ask people from her past for help?
“I assume you’ll be doing your own investigating. I could still hire someone,” Owen said. “Most people accused of murder are at least a little bit traumatized.”
“Iamtraumatized,” I said.
For some reason he smiled as though I’d just lied. He didn’t get it. I knew I looked like I was fine. I had a bad habit of not displaying my emotions. Not that I didn’t have them. I was a wreck and I’d be a wreck until the charges were dropped. Well, that’s not true. I was a wreck when the police burst into my apartment. I was going to be a wreck for a long time no matter what happened.
“Yes, I’ll be doing my own investigating.”
“Well, let’s agree that you’re not going to go off on your own. If I ask you to find something out you need to find that out—and just that.”
“Fine.”
“Priorities. Proving Jane Doe is not Rita. We need to find out if Rita had any distinctive marks, moles, tattoos, scars. Next: possible helpers. Who did Rita know before she went on the lam? Who has she known since?”
The car came to an unexpected stop. We were deep in The Loop on Jackson Boulevard. I recognized that we were in front of Owen’s building.
“I can take the El from here,” I said.
“Oh no, Tito will drive you home,” he said, meaning the chauffeur. “It’s on me.”
I gave him a look.
