By the time Jed drove Hannah back to the house, he’d convinced her that the killer, pretending to be Russ Crockett, had lured Olly out to the woods. They just couldn’t figure out why.
“How did he get Olly’s cell phone number?”
Jed shrugged. “I’m sure that wouldn’t be too hard to do. Do you think this guy tried to entice the other children into going outside?”
“If he did, neither one mentioned it to me.” Hannah hugged her purse to her chest. “But why Astrid? She’s not into drugs. She doesn’t hang out with the same people as Zoey and Stephanie did.”
“Seattle PD has to see that this is related to those dead birds—and the Keldorf property.” Jed rubbed his eyes.
They hadn’t budged from Jed’s truck since he pulled it into her drive, even though they both needed rest after the day they’d had. “But Seattle homicide didn’t even come out to question Astrid. Do you think it’s because they don’t want to let the public know about the birds? I mean, Astrid doesn’t have a clue, and I didn’t want to be the one to tell her.”
“They’re going to have to tell her if they plan to question her properly. She may have connections to the other women that we don’t know about.”
Hannah gave him a sharp glance. “You’re going to tell her tonight, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to scare her any more than she already is, but she needs to know, and we need to know if she has any links to Zoey or Stephanie. I’ll just be giving her a heads-up, anyway. I’m sure Detective Chu is going to question her in relation to the other homicides. How can he not? They can’t ignore those birds any longer. They can’t ignore the fire tonight.”
“Last night.” She tapped the number glowing on the dash of his truck. “It’s morning.”
He ran a hand through his tangled hair. “Are you going to be okay here?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m not a single mother.” She cracked open the door of the truck. “Get back to Astrid and Olly. What you tell her is going to terrify her.”
He walked her to the front door and cupped her face with both of his hands. “What happened earlier...”
“Was amazing.” She put a finger to his lips. “Let’s just leave it at that. No analysis or Monday morning quarterbacking.”
He kissed her fingertip and then kissed her mouth. “Okay, deal. Set your security system, and I’ll get you that ammo tomorrow...today.”
“Will do.”
Jed stayed right on her porch until she locked up inside. Parting the curtains at the front window, she waved as he backed out of her drive.
She wandered into the guest bedroom, gathered the damp towels and straightened the covers on the bed. She picked up the condom box and took it back to her bedroom.
As she sat on the edge of her bed, Siggy jumped up beside her, his motor running strong.
She leaned across him and tossed the box in the drawer of her nightstand. “We definitely need to stock up on those.”
AT HER APPOINTMENT with Sheldon the next day, Hannah tried every which way to wheedle more details from him about the night his mom was murdered. He gave no hint at all that anyone lured him outside or that he left the trailer at all.
What the hell had happened at Astrid’s last night? Why would the killer want to get Olly out of the cabin? Olly was older than the other two kids, so maybe the killer was afraid he’d wake up during the murder.
After Sheldon’s session, Hannah returned to her house and collapsed on the sofa with a file from the Keldorf case in her hands. She shuffled through some of the statements from the surviving foster kids.
They never had any complaints about Chet Keldorf or his wife, Sheila. They said he did get sad sometimes and wanted to be alone, and Chet’s brother, Nate, indicated that Chet had suffered from depression for a number of years and may have had other issues. Did something just click in his head one day? Family annihilators often showed no signs of mental illness or violent behavior before the incident. Keldorf could’ve fallen into that category.
She dug a little deeper into the files. Why would her father hang on to this case? It could just be because it was the biggest of his career, even though he’d been a lowly deputy at the time.
The pages that detailed Chet’s suicide, the final shot fired that day, bled red with her father’s margin notes and question marks. She turned the pages this way and that, squinting at her father’s scribbles.
Chet had delivered the suicide shot by placing the shotgun under his chin, not an uncommon way to kill yourself with a shotgun. It’s not like you could hold it to your temple. But her father had circled the details of the other wounds on Chet’s body. Keldorf had a lump on the back of his head. The coroner had Indicated that this could’ve come from the rock he’d hit when he fell over. Her father seemed to be questioning this finding. Did he believe someone else had delivered that blow and set the scene for a murder-suicide?
Hannah ran her finger down another page to locate the info for Chet’s brother, Nate. He lived in Seattle at the time of the killings. Was he still there? It might be worth talking to him today to find out what he remembered. Jed had mentioned this yesterday.
Her cell phone on the table rang, and Hannah jumped. It seemed she only needed to think about Jed to conjure him up.
“How’s Astrid?” She shoved the file folder from her lap and curled one leg beneath her.
“She’s fine. I told her our suspicions, and she’s heading off the island for a few days, at least until Tate returns.”
“Did the police question her?” Siggy wedged his furry body next to her thigh, and she scratched him behind the ears.
“They did. She said they asked her the same things I asked her, and she gave them the same answers. She doesn’t do drugs, knew both women only peripherally and didn’t hang with the same crowd. Zoey’s ex, Chase, came on to her once or twice, but she shut him down pretty quickly and she said he ignored her after that.”
“Were the police able to trace the phone that called Olly’s?”
“Burner. Now out of service.”
“Of course. And the bird? Did they acknowledge the significance of the dead finch?”
“They did. Said it was obviously the guy’s calling card or something, but they haven’t necessarily connected it to the Keldorf crime.”
“Really?” Siggy flattened his ears at her sharp tone and sprang off the couch. “Even after we were almost burned alive in that barn last night?”
“Yeah, about that.”
She planted both feet on the floor and leaned forward. “What does that mean?”
“I got the impression that Seattle thinks we’re trying to insert ourselves into this case for some reason—maybe to keep suspicion off me.”
“Off you?” Hannah wanted to throw the phone across the room. Instead, she gripped it so hard, it dug into her palm. “Aren’t they satisfied with your alibi yet?”
“They thought it was unusual that one of the people who provided my alibi also happened to be a target of this killer.”
“So, we tossed a Molotov cocktail into the barn ourselves?” She ground her teeth together. “Is Seattle Homicide as incompetent as our own sheriff’s department?”
Jed blew out a noisy breath. “You’re asking the wrong person, but Astrid did tell me something interesting before she left.”
“Oh?”
“She said that Olly broke his wrist several months ago and his doctor reported it to Child Protective Services because Olly had some suspicious bruising on his wrist, and Astrid had been reported to CPS before.”
“Astrid? No way. She’s not neglectful.”
“She’s pretty sure the previous anonymous report came from her ex, so she wasn’t that steamed about it, but get this. In casual conversation with Stephanie Boyd one night, Stephanie complained that the same doc had reported her to CPS. He’s Dr. Robbins. I think you mentioned he was seeing Sheldon, too. He may be a connection among the three women.”
“Oh, my God. Dr. Robbins is the physician who treated Sheldon when he came in after the murder. I haven’t received Chrissy Boyd’s complete files yet, but I’ll bet that report to CPS is in there.” Hannah put a hand to her throat. “Do you think Dr. Robbins might have something to do with this? Maybe he thinks he’s protecting the kids.”
“Strange way to protect them, but it’s a link—one the cops don’t know about yet because Astrid didn’t mention it to them.”
Hannah glanced at the time on her phone before answering Jed. “I have loads of reasons for talking to Dr. Robbins. I’ll start this afternoon. Also, you mentioned Chet Keldorf’s brother, Nate. I think we need to talk to him, too.”
“Did you find out anything else about him?”
“Not him, but my father’s notes are questioning whether Chet’s death was really a suicide. Nate may be able to shed more light on his brother’s state of mind.”
“I can use my PI connections to get a line on Nate Keldorf. You talk to the doc, and then we’ll compare notes.”
“This feels...right.” She bit her bottom lip while she listened to Jed breathe across the line. If she’d worked with him eight years ago, would she have been able to help him avoid conviction for a crime he didn’t commit?
“I’ll call you later...and be careful.”
Hannah cupped the phone between her hands after Jed ended the call. She’d been careful all her life. Maybe it was time to take some risks.