The third door on which Kate knocked proved the lucky one. After identifying herself and learning that the bearded man with the John Deere cap and cigarette dangling from his lips had lived at his current address since he was born, she couldn’t help but get excited.
“This is probably going to sound strange, but do you recall two kids living next door to you, being homeschooled by a Mr. Thompson?”
“Heck yeah! Strange little thing they had going there, if you ask me.”
“Mind if I come in and ask a few questions?”
The man shrugged as ashes dropped from his cigarette. “Sure. Don’t got nothing better to do. TV’s broken.” He moved aside and let Kate in.
The older house reeked of tobacco and stale beer. Kate sent a quick text message to Rosebud to update him on her whereabouts and followed the man into his kitchen. A half-eaten pizza lay atop the table, house flies now having a go at it, which didn’t seem to bother the man as he put his cigarette down into the ashtray and grabbed a slice.
“Have some, if you want,” the man said, his mouth full.
“No thanks.” She pulled her notepad out and clicked open her pen. “So you were living here back in 2009, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. Got this place from my parents when they died. I’ve been living here a long time. All my life.”
“So, you said strange things were going on next door back then. Can you tell me a little more?”
“Heck, let me show you.” He got up and grabbed what was left of his cigarette. Kate followed him to the back of his house where he used both hands to slide open a patio door. Its mechanism was in obvious need of lubrication—or perhaps replacement—Kate noted as she stepped over the crooked threshold groove to join the man outside.
“See that fence there?” he asked before inhaling from his cigarette.
“Yeah?”
“I had that put up because of the shit I saw.”
“What kind of shit?”
“Well, it ain’t my place to say… Especially since what happened to that poor girl.”
“What happened to her?” Kate asked.
“You don’t know? I don’t mean no disrespect. But aren’t you supposed to detect a little better than that? Are you really with the poh-lice?” he asked, stressing his last word.
Kate showed him her badge once more. “I know what happened to her. I’d just like to hear what you have to say about it.”
“Oh. I get it.” He inhaled the last of his cigarette then flicked the butt out on his yellowed grass. “She died, so I don’t want to soil her reputation or nothing.”
“Do you know how she died?”
“Heard she did herself in.” The man’s brows got crooked, then something sad—or perhaps disturbing—passed through his eyes. “Poor girl.”
“Did you witness anything in that backyard that could have led her to that? Anything… inappropriate, let’s say?”
“Inappropriate would be the bare minimum.”
“Go on. Tell me what you saw.”
“Well, that little Penelope sure grew up fast. I still remember her in her braids, wearing those pink dresses and playing with her dolls outside. She changed around the same time she forced everyone else to call her something different. I forget now. Silly nickname.”
“Do you remember her brother?”
“Yeah. He was quiet. Most of the time he sat alone, reading. The Bible of all things! But made sense with those missionaries for parents.”
“Did you ever meet them?”
“A few times. Decades ago.”
“What kind of people are they?”
“Mostly kept to themselves. Until she got pregnant out of nowhere. I remember how freaked out the mother had been. Not sure if the rumors I heard were true.”
“What rumors?”
“Poor Mrs. Anderson was raped. Mr. Anderson wasn’t the daddy of those twins.”
“Really?” Kate made a note to double-check the birth records.
“Sure added with the way she treated those babies when they came out. I’ve seen loving mothers in my days. She was nothing like one. Then, all of sudden, this home-teacher gets here, and the missionaries leave. Never to return.”
“Other than Mr. Thompson, did the children have any other adult supervision?”
“No, that man lived there alone with them after the parents left.”
“So, what was the inappropriate behavior that made you want to build a fence?”
“First, it was just him drinking. Can’t blame the man. He never had any adult friends coming over. I invited him over for beers once or twice, but he never accepted. But one nightly glass on the back deck soon turned to a whole bottle. But I’m not one to judge. Well, not on that.”
“What did he do that had you judging him?”
“The really weird stuff began when li’l Penelope hit puberty. Or maybe shortly after. Come to think of it, maybe that’s when the old teacher picked up on his drinking.”
Kate’s gut churned now, not just of hunger, but from the feeling that her pedophilia theory was dead on.
“Did he touch her?” Kate asked, bluntly.
The man’s eyebrows went up and he scratched his beard. “Afraid t’was the other way around. If you know what I mean…”
“He abused the boy?”
“Heck no!” The man had lifted his hands as though he was blocking himself from an impending attack. “I mean the poor teacher had his hands full with her.”
Kate nearly dropped her pen. “What?”
“At first, I’s about to call that number for reporting crimes against children, you know? Trying to get him away from them kids, but as I’s scrolling through the phone book, I overheard sweet Penelope talk to the teacher. She was the one coming onto him. Hard. I mean, she was saying some real nasty shit. Lines taken straight from them pornos would be my guess. I can’t imagine where else she would have heard those things. She was so sweet. Then suddenly…” He shook his head.
“How old was she?”
“I don’t know. I wanna say her personality changed around the age of fifteen?”
“What kind of stuff would you see?”
“I stopped coming out here ’cause of that weird shit that was going on. Heck, that girl even came knocking on my door a few times, wearing almost nothing. Her tits looked like those of a grown woman. Barely contained in her tops.” His hands made it clear the girl had been well endowed. “Never wore no bra either. Her skirts barely covered her ass.”
“What did you do?”
“Fucking slammed the door on her is what I done. I ain’t the type who touches a child! Told her to smarten up. Get her act together.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know. She got quiet for a while. I saw her brother get on her case, too. That helped, I think. Lots of fighting between the two. Then I started seeing another boy come over. Closer to her own age, at least. But from the moans and screams that came from their house late at night, it was obvious the two were … quite close.”
“When Mr. Thompson died, did the police interview you?”
“That old teacher died? When?”
“About nine months ago.”
“Nope. I had no idea. But what do you mean if the police interviewed me? He didn’t die of natural causes? Heart attack or something?”
“No.” Kate left it at that, not wanting to mess up the other investigation. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, he was quite fat. And drank a fair bit. Those fancy cheese plates and meat platters he always brought out to snack on in the evenings.”
“Do you think the teacher could have stolen money from the parents?”
“Don’t think so. Spoke to him once or twice. Said the parents were wiring him money. A fair amount of money it sounded. Enough to cover those expensive snacks. And it’s not like he was heading into town to party. He was with those kids all the time.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Last time was the day the kids’ emancipation got approved. He packed up and left right there and then. Sayonara, señor. Looked more than happy to leave, if you ask me.”
Kate watched the pride in the man’s eyes and decided not to correct his mix of Japanese with Spanish. “So that was about nine years ago,” Kate said. “What happened to the kids after that day?”
“They went their separate ways. The boy wanted to become a priest, I think. They got their own apartments. She was as smart as fuck. Heck, both of them were smart. Real smart. Don’t know if that smartness had come in through their genes or if that teacher was a hell of a good one, but those kids were sure smarter than they looked. I still remember the chemistry experiments they did in their backyards. They’d taken that volcano project to a whole new level. Destroyed half of their lawn that one summer. Then they focused on other things, I guess. The girl managed to make a shit load of money on the stock market during her last year here. That’s how they managed to hire a lawyer to emancipate. Never saw either of them after that. Well, ’cept for her obituary. Shame they didn’t hold a service. I’d have gone and paid my respects. Li'l Penelope was one sweet girl… until she hit puberty. May God help her troubled soul find peace.”
In the privacy of her car, Kate rang Rosebud but got his voicemail. “Rosebud, I’m heading back into town. I think we’ve got enough for a search warrant now. I think Anderson could have killed the teacher. His sister died, then Mr. Thompson was poisoned to death. Both kids were super smart, I just found out. He learned chemistry as a kid. Maybe enough to make poison, don’t know. He could have held a grudge against the teacher. I think he could have blamed him for his sister’s debauchery that led her to suicide.” Her phone beeped but she ignored it just so she could finish her message to Rosebud. “Please get started on the paperwork for the warrant. I’m heading back now. Call me if you need more details.”
The second she hung up, just as she started her engine, her phone rang.
“Murphy. Wang tracked Big Danny,” Rosebud said. “The sketch artist worked remotely. I’m staring at Candidate Anderson.”
“Fuck! We got him! I just left you a message. Get the paperwork going for the warrant, fill Fuller in, and arrange for a SWAT team. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
For the first time in weeks, Kate smiled as an invigorating rush of adrenaline boomed through her body. Each heartbeat echoing in her head like a crowd cheering “Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.”