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Darby
“Get the video conference set up,” Mark said to me when we got back to the office. “Call Prairie’s parents.”
I groaned inwardly. “Got it.”
We separated on the second floor. He headed toward our squad room, and I walked to the adjoining video rooms. We had three of them in the building, two of which were near the Murder and Vice Squads. A third was upstairs on the administration level.
I prepared for the call. Mark came in a moment later with bottles of water and our small glass tablets. I linked mine to the in-room equipment and used it to contact Prairie’s parents.
Felicia Rasmussen answered, her eyes rimmed in red.
She was an attractive yet matronly woman in her sixties who looked nothing like her daughter.
“Yes?”
“Mrs. Rasmussen,” Mark started, his tone gentle. “We’re Detectives Mark Herman and Darby Shaw from Kansas City Bendex PD. We would like to speak with you and your husband about your daughter’s murder.”
She wiped at her nose with a crumpled handkerchief. “Has this monster been found yet?”
I shook my head. “No, not yet. We hoped to speak with the two of you to gain some insight into Prairie’s life.”
Felicia nodded, slowly. It was almost like there was a lag in the connection, but I was sure it was just due to mourning. I’d seen it countless times.
“Let me get my husband. Hang on.” She put us on hold before we could respond.
“Maybe we can prevent that funeral for them,” Mark said in her absence.
“Let’s hope.”
The hold ended, and both of Prairie’s parents came back on the line.
Prairie took after her father. Both had the same nose, though his was beefy from age, and she shared the same blue eyes, an impossibly light, nearly translucent shade. He had a hard set to his face, and I imagined he’d been a stern disciplinarian when his children were young.
“Detectives,” Felicia said. “This is my husband, Barrett.”
Mark reintroduced us to the grieving father. “We’re both very sorry for your loss,” he added.
They nodded as Barrett wrapped Felicia tightly in his arms.
“We wanted to speak with you about what happened to Prairie,” I said, “and see if you could tell us anything helpful. Did Prairie share about her life here in Kansas City?”
“I told her not to go work with supers,” Barret said firmly. “I told her one day it would get her killed.”
I blinked, and caught Mark’s surprised look too. “Uh, why is that?”
“Oh, Barrett,” Felicia chided her husband. To us, she said, “Excuse my husband.”
“There’s nothing to excuse, darlin’,” Barrett said. “Superhumans are an unstable bunch. I knew one day, messin’ with them would get her hurt. She didn’t want to listen.”
Unstable? Supers? Of the few I was close to, most of us just wanted to be left alone. Granted, my statistical pool was infinitesimally small...
“Ma’am, sir,” Mark said, picking up my slack. “Were you aware of any confrontations she’d had with any supers that makes you say that?”
Barrett scowled. “My baby didn’t like to talk about her work. Probably because she knew how I felt. She should’ve gotten a safe job. Like with the Revenue Service.”
I didn’t know if I’d consider that safer, not when one was talking about money.
I cleared my throat. “So you’re unaware of anything going on that could have led to her murder?”
Felicia bit her lip.
“Mrs. Rasmussen?”
She glanced at her husband. “I’m sorry, Barrett. She asked me not to say anything.” She shifted her eyes to the screen, but didn’t look directly at the camera. “She told me a couple weeks ago she’d been working on something, and was debating how to handle it. Something fairly big.”
Barrett stared at his wife, shocked.
“Related to work?” Mark asked.
Felicia shrugged. “I can’t say.”
“You mean you know, but don’t want to say, or she didn’t tell you?” I asked.
“She didn’t say.”
Barrett said, “Why would she not tell me?”
“You never forgave her for moving away, not after Prism’s stunt.”
I raised my eyebrow. The brother? According to our files, he was on a watch list and part of an anarchist group in West Texas.
“Sorry, but you don’t know what any of this was about?” I asked.
Felicia sniffled. “No, I don’t.”
I glanced over at Mark. He bore the same incredulous look that I felt. I’d pointed out the anarchist thing to him that morning before we’d left.
“Did she get along with her coworkers?” Mark said after he took a second to regroup.
Felicia shrugged. “I guess. She didn’t really talk about them too much. We know she was some sort of supervisor.”
“What about friends? Any issues there?” I said.
Barrett shook his head. “From all accounts, no. She spoke a lot of her friends. Never really anything bad out of them. The occasional spat.”
“Boyfriend? What did you think of Ian Brecunier?”
Barrett folded his arms. “He wasn’t good enough for my girl. She deserved someone better than a bartender and Mr. Universe contestant.”
“Oh, Barrett,” Felicia said.
“What? It’s true. You’ve met him. I don’t know what she saw in him other than a pretty face. He’s as dumb as a pile of Oklahoma dirt.”
I hadn’t gotten that vibe off him at all. “Did you know he was planning to propose?”
“I’d have told her to say no,” Barrett insisted. “No daughter of mine should be shackled to a mere bodybuilder. Maybe that’s what happened. Maybe he asked her, and she turned him down. Have you asked him if he killed her?”
Mark cleared his throat. “Mr. Brecunier has an alibi for the time of your daughter’s murder.”
“So you claim. How do you know he’s not lying?”
“He was at work,” Mark said. “We have him on camera going in during the time, and three dozen witnesses who claim he was teaching a cardio class.”
Barrett’s face fell. “He could’ve—”
“No, Mr. Rasmussen,” I said. “He’s not your daughter’s killer.”
“What about a superhuman?” Barrett demanded. “She worked with them. They’re dangerous.”
“It’s too early to rule that out,” I said. “But we don’t know enough yet. When was the last time you spoke with Prairie?”
Barrett started to open his mouth.
Felicia gave him a look.
He clamped his mouth shut.
She took a quick breath, then turned back to us. “Thursday night for Barrett and we chatted a couple hours on Saturday morning. It wasn’t much. Her cousin just had a baby, and they were over here, so we did a conference. Prairie wanted to meet the new addition.”
“Was she distracted at all? Either time?” Mark asked.
Barrett harrumphed.
“Oh, Barry,” Felicia said. “Just tell them.”
“Her boyfriend was on with her when I spoke to her. He kept messing with her.”
“How?”
“Pawing at her. Couldn’t keep his hands to himself. You should arrest him for indecency.”
I bit my cheek to hide a smile. “We don’t do too much of that kind of thing anymore, Mr. Rasmussen.”
“That’s not what I meant, Barry,” Felicia said. “She took a call from work Saturday while she was on with us. She was back within a few minutes, but she didn’t seem quite like herself when she came back, either.”
A call from work on a Saturday? In a bureaucratic setting? That didn’t seem that likely. I sent a note to Nettie to get the phone records so we could at least see who had called Prairie.
“Did she get off quickly after that call?” Mark said.
“No, but she never was quite as perky. She seemed—I don’t know—drained?” Felicia glanced at her husband for confirmation.
He nodded. “I noticed it, too. Something happened on that call.”