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As Karen was driving back to Greenfield with Gil, her phone rang in the car speaker.
“Hey, Lili, what’s up? I’ve got Gil here with me.”
“Hi, guys. I don’t have any ID for the lady we found at the fairgrounds, but we did get a match on the DNA from the gardening glove at the warehouse. Tina Renaldi, and she’s also a match for DNA from the fairgrounds fire. She put her DNA on a commercial database only last week. I don’t have any contact information.”
“We know her! This is unbelievable. She’s just a little old hippie lady that we interviewed.”
“Thanks, Lili,” said Karen. “I’ll have her picked up.” She drove the car to the side of the road and looked up Tina Renaldi’s contact information, then called Chief Reyes to have the staties pick her up.
-When they got back to the station, they could hear raised voices coming from the chief’s office. Karen asked one of the officers what was going on, and he told her that Reyes and Phillips were talking to Jupe. Karen went back to her desk. She felt more sad than angry.
Sitting next to her desk, Gil said, “I think the Tina Renaldi stuff is a frame-up. It’s all too convenient and hard to believe at the same time.”
Officer Jupe stormed out of the chief’s office, his face bright red. He grabbed his jacket and left the station. Reyes and Phillips were talking with raised voices, then Phillips came out. He paused for a moment to compose himself, then he came over to Karen’s desk. “Jupe’s suspended. I think he’ll be fired.” He shook his head. “The guy pulling Breen’s strings is named Keith Moraine. Some people call him Mo. Others call him Rain or Rainman. I’m going to go find him. Could you call the staties and have them help me chase him down? Chief’s busy with the Jupe situation. I’ll meet them at Susan Rassmussen’s antique shop.”
“Got it. I’ll see what I can find out about Moraine.”
Phillips left to speak to one of the officers, then they left the station.
“This Moraine guy may be the key! I wonder why he would do this? I’ve got nothing to do, so I’m going to lunch,” Gil said. “Call me if you need me, but I’ll be back in a little while.”
“I’ll want you there when Tina Renaldi’s being questioned.”
“You got it.”
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Gil went to the Mesa Verde restaurant and ordered a California burrito and a limeade. The food was really good. He thought about why this Moraine guy would do what he was doing. Mark Breen seemed to be the only one with a motive. Maybe Moraine was just screwing with the police. Maybe he had some issue with them. Other than that, he could’ve just been evil and treated these crimes like a game. Gil wasn’t sure if that would mean he was a sociopath or a psychopath.
It still didn’t make sense that Tina Renaldi would be involved. She was an artistic person from a peace-loving commune that ended up helping abused women. But of course, he didn’t know what he didn’t know.
It was cold and windy, so he didn’t want to walk around too much while he waited for Karen’s call. Maybe he’d go look around in some shops. He finished eating, and as he left the restaurant, somebody with a strong arm grabbed him from behind and put a switchblade to his neck. Without thinking, Gil jerked his head back hard and clunked into his assailant’s head. Then he backed up as hard and fast as he could. His assailant tripped over the stoop leading to the restaurant’s door.
Gil could feel that his jaw had been slashed by the knife as he fell on top of his assailant, but he felt no pain. The assailant was stunned, and Gil got up and pounded on the glass door. Gil kicked his assailant’s hand, and the knife clattered away. He could feel blood leaking down his neck. His assailant was a small young man. Moraine? His nose was gushing blood, and he was starting to move. Gil sat down hard on his belly.
Gil could hear a siren, and he hoped it was for him. His assailant was wriggling around, trying desperately to free himself. After a few minutes, which seemed like a very long time, a police car arrived, and the police yelled at Gil to put his hands on his head and step away from the other guy. An officer handcuffed Gil. The assailant scrambled to his feet. As the police told him to put his hands on his head, he bolted down the hill. One of the officers gave chase and quickly tackled him.
Another siren was approaching. The officer with Gil looked at him more closely and asked him if he was Mr. Novak. “Yes, my license is in my wallet. I think that guy is Moraine, the guy Sergeant Phillips is out looking for. His knife is under that plant over there.”
He removed Gil’s handcuffs while apologizing. “I just didn’t recognize you with all the blood. I’m Officer O’Neill.” He got Gil some paper towels from the restaurant and had him press the towels to his wound. The ambulance showed up, and the EMT had Gil sit on the ground while she checked him out. She bandaged the cut on his jaw as best she could, but she told him it was still oozing blood and he’d need to go to the ER to clean out the wound and get stitches. She offered him a ride in the ambulance, but he declined.
Another EMT told the officers that the assailant wasn’t thinking too clearly and should get checked out at the ER for concussion. He recommended ambulance transport, just in case he went downhill. One of the officers accompanied their prisoner.
O’Neill reported Gil’s version of the events on his radio, then he told Gil he’d take him to the ER after he talked to some witnesses.
Gil’s jaw was starting to hurt a lot more. A few people had gathered to watch and one of them asked Gil what happened. Gil just said, “A guy jumped me with a knife, but I got him.”
The guy grinned and said, “Right on, man,” flashing Gil back to the hippie days.