The Next Victim (6 page)

"Please, Kali." Sabrina's tone was imploring. "We need each other."

Her family. Sabrina was all she had left now. Jared could continue to cover at the office, and Margot would be happy to take Loretta again. Her brother was dead and her sister needed her. That was what mattered.

"Of course," Kali said. "Of course we should be together. I'll fly down right away. I'll let you know as soon as I've made a reservation."

I'm sorry, John. I should have returned your phone calls sooner. I shouldn't have hung up on you. I'm so sorry.

Erling had just gotten off the phone from talking with the lieutenant when Michelle signaled to him. "John O'Brien's sisters are here," she said.

"Sisters--plural?" He'd spoken over the phone with a sister living in Scottsdale, the only name he had.

"Two of them. I put them in the conference room."

Conference room was something of a euphemism, but the windowless space was an improvement over the two standard interrogation rooms, and it was often used by deputies for interviews and group meetings. It was larger, brighter, and generally cleaner.

"How do they seem?" he asked.

"Upset and confused. Pretty much what you'd expect."

Erling rose from his desk and grabbed his gray flannel sport coat from the back of the chair. "Might as well get this over with."

He hoped the sisters weren't the weepy, hysterical type. Displays of raw emotion made him uncomfortable. They reminded him painfully of his own despair following Danny's death. Besides, he was hoping the sisters would be clearheaded enough to shed some light on their brother's interactions with Sloane, maybe even offer up something of a confirmation that John O'Brien was capable of murder.

Erling followed Michelle down the hall to the conference room. The two women, looking somber, were seated side by side at the rectangular government-issue table.

Michelle made the introductions. Sabrina Ashford, with whom Erling had spoken over the phone, and Kali O'Brien, who'd flown in from California. The two women appeared to be about the same height, but Sabrina was a little heavier, and prettier in the conventional sense. Her hair was a warm shade of honey blond, a color, according to Deena, that came naturally to no woman past the age of twenty-five. Sabrina wore it short and soft around her face. Kali had a lean, athletic build, a mane of auburn curls and a strong handshake. Sabrina would turn heads when she first walked into a room, Erling thought, but Kali would be the one who lingered in people's memories.

"Can I get you a soda or some coffee?" he asked the women.

"No, thank you." Kali spoke without consulting her sister. "We'd like to know what happened."

Direct and to the point. A take-charge kind of woman. At least he wouldn't have to deal with hysterics, although he found her edginess slightly off-putting. He pulled out one of the plastic molded chairs at the table and sat down.

"I'm sorry about your brother."

"We both are," Michelle added kindly, taking a seat next to him. "We know this has got to be hard for you."

Sabrina bit her bottom lip, tried to hold back the tears but didn't succeed. She took a tissue from her purse and wiped her eyes, leaving a smudge of mascara. "Thank you."

Kali wasn't interested in sympathy. "What happened?" she asked again.

"He appears to have drowned," Erling told them.

Both women looked at him with surprise, and he realized that when he phoned Sabrina he hadn't given her the details of her brother's death.

"In his backyard swimming pool. His housekeeper found him yesterday morning. She called nine-one-one, but unfortunately it was too late."

"But he could swim," Sabrina protested.

"And the pool can't have been large," Kali added. "Do you think he might have had a heart attack?"

"It's possible. Or maybe he slipped and hit his head. We won't know for sure until after the autopsy this afternoon. He was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, so best guess is that he fell in." Erling paused. "Preliminary tests show a high concentration of both alcohol and drugs in his system."

Sabrina looked as though she'd been struck. She glanced quickly at her sister, whose composed expression didn't change.

"We found a plastic baggie of Xanax on the bathroom counter," Erling continued.

At this, Kali's eyes widened. "A baggie?"

Erling nodded. "It's the way street drugs are often sold."

"We know your brother went through rehab at least once before," Michelle added.

"That was fast," Kali said. "I'm surprised you even thought to look into it."

Erling shrugged. They only knew about O'Brien's prior addiction because they'd pulled up his records in connection with their investigation of Sloane's homicide.

"We'll get a copy of the accident report?" Kali asked.

"That can be arranged if you'd like."

"We'll need to get contact information from you," Michelle added. "And there are some forms you'll need to fill out for release of the body."

Sabrina continued to wipe at her eyes, while Kali sat rigidly in her chair, forearms resting on the table.

Erling hesitated, then plunged on. "When was the last time either of you talked with your brother?"

"I saw him a couple of weeks ago," Sabrina said, wadding a tissue in her clenched fingers. "He came for dinner. And we had a brief phone conversation last weekend. Why?"

"What about you?" Erling asked Kali.

"I haven't actually talked with him in months, but he called last week while I was out of town."

"Did you speak with him?"

She took a moment before answering. "We never had a conversation, if that's what you mean. I called him back Tuesday night when I returned from my trip, but he was...he couldn't talk right then. I told him I'd call him the next day, but before I could, Sabrina called me with the bad news."

Kali looked at her sister, then back to Erling. "Why is it relevant when I last talked to him? Is there something about the accident that--"

"No," Erling said. "Not about the accident. I'm wondering, though..." He tried to read their faces. Did they know John had been under scrutiny as a possible killer? "It's about the other matter," he said finally.

"What other matter?" The sisters spoke in unison. He could tell that neither of them had any idea.

There was no delicate way to break the news. "Your brother was our prime suspect in the recent shooting death of two women."

Kali appeared dumbfounded.

Sabrina paled. "Are you talking about Sloane Winslow?"

"Who?" Kali turned to her sister. "You knew about this?"

Erling repeated the question, mildly miffed that Kali had beaten him to it. "John told you he was a suspect?"

"Nothing like that," Sabrina said, growing agitated. Her hands fluttered to her neck and her voice sounded strained. "But I knew Sloane had been murdered." She glanced at Kali. "I heard it on the news. And John called and told me she'd died. But I never thought...I mean...I know John knew her and all...but--"

"What made you think John might be a suspect?" Kali asked Erling, cutting her sister off midsentence.

"His name surfaced almost immediately. He and Sloane Winslow were locked into a power struggle at work," Erling explained. "They were seen arguing the night of the murder. And a witness reported seeing a Porsche at the Winslow home the night of the crime. The description matches your brother's car."

"Did this witness see the driver? Get a license plate?"

Erling shook his head. "But the car he saw had a broken right taillight, as did your brother's."

Kali squared her shoulders. "That's it?"

"Your brother claimed he was home alone at ten o'clock Tuesday night last week, but we've got a gas station receipt that says he was out. There were shoe prints along the side of the Winslow house. Size and sole pattern matches a pair your brother had. John owned a twelve-gauge shotgun, same as the murder weapon. He had a box of Winchester number-four shot. And there was gunpowder residue on a shirt of his."

Sabrina shook her head in disbelief. "There must be some mistake. John wouldn't do something like that."

"I understand this might not sound like the brother you knew," Michelle said sympathetically, "but we have to look at facts."

Both sisters appeared dazed. But whereas Sabrina's emotions played out on the surface--a deep flush spread across her cheeks and tears welled in her eyes--Kali's appeared to be under tight control. Despite the set mouth and closed expression, Erling sensed that she was rattled.

"When will you be releasing John's body?" Kali asked.

"Later this afternoon." Erling wrote the number of the medical examiner's office on the back of his card and handed it to Kali. "You can call directly or have the mortuary call."

She nodded and put the card in her purse, then rose.

Sabrina's arms were wrapped across her chest; her shoulders trembled. She followed Kali in getting to her feet, but her movements were jerky and uncertain.

"I'm sorry," Michelle said again as they were leaving the room. "I know this has got to have been a shock." She followed the women to show them out.

When they'd gone, Erling closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. Part of him would have liked to see John O'Brien fry for murder. But another part of him--a bigger part--was relieved that the investigation could be wrapped up quickly without Erling's own involvement coming to light.

He wondered, not for the first time, if Sloane had told anyone about their affair.

Kali stomped up the stairs of the parking garage. Her stomach was churning and her pulse pounding in her ears. She felt as though she'd been tossed in the waves of a heavy storm and was still having trouble finding solid ground.

Could John truly have killed two women?

"Slow down, will you?" Sabrina, several paces behind, was gasping for breath. "Kali, please. We need to talk about this."

"What's to talk about? You heard the detectives."

"That John was a suspect in those murders, you mean?"

"Not just
a
suspect. Their
prime
suspect." The detective's words had been like a punch in Kali's gut. She was still feeling the pain.

"You don't honestly believe he did it, do you?"

"They didn't pick his name out of a hat, Sabrina. There are reasons they focused on him." Kali slowed to allow her sister to catch up.

"They can't prove it was him. There could be other explanations."

"But if you look at it all together--"

"John couldn't have done it," Sabrina protested. "He's not that kind of person."

That kind of person
. As if all killers came from the same mold. Kali had enough experience on both the defense and prosecution sides to know that wasn't so.

"He could have," Kali said. "You know as well as I do what a hothead he could be. Not to mention how damn self-centered."

Sabrina looked as though she'd been struck. "How can you say such things about your own brother? Especially now, when he's dead." She could barely choke out the words. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Because it's the truth," Kali told her. But she'd vented most of her anger and now felt a hollowness in its place. The notion of John as a murderer didn't sit any better with her than it did with Sabrina.

When they reached Sabrina's Ford Explorer, Kali asked, "You want me to drive?"

Sabrina wiped her eyes and handed Kali the keys. "You never gave him a chance," she said softly. "You think you're so much better than everyone else, you don't give anyone a chance."

"Oh, please." Kali opened the driver's-side door and climbed in.

Never gave him a chance, indeed
. Kali was the youngest of the three. As a girl she'd idolized her older brother and longed for attention from him. But John couldn't be bothered. She was an annoyance he did his best to ignore unless it was to tease her or ridicule her in some way. To be fair, her parents shared some of the blame. In their minds, he could do no wrong.

When their mother died, Kali had looked in vain to John for the emotional support she didn't get from her father, who preferred staring at the television and downing liberal amounts of alcohol to consoling his daughters. Sabrina, with her multitude of friends and boyfriends, had found support elsewhere, but Kali had no one.

When their father died years later, John was again unavailable. He hadn't even come home for the funeral. Kali had tried for many years to build a relationship with John. She thought of the phone calls he never returned, the cards and notes he never acknowledged, the e-mails he ignored. John didn't have time for her; he was too busy looking out for John.

"He never gave a damn about anybody but himself," Kali said. "Even growing up."

"You think you were the only one who had a hard time in our family?" Sabrina shot back. "It wasn't easy for me, or for John, either. Especially John. He was the oldest, the only boy. Nothing he did was ever good enough."

"Could have fooled me."

"You know what your problem is?" Sabrina asked, slamming the passenger-side door. "You're inflexible. You expect everyone to be like you and do things your way."

"My problem? I thought we were talking about John." But Sabrina's words struck a chord. Several boyfriends, including Bryce, had told her the same thing.

"Don't you feel
anything
, Kali?"

She'd heard that before, too. "Of course," she countered angrily. "It's awful that John's dead. I feel wretched about it. And I'm sad and upset that he was a murder suspect. What do you think I am, anyway?"

"The Tin Man, maybe. Only
he
at least knew he didn't have a heart."

"That's so unfair--"

Sabrina seemed to have shocked even herself. "Oh, God. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It's just that I'm so...so mixed up, I guess. And it hurts so much."

Kali felt tears prick her own eyes. It did hurt, though she'd been trying to convince herself it didn't. She closed her eyes, hoping to stem the tide of sorrow. But it bubbled inside her, along with anger and guilt.