FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) (20 page)

Rob was wrong.

S
kip called Rose. “I
don’t think you should have any more contact with Harris,” he said, after they
had discussed recruiting some muscle to back off the picketers. “If he figures
out you’ve been spying on him–”

“I already talked to
him,” Rose interrupted. “Found out that the case related to the picketing is
one of Sally’s, that is unless there’s another black counselor at the center.”

“What do you mean?”

“He used the N word.”

“Son of a bitch!”

“I know. I’d like to
pound him into the dirt,” his partner said.

“Has he been obnoxious
to you?”

“No, but he’s pretty
condescending to a Mexican-American couple in the group. He’s nice to me ’cause
he thinks he’s got a shot at getting me into bed with him.”

“All the more reason
for you to stay away from him at this point.”

“Skip, you’ve got to
steer clear of him, too. He’ll recognize you from the bar.”

“Damn! You’re right...
Are you supposed to see him again?”

“He thinks I’m gonna be
one of the picketers. That’s how I got him to give me the additional info, by
pretending I wanted to participate. But I just won’t show up and I’ll tell him
later that I got sick.”

“
Call
him
later,” Skip said. “No more face-to-face contact for now. Is this guy typical
of the rest of the group?”

“Yes and no. He’s the
most extreme, but some of the other men are controlling like him, especially
where their families are concerned. There’s a few couples who seem genuinely at
a loss. Can’t figure out why their kids are accusing them of abuse.”

“Kate said that false
accusations do sometimes happen, for a variety of reasons,” Skip said.

“Yeah, there’s one
couple I feel bad for. They really seem to be hurting, but whenever they talk
about making amends with their daughter, Harris bullies them back into line.”

“
Bully
is a good
word for Harris,” Skip said, then changed the subject. “Rose, are you off duty
tomorrow morning? I need back-up for something.”

“Off all day. What’s
up?”

“Uh, I can’t tell you.
At least not yet.”

After a beat of silence
on the line, Rose said, “Okay. Want me to tag Mac to stay with Edie and Maria?”

“That’d be great. It
shouldn’t take more than about an hour.” Skip was a little surprised that she
didn’t push for more information. After disconnecting, he remembered that Rose
had been in the army for six years, before becoming a police officer. She knew
when to not ask questions.

At nine-thirty the next
morning, Skip pulled his truck up in front of an impressive stone-faced house
in one of the ritzier sections of Towson. He took out his phone and punched the
speed dial number for Rose. His partner, sitting next to him, answered her
ringing phone and held it to her ear. Skip slid his own phone into his shirt
pocket, with the connection still open. “Can you hear me?” he asked.

“Muffled but yeah. I’ll
certainly be able to hear if you raise your voice.”

Skip got out of the
truck and walked up to the front door to ring the doorbell. He heard its
melodious chime echo inside the house.

He was a little
surprised when Tammy Wingate herself answered the door. He gave her his excuse
for being there, that he thought he might have left his jacket when he’d
delivered his report on Sunday. “I wanted to talk to you about something else
as well.” That got him in the door.

“It’s the maid’s day
off,” Tammy said. “Would you like something to drink? Iced tea, coffee?”

“Coffee’d be good.” He
had no intentions of drinking it but he needed to prolong the meeting.

“I didn’t see your
jacket laying around, but I’ll ask the maid when she comes in tomorrow,” Tammy
said over her shoulder as she headed down the sumptuously decorated hallway.

She glanced his way but
made no objection when Skip followed her into the kitchen. After pouring coffee
from a carafe into two white china mugs on the counter, she turned to reach
into the cabinet above her head and bring down a sugar bowl. Her body was
blocking his view of the mugs. “Cream or sugar?” she asked, without turning
back around.

“Black’s fine.”

He heard a spoon
clinking against china. Was she adding sugar to her own coffee or something
else to his?

She waved toward the
kitchen table and they sat down across from one another.

“So how’d your husband
react when you confronted him, if you don’t mind my asking?” Skip said,
pretending to take a sip of his coffee.

“He denied it at first,
until I showed him the pictures. For a minute I thought he was going to hit me,
but then he just turned on his heel and stormed out.”

“When did all this
happen?”

She gave him a curious
look. “Sunday evening. Why do you ask?”

He shrugged but
otherwise ignored her question. Pumping a touch of alarm into his voice, he
said, “Has he been violent with you before? Is it safe for you to be alone with
him now?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I
paid a locksmith double time to come out Sunday night and change the locks. I
am done with that bastard!”

“I’m surprised, after
you confronted him on Thanksgiving, that he didn’t stick close to home and try
to reassure you that everything was okay.” Tammy hadn’t actually told him about
the Thanksgiving confrontation but Skip hoped she wouldn’t remember that.

“Hell, no, he went into
work everyday that weekend, just like always. Or he said he was going to work.
No doubt, he spent some of that time with his slut.”

“He didn’t even take
that Friday off? Most people do.” Skip knew he was pushing his credibility here
but so far she’d only seemed mildly curious about his strange questions.

She snorted. “He even
went in for half a day on Thanksgiving, or at least he said he was going to
work but I think he went to see
her
.”

“That must’ve been a
lonely weekend for you,” Skip said. He knew he sounded like he was coming on to
her but he had to risk it.

“Nope, I went shopping
and spent a bunch of his money! So what was the other thing you wanted to talk
about?”

“Uh, I hope you won’t
be pissed at me, but I... Well, my fiancée’s involved in a lawsuit, and the
opposition’s lawyer got himself killed. Police came to question both of us and,
see, he was killed around the time you and I were talking that Friday, a couple
weeks ago, outside my house. I’m afraid they insisted that I give them your
name.”

“I thought all that was
confidential,” Tammy said, her tone sharp.

“Well, it is normally.
But like I said, they insisted. I really didn’t have much choice.”

Her expression
softened. “I guess not. Hey, you’re not drinking your coffee. Is it okay?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine.”

She was watching him so
he had no choice but to take a small sip. Randolph had said it took about
fifteen minutes for roofies to kick in, so he’d better get out of here.

He stood up, then
lifted the mug to take another sip. “It’s great actually, but I have to get
going. Thanks for being so understanding, Mrs. Wingate.”

“I thought I told you
to call me Tammy,” she said, as she followed him to the front door.

Before he could open
it, she wrapped long manicured fingers around one of his wrists and tugged him
around to face her. Running the fingertips of her other hand down his shirt
front, she purred, “I do wish you didn’t have to run off. I’m awfully lonely
today.”

Skip lifted the arm
that she was still attached to and gently peeled her fingers loose from his
wrist. He held her hand in his for a beat. “Tammy, ma’am, I would be sorely
tempted to stay and keep you company,” he drawled. “But I am engaged, and
unlike your husband, I do believe in fidelity. And besides that, my fiancée is
waitin’ in the car.”

She pushed her lips out
into a small pout as Skip turned and opened the door. On the porch, he paused
for just a second and thanked her again for the coffee, then tried not to run
as he headed to the truck. He waved at Rose. The door slammed behind him.

Was it his imagination
or was he feeling a little dizzy? Probably the former, since two sips of
doctored coffee would be unlikely to have much effect on his large body,
especially not this soon.

“Just to be on the safe
side, Rose, you’d better drive,” he said to his partner, as she lowered her
window. Rose just cocked one of her expressive eyebrows at him and slid across
into the driver’s seat.

Once in the truck, Skip
fished a plastic bag out of his pocket and spat into it. “Think your buddy at
the police lab would be willing to test that for traces of Rohypnol?”

“Probably. You gonna
tell me what this is about, partner?”

“Wish I could, Rose,
but I can’t. Not unless that comes back positive for roofies.”

~~~~~~~~

S
kip greeted Kate at
the door that evening with a hug and a kiss. When they came up for air, he led
her over to the sofa.

“Best I can tell,
neither of the Wingates have an alibi for the day Amy was kidnapped,” he said.
“He told Tammy he was going to the office. She went on a vengeful shopping
spree. She offered me coffee, but I only drank a little of it. Rose is going to
try to get her...” He stopped and held up his hand at the flash of anger in
Kate’s eyes. “I didn’t tell Rose anything. Just that I needed my saliva sample
tested for roofies.”

As Skip was giving Kate
the details of his conversation with Tammy Wingate, the doorbell rang. Kate’s
heart dropped to her stomach when she looked through the peephole. “It’s Jones
and Bradley,” she told Skip.

The detectives were no
sooner in the living room then Jones began reciting the Miranda warning. “Mrs.
Huntington, you have the right to remain silent...”

Kate stared at the
detectives in shock as Jones droned on. Finally she found her voice. “Are you
arresting me?”

“Not yet, lady,” Jones
said. “But we need some answers to some questions. Some straight answers this
time.” She took a step toward Kate.

Skip inserted himself
between them. “We’re more than happy to cooperate, Detectives. We’ll follow you
to the station.”

Jones opened her mouth
but her partner cut her off. “You lead, son. We’ll follow. Seventh precinct.”

Once he and Kate were
in his truck, Skip said, “Call Rob.” He pulled out his own phone and punched a
number. He quickly filled Rose in and she promised to get over to the house as
fast as she could.

When Rob arrived at the
police station, he found Skip sitting on a bench in a hallway. The big man
stood up. Both his jaw and his fists were clenched.

Rob put his hand on the
younger man’s shoulder. “Skip, I can only begin to imagine how upset you are
but you’ve
got
to keep your cool. That little girl needs at least one of
you to come home to her this evening.”

He handed Skip a folded
piece of paper. “What’s this?” Skip asked.

“Names you as Edie’s
legal guardian should Kate not be able to care for her. I took the liberty of
forging Kate’s signature. But my assistant will swear she witnessed Kate sign
it. Anybody with the baby, besides Maria?”

Skip nodded. “Rose
should be there by now.”

Rob said, “Okay, I
don’t think this is going to happen...” Then again he hadn’t thought Kate would
become a serious suspect either. “But just to be on the safe side, call Rose
and tell her, should Social Services show up she’s not to let them in the
house, no matter what. She’s to tell them that she is the child’s godmother and
the child’s soon-to-be stepfather, who has been named as guardian
by
the
mother,
in writing
, will be home soon.”

Skip’s expression went
from angry and worried sick to conflicted and worried sick for a different
reason. “Maybe I should go home then.”

Rob shook his head.
“Social Services won’t push it. They’ll just want to know that there’s someone
responsible taking care of the baby. Sit tight for now. Once I get a handle on
what this is about, we’ll get it straightened out, I promise.”

Skip just nodded and
swallowed hard, his throat too tight to say anything.

“Skip, it’ll be okay.
I’ll take care of it,” Rob said. Then he went to find Kate, knowing he had just
made a promise he might not be able to keep.

Once Rob, Kate and the
two detectives were gathered around the table in a cramped room, Jones pointed
out that the interview was being taped. For the record, she stated who was in
the room and what their role was. Then she told her partner to Mirandize Mrs.
Huntington again.

“Now I don’t think
that’s necessary, Stella,” Bradley said. “We already explained all that to the
lady. I’m sure she’ll stipulate that for the record.”

Rob wanted to tell them
to cut the crap. Did these two really think they were that stupid? But
hostility was probably not the best approach, even though he wanted to rip the
faces off these people for putting that deer-in-the-headlights look on Kate’s
face. Her body was sagging in her chair, her hands clutching the cup of water
Bradley had brought in, unrequested, and put in front of her.

Jones handed Rob two
pieces of paper. “Search warrants, for her house and the fiancé’s apartment.
They’re being executed now.”

Kate turned to Rob in
horror. “It’s okay. Rose is there. And Skip has the paperwork we discussed.”

Jones gave them both a
hard look. “Mrs. Huntington, do you want to rethink your answer to the
question, when was the last time you saw Phillip Wells?”

Kate’s eyes filled with
confusion. “No, as I told you, I’ve never laid eyes on the man.”

“So when you went to
his office to talk to him, you kept your eyes closed, I suppose,” Jones said.

Bradley shook his head
slightly. “Now give the lady a chance to explain. I’m sure you have a good
explanation, Mrs. Huntington, for why your hair was found in Wells’ office.”