‘Rather than sent it.’ Still they looked at me.
‘Before she was killed,’ Aaron repeated.
‘Well, yeah. I mean, obviously she put it there when she was alive.’ What was this? Why was he giving me a hard time for a stupid slip of the tongue? I forged on.
‘It’s a cheque written out to me for two thousand dollars and a note saying how much she’s looking forward to seeing Sunny.’ I pushed the envelope even closer to them but still neither of them picked it up. They were both working hard to appear relaxed as they nodded and smiled at me to continue. ‘And what’s interesting,’ I said, nudging it a bit closer to them, ‘is that she specifically says she’s excited about being able to see what Sunny looks like now. And yet there’s a recent photo of Sunny on her mantelpiece.’ This was risky. I was pretty sure I could have seen the photo on the mantelpiece from where I stood next to the body, but the fact was, I’d only confirmed the girl in the photo was Sunny with the help of Photoshop. ‘So,’ I said, spelling it out for them, ‘Karen must have got hold of that photo of Sunny after she dropped this note into my letter box.’ Still they nodded and smiled benignly. They were really starting to piss me off now. ‘Which must have been shortly before she died,’ I added, just in case they hadn’t got there yet.
‘How do you know Karen was killed?’ Aaron asked.
‘What?’
‘You said Karen delivered the note before she was killed. How do you know that?’ Aaron’s smile had gone but he kept the question sounding casual.
‘Did I say killed? Killed … dead … I don’t know why I said killed.’ Why had I said killed? In the face of their suspicion I went with honesty. Sometimes it’s worth a go. ‘I guess it’s because I think she was.’ They looked at me. ‘Killed, I mean.’ Fuck, I thought. I sound as guilty as shit. Worse still, I felt guilty. ‘Don’t you?’ My voice sounded squeaky. ‘Think she was killed?’ I managed to look Fanshaw in the eye but it wasn’t easy. There was a creeping sensation on my scalp as the sweat cooled. ‘Or are you telling me her death was an accident?’
Aaron looked at me for a long time before answering. ‘We don’t know yet,’ he said, doing that neck-muscle-stretch thing I’d seen Olympic weightlifters do.
I saw his eyes drop to my neck and then back to my face. I resisted the urge to touch the bruise, but I was sure that’s what he’d noted.
‘Karen does have a history, of course,’ Aaron said, stretching his legs out under the desk. ‘She was a junkie when she killed her son and then she took up with a pretty heavy bunch in prison. She made a few enemies.’ He paused long enough to rein in those legs under his chair. ‘I believe you know Karen’s cellmate?’ He slid it in real casual and made a point of looking away as he dropped the bombshell. No need for him to study me now when he had the tape rolling for perusal later. There was no doubt about it, Case Officer Detective Inspector Aaron Fanshaw had me down as a possible suspect for Karen’s murder. No wonder he’d made inspector at a young age. Though on this, our second meeting, I ramped him up to late- rather than mid-thirties. Then again, it was Monday morning and no doubt he’d had little sleep since landing the case on Saturday afternoon.
‘If you mean Vex, yes, I do know her.’ I could really have done with that water. ‘And I’m sure you know exactly how and why I know her.’
Aaron smiled. ‘I’m surprised you took on a job for Vex.’
‘I didn’t take on anything for Vex,’ I said. ‘Karen was Vex’s ex-cellmate, that’s all. According to Karen they were never friends.’ It sounded like a weak argument, even to me.
‘Where were you on Friday night?’
I laughed. It sounded like such a classic cop TV show question. Neither Aaron nor Coleman joined in the laughter. Shit! They were serious. My brain scrambled for an answer. I had a flash of Ned’s eye patch.
‘I was in Auckland. At a place called Prego. A restaurant. We left there about eleven, I think. Maybe midnight by the time I got back to where I was staying.’ Neither cop responded. ‘In Ponsonby,’ I added, helpfully. Suddenly, I remembered. ‘Karen