suicide,” Victor continued. “The gun was next to her. Everyone knew she had troubles. Still, the sheriff’s office sent Barb down as a matter of protocol. We’re a local police department. We’re not equipped to do that kind of investigation.”
“Barb?”
“Barbara Lippland. She was the lead on the case.”
“Where does she live?”
“She died of ovarian cancer two years ago. Very sad. Although I will say, she was a real terror on this investigation. She brought some other officers down here to help, and she had us all running around. Interviewing people. Trying to establish Miranda’s state of mind. Things like that.”
“So she didn’t think it was a suicide,” Kate said.
“Well, she was dotting her i’s and crossing her t’s. It was a high-profile case, and there was a lot of pressure on her. And she was always a real by-the-book type. She was hung up on this idea that legally speaking, for a suicide verdict, you need evidence of a desire to self-harm. She wanted to know why the gun was clean, whether Miranda had left a suicide note.”
“Had she?”
“No. But most suicides don’t.”
“And what do you mean, the gun was clean?”
“It didn’t have any fingerprints on it. Even Miranda’s.”
“What?”
“You know, I think there was a case like this on CSI,” Louise said in a hushed voice. “And it turned out the murderer had burned all his fingertips so he wouldn’t leave any prints. Did you check people’s fingers? To see if they had burned them?”
Kate and Victor turned to stare at Louise. Sometimes Kate wondered if her aunt was secretly trolling her.
“Everyone we talked to had fingerprints,” Victor said at last.
Kate pointedly turned her head back to him. “Where did the gun even come from?”
“Jake had bought it. He said he wanted to put it in some painting he was working on. Of course, Barb asked him why he couldn’t just use a plastic one, which really shocked him.” Victor chuckled. “He said he would paint it differently if he knew it was plastic. It wouldn’t have the same … what was the word he used? ‘Menace.’ Barb didn’t like that explanation. She had one of us do a bunch of calling around, asking about Jake’s artistic process. I guess it checked out in the end. Anyway, he didn’t keep the gun locked up. In fact, he left it in his studio, which he and Miranda shared. So that’s how she got it.”
Kate didn’t like this explanation any more than Barb had. “You questioned him, though, right? Did he have an alibi?”
Something changed about Victor’s posture. Kate couldn’t put her finger on what it was, exactly, but suddenly it seemed like he was sitting on a steel chair rather than a recliner, and she was thinking, Oh, right. He’s a cop.
“Of course we questioned him,” he said. “No, he didn’t have an alibi. I wouldn’t expect him to. She died at five, six in the morning, so he was asleep. But listen, Jake was a good guy. I knew him for a long time before Miranda died, and I saw how he acted after. He was torn up. She had been everything to him. He had been through a lot, taking care of her, making sure she was okay.”
“He sounds like a really nice guy.” Kate let just a touch of skepticism leak into her voice.
“He was.”
So he wasn’t budging on that. Kate changed tack. “What about Kid Wormshaw?” she asked. “Louise told me they were friends. Did you talk to him?”
Now Victor looked really annoyed. “Yes, we talked to Kid. We talked to everyone. We did our jobs, okay?”
“Of course you did. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to imply otherwise. I was just wondering what Kid … what everyone said about Miranda.”
“The same stuff,” he said, and she wanted to ask, Same as what? But she held her tongue.
Instead she said delicately, “I heard some people think Theo was involved. That there might have been an accident.”
Louise had been mostly quiet so far—a pleasant surprise—so Kate hadn’t called her out directly. But Victor let out a huff and turned to Louise anyway.
“Is this about what I said to Frank at bingo?” he demanded.
“What?” Louise clapped a hand to her chest. “No! No, not at all. I don’t know what Kate’s talking about.”
“You know, this kind of stuff really ticks me off.” Victor passed his hand over his forehead. “These rumors get so out of control. I mean, Frank told me Theo was coming back, and I started saying some