Page 34 of Mann Hunt
Her eyes welled up. “The hospitals.”
“Do you remember which ones?” Charlie asked.
“Foothills, Lougheed, Rockyview General and South Health.”
“Thank you,” Charlie replied, and gave her a soft smile.
Declan sat forward in his chair, bringing him closer to Katherine. “I need to ask you some personal questions regarding your husband.”
Before Declan could continue, she replied, “He wasn’t taking any medications, his health was good and he certainly wasn’t suicidal. Never has been.” She added, almost as an afterthought, “And he wasn’t involved with gangs, drugs or the sex trade.”
Declan smiled. “The police have obviously already asked these questions. How was your relationship with Ian?”
Katherine finished her Scotch and said, “May I have another?”
Declan refilled her drink and noted that she was fiddling with her wedding band. As he handed her back her glass he said, “I was asking about your relationship.”
Katherine took a moment before she answered. “It was…unusual.”
Charlie looked up from his notes, then glanced at Declan.
“Meaning?” Declan asked.
“We loved each other. We were each other’s best friends. We rarely spent more than twenty-four hours apart.”
“So, you didn’t have a fight?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here, Katherine? It seems to me that the police are the best people to handle the case.”
“Well, they would be, except for the fact that when I told them we had an open relationship…”
“Oh…” Declan responded.
Katherine shifted in her chair and scowled. “The one officer got this obnoxious little smirk on his face. He said that it would be best if they left it for another day or so. He said that maybe Ian and his ‘friend’—he actually used air quotes around friend—he said they probably just went away for a while—took a trip.
She took a large swig of her drink.
“I told them that Ian would never do anything like that. We had rules that we followed. He said that men followed their cocks before rules every time. He even suggested that Ian might have run off with another man.”
“Pretty crude,” Charlie judged.
“That describes the cop perfectly.”
“And you don’t believe Ian could have run off with someone?” Declan asked.
Katherine emptied her glass, then looked at Declan. “My husband had many secrets. I was told that you were a detective that was open-minded when it cameto more unusual cases and knew how to keep things quiet.”
“I am,” Declan responded.
“Me too,” Charlie added.
Katherine paused. “Ian wasn’t really driven by sexual desire. But, as a photographer, he had an eye for beauty. He was drawn to people who had that, ‘something special’. He said that’s what attracted him to me in the first place. And God knows I found Ian incredibly attractive.
She set her empty glass on the desk and adjusted the gold chain around her neck.
“Over the past few years, my husband has occasionally been exploring his feminine side by dressing as a woman, and the night he disappeared, he was at a party with other like-minded individuals.”
