Page 13 of The Burnt
She pondered this for a moment. “Do the cops usually act as your messenger service?”
“Sometimes. Did you see a big cop here today? Three stripes on his coat sleeve?”
She nodded. “Grey-haired? Seems to like givin’ orders? Yeah, he interviewed me. I think he said his name was Sawchuck.”
“He was my partner when I was on the force. He’s the one that gave me the message.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’d break into the scene of the crime,” she persisted.
Declan smiled. “I wouldn’t know it was a crime scene, would I? Someone tore down all the police tape.”
She scowled. “It makes the neighbourhood look bad. They don’t need the tape to investigate, do they? Now back to you. How do I know that you’re who you say you are? For all I know you’re the guy who killed Archie.”
Declan took a deep breath. “I can prove who I am. Let me show you my PI licence.”
She stared at him for a moment then flicked on the bedroom light. “Okay, but move slowly and I wanna see your hands at all times. And I’m not puttin’ down the gun.”
Declan kept both hands in the air as he slowly turned so that his back pants pocket was visible.
“I’m going to carefully take my wallet out now,” he said.
He turned back to face her as he extracted his laminated ID card from the wallet and handed it to her. She had a good look at the licence.
“Now do you believe me?” Declan asked.
“Seems legit,” she replied as she handed it back.
“Look,” he said, “I’m just as curious about who killed Archie as you are. I just want to ask a few questions, then I promise I’ll get out of here.”
The woman lowered the gun. “Well, if we’re gonna do this, we’re not gonna do it here.”
Declan nodded. “That’s probably for the best, it being a crime scene and all.”
“We’ll go back to my house. And no funny business.”
“I promise,” Declan said. “There’s just a few things I have to do so no one knows I’ve been here.”
“Whatever. Do what you have to do, Columbo.”
Declan turned off the bedroom light and closed the door. At the side entrance to the house, he took a few minutes to put the lock back in its rightful place from the inside, then picked up his box of supplies. As the two left by the front door, she pulled out a key from her pocket.
“Here. Hold this,” she said handing Declan the gun. She pulled the door tight with one hand and locked the door behind her with the other.
She pointed to the gun. “I’ll take that back now, if you don’t mind. Not that it matters. It’s not loaded anyway. It belonged to Archie, although he never liked guns. That one was his father’s. He gave it to me in case any trouble came by while he was…away. I’m Katherine, by the way. Katherine O’Grady.”
“Nice to meet you, Katherine O’Grady.”
Declan followed her across the snow-covered lawn. He scanned the windows of the neighbours’ houses to see if anyone was spying on them, but most had their curtains drawn against the cold January evening.
Katherine opened her door and invited Declan in. “Make sure you take off your booties,” she said.
She led him into her kitchen and propped the gun in the corner. “I’ll put that away later. You drink?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
She stepped out of the room and returned in a few moments with two small glasses and a bottle of emerald-green liquid.
