Page 14 of The Burnt
“Crème de menthe?” she asked.
“That would be nice,” Declan lied.
“Have a seat,” she said as she sat down across from Declan and poured two drinks.
Declan took a sip and tried not to wince.
“Katherine, it looks like you knew Archie well.”
“You could say that. I looked after his house when he was in jail, then looked after him when he got out.”
“Was he in jail a lot?”
“Oh, you know. Whenever he needed some money, he’d go and do somethin’ stupid and get caught.”
“Do you know what sort of things he did?” he asked.
She stared at him.
Declan continued, “It might lead to a clue as to who killed him.”
Katherine gave him a cockeyed look. “Mainly petty theft, but sometimes he’d let people store things at his place.”
“Things?”
“Well, I’d sometimes see a truck back into his driveway and guys’d unload lots of boxes. I assume they stored ‘em in his basement…and sometimes he’d have people stay at his house for a while. Look, I know what he was doin’ probably wasn’t legal. Archie really was an idiot, but he meant no real harm. He had his faults, as you’ve probably guessed from what happened to Freddy.”
Declan pulled out his notepad. “Do you mind if I take some notes?”
“Go ahead. Where was I?”
“You were talking about Freddy,” Declan said.
Katherine continued, “Archie wasn’t what you’d callopento new ideas, like havin’ a gay son. Yeah, I knew all about Freddy, and I knew it didn’t sit well with his father that Freddy was gay. Archiedidhave a short fuse, but as he got older and his health started to fail him, he mellowed. He was a faithful old dog.”
Are we talking about the same man?
“What about Freddy’s mother? Marsha, was it?” Declan asked.
“She died when he was ten. Just dropped dead. It turned out she was born with a bad heart. Freddy was devastated. Archie, he wasn’t built to raise a son on his own.”
Declan’s neck muscles tensed. “Not built to raise a son? From the police reports and the interviews they did with some of the people in the neighbourhood, it was indicated that Archie had beaten the boy. There wasn’t much left of him when they found Freddy, but what they did find showed signs of abuse.”
Katherine leaned in toward Declan. “I don’t remember the police ever interviewing me back then, but I can tell you this—Archie truly missed his son after he died. He really did. There wasn’t a birthday that went by that he didn’t acknowledge in some way. He swore that one of these days, he was gonna find out who killed him and make them pay.”
Declan looked up from his notebook. “Freddy’s death was ruled accidental, but you’re saying Archie thought someone killed him?”
She snorted. “Anyone who knew anythin’ about Freddy knew he wouldn’t have been dumb enough to build a shelter out of wood and light a fire in it. The fact that the police wrote it off as accidental was an insult—not just to Freddy but to all of us. Just because he didn’t come from money didn’t mean he was stupid.”
She smacked her empty glass down on the table. “I bet if Archie had money, he could’ve afforded to prove it was murder. I don’t think the investigation went too deep.” She paused then cocked her head. “Wait a minute—you saidyoufound Freddy. Weren’t you involved in the investigation?”
Declan stared her down. “I did find him, but it wasn’t my case. And the cop in charge deep-sixed it. You’re right—the rich get priority. The homeless, the poor, minorities—not so much. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen here.”
She nodded.
Declan continued. “So…do you know anyone who would want to kill Archie?”
She thought about it. “No one lately. Archie’s been clean for a while now. Look, I know he was into a whole lotta stuff in the past, but that was then—before Freddy got burnt. The truth is, he was really busted up when young Freddy died. He gave up drinkin’ like he kinda wanted to make up for the way he’d treated the boy.”
