Page 59 of The Whisper Place
We’d called her right away this morning and she picked up on the first ring.
“Did they identify him?” she asked before I could say a word. “Did you tell them where to find me?”
Briefly, I filled her in on what we knew of the body so far. She seemed as shocked as we’d been. But not as shocked as she was a minute later.
“Valerie, what do you know about Ted’s first wife?”
We sent her the picture and listened to several moments of complete silence on the other end. “Valerie?”
“You think it’s her.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “You think he killed his first wife?”
We didn’t know for sure, but the more we talked it over, the more likely it seemed. We could barely find any records of Andrea Kramer after she’d married Ted. Her employment history ended. No credit in her name. There were a few pictures online at their church’s social media, which was where Jonah had pulled her photo, but almost nothing else. And after she supposedly left him, there was nothing. No socials, bills paid, or public records of any kind.Unless she’d pulled a Kate and changed her entire identity, she’d fallen completely off the grid.
“Her name was Andrea. What did he say about her?”
It took a minute for Valerie to pull herself together and when she did, there wasn’t much to tell. He’d always claimed Andrea left the family. Theo never went to see her or spend time with his mom. There was no contact, even on holidays or Theo’s birthday as far as Valerie knew. “I felt so sorry for him. I tried to reach out at first, not like I was trying to replace his mom. I just wanted him to know I was there if he needed someone to talk to. But he always rejected any effort I made. God,” her voice broke. “He must have been so traumatized. His mom disappears and then this woman shows up who looks exactly like her, trying to befriend him.”
“You never saw pictures of Andrea?”
“No. Ted never wanted to talk about it. And if Ted didn’t want something, we didn’t do it.”
We ended the call with Valerie and tried Theo again to ask a few follow-up questions about his mom, but like every Gen Z on the planet, he didn’t answer his phone. Hopefully, he’d return our call again at some point.
“It’s bothering me,” Jonah said, after we took our turns throwing axes.
“You want to call Laredo and let him know our theory?” We’d decided not to tip off the authorities in Illinois for the time being. All we had were suspicions, no hard evidence of any kind, and if we implicated Ted Kramer in the murder of his wife, they’d want to question him, which would lead directly to another murder we had no proof of and put Valerie in jeopardy.
“It felt like she was waiting for us to call. And the first thing she wanted to know was when she’d be arrested.”
It wasn’t typical criminal behavior, but Valerie Campbell wasn’t a typical criminal. I’d seen all kinds of reactions and behaviors on ICPD. Some people were wracked with guilt. They wanted to serve time, wanted to be sentenced and pay the consequences, like it would free them from what they’d done. When I said as much to Jonah, he didn’t buy in.
“She didn’t feel guilty. She’s glad he’s dead. Her only concern was for Kate. She needed to know Kate was okay. She’d do anything for her, including—”
“Confess to a murder she didn’t commit.” Jonah and I looked at each other. “Fuck.”
“Who’s confessing to murder?” Eve asked, handing me an axe.
I took it and walked to the line, testing the blunt weight of the weapon. “Someone who shouldn’t.”
As the night unfolded and we ordered a few more rounds, axe throwing became surprisingly fun. Shelley found luck with overhead throws and started bellowing a battle cry each time she threw. Eve spent longer than anyone on her turn, calculating distances and velocities and still ending up the worst of the bunch. Jonah and I both threw one-handed and we landed so many that it became a side bet to see who would hit the bull’s-eye first.
We didn’t forget about Valerie. The realization that Kate had murdered her stepfather clicked into place, humming in the background, and making sense out of everything else we’d learned so far. It felt like we were making progress—in our work and in our lives—despite the fact that we didn’t have enough clients, thatwithout Charlie’s bricks of cash we might not make rent next month, and that Silas Hepworth might sue us and put us out of business regardless. Celina Investigations could close tomorrow, but this was tonight.
Shelley and Eve had planned well. We were the only group in our area of the building, which I’m sure was by design to keep Jonah away from the brunt of the public. It was a happy place, though, everyone cheering and drinking and egging each other on. Even if he felt the energy of the crowd, it didn’t seem like they would sink him. Eve kept tabs on Jonah just as close as I did, watching his expressions and slipping her hand into his when it wasn’t their turn. He pulled her in for a hug once, and Shelley flashed me a grin.
“Have you done this before?” Eve asked.
Jonah shook his head. “I’ve stolen a plane, set a field on fire, confronted a few drug lords, and found more bodies than I want to count. It’s kind of surprising I haven’t thrown an axe at anyone yet.”
“No,” Eve corrected. “I meant have you two gone on a double date before?”
I sniggered and Jonah shot me a look. Shelley drained her beer and demanded the story. When I declined, Jonah did the honors.
“He dragged me to parties sometimes when we were undergrads, angling me in front of girls he wanted to talk to. He claimed my face hooked them and his wit reeled them in, but the reality was a little different.”
“You don’t know that,” I objected, even though Jonah absolutely knew it.
“Pottermania was huge. Girls liked us because, with my black hair and Max’s red mop, we sort of looked like Harry and Ron.”
