Hour Game

"Bobby Battle was a very wealthy man. I wonder who benefits under his will."

There was a long silence and then Sylvia said, "Are you suggesting a family member killed him for money and tried to make it look like one of the serial murders?"

"It couldn't have been Eddie. He was with us at the Sage Gentleman until after eleven o'clock," said Michelle.

"That's right," said King. "But Dorothea and Savannah were at the hospital earlier. They couldn't have put the poison in then, because he would have been dead long before Remmy showed up. But suppose one of them stashed the potassium chloride in the room during their earlier visit that day, then snuck back in when she saw Remmy leave, did the deed and ran like hell."

"Eddie said Dorothea was at some function," Michelle reminded him.

"We'll need to verify that."

"Well, many a murder has financial gain as the motive," said Sylvia. "You might be on to something, Sean."

"While I'm at it, here's another one to think about: Remmy was in the room with Battle for hours. Who's to say she didn't shoot that stuff into the IV bag before she left?"

"What possible motivation would Remmy have?" asked Sylvia. "She's rich."

"What if Bobby had taken up his old womanizing ways, and Remmy had simply had enough? There might not be enough money in the world to counter that."

"That's a different story, of course. Do you have evidence supporting that?"

King thought about Battle 's secret drawer and Remmy's not wearing her wedding ring but decided not to mention that to Sylvia. "I'm not saying we have anything to support it. I'm just throwing out what-ifs. And maybe even more than money, a woman scorned is one of the oldest motivations for murder there is. So she exits with a built-in alibi and leaves the feather and watch as misdirection. The serial killer's M.O. has been all over the news, so she'd know those types of details."

"But the fact she was even there makes her a suspect, particularly with the delayed manner of death by poisoning," argued Sylvia. "You could make a case that if she were going to do something like that, she'd have slipped in another time, done it and left before anyone saw her. As it stands now, she really has no alibi at all."

"Well," said Michelle, "if I were the person who killed Battle and tried to pin it on our neighborhood serial killer, I'd be looking over my shoulder big-time."

"What do you mean?" said Sylvia.

"If I were the real killer, I'd be pretty upset about that."

"I'm still not following," said Sylvia.

"Look at it this way. The serial killings have been meticulously planned and executed. We have follow-up letters from the killer taunting the police. Clearly, this guy is a control freak and has some grand plan in mind. Now, if another person killed Bobby Battle and tried to pin the blame on the serial killer, our control freak may see it as tainting his masterpiece. He'll want to take out his revenge on the person who killed Battle."

"So, in effect, we may have one killer going after another," said King.

"Exactly," said Michelle.

CHAPTER 31

"I'M DEPUTIZING YOU BOTH," SAID Chief Williams as he sat eyeballing King and Michelle at their office the next day. They stared back at him, clearly stunned.

"Excuse me?" said King. "I was one of your deputies once. I have no desire to re-up, Todd."

"I'm not giving you the option. I need you!"

"They outlawed indentured servitude a long time ago," King shot back.

"What's going on, Todd?" asked Michelle.

"I'm getting squeezed out by the feds, that's what."

"But you wanted their help," exclaimed King.

"But I also didn't want to be shoved off the case, right here in my own town. I don't want folks to think I can't do the job. I'm willing to work with the feds, of course, even let them jointly run the investigation with me. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let them push me out of investigating my very own crime spree."

King shook his head in bewilderment. "Todd, I think you've been attending too many autopsies. Why don't you let them handle it? They've got the manpower and the experience. Let it be their headache."

"There's something to be said for pride, Sean," rejoined Williams in an offended tone. "And you two have put in a lot of time already on this thing. You've got theories and ideas. Who's to say if we work together we can't crack this thing faster than the almighty FBI? Hell, Chip Bailey's running around already like he's king of the hill. I'm just waiting for him to tell me to make him some coffee. That'll be the day. I'll shoot the son of a bitch first." He looked at them pleadingly. "Come on, you two have just as much experience as any of those guys. I know together we can get this done. And remember, we live here, they don't. We need to make Wrightsburg safe to live in again. It's our home. Everybody's counting on us."

Michelle and King exchanged glances.

Michelle spoke first. "Well, it is a challenging proposition."

"So's hang gliding; that doesn't mean you should do it," King shot back.