The Edge

“Yeah, I know. It was missing when I opened the box. Mildred James knows that, too.”

“No, she looked at the box after you told her it was missing.”

“Why would I take it?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Why did you look at the box ten years ago? You were the last one to sign it out before I came along.”

“I’m asking the questions here, not you!”

Now Harper was struggling to get his temper under control while Devine gazed at him placidly.

“Answer my question,” demanded Harper.

“I already did. I didn’t take it, so I can’t have a reason why I did. But I am puzzled.”

“About what?”

“Did you have doubts about the case? Did you wonder why it was never solved? Did you wonder why there was never a suspect to match the forensics to?”

“You’re not listening, Devine.”

“Did you take the rape kit?”

“No, I didn’t,” huffed Harper.

“Good, neither did I. I think we can call it a day.”

Harper pointed a finger at him. “You were the last person to access that box.”

“After you did, a long time ago. When you were still a sergeant.”

Harper shifted in his seat and shrugged. “Okay, you’re right. It was unsolved. I wanted to see if something clicked. It was part of my job.”

“Did anything click?”

“No.”

Something occurred to Devine. “Was the rape kit there when you accessed the box?”

Harper didn’t answer right away. “Y-yes.”

“Would you swear to that on the witness stand?” asked a clearly incredulous Devine.

“I’m not on a fucking witness stand,” roared Harper.

“You might be one day,” Devine shot back. “If you push this.”

Harper sat there for a few moments before ending the interview and turning off the recorder. “Get out of here.”

“You read me my rights. Am I being formally charged?”

“We didn’t process you yet, and you haven’t been officially booked or arraigned. But we can pick you up anytime. So much as a parking ticket.”

Devine rose. “I’m not the enemy here.”

“The enemy is who I say it is.”

Devine walked out. In the lobby he saw Mildred James. She looked up at him guiltily. In a low voice she said, “I am so sorry about all this.” Her gaze darted toward the hall where the interview room was. “I know you didn’t take that rape kit. The rear doors are alarmed. You would have had to pass me with it, and you didn’t. It’s not like you could have hidden the dang thing in your pants. I told the chief that.”

“I appreciate that. Well, at least I’m free to go, for now. Where is Sergeant Fuss?”

“She got called out on something.”

He nodded and glanced through the glass partition into Harper’s office. He eyed the line of photos on the wall of former police chiefs he had seen before. As he looked more closely, the picture of the man next to Harper seemed familiar for some reason.

He pointed at it. “Who’s that man? The one who was chief before Harper?”

James glanced at it. “Oh, that’s Benjamin Bing.”

Devine’s jaw dropped. “Bing like in Bing and Sons?”

“Yes, he was the third brother. The other two followed their father and uncle into the funeral business, but Ben became a police officer. Worked his way up to chief. A little too overbearing and full of himself for my tastes. He would grind you up if you made him look bad.”

“What happened to him?”

“He retired and moved to Florida to be with his brothers.”

“Where in Florida?”

“Naples. I saw a picture of the house once. Right on the beach. It was breathtaking.”

“Interesting. Is he still alive?”

“Probably. He’s still young, maybe a year or so older than me. Françoise or her brother might know for sure. Or the chief. He probably keeps in touch. They were tight.”

“Yeah, I bet,” said Devine, who now had a whole new angle to explore.

Chapter 47

Devine called Campbell and filled him in on his arrest, the missing rape kit, the fact that Benjamin Bing was the police chief when Alex was attacked, and his strong opinion that Françoise Guillaume was lying to him.

“She’s thinking of moving to Charlotte and fed me a bullshit story about losing the money, when her brother was giving her half regardless.”

“So do you think Benjamin Bing took the rape kit? Or Harper?”

“Why leave it there all those years in case it incriminates someone you know? I think Harper was going to look at it for the reasons he said, found the kit missing, and either kept his mouth shut or did speak to Bing and probably got his ass handed to him. We need to find out if Bing is still alive. Jenny came up here to take on some unfinished business and the attacker obviously didn’t like that.”

“And you said you believe Steve and Valerie Palmer saw who the attacker was or at least suspected, and thus they had to die?”

“Yes,” said Devine.

“But why didn’t they report it immediately? You didn’t have an answer to that.”

“The Palmers were going through tough times financially,” Devine said. “After their deaths their house was actually foreclosed on.”

“Why is that significant?”

“You have to understand I have no proof of this, but one possibility is they might have known the rapist and decided to blackmail him to get needed money. But instead of paying, the rapist struck back, hard.”