Part 15 (1/2)

”Sorry. No buts allowed,” I returned. ”If you had gone by the book, you would have had the info. Aren't you the guy who's always such a stickler for going through channels and across desks? As I told you before, I don't work for you or Seattle PD anymore. If you've got questions about my case, talk to Harry I. Ball or, better yet, talk to Ross Connors himself. Once they give the okay, I'll be glad to talk to you or your investigators about this. Just have them drop by. Obviously you know where I live.”

Kramer turned and stalked back down the hallway. ”Why didn't you tell him about Sister Mary Katherine?” Mel asked, once the elevator door shut behind him.

”He's a jerk,” I replied.

”That's true,” she said, ”and readily apparent. But I still don't know why you shut him down like that.”

”Because Paul Kramer and I have a history,” I replied.

I expected her to argue the point or to ask for more details, but she didn't.

”Okay,” Mel said. ”Makes sense to me.”

With that she went back over to the window seat, plugged her feet back into her shoes, and picked up her coat. ”It's late,” she said. ”I need to be going.” She paused by the door. ”See you tomorrow. At the office?”

”Probably.”

She left then. As I took the last of the Sister Katherine tapes out of the VCR, I asked myself Mel Soames's question. Why hadn't I told Kramer? Wasn't I being as territorial as he had been in the evidence room? And I would be talking to him or at least to the detectives a.s.signed to investigate Elvira Marchbank's death. All I was doing was putting him off for a few hours-until the AG's office was open for business the next morning.

But the really troubling part was a question raised by Kramer himself. Had my refusal to give him the information contributed to what had happened to Elvira? She had been found at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Had she fallen or had she been pushed? By being stubborn, I had put myself out of the loop. Paul Kramer didn't know about Sister Mary Katherine, but I didn't know about Elvira. In the game of t.i.t for tat I was as much of a jerk as he was. That was not high praise.

So what was I going to do about it? I worried about it for a while. Finally I picked up the phone and dialed a number I knew by heart, one that brought me to the homicide desk at Seattle PD. Sergeant Angie Jerrold answered the phone. I was relieved to hear a familiar voice, and she seemed happy to hear from me as well.

”What can I do for you?”

”Who's a.s.signed to the Marchbank case?” I asked.

”Which one?” she asked. ”As of tonight, there are two of them on the board,” she said. ”Madeline and Elvira.”

I was stunned to learn that based on Elvira's death, Kramer had reopened Madeline's long cold case. I was stunned and a little relieved.

”Either,” I said. ”Whoever's available.”

Which is how I ended up talking to Detective Kendall Jackson. ”What can I do for you, Mr. Beaumont?”

Jackson had been a uniformed officer and still working the cars when I left the department. Having him call me Mr. Beaumont made me feel slightly ancient.

”Which Marchbank belongs to you?” I asked.

”Elvira,” he said. ”Hank and I just got back from the crime scene.”

Hank was Detective Henry Ramsdahl.

”I'm working Madeline,” I said. ”For the AG's office. Captain Kramer was here a little while ago. He suggested it might be a good idea if we compared notes.”

”Sure thing,” Jackson said. ”Sounds good to me. What do you have?”

”An eyewitness.”

”To Madeline's murder?” He sounded incredulous. ”From 1950?”

”Yup.”

”When can we talk to this witness?”

”That's a little tougher,” I said. ”She's a nun. Lives in a convent up on Whidbey Island.”

”Can I call her up?”

That was when I realized that in all my transactions with Sister Mary Katherine, no one-not Sister Mary Katherine and not Freddy Mac-had given me her phone number. I knew the convent had to have a telephone. Hadn't she told me someone named Sister Therese had surfed the Net for information on Alfred and Elvira Marchbank?

”I don't have that number right now,” I said. ”Once I get it, I can have her call you. Or better yet, maybe I can convince her to come talk to you.”

”If you can talk a nun out of a convent, you must be some kind of guy.”

”We'll see,” I said. ”If I can get her to come to town, how hard will it be to meet up with you?”

”Not hard at all,” Jackson returned. ”You tell us when and where, and Hank and I will be there. Captain Kramer gave us our marching orders. Both cases are highest priority.”

Captain Kramer! Just hearing the word captain used in conjunction with Kramer's name rankled, but I was going to have to get used to it.

”All right, then,” I said. ”Let's see what we can do.”

Good to my word, I was up and on the phone to Freddy Mac bright and early the next morning, asking for Sister Mary Katherine's phone number.

”Is it too early to call?” I asked after he gave me what I needed.

”Hardly,” Fred said with a laugh. ”You won't be waking her. She tells me morning devotionals start at five A.M.”

So I dialed Saint Benedict's and was put through to Sister Mary Katherine. ”Beaumont here,” I said. ”I'm wondering if you can come back to Seattle today to meet with some Seattle PD detectives.”

”This evening, perhaps,” she said. ”Sister Therese and Sister Margaret just left in the van to run some errands. They won't be back until around lunchtime. I could leave after that.”

I didn't want the meeting with the Seattle PD homicide detectives to conflict with Rosemary Peters's funeral. I needed it to be earlier instead of later. ”What if I came out to Whidbey and picked you up?”

”That seems dreadfully inconvenient for you. Does it really have to be today?” Sister Mary Katherine asked. ”I've been away for several days, and I just got home late yesterday.”

”Elvira Marchbank is dead,” I told her.

”Oh, no,” Mary Katherine murmured. Her regretful tone surprised me. ”She was fine when I saw her. What happened?”

”When you saw her?” I repeated. ”When was that?”

”Yesterday afternoon,” Sister Mary Katherine said. ”After our lunch. I decided to drive back to the old neighborhood just to look around. I stopped outside the foundation office and wondered what to do. Finally I worked up my courage and went inside. When I asked to see Mrs. Marchbank, the woman there told me Elvira wasn't available. But as I was leaving, a limo drove up to the house next door-the place where my parents and I used to live. It turns out that's where Elvira lives now. The limo was bringing her home from a doctor's appointment. Even after all these years, I recognized her the moment she stepped out of the car.”

I was thunderstruck. ”You didn't talk to her, did you?”