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Kit made herself smile at her partner, because it was sweet of him to offer. Lately, Connor was sweet more often than he was abrasive. Which was a pleasant change from when they’d first been assigned as partners six months before. Still, avoiding Sam as a consultant was one thing. Avoiding him as a potential witness was something else, and she couldn’t allow herself to do that. “Let’s play it by ear. Who’s in this room?”
“Benjamin Dreyfus. Goes by Benny. He saw the body.” Connor stepped closer to the officer and lowered his voice. “Is he any better? What’s been going on in there?”
“He’s quieter than he was before. He got very agitated when we first put him in the room,” the officer explained to Kit. “Kept shouting that he needed to see Frankie, that he needed to save Frankie. One of the nurses is in there with him now. She seems to be calming him down.”
“How did he see the body?” Kit asked.
“One of the nursing assistants discovered Mr. Flynn,” Connor said. “She’d come up to check on him because he hadn’t pulled the ‘I’m okay’ cord in his apartment, and she saw the victim with the knife sticking out of his chest. She screamed, which brought the other residents on the floor running. Benny lives in the apartment next to the victim’s and he was first in Mr. Flynn’s doorway. The nursing assistant tried to shield Mr. Flynn from view, but…” He shrugged. “She felt bad about screaming, but she’d never seen the victim of a murder before. She’s young, only eighteen. She’s in the third interview room down. The room in the middle is Georgia Shearer, one of the other residents who was close to Mr. Flynn. She also saw the body. She’s much more lucid than Mr. Dreyfus, but not very chatty.”
Kit regarded the three closed doors. “Where is the facility director?”
“Faye Evans is in her office,” the officer said, pointing toward the building’s lobby. “She was the one who called 911. The nursing assistant called her as soon as she saw the body.”
Connor pointed to the third door. “Evans asked if we could start with the nursing assistant, so that she could go home and pull herself together. Evans said she’d need the assistant back for the night shift because she’s already called in nurses who currently aren’t on duty and she’ll be shorthanded tonight. But she didn’t think the young woman was capable of providing adequate care at the moment.”
“All that’s fine, but I need to talk to you for a minute.” She drew Connor down the hall so that they could have some privacy. “I think the victim is a retired homicide lieutenant. Frank Wilson.”
Connor’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? His name is Flynn.”
“Mostly sure. I only met him once. Baz introduced us. He must have changed his name when he married.”
Connor shook his head. “Wow. This is going to be a mess, isn’t it? Was that why you were surprised when Sam said that the victim had worked with his husband in an antique store?”
“Exactly. He must not have told Sam that he’d been a cop and now I’m wondering if anyone else knew—and why he didn’t mention it.”
Connor blew out a breath. “Have you told Navarro?”
“Not yet. Let’s do it now. The victim retired thirty years ago, but Navarro’s been around that long. He might have known him, and I don’t want him to hear this from someone else. Is there an empty room we can use?”
Connor pointed to the fourth door down. “There.” He closed the door behind them once they were in the room, and Kit dialed their lieutenant.
“I think our victim is a retired cop,” Kit said once Navarro had answered. “Frank Wilson.”
There was a beat of silence. “What did you say?”
Kit repeated it, then sighed. “I’m not certain. I recognized him from the photos in his apartment. He married in 2008 and that’s when I think he changed his name to Flynn.” She texted him the picture she’d taken of the wedding photograph and waited a few seconds for him to receive it. “Is this him?”
“Fucking hell,” Navarro said quietly. “It is. SDPD didn’t know he’d remarried. We didn’t know he was gay. At least I didn’t, and that’s not the kind of thing that stays a secret around here.”
Kit exchanged a glance with Connor, who shrugged. “Yes, sir,” she said, because she wasn’t sure what else to say. She knew her boss well enough to know that he wasn’t homophobic, but she didn’t want to speculate as to what he was feeling or why.
Navarro cleared his throat. “What are your next steps?”
“Talking to key witnesses first, sir,” Connor said. “I asked the site director for the surveillance footage from the floor of his apartment. Hopefully we’ll get an ID from the cameras.”
“Good. What the hell was Frank doing in a retirement home?”
“He was eighty-five, sir,” Kit said. “I guess he retired here.”
“But none of us knew he was back in San Diego. Last I heard, he’d moved up north. Right after his retirement. San Francisco, I think. I saw him at Julio’s once about ten years ago. Word had spread that he was visiting, so I took a few hours’ break to see him again. He was important to my career in my early days. I’d hoped he’d come back to town, that he might even consult with SDPD, but he said he had other plans. Why didn’t he tell us he was moving into Shady Oaks?” He sighed. “Normally, I’d wait until after the autopsy to share the news upstairs, but this will get out and I can’t blindside the brass. They’ll want to give Frank a police funeral with an honor guard.”
“Yes, sir,” Kit murmured. “We didn’t want you to be blindsided, either.”
“Thank you. Keep me updated. Frank Wilson was an institution around here.”
“We will. Goodbye, sir.” Kit ended the call and exhaled. That hadn’t been as bad as she’d expected. “Let’s get to work.”
At least it was quiet now. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could have withstood that music. Even now her chest felt tight and she pushed the feeling away, following Connor into the room next door.
