AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How about this,” Simon said, in agentle voice. “Can you think of anything that you didn’t tell the police at thetime? Anything that didn’t seem significant then but which has been bugging youever since?”
Elsje shook her head, though. “I’vegone over and over that day in my mind. I went off to work, and so did Karina.I messaged her a couple of times around midday about nothing, just whose turnit was to grab groceries and what she had planned that evening. I messaged laterthat afternoon, and there was no reply. Then, when I got home…”
“You were the one to find her?”Amber asked, even though she knew that from the crime scene report.
Elsje nodded. “She was so still,lying there, and all those symbols around her… it was…”
“Take a breath,” Simon said. “Wasthere anything there that you noticed but which didn’t seem significant at thetime? Anything that seems out of place now?”
“Aside from all the astrological symbols?”Elsje shot back.
That was the problem with thesecrime scenes: they were so outlandish in their way that it was impossible tolook past that to see anything else. But maybe they didn’t need to look past itall.
“Was Katrina into astrology?” Amberasked.
Elsje paused, then nodded. “But shedidn’t set all of that up. It wasn’t the kind of thing she did.”
“I’m not suggesting that she did,”Amber said. Not when someone had come in and killed her. No, that wasdefinitely the killer’s handiwork. “I was just wondering how she felt aboutthat kind of thing.”
Elsje hesitated for a moment ortwo. “It’s one of the few things we disagreed on. Katrina was so into all ofthat nonsense. The stars ruling our lives, our destiny written by thesecelestial bodies. She used to say that we were twins, and we were Geminis, soof course it was significant. She didn’t like it when I pointed out thatplenty of people who aren’t twins are Geminis.”
“So she took it all quiteseriously?” Amber asked.
Elsje laughed. “That’s one way ofputting it. She would get readings now and again, had a bunch of books on itall… she even went on TV with it all once. Tried to get me to go on too but Itold her I didn’t want to. Look, why are you asking me about all of this?”
“Given the symbols at the crimescene, we just want to establish if there might be any connection there,” Ambersaid.
“The only connection is to that nogood boyfriend of hers,” Elsje said. “I told the police at the time, but theydidn’t seem interested in him. He used to pretend that he couldn’t tell usapart, actually leaned in to kiss me once. A total creep. And he was alwaystrying to drive a wedge between me and Katrina.”
“And this is what you told thepolice at the time?” Simon said.
“They didn’t take it seriously, butI’m telling you, there was always something off about the guy. Plus, if you’relooking at the whole astrology thing, he was into that, too.”
That aspect struck Amber aspotentially more promising than the boyfriend just being a little creepy. Putthe two facets together, and maybe he would be worth talking to.
“What was his name?” Amber asked.She could look the information up in the files, but she wanted to see if Elsjehad more to say about him.
“Kevin. Kevin Laronde. He livesover on Coast Avenue. Number 71a, I think. Drives a yellow Hyundai that used tobe my sister’s and claims she gave it to him. The guy was always just a totalhustler. I regret the day Katrina ever met him. For someone so sweet, shealways seemed to have terrible taste in men.”
Amber could hear the anger there atKatrina’s boyfriend, in complete contrast to the pain that had been there whenElsje had been talking about her sister.
“Can you think of anything elsethat might help us?” Simon asked.
Elsje shook her head. “No, I’msorry. Look, I need to get back. Please, just promise me that you won’t forgetabout my sister the way the local cops seem to have.”
“I promise,” Amber said. She wasgoing to find answers for Karina, for Alice, and for everyone who cared aboutthem.
And the first step to doing thatwas going to involve talking to Kevin Laronde. She had to do it quickly becausethere was a serial killer still out there, hunting victims.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“This isn’t the pleasant address Iimagined,” Amber said, as she and Simon drove down Coast Avenue. For one thing,it wasn’t right up against the coast, wasn’t some pleasant, beachfrontproperty. Instead, it was a road running parallel to that main beach road, behindall the better houses in front.
At the end of the avenue whereKevin Laronde lived, in particular, it was run down and shabby, too close to thelocal docks to be a nice address, with the houses suffering slight disrepairand neglect everywhere Amber looked.
“I guess Katrina’s boyfriend isn’tdoing so well for himself,” Simon agreed, as they pulled up outside a set ofcondos that looked as if it might have been put up in the hope of attractingbetter things to the area. It clearly hadn’t worked. A couple of homeless guysstanding on one corner looked at Amber and Simon as they pulled up, then beat ahasty retreat, obviously recognizing law enforcement when they saw it.
Amber looked out at the complex ofcondos clustered around an empty pool that probably didn't see any use.
