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Turk growled his protest, but obeyed the command, trotting gingerly around the blood with his nose to the ground. He worked his way to the shower, stopping when he reached the back of the tub. He sniffed rapidly for several seconds, then barked and turned to Faith.
“Good boy,” Faith said. “Good boy. All right. Come.”
Turk eagerly left the bathroom, and the three of them returned downstairs.
“Anything?” Travis asked.
“My K9 caught a scent,” Faith said.
“Really?” Derek said, eyes widening, impressed.
“Yes,” Faith said.
“Wow,” Derek said, nodding appreciatively at Turk.
Even Travis looked impressed. “Well, good. We don’t have to waste our time sweating dead ends. Now, we just need to find a suspect.”
“The husbands are ruled out?” Michael asked.
“Not officially,” Travis said, “but they’re low on the list. We wanted to wait for you to interview them in case there’s something we missed.”
“We appreciate that,” Faith said. “We will talk to them. You said Mr. Montgomery is with his sister?”
“Yes,” Derek said. “The sister’s house is twenty minutes away. In the city. Should I call and say we’re on our way?”
“Is he a flight risk?”
“Not at all.”
“Then yes.”
Travis made the phone call while once again, Derek drove. When he was finished, he said, “I should mention that you two will get your own car tomorrow. We didn’t have one available today. The Department is notorious for not maintaining their vehicles. I wanted them to give you a junker, so you could embarrass them to your superiors and maybe motivate them to buy us new cars, but they decided to send one of the old cruisers in for a full workup instead. Congratulations to you two.”
“I feel so honored,” Michael said drily.
Faith kept silent. As nearly as she could tell, the SUV they rode in was less than two years old. Maybe Travis just liked to complain. Well, that was all right with Faith as long as he did his job.
As they cruised toward the residence of Alice Montgomery, Faith tried to drum up the usual excitement she felt for the job, but all she could manage was relief that she could delay having her head shrunk.
She was getting tired of looking at death all the time. Maybe that was something she could bring up to Doctor West when the inevitable day came that she couldn’t avoid him anymore.
Derek pulled her from his thoughts. “I called Benjamin Montgomery three times, but no answer. I left a message, but I think it’s a safe bet he’s not calling back.”
Faith and Michael shared a glance. This didn’t necessarily mean that the husband was guilty, but she could always hope. Maybe this time, a case would finally turn out to be open and shut.
CHAPTER FOUR
That hope was shattered the moment they reached the sister’s house. Benjamin Montgomery was a broken man. His Department of Transportation record listed him as thirty-four years old, but the circles under his eyes and the lines on his face made him appear ten years older. Faith was reminded of Dominic Gonzalez, whose wife, Ariana, was the thirteenth and final victim of the Weed Killer, Horace Greenwood. He might one day smile again, but behind that smile would forever be the pain of his loss.
His sister, Alice, was in the living room with Travis and Derek. It had taken nearly twenty minutes for the detectives to convince her that her brother’s alibi was solid, and he was not a suspect in his wife’s murder, so she didn’t need to monitor the agents’ conversation to make sure they weren’t trying to trip him into a confession. Finally, though, she had acquiesced, thanks mostly to what Faith suspected was a growing attraction to Derek that predisposed her to trust the younger, less abrasive police officer.
Michael and Faith sat across from Benjamin around the kitchen table. None of the three touched the coffee Alice made for them when they arrived, but Benjamin clung to his mug like a lifeline. Perhaps it was. Faith wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was Alice’s idea for him to stay here to keep him from doing something drastic in an attempt to join his wife.
Faith broke the silence. “Mr. Montgomery, I am so sorry for your loss.”
Benjamin didn’t reply right away. After a moment, Turk walked over to him and laid his head on his lap. Benjamin began absently stroking his fur and finally spoke. “You don’t have to say that. I know you think it’s your job, but you don’t have to pretend you loved her like I did.”
Faith’s heart broke a little more at the pain in his voice. “I didn’t know her,” she said, “and I didn’t love her, but I can see how much you loved her, and I genuinely hate that you’ve lost her. No one should suffer this kind of pain."
