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“Officers retrieved it. You’ll get it back.”
“Thanks.”
“Give me the pistol.” Perkins extended his hand.
Calder hesitated, then raised his shirttail and pulled the revolver from his waistband at the small of his back. He handed it to Perkins, who said nothing but stepped away to use his phone to call off the search for Calder.
Compton said, “Let’s sit.”
Elle took a chair. She was glad Calder had returned of his own volition, but she wasn’t yet ready to share a sofa, or anything else, with him.
Compton began by asking where he’d gone after parking the SUV.
“I walked to a nearby hotel. I needed time on the computer. By the way, I put the laptop back in its place in the kitchen on my way in. Glenda can’t accuse me of stealing it.”
Perkins rejoined them, sat down on the arm of the sofa, and said to Calder, “You beat them by four minutes.”
“What? Who?”
“The deputies we dispatched to check out Arnold Draper, formerly of Des Moines, now a resident of Dallas.”
“We put in time on the computer, too,” Compton said to Calder.
“I figured you would,” he said. “I wanted to get to Draper before you got to me. That’s why I was in such a hurry and left without notice this morning.” He gave Elle a meaningful look before going back to Perkins. “Did the deputies you sent see him?”
“No, but they talked to the administrator of the center, asked about Draper’s level of cognition, and when told, dismissed him as a suspect. They were also told that, other than his wife, Draper hasn’t had a visitor since his admittance two years ago. What a coincidence that the deputies showed up asking about Draper within minutes of his nephew doing the same.”
Compton harrumphed. “Nephew?”
Calder said, “I talked my way in. An attendant showed me to the rec room and pointed out Draper to me.”
“What did you say to him? How did you introduce yourself?”
“I didn’t. He and his wife were sitting together on a couch. She was clipping his fingernails and chatting away, as though he was taking it all in.”
He shook his head sadly. “Intruding would have served no purpose, would it? They never knew I was there. Thank God. I called for a car to bring me back here.”
Elle said, “I’m still in the dark. Why were all of you interested in this man?”
“As it turns out, they weren’t,” Calder said. “They picked his name at random to mind-fuck me, and it worked.”
“Actually, I didn’t pick it at random,” Perkins said. “Last night, while Compton and I were going through your files, I—”
“Excuse me,” Calder said. “I’m in no position to ask a favor, but before we go any further, could I have a few minutes alone with Elle?”
The request startled her. “Why?”
“Because I would like for you to hear all of this from me.”
“All of what?”
He looked at the detectives. “Please?”
Compton shook her head. “Sorry. We’ve cut you a lot of slack, but we can’t allow material witnesses to compare notes during an active investigation.”
“Give me a break,” Calder said. “You know it’s too late for that. Besides, your investigation isn’t what I want to talk to Elle about. I promise not to run off.”
The two consulted each other with one of their now familiar unspoken exchanges, then both stood. Compton said, “Five minutes.”
