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“But we still need to fully investigate the other women involved and confirm Mrs. Cane’s alibi,” Freddie said.
“Would her husband tell us if she went somewhere that night, or would he protect her?”
“We could get a warrant for the security cameras in the building,” Freddie said.
“Let’s see what Malone says, but I tended to believe her when she said she’d run him over before she’d hurt his kids. Someone who wants kids as badly as she does isn’t going to murder other people’s kids, no matter how much she hates the guy.”
“Agreed. I’m not feeling her for mass murder.”
“Not at all.”
“But we still need to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, as Sam would say.”
“Yep.”
As they rode back to HQ, Gonzo made the call to Mr. Cane, who confirmed neither he nor his wife had left their home the night before last. “He assured me that she wanted to ruin him, not kill him. If she were going to kill him, it would’ve happened when she first got confirmation that he’d violated her. He said she was so angry and bewildered by the episode, and when she heard other women had had the same experience, she was almost relieved to know she wasn’t alone.”
As they rode back to HQ, Gonzo contacted each of the other three women involved in the lawsuit. They expressed shock at the deaths of the doctor and his family.
“I was looking forward to taking him to court,” one of them said. “But all I can think of is those poor children. Whatever was going on, they had nothing to do with it. How could anyone harm them?”
The refrain was similar among all the women, who expressed heartbreak over the deaths of the children.
“I’m not seeing any of them as being involved in this,” Gonzo said after he’d talked to the fourth one. “They all have alibis, seemed shocked by the turn of events, and without prompting, they expressed grief for the dead kids.”
“Doesn’t mean they didn’t kill him and his family.”
“No, it doesn’t, but I’m not getting any kind of buzz from them,” Gonzo said. “If anything, after hearing what he did to them, I’m more convinced than ever that this was murder-suicide. His whole life was about to explode in his face. Everyone was going to find out about what he was accused of doing to those women. His practice would be ruined.”
“Hislifewould be ruined.”
Freddie’s phone rang with a call from Lindsey McNamara. “Hey, Doc.”
“I know you’re working it from every angle, but I wanted to make sure you saw in the autopsy report that gunshot residue was also found on Mrs. Blanchet’s hand.”
Freddie hadn’t gotten that far in reviewing the reports. He felt the wind go out of him. How was it possible that she had residue on her hand, too, if Marcel had been the one to kill them all?
“Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn’t gotten all the way through the reports yet.” How did Sam do all this while being first lady and raising three kids?
“I thought that might be of particular interest.”
“It is. Thank you for calling.”
“No problem. I’m working on arranging a postmortem MRI for Marcel Blanchet due to your hunch. I’ll keep you posted on that.”
“Thanks, Lindsey.” Freddie ended the call with a sinking feeling. Maybe he wasn’t as ready for this moment as Sam and Gonzo had thought.
“What’s the matter?”
“She was making sure I saw that there was gunshot residue on Mrs. Blanchet’s hand, too.”
“Oh damn.”
“I haven’t gotten all the way through the autopsy reports yet, or I would’ve seen that.”
“You’d have gotten to it eventually.”
“But how much time would we have spent spinning our wheels in the meantime?”
