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He chuckled. “Whatever you say, Detective McKittrick.”
Chapter Ten
Shady Oaks Retirement Village
Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California
Tuesday, November 8, 3:30 p.m.
“Whoa,” Detective Goddard said as he knelt to examine Benny’s safe. “Did McKittrick say it cost twenty grand?”
Sam nodded. “She did. I had no idea it was even a safe.”
Goddard shook his head. “Rich people, man. I thought I’d seen it all in this job and then I learn something new.”
Goddard was fortyish but still had a boyish face. Sam imagined he’d be able to blend in easily if he ever went undercover.
“How long have you been in the robbery division?”
Goddard looked up with a grin. “Trying to get me to tell you how old I am?”
Sam made a face. “Maybe.”
Goddard laughed. “I’m forty-one. I was carded until I was thirty-five. My granddad is nearly eighty and doesn’t have a single wrinkle, so I’m hoping I’ll take after him.” He sat back on his heels with a sigh. “I haven’t investigated a robbery in a place like this. Nursing homes, yes, but this…This is a step above.”
“This is several steps above,” Sam said wryly. “Most of the folks here are very nice. Every so often you get a resident who doesn’t like anyone or anything, but by and large this is a good place. Benny was happy here.”
Goddard rose. “And Frank Wilson?”
“Frankie Flynn wasn’t unhappy. But his friends told me that when Ryan was still alive, he was different. More social. I mean, Frankie was never going to win Mr. Congeniality, but he apparently used to be freer.” Sam’s eyes stung at the thought of Frankie bleeding out on his own living room floor. “I hope he’s free now.”
“I like to think so,” Goddard said gently. “What was your relationship with him?”
“He was a friend. Had the same name as my grandfather who passed when I was in grad school. In a place like this, but not nearly as swanky. Still nice, though. I used to play for my grandfather and it made him happy. At peace.”
“Is that why you volunteer here?”
“Yes. I started out doing it for him, then ended up falling for all these old geezers. I’ve had to say goodbye to many of them over the past four years, but Frankie and Benny were special.”
“Tell me how they were related again?”
“Benny’s wife Martha and Frankie’s husband Ryan were siblings. They were family. And they drew Georgia and Eloise into that family.”
“Georgia Shearer, right? She’s the retired paralegal. I read McKittrick’s report,” he added when Sam raised his eyebrows in question. “She was the only one here who knew that Frank was an ex-cop.”
“Crawford also knew. Georgia told me that as she was falling asleep this afternoon, after she realized it had been her knife she saw in Frankie’s chest.”
“I did read that Crawford knew, too.” Goddard frowned. “But McKittrick’s latest report said that Miss Shearer was attended by a nurse. Roxanne Beaton.”
“She was, but Georgia asked me to sit with her instead. She’d just learned that SDPD suspected the staff and was nervous.”
“So Crawford knew Flynn was a cop?”
“Yep. Georgia didn’t know how Crawford had found out, but she said that Frankie didn’t like him.”
“Frank was one hell of a cop, according to all the articles I read. Smart and observant.”
Goddard had to be a freaking speed reader, Sam thought sourly. “Georgia is also smart and observant. If she’s awake now, we should ask her about the coins.”
