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“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said. It sounded stupid to her, as it always did.Lossmade death sound like a game, or the victim a possession. She wanted to give more, say more, but what the hell could she say?
Nothing would erase the image of Rena Brown soaked in blood, her lifeless eyes, her unnecessary death.
Kara could compartmentalize because she was a cop. She’d seen the dead before. Some deaths were harder than others, but she could deal. What about a civilian? Someone who had never faced such violence?
“You need to talk to me,” Pete said after a minute. “Talk. Ask. Anything I can do to help.”
“Were you here when Rena left last night?”
He nodded. “I close every night. It’s my restaurant, my business. In the winter I’m only open Friday and weekends, so I figure I can put in the time in the summer. But...”
“But?” she pushed when he didn’t continue.
“My daughter and I have been arguing. I found out that she was seeing someone behind my back, a kid I don’t approve of. And she snuck out of the house to see him, lied to me... I grounded her, but it just—You don’t have kids, do you?”
“No.”
“I was so angry I didn’t listen to her. I wanted to listen but knew she wouldn’t say anything to me. It was times like this I need Wendy. I talked to Rena about it at the beginning of her shift, then left to talk things out with Ashley. I don’t want to lose my daughter over a boy, but I can’t accept lying and sneaking out. I think she understands that now. And I owe that to Rena.”
“What time did you return here?”
“After nine. Maybe nine thirty. Jamie had already left, Rena was still here. We close the kitchen at ten in the summer, and usually the bartender can handle the bar himself.”
“When did Rena leave?”
“She clocked out at ten thirty. Said goodbye. She was...preoccupied, I think.”
“You think?”
“She’s usually chatty. She wasn’t last night.”
“Okay. When did Damon leave?”
“Damon?”
“I was here last night. He was working when I had a beer.”
“Right—yeah—last call was at eleven or so, we locked the door at eleven thirty. He called an Uber for a regular who had too much, waited until he left. I left about forty minutes after him. I should have seen her.”
“Why?”
“I usually park in the lot. I only live a mile from here, I walk a lot, but we have one car and after dinner with the girls I drive back. But Whitney went with friends to community theater last night, so I said she could have the car. So I just walked down the alley and didn’t even know Rena was...was there.”
“You couldn’t have saved her.”
“How do you know?”
“She died quickly.”
He didn’t say anything, just stared at his coffee.
Kara looked at the timeline that she’d written in her notepad. Rena left at about the same time that she called Jamie Finch.
“You said that Rena was preoccupied. Do you know why?”
“No—but I thought it was about Jamie.”
“Why Jamie? They were friends?”
