The Breeze

"We made love for a long time then I left. If she says she wasn't willing, it's a damned lie." Edgar stated.

"Who left first?" I asked.

"I did. She remarked that I was the only one who didn't fall asleep after. I don't think she meant it as a compliment. Anyway I left and drove back to my own motel in Wilmington."

"Why didn't you two use your motel?" I asked.

"I don't know, she liked to play James Bondage I suppose," he replied.

"Was she into bondage?" Ruth asked.

"No, that was just a joke. The sex was rather ordinary," he replied. "What is this about?"

"Someone killed Kate Peterson in that motel room. As far as I can tell you were the last one to see her alive," Ruth commented.

"Oh no," he said appearing to be a little in shock by it all. Then he suddenly began to cry.

"Did you kill her?" Ruth asked.

"Of course not, I couldn't kill anyone."

Ruth looked at me and I shrugged. I couldn't tell for sure but he seemed to be telling the truth.

Ruth made the decision and I was grateful that I didn't have to do it. "Tell you what Edgar, I believe you. We are going to drive back to Holden Beach. I'll discuss this with my chief of police, but I don't expect you will be hearing for us again. At least not unless it is to testify at the killer's trial."

Edgar was so shook up that he just nodded. It was better than the sniveling act I expected from him. We were back on the county road when I asked, "So what are you really going to do."

"I'm going to buck it to the chief first thing in the morning. In the meantime I am going to find a Motel. I am dead beat."

"The chief isn't going to make a decision. The FBI is going to be sitting on your man within an hour of your call."

"So what do you suggest?" she asked.

"I suggest that we take a nap, then go back and try to either shake his story or get a lead from him. If he was the last one to see her alive, he has to know something. Maybe she told him something or maybe he saw something as he left."

"How about the little twerp isn't the one who made her scream," Ruth suggested.

"You mean the sweat little thing couldn't do it for her, so she brought in someone after him?" Ruth asked.

"Or someone with him. If Edgar is gay could he be afraid to tell us the whole truth?" I asked.

"Could he have had a boyfriend with him at the show. It's about the only way he would have gotten someone on short notice." Ruth suggested. "We need to try a match to the DNA from Kake's body, as well as under her nails. Try to find the killer's DNA.

"The second one might have been bisexual." I suggested looking hard at Ruth. "Maybe a real woman hater."

She suddenly smiled. "Jake the snake."

"It sure does sound right to me," I replied. "He could probably put the fear of god into Edgar. After Edgar left Jake could have cut her up. I don't think he liked her very much."

"I expect, I need to have another little talk with Edgar," Ruth suggested.

"Don't put words in his mouth now," I demanded.

Ruth and I slept in the same bed but we were so exhausted that sleep was the only thing going on in the room. I was surprised that my snoring didn't bother her. That is until I remembered that Ruth snored as much me.

After a pretty ordinary breakfast at the truck stop beside our motel, Ruth and I drove back to Edger's cabin. When he opened the door it was obvious that he had been asleep. Ruth questioned him while the water boiled for tea. Ruth went at him hard, but he wouldn't cop to a second person in the room. He did however suggest that Kate was not a verbal lover.

Ruth and I walked outside the cabin for a conference. "Okay, if the twerp was followed by someone else who might it have been?" she asked.

"He wasn't followed. She was enjoying the sex according to the neighbor so it wasn't forced."

"The banging bedstead could have been forced sex. She might have been screaming in pain." Ruth suggested.

"The old lady sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Who the hell would she have called at that hour?" I asked aloud.

"If she wasn't getting it from the painters on a regular basis, who was she doing the deed with regularly?" Ruth asked.

"Maybe no one," I suggested.

"If she enjoyed it as much as the old bat said, then she was doing it more often that every month or so. I'm going back in there and try again." Ruth suggested.

"Take a rubber hose," I suggested.

After two more hours of intense questioning he admitted that she had laughed at him. He didn't admit to the killing instead he claimed to have left the room in tears. It sounded both far fetched and reasonable at the same time.

"Ruth?" I asked during out last break. "The Kmart call was the only one on her cell phone?"

"Absolutely," she replied.

"Then if he isn't our man it was someone who had a later date with her."

"That is bullshit," Ruth Suggested.

"I know, so it has to be Edgar," I said loud enough for him to hear.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"I'm going to level with you Edgar. If you didn't kill her, how did anyone else know she was alone. The motel switchboard was closed and there is no record of her calling anyone else on her cell phone."

"Wait when I came out of the bathroom after the sex with her, she was on the cell phone. I almost left her on it except that I discovered that she was on my phone."

"You mean she called someone from your cell phone," Ruth asked.

"Sure," he replied. "They looked just alike. She must have gotten mine by mistake. Anyway I had to wait until she got through with the call."

"Why didn't you tell us this last night?" I asked.

"Or at least two hour ago," Ruth demanded.

"I don't know, I guess I was so upset I forgot until just now," he admitted. "I honestly forgot about it.

"So do you have the number?" Ruth asked quickly.

"No my bill doesn't come for a couple of weeks," Edgar replied.

"Let me have your last bill." Ruth demanded.

After Edgar found it for her she made the call. She intentionally turned her back to me as she scribbled the number on a page of her notebook.

"Let's go," Ruth said.

"So who's number is it?" I asked.

"I don't know. We have to get back so that I can check it out. I want to be sure before I say anything."

When we entered Holden Beach it was after midnight. We stopped at the motel so that I could check on everything. Ruth came in with me. The no vacancy light was lit, so I expected that Bobby had gone home. There wouldn't have been any need for him to hang around if there were no rooms to rent. Being full on Monday was unusual. I checked the key board and found it still had a dozen or so keys.

"Damn kid," I said. If Bobby hadn't come in. I had to wonder why Lori hadn't stayed. If it hadn't been so late I would have called to ask her. While I had been ranting about the office being closed Ruth had been making her calls.

"Johnny, I don't know what this means, but I think you better call your niece," Ruth suggested.

"Why?" I asked.

"The call on Edger's phone was to a dorm room at the University. We need to talk to your niece about Bobby."

"Oh hell," I said taking off for Lori's room. I knocked on the door several times before I opened it with my pass key. Lori was nowhere to be seen. I looked about closely since the room was a mess. I wanted to make sure her body wasn't hidden under the junk. Lori wasn't home at one in the morning. I was furious. Either something had happened to her or she was totally irresponsible. Mostly I was worried sick.

Ruth and I returned to the office where I paced the floor while she tried to think. "Maybe she is out with someone else," Ruth suggested.

"Then send someone to pick up Bobby at his dorm," I suggested.

"I can't be sure it is even Bobby's dorm," Ruth said.

"Call the Chief and give him everything. Maybe he can get the Wilmington PD to go check out the dorm. Since it's Summer there may not be too many people around."

"This is not something I want to do," She informed me.

"I know, but we have to find Lori," I replied.

Ruth was just about to call when Lori came walking up from the beach. "Where the hell have you been?" I asked in a voice almost at scream level.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk on the beach. Where is Bobby?" she asked.

"We don't know. Was he here when you went for your walk?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah, he is the reason I went for a walk. We had been making out and it got a little too intense for me. I took a walk to cool off. So where is Bobby?" she asked again.

"I don't know, his van is gone," I replied.

"Maybe he went for a drive," Ruth suggested.

"Did he seem angry when you walked out?" I asked.

"No, you know how guys are. He seemed a little disappointed but nothing more."

"Okay Lori, why don't you sleep in my room tonight. I am going to sleep out here," I suggested.

"Why?" she asked.

"It's a long story, so just humor me please," I begged. Lori nodded her agreement.

"If everything here is okay, I am going to make a few inquiries. I'll call you in the morning," Ruth suggested.

"Like hell, you call me just as soon as you know anything at all," I demanded.

"Okay but don't wait up for a call. It is going to be tomorrow before I can get any real information. Once I get our man picked up, I am going to sweat him at the station. It looks pretty much like we know who it is now."

I felt like hell even after the breakfast that Lori brought me. Even so I couldn't sleep while I waited to hear from Ruth. She arrived at ten.

"We have your little friend at the station. I would have invited you down but you know how the chief feels about you?

"I feel better just knowing that you have him. I am not going to feel good until he confesses."

"Bad news Johnny, I need to talk to Lori." Ruth said.

"Why," I asked.

"Bobby swears he was with her the night Kate was killed."

"Kate was killed after midnight and Lori was in her room," I replied.

"Yeah, that's what the kid says. He said he sneaked back into her room that evening. According to him they were together all night."

I walked to my room behind the desk. "Lori," I shouted through the door. It took another shout before she answered me. When she finally came into the office with sleep still very much fogging her brain I asked. "Lori, was Bobby with you the night that woman was killed?"

"Did Bobby tell you that?" she asked.

"He told Ruth that he was with you all night. According to him he didn't leave until just before sun up."

"Why would he tell?" Lori asked.

"Because he is a murder suspect," I answered.

"He didn't kill that woman. He was with me," she said defiantly.

"If he was with you all night, what was the fight last night really about?" I asked.

"It's real personal,' Lori said.

"You can tell Ruth, but you have to tell one of us," I replied angrily.

"You leave and I'll tell her," Lori said.

I went into my apartment to start the coffee. Ruth entered leaving Lori in the office. "Bobby didn't want to play the games she likes. He is a little square according to Lori."

"What the hell kind of world is this?" I asked not really expecting an answer.

"It's the same kind of world for her that it was for you the first time," she answered with a knowing smile. "By the way this wasn't her first time. Hell Johnny these kids today do it at the drop of a hat. Kids begin playing around with sex before they even reach their teens. Men with women, women with women and men with men. Hell these kids have done it all before they are twenty."

"Do you know who Kate called at the University?" I asked.

"Not yet but we will know in the next hour or so. The school is giving us a list of names. When we begin interviewing the kids someone will have answered that phone. That person will know who she called to the phone in the middle of the night."

"Oh hell," I said.

"What?" Ruth asked.

"Nothing, God I hope I'm wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Ruth asked.

"If we could get hold of Edward Peterson, I could get a better idea," I admitted.

"Well you can't so what would you ask him?" Ruth demanded."

"I would ask if his wife went both ways," I said seriously.

"Why would you want to know that?" Ruth asked.

"Because I don't like coincidence. I figure she knew or at least had heard of the Breeze before that night. I don't know why, but I feel the way I do. If she went both ways it would make sense."

"What would make sense?" Ruth asked.

"When you get that list of students take a close look to see if there is a connection to the motel."

Ruth left, then returned an hour later with two uniformed patrol officers. They came into the office then went around back where they picked up Tisha. Ruth walked into the office a couple of minutes after the marked patrol car left my lot. "Why didn't you just tell me this morning," she demanded.

"I wasn't sure. Are you sure now?" I replied.

"We will be, when the DNA under Kate's nails is matched. Tisha. has a couple of scratches on her arms. She will break before that test comes back."

"Let me know? Would you?" I asked.

"Sure, but I already know. It was a lover's spat that spun out of control."

"I'm really surprised by it all," I said.

"Why?" Ruth asked. "Surely the idea of a gay murder doesn't surprise you."

"No, I just thought it was someone else," I said.

"Who Bobby?" she asked. I shook my head. "Then Edgar?"

"No, nor did I think it was Jake the Snake," I replied.

"Then who for God's sake?" she asked. "Surely not the husband?"

"Not the husband, look I don't want to name names, but you should reopen those two murders from last year. Find out how often they ate at Poppy Johns."

"Are you saying," she began.

"I'm not saying anything, I'm just giving you some advice," I replied.

The End