CHAPTER 29 - Rita

CHAPTER 29RitaANOTHER COLD MORNING, AND NO ONE HAS ANYTHING NEW TO offer on the Bradley murder, except that a disgruntled patient bent on revenge hasn’t surfaced. And that’s okay now that the necklace has pointed us in a different direction. In the conference room, I catch the team up on our visit to Mountclair. But a certain pall lingers as everyone filters back to their desks. We need a break, something to breathe life into this investigation.I settle in my office and place a call to Mrs. Bradley.“Hello?”“Detective Myers here. How are you this morning?” I flip through my notebook, phone clenched between my jaw and shoulder.“Okay. Do you have anything new?”She sounds pretty worn out, and I glance at the clock, wondering if I woke her. “Well, not exactly, but we would like your permission to search the house in Mountclair.”Silence, but I can hear her ragged breath. “Mrs. Bradley?”“Why? Do you really think that’s necessary?”“Just routine. If we’re going to find your husband’s killer, we need to put all these pieces together.”She clears her throat. “I don’t see what the necklace has to do with anything. My husband probably found it somewhere in Mountclair. Maybe he picked it up off the street.”“Could be.”“This woman is still missing?”“Yes.”“What was her name?”“Annalise Robb. You know her?”“ No.”“Okay. Can you meet us up at the house? We’d like to take a look around.”“I guess I could if you think it will help.”“Tell me again about your husband’s last trip up there.”“He went up to fix the window. But you said this woman disappeared last summer.”“Yes. That’s right. How was Dr. Bradley’s demeanor when he returned from fixing the window?” I start drawing the necklace in the margin next to my notes from my last conversation with Mrs. Bradley.She sniffles. “Uh, I don’t know. He was fine.”I shuffle back through my notebook. “Didn’t you tell me that he was preoccupied, troubled when he came back?”“I don’t remember.”I read back her statement to her. “You remember that?” Dr. Westmore had also noticed Dr. Bradley’s “preoccupation.”“I guess. But I think it was just turning forty, you know? Big birthday.”“Yeah. It hits some people hard. But maybe he was troubled by something else.”“I don’t know what that could be. Maybe he heard from someone in town about the missing woman and felt bad.”“Why wouldn’t he have turned the necklace in to the sheriff?”Silence. Then, “Jay wouldn’t have had anything to do with a missing woman, Detective.” She’s breathing hard. “Jay wouldn’t ever . . . hurt anybody.”“That’s not what we’re saying. So can we meet you up there?”“Yes. Of course.”We iron out the details and hang up. Her mood had swung from confused to desperate and fearful to resolved to vindicate her husband. That’s fine, as long as she cooperates, things will move along.