Chapter 21

K ate, surrounded by Owen, Rodney, and Lilliana, all listened as the phone just rang, rang, and rang. Just as she went to end the call, wondering why no answering machine was set up, a man answered.

He snapped, "What the hell do you want?"

She frowned, then quickly asked, "Is this Doug Feldspar?"

"Yes, it is. If you dialed this number, then that's who you were expecting. So what the hell do you want?" He was spitting venom. "Can't you tell I'm busy?"

"No, I couldn't have known that," she replied.

"Good, now get lost."

As he went to end the call, she added in a hurried tone, "I'm Detective Kate Morgan."

At that, his breath caught, and he started to swear. "What the hell do you want, Detective? I've had enough police for a lifetime."

"I'm sure you have," she agreed, "but that doesn't change the fact that I do need to ask you some questions."

"I'm not talking to you," he bellowed. "You can contact my lawyer."

"That's fine. Who is your lawyer? I can reach out, and we'll arrange for you to come down here for questioning."

Dead silence came on the other end, and she knew how this would go.

"What's this about anyway?" Doug asked.

At least now, his tone showed a little more of a conciliatory attitude. "I have questions that relate to a series of murders that have happened recently."

He snorted at that. "They have nothing to do with me," he stated in disgust. "Murder is something I really try to stay away from, in case you don't know my history."

"I do know your history," she said calmly, "and it's one of the reasons I want to talk to you."

Silence came, and Lilliana's eyebrows shot up, as she mouthed to Kate, Bring him in .

"I suggest that—rather than doing this over the phone, and since you mentioned you would prefer to do that with your lawyer—you both appear here at the department at nine a.m. sharp, tomorrow morning." She quickly gave him the address and disconnected.

Looking over her team, she smiled. "That should be a really interesting interview."

Rodney nodded. "I want to join you too."

"You're welcome to," she said thoughtfully. "Definitely something is going on, and Doug's not happy about it."

"That doesn't mean he's involved," Owen noted from her side, "but it does make him look guilty as hell."

"The question is, what is he guilty of?" Kate asked.

"It could be anything from growing dope to stealing," Lilliana guessed. "Who knows.… I'm sure he's not thinking about his entire family line."

"No, of course not," Rodney agreed, "but now that you've told him that you know who he is and know about his history, and that's partly why you want to talk to him, you can bet that will all be on his mind. "

"Yeah, probably so." Kate nodded. "I still need to question him."

"Absolutely," Rodney declared, "particularly given his attitude." He looked over at the wall clock and said, "Oh, jeez, I need to call it a day."

"Going somewhere?" Kate asked him innocently. When he glared at her, she smiled. "Go on and have fun."

"I will. At least that's the plan." And, with that, he was up and gone.

The others looked at her, and she shrugged. "All I know is that he was busy all weekend with a group of friends, and since then… he's been a little bit off."

" Off , as in sneaky off ?" Lilliana asked, with a knowing smile.

Kate smiled. " Off , as in maybe somebody new is in his life."

"That should be interesting," Lilliana said, then groaned. "Seems it's been a long time since I was on a date. I guess now we have three out of five of us with a partner, which I think is just a pathetic score for our team." When Kate frowned at her, Lilliana shrugged. "I broke up with my ex a few months back. Not exactly something I publicize. You know the deal. This job's tough, and you can't really be there for people, and they tend to want more from you than you generally can give," she pointed out, looking over at Kate. "So, if you can make something work with Simon, go for it.… I'm not doing so well in that department." And, with that, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Kate looked over at Owen, but he appeared to be on his phone. She knew that he'd been a happily married family man for years. She hoped that never changed for him.

She looked down at her phone and called Simon. "You up for a visit tonight?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he replied in delight. "I was hoping you would come over, but then I feel like that all the time. So, whenever you can, it's great with me."

She winced at that because it sounded as if she never made time for him, and maybe that was true. Maybe Lilliana was right. This relationship stuff was tough, particularly when so much else was going on in Kate's world. But one thing was certain, whenever she wanted human contact, she would always reach out to Simon. "I'll be there in a little bit."

"Good, and I'll have food for you."

"Now that," she teased, "is guaranteed to get me there."

"Oh, I know. I figured that out a long time ago." And, on that note, he disconnected.

Laughing, she grabbed her keys, called out a goodbye to Owen, and quickly headed off, trying to let her mind sort out what tomorrow's interview would mean.

It would be interesting if Doug didn't show up because then she could send somebody around to pick him up and haul him in. She suspected he would show, but what she didn't know was whether he would show with a lawyer or alone.