Page 159 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Jury-rigged

potentially rich source of information about the Simulians’ nefarious
pursuits. Not Lieutenant Gramercy. Without missing a beat she
plowed ahead to the last of the family members still at large.
“Now this is interesting: Hannibal asserted that he spent the night
with his girlfriend in her apartment. Yet when you went calling on
Shonda Khaleria, she could not be found. Her residence, paid for by
Mr. Simulian, showed signs of hasty departure: clothes thrown about,
dirty dishes and whisky glasses in the sink, lights on in the bathroom
and living room. She has yet to come forward. Neighbors reported
hearing shouts and slamming doors that night—but that those
sounds were not unusual coming from her apartment. And while
Hannibal has no one else to corroborate his nocturnal activities, he
could or would offer no explanation for her disappearance or where
she might be found.”
“It might be concluded,” I suggested, careful not to come on too
authoritatively as yet, “that she refused to cover for him, they had a
fight, he killed her as well as the juror that night, and hid the body.
The Lustig murder was plastered all over the papers and TV news,
with no shortage of lurid details, so if Shonda were alive she would
have to know she might be the only one who could confirm his story.
We are treating this as a missing person case, officially, while
searching city dumps and trawling the harbor for a corpse.”
She nodded. Maybe I had actually done the right thing.
“All right, Duncan. That might not be the right thing to do in this
case, but it does show initiative and a desire to be thorough. Did you
consider the possibility that Ms. Khaleria simply left Hannibal for
good? In that case, she would take pains to become untraceable,
given his proclivity for violence. And his Old World machismo might
prevent him from admitting to the rejection. Your theory would
break down if she suddenly turned up or he decided to reveal her
location under threat of a murder accusation.”
I didn’t respond. It was too soon. My game plan would be
vindicated by a preponderance of evidence; she still had a lot to wade
through before she realized it was my pond.

<< 2 >>

158