SURVIVAL INSTINCT

CHAPTER: 13

Nobody at the party said anything for a moment. "I don't know what worries me more darling," Officer Ben Stevenson remarked, "that you went to the outskirts of St. Louis by yourself, or that you went to see Ryan Johnson."

Tony nodded emphatically in agreement.

"Oh," Sarah said, shaking her head, "I did not go to see Ryan. I thought he was in Kansas City. He scared the s**t out of me when he turned up."

"So what were you doing there, then? If you don't mind my asking?" Ben said.

Sarah blushed. "I wanted to find out about Isabel Johnson. And I did not want to ask my brother Daniel, because I did not want my mother to find out. She would have never allowed me." 

Ben Stevenson smiled. "Helluva woman, your mother is."

Sarah shrugged, pouting. Easy for him to say; he wasn't the one who got the sharp end of her mother's tongue if she thought Sarah was sniffing around Ryan Johnson.

"Why did you want to find out about Isabel?" Tony wanted to know. Sarah hesitated. On the one hand, she had no real reason to think Ryan had done anything to his mother, any more than she had reason to think he had done anything to Diana Walter. Not to mention that she suspected he could make her life plenty difficult if she caused trouble for him. But on the other hand, it was quite a coincidence that he should be involved, with two possible homicides in the span of a couple of weeks.

In the end, Sarah said blandly, "Ryan was with me when I found Diana Walter's dead body on Saturday morning. If we had not turned up, it could have been a week before anyone found her, too."

The Stevenson's exchanged a glance. "That's very interesting," mused Ben.

"How corpses keep following the boy around," Ben said.

Ryan was hardly a boy anymore, but Sarah refrained from saying so. Something had shown on her face, though, because Tony glanced at her, then back at his dad.

"Maybe you should better call for some backup if you are going out there to talk to him. Or better yet, I can come with you," Tony said.

"I don't mind if you do," Ben said to his son. 

Tony turned to her. "Sorry to have to leave so soon, Sarah. It was nice seeing you again."

"Likewise," Sarah answered politely. "Anytime you are in Kansas, give me a call, and we shall have that dinner."

"I will hold you to that." Tony nodded and followed his father towards the door. Ben paused beside her mother just long enough to say goodbye, then moved on. Tony smiled apologetically and did the same. Sarah's mother then just turned behind and gave her a suggestive look. 

The party wound down around midnight since the next day was a workday. Sarah's mom hired outside help to handle things like clean-up and housework, so they all just left the mess and went to bed. The next morning after a leisurely bath and breakfast, and a dress down by her mom, Sarah got in her Ford-Mustang and headed back to Kansas City.

Diana's memorial service was scheduled for three in the afternoon, so she had time to drive home, change her party attire and throw away the rest of the clothes in the hamper, and change into mourning attire. Parker had made it very clear that he wanted them to be present on time and also dressed appropriately, and Sarah had no intention of letting him down.

Sarah loved the color black. It made her look slimmer, and she looked fifteen pounds thin. Also black went well with her pale skin and golden brown hair. Also, it was easy to accessorize. Everything went well with black. She wore her favorite little black dress, and wore gold hoops through her ear lobes, wore a pair of black shoes and a black sling bag, and she was rearing to go. Not even her mother would have found fault with Sarah's appearance.

The viewing was going to take place at Lawrence A. Jone's funeral home in Kansas City, which was only a few minutes from Sarah's apartment, and she reached there a bit early. She parked the car in the adjacent parking lot and headed for the entrance to the big, white building, ignoring the cameras a discreet distance away. It was a foregone conclusion that Diana's funeral would be attended by the media. Somebody tried to get her to talk, but she kept her head down and kept walking. Tim Dickson, arriving behind Sarah, was not so restrained. He showed all his teeth in a blinding smile and agreed to speak on camera without batting an eye. "Sure. Always happy to help." 

"Yeah," Sarah muttered, "happy to help yourself." And the worst thing was, Tim would probably get lots of business because of it. After his boyish face, and smiling personality had hit the airwaves, people all over Kansas would remember him when it came time to sell their houses. If Sarah had not been so well-brought-up, she might have reconsidered and said a few words herself.

"...a great loss to the profession," Tim was saying, with a straight face, "and she was my very special friend. I shall miss her." He smiled bravely and wiped away an imaginary tear. The cameras zoomed in. Sarah grimaced seeing all that drama. The manager at the funeral home had opened every room in the place for the viewing of Diana's dead body. Every nook and corner of the place was filled with mourners. Or very likely they might have been people who had come to make sure she was really dead.

Nobody seemed too much broken up, not even Diana's own family. Her husband Tom Walter was somberly dressed in a brown suit. Their daughter Deanne who was fifteen wore a figure-hugging black dress that was most suitable for a cocktail party and had her hair tied up in some fancy do, while her son Jordan wore a white shirt with no tie and black shorts, and his hair was unkempt. None of them looked grief-stricken, though. Diana's daughter looked bored, while her son looked fidgety, and her husband looked around as if searching for somebody or something. 

While Sarah kept watching from afar, she saw a pretty blonde plump woman in a green dress, walk over to Tom, and put her hand on his arm. He looked down at her and smiled, and at that moment it was not evident that he was grieving for Diana.

"Really shameful," Tim Dickson's artificially sweetened voice murmured in her ear, maliciously. "Poor Diana's hardly even cold yet, and just look at her husband."

Sarah did. There was an intimacy in the way Tom and the blonde were looking at each other, that kind of intimacy could never have sprung in the past five days. Diana's children Deanne and Jordan seemed awfully comfortable with her too. "Who is she?" Sarah asked Tim.

Sarah was hoping he would say Diana's sister or something. But Tim cleared that the blonde woman was Diana's neighbor, who had lost her husband just last year, and she had set her eyes on Tom shortly afterward. 

Sarah asked Tim, "How long have they...um...?" 

Tim grinned. "Oh, months!"

Sarah questioned Tim, "How do you know? Is it true? And if it is, did Diana know about it?"

He giggled. "Sure she did. How else do you think I know? Diana had been going about it forever. Do you know how she was like? Hated to lose, hated to share. She threatened to take the kids and sue him for everything he had if he did not break it off."

"But obviously he did not," Sarah said, looking across the room at Tom Walter and his ladylove. 

Tim just shrugged, and said, "Who knows? He could have then. But now it does not matter, does it?" He then winked at Sarah and sauntered into the room, and mixed amongst the well-dressed crowd. Sarah stayed where she was, pondering on the fact that Tim had just revealed.

Diana had been a shrewd lady. She had put years of hard work to get to where she was, and although she had succeeded beyond most people's wildest dreams, it did not surprise Sarah that Diana's family had paid the price. Nor was it surprising that Diana's husband Tom had sought solace elsewhere. Diana seemed to be as cuddly as a porcupine, Sarah, therefore, felt that it was no big deal her husband had an affair. However if Diana had truly kicked up a huge fuss, which she could of course do, then Tom had an excellent reason for wanting to get rid of her. Diana had probably headed to South Massachusetts Avenue straight from home on Saturday morning. Did her husband drive her there and then when they arrived, slit her throat...?"