SURVIVAL INSTINCT

CHAPTER: 8

As soon as Sarah was safely locked in the car and was on her way down South Massachusetts Avenue, she dialed Detective Tanya Hudson. 

"Detective? Sorry to bother you so late, but I was just over at the house on Massachusetts  Avenue to lock up, and someone else was also there," Sarah said.

"Did you see someone?" Detective Hudson wanted to know. Sarah said no. "So how do you know someone was there if you didn't see them? Was there a car parked outside? Or nearby?"  Detective Hudson asked.

Sarah explained the lights in the library. "When I opened the front door it went off. I did not hang around."

'And you don't think it was just a malfunction? Or you might have accidentally tripped a switch?" Detective Hudson asked.

Sarah contemplated, then shook her head. "It didn't go off the same instant that I flipped the hall switch like they were on a circuit. It was more like someone heard the click, and then turned off their own light."

Detective Hudson did not sound like she was convinced, but she agreed to dispatch a squad car. "By the way," Sarah added, just as she was about to hang up, "since you mentioned cars...I was wondering about Diana's. A navy blue 2020 Ford Expedition, brand new. It was not in the driveway yesterday. Have you found it?" Sarah asked.

Detective Hudson hesitated for a moment. "As a matter of fact, we have. In a parking lot a few blocks away."

"I see," Sarah said. Although she was not sure she did. "Um... was it intact?" Sarah asked her.

"There didn't seem to be anything missing. All the fingerprints had been wiped off, of course, and the only DNA we found is from the family. Diana's, her husband's, her children, and a co-worker or two..." Detective Hudson said.

"It wasn't because somebody wanted the car, then?" Sarah asked.

"It doesn't appear that way."

Detective Hudson was remarkably forthcoming tonight. Sarah decided she might as well push her luck and see if it held. 

"Why would someone drive her car a few blocks and then leave it?" Sarah asked.

"They might be afraid it might attract attention to sitting in the driveway?" Hudson suggested. "Anyone who saw it; like you or Mr. Ryan Johnson; would know that Mrs. Diana Walter was somewhere about."

Sarah nodded. South Massachusetts was not the kind of place where anyone in their right state of mind would walk, particularly the area surrounding South Avenue. "So what did the murderer do with his own car while he was moving Diana's?"

"We are looking into the possibility that he or she may have arrived in Mrs. Walter's car." Detective Hudson's voice was carefully neutral.

Sarah blinked. "You mean to say that Diana picked him up? Or her? But why?"

"For protection?" Hudson suggested. "If she was concerned about going to meet Mr. Ryan Johnson on her own?"

"And then the person she asked to come along to protect her, killed her instead?" Sarah said. "Talk about irony..."

"If she were to ask someone to ride with her, who would she ask?" Hudson asked her.

Sarah's response was automatic. "Not me. I told you we were not that friendly."

"So who?" Hudson asked.

Sarah thought about it. "Her husband, I suppose. It was the weekend, and he was not home yesterday morning. At least he didn't answer the phone when I called."

"Anyone else?" Hudson asked.

"Someone from work. Clara Lobo, her personal assistant. Or Helen Blake, her protege. Or Tim, her...um...partner," Sarah said.

Sarah could hear Detective Hudson's ears prick up. "Partner, or are they lovers?"

Sarah sputtered. "Good God, no. He is gay. God bless his heart. He is a good realtor though, and Diana took 15% of everything that he made. She was his mentor for a while, and then took him on as a partner when she started working with Helen."

"And Tim might have gone with her to Massachusetts Avenue?" Detective Hudson asked.

"He probably would have, if she had asked, although I don't know any reason why she should. He would swoon at the first sight of Ryan Johnson." And not necessarily because of fear. Sarah smothered a giggle, imagining Tim's reaction to Ryan.

"Something funny?" Detective Hudson asked courteously.

"Not really. I was just thinking about something," Sarah said.

"I see." Detective Hudson's voice was bland, but Sarah got the feeling that she knew exactly what Sarah was thinking. She was a woman, too, after all, so it was not impossible that she was thinking about Ryan Johnson's broad shoulders and hard muscles and considering swooning herself. Then again, she was a police detective, so it was more likely that she was considering his potential for violence. Unless she was not thinking about him at all, of course. It wasn't like she did not have more important things to worry about.

"I will send someone out to see if anything's going on at the house," she said finally, "and if you think of anything else that might help, please give me a call," Hudson said.

Sarah said she would, and then they both hung up. She amused herself the whole way home by picturing the imaginary meeting between Tim and Ryan.                                                                                                                                                                   *************

Every Monday morning, the 'Parker Real Estate Agency' had a sales meeting. Everyone was required to attend. Particularly all those who were working full time at the agency. All those who taught in schools, or waited at tables during the week, and would sell real estate on the weekends, were exempted. This Monday everyone was present. High school teachers, and accountants, supermarket cashiers, and even those who were retired and were working on weekends, might all have possibly taken a sick leave at their jobs. 

When Sarah walked through the door at a few minutes to nine, every face in the room turned towards her. Tim Dickson, sitting as close to the head of the table as he could get without actually being there; in Diana's customary seat, in fact, he greeted everyone with a smile, in the process showing off his capped teeth. "A very good morning to you, Sarah!"

Sarah smiled back. "Hi, Tim," she wished him.

"You look smashing today. Had a good weekend?" His bright blue eyes were malicious.

"Great," Sarah said dryly, knowing full well that she looked pale and deathly.  "Stumbling over a bloody corpse, especially once I knew, is definitely not my idea of a good time. There was a whole lot of blood that could give color to a girl's cheeks.

Tim gave half-suppressed laughter. A couple of others stuck their heads together, whispering, and the rest just stared at her.

"Look," Sarah added, my mother would have been shocked to hear me tackle the situation so aggressively; we Southern girls are supposed to be more cautious, "let's not fool ourselves. I had a lousy weekend, and I am sure some of you did too. We may not all have liked Diana, but she was our co-worker, and I am sure some of us are feeling the loss." Sarah looked around the table.

"Well, I never..." Clara Lobo puffed herself up, aiming at showing off her righteous annoyance, but managing to look like a small tiny chicken with ruffled feathers. "I am sure we were all shocked to hear about what happened to poor Diana. Shocked!"

Clara looked around. The others nodded and murmured, but no one actually looked back at her. Even Helen Blake, Diana's apprentice, kept her eyes on her hand. All except Tim, of course. "She was an inspiration to us all," he said primly.

Nothing more was said until James Parker glided in and the meeting got underway. Nothing much was said, just that there were a few announcements of new listings and sales, and an open house was scheduled for the next weekend. Sarah volunteered to sit in one of them for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. It was a good way even to pick up clients. But none of it had worked for Sarah. But if nothing else, it would make her feel as if she was doing something worthwhile.

After the new listings and open houses were dispensed with, everyone got an update as to how much money the office had generated in the last month; which was lesser than the month previous to that, although Diana had sold well over a million dollars worth of real estate in August, while Sarah had, of course, not contributed so much as a dime. The discussion then got around to the events of Saturday morning. Sarah had to explain again what had happened, and how she had come to be the one receiving the call from Ryan Johnson.

"Since he was Diana's customer," Clara said with a sniff, "I don't think you should have gone, Sarah. You should have called one of us."

One of the people on Diana's team, Clara meant. They were four of them; Diana herself, Clara, Tim, and Helen. According to seniority, Diana was at the top, Helen was firmly at the bottom, with Clara and Tim fighting for the top middle spot. All four of them had stuck together like a sweetener until now, and with Diana gone, the internal fighting and back-biting would surely begin. But first, they were trying to put Sarah in her place.

"Sarah was here," Parker pointed out gently. "It is only fair that she should get to take the call that comes in."

Clara sniffed again but did not say anything else. Parker was outrageously handsome and just as gay as Tim, in an older and a lot more sophisticated way, but he had a spine of steel underneath the stylish designer suits, and he ran a tight ship. Clara seemed to know it would not do her any good to complain further. When Parker has spoken, it was an order to be followed.

"That is all well and good," Tim said, with another show of caps, for Parker's benefit this time, "but I always got Diana's leftovers, and he sounds like a particularly tasty one."

He winked at Sarah. A couple of young women and other gay guys gave a suppressed laughter. Except for Parker, of course, who is above that sort of thing, As was Sarah.

"You would be wasting your time," Sarah said coolly.

"Oooh!" Tim giggled. "That was fast! How do you know that, Sarah?"

Tim implied that Ryan and Sarah had engaged in something less than businesslike while Diana was bleeding to death in the library. Or perhaps they engaged in something, while they waited for the police to arrive. Sarah was sure she looked as disgusted as she felt. "I went to high school with him. He was popular with some of the girls there."

The ones who thought Ryan's reputation was exciting and who were more susceptible than Sarah to smooth-talking rakes with exotic looks and s*x-appeal.

Tim opened his mouth to reply, something suggestive it was, from the gleam in his eyes, but Parker banged his folder on the table. "Enough!" he said.

It did not make much noise but had the desired effect. Tim sank back in his seat with an amused smile, and Clara folded her hands on the table in front of her.