Toxic Deceit: A King & Midnight K-9 Mystery (The King & Midnight K-9 Mysteries Book 3) by D. L. Keur

Author:D. L. Keur [Keur, D. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D. L. Keur
Published: 2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

30 – Blind & Stupid

“ALL RIGHT,” Mike said. “Good work, people. Let’s move on as a team to the school records, all of which are now in. Who wants what? And remember, please, that we’ve still got the ISP and telecom digital footprints and the banking information coming in.”

“What about the interviews of Mrs. Klein and Mr. and Mrs. Gerlin? We still need to speak with them,” Jefferson said.

They did. Mr. Gerlin was still in the cardiac care unit and not allowed to be interviewed yet. The women? Mike was reluctant to reattempt it with Mrs. Gerlin and, having had no luck with Dr. Klein, he wasn’t sure Mrs. Klein would welcome him either. Said so out loud and turned eyes to Corporal Rankin. “Would you like to take those interviews, Corporal?”

*

STARTLED, RAYNE again felt her panic rise. Is this a test?! “Me?”

“Yes, you,” Murphy said. “According to the hospital, we can now interview Mrs. Klein, and I believe Mrs. Gerlin might be released today or tomorrow. Yesterday when I went, she didn’t seem very ill, but she was unwilling to be disturbed.”

“Ah …ah, what do you …ah, want me to ask them, sir?”

“How about where they got the diffusers?” Lieutenant Jefferson suggested, turning to her, his eyes boring into her, him acting like she should have figured that out for herself, and Rayne actually agreed—she should have. Decided that it was rather obvious. “Okay. That makes sense.” Made a note on her phone. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“You might ask them if they have any idea of who might carry a resentment toward them, if they’ve had any hate mail, and so on. Oh, and do ask Mrs. Klein’s permission to interview her children,” the chief said. “The father dismissed the question. I’m hoping the mother will allow it.”

“Okay. Permission to interview the kids.” Rayne added that to the note on her phone.

Rayne didn’t really want to do it. She’d never done an interview like this before. She’d been taught to, but she had never in her eleven years in law enforcement actually done one. Gulped down her objections. Told herself, You want to be a part of things. Just do it. Then, But why me? So Rayne asked: “Why am I going to see the two wives instead of one of you, sirs?”

A look of what Rayne read as ‘forced patience’ came over the lieutenant’s face. The chief was the one who answered, though: “Because you’re a woman and women will speak more freely with other women than they will with a man,” he said.

Rayne stalled at that. All her panic left. Instantly. The statement was absolutely false. And sexist, too. Felt her outrage rise. Clamped down on what she felt, but said what she thought—“I don’t think that’s true, sir,”—though she wasn’t sure why she was pushing it, except that it wasn’t true. …And because she knew the chief would listen. He did pay attention to things like this. Yet, to be able to do some real investigative work

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