Chapter Three – The Widow and the Holiday Home
I left Cho to do the routine questioning while I went in search of Jane, lest he invoke another law suit upon my department. I found him sitting in the floor of a cupboard, smiling happily. Not decisive on whether or not he was sane, I knocked on the open door to attract his attention.
"Jane, what are you doing?" he smiled up at me absently.
"Getting into character. In fact, Perry Kolinsky used to sit here all the time. In his diary he called it his 'special place'." I raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure that's what he meant?" he grinned, catching my innuendo loud and clear.
"Positive. Business meetings were frequently held in the town hall just down the street, so he must have come along here quite frequently. I think it is fair to say he stayed here a lot, allegedly alone."
"Yes, that's what the maid said." Jane pointed to a carton protruding from underneath the double bed.
"Not as alone as she said. There is also some medication in the bedside drawer. Chlamydia."
"Nasty." I say that as if I'd know – which I don't but there was a scare a couple of years back… "Now the victim wasn't a carrier of any STIs, and neither were the Carnegies, so…"
"Or, the widow isn't as innocent as she looks." I smiled.
"Let's see what else is under the bed, shall we?"
The total came up to the condoms, a ripped summer dress, three white dress shirts and a windbreaker embroidered with initials which spelt JIZ – much to the amusement of Jane - , three white socks, two black socks and one black and white sock, a pair of purple briefs which may or may not have belonged to Perry Kolinsky, and a pillow with holes stabbed into it, the goose feather stuffing escaping.
"I wonder what happened here." I prodded aloud, motioning to the pillow.
"Hmm. Someone has anger management problems." He replied, deep in thought.
"Or maybe role-play." Oh shit. I mentally slapped myself. It had just slipped out of my mouth, before my mind had time to realise that I was going to say anything at all. I knew that it was only a matter of time until Jane leapt upon it and sucked the moment dry…
"Or an attempted murder – wait a second. You have knives in role-play?" I felt my cheeks redden instantly, and I tensed, angry that I could fend of dozens of bloodsucking bureaucrats and board members but when it came to Patrick Jane, just one could make me shrivel up and die inside. On second thoughts, it was just as well there was only one of Jane, because if there was more that one, even I would not be able to plough through all the bullshit.
"No, well, not me personally, but you know, some people like the drama…" he grinned at me and I got the distinct feeling that I just made things worse for myself. "The case, Jane, concentrate on the case."
"Right." Without another word, Jane exited descending the stairs at seeming leisure yet keeping ahead of me.
"Jane! Where are – Jane!" I followed him into the kitchen, where the plainly dressed widow was sipping tea with Cho.
"Yes but Wal-Mart is much more convenient for me personally-" Cho looked guilty that he had been caught debating about supermarkets by his boss, but I just stifled a smile.
"Agent Lisbon, Agent Jane-"
"Mister Jane. No agent." I corrected her quickly, lest she mistook Jane for a trained government official.
"So Mrs. Kolinsky." Jane continued, ignoring me. "How long have you been screwing John Zelphino?" She looked truly shocked though whether it was in a 'caught-in-the-act' way or an indignantly innocent way, I did not know. I groaned inwardly. Mrs. Kolinsky did not seem to be the one which I could imagine hiring expensive lawyers to get Jane fired, but Jane had this annoying way of making other people feel unlike themselves. Well he did that with me, anyway. Yet, maybe that was just in addition to me wanting to kill him.
"Mr. Jane, I do beg your pardon!" Jane sat down, without invitation – and put his feet up on the table, angering the widow further.
"You heard me. I'm right though, aren't I? I'm always right." I rolled my eyes at Jane's arrogance.
"Well I'm afraid this time you are mistaken. I met John a couple of times. But I was faithful to my husband."
"You're just saying that because now you're guilty about him going off and dying without him even knowing about your infidelities." The widow mouthed wordlessly. I had, by now, cottoned onto what Jane was attempting to do. By purposefully being everything Mrs. Kolinsky hated – arrogant, discourteous, and insensitive – Jane was winding her up like a twist-up toy. He would get his desired reaction due to the colour that Mrs. Kolinsky's face was going, but I feared he might pick up another law suit on the way there.
"I resent the implication-"
"Stop trying to cover your own ass. Badly, may I add." Yup. He was the itch underneath her skin which, try as she might, she could never quite scratch.
"Mister Jane!" the tone in her voice warned him that if he continued to talk to her in that manner, sharp implements and liquid nitrogen may be involved. Well that's certainly what I thought of when Jane annoyed me, but then again, my childhood doctor told me I had a certain susceptibility to rage. "I have a good mind to file a formal complaint!" this was my cue to step in.
"Mrs. Kolinsky, I apologise profusely, on behalf of Mr. Jane. He does not mean any offence-"
"Yes I do."
"Jane!" Jane smiled, and picked up his cup of tea, stirring it absently with the teaspoon provided.
"I'm afraid that little dance was necessary. You are now eliminated from our suspect pool. You are having an affair with John Iago Zelphino, but you did not murder your husband, and you most definitely did not have the physical strength to display him in such a position as he was found in." mentally, I slapped myself in the forehead. I shouldn't have even brought Jane, I knew better than anyone that he just causes trouble. I also know that he gets results. Wavering between the two, I was still unsure as to whether it was a pro or a con, keeping him around.
Mrs. Kolinsky stared at Jane incredulously, as though she could not quite believe that he had actually said that out loud. More often than not, Jane's outlandish accusations were one hundred percent true, but hunches alone did not stand up in court.
"Jane, you can't just make accusations like that!" I hissed sideways at him, but he was too busy holding Mrs. Kolinsky's eye contact to contradict me, as he usually did. "Take it back!" I urged him, but the widow interrupted me.
"No, it's true." I closed my eyes, barely believing my ears. How the hell did he do that? One conversation and people reveal their innermost secrets. "John came home with Perry one night." She continued, as I elbowed Jane in the ribs warningly. "My husband, the silly man, had forgotten the proposition which John had given him on paper. John needed it back for the morning. We were in the holiday home – the kids were staying with Perry's sister because they wanted to see their new pet dog. John stayed for dinner, but then Perry had to leave in a rush. He told John to stay and we should get acquainted." She smirked slightly. "So we did."
"Your husband knew about your affair with Mr. Zelphino?"
"Well yes, I think so. He wasn't angry – well if he was, he didn't confront me about it. I suppose he saw it this way – if he was allowed to have his fun, then why shouldn't I? Perry knew that he wasn't making me happy anymore, and he was a good man. He wanted me to be happy."
"But you knew about his affairs." The widow looked up, alarmed.
"I knew about Art. Were there others?" I was surprised that she not only used Arthur Carnegie's first name, but also that she used the shortened version.
"Rachelle Carnegie." Mrs. Kolinsky looked vaguely nauseated.
"At… at the same time?" wow, we forgot to ask if that had ever happened. Maybe that was just too weird, though.
"No ma'am. Neither knew the other was involved with your husband." Cho assured her, and she looked close to tears.
"So you knew about your husband being… you know…"
"Gay? Yes, I'd known for a while. I'd always known he was different. No other man I had been with had been like that. He was different sexually, emotionally, but I found it exciting. That he had chosen me over his preferred gender." I could see the cogs in Cho's mind working overtime as they wondered just how women could find gay men so attractive, or in any way exciting. Personally I didn't see it either, but I'd had a gay boyfriend before and I knew where she was coming from with the difference sexually. I decided to stop thinking about it because Jane was looking at me curiously. "However, I never thought, in a million years, that he would leave me for a man!"
That really left me thinking about how truly rare this situation was. It was going to be one hell of a story to tell in the courtroom. I could tell by the look on Cho's face that he was thinking the same. Only God knew what Jane was thinking, and I for one, was quite happy to keep it that way.
"My marriage died, a long time ago. Since then, it's all just been posturing." She bit her lip, and I noted the box of tissues nearby. Tissues always came in handy in a murder investigation. And sure enough…
"Oh God, I feel so stupid!" she bawled suddenly, and I handed her a tissue from the box above the dishwasher. She blew her nose and sniffed again, not looking at me, Cho or Jane. But there was another string which had no end in my mind.
"If you'll excuse me, I have another question for you." The widow looked up, her eyes red and puffy "what's with the pillow in the master bedroom? It has lots of holes in it." she glanced at the stairs, as if she could see up them and into the master bedroom from this distance. She looked baffled – and from what I could tell, she wasn't faking it.
"I'm sorry; I usually use the second largest bedroom. The view is just beautiful, and you don't get the noise from the kids playing on the street. I haven't cleaned out the master bedroom yet – that was Perry's place to stay. Why would I be in there? And what do you mean holes in the pillow? What kind of holes in the pillow? You mean, like a stabbing? Was Perry stabbed? Did Perry stab someone?" Oh God we have released a question avalanche. I hated it when this happened.
"We are still investigating the cause. Thank you for your cooperation." We started to move towards the door, but Jane halted us, me with a hand on the shoulder and Cho with his voice.
"Wait one moment. Mrs. Kolinsky, just one more question, if that's okay with you." The widow nodded tearfully.
"Sure. Whatever you want, I'm here."
"Do you have a personal contact number for Mr. Zelphino?" she looked around herself furtively, as if making sure that there was no one else in her house, listening in.
"Well yes, I do. But I must warn you, he told me only to call this number if…" she leant towards Jane and whispered so quietly we had to lean in too to hear. "If I was alone, randy and completely starkers" she leant back, and nodded. "His exact words."
Cho ran into the door on the way out.
