Free The Sniper's Wife by Archer Mayor Page B

done you a favor I normally never do, giving you that. You better not disappoint me.”
    Willy rose to his feet and crossed to the door. “Little late now, isn’t it?”
    The address Rosalie Coven gave Willy Kunkle led him to a slightly improved version of Mary’s building: more modern, less run-down, and on a street that didn’t look so much like a depopulated, hundred-year-old daguerreotype. In fact, just standing in the lobby with his finger on Louisa Obregon’s doorbell, Willy found the surrounding sounds of kids shouting and the smell of food on the stove a crucial vital sign, and a big difference from the stale silence of Mary’s place.
    “Yes? Who is it?”
    “Is this Louisa Obregon?”
    The slightly accented voice dropped a note into wariness. “Who is this, please?”
    Willy chose his wording carefully, knowing he probably had only one shot at gaining entry. “I’m a police officer, Ms. Obregon. Rosalie Coven at the Re-Coop gave me your address. It’s in connection to the death of Mary Kunkle.”
    There was no response, but the door lock buzzed him through.
    He took the elevator to the fifth floor, stepped into the corridor, and heard the same voice call out, “Turn right. About halfway down.”
    He walked up to a barely open door and saw through the crack both a thick, taut chain and the dark, suspicious eye of a woman checking him out.
    “You have identification?”
    He put on his best manners while he reached into his pocket. “Yes, ma’am. I should warn you, though, I’m from Vermont. That’s where I’m a cop.” He held out his identity card and shield so she could read it, keeping one fingertip over his last name.
    “The Vermont Bureau of Investigation?” she asked. “What do you have to do with Mary’s death?”
    “She was from there, as I’m sure you know. The nature of how she died has raised some questions we’d like to have answered.”
    As implausible as that sounded to him, it seemed to work for her. The door closed briefly, the chain was taken off, and Louisa Obregon let Willy in.
    “What do you think happened?” she asked. “We were told it was an overdose.”
    “Nobody I’ve talked to seems to think she was back on drugs. I’m not saying it couldn’t have been that way, but it does make you wonder.”
    A little girl in a flowered dress and bunny slippers appeared from around the corner and hugged her mother’s knee. Obregon spoke to her quickly in Spanish and the child disappeared. Moments later, they heard the sounds of music leaking in from farther back in the apartment.
    “Mrs. Obregon,” Willy said. “Could we sit down someplace? I’d like to ask you a few questions about Mary.”
    But Louisa Obregon stood her ground. “It is Miss Obregon, and there is nothing I can tell you. Mary was fine up to the last time I saw her. She was happy and normal.”
    “I understand her finances were pretty tight.”
    Obregon laughed harshly. “Everybody’s finances are tight. She wasn’t in worse shape than anybody else, and things were going to get better soon.”
    “How so?” Willy asked, remembering Bob’s comment that Mary had been hoping to move soon.
    But Obregon wasn’t very helpful. “I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t true. I say the same thing all the time, too. But she liked her job, and she said she wanted to go back to school to become a drug counselor.”
    Willy sensed a softness welling up behind her resistant exterior and worked to expand it. “I can see why. It sounds like the Re-Coop saved her life.”
    It was an educated shot in the dark, but a lucky one. Obregon’s eyes glistened suddenly at his words and she nodded vigorously. “Hers and mine both. And by saving mine, Teresa’s, too.” She pointed to where the music could still be heard in the background. “Mary and I couldn’t have made it without Rosalie and the others.”
    Willy smiled sympathetically. “Rosalie told me everyone calls you Loui. Is that okay? Could you tell me a little