Free Revenge of Innocents by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg Page B

wait and address everyone after Conrad came back in, but I wanted to make certain Carolyn was here. Veronica may have committed suicide.”
    “What?” Carolyn said, bolting to her feet at the end of the table. “If this isn’t a homicide, I don’t know what is.”
    “We obviously thought the same thing,” he said, “or we wouldn’t have put together a task force. Veronica’s gun was found in the Dumpster behind the motel. Ballistics just confirmed it’s the murder weapon.”
    “You can’t kill yourself and then go walking around,” Carolyn said, raising her voice. “Who’s the idiot who thinks it’s a suicide?”
    Mary was tapping her fingernails on the table. “I think you better explain, Hank.”
    “If you guys will stop interrupting me, I will,” he snapped. “Maria Lopez, the maid at the motel, called and changed her story. I had to get Gabriel to interpret because she doesn’t speak English. She’s here illegally and was afraid she’d be deported. She touched the gun when she bent down to see if Veronica was still alive. Instead of wiping her prints off or just waiting until we got there, she panicked and took the gun out of the room, tossing it in the Dumpster with the rest of the day’s trash.” Hank paused to catch his breath. “Lopez was planning to leave town when her neighbor talked her into coming forward.”
    “Where was the gun before she picked it up?” Carolyn asked.
    “On the floor next to the tub,” the detective said. “Charley Young is one of the idiots who thinks there’s a possibility it was a suicide.” He paused, waiting for the officers to mill over what he’d told them. “We didn’t find Veronica’s prints on the gun. The prints we assumed were the killer’s must be the maid’s. She doesn’t have a driver’s license, so she’s never been printed. Gabriel is on his way to Lopez’s house to bring her in so we can confirm those were her prints.”
    “If Veronica shot herself,” Carolyn argued, “why weren’t her prints on the gun? You just said Lopez didn’t wipe it down. It was Veronica’s gun, so her prints had to be on it. They weren’t there because the killer cleaned the gun.”
    Mary spoke up. “We found a washrag in the tub with the body, Carolyn. It was the brand and color the motel used, so I didn’t think it had any significance. I thought it just fell in the tub from the towel rack when the killer shot her. Veronica could have wiped her own prints off, and then wrapped the washrag around the gun when she shot herself. She may not have wanted people to know that she took her own life, especially her children.”
    “Bullshit,” Carolyn said, refusing to accept it. This was a sensitive issue for her. Her father had committed suicide, and during a trying time in her brother’s life, he had also threatened to kill himself.
    Her last conversation with Veronica had occurred only hours before her death. She’d criticized her recommendation in the Patricia Baxter case. Asking an officer of Veronica’s stature to rewrite a report was like slapping her in the face. But Carolyn had let too many things slide already. Her friend’s work had become sloppy, and many of her reports were filed late. Preston had called her on it, as it reflected on the entire unit.
    Had Carolyn been the one to push her over the edge?
    Veronica had also been vague about whether or not she was going to be her maid of honor. She was shattered enough by the woman’s death without thinking she might somehow be responsible. Perhaps being involved in the investigation was more than she could handle. “How did Veronica get that rash on her back and legs?” she asked. “It looks like carpet burn. And the person who rented the room was a black male using a stolen credit card. How do you explain that?”
    “Let’s try to deal with one thing at a time,” Hank said, taking a seat and placing his hands on the table. “Forensics found traces of Comet in the tub and on