Blind Trust

“Please, take a seat.” Finn didn’t want to conduct his interview under hostile circumstances. When Pete reluctantly sat, Finn took a chair beside him. Eva was on Pete’s other side, and again he had to ignore the flash of hurt. “I need to understand what you know about your wife’s activities before she died.”

“I don’t know anything about what she was doing.” Pete stared blindly off in the distance. “I guess I should have noticed the signs—her emotions were all over the place. One minute she’d be furious, then a few hours later she’d act happy and full of enthusiasm.” Pete shrugged. “It was so bad that I was constantly on guard, never sure which Malina would walk through the door.”

“And you don’t know anything about a package?” Finn pressed.

“Nothing.” Pete spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “Ever since Eva mentioned it, I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out if I saw anything that could have been a hidden package.”

“Do you have a safe-deposit box?”

Finn’s question caught Pete off guard and he frowned. “Not that I know of.”

“Do you know where Malina’s keys are?” Finn wasn’t going to let it drop. A safe-deposit box was the only other place he could imagine where Malina might have put a package.

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe in her purse?”

“I’ll get it,” Eva offered, getting up from the table.

Finn was glad to have a few minutes alone with Pete. “You’re telling me that you didn’t once suspect your wife was using drugs?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. Why would I suspect Malina of doing something like that?” Anger flashed in Pete’s dark eyes. “Sure, it’s easy to look back now and see the signs, but at the time, I thought she was struggling with losing her eyesight. Her vision had got dramatically worse in those last few months before...” His voice trailed off.

“Before she was killed,” Finn finished. “I’ve officially requested to reopen the investigation on her death. I’m not convinced it was an accident.”

The blood drained from Pete’s face and Finn knew he was truly shocked. “You—you think she was murdered?”

Finn wasn’t sure how much to tell him. “I think it was meant to be a warning—return the package or else. Only they didn’t realize how bad her vision was. She didn’t react in time to jump out of the way and was killed rather than getting a little banged up.”

Pete dropped his head into his hands, his body slumped as if he didn’t possess an ounce of energy. Finn actually found himself feeling bad for the man.

“It’s all so surreal. Finding out that Malina was using drugs and was killed over some stupid package that she stole.” Pete lifted his head, his expression full of angst. “She had abdominal surgery five months ago, her appendix burst so they had to open her up. It’s possible that’s when she got hooked on painkillers, but to steal from her suppliers? Why on earth would she do that? Why?”

Finn remained silent, unable to provide an answer to Pete’s questions. The guy appeared sincerely distraught and, as much as he’d hoped to get key information, Finn sensed he was wasting his time.

Pete hadn’t known anything about what he suspected was Malina’s apparent drug use or her activities. As sad as it was, the spouse was sometimes the last to know.

Eva returned to the kitchen carrying the purse she’d discovered during their earlier search. “Found the keys.” She tossed the key ring on the table.

Finn picked it up before Pete could to examine each of the three keys. “Which one is the house key?”

“This one.” Eva pointed at the dark brass key. “And this one is to the back door.”

“And the third?” Finn held that one up.

Eva frowned. “That looks like it might be for the guide dog training center. I’ll get my keys so we can compare.”

The training center? Finn found it curious that Malina would have a key after being fired. Wouldn’t Wade have asked for it back?

Eva returned and offered her key in comparison. They were a match. Finn nodded and took the keys. “I’ll need to borrow these for a little while, then I’ll get them back to you.”