Grave Endings by Rochelle Krich Page A

body. Suppose she had to get into the apartment the next day to make sure she didn’t leave any incriminating evidence.”
    â€œSuppose Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” Connors put down the pencil. “Maybe Doreen
did
have a key. She found Creeley dead, but didn’t want to be involved. So she left and then went back and had the manager open the apartment. And she gave her a wrong phone number.”
    I had to admit that made sense. “Did they do the autopsy?”
    â€œOn Friday. Creeley overdosed, like I told you.”
    â€œI didn’t see any drug paraphernalia.”
    â€œIt was there. We took it. We just didn’t think to give you an inventory,” he added. “Plus Creeley went to town on the booze. If you checked out his apartment, you must’ve seen the empties.”
    â€œThat doesn’t mean he drank the stuff. Someone could have emptied the beer cans and half the whiskey.”
    â€œSomeone
could
have, but Creeley had enough alcohol in him to open a bar. A guy goes off the wagon, he usually does it in a big way.”
    â€œI wouldn’t know. Did they find fresh needle tracks?”
    â€œYou’re watching too much
CSI.
Yeah, they did. Do yourself a favor and let it go, Molly. Creeley killed Aggie. He overdosed. It’s over.”
    â€œHe never killed anyone before, Andy.”
    â€œHe never got caught.”
    â€œIf you say so.” I was playing a broken record and getting nowhere. I stood and returned the chair to the adjacent desk. “By the way, when’s the funeral?”
    â€œTen o’clock Thursday morning.”
    â€œWhere?”
    Connors named a cemetery in Downey. “What’re you planning to do, open the casket and make Creeley tell you what happened?”
    â€œI’d get more information from him than I’ve gotten from you guys.”
    â€œDon’t mess with the investigation, Molly.”
    â€œWhat investigation?” I slipped on my jacket and slung my purse strap over my shoulder. “Creeley overdosed. He killed Aggie. Like you guys keep saying, the case is closed.”
    â€œIt
is
closed. There’s stuff you don’t know, Molly.”
    â€œBecause you won’t tell me. This whole thing with Creeley doesn’t feel right.”
    â€œIt doesn’t
feel
right?”
    â€œWhy didn’t Creeley leave Aggie where he killed her? Why did he take her body to a Dumpster behind a restaurant several miles away?” That had been puzzling me all along.
    â€œWhat did Wilshire tell you?” There was a note of caution in Connors’s voice.
    â€œThat Creeley wanted to delay discovery of the body. That moving a body can make it harder to pin down the time of death, and that helps the killer establish an alibi.”
    Connors nodded. “So there’s your answer.”
    â€œWhat’s going on, Andy? Why are you so uncomfortable?”
    â€œYou’re asking questions about a six-year-old case that isn’t mine and never
was
mine, Molly. If you want answers, go to Porter.”
    â€œYeah, right.” I sniffed.
    Connors sighed. “Why do you have to make this so hard?”
    â€œBecause she was my
best friend
!” Heads turned our way. I lowered my voice. “What if Doreen killed Randy, or knows who did? Maybe she planted the locket so you guys would think he killed Aggie. And if Creeley was killed, maybe Aggie was a specific target, not a random victim. Have you even considered that? Of course not. You guys are
so
eager to wrap this up.”
    Connors had risen from his chair and was inches away from me. “Do you have any reason to believe that Aggie was mixed up in something that would put her in danger?” he asked with an intensity that made me flinch.
    â€œNo. Of course not.”
    â€œWas she worried about anything? Was she scared of anyone?”
    â€œI answered all these—”
    â€œ
Was
she?”
    This was a