Page 74 of Line of Sight

“Maybe he never got over her death,” Riley suggested.

She arched her eyebrows but said nothing.

“Was Heather supportive of Jason’s political ambitions?” Before Rebecca could answer, Dan waved his hand. “Ignore that question. You already told us she wanted to be a senator’s wife.”

“Yes, that’s true, but….” Rebecca’s brow furrowed. “I’m trying to remember a conversation we had about six months before her death. She said something about the law of diminishing returns.”

“What do you think she meant by that?”

“I know I said she wasn’t the kind of person who would talk about her personal life, but that changed.” She paused. “Heather had poured a lot of money into Jason’s campaign. Of course she would have done that. If he rose, then so did she. But she made a remark that stayed with me, if only because it was so unlike her. She said his campaign was like a train. She kept shoveling coal into its furnace, and yet the train didn’t go anywhere. Then one day she called me and said ‘I’ve had enough of stoking the boiler. It’s time for me to drive this train.’”

“She wanted to run his campaign?”

Another nod.

“How do you think Senator Kelly would have reacted to that?” Gary asked.

That earned him another huff. “If you want my honest opinion, I don’t think he would have liked it. He knew better, didn’t he?He’dstudied politics. And Heather? She was only a woman who’d established and run a successful charity for years. What didsheknow?” She straightened. “I wish you every success, gentlemen. And if you do find the person responsible,please inform me of his identity.” She lowered her gaze. “Jason didn’t make her happy, but he had no reason to want her dead. I know one always looks at the spouse first, but in this case….” Rebecca sighed. “He didn’t kill her. And I have no idea who did.”

As they walked away from the elegant house, Gary glanced at Dan. “Any thoughts?”

“Only that I want to find out who Heather’s friends were and talk to them. And then let’s talk to anyone who worked in the building that housed her charity office.”

“An office that might provide you with something?”

Dan shrugged. “Perhaps. It’s been over five years.”

Gary knew what was troubling him.

“It doesn’t always work out the way it did with Jennifer Sullivan. Sometimes there’s just… nothing.”

“I did pick up on one piece of information,” Dan said as they reached the car. “Rebecca Marchant didnotlike Jason, although she never came right out and said as much. And while she doesn’t believe he’s guilty of her sister’s murder—” He looked Gary in the eye. “—I got the feeling she wants to believe it.”

Chapter Fifty

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

10:00 a.m.

GARY STRETCHED,arching his back. “I think my ass is becoming permanently attached to my chair.” He’d finished typing up his report on the previous day’s interviews, leaving the afternoon free for their meeting with Senator Jason Kelly.

Riley grinned. “Ask Dan if he’ll massage it for ya tonight.” He glanced at Dan. “You wouldn’t mind doing that, would you?”

Dan narrowed his gaze, his lips twitching.

Gary folded his arms. “So what do we now know about Heather Kelly that’s of any use to our investigation?” They’d interviewed her closest friends and the staff at her office.

“She didn’t talk about her husband,” Riley commented. “Okay, so maybemostwomen don’t talk to their friends about their husbands, but a husband who’s running forsenator? You’d think she’d want to share stuff about that, especially if she was keen to be Mrs. Senator Jason Kelly.”

“When she was at her office, she usually worked late, even at weekends,” Dan added. “And she was there a lot. Her secretary kept Heather’s schedules. It looks as if she was in Boston more than she was in Maine.”

Gary laced his fingers behind his head. “There were no cameras in the lobby of her office building. All we have is the name of the company who provided cleaning services, and they said that according to the roster, no one was working after nine that night.”

“Except for the mystery cleaner that the security guard is a little hazy over,” Riley observed. “How much more do you think we’ll get out of the senator?”

Dan smiled. “That depends how much we shake him up.”

Gary was in favor of a little shaking.