Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

“Yes, and your view is subjective and your judgment biased. Agnes would not have allowed Dr. Robles even to see that bottle. If she called him to come to her house, at that time of night, to intercede on Am’s behalf, she would have had a bottle of Rioja or Ribera del Duera Reserva or Gran Reserva. I saw bottles of both in her kitchen. It makes no sense that she would allow that bottle of California wine to be served.”

He shook his head and his eyes were bright. “It’s absurd.”

I looked at the inspector. “I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Varufakis has a vested interest in having this case closed without his relationship to Dr. Robles becoming public knowledge, and if I can avoid that, I will. But I am not going to close a case on the strength of an unsigned confession which I believe to be unsafe.” I looked Varufakis in the eye and added. “I also think that your relationship with Dr. Robles gives you a conflict of interests and you should not be involved in this investigation.”

“I was the one who pressed for this investigation, for God’s sake!”

“Yes, and now you need to distance yourself from it, sir.”

The ADA was about to reply, but the inspector cut across him. “They’re right, Costas. You know yourself that they are. We will do our level best to keep your name out of it, but this is a murder investigation and we have to follow the evidence—wherever it leads.”

He was quiet for a long while, then looked at me and his eyes were angry. “You have a confession!”

“I have a confession I believe to be unsafe. And frankly, Costas, you should have come clean about your involvement from the start.”

He stood and moved to the door. Dehan stopped him. “Mr. Varufakis?”

He turned. “What is it, Detective?”

“You’re asking us for latitude and understanding, to bend the rules for you, but I want to ask you something. If a colleague of yours had done what you have done, only with a woman instead of a man, would you expect us to be understanding and give him latitude?” He stared at her, but didn’t answer. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “A man who cheats on his wife is a rat and deserves what he gets, it makes no difference if he cheats with a man or a woman. If you have kids, that makes you twice the rat because you’re risking their happiness and their wellbeing too. Go home to your wife and kids and pray your affair isn’t relevant to the investigation. And while you’re about it, grow up. You’re a big boy now.”

He left and closed the door behind him. We were quiet for a moment, then Dehan shrugged. “I got no time for cheats. You make a commitment, you stand by it. End of story.”

“Indeed.” The inspector nodded. “I can’t argue with you on that. But where does this leave us? Are you serious about this confession? You know I’ll back you up whatever you decide, but I have to agree with Costas, you have a confession, and your doubts seem to be founded on some pretty slim evidence. The wine and the language… Both may have perfectly simple explanations.”

I nodded. “Oh, I agree, sir, we could probably come up with a number of explanations, but they would not satisfy Occam’s razor. They would not be the most simple answers. We would be making the evidence fit the answer, not the other way around.”

“Well, what is the most simple explanation, if not that the confession is true? Either Agnes Shine killed him, and for some reason this Am Nielsen is confessing to the crime, or the confession is true and Dr. Shine is dead too. It has to be one or the other, surely!”

Dehan nodded. “I agree. Besides, Stone, you said yourself in the car that you knew Am Nielsen had shot Robles. I am getting pretty confused about what you think happened here.”

I shook my head. “No, the most simple explanation is that Am Nielsen shot Dr. Robles, but Agnes Shine was not there to advise him about the wine.” I looked at them both in turn and smiled. “We need to find Agnes Shine.”

FOURTEEN

The deputy inspector’s eyes had glazed over and he had nodded a few times as though he had some idea of what I was talking about. Finally, he’d told us to carry on, we were doing a fine job and to keep him posted. We had left him shaking his head at the cold, gray window, and Dehan had followed me downstairs with the wooden motions of a string puppet, staring at her feet as she took each step. We had sat at the desk and she had watched me pick up the phone and call Dr. Patricia Meigh, with a small frown on her forehead.

“Dr. Meigh, this is Detective John Stone.”

“Good afternoon, Detective, how can I help you? I hope you found what you were looking for the other day, or not, as the case may be.”

“Thank you,” I said, somewhat ambiguously. “Things have moved on a little since then.”

“Are you any closer to identifying Jose’s killer?”

“Oh, yes, indeed we are, but there are a few things which I am not one hundred percent clear about, Dr. Meigh. I was wondering if you would be willing to come in before you head off for Maine, and just tidy up a few loose ends for us.”

“Of course, Detective. I would be happy to. When would suit you?”

“Could you manage it this afternoon?”

“In about an hour?”

I made a ‘well, that’s surprising’ face at Dehan and said, “An hour would be superb. Thank you, Dr. Meigh.”

Dehan said, “She is very cooperative,” and sounded worried. “Are