Chapter 3

As Ed pulled into the parking lot at the rear of the office building he saw that the street in front of the building was filled with police cars. Ed got out and walked around to the front of the building. He spotted Tim Speckler and headed for him. Tim was past retirement age and had been Ed's first partner when Ed got out of Police Academy. Ed surveyed the group to see if any of his old adversaries from the force were around. Not seeing any, he walked up to Tim.

"How's it going Tim?" Ed said, "What's going on?"

"Oh, just a girlfriend murdered her boyfriend in his office," Tim replied, "He had his pants off, so he probably wasn't doing it right."

The hairs on the back of Ed's head stood up. He sensed that he was suddenly in the middle of something that he didn't want to be involved in. Cops developed an intuition for such things. Ed passed a few pleasantries with Tim before questioning him more.

"What's the guy's name, anybody I know?" Ed asked.

"George Bynum," Tim replied, "His secretary said he had a girl friend but she had never seen her and she doesn't know her name. The guy was married and had a girl on the side."

Tim shook his and tsked. Ed was certain that Tim would never consider running around on his wife. Tim was as straight arrow as they came.

"The detectives are trying to find out where the girlfriend lives," Tim went on, "Nobody even seems to know that."

Ed told Tim that he had seen Tim as he rode by and had just stopped to say hi. Ed walked back to the van. Ed knew that he should talk to the detectives but he was sure that the girl he had followed had nothing to do with the murder. Ed knew from experience that, at this point in the investigation, there were two possible suspects, the wife and the girlfriend and the detectives would be anxious to talk to both of them.

Ed got into the van and started to think. He knew that he shouldn't get involved in this. The woman had been calm and in control of herself until those 2 gang members started playing around. She either had nothing to do with the murder or she was the coolest murderess in history. He reached behind the seat and found the phone book he carried in the van. He leafed through the pages looking for a B. Krause. He found a Betty Krause listed but the address wasn't listed in the book. The phone company will omit a woman's address if she asks. She was still foolish listing her first name instead of just her initial. He wondered how many weird phone calls she got. Ed wrote the number down and started the van. He drove several blocks and saw a Seven-Eleven. There was no one at the phones tacked to the wall in front of the store. Ed pulled in front of the store and headed for the phone.

Ed dialed the number for B. Krause. The phone rang 3 times and a woman answered. She started to say hello but Ed interrupted her.

"Is this Betty Krause that works in the building that Horizon Financial Services is in?" He asked.

She stuttered for a few seconds before confirming that she was that Betty Krause.

"Listen to me carefully, Ed started, "I'm the guy that pulled those 2 guys off of you tonight and I brought you home. George Bynum has been murdered and the police think that maybe you did it. I'm a private detective and I was hired to tail you and give a report to Bynum. You'd better get out of that apartment for a while so that you can sort this mess. The police are going to find you tonight and will be knocking on you door by midnight.

Ed could hear her sobbing, "I didn't kill him."

"Look I'll be at your place in about 20 minutes," Ed interrupted, "Throw some clothes in a bag and come out when I pull in front of your house. Don't pack dresses because you won't be going to work for a while. Now get moving."

Ed hung up the phone and ran to the van. He got in and started the engine and drove toward Betty Krause's apartment. He observed the speed limit, as he didn't want to waste time explaining to a cop why he was speeding. Ed pulled in front of Betty's apartment and saw the lights go off in the apartment. She came running over to the van with 2 trash bags in her hand and got in.

"They just had the murder on the evening news," she said breathlessly, "I wasn't going to come until I heard that and knew that you were telling the truth. The newscaster said that the police are looking for an unidentified woman. Why do they think I did it?"

"I don't know," Ed, replied, "I have a lot of questions I want to ask you. This all doesn't make any sense."