Walt Murphy – Part Two – 34

"You never saw her again?" I asked Frank.

"I wish I could say yes to that but"—Frank's mouth tightened angrily—"I don't know if she tracked me down or if it was just as she said, a coincidence. I'm married now and my wife and I were out to dinner, celebrating her birthday. When we got up to leave saw Coleen seated at a table across the room. She looked at me then went back to reading the menu as if I was a stranger."

He paused then continued. "The next morning she called me at work. She hinted, without coming right out and saying, that if I didn't want my wife to know about our past relationship, and about my father, we should meet somewhere for lunch and a 'nice chat' as she put it. I told her to go to hell and hung up."

"What if she'd carried through with her threat?"

"Trina, that's my wife, knows all about my father. As a matter of fact we've visited him a couple of times."

"Does she know about Ms Engel?"

Frank shook his head. "That's past history. But damn it, I'd tell her before I let Coleen try to blackmail me again."

"After the phone call did you hear from Ms Engel?"

"That would have been a bit hard unless you believe in ghosts. She was murdered that night. I was shocked when I found out but I'll admit that didn't break my heart."

"Have the police contacted you about the murder?" I asked.

"No. Why would they? And more to the point, how would they even know about my past with her?"

"I found out. I'm sure they could as well."

"If they have, they must not consider me a suspect." He stared hard at me. "Do you?"

Smiling slightly I replied, "You're on my list of possibilities."

He chuckled. "Knowing her, it's probably a fairly long list."

I just shrugged before asking, "Is there anything else you can tell me about her?"

"Like who else might have wanted her dead? Not really. We never discussed who we'd known before the two of us met. Oh I pried a bit at first but she managed to deflect my questions so I dropped it. After all”—he smiled wryly—"we were in love and that's all that counted. Or so I thought until the end."

"I understand. All right, I think that's all I need to know at the moment. If you think of anything else please call me and if I have further questions I'll get in touch with you." I gave him my business card and he gave me one of his. I thanked him for his time and he left.

After that I dealt with the two new clients who had morning appointments and then I took off for lunch.