Golden in Death(3)

Cleared, she and Peabody headed upstairs to talk to the spouse.

“Lydia Merchant, age twenty-seven,” Peabody began on the walk upstairs. “Employed by GP&P for six years. Clean employment record, clear on criminal.”

“We talk to her anyway.”

Rufty’s clothes had already been bagged and sealed. In gray sweatpants and a navy sweatshirt with TAG in gold across the chest, he sat, shocked and grieving, on a curvy love seat in a sitting area of a bedroom done in rusty reds and old gold.

He had a neat brown goatee streaked with blond to match a shaggy mop of hair. A tall, gangly man, he had a long, thin face, dark, currently watery brown eyes.

He wore, as the victim did, a white gold band on the third finger of his left hand. And his hands stayed clutched together as if they alone kept him from shattering into pieces.

Eve signaled to the uniform who sat with him.

“Start the canvass with your partner. Anyone who saw anything, I hear about it. If you touched the body or anything in or around the crime scene, the hazmat unit needs to clear you.”

“Yes, sir.” He glanced back at Rufty. “He wants to call their kids, but I’ve held him off. He for sure touched the body, sir.”

“We’ll get to that. Take the bagged clothes down with you, give them to hazmat. Have one of them come up to scan and clear him.”

She moved to Rufty, sat on the deep red chair facing him. “Dr. Rufty, I’m Lieutenant Dallas. This is Detective Peabody. We’re very sorry for your loss.”

“I—I need to talk to the kids. Our children. I need—”

“We’ll let you do that very soon. I know this is a difficult time for you, but we need to ask you some questions.”

“I—I came home. I called out: ‘Jesus, Kent, what a day. Let’s have a really big drink.’” He covered his long, thin face with his long, thin hands. “And I walked back to the kitchen, and—Kent. Kent. He was on the floor. He was … I tried to … I couldn’t. He was…”

Peabody leaned over, took his hand in hers. “We’re very sorry, Dr. Rufty. There was nothing you could do.”

“But…” He turned to her, and the look, Eve thought, said: Help me. Explain. Make it stop.

“I don’t understand. He’s so healthy. He’s always nagging me to exercise more, eat better. He’s so fit and strong. I don’t understand. He was going for a run this morning. He always goes for a run on his day off, and on his lunch hour if he can squeeze it in during office hours. He was going to finish the crossword and go for a run.”

“Dr. Rufty.” Eve waited until those shattered brown eyes focused on her. “Were you expecting a package today? A delivery?”

“I—I don’t know. I can’t think of anything.”

“Have you ever ordered from an outlet called All That Glitters?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You get deliveries from Global Post and Packages?”

“Yes. Yes, Lydia delivers. But I…” He pressed a hand to his temple. “I don’t think we ordered anything. I don’t remember.”

“That’s all right. Look at me, Dr. Rufty. Do you know of anyone who’d wish to harm your husband?”

“What?” He jerked. Fresh shock. “Hurt Kent? No, no. Everyone loved Kent. Everyone. I don’t understand.”

Eve countered the spikes in his voice with absolute calm. “Someone from his office, from his practice, from the neighborhood.”

“No, no. Kent has such a lovely practice. All those babies and little kids. It’s all so happy there. He worked so hard for his children, his patients. You can ask,” he said, his voice spiking again. “You can ask all of them, all of the people who work there. They love Kent!”

“All right. You’ve been married a long time. Were there any problems?”

“No. No. We love each other. We have our children. We have grandchildren. I need to call our children.”

When he started to weep, Peabody moved over to sit next to him. “I know this is hard. Did Kent mention anyone who worried him? Did he say anything about someone or an incident that upset him?”

“No. Nothing I remember. No. I don’t understand. What happened? What happened? Did someone hurt Kent?”

“Dr. Rufty.” With no choice, Eve gave it straight. “We believe Dr. Abner received a package this morning, and that package contained a toxin, which caused his death.”

Tears fell still, but Rufty’s body straightened. “What? What? Are you saying someone killed Kent? Someone sent something into the house, into our home that killed him?”

Eve rose at the knock on the door, let in the white-suited sweeper. “We need to take precautions. We need to ask you to submit to a scan, to allow us to test your blood, as you touched Dr. Abner. It’s possible the package he opened this morning contained a toxic substance.”

“It’s not possible.” He dismissed it outright, and with the ring of certainty. “No one would do that. No one who knew Kent would do that.”

“We need to take precautions.” Eve sat again, looked directly into Rufty’s eyes. “We’re going to do everything we can to find out what happened to your husband.”

“You loved him,” Peabody said gently. “You want to do whatever needs to be done to find out what happened.”