Page 71 of Night Moves
A flash of pain sharpened his eyes as he shoved the business card into the pocket of his designer jeans. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Please,” Natalie said.
He started to close the door.
Drake shoved his foot in the way, earning a glare that Drake imagined had been used in many a contentious real estate deal.
“I lost my sister to the same killer.” Natalie stepped close and peered up at Zimmer. His expression softened a fraction. “We’re following up on leads, and if we could just have a few minutes of your time.”
He hesitated, and Drake gently pressed his foot on the door, subconsciously encouraging the man to fully open it.
He did and stepped back. “A few minutes is all.”
“Is your wife here?” Drake asked as he followed Natalie into a foyer with polished concrete floors and a floating staircase encased in glass.
“No, and I’m glad she’s not. Wouldn’t want her to have to rehash things.” He gestured toward the back of the house, another wall of glass but with sliding doors that ran the width of the room. “Straight ahead to the family room.”
They passed under a second-story landing, the wall also glass, and into a two-story room that held a soaring fireplace covered by huge marble slabs. They’d grouped contemporary leather furniture in the middle of the room. White and pristine, the leather was well cared for, hardly used, or both.
Natalie sat on a sofa, and Drake perched on the arm next to her. Zimmer took a seat in a sleek chair with shiny chrome arms across from them. He locked his focus on Natalie. “I’m sorry to hear about your sister.”
“She was his first victim. Four years ago now.” Natalie drew in a deep breath and clutched her hands in her lap. “The loss still hurts like it happened yesterday.”
“I get that. Believe me.” The real estate mogul had to be used to wheeling and dealing with other big players in the business, but right now, his eyes looked haunted. He swallowed and masked the expression. “So what can I tell you that I haven’t already told the police?”
“We were hoping you might shed some light on why Laura worked and shared an apartment when she seemed to have family money at her disposal,” Drake said. “Seems like she could easily have had a nicer place to herself and not worked an hourly wage job.”
A smile flashed on his face. “She was going through a phase. Consciousness raising, I guess she called it. She wanted to find out how therealpeople lived.” He frowned. “And man did she. Especially with that weasel Owen Odell.”
He clenched his hands on his knees next to purposely placed holes in his jeans. “He scammed her. A bunch of other women who came forward too, all who trusted him, and he emptied their bank accounts. He was arrested with a large quantity of cash in his apartment. I don’t mind telling you I was glad to see that lowlife go to prison.”
“Please,” Natalie said. “Tell us more. This wasn’t in her file.”
“Not sure why. With Odell behind bars, he couldn’t have killed her, so the detective didn’t really seem interested when I mentioned him.”
“What can you tell us about him?” Drake asked as every bit of information could be important.
“Young pup. Good-looking. Charismatic. Preyed on naïve young women and got them to hand over their money.” Zimmer gritted his teeth.
“Naïve?” Drake asked.
“I get what you’re thinking.” Zimmer’s expression hardened. “You figure since Laura came from money that she was spoiled. Ran free. Did drugs and hung with the wrong crowd. The typical stereotype you see on TV. But you’d be wrong. We raised her right. Gave her a simple life and made sure she didn’t hang with those kinds of kids. So yeah. She was naïve to most of the things that go on in the world today. Her only vices were clothes and makeup. She loved to look good. But yeah, she was naïve in so many ways. Out in the world for the first time. And this guy got his hooks into her.”
His hands curled into fists. “I could see right through him. Tried to pay him off. It put a rift between us until she saw his true colors. Then she wanted us to help. And we did. Brought in the police. We wanted her to move home. She wouldn’t, so we got her to move and not give out her address to anyone. She moved in with another woman for a little safety. You know the old saying, safety in numbers. She was shell-shocked by then and started keeping to herself. I hated seeing her withdraw like that and wanted the guy to pay. So I worked behind the scenes to get the police looking into the creep, and he was brought to justice.”
“How long ago was this?”
Zimmer tapped his long index finger on his knee. “Going on four months now. Her pain and struggle with this guy put him behind bars for years.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do too,” Natalie said. “The monster who killed her and my sister should be locked up forever.”
“Wouldn’t disagree with you.”
“Do you know where Odell’s incarcerated?” Drake asked.
“Oregon State Correctional Institution. Salem.”
“Do you have any idea who might’ve wanted to kill your daughter?”
