8. Suspect Deborah Citlali

Kathy rested her chin on her hand as she studied the new profile sheet. Whenever she looked into a murder, she put together a profile sheet on every suspect. She was currently looking at Deborah Citlali, a co-worker of Shaye’s at the magazine that was part of Wade Williams publishing empire. They were colleagues, but not exactly friends. Deborah had been heard to say she would kill to have Shaye’s job.

She was a society columnist, but impatient to do more. Writing about fancy parties, weddings and fundraisers was not real journalism, she felt, more like pandering to the rich. What she longed for were grittier stories, true-crimes and victims. Real investigations she could sink her teeth into.

Kathy had talked to people at the magazine, and most seemed to find her cold, calculating, not a team player. She was political, flirted with senior people, but pretty much ignored her peers, unless she wanted something from them.

Deborah had been passed over for a promotion that was given to Shaye Alderson. She had been with the company longer, but this newcomer, who’d come from a lowly position as copywriter at the ad agency, got the plum promotion. She was angry.

Even more interesting, Ms. Citlali had recently written about the Stormont family and touched on the dagger and the peculiar pre-nuptial ceremony.

She had an interest in knives in general and the Stormont dagger in particular. She’d wheedled permission from the family to take it to a blacksmith to be cleaned and sharpened. The Stormonts regarded the dagger as a bit of a joke, but Deb treated it with respect, she wanted to care for it and preserve it. She had shown it to her martial arts mentor who had been suitably impressed and, later, discovered Deborah alone in a practice room doing elaborate fight moves with the dagger, culminating in her sinking it up to the hilt in a practice dummy’s heart.

Kathy shuddered. It was one thing to see knife attacks in the movies, but now she had seen what a real knife does to a real body, and it wasn’t pretty.

She stood up and refreshed her tea before reading about an incident at Wade Williams Christmas party. Nobody knew how it started, but everyone saw how it finished. A heated discussion between the two women ended with Shaye slapping Deborah’s face. That was shocking enough, but the response was jaw-dropping. Deborah rotated on her heel and threw a vicious high kick at Shaye’s head. She pulled it at the last moment, just hitting her shoulder and knocking her to the ground.

Witnesses said she was bouncing on the balls of her feet looking menacing and slightly ridiculous before she calmed down and helped Shaye to her feet.

As a registered martial arts fighter Deb was under rule of law to use her skills only for defense. If she’d really hurt Shaye she’d have been in big trouble. But despite the dramatics, Shaye had shrugged it off and everyone just put it down to the rum punch.

Kathy was now very interested. A bad relationship with the victim, an expert with knives, an interest in the Stormont dagger and she had been seen actually using it. It felt almost too easy.

After running it past Brampton, Kathy decided to take action. She would join the mixed martial arts club where Deb worked out, talk her way into being partnered with her and observe this prime suspect at close quarters. But not too close, she thought as she closed the file.