19. Nice Guy Grant

She smiled and was glad she had told him about her visit after the fact. He’d taken it well. No scolding. “Learn anything good?” He leaned back to let Lucy place his loaded breakfast down and refill his coffee.

Kathy closed her eyes and inhaled the aroma of bacon before answering. “Well the first thing I learned was I wouldn’t want to play poker with him. He’s got this ability to go corporate and put up a mask. But when he talks about personal things, I saw the mask slip several times.”

Brampton paused with a piece of toast halfway to his mouth. “Personal things? Like what? Things that make him a potential suspect?”

“Well,” she said shaking out her napkin, raising her fork and looking glumly at the flaccid egg white omelet. “One thing is he dated Shaye Alderson back in high school.”

“What? Like casual? Heavy? What kind of dating?”

“They were in a play together, but they were just support characters,” Kathy replied and ignored his bewildered look. “He was attracted to her, I think he was quite the nerd, excellent grades in math and stuff, but unlikely to have other opportunities to get so close to a babe. Maybe he took their acting roles too seriously, and his hormones kicked in and he asked her out.”

She paused and chewed, thinking how to sum up her impressions. “It sounded one-sided, like he read far more into it than was there. They had a couple of dates, but she said because they were going to different universities a long-distance relationship would be too hard, so she didn’t want to get too involved. She was probably being kind, letting him down easy, using it as an excuse to not be his girl.” Brampton frowned, remembering a similar conversation with a girl in high school.

“He’s a smart guy, but still a bit nerdy and needy,” she said. “I was surprised he opened up like that. I didn’t expect him to come across as vulnerable.”

Brampton nodded, gestured for her to continue and renewed his attack on the enjoyable bacon and eggs.

“When Shaye came back to town, she joined his company and he tried to hook up with her again. I got the sense she didn’t put him off completely, didn’t want to alienate the guy who fixes her computer, but she really wasn’t interested in dating him.”

“So, how does Grant fit into the picture now?”

“A co-worker hinted he was infatuated with Shaye, and his screensaver is a younger picture of her. He didn’t try to hide it. I didn’t ask him how he got it, but maybe I need to have another conversation with him?”

“Bottom line, Kathy, do you see him as a suspect?”

She took a sip of coffee, dabbed at her mouth with the blue clothe napkin. Half the egg white omelet lay untouched on her plate, all the toast and mushrooms were gone.

“There is more to this. Grant Ashbury studied the history of the Middle Ages in university, he was into Dungeons & Dragons, the Knights Templar, all that stuff. He’s quite proud of it, says a lot of modern science fiction borrows from old traditions and legends and all that.” She leaned forward. “He knows a lot about the Stormont dagger.” She watched for a reaction.

Brampton was not as impressed as she had hoped. He was mopping up ketchup, grease and egg yolk with a tiny piece of toast. “Did he have access to the dagger?”

“Yes! He’s seen it several times and knows its full history. I have him on my list of suspects based on the fact he knew both murdered women, but the end of our conversation put him right up there at number one. Listen to this.” She fished her iPad out of her bag. “He was fine with me recording the interview, and he seemed to think this was a reasonable thing to say.”

She hit play at a spot she had queued up. The volume was low, but Brampton felt a chill hearing Ashbury talk about Shaye’s noble death and joining women to whom the dagger had brought honour or pain. It was a remarkable thing to say to someone looking into a murder. “Well, that’s peculiar,” he said drily. “Based on that piece of weirdness, he’s definitely a suspect.”

“There’s more. You know the cold case I’m revisiting, the student who was killed seven years ago, stabbed?”

“I remember you said you were looking into it.”

“Dr. Rivers told me the murdered girl, Catrina, worked on a project with a group that included Grant Ashbury.”     

She leaned forward, elbows on the table, and looked intensely into his eyes. “Catrina handed the project in just before she died,” she paused for effect, “or not. Grant had a bit of a rant about her not handing it in on time and how the group lost marks.” Brampton’s eyebrows rose. “I know, pretty insensitive, but when I talked to Ken, I mean Dr. Rivers, he said she had handed it in.”

“Ken, eh?” He waggled his eyebrows at her and she blushed. “Interesting. Did you tell Ashbury what he said?”

She slumped back. “No. I wanted to hear how he remembered it, and it’s obviously still a touchy subject. He was angry about the unfairness, then realized how that sounded and walked it back. Anyway, it doesn’t sound like he had much to do with Catrina, although Rivers suggested he was sweet on her. Grant’s a real mix, he got emotional about the lost marks, but he was noncommittal about Catrina. He could be hiding his real memories, or he genuinely had no interest in her, I mean Rivers didn’t have any proof, just a feeling.”

Brampton considered. “What does your gut say?”

Kathy looked pleased. She believed in her instincts. “The two girls were alike, auburn hair, blue eyes, about the same height, nice figure, well endowed”

Brampton thought back to the latest victim, and to pictures he’d seen of Catrina. Similar body type and coloring, even their hair, long and wavy and worn loose.

“We need to see the old autopsy,” said Kathy. “The summary says stabbed once, but they don’t say anything about a weapon. Could it have been a dagger? If the cases are linked that way, hell, Grant Ashbury is definitely a prime suspect.”

Brampton nodded, dabbed his mouth with his napkin, then clapped his hands together. “Okay, my turn. I’m glad you’re sitting down.”