4

I parked the car and we walked to Mrs. Dee who was watering her flowers. She told me she had planted them all herself which I had congratulated her on. It was a lot of flowers. "Hello, Mrs. Dee. Is it alright if we talk?" I asked.

She looked at me. "Hello, Detective Zone. My husband is home today and I know you've been wanting to speak with him since he hasn't been home any of the times you came here. Come on in." She led us to the living room where Mr. Dee was.

I smiled at him politely. "Hello, Mr. Dee."

He inclined his head. "Detective Zone. I bet you have questions for us."

"A few."

"Then go ahead."

"Was Daila friends with Halla Air?"

"Halla? She was Daila's babysitter," Mrs. Dee said.

I frowned. "Are you aware that Halla was only five years older than Daila?"

"Yes, she told us she wanted to help her mom make money," Mr. Dee said.

Huh. Mrs. Air was having money trouble? "Was Daila friends with Sarah Ruth?"

Mr. Dee nodded. "Sarah was you years older but she treated Daila like a sister. Did something happen to Halla? We haven't been watching the news anymore."

"Why is that?" Lisa asked.

"Because we don't want to hear about this killer killing more people. We learned of Sarah's death from Mrs. Ruth," Mrs. Dee said.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry to say Halla was found dead yesterday," I said when it became clear Lisa wasn't going to tell them.

"Oh no!"

Mr. Dee hugged her. "Was it the same guy?"

"We believe so," Lisa said.

"Poor Mrs. Air. Now she just has little Faith," Mrs. Dee said.

I nodded. "I'm sorry. How long did you know Halla?"

"Three years," Mrs. Dee replied wiping her eyes.

"Do you have children, Detective?" Mr. Dee asked.

Hmm, why did he need to know that? "I have a young daughter who's friends with Faith," I answered.

"So you know how Mrs. Air is?"

I didn't need to have a kid to know that. Something was off. "Yes. She was sad and grieving yesterday. But she still wants Faith and my daughter to have a playdate."

"She must want Faith to believe everything is okay," Mrs. Dee said.

"Maybe. I have more questions but they can wait if you'd like to be alone."

"That's alright. We'll answer your questions now."

"Okay. How long did you know Sarah for?" Why hadn't I come to talk to them when we found Sarah?

"A year."

"How much did you pay Halla?" Lisa asked.

"Twelve bucks."

"An hour?"

"No, we paid her for a day of watching Daila," Mr. Dee said.

"Did she tell you her mother was having money troubles?" I asked.

"She didn't want to but we kept asking why someone so young would offer to babysit."

"Did she come here when you weren't expecting her to babysit?"

"Yes, She called us her friends," Mrs. Dee said.

"Did she tell you anything concerning?"

"You mean other than the money?" I nodded. "No, she didn't."

"Was she here yesterday?"

"No, but she did call."

I sat up a little straighter. "What did she say?"

"That she and Harry had an argument and Mrs. Snap dropped her off at her house. She was glad she would have the house to herself for a little while. I told her she shouldn't be alone when there's a killer loose but she said she was fine."

"Did she hang up after that?"

"Not really. We were talking about how she liked school and…random stuff. Then she said she heard a car and she thought it was her mom so she hung up. But I swear she was lying."

"About the car or her mom being home?"

"About her mom being home."

"But you do think a car had pulled in?" Lisa asked.

"Yes."

Hmm, this is getting interesting. "What time did you get off the phone?" I asked.

"Eleven o'clock."

Halla's mom had found her at twelve. A whole hour had passed. "Hmm. An hour between you talking to her and her mom finding her," Lisa said.

"Where were you yesterday Mr. Dee?" I asked. Yes, I have some suspicions about him.

"Work," he said.

"I never got a chance to ask where you work." Which was true. If I had known I would have gone to his job to question him. I wouldn't have had to wait until he came home.

"Oh, I'm a construction worker."

I nodded and stood. "Thank you for your time." Lisa and I walked out. We got into my car and drove off. "What do you think?" I asked her.

Lisa sighed. "Mrs. Dee was the last person to talk to Halla."

"Yes. Night Wolf had an hour to kill Halla."

"Do you want us to talk to Mr. Dee's boss?"

I nodded. "We'll ask Julian and Noah to do it. Actually, call Julian and tell him. We still have one more stop."

"We do?"

"Yes. We're going to the Ruth house."

"Are we visiting all the parents?"

"Yes, though Mrs. Air is taken care of."

"Yeah, you had Noah and Julian go there."

"Mm-hmm."

She called Julian and after a few minutes of talking, she hung up. "Do you think Mr. Dee could have done it?" She asked.

"Everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise." Well, minus Mrs. Air but I'm not going to say that.

"Right."

"What else did you notice?"

"At the Dee house?"

"Yes."

She thought for a second. "Mrs. Dee was upset for Mrs Air."

She's not pointing out what I want her to. "See it's the question about my kid that seems odd to me. He didn't even say anything after asking that." I'm not sure why it bothers me so much but I just know that there's something off about him.

"About her, no he didn't. But he asked about Mrs. Air."

He could have asked how she was doing without asking if I had kids."

"If he is the killer and he touches my niece he'll be very sorry."

"Yeah, he will."