Lani Janich opens The Radio Murders: The Collectors with a bang, literally. The sister of Bill "Crash" Kradich, Lani goes from being a victim to conspirator to spree-killer to victim once again. Here she is interviewed by Detetive Sergeant Mike Molnar, a hero of The Radio Murders: The Caller.
Lani Janich wiped tears away with a crumpled and tattered tissue. "It was about 2:30 as I recall, maybe not quite, but very close, yes"
"Was your bedroom door opened or closed?"
Lani looked at the detective with a curious expression. "You know, I'm not sure, we usually have it open a little, but since, as I told you before, we were...intimate, it was probably closed."
"That’s right. You and Mr. Janich were making love." Molnar asked the question as though he were asking if she took cream in her coffee.
"Sergeant, is this really necessary?" Gibbons spoke, slapping his fountain pen to the gray pad.
Molnar gave the attorney a deadpan expression. "We found Viagra in Peter’s system."
"What are you talking about?" Lani protested. "My husband needs no such thing to be a man! This is ridiculous. The man came in with a gun and forced us to leave the house, that's all. These other things, what could they possibly do to help you catch this man?"
"Ma’am, we don’t know what’s important until we have a complete picture."
"I warn you, sergeant, I will end this interview and the next time you hear from Mr. Janich will be on the witness stand." Gibbons had a way of turning the corners of his mouth up without a hint of a smile.
Molnar demurred and let Lani lay out the scenario without interruption. She recalled it all so perfectly, as she remembered it, and - known only to her - as she had written it.
"I tell you my problem, Mrs. Janich," Molnar addressed both Lani and her attorney. "Your husband had a small arsenal in the house, and he had a revolver in a drawer next to the bed in the other room. Now, most people keep such a weapon so that they can defend themselves in case someone breaks in, in the middle of the night, follow me?"
Lani Janich held a blank expression. "It’s actually a foolish expectation, believing that one could handle a firearm coming out of a sound sleep, but that’s what folks do. That’s what men do."
"My husband is a collector, detective, not a gunfighter. I insisted he keep that room locked and those horrible things away from the rest of us, away from the children." She bounced her head on the pillow. "I don't know if he ever even shot one." Molnar found her explanation somewhat plausible; why the gun was not in the master bedroom, but the rest of what Lani Janich was saying heightened his suspicions.
"Sounds reasonable." Molnar tapped his notebook with the pencil. "So that I have this straight, he drove you around to, what, ATM machines?" Molnar asked.
"He made me give him the code and he took out five hundred dollars at the first stop. Then we drove to another bank where Peter has his accounts and made him give him his code, then he took another five hundred. He was upset that it was all he could get, so he asked Peter where he had more money." Lani stopped and gave her attorney a scared-child stare.
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