One Deadly Sister Part 16

"And, so what if she is the lover? Does that help me solve this murder? And she's married. Hard to believe Towson was that reckless. And where's her husband? I would need to dig into her background, what's going on at her restaurant, and possibly other activities in Tampa."

"Tampa?"

"I'm afraid this might lead there, and if it does I'm out of my league. Cuban-Americans in Tampa can be a tight group. Where would I start?"

"The State of Florida could step in, it has organized crime units and all that high-tech stuff," the chief offered.

"Yeah, why don't you suggest to Moran that we turn over this investigation to Tallaha.s.see?"

"Not me."

"Is he aware of what we found on Linda Call?"

"Not yet. He's on his way here right now. Before he gets here, Chip, tell me what's with you and Reid's sister? She embarra.s.sed the department with her charges and that item in the paper didn't help."

G.o.ddard pointed to the garden magazine. "Like you care?"

"Ah, h.e.l.l, Moran found out about you meeting her, and I got my a.s.s chewed."

"Sorry about that, but I'll listen to anyone with information about this case. I'd rather she talk to me than to the papers."

"Reid's attorney will scream b.l.o.o.d.y murder if she tells you something that ends up in the trial."

"She's been warned-she talks to me at her brother's risk."

"She has a thing for cops according to Huress."

"Get your head out of your a.s.s, Chief. She had no reason to bother with Huress. I think Moran was behind that incident. He probably told Huress to go do what he had to do to get her off our back. Huress, in his own small but h.o.r.n.y mind, thought he had a cute little pigeon in his grasp. No, Chief, her story was true.

"I guess you know what you're doing. Remember, Moran is watching."

Just then, the door opened and Moran marched in with a file of papers under his arm. The chief stumbled in mid-sentence to change the subject. "All right Chip, so what about the new reports on Norma Martin and Linda Call."

Moran set the papers on the desk. "So, G.o.ddard, at long last you got a statement from Martin."

"No, she won't talk to me. I did get her DNA from a cigarette b.u.t.t, however."

"I hope all this isn't interfering with your s.e.x life. Where'd you get that coffee? Can you answer that question?"

G.o.ddard pointed. "Out there in the squad room, over by the window. Help yourself." He wasn't going to jump and get it, which is what Moran had in mind. The chief got up. Moran said, "Cream and sugar. You mentioned Linda Call?"

"I just got this FBI report on her." G.o.ddard knew that would get a reaction.

Moran was startled. "She's a suspect? I just gave her an interview."

G.o.ddard said, "We faxed the prints we found on the wine gla.s.ses to the FBI National Database and got a hit back this morning, they belong to Linda."

"Don't tell me she was in his apartment," Moran moaned, "And don't tell me the woman's got a record."

G.o.ddard didn't respond immediately, he pretended to check a folder, letting Moran suffer for the longest possible moment. Then he answered, "No record. Her print set was in the civil section on the Integrated System. She submitted routine fingerprints when she applied for a Concealed Weapon Permit some time ago."

The chief came back and set the coffee in front of Moran who took a sip, frowned, and pushed it away. The chief said, "Not farfetched for a crime reporter to want a weapons permit. She's a Georgia gal, probably uses guns for bookends. Maybe she used one last Sat.u.r.day."

G.o.ddard corrected him, "She's not from Georgia, as we all thought, but from Tampa. The permit was issued there before she was a crime reporter. Why'd she need a gun in Tampa? Also interesting, her name came up spelled L-y-n-d-a. Now that's Latina. I don't care if she's Cuban-American, but Tampa is the center of the pro-gambling opposition to Towson's election. I want to know what her prints were doing at the crime scene."

"If she was with Towson innocently that afternoon, why didn't she come forward? What's she hiding?" Moran asked.

G.o.ddard hesitated, knowing Moran would explode upon hearing the next statement. "To make matters worse, she showed up at the crime scene while CSI was there."

"What! She was there at the crime scene? That means all of our crime scene evidence is contaminated and could be thrown out. d.a.m.n, I'm dead." Moran covered his face with his hands. "Who let her in?"

"CSI," G.o.ddard answered. "Not a good policy but it happens with reporters. I wasn't there."

"Not an excuse! So, you weren't there, but it's your investigation." Moran was still shaking his head in disbelief.

The chief said, "I hate to mention this, but if she's involved, and she had access to the crime scene, G.o.d knows what else she did up there to cover her tracks."

Moran was livid. "Oh, this is really cute. We know Linda is lying about her past, she might be the murderer, and she might have returned to the murder scene later in her capacity as a reporter, and the CSI might have held her purse while she tidied up the evidence." He stared at the chief expecting an explanation.

"What can I say? Incredibly sloppy crime scene security. I don't know what happened. I'll investigate."

Moran loosened his tie and lowered his head. "G.o.d, if any of this s.h.i.+t gets into the trial...."

G.o.ddard said, "If it helps, her prints weren't found on anything in the bathroom, so I don't think his affair is with Linda."

"Linda is gay," the chief said. "I don't think she'd be interested."

"Come on, Chief," Moran said, "if Linda wanted Towson dead her preference wouldn't matter."

"We're closer to the ident.i.ty of Towson's lover," G.o.ddard said. "A good chance it was Norma Martin."

"What makes you think that?" Moran asked.

"We've a DNA match with the items in the master bath."

"Remember, a match doesn't mean she was up there the day he was killed," the chief said, "and being his lover might have nothing whatever to do with his murder."

Moran said. "That agrees with what my secretary told me; she heard the affair was with Martin. Did her prints match?"

"We don't have her prints on file and no legal way to get them at this point. So we still have unidentified prints at the scene," G.o.ddard said. "And the wine gla.s.ses found in the bedroom still have to be explained."

"So, you have wine gla.s.ses and an unmade bed. Some woman was up there Sat.u.r.day," Moran said. "Maybe it was a three-way in that bed: Towson, Norma Martin, and Linda Call, who isn't bad looking by the way. Would Towson go for that?"

"Three-ways don't happen in my town," the chief stated flatly.

"You don't know what a three-way is. Anyway, it's not likely in this case. Linda might have been up there merely interviewing him over a gla.s.s of wine. She interviewed me this morning and left her prints on my coffee cup. See what she says, G.o.ddard."

The chief said, "Therefore, Norma Martin is the lover, is fronting for unnamed restaurant owners, and is definitely a suspect. Linda also was definitely up there but has an excuse, except she's not our redneck gal from Georgia but Latina L-y-n-d-a from Tampa. What likely females haven't we talked about?"

G.o.ddard said, "Tammy Jerold, but the unidentified prints don't belong to her. Her prints were available because her real estate license required fingerprinting."

The chief said, "That leaves Loraine Dellin, and no way in h.e.l.l would Towson have had anything more to do with her. He'd rather die first." Then he realized what he had said.

Chapter 21.

Six h.e.l.lish days in jail for Ray seemed like six h.e.l.lish months, and the worst was yet to come. He was awaiting the inevitable transfer out to the county jail. Strange to be told the city jail was child's play by comparison. Whenever he heard the clang of the metal door, even late at night, he'd stiffen. They would soon be around to cuff him, put him in a van, and carry him off to an even stranger and uglier world.

Worst of all, he realized, Sandy would be gone.

He knew she needed to go back to Philadelphia. He didn't blame her. But he knew when she left, the investigation would come to a halt. An aggressive defense wasn't likely without her. They could do whatever they wanted with him.

That Friday morning Sandy and Jerry Kagan were across from him in the visiting room. Kagan spoke first, "I talked to the judge about delaying your transfer out to county. I've several motions pending and he's going to use them as an excuse to delay the transfer as a favor to me. Said he'll give us five more days. They were supposed to transfer you long ago."

Sandy said, "I can see you're on the edge of depression, and I hate to hit you with this right now, but five more days is all I can give you too."

Ray was expecting that. He nodded and gave her a tight smile, "That's okay. I appreciate all you've done."

Unexpectedly, in a loud voice she said, "Hey, I've got a life in Philly, you know!"

Her defensive tone surprised him. "I understand, it's fine."

"I can't spend my entire life down here straightening out your mess!"

"Of course not, it's okay, Sandy."

She shoved her chair back and walked rapidly to the window. After a few minutes, Sergeant Lewis noticed and walked over beside her. He asked her something, she nodded she was okay and came back and sat.

"Okay, let's get on with it." She pulled out her notebook. "I had a second meeting with Tammy Jerrold. She was quite interested in how our investigation was going. She suspects Loraine now but still doesn't want to see you, Raymond. I got her talking about Towson. She mentioned he was paying Loraine alimony."

"Alimony? She's getting alimony?" Ray said.

"Yes, big bucks every month. That's what she lives on. Towson complained about it according to Tammy. Why then would Loraine kill him? If he's dead he can't pay alimony."

"d.a.m.n! We thought we had her big motive, that blows it away," Ray said. "She wouldn't kill the goose that lays the golden egg."

"Not necessarily, life insurance might indeed be the motive." Kagan explained. "The certainty of her alimony stopping upon his death provided her with a legal insurable interest. She could then have insured him even though not married. A large life insurance policy on Towson could have been part of the divorce deal. She still could be our suspect."

Sandy said, "I get it-lump-sum alimony payable upon death. Life insurance set up by the divorce agreement pays her a large lump sum to make up for the monthly alimony that would normally stop when the ex dies. If she kills him, and gets away with it, she's instantly an extremely rich woman."

Kagan continued, "Is she so greedy she'd risk losing guaranteed monthly alimony payments for a possible lump sum, and take the chance of being caught, and ending up with zero and in prison?"

"She might take the chance for enough millions!" Ray suggested.

"For some people everything is never enough," Sandy observed. "How do we find out?"

"Her attorney doesn't have to tell us without a court order," Kagan said. "If she makes a claim for millions, however, some insurance investigator will be all over us."

Sandy said, "We know Loraine definitely directed you to Towson's apartment on the day of the shooting using that text message. That sounds like a plan. Only the killer would know to put you at the scene the very day Towson would be shot."

Kagan said, "So, she did it, and she framed Ray for the murder."

"Let's not lock that down just yet, Jerry," she suggested. "Could there be any motive besides insurance?"

"Divorces come with built-in motives, take your pick," Kagan replied.

"Okay, here's some other stuff I found out." Sandy referred to her notebook. "About a year ago, Towson had something special going with some woman who lives in Palm Beach. Supposed to be very hush-hush, but everyone I asked seemed to know about it, and everyone remembered her name, Elizabeth Montgomery. Same as some old TV actress everyone in the world has heard of except me."

Kagan said, "That actress was a real dish. Loved her work. I have her on some old videos."

"Last night I went online with my laptop and checked property records for every county in Florida. Do you know there are sixty-seven freakin' counties in this state? I tried Palm Beach County first, of course, and got an immediate hit. I sat there until after midnight searching through the other sixty-six. Anyway, Towson does own a condo in Palm Beach County. I Googled Elizabeth Montgomery and after seven billion hits on the old actress, I found her name in Palm Beach County and sure enough that's her address."

"Perhaps she's a little honey he has set up down there," Ray said. "This Elizabeth Montgomery might be a woman scorned or might have a jealous husband."

Kagan joined in, "At the very least, we've another suspect and more reasonable doubt."

"I need to dig more into Towson's life as well," Sandy said. "See where he pops up in official records. Search for other names. See the court record of the divorce proceeding. Are there children no one knows about? Like that."

"Jerry, could he actually have made it to the Governor's Mansion? I heard he had big time opposition," Ray asked.

"Slam dunk, as good as elected. His opposition was ruthless and well funded, but he definitely would make it. Some Cuban-American big-money interests were pus.h.i.+ng to legalize casino gambling in Florida. They're out already optioning land for casinos and getting politicians lined up. Towson stood for old Florida and the status quo, anti-growth and all that, the ideal candidate. Campaign would be tough but it would be gra.s.s roots, John Q. Public against big-money."

"Be less fuss to shoot a state senator now than a.s.sa.s.sinate a governor later," Ray said.

"The link for us there might be Norma Martin," Sandy said. "Here's how her story goes so far. She breezed into town a couple of years ago and bought the Jardin Cafe. Owners weren't even thinking about selling the place until she came along. The place wasn't in good shape, and they were thrilled when she said how much, and handed them cash. The cover story was she cashed out on a large house up north in a divorce settlement. Everyone a.s.sumes she owns that restaurant, but I found out she doesn't. A Delaware Partners.h.i.+p owns it but the partners might well live in Tampa."

Ray said, "Would the Tampa big-money go so far as to a.s.sa.s.sinate him?"

"I suppose that could happen here, happens in Miami. Billions are at stake," Kagan replied. "The pro-casino faction definitely wanted the senator out of the way."

Sandy's phone buzzed. It was Meg Emerson. "Sandy, I brought up reports on all the princ.i.p.als you named. Here we go. This is all confidential and a violation of every Federal privacy law, so cover my tail please. I found zilch on Norma Martin. Are you certain she actually exists? I'd need her social to check further. Tammy's fine, owns a couple of small rentals, she's a saver, no visible problems. Sonny Barner somehow got into financial trouble while he was a toddler, maybe earlier, and hasn't been out of money trouble since. Don't buy a used car from him. Loraine Dellin is hurting financially, heavily mortgaged and margined, not yet critical, but she's been selling off her securities to live. She's literally eating up her princ.i.p.al. Got all that?"

"You're the best." Sandy had another idea. "Two more names popped into my mind. Elizabeth Montgomery, West Palm Beach, and what about Towson's campaign manager, Tony Hackett?"

"That last one's easy. Not public yet, but Hackett is about to declare bankruptcy. His creditors have already moved in. Everyone thought he was inside on all the money deals that Towson pulled off, but I guess not. Somehow, he's ended up broke. Word is he may have moved back to Virginia already. I guess you've a reason for asking?"

"The person who finds the body always goes on the suspect list. Thanks, Meg." Sandy turned back. "Where were we? Ah, I'll look into the Tampa connection. Detective G.o.ddard also wants me to check on it."

Kagan was surprised. "What did you just say? You're doing work for Detective G.o.ddard?"

She enjoyed the moment. "Yes, I made a connection that could be good for us. I had coffee with Detective Chip G.o.ddard. He wants me to tell him whatever I find out, and in return he doesn't tell me zip. How's your heart, Jerry? I could hear it pounding over here."

"Yes, that startled me. Never heard of such a thing, it just isn't done. As your brother's attorney, I must advise you of the considerable danger there. Whatever you tell him can be used in court. Moreover, you can be put on the stand and made to repeat it."