by J K Franko
Moran:Mr. Travers. Here is a copy of Mr. Cruise and Ms. Font’s entry papers into Bimini. Also, here is a copy of their passports, stamped by the Bahamian government at time of entry. I also hand you a copy of receipts from Resort World Bimini for the slip, electrical, and water for their boat the entire week. Here is a copy of a receipt from an ATM – withdrawing cash on Bimini at the Resort ATM on May 3rd. Last, this is an AMEX credit card statement, redacted, but showing charges all week in Bimini.
Travers:Thanks for that, Mark.
Moran:They were there all week, Art.
Travers:As I said. Thanks for that.
Moran:Let’s go ahead and mark all of these as an Exhibit?
(EXHIBIT A was marked.)
Travers:You didn’t come back to Miami at all?
Cruise:From Bimini? At the end of the trip, obviously. But during the week? No.
Travers:Any idea why Mr. Harlan would have bought boat shoes the day he arrived in Miami?
Moran:Don’t speculate, Roy.
Cruise:I honestly don’t know, Detective.
Travers:Did you have any stomach problems when you were in Bimini?
Cruise:Stomach problems?
Travers:Yeah. You know... Diarrhea? Vomiting?
Cruise:Yeah. I did actually. I forget which day. I think it was Wednesday? Maybe Thursday? It started late at night, after dinner. Bad sashimi, I think. Went into the next day. Wow. You guys have really done your homework.
Travers:What were you doing that night? The night of May 2nd? What did you do that night in Bimini?
Cruise:If I have the timeline right, I think I was on the toilet a lot. If that was the night. But we went to the casino one night, too. Maybe we were there. The days kind of run together down there. Island time, you know?
Travers:Okay. But, this is important. Do you remember that specific night? May 2nd. What you were doing? Was that the night you were sick?
Cruise:I think so. But, honestly, it’s been almost two months. I’m just not sure. I’m sorry. I want to help here, but it’s been a while. I’m just really not sure.
Travers:What about jet skiing?
Cruise:What do you mean?
Travers:You took a jet ski to Bimini, correct?
Cruise:Yes.
Travers:Did you use it?
Cruise:Yes.
Travers:Before or after you got food poisoning?
Cruise:Before, for sure. After, I don’t recall. Again, it’s been almost two months.
Travers:About six weeks, actually. What do you remember doing the days after you were sick? The balance of your trip after you got food poisoning?
Cruise:Again, Detective. Island time. I know we went to the casino – I think before. We went to the pool at the hotel. Dinners. But, it all kind of runs together, you know?
Travers:What if I told you that a witness says your jet ski was missing the day you say you were sick?
Cruise:I don’t...
Moran:Hold on. Just a second. Which day, Detective? And what witness? If you want Mr. Cruise to review someone’s testimony and comment, show him. But I am not going to have him responding to witnesses who aren’t here based on your representation of what they supposedly said.
Travers:Will you answer, Mr. Cruise?
Cruise:Sorry, Detective. I have to follow my lawyer’s advice.
Travers:Did you... Hold on.
(A discussion was had off the record.)
Moran:Detectives, would you like to take a break so you can talk in privacy?
Garza:Screw you, Moran.
Moran:Just trying to be cordial, Freddie.
Garza:It’s Eddie, and you know it. Asshole.
Moran:Apologies, Eddie. You remind me of a Freddie I know.
Travers:Come on, guys. Cut it out. Mr. Cruise, did you do any fishing?
Cruise:When? That day? May 2nd?
Travers:No. In Bimini.
Cruise:No.
Travers:Do you have a fish knife?
Cruise:I... maybe? Yes? I don’t know how to answer that. At home? On the boats? How do you define a fish knife? I guess the answer to the question as asked is “probably.”
Travers:Okay. Yes, that’s kind of broad. Do you have a knife on either of your boats that you use for gutting fish?
Cruise:There’s not any one knife. Those things are pretty cheap. There’s always a knife around.
Travers:Would you mind providing us with any knives you have on your boats?
Cruise:I suppose I...
Moran:Are you kidding, Travers? No, Roy. Don’t say anything. We’ll take that under advisement, Detective.
Garza:Gentlemen, may I? I think I can cut this whole thing short. Save us a lot of time?
Moran:We agreed on only one...
Travers:Eddie, we discussed...
Moran:...person asking questions.
Travers:...this.
Garza:I think I can short- circuit this. Get to the crux. Can we go off the record?
(A discussion was had off the record.)
Garza:Hello, Mr. Cruise. We’ve met before, correct?
Cruise:We have.
Garza:You’re a pretty sharp guy, right? I mean, you’ve built this big company. Made a lot of money.
Cruise:Is there a question in there you want me to answer?
Garza:I’m getting there. You’ve done well investing in businesses, right?
Cruise:I can’t complain.
Garza:Because you get them. Businesses. You understand how they work, right?
Cruise:I have a sense for that, yes.
Garza:So, look, just like you got a good sense for business, I got a good sense for murder. I can tell, in my gut, when something’s on the up-and-up, and when something’s fishy. You like that pun, fishy?
Cruise:I don’t understand.
Garza:Really? Fishy. As in fish knife. You don’t understand? Because your lips are saying no, but your eyes are telling me that you do.
Cruise:Again, is that a question?
Garza:So, here’s what I think happened. I think you killed this kid. You and your sidekick, the boy wonder over there. (indicating Mr. Kim)
I don’t know if you did it. Or if he did it. Or if with all your money you hired someone to do it, but it was you putting it all together.
You got this kid Harlan down here to Miami, and you killed him, cut off his dick, and got it back to Austin where it got nailed to his dad’s front door.
(Mr. Garza placed a photo on the conference table.)
You see that? That’s his dick. It says “for Kristy” – Madame Court Reporter, that’s a fouras in the number 4, space, Kristy.
4 Kristy
You guys got the kid to come down here. Hell – you paid his way.
We’ve got this kid texting your sidekick about a dinner that you both claim to know nothing about. Strange, I think.
Then, we’ve got a Seattle phone number saved on the kid’s phone using your name.
But, you got all sorts of decoy stuff going on here, don’t you, Roy? Misdirection.
You got the dick in Austin with the girl’s name on it.
You got the Seattle number changed to McCall’s name. Someone changed that. You? Your sidekick?
All very clever. (Mr. Garza clapped his hands – applauding.)
Very well done. And, you know what, I think you’re going to get away with it.
Very well planned. Very well played.
But me, see, like I said, I’m good at what I do. I got a good sense for murder. And, sitting here watching you, I think you did it.
So, just between us girls. Look me in the eye, Roy, and tell me the truth.
Come on, Roy. Just between us girls. Did you kill him? Did you kil
l Harlan?
Cruise:No, Detective Garza. I did not.
Garza:You’re lying, Roy. I can’t prove it, but you’re fucking lying.
Moran:Okay. That’s quite enough. The grandstanding is over. Roy, don’t say another word. Detective Garza. Detective Travers. Get a warrant. We’ve cooperated. We’re here in a spirit of cooperation, doing our civic duty. This is abusive. It’s unprofessional. Mr. Cruise has taken time out of his day, and Mr. Kim, to cooperate. But, if you...
Cruise:Mark...
Moran:...want to accuse upstanding citizens falsely, get a warrant. We’re done.
Cruise:...hold on. Hold on, Mark.
Moran:Roy, you are under no obligation to do or say anything here.
Cruise:Yeah, I understand. But, I... I want the officers here to get what they need and leave us alone.
And, hopefully, find the person who did this. That’s why I just want to be clear.
I want to respond to Detective Garza’s monologue. So the record is clear.
Detective Garza, I wasn’t even in the country when all of this happened. And David has a solid alibi based on his building security and all the other documents he gave you.
Regardless of all of that, the critical question here, Detective Garza, Detective Travers, is why?
You’re right. I am good at business. When I look at buyinga business, I always want tounderstand the company story. Why is it going to succeed where others have failed? What makes it different? What drives the team? Why are they doing what they’re doing?
In startup companies, more than ninety percent of the battle is motivation, persistence. And that comes down to belief. To faith. You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing. You’ve got to have a reason that makes you do it. A powerful motivation.
In this current situation, I’d advise the good officers here to ask the same question. Why? Why in the hell would David or I want this guy dead? What is our motivation?
Like you said, Eddie, I’m a rich guy. I don’t need more money. I could quit work tomorrow and still live like a king for two lifetimes. So, there’s no amount of money that would motivate me to kill someone.
So, why would I risk all of that – everything I have and everything I’ve built – to kill some kid I’ve never met?
The answer is – I wouldn’t. There is no good reason.
Look, David and I saw the possibility for collaboration between us and this kid, Joe. Unfortunately, now we will never know if that was a real possibility.
But, for us, he was valuable alive as a consultant. Dead, as unfortunate as the circumstances may be, he can’t help us. He’s useless to us.
And the last thing we would want to do is make him useless to us.
I am very sorry, Detectives, if that doesn’t fit with what you need or hoped to hear today.
But that is all there is.
And now, I am done.
(Off the record at 2:37 p.m.)
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
Eddie sat back in his chair. It was his favorite piece of furniture; a brown leather recliner. It was well-used. Comfortable. He’d taken many a good nap in this chair. He hoped that he’d die in it. Literally, in his sleep. Best way to go.
As a homicide detective, death is a part of everyday life. Death is your business. So, you tend to think about it a lot. And that inevitably leads you to think about your own death. Not the consequences—the “what will they do without me” part of death—but the actual event. The passage from a living being with hopes, worries, and aspirations to an inert corpse. The how of that transition is something that homicide detectives deal with more than people in any other profession. And, they think about it a lot.
When people think of death and careers (everyone does, don’t they?) they tend to think of morticians or doctors.
This is not quite accurate, though. Morticians deal with death as a given.
He died of a heart attack.
She committed suicide.
This is death as past tense. By the time the corpse arrives at the funeral parlor, it’s been dead a long time. Death has done its work and moved along.
Morticians don’t deal with death. Death is an event. A moment.
Morticians deal with the aftermath. The preparation of the corpse; all the rituals. All of that really has nothing to do with death or even with the dead. The mortician’s work is really focused on those who remain behind. Morticians basically throw a party for the living, aimed at helping the attendees adjust to a new state of affairs in which a usual member of the party is absent—permanently.
Doctors don’t deal with death, either. For them, death is a failure mode. A bad outcome. Death is the enemy to be defeated. A potential lawsuit to be avoided.
Only homicide detectives deal with death in all its facets. Why would anyone want him dead? How did it happen? Where was the killer standing? How many knife wounds are there? Which one was fatal?
On his desk across the room there was a stack of four different case files. All homicides. Eddie was intimately familiar with each. He knew the ins and outs of every killing. He had researched and read up on the victims. He understood who had a motive, who would want to see these people die. Deconstruction of each victim’s last days, hours, minutes—all leading up to the moment of death… that was Eddie’s job.
Morticians and doctors? They know nothing about death.
Eddie had just finished reading the last piece of this particular file—Joe Harlan Jr.
He was in the process of closing out files. Dead cases, he called them. He liked the irony. Unsolved cases that would probably remain unsolved. As was his habit, before shutting a file down, he read through it one last time. You never know. Something might jump out at you. You might see things from a different perspective. It had never happened to him, but there’s always a first time.
In this file, there was nothing new. Some anomalies. Some weird facts. But nothing more than circumstantial evidence pointing at foul play. Who did it? Who knows?
The biggest issue with the case was the complete lack of a crime scene. Odds were high that the kid had been killed in Florida. Assuming that to be true, alibis eliminated most of the prime suspects.
The Wise family was the most fertile area for investigation. Alibis, all. Every one of them in Austin. A contract killing? It was possible. Though there was no evidence to support the theory.
The father, the honorable Senator Harlan? He didn’t stand to gain much from his son’s death. Though he did stand to avoid potential future scandals. That’s sort of an incentive. But, again, verifiably in Austin.
Frank Stern? No motive. In Austin.
Marty McCall—possibly a motive, financial—but even farther away, in Seattle.
Did Eddie think Cruise did it? Or him and David Kim both, together? He’d pushed them hard at their interviews to try and make them crack. They hadn’t flinched.
And, as Cruise had pointed out—they had no motive.
That was the clincher. Although they had the closest ties to Harlan near the time of his disappearance, and there were some weird facts—that strange text message, especially—to put someone away for murder, you had to convince twelve people off the street that the accused wanted someone dead enough to actually make it happen. If you had no motive, no reason for killing, nothing to be gained, you had no case. No motive, no case. And with Kim and Cruise, as Cruise had pointed out, there was no motive.
That left Dr. Van der Put’s Lust Murder theory. Someone unknown to Harlan singled him out for murder. And crucified the dick to show off how clever he was. It was possible. Stern had said most of Facebook knew about Harlan’s travel plans. It was possible.
Eddie sighed, putting Roy Cruise’s interview transcript back in the file.
Good news was, with the possible exception of his father, no one would miss Joe Harlan Jr. And no one th
ought that seeing his dick hanging from his own front door was a terribly wrong outcome. A bit crude, perhaps.
But Eddie thought of his little girl, asleep down the hall. If what had happened to the Wise girl happened to his little Maggie, God forbid, he wouldn’t think twice.
As Eddie reached for the next file, his phone rang. The caller ID showed “Liz Bareto.”
During the investigation of Liam Bareto’s death, he’d gotten to know Liz. She’d been grieving. Everyone does it in their own way. He’d felt for her. Tried to be compassionate.
They had connected somehow. After the flurry of initial activity investigating Liam’s death, they’d continued to talk from time to time.
She still called him every couple of months, ostensibly for updates on Liam’s case. There was never anything new to report. But they’d chat a little. Catch up.
She was a nice lady. Elegant. She didn’t deserve what had happened to her.
Since the last time they’d spoken, he’d heard from Veronica Rios. Liz was still beating the bushes—still looking for justice. And in the meantime, all this Harlan mess had gone down.
Eddie thought for a second. While it would have been out of school to discuss an ongoing investigation, he had literally just closed the file on the Harlan case. It couldn’t hurt to update Liz, seeing as Cruise was involved. It was odd—Cruise seemed to be out of town when people connected to him died. So, he decided to give her a full rundown on the Harlan case.
Eddie picked up his phone and stepped out on his balcony so as not to wake his wife. Maybe there was a little guilt at play there, too. Liz was an attractive woman in her way. Elegant.
“Go for Eddie.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
In the physical universe, we have the law of conservation of energy, which essentially states that energy persists—it is neither created nor destroyed. It simply changes form.
The billiard table provides the classic example. Two balls sit on the table. One ball is pushed into the other. Upon impact, the first ball (the mover) transfers its energy to the second ball—the ball it hits. The second ball begins to move. The first ball abruptly stops. No energy is lost; it is simply transferred from the first ball to the second. This is how the physical world works, according to Newton.