“Okay. We’ve been waiting for you, or a form of you, before we interviewed him. I guess it’s back to Conference Room A for me. Marie, can I have that knife? I think both Mr. Townsend and Mr. Laurenfeld should see it.”
She pulled it out of a locked drawer, already wrapped in a protective plastic evidence bag, and handed it to him.
Addams showed it to Laurenfeld, but didn’t let him touch it. “We found this in a trash can next to the green. We think this may be the weapon used to attack Officer Reasoner.”
“Do we know that this belongs to Mr. Townsend? Or is it just something that you found?”
“Good lawyer question. But I think we better address that in the context of the interview, don’t you?”
Laurenfeld smiled tightly and nodded. “I’d like to see my client for just a few moments first, if I can. I know we didn’t do that with Chief Pierson, but that was by his choice.”
“Sure. George,” he called to Peabody sitting at his desk, going through the files on stolen goods. “Can you bring Harry Townsend to Conference Room A? Thanks.”
Addams returned to what he was now slowly thinking of as his office to wait and the phone rang.
“Chief?” It was Hazlett. “Phil Culbertson is on the line. He has the report on the blood from the knife.”
“Thanks, Marie.” The line clicked. “Yeah, Phil, this is Bud Addams. What do you have for me?”
“Bud, we did the match on the traces of blood on that knife from the trash receptacle. It is a match for Stephanie’s.” Addams took a deep breath and let it out. “No fingerprints on the knife and nothing we can use from the handkerchief. But the blood on it matches both the knife and Stephanie. It was what was used to wipe the knife. Apparently, the culprit thought by separating them, maybe we wouldn’t find both or, even if we did, be able to put them together.”
“But no way of identifying the user at this point?”
“Well, not right now. But it was a handkerchief. Which means there is very likely some trace of its owner. If it was in the pocket for more than a minute anyway. We’re not at a point of using DNA testing yet, but there may be something we can match from the pocket. But we’d need a suspect to match it with. Catch someone, and we can see what we can do.”
“We do have a suspect, Phil. Maybe we can come up with something. Thanks, we now do have a weapon and a personal possession of the attacker. That’s more than we had a couple of hours ago.”
Addams hung up and looked at the knife sitting on his desk. This was not a kitchen carving knife. It had too much of a hilt to it. And the designs on it indicated that it was more likely an individual knife, not one of a set. He had never kept a hunting or camping knife of his own, but he remembered going camping with a friend when he was a kid, and the friend’s father carried something that looked like this, just in case one needed a knife for...something. The father had grown up in a time when boys were expected to carry at least a jackknife by the time they reached a certain age, and his had been the adult version, not quite a hunting knife, but a general all-purpose one that was held in a sheath on the belt.
As a matter of fact, Chief Pierson had carried one sort of like this, but his was on him and removed when he was arrested, and was thoroughly examined at the time. No initials though. But a more ornate though worn handle. This one was a prized personal possession and handy enough to use at a moment’s notice. He spent a moment in thought, but, besides the chief, he couldn’t recall having seen anyone else with one.
CHAPTER 26
Addams was still sitting at his desk when Hazlett poked her head around the door frame. “Bud...Chief...Chief Bud...”
“Just Bud, Marie. Please.”
“Bud, they’re ready for you in the interview room.” Hazlett always liked to use the correct terms for current uses – interview room today for what had been conference room or storage room on previous days.
“Thanks, Marie. Could you also get for me the handkerchief that was found? I’d appreciate it.”
Addams walked into the conference, now interview room, carrying a bag holding the knife and the handkerchief, both encased in plastic evidence wrappers, in one hand and a file folder in the other. Peabody followed him, holding a tape recorder and his trusty notebook.
“Mr. Townsend, Mr. Laurenfeld. With your permission, Officer Peabody will be recording this conversation.”
Townsend looked at Laurenfeld, who nodded. “It’s for your protection as well as theirs. I’m here to protect your legal rights and to tell you what you should or shouldn’t answer.”
Peabody pressed the button, sat back, and crossed his arms. This interview was going to belong to Addams.
“Okay. Mr. Townsend, you have been given your rights, is that correct?” Addams began. “Here is a card stating those rights. Do you need to have them repeated or explained?” Townsend took the card, skimmed it, and shook his head. “And Mr. Laurenfeld is here to see that they are enforced?”
Townsend nodded this time.
“Please say both responses out loud for the recording.”
“Yes, I was explained my rights and, yes, I understand them.”
“All right. We have two separate situations here. We’re going to first address the stolen goods found in your aunt’s house. Do you have anything to say about them?”
“I, I don’t know anything about any stolen goods. In my aunt’s house.”
“Look, we know that your attorney will have advised you to say as little as possible – that the burden of proof is on us. He is right. He will also have advised you to be as truthful as possible in your responses. So I am going to lay out what we have so far and what we are pursuing.
“First, we have information from your previous employer that you were suspected of theft from their store and that is why you are no longer working there.”
Laurenfeld started to speak, but Addams held up his hand.
“I know. That is not admissible in court and you were never charged. But we’re not in court right now, and I wanted to let you know where we’re coming from.
“We have found the secret closet in Mrs. Mathison’s home. Based on the receipts from the safety deposit box, the room has been there for several years, but we don’t yet know how long it has been used to hold stolen property. We have identified the objects within it as property that has been reported as stolen. The crime scene unit is presently checking for fingerprints and any other identifying markers both on the objects and inside the closet.
“You have had frequent access to her home and witnesses have reported that she said that you brought her many of the smaller objects that she displayed in her home. Objects that have been specifically listed as stolen.” Here Addams stretched the truth slightly, knowing there was no current evidence as to which of the knick-knacks had been delivered by Townsend. But he wanted to see how Townsend reacted.
Townsend looked down, picked up a pen lying on the table, and started rolling it in his hand, but did not say anything. Peabody leaned forward when Townsend had put his hand out but relaxed when he realized what he was doing.
Addams continued. “No one, and I repeat no one, believes that Mrs. Mathison stole these objects, at least not on her own. Some of the pieces were definitely too big for her to carry out. And it stretches common sense to think that there was a gang of her peers and friends, older women carrying out a series of thefts like this. Petty jewelry and doodads maybe, but not the electronics or paintings. And who would have known where to sell the items, how to get rid of them? It would have been too dangerous to try to sell them in Summerfield. Too small a town with everybody knowing everybody else. So that pretty much leaves you, with contacts in bigger towns and with access to the house.”
“No, I...” Townsend caught the quick movement of Laurenfeld shaking his head. “Just ‘no’.”
“The other issue is the attack on Officer Reasoner. We know now that it was not done by the same person who,” Addams paused on using the particular word, “killed Mrs. Mathison. But there is reason to believe that it was intended to be thought that – that we were supposed to suspect it was done by that same person, as some part of a crazy series of attacks, maybe on lone women. Officer Peabody reported that you were stunned to hear that we had already arrested someone for that first attack and that we knew then that they could not have been done by the same person.” Peabody nodded in agreement.
“But nobody else knew it at that time!” Townsend couldn’t help saying.
“That is true. But it is a point. That is why we believe the intention was to make it seem like the same attacker.”
Addams leaned forward. “You were with Officer Reasoner as you went through the house yesterday and opened the safety deposit box. She may or may not have commented on the smaller size of the room...I suspect she did. It’s the sort of thing she would have noticed. But you were aware that she had copied the documents from the bank, including the receipts for adding that extra space to that room. And she would have gone through those papers, finding out about that closet. And that is something you would have wanted to keep hidden.”
Addams opened the bag, pulling out the knife and the handkerchief. Townsend’s eyes widened as he saw them.
“Do you recognize these, Mr. Townsend?”
“No....Those aren’t mine.”
Addams noticed the pause. “Do you recognize them?”
“No.” This time Townsend shook his head vigorously. “No, I haven’t seen them before.”
Laurenfeld broke in. “He has answered that question, Chief Addams.”
“This knife was used to attack, to stab Officer Reasoner.” Addams used the word “stab” deliberately, and Townsend paled slightly at the term. Peabody also grimaced upon hearing the word. “And the handkerchief appears to have been used to wipe the blood off the blade, but not completely enough. They were found in separate trashcans on both the east and west sides of the green. We have warrants to search your residence, your office, and Mrs. Mathison’s more specifically for evidence related to both the thefts and the assault on Officer Reasoner.
“You were seen by witnesses afterward at the green, but not until after the ambulance had been called and the rest of the observers had gathered. No one knows where you were prior to or at the time of the attack. You have no alibi, and you could have had time to first attack her, then go to the other side of the green to dispose of the knife, and finally return to join the onlookers.”
“I was in the office! I didn’t come out till I heard all the noises outside. I didn’t hurt Stephanie! I swear!”
Both Addams and Peabody sat back at the vehemence in his voice.
“Mr. Townsend,” Laurenfeld interrupted him. “Don’t say anything further.” He turned to Addams. “Could I have a moment with my client?”
Addams looked at both of them for a moment, then nodded.
“Come on, George. Give them some time.” Peabody shut off the recorder, and Addams packed up his evidence into his bag. They went out and shut the door behind them, leaning against the wall outside.
Peabody wiped his forehead.
“My goodness! What do you think?”
“I think...I think we’re going to find out what Townsend has to say.” Addams smiled slightly. “I also think, that if either of us smoked, this would be the time to do it.”
After just a few moments of contemplative silence between the two of them, Matt Laurenfeld opened the door and motioned for them to come back in. They took their seats, and Peabody turned the recorder back on.
Laurenfeld said, “Mr. Townsend would like to make a statement. I want it on record that this is of his own volition, that he is volunteering this information.”
Townsend still had his pen in his hand and was now absently clicking it. A nervous habit, but he seemed to need it to keep himself talking.
“I’m not confessing to anything from my old job, but, as you know, we agreed that it was in everyone’s best interest for me to look for employment elsewhere. So I came to Summerfield. Aunt Grace knew Mel Johnson, and he was willing to add another man in the office. I think he wants to think about retiring and thought it made sense to have someone take over the business.” He looked both Peabody and Addams in the eye. “And I am good at it. I’ve always had a knack for selling and for getting along with people. So this job really did work for me.”
The pen clicked a little more often, and he looked back down at it.
“When I first moved here, Aunt Grace showed me that hidden closet and how to get into it. I, I knew a guy. In Oldstown. A guy that would buy stuff like what you found in there, no questions asked. And I realized that, at garage and yard sales, nobody paid much attention to you. Aunt Grace liked to go to those things, and she would spend time talking to the homeowners. While they were talking, I would wander and found that I could drop a few items in my pockets. At first, just to see if I could get away with it. For the thrill of it. Then I took a few bigger things to the car. Other customers wandering at the sale just think you’ve already paid for it or are coming back to pay for it. You can carry anything away from a garage sale and, if the owners aren’t particularly watching you, no one else thinks anything of it.”
He shifted in his seat. Peabody slightly shook his head, but made no comment.
“I’d give Aunt Grace some of the smaller things that didn’t seem to have any value – I knew she liked to collect stuff like that. And I told her I had bought some other bigger things and asked if I could keep them in that closet.”
Addams interrupted. “Your aunt didn’t know these items were stolen?”
Townsend looked up, then back at the table, then at the wall on his right. “No, no, she didn’t know.”
“She didn’t suspect?” Peabody asked.
“If she did, she didn’t say anything.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t going to push it. If she didn’t say anything, I certainly wasn’t going to.”
The clicking pen paused for a moment, then continued.
“So when the closet started to fill up, or I figured it had been long enough since the theft, I’d take whatever we had over to the guy in Oldstown.”
He put the pen down and straightened up in his chair.
“So I guess I am confessing to stealing all that stuff in the closet. You got me on that. But I swear to you that I did not attack Officer Reasoner. I may be a thief, but I am not a killer. You were right that she did say something about the room seeming to be much smaller than it should be. But come on, stealing stuff from a yard sale is not going to put me away for life. It’s not worth killing somebody over.” Townsend spread his hands out on the table. “Hey, come on.”
After a moment’s silence, Peabody spoke for only the second time, “There is one thing, Mr. Townsend. One of the witnesses said that they saw you throw something into one of the trashcans the night Officer Reasoner was attacked. If it was not the handkerchief, what was it?”
Laurenfeld raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Oh.” Townsend blushed slightly. “I’m kind of, actually very, embarrassed to say this. Especially considering what happened to her. I had gotten Stephanie, Officer Reasoner’s phone number from our receptionist and thought that, if she didn’t find out about the room, if I wasn’t in trouble, I might give her a call sometime about going out to dinner. You know. She is pretty attractive.
“But, after the attack, I thought it might look bad to have a card with
her phone number on me. That’s what I threw away. Honest.”
Peabody rolled his eyes, then stood up and walked down to the end of the room, where Seth Getty had laid out some other items he had found in the trash, not knowing if they would be relevant or not. He sorted through them for a couple of minutes.
“Ah, yeah. Here’s an index card with ‘SR’ and Steph’s phone number.” He looked back at Townsend. “And three stars?”
Townsend had the grace to grimace. “I always start them out with three stars. But you never know. She could have gotten more.”
Addams sighed. “We’ll have Marie type this out and then have you sign it, Mr. Townsend. I’m sure District Attorney Alvarez will want to get more detailed in her follow-up interview. Meanwhile, we are going to pursue more information regarding this knife and handkerchief. Thank you for your cooperation.”
They all stood. Addams and Laurenfeld shook hands.
“Mr. Laurenfeld, I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of you.”
“I suspect so, Chief Addams. DA Alvarez and I will have a lot to discuss.”
CHAPTER 27
As Peabody handed the tape from the recorder to Marie Hazlett, she pointed to two figures sitting in chairs in the department’s waiting area. Cecil Skinner and his daughter, Tracy, were waiting patiently, but looked up as Peabody approached.
He shook hands with both of them, making a point of including Tracy. “Thank you for coming, but hold on if you can, for just a minute,” he said and walked over to the chief’s office. Addams had just sat down.
“The Skinners are here,” Peabody announced.
“What? Why?” It took Addams a few seconds to transition from the Townsend interview.
“The girl, Tracy, was one of the witnesses last night, you remember? We had to wait till she got out of school for the day to talk with her?”
The Body on the Roof Page 17