“Then where were you that night?”
“I had worked a long day and was home. Had a beer to relax, then went to bed at about nine o’clock.”
“Did you call anyone that night?”
“No, at least I don’t remember calling anyone.”
Masters interrupts, “Justin, we found your fingerprints at the scene, we know you were there.”
“Where did you find them?”
“What does it matter? Why would your prints be there if you say you weren’t there?”
“I have no idea, unless they were there from the night before. Where did you find them?”
“We found one of your prints on the gun Justin.”
Now Justin knows the detective is bluffing. He had made sure to thoroughly wipe the gun down.
“Impossible,” says a defiant King, “I never touched any gun. I don’t even know where he kept that damn gun.”
“We also know you were having an affair with Naomi,” continues Masters.
This shocks King a bit, as now he is not sure if the detective is bluffing, or if he actually knows. Whichever it is, he cannot admit to an affair. For the first time, he feels a bit nervous.
“I was not having an affair with Naomi or anyone else. That’s insulting you would even say that. Who told you that nonsense?”
“We have our sources.”
“I think you are lying,” says King. “Naomi wouldn’t even tell me who she was having an affair with. All I know is she was having one and told Ryan about it.”
Masters leans in toward King and challenges him, “I think Naomi was going to tell Ryan it was you and you had to kill her to save your partnership.”
“We were not having an affair and I had nothing to do with Naomi’s death,” says King in a raised voice. “You’ve already arrested Ryan for the murder, and now you’re telling me you think I did it? Arrest me then and I will sue the both of you and the city, because I know you have no evidence against me.”
“Justin, if you were there, we will find out,” warns Masters. “I hope you are telling us the truth.”
“I certainly am.”
“One more thing,” says Tippen, “are you sure you didn’t make or receive any calls from anyone that night?”
“Not that I recall. That was over a week ago now.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The interview concludes and King is allowed to leave.
Tippen turns to Masters, “you pushed him real hard, and he stuck to his story.”
“Yeah, I wanted to see what kind of reaction we got or whether he would admit to being there. Except for the now revived memory of our drunk suspect, we have nothing to indicate anyone else was there.”
Back at the office that afternoon, Lisa provides King the language from the partnership agreement he was looking for. The partnership agreement includes a morals clause to protect both partners in the event one of them does something so egregious as to harm the reputation or profitability of the company. The clause states:
Partners will not engage in activities or conduct which is harmful to the reputation or business activities of the partnership. These activities include immoral acts which become public, misappropriation of company funds, or the commission of any serious felony. If a partner engages in such activities and causes harm to the company, the other partner(s) may terminate the partnership with said offender. The partner removed from the partnership will be entitled to compensation for his/her share of the company. If a settlement amount is not agreed upon through negotiation, all partners agree to settle the dispute through arbitration.
“What do you need this for Justin?” asks Lisa.
“Ryan has been arrested for first-degree murder, Lisa. This case is now getting lots of media attention. Headlines scream KC Spark Electric Owner Arrested for Murdering Wife. You’ve gotten some of the calls, customers are concerned. I’ve gotten three calls this week of clients wanting to back out of contracts.”
“Yes,” says Lisa, “but he has not been convicted of anything. I still don’t believe he did it.”
“You are one of the only ones Lisa. The evidence against him keeps mounting. I need to protect this business.”
This disturbs Lisa, as she believes King is acting too quickly in planning to take over the business. It’s only been a little over a week, thinks Lisa. Shouldn’t he be more supportive of Ryan right now?
Late Thursday afternoon, Tippen receives the ballistics report from their firearms expert. The report confirms both bullets were fired from the five-shot Smith and Wesson revolver found at the scene and belonging to Ryan Cooper. Tippen shares the report with Masters.
“That’s more icing on the cake,” exclaims Masters. “Did our CSIs find any other bullets in the house to match those in the gun?”
“Not according to the search inventory,” responds Tippen.
Friday
On Friday morning, nine days after Naomi’s murder, Cooper appears in court with his attorney, Chris Inglesby, for his arraignment. Representing the state is Assistant DA Jean Simmons. The judge explains the charge of First Degree Murder to Cooper and explains to him his rights. He is then asked how he pleads, guilty or not guilty to the charge. Cooper pleads not guilty. A trial date is set for November 14th, approximately six months from Naomi’s death. The judge must now set bail for Cooper.
Cooper’s attorney, Inglesby, argues that Cooper is local, has ties to the community, is a respected business owner, has never been in any legal trouble, and is not a flight risk. Inglesby argues for a reasonable bail amount.
Assistant DA Simmons argues against bail, citing the violence of the crime and the seriousness of the charge. She also argues that an unknown person may be in danger should Cooper be released. Simmons talks of the unknown identity of the person Naomi was having an affair with and that the evidence strongly supports the motive for killing Naomi was the affair. Releasing Cooper would put this person in danger.
After listening to both arguments, the judge refuses to set a bail amount, however, he agrees to reconsider after a preliminary hearing. After the hearing concludes, Cooper is taken back to the county jail in handcuffs.
The Next Week
On Monday, Tippen and Masters have received the phone records from the phones of both Naomi and Ryan Cooper. Masters begins to review the phone records while Tippen works on reviewing all the forensic reports.
While reviewing the reports, Tippen receives a phone call from Cooper’s attorney, Chris Inglesby.
“What can I do for you?” asks Tippen.
“I’ve gotten all the reports from the DA’s office and have been pouring over them,” says Inglesby. “I see where there were no boxes of bullets found in the home, is that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“And no loose bullets other than those in the gun?”
“No other bullets were located,” assures Tippen.
“Well, just so you are aware, Ryan says he didn’t have any bullets for that gun. He had used what he had last summer while target shooting and just never got around to buying anymore.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t have five left in the gun,” counters Tippen.
“No, but he says he didn’t. And the fact that there were no other bullets in the house should at least raise some questions, don’t you think?”
“That’s something to argue in court,” counters Tippen. “We have plenty of evidence to believe your client is guilty.”
“Ryan is still adamant that King was there that night. I don’t see a report here. Did you ever re-interview King?”
“Yes,” answers Tippen, “and Bill pushed him real hard, even bluffed him with evidence and he didn’t waver. Says he was only there on the night before.”
“One more question, is it accurate that no fingerprints of any kind were found on the alleged note from Naomi?”
“That’s correct.”
“Yet the note was somewhat crinkled, indicating someone had handled it, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, thank you detective.”
We do have some loose ends in this case, thinks Tippen, but that is not so unusual. No case is perfect.
Later the same day, Tippen receives a phone call from Lisa Morgan, the assistant at KC Spark Electric.
“What can I do for you Ms. Morgan?”, asks Tippen.
“It may be nothing,” Morgan starts, “but Justin has been acting strange.”
“How so?”
“Well, he just doesn’t seem to be upset over the arrest of his friend and longtime partner. And now, he’s starting a process to remove Mr. Cooper from the partnership. He doesn’t even call Ryan to check up on him or anything. He just seems so focused on taking over ownership.”
“How is he planning to remove him from the partnership?”
“There is some clause about committing a crime that allows someone to be removed.”
“Can you fax me a copy of the clause?” asks Tippen.
“Yes, I will do that.”
“Okay, thank you for the information Ms. Morgan.”
At 3:00 pm, Tippen and Masters meet to review the case file. Masters starts it off with a review of the phone records.
“This is interesting. Naomi did not receive a call at the book club meeting. She made the call to 555-334-5670.”
“Who’s number is that?” asks Tippen.
“Justin King.”
“Seriously? He’s definitely hiding something”
“In fact,” continues Masters, “she made an earlier call to King at approximately six-fifty pm, about the time she left for book club. There are numerous phone calls between Naomi and the same phone number over the last six months”
“Oh my god,” replies a shocked Tippen. “I’ll bet that son of a bitch was the one she was having an affair with.”
“Yeah, and that’s not all I found. On the Monday before her murder, Naomi sent a text to the same number. It said, “Are you going to call me soon?”
“Should we drag him back in here for another go around?”
“Yes, but not yet. Let’s go over everything again. We might be missing something.”
“What do you think about there not being any other bullets in the house?” asks Tippen.
“Somewhat unusual, but not proof of anything. The gun was certainly Coopers.”
“What is the likelihood of getting prints off the casings?”
“Not likely on the fired ones, but possible on the ones that have not been fired. We can ask the lab to use the fuming process to try and bring up any prints. And something else I want to ask them. How likely would it be not to have any prints or smudges on that note from Naomi? It had obviously been handled by someone.”
“I agree,” says Tippen. “I was wondering that myself. Inglesby called me and asked about it as well.”
“The attorney?”
“Yeah, and something else. Lisa Morgan called and told me she thought King was not showing the appropriate level of concern for his partner, and in fact was taking steps to remove him from the partnership.”
“Hmmm, it does seem a bit early for that.”
“I also questioned Brent, our fingerprint tech, about that unidentifiable partial print from the bottom of the drink glass,” continues Tippen. “He said the print was a partial print from the side of a finger. He said it probably was left there by a person holding the glass with one finger on the bottom supporting it.”
Tippen then picks up a Coke can off the desk and holds it in her right hand, fingers and thumb wrapped around the can and her pinky finger underneath the can to support it, making it easier to hold.
“Like this,” she says
“Can he identify it?”
“For him to declare a match to anyone, he needs at least twelve points of comparison. This print only has seven. But it can be used to eliminate people.”
“So, is Cooper eliminated as a possible source?”
“He’s working on that right now,” assures Tippen.
“Okay, the next time you talk to Brent, ask him about the typed note from Naomi and the lack of any prints, even smudges.”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Alright,” says Masters, “you work on the forensics and I will work on these phone records. I need to get a copy of King’s records and if possible, location data. With this new information on these phone calls, I’m starting to believe maybe King was there after all.”
Tuesday
In the morning, Lisa goes into King’s office to let him know customers are calling to express concern over work not getting done.
“Justin, I’m trying to keep our customers happy, but things are starting to fall behind. You need to get out of the office and pay more attention to our contractors. I can handle things here in the office.”
“Okay Lisa, I know. It’s been a hard week. The police have been on my back harassing me, I’m trying to get the partnership straightened out, and we have this Colorado Springs contract I need to get started on. Give me a break.”
“You don’t need to do anything with the partnership right now, just focus on the business at hand Justin.”
“I’m trying, just give me some peace right now, okay?”
“Alright Justin, let me know if I can do anything more to help.”
Lisa walks out and shuts the door behind her. This is not going to end well if Justin doesn’t get his act together, Lisa says to herself.
At 2:30 pm, Masters and Tippen meet to share what they’ve learned since yesterday.
“As for the partial fingerprint from the glass,” Tippen says, “Brent can eliminate Ryan Cooper as a contributor.”
Masters looks at Tippen with raised eyebrows, “really.”
“And get this, he cannot eliminate Justin King.”
“Interesting,” replies Masters.
“As for the note, Brent said it would be highly unusual to not have any prints or smudges on a handled piece of paper unless it was handled in a cold, dry climate or the person handling the paper wore gloves. Since the note was found inside the house, he would expect it to show some signs of being touched. He’s still working on the bullet casings.”
“Nothing solid, but it does raise more questions, doesn’t it?” asks Masters.
“Sure does,” agrees Tippen.
“As do the phone records,” states Masters. “There are plenty of phone calls back and forth between Naomi and King. There is also a day about two weeks before her death when, according to the cell site location data, both phones made outgoing calls from the same area.”
“What area would that be?”
“Lone Tree.”
“Isn’t that…”
“Yep,” Masters interrupts, “where King lives. I’ve been thinking, if King was actually at the Cooper residence on the night Naomi was killed, he had to have driven there. I’m wondering with all the ring doorbells and security cameras these days, whether we might be able to find some footage from around Cooper’s home.”
“It’s worth a shot. But even if we can prove King lied about being there, we still have Cooper’s prints on the gun, gunshot residue on his hands, and the affair as a motive.”
“Yeah, I still think Cooper probably killed his wife out of anger, but King is hiding something. Maybe he just doesn’t want us to know he was the one having the affair. Either way, we need more answers. I’ll go out this afternoon and see if I can’t dig up some security footage.”
“Great,” responds Tippen. “Oh, I almost forgot. I got a call from DA Simmons late yesterday. Inglesby has requested to have Cooper’s blood sample re-tested for Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine. Apparently, Inglesby had Cooper interviewed by a doctor, and based on Cooper’s description of his conditions, the doctor suggested he may have been drugged by one of those three.”
“All three are considered date rape drugs,” says Masters. “They do knock you out pretty well. Given the half-empty bottle of rum, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s a good idea, especiall
y with all this new information.”
“Yeah, the DA has already requested the new testing.”
Later that afternoon, Masters responds to Sandy Lane to check for security cameras in the neighborhood. He finds one neighbor, Robert Saunders, has an advanced security system. Saunders used to be in the security business, and lives in the first house on Sandy Lane off of Oak Avenue,
“Yes, my system keeps data for thirty days,” informs Saunders. “I would still have footage for that Wednesday.”
“What type of coverage does it have?” asks Masters.
“I’ve got one camera focused on the drive looking out into the street. You can see out to the corner of Sandy Lane and Oak.”
“Would I be able to get a copy of that? It might help us with the investigation of Naomi Cooper’s murder.”
“Absolutely. I can email you a digital copy this afternoon. What time frame are you looking for?”
“How about from five pm to ten pm?”
“No problem. Give me some time to find it and make a copy for you. You should have it in the next hour.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Saunders.”
“Happy to help. Have a good day detective.”
Masters is feeling excited about the potential to see who came and left that Wednesday evening on Sandy Lane, but also weary knowing he has a long night ahead of him. It isn’t long after arriving back at his desk that he sees the file in his email. He gets himself a sandwich out of the cafeteria vending machine, grabs a cup of coffee, and settles in to watch some video.
This same night, at about 7:00 pm, King receives a phone call from Cooper’s next-door neighbor, Frank Parker. Parker is an outgoing gregarious man who knows King from his many visits to Cooper’s home and summer bar-b-ques.
“Hey Justin, just thought you might want to know that the police keep coming out here asking if we saw anyone or anything suspicious on the night of Naomi’s murder. They even asked me about you.”
“They did?” asks King. “What did they want?”
“The first time they were asking if we saw anyone. This time they were asking specifically about you and wanted to know if I had any security cameras. The detective wanted to know if I’d ever seen you and Naomi together. What’s going on? I thought they had solved the case already.”
Behind The Lies Page 20