Det Annie Macpherson 02 - Programmed To Kill

by Speake, Barbara Fagan

  A few minutes later the waitress brought over the hot lobster roll platters: fresh lobster pieces on a finger roll, clarified butter for dipping, French fries and coleslaw. When everything was on the table she asked, ‘You folks have everything you need now?’

  ‘I think we’re all set,’ Jordan Prentice responded. The waitress took the cue to leave them to their meals.

  ‘Nothing like fresh lobster from the Cape,’ he commented to his wife and daughter, as he poured some of the clarified butter over his lobster pieces and folded the roll. Lydia stirred for a second and then drifted off again.

  His wife nodded while Monica remained quiet. Ruth Prentice picked up on it and tried to comfort her daughter, ‘Sweetheart, there’s no point in worrying. I’m sure Matthew is fine.’

  ‘I need to hear his voice Mom,’ she said, as she picked up her fork and began eating.

  Ruth Prentice did her best to keep the conversation light while they all ate. She talked about everything from the weather to the new shops in the local town.

  Finally, Monica put her fork down. Considering her mood, she had managed most of her food. ‘I have this dreadful feeling, I can’t explain. No one is getting back to me … not Sheila, not the police.’

  ‘Why don’t you try Sheila again,’ her dad suggested.

  Monica picked up her phone. It rang in her hand. ‘Captain Franconi,’ she repeated. ‘No, I’m not on my own. I’m with my parents in a restaurant. Please, tell me. I’m getting frantic. Has Matthew been in an accident?’ Her eyes darted to her parents as she held the phone.

  ‘No, Mrs Lansdowne, not an accident. We broke into your home and we found your husband. It would appear that he died sometime in the night, although the exact time of death hasn’t been confirmed yet. We are treating his death as suspicious.’

  Monica put her hand to her mouth and made no reply.

  ‘Mrs Lansdowne?’

  Monica’s breathing quickened. ‘I’m going to pass you over to my father.’ Monica handed the cellphone to her dad and in the same motion pushed her chair back and rushed out of the seating area towards the rest rooms. The couple at the next table glanced quizzically at her.

  ‘Jordan Prentice,’ her father said into the phone. ‘My daughter has left the table. What’s going on?’

  ‘Mr Prentice this is Captain Franconi, Westford Police. After the phone calls from your daughter and from the mayor’s secretary, I sent a patrol car to the mayor’s house. My officers broke in and found Matthew Lansdowne dead in his bedroom.’

  Jordan Prentice was staring at his wife and he mouthed the words, He’s dead. Then he spoke to Franconi again. ‘Was it a heart attack or something?’

  ‘No sir. It’s quite clear he’s been murdered.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Prentice replied and whispered the word murdered to his wife, who gasped audibly.

  ‘We have a whole team at the mayor’s residence right now and I expect the body to be removed to the morgue in the next few hours. An autopsy will be required because of the circumstances and we need to have next-of-kin identification. That could either be your daughter, or Matthew Lansdowne’s parents. What would you suggest, sir?’

  ‘I think it best if it’s not my daughter, Captain. My wife and I are already concerned for her health. She’s been in a terrible state waiting to hear from him and she has a baby to look after. Matthew’s parents live in Boston, near his sister. We’ll get the address for you when my daughter is back. Also, it might be better if you tell them. They’ll ask lots of questions we won’t be able to answer.’

  ‘Of course,’ Franconi replied.

  Jordan Prentice noticed his wife delving into her handbag. She pulled out a small address book. ‘Captain, hold on. My wife has their details. Let me put on my reading glasses.’ Jordan Prentice lifted them from his breast pocket while his wife held the address book open for him. He related the details.

  ‘Thank you sir, we’ll get on to this right away. How long is your daughter staying with you?’ Franconi asked.

  ‘This is the first week of a two week vacation. Of course, I can drive her back whenever it’s needed. We can leave Lydia up here with my wife. Is that the best thing for us to do?’ Jordan Prentice looked across at his wife for confirmation.

  ‘We’ll certainly need to speak to your daughter. Of course, that can wait until tomorrow. Mrs Lansdowne can’t come into the house until the forensics team is finished. Even after that, you’ll need to arrange a specialist cleaning company to come in. We can give you information on that.’

  ‘I see. So, what do you want us to do now?’ The two men discussed arrangements for a few minutes longer and then finished the conversation.

  Ruth Prentice had already asked for the bill, which she paid. ‘We need to get Monica home and then we can discuss your conversation with the captain. It’s not appropriate to talk about it in a public place. If you start putting Lydia in the car seat, I’ll get Monica.’

  Two hours later, Monica Lansdowne heard her daughter crying. Her parents were taking charge and she was trying to rest. It was impossible. She put her slippers on and went downstairs. Lydia was now cooing in her grandmother’s arms. Monica picked her up and snuggled with her on the couch. ‘Did I hear the phone before?’ she asked her parents.

  ‘It was Matthew’s father. He called after he’d spoken to Captain Franconi. They’re going to travel to Westford. Jeff will make the formal identification.’

  ‘Dad, what’s going on? Why would someone kill Matthew? It doesn’t make sense to me.’

  ‘Nor to us dear,’ her mother replied. ‘Maybe the police will have some leads. Jeff promised to telephone us when he’s spoken to the detectives.’

  ‘I should be there. I should be with him.’ The tears were rolling down her cheeks now and she tried to brush them away. The baby wriggled in her arms.

  ‘Monica, let’s stay here tonight and then tomorrow I’ll drive you to the police station. Lydia can stay here with Mom,’ her dad suggested.

  ‘I don’t know. Lydia needs me.’ Monica cuddled her daughter.

  ‘She’ll be fine with me. Aunt Kate will come here if I need her. I’m sure we’ll manage. You and Daddy can go shopping later and get some more baby food and diapers.’

  ‘OK,’ Monica answered, cradling her daughter in her arms, trying to soothe her. Finally she asked, ‘What was Jeff like on the phone?’

  ‘Shocked and then very upset. I expect Captain Franconi must’ve told him more details. I didn’t ask.’

  ‘He’ll find a way of blaming me. I know it,’ Monica said, tears rolling down her cheeks again.

  Now it was her parents’ turn to look shocked. Finally her father said, ‘If he does, he’ll have me to answer to. Matthew Lansdowne was lucky to have had you as his wife.’

  Chapter 50

  Ellison was in Matthew Lansdowne’s study. The walls were adorned with Lansdowne’s college sporting achievements: photos of himself playing college football, trophies on shelves and several newspaper articles from when his university team won the college championships. Ellison remembered the famous win. As he stared at the clippings, he realised he’d been at the game. ‘A real hot-shot,’ Ellison murmured to himself. He noted the desk with its plush leather chair and sat on it while he opened the drawers. The guy liked order: one drawer contained paper and envelopes and another office stuff. The bigger drawer on the right hand side was locked. It looked like it was designed to take files. Ellison searched the other drawers for a key. There wasn’t one.

  The computer was switched off and Ellison booted it up. He tried a few tricks to no avail. He’d have to wait for the forensics team. It reminded him that Dan Parker was slow getting back to him about Mearns’ computer. Now there would be another one waiting. Getting up from the desk, Ellison looked over at the bookcase. There was a huge arr
ay of books about the Second World War and the Korean Conflict. Ellison guessed that these might have been part of Lansdowne’s university degree. There was also a scattering of books on economics. Ellison picked up one or two and flicked through them. They looked well thumbed. Nothing else in the room caught his eye. He started mentally ticking off the list of stuff for further examination in this room. A few minutes later, he caught up with Annie in the kitchen.

  ‘Looks like he ate in last night: foil containers in the bin, half a bottle of wine and one glass. The fridge is well stocked. Looks like Monica Lansdowne made sure he had enough food while she was away,’ Annie summarised.

  ‘Remind me how long that was supposed to be,’ Ellison replied.

  ‘Bronski took a call a few minutes ago from the captain. He spoke to Monica Lansdowne to inform her of her husband’s death and then she put her father on the phone. This is the first week of a two-week stay, apparently. She goes every year at this time. Franconi expects Monica Lansdowne and her father, Mr Prentice to return to Westford in the morning. Lansdowne’s father is coming in tonight from Boston to identify the body in the morning.’

  ‘Prentice? What’s his first name?’ Ellison asked.

  Annie looked at her notes. ‘Jordan.’

  ‘That’s all we need – Jordan Prentice.’ Ellison rolled his eyes.

  ‘Why, who’s he?’ Annie asked.

  ‘Only one of Connecticut’s top business people; at least he was before he retired, probably a year or two ago. I would guess that he’s still a very influential guy in this state. I bet the captain wasn’t pleased to learn that Jordan Prentice is Monica Lansdowne’s father. The guy will have a direct line to the governor and probably the senator. Talk about having the top brass breathing down our necks.’

  ‘I wonder how he felt about his son-in-law,’ Annie mused.

  ‘Now that’ll be interesting,’ Ellison replied. ‘I guess it’ll depend on how he treated his daughter. Loving husband, then he’ll expect us to be thorough and I bet he’ll follow the investigation meticulously. Bad husband? Well that might be different. We’d better catch up with Bronski, see how he’s doing.’

  They found their colleague in the hallway upstairs. ‘I’ve looked in the child’s bedroom and in the guest bedrooms. Everything appears to be in order. No sign that the murderer was in them, looking through drawers or anything,’ Bronski reported. ‘What about you two?’

  Annie and Ellison recounted their findings. Then Ellison added, ‘Did the name of Monica Lansdowne’s father ring any bells with you?’

  ‘Prentice.’ As he said it, Bronski paused, looking at Ellison for a clue. ‘Tell me it’s not Jordan Prentice.’

  ‘The very one,’ Ellison answered. ‘So we’ll have to be very careful on this one.’

  Bronski looked at him. ‘As always, Detective.’ Then he continued, ‘So Heaviley’s team will take the evidence you requested from the study and also test the food stuff in the kitchen against stomach contents. It might also help with time of death. Fogarty and Heaviley both agree that the bedroom is the main crime scene and Fogarty is still estimating time of death between midnight and three a.m., as he said to us earlier. He’ll confirm when he examines the body more thoroughly.’

  ‘So, Lansdowne could have been asleep and thus easily subdued,’ Annie offered.

  ‘Yeah, in fact there is a bruise at the base of his back where he could have been knelt on when his arms were taped behind his back. Heaviley has found some fibres embedded in the bruised area. There also appears to be a bruise on his jaw so he might have been hit. That will be examined more in the autopsy. Heaviley said this is more than he got from either Bannister or Mearns at this stage. It looks like it’ll be another hour until the body is removed. Heaviley’s technician will continue to photograph the room once the body has been removed. Then we can finish our search in there.’

  Annie was still preoccupied. ‘If we assume that Lansdowne was asleep, then how did the murderer get in the house? In Bannister’s case, the vestry was accessible. In Mearns’ case, we’re assuming he let the murderer in. This is different. Didn’t we say that our officers broke into the house?’

  ‘I see where you’re going, Detective. Let’s check the downstairs windows, see if any are unlocked,’ Bronski instructed. They split up and were back together within a few minutes. All the windows were shut and locked.

  ‘So, no access through the downstairs windows and the upstairs ones are unlikely, as a ladder would be required to access those. There’s only one more place to look. We need to check out the basement,’ Ellison suggested.

  Chapter 51

  Bronski called over one of the technicians. ‘We need to check the basement windows. Have you dusted this door yet?’

  The technician was one of the young women Annie remembered from the Mearns’ scene: very efficient. Annie noted her nametag said S Stewart. ‘Not yet,’ the woman replied, ‘I’ll do it now, sir. Maybe you could do a visual scan outside first, while I get this?’

  ‘Good idea.’ On the way out, Bronski stopped to talk to Officer Franklin again. He confirmed that the two officers had walked around the whole property when they’d first arrived and had seen nothing amiss: no open windows, doors secured. ‘Thanks, we’ll take a walk ourselves.’

  They started at the back of the house, Ellison crouching down at each of the basement windows. ‘They’re secure. The only way he would’ve got in there is if a window was already open. Monica Lansdowne could’ve left a window open and the murderer found it. Once he slipped in, he could have locked it from the inside. Let’s check all the rest first.’

  ‘We also need to check their alarm system,’ Annie offered. ‘The basement itself may not be alarmed, but if he got in through one of these windows, he’d still have to get out of the basement to access the rest of the house and wouldn’t that set an alarm off?’

  By the time they had checked that all the windows were secure, the technician had left the door to the basement open for them. Bronski led the way down, careful not to touch the handrail. The basement was huge with another TV down there, a drinks bar and a section for the washing machine and the dryer. Ellison walked over to the first window he’d checked from the outside. It was the one nearest the washing machine. ‘Come over here. Looks to me like a couple of fibres stuck to the wall, where someone could have slid down. We better get one of Heaviley’s team to bag those fibres.’

  ‘So, if he did get in through that window, it would’ve had to have been left partially open. I can’t see any sign of it being tampered with from here,’ Bronski commented. ‘OK, I’ll alert Heaviley’s team.’ They checked the other windows and there was nothing else visible.

  Annie spotted what she thought was the alarm control box on the wall in the basement and pointed it out to her colleagues.

  ‘That’s the master control box. There’ll be a control panel somewhere upstairs to activate and deactivate the alarm. It’s probably in the hall. They’re usually pretty close to the front door,’ Ellison explained. The three walked around the whole basement looking for motion sensors. It became clear that the basement itself wasn’t alarmed. As they walked up the basement steps, they examined the door from the inside.

  ‘No visible damage. A good set of picks would open this lock easily,’ Ellison observed. ‘There’s no bolt or additional lock to secure it from the hall side, so this would be a good place to get in.’

  ‘You would need to know that in advance, surely,’ Annie commented. ‘Otherwise you would risk getting in and then not being able to access the house. We need to look at who has been in the house recently, say the last week. I’ll make a note to ask Monica Lansdowne and also the mayor’s office, in case he had any appointments at home.’ She started writing in her notebook.

  Ellison opened one of the hall closets, where coats were stored. Inside and
easily accessible, was the control panel for the alarm. The sticker said BCConn Alarms. Ellison read it out loud. ‘My guess is that this is a pretty sophisticated one. We need to see if it’s a monitored one, linking to the police. I expect it is. There’s a number for the alarm company here.’ He read out the number so Annie could get it down. ‘We’ll need to ask Monica Lansdowne about the settings for this.’

  Annie seemed distracted for a minute. She was flicking through pages in her notebook. ‘BCConn Alarms, thought so. Mearns’ apartment also had an BCConn alarm. Popular company or coincidence?’

  ‘We’ll find out,’ Bronski said. ‘Any note on an alarm system in the vestry?’

  Annie flicked further back. ‘Bingo,’ she said.

  ‘First common thread we’ve found at all three scenes,’ Ellison remarked looking at his colleagues.

  ‘Let’s not get too excited,’ Bronski commented. ‘They might all have the same washing machine, cable TV, who knows? However, we’ll contact the company, see what they have on the alarms for the three properties, service history …’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ Ellison offered, before Bronski finished his sentence.

  One of the technicians came into the hallway where the three detectives were still in discussion. ‘Dr Fogarty said to let you know that they’re going to remove the body shortly. He asked if you wanted to see it again before it’s removed.’

  They headed back upstairs and Fogarty began his summary. ‘So, Detectives, as I said when I first saw it, Lansdowne’s body certainly looks very similar to the other two bodies, although this attack appears more vicious. Obviously, I need him on the table to record all the points of similarity and difference. First impression, though, it looks like the work of the same murderer or murderers. I’d like to get the body removed now.’