by Bill Evans
Barry expected some enthusiasm from the other end of the phone. What he got was more silence. John thought he had better get out of the house as fast as possible so the police wouldn’t find him with a dead David Pedderman. It was too late.
Barry was still on the cell phone waiting to hear something from his reporter when there was a lot of noise and commotion coming through his cell phone. “John, John, are you okay?” Barry screamed into the phone.
No response. John stood frozen, trying to figure out his next move. The police had knocked on the door one time, announced themselves, and then broke in. Police with drawn guns entered the home. It wasn’t SWAT, but to the young reporter it might as well have been. Detectives Tracy and Reynolds were next through the door. Imagine their surprise in seeing John Rankin, the young kid reporter from CBS, standing over David Pedderman.
The first policeman through the door immediately yelled to John to drop his weapon, not knowing it was a cell phone in his hand. John dropped it immediately and it hit the floor. John had seen enough TV and movies that he knew to follow orders before he got shot. Barry heard the commotion. “John, John, talk to me,” came Barry’s loud voice from the cell phone laying on the floor.
“Who’s this on the line?” asked a familiar voice to Barry on the other end.
Barry recognized his police detective buddy’s voice. “Richard, is that you? This is Barry. What the hell is going on?”
“We just got to the Pedderman home and when no one answered we broke the door down and found your reporter standing in the dining room.”
“What? He was supposed to wait for my call. Where’s Pedderman? Let me talk to John.”
“Barry, slow down. You can’t talk to John until we figure out what he is doing here. And if I’m not mistaken, it looks like Pedderman is dead.”
“What? I’m coming over.” Barry hung up the phone, threw on some pants and shoes and ran out the door. What was going on? What was John doing in the Pedderman house? What was Pedderman doing dead? What the fuck and who the fuck killed Pedderman? And lastly: Come on Lisa, pick up the damn phone.
“Hello?” It was a half-hearted attempt at answering her phone. It had been a long night. She began to wake up, recognizing her news director’s voice on the other end. It didn’t help that Stewart Simpson was gently groping her under the blankets.
“Barry, say that again,” Lisa said.
“The police went to Pedderman’s home this morning to arrest him. When they got there they found John Rankin, our rookie reporter, standing over Pedderman, who is dead. I don’t know any more than that, but I’m heading over to the Pedderman house right now. I thought you might want to join me.”
“Ok, I’m on my way.” Lisa hung up the phone and got her naked body out from under the covers. Stewart didn’t ask because he knew she would tell him what was going on. “I’ve got to run. The police went to Pedderman’s house to arrest him and found our young reporter, John Rankin, there and Pedderman is dead. I don’t know any more than that. I’ll call you later today. Tom is gone another day so I’d like to see you again tonight.”
“I’ll let you know. I may have to fly back to Dallas. Call me when you get things under control and let me know what is going on.” Stewart uncharacteristically got up from the bed and walked over to give Lisa a hug and a kiss goodbye.
A short time later, Lisa pulled her car on to the Pedderman street, but because of all the police action, including from the forensic team and the coroner’s office, she had to park down the road. Walking up to the home, her thoughts were scattered about everything that had happened the past couple of months.
The police on the perimeter recognized Lisa Campbell and let her through the tape. Barry was inside the house talking to a handcuffed John Rankin, who was sitting on the couch. Barry saw his boss and walked over as she came through the front door. “Pedderman is dead. According to John, he came over to try and interview him before the police were going to arrest him.”
“How’d he know the police were going to arrest him?” Lisa asked Barry.
“I told him. I was given a courtesy call about the pending arrest. I then called John and told him to be ready and that when the arrest was going down the police would tip us off. John thought it would be a good idea to try and interview David before he was taken in to custody. It’s all a cluster. John showed up here and when no one answered the door he went around the back and got in from the garage door. He then finds Pedderman dead and that’s when the police showed up.”
“Did John have anything to do with his death?” Lisa felt she knew the answer already but had to ask the question.
“No.” Barry and Lisa looked over at John sitting on the couch surrounded by an officer on each side. “The police are trying to just scare the shit out of him right now. They know he isn’t guilty of anything but trying to move his career along. They’ll release him after a while. Right now, they’re just messing with him because I asked them to.”
“What’s the story with Pedderman?” Lisa asked.
“It appears it might be suicide. They found the same substance that they believe killed Steve and Jesse. You know, that chemical found in car airbags. They found a bunch of it when they did the original search on his house. He must have kept some extra around. They think he took it last night stressed with guilt. I think there was even a note.”
“I would have never believed that he was capable of doing something like this. What do they think?” Lisa asked Barry.
“I’ve given up trying to figure out this case. Every time I think we have something it doesn’t turn out to be close. Maybe he killed them because of jealously. Apparently he had a real thing for Jesse and after their little fling she rejected him and that apparently set him off. Steve was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. His death was more of a way to cover up the relationship between David and Jesse,” Barry speculated.
Lisa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Thinking one step ahead of her competition, “Barry, you need to own this story and make sure our viewers know that we cover the worst, even if the worst belongs to some of our staff. Don’t let anyone scoop you on your own story.” Lisa’s news prowess surprised Barry, and he was proud of her.
Barry knew that was how Lisa and he had always worked, but it was nice to have her say it. He immediately got on the phone to the newsroom and ordered up a live truck with Carlos as the lead reporter and a photographer. Using Carlos would piss John off, but that was the least of his worries. John was now part of the story.
***
Lisa walked away from everyone to a quieter part of the room. She dialed Stewart’s home where Dugan answered. Within seconds Stewart was on the phone. “How bad is it?” Stewart always wanted to know the bad news first.
“Pedderman is dead. John didn’t have anything to do with it. It appears to be a suicide, and it looks as if Pedderman did the other two murders.”
Silence was on the other end of the phone conversation. Stewart had signaled Dugan to pick up the extension when he got on the phone. The two men gave each other a thumb’s up. So far, so good. “I’ll be staying in Santa Barbara. I’ll see you tonight.” Stewart hung up the phone.
Lisa was happy with Stewart’s last remark. She loved being cared for like a lover. “Lisa, Richard and Skip want to talk to us.” Barry had walked over to get her so the four could meet in the kitchen where there was less of a crowd.
Reynolds took the lead. “It looks like a straight suicide. David left a note saying he killed Jesse because of a jilted affair. Then he had an opportunity to kill Steve trying to make Steve the bad guy, so it wouldn’t draw any suspicion to him.”
Barry wasn’t buying how easy this all was. “This doesn’t make any sense. Don’t you think this is all too easy? It was like it was all tied up in a nice ribbon and handed to you. Doesn’t that bother either of you?” Barry asked the detectives.
“Not really,” Tracy said. “It means we’ve solved a double homicide and we get to cl
ear it off our plate.” Tracy had known his friend a long time and he knew how skeptical Barry could be. That was the nature of the news business.
“What about an autopsy?” Lisa’s question fell on deaf ears so she asked it again. “Hey, what about an autopsy on the body?”
“There will be an autopsy, but this looks pretty open and shut. On another matter, how do you want us to handle the kid over there?” Tracy looked over at John still sitting in handcuffs on the couch.
“Is he in trouble?” Lisa asked.
“No. He was just stupid. We’ll release him to you.” Richard walked over to the couch and signaled one of the officers to stand the reporter up. He turned him around and unlocked the handcuffs. John didn’t say a word. In his head he was just hoping not to get fired over this. Barry wasn’t so sure that shouldn’t happen.
Lisa, Barry, and John left the Pedderman house. Walking out the front door, John saw the CBS live truck with Carlos doing a special report from in front of the yellow crime tape. Once again he was beaten on his own story.
When the three arrived at the station, Barry told John to wait in his office. He walked with Lisa to her office. “What are you going to do with the kid?” Lisa asked.
“I’m thinking of letting him go. This is the second time he’s done something stupid and missed his own story. He’s got so much potential, but I’m not sure he will ever listen enough to be as good as he thinks he already is.”
“Yeah, he reminds me of someone.” Barry knew who Lisa was referring to. She didn’t know Barry when he was starting out, but she had certainly heard all the stories. “You might think about your decision before you cut him loose. Finding good, new reporters is tough.”
Barry didn’t say anything but agreed with his boss. He didn’t want to let the kid go and was hoping for some guidance from his GM. “What about this story, Lisa? How do you want us to play it?”
“We have to do the story and be above reproach. Cover it in great detail and don’t leave anything out. Our viewers must know as well as the outside media that we won’t pull any punches simply because it involves our own people.”
“Tomorrow the coroner will do his preliminary autopsy. The police are asking for him to step up his toxicology reports. They want this thing wrapped up. I can’t say that I blame them. What are you going to do with David’s position? Anyone on the inside that can step up and fill the role as our new general sales manager?”
Lisa thought about the question. It was one she started thinking about before any of this current mess started happening. She had been unhappy with Pedderman’s attitude and his feeling of being untouchable. “Linda is a good candidate, but I’m not sure if she’s strong enough. The good news is that I don’t have to decide that right now.”
Barry left Lisa’s office and headed back to John waiting in his office. John wasn’t sure what was going to happen. He knew his decision to go to the Pedderman house was risky, but he felt it was still the right move. He would soon find out if his news director agreed with him.
23
LISA LEFT HER OFFICE and went to her house to check on things. She knew Tom would be calling to check in and she would want to fill him in on everything. He would probably hear about this on the news if he watched it that night. What she really wanted to do was to get refreshed and get over to Stewart’s home. Lately her life had dealt with one crisis after another, and being with her boss, her lover, made things easier to handle.
On the drive to Stewart’s, she listened to radio news stations. They were all over the death of David Pedderman. They were calling his death a suicide, and without any evidence to back it up, they blamed him for the earlier deaths of the two CBS news people. Local news didn’t always have to confirm everything, especially when it had to do with a competitor they wanted to take down a peg or two. This story was a closed case for the news departments at the other television stations and radio stations. What else could have happened?
Dugan greeted Lisa’s car as it pulled up the circular driveway. “It’s so nice to see you this evening. Mr. Simpson is waiting for you.” Dugan escorted Lisa from the car to inside the front door. As usual, Stewart was there with her glass of chardonnay.
The two had not talked since Lisa had left the house earlier that morning after getting the call about David Pedderman. Stewart wanted to be filled in, especially since everyone in Santa Barbara was talking about their general sales manager being found dead. In Stewart’s mind, it was if his involvement didn’t register in his way of thinking. It was like he was hearing about Pedderman’s death for the first time. Dugan, who had recognized this trait in his boss a long time ago, thought this was what made him so dangerous. Dugan was convinced that Stewart Simpson eliminated memories and thoughts of any wrongdoing from his mind as soon as the events were over. That’s how his boss was able to sleep at night. This was something that didn’t come so easy for Dugan.
Stewart led Lisa to their favorite place to talk. Lisa sat on the couch with Stewart sitting across from her on the foot stool within an arm’s length from her. He loved looking into her eyes and being able to rub her legs while he listened to her talk.
“Fill me in on your sales manager’s death. What happened?”
“Stewart, this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever been through. First my main anchor, then an intern, and now my general sales manager. I’m not sure what to think about it.” Lisa paused to compose herself. The events of the day had finally caught up to her and she was beginning to get emotional, which was something she avoided all day. “The police believe it’s now a closed case. They believe Pedderman killed Jesse for some jealously issues and then he killed Steve in order to divert any attention off himself. Their theory is that Pedderman then killed himself full of guilt and knowing the police were on to him.”
“Were the police on to him?” Stewart asked.
“I think the police were on to him. We know when they showed up at his house they were there to arrest him for the murders,” Lisa said.
“Well, there you have it. It sounds as if they were not only on to him but that they probably had the evidence to back it all up.”
“The good news is that all this should be confirmed after the autopsy is done tomorrow. That should provide the DA’s office with everything they need to close the case.” Lisa leaned her head on the back of the couch and took a drink of wine. She had gotten quiet. Stewart knew this silence and prompted her to tell him what she was thinking. She didn’t know if she should be honest with him or just act as if nothing was on her mind. Saying nothing was always safer, but tonight she wanted to have the conversation.
“Stewart, there was a point over the past couple of weeks that I thought you might be involved in these deaths. I don’t know why, but it is what I thought about at times. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ever thought that about you.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. Let me ask you though, why would you ever think such a thing?” Stewart asked.
Lisa didn’t hesitate. “I think it was more jealously on my part than anything else. When I heard that you were involved in getting Jesse her job at the station my mind just ran from there. Then I realized that you were just helping a stranger because someone asked you to.”
Stewart wondered if Lisa had said anything to her detective friends. He wondered it but didn’t verbalize it. Dugan stood where he always did so he could hear as much of the conversation as possible. He also wondered if Lisa had said anything more to the police about Stewart’s relationship. If she had, the police would have investigated more than what they did. He was sure of this.
“Lisa, what happened to these three people was a tragedy and we may never know what went on in David Pedderman’s mind that caused him to commit these terrible murders. The bottom line is that we may never know.”
Lisa nodded her head in agreement. Dugan entered the room and called for dinner to be served. The pair got off their seats and headed for the dining room. Dugan refilled Lisa’s glass with the chard
onnay she loved. Her mind kept returning to an easier time, the time when she first met Stewart Simpson twenty years ago.
Dugan looked at Stewart several times, waiting to see if he would give him the same sign he did last night when the sales manager had dined at the house. The sign was a confirmation to Dugan that they needed to follow through with their plan. The two had never discussed a plan to deal with Lisa, but Dugan was beginning to think that maybe they should have. Her suspicion and the little things that she had picked up over the many, many years made her a threat. Dugan was the sensible one and he certainly wasn’t thinking with his cock. That couldn’t always be said about Stewart. In fairness to Stewart, he was well beyond the sexual reasons for keeping Lisa around. Lisa was more than sex and Dugan knew that as well. He just didn’t like loose ends, especially when it involved the threat of their freedom. This was something that Stewart Simpson had taught him very well.
Dinner was an event tonight and not something to rush through. Stewart did everything he could to make Lisa feel better about her day. He knew she had been through a very rough time. Two more glasses of wine and two hours later she was ready for bed. And tonight, she would sleep.
***
The morning was well underway when Lisa’s cell phone went off. It was Barry calling. “Lisa, I’m at the coroner’s office and guess what?”
Lisa was still trying to wake up. “What?”
“The medical examiner found traces of the drug sodium azide in Pedderman, the same drug that killed Steve and Jesse.”
“What’s the big deal about that? Everyone already thought that was how he killed himself.”
“I know that. Here’s the kicker. The coroner found steak and lobster in his stomach. It seems to be the dinner of choice. Every one of these three people had steak and lobster as their last meal.” Lisa realized Barry was right. Every one of the victims, her employees, had steak and lobster in their stomach when they turned up dead.