by S F Bose
He looked at the card and pocketed it. “Sure.”
The three of us walked to the front of the office. Neville looked up as we entered the reception area.
“Thanks again,” I said.
“Wish I could say it was a pleasure,” Dom replied with a faint smile. He headed straight for the office door and left.
I looked at Sam and shrugged.
Chapter 27
After lunch, I sat in Sam’s office playing tug of war with Flip, using a fabric toy shaped like a big dog bone. Sam paced behind his desk.
He paused to look at me. “What did you think about Fontana?”
“His eye contact and body language were good,” I said. “But his account of the visit to Larissa’s house didn’t jibe with her account. She said he lost his temper and he denied that ever happened.”
Sam nodded and resumed pacing. I let Flip have the toy and he tore out of the office with it in his mouth.
Finally, Sam sat in his chair. “That is a discrepancy, but it’s not uncommon for two people to remember an event differently.”
I nodded. “That’s true. Dom also has an alibi that Newmont confirmed. But a part of me still thinks he had a great motive.”
“I know,” Sam agreed.
His desk phone rang and he picked up the receiver. “Mitch, how’s it going? Okay, great. I’m putting you on speakerphone. Liz is here.”
“Hi Mitch,” I said and opened my notebook.
“Hey Liz. I have background information on Paulie Meagher and Tommy Vann,” he replied.
“We’re ready, Mitch,” Sam said.
“Okay. Paulie Meagher is Steven Meagher’s younger brother. As far as we can tell, he’s the only surviving Meagher in his line. Paulie is thirty-five years old and lives in Mystic Grove. He studied construction engineering and management at the university. He also worked as a construction laborer during summers. Edlin Construction hired him before he graduated and he still works there as a construction project manager. He looks clean as a whistle. No police record or speeding tickets. I couldn’t find any unusual payment or banking patterns. He has a mortgage on his home and a loan on his car. Everything looks… normal.”
“Okay, thanks. What about Tommy Vann?” Sam asked.
“Tommy Vann is a different story. He was born and raised in Madison in the Nakoma neighborhood.”
“Nakoma’s pretty affluent,” I said.
“It is,” Mitch agreed. “His father is a doctor and his mother teaches at the university. The mother also comes from money and receives substantial annual trust payments. Tommy is the youngest of four children. He did well in school, played football in grade school and high school, and liked to box. He attended the university and studied business and finance. When he was in college, he worked part-time as a bouncer at Sweet Pete’s in Madison. He must have had a fake ID to land that job.”
Sam shook his head. “The owner could have lost his license.”
“You’re right. So here’s where things went south for Tommy. One night when he was twenty-one, he was at Paddy Flynn's tavern in Madison drinking at the bar. He had been chatting with a woman a few seats down from him. A guy came up to the bar and hit on the woman. When she told him she wasn’t interested, he persisted. Tommy told him to leave the woman alone and the guy got into Tommy’s face. They argued and ended up in a fistfight. Tommy pounded the other guy and knocked him out before anyone from the bar could break it up. The bartender and bouncer held him until the cops arrived.”
“They arrested him?” I asked.
“They did,” Mitch replied. “Tommy was charged with aggravated battery and fleeing an officer. It was deemed a substantial battery, which is a Class I felony. The young man he knocked out had a concussion, cracked teeth, a broken nose, and bruised ribs. Even with an expensive lawyer furnished by his father, Tommy was convicted and sent to Racine Correctional in Sturtevant for three years.”
“Fleeing an officer?” I asked.
“Yeah, Tommy tried to make a break for it when the police arrived. They had to chase him down,” Mitch replied.
Sam frowned. “That was his first offense?”
“It was,” Mitch replied. “But Tommy had the misfortune of knocking out Jay Michael Burnham III, only child of Jay Michael Burnham, Jr. Eventual heir to the Burnham real estate investment fortune.”
Sam groaned. “Now that’s bad luck for sure.”
“It also didn’t help that Tommy had a boxing background,” Mitch added.
“How old was Burnham?” Sam asked.
“He was also twenty-one,” Mitch replied.
“So was the sentence political?” I asked.
Mitch hesitated. “I can’t say for sure. Frankly, I think Burnham’s lawyer just did a better job in court. But there’s no doubt that the Burnham name carried weight.”
“How did Tommy’s time in prison go?” I asked.
“He kept his nose clean at Sturtevant. No fights with anybody. When he got out, his father funded his remaining studies at UW. Tommy lived at home with his parents until he graduated.”
Mitch paused for a minute and we heard the sound of rustling papers over the speakerphone.
“After Tommy got his degree, an insurance company hired him as an entry-level analyst. He moved out of his parents’ home and into his own apartment. He worked at that company for six months and then resigned to take another job. He became a forex trader with an investment firm where he traded currencies. After a while, he went into business for himself trading currencies with his own money. Eventually, he moved to Mystic Grove and worked from home. He has a mortgage on his house and owns his car outright, but it’s an older model. He banks in Mystic Grove and his banking habits are normal. In other words, no large or worrisome transactions. You won’t find the banking information for either of these guys in their profiles,” Mitch said.
“Understood,” I replied. Mitch sometimes gave us extra profile information from sources we’d learned not to question… or repeat. “Any problems with the law after he left prison?”
“No, he’s been a model citizen,” Mitch replied. “That’s all I have. I just emailed you the two profiles.”
After some additional chatting, the call ended.
I stood and stretched. “I’ll schedule interviews with Paulie Meagher and Tommy Vann.”
Sam nodded but was focused on his laptop and smiling.
“Something good?” I asked.
He waved me to his side of the desk. His laptop screen was divided into six quadrants with a different view in each box. When I looked closer, I realized each quadrant was a room.
“That’s your house,” I said.
“Sure is. The security company is still working on the alarm portion. But we have cameras upstairs, downstairs, and in the backyard. So when I leave Flip at home, I can check in on him. I’m still waiting to get the dog collar transmitter with GPS. I ordered one where I can define the house and the fence line. The collar will alert me if Flip goes into the backyard or if he jumps the fence. Then I can track him with the GPS collar software if I have to. It has mapping software for my phone and laptop so I can zoom in to the street level and locate Flip,” Sam said, smiling.
“That’s perfect!” I replied. “I’d still keep him on leash if you’re in the forest, though.”
“Oh yeah. I learned my lesson there. And I don’t know if the collar software would work in a forest,” he agreed.
“You’ll still bring Flip into the office, right?”
He nodded. “For sure. I want Flip to be around people so he gets more socialized. He’ll still go to the B&B for doggy sleepovers and will come to the office with me on other days. Some days I’ll leave him at home to give him some quiet time.”
We looked at each other for a beat and burst out laughing. “Welcome to doggy parenthood,” I said and laughed even harder. He chuckled and his face reddened.
I left Sam’s office and noticed Neville had left early. I returned to my office and locate
d Mitch’s email with the two profiles. I forwarded the email and profiles to Neville.
I found Paulie Meagher’s telephone number in his profile and called him. He answered on the third ring. I introduced myself and explained I was investigating the death of his brother, Steven.
“Yeah, Larissa called and told me a private investigator might call,” he replied and sneezed.
“My partner and I would like to talk to you,” I said.
“Sure thing, but I’ve been sick. Could you come to my house?” he asked and coughed for a solid minute.
“Are you sure? You sound pretty sick,” I observed. You sound contagious, is what I was thinking.
“Nah, it sounds worse than it is. I’m between projects at work, so the timing is good,” Paulie replied and sneezed.
We made an appointment for 9:00 a.m. the next morning. After he gave me his address, he hung up while coughing again.
Note to self: bring Purell and a face mask.
Next, I called Tommy Vann but there was no answer. Instead of leaving a message, I hung up. When I tried again a half an hour later, Tommy answered on the second ring. I introduced myself and explained the investigation.
“Why do you want to talk to me?” he asked. He had a nasal voice.
“Because you were friends with Steven Meagher. We’re talking to people who knew Steven to see if we can learn more about him,” I replied. “Larissa Meagher said that you, Paulie Meagher, and Steven Meagher hung out together.”
There was a silence on the line. “We did hang out together. I guess I never really thought of him as a friend. I don’t know what I can contribute, but I’ll be happy to talk to you,” Tommy replied.
I thanked him and we agreed to meet at our office at 3:00 p.m. the next day. After I gave him the address, he hung up quickly.
Then I checked to make sure Paulie Meagher and Tommy Vann weren’t in Meagher’s Rainy Day Fund notebook. I knew there probably wouldn’t be an entry for Paulie Meagher, but I wasn’t so sure about Tommy Vann. I didn’t find an entry for either one of them.
It was after 4:00 p.m. when I returned to Sam’s office to update him on the interview schedule. He was on the phone but waved me into the office. I jotted down the interview schedule on a slip of paper and put it on the desk in front of him. Sam looked at it and nodded.
Sam put the call on speakerphone. “Hey Newmont, Liz is here,” Sam said.
Newmont and I exchanged greetings. I sat on the nearest chair.
“I just told Sam we conducted a search of the O’Ryan home this morning and didn’t find any incriminating evidence. We also sent an officer over to Danvers Realty to check her cubicle there and to the husband’s work office. There was nothing related to Meagher in either office,” Newmont said.
“Okay,” I replied and jotted down some notes.
“Detective Swanson came out to the station later in the day and we discussed Rose O’Ryan. Chief Durand hammered on the fact that she had cut and run. Fortunately, Swanson listened but was noncommittal. I could tell he had reviewed a lot of the material on the flash drive. I gave him the results of the searches we had completed. Then he interviewed Rose and had us sit in,”
“Was her lawyer there?” I asked.
“Oh yes. Swanson questioned Rose for an hour and a half. I thought she was believable and consistent. Afterward, Swanson told the chief and me that he’d already discussed Rose O’Ryan with the DA. The DA said he wouldn’t prosecute her based on the evidence we had and we needed to find the two guys on the video. Without them, the DA didn’t think he could make a case against Rose. So we released her this afternoon,” Newmont said.
“How’d Chief Durand take that?” Sam asked.
Newmont’s laugh barked through the speaker. Then he lowered his voice. “I’ve never seen his face get that red before.” Sam and I laughed.
“Swanson sounds pretty solid,” I commented.
“He is,” Newmont agreed.
“So Rose is free but she’s still on the suspect list?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, Chief Durand really likes her for the murder. But we don’t have enough evidence to make a case we could prove in court.”
“You’re looking for the two guys?” Sam asked.
Newmont grunted. “Yes, but there’s not much to work with. We can’t identify them from the video and we don’t even have a solid description of the car. There are no traffic cams in that area and none of the few cabins in the vicinity have security cameras. The chief still thinks Mac Goodman could have been one of the guys, but we have zero evidence.”
“Newmont, I called Mac Goodman and asked him about Rose O’Ryan. He said he didn’t know her and the only time he saw her was in the parking lot of the Village Tavern. He denied seeing or speaking to her after that,” I said. “He also got angry because he felt I was trying to paint Rose and him as accomplices. Then I spoke to his sister, Kerry, and she swore Mac never saw or spoke to Rose after that one night. She’s convinced he would have told her.”
“What do you think?” Newmont asked.
“I believed Kerry. I think Mac would have told her if he got involved with Rose,” I replied.
“Okay. To be honest, I don’t know why Chief Durand thinks the two of them might have teamed up to kill Meagher. I don’t see it myself,” Newmont said.
I sat back as Sam updated him on our interview with Dom Fontana.
“What’d you think of Fontana?” he asked.
Sam and I looked at each other and he nodded at me
“It’s hard to say,” I replied. “Dom seemed sincere and believable. He also had an alibi. But I can’t help thinking that he also had a great motive for wanting Meagher dead. In addition to that, Larissa gave him a key to her car. So if that was her Caddy at the cabin, he was one of the few people who could have been driving it.”
“But he does have a solid alibi,” Newmont replied flatly.
I sighed. “I know.”
“Moose Crotty rang true.” Newmont said. “One of our people verified that he’d broken up with his girlfriend. We also confirmed that he didn’t go to work on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday that week. He called in sick,” Newmont replied.
“What does he do for a living?” I asked.
“Hang on,” Newmont replied. A minute later, he said, “He’s in quality control at a tool and die factory north of Madison.”
Dom’s another dead end, I thought.
“Now that you’ve interviewed him, I’m going to call Fontana and ask him to come in to be fingerprinted,” Newmont said. “We’ll use them as elimination prints for the cabin. It won’t hurt to have them on file if and when we find the murder weapon.”
“So you haven’t eliminated Dom Fontana?” I asked in surprise.
“I’m just being thorough, Liz,” Newmont replied. “I’ve been fooled before.”
“You’re a smart man, Newmont,” Sam said and Newmont laughed.
“I don’t know about that,” he replied. “So you’re continuing your investigation?”
“Yeah, until a killer is booked or our client pulls us off the case,” Sam replied.
“That’s good. Between the three of us, we’ll crack the case,” said Newmont.
Then Sam and Newmont started talking about fishing and I returned to my office. I uploaded the audio of the Dom Fontana interview to the shared drive. Neville could start working on that interview in the morning. I emailed him some notes about the Fontana interview and my phone calls with Mac and Kerry Goodman. I also updated him about the release of Rose O’Ryan.
When I left for the day, I leaned into Sam’s office and waved. He was still talking on the phone with Newmont.
“Night Liz,” he said and waved.
“Night guys,” I replied. Flip followed me to the door and I gave him a hug before I left.
As I walked down the hallway toward the stairwell door, I worried that Simon Goodman might yank us from the case before we nailed the killer or killers.
Chapter 28
Sam smiled. “Mr. Meagher? Morning. This is Liz Bean and I’m Sam Malone.”
“Morning. Call me Paulie. Pleased to meet you,” Paulie replied. Come on inside. I’d shake your hands, but I’m just getting over a cough and cold. I don’t want to pass it on,” he said and smiled.
“Appreciate it,” Sam replied and we laughed.
Paulie led us through the house to the living room. The room was very masculine with a gray, white, and black color scheme. Sam and I sat on a black leather couch. I started the voice recorder app on my phone and set the phone on the coffee table.
Paulie dropped into a gray easy chair to our right. He retrieved a glass of orange juice from the side table and took a healthy gulp.
“Oh, hey can I get you something to drink?” he asked suddenly.
Sam and I both shook our heads. “Thanks, though,” I replied and smiled.
“Let me know if you change your mind. Sorry I didn’t dress better. I’ve been sick all week,” he said to me. “My energy level is way down.”
“No worries. You look fine,” I replied. “Paulie, we’re very sorry about your brother.”
“Thank you,” he replied. “It’s hard to accept that he’s gone.” His eyes teared up and I felt a tug. Paulie cleared his throat and coughed. He drank more orange juice. “You’re investigating Steve’s murder?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re working for a client who wants to see the killer apprehended,” Sam replied.
Paulie looked surprised. “Who? Someone in the family? Larissa’s parents?”
“Sorry, we can’t say,” said Sam. “Client confidentiality.”
Paulie shook his head. “It’s nice to know that someone else wants to see justice for Steve. I heard the police arrested a village trustee in connection with the murder. Is that true?”