Cliff Roberts Thriller Box Set

by Cliff Roberts

  Stone was part of what the radio station called the ‘Self Regulating Employee Program.’ Those employees participating in the program were the non-on air personalities, who were on salary and didn’t interact with the public. They worked the hours they needed to work to get the job done, without management oversight, other than to review the results.

  Tyler Stone worked an average of sixty to seventy hours a week, depending on what subject matter Tom Taylor wanted to discuss and the current events that were happening. He was known to work twenty-four hour shifts at times.

  When Detective Beals inquired if Stone had worked last Saturday night, the receptionist told him, after consulting the computerized time clock records, he had been there from four in the afternoon until almost three in the morning.

  Detectives Beals and Williams arrived at the radio station at four o’clock in the midst of a thunderstorm. They confirmed what the receptionist had told them about Stone’s work schedule with the woman in charge of human resources and were led to Tyler’s tiny office. Both of the detectives noted that Tyler, unlike most people, hadn’t appeared to be unnerved by an unannounced visit by the police.

  “Mr. Stone, I’m Detective Beals and this is Detective Williams. You and I spoke on the phone the other day,” Detective Beals introduced himself and his partner.

  “Oh, yeah, I remember. What can I do for you?” Tyler asked as he closed the computer file he was working on and swung around in his chair to face the detectives.

  “Your sister-in-law, April Jennings, has managed to pull through. She’s awake now and talking again.”

  “Good for her,” Tyler quipped, clearly unconcerned about her, then swung back around to his desk where he started making piles of the papers spread across the top of his desk.

  “I take it you don’t care for her very much?” Detective Williams asked, having noted Tyler’s cavalier attitude.

  Tyler set the papers down, swung around in his chair and faced the two detectives again before he replied. “She has treated me like crap ever since I picked her sister over her, five years ago. She’s been a total bitch towards me ever since. So, no, I don’t care for her.”

  “She told us a very strange story. It includes you as the main villain,” Beals stated as Williams watched Tyler’s body language for his reaction to what Beals was saying.

  “What a surprise. She is one vindictive bitch. She will say or do anything to mess with the people she doesn’t like. I dumped her, so I’m not one of her favorite people and she’s bound to have lots of nasty things to say about me. Did she call me a drunk or a wife beater? She’s always advising her sister to just kick me in the crotch and do as she pleases. Oh, hey, she sort of did that, didn’t she, when she left?” Tyler replied snidely.

  “Miss Jennings claims she was at your home on Saturday night.”

  “I doubt that. I was here at work all evening. You can check the time records. I suppose she and Wendy could have stopped by while I was working. I won’t put it past Wendy to do that,” Tyler stated.

  “She is adamant that she was at your home. She also is equally adamant you poisoned her and her sister by putting something in the iced tea,” Beals informed him then, together with Williams, stood staring at Tyler trying to pressure him into making some sort of an admission.

  “Really,” Tyler didn’t act surprised. “I drink mostly iced tea or sweet tea, when I’m at home. She would know that since she was always hanging out at our house with her sister. Speaking of which, would either of you care for a coffee or a soft drink?” Tyler asked, acting every bit the gracious host and innocent man.

  “Mr. Stone, has your sister-in-law been known to act strangely?” Detective Beals asked.

  “Strange? Like acting crazy, not making any sense?”

  “Yeah?”

  “No, not really, I mean, she’s a total bitch, at least towards me. Especially, after I picked her older sister over her. But other than that, I say she’s a bit ditzy but basically normal. Though, she does like to party maybe a little too much and she’s a bit of a hot head, taking offense at the slightest of insults, whether real or just imagined.”

  “Oh, like what?” Detective Williams inquired.

  “Things like, if you teased her too much or she thought you didn’t give her opinion enough weight when you made a decision. She’s also got a real smart mouth and likes to run it. After we broke up, I think she became jealous of her sister. See, everybody likes Wendy. They put up with April because she’s Wendy’s sister. Oh, say, have you found my wife yet? Did she run off for the weekend someplace?” Tyler asked, being careful to talk about Wendy in the present tense as if she were still alive.

  “No, sir, we haven’t located her yet. Any idea as to where we might look?” Detective Beals asked. It was a trick question.

  “Not a clue. Maybe you can check with her boyfriend and see if he knows where she went. You know, they may have gone away together,” Tyler suggested.

  “That is a possibility,” Detective Williams stated as he exchanged looks with Detective Beal. Tyler had no idea what the look meant, so he just let it go.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know the new boyfriend’s name would you?” Detective Beals asked.

  “As I told you on Sunday, I think it’s Danny Conners. His dad owns the company where my soon to be ex-wife works.”

  “What’s the name of the company where your wife works?”

  “It’s Conquest Trucking. She works in the accounting department, I think.” The two detectives shared another look.

  “You don’t know what your wife does for a living?” Detective Williams asked.

  “She works in the office and does paperwork. She’s never been too specific about exactly what she does and I never asked. It didn’t seem all that important.”

  “Is your wife someone who likes to take spur of the moment trips?” Detective Beals inquired.

  “No, not really, at least she didn’t when we were together.”

  “Would you be surprised if we told you that April claims to have stabbed you to death on Saturday night?” Williams asked abruptly, and then stood staring at Tyler watching for his reaction once again.

  “Must be wishful thinking on her part, because as you can see, I’m still here, though I do feel half dead with all the hours I’ve been putting in. How did she kill me?” Tyler asked sarcastically.

  “She claims she stabbed you with a large knife of some sort,” Williams stated.

  “I can lift my shirt, if you need to make sure I haven’t any stab wounds,” Tyler offered.

  “I don’t think it’ll be necessary at this time,” Beals answered.

  “Is she dangerous? Should I be worried about her attacking me?” Tyler asked. He asked the question in an effort to get the detectives thinking she might be dangerous. He’d read about suggestive questioning while in college and realized the most successful political campaigns used the tactic to attack their opponent without appearing to be mudslinging.

  “I wouldn’t know. She seemed stable enough to me, though she truly dislikes you. So, what hours did you work on Saturday night, again?” Beals asked.

  “I think I started around four in the afternoon and didn’t finish until real late. I think it was close to three in the morning. I had to put together a show on the latest drug murders in Mexico. There was a lot of stuff to read.”

  “I take it this is your office?” Williams asked, as he looked around at the cramped space.

  “Yeah, I format the radio show and prepare the scripts Tom Taylor will need to do his show. I pick and choose what information to include in the script or that gets put on the cheat sheet he consults when on the air.”

  “Mr. Stone, would you mind if Detective Williams and I looked around the interior of your home?”

  “No, it’s not a big deal to me.”

  “When was the last time you saw your wife?” Beals asked.

  “I think it was a few weeks ago. She stopped by to pick up some clothes. She was
in and out in five minutes. I don’t expect to see her again though, until we go to court.”

  “Oh? Why is that?” Beals asked.

  “What’s left for us to say to each other?” The two detectives shared yet another look.

  “If you can get away from work, we’d like to check out your house, right now,” Williams stated.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes, sir, we’d like to go there, right now,” Williams reiterated.

  Tyler thought about it for a minute, punched a couple of keys on his keyboard, then moved a pile of papers from one side of the desk to the other.

  “I guess I can go now and then come back later to finish. Let me punch out and find an umbrella. I hear it’s raining.”

  “We’ll meet you by the front door,” Beals stated.

  Once in the front lobby, Williams looked at Beals and said, “I couldn’t tell if he was lying. If he is, he’s really good at it. But I’m leaning towards he’s telling us the truth.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure either, but I’m leaning towards his being truthful as well,” Beals replied.

  “My gut’s telling me though, he’s not as dumb as he looks nor is he as smart as he thinks he is,” Williams replied as Tyler arrived in the lobby.

  When they arrived at Tyler’s house, he let them in through the back door, which was the usual way he entered the house.

  “Gentlemen, I don’t know what you’re going to be looking for, but if you promise not to make any messes, I’ll let you wander around without my supervision,” Tyler stated as he stopped in the kitchen. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll make myself something to eat since this is going to be my dinner break for tonight,” he said as he opened the refrigerator.

  Williams and Beals looked over Tyler’s shoulder as he reached in and grabbed a small canned ham, which was the only thing in the refrigerator besides a pitcher of what appeared to be tea and a jar of mayo. They stepped into the dining room leaving Tyler in the kitchen to make his meager dinner. William’s didn’t wander too far, though, because his job was to engage Tyler in what seemed to be small talk while Beals gave the rest of the house a cursory search.

  The house was neat as a pin without a hint that anyone actually lived there, let alone that someone had been murdered there. Beals could see no obvious stains on the floor, no scuff marks or even any smudges from people being on their hands and knees. Of course, Tyler had four days in which to clean up if there had been any crime to clean up after.

  From the corner of his eye, Detective Williams watched as Tyler tore off a couple of sheets of paper towel and laid them on the counter. Next, he set a platter on top of them and dumped the canned ham out of its can onto it. He opened a drawer and began searching for a knife to cut the ham. Realizing he was being watched, Tyler rummaged around in the drawer, as if looking for something. After a few moments, Tyler muttered to himself, just loud enough that the detective could hear him.

  “Shit! I thought I washed that.” He then opened the dishwasher and muttered under his breath but loud enough again to be heard by Detective Williams.

  “What the… where did I put it?” He then checked the other four drawers.

  “Lose something?” Williams asked as he stepped back into the kitchen.

  “Oh, I can’t seem to find my larger carving knife. I thought I had washed it last time I used it, but it isn’t in the drawer or the dishwasher. It also isn’t in any of the other drawers or the refrigerator. I hardly use it, other than at the holidays, but it makes slicing thin slivers of ham so much easier than a smaller knife. Oh, well, I’ll deal with it and use the next biggest one.”

  “Do you lose things like carving knives often?” Williams questioned, as he shared a look with Beals.

  “It’s no big deal. This one is almost as long and it’ll work just fine. I’ll look harder, later after work, for the other one. It’s around here somewhere. You want a ham sandwich?” Tyler asked.

  “No, thank you, we’ll keep looking around the house,” Williams stated.

  “Okay, I’ll be here or in the dining room,” Tyler replied.

  Williams met up with Beals in the back bedroom and quietly shared the information about the missing knife. Beals gave Williams another one of those looks rather than say something that Mr. Stone might hear.

  Williams then stood at the window for a few minutes looking over the backyard and he couldn’t help but notice the flower garden. It looked well kept and healthy. Of course, the rain that had been falling all afternoon played a big part in the healthy look. He also noticed the rest of the yard looked just as well maintained.

  By all appearances, the house was the typical suburban house with the nice yard and a perfect garden. It was hard to believe someone might have been murdered here.

  When Williams returned to the dining room, he found Tyler had already finished his sandwich and was flipping through channels on the TV in the corner. Beals had gone upstairs to check things out, leaving Williams ask more questions and to keep an eye on Mr. Stone.

  “I see you read a lot,” Williams mentioned as he glanced at the book-filled shelves next to the fireplace.

  “Yeah, I have my whole life. I really like crime novels. All the twists and turns. The best ones keep you guessing all the way to the end.”

  “So, I take it you’re not the gardener in the family?” Williams asked.

  “That would be Wendy. She’s won several contests the last couple of years with her flowers. She spends a lot of time working on that garden. Hell, I suspect she loves that damn garden far more than she ever loved me. I’d better warn you to be careful what you ask her about it, she will talk your ear off about gardening. She has a real green thumb,” Tyler shared.

  “It looks like she was just here weeding it,” Williams stated.

  “I think she uses some sort of weed killer that kills off the weeds for months at a time. Either that or she’s sneaking by everyday and weeding it.”

  “So what’s in the garage?” Williams next asked.

  “It’s my workshop. I inherited a bunch of wood working tools when my grandfather died, and I’m trying to learn how to use them all. I’ve made a few things with them but nothing I consider good. I need to take some courses to learn how to use the stuff, but I work too much for that. In fact, that was the reason Wendy gave me as to why she had an affair and left me. I worked too much and I was never home. I also have an old Chevy Nova parked out there. It’s a project that’s about half done, again because I work too much. And, oh yeah, Wendy has all of her gardening tools out there, too.”

  “I see. Do you own any guns?” Williams asked.

  “What’s that have to do with anything?” Tyler asked.

  “It’s just procedure. Why are you concerned? Are your weapons unregistered?” Williams asked.

  “I have three hunting rifles, all registered, two thirty-o-sixes and one 7.32. I used to go deer hunting until I took this job. Now…I work too much.”

  “It must be some job to give up basically your whole life for it,” Williams stated.

  “Isn’t that the way your job is?” Tyler inquired in response.

  “It can be, but what about your job?”

  “It was that way when I started, but now, it’s just a low paying pain in my ass. But to get a better job would mean commuting into the big city or moving away. I like it here. I grew up here. I wanted to raise my family here but I guess that’ll have to wait now. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the second wife,” Tyler did his best to sound forlorn.

  Detective Beals stepped back through the kitchen then into the dining room and nodded to Williams.

  “Well, I guess that does it for us tonight, but we may have further questions for you, Mr. Stone. If so, we’ll be back. Here’s my card. Feel free to contact us, should you remember something that might be helpful or if you should happen to hear from your wife, all right?” Detective Williams stated as he handed Tyler his business card.

  “No problem. I’ll be glad t
o help all I can, just don’t expect me go looking for her myself. After all the crap she’s putting me through, I’m in no mood to help her out. Even if she changed her mind and wanted to get back together, I wouldn’t. I’d never trust her again. She would probably just run off with the next guy she thought was going to be rich, anyway,” Tyler shared. “As far as April is concerned, I hope you find out who she killed and fry her ass for it.”

  He then stood and showed the two detectives out. He watched them from the dining room window as they got in their car and left. He stayed there until they had driven out of sight. Sitting back down at the dining table he thought about how the search and interview went and decided he’d made a mistake by looking for the big carving knife. Now they knew it was missing and that wasn’t good.

  Detective Beals spoke up as soon as they were in the car. “Well, he is quite the neat freak. The whole house looked as if he had gone through it with a vacuum and wet mop, just today. It was cleaner than my house was when I bought it new. I doubt if we sent in the forensic team, they’d find anything. I’d bet they’d be hard pressed to find any evidence that he even lived there.”

  “He did say he works a lot and the job is a dead end,” Williams interjected, “but he took it to stay in his hometown to raise a family. He was an avid hunter and owns three rifles, has an old car he’s planning on restoring someday, has woodworking tools he’s hoping to learn how to use someday, but he works too much to do any of those things, now. He also reads a lot, crime novels mostly,” Williams shared what he had learned.

  “He also used to play softball a lot. There’s a couple of trophies downstairs, along with some old golf clubs and tennis rackets,” Beals added.

  “He was one busy boy,” Williams noted.

  “It seems he is still a busy boy. So busy he’s misplaced his large carving knife. I wonder what’s up with that?”

  “If we find the knife Miss Jennings claims to have used to kill Mr. Stone, we might be able to return it to him,” Williams offered.

  “Until then, I guess we need to focus on finding the boyfriend of Mrs. Stone and get a search warrant for April’s apartment. Maybe after we search her place we’ll have a better idea of what actually happened Saturday night,” Detective Beals stated as they drove back towards town.