Cliff Roberts Thriller Box Set

by Cliff Roberts

  “The case is a mess. There isn’t any coherent string to follow here. We’ve got lots of suspicious things but nothing that we could call evidence. I say we go back to the woman in the hospital and get to the bottom of her story,” Williams stated.

  “I think you’re right. We need go over the whole thing with her again, and zero in on any discrepancy in her story. There has to be something she isn’t telling us,” Beals stated. “On the way, let’s stop in and talk to the doctor. I’ve got a few questions for him.”

  After talking to the doctor, they found April screaming at her nurse about a mix up in her lunch. The nurse tried to explain that she would call down and get a new meal for her, but April wouldn’t have any of it. As Detectives Beals and Williams stepped through the door, the nurse left in a huff.

  Upon seeing them, April uttered, “Oh great! Now I have to deal with you two dumbasses.” Then she stepped from the window back over to her bed and sat on the edge. “When can I go home? I have a job I need to keep.”

  “I’m sure the doctors will release you any day now,” Beals stated, knowing that it was police policy to detain anyone hospitalized under suspicious circumstances as long as the insurance could be counted on to pay and then occasionally even longer at county expense.

  “That’s bullshit. I feel fine. There’s a damn guard outside my door. Tell me you’ve been to Tyler’s house and found the bodies. I didn’t see anything on the evening news about it,” April complained.

  “Miss Jennings, you need to relax. The guard is there for your protection. Now, as for having checked out the Stone residence, well, we have a slight problem,” Beals stated as Williams did his usual thing and went to stand in the corner by the window.

  “Like what?”

  “Like the man isn’t dead or even wounded,” Williams asserted.

  “What?” April exclaimed, as she rapidly looked back and forth between the two detectives. “That’s not possible!”

  “I’m afraid it’s true,” Beals confirmed. “Perhaps you were hallucinating? The doctor tells us the poison you were subjected to can cause powerful hallucinations. In fact, some people in Southeast Asia use it as a recreational drug for that reason,” Beals explained.

  “No way, I know I stabbed that bastard. Tyler tried to poison me and my sister. If he’s still alive, then where is my sister?” April inquired.

  “We were hoping you could help with that issue, now that the drug has had more time to work its way out of your system,” Beals stated.

  “I already told you everything I know,” April whined.

  “Well, let’s just go over what you’ve told us so far,” Beals suggested in a calm voice, hoping to get her to relax and lower her guard.

  “Fine, where do we start?”

  “Let’s start with me just repeating what you’ve already shared with us and what we know, okay?” Beals asked and April nodded.

  “Okay then, we know that sometime during Saturday evening and Sunday morning, you got behind the wheel of your sister’s car and drove it from somewhere to the point that you crashed it. Also during this time, you somehow received a mild dose of a drug that can be a deadly poison in higher dosages. You received slightly more than the amount used for recreational use. Any more and it would have killed you.

  “After crashing your sister’s car, less than a mile from your apartment, you were hospitalized on Sunday morning. You then spent the next four days in a coma. When we interviewed you, on the fifth day, you claimed you had been poisoned by your soon to be ex-brother-in-law and in the process you stabbed him to death.

  “When we investigated, we discovered that your brother-in-law is still alive and on Saturday night, he had been working. His time cards and employer verified it,” Beals continued. April sat fuming.

  “Your sister is missing but then so is her boyfriend, Danny Conners. Neither has been to work this week. Mr. Conners’ car was found at the train station. A man parked it there at five a.m. on Sunday morning. He wore a hooded sweatshirt to hide his identity. After parking the car, the man walked away from the train station keeping his face turned down the entire time. Because of the hood and the fact he kept his face turned down, we are unable to determine his identity.

  “Surprisingly, the man left the car keys and a cell phone belonging to Danny Connors in the car. Forensics found your sister’s phone in the car you had crashed and we were wondering if your sister had also left her keys in the car as well. Is that how you got her keys?” Beals questioned and then waited for an answer.

  “That’s all you’ve found out?” April inquired instead of answering the question.

  “Oh no, we also found out that you lied to us,” Detective Williams interjected. “The results of your blood test showed that in addition to the drug that nearly killed you, you had cocaine in your system,” Williams stated matter of factly, and then stood staring at her along with Beals.

  “I don’t do drugs,” April lied again, which caused Beals to pull a form from the packet he received from the doctor and hand it to her. It was her blood test results, which in the conclusions column it clearly stated that she had used cocaine in the last few months. Her demeanor changed upon finishing reading the report.

  “So, I used a little cocaine a while ago. It’s not any big deal. Most of the people I know would test positively for one drug or another, if not actually having some on them right then. I don’t do them regularly,” April tried to justify her behavior.

  “Did you experiment with a new drug on Saturday night?” Williams asked bluntly.

  “No, I was straight and planning on staying that way. If I was going to be any help to Wendy when it came to dealing with that over-educated jackass, Tyler, I couldn’t even have a glass of wine.”

  “Why is that?” Beal stated.

  “He’s smart but not that smart. He reads a lot and he uses your words to twist things around so much, you can’t remember what you’re arguing about anymore. Saturday night he started right in twisting everything the moment we started talking.”

  “But Tyler wasn’t home on Saturday night, so that couldn’t have been the case?” Beals asserted.

  “That’s bullshit, he’s lying.”

  “Not that we can find,” Williams stated.

  “I know where I went and my sister was with me when I went there.”

  “Just as you know you stabbed Mr. Stone to death?” Williams questioned.

  “I did stab him!” April insisted. “He was right next to me doing something to Wendy when I lunged at him and stabbed him in the chest. Didn’t I have blood on me when I came in here?” April asked.

  “We’re waiting for the lab results in regard to what type and whose blood it is,” Beals stated as Williams walked out of the room.

  “I bet I have Tyler’s blood on my clothes,” April said adamantly.

  “I doubt that, but we’ll see. If you do, we’ll have to get a court order to have a doctor examine Mr. Stone. Did you and your sister spend the day together?” Beals asked.

  “We went shopping in the afternoon. She wanted to get a new set of lingerie for Danny.”

  “Did anyone see you two together?”

  “I’m sure they did. We shopped at Victoria’s Secret and the Adam’s Rib store. The sales girls know us both, you can ask them.”

  “We will. Did Wendy spend the night before at your apartment?”

  “She’s been living with me since her breakup.”

  “I see, but did she spend Friday night there?” Beals repeated the question, pressuring April to answer.

  “No,” April replied curtly.

  “Oh, where did she spend it?”

  April looked off to her right trying to think of a lie for some reason before she looked up and answered, “She spent it at Danny’s.”

  “I see. How did you feel about that?” Beals then asked.

  “I didn’t care. He’s not my boyfriend,” April snapped.

  “So, who is your boyfriend? Do you have one?” Beals
pressed.

  “I’m between relationships at the moment.”

  “I see. Were you jealous of Wendy? After all, she has a husband and a boyfriend.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me. She can have a dozen men, for all I care. I get plenty of attention,” April assured Beals.

  “Yes, I can see that you would,” Williams stated, as he stepped back into the room.

  “What does this have to do with anything?” April groused.

  “I’m just gathering background. It helps us develop a more complete picture of the situation,” Beals stated as Williams crossed from the door to the wardrobe in the corner of the room. Inside the closet was a bag filled with April’s clothes. He pulled it out and looked at the clothes through the bag. He then smirked at Beals as he walked over to stand by the window again, taking the bag of clothes with him.

  “Those are my clothes. I’ll need them if I’m going to be let out of here.”

  “We’ll be sure to get them right back to you,” Williams stated without making eye contact.

  “We’re going to have them checked for blood residue,” Beals stated.

  “Had you been drinking on Saturday?” Beals then asked.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

  “Humor me, April,” Beals said.

  “All right, I had a few drinks before we went over to Tyler’s, but I wasn’t drunk.”

  “The toxicology report says you were just under the legal limit when you arrived here Sunday morning. So you must have had a few more than you thought the night before,” Beals stated.

  “Was your sister drinking as well?” Williams asked.

  “She’d had a few.”

  “So, yes, she was drunk as well,” Williams snidely commented.

  “Let’s not judge anyone here,” Beals commented while looking at Williams playing the good cop role to Williams’ bad cop.

  “April, would you mind if we had a look at your apartment?”

  “Why?”

  “We can get a court order,” Williams barked.

  “I’m sure April wants to cooperate. After all she called for us, remember?” Beals continued to play the good cop.

  “I’m sure it’s a mess. I didn’t get a chance to clean up anything. I was planning on doing it Sunday,” April stated.

  “I promise we won’t grade you on cleanliness,” Beals replied.

  “I don’t even know where my purse is. I remember taking it into the house with me, but I can’t remember if I took it with me when I left.”

  “That would be the house where you murdered Mr. Stone, who is alive and well, and was at work at the time of the murder,” Williams remarked curtly.

  “I was there. I know I was there. Tyler is lying,” April continued to insist.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s as plain as day, he’s dead but he just won’t fall down,” Williams sarcastically commented.

  “We’ll get the manager to let us in,” Beals stated, as he made a note.

  “I don’t like the idea of you going there when I’m not home. I’d prefer you waited until I was released from here,” April suddenly seemed concerned.

  “Have it your way, April,” Beals stated. He knew he had enough to get a search warrant so it didn’t matter if she agreed or not. In fact, as he thought about it, it was probably better to have a warrant with someone as temperamental as April.

  “Oh, one last question, did you spend Friday night alone?” Beals asked as Williams leered at her.

  April squirmed a little and then said, “I had a date stay the night.”

  “And what was his name?”

  “I don’t remember. I met him in a bar.”

  “I see. What time did Wendy come home to go shopping?”

  “She didn’t. I went and picked her up at Danny’s.”

  “So your car is at Danny’s place?”

  “I don’t think so. I think it’s at my place. I rode over to Tyler’s with Wendy, so my car should be outside my apartment. No wait, we didn’t get back from shopping until late, so I left my car outside of Danny’s apartment. Yeah, that’s it, I think. Did you find it somewhere? I really don’t remember where I left it. It’s like my purse—I can’t remember where it is either.”

  “Okay, we’ll check that out as well,” Beals stated as he turned and started to walk away.

  “So that’s it?” April asked.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I was thinking about things. Thank you for your cooperation and we’ll be in touch about the blood and the car issue.” With that, both Beals and Williams walked out of April’s room.

  “I’ll call in for a warrant on her place once we’re out of the hospital,” Williams remarked as he and Beals stepped onto the elevator.

  “Yeah, I think there is definitely something in her apartment she doesn’t want us to see and she’s still not telling us everything,” Beals offered.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The car was a non-descript old Ford LTD. Its quarter panels were rusted around the edges and the overall condition of the body would be described, at best, as rough. It had several dents and dings along with areas where the paint had peeled. The interior wasn’t in any better shape as the naugahyde was all faded from the sun and split in several places. John Carpelli liked it that way. The car blended in everywhere but at a country club which was perfect because John never went to country clubs anyway. John had also made sure that the car had a lot of power. He’d had the standard engine replaced several years ago with a 440 big block with duel carburetors. It may look like it was a piece crap, but when he needed it, it would jump from zero to sixty in less than five flat.

  John liked blending in. In his profession, you didn’t want be too obvious and, at times, needed to be completely unnoticed, like today. Today, he was working on the behalf of an attorney by the name of Jackson Bender. Counselor Bender worked for a number of colorful characters. That’s what John called mobsters. John, for the most part, handled the legit inquiries for the mobsters thru Counselor Bender. But occasionally he was asked to perform, shall we say, less-than-legal tasks which he had no trouble doing as long as the money was right.

  John had been a detective in Newark a decade ago. He’d gotten caught doing a little something on the side that was just a little too far over the legal line. He could have gone to prison, but the Newark PD had found it less of a hassle and a hell of a lot less embarrassing just to ask him to leave. He left both the department and the city for the semi-rural confines of a neighboring state and opened his own private security agency.

  Carpelli pulled into the Sycamore Club and parked in front of the building housing Danny Conners’ apartment. A quick survey of the parking lot told him Danny’s car wasn’t here. So he went inside the building, climbed the stairs to the top floor and knocked on Danny’s door. He waited for a minute or two before pulling his lock pick from his pocket and went to work. Being the middle of the day, he wasn’t concerned about being seen breaking into the apartment since there was no one home judging by the near empty parking lot. He took his time and after two minutes he turned the knob and stepped inside.

  Like Tyler Stone had done a few days ago, he stepped into the living room and just looked around for a moment, while he slipped on a pair of latex gloves. He was there to look for anything that might provide a hint as to Danny’s whereabouts. The living room was neat with nothing obviously out of place. On the wall above the fireplace he saw what he was sure was Danny’s most prized possession—a forty-six inch plasma television.

  He walked thru the galley kitchen and noticed a half empty beer bottle on the counter and two glasses, one half full and one just short of being full in his estimate. They held what appeared to be soda, cola from the two liter bottle sitting on the counter next to them. As he looked at the cups he couldn’t see where anyone had touched them with their lips, no telltale smudge of lipstick on their drinking edges. That was odd, he told himself.

  In the refrigerator, he found three more beers, a quart of mil
k, (which he could see was curdled thru the plastic container), some American cheese and a half eaten sub sandwich. Danny lived like the typical guy if his refrigerator was any measure of his lifestyle.

  From the kitchen, he went to the bedroom and he stopped in his tracks. The room was a mess. The bedding was half on and half off the bed and there looked to be bloody streaks across the floor between the bed and the closet.

  He avoided the streaks and stepped closer to the bed. There was a blood spot on the left edge about chest high, but there wasn’t a whole lot of blood. If he had to guess, someone might have a minor flesh wound at best. As he checked the rest of the bed, it wasn’t difficult to see what looked like lipstick smeared across the pillows on the bed. There were two colors. Danny’s ring was on the night stand next to the bed and there was a pair of earrings next to it.

  Carpelli then stepped into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He found aspirin, condoms, deodorant, toothpaste and two types of lipstick. In the drawers, he found more condoms and KY jelly, hairbrushes and birth control pills for a Wendy Stone and a handful of different shaped ones in the drawer with Danny’s personal grooming things. Apparently Danny was sharing his attentions with two women.

  He then stepped back into the bedroom and focused again on the patchy streak of blood running across the floor. The streaks started right next to the bed where a small dribble of blood had run down the side of the mattress. There were four streaks about six inches long leading across the floor and under the closet door. He opened the closet door and looked inside. A large carving knife was lying there on the floor in plain sight. It was covered in dried blood.

  From Carpelli’s experience, he knew the apartment had been staged. It looked contrived and there wasn’t enough blood for someone to have been stabbed to death. Plus, there were no blood spatters at all that he could see. There were plenty of things to suggest there had been a ménage a trois going on, but that could have been staged as well. Then there were things like the two glasses in the kitchen and ring and earrings set neatly next to each other on the night stand.