Too Close to Home (The Forensic Files)

by Tressa Messenger

  “We may have to keep him on the watch list then,” Harold said to her.

  “Might be a little hard to do, though.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because of who his dad is,” Carma told him.

  “Do I even want to know?”

  “Superior Court Judge Lee. He was an attorney here in the county when I was a kid, then he became a judge the same year I joined the force. He’s won every election for Superior Court Judge since, and no one has ever been able to come close to beating him. I didn’t pick up on the name at first, but when I saw the family photo, I knew.”

  “Damn! Explains the house,” Harold said.

  Chapter Six

  When Harold and Carma returned to the Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Pete informed them that the two deputies arrived back at the station about an hour earlier with Eugene Williams, the janitor at the high school, and Coach Steven Grady, weight-trainer and football coach.

  Carma turned to Deputy Pete and asked him, “How are our visitors holding up?”

  Smiling, Deputy Pete said, “Well, we have them both in separate interrogation rooms all alone, and from what we can see when we check on them, sometimes they seem a little more patient than at others.”

  Carma thanked Deputy Pete as they strode into the first interrogation room and sat down in the metal chairs across from Eugene Williams.

  “Mr. Williams, my name is Detective Carma Jones, and this is my partner, Detective Harold Green. Sorry for making you wait so long.”

  Eugene leaned forward with his hands on the table. “What’s this about?”

  “I think you have waited here long enough so I’m going to just cut to the chase. Where were you last night between seven and nine o’clock?”

  “Home. Why?”

  “Can anyone verify that?”

  “My girlfriend was there with me. I ask again. What’s this about?”

  “We are investigating the Melissa Cooley murder and your record came into question.”

  “I was a kid when that happened. I thought my record was expunged or that the records would be sealed at the very least since I was a juvenile.”

  “Your juvenile record is sealed, but your employment record is not. You informed them of your record, or lack thereof, when you were hired.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Harold started with Williams, slyly cutting off Carma, “but aren’t janitors given keys to not only open the school’s main entrance, but to open up each individual classroom, office and locker?” Before Williams could answer, Harold continued, “Don’t tell me all those computers don’t get tempting. You can play the innocent act all you want, but I have been around a long time. Now you may not want to admit it, and at this point it doesn’t even matter, but you and I both know what happened back in 1997, juvie or not.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t go anywhere near that school last night. You can call my girlfriend and ask. And while you’re at it, call my lawyer, as well.” Eugene sat back and crossed his arms across his chest as he watched Carma and Harold stand up and leave.

  After hanging up the phone with Patrice Miller, Eugene’s girlfriend, Carma looked over at Harold sitting at his desk across from her. “One down.”

  “I’ll handle the coach since he’s a hothead, if you don’t mind,” Harold said.

  “Be my guest.”

  In interrogation room number two, Carma sat back in her chair sipping coffee while watching Harold do his work. “Mr. Grady, I’m sorry to have you wait so long. My name is Detective Harold Green, and this is my partner, Detective Carma Jones.”

  Coach looked back and forth between them and stopped on Carma. “Damn right I have. What’s this about, Carma?”

  Harold looked at Carma, confused. She smirked and answered, “Coach, we need to know where you were last night between seven and nine o’clock.”

  “I was at the Crooked Hook having a few drinks.”

  “On a school night?”

  “I’m there most nights these days. You know how it is. My wife is gone and I’m getting old. I’m past ready to retire as it is. Why? What’s this about?”

  “We are investigating Melissa Cooley’s death. We are questioning just about everyone with a record. We also happen to be speaking with teachers and other employees at the high school as well. Unfortunately for you, your name is on both lists,” Carma told him.

  “Hell, girl! That’s old news and I still stand by self-defense. That asshole deserved it!”

  “I’m sure he did. But really, did you have to put him in the hospital?”

  “Like I said, he deserved it.”

  “Were you at the bar with anyone?”

  “Yeah, the whole damned bar. Ask George. He was bartending last night. I’m a regular there so he’ll remember me.”

  Carma remained silent for a moment, taking in what Coach Grady just said. Putting her hands on the metal table between them, she leaned in close and asked, “Did you happen to see some of the cheerleaders there last night sometime after eight?”

  “Yeah, almost all of them were there,” Coach Grady replied.

  “Was Melissa one of them?”

  “No, she’s the ring leader of those cheery girls, so I would remember seeing her. They tend to get a little louder when she’s in the mix.”

  “How about Robert Lee?”

  “Robert? No, Robert definitely wasn’t there. I would remember seeing my star quarterback,” Coach Grady said firmly.

  “What about the other football players?”

  Coach thought for a minute before responding, “I reckon most of them were there, too, flirting with those cheerleaders like usual.”

  “Thanks, Coach. I’m sorry, but I hope you know we had to ask,” Carma said.

  “No harm done, Carma, all part of the job. It’s a damned shame what happened to that little girl. These kids today drive me crazy, no morals or respect for themselves or others, but I would never want to see any of them get hurt. I’ll do what I can to help.”

  After checking Coach Grady’s alibi, both men were free to leave.

  “Back to square one,” Harold said.

  “Yep, but no one said it was going to be easy. I think I’m going to call it a day,” Carma said, stretching her arms widely.

  “I’m right behind you. See ya tomorrow.”

  Carma didn’t turn around, but waved good-bye as she walked away.

  Her drive through the county went by in a daze. With her windows down, the warm humid air surrounded her. She didn’t snap back to reality until she pulled up in front of her little one-story riverfront cottage in Reelsboro. She had been living in the cottage since she had first become a deputy in her early-twenties. She really liked the fact it was buried deep down Lee Landing Road in the seclusion and safety of the woods. With so many subdivisions going up and all the logging going on in Pamlico County, she was lucky to have found the place. She liked it so much that the first year she became a detective she bought it at a steal, along with the five acres of land surrounding it. It had proven to be the best purchase she had made to date because it allowed her to rest easy knowing that the developers and loggers would never be able to intrude on what she lovingly referred to as her “sanctuary.”

  She barely had her front door closed when she began to kick off her high heels and strip out of her pants-suit down to her bra and panties. Walking toward her back deck, she stared out at the peaceful river. She paid a pretty penny for the view when she bought the house, but the peace that she felt looking out at the river and listening to the waves trickle and break on the rocks was priceless. She took a deep breath of salty air then turned and swung a high kick out at her full body punching bag hanging a few feet away. Liking the feeling, she kicked out again, then threw a few rapid punches. On days like today, when her stress level was high, hitting something was the only thing that settled her restless emotions.

  Once her need was filled, she stripped out of her sweaty bra and panties and stood under the outdoor shower. Li
ving so far away from neighbors had its perks and privacy was a luxury she had taken advantage of since she started living there. She stood under the fast stream of water and let the heat work its magic on her muscles. Her achy muscles reminded her she was not as young as she used to be, but she was hoping the hot water would help to eliminate the aches.

  Once she was done, she walked in the house and wrapped a fluffy terry-cloth towel around her body before crawling into her cozy bed. She stared up at the ceiling as images of Melissa Cooley plagued her every thought.

  Chapter Seven

  Ronnie had been pacing back and forth in his small compact room ever since leaving school that morning. He couldn’t stop thinking about Missy being dead no matter what he did. Several times that day when he was able to not think about it for even just a minute, all of a sudden the realization of her death would come rushing back, and each time it happened, it felt as though his heart was being ripped from his chest. He thought about it so often it remained a fresh wound.

  He had loved her since the first time he laid eyes on her in ninth grade when she came breezing through the front quad. That day she seemed lost and insecure, much different than the queen bee she became. He had been dreading the thought of starting high school for some time. So on the first day of school, trying not to be noticed by the high school bullies, he purposely walked with his head bent down looking at the ground when it happened. He and Missy collided right into each other. Ronnie remembered feeling particularly annoyed as he bent down to pick up all the books he dropped. After he picked up his last book, he looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen, causing his heart to leap in his chest and his breathing to become labored. With a soft sweet smile and an apology, she quickly gathered up the rest of her belongings and hurried into the building. He didn’t fully realize it at the time, but that moment had changed his life, and over the next few years, as they both matured, his feelings for her only grew stronger.

  He was pretty sure when she was still alive that she didn’t even know he existed, being as he was a poor kid from the wrong side of the county, but he knew her. For example, he knew the soft, girly way she laughed when she was at school was only for show. Her real laugh caused her to snort uncontrollably. He knew that her eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, always told the truth about how she was feeling, no matter the front she tried to put on. He knew no matter how many people were around her laughing and smiling, one look in her eyes and he could see when she was feeling utterly alone. Even when she would come to school with her makeup and hair looking perfect, he would need only to look into those eyes to see that she was still the same insecure girl she was on that first day of high school. One thing he knew above all else, and that’s no matter how popular she was, there was absolutely no one that would ever love her like him. Now any dreams Ronnie had about ever being with her would certainly never happen. From that point on, he wouldn’t even be able to get close enough to her to smell her girlie floral-scent or even hear her sultry husky voice. Missy was dead and she never even knew how he felt about her.

  He sat down at his small cluttered desk and plugged the memory stick into his desktop computer to see her again. She caught him a few times taking pictures of her, but because she hadn’t ever tried to make him stop, he felt as though she was inviting him to take more, so he did. As soon as he clicked the mouse on the folder designated for her only, he silently watched as images of her flooded the screen. Beautiful pictures with smiling white teeth under full pink lips. Her long pale blonde hair flowed in the wind in some and in others it seemed as if her bright blue eyes were boring directly into his soul. He clicked on a set of pictures that he had taken of her recently when she was parked at the Bluffs with some guy. The pictures were taken a week ago and this was the first time he had had a chance to look at them. Wanting nothing more than to catch a glimpse of her perfect naked body, Ronnie studied the pictures very closely, but so far the pictures were only working as a tease.

  Closing his eyes, he pretended he was the one she was sitting next to in the car. He imagined that it was him who was giving her so much pleasure. It seemed so real for a moment he could actually smell the sweet strawberry shampoo she used. He could not only feel her long blonde hair tickling the side of his face, but he could also feel her soft luscious lips pressed against his, and it almost seemed as if he could hear her sultry words whispered in his ear, which was being tickled by her moist hot breath. He slowly opened his eyes, shaking away his daydream, and continued looking through his newest pictures, but suddenly stopped on the last one. He leaned in close and zoomed in to get a better look at the man she was with and as he did he realized that he recognized the man. It had been too dark that night for Ronnie to see his face clearly and most of his attention was focused on her, but he was pretty positive the man had seen him. Ronnie was hiding behind a tree, and as he took the picture, the man looked directly at him. The man straightened and Ronnie took off running.

  “Holy shit, that can’t be him.” Ronnie stared at the picture harder. “Oh my God, it is!” As Ronnie stared at the picture the realization of who the man was finally started to sink in. Ronnie began to panic because he knew that it was the worst person to have taken a picture of in a compromising situation.

  Ronnie quickly closed the folder and safely removed the memory stick. He looked at the little black piece of plastic then looked around the small room as if he were being watched.

  “He saw me!” he said aloud. “He saw me and it’s only a matter of time before he figures out who I am!” Ronnie jumped up, looking around his room. “I gotta hide this somewhere. I gotta get it hidden now, but where can I put it?”

  He opened all the drawers in his dresser one by one and stared into them. “Too obvious,” he said, then turned back looking at his desk and shook his head. “That would be the first place anyone would look.” He spun around in a slow circle trying to think of where to put it. Because his room wasn’t very big, it really wasn’t the best place to hide stuff, even something as small as a memory stick. His eyes landed on the door to his small closet and he flung the door open. He glanced inside the closet and quickly realized that the closet would definitely not work and slammed it closed with a mix of panic and fear.

  Ronnie nervously paced back and forth in his small room, again trying to figure out what he was going to do. He knew the man saw him taking pictures that night, so he obviously knew that Ronnie was aware of the affair he and Missy were having. He also was fairly certain since Missy had just been murdered that someone from the Sheriff’s Department would be coming to question him, and if that happened he would need some leverage.

  “That’s it,” Ronnie said, shoving the memory stick in his pocket and grabbing his keys off the desk.

  Ronnie poked his head out of his room and into the narrow hallway to hear if his dad was moving around. His dad had announced his departure for bed a few hours ago, but you never knew for sure. His parents didn’t usually care when he came or went, but after getting busted with that joint at school last month, followed by a week of suspension, they decided to put him on lock down. But with his mom working late at the restaurant all the time and his dad going to bed early for work, there was no one to stop him. He quietly made his way to the front door after checking the kitchen and living room to ensure all was quiet. The old screen door squeaked when it was opened, which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

  Instinctively, after the door squeaked, Ronnie froze and held his breath, listening to see if he heard his dad moving around. He finally exhaled when he was sure the coast was clear, and then very quietly closed the screen door behind him. Putting his old truck in neutral, he pushed it out of the driveway onto Highway 304 where he jumped in his truck and cranked it up, heading toward the high school in Bayboro.

  He parked his truck into a small housing development half a mile up from the school and walked the rest of the way. As he got closer to the school, something yellow caught his eye near the f
ront entrance flapping in the breeze. As he started toward the entrance, his curiosity got the best of him when he saw the crime scene tape all around the front entrance of the school. For a moment, he found himself just staring at the crime scene tape, unable to walk away. His thoughts became flooded with visions of the chaos that went on in that very spot only a few hours earlier. After Missy’s body was found that morning, the school had been completely shut down, not just to students but to all the faculty members, including the janitors. This knowledge comforted him quite a bit because he knew there was no need for him to worry about any teachers or janitors staying late to finish up some work. All that meant to him was that he would most likely not be busted.

  Bypassing the front entrance, he snuck around the grounds to the back toward the football field. The school undoubtedly was tightly locked as usual, but there was access through the gym. Last year Ronnie and a few friends had broken into the school by breaking a lock on one of the gym doors so they could spray graffiti on the gym walls after a basketball game. He knew the door was never fixed. He climbed the tall metal fence at a low section of the football field and jumped down. He stayed close to the ground so anyone who happened to be outside wouldn’t see him. The last thing he wanted was the cops being called. The night sky and his typical dark clothes aided to cloak his body as he ran in a crouched position through the football field and up the steps to the gym door. Thankfully after last year’s stunt, the lock was easy to pick.

  He paused at a dreadful thought, Was it my fault Missy got killed? Had this door not been broken maybe the asshole wouldn’t have been able to get in and do what he did to her.

  He immediately pushed those thoughts out of his head and jimmied the gym door open and walked straight through. The only sound he heard was the sound of his boots squeaking on the wooden floor. He poked his head outside of the gym, looking back and forth through the recreation wing before he entered the school. Knowing the school was empty did not stop him from being somewhat paranoid. Because the school was totally empty and void of any sort of noise, he found that the loud thudding sound of his boots matching the abnormally loud thumping in his heart made every hair on his body to stand on end.