by Linda Warren
* * *
WHEN ETHAN RETURNED to the station, Ross was leaving. “Man, I’m sorry, I have to work this murder. Did you find anything last night?”
Ethan told him about Estelle and the cleaning service.
“That could be it, but if it isn’t we’re going to have to let the FBI take it from there. We just ran out of time.”
“I’m not giving up yet.”
“Didn’t think so.” Ross nodded. “I’ll check in later.”
Hal strolled in and Ethan gave him the lowdown. “So the lieutenant’s making the call to B&B?”
“Yes, and I have orders to stay out of his office until he calls.”
“Figures.” Hal glanced toward the lieutenant’s office. “This could take a while.”
“I told him how badly we needed the information.”
Hal slid into Ross’s chair. “If this doesn’t pan out, I’m closing the books and handing everything over to the FBI. And they will probably go over everything thoroughly and conclude that Rudy and Devon acted alone. Also, they’ll conclude that due to the traumatic situation and stress you heard incorrectly.”
“You know how to push my buttons, Hal, but I have more faith in the FBI. They’re not going to ignore the money paid to Grundy.”
Hal made a clicking sound with his teeth. “That’s the kicker.” Hal stood. “We at least have today...”
“James,” the lieutenant bellowed. “In my office.”
Ethan jumped up and was in the office in a flash. He expected Hal to follow him, but he didn’t.
“Close the door.”
Ethan did as ordered.
The lieutenant didn’t waste time. “B&B is owned by a husband and wife, and they were reluctant to share anything about their customers until I mentioned we suspected one of their employees gained information through her job to aid a bank robbery and kidnapping case. If they cooperated with me, I’d try to keep their name out of it. If not, their business might be plastered across the front of a lot of newspapers and mentioned on TV stations. Funny, how that always does the trick.” He laid a sheet of paper in front of Ethan.
It was the B&B customer list and Bauman Offices and Bauman Banks were highlighted. Ethan felt a moment of elation, but it was short-lived. They had to place Estelle as the person who cleaned Bauman’s office.
“Sir...”
The lieutenant laid another sheet in front of him. “Is that what you need?” The sheet contained names of the people who cleaned the Bauman offices.
“That’ll do it.”
“Bring Estelle Campbell in and let’s see what she has to say.”
“She’s coming in to pick up her cell. I’ll be ready for her.”
“Ethan, you have to get her to connect a lot of dots to implicate Douglas Bauman.”
“Yeah.” He realized that was going to be more than difficult.
“When Ms. Campbell comes in, I’ll have them put her in interrogation room number two. Buzz me when it’s all set. I want to watch, and, Ethan, I want this done by the book.”
“Yes, sir. And thanks.”
Back at his desk Ethan showed Hal the list of customers and employees.
“Hot damn, Ethan, we finally have a connection.”
“I just wish we had more so we could start hammering the nails into her coffin.” He picked up the list of employees. “The women Mrs. Campbell works with might know if she had personally met Bauman.”
Hal grabbed the list. “I’ll check ’em out. Since you met Mrs. Campbell yesterday, you handle the interview. Ross is on a murder case and Steve is back on robbery. It’s just you and me. With a little luck I’ll be back before the interview is over.”
“Hal,” Ethan called before the man could charge away. “There’s an expensive big-screen TV in Mrs. Campbell’s home. Her coworkers might know how she got the money to buy it.”
“I’m on it.”
Ethan looked at all the files on his desk. Motive. There wasn’t a shred of evidence for motive in any of them. Without motive they didn’t have a case against Bauman. First, Ethan had to prove he was involved and hope the motive would follow.
He leaned back in his chair. “Why would Bauman hire someone to rob a bank? But, as they’ve thought all along, the robbery was a spur of the moment decision. So if Rudy and Devon weren’t there to rob the bank, why were they there?” It had something to do with Abby. What did Bauman want them to do to her? His blood ran cold at the scenarios running through his mind.
An hour later the phone on his desk rang. Mrs. Campbell was in the interrogation room throwing a hissy fit.
The lieutenant came out of his office. “Where’s Hal?”
“He’s checking on a few things.”
Ross came in and sat at his desk, writing in a file.
“Let’s get this interview over with. Ross, you feel up to joining Ethan on the interview?” the lieutenant asked.
“Sure.”
“Ethan, you take the lead. Ross, try not to fall asleep.”
Ethan picked up the leather case with his information and the three men walked down the hall to the interrogation rooms. The lieutenant went into one room to watch and listen. Ethan and Ross entered interrogation room number two.
“What the hell they put me in here for?” Estelle demanded to know.
“Sit down, Mrs. Campbell. We have a few more questions.”
“Why did they have to search me?”
“Standard procedure. Please have a seat.”
She plopped into a chair at the table and crossed her arms over her chest. He sat at the end of the table and opened his folder. Ross sat at the other end.
Ethan now had to focus on the task ahead of him. He cleared his throat. “Mrs. Campbell, do you know Douglas Bauman?”
“Who? No.” She quickly broke eye contact and fidgeted in the chair. She was lying.
He laid B&B’s customers list in front of her. “Do you recognize this?”
She glanced at it briefly and shook her head. “No.”
“Look again. You work for B&B Services and that’s a record of the offices they clean. These are the offices that start with the letter b.”
“So?”
He pointed to the highlighted section. “Bauman Offices are on it.”
“So?”
He pulled the employee list out and placed it on top of the other one. “Now, I’m going to ask you again. Do you know Douglas Bauman?”
“Okay,” she spat. “I clean his office.”
“Mrs. Campbell—” Someone tapped at the door. “Hang on.” Ethan and Ross got up and went into the hall. Hal was outside with the lieutenant.
“I spoke with the supervisor of Mrs. Campbell’s crew.” Hal looked down at his notes on his iPhone. “She said Mr. Bauman asked specifically for Estelle to clean his office. He liked her work. She didn’t know where Estelle got the money for the TV, but she bought it at a Walmart near her house. I met with the store manager, and after a little checking he found that one had been purchased with cash the week before the robbery. Gotta love computers.” He handed Ethan a receipt.
“Thanks, man.”
“Tie it up, Ethan,” the lieutenant ordered. “Get her to crack.”
“I’m just going to be quiet,” Ross said.
They went back in and Ethan laid the receipt on his case, facing Estelle so she could read it.
She took a brief look and glanced away.
“That’s a receipt for a Samsung HDTV in the amount of two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine dollars plus tax. You have one in your apartment. Where did you get the money to buy the TV?”
She stared him square in the eye. “You can’t prove I bought it.”
“We can, Mrs. Campbell. The cashier will remember a
cash purchase this big and the woman who purchased it. We’re going to be pissed if you put us to all that trouble.”
“Can I have a cigarette?” She ran her hands up her arms in a nervous gesture.
Ethan resumed his seat, as did Ross. “Sorry, it’s a nonsmoking facility.” He folded his hands across the folder on the table. “Mrs. Campbell, you’re in this up to your eyeballs.”
Color drained from her face and she ran a shaky hand through her hair, but she didn’t respond.
He decided to move on from the TV. “You said Rudy gave you a number to text Lawyer or else. What did you use to send that text?”
“My cell.”
“There are no deleted texts on your cell like you said.” He pulled her phone from his leather case, opened it and saw there was some charge left on it. “I’ll call Mr. Bauman’s office and see if he takes your call.”
She shrugged. “Go ahead. I don’t care who you call. Can I leave? I need a cigarette.”
“No.” Before he could punch in the number he had for Bauman, a cell buzzed—in the room. It wasn’t Ethan’s or Ross’s. The sound came from the floor and Mrs. Campbell’s purse.
Ross reached for Estelle’s purse and fished out a buzzing phone. A prepaid phone. One she must have used to text Bauman. Ethan now knew where Rudy got his brains.
Ross shoved it across the table. “You want to explain this?”
Estelle twisted her hands and wouldn’t look at him.
“We can get our tech to retrieve the numbers you called or texted on this phone, but it would be in your best interest to tell us.”
Nothing but silence followed his words.
“Did Bauman tell you to buy a prepaid phone to contact him?”
Again, not a word left her mouth, so he tried another tactic. “Why would you bring it into the police station?” That baffled him.
“You took mine and I needed a phone to check on the kids. I didn’t know you were going to question me.”
“You thought you were home free?”
She looked down at the floor.
“Okay, Mrs. Campbell, I’m going to give you a chance to tell me the whole story. If you tell the truth, the D.A. might be willing to make a deal with you. If not, I’m going to tie this case up into a tidy little bow and you’ll go down as hard as Rudy and Devon.”
“I can’t go to jail. I didn’t do anything.”
“You took the money to Grundy. No one left it on your doorstep. Where did you get it?”
She ran a hand through her hair again.
“You picked it up at Bauman’s office, didn’t you?”
She didn’t answer.
“Did Bauman give you the money?”
She raised her head, her eyes narrowed.
“Ms. Campbell, you’re looking at a lot of time in prison. How much time depends on how well you cooperate with us.” He took a breath. “Now, I’m asking you again. Did Bauman give you the money?”
“Yes. Bauman gave it to me.” For the first time her voice sounded defeated.
Ethan kept his emotions in check even though he could feel a crack in his composure starting to form. But he remained focused. He needed a motive and he intended to get it. He pulled out a small digital recorder from his case and placed it on the table. “This will record what you say. Then we’ll have it typed up and you can sign it.”
“Okay,” she muttered.
“Start from the beginning, and tell me how all this started.” He clicked on the recorder.
She drew a shaky breath. “Mr. Bauman is rarely in his office when we clean, but one night he came in to do some last-minute stuff, for his dad, he said. He told us to keep cleaning. I was finishing up when I got a call from Rudy. I ignored it because we’re not supposed to be on our phones while working, and Mr. Bauman was there. I didn’t want to lose my job. But he heard it and said he didn’t mind if I took it. Rudy was in jail again and wanted me to get his bail. Mr. Bauman saw that I was upset and asked what was wrong. I told him I had a no-good son who was always in trouble and expected me to bail him out. Mr. Bauman was very nice and considerate. About a month later Mr. Bauman asked that I clean his office every time. He spoke to my supervisor.”
She stopped speaking and Ethan asked, “Was there a reason for that?”
“I wasn’t sure. Then one night he came in late to his office and wanted to speak to me.”
“What did he want?”
“He...uh...said he had a job for Rudy and it had to be top secret. He’d give Rudy twenty-five hundred and me the same if I could get Rudy to do it.”
“That’s what you used to buy the TV?”
“Yes.” She folded her arms across her chest again in a defensive manner.
“What did he want Rudy to do?” He held his breath as he waited for the answer.
“He...um...said his ex-wife was being difficult and he wanted to teach her a lesson.”
“How?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“He wanted him to scare her, confront her at the bank as she got out of her car, touch her, make her feel uncomfortable and afraid.”
That sorry son of a bitch. Ethan’s control was hanging by a thread.
“It was just supposed to be that one little thing, but Rudy couldn’t even get that right. His car broke down the day before, so he hooked up with his friend Devon, who got his dad’s van. Rudy gave him half of the money and they did drugs most of the night. They decided since they were gonna be at a bank, they’d just rob it, get lots of money and really scare Ms. Bauman. The idiots found Halloween masks at Devon’s. They got to the bank late, but just in time to push everyone inside. Then the sirens went off and Rudy lost it. He’s always been stupid.”
Ethan took a moment, trying to remain cool. “Where did Rudy get the Glocks?” He already knew they were stolen, but he wanted to hear her response.
“From a house burglary. Rudy had them stashed somewhere. He was going to sell them.”
“Let me get this straight. Mr. Bauman wanted to teach his ex a lesson. Why?”
“He didn’t tell me. That was his business.”
“How did Mr. Bauman feel when the job was botched?”
“He was angry as hell. Told me to tell Rudy he was on his own.”
Ethan pulled a sheet of paper out of his folder. “You saw Rudy the next day at the jail and delivered that message?”
“Yeah. Rudy said he wanted a lawyer and Mr. Bauman better pay or he was going to tell the cops why he was at the bank in the first place.”
“You didn’t use your phone to call Bauman because his number wasn’t on there.”
“No. Rudy told me to buy a prepaid one so Mr. Bauman would know Rudy wasn’t going to finger him if he paid for a good lawyer.”
“Rudy came up with the phone idea?”
“Yeah.”
“Why not tell Bauman when you went to work?”
“Because he’s not always there and Rudy wanted him to get the message fast.”
“I see. When you called, how did Mr. Bauman respond?”
Estelle moved uneasily. “He threatened me and Rudy and said he didn’t hire the other guy. That was Rudy’s problem, but he didn’t want his name mentioned. He was afraid his father would find out.”
“So he paid the money?”
“Yeah.”
Doug was one stupid dude. He just kept getting in deeper and deeper. If he had come forward, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble. Teaching Abby a lesson paled in significance to bank robbery, the death of Mr. Harmon and kidnapping. If he’d been man enough to step forward and admit he’d hired Rudy in the first place, he could have saved Abby a lot of misery. But then, maybe he wanted her to suffer. Doug’s motive was still rather vague. Estelle’s involvement was not.
“When you first visited Rudy in jail, did he tell you where he and Devon left Mrs. Bauman and me?”
“I had nothing to do with that.”
Ethan frowned. A piece of the puzzle was missing. Rudy didn’t have enough sense to think of a prepaid phone. And then it clicked in his mind.
He scooted forward. “Mrs. Campbell, did Rudy contact Mr. Bauman after the robbery?”
“Yeah.”
“How? Mr. Bauman’s number wasn’t on his cell.”
“He gave me one of those prepaid phones to give to Rudy. He had one, too. Rudy tossed his in Houston.”
“Wait a minute.” He held up the prepaid phone on the desk. “You called Bauman’s prepaid phone with this?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s get back to Rudy’s call after the robbery. What did he tell Mr. Bauman?”
“I don’t know...”
“What did Rudy tell Mr. Bauman?” he shouted.
“I need a cigarette.”
“Did Rudy tell Mr. Bauman where he’d left his ex-wife?”
“Yes, okay. I’m not answering any more questions. Can I go?”
“No,” he snapped, wanting to reach over and shake her. “What did Rudy tell you he told Mr. Bauman?”
“He...um—” she chewed nervously on a fingernail for a second “—told him his ex was on the Old Mill Ranch and he could now play the hero.”
Ethan swallowed his anger. “But he didn’t play the hero, did he? And neither did you. You could have called from a payphone, or anywhere to let the police know where we were, but you played the coward, just like Mr. Bauman. Do you know what it’s like being burned alive, Mrs. Campbell?”
“Ethan.” Ross clicked off the tape recorder, but Ethan was focused on Estelle.
“I...I...um...”
“How much did Bauman offer to pay you to keep quiet?”
“I...um...”
He slapped his hand on the table. “How much?”
“Another twenty-five hundred for me and the same for Rudy, but...”
“What about Devon?”
“Rudy said to tell him the lawyer had been hired and to keep his mouth shut.”