"All right guys, give her some room," I tell the policemen who are standing a bit too close and sounding like they are trying to get her personal phone number.
They swing around and tell me, "Yes, sir," as they step back.
"Sharon, are you all right?"
"I'm all right, I think, a bit dizzy." She moves her hand towards her upper temple. "When I heard the noise, I let my guard down. I thought for a moment it might be the maid. Sorry, Mike."
"Don't worry about that, as long as you’re all right." I turn around to look at the officers who are in the immediate area. "Did anyone think about calling for a bus?"
"I don't think so," is the response from the one that was hitting on Sharon.
"Sharon, do you feel well enough to go back to be seen by Susan?" I ask, holding out my hand to help her get up from the chair.
"I think I’ll be all right," she responds, rubbing her bruised and scraped eye.
Pointing to two of the officers to stay here and keep an eye on things until relieved. I make sure one of them, the one with the loud mouth, the one who acted like he was asking for her number, was one of those who was going to stay.
I help her into the Audi, placing her in the passenger seat before I walk around to drive.
Chapter 23
"Sharon, are you all right?" Susan asks as we walk in through the double glass doors.
"I'm feeling a lot better now. I've never been hit like that before," she said, rubbing her temples.
"Oh, looks like a pretty bad bump, come over here and sit." She motions for her to set on the metal table used for cadavers.
"Ow, that burns." Susan takes a swab with peroxide and moves it over the wound.
"Oh, quit acting like a baby. I thought you were tough," Susan says with a smile.
"Sharon, did you see anything?" I say coaxingly. "Anyone?"
"Mike, all I saw was something coming towards me, and that was all I saw," she explained. "But I did hear someone in the library looking for something."
"Was the light on?" I ask, thinking back to what she had said earlier at the mansion.
"Yes, and that was why I initially thought it might be the maid."
"Do you feel up to going back?" I ask, thinking all is all right.
"Mike, she could have a concussion. She shouldn't go anywhere for a while," Susan felt compelled to point out. "She's going to stay down here for a while, and I'll keep an eye on her."
"That's okay; I'll go back there now and get them. You take it easy and rest."
I drive back, enter through the gate, and walk through the door only to find the two officers eating in the kitchen with the refrigerator door still open.
"What the hell is this?" I yell at them. "You two are going on report. This is a crime scene, or have you forgotten that?"
They quickly stand up and offer an apology for their actions.
I point to one of them and then the other. "You're at the front door, and you're at the back."
I make a call and talk to the commander. He will send over two replacements and have these two report directly to him. I thank him, although I must admit, I was almost compelled to yell at him for not having his men do a better job. But I held back. I sometimes have the tendency of saying too much to the wrong people, especially my superiors, even when I know I'm right.
I go around and finish the collection of the pictures that we need back at the office.
I check around the library again, looking for whatever they might have been looking for. I apply the fingerprint powder to several areas in the library and come up with a partial print on the desk drawer.
I walk around the home looking for anything that the perpetrators might have left behind. A footprint is by the back door, which I had not seen when I walked around the last time Sharon and I were here. I break out the casting plaster and frames and take plaster casts of the impressions. Thinking, this had better not be one of those officers. I'll come back tomorrow and get the pictures, don't think they will go missing.
I secure the cast and prints and head back towards the car. Two officers arrive to relieve them. I overhear one tell the other they need to report to the commander right away. I notice the one officer who was hitting on Sharon turn towards me and give me a dirty look.
Chapter 24
"John, David, glad you could make it. The others said they couldn't," Mark says, as he waves them both to set down at the outside dining area.
There were five that grew up together. All five went to the same grade school and high school. They went to the movies together with their dates, to the proms, summer camps, and even vacations. They did everything together. They called themselves "the secret society." Outside the group, they were called in high school “the five amigos.”
David Brenner was considered very good-looking, handsome, a Rock Hudson or Cary Grant quality about him. Broad shoulders, jet-black hair, and a complexion most women would die for. He tried his hand at acting. But for some reason when he got in front of the camera, he would start to perspire so much they would have to call “cut” even during the middle of a short shoot. Sometimes, even before the shot was even started, they would stop and have to dry and powder him off. After a while, the word got around, and the casting agents wouldn't even give him a tryout. Now he works as a waiter, telling everyone he’s is an actor waiting to be discovered, or says he’s in between gigs.
After Martha brings the plates and pours the wine, she goes back to the kitchen.
"How far did you get?" Mark asks John in a stern tone.
"I no sooner get there, and she comes in. I punched her lights out and got the hell out of there. I didn’t know if there was another one with her or not."
"You should have at least got what you were sent for. God, do I have to think of everything?" Mark says, quite disturbed. "Someone wasn't very careful. You should have heard her coming." As he looks straight at John, "You were careless. But part of it was my fault; I should have had both of you go over to retrieve it." Looking at both of them, "We need to get it before that detective finds it."
Mark looks at David. "He hasn't met you yet, has he?"
"No, but why should he? He doesn't know anything about me, does he?" replies David.
"I know he will. I have heard he doesn't leave too much to chance. He is supposed to be world-renowned. So don't let your guard down and don't think he is just a dumb Hawaiian island boy. He's not," As Mark tries to drive home his point.
"When should we go back?" John looks up at Mark sheepishly.
"Well, they now have two police officers guarding the place, so I have no idea. All we can do right now is hope they either think we found it and leave the home unguarded, or they find it and then who knows." Mark again looks at John with a disgusted stare. "If I believe they found it, I'm out of here. If need be, I'll find someplace that doesn't have any extradition back to the US."
"What about this place? You're going to leave all of this?" David asks, pointing his hand as he looks around.
"Look, I'm not about to go to jail." Mark raises his voice.
"What about us?" David asks. "Are you taking us with you?"
"That's up to you."
"What I mean was, you're the one with the money, not us. Are you going to foot the bill for the two of us?"
Mark throws down his napkin and slides his chair back and gets up.
"We'll see." He motions for them to get up and walks both of them to the front door. "I'll keep you in touch about what the police find. Do what I tell you, but do it better next time."
Chapter 25
"Paul, bring up the photos of the library," I ask as soon as I walk through the door of my office.
As Paul brings up the library shots, I ask him first to bring up the area in the library where the book is missing. He pulls up a tight close-up of both before and after and the book that is now missing is the classic From Here to Eternity.
I think, now we have another piece of the puzzle.
I ride th
e elevator down to the lab, where I walk into Susan's office. "Sharon, how are you feeling? Feeling all right?" I ask in a concerned manner, finding her on the stainless steel table lying down.
"She's still asleep." Susan glances over to where she is taking a nap. "But she should be okay in the morning. That was a pretty nasty bruise."
"When she wakes up, tell her to pick me up in the morning. I'll have a squad car drop me off at my home." I turn around and head out the glass doors. "Oh, by the way, you have a good night also."
In the morning and after breakfast, I walk out the door, and Sharon is there waiting for me.
"Good morning, Sharon. Feeling better?" I ask with real concern.
"Much better, man, I have never been hit like that before, even in police training."
"Let's get over to Patricia's home. I have a hunch of what we might find."
Again she enters the passcode of Ms. Wright's front entrance. They slide to each side, opening the metal front gates. She drives up to the front of the home. I pull off the tape attached to the front door, and we enter. The first room I walk into is the library, and I go directly to the books.
"Just as I thought, and in the same place as Mrs. Tan's, fourth row from the bottom, right-hand side." As I reach for the book From Here to Eternity I open it, and its pages are cut out in the middle. "It's empty." I look behind the books just to see if anything was left. "Nothing," I say out loud in a very disgusted manner.
"Were you expecting the same envelope and diary?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. But somebody beat us to it."
"It could have been taken any time since her death."
"You’re right, but before we didn’t know what to look for." I look back to Sharon."Let's get the pictures and take them in."
Chapter 26
Back at the office, Sharon, Paul, and I mark and code each picture and put on the screen both the picture and what was written on the back, just as Susan walks into the office.
"We got this one from Gracie's, and that one from Patricia's." I point to the two that are up on the screen. “Both pictures are the same. The only thing that is different is on the back, with whom they are written to. Patricia, you know how much I care and long to be with you, always yours, signed John Jacobs. On Gracie's, a similar thing is written to her; you know how important you are to me. Always. John Jacobs. She had taken great care to hide what was written, more than likely to keep it from her husband.”
Several of the same pictures given to both, read the same on the back. ‘I love the way we are together, you make me feel the best each and every time, and on another: We are so good together, with love. John Jacobs.’ Along with a few others, it was about the same rhetoric. You could tell when he wrote on the backs of the same photos to both of the women; he did this on the same day.
"This guy is a piece of work." I look toward Sharon. "What has this guy got to offer two movie actresses?"
"He must have something. I didn't see it when we picked him up," is the response, along with a shrug of her shoulders. "Maybe they liked how he captured them on film. I can see at least there; he is very talented."
"I'll agree with you there. He does have the eye for beauty, but he also has a quick temper. I thought he was going to hit you at LAX."
"I'm glad you stopped him, but I felt that one coming." Sharon thinks back to the airport. “Mike, do you remember how he smelled at the airport?”
"Like he needed a bath, but it is a long flight from Hawaii."
"Yes, I know, but if I'm right, he is the one who hit me."
"How can you be sure?"
"While I was standing by the entryway to the library, and before I turned to enter, I smelled something. Something like what he smelled like when we picked him up. Like he is on heavy medications or something. Like maybe Valium?"
"We can't pick him up on that alone. But we will keep a close eye on him," I say in a reassuring way.
"I'll bet it was him, the more I think about it. Valium does leave a distinctive odor if one takes too much over an extended period of time," Susan chimes in.
"What have you found in the diary?" I ask her, changing the subject.
"I haven’t had much time to look at it." She responds like I already knew.
"Paul, did you find out who the other men were in those pictures?" I ask as I turn around to get away from Sharon's stare.
"I got the names of several. Some you already know and met."
"Okay, let us look and see what you have."
Paul places those from the envelope. "Here is John Jacobs and Mark Jacobson, whom you already know. This is David Brenner." He points to another photo, where one or both of the women had stood near them. He continues: "And this is Stephen Gray. While pointing to another, I'm sorry to say I don't know who this one is. Can't find him anywhere."
"Okay, bring up the one where all five are in it." I turn my head to see if he is still near the computer.
"There is Mark sitting on the upper right ledge on the chair, and John sitting on the floor on the same side." Sharon points them out on the screen.
Paul comes around. "This is David Brenner, and this one is Stephen Gray." He points them out. "This is the one I can't find out who he is, the one in the middle."
"He looks a bit familiar," Susan says, as she walks even closer to the image, "Seems I've seen him before."
"The tuxedos look a bit out of date," Sharon points out, looking over to me, "and they look quite different."
"Sharon, I will have to spoil your observation, as this I believe is a high school graduation picture." Paul throws in. "Well, I do know this was taken several years ago," Paul mentions, "as the date on the picture is dated 20 years ago."
Paul puts up the nude ones that were in Gracie Tan's envelope.
"Five nude pictures. No wonder she must have been worried. If I had those, I would be worried too," Sharon adds.
"Can you tell where it was taken?" I look over to Paul.
"I'm guessing at Jacobs' studio," Paul answers, glancing at the back of the pictures.
"I would love to see what photos he has there, but right now, there is no way I can get a warrant."
"Sharon, get the diary and let's all look at it together."
"Sure, I have it in my bag." She reaches to retrieve it.
"Paul, throw these pages up on this wall with the overhead."
Sharon reads, “In the first part of Gracie's diary, she tells about the love affairs she has, not only with Jacobs, but also with the other three, Mark, David, and Stephen. She is very explicit in her description, mentioning trying different positions, threesomes, and different locations throughout the house as well as in various locales around town. She sounds like she almost wanted to be caught. She doesn’t mention who the fifth person in the picture might be. Towards the end of the book, though, the tone starts to change—she starts saying some unusual things. She says she is afraid for her life. She also feels her husband is having her followed and her phone calls are being tapped, and mentions that she is very uncomfortable.”
"Which is probably why she didn't keep it in her safe; her husband might know the combination," Susan says, trying to get that point in.
"If her husband ever got a hold of these, it would mean instant divorce and no alimony. These could mean a fortune in blackmail if they got into the wrong hands. No wonder she was hiding them. But why even keep them?” Paul adds.
"Makes no sense."
"I agree with you. It doesn't make any sense. Let's call it a day; I'll see you all in the morning."
Sharon grabs the keys and drops me off at my home.
Chapter 27
In the morning, after Sharon has swung by and picked me up, we walk into the office. Paul says he has good news for us. "After you left, I got to thinking about John Jacobs. Remember you had asked me to check all fights in question from Hawaii to LA.X? Well, I did and found nothing. I thought if I were he, what would I do? So I checked other airport arrivals on those dates out of H
awaii to Seattle, Oakland, San Diego, and Portland and this came up. He didn't use his real name on the manifest, but just about as dumb. He used Jacob Johns. Not too bright."
"Was it for both nights?" I ask
"As you know, he didn't have an alibi for Patricia Wright, and he came back through Portland to LAX. the night before Michelle was stabbed and left the next morning from LAX. through San Diego. Might have been much harder had he not used the name he did. He just made it easy for me." Paul says with a broad smile.
"Let's go." I get up out of the chair and head for the door. ”Let's pick him up for questioning."
I put out an APB on John Jacobs as we head over to his address. We park in front of a luxury apartment complex. As we walk up, the front door guard asks us first what our business is with Mr. Jacobs. I show him my badge, and he apologizes. After we ask which suite Jacobs' number is, he tells us and walks us to the elevator to swipe the key card to push the floor we need to go to Jacobs' suite is one of only two that are on each floor.
Approaching the door, we find it ajar. We fear the worst. After entering with our pistols drawn and searching each room, we don't find Jacobs. What we do find is a very spacious open apartment with large floor-to-ceiling windows. It has white and black marble floors, a chef's kitchen with granite countertops, and an extra-large Jacuzzi bath in an oversized bathroom. The master bedroom has a large walk-in closet which has to be one of the largest I've ever seen in an apartment. It’s as big as a normal sized bedroom.
"He must have a maid as I have never seen a man's place this clean in my life." Sharon reflects on what is in front of us.
"I have to get his maid's name; I'll have her come work for me," as I agree with her.
The elevator bell rings and its doors open. I walk to the front door and look to see who is getting out. It's the neighbor. I enter the hallway and approach her as she is starting to open her front door.
The Hollywood Serial Killers: A Mike Kane Mystery Series Page 6