“Did he touch anything inside the office?”
“Just the phone when he called 911. By then the first patrol car was already on its way.”
“Why was that?”
“He tripped a silent alarm when he entered the office.”
“I thought you said the alarm wasn’t working.”
“Shaul said that, not me.”
“Okay.” I spied a second door in the corner of the building. It appeared to lead to a back room. “I see that door’s open.”
Baines gave a casual glance over his shoulder and nodded. “It was open when we arrived. Shaul said it’s usually closed and that he didn’t touch it.”
“Point of entry for the burglars?”
“It appears so. It leads to a restroom and utility room with a back door to the alley. The back door’s been rammed in good, probably by a car or truck.”
“Okay.” I gestured toward the security camera mounted behind the sales counter. “I don’t suppose there’s any video.”
“If there is,” Baines shook his head doubtfully, “we’ll never see it. The burglars made off with the DVR.”
“Nice. Now for the big question. What else did they make off with?”
He hesitated. “You ready for this?”
“Ready as ever.”
“Twenty mill in ideal cut diamonds.”
“How much?”
“You heard me.”
“Have the other owners been notified yet?”
“Yes. Shaul notified them of the burglary a few minutes ago. They should be here soon.”
“Okay. Listen.” I glanced down at his nametag to make sure I got it right. “Officer Baines.” I offered my hand and we shook. “You did an excellent job securing the scene. I counted several cop cars and a half dozen uniforms out here. I’m sure they’re all qualified, conscientious officers, however, your quick thinking and textbook proficiency in securing the scene likely kept the lot of them from disrupting vital clues or possibly contaminating evidence. I’ll make sure I note that in my report.”
“Thank you, sir. It’s been my pleasure.”
“Tony!” Spinelli came in through the front door waving his notebook. Running up to me, he said, “I’ve just been around back. Looks like the perps broke in through a door in the alleyway, took advantage of the delayed entry mode on the alarm to locate the central box and then smashed it before the alarm could go off.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, but listen. It appears as though the store has a two-stage alarm system. One connects to perimeter points like doors and windows; the other to interior sensors.”
“You mean like motion sensors?”
“Yeah, it’s a sort of failsafe layer, but get this. That second control box, it’s not in the back room.”
“No, it wouldn’t be,” I said. “That would defeat the purpose. That box is probably located in the office, and deactivates remotely. An intruder would have to cross the showroom to get to it, thereby setting it off,” I pointed to a little white box mounted up in the corner of the room, “the motion detector.”
“Except the motion sensor didn’t trigger an alarm last night,” Dominic noted.
“Maybe they cut off the electricity to the building.”
“Ha, funny you should say that.”
“Why? They did?”
“No. That wouldn’t have mattered. Motion sensors are typically connected to a battery back-up.”
“Then what’s funny about it.”
“Well, it’s not so much funny as it is strange.”
“Yeah, I get that. What’s strange about it?”
“For some reason, the burglars didn’t cut the electric, just the power to the air conditioning units.”
“Huh,” I said, and found myself scanning the ceiling for the AC returns. “Guess that explains why it’s so hot in here.”
Dominic’s gaze followed mine, but only briefly. “You know, Tony, I think this is an inside job?”
“Yup,” I nodded. “I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.”
I saw that Carlos was just finishing his preliminary interview with Oscar Shaul. I waved him over and told him and Dominic what I expected of them next.
“Okay, look,” I said, “Officer Baines did a great job securing the crime scene. Let’s not screw it up. Dominic, I’m putting you in charge of keeping unauthorized personnel from cruising through here like it’s Grand Central Station. Keep one uniform outside in the alley and another on the sidewalk out front. I don’t want anyone else on the premises without our permission. That goes for the owners, too. When they get here, keep them out front, but inside the taped off perimeter. I don’t want them talking to anyone, not the press, the onlookers…nobody.”
“Got it,” said Dominic.
I looked up over his shoulder and snapped my fingers to get Oscar Shaul’s attention. “Mister Shaul?” The nervous little man regarded me with a fright. “Would you mind waiting outside for a few minutes, please?”
He waved and obliged without protest.
“Carlos, you and I will interview the other owners as soon as the rest of them arrive. Remember, technically, they’re the victims here, but I still want to know where they were last night, what they were doing, who they were with. Everything.”
“In other words, you want their alibis.”
“Yes, and I don’t care if they know that’s what we’re calling it. Dropping some suspicion on them should put them on edge. If any are involved in this thing, it could trip them up.”
“You got it, Tony.”
“Dominic, check your camera at the door. I want the department photographer out here for this one.”
“Already called him. Bill Geist is on his way.”
“Great, now please tell me an evidence van is on its way, as well.”
Dominic answered that one with a nod toward the street. “Evidence van is pulling up now. Looks like Rick Hamlin and the new guy.”
“Okay, we’ll have them start out back in the alley. Lilith tells me we might see some rain today. I don’t want any evidence washed away.”
“Roger that.”
Gesturing toward the van out the window, I said, “I’m not going to tell those guys their jobs, but I want you to keep an eye on them just the same. Make sure they check everything. If our perps left any DNA, I want it. Have Rick check the broken door and the alarm box for blood. I’m sure there are some sharp pieces of metal there. Maybe someone cut himself. Oh, and remember, suspects have been known to eat or drink at a crime scene, sometimes even use the toilet. Don’t assume something as innocuous as a candy wrapper belongs to one of the owners.”
“Tony.” Carlos put his hand on my forearm to stop me. “Rick’s a good investigator. He knows what he’s doing.”
“I know.” I shook my arm loose. “I’m just saying.”
He thinned his lips to a near smile. “So am I.”
I took a deep breath to let the moment sink in. He was right. We had some fine men and women working our CSI and lab teams, and I never had a problem with any of them. Still, that didn’t ease my apprehensions. I cupped my hand to his shoulder and shook it lightly.
“You’re right, Carlos. You’re absolutely right. But you know what? I’d still like you to do what I ask without contradicting every fuckin` thing I say. Can you do that for me please?”
“Tony!” This from Dominic. “Calm down.”
“And you!” I pointed my finger, wanting to jab it through his chest so badly. “Don’t tell me to calm down. Is it too much to ask either of you not to contradict me?”
“No. No, it’s not,” said Carlos. He reached across me and grabbed Dominic’s arm in a manner similar to how he had taken mine. “It’s not too much to ask. Is it, Dominic.”
Carlos shook his head no, which prompted Dominic to do the same. “Umm, no,” he said, his brows arched in surprise. “It’s not too much. I’m sorry, Tony. Please continue.”
I felt my teeth grinding and my eyes narrowing
to a hard squint. The strange thing was that I didn’t know why. I just knew I wanted them to shut the hell up and listen to me. When it seemed they had finally decided to do that, I cleared my throat and continued.
“We’ll do a walk-through. Determine just how this thing went down, starting out back, through the showroom and into the office. Once we’ve done that, we’ll establish a safe route for foot traffic through the crime scene. The photographer will go first, touching nothing and photographing everything. He’ll start with the general and move on to the evidentiary items before anything’s collected. Got that?”
“Of course,” said Dominic.
“Bill knows that,” Carlos added.
I let their insolence pass. “Dominic, do you still have your sketchpad?”
“I do.”
“Okay. I want you to sketch the entire showroom, including the back room, its proximity to the alley and the office. Can you do that?”
“Sure. No problem.”
“Good. Then I want you to locate geographically on your sketch every piece of evidence we tag. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all.”
I took another deep breath and could feel my anxiety beginning to wane some. I think I might have even smiled a little.
“Carlos?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re going to need a detailed description of the stolen property. See if you can obtain photos of the stolen diamonds from the owners once they arrive. I’m sure they’ll have some. They would have needed them for insurance purposes.”
“I’ll ask them. Anything else?”
I glanced back over my shoulder. Rick and his assistant had finished unloading their gear and seemed anxious to get started.
“That’s it for now. We need to do this walk-through so that Rick can do his thing. Dominic, go tell him that we’re just waiting on the photographer, then meet us out back.”
“I’m on it, Tony.”
Officer Baines had already cordoned off the alley out back at each end of the block. As with most alleys in New Castle, this one served as a utility right of way and was paved in blacktop, which meant no tire tracks. Unlike most, it was wide enough for a vehicle as large as a box truck to turn around on. That gave our burglar plenty of room to maneuver a vehicle and align it perpendicular with the back door.
The store itself occupied the center unit of a small strip-mall. An overgrown grassy field stretched out behind that for two city blocks. Beyond the field stood a row of low-rise commercial buildings, windowless in the back and offering no advantageous view of the alley, even from the roofs.
“Look at that,” said Carlos, pointing at an impression stamped into the broken back door. “See that indent?”
I leaned in to examine it more closely. “Looks like a board, a two-by-twelve maybe?”
“I bet they used it to redistribute the impact from the bumper, get it closer to the deadbolt.”
“So, you’re thinking more likely a car than a truck, something with a lower bumper?”
“Or an SUV?”
“They must have taken the board with them,” I said, noticing its conspicuous absence.
We stepped through the doorway and into the store’s utility room. A small closet immediately to our left appeared partially ransacked. On the floor around it were pieces of metal and chunks of broken circuit board with color-coded wires still dangling from the pieces.
“There’s your alarm box,” said Carlos.
“Yeah, and look at that.” I pointed to the floor at two small rust circles positioned directly in front of the doorway leading into the showroom. “What do you make of those?”
He shook his head and guessed. “Paint cans?”
“And that?” I directed his attention to a sheet wadded up on the floor in the corner.
“Looks like a bed sheet.”
“Fine observation.”
He smiled proudly, not getting my sarcasm at all. “It’s a strange thing to find at a crime scene,” he remarked. “Do you suppose the burglar wore it to conceal his identity from the security camera?”
“Perhaps, but why bother if he intended on taking the DVR?”
“Good question.”
“Tony.” Dominic showed up at the back door, hiking his thumb up over his shoulder, “Bill Geist just arrived.”
“Good.”
“I told him and Rick to come on around back and start in the alley, that we’ll probably be ready for them inside by the time they’re finished here.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and it looks like the store owners are beginning to arrive. I told Officer Boyle to keep them outside until you call for them.”
“Thanks.”
After completing an initial inspection of the back room, we moved into the showroom. Everything there seemed straightforward enough, nothing out of place. We found the display cases undisturbed, which made sense, as the most valuable jewelry pieces in them were likely in the safe overnight. The cash register, likewise, remained untouched, even though some fifty dollars in small bills and loose change remained in the drawer.
Continuing toward the office, Dominic pointed out a security sensor located down by the floor.
“It’s a laser tripwire,” he told us, pointing out the pencil-thin beam and reflector on either side of the doorway. “It sets off a silent alarm if broken.”
“By walking through it, you mean?”
“Yeah. It works like those door chimes you hear when you walk into a department store or small business.”
“Is that generally on a battery back-up?”
“Not if it’s a chime,” he said, “but when it’s part of a security system, like a room motion sensors, then it is.”
I looked at Carlos. He hooked his brow and said simply, “I doubt it’s a chime.”
I said, “That must be the sensor Shaul tripped this morning when he hurried into the office. Dominic, I think we’re okay to let Bill and Rick in as far as the showroom. Carlos and I will check out the office. I want you to start drawing your sketches.”
“You got it, Tony.”
The first thing I noticed after Carlos and I entered the office was the safe, specifically, how damn big it was. My best guess put it at six feet tall by three feet wide and nearly as deep. The second thing I noticed was that it appeared intact. By that, I mean there were no apparent holes drilled into it, no burns, no tool marks, nothing to indicate it had been broken into.
“Look at that,” I said to Carlos. “How does someone crack a safe without putting so much as a mark on it?”
“You got to be good to do that,” he said.
“Or lucky enough to have the key and combination.”
“Key?”
“Yeah. It’s typical of high-security safes to employ both a key and combination lock system. That makes it much more difficult for a burglar to break into it.”
“Huh.”
“Huh, what?”
“Well, I was thinking, that might explain something Oscar Shaul said to me.”
“Which was?”
“When telling me about the safe, he said it had been opened. He didn’t say broken into, cracked, or some other similar terminology. I found that a bit strange at the time.”
“Maybe someone purposely left it open.”
“Possibly.”
I nodded at the empty shelves in the safe. “Looks like they cleaned it out of more than just the diamonds.”
“How’s that?”
“The jewelry from the showroom. It’s not here. There had to have been a small fortune in watches, gold and diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces; it’s all gone.”
“No, it’s not.” Carlos turned and pointed to a second, smaller, safe built into the wall behind the desk. “Oscar told me they keep all the showroom stuff in that safe. This big one was just for the diamonds.”
“Are the contents of that other safe all right?”
“Yes, he said it’s the first thing he did was check it before calli
ng 911”
“That makes no sense. Why not keep everything in the bigger, better safe?”
“Seriously?” Carlos pointed at the open door on the big safe. “It doesn’t look like the better safe to me now.”
I had to give him that one.
“Tony!” Dominic poked his head in the office and directed our attention to the photographer standing behind him. “Bill’s already done taking pictures of the back alley and the storage room. He wants to know if he can come in and take some pictures of the showroom now?”
I looked at Carlos, who looked at me and shrugged. “I guess so,” I said. “Let them both in to take some pictures, dust for prints and...”
My mind drew a blank then, as I found myself staring hypnotically at a framed picture on the wall. It was of some desolate, rocky peak, probably in Afghanistan. I remembered thinking I had been there, perhaps in a past life. Then it occurred to me I had, or at least some place very much resembling it.
It was in the Eighth Sphere. Jerome and I had rocketed through a portal, trying to escape a stampeding herd of treklapods. The portal dumped us out on the side of a granite mountain. We had no food or water, and no protection from the biting wind and plummeting temperatures. We couldn’t go up, down or sideways. All we could do was huddle against each other for warmth and pray the end would come swiftly.
“Tony?”
I shook my head and returned to the present. Carlos, Dominic and Bill Geist were staring at me as though I had lost my mind. I suppose I had, if only for a moment.
“Tony? Are you all right?” It was Carlos, his hand on my arm, his eyes searching mine for cognition.
I jerked my arm loose and turned my back on him. “Of course, I’m all right.” I nodded toward the picture on the wall. “I got lost in the landscape for a second, is all.”
“A second?” said Dominic. “Tony you were staring at that picture for like—”
“Dominic!” Carlos shot him a look and then shook his head no. The two turned to Bill Geist, who quickly diverted his eyes and mumbled something about needing to snap a few more photos out in the showroom.
“The umm...owners,” said Dominic, glancing back over his shoulder. “You want to keep them outside?”
BURY THE WITCH: Book 10 (Detective Marcella Witch's Series) Page 9