Unconscionable, A Rich Coleman Novel Vol 3

by William Manchee

  Chapter 17

  Person of Interest

  Ryan was worried about Amanda. He’d never seen her so nervous as she was when they were taking his parents to the airport the previous afternoon. Amanda had never been the emotional type, yet she’d actually cried after they dropped them off. Ryan realized this was Amanda’s first book placement and there was added pressure because her client was her future father-in-law, but still, it seemed there was something else going on. He wondered if it had to do with their relationship. Their relationship had been strained lately with the bar exam looming ahead, the book placement taking so much of Amanda’s time, and Ryan’s new murder case. He finally decided it was a combination of all those things that had Amanda so stressed.

  A couple of days went by with little change. Amanda seemed preoccupied and distant. After a good trade conference in Boston with the New England booksellers, Rich’s New York book signing was less than spectacular. Initially there were quite a few spectators, but after Rich spoke they quickly dispersed and he sold less than fifty books. That night Amanda had seemed depressed and although Ryan tried, he couldn’t do anything to cheer her up.

  Finally, when Rich and Erica were almost due back in Dallas for their book signing, Amanda seemed to snap out of the doldrums and come alive. All day she’d been a flurry of activity in preparation of the event. Ryan was relieved with her transformation and began to focus again on his new criminal practice, which amounted to only two clients so far, Matt’s friend Candy and Cindy Sharp. Neither of these clients had anything going when Ryan walked into his office on Tuesday morning, but that changed in a hurry. The receptionist announced that Cindy Sharp was on line two. Ryan picked up.

  “Ryan Coleman.”

  “Ryan. This is Cindy. I need your help.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At police headquarters.”

  “Police headquarters? What happened?”

  “They just brought me in for questioning. You were right—they discovered that I’d driven by the RMS offices.”

  “Oh, shit! Okay, where exactly are you?”

  “Dallas Police Department, downtown.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way. Don’t say anything to them.”

  “I won’t. I told them I wanted my attorney.”

  “Good. See you soon.”

  Ryan was nervous as he headed downtown to the police station. His father was out of town, and Matt hadn’t gotten to the office yet and he apparently had his cell phone off. He told himself it wouldn’t be a big deal. Just sit there with Cindy and make sure Finch and Morin didn’t beat up on her too much. He could do that. Traffic was heavy, as it was the tail end of a busy rush hour. Ryan cursed a driver who cut him off on Central Expressway. Thirty minutes later he parked his car in a lot across from the police station and went inside. At the dispatcher’s desk he asked for Detective Finch or Morin. She told him to take a seat and wait.

  Several minutes later Detective Finch walked up and said to follow her. Ryan did what he was told, and soon they were in a small interrogation room. Cindy smiled when Ryan took the seat beside her.

  “Are you okay?” Ryan asked.

  She nodded. “Fine, now that you are here.”

  They talked a minute and then Detective Morin walked in with a scowl on his face. “So, I told you the second interview wouldn’t be pleasant.”

  Cindy looked away.

  “So, what’s this all about?” Ryan asked.

  “It’s about your client lying to us,” Detective Morin spat. “She said she didn’t go to Lucius Jones’s office on the day he was murdered, but that was a lie.”

  “It was not,” Cindy protested. “I didn’t go to his office.”

  “Oh, yeah. How come I got your car on a video parked a block away from RMS’s office at 5:07 p.m.?”

  Cindy frowned. Ryan looked at her worriedly. “I don’t know how that could be,” Cindy said, and then her face lit up. “Oh, you mean at the bank? I stopped at the ATM to get cash to go shopping.”

  “Wasn’t that convenient,” Detective Morin said. “Why didn’t you get your money at the mall? They have ATMs there.”

  “Yeah, but they don’t belong to my bank. I don’t have to pay an ATM charge if I withdraw money from my bank’s ATM.”

  “So, you stopped to save a buck?” Detective Morin questioned.

  “The bucks add up,” Cindy noted.

  “Well, in our last interview we established that you had a motive to kill Lucius Jones. Now we know you were in the vicinity, so you had opportunity, too.”

  “Just because she was down the street doesn’t prove she went up to his offices,” Ryan argued. “It was after hours, so how would she get in?”

  “Well, that’s a question we haven’t figured out yet. If we had, we’d be arresting your client right now. For now I just want to let you know that we’ve bumped your client from a person of interest to a prime suspect.”

  Ryan nodded. “Okay, so Cindy is free to leave, then?”

  “For now. Don’t leave town, and make arrangements for someone to take care of your children in case we find that last piece of evidence we need to charge you with Lucius Jones’s murder.”

  Ryan stood up. “Come on, Cindy. Let’s get out of here.”

  Cindy quickly wiped a tear from her eye and stood up. She glared at Detective Morin. “I didn’t kill him. I’m not that kind of a person.”

  “That’s enough, Cindy,” Ryan said. “Come on.”

  Ryan took her arm and ushered her out of the interrogation room. When Ryan looked back the detective had a big grin on his face. Ryan shook his head and turned away. When they got outside Ryan pointed to his car.

  “I’ll give you a ride home.”

  “Thank you. I left my kids at a neighbor’s. What an asshole to tell me to find someone to watch my children when I’m arrested.”

  “I know. He seemed to be enjoying it, too.”

  “Do you think it will happen? Me getting arrested, I mean?”

  Ryan shrugged. “You know, Cindy. You can’t hide things from us. Why didn’t I know you went to that ATM?”

  Cindy looked down. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think anybody would find out.”

  “We told you there are surveillance cameras everywhere and every ATM has one.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I won’t hide anything from you from now on.”

  “Good. So, the detectives aren’t going to find any evidence that you went up to Jones’s office, are they?”

  “No. I got my money and left,” Cindy replied.

  “So, you really used that ATM to save a buck?”

  Cindy laughed. “Partly. I also wanted to use it because after the money comes out, I get a receipt with my account balance printed out. That helps me keep track of how much money I have at any given time.”

  “You don’t use a check register?”

  “No. I’d always forget to write in the checks, so I never knew what my balance was. Now I get it automatically when I withdraw money, or I can request it without taking any money. Sometimes I check my balance before I take any money out so I know how much I can ask for. I did that the night I went to the mall because I wanted to have as much money with me as possible. It’s embarrassing if you see something you like but can’t afford to buy it.”

  Ryan left Cindy off at her neighbor’s and then went back to the office. Matt was there and wanted to know how things had turned out with Cindy. Ryan explained what had transpired and they talked awhile about it. On the way home that night Ryan went by his parents’ house to pick up the mail and take in the newspaper. When he got inside he took everything into the kitchen where he had been leaving it for his parents who were returning briefly the next day. He felt a draft as he walked into the kitchen and looked up. Much to his shock and dismay, someone had thrown a brick through one of the windowpanes and let themselves in.

  He started looking around to see if anything was missing but found everything in the kitchen to be in it
s place. Then he went into the living room and inventoried the TV and stereo—still there. He thought of his mother’s jewelry in the master bedroom, so he rushed down the hall and threw open the door. Every drawer had been pulled out of both chests of drawers and the contents dumped. When he looked around for her jewelry box, he saw that it had been turned over and was now completely empty. He cringed at the thought of having to tell his mother that she’d been robbed.

  He didn’t think there was anything worth stealing upstairs, but he decided to go check anyway just in case he’d forgotten about something. When he got to the top of the stairs he noticed some wood chips and attic insulation on the floor. After looking around in all the upstairs rooms and finding nothing missing, he pulled the attic ladder down and climbed up into the attic. It was dark, so he flipped the switch at the top of the stairs and a single sixty-watt bulb illuminated. He looked around the attic but could find nothing missing. The only thing out of place was the cedar chest that hadn’t been completely closed. Going over to it, he remembered it was where his father had kept the manuscript. He opened the chest and saw the manuscript was gone, but that didn’t surprise him, as he knew Amanda had taken it. He sighed, took one more look around, and went back down into the main house.

  When he got back to the kitchen he used his cell phone to call 911. Twenty minutes later two police officers came by and took a report. They said there would be an investigation but doubted they’d find the burglar since he hadn’t left any evidence and none of the neighbors had seen anything. Ryan said he understood and the two officers left. Then he called Amanda to explain why he wasn’t home yet.

  “They broke into your parents’ house?” Amanda said, feigning complete surprise.

  “Yes. They took Mom’s jewelry.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “Mom will be completely devastated when she finds out. She’ll want my father to put in a security system, I’m sure.”

  “Well, at least they weren’t at home.”

  “Yeah, thank God.”

  “Well, come home. I’m suddenly feeling very insecure myself.”

  Ryan laughed. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  When Ryan got home Amanda was at the door to greet him. They embraced and Amanda wanted to know what the police had said. Ryan told her they didn’t think there would be an investigation since none of the neighbors had seen anything.

  “They’re going to check local pawnshops to see if any of the pieces show up. Mom will have to give them an inventory.”

  “I hope she was insured,” Amanda said.

  “I don’t know. I would assume so, but I don’t know for sure.”

  “I’m surprised that’s all they took. Your parents have a lot of nice stuff.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe something scared them away before they had a chance to steal anything else.”

  “Could be. . . . So, I talked to your father. The book tour hasn’t been going so well. They’re anxious to get home.”

  “Really? What happened?”

  “Bob, Thorn’s marketing guy, says that it’s been too long since the murder trial and not that many people remember it. But he’s hoping the Tonight Show appearance will help.”

  “I’m sure it will,” Ryan agreed.

  The next day Amanda and Ryan drove to the airport and picked up Erica and Rich. They were tired and Erica was in a bad mood. Ryan hated to bring up the break-in but felt he had no choice in the matter.

  “Yesterday someone broke into your house,” he said evenly.

  “What?” Erica said. “What did they take?”

  “Your jewelry. I think that’s all, but you’ll have to check everything carefully when you get home.”

  “There was only costume jewelry in that box. We keep anything of value that I don’t wear regularly in a safety deposit box.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Amanda said, feeling greatly relieved.

  “How did they get in?” Rich asked.

  “They threw a brick in the window, unlocked the door, and then entered the house. I imagine they searched every room but there’s no way of telling. Your bedroom was the only room they ransacked. They did check out the attic, though. I didn’t see that anything had been taken.”

  “That’s all junk up there,” Rich said.

  “What if they come back?” Erica said. “We’d better have a security system installed. I don’t want someone breaking in while I’m home alone.”

  Ryan grinned at Amanda.

  “Yeah. I’ve been meaning to get one put in, but just haven’t got around to it. I guess we could buy a dog. I heard they are a good deterrent to burglars.”

  “I don’t want a dog,” Erica moaned. “They are too much trouble.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t go to LA. Can we postpone it because of the break-in?”

  Amanda shook her head. “No, you can’t reschedule it. Getting the Tonight Show appearance is a one-shot opportunity.”

  “But they might come back to the house.”

  “I’ll call ADT in the morning,” Rich said.

  “Ah, I doubt you’ll have time,” Amanda noted. “You’ve got promotional events all day. Maybe Ryan could take care of it for you.”

  Ryan looked at Amanda and then shrugged. “Sure, I guess you should get it put in right away.”

  “Would you do that, honey?” Erica said. “I would really appreciate it.”

  “No problem. I’ll call them tomorrow. I don’t think it takes that long to install. Oh, by the way, Dad. They picked up Cindy and took her in for questioning. I had to go down and sit with her while they interviewed her.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No.”

  Ryan filled Rich in on the details of the interview.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t home to help you out.”

  “It’s all right. It was no big deal.”

  After they’d left Ryan’s parents at home, Amanda and Ryan went back to their apartment. Before they made it, however, Amanda got a call on her cell phone. It was Robert Todd.

  “What!” Amanda exclaimed. “Why? . . . I can’t believe this. . . . I know. It probably won’t make any difference. . . . Okay.”

  Amanda hung up and took a deep breath.

  “What was that about?” Ryan asked.

  “We got our time cut on Leno. There’s going to be a third guest.”

  “Who?”

  “They didn’t say.”

  “Well, that’s not so bad, is it?”

  “No. I guess not. It’s just less time to talk about the book.”

  While they were driving, Ryan again sensed something was wrong with Amanda. She’d been better, but now she seemed very nervous and preoccupied. He knew there were things going on in her pretty little head that he obviously knew nothing about. He felt hurt that Amanda wouldn’t tell him what was bothering her so much. If they were eventually going to get married they shouldn’t have any secrets.

  “You know, if something is bothering you, I’m a good listener.”

  Amanda turned and looked at him. “What did you say?”

  “Tell me what’s bothering you. It’s better to talk about it than let it get all bottled up inside you.”

  She shook her head. “Nothing is bothering me.”

  Ryan shook his head as he pulled the 2005 Lexus into the carport next to Amanda’s 2003 Honda Accord. Amanda was stubborn and often reacted emotionally rather than logically. Ryan tried to think of another approach to try to win her trust, but nothing jumped out at him. Finally he decided it was temporary and he’d just have to wait it out until this book launch was over. Then life would get back to normal—at least he hoped so.