“Let’s split the check. I’m glad I had a chance to get to know you. How long before you have to leave?”
“Lunch is my treat. I’ve got three more weeks, then off to Germany.”
“Thanks for lunch. I hope to see you again before you leave. If not, have a good life.”
They left the restaurant together and walked to their cars. J.D. turned off her recorder as she drove out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER 37
J.D. LEFT THE Glenview Country Club on a road that wound between fairways, crossed the iconic stone bridge over Country Brook, and turned south on Buena Vista Boulevard. She called Matt.
“I hope you didn’t go back to bed,” she said when he picked up the phone.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I jogged on the beach, had lunch at the Longbeach Café, and am now at Mar Vista with Cracker, Jock, and a cold one.”
“The life of a beach bum. And here I am working for no pay.” She told him about her lunch with Ruth Bergstrom. “She’s not a happy person. She needs money and wants to have a lot of it. I can see that as a motive to steal Aunt Esther’s manuscript. If she expected money from Olivia and didn’t get it, I would say she had a motive.”
“But she said she drove a neighbor to the Orlando airport and didn’t get back until after Olivia was killed.”
“She could have been lying. I’d like to talk to the neighbor, but I was afraid to ask Ruth for a name. I didn’t want her to think I was zeroing in on her as a suspect. I thought I’d ask around, see if anybody might know of someone who planned to travel. If that person was a member of the book club, one of the members would know who left town. Was Jock able to find out anything about the hackers?”
Matt had told her about Sheriff Black’s problem with her computers and that he’d asked Jock to look into it. “Yes,” he said. “They were able to find the links back to the hacker. They don’t have a name, of course, but the hack was initiated from an Army intelligence unit in Afghanistan about two months ago.”
“Josh Hanna?” J.D. asked.
“Most likely. Whoever the hacker was, he was in the same unit Josh was and at the same time.”
“Had to be Josh.”
“Exactly. Now we’ve got to find him. He owns a white van, he’s probably the hacker, and he’s supposedly in Florida.”
“How would he have gotten Esther’s gun?” J.D. asked. “It’s pretty clear that her gun was the murder weapon.”
“We’ll have to work on that. I’m certainly not willing at this point to cross Kelly and Ruth off our list of possibilities. I’m also still interested in Sally Steerman. Who is she and how is she involved?”
“I checked the property appraiser’s records for Sumter, Lake, and Marion Counties yesterday while you were out on the dock with your boat. There’s no property in any of the three counties that make up The Villages listed as owned by Sally Steerman, or any other person named Steerman. Nothing in the phone listings, either. I even went into the Department of Motor Vehicles database, which I’m not supposed to do except for legitimate police business. No driver’s license listing for anybody named Steerman in the three counties, and no Sally Steerman in the entire state.”
“I’ll have to make another run at those idiots who came after me,” Matt sad. “Something will turn up.”
“When are you coming back here?”
“Not sure. I’m wondering if this might be a good time for you to introduce yourself to the sheriff.”
“Might be. We probably need to see if we can get him to keep Chunk Steerman in the clink for a bit longer. At least until you decide to get up here and talk to him.”
“I know you can’t use the LBKPD to put out a Be On The Lookout for Hanna’s van, but maybe you could talk the sheriff into helping with that.”
“Let me see how the meeting goes. If he’s not willing to help, I’ll talk to Chief Lester. Maybe he can come up with a reason to put out a BOLO even if it doesn’t have anything to do with one of his cases.”
“Can you meet with the sheriff this afternoon?”
“I’ll try,” she said.
J.D. called and identified herself as a detective with the LBKPD and asked for an appointment with the sheriff as soon as possible. She was told that the sheriff could see her that afternoon if she could get there by three thirty.
CHAPTER 38
SHERIFF BRIAN CORNETT strode into the waiting room of his office and walked over to J.D. He was in uniform, the four stars of his rank glinting on his collar points. He smiled. “You must be Detective Duncan,” he said. “I’m Brian Cornett.”
“Nice to meet you, Sheriff. I appreciate your seeing me so quickly. Do you need to see my credentials?”
“No. I’ve already talked with your chief. He vouched for you and told me that you and Matt are joined at the hip professionally. Come on back to my office. I’m always glad to help out. I have to admit that I was a little curious about what Matt Royal’s connection was to Ms. Higgins. He said she was family, but didn’t explain it.”
“She’s my family, and I guess you could say that Matt and I are family. We practically live together.” She’d decided to get that out in the open. She didn’t want there to be any blowback on her department and she didn’t want to mislead the sheriff.
“I appreciate your telling me that, Detective, even though it’s none of my business. I’m glad Matt’s found somebody.”
“Frankly, Sheriff, Matt and I were both a little worried about your reaction to him representing Esther. He said you and he locked horns a few years back and he was afraid you might be holding a grudge.”
“May I call you J.D.?”
“Certainly.”
“Do you know anything about that case, J.D.?”
“I only know that the case involved a local doctor being charged with murder because he apparently helped an elderly woman die. You were the lead officer on the case and were pretty much convinced that it was murder.”
“I was a man of faith, J.D. I still am. I was pretty sure that God was using me as His instrument to make sure the doctor was punished for the sin of murder. A couple of years after Matt won that case, my eighteen-year-old daughter was involved in a horrible traffic accident way out on Highway 301. It was late on a rainy night and she was on her way home from Gainesville after a night class at the university. She slid off the highway and hit a tree. She was trapped in the car and terribly injured. Jeff Carpenter was coming back to town from a house call, something most doctors don’t do anymore, and came across the accident right after it happened. He took care of my girl and saved her life. He called for an ambulance and the fire department because they had to cut her out of the car. He rode in the ambulance with her to the hospital up in Gainesville. If he hadn’t been there, she’d be dead. As it is, she’s now twenty-three, married, and pregnant with my first grandchild. She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in nursing and works at The Villages Regional Hospital.
“We don’t always understand where God is leading us, but I surely got my signals crossed when it comes to the doc. Now I believe that Matt was God’s instrument and he beat me up pretty good in that trial so that the doc would be in the right place at the right time to save my daughter. I can’t know for sure whether I’m right or wrong on this, but I do know that I owe Matt big-time. By the way, Jeff and I have become good friends. He’s forgiven me for being such a self-righteous prick, if you’ll excuse my language.”
J.D. laughed. “I’ve heard it before, Sheriff.”
“Please call me Brian. I didn’t tell Matt about how all this worked out because I didn’t want him to think I’m some kind of religious nutcase. I might have been that way back then, but I’m not nearly as rigid as I was.”
“Thanks, Brian. I have some other things to talk to you about. Did Chief Lester tell you that I’m on a leave of absence?”
“That didn’t come up.”
“I’ve been here for a week staying with a friend of my aunt’s. I’v
e been doing some undercover work, unofficially. I realize I have no jurisdiction here, and in fact I don’t have any authority anywhere as long as I’m on a leave of absence. I certainly would never step on the toes of your investigator. I’d like to discuss this with you on an absolutely confidential basis.”
“Why so hush-hush?”
“Can I be candid?”
“Certainly.”
“I’m not sure your investigator has looked into things very well. It’s like he found a suspect in my aunt and just never followed up on any other evidence. I think this case is much more complicated than it appears. I’ve come across some evidence that I think should be looked at, but unfortunately, I can’t let a lot of it out. Even to you. It’s part of what the lawyers call work product, and since I’ve done it on behalf of the defense attorney, I can’t disclose it until after the trial.”
“J.D., excuse me for being blunt, but your aunt is charged with murder. We don’t have a lot of that up here, but I suspect it’s more than you ever have on Longboat Key.”
J.D. chuckled. “That’s true, Brian, but I’m conversant with murder cases. Before I joined Longboat Key PD, I was the assistant homicide commander at Miami-Dade PD.”
“Sorry, Detective. I wasn’t trying to be dismissive. I know your chief and I know he runs a very professional department. If you weren’t a professional, you wouldn’t be there.”
“I didn’t take it that way, Sheriff.”
“I’ll keep everything you tell me confidential. I’m sure you’ve had more experience investigating murders than all my people put together. So I’ll take what you have to say very seriously. Have you considered that if you show me all you’ve got, the state attorney might be willing to drop the charges?”
“Matt and I’ve talked about that, but if the state attorney does not agree to dismiss, Esther would have shot her wad and the state attorney would be able to capitalize on it. And I think you’d be obligated to give the details to the state attorney, including the things I’ve turned up.”
“You’re probably right, come to think of it. Tell me what I can do for you.”
“I think there’s a chance that a man named Josh Hanna might be involved in some way. He owns a white van recently registered in Georgia. I’d like to talk to him. I wonder if you’d be amenable to putting out a BOLO on the van.”
“I don’t remember anybody named Hanna connected to this case.”
“His name won’t be in the reports. Matt came up with it during his investigation.”
“And you can’t give me even the context of how his name came to Matt’s attention?”
“Sorry, Brian. I’m afraid not.”
“Do you have a license plate number?”
“No. I couldn’t get into Georgia’s database without using police authority. I didn’t want to do that. Since I’m not exactly a cop right now, it’s against the law.”
The sheriff smiled. “Well, it does have something to do with an active case in my office. I’ll look into it and let you know.”
“Thanks, Brian. I think it best not to arrest Hanna, but if an officer can pull him over on some pretense and find out where he’s living, I’ll go talk to him. This is my cell phone number.” She handed him a piece of notepaper. “I really appreciate your time and your help. I know I’m asking you to buy a pig in a poke.”
The sheriff laughed. “It wouldn’t be the first time, J.D., but I’ve got to tell you, you’re more persuasive than most hog salesmen.”
“Oh,” J.D. said. “I almost forgot. You’re holding a man named Lionel Steerman.”
“Yeah. Matt asked us to do that.”
“I know. And I know he appreciates you helping out on this. I wonder if I could talk to him this afternoon.”
“I don’t see why not. We’ve held him longer than we should, and I’ve got to either charge him or cut him loose in the morning.”
“I’d also like to meet privately with my aunt without going through all the rigmarole to be a visitor.”
“I’ll call Lieutenant Ricks and tell him to set you up for a visit with your aunt. You can use one of the attorney rooms so you’ll be completely private. I’ll tell him to let you have a visit with Steerman in the same room. Who do you want to see first?”
“Steerman. Thanks, Sheriff. I’ll be on my way. If I can ever do anything for you in Southwest Florida, let me know.”
“Count on it, Detective.”
CHAPTER 39
CHUNK STEERMAN WAS not in a good mood. He was seated at a small table and manacled to a large U-joint buried in the concrete floor. “Who the hell are you?” he growled.
I’m Detective J. D. Duncan,” she said, not bothering to burden him with any more information than he needed; like the fact that she was not a member of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’ve got rights, you know. You can’t just put me in jail and forget about me.”
“Sorry about that, Mr. Steerman. There’s been some kind of mix-up in the paperwork, but I can solve that little problem. We’ll either charge you first thing in the morning and arrange for a bail hearing, or, and I hope this is the case, not charge you and get you out of here right after breakfast. I do have some questions, though.”
“What am I supposed to be charged with?”
“Assault, but I’ve talked to Mr. Royal and he’s agreeable to dropping the charges if you’ll cooperate with his defense of Ms. Higgins.”
“What kind of cooperation?”
“Well, for starters, tell me why you came after him with a sock full of quarters?”
“He’s trying to get my grandma in trouble.”
“Is that Sally Steerman?”
“Yeah.”
“What makes you think that?”
“A man called the house and talked to me. He told me that Mr. Royal was going to accuse my grandma of a murder so that he could get his client off the rap.”
“Who was the man who called you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yet, you were ready to do great bodily harm to Mr. Royal on the word of somebody you didn’t even know?”
“He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.”
“I’ll need your grandmother’s address.”
“What for?”
“I want to talk to her before I sign off on your release.”
“I don’t know the address.”
“Can you tell me how to get to her house?”
“I guess.” He reluctantly gave her directions from the Publix Market on Highway 44 A.
“Is your brother still there?” J.D. asked.
“No. When your people busted me, Biggun went home to Georgia.”
“To Camilla?”
“Yeah.”
“Why did you tell Mr. Royal you lived near Homerville?”
“He said he’d kill me if things didn’t work out. It didn’t seem like it was a good idea for him to know where to find me in case he got pissed off at me.”
“Okay, Mr. Steerman. Here’s the deal. I’ve got your home address in the jail booking records. I’ve got your truck in our impoundment lot just down the street. I’m going to arrange for you to get out of here first thing in the morning. We’ll get your truck back to you and you can head for home. But, and this is a big but, you’re going to have to wear an ankle monitor.”
“What for?”
“You’re not out of the woods, yet. We may still charge you with attempted murder.”
“Murder? I wasn’t going to kill nobody.”
“That sock of quarters would have done a lot of damage to somebody’s head. Whoever got hit with it could have died. If you want to go home, you’ll have to agree to the monitor. Otherwise, I’ll charge you and you’ll stay in jail until we can get to trial.”
“Okay,” he said, sullenly. “I guess I don’t have any choice.”
“No, you don’t. Now listen very carefully. You’ll be able to move around if you want. The ankle monitor we’re going to use commu
nicates with a satellite so we’ll know where you are at all times. If you go more than, say, twenty miles from your house, we’ll know it and you’ll be arrested and brought back here. If you even try to cut the anklet off, we’ll know. Do you understand that?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll arrange for you to be released tomorrow morning right after the ankle monitor is attached to your leg. Don’t let me down, Mr. Steerman. You piss me off and you’ll rot in jail. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now, one other thing. If you tell anybody about our arrangement, even your brother or your grandma, we’ll know you’ve talked, and you’ll be right back here before you can finish your conversation. The ankle monitor has a microphone hidden in it, and we’ll hear everything you say.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“Shit.”
“Yep. Be careful.”
J.D. opened the door and motioned to the nearby guard who came and got the prisoner. Now what? She had been playing it off the top of her head. She didn’t know if she could get the ankle monitor installed, but she had a contact in the company that Sarasota County used. They had offices all over Florida and she wasn’t aware of any prohibition against them doing private work. She’d make the call as soon as she saw Esther.
J.D. didn’t think Steerman was smart enough to figure out that she didn’t have the authority to do any of what she was doing, but she didn’t want him to talk to anybody about the situation, because somebody else might figure it out. If she could get the monitor on him, they’d know right where he was at any time. Too bad there really wasn’t a microphone in the device, but she was betting Chunk wouldn’t figure that out.
She went to the booking desk at the front of the facility and talked with Lieutenant Ricks. He laughed as she related the story of what she’d told Steerman. “He’s not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree,” Ricks said. He agreed to let somebody from the company, which happened to be the same one that Sumter County used for their monitors, come in and install the anklet on Steerman.
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