Secrets, Lies & Alibis

by Patricia H. Rushford

  “Boyfriend?” Mac felt the flush creeping up his neck. She thought he was handsome.

  “Jason Smith.” She grinned. “That isn’t jealousy I’m seeing in your eyes, is it? I mean, you and I broke up a long time ago and I heard you were engaged . . .”

  Mac heard a key in the door, but before he could get to it, the door opened and Linda stepped inside. “Mac? I’ve been trying . . .”

  She caught sight of Dana and stood there with her mouth open for what had to be five seconds—a long five seconds. To say it was an awkward moment was like saying mountains were big. “Oh . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”

  “Um . . . Linda, this is Dana.”

  Linda’s gaze jerked from Dana to Mac. Still holding the door, she gave Mac a we’ll-deal-with-this-later look. “Call me when you’re free.” Her voice was cold and hard.

  Mac nodded, thinking he should go after her and tell her that Dana wasn’t a date and that things weren’t as they seemed. He did neither. Instead, he watched through the still-open door as she climbed into her car and drove off.

  “Mac, I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t mess things up for you.”

  “What?” He snapped his attention back to Dana. “No, not at all.” Linda hadn’t bothered to stick around long enough for an explanation. She obviously didn’t trust him. What kind of deal was that?

  “I should go.” Dana picked up her bag and settled the strap onto her shoulder.

  “Do you have to?” Mac liked her company. Liked being with her.

  “No. I guess not.” She offered a pixielike grin and set her bag back down beside the chair.

  “Good.” Mac went over and closed the door Linda had left open in her hurry to escape. “To tell you the truth, I’ve missed our times together.”

  She sighed and leaned back in the chair. “We did have our moments, didn’t we?”

  “And some good talks.”

  For the next two hours, Mac and Dana talked shop, swapping horror stories and jokes. She left around eleven and, before going out to her car, wrapped her arms around Mac and kissed his cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too.”

  “Hey, I have a great idea.” A smile lit her entire face. “Why don’t we have a standing date—like for coffee? We can meet for coffee before work once a week to debrief. You can coach me on this detective thing and tell me about your life in the big leagues.”

  Mac nodded. “Sounds good.” Sounds perfect.

  When she’d gone, Mac flopped on the sofa and lay there, hands behind his head, thinking about the evening’s events. He felt no guilt regarding Linda—well, almost no guilt. After all, he’d done nothing wrong. Linda had jumped to conclusions. Whose fault was that? You don’t need a jealous, pushy woman in your life, he told himself. If she really loved you, she’d have waited for an explanation. Forget her. You have an investigation that needs more than 100 percent.

  Right now, Linda was a complication he didn’t need.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Tuesday, August 27

  7:45 A.M.

  Kevin was already in the briefing room at Troutdale Police Department when Mac walked in.

  “What are you working on?” Mac peered over Kevin’s shoulder at a map, marked up with different colored highlighters.

  Kevin motioned to a map in front of him. “I’ve mapped the locations of the ATM usage from Megan’s card after she disappeared. These red marks up here on Halsey Street at the Plaid Pantry indicate the usage on August fourteenth in the early morning hours.”

  “Right.” Mac squinted, hoping to see a correlation.

  “Now, the green highlighter is the debit card usage at the Gresham Fred Meyer store on August fifteenth. And finally, the pink highlighter shows the Clackamas Mall transaction later that same day.”

  “Okay.” Mac still couldn’t see his point.

  “Take a look at the red dots for the Plaid Pantry usage.” Kevin pointed to the map. “What street do you see within close proximity to both locations?”

  Mac squinted to read the small print. “Let’s see, Cornelius, Alder, Morrison . . . Hmm, I don’t believe it. Parkview—Joe Higgins’s old apartment building. I had no idea the Parkview Apartments were so close to the activity on the victim’s ATM card.”

  “Neither did I.” Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. “Not until I plotted it out on the map this morning. I’d asked for guidance the night before and woke up with the idea. Now, I have to admit it’s a long shot. Any one of our suspects could have driven to these places—and Clackamas Mall doesn’t seem like a place Joe Higgins would spend a lot of time at, but again, it’s only about twenty minutes away.”

  “But you think it’s worth following up on. Are you thinking about talking to him again?”

  “Yes, but first we go back over to Vancouver to talk with our runaway.”

  “His sister called?”

  “Actually he paged me last night. I told him we just wanted to talk to him about Megan, and he seemed fine with that. The sister was right. He got spooked about the child support payments. Said he’d been paying regularly but missed last month.”

  “Right. What do you bet he’s one of those deadbeat dads?”

  “I wouldn’t. Whether he is or isn’t doesn’t concern me at the moment. We’ll talk to him while he’s feeling relatively safe. I told him the child support issue wasn’t on our agenda.” Kevin smiled. “However, that doesn’t stop us from putting a bug in the sheriff ’s ear after we’re finished with him.”

  MATTHEW DELONG turned out to be a heavyset guy with the personality of a snake—slithering around their questions and rarely making eye contact. His dark hair was shorter than it had been in the photo. He was clean cut, but there was something dirty about him. Mac wondered if he would have felt the same way if he hadn’t known about his criminal record.

  Mac shot a glance at Kevin. This guy was scared, which meant they didn’t have to tiptoe around him. They could get right to the point.

  Kevin took a seat on the couch. “You’re in a little bit of trouble, but my partner and I are willing to work out your problems with you, Matt.”

  “You don’t mind if we call you Matt, do you?” Mac added, playing off his partner.

  “No, I go by Matt. That’s fine. What do you mean, my problems?” Matthew’s face had grown considerably flushed.

  “Your little problem on the child support,” Kevin replied sternly, making eye contact for several awkward seconds. “Why don’t you have a seat, and we can discuss it.”

  Mac enjoyed watching the power play and wondered how Matthew would react. It didn’t take long. The guy sat down and leaned forward.

  “We might be willing to forget the call to the civil unit at the sheriff ’s office if you cooperate with us fully.”

  Matt nodded. “You have my attention.”

  “First of all, some formal introductions. I’m Detective Bledsoe and this is my partner, Detective McAllister.” The two men produced their badges for identification. “We’re state police detectives working the Megan Tyson case.”

  “I figured that much,” Matthew replied with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. “Like I told my sister . . .”

  Kevin interrupted. “I’m not done yet, so hold your horses. I need to explain something to you. You’re not under arrest and you don’t even need to talk to us if you don’t want to. Just say the word and we’re gone, although quite frankly I’ll leave here with more questions than I arrived with.”

  Matthew bit into his lower lip. “Look, guys, I got nothing to hide. My life’s an open book. Just tell me what I can do to get you guys out of my life.”

  “Are you willing to submit to a polygraph test?”

  “No way. I don’t do those things.”

  “May I ask why not?” Mac enjoyed watching him squirm.

  “Just don’t trust them. I spent some time in jail—but you know that. Some guys said the lie detector test wasn’t accurate and said they’d l
ied when they hadn’t.”

  “Do you know that these guys were telling the truth?”

  “No, but . . .”

  Mac explained that the test was not used in the courtroom and was simply a tool. “If you haven’t done anything wrong and have been truthful with us, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “I don’t know.” He licked his lips. “I feel like maybe you guys have already made up your mind about me—seeing as I had that rape arrest on my record. But I never raped anybody. The charges were dropped.”

  “And what about the porn?”

  He lowered his head and stared at the floor. “That was a mistake. It was stupid. I got involved with a guy on the Internet who told me I could make a lot of money selling these videos. I didn’t know how old those kids were.”

  Now, why don’t I believe that? Mac let the comment slide. He nodded. “Sometimes life just isn’t fair, Matt. So what do you say to the polygraph?”

  “Okay—I guess I could take it.”

  “Good choice. Would tomorrow be okay?”

  “Yeah. I don’t go in to work until four.”

  “I’ll set it up and give you a call to let you know what time to come in.”

  “One more thing, Matt,” Kevin said. “Yesterday when you took off, my partner here got a little overzealous and ran into your room. He tells me he noticed a Sony television set. Can you tell me how long you’ve had it?”

  Matthew looked stricken. “A couple of weeks.” He shook his head. “You guys are something else. I guess I could lie—tell you if you want to look at my stuff you’ll need a search warrant. Truth is, Megan gave it to me.”

  Mac could hardly swallow. His heart felt as though it had dropped to his feet. At that moment he’d have bet a year’s salary that they had Megan’s killer.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Would you care to elaborate?” Kevin leaned forward slightly, catching Mac’s eye.

  “She was talking about moving to Florida and having to get rid of stuff. She said she had a television set and some other stuff and asked me if I wanted it. I said I could use it. I like to be alone sometimes you know—watch television in my room.”

  Kevin pressed his hands against his thighs. “I’d like you to give me a list of all the items she gave you, Matt. Can you do that?”

  How could his partner sound so calm? Mac wondered.

  “Sure. Let me get a pen and paper.”

  When DeLong went into the kitchen, Kevin shot a look at Mac that warned him not to get too excited.

  Mac couldn’t help it. Matthew DeLong had the items Cindy had reported as stolen. Did he also have the ring and the cross?

  Matthew wrote down several items and handed the list to Kevin. “Do you mind if we take a look around your room, Matt?”

  “No, I suppose not. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  Matthew pointed out the items he claimed Megan had given him and stood at the door to watch Mac and Kevin do a complete search. Mac figured the guy was being too cooperative and doubted they’d find anything other than the items he’d written down.

  “Did anyone see you remove these items from Megan’s home?” Kevin asked.

  “I didn’t see anyone. There were a few kids hanging around.”

  He shrugged. “Look, all I know is she gave them to me, and I packed them up, locked up behind me like she said, and left.”

  “What do you mean, you locked up?” Kevin settled both hands on his hips, legs slightly apart. “Wasn’t Megan there?”

  “At first. She was in a hurry—guess she had an appointment or something. She didn’t say where she was going.”

  Mac looked down at his shoes, wishing he were a little better at reading people. The guy seemed to be telling the truth, but some people were such practiced liars, you couldn’t tell.

  Kevin completed the questioning and thanked Matthew for his cooperation, saying he’d call him about coming in for the polygraph as soon as they could schedule it.

  Back in the police car, Mac said, “I couldn’t get a reading on him. Either he’s a good liar or he’s telling the truth.”

  “I agree, Mac. We’ll ask Eric to send a couple of uniforms over to Megan’s old apartment to talk to neighbors—see if we can find these kids Matt mentioned. Right now I think we should follow up on the blood evidence we found at Higgins’s place. I’d like to pay Joe another visit.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait to see if it’s Megan’s blood?” Mac glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed Matthew coming out of his driveway and heading the opposite direction on his bike. “There goes Matthew. He seems to be in a hurry. Want to follow him?”

  Kevin shook his head and grinned. “Yeah, but let’s not. We have too much to do to chase around after the kid. He doesn’t seem too worried at this point, so let’s not spook him.”

  “You’re the boss.” Mac pulled into the street and headed for Joe Higgins’s duplex.

  Kevin got on the phone with Eric, telling him about the items Matt had and asking for someone to canvass Megan’s neighborhood again.

  Mac pulled up to the curb in front of Joe Higgins’s place at 10:00 A.M.

  “Let’s hit him up on the polygraph again, keep the pressure on,” Kevin said as they approached the front door. Kevin rapped on the door with his leather notebook case.

  The door opened almost immediately and Mac wondered if Joe had seen them coming.

  “Greetings, gents.” He had his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing the same black sweats he’d had on the last time they’d talked to him. “And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?”

  “Just wondering if you had a few minutes to answer some more questions.” Mac slipped his right foot in the door over the threshold.

  Higgins peered down at Mac’s foot and grinned. “What’s this? Did you sell door to door before this job?” His smile faded. “Sorry, that was rude. You don’t have to worry. I wasn’t going to slam the door in your face and take off. I really can’t talk this morning, though. I was about to jump in the shower. I’m planning to go to Megan’s funeral today and I have a job interview after that.”

  “You’re going to the funeral?” Mac asked.

  “Yeah. I told you that before. I wanted to give Megan’s sister those earrings.”

  “Right.” Kevin nodded. “Well, since we’re here, I’d like to ask you one thing.”

  “Just one?” Joe acted surprised.

  “Right. We were checking out your old apartment and found a bloodstain on the carpet.”

  He shook his head and smiled. “Sorry to disappoint you fellas, but that was my blood. I cut my hand while I was moving.” He held up his hand to show them the small mark on his palm. “I thought I’d cleaned it up pretty good.”

  A defensive wound? Mac wondered.

  “That’s all we need for now, Mr. Higgins. Maybe we could come by later today—say after the funeral and that interview.”

  “Fine by me,” Higgins replied.

  “Have you given any more thought to taking that polygraph?”

  Kevin asked as Higgins started to close the door.

  “Some. I’m leaning that way, but I’d like to talk to my attorney about it, you know.”

  “Sure. We’ll talk to you later, Mr. Higgins.” Kevin barely got in his response before the door closed.

  “He seems pretty confident.” Mac opened the car door.

  “Yes, very.” Kevin glanced back at the duplex. “Let’s go over to the old apartment. I want to make sure things are running smoothly.”

  “On our way.”

  “My pager.” Kevin glanced down. “It’s Eric.” Kevin reached for his phone. “Darn, I left mine at the P.D.”

  “Mine’s inside the center console.” Mac shifted his arm over so Kevin could access the phone.

  “Thanks, pal. I was just testing to see if you were prepared.”

  Mac rolled his eyes. “I’ll bet.”

  “Kevin.” Eric answered the phone on
the first ring.

  “Yeah, buddy. Good morning.”

  After bantering, Kevin turned serious, finally ending the conversation with, “We’re on our way.”

  “Eric wants us to meet him at the P.D. He’s got taped phone calls from Mitch Wallace. I’ll bet they’re to Higgins.”

  “What about the Parkview apartment?”

  “Eric says Dana Bennett is covering for him until he can get there.” Kevin raised an eyebrow at Mac. “Is it my imagination, or is that girl shadowing you?”

  “Not me.” Mac grinned, glad for the opening. “She’s hoping to make detective.”

  Kevin nodded. “I guess that’s why she told Eric she didn’t mind staying for as long as he needed her.”

  “Sounds like her. From what she told me last night, she’s working really hard. You might want to talk to her. Maybe you could put in a good word for her.”

  “Be glad to.” Kevin tapped on the dash, then said, “Last night, huh? You two have something going? What happened to Linda?”

  “Dana and I are friends. We took some classes together at the University of Portland. I was a senior and she was a freshman—we were both working toward a criminal justice degree. She came over to my place last night to talk to me about what she needed to do to make detective.” He sighed. “I don’t know what to do about Linda. She dropped by while Dana was there.” Mac told him about the incident.

  “Whew. Boy, am I glad I don’t have those girl troubles any more. There are real pluses to having been married for thirty years.”

  “Humph. Somehow after last night I don’t think wedding bells are going to be ringing in the near future for me.”

  “From what you just told me, it sounds like you might not be ready to settle down.”

  “You may be right.” Mac didn’t want to talk any more about the women in his life. “Did Eric have anything else to say?”

  “Just that Philly and Russ are over at the church, getting ready for the funeral service. I guess there’s already a big crowd gathering, lots of media. The press is playing this one to the hilt, making a big deal about the girl who is to be buried rather than married.” Kevin grimaced in disgust. “Anything for a buck.”