Fallacy (Detective Jade Monroe 3)

by C. M. Sutter

  Jack started. “We know the husband was Dean, the wife was Alice, and they had twin daughters that looked to be teenagers. Alice allegedly had demons, and I’m guessing the hospital stay wasn’t because she had a tonsillectomy. Neither our caller nor the minister knew their last names.”

  I turned to Jack. “So what does that tell us?”

  “Most likely that they were a very private family and didn’t have close friends. Only one person called in on the tip line with a real lead, and that was from Madison.” Jack stood and took my place pacing. “Dean was someone they knew several years ago, so what about here in North Bend? No calls from anyone local that recognized this guy? That’s odd. Who supports the family? Somebody has to work to buy groceries and pay the bills.”

  “That leaves us in the dark again,” Billings said.

  “Whoever the killer is may have a dark green truck and workshop tools. As soon as we hear back from Todd and Billy, we’ll know if they saw that vehicle on anybody’s footage from last night. The question is, are these killings related, and if they are, why?”

  “Okay, I think we’re going in too many directions at once. I got the warrant from the judge. Jade and Jack, go back to Mrs. Smith’s house right now and search it. Ask her if she, or her husband, knew anybody named Dean or Alice. Be back here with an update before seven. After that, we’re calling it a night. Clayton, call Todd and see if they have anything on the camera footage yet. Let’s go.”

  The lieutenant handed me the warrant, and I shoved it into my purse, along with my notepad and phone.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  Jack nodded, grabbed his necessities off his desk, and jammed everything into his pockets. I pulled a set of keys off the hook behind the reception desk, handed them to Jack, and we left. We headed toward the cruiser that beeped when Jack clicked the key fob.

  “Over there, third one down,” I said. “Pull into a drive-through on our way to the Smith house. I’m going to die if I don’t eat something.”

  Jack gave me a grin. “What, two doughnuts didn’t fill you up today?”

  “Hardly, maybe three would have. I’m going to text Amber and let her know she’s having dinner alone tonight. I hope I’m back home by eight. She likes telling me about her classes.”

  “I bet she does,” Jack said as he drove down Washington Street. “How about Speedy Burgers? I hear they’re pretty good.”

  “Sounds perfect, and I’ll have two of them. I’m going to call Whitney Smith and tell her we’re on our way.”

  We wolfed down our burgers, and fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the familiar driveway with the messy yard. Jack parked, and we exited the cruiser. Whitney was already standing at the front door with her arms crossed against her chest. She didn’t look happy to see us twice in one day.

  “Did you forget something?” she asked curtly.

  I handed her the warrant. “No, ma’am, but we are going to search the premises. Please step aside. This shouldn’t take too long.”

  She unfolded the paperwork and stared at it in disbelief. “What are you looking for?”

  “Ma’am, please have a seat and keep your children corralled. We’d like this to go as smoothly as possible without interruptions.”

  Jack searched the garage, I took the basement, and then we both searched the living quarters. We didn’t find one power tool, let alone a sign that somebody did woodworking, remodeling, or anything mechanical in the home. We returned to the living room.

  “Mrs. Smith, did your husband ever work with hand or power tools? Did he have hobbies that involved drills, saws, and the like?”

  “What does that mean? We have a hammer and a few screwdrivers in a toolbox in the closet. He didn’t have time for anything else.”

  “We saw the toolbox, ma’am, and we’ll have to take that with us for now.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Mrs. Smith, were you or your husband acquainted with anyone named Dean or Alice?”

  “Only my kids’ pediatrician. Her name is Alice Klausen.”

  “Is she local?” I wrote the name down but had my doubts that there was any connection.

  “Yes, at the clinic on Eighteenth Street.”

  “Thanks, that should do it. You’ve already made the identification?”

  “Yes, I have.” She wiped her eyes as she talked.

  “We’re sorry for your loss, Whitney. Please call us if you can think of anything that might help with this case.” I wanted to speak in very generic terms with three youngsters sitting at their mother’s side.

  Jack and I left. He backed out of the driveway, and I checked the time—six thirty. I leaned back in the seat and knew if I closed my eyes, I would doze off. Instead, I stared out the window as Jack drove back to the station.

  “I hope Todd and Billy are back. I’m wiped out. With a good night’s sleep, we can hit the tire stores with fresh eyes in the morning. Did you pull up the life insurance policies and bank information for the Smiths?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I did. The copies should be in my inbox by morning. You do look beat. How about a couple coffees from Pit-Stop?”

  “Thanks, partner.”

  Chapter 23

  I carefully lifted the lid and blew on the coffee to cool it. I needed to appear somewhat awake before we got back to the station. We had only five minutes before Jack would be turning into the parking lot. The lieutenant would want to hear what we discovered at the Smith home, if anything, and I was dying to know whether Billy and Todd saw a truck on the tapes.

  Jack turned left onto Schmidt Road. I took a couple of long gulps of coffee, burning my tongue in the process.

  “Walk slowly,” I said as Jack parked and we exited the cruiser.

  “Aren’t you done with that coffee yet?”

  “Sorry, I’ve already scalded the skin off my tongue. Now it burns to drink it.”

  “Take it inside. Who cares? You always have a cup of coffee in your hand, anyway.”

  We entered the building, plugged the code into the pad alongside the bull pen door, and pushed it open. Everyone that sat at their desks looked as beat as I felt.

  “Well?” Clark rose, walked around his desk, and came out of his office.

  Jack and I dropped to our chairs simultaneously.

  “Go ahead, you tell them,” I said to Jack as I propped my chin up on my desk with my closed hand.

  “We searched the Smith home and found nothing other than a toolbox with a small number of household tools. I dropped it off downstairs for Kyle and Dan to look over. Whitney said David wasn’t into hobbies or anything related to power tools. She also said they didn’t know anybody named Dean or Alice other than her kids’ pediatrician named Alice Klausen.”

  “That’s easy enough to check out,” Billings said. “And on a good note, Todd said they saw a truck turning off of Washington Street onto University Drive at ten thirty last night. He couldn’t actually tell if it was dark green or another dark color, but it was the only truck that turned onto University from either Washington Street or Decorah.”

  “Which place had the video?” I asked, now fully awake.

  “The bank’s ATM. The bank was their first stop, but the camera software was going through an update. They went back an hour before the bank closed and were able to check last night’s videos. That’s when they saw it. They’ve both left already, but they brought up the thumb drive for you to see,” Clayton said.

  I checked each face. “Let’s take a look. Have you guys already watched it?”

  Clark spoke up. “Nope, we were waiting for you guys to get back.”

  We crowded around my computer, and I slid the thumb drive into an empty port. I opened up the file and fast forwarded the tape to begin at ten twenty-five.

  “Here we go. I want to see which direction the truck comes from.”

  “I think Todd said it came from the west,” Billings said.

  I nodded and watched closely. The traffic was minimal once a vehicle reached University
Drive. That street was on the outskirts of the city limits but within range of the wide-angle camera lens of the bank’s ATM. Most of the vehicles picked up on the camera were going in and out of restaurants on the right side of the screen.

  “There it is.” I pointed at the vehicle coming into town from the west. I made sure the tape was at the ten thirty mark. Until it was ready to turn, all we could see were headlights. A right-hand blinker flashed, and the vehicle slowed to a stop at the lights. It turned as soon as the lights went green. I paused the tape when the vehicle was parallel to the camera. “Can any of you tell what kind of truck that is?”

  They scooted their chairs in and leaned closer to the screen. “Without streetlights, it’s tough to say, Jade,” Clayton said. “All we have is reflective lights from other vehicles and ambient lighting from buildings down the street.”

  “What about location of the blinkers and even the side mirrors?” I asked. “Jack and I thought from a distance the truck could have been around ten years old. Wait a minute. Jack, think back, did that truck have a short or long box and was it a crew cab?”

  “Yeah, that would definitely make a difference.” He stared at the video of the truck again. “I saw two faces at the side window looking toward us. That tells me it’s a crew cab like this one, and I don’t think it had a short box. We wouldn’t be able to tell anything with the blinkers or mirrors since the truck was parallel to us.”

  “To me,” Clayton said, “it looks like a Ford, and yeah, it does look older.”

  “The F-series Ford trucks were one of the trucks on the list for that tire brand. That’s good enough for me. We can start checking tomorrow for all of the tire shops and garages that sold those tires over the last two years to anybody named Dean, but right now, I’m going home. Night guys, great work,” I said as I packed up my belongings and left the bull pen.

  When I pulled my car into the driveway, I saw the woods behind the condo illuminated from our deck lights. That told me Amber was possibly sitting outside waiting for me to get home. I smiled with appreciation for my sister. She was a thoughtful young lady and a perfect housemate.

  She called out from the deck when I entered the house. “Hey, Sis, I figured you’d need to wind down a little. I’ve got a cold one out here with your name on it.”

  I hung my purse on the back of the barstool, took my service weapon and shoulder harness into my bedroom, then returned to the living room and slid open the screen door.

  “You know me pretty well, kiddo. Thanks, a cold beer is exactly what I need. It might even help me sleep.”

  “Sounds like you had a tough day with the fiasco at the university.”

  “How much did you hear?”

  “Only that some guy died out on the track bleachers.”

  “That’s what’s going around?”

  “Uh-huh. Should I know more?”

  “Nope. We have it under control—sort of. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll get a name for the John Doe from the park. We need that to get his case moving forward.”

  “I hope it works out, Jade. I don’t know the gory details, but it sounds bad nonetheless.” Amber looked at her watch. “I have early classes tomorrow since everything was canceled today. I think we should both turn in after this beer. You look beat.”

  “Yeah, that works for me.”

  Chapter 24

  “Tonight will be the best so far,” Alice said as she started breakfast. She cracked six eggs into a bowl, added a splash of milk, and began whisking the mixture for scrambled eggs. The bacon sizzled on the griddle, and three slices of bread lay on the counter for toast when the time was right.

  Mariah sat at the computer, exchanging messages with both men they were meeting. She chuckled every time a new message popped up.

  “Mama, these guys are flirting with me.”

  Mandy scowled as she filled her chipped orange coffee cup that had Florida written across the side. “I think you’re enjoying this a little too much, Mariah.”

  “Don’t you two start that bickering again,” Alice threatened. “I’ll smack you both upside the head.”

  “Mandy is jealous.”

  “Right, I’m jealous of you because you’re enjoying the attention from two men we’re going to kill. Don’t forget you and I look identical. They’re only flirting with you because you’re young and pretty, not because you’re interesting. They don’t even know you. I could have posted pictures of myself, but I’m not as twisted as you, Mariah.”

  “Mama told me to, and you don’t have the guts, anyway. These men are vile and need to die, and you’re a big baby.” Mariah began taunting Mandy. She popped her thumb into her mouth and began making sucking noises.

  Alice spun when she heard the chair crash to the floor. Mariah screamed for help as Mandy straddled her and pummeled her face. Mariah’s lip and nose were bloodied. Alice jerked Mandy backward by her hair and threw her against the wall.

  “I’ve had enough of you. If you didn’t have a mission to accomplish tonight, I’d blacken both of your eyes. Now get up and sit your fanny on that chair. Apologize to Mariah right now.”

  Mandy sat silently while Alice tended to Mariah’s injuries.

  “How am I going to meet those guys now? Mandy bashed my face in, Mama.” Mariah sat with her head back, holding a cold, wet rag against the bridge of her nose to stop the bleeding.

  Alice turned toward Mandy and spewed the words at her. “I told you to apologize to your sister.”

  “Sorry, Mariah, but I don’t consider you my sister anymore. You’re nothing but a stranger to me. So there, I said I was sorry.”

  “I hate you, Mandy.”

  “Whatever—I don’t care.”

  Alice slid two plates of eggs, bacon, and toast across the table. “Shut up and eat your breakfast. Mandy, tonight you’re doing everything on your own. Mariah, after breakfast, send off those emails with directions on how to get here. I have the perfect ending for those two men.”

  Chapter 25

  I grabbed the notepad off my nightstand. Sleep didn’t come easily for me last night, so I made sure to make a list of things I needed to do. As I tiptoed down the hallway, I saw Amber’s bedroom door was open and she had already left. No need to be quiet after all. The coffee was already made, and a cup sat on the counter, waiting to be filled. Next to the empty cup lay a note saying Amber was bringing home Chinese for dinner and Spaz had been fed.

  I filled my cup, poured a bit of cream in it and gave it a thorough stir, then headed down the hall to take a hot, steamy shower.

  While back in the kitchen for my second cup of coffee, I decided on a bowl of instant oatmeal. I noticed that the scale had been creeping up a few pounds from those anxiety-calming doughnuts we’d all been eating too many of lately. It felt good to eat something without icing on it once in a while.

  I was excited to get to work and start plugging away at my to-do list. I’d enlist the help of Jack, Clayton, and Billings, and with any luck, we’d finally find out if Dean somebody was John Doe’s real name. With a last name and, hopefully, a local address, we’d be knocking on his door and finding out why nobody had reported him missing.

  My cell phone rang as I backed out of the garage. I shifted the car into park and dug through my purse for my phone. The screen showed it was Jack.

  “Hey, what’s up?’ I shifted into reverse, hit the remote for the garage door, and backed out onto the street.

  “Have you left yet?”

  “I am right now, why?”

  “I have a flat and don’t want to get dirty changing it. Can you pick me up? I’ll deal with the tire after work.”

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll be there in ten.” I hung up, did a U-turn, and headed the other way.

  “Thanks, partner,” Jack said a few minutes later as he climbed into the passenger seat. “I’ll buy doughnuts if you want to stop.”

  My conscience told me to say no, but my lack of willpower won out. I’d try again tomorrow. “Sure, sounds d
elicious. I want a French cruller. The rest is up to you.”

  Jack ducked his head back in the door when he got out. “Only one, are you sure?”

  “Yep, one is good. I’m trying to cut back on the sweets.”

  We arrived at the station at seven forty-five. Clark was already at his desk when we walked in, and the coffee was brewing.

  “Man, you guys are spoiling me. I didn’t have to do anything yet.” I plopped down at my desk and pulled the notepad out of my purse. I powered up my computer and waited.

  “As long as you’re waiting around, you can pour us some coffee.” Clark grinned at me and gave me a wink.

  I chuckled. “Sure, boss. Jack, are you ready for a cup?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Clayton and Billings walked in at eight o’clock and helped themselves at the coffee station. Once they were seated, I printed a list of all the tire dealers, car dealerships, garages, and general stores that sold tires in Washburn County and handed out the sheets.

  “It looks like there are seventy places throughout the county that sell tires. It doesn’t mean they sell the BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires we’re looking for, though. That will be the first question to ask. We don’t want to waste their time or ours. If they do sell that tire, we’ll need them to go back two years for sure for anybody named Dean or Alice that purchased a set. Let’s divide up this list and get started. It’s going to be a busy day. If any of you can think of other stores, write them down so none of them are overlooked. Make sure to note if some don’t answer the phone too. You’ll have to get back to them later.”

  I sat down and got started on my almost twenty places to call. I was certain nobody that answered at any of the stores would be too pleased to go back almost two years looking for somebody named Dean or Alice, especially without a last name. I would even go as far as asking for anyone who used only the initial D or A instead of a first name. Hopefully, the list would be short for names of people that had purchased those tires. We had no way of knowing if the tires were purchased online, either. If they were, we’d be back to square one.