Her Final Watch (A Detective Blanchette Mystery Book 2)

by Marguerite Ashton

  I had a feeling that you weren’t just a collector. “When was the room booked?”

  “Two days ago. Check out is tomorrow.”

  “What’s the customer’s name?”

  Jeff shook his head. “You know I can’t give out any names.”

  “The guy who stayed in room three was put there by the Fort Atkinson Police Department. We haven’t been able to make contact with him. I just saw someone leave his room who shouldn’t even know he was here.”

  A couple came in giggling and went to the elevator.

  “My uncle will fire me.”

  “I know your uncle. He’s not going to fire you, Jeff. I’ll tell him you were doing your duty as a citizen.”

  Jeff stared at Lily. “Okay. That might work.”

  “I’ll make it simple. I’ll say a name and if I’m wrong, shrug your shoulders. If I’m right, don’t do anything.”

  “I guess that’s okay.”

  “Dan Ligelli?”

  Jeff didn’t move.

  “Thank you.”

  The door to the lobby swung open as Alec stepped inside. “We’re going to need a warrant to search Brian’s room. Detective Keys is working on the GPS location on Brian’s phone.”

  “Make it two warrants.” Lily updated Alec with the information she’d gathered from the front desk. “I’m not sure why Dan was here or how he found out Brian was at this hotel. The one hotel that doesn’t get much traffic, even on the holidays or a special occasion.”

  “Dan’s starting to look like the one we need to focus on.”

  “Where’s Evan?”

  “He’s at a scene where another body was dumped in the same spot where Ariel was found. Same M.O. as the other dancers.”

  “This killer reminds me of something rabid. This person has killed a total of three, possibly four, in five days. He didn’t bother to lay low for a while.”

  Alec asked, “When the heck does he sleep?”

  “A killing of this magnitude requires adrenaline. This person isn’t a druggie or an alcoholic because they’d need time to sleep off their high and recoup. The person doing this is fully aware of what they are doing.”

  Static came across Lily’s radio.

  “Detective Blanchette?”

  Lily keyed her radio. “Go ahead, Nick.”

  “Brian Week’s car is still in the parking lot.”

  “You said the desk clerk thought Brian left the room?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Lily’s mind raced as she thought about the photo of Brian found in Ariel’s letters. About Dan being the last one to see Ariel the night she died. “Don’t let anyone in or out until you hear from me. Also, get a unit over to the aunt’s house. I want a welfare check done on Ariel’s boys.”

  Lily headed towards Brian’s door.

  “Lily, we’re going to wait for the warrant,” Alec said.

  “I’m not going in to search. I’m going to make sure that Brian’s still alive.” Lily signaled Nick. “We’ve got a legitimate concern to go in and have a look-see. If no one’s inside, I’ll be more than happy to wait for the warrant.”

  Alec said, “You know I’m not letting you go first.”

  Lily drew her weapon and held it at her side. “The thought never crossed my mind.”

  “Damn it,” Alec said.

  Nick and a few other officers approached Brian’s door while Alec and Lily stayed back.

  Nick pounded on the door. “It’s the Fort Atkinson Police Department. We came to check on you and see if everything’s all right.”

  Nothing.

  Nick pounded again.

  No answer.

  The officers used the spare key and went inside.

  “Clear,” one of the officers called.

  Alec went in first with Lily following behind him. Nick came out from the bedroom. “There’s no one here.”

  Lily glanced around at the room. Everything was neat and clean. The maid service must’ve been here. “What was Quentin doing here?”

  Alec held up his phone. “We’ve got our warrants.”

  “Beautiful. Take lots of pictures, guys.”

  *

  After ten minutes, their search of the hotel room was nearing the end. Even with Brian’s clothes hung and the refrigerator stocked, it looked like Brian had stepped out for the day and would return when he felt like it.

  Alec came from the adjoining room. “Dan’s room is clean.”

  “So is Brian’s.” Lily eyed Alec. “Quentin came to our side of town because he was looking for something specific or someone. Nick and I had been outside at least several minutes before Nick pulled away. Then I sat here another few more minutes texting Ibee before I got ready to leave.”

  Alec said, “Quentin had to be watching.”

  “I’m sure.” Lily looked out the window. “But from this angle, you can’t see the Charger.”

  “Then he waited for Nick to leave before stepping out of the room.”

  Lily turned in a circle and double checked the areas where she had looked, but she kept coming back to the bed. She lifted the mattress and felt along the sides until her gloved finger jammed into a slit.

  She dug deeper, removing a plastic bag.

  Bingo.

  The missing flash drive.

  Chapter 24

  December 20, 9:48 a.m.

  Still groggy, Deena opened her eyes, blinking as she fought against the desire to go back to a heavy drugged sleep. She moaned.

  “You’ve made it out of surgery. The doctor’s on his way in.” Sharon rubbed Deena’s shoulder.

  “You’re still here? I told you to go home and make dinner for Lily.”

  Sharon leaned over the bed railing and in a low tone said, “Be still and relax for a minute. Here comes the doctor.”

  “Hey, Deena,” said the surgeon, walking up to the bed. “You did well during the surgery. I removed the mass and your lymph nodes. The mass that was extracted was the size of my fist. It’s cancer.”

  Even as Deena drifted in and out of sleep, the words from the surgeon sunk into the pit of her stomach like an elephant jumping on a trampoline. “Am I going to die?”

  “You have stage two breast cancer. I’m confident that we can at least get this under control with chemotherapy and radiation. I want to do three months of chemo and six sessions of radiation. This is a lot of information to take in right now. If you have any questions, please call the office.”

  Deena closed her eyes. Everything around her seemed to stand still.

  Quiet.

  She wanted to escape the world and the barrage of bad news being given to her.

  “Thank you, Doctor.” Sharon squeezed Deena’s hand. “Try not to worry too much. I’ll take care of you.”

  Chapter 25

  December 23, 6:40 a.m.

  Lily opened up the side door, removed Max’s leash and jogged up the back stairs of the house with Max leading the way. She walked through the living room and into the foyer.

  A door above closed.

  Lily saw Sharon stepping away from her mother’s door, carrying a bed tray. “Why are you coming out of Mother’s room with all that stuff?”

  Sharon shushed Lily as she bounded down the stairs. “She’s resting right now.”

  Lily looked back up at the door. “Is she sick?”

  “Your mother hasn’t been feeling well lately.”

  “Why didn’t she tell me?”

  “She wanted to. That’s why she asked you to have dinner with her. It was the only way she could think that you two might have a decent conversation.”

  “How the hell was I supposed to know? Mother should’ve just told me. I’m a cop. I read body language, not minds.”

  “Would you’ve listened if she did?” Sharon updated Lily about Deena’s surgery and the cancer diagnosis. “Your mother received stitches and has a draining tube underneath her arm. The tube will be there for a week.”

  Lily shot up the stairs, opened the door, a
nd went into Deena’s room. It was fairly lit and filled with a sweet fragrance from the oil warmer sitting on the armoire. A glow from the television flickered upon Deena’s face as an infomercial selling malt shop music played on low volume.

  Propped up on several pillows, Deena slowly rolled onto her side and faced her daughter.

  Heavy guilt set in as Lily tried to decide what to say to her mother first. An apology might help, for starters. Except, the woman Lily knew before all this happened wasn’t who she was looking at now. Mother’s commanding brown eyes showed defeat. Lily once again was speechless.

  Is this what it took to bring her around so she could deal with her anger towards her mother? To see Deena dealing with a battle of her own, making Lily swallow her pride and accept that her mother made mistakes too.

  Then she recalled the last time she’d been to confession—ten months ago. With work, funerals and life, she had neglected to ask for help in dealing with the recycled crap from the past. All she wanted to do was put an end to their feud and be there for her mother.

  Every family had their share of problems. The Blanchettes were no exception.

  Deena muted the television and forced a smile. “I saw what happened at Hindle’s on the news. Were you the one that Evan was upset about?”

  Lily nodded slowly as her eyes darted around the room.

  “I’m glad you’re okay.” Deena patted the silk comforter. “Sit down. We need to talk.”

  Lily hurried across the room and claimed the space next to Deena. She reached for her mother’s hand, squeezed it and placed her head on her mother’s lap like she used to when she was a little girl. She couldn’t think of a time when she’d felt this vulnerable. “I’m sorry for not being there for you. I was so mad—”

  “You had every right to be. I’ve done things to you that I had no idea how they would affect you. I was selfish. All I know is that I can’t take any of those dreadful things back.” Deena sighed. “I started thinking that me getting breast cancer was a punishment for all my sins.”

  “No. It’s a medical situation. Use your faith to see you through this. I’ll be here for you.”

  “Oh heavens. Do you remember how you hated wearing tutus and tights but liked how the pink slippers felt on your feet?”

  Lily smiled. “The slippers were always so soft.”

  “Can you still Saute? I’d like to see you try.”

  “No ma’am,” Lily said, chuckling. “Not unless you want Sharon rushing me to the emergency room for broken toes or jammed knees.”

  Deena laughed and leaned back on the pillows. “Of course once you turned fifteen, you had me worried when you wanted to go hunting with your dad. At eighteen, you spent a lot of time at the shooting range. It was then that I realized you wanted to be a police officer.”

  Lily closed her eyes, smiled at the memories, and listened to Deena’s rhythmic breathing. “I’m keeping the baby.”

  A moment of silence swept between them as Deena stroked Lily’s hair. “I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. Thank you for keeping the family together.”

  “Baby’s due in July.”

  “July. The perfect time to give you a baby shower. It will be held out on the patio.”

  For the first time in several years, Lily was glad to be near her mother. A feeling she hoped her child would desire for his or her lifetime.

  Chapter 26

  December 24, 9:29 a.m.

  Sergeant Owen closed the door behind Lily, Evan, Alec and Jeremiah as they claimed their seats in the conference room. “Finally, we’ve reached a point in this investigation where we’ve been able to pin down two suspects with solid leads. Both Dan Ligelli and Brian Weeks are missing. We don’t know what’s going on, so we will have to use our best judgement when working this case.

  “Remember, to the public, we have a husband in mourning. Let’s keep it that way. We’re not releasing anything else to the press.”

  Evan sat forward in his chair. “DEA agent Liam Alden was with Ariel the night she died. His last check in with his supervisor was at 10:12 p.m. Liam stated that all was a go for the drug deal the following night and that he was waiting for Ariel to finish up with the ‘investor.’ Not long after that, Liam texted his supervisor that Ariel had received a call. And that she was agitated.”

  Sarge said, “If everyone agrees, I think that was the call that delayed Ariel from meeting Diamond the night of the awards ceremony. Liam saw everything that happened from the car. But there’s no way that one perpetrator could’ve killed one officer without the other responding.”

  “Unless there were two perps. Brian and Dan?” Lily sifted through the paperwork. “I just got confirmation that Brian’s GPS had him at On The Edge and a place called the Shell Lake Club. If I hedged a bet, that’s where the two separate photos of Brian were taken. He knew the type of assignment his wife was doing, among other things. Brian’s been manipulating everything pertaining to him regarding this case.

  “We’ve collected prints from the both hotel rooms. Now we just have to wait and see what comes back. They’ve been bumped to priority so we should have results soon. The flash drive found in Brian’s room is the one we’ve been looking for. Keep your fingers crossed that we’ll learn what’s on there.

  “Also, thanks to Nick and his crew on patrol, last week. We did learn that the twins are still with their aunt and are doing well. She has not heard from Brian.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Teamwork,” Sarge said. “Our latest victim, Crystal, used her phone to record her meeting with the person she was with. We believe we have the entire meeting, including the murder. The male voice is hard to identify. Some of the audio is garbled. So, Lily, I’d like for you to take a listen after we’re done.

  “It’s time to look at everything regarding Dan and Brian. Are both tied to the killings? Are one of them being held against their will? We need a motive for the murders. I want the idiot yanked up off the streets who finds strangling a woman with a choke collar fascinating.

  “Things are getting dicey. As you all know, Lily is going to have to start being extra careful. She will continue to lead the case, but she’s the last one going in. After we’re done with this case, Lily will be put on light duty.

  “I’ve spoken with our A.D.A. Since Diamond Reese died from injuries related to an automobile crash, the pending charges will be dropped against Mikey Surace. Knowing everything that we do now, Mikey Surace is being ruled out as a suspect.” He turned at the waist and looked at Lily. “Are we in agreement, Detective?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Lily’s phone vibrated. It was a text from a contact at the crime lab.

  “Prints on Ariel’s phone came back as Brian Weeks’. Saliva match on both cigars – Dan Ligelli.”

  Lily relayed the information from the text to her team.

  Evan jotted down notes. “A phone that Weeks wouldn’t have access to unless he was with her. Ariel and Crystal were killed because of what they knew. Liam was killed because he was with Ariel. As for Diamond, she was killed after dropping off the letters. Do you still believe that Kyle wasn’t killed by Brian?”

  Inaudible voices from police radios faded in the distance as officers walked down the hall toward the break room.

  Lily opened up the file folder with Kyle’s name on it. “Kyle. Was he murdered because he tried protecting his brother? Or was he murdered because his sister-in-law was a cop? Either way, he was caught in the middle. I have no idea why he was killed. It doesn’t fit Brian’s M.O.”

  “This may be the case that we never find out who did it,” Evan said. “Are you going to Diamond’s funeral?”

  “I’m going to the burial.” Lily checked her watch. “It starts in forty minutes.”

  Sarge said, “Let’s move. I want everything you can find on Brian and Dan. Go

  back as far as you can so we can piece together a solid case.”

  Lily’s phone vibrated as she left the room. “This is Blanchette.”


  “Are you the one working on my daughter Ariel’s case?” a soft voice said on the other end.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “This is Ariel’s mother. I’ve been trying to talk to someone, but I just keep getting the runaround. All I want is the sorority anklet she had on so I can lay her to rest with it. I bought it for her as a present.”

  Lily’s heartbeat slowed. “You’d need to call the district attorney’s office. They’re the ones who have a say when it is released to a victim’s next of kin.”

  “I just want to bury my baby. That anklet was her favorite. I’ve called my son-in-law to see if she left it at home, but he hasn’t returned my calls. Is there anything you can do?”

  Lily had no easy way to explain the process. “I’ll place a couple of calls, but it’ll be a few days.”

  “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  *

  10:16 a.m.

  Light flakes trickled down from the sky, disappearing before they touched the ground. As the priest finished blessing Diamond’s burial site, mourners tossed flowers on top of the coffin and cited the Lord’s Prayer. The phrase ‘And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ soured in Lily’s mouth.

  It had taken a long time to stop being angry at her mother. So much time had been lost between them.

  How long did it take for the mob to truly forgive those who had crossed the line in their eyes? Did they actually forgive a person’s mistake? Or did they go to confession, say their Hail Mary’s and go on about their lives?

  Lily wondered how she could convince Pop Surace to forgive Jeremiah’s.

  After the priest finished, Lily’s eyes met Pop’s.

  Pop glanced at the limo and shuffled toward it as Lily trailed behind him. “I got your message. I only agreed to see you today because I’m trusting that you’re not here to waste my time.”

  That was the last thing Lily wanted to do. Since the shooting at Hindle’s, she felt like she was watching sand run through an hourglass. “Time hasn’t been on my side as of late, so I’ll get to the point.”