She could see him raise his fist and then it started down. There was nothing she could do but brace herself. She felt it smash into the side of her head, a momentary hot flash of pain and then nothing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The autopsy report was on my desk when I came in the next morning. I grabbed my usual breakfast of a Honey Bun and Diet Coke before sitting down to sift through the gory details.
I skipped over the usual stomach contents and more disgusting item the ME’s throw in just to make us nauseous. The toxicology report was what I wanted to see first.
Blood alcohol content was .155. Almost twice the amount considered drunk according to the State. Traces of marijuana, and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine were also found. MDMA is also known as Ecstasy. The drug of choice for party goers.
Why was she taking XTC, Adam, beans, love's speed, Molly, and all the other names the drug went by? It was just stupid. She was a med student for goodness sakes. She had to know it could cause learning disabilities, depression, and memory recall problems. What kind of a doctor would she make if she couldn’t remember the correct procedures? The drug affects the chemical serotonin making the brain cells fail to communicate properly with each other.
The other question was where did she get it that night? She probably was at a party someplace. Maybe even on campus and that’s why she was walking. That or she was too screwed up to be able to drive. It was a starting point at least. Getting anyone confess to a party where drugs were involved would certainly not be easy by any means. Still it was the best thing we had at the moment.
I was just about to go tell the captain what we were doing next when my phone rang.
“Detective Bartoni.”
“No kidding? Huh. I thought you didn’t get in until after ten.
“Extremely funny, Bill. Not. What’s up?”
“The blood was a match to Alice Harding. So you can pretty much be sure that’s where she was at the time of the abduction.”
“That makes sense I guess.”
“The keys were to the following. Chevy Blazer, Master Pad Lock, luggage key, and a door key made by Dexter. You want the model numbers?”
“Just send it to me for now.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“I’ll tell you what I going to command,” I shot back.
“Have to go,” he said and hung up.
I really did like Bill. A lot. Unfortunately I don’t date cops and besides that, he is married. Not happily, but married just the same. I don’t do that either.
I grabbed Dan and filled the captain in and we headed back to the campus. I figured that if anyone could point us in the right direction maybe it was Captain Cox. Any loud parties they would probably have been called in on. We sure didn’t have anything to lose by checking it out.
~~
“You’re back,” Cox said when we walked into Campus Security.
“We wanted to share what we found during our search. I saw you watching from the student parking lot.”
“Just another onlooker.”
“Anyway, we found pools of blood in three separate places. It checks out as belonging to Alice Harding. We also found a set of keys that we don’t know much about. They may or may not be significant.”
“What kind of keys?”
“A car key that belongs to a Chevy Blazer we think. A Master Lock pad lock, luggage type key and a house key that fits a Dexter lock.”
“Dexter? That isn’t one of the campus apartment keys. Ours are all iTouchless Biometric fingerprint keys. Students lose keys with alarming frequency so we went the biometric route early last year.”
I sighed. Nothing is ever easy. There are probably ten billion Dexter locks out there and chances of finding who this key belonged to was slim to none.
“What about Chevy Blazers? Do the cars have to be registered with your people to be on campus?”
“Only if they have an assigned parking space. The ones without a permit have to park wherever they can find a space. Most park illegally and we give them a ticket. They get two chances. After that we have the car towed.”
“I know this is a pain but I would like to get every Chevy Blazer owner's name that is registered and any that you have given tickets to or had towed,” I said.
“How far back?”
“Let’s just go four years back. Almost anyone after four years has probably moved on,” I replied.
“You would be surprised. I think some of the kids have been here since before I came and that was seven years ago.”
“Okay. Maybe five years back if it isn’t too big of a hassle.”
“Not a problem.”
“The other thing...”
“I was sure there would be another thing,” he interrupted.
“I would like to know if you had any loud or wild parties on the Saturday night that Alice was abducted.”
“I know we had at least four calls. I’ll pull up the dispatch sheets and see what we have,” he told us as we walked over to a computer terminal.
He did the finger tap dance on the keyboard and brought up the call sheets for Saturday night. There were five on campus and two on the campus fringe that they responded to as a courtesy for the city police.
“We shut down a party at Seawall House at 12:22 A.M. We broke up another one at the Blackburn House at 12:56 A.M. At 1:26 we broke up a fight that started at a party in the parking lot at Lohse House. Things quieted down until 2:10 A.M. when we responded to an injury due to someone falling off a balcony. They were totally wasted. BAC was .19, high enough to kill the dumb shit. The last one was twenty minutes later at the Walker House,” he told us while pointing them out on a large campus map.
They were all located in one area and near the river walk. She could have been at any one of those parties and then started to walk back to her apartment. It helped some but left a lot to be desired.
“Any drug busts?”
“HA. Are you kidding? We don’t bust them for getting high unless they do it while we are there. If we arrested ever one we suspected of doing drugs the campus would be closed. Probably seventy-five percent are stoned on something. Most are stoned and drunk but if they are cool about it we let it slide.”
“That’s pretty laid back.”
“It’s what the administration wants. They don’t want us busting someone for smoking pot. It drives up the crime statistics and that is a definite ‘no-no’.
“So you just hide them,” Dan said.
“Nooo, we overlook them. Like I said, if they are blatant we bust them but other than that we pretty much leave them alone.”
Dan just shook his head.
“Look detective. States are starting to legalize pot. It’s just the way things are going. You don’t have to like it but nevertheless more and more states are accepting that they might as well make some money off it,” Cox told him.
“Two things. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do and second it will lead to bigger problems. Kids won’t stop at just pot. All those states are doing is setting up a whole new generation to be hooked on drugs. Hell of a future,” Dan replied.
He had a good point but like Cox said. It wasn’t our call.
“Do you have a list of the names of the party givers?”
“I do but they will say they had nothing to do with it. People just started showing up. Of course they didn’t see anyone underage drinking or anyone doing drugs. They have a tendency to block those things out.”
“That may well be but I would like to talk to them anyway,” I said.
Maybe he couldn’t get anything out of them but I damn sure would. I can be the real ‘B’ word when people jack me around. I find out what I wanted to know.
Cox gave me a copy of the police reports with the apartment numbers and names. They had a few additional names that were from some of the students that got too mouthy. We weren’t getting much closer but at least we weren’t losing ground. Or I liked to think that anyway.
&nbs
p; CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Music was blasting through the door at a decibel that I can only describe as painful. How they could stand to be inside was beyond me.
I pounded on the door until my hand was starting to hurt. Dan took over and I thought he was going to knock it down for a second.
The door was yanked open and a kid in his underwear shouted, “What the hell do you want? I’m trying to sleep here.”
Sleep? How could anyone sleep through that crap that was playing?
“Turn down the music,” I yelled back.
“Who the f…”
I held up my badge that made him stop mid-sentence.
He disappeared for a few moments and then we heard the music stop. A few seconds later he returned with a pair of pants on and a shirt.
“Gee, you didn’t have to dress just for us,” I quipped.
He just rolled his eyes. Must still be a teenager.
“You’re Ronnie Pyle.”
“Yeah. So?”
“I’m Detective Bartoni and this is Detective Dan Roberts.”
“So? Like what do you want?”
“We’re here to talk about the party you had on Saturday night.”
“You got the wrong information. No party here,” he said and started to close the door.
I straight armed the door, knocking it back and it hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground.
“Hey, what the hell. Man, I’m gonna sue you,” he said holding his eye.
“Great. I’ll give you my card after we are finished with our questions,” I replied.
“I don’t have to answer squat.”
“Yes. Yes you do. If you don’t want to answer them here you can have your attorney meet you down at the station. Do whatever you think it is you have to do but you are going to answer my questions one way or the other.”
“Man, you guys. No wonder no one likes cops.”
“Dan, he doesn’t like you,” I said.
“I wasn’t talking about him,” he muttered.
“Well, since you don’t like me, I might as well piss you off some more. You want to talk to us through the door where everyone can hear the conversation or want us to step inside?”
“This sucks,” he said, pulling the door open.
While the smell of marijuana was fairly overpowering in the hall, I almost got high just stepping into the place. It was an absolute hovel. Clothes, pizza boxes, beer cans, and empty booze bottles filled almost the entire front room. I didn’t even want to see what the kitchen looked like.
Roaches were stubbed out in the ashtrays, on tables, windowsills and just about every place you looked. Some pills lay on the coffee table.
“So about that party,” I said.
“I’m telling you, no party took place here.”
“So the 12:26 a.m. Campus Police report got the wrong place, is that what you’re saying?”
“Must have.”
“Dan, call security and have the officers that responded come down here. Get Captain Cox to come too so he can correct the record.”
Dan whipped out his cell phone and started to dial.
“Hold it. Wait. I mean we had a little gathering of friends but it wasn’t a real party.”
“Really? Two arrested and another thirty-seven evicted. That was before the fight in the parking lot that they had to come back for.”
“Man. We weren’t hurting anyone. Just having a little fun. Everyone is so uptight. School is tough. We were just blowing off steam.”
“Alice Harding. What time did she leave?”
“Hell I don’t know. I didn’t keep tabs on anyone. I was pretty wasted as it was.”
“But she was here?”
“Sure. She is a real party hound. You can find her at some party just about any weekend night. Sometimes during the week. That girl can drink.”
“What about drugs?”
“We didn’t have any drugs. Just beer.”
“Really? Dan, bag the contents of the ashtrays, grab those pills on the coffee table and any other drug paraphernalia you see,” I said.
“You got it.”
“Damn. Why are you going so medieval on me? It was just a party. You guys need to chill.”
“Ronnie, I am going to give you exactly that chance. I’m going to charge you with possession of drug paraphernalia, supplying drugs, underage drinking, lying to officers during a homicide investigation and being a smartass teenager.”
Okay, I was pushing it a little but I was sure I could get a conviction on the smartass teenager charge.
“Dude. Easy. Back it down a notch. I mean, look. Okay we had a party. Some people brought pot and who knows what else. The fight was no big deal. They were too drunk to hurt each other. Come on dude. It was no big deal.”
“Call me a dude once more and I’ll knock you into next week, dude. Get it?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Let’s go back to Alice. Did she leave with anyone?”
“I don’t think so. I mean one minute she was here and then she was gone. She was popped pretty good. I think she might have mixed booze and Molly.”
“Ecstasy.”
“Whatever.”
“Any idea where she was headed?”
“No but she was talking to Linda Beal just before she left. Maybe she would know.”
“Linda Beal. Where does she live?” I asked.
“Don’t have a clue. Campus housing could tell you.”
“Okay Ronnie. I’m going to let the drug charges pass for now but if I comeback and ask you more questions you had better be right up front with me. Got it?”
“Sure. I got it.”
“Good. Clean up this pig sty. It is disgusting.”
“Yes mom,” he muttered.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
We played pin the tail on Linda Beal for the next two hours. Every time we thought we had her located she had just left. We finally ran her to ground at a ‘Java-Java’ coffee house.
“Linda Beal?”
“Uh. Who wants to know?”
“What is it with you guys? Can’t you just say yes or yep or even yeah?”
“Fine. I’m Linda Beal. Now who wants to know?”
“IPD.”
“Oh. Oh. This is about Alice isn’t it?”
“Why do you say that?” Dan asked.
“Why else would you want to talk to me? I got a B on my English Comp paper but even my parents wouldn’t send you after me for that. Well, I don’t think so.”
“Pretty strict?” I asked.
“Ha. Strict doesn’t even come close. Oppressive is a better word.”
“Sorry about that,” I told her.
“You aren’t the only one. So what can I do for you?”
“You were talking to Alice just before she left the party. What were you talking about?”
“Nothing important. She was sort of incoherent. Just babbling really. Said she was going to go back and crash if she could find her pad.”
“Nothing really bothering her? Any trouble with anyone? Boy problems?”
“Not that I am aware of. Alice was kind of loose if you know what I mean. Guys came and went but she was never serious about anyone that I know of.”
“What time did she leave?”
“I’m not sure. Just before the cops came. Maybe 12:30 or so. I just remember a bunch of cops pushing in the apartment. A couple of guys got smart mouthed and next thing we were all being pushed out the door.”
“Did she leave with anyone?”
“Not that I saw. She was going right home or at least that’s what she said. She was pretty messed up.”
“Drugs and booze?”
“Uh...well I don’t know for sure.”
“Right,” Dan said.
“I feel bad. I probably should have walked her home. I thought about it but then I just spaced out. Next thing I know she was gone.”
“Can you think of anyone that wants to murder her? Anyone?”
“Honestly, I c
an’t think of a soul. She seemed to get along with just about everyone. She was always at every party. Like I said, guys came and went with her but I don’t know anyone that had hard feelings about it.”
I shook my head. Nothing was giving us a clear picture. Okay, she liked to party but that would cover about 80% of the college students. No real boyfriend. No one mad at her. This was going nowhere fast.
~~
“So you have nothing?” the captain said.
“Sorry boss. We aren’t one step closer to closing this.”
“That’s just great. Between you two and the Bobsie Twins, I have nothing to tell the Commissioner.”
“Look, we know it had to be a crime of opportunity. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. This wasn’t planned. She got drunk and stoned and headed home. She never made it. Someone stumbled across her and that was the end of Alice Harding.”
“Great. I’m sure that will make the Commissioner all warm and fuzzy. I can hear him now. ‘Oh a crime of opportunity'. That’s different. Tell them nice job.’
“Captain we are still looking into the keys. We know it went to a Chevy Blazer. Campus is getting us a list of campus cars.”
“You make damn sure you jump on that list the minute it hits your desk. I want to tell the big guy that we are on to something even if it is grasping at straws,” McGregor told them.
“You can rest assured, we will do exactly that,” I assured him.
~~
When Dan and I came back from lunch the IUPUI Campus Vehicle Report was waiting for us.
“Got it,” I told Dan, waving the page at him.
“One page?”
“I think we got lucky. Only seven Chevy Blazers are registered on campus. We have one not registered that was towed twice and has paid over two-hundred and fifty dollars in fines.”
“So eight all total.”
“You are a math whizz,” I replied.
“Shucks, I didn’t even have to take off my shoes.”
“I’ll let the captain know and we will hit the streets,” I said.
FROSTBITE -Angie Bartoni Case File #2 (Detective Angie Bartoni Case Files Book 1) Page 5