by Diane Weiner
Chapter 16
The next morning, the phone rang while Susan was unloading the dishwasher.
“Mrs. W., I’m so worried,” said Carolina. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
“What’s wrong?” Carolina sounded frantic and Susan knew it took a lot to rattle her.
“I tried to call my dad. He didn’t answer. I called all morning. Finally, I decided to go over there and make sure he was okay. The housekeeper took me over there. I knocked but he didn’t answer so I let myself in. It looked like a ghost town in there. Everything that belonged to my dad was gone. I’m sure he wouldn’t just go away without telling me. We’d talked about getting together after Christmas so I know he didn’t plan on going away.”
“Maybe he had a job interview out of town.”
“He wouldn’t have packed all his things then.”
“Carolina, let me call Lynette. He might be in trouble.” Susan was thinking that Javier was either on a drunken binge, or he was trying to hide from the police. Maybe he had murdered Vicky after all. She’d only met him that once. It’s possible that he was crazy enough to kill his wife because she was cheating on him or because he was unemployed and facing a divorce.
“Okay. Go ahead and call her. Maybe he had been drinking, decided to leave town, and gotten into an accident. He could be dead just like my mom.”
Susan thought it unlikely that Carolina was suddenly an orphan but did think it was about time to involve the police. She hung up with Carolina and called Lynette.
“Lynette, can you come over? It’s police business. It’s about Vicky’s murder.”
“What is it now, Mom?” Susan detected a bit of sarcasm in her daughter’s voice.
“I can’t talk about it over the phone but it’s serious.”
“It’s always serious. Okay, I’ll be right there,” said Lynette.
Meanwhile, Susan picked up Carolina. She thought Lynette might want to question her. Susan’s mind started working. She was seeing a police chase complete with sirens. Lynette would be behind the wheel skillfully dodging cars in her pursuit of Javier. It would be just like the OJ Simpson case except Lynette would be chasing a jeep instead of a white bronco. A knock at the door brought her back to the moment. It was Lynette.
“Thanks for coming so quickly.” She put her hands on Carolina’s shoulder. “Carolina couldn’t get in touch with her dad so she went over to his apartment and when she got there it looked as if he’d moved out.”
Lynette addressed her questions to Carolina. “What makes you say that? Did he have plans to move?”
“No, he never said anything about moving. His closet and drawers were empty and the sheets and blanket were off of the bed. All his suitcases, his bowling bowl, and his laptop were gone.”
“We know about the impending divorce and that he was near the school the night of the murder. Can you think of anything else that could help us find him?” asked Lynette.
“I don’t think so.” Carolina reached into her coat pocket. “Wait, I found this on his nightstand. It’s probably nothing.” It was the business card. She handed it to Lynette.
“This is simply a name and phone number. It’s impossible to tell what relevance this has, but I’ll take this back to the station and look into it,” said Lynette. “We should be getting the complete coroner’s report any time now also. The holidays have really delayed things. To top it off, the medical examiner went to Minnesota to visit his family and the airports are still not open. They’re calling it the blizzard of the century. I’ll keep you in the loop.” Lynette headed back to the station.
Chapter 17
“Hey, Jackson, let’s see if we can figure out who Dr. Robert Manning is. Vicky’s daughter found this business card but there isn’t any other info on it. Also, Javier, the husband, seems to have skipped town. He took his things and left his apartment without a word to his daughter.” Lynette poured herself a cup of coffee. “Did we get the report back from the medical examiner yet? It sure is taking a while.”
“Nope, still waiting,” answered Jackson.
“Did you ask Theresa Rizzo out on a date yet?”
“No. I can’t imagine her wanting to go out with me. She’s so beautiful; I bet she can get anyone she wants.” Jackson got on the computer and started googling Dr. Robert Manning. Meanwhile, Lynette tried to trace Javier’s cell phone. A well-dressed blonde woman who looked to be in her mid thirties walked into the station. She wore dark wash jeans and a leather jacket.
“I’m looking for one of the detectives working on the Victoria Rogers case,” said the blonde woman.
Lynnette and Jackson stopped working and came to the counter. “I’m detective Lynette Sanders and this is my partner Jackson Simpson. We’re both working on the Rogers case. How can we help you?”
She unlatched the door in the counter and showed the woman into her office. Jackson followed.
“I have some information relevant to the case. It’s about Blaze Conrad. I understand he’s a person of interest in this case.”
“Yes, go on,” said Lynette.
“He’s definitely not guilty. He didn’t murder that principal.”
“And what makes you so certain?” said Jackson.
“Because he was with me that night at my apartment. My next door neighbor can verify that. She was walking her toy poodle. I’m his girlfriend.”
“Why didn’t he tell us if he had an alibi?” said Jackson.
“Because he and his wife are having custody issues over Ryan. He was so afraid that it would hurt him if his wife knew he was already seeing someone. They aren’t even legally divorced yet. I told him I’d keep his secret but when he said he was a suspect in a murder case I figured it was in Ryan’s best interest not to have his dad in jail.”
“Can you give us your name and address? We’ll go check out Mr. Conrad’s new alibi. If we can verify that he was indeed with you that night perhaps we can eliminate him as a suspect. Thank you for coming in.” Lynette walked her out. She then turned her attention to Jackson.
“Let’s go. If this checks out, it looks like Javier Rogers is our number one suspect,” said Lynette.
Chapter 18
Jody grabbed her mail and newspapers then turned on the light to her apartment. The apartment looked like a freshly-cleaned hotel room. Everything was immaculate, the sheets changed, the floor vacuumed. Jody would have had a plastic wrapped cup in the bathroom had it been possible. She turned up the heat. Home sweet home, she thought. She had gotten through this visit with her mom more smoothly than usual, maybe because they’d spent half of the time at her mom’s church. Her mom had dragged her to bible study and even a choir rehearsal while she was visiting. The church had become the center of her mom’s life after her father’s death years ago. Lately, she’d gotten into missionary work. Jody remembered how every time there was a problem in their household when she was growing up, her mom would actually ask her, “What do you think Jesus would do?” Jody rolled her eyes just thinking about it.
Jody unpacked and tossed her dirty clothes directly into the washing machine. Tomorrow it was back to school. You know that Sunday night feeling when you realize the weekend is over and you have to go to work the next day? Coming back after a vacation was that feeling on steroids. It was like jumping into a cold pool. You dread it, you plunge in, and after a while you just adjust. Maybe she’d give Theresa a call and see if they could grab a quick dinner. Jody’s mom was a talented cook and had sent her home with a goody bag but Jody needed company. Maybe Becky, her new friend from the gym, would join them too.
Chapter 19
Monday morning came too soon.
“Good morning, Mr. Petrocelli,” said Sandra. “How was your break?”
“It was wonderful. I got to spend lots of quality time with Hayley and the boys. And yours?”
“My son came down with his family. The grandkids have grown so much in just a few months. Ate too much and spent too much though,” said Sandra.
Mr. Ford, the assistant principal, was already hard at work. Antonio went to his office to prioritize his ‘to-do’ list. After a short time, Sandra came in.
“Mr. Petrocelli, there’s someone from the district here to see you.”
“Thanks Sandra.” Sandra ushered in a middle-aged man wearing a gray pin-striped suit. His silver hair was neat and smelled like he’d just come from Super Cuts.
“Hello, Mr. Petrocelli. I’m Mr. Magnus from Human Resources.” He shook Antonio’s hand and took a seat. “As you know, we have an opening to fill due to Mrs. Roger’s death. What a tragedy. She was a lovely woman.”
“Yes, we all miss her.” Antonio felt his pulse quicken.
“Mr. Ford already has a critical role as the assistant principal here and is doing an excellent job. He has no desire to assume the extra duties involved in taking over the principal job. He shared with me that he plans to retire next year. We don’t want to fix what isn’t broken, so the board has decided that we should respect his wishes and leave him in his current position. We’d like to offer you the Principal position. We know that you already know the ropes here at Westbrook and we feel it would be an easy transition.”
“Thank you, I’m flattered.” Antonio knew that his dimples were showing.
“So, is that a yes?” asked Mr. Magnus?
“Of course, it’s a yes. I’m fully committed to Westbrook and I won’t let you down.” Antonio took a deep breath in hopes that he could slow down his racing heartbeat.
“Great. I’ll have a contract prepared and will send it over shortly.”
“Thank you, Mr. Magnus. And please express my appreciation to the board.” Antonio felt like he wanted to cartwheel across the office. Finally his dream had come true. He couldn’t wait to tell Hayley.
Chapter 20
Jackson and Lynette drove to the apartment complex where Blaze had supposedly been the night of the murder. The exterior of the three-story buildings had been newly painted pale yellow. They drove by a basketball court and a swimming pool which was covered tightly for the winter. Lynette noticed a small building next to the pool.
“Let’s park here.” The lot was flanked with pine trees. “This looks like the rental office. Hopefully someone will be there,” said Lynette. She pulled the picture of Blaze out from her briefcase. They entered the small building which housed both a clubhouse and a rental area. A portly older gentleman sat behind the desk eating an Italian hero sandwich.
“Good evening, sir. We’re from the Westbrook Police Department. I’m Jackson Simpson and this is my partner.”
Lynette extended her hand and introduced herself. “We need your help. We’re investigating a recent homicide. We were wondering if you recognize this man,” asked Lynette. She handed him the photo.
“Let me take a look.” He took the photo from Lynette. “Sure. He comes around here a lot. He visits Miss Barbie Doll up there on the second floor.” The manager pointed out the door and upwards. Then he took another bite of his sandwich, dripping Italian dressing onto the wax paper wrapper.
“Think back. Can you remember seeing him specifically on the evening of December 17th?” asked Lynette.
“Do I look like Rain Man? I have no idea if I saw him that day or not,” said the manager.
“Well, then, do you keep some type of log or do you have surveillance videos?” asked Lynette.
“I guess this is your lucky day,” replied the manager. “We do have security videos. Don’t you need a warrant for those?” There was an awkward silence. Neither Jackson nor Lynette even cracked a smile. “Just kidding. I’ll go get them.” He returned several minutes later with a DVD labeled December which he handed to Lynette.
“Thank you for your help,” said Lynette. She and Jackson took the DVD and left the building.
“I really hope this gives us the information we need,” said Lynette. Next, she and Jackson walked across to the apartment building where the lady with the poodle lived. They climbed the steps to her apartment.
They knocked and heard a dog barking maniacally. “That’s why I prefer cats,” said Lynette. A gray-haired elderly Italian woman wearing a flowered housecoat opened the door.
“Hello, ma’am.” Jackson flashed his badge. “How are you doing today?”
“I’m fine. What can I do for you?”
“We’re hoping you can help us. We are with the Westbrook Police Department. We’re investigating a murder. Would you mind taking a look at this photo? Have you by any chance seen this man?” Jackson handed the photo to the lady. She put on her reading glasses which she wore dangling from a beaded chain around her neck.
“Yes, he’s around here quite often. He’s usually with Miss Pratt, the blonde lady who lives next door.”
“Would you possibly remember if you saw him here the night of December 17? I know it’s hard to remember a specific date. It was a Monday night,” asked Lynette.
“Why yes I do. That happens to be my grandson’s birthday. I was carrying in a cake and a bag of groceries. Marybeth, Miss Pratt, and I talked about how we used to enjoy baking birthday cakes but with the fabulous bakery section at Safeway it’s more convenient and probably cheaper to buy them. I had bought chips and dip, baby carrots, soda. He and Marybeth were nice enough to help me carry them to my door. Later that night, I saw them again when I was walking Fritzie.”
“Thank you, ma’am. You’ve been extremely helpful,” said Jackson.
“Anytime,” said the woman. Lynette could have sworn the woman was flirting with Jackson. She must be very lonely, thought Lynette.
Lynette and Jackson drove back to the station.
“I’ll go through the surveillance tapes and you keep working on locating Dr. Manning,” said Lynette. She thumbed through the stack of DVDs and quickly located the week in question. She popped it into the machine and voila. “There he is,” said Lynette. The tape was date and time stamped. “There’s no way Blaze Conrad could have killed Vicky.”
“Wow, this gives him an alibi,” said Jackson. “Well, then, let’s focus on Javier. I just pulled up the doctor’s address. I also went through his credit card records and have a hit. We can check that location. It appears to be en route to the address I found for Dr. Manning.”
“Wait, Jackson, not so fast. Look at this.”
“That’s the girlfriend leaving her apartment alone,” said Jackson.
“And what’s she carrying?” asked Lynette
“It’s a small Tupperware container,” answered Jackson.
“She seemed to have a stake in Ryan’s well being. And she’s quite protective of Blaze,” said Lynette. Lynette couldn’t help remembering the information her mother had shared with her on Christmas Day. She hated when her mom’s snooping actually panned out. Certainly she didn’t want to encourage her.
“It’s a bit of a long shot but we should look into this,” said Jackson.
“Well, that will take some time,” said Lynette. “Right now we need to follow up on Javier. Let’s go. I’ll grab my purse.”
“I can’t. I have a dentist appointment. I cracked a tooth this morning on a piece of stale bagel. She’s squeezing me in. We can go in the morning.”
“Fine,” said Lynette. She couldn’t help being disappointed. She felt like they were close to a big break. She grabbed her coat and purse and went out to her car to go home. The sun was low in the sky and Lynette could feel the drop in temperature. She turned the key….nothing. It wouldn’t even start, not a whimper, not a sputter….nothing. She kicked the front tire. Now what? she thought. I’m so sick of this old car. Jason was teaching a class so she knew he couldn’t come to her rescue. I guess I’ll have to get mom to pick me up…again. She called and Susan was happy to help. Like always, her mom was there for her. She arrived a short time later.
Chapter 21
“Hey, you and Jason really need to replace that heap,” said Susan, pointing to Lynett
e’s car. “Maybe you could look into one of those certified pre-owned ones. They’re much less expensive than new ones and they have a warranty. The lady who does my nails just bought one and she’s thrilled with it. It’s a cute, blue Camry. I saw it parked outside the salon. It looks brand new.”
Lynette seemed distracted.
“What else is wrong? I can tell your mood is about more than the car,” said Susan
Lynette hesitated. “I really wanted to follow a lead we had but Jackson had to leave for a dentist appointment so it’ll have to wait till morning. We think we may know where Javier was headed.”
“I’ll drive,” offered Susan. Lynette could swear that her Mom’s eyes brightened. She also detected a hint of excitement in her mom’s voice.
“You know I can’t take you on official business,” said Lynette.
“Well, couldn’t it be unofficial? Just a mom and her daughter taking a little ride through the country.”
Lynette thought for a moment. If she didn’t have such a strong hunch about this she would have said no, but instead she said, “Okay, but we’ll just go look. Nothing official.”
First, Lynette checked the location where they’d gotten a hit on Javier’s credit card. It was a Shell Station just off the highway, about an hour out of town.
“We need to get on the Thruway,” said Lynette.
“No problem.” Susan got on the Thruway.
Bringing her mom along on police business was against Lynette’s better judgment, but she was too anxious to wait until tomorrow.
“It’s the next exit,” said Lynette. “It’s coming up soon.”