The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1)

by JC Ryan

  In another room, a preternaturally alert Daniel was also waiting for interrogators. He, too, had wondered the same things that puzzled Sarah. But his reporter’s analytical mind had the answer, he thought, and it was a disaster. Nor could he ask directly to confirm his suspicions, because that would only add fuel to the fire. If he seemed to know who, it would look as if he were guilty.

  Instead of dwelling on it, Daniel went over every action he and Sarah had taken since leaving Mark’s house. Was it enough? His guess was that it would depend on when the murder occurred. Next, his thoughts went to Raj. He hoped Raj was okay, and he knew he needed to get word to him. When it came time for his phone call, he would kill two birds with one stone, call Raj and ask him to get in touch with the Times. Daniel wasn’t sure that the Times would defend him against a murder charge, but he was fairly confident they would send someone to check out the situation. First things first, though. He had to find a way to confirm who was dead.

  ~~~

  Daniel was still on hyper-alert when two plainclothes officers entered the room. One introduced both himself and the other man to Daniel, and then spoke in a mild voice. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”

  Daniel answered, the only thing he intended to say until a lawyer was with him, “Why don’t you tell me what happened?” The officer regarded him for a moment, his face neutral. The other man melted into the background as Daniel focused on the one who had spoken.

  “Professor Mark Simms was killed sometime this afternoon, stabbed multiple times. His office was ransacked. His wife found him when she came back from a garden club meeting. Naturally the poor woman called us. We know you were there this afternoon.” The succinct story had no less impact on Daniel than would a hysterical and detailed account. Mark dead. As he suspected. Thank god Martha was all right, although how she would be all right after the death of her beloved was beyond Daniel to consider at the moment. He shook his head.

  “I’ll talk, but I want to consult my lawyer first. May I have my phone call?” His manner was calm, although the officers could see that he was laboring under some emotion. If it was guilt, the fastest way to get a confession would be to let him consult his lawyer and try to work out a plea bargain. Maybe he would give up the dame, maybe not, but there didn’t seem to be any downside in letting him make his call.

  ~~~

  Daniel dialed Raj’s number from memory. It was past three a.m., no doubt the call would panic his paranoid friend, but at this point, panic may not be the wrong choice. Raj answered before the second ring had finished. “Yeah.”

  “Raj, it’s Daniel. Are you awake?”

  “I am now. What the hell, Daniel?”

  “I don’t have much time. Simms has been murdered. I’m under arrest but I haven’t been booked yet. Call the office and get them to send a lawyer to Providence for me, precinct number four. Then get rid of your phone, I had to call from their system.” Under 15 seconds, too short to trace the call. He slammed down the receiver. Raj would come through, or Sarah’s lawyer could help him if not. But at least Raj had warning. Now he was prepared to wait. He raised his hand in a signal that he was done, and the officers came back in, this time trailed by another man in plain clothes, who introduced himself as James Jones. Very creative, Daniel thought.

  “Are you ready to speak to us now, Mr. Rossler?”

  “I’ll wait for my lawyer, like I said already.” Daniel let his heavy sarcasm convey his displeasure. “I might add that if I learn you have treated Dr. Clarke badly in any way, even made her feel bullied, I will use every resource at my disposal to bring the full disapproval of the New York Times down on you. You’ll wish you were lucky enough to have a patrol beat in Southeast LA when I’m finished. Now, would you gentlemen care for a game of Texas Hold’em while we wait?” His sardonic grin expressed his opinion that he’d won this round.

  The officer who had been silent until now snorted, earning a look of reprimand from his partner. Jones answered for all of them, with equal sarcasm. “I don’t think so, but thank you for offering. If you don’t want to talk about Simms, tell us about your research. What are you working on?”

  Daniel regarded him appraisingly. “What part of I’ll wait for my lawyer’ did you not understand?”

  He could only hope that his abrupt manner earlier had clued Sarah not to say a word, about anything, too. Taking a page from Raj’s book, he didn’t trust this Jones guy, and everyone knew you couldn’t trust the cops. The defiant set of his chin let the others know that they would get nowhere until Rossler had seen his attorney. Without another word, they filed out, locking the door behind them. Daniel decided he might as well get some sleep, and in an unconscious mirroring of Sarah in the other room, crossed his arms on the table, put his head down on them and closed his eyes.

  ~~

  Sarah wasn’t having any luck sleeping. Fear for what was happening to Daniel, apprehension about who was dead, and anxiety about what she should say or do kept her from actually falling asleep, even though she kept her eyes closed against the too-bright fluorescent lighting. When the door opened, she jerked up with a gasp. Two officers came in. Oh, so it’s to be good cop, bad cop, she thought.

  “So, we’ve got your boyfriend’s story, want to tell us your side?”

  Sarah was baffled. Her side? She had no idea what they were talking about, but she did know that Daniel would lay down his life for her. He would never have thrown her under the bus for a crime that neither of them had committed. Straightening her spine, she gave the officer a flat, schoolmarm look and deliberately pressed her lips together.

  Undeterred, the officer fired questions at her. “When was the last time you saw Dr. Mark Simms alive? Where were you between six p.m. and eight p.m. yesterday evening? What did you guys do with the knife?” With each question, Sarah’s eyes grew larger and expressed more distress. Tears had started with the first question. Oh, no. Mark. It couldn’t be Mark. An alarming thought crossed her mind and without thinking she said, “Martha? Is Martha okay?” The officers exchanged a look. That sounded like a genuine question. This woman was either a consummate actress or she hadn’t had anything to do with the murder. But her question signaled a crack in the wall of silence.

  “What do you think? Is she or isn’t she?”

  Sarah began to cry in good earnest then, holding her hand to her mouth to prevent the sobs from escaping.

  “Please,” she choked out.

  “She’s fine, except she’s pretty shaken up over finding her husband stabbed multiple times and his office ransacked. She gave us your name. Want to tell me why she would do that?”

  Sarah’s eyes flew to his. Martha accused her of harming Mark? How could that be? She shook her head rapidly, to clear it, but the officer took it to mean no, she didn’t want to talk. This pair was proving to be a tough nut to crack, but a small doubt about at least the woman’s guilt crept into his mind. Maybe she would cover for the boyfriend, but he didn’t think she was involved first-hand. Didn’t matter though, accessory after the fact carried the same penalty. If her boyfriend were convicted of first-degree murder, she too would spend the rest of her life in prison unless she gave him up and told the truth.

  “Your boyfriend has already called for his lawyer. Maybe you’d better call yours, too, before he makes a plea bargain that isn’t, shall we say advantageous? To you.”

  The thinly-veiled hint wasn’t lost on Sarah, but she trusted Daniel. Still, the sooner she contacted her lawyer, the sooner this misunderstanding could be cleared up. Sarah nodded, and a phone was brought in and plugged into the wall jack. “May I have a phone book?” she asked. Her lawyer wasn’t a criminal attorney, of course, but he was the only person she could think to call locally. However, she didn’t know his number by heart. It didn’t occur to her until the greeting kicked in that of course no one would be at the office yet. Not certain that she would be given another call, she left a message that she was at the police station and needed help. Hopefully, someone wou
ld be in before too many hours and her lawyer would either come to her rescue or send someone that specialized in this sort of thing.

  Her task complete, Sarah turned her thoughts to Martha. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the love between her older friends. Martha alone. It didn’t bear thinking of. Sarah wasn’t worried for herself or Daniel, being just a little naive about the criminal justice system. Neither she nor Daniel had killed Mark, so this would be straightened out soon. But Martha - Martha would have to live the rest of her life without Mark. Fresh sobs broke through as she thought of the loss of her friend. Mark had been like a second father to her. Who would want to kill him?

  ~~~

  It was only an hour later when Daniel was awakened by the door to his interrogation room being opened. He sat up quickly, shaking free of any lingering grogginess. Now the two officers, the James Jones character and another man filed in, overcrowding the small room. The man he hadn’t met before held out his hand for a handshake.

  “I’m attorney Robert Jeffs, and I’ve been sent here by the Times. For now, I’m your lawyer.”

  “Am I glad to see you!” Daniel said, more relieved than he would have guessed he would be.

  Jeffs turned to the other three men and said, “I’d like to consult with my client in private, and then we’ll come to a decision about talking with you gentlemen.”

  With a curt nod, the lead investigator, a Sgt. Jackson gathered his colleagues and left. Daniel had qualms about the room being bugged, but Jeffs assured him that anything the police learned through a dirty trick like that would not be admissible in court.

  “I don’t expect it to get that far,” Daniel said. “Have they told you anything about why I’m here, or about the crime I’m accused of?”

  “I know the basics, but why don’t you tell me what you know, and I’ll fill in if necessary.”

  “They’ve told me that our friend Mark Simms was murdered sometime yesterday afternoon or evening. We were with him in the afternoon, until about five. He was alive when we left him. Then we went out to dinner. Sarah saw some friends, so I think we will be able to present an alibi there. Then we played a couple of games of pool, and went home around nine p.m. We must have gone to bed around eleven, and the cops woke us up at two.”

  “Sarah is…”

  “My girlfriend. I stay with her on weekends, so when I said home, I meant her place.”

  “What is your business with Mark Simms?”

  Here Daniel did not want to be quite so forthcoming, especially if there were listeners he couldn’t see. “He’s a friend of Sarah’s. We’ve gotten close over the past few months. This is devastating news. I need to be with Sarah, and both of us need to see about Martha, Mark’s wife. She’s okay?”

  “Yes, but how did you know?”

  “I didn’t, but no one said anything about her, so I assumed.”

  “All right, Mr. Rossler, I see no reason not to talk to the officers. I’ll be there with you, and if they ask something improper, or pose the question in an ambiguous manner that could be detrimental to you, I’ll tell you not to answer. Unless I miss my guess, we’ll have you out of here before too much longer.”

  “Thank you. Can you find out if Sarah is okay?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Jeffs called the officers back in, and they stood uncomfortably as Jackson asked his questions. First, he made a point of putting a digital recorder on the table. “Okay if I record this?”

  “Please do,” Jeffs responded.

  “Where were you yesterday between three p.m. and seven p.m.?”

  “Until about five, we were with Mark Simms at his residence. Then we went to dinner.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a little cold? You just went to dinner after stabbing the man?”

  “Don’t answer that. Officer, is my client accused of the murder or not? If so, this interview is over. If not, then I take serious offense to your question. My client will not be intimidated by you; I want to make that very clear.”

  “Okay, you went to dinner. Do you have a receipt, does anyone at the restaurant know you? Can you prove where you were until about seven?”

  “Yes, sir. All of the above. We went to a little pub where my girlfriend is known, had dinner and played a couple of games of pool. Both the proprietor and several of her friends should be able to confirm we were there.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “We went back to Sarah’s, listened to some music and then went to bed.”

  The officer spoke to Jeffs. “I’ll have the recording transcribed and ask your client to look it over and sign it. Do you have any objections?”

  “Not as long as the transcription is accurate. I’ll stay here with him to confirm that it is.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  “Who was the man in black? He looked like a spook.” Jeffs asked Daniel.

  For the first time since his rude awakening hours before, Daniel snorted with amusement.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but that’s a possibility. Calls himself James Jones, asked me to talk about what I’m working on in my research. He gave me the impression that he worked for some government agency.”

  “What are you working on?”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not say. I didn’t kill Mark, a better time of death estimate after autopsy should make it possible to prove it, and that’s that.”

  “So what interest does the spook have in it?”

  “I don’t know, but when we get this straightened out, I intend to find out. Would you mind checking on Sarah now? I don’t know whether her lawyer has arrived, and I don’t want them questioning her without one.”

  “Smart man. I’ll check, but I can’t represent her. It would be a conflict of interest.”

  “That’s okay. I just want to make sure she’s represented when she talks, and that they aren’t scaring her. Poor Sarah, she’s really going to take Mark’s death hard.”

  “I’ll be back in a few after I find out what I can.”

  “Go ahead, I’m not going anywhere.”

  Jeffs located the investigators and asked to see Sarah.

  “Are you going to represent her, too?”

  “No, but I’d like to be able to reassure my client that she’s okay.”

  “What do you guys take us for? We’re not giving anyone the third degree. But, I’m sorry, you can’t talk with her. Best I can do is show you through the window that she’s okay.”

  “I’ll take that. Who is the enigmatic and silent man in black over there? What’s his interest in this?”

  “Name’s James Jones, and he’s Federal. I didn’t catch the agency name.”

  “That’s hard to believe. Didn’t you check his credentials?”

  “Nope. Word came down from the Captain to cooperate with him, is all I know.”

  “What has he said to you?”

  “Wouldn’t tell you if he had said anything, but as it happens, he’s said jack squat. Just asked Rossler what he was working on.”

  “May I peek in at Miss Clarke now?”

  “I’ll take you.”

  Jeffs was led into a large dark room adjacent to the interrogation room where Sarah’s head was once again on her arms. The officer entered the interrogation room and woke her up, saying, “Miss Clarke, someone is interested in knowing that you are okay. Would you please raise your head, face the mirror, and state your physical condition?”

  Sarah did as he asked, saying “I am fine, although I’m tired. Please tell Daniel I’m not saying anything until my lawyer gets here. I would like some water and the ability to use the women’s room, though.”

  The investigator said thank you, told Sarah he would send a female officer to accompany her to the ladies’ and that he would get her a bottle of water. Then he left her alone again and returned to Jeffs.

  “Satisfied?”

  “Yes, I’ll let my client know that you’re treating her well. She’s his girlfriend, you
know.”

  “Figured it was that when we found them both at her place, in bed. Hot little number, isn’t she?”

  Jeffs’ cold stare curbed the investigator’s interest in discussing Sarah’s sex appeal. He returned to Daniel’s room and was let in.

  “She’s fine. Said to tell you she won’t say anything until her lawyer is here.”

  “I did the right thing, didn’t I? Refusing to talk until you were here to see it went the way it was supposed to.”

  “Of course. And if they release you before her attorney gets here, I’ll be free to help her too if she wants.”

  “That would be great, thanks!”

  Sarah’s attorney arrived a little after eight, having been alerted by his assistant that she had left a message in the wee hours of the morning. It was true that he wasn’t a criminal attorney, but he knew enough to keep her from incriminating herself until one could be arranged to defend her. He didn’t for one minute believe that his client could be guilty of a major crime anyway.

  Shortly after his arrival, he and Sarah had their consultation and the officers repeated the questioning that Daniel had endured, minus the provocative question that had angered his attorney. The stories were identical, except that Sarah was able to name the proprietor and those of her friends who had seen them throughout the evening.

  After a consultation with their Lieutenant, the officers told Sarah and then Daniel that they didn’t have enough to book them, but they should remain in town until further notice while their alibi was checked. Daniel’s attorney agreed to drive them home. On the way out, the mysterious James Jones appeared and matched them step for step, again asking Daniel about his research project. Daniel stopped, bringing all of them to a halt.