by Leah Burke
“What exactly did you see? Tell me everything.”
Marissa didn’t like the detective’s tone. It sounded like he was accusing her of something. “Um, I dunno, a mattress, a microwave, some garbage bags.”
“You didn’t see anything else? You didn’t notice anything else?”
“Um, not that I know of... Why do you ask?” Marissa started to get nervous. Even though she hadn’t done anything, she still felt guilty with the way that Wilson stared at her.
“You’re absolutely sure that you didn’t notice anything strange while you were out there? Nothing that would have indicated that you were near a body?” Wilson continued to glare at Marissa, an accusatory look in his eye.
“I’m telling you, I didn’t. What are you suggesting, Detective?” Marissa started to get defensive. How dare he insinuate that she did something.
“What I’m about to show you cannot leave this station. I need you to swear to me that you will not disclose any of this information to the public. Being a reporter, I hope you understand.”
“Of course. I swear on my honor.”
Wilson reached down to a manila folder on the desk. He pulled out a glossy photograph and placed it in front of Marissa. She gasped in horror. The photo was of Burton’s body. It was dirty and splayed out on the dirt road. Next to him was the mattress, microwave, and old tires that Marissa had photographed the day before. She couldn’t believe it.
“He was under the mattress?” She was in shock.
“How do you know that he was underneath the mattress?”
“Because when we saw it, it was propped up against some other stuff. There were bags on either side. I had no idea that he was under there, I swear to God.” Marissa started to panic. This did not look good.
“You swear that you didn’t know a body was there? According to our forensics team, he had been out there for close to ten hours. In the Georgia humidity, a body will start to stink like nothing else. You’re telling me you didn’t smell him?” Wilson looked incredulously at Marissa.
“No, I mean, I did, but I had no idea it was a body. I mean, I guess I just assumed that it was the garbage, you know?”
“You’ve never smelled a dead body before?”
Marissa was taken aback by the question. Was he implying that she was the type of person who would know what a dead body smells like? “Um, no, I can’t say that I have, Detective.”
“Mr. LeFleur tells me that you took photos of the area. May I ask why? After all, if your assignment was birds, why take pictures of garbage and refuse?”
“Um, I don’t know. I’m a photojournalist; I guess I just like to take pictures of things. I swear!”
“I know, you didn’t know that he was there. It’s okay, Miss Larkin. I believe you.”
Marissa breathed a sigh of relief. “You do?”
“Well, it seems to me that if you had found the body, you would most likely want to call it in. You are a reporter, after all. Unless, of course, you killed him, but that would mean that you deliberately returned to the scene of the crime with an accomplice that could rat you out. With all due respect, you don’t seem that stupid.”
“Well, thank you, Detective. I will take that as a compliment.”
“You’re welcome. I will need to confiscate your camera and all of your pictures, though.”
“Um, what? I mean, I need the ones of the birds at least, for my work.”
“I’ll talk to your boss after we’re done here. I’m afraid you’ll have to postpone your article until after we have cleared the area. I cannot allow you to hold any photos that could provide evidence. I’m sure you understand.”
Marissa wasn’t sure how to react to this. Harlan would be pissed. “Um, yeah, that’s fine, I guess. When do you need my camera?”
“Immediately. I will have one of my deputies follow you to your hotel and then you will hand over the camera, your digital files, and any memory cards or backup disks that you have as well.”
“Really? Right now?”
“Yes. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you are a reporter, and in my experience, reporters will try to keep copies of their photos even if we confiscate them. I’m sure you understand.” Despite what he said, his tone indicated that he didn’t, in fact, trust Marissa.
“Of course, I understand. So will he give me a ride or should I call an Uber?”
“He’ll take you to the hotel.”
“Do you need anything else from me then?”
“I will need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement that you will not speak of what we talked about, and I will need to check your phone to see if you have any photos stored on there.”
Marissa froze. He needs to see my phone? If she didn’t have some compromising images on there, she wouldn’t be so nervous. “Um, I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with that, honestly.”
“If you prefer, I can get a warrant first.” Wilson spoke very matter-of-factly about the subject.
“No, I suppose that won’t be necessary. But can I request that a female officer do it, though?”
Wilson looked confused for a second, but then he got the drift. Marissa had a feeling that this wasn’t the first time he’d had something like that happen with a female suspect. “That’s fine. I’ll have Officer Garcia take care of it.”
Wilson made a motion and a female officer walked over. Marissa surrendered her phone and wondered how Garcia would react. Marissa then suddenly remembered how hungry she was. She looked back at the vending machine. Some chips would be so good right now, she thought.
The detective stood up. “Thank you for your time, Miss Larkin. If you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to. Officer Garcia will also take you to your hotel when she’s done here. Just make sure you sign that NDA before you leave.”
“Of course, Detective.”
Garcia began scrolling through the picture gallery. Marissa watched her closely, to see what she would do. Seconds later, her eyes went wide. She looked at Marissa. “Is this you?” she asked. She almost sounded impressed.
Marissa smiled. I’ve still got it, she thought.
Chapter 6
At the hotel, Officer Garcia was going through Marissa’s computer. “Are these all the files?” she asked, clicking through the folders.
“Yup, that’s all of them,” Marissa replied. She tried not to speak with her mouth full, but she couldn’t help it.
On their way from the police station, Marissa had convinced Officer Garcia to stop by a burger place so she could finally eat. After waiting so long at the station, a double cheeseburger tasted so much better than it normally did. Marissa continued to wolf down her greasy abomination as Garcia finished deleting all the photos.
“Okay, well, if that’s everything, then I guess I’ll be on my way.” Garcia looked at Marissa. “Don’t you ever breathe when you eat?”
Marissa stopped mid-bite. It did look a bit compromising. “Sometimes.” She spoke with a mouth full of cheesy deliciousness, which seemed to put Garcia off.
“Okay, well, I will transfer the photos from this SD card and then someone will return it to you once we’ve looked through the whole thing. I guess I’ll see you around, Miss Larkin.”
Marissa quickly licked sauce off of her fingers and then reached out to shake Garcia’s hand. The officer did not look amused.
“I’ll show myself out.” Garcia headed to the door.
“Thank you!” Marissa almost choked on a piece of beef. Finally, with Garcia out of the room, she was alone. She swallowed the last of the burger and went to the window.
Below, she watched patiently as Garcia left the hotel and got into her squad car. After a few moments of idling, she took off. Finally, Marissa thought. Now I can get down to business.
Marissa cleaned off her fingers and went to work on her computer. It was true that Officer Garcia had deleted all of the photos she took and confiscated her SD card, but there was one thing that the cops always forgot about: cloud backup.
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Ever since Marissa lost a week’s worth of photos after getting caught by Filipino police, she vowed to always back her stuff up automatically as soon as she was able. Given the fact that police departments still used physical folders to store data, they never checked her cloud database. She wasn’t even sure that they would know what that was.
Even though she was alone, Marissa still felt a little paranoid. She was, after all, technically breaking the law by not turning the pictures over to the authorities, which gave her a little twinge at the small of her back. Despite having dealt with all kinds of crappy situations, she still had a little voice that told her “Don’t do it! It’s too risky!” Fortunately, she had long ago learned to cope with that voice and ignore it.
As she looked through her photo bin, she searched for the pictures of the dumping grounds. She wasn’t sure what exactly she would find, but given that there had been a body there, she knew that there had to be something. She still couldn’t believe that she was so close, and yet had no idea of its presence. The world could be so cruel sometimes.
She pulled up a close-up of the mattress and zoomed in. There had to be some piece of evidence there, something that would indicate that a body was underneath. Slowly and methodically, she gazed over the picture, waiting for something to stand out. Nothing, she thought.
This process repeated itself for the next few pictures, causing Marissa to inch ever closer to the screen, as if that would somehow magically make evidence appear. Come on, she thought, where are you?
Ten pictures later, she still hadn’t found anything that could lead anywhere. No blood spatter, no murder weapon, nothing. Although, to be honest, this was technically her first homicide case, so it wasn’t like she knew exactly what she should be looking for in the first place. Years of watching crime shows and movies did nothing to make her more of a sleuth.
Fearing that her eyes would go cross from staring at the screen for too long, Marissa decided to take a little break and watch the news. Perhaps they would mention something that could give her ideas.
“Today, Mayor Burnelli met with the ambassador from Cuba. With Cuban/American relations opening up recently, Burnelli reached out to see if any Cuban nationals would like to visit Atlanta. Ambassador Rodrigo Reyes obliged. Burnelli took the ambassador around the city…”
Dang it, she thought, nothing about the Burton case. Perhaps there would be information online? She pulled out her phone and searched for local articles about the case. Immediately, one caught her eye: Robert Burton Found Murdered, No Suspects Arrested.
She read through the article, but there was nothing noteworthy that offered any new information. As far as she knew, Robert was killed by some maniacal hobo who wanted Burton’s watch or something. That could potentially explain the mattress situation.
Suddenly, her phone started vibrating. It was Brand. She wondered why it took him so long to contact her. Surely Harlan had brought him up to speed.
“What’s up, loser?” Marissa clapped.
“Not much, what’s up with you? Kill anyone lately?” Brand was always ready with a comeback.
“Ouch, that was uncalled for.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. How are you doing? I heard that you had to meet with the police today?”
“Yeah, it was no big deal. I just confessed to the whole thing. I’m gonna go to prison in a couple days. I’m thinking of doing an expose on expired prison food,” Marissa responded dryly.
“That’s a good angle. What gang will you affiliate with?” Brand never missed a beat.
“I dunno, I’ll have to shop around. I don’t want to seem too eager, you know?”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Brand paused. “So how are you really? If I know you, you’re probably doing research on Burton right now.”
“How do you know the victim’s name? Were you down here recently?” Marissa said, jokingly.
“I do have internet access, you know. But I just want to tell you to tread softly. I’m sure that the police already took your photos. At least, the ones they know about, right?”
Marissa had told Brand about her photo copying habit. At this point, she was wondering if that had been a mistake. “No, I was totally cooperative. Just as Harlan told me to be,” Marissa responded matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, right. I know you, you’re not going to rest until you find something. I just don’t want you to get thrown in jail over this. It’s not worth it, Marissa.”
“I’ll be fine, Brand. I know what I’m doing.”
“Have you found anything yet?”
“Shh, they may have bugged my phone,” Marissa joked.
“Look, I know that this isn’t a big deal to you, but I really want you to be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if you got arrested.” Brand started to show his true colors.
“Aww, you mean that?” Marissa started to blush. “If I do get thrown in the slammer, will you come visit me?”
“Are you kidding? I’ll break you out of there.”
“But that would mean we would have to become fugitives together. Jet-setting around the world, staying one step ahead of the lawmen trying to capture us.” It sounded so romantic, she almost wanted it to happen.
“Wasn’t that the plot of a James Bond movie or something?” Brand shattered the illusion.
“I don’t know. But in all honesty, I will be extra careful. The detective on the case seems like he’s a sharp one. I don’t think I could outsmart him if I tried.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Brand replied. “While I have you on the phone, Harlan wanted me to tell you to stay focused on the bird report. He says that you should have already started on it.”
Yeah, as if, Marissa thought. “Of course I’ve started it, Brand, what kind of photojournalist do you think I am? But I can’t go out there again, the police have the whole area blocked off.”
“I’ll talk to Thomas and see if there is somewhere else you can go to get some more images. Did they confiscate your bird pics, too?”
“Yeah, they took everything. I guess they’re concerned about the waterthrush as much as we are,” Marissa joked.
“I’ll bet. Anyway, I’ll check in with you tomorrow. If Thomas has any other leads, I’ll make sure that he relays them to you. And let me know if you need anything.”
“Okay, Brand. I will. Thank you for your concern. I appreciate it,” Marissa replied.
“Have a good night, Marissa.” Brand hung up.
Dang it, why did he have to be so good? Now she was going to be thinking about him and not concentrating on her work. She contemplated if she should even start working on the bird article, when suddenly the news came back on. The screen flashed “Breaking News.” Marissa turned up the volume.
“Tonight, we have breaking news in the Burton case. Authorities have arrested Nestor Chambon as their prime suspect for the murder of the millionaire developer. Chambon and Burton had a business deal that fell flat several years ago, and he swore that he would make Burton pay.”
As Marissa watched, her heart sank. She had hoped that she would be able to find something before the police did, but apparently she was out of luck this time. The report continued.
“Burton’s successor, the new CEO of Burton Development Strategies, Teddy Brown, made a statement earlier today.”
They cut to footage of Teddy speaking before a crowd of reporters. “Robert’s death shocked all of us, but we know that the police will find whoever did this and bring them to justice. I loved Robert as a brother, and I will make sure that his killer will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
“While authorities did not say whether they had concrete evidence that Chambon committed the act, they did say that they have ‘strong leads’ that pointed them in that direction. Chambon he will be charged with first degree murder.”
Marissa turned off the TV. If they had their killer, then the story was over. After all, being murdered by a former business associate was hardly front-page material,
let alone something that would make Harlan weak in the knees.
With the idea that she no longer had anything to do, Marissa decided she should start writing about the birds after all. In any case, the sooner she got it done the sooner she could go back to New York.
She settled back down into her chair. The pictures stared back at her. Not wanting to be productive right away, she started scrolling through them, lazily checking to see if there was anything she could use for her waterthrush piece. Perhaps the dumping grounds were contributing to the species’ decline?
Suddenly, she came across a close-up of one of the garbage bags. On the ground next to it, she saw something that looked like metal. Quickly, she zoomed in one the picture to get a better look at it. Thank goodness for high-definition, she thought. Back in the old days, zooming in this much would have resulted in a blurry mess.
As it came into focus, she realized what she was looking at: a tie clip. That’s odd, she thought. It looked like it was made of gold, which meant that it wouldn’t have been thrown out by whoever tossed the garbage on the ground. Could it be from the killer?
She zoomed in a little more. It looked like the clip was sitting on top of something, a coin maybe? She could barely make out a round edge, but it seemed like it was behind the clip. As she looked at it, she realized that it couldn’t be a coin or something else, as it was too perfectly centered. It had to be part of the clip itself.
Unfortunately, since she couldn’t see the front of it, she had no idea what it all meant. However, it was most likely dropped there by whoever killed Burton, which meant that it was something. Nonetheless, it was probably Chambon’s. Although why he would move the body while wearing a tie wasn’t clear.
Unsure of what to do, Marissa clicked through to the next picture. This one was of the tire tracks in the dirt. If crime shows had taught her anything, it was that tire treads can make or break a case. Although most of it was smeared in the dirt, she did make out that it had a thick zig-zag pattern. Also, the size of the track suggested that it was a truck, most likely. Had Chambon brought the body in a pickup? That would seem too conspicuous, right?