by Andrew Hess
“Ali,” a stern manly voice said from behind my chair. His melon sized hands grasped my shoulder; shaking me awake. “Ali, wake up.”
I recognized the voice and sat bolt upright in my chair. Rodney was back and had a smile from ear to ear.
“Tell me you found something,” I said excitedly.
He threw a stack of papers on my desk. “Yes and no,” he replied. “Those are all the guest logs since the beginning of the semester; none of them have Nick DeFalco’s name listed.” It was a blow to the gut. Our one hope to connect him to either crime scene was vanishing. And then Rodney let out another toothy smile. “But I showed DeFalco’s picture to the RAs and one of them remembered him from last year when his girlfriend Brianna used to live in Estrada Hall.”
My lips began to turn upwards into a smile. “Rodney, this is great. We need to tell…” I pushed myself up from the chair, but Rodney held me down.
“It gets better. The RA you spoke to after Christina Tyler’s death said she thinks it was similar to a guy she saw lingering around the lobby. She didn’t know who he was, but remembered he was there the morning of Christina’s murder.”
“We have our suspect. Now we just need to get him.” I jumped up from my chair. I forgot how much pain my feet were in and was reminded of the blisters with my first steps.
Rodney laughed at my discomfort. “There’s one more thing. I took the liberty of talking to my friend at the New Paltz Administrative Building. She did me a favor and checked his records. Nick DeFalco is still a registered student at New Paltz and has been missing a lot of classes lately.”
“How do you wanna handle this?”
“We need to find out if Nick is using an alias. We need to question Marty and Marie; maybe they can help us figure out who Nick was walking around pretending to be.”
Chapter 83
We arrived on campus early the next morning. The cold winds finally blanketed Ulster County with a dusting of wet slushy snow; a sure sign winter was nearly here. We had only a few weeks before the end of the fall semester and our time to catch the killer was running out.
We entered the Lecture Hall and searched for Marie Kennedy and Marty Song. Their classroom was found midway down a long narrow corridor.
I knocked on the door and opened it. An older looking woman, maybe in her sixties, was standing in front of the classroom with a large textbook held in her arms. She looked at me through her oversized bifocals appearing startled and appalled that someone interrupted her class.
“Can I help you,” she snapped.
“My name is Detective Ali Ryan and this is my partner Officer Rodney Johnson. We need a word with two of your students.”
“Can this wait until after class?”
“I’m afraid not. We need to speak with them immediately.”
Rodney called Marty and Marie’s names; forcing their heads to lift above the rest of the students out of curiosity. We waived them towards us and escorted them out into the hallway. I could feel every student clamoring to the door; chomping at the bit to find out why we were there; why we were questioning two of the most popular students on campus.
I whipped out my notepad; paying no attention to the growing crowds. “As I understand it, you two run the Outdoors Club.” They nodded their heads affirming my statement. “Good, we need information about one of your members.”
Rodney held up his phone; showing Nick’s picture to the couple. Their faces changed from a worried expression to jaw dropping terror.
“Is that…”Marie began.
“We believe so,” Rodney replied. “For now he’s just a person of interest that we’d like to question, but have been unable to find him. We were hoping you could help.”
Marty looked carefully at the picture. “He looks kind of like one of our members, but there’s something different about him.” Marty shrugged his shoulders and continued as if the man in the photo’s appearance didn’t derail his story. “He only showed up to a few meetings and mostly kept to himself.”
I looked at the picture; looking into the eyes of an older teenage boy. “What’s wrong with it?”
“He’s different now. His hair is shorter and a little lighter. He was definitely thinner and wasn’t wearing glasses.”
“Do you remember his name,” I asked.
“I think his name is Mark,” Marie replied. She wiped her watering eyes and darted back into the classroom; returning moments later with a bright orange folder in her hands. She opened it and flipped through the papers. “Here it is. Mark Thompson is his name. He only attended two meetings and our trip up to Mohonk Mountain.”
“Do you have a way to reach him; a phone number; an email address; anything at all that can help us?”
They shook their heads in response. “Usually everyone writes down that information on the sign-in sheet, but it’s not required.” Marty took the folder from Marie and handed it to us. “He opted to leave that blank.”
We thanked them and asked if we could hold on to the sign-in sheets. Marie gladly handed it over while Marty gave her a look of disapproval.
He walked back inside the classroom muttering, “And you wonder why people don’t wanna leave their info on those sheets.”
Marie followed closely behind him; letting the door close in our faces. I could see their classmates bombarding them with questions the minute they walked back into the room. I hoped they would keep our conversation quiet; at least for the time being; long enough for us to take Nick DeFalco into custody.
“What now,” Rodney asked.
“I think it’s time we find where this DeFalco or Thompson guy lives and get ourselves a search warrant.”
Chapter 84
Mark walked through the narrow hallway in the Lecture Hall finding a group of students crowding around two familiar faces. He craned his neck to see who was in the middle of the group.
“Why are they bothering those two?” Mark inched close; pushing himself into the group of students to find out why Marty and Marie were the center of everyone’s attention.
“Come on guys,” one of the guys said. “You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone. What’d the cops want with you? Was it about those murders?”
“I’m not getting into this right now,” Marty shouted. He held up his hands high in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Guys, just leave us alone. We’re not allowed to talk about it right now.”
Mark slipped into a nearby empty classroom as Marty pushed his way through the sea of students dragging Marie behind him. He wondered why the cops were there and what they wanted from Marty and Marie. Then it hit him. They must’ve found out he was part of the Outdoors Club and were looking for answers.
He knew the police were getting too close. There were too many liabilities remaining and they were giving him up easily to the police.
Mark reached for this phone and violently stabbed the numbers on the keypad. “It’s me. I need to get out of town soon.” He took a piece of paper from his bag and wrote down an address. “Okay, I just need a few days to tie up some loose ends and I can meet you there.”
Mark was ready to hatch his escape plan; ready to walk away from the chaos he created. But his sights were set on his final victims; ones that could hurt the case against him.
Chapter 85
By the time we arrived back at the station, the Lieutenant had paced around his office nearly a dozen times. His eyes glanced at the door every time it opened until we arrived.
“Where the hell have you two been,” he demanded.
“We were looking into the Outdoors Club lead,” Rodney confessed. “We thought it might get us some new leads on this DeFalco guy.”
“And did it?”
Rodney handed him the papers as I closed the door. “Nick DeFalco has been running around with a new look calling himself Mark Thomson,” I began. Apparently he was a part of the club for two weeks leading up to their first trip which was to Mohonk Mountain.”
“Wasn’t that where Christina Ty
ler went the weekend before she was murdered?”
“The one in the same. Mark Thompson, Christina Tyler and Kevin Graham were all on that trip. From what Kevin told me, he invited the whole group back to his place for a Halloween party he’d been planning.”
Rodney quick snapped his fingers. “Her ID card. That’s where he must’ve gotten it from.”
“I believe so. Christina spent the night at Kevin’s and in the morning returned to her dorm where she realized her card was missing.”
“That’s when the RA found Christina and helped her back to her room.” Rodney was putting the pieces together faster than I could relay the information. “That’s where she must’ve seen Nick. He was probably making sure she got back to the dorm and wanted to make sure he could get into the room.”
“My guess is that he hid there for most of the day just like he did to Nicole.” Everything was fitting into place except how he knew Rachel and Nicole.
“Good work team,” the Lieutenant said; giving us the highest praise he could muster. He picked up a file from his desk and handed it to me. “I believe you were waiting on this.”
I opened it up and found the full background check I ran on Nick DeFalco. It gave us his birth date, where he grew up, which schools he went to, what jobs he held and finally his last known address.
“What’s wrong Ali,” Rodney asked.
“This address; I know it.”
“Okay great; let’s get over there and drag his ass out.”
“We can’t; he doesn’t live there anymore.”
“How do you know Detective?”
“I was just there. That’s Kevin Graham’s house.”
The Lieutenant’s happy smiling expression dropped; making him look more like a kid whose dog ran away.
Esposito inched closer to my face and talked in an angry whisper. “Find this son of a bitch. I don’t care what it takes; just do it.”
I backed away slowly. “Kevin said he moved out after living there for one year and that his girlfriend dumped him last spring.”
“Fine, I’m sending you out to Connecticut in the morning.”
“What about the clearance?”
“I’ll get you the damn clearance. One of our officers will accompany you.”
“Why can’t Rodney go?”
“Because I need someone here to work the case; someone that knows it as well as you do.”
“Fine, then I’ll go by myself.”
“No, you’re taking an officer with you to help you smooth things over with their police department.”
“But…”
“I don’t wanna hear another word about it. That’s my decision and it’s final. Now get back to work.”
We exited the office and kept quiet until we made it back to our desks. “Just tell me what you want me to do Ali.”
“I need you to be on standby. If I get anything out of the girlfriend, I need you to have the D.A. and a judge on speed dial so we can get that warrant by the time I get back.
“Don’t worry Ali; I got your back.”
Chapter 86
I pulled up in front of my house finding Matthew sitting on the front porch. His eyes were distant and cold. His left leg was draped over his right with his foot tapping the air impatiently.
“You know you really can’t keep showing up here unexpected,” I laughed while reaching for my cuffs. “I might have to arrest you for trespassing.”
“Cut the crap Ali,” Matthew snapped. “You forgot about our dinner plans; didn’t you?”
“Shit,” I shouted. “I’m sorry honey. I’ve been so caught up in this case. We finally have a suspect and…”
“I don’t care Ali. I don’t care about your case or your suspects or even how much time you put in at the station. I don’t care about any of that as long as you make time for me.”
“I do; it’s just…”
“No you haven’t. I’ve been the one coming here to surprise you. You’re the one disappearing every time we’re alone.”
I grabbed his hand. Mine were much smaller than his. They were big and warm. “I’m here now. It’s just you and me. We can do whatever you want.”
He placed his fingers between mine and lightly kissed my hand. “I haven’t felt this strongly about anyone before. I just want to know you feel the same and that I’m not some runner up to your career.”
“I take being a cop very serious.” It wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear and wasn’t the answer I wanted to give. “My career is my life, but it won’t always be. I want you to know that when it’s my choice, I’ll choose you.”
He gave a half smile and leaned in for a kiss. “Well, we already missed our reservation. How about some takeout?”
“I’d like that.” I planted a big kiss on his big lips; nibbling on the lower lip as I pulled away. I was ready to take it inside until I heard my phone ringing.
“Just let it go for now,” Matthew whispered. His breath was like a cool breeze hitting my ear. I wanted him desperately to just throw me over his shoulders, bring me inside and have his way with me, but the phone continued to take my attention away from him.
“This’ll just take a moment.” I pulled the compact phone from my back pocket and answered it. I could see the defeat and anger in Matthew’s eyes as the Lieutenant told me I would have a squad car at my house at eight in the morning and would drive me to Brianna Cataldi’s house. I closed the phone; hanging up on the Lieutenant as Matthew walked away. “Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m going home.”
“I thought we were getting takeout?”
“You seem busy and I have to leave early in the morning to catch a flight to Atlanta.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I have an important meeting to get to.” He leaned in and let his lips graze mine. “Goodnight Ali.”
And just like that he was gone and I was left standing on the street feeling more alone than when I was single.
Chapter 87
Officer Reyes, the rookie cop that helped patrol New Paltz during the first two murders, had been assigned as my escort. He wanted some experience in questioning witnesses, and the Lieutenant thought it’d be best if he shadowed me while we went to Connecticut.
I watched Officer Reyes out of the corner of my eye. There was excitement in his voice every time he spoke, an ear to ear grin plastered over his face, and a bounce in his step.
I pointed my finger at him as we exited the car. “I just wanna remind you; you’re here to listen and observe; nothing more.”
As we walked up Homeside Avenue, a white police car with blue and gold striped sides approached slowly from the other end of the block. We walked up the stone path to a cozy two story gray and blue house.
The officer got out of his car with his belly stretching out his tight navy blue uniform. “Detective Ryan,” he shouted. Apparently he didn’t know the meaning of the word discrete and continued shouting my name as he jogged from the street to where we stood on the stone path.
I gritted my teeth; wanting to rip him a new one for yelling to us from the street, but I could tell he was a desk cop. His hair was combed over too perfectly to be a street cop or a detective. His uniform was pressed too neat as well. Even the rookie cop Reyes had a few wrinkles in his uniform.
I choked down my anger and extended my hand. He raised his slowly towards mine; giving a slight tremble as he gripped my fingers.
“Officer Tremont,” I read from his name badge. “I’m Detective Ryan from the Ulster County Police Department. This is Officer Reyes.”
Reyes and Tremont exchanged pleasantries while I eyed up the light gray house with aqua shutters and doors. It was nice; a perfect size for a small family to live in; maybe two bedrooms upstairs with a full living room, kitchen and dining room on the inside.
“So, can someone tell me why we’re here,” Tremont asked.
“The girl that supposedly lives here is the ex-girlfriend to a man that’s our prime suspect in an ongo
ing murder investigation in New Paltz. We need to ask her a few questions without drawing too much attention to ourselves.” I shot him a dirty look; reminding him of how he acted when he exited his squad car.
“Then why the fuck am I here?”
I moved closer; bringing myself nose to nose with the West Haven officer. “You’re here strictly out of courtesy. Our Lieutenant didn’t want us to step on any toes by walking into your backyard unannounced. Furthermore if our suspect turned out to be here, we would need your department’s help in the arrest and bringing him back to New York.”
Tremont’s eyes resembled that of a scared little dog that was being scolded for peeing on the carpet. His pudgy face turned whiter than a ghost and his lips quivered as they tried to form words.
“L-l-lead o-on De-detective.”
We walked up to aqua colored door and knocked on it loudly. “Brianna Cataldi,” I shouted. “This is the police. We have a few questions we’d like to ask you.”
The door creaked open; revealing a short Italian woman with light brown hair. Her eyes darted to each of us; taking mental notes of the two officers and me.
“What is this about,” Brianna asked in a soft tone.
“Are you Brianna Cataldi,” I asked. She nodded her head in response. “Miss Cataldi, we’re investigating several recent murders that occurred on the New Paltz campus and we’d like to ask you a few questions. May we come in?”
Brianna stepped aside with her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “I don’t know how I can help you. I haven’t lived in New Paltz since May.”
“We know Miss Cataldi. We don’t believe you had anything to do with any of the deaths.”
Brianna sat us down at a small square kitchen table. “If I’m not a suspect, then why are you here?”
“We need your help in locating a person of interest.”