“Those weren’t even the clothes that I was wearing last night! Ask Cole. Mr. Piedmonte saw me, too! I was wearing a blue button down shirt, black slacks, and a pair of nice lace up shoes.”
DiNolfo was scribbling fast and furiously into her notebook.
“The clothes you found… I had taken them off after work at Courtney’s house. Obviously I couldn’t go to her sister’s party wearing dirty work clothes. I got changed at Courtney’s house and set the clothes on her windowsill; the boots were on the floor. Anybody who was in the house that night could have taken them.”
DiNolfo looked utterly perplexed. She knew a liar when she saw one, and while the story was outlandish, she knew right then and there, Tommy Morrow was telling the truth.
“Describe the clothes you left at Courtney’s house.”
“A black Steelers hoodie, a pair of old jeans, a brown belt, a black t-shirt and a pair of boots.”
“What size were those boots?”
“Size eleven.”
“Who could have accessed Courtney’s room?”
“Anyone that lived there, I guess. But they also had a bunch of people going in and out that night, too.”
DiNolfo continued writing in her leather notebook. Finally she stopped and put her pen down. She looked at Tommy and he could tell that her mood was calming.
“Do you have any idea who would have wanted to hurt Courtney?”
Tommy slowed as his eyes burned with tears.
“It sure as hell wasn’t me... I think it was McCord.”
Suddenly, Tommy could hear raised voices from the next room – beyond the two-way mirror. It continued. He could almost swear it was Adam. The commotion was followed by an urgent knock on the interrogation room door. Adam poked his head in, his face was bright red and he looked like he had been running.
“We need you…”
“I’m just about to wrap this up…”
“No, now… On scene at Healer’s Park. There’s been another murder,” said Adam urgently.
The look on DiNolfo’s face morphed from anger to murderous rage. She brought her fist down hard on the table causing Tommy to jump.
“Dammit!” she screamed. “Who is it?”
Adam waited with controlled patience at the door as she regained her composure.
Adam continued, “Liam and I found her in Healer’s Park. The body has been positively ID’d as April Dearing.”
DiNolfo snapped her notebook shut as she rose from her chair.
She eyed Tommy seriously and said, “Tommy, you have what I like to call an iron-clad alibi. Thomas Morrow you are hereby released as a suspect in the murder investigation of Courtney O’Mara. You’re free to go. Stay out of trouble!” she said with urgency and warning laced in her voice.
A moment later, DiNolfo was gone, following Adam out to his patrol car.
***
When Adam returned to the murder scene in Healer’s Park, he felt an awful sense of déjà vu creep over him. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was looking at the same crime scene that he encountered outside of Monte’s Café just days prior. The tire tracks. The bullet wound to the head. The tarp. Only this time, instead of random objects being strewn about there were business cards thrown on the victim’s body. The first belonged to Trafford’s Auto Body. The next belonged to Hunter McCord – Public Speaker. The third belonged to Morrow’s Horse Farm.
Someone seemed intent upon framing the suspects. But the question was, who?
***
“Tommy! Tommy! Why’d you do it?!” yelled J.J. Penn, news reporter for the Elkhart Bugle, as Tommy exited the double doors of the Elkhart Police Department. Danville News was at it again, too. They had the pathway blocked with cameras and news vans lined the curb. Frank grabbed Tommy by his shoulder and led him through the crowd.
“Don’t say a word, boy…” warned Frank.
Even though Tommy was released as a witness, the media would use everything he said against him and with someone with as hot of a temper as Tommy, it was better just to stay quiet. Frank opened the passenger-side door to his pick-up truck, ducked Tommy’s head inside and slammed the door behind him. As Frank left his side, reporters drew closer to his window, continuing to ask questions. Frank jumped in and hit the gas, causing smoke to kick up and gag the reporters. As the aggressive reporters coughed and heaved from the dust, Frank barreled up Mountain Road with Tommy in tow.
Chapter 17
June 19, 2000
Lake House
Morrow Manor
Fox Hollow, PA
7:00 P.M.
Liam Morrow stormed into the lake house at Morrow Manor as anger radiated from his pores. It was bad enough that they had one young woman dead, but now they have another who had died in a nearly identical fashion. The lake house, which was once inhabited by Angus and Moira, now served as Adam and Liam’s bachelor pad. In light of recent events, the tiny house that overlooked Croft Lake also acted as home base for all things related to the murders of Courtney O’Mara and April Dearing, and bringing those responsible to justice. Liam dropped Tiffany O’Mara’s case file down on the kitchen table as he hurried to get out of his uniform. He needed a night off in the worst possible way. They hadn’t had a proper night of sleep since Friday night, but he knew he had to get through the case file to get some answers. Two women had already been brutally murdered. They had to hurry before any more innocent blood was shed. Adam Morrow trudged up the front steps and slammed the door behind them.
“This is a fine, deranged mess we’re in!” yelled Adam across the living room.
Liam nodded in agreement as he pulled a gray t-shirt over his head.
“If you ever say that you’re bored again, I’ll throw you in the lake,” quipped Adam as he gave his brother a heated glare.
It was only four days since Liam had uttered those words, but it felt like an eternity to them. Liam settled onto the couch as he opened the file labeled Tiffany O’Mara. He didn’t know what he would find inside, but DiNolfo was pretty sure that they would find some answers. Liam opened the file with a steady hand as he prepared himself for what he might find. On top of the large file lay a crime scene report that detailed when and where Tiffany was found, how she was suspected to have died, and what objects were present at the scene of the murder. Attached to the report with a rusty paperclip was a graphic photo of the deceased. Tiffany’s strawberry blonde hair was matted and crimson from the gunshot wound to the side of her head. Gory chunks of blood, brain matter, wounded flesh and tissue were exposed and already decomposing due to the warm summer heat. Her green eyes peered out with a lost stare and her neck was savagely bruised and broken. Liam passed the photograph to Adam, who had just joined him on the couch. A chill coursed through Adam’s veins as he looked at the tragic photograph. The similarities of the two sisters and they way they died did not escape him.
“Now I see why DiNolfo pulled the file. What does the dossier say?”
***
Tiffany O’Mara, age eighteen, was found dead on June 20, 1980 at 7:22 in the morning in the Forest of York. The body was discovered by her sister, Angela O’Mara, who said that the body was laid on a tarp at the base of what locals call, “The Bone Tree.” Upon examination, the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the side of the head which obliterated a portion of the girl’s face. The victim’s neck shows evidence that she was strangled as well. Because the victim was on a tarp, it is not believed that she was killed in the Forest of York, but in a different location. Evidence found at the scene includes a size eleven hiking boot, two daggers with wooden hilts, an assortment of bird feathers and an antique box with the initials BEK inscribed into the metal. Deputies Amos Cope and Earl Buckley surveyed the area, but incidentally, no one heard or saw anything of concern. Officers will follow-up with the family this afternoon.
***
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” yelled Adam as soon as he heard the names Cope and Buckley. “If they were involved, you know nothing was d
one to find the culprit.”
Liam sighed heavily. There was only one thing to be done.
“Get dressed.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Pennington.”
***
It was around 10:30 when Liam and Adam had reached the Philadelphia city limits. The long brick exterior of Pennington Prison was foreboding in the dim glow of the street lights. As the pair walked through the front door, the building looked like it was about to swallow them whole.
***
Adam nearly didn’t recognize Amos Cope as he walked towards him from the other side of the booth. Though he still had a face only a mother could love, his scrawny body had bulked up a bit from hitting the weights. Amos smiled at Adam as if he was his long lost best friend.
“Adam! What brings you here?” exclaimed Amos, looking truly excited to see a familiar face. Adam was perplexed.
“Why do you look so happy to see me?”
“You’re my pal!”
“You covered up my mother’s death. We are not friends,” said Adam glaringly.
Liam pushed Adam aside.
“You’re gonna ruin any chance we have in getting any information from him. Shut up!” barked Liam with his hand covering the phone.
Liam sat down on the stool in front of the phone and put on his most charming smile.
“Amos!” he said in a cool voice.
“Liam, it’s great to see you!” said Amos excitedly.
Either he is really bored in prison or the inmates are really awful. Either way, it serves him right, thought Liam.
“Buddy, listen. I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”
“Oh, anything you want kid. What do you need?” asked Amos in a casual voice as if Liam was simply asking for a cup of coffee.
“Do you remember Tiffany O’Mara?”Liam asked as a look of seriousness glinted from his eye.
Liam noticed that the warmth had vanished in Amos’ eyes. He let out a deep breath.
“Boy, do I ever. That case was a nightmare.”
“Please tell me this isn’t one of the cases you flubbed.”
“No, this is actually the case where we got an idea of just how sick Kendricks was.”
Liam lifted his chin and tightened his jaw at the sound of the name.
“Tell me what I need to know.”
Amos nodded as he prepared to speak.
“Fifteen minutes!” a prison guard yelled behind them.
“I’ll try to hurry…”
Liam nodded, becoming impatient.
“Earl and I answered a call at the O’Mara residence on Caribou Road. Gwen O’Mara was frantic with worry because her daughter Tiffany hadn’t come home the night before,” Amos said as a serious look overtook his face.
“While we were talking to Gwen and her husband, their one kid came running in… Angie. She was a hysterical mess, crying, falling all over the place. She said she found Tiffany dead in the Forest. She said it had to be him! It had to be him!” continued Amos.
“Roger and I tried to get more information out of Angie, while Earl went to search the forest for a body. Let me tell you, Angie was as white as a ghost. She looked like she had ran into the devil himself. Her eyes were all wild and crazy-like. I ain’t ever seen anybody look so scared in my life.”
Liam could tell that the worst was still to come, because Amos had a deeply troubled look on his face.
“Then, all of a sudden, she just got quiet. She looked at me with an expression that was more dead than alive, and said, ‘It was Bernard. And he’s coming after me next.’ Suddenly, the girl passed out on the floor. I didn’t know what to make of it.”
Liam and Adam continued to watch Amos as he spoke. He wasn’t making this up. He couldn’t have. This was beyond his repertoire.
“So we continued investigating. We interviewed Tiffany’s boyfriend, Ethan Quiver, but he had no information whatsoever. We tried banging on Kendricks’ door, but no one was home. We even tried his mother’s house, but she wasn’t even answering. Then that night, Angie disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” asked Liam quizzically.
“Yeah. Her mother was so afraid that what happened to Tiffany would happen to Angie, too.”
“So what happened?” Liam pressed.
“Turns out Angie just left. Apparently she was so distraught over Tiffany that she couldn’t bear to be in Elkhart anymore.”
“No one thought it was suspicious that she would flee town on the day her sister turned up dead?”
“No. You should’ve saw this girl. She was shaking like a leaf. I’ve never seen anybody so scared in my entire life.”
“What about Kendricks? What happened?”
“It turned out that Kendricks was out of town that week with his mother. They were vacationing in Maine. He showed me the itinerary and everything. There should be a copy of it in the case file.”
Adam sifted through the paperwork in the file and sure enough, there it was: A trip for six days and five nights in Maine at the Bar Harbor Lobsterman’s Inn.
“He was livid when he found out what the girl accused him of. He called her a liar and a snake. Roger O’Mara came after Kendricks accusing him of chasing off his daughter.”
“Crazy.”
“He was nuts. What do you expect?”
“Is there anything else I should know?”
“Let’s see… Yeah. The suspects.”
“Kendricks wasn’t the only one?”
“Oh, no… Ethan Quiver was suspected… Hunter McCord, too. But at the end of the day, we were never able to pin her death on anyone. There simply wasn’t enough evidence.”
“Time’s up!” yelled the guard. “All prisoners line up against the wall!”
“Thanks for talking to us, Amos,” said Liam honestly.
As a guard slapped a set of cuffs around his wrist, Amos yelled out skeptically, “The secret lives under the city!”
***
As the pair walked out of Pennington Prison and into the warm night air, Liam asked the obvious question, “So who do you think did it?”
Adam didn’t reply. He was too deep in thought.
Liam continued, “I think McCord has something to do with this. He wanted it to look like it was Kendricks. But I think he is the only suspect capable of committing this sort of violence. Trafford’s got a record, but he’s a chicken. What do you think?” Liam asked again.
“I think it’s someone completely off our radar. Someone who knows how to cover their tracks very well.”
“So we heard Amos’ side of the story. But the question is, do we believe him?”
Chapter 18
June 19, 2000
Pennington Prison
Cellblock D
11:45 P.M.
Amos Cope stared at the ceiling from his top bunk as he scraped his pencil along the chipping paint to mark yet another day holed up in Pennington for his previous misdeeds. His mind kept replaying the conversation he had with Officer Morrow. He had told him what he needed to know, but no more. Should he have told him the entire story? How this story still haunted his dreams at night? How this is the case that broke him and made him afraid to go to work in the morning?
He didn’t want to scare Liam, but he did want to make him aware of just how twisted that case was. There was a copy cat that went to great lengths to make it look like Bernard Kendricks was to blame, when in reality he was an eight hour drive away. They checked on the Kendricks household and no one was answering the door. Amos told the truth. They did investigate this case to the best of their ability, but they simply weren’t able to track down the killer. Amos wandered deep into the back of his mind, retrieving a memory that he had long tried to store away.
***
June 21, 1980
27 Caribou Road
Elkhart, PA
“Mrs. O’Mara, please try to calm down,” Amos insisted as she sobbed into her hands.
“We are doing everything we can to tr
y to find her.”
“What if she winds up dead like her sister?!” yelled Gwen O’Mara, now in hysterics.
“Please try to calm down. We are going to continue searching for Angie and the person responsible for this.”
“How old is your daughter?” asked Deputy Earl Buckley as he scribbled notes on a steno pad.
Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) Page 17