“So if I have a complaint, I come to you?” Zach teased.
“Not a chance, buddy,” he laughed. “You call the complaint department.”
“Okay, so you’ve never seen her talking to anyone?” He shook his head. “Alright. Were you and Lavina Simmons the only two people outside?”
“When I was out there, we were. Lavina usually walks with me to my job and then takes the train to wherever she’s going. She lives alone and doesn’t like to be walking the streets at night by herself.”
“You can never be too careful in this city. I’m glad she has someone to walk with her,” Zach said solemnly. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“Good Lord, no.”
“Okay,” Zach pulled out his card. “I might come back to ask you more questions, but in the meantime, please call me if you think of anything.”
“I will. As I said, I work nights so I’d appreciate you coming to question me around two o’clock in the afternoon so I don’t miss work or sleep.”
“Understood. Thank you very much for meeting with me.
Stop by the stationhouse and show me the car when you buy it,” Zach said pointing to the picture.
“I’m afraid you’ll be retired by then.”
3
JESSIE WATCHED her partner walk out of the building after questioning his witness. “How’d you make out?” she asked.
“Nada. He doesn’t know anything.”
“Yeah, same with mine. You ready to head back to interview the husband?”
“Yep. Let’s do it.”
In the car, they barely said two words to one another. Regardless of her need to strike up a conversation with him, she hesitated. His responses had been extremely sarcastic. This fact convinced her it probably wasn’t a good idea to push her luck. But despite her cautionary self-talking she couldn’t help herself. “Have dinner with me tonight?” she whispered while walking inside the precinct toward the interrogation room.
“Nah, I think I’ll pass,” Zach said shaking his head.
“Gerard, stop being a shit and have dinner with me. I want to talk.”
His brow arched. “Why? So you can feel better about walking out on me?”
Seeing his intense expression, she knew they were headed for an argument. “Please. Don’t make a scene,” she said looking around. “I’m not looking to fight. I just want us to talk and you know we can’t here. We can even do take-out if you want and bring it to my place or yours.”
Gerard huffed. “Fine. Your place.”
“Thank you,” she reached for his hand but he pulled it back. She hadn’t expected that reaction, but this was work after all. “Hawkins is in room three, so how—” She stopped talking when their captain approached. His hands went to his hips as his eyes glanced from one to the other.
“Bring me up to date on the Hawkins homicide, Detectives,” he said.
“Not much to tell you at this point,” Zach said. “Female paralegal went for a walk after dinner and she’s dead. Her husband is waiting to be questioned. I’ll have a better feel for the situation after we talk to him.”
“Random or planned?”
“I sure don’t know, sir. But the victim’s coat was missing.”
Reamer’s eyes blinked. “Oh, Christ, don’t tell me he’s back.”
“That was the first thought Jessie and I had too. Was that case handled in this precinct?” he asked.
“Yes. Talk to Gunnerson and Polito. Those were the two leads.”
“Will do. Jessie and I are headed to interview room three to talk to the husband. That ought to give us more of an idea about what we’re dealing with here.”
Reamer made a face. “I just thought you might have had more by now.” He gave the two detectives a curious look, turned and headed back to his office.
“What the hell was that supposed to mean?” Jessie asked. “What? We’re under a microscope now?”
“Hey, he’s not sure about us yet, that’s all. When he’s convinced we’re not together, then things will be fine. We have to earn our way back in. Remember how that works?”
“Yeah, I realize that, but to be treated like we’re rookies after all this time, pisses me off.”
“Settle down,” he warned. She glared at him with an arched brow and he knew that look meant he’d crossed the line again. Maybe dinner was off after all.
Jessie increased her stride, her long red hair cascading over her shoulders, glistening under the overhead lights. Zach remembered the smell of her hair when she was in the bed next to him. He sighed from regret.
Working side-by-side again had its advantages . . . but only for work because he still got to see her every day. There was no question she was a damned good detective, but not having her in his life left an emptiness that was harder to handle than he’d thought.
He tossed his hands in the air and watched her shapely body walk into the interview room, entering right behind her. Mr. Hawkins was sitting at the table with his elbows perched on top while gripping the sides of his head, rocking back and forth. He stopped when he heard the door close. His face was sullen and pale and his salt and pepper hair was a mess, sticking out as though he’d been pulling on it. “I can’t believe she’s dead,” he cried out.
“I know,” Jessie said trying to comfort him. “Can I get you some water? Something to eat?”
“No. What I really want is a good stiff drink so I can forget.” Tears streamed down his cheeks. “I don’t want to live in the real world without her. She was my rock…my reason for living. I honestly don’t think I can go on without her.” He grabbed a tissue from the box on the table. Taking a deep breath, he gave a momentary glance into the distance.
Zach sat down next to him. “Take it easy Mr. Hawkins. I know you’re very upset but without your cooperation, we have no way of solving this case. Is there someone we could call to come down here to be with you?”
“I have no one, except maybe Carly’s twin sister, but I don’t think I could stand to see her right now. She and Carly are identical twins. Even if I could, she lives in Georgia—it would take her a while to get here anyway.” Jessie had to strain to hear what he was saying his voice was barely audible. Jessie fired another question at him.
“Any children?” she asked. Before answering, he picked his eyeglasses up off the table and put them back on.
“Not between us. She has two girls, but that’s it.”
“Do they live here in New York?” Zach asked.
“No. They’re out-of-staters too. Besides, we don’t get along.” His shoulders sagged a bit more. He shook his head, “I’m not interested in having them here.”
Noticing his mouth was dry, Jessie handed him a bottle of water. “Take this, Mr. Hawkins,” He twisted the cap off and guzzled back the liquid and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I guess I should call her twin to tell her. Should I do that now or after we talk?”
“After we talk. How about your friends? Maybe having a friend here will help you.”
“No. I don’t really have any friends of my own—they’re just Carly’s friends. But they’d only upset me more because they’d be blubbering right along with me. Thanks anyway.”
“Alright, then let’s get started.” Zach read him his rights “Now earlier, you said you saw your wife at dinner. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me about that?” Jessie asked. “Was your conversation friendly? Was anything bothering her or you?”
“No.” He squinted as if trying to focus on her face. “It was a friendly conversation. Why would you even ask me that? Carly and I had a great relationship. We never fought.”
“That’s fine, Mr. Hawkins. No need to get defensive. These are questions we need to ask to help our investigation. If we know what frame of mind she was in, it pretty much tells us whether she’d take chances at doing something stupid.”
“Never. Carly would never do something stupid that would get herself killed.”
“Did she tell you abo
ut anything that might have been bothering her? Like say at work, or something that happened during her travels home?”
“Nope. Life was great.”
“How about your financials?”
“What about them?” He asked, crossing his legs, he shifted his body in the seat on an angle.
“Were you in debt?”
“No. Debt free. We lived a good life—sometimes a little too good.”
“You said your wife was a paralegal. Where did she work?”
“Peterson & Ghosh.” He stared into the distance. “They’re over on Broadway.”
“What kind of law do they practice?”
“It’s been mostly civil cases but with the economy being so bad, why, they’ve decided to handle only criminal cases. They hired a new attorney who specializes in criminal law…you know, one of those hotshots who thinks he’s going to set the world afire. So they took him on hoping the practice would be more lucrative representing the thugs of the city. I guess the divorces were getting to them. Anyone who’s been through a divorce knows how sticky they can get.”
“Did your wife ever talk about her research or what she was working on?”
“Rarely.” He took another swig of water. “But I know she was doing research for the new guy. I don’t have any idea what kind of case, but if the firm wanted to focus its cases on criminal, I would suspect it had something to do with that. What I do know though is that he was tough on her, and I’m not sure she liked him very much. Maybe that was bothering her. I don’t know…but she seemed fine.”
“Do you know his name?” he asked.
“No, I don’t.”
“Everything is important when we’re trying to solve a case. Even if you don’t think something is important, tell us anyway and let us decide for ourselves. Sometimes the simplest things can be the missing piece to the puzzle.” Zach said.
“Okay. There’s only three attorneys in the firm with plenty of workers to take care of the investigative work, so it shouldn’t be hard to find out who he is.”
“You said you’re retired. Is that right, Mr. Hawkins?” A sudden change in his demeanor caught Jessie’s attention. He tensed and crossed his arms, resting them against his chest.
“Right. It was a forced retirement, and now I can’t find another job. It’s all Arco’s fault that I can’t. They’ve probably lied to perspective employers trying to hire me by telling them why they fired me.”
“Earlier, you said they fired you.” Zach said. “So why are you suddenly calling it a ‘forced retirement’? Did they fire you or not? Because being fired is a whole different ballgame? As for Arco saying anything beyond what the law allows, you bring your attorney proof and they’re in a heap of trouble.”
Hawkins nodded. “I have no doubt Arco found a loophole to spill their guts about why they fired me. Anyway, those bastards are trying to screw me out of my pension.” He rubbed his fingers over his unshaven chin. “And I wish I did have proof. But I can’t find a job, so they must be telling them something,” he repeated again. Zach jotted down some notes.
“Why did you get fired?”
“I blew the whistle on one of the other employees.”
“Was he fired too?”
“Oh yeah, but he wasn’t there long enough to collect a pension. Now that my Carly is gone, I need that money coming in.”
“You just said, you’re debt free.”
“Yeah, but I won’t be for long. I’m too young to collect social security, so I have no money coming in.”
“Your wife must have had a life insurance policy.”
“I didn’t think of that,” that simple statement seemed to help his mood.
“How long ago were you fired?”
“Two years.” He gave a disgruntled shake of his head. “Those bastards will never find another Harlan Hawkins though. I was the crème de la crème in that company, and they didn’t appreciate what they had. You can be sure they’re sorry now.”
“Did Carly ever do any research for them?”
“You mean, like moonlighting?” Zach nodded. “No. She only worked at her current job for…I think, fifteen years.”
“Yet, the first words out of your mouth tonight were to accuse them. Why would they shoot your wife when she had nothing to do with the reason you were fired?”
“Oh, I guess I’m just pissed at them. I accuse them of everything. But I wouldn’t put it past them just to get even with me. They knew Carly was the only one who could support me until I could find a job, and because they fired me, I couldn’t collect unemployment.”
“First of all, you had to do something pretty bad to be refused unemployment insurance. And secondly, companies don’t seek out that kind of information. They may know your wife worked because of something you said, but I’d be real careful if I were you because if Arco gets the word that you’re wrongly accusing them of something, they’ll sue you for slander.”
“That’s interesting—you guys do it all the time.” Neither detective replied. “They didn’t even give me a payout like most of the big corporations give when they force retire someone.”
“Mr. Hawkins, when someone is forced into retirement, they collect a pension, but if they’re fired, they get no pension,” Jessie said after checking her notes. “Use the right terms. If you were forced, then say forced, if not, then you were fired.”
Harlan made a face and released a noise deep in his throat.
“And if fired is the right term,” Zach said, “Then tell us why you were fired.”
“I can’t really talk about it because I’m suing them.”
Zach blew out an aggravated breath. “We understand that, but this is a murder investigation and if you know something or someone at Arco who has threatened you or your wife’s life, we need to know that,” he said.
“I’ll refer you to my attorney and let him fill in the details. This way, I don’t reveal something I’m not supposed to.”
“You’re not a very trusting man,” she said.
“I have good reason not to trust, but you talk to my guy. He’ll tell you.”
“I really don’t care about your law suit, Mr. Hawkins, but we’ll call your attorney. What’s his name?”
“Bentley Ryson, attorney at law. He’s on,” he stopped talking and stared into space as though thinking. He shook his head. “Hell, it’s on Fifth Avenue in one of the professional buildings, but I can’t think straight right now. I don’t carry his card with me, so that’s the best I can do.”
“Alright. I’m sure we’ll find it. So back to your wife going for a walk after dinner. Don’t you like to go with her?”
“I fell asleep.” He patted his bulging belly. “I ate too much.”
“You didn’t know she was gone?” He shook his head. “Is this something she did every night after dinner? Was she meeting someone?”
“Geez. I don’t know if this was a regular occurrence. I usually doze off after a meal. As to whether she was meeting someone? I doubt it. She didn’t say anything.”
“Why did you doubt she was meeting someone?”
“Because she would have told me.”
“I hate to ask this, but is it possible your wife was having an affair?”
“Are you crazy? No. Why would you even ask?”
“Because she didn’t tell you she was going for a walk.” Jessie frowned. “Would she have argued with you if you had said no?”
“Probably. But she always came around to my way of thinking. We were madly in love, you know. We really enjoyed spending time together.”
“Once again. What time did you say you finished dinner?”
“She was a little late getting home tonight. I can’t be sure, but I’m guessing we finished dinner about six thirty, so it had to have been right after that. The dishes were still in the sink,” he said with raised brows.
“You say that like you’re surprised. Was that unusual for her to leave dishes in the sink?”
“Yes.”
“So maybe she was in a hurry to meet someone. You mentioned you only knew her friends. Is there anyone specific we should talk to? Did she have a best friend?”
“Yes, I knew them, but if you’re asking did she hang out with anyone specific, the answer is no,” he stiffened slightly. “She belonged to a few groups. Church friends, mostly, but she only saw them when there were meetings and I usually went with her. She only saw her work friends during parties, but even that tapered off.”
“Why do you think it tapered off? Was someone bothering her? Is that why she stopped seeing them outside of work except on special occasions?”
“I guess she got tired of the bullshit.” He shrugged.
“You know, it sounds like you’re trying to paint your life with Carly as the best marriage on the planet, but even the best of marriages have problems. What were yours?”
“I know you don’t believe me, and that’s probably because most people don’t have good marriages, but trust me,” he raised his palm, “it was better than I ever imagined.”
“Well, it could have been wonderful, but like I said, everybody has problems. What was the one thing that irked your wife more than anything about you?”
“I guess me sitting around sulking all day. But that was such a minor inconvenience, it really wasn’t even worth mentioning.”
“Seriously? You think your wife was happy you were sitting around all day?” Jessie fired back.
“If she was, she never said. She encouraged me to go find a job, but it wasn’t something we argued over.”
“How many years were you married?”
“Five years.”
“You honestly don’t know of anyone who would want to hurt her? Even someone in the past?”
“No. Everybody loved her. She was perfect.”
“There’s only one person who’s perfect, Mr. Hawkins, and we both know where he’s at,” Jessie said. “I’m sure she had flaws. Everyone does. Now what were hers?” Harlan continued to shake his head in disagreement. “Okay, what about her ex-husband? I’m sure he didn’t think she was wonderful.”
“He died.”
“Were you married when you met Carly?”
“No. I was divorced.”
Deadly Obsessions (Kensington-Gerard Detective series Book 3) Page 3