As we drove back to get my car I knew it was coming up on decision time. We have had enough dates to decide if this was going to be serious or just something to do from time to time. Garrett was obviously thinking along the same line.
“So what do you think?” he asked.
“About?”
“Come on. Us. Maybe I should ask is there an ‘us’?”
“Geez Garrett, I don’t know how to answer that. You know I am lousy at commitments. I don’t know what the next step should be.”
“Angie, I am attracted to you. I love talking with you and being around you. If you don’t feel the same way just say so and I’ll move on and not bother you again.”
“Damn it Garrett is isn’t that. I’m chicken. Get it? I’m afraid of being hurt. I am a total coward when it comes to relationships,” I told him.
“When we get to your car, I’m dropping you off. I’ll wait until you get the Healey started. You can either follow me to my place or you can go on home. I’ll get the message either way,” Garrett said.
A few minutes later he stopped by my car and I got out and started the Healey. He slowly drove off. It was do or die time. Well Angie, what’s it going to be?
CHAPTER NINE
Tanya Meyers, the Chief Operations Officer for Nemein Pharmaceutical, had a gift for organization. In a business this big it was not only helpful but absolutely essential.
Her success had come at the cost of her marriage. It was partly the result of the long hours the job demanded and partly due to jealousy regarding her rise within the corporation and the amount of money she made. Her husband, Kevin, was happy when he was the chief bread winner but as he was passed over for promotions several times he became bitter at the success of his wife.
Within five years she was making twice the amount that he was bring home and when she was promoted to Vice President she was making triple his bring home salary. That is when the arguments really began and the constant nitpicking.
Over the next two years it became so violent that Tanya had called the police on three separate occasions. Finally deciding enough was enough, she filed for divorce. It was a bitter and ugly affair and neither one went away happy.
Now she was the Senior Vice President of Operations and being considered for the CEO position. She wasn’t exactly devastated when the position went to Wittman but it still stung a little. She certainly felt that she was capable of running the company.
Now Wittman was dead. Murdered. She wasn’t sure what that meant to her and her future. Would Nemein’s board of directors re-interview everyone or simply chose whoever was next on the list? Who was next? she wondered.
She drank three glasses of wine and went to bed. Still restless, she got her tablet out and started playing the electronic version of solitaire. By the third game she was finally feeling her eyelids getting heavy.
She turned off the tablet, rolled over on her side and switched off the light. A few minutes later she was sound asleep.
Tanya’s eyes opened and she listened. She slowly sat up in bed and looked over at the clock. 2:43 a.m. glowed in the dark. She strained to listen. Something had woken her. She heard a faint creaking sound and then a muffled shuffling noise.
She slid out of bed as silently as she could and picked up the baseball bat that she kept near the door. If someone came through the door she would bash their head in first and ask questions later.
She couldn’t believe how hot and flushed she had become. Her hands were sweating and a trickle of perspiration ran down the side of her face. The only thing she could hear was her own heart beating in her chest. It felt like it was going to push right through her rib cage. She waited, listening, but there was nothing.
She loosened her grip on the bat and took a deep breath. Was she just spooked because of Wittman’s murder? She continued to wait but heard no further sounds.
“I have a gun,” she finally shouted, almost startled at the sound of her own voice.
“I will shoot,” she yelled out.
Nothing.
“Alright then, have it your way. I’ve already called 911 and they are on the way,” she said wishing she had already done that very thing.
She crept back to her bed stand and picked up her phone. She started to dial 911 but never pushed the last 1 on the phone pad.
A knife was thrust into her back just below her shoulder blade with such force that it nicked her heart. The phone fell out of her hands and she tried to scream. The knife was yanked out and thrust back in a second and third time.
Tanya fell face forward on the bed trying to figure out why this was happening. It was the last thought she ever had.
***
Sunlight was shining in my eyes when I awoke. It was all I could do to open them. I looked down, grabbed the sheet and pulled it up.
“Diet Coke?” Garrett said when he came in the room.
“What? No coconut donuts?” I asked.
He pulled a container of six coconut donuts from behind his back and handed them to me.
“You just want me to drop the sheet,” I said.
“I can live with that,” Garrett replied.
“Pervert.”
“Me?” he said feigning surprise.
“Don’t go there Mr. Brock,” I warned.
“Absolutely not,” he replied.
I looked at my watch. It was 7:10 a.m., just a little early for my liking but evidently Garrett was one of those strange creatures who liked mornings. I wanted to go to the bathroom but he just stayed where he was standing. My clothes were somewhere in the front room.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I said.
“Go right ahead. It’s right there,” he said.
“I know where it is. I don’t have any clothes on,” I replied.
“I know.”
I glared at him but he wasn’t fazed. I decided what the heck, I slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom bare butt naked. The last thing I heard as I closed the door was him roaring like a lion. Men are such animals.
Garrett handed me a second Diet Coke as I headed out the door to the station. Our parting kiss was passionate enough to lead to other trouble but I really did need to get to work. I was going to be late but considering last night, it was worth it.
***
Dan was already at his desk with his coffee and the captain was in his office when I finally came up the stairs. I felt their eyes on me as I took off my jacket and placed it on the back of my chair. I sat down and pretended to look for something important in my desk drawer.
“What’s up?” Dan finally said.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? I never beat you in,” Dan responded.
“I guess you did this time. I had trouble getting the Healey started and then I needed gas. Just running a little late,” I replied, rummaging around in my desk.
“Uh-huh,” he said.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just agreeing with you,” Dan answered.
“Uh-huh is not agreeing. It is accusing.”
“Only if you did something wrong,” he replied.
I needed to change the subject. Instead, I said I had to go to the ladies’ room. He just laughed. Are all men jerks? What did it matter to him why I was late? I know he thinks he is being protective but he needs to back off just a notch.
When I came out of the restroom the captain motioned me into his office. Oh crap. Now I was going to hear it from him. I really didn’t want to have this conversation. I went in and sat down on the couch.
“You were right,” he said.
“Right about…?”
“The dessert bar. It was totally awesome. I could have skipped the meal and eaten from it,” he told me.
“I doubt they would have been very happy about that,” I answered.
“Darned good food. Did you have a nice time last night?”
“Over all it was enjoyable.”
“Good. Now for the bad news. You need to grab Dan and hightail it over t
o 19 Lionsgate Place. It appears that Tanya Meyers was eliminated from your suspect list. Someone stabbed her multiple times. The crime scene people and the ME are on their way.”
“Okay, we’re out of here.”
“Let me know what you find.”
“I always do,” I said heading out to grab Dan.
***
19 Lionsgate Place was one of those obscenely large houses that cost well over a million and a half to build. The brick driveway was worth more than my house. A four car garage was located off to one side of the circular drive.
Yellow and black crime scene tape detracted from the setting. The addition of several police cars, CSI, and the ME van didn’t add anything to the ambiance of the place either. Cops were standing around chit-chatting and a few neighbors had stopped to rubberneck.
Just as I was about to head inside I saw two news trucks come racing up. The media circus had arrived. It would be in full swing by the time we came back out.
We were directed upstairs and found a couple of uniforms standing near a doorway. I nodded and walked in. Sorenson was the only one in the room and he was leaning over without touching the body. He was studying the stab wounds.
“How many times,” I asked.
“Shot six times.”
“Shot?”
“Stabbed, shot, whatever. I didn’t think you would know the difference,” he said.
“You are a mean old fart, you know that?” I shot back.
“Why thank you kindly, junior detective.”
“I take it the knife is not still stuck in her.”
“Not unless it is in really deep,” he answered.
Why do I even try to be nice to this curmudgeon? All he does is grumble and make snide remarks.
“Time of death?” I asked, trying to ignore his barbs.
“I’m thinking between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., probably closer to 3:00 a.m.”
“She hasn’t been rolled over yet. You want to do that?”
“Might as well, I’m not getting any younger,” Sorenson said.
“You can say that again,” I mumbled half under my breath.
“I heard that,” he said.
“Did not,” I replied.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, don’t you two start in again. You’re just like kids with all the bickering,” Dan chimed in.
“Did you hear something?” Sorenson said to me.
“No. You?”
“Probably just gas. I had Mexican for dinner,” Sorenson replied.
“That is so rude,” Dan said and left to talk to the responding police officers.
“You gotta’ toughen that boy up,” Sorenson said after Dan had left.
“I’m working on it.”
CHAPTER TEN
As it turns out, Sorenson was wrong for one of the few times in his life. Tanya had actually been stabbed seven times. One had overlapped the other and he had missed it on his initial inspection of the body. I considered giving him a hard time but wisely decided against it.
“What are you thinking?”
“Her back was to the door, the guy slips in and stabs her in the back, right about here,” he said pointing to the one under her shoulder blade. He is right handed and from the angle of the entry wounds I would estimate between five-ten and six-two. She was dead with the first thrust, the rest were overkill. There is a lot of anger in the stab wounds. Most are seven inches deep. That’s not so easy to do even with a sharp knife.”
“Any idea what type of knife?”
“Seven inch blade, an inch wide and not serrated. Something like a military K-bar.”
“So after she falls on the bed he continues to stab her.”
“My, my, you are a detective,” Sorenson said, shaking his head.
“Don’t you need to go sniff some formaldehyde or something?” I asked.
“No, but I have a chloroform bandana I would like for you to try on,” he replied.
“You just want to get me on one of the tables and use the Stryker saw on my skull as a payback for all of my gems of wit.”
“What a waste of time that would be for an empty cavity,” he said.
“I’m out of here.”
“Wait. Don’t you want to try the bandana? Did Garret Brock have to use one on you?” he yelled after me.
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to look at him.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“The cat’s out of the bag Bartoni,” he said, smiling.
I’m sure my mouth was open but nothing was coming out. How did he find out and who else knew? I didn’t for one minute believe that Garrett would say anything. What the hell was going on and why can’t my private life remain private?
***
Poor Dan. I almost yanked his arm out of the socket.
“Now what did I do?” he asked, rubbing his arm.
“Don’t give me that. What did you say to Sorenson?”
“Hi? How’s it going? Why?”
“You didn’t share any of your fantasies about my relationship with Garrett?”
“What are you talking about? Man, you are really out of sorts today,” he said.
I know he wanted to say something about it being that time of the month, but he was smart enough to not cross the line.
“Alright. I’m sorry.”
“Lunch is on you,” he said.
“Okay. That’s only fair,” I replied.
“The cleaning lady who found Doctor Meyers is downstairs.”
“Let’s go hear what she has to say.”
“I sent the other officers to canvas the neighborhood but I don’t expect we will get much. The houses are set pretty far back. I doubt if they can even see their neighbor,” Dan replied.
The cleaning lady was sitting on the couch with one of the female officers. She looked to be in her late 50’s or early 60’s. No 401K for this lady, she would probably have to work until she died. She kept smoothing her dress down as we approached her.
“Hi. I’m Detective Bartoni and this is Detective Roberts.”
“I would like to say it is nice to meet you but I don’t think that would be true under the circumstances,” she said.
“Your name is…?”
“Agnes Blackburn.”
“Alright Ms. Blackburn, can you tell me how you found Doctor Meyers?’
“I found her on the bed,” she said like I was a loon.
“I realize that. I want you to walk me through from the time you entered the house until you found her and then what you did afterward.”
“Oh. Well, I arrived around 8:45 a.m. and entered through the back door like always. The doctor is usually gone by the time I come and she leaves her coffee cup and spoon by the sink for me to wash. I noticed there was none there but didn’t really think much of it at the time.”
“And then?”
“As you can see, the house is rather large with seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, den, family room and so on. The thing is, she only uses two or three rooms at the most, her bedroom, the master bathroom, occasionally the den, and the kitchen. The rest of the house usually sits empty.”
“So you don’t clean those rooms?”
“I dust them and give them a quick once over, nothing very detailed.”
“Go on,” I prompted.
“I always start with the master bathroom. I clean it first then the bedroom and work my way back down and out the back door.”
“That seems efficient,” I replied.
“When I went upstairs I saw the doctor lying on the bed. At first it just didn’t make sense to me. She had her feet sticking over the side and was sideways on the bed. I started over to tell her I was here and then saw all the blood. I think I screamed. At least I’m pretty sure I did.”
“Did you go over and check to see if she was dead?”
“Oh heavens no. I figured if she didn’t move when I screamed and well with all that blood on the bed, there was no way she was alive.”
“So you never actual
ly touched the body.”
“No, I did not.”
“Did you notice anything unusual when you came into the house? Was the door jimmied or any windows broken?”
“No, nothing like that. I used my key like I always do.”
“Can you think of anything at all that seemed out of place?” I asked.
“Just that the coffee cup and spoon were missing.”
“Alright. Thank you Ms. Blackburn. The officer will take your name and home information. You will need to give your key to the house to me.”
“What about the upstairs bedroom? Who will clean that?”
“We will have some of our people take care of it.”
“Oh dear. She still owes me for this week. How will I ever get paid? I need the money,” she said.
“How much does she owe you?”
“Eighty-five dollars. It may not seem like much to you but it is what I eat on.”
“Hang on a minute,” I said nudging Dan.
We went over to the other side of the room.
“How much cash do you have on you?”
“Geez Bartoni.”
“Come on. How much?”
“Maybe sixty dollars,” he replied.
“Give me forty and I’ll put in the rest. You would blow that much tonight in a stupid bar someplace anyway.”
“You know for such a hardass you sure have a soft heart.”
“Yeah, yeah, just fork over the money,” I told him.
***
The captain called us into his office when we got back to the station. I went to the restroom first and grabbed a Diet Coke. Dan was sipping his coffee when I sat down on the old leather couch.
“So what’s the prevailing theory?” he asked.
Dan spoke up first, “I don’t know that we have one. There is nothing to indicate the two are related except for the fact that they worked at the same place.”
“And were both in line for the CEO position.”
“There is that,” Dan confessed.
“Do you think it is just a coincidence?” McGregor asked.
“We don’t really have enough to go on at this point. Do I think it could be? Absolutely? Do we know for sure? Absolutely not,” Dan replied.
Boy oh boy. My little detective was speaking up. Of course he was dead wrong but why spoil it for him? First, I don’t believe in coincidences. Second, the fact that two people had been eliminated for the same job was certainly an indicator that they are indeed related.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Angie Bartoni Case File # 14 (Angie Bartoni Case Files) Page 6