DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Angie Bartoni Case File # 14 (Angie Bartoni Case Files)

by Marshall Huffman

  “Winters.”

  “Nice to meet you Lisa Winters,” I said nodding to her.

  She didn’t reply.

  “What do you want to talk about?” Megan asked at last.

  “First of all, why you bolted as soon as we left? What was the big emergency?”

  “My house was a mess and if you were going to send…”

  “You can stop with that line. Your house is picture-perfect. Why don’t you just tell us the truth? It will be better all the way around.”

  “Hey,” the woman on the couch said, suddenly standing, “Leave her alone.”

  I hadn’t realized how tall she was. She was at least five eleven or maybe six foot tall.

  “Whoa. Back down Lisa or I’ll cuff you and take you in for obstruction. You need to butt out.”

  “Like hell I will,” she said taking a step toward us.

  I put my hand on my Taser and slipped the strap off.

  “One more step and you are going to know what a million volts of electricity feel like.”

  “Real tough are you?” she said.

  “I don’t need to be tough. I can tell you this for sure. You screw with me and you will come out the looser. That I can guarantee.”

  “Don’t Lisa. It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay,” she insisted.

  “Get over it,” Dan said stepping in between Lisa and me.

  You could see the hatred in her eyes. Her fists were balled and her mouth was set like she was considering taking on Dan. Boy would that be a stupid mistake. One thing about Dan, if you attack the police there are no holds barred. He would put her on her butt. I guess she finally realized that and unclenched her fists.

  “Is this why you left? You wanted to warn her that we were coming with a warrant. You didn’t want anyone to know about your relationship with Lisa?” I asked.

  “Yes. Nemein would fire me in a heartbeat if they ever found out. They are so conservative. No one knows about Lisa and me,” she said.

  “Alright Megan. That explains why you took off like you did. You can relax. There is no reason for this to leave the premises. As far as I am concerned, it is none of Nemein’s business.”

  “Oh thank you. Thank you.”

  “No need to thank us. You don’t have to answer to us about this. It goes to a higher authority,” I replied and we simply left and headed back to the station.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I was surprised to find Garrett sitting at my desk when we came up the stairs.

  “Hey Angie.”

  “Hey Garrett. What brings you here?”

  “I was actually just across the street and thought I would drop in and see how your case is going. I just heard on the news that the second potential Nemein CEO was murdered. The press is making it a big deal.”

  “I guess they have a right too. Two deaths in less than a week at the same place is pretty suspicious.”

  “Then throw in the CEO thing and yeah, I can see how they would make it big.”

  “Well so far we don’t have much to tell them. We have no witnesses, no leads and no evidence that points to anyone.”

  “You are up the creek without the proverbial paddle,” Garrett replied.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “So what are you going to do next?”

  “Dan and I have asked to have the DVD’s from all of the Nemein security cameras sent over. We are going to have to go through them one by one and see if we can spot anything suspicious in the secure nuclear medicine room. We already know that the system is not fool proof.”

  “You do? How?”

  “Bobby Riley from Bio-Haz proved it. He managed to beat the system and take more than the inventory showed.”

  “So someone could have removed an extra amount and used it to poison Dr. Wittman,” Garrett replied.

  “Correct.”

  “So if you can spot the person…”

  “That changes everything,” I said, cutting him off.

  “What about the other person? The woman?”

  “Doctor Meyer. She was stabbed. Totally different MO but the two are linked, I’d bet my shirt on it.”

  “Oooh.”

  “Don’t go there pervert,” I told him.

  “Okay, what are you missing?”

  “Damned if I know. The person who did it I guess.”

  “Sometimes I just have to sit and go through it step by step. I have to ask myself over and over. If this happened, who benefited. Okay, if this happened, then who benefited. I try to look at it from as many different angles as possible keeping in mind who would gain the most from someone’s death.”

  “Well since we are down to two or three people, you would think something would pop up.”

  “Have you talked to all three?”

  “We have two to go. There’s a guy from another company who was being considered for the job. It is kind of delicate. The other is the CFO who is out of the state,” I told him.

  “Because he doesn’t want them to know he applied?” Garrett asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “That is kind of touchy.”

  “We already have it figured out,” I told him.

  “Going to his house?”

  “Even better. We are going to his house in my Healey. No one would ever suspect that it was the cops.”

  “Cool,” Garrett said appreciatively.

  ***

  I picked Dan up at his apartment at 7:30 p.m. and we drove to Carmel, a suburb of Indianapolis. It was once a sleepy little bedroom community but now it was a sprawling, overflowing hodgepodge of stores, restaurants, and entertainment places. It has lost its charm as far as I’m concerned.

  Roland Lancaster’s house was gated and Dan pushed the button so that he could electronically open them. We pulled up a long inlayed brick driveway to his sprawling house.

  What’s with all these people? Where in the hell are they getting all this money? Obviously I chose the wrong line of work. Then again, I don’t have to worry about making huge mortgage payments.

  “Damn,” Dan said looking the place over.

  “Yeah. It’s getting kind of old isn’t it?”

  “Somewhat,” he agreed.

  Dan rang the doorbell. We could hear the chimes reverberating someplace deep in the house. A few seconds later a balding man of medium height with incredibly bushy eyebrows greeted us.

  “Police?” Lancaster inquired.

  “Detectives Bartoni and Roberts,” I said handing him a card.

  He looked at it and then extended his hand. We shook and he invited us inside.

  Huge paintings were hung on either side of the wall when you stepped inside. They looked like someone had used them for drop cloths when they had painted the rooms. There were dribbles and splatters that sure didn’t speak to me. They probably cost a fortune but I didn’t see the appeal.

  He led us to a large den with books shelved on three of the walls. It was done in dark paneling with those green banker’s lamps that used to be so popular. He had a large desk close to the other wall with a computer sitting on it.

  There were two leather couches and two leather side chairs along with a couple of end tables and a coffee table. The rug was plush and soft. Dan and I sat on one couch and Lancaster sat down in one of the chairs.

  “I understand you wanted to talk to me about the death of Doctor Wittman?”

  “That’s part of it,” I replied.

  “Oh?”

  “There are actually several things. First, is your applying for the position as CEO at Nemein.”

  “I believe you are misinformed,” he said sitting up straight in his chair.

  “Mr. Lancaster please don’t try to jack us around. We know you applied for the position. We’ve seen you letter of inquiry, and your Vita so how about you giving us straight answers. We even did you a favor in driving my personal vehicle here to forestall any gossip. You can be straight with us here or try again at the station,” I told him.

  I c
ould see that it galled him to be talked to like that. After all he was a big shot executive at a powerful pharmaceutical company and was used to having people jump when he said jump. His corporate power didn’t count for a hill of beans in this situation.

  “Alright. I did apply for the position.”

  “Why?”

  “Because our CEO is a brainless dolt and isn’t going to retire until the day he dies. Nemein had an opening and I went for it.”

  “Did you know any of the other candidates?”

  “I knew Wittman, Pike, and Stewart on a business level. I knew none of them on a social level,” he said.

  “Did you know Tanya Meyers?”

  “Can’t say that I do. I heard her name mentioned in one of my interviews but I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

  “How did you take it, when you found out you didn’t get the job?” I asked.

  “Nothing lost, nothing gained. It was worth a try. I honestly figured they would be small minded enough to want to promote from within the company. Conservative companies like Nemein will never be the top pharmaceutical company until they broaden their horizons. They simply don’t think big enough,” he told us.

  “So it didn’t make you angry?”

  “To what end? It wouldn’t change anything would it? Why waste the energy?”

  “Mr. Lancaster, are you married?”

  “I am.”

  “Where is your wife?”

  “She is visiting her mother in Washington.”

  “So no one was home with you last night?”

  “That is correct,” he said crossing his legs and putting the tips of his fingers together.

  “Were you here all night?”

  “I stopped and ate first then came straight home. I worked at my desk until around 8:30 p.m. and then read for a while. At 9:00 p.m. I watched Falling Skies and then went to bed. I get up at 6:00 a.m. so I usually go to bed at 10:00 p.m.”

  “Is there anyone who can verify that?” Dan asked.

  “I don’t know who it would be. As you can see, the houses are pretty far apart so the answer is ‘no’.”

  “Mr. Lancaster, do you have access to the nuclear medicine at Lilly?”

  He looked at us for a minute. He obviously knew where this was going and he was weighing out his answer carefully.

  “I am the Executive Vice President. I have access to all levels of any of our facilities. Having said that, we have a very rigorous security system that simply cannot be defeated. We have tried over and over again to find a way past it and have failed. We even hired an outside agency to try to find a way around our system and they failed.”

  “One last question.”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you kill either Doctor Wittman or Tanya Meyers?”

  “Absolutely not and I resent the implication.”

  “Resent all you want. That’s the way it is,” I said standing.

  Dan stood as well and finally Lancaster got up and without another word led us back to the front door.

  “I’m sure we will talk again,” I said as we were leaving.

  “Not without my attorney present,” Lancaster replied.

  “Please feel free to have them there,” was my parting shot.

  I heard the door close rather forcefully as we headed back to the car. Everything had been going smoothly until the last part. It was unpleasant right at the end which is often the case when you ask if they killed someone. It was not the first time that an interview ended like this and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last.

  “What do you think?” Dan asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “He looks strong enough.”

  “And tall enough,” I agreed.

  “He didn’t look all that strong but who knows really,” Dan added.

  “We will give him a couple of days and then take another run at him. In the meantime we will sic Eric on him to find out everything he can about the man.”

  “I’ll bet he turns up clean.”

  “Probably. You don’t usually get that high in the corporate world if you’ve been in some kind of trouble,” I replied.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The first thing I did when I got to the station the next morning was to go and talk to Eric. I started him digging into the background of all three of the potential CEO’s.

  What was bothering me the most was if all three were potential targets and there was someone else doing this? The only problem with that was motive. What could someone on the outside of the company gain from the death of these people?

  I knew we were missing something. Hanging out there in the back of my mind was a fuzzy picture. I just couldn’t get it to come into focus. That’s not so rare, I’m often a little fuzzy.

  I decided to talk it out with the captain.

  “Hey boss can I run something by you?”

  “Of course Bartoni, I live for these moments,” he said rolling his eyes.

  “Great,” I said plopping down on the worn leather couch.

  “And just what is it or do I have to guess?”

  “No. I just want to try to make sense of this Nemein thing.”

  “Fine. Shoot.”

  “Okay Wittman was killed, probably because he got the position over his colleagues. That’s bad enough but then someone kills another candidate. Why? There was no way that they knew if she was next in line. What I am having a hard time with is since no one knows who will be named the CEO, why are they killing the others off? Do they intend to kill the others until they are the only choice left? That certainly won’t work. It would be pretty obvious who the killer was,” I said in a kind of rambling monologue.

  “Do you think the others are in danger?”

  “I think some of them could be.”

  “Are you absolutely sure the two are connected? The second one could have been for some other reason.”

  “Come on captain, just days after Wittman is killed Meyers gets murdered. That’s reaching beyond coincidence don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just bouncing things off you as well,” he replied.

  “I need to do something but honestly I don’t know what I should do next. I can’t put a watch on the other four.”

  “Four? I thought there was only three.”

  “No. We have Pike, King, Stewart, and Lancaster.”

  “Who is Lancaster?” the captain asked.

  “The outsider that they were considering. He works for Lilly and saw an opportunity to change companies.”

  “Have you talked to all of them?”

  “All but Pike. He is in Dallas and will be back tomorrow.”

  “Okay, what’s that famous Bartoni gut telling you?”

  “Nothing and everything. Only Stewart isn’t physically able to have killed Meyers. Any of the others could have. Well, I haven’t met Pike yet so I guess I should hold off judgment.”

  “And this is where I tell you that you….”

  “I know,” I interrupted, “Go back and start at the beginning and look at each one again. Begin at the beginning.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Brilliant,” I replied rolling my eyes as he had done earlier.

  “I know, that’s why I’m a captain. Now go do some detective work and quit moping around.”

  “Yes sir captain, sir.”

  “Damn straight.”

  ***

  McGregor was right but the problem was I didn’t really know where the beginning was. Sure it started with Wittman but killing the others before they were even a clear threat seemed to be an unnecessary risk and stupid.

  I was pondering whether I should go to lunch or just brood for the rest of the day. Pike was due back at the office tomorrow morning and I wanted to be there early to have a nice sit down discussion with him.

  My dilemma was solved when Garrett popped in.

  “Hey girl, you up for some lunch?”

  “You caught me at just the right time. I was giving some se
rious thought to just such a plan.”

  “Then let’s go. I know a neat little Mexican place.”

  “El Toro’s?”

  “Na. That’s too commercial. This place is authentic.”

  “Lead on,” I replied.

  We went in my Healey. His big ol’ boat was too flashy for my taste. The place was called Rico’s Grill and was rustic to say the least. In fact I am not sure I would have gone in by myself but since I had Garrett with me I figured it was safe.

  A little bell rang when we opened the door and several people turned to look at us. They did not look friendly until the man behind the counter waved.

  “Olé Mr. B.”

  “Olé Rico.”

  “Welcome. Who is the pretty lady?”

  “This is my good friend Seniorita Bartoni.”

  “She a cop too?” he asked.

  “Now Rico. You know it isn’t polite to ask a lady what she does for a living.”

  “Sorry,” he said and shrugged.

  Rico was of undetermined age. He could have been thirty or forty or he could be sixty. It was hard to tell. His skin looked like leather but he had a full head of dark hair. His eyes were chocolate brown.

  “Come, I will throw these bums out of this booth and you and the lady can sit there,” he said scurrying over to a booth.

  A few seconds later we were being seated.

  “He didn’t have to make them move for us,” I protested.

  “They are his nephews. They get most of their food for free anyway. We are actually paying customers. Rico has a big heart and gives away as much food as he sells,” Garrett informed me.

  “How does he stay in business?” I asked.

  “You don’t really want to know the answer to that,” Garrett replied.

  That didn’t sound too good to me but this didn’t seem like the time or place to push it.

  I didn’t recognize half the items on the menu. They were all in Spanish and I was just a bit rusty in that area. I let Garrett order for me. He ordered a Dos XX and I just had iced tea.

  “I take it progress is slow.”

  “You might say that. Actually there is no progress at this point. We have absolutely nothing to go on.”

  “And you are still sure the two are related?”

  “Everyone keeps asking me that. I have no proof but I don’t believe for a minute that they aren’t related.”