I'll Protect You (Clueless Resolutions Book 1)

by W B Garalt

  “Are you guys celebrating that?” asked Jerry, meaning the news flash.

  “Not at all.” said Max, “We’re just celebrating the fact that we have never seen that particular property.”

  “Amen to that, Mates” said Jerry, with a rare seriousness. He then went on to inquire how their junket to Cape Cod turned out.

  The couple described the weekend. Jerry was amused at the story about their having gotten “slightly blitzed” at the tennis club in Hyannis.

  “Maggie even won a woman couples tournament!” Max bragged humorously.

  “Was there a big prize?” asked Jerry, jokingly.

  “Yeah” said Maggie, “Balls!”

  “So said the Queen, if I had ‘em I’d be King!” guffawed Jerry, re-working an old joke.

  “We had better order some supper to go with our next martini” quipped Max.

  After a relaxing meal Max suggested that Maggie come over to his apartment where they could reassess the day’s events. Maggie accepted his invitation, a first at that venue for the couple.

  “Separate cars?” she asked teasingly.

  “Separate work times come morning, separate cars.” he responded. Maggie nodded in agreement.

  Chapter 18

  By Thursday, following the Memorial Day weekend, a press conference had been arranged. At 10:15 AM a group of eighteen reporters, photographers, camera men, sound and lighting technicians were assembled on the sidewalk in front of the Sheffield Town Administrative building.

  On the steps were Sheffield First Selectman Everet “Doc” Franklin, Connecticut State Police Inspector Don Chace, and East Wayford Chief of Police Louis Devaro.

  Doc Franklin introduced himself to the crowd and cameras and then he introduced the other two. Doc then turned the microphone over to Inspector Chace for an update on the Sheffield killing.

  Chace explained that, based on preliminary tests and information, the death was now being investigated as a homicide.

  He reported that the victim was a sixty-two year old male and a resident of Greenville, Connecticut but his family’s attorney had requested anonymity until some relatives who were out of the country could be notified.

  He mentioned that the owners of the crime scene property were away at the time of the killing and were not part of the investigation. Chace went on to say that the owners were shocked at what had occurred and, as concerned parents, didn’t want their children exposed to the media attention. While waiting to get back into the house they had a private property sign made up. It was now posted at the driveway entrance. The family had requested that they be given privacy.

  Chief Devaro summarized the two homicides in East Wayford in a like manner, and explained that due to similarities in the crimes, the State Police Commander had assigned Inspector Chace to assist in investigating all three. He reported that there were no suspects as yet. Doc Franklin then opened up the conference for questions from the media.

  The questioning session ran for approximately ten minutes, and all three speakers took turns addressing the questions. When the questions began to move toward redundancy, Doc Franklin thanked the media for attending the conference and ended the session.

  Chief Devaro and Inspector Chace drove back to East Wayford in the inspector’s car. Along the way, Don Chace updated the chief on some specifics in his investigation that were ‘not for publication’. First, he mentioned that during his interview with the Old Persia Road property owners he was shown damage done to some shrubbery along their driveway and they had asked for reimbursement. Doc Franklin agreed to process the request, but the interesting thing was that Chace was sure that the damage wasn’t caused by any of the police or emergency medical people. He had taken pictures of the shrubbery and some tire tracks. He advised the chief that possibly a second, unidentified vehicle could have been involved.

  The other matter Chace brought up was about the trip that he made to Greenville the previous day. Although he didn’t get any important information regarding the victim from the Greenville police personnel, a drive by the residence of the car’s owner was startling because of the style and scale of the property. It was a multi-million dollar piece of real estate.

  While in Greenville Don Chace had hooked up with a fellow state police inspector that he worked with over the years and he was expecting to hear back from him soon. His friend the inspector, when hearing of Chace’s East Wayford assignment venue, had mentioned that a frequent visitor to the Greenville/Grandford area was from East Wayford. He was an auction house owner known as Carl Jenson. This bit of information related by Don Chace intrigued Chief Devaro.

  “Hmm…that’s a weird coincidence, I know Carl,” said the chief, “he’s a Chamber of Commerce member, a church going family man, and he’s respected locally as a shrewd businessman.

  “Is that Max Hargrove’s employer?” asked Chace.

  “Yes,” responded the chief, “Max has worked for Carl at Jenson & Associates auction house for quite a few years now. Max Hargrove is an expert real estate consultant. He inspects the properties going up for auction and provides documented evaluations that Jenson uses to set a minimum acceptable bid.”

  They arrived back at the East Wayford headquarters and each went to his respective office to check messages.

  Soon after, Chief Devaro was leaving for lunch and he poked his head into Don Chace’s office doorway.

  “Here are the notes from Salvadore on his investigation, maybe they’ll help to connect some of the dots.” he said as he handed over a thin manila portfolio.

  “Thanks, every little bit helps.” quipped the inspector with just the slightest hint of skepticism.

  Minutes later Don Chace, having injected an additional item into his investigation agenda, left for an impromptu visit to ask Francine Stanley a few questions. He had noticed her name on a copy of the sign-in register from the open house at Old Persia Road in Sheffield. Her office was the only East Wayford address on the list. Since it was located nearby, he felt it would be a good place to start. Also, among the few notes in Salvadore’s file, a log of his activity listed a visit at the Stanley Realty address with one of Francine’s employees.

  When he arrived at Stanley Realty Inc. the only person in the office was Francine, doing phone duty, as was typical. Inspector Chace introduced himself, revealed his badge ID, and told her the reason for his visit. Francine was cordial although rather reserved.

  They sat in Francine’s office as Chace inquired about anything unusual that she might have noticed during her attendance at the open house in Sheffield. Francine had not. Chace asked if he could speak to the other employee who accompanied her that day. Chace had never met Francine before this, but having expertise in body language, he observed that this question made her appear nervous.

  “Oh, do you mean Carrie?” responded Francine, “She isn’t exactly an employee. She is a sales-license trainee. I brought her with me so that she could get an experience at a brokers open house.” explained Francine.

  “I see,” said Chace, “did any of your regular employees attend?”

  “Oh no”, answered Francine, “I only have one employee, that’s Maggie. She is licensed but she isn’t a salesperson, per se.”

  Next Chace asked; “Would that be Ms. Marshall?” Francine answered in the affirmative and went on to describe Maggie’s specialty. She then informed him, though he hadn’t asked, that all other salespeople in her office were licensed, independent contractor associates.

  Because Francine went into so much detail about the status of her staff, Chace began to think that the nervousness he noticed might be due to that issue. He was aware of the fact that the labor department had been tough with real estate brokers, over the years, as to how they listed their associates.

  “Is the trainee here today?” he asked abruptly. Obviously nervous now, Francine told Chace that ‘Miss Slavonic’ had the day off.

  Chace thanked Francine for her time and turned to leave.

  “Oh, one last
thing,” he said, looking back at her, “I have a note that shows that a Detective Salvadore of the East Wayford Police came here a few weeks back to interview ‘an employee,’ he said, making quote marks in the air with his fingers. “Would that have been referring to Carrie Slavonic?” Francine was startled.

  “I…I don’t know…Oh, no, that would have been Maggie Marshall that he came to see.”

  Inspector Chace thanked her again and then he went on his way. Francine was relieved that he left. That man does make me nervous. She thought.

  Next on Don Chace’s agenda was Carl Jenson. Chace was really curious about the reason for Jenson’s frequent visits to the Grandford/Greenville area. When he heard of it from his associate there were no details as to why he went there. Hell, it’s a free country, he’s free to go wherever he wants to, but frequent visits must have a reason. The latest killing victim lived there, he summarized while on the way to the Jenson & Associates Office, also, both of the East Wayford killings were in properties inspected for auction by Jenson’s company.

  Carl Jenson was in his office when Chace arrived and agreed to meet with the inspector. “I’m pleased to meet you, Inspector Chace, I was glad to hear that you are helping out with the homicide investigation here. Call me Carl, everybody does”, he said as he shook Chace’s hand. After exchanging pleasantries, the inspector spoke directly.

  “Well Carl, since I was working in the area we’ve had another apparent homicide, right next door in Sheffield, I’m sure you’ve heard about that, and I‘ve been assigned to investigate that case as well.” With a grave look Carl remarked, solemnly,

  “Yes, I did hear about that. These killings are horrible. The concern is becoming more and more vocal in the community.”

  Carl’s rather sudden switch in tone surprised Chace. It seemed almost rehearsed, for some reason. Chace had his notebook in his hand and hesitated before he said,

  “Both of the homicides in East Wayford occurred in properties that had been auctioned, or set for auction, by Jenson & Associates, is that correct?”

  Carl Jenson’s demeanor became more guarded as he looked at Chace with a curious, one-eyebrow- raised expression. His ruddy complexion seemed to get a little ruddier.

  “Actually, Inspector, one property was auctioned by us but the bid, the only bid, fell through. It’s now back on the market.”

  “Listed with Stanley Realty?” Chace interjected with a question.

  “Well, yes, I believe it is.” returned Carl, frowning, “As I was saying,” he continued, “the other property was inspected for appraisal, but the contract is in limbo because of the homicide there.” Chace thanked him for that information as he made corrections in his notes.

  Carl Jenson seemed to relax as Chace hesitated for a moment. Then the inspector spoke;

  “This is my last question, Do you, as Jenson Associates, conduct any business in the Grandford, or Greenville Connecticut, area?” Carl seemed jolted by the question. With an obviously forced calmness he asked, “Why do you ask that?” Chace realized that he had become a little too obvious.

  “I was just trying to decipher my scribbles.” Chace explained as he made an exaggerated crossing-off motion on his pad.

  At that, Chace rose from his chair and turned toward the office exit. He stopped, turned back to face Jenson with his notebook in one hand and pen in the other.

  “Oh, by the way, you did say that you heard that the victim from the Sheffield killing was a resident of Greenville, didn’t you?” he asked, probing for Jenson’s reaction.

  Carl Jenson, trying to be cordial as he was seeing Chace to the door, looked around as if to see who might have overheard the question. Quietly but peevishly, he answered,

  “I don’t remember mentioning it but I did hear that.”

  “Okay, thanks very much for your time.” Chace said, as he made a final check mark on his pad.

  Chace then left the office of Jenson & Associates with a red faced, seemingly irritated Carl Jenson waving him off. On the way back to his East Wayford Office Chace was reflecting on the interview. Hard one to figure, thought the inspector, his body language speaks volumes but what the hell is it saying? Maybe it’s a personality quirk, or maybe not. We’ll see.

  After a long day, he headed off on his twenty five minute commute to his home. His wife and three daughters hadn’t seen much of him lately.

  Chapter 19

  Following an uneventful weekend, Maggie was relaxed and hoping to get back to work with some semblance of normalcy. The weather on this sunny Monday was clear and almost balmy. Very comforting, she thought as she drove to her workplace.

  “Good morning Francine” she sang when she went into the Stanley Realty office. Francine waved while picking up the ringing phone.

  Maggie checked through her messages, looked at her day-planner and scanned her list of lender associates.

  She decided it was time for some TLC with her contacts, since calls and leads had dropped off lately. Just to make sure that she was on their A list, she put together an agenda for two days of “glad handing.”

  Aggie Moran and Sheena Green both came into the Realty office at the same time. Neither of them ever knew how to deal with Maggie. As usual, they nodded in her direction and checked their mail boxes. They went into Francine’s office and Maggie could see Francine hanging up the phone as they closed the door behind them.

  They’re probably getting their asses chewed out for not producing any listings or sales lately, she thought. If they were as awkward dealing with customers as they were with me, it’s no freaking wonder! For some reason Maggie couldn’t help feeling amused by that thought. Smiling at no one in particular, she left for a day of schmoozing with her customer base.

  Her day went well. The weather was fantastic, her reception at every visit was good, as usual, and if there were any repercussions from the rash of homicides it wasn’t apparent.

  She had met with her contacts at one commercial bank, one residential mortgage company and one savings and loan association. Most were currently tabulating their monthly mortgage delinquency files to identify problem properties and seemed to think that the mortgage failure problem was intensifying. This would indicate that Maggie would be busier in the near future.

  The mortgage company clients didn’t sense a great threat to their operation since most of them periodically sold their outstanding mortgage loans to major banks and financial holding companies and retained only the servicing and collection for a fee. This made available new funds for them to lend.

  The commercial banks and credit unions held most of their loans internally.

  The savings and loan associations had typically sold off their large bundled-packages of loans, which were backed by a guarantee from FDMC, an acronym for the semi-governmental agency known as “Freddie Mac.” So generally, Maggie’s lender clients were in a ‘business-as-usual’ mode. The only prevailing negative, however, was that the volume of new loan applications was declining. This was somewhat disconcerting to the lenders but it was really threatening to the real estate brokers and salespersons that brought the buyers to the banks. In this New England region, spring and summer real estate transactions traditionally made up the bulk of the annual total of residential sales.

  Maggie had two more clients to see, a credit union and another mortgage company. By 4:30 in the afternoon she decided to quit for the day and pick up where she left off on Tuesday. It had been a beautiful southern New England summer day and she was very satisfied with her results.

  Three of Maggie’s contacts, females who had known her and dealt with her for a few years, and who were aware of the fact that much of her service involved Max, had asked about him during Maggie’s visits. She planned to dine together Tuesday evening with Max but couldn’t wait to tease the hell out of him about the ladies’ inquiries as to his ‘well-being’. She decided to give him a call.

  Tuesday morning turned out to be cloudy and damp and that condition gradually downgraded. Maggie had p
roblems with her washing machine and got off to a late start. She had two more lender contacts to visit and decided to go directly to the credit union first.

  When she arrived she was shocked to hear that her contact there, an older gentleman on the board of directors, had been hospitalized with a serious illness. After passing along her regrets and best wishes, she continued on to the last stop on her list.

  Maggie’s contact at this mortgage company was the manager, a young man of Hispanic heritage, probably in his late twenties. He was glad to see her and was, as usual, full of flattery. This was part of his persona when dealing with females.

  He wondered why, however, that during the previous week he had left a message for her at Stanley Realty and had not heard back from her. The problem was urgent and he gave the lead to an attorney that he knew.

  Maggie was puzzled and a little disappointed at missing out on the lead. She promised to check with her office to determine what the problem was. The manager did have another lead to give her and had called the previous day. He left the message with Francine. He assumed that Maggie had stopped in on this morning to pick up the information in person.

  “Oh yeah, I just love to stop by and get the phony flattery treatment, don’t kid yourself Romeo”, she said silently, while maintaining her smile and without blinking an eye.

  His name actually wasn’t Romeo. He was a nice guy, went a little heavy on the cologne, but otherwise just a good business contact to her. Maggie thanked him, put the contact information in her attaché case and bid him a farewell.

  Maggie’s day was going quite the opposite from the day before. The weather was lousy today, she may have lost her long time contact at the credit union, and she missed out on a lead from the previous week. Maggie was accumulating quite a negative thought process as she drove through the rain to her office.

  Usually, if Maggie hadn’t picked up the message within a few hours after a call came in from one of her contacts, Francine, or whoever was on phone duty, would contact her by cell phone. In these cases the lenders had to have a workable solution underway as soon as possible, and Maggie had been made aware that the timing was critical.