Splintered (Mike Campbell Series Book 1)

by Rosemary Wilson

  Mike knew he wasn’t doing a very good job of this and Sandy’s grimace at the word “remains” made him wish he had found another way to put it. “Jason will probably be in touch about the arrangements. When Max and I saw him earlier, he expressed his need to be involved with his son’s funeral.”

  A light came into Sandy’s eyes. Vehemently, she stated, “He can rot in hell before I will let him have one thing to say about how my husband will be buried. He may have had control of Dave during his life, but I will make sure Dave’s wishes are followed and Jason will not like what his son wanted. Mike, make sure Dr. Dougherty and the police get all the evidence they can because I intend to have Dave cremated and his ashes scattered in his favorite place. Now if you all will excuse me, I am extremely tired. I will wait to hear from you, Mike regarding when I can make arrangements to have Dave picked up. Thank you for coming, Dr. Wells. I will be in touch if I feel I need your help.”

  Turning, Sandy left the room and four startled people watched her go. Stephanie was the first one to recover and asked Dr. Wells, “Do you think I should go after her?”

  “No, Stephanie, let her go. She was probably waiting for Mike to come so she knew what was going on. She has a plan now. You just need to be there for her over the next couple of days with all the love and support you can give without suffocating her. I’ll leave now, but don’t hesitate to call if you think I can be of help.”

  Stephanie said goodbye to her friend and Richard walked Dr. Wells to the door. Mike asked Stephanie how she knew Dr. Wells.

  “Alice and I met at a fundraiser about five years ago. We hit it off and found we had a lot in common. She’s been a good sounding board for me when it came to Sandy and Dave. Richard and I had a strong suspicion Dave was abusing Sandy, but she would never admit it. Alice told us that was typical of abused women and we needed to keep reinforcing Sandy’s strengths rather than criticizing Dave.”

  Richard strode into the room and heard the last thing Stephanie said. “If we had stepped in last year when she went to the hospital for the bruised spleen, we would have avoided what happened last week.”

  Mike saw Richard was barely able to contain his anger as he looked at Stephanie. Mike thought this was probably an ongoing argument between the two. “Mr. Powers, you don’t know that. Sandy has always been a strong-willed person. When she was in the hospital she told me she had wanted to make it work with Dave. She said after she got out of the hospital last year, things were as good as they were when they were first married. But then it appeared one or both of them might be laid off, that’s when Dave started to drink more. Sandy wanted her marriage to work, but she finally realized Dave would always take his frustration out on her in one way or another. Her bad timing in asking for the divorce was unfortunate.”

  Mike realized he had used another bad choice of words when Richard looked at him and growled “Unfortunate? Do you really think any time would have been ‘fortunate’ when it came to that wife-beater?”

  “I’m sorry Mr. Powers. I don’t seem to be phrasing things very well tonight. I just meant the Sandy I remember from high school was not a person you could make do something if she was opposed to it. Once she made up her mind about something important, she followed through. It doesn’t appear she has changed much in that respect.”

  “You’re right. We raised Sandy to think for herself and make informed decisions. But it doesn’t make her decision any easier to accept.”

  Mike could see Richard’s anger had ebbed. The way he was putting his foot in his mouth tonight, he was afraid he would re-ignite the older man’s anger. He had some questions to ask and they were not likely to be well received.

  “Mr. Powers, did you see Dave at any time after the night Sandy was taken to the hospital?”

  Mike saw a flicker of worry momentarily flash across Stephanie’s face. Richard was stone-faced as he answered, “No. Why do you ask?”

  Mike had an uneasy feeling Richard was lying to him. “I talked to Mary Parker before I came here and she said she saw someone leaving Dave’s house about seven p.m. last night.”

  “What does that have to do with me?”

  “The description she gave me was vague, but the body type she described was very much like yours. I’m just trying to eliminate possibilities.”

  “I find it interesting, but it has nothing to do with me.”

  Mike wanted to believe Richard, but his sudden blasé attitude just wasn’t sitting right. He wanted to pursue it, but thought better of it. He needed Max to be part of any in-depth interrogation. He decided it was time to call it a night and bid farewell to Sandy’s parents.

  As they shut the door behind Mike, Stephanie looked at Richard and asked, “Why did you lie to him?”

  CHAPTER 19

  Mike never got his report written when he got home, so for once he was glad for his internal clock which got him up a little earlier than the usual 6:30. After he showered and dressed, he was greeted in the kitchen by Lucy. He couldn’t remember if he had fed her last night, but judging by her vocal outrage, he knew he hadn’t. He refilled her bowls and she sauntered over to inspect his food offering. She began to eat, so he assumed he was forgiven.

  Two hours later, Mike was sitting at his desk finishing his report when Max strolled in. He looked well-rested and after taking a good look at Mike asked “What time did you get in last night?”

  “Probably close to midnight. You know Max, this whole situation just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”

  “How so?”

  Mike needed to verbalize what had been happening. He was confused and after last night’s trip to see Sandy, afraid where this investigation was leading. “Let’s start with the attack on Sandy. Dave reached the end of his rope and snapped. She ends up in the hospital and he ends up back in daddy’s clutches. After being bailed out of jail, he went to the hospital and convinced Sandy not to press charges. Sandy gets released from the hospital and goes to her parents’ house. When she goes to pick up her clothes yesterday, Dave is found dead in the basement, his hands across the room on his workbench holding a computer-generated note stating ‘If he had kept his hands to himself, he would still have them.’

  “Mary Parker took Sandy to her parents’ house so we could take care of removing Dave’s body and doing the forensic investigation. She also stated she had seen a large man leaving the house around 7:00 p.m. the night before.”

  Max had been nodding his head and simply said, “Sounds like you’ve got the chronology right. What’s the problem?”

  “When I went to Richard’s and Stephanie’s house last night, I got two big surprises. First, Sandy was almost catatonic until I told her about Jason wanting to have a say in his son’s funeral. She became extremely animated and was adamant about keeping Jason away from any of the funeral preparations. She said she would wait for Dr. Dougherty’s call and simply left the room.”

  “Sounds like there’s quite a bit of history there with her and Jason. Might bear looking into.”

  “Sandy always was a determined person. She will see this through no matter what it takes. After she went upstairs and Dr. Wells left…”

  Max interrupted Mike. “Who’s Dr. Wells?”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you about her. She’s the psychologist Mrs. Powers called to come over when Sandy was first brought to the house. Sandy’s emotions were all over the place and they thought she might respond better to a non-family member. I’m not sure how well it worked because Sandy was just staring into space when I got there. Anyway, Dr. Wells left and Richard, Stephanie and I were in the family room again. They got into a ‘discussion’ about the reason Sandy was in the hospital last year. Richard felt if they had done something then, Dave would not have had a chance to attack her last week.”

  Mike felt like Max was not listening to him anymore, so he snapped his fingers in front of Max’s face and said “Earth to Max.”

  Max looked at Mike and simply said, “I’m listening, Mike. You have a guilt-
ridden father who is playing the ‘if only’ game. He’s not the first and won’t be the last. Again I ask, what’s the problem?”

  “I asked him if he had seen Dave since the night Sandy was taken to the hospital and he gave me a very firm no.”

  “And you don’t believe him.”

  “I was watching both Stephanie’s and his reactions when I asked the question. Richard’s expression never changed, but Stephanie had a fleeting look of fear come over her face. It was so quick if I hadn’t been looking at her at the time, I would have missed it.”

  “Do you think he’s the mystery man Mary Parker saw leaving the house?”

  “Yes. I just don’t know why he would lie about it. The coroner said TOD was probably between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., and we found the Word file on the laptop was opened at 12:45 a.m., so Mr. Powers leaving the house at 7:00 p.m. would not make him a suspect in the killing.”

  “The information on TOD won’t be released until after the autopsy. Why don’t we wait and get Dr. Dougherty’s report and then pay a visit to Richard Powers.”

  “Okay. It will give us time to go over the interviews conducted last night. Has anything come through yet on the computer and printer?”

  Max accessed his e-mail account. “Nothing so far. I don’t know how backed up they are. I’ll give a call over and find out where our case is on the schedule. Dr. Dougherty will be starting the autopsy in about an hour, so we should be able to find out the results after lunch. If he corroborates the time line for TOD, then we need to find out what Richard Powers is hiding.”

  Mike dug into the interviews, hoping something would jump out and he could stop thinking of Richard Powers as a possible suspect.

  CHAPTER 20

  Mike got into his car and headed home. He and Max had checked with the coroner around two and were told the autopsy report on Dave Flanders had not yet been completed. He had gone over the interviews the officers had conducted last night. The only one who had seen anyone near the Flanders’ house was Mary Parker. No one heard anything unusual. No surprise since Dave’s throat had been slit. Mike was curious about the sound Mary had heard around 12:30 a.m., but it could have been anything. He needed to take a break and shut off his mind for a while.

  As he pulled into his driveway, he realized the sunny, warm weather that had bathed Lancaster County for the last week had caused his lawn to grow at an amazing rate. The weather forecast was calling for a cold front which would bring rain and cooler temperatures. If he didn’t cut the grass tonight, his lawn would become unmanageable.

  He took care of Lucy and changed into his sweats and “lawn” sneakers. He enjoyed the mindless exercise of walking back and forth across his yard. He noticed he was the last one on his block to complete this rite of spring – the first mowing of the year. He finished the yard and went in to nuke his dinner.

  He brought his lasagna and a glass of wine into the living room and settled himself on the sofa. He turned on the TV to catch the local and national news. He wasn’t surprised to see a report on the murder of Dave Flanders. Mike watched an interview with Jason and knew Dave’s father was not going to sit back and let the investigation run its course. He couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a child, but Jason seemed to be handling this more like a business deal gone bad.

  He waited until he knew his parents would be finished dinner and then called. He wanted to talk to his father and was glad when Ben answered the phone.

  “Hi Dad. I didn’t interrupt dinner did I?”

  “No, we just finished. I’ll talk as I load the dishwasher. I saw the news on TV. Are you and Max still working the case?”

  “Yeah. I’ll return your SUV tomorrow before you head to school. I’ll have to borrow it again because we didn’t get any of Sandy’s things out of the house before Dave was found.”

  “It must have been pretty hard on her?”

  “She’s having a tough time. She’s staying at her parents’ house and they’ve asked a friend of theirs, Dr. Wells, to help her through this. She was staring into space as I told her the coroner would notify her when she could claim Dave’s body. Then I told her Jason wanted to have input into the plans for his son’s funeral and she went berserk. I’ll tell you Dad, I wouldn’t want to be in Jason’s shoes if he tries to suggest anything.”

  “I saw Jason’s interview on TV tonight. He’s a cold man, Mike. For someone who has just lost his only son, he seemed very mater-of-fact in his responses. You might want to keep an eye on him. I don’t think he’s going to stay out of this investigation. He’s donated a lot of money to the politicians in the city and he’ll probably start pressuring them if he thinks you’re not working this case hard enough.”

  “Yeah, when I talked to him and Sarah late yesterday he made it clear he wanted this case closed ASAP. Dave’s mom is a very quiet person. I was concerned because she seemed to be in total shock when Max and I told them about Dave.”

  “I don’t know much about her. If Sarah came to any school functions, she always stayed in Jason’s shadow. I was curious about their relationship, but it was none of my business. Have they completed the autopsy?”

  “Dr. Dougherty finished it, but he hasn’t completed his report. He’ll probably issue it tomorrow. Right now, we have no suspects. Nobody in the neighborhood saw or heard anything the night Dave was killed. If we don’t catch a break soon, this could take a long time to solve.”

  “Well, good luck. I’ve gotta run because I have two classes worth of pop quizzes to mark.”

  Mike chuckled as he said, “Still trying to make sure those fertile minds are paying attention in class?”

  “With some it’s a losing battle. But there are those who make teaching a rewarding profession. Good luck with your first big case.”

  “Thanks Dad. Don’t be too hard on the kids. Tell Mom I said hi.” Mike smiled as he disconnected the call. He remembered his friends who had been in one of his father’s math classes telling him how much they enjoyed the class and hated the quizzes. His father was tough but fair.

  Mike cleaned up the kitchen, got another glass of wine and took his laptop into the living room and settled once again on the sofa. He opened up the file containing the plans for the renovations for his house. He had done the master bedroom and bath as his first project. He was debating on whether to tackle the main bath or the kitchen next. He spent a couple of hours looking at the plans and making lists of materials. He decided to tackle the kitchen. Although it would be more work, it was in more need of updating. Once he got the outside in shape, he would begin the demolition in the kitchen. He felt good as he saved the files, returned his laptop to its normal place on the counter and plugged it in to recharge. When he finally went to bed around 11:30 p.m., he was relaxed and looking forward to starting the next phase of his renovations and solving Dave’s murder.

  CHAPTER 21

  When Mike got to work the next morning, Max was already there reading the autopsy report. “Anything exciting in the report?”, Mike asked as he sat down.

  “Nothing we didn’t already know. Dave’s throat was cut and he bled to death. The coroner places TOD sometime between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. It corroborates what we found on the computer. The note was most likely written after Dave was killed. There’s one interesting fact.”

  “Where are you looking, Max?”

  “Page two, under external examination.” Max waited for Mike to read the section and saw when the light dawned.

  “The bruising on his face occurred at least four hours before he died. Maybe whoever Mary Parker saw leaving the house stressed his point of view with his knuckles.”

  “Read a little further.”

  Mike did and found something he wasn’t expecting. Confused, he looked at Max and asked, “He was tased?”

  “Probably how whoever killed him got the upper hand. The coroner found the marks on his back, so he probably knew his killer and felt safe turning away from him. There were also bruise marks on the heels of his feet wher
e they hit the steps as he was dragged down to the basement. The killer used Dave’s shirt to gag him. The ball of twine on the workbench matched the bindings around Dave’s legs and arms. Our killer was an opportunist. Aside from the taser, everything he used to torture and kill Dave came from Dave’s house.

  “Most people don’t own tasers. We will need to check with all local suppliers to see who may have bought one. If it was bought on the internet, we’re out of luck finding the buyer.”

  Mike knew unless the techs came up with fingerprints or DNA they had absolutely nothing in the way of evidence and nowhere to start. “According to Sandy, Dave didn’t have any friends, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t have enemies. I’ll talk to her and see if I can get a list of names. I wanted to wait to interview Richard Powers until we could do it together.”

  “I’m glad you did because I think we should read him his Miranda rights before we ask any questions.”

  Just then Mike’s phone rang. He answered on the second ring, listened and made an appointment with the caller for 11:00 a.m. He hung up and looked at Max. “Interesting. Want to take a guess who called?”

  “Since you didn’t use any names, I assume it was someone involved with our current case.”

  “Richard Powers. He wants to talk to us. He said Sandy and her mother are going to the funeral home to make the arrangements. The coroner is releasing Dave’s body later today. He wants to come in here because he doesn’t want to upset Sandy any more than she already is.”

  Max shook his head. “He’s volunteering to come in and talk with us?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “In all my years as a cop in Philly, the only way we got people to come in and talk to us was by threatening them. I can’t remember anyone who actually called and came in voluntarily.”