“Did you call her family? Her mother, her sisters?”
He nodded glumly. “None of them had heard from her.”
“So, Mr. Sherman—when did you call the police?”
Looking a little uncomfortable, Sherman said, “I heard that you can’t file a missing persons report until someone has been gone twenty-four hours.”
Brass shook his head. “Not always the case.”
Sherman shrugged. “Well, that’s what I believed…. So I waited all that night and didn’t call 911 until the next morning.”
Her voice low, Catherine said to Warrick, “That’s why day shift got it instead of us.”
Brass was asking, “What did you do that night, while you waited?”
Sherman sat slumping, his hands loosely clasped. “I…tried to think of where she might go and went driving around looking for her car. First, the grocery store, Albertson’s, the one over here on Maryland Parkway.” He pointed vaguely off to his right. “If she was mad at me, maybe she was driving around the city, pouting…. She could pout, at times. So I just started driving around, all over the place. The Strip. I started with Mandalay Bay where she’d last been seen.”
“That’s where officers found her car,” Nick put in, “the next day, right?”
Sherman nodded vigorously. “Yes…but I didn’t see it there. Somehow I missed it.”
Warrick noted this: the first real inconsistency, the only striking anomaly in the husband’s story, so far.
“2000 Lexus,” Brass said. “Nice car.”
“You wouldn’t think I could’ve missed it, but I did. In my defense, I was pretty worked up at this point…frantic. And it is a huge parking lot.”
Brass nodded. “So, you just drove around all night?”
“Not all night. Only till about ten…and then I came home. I suppose I hoped that she’d’ve come home while I was out…but, of course, she hadn’t.”
“So what did you do then?”
“What I always do when I want to get my mind off my troubles—put in a movie.” He sat up and a faint near-smile crossed his lips. “Missy and me, we’re kind of movie buffs…. You can see the home theater here, pretty elaborate. We watched a lot of movies.”
“So,” Warrick said, “you just popped a DVD in and waited.”
“Yes,” Sherman said, looking up at Warrick. “I didn’t want to worry—I didn’t want to be ridiculous. But I kept looking out the front window every five minutes to see if she was pulling up. At some point, I finally just dropped off to sleep. When I woke up and found she still wasn’t home, I called 911 right away.”
“Then the police took over,” Brass said.
“Yes.”
Brass said, “Thank you, Mr. Sherman,” and clicked off the recorder.
“Is…is that it? Is that all?”
“Actually, Mr. Sherman,” Brass said, “we would like to take you up on your offer to help.”
“Certainly…. Anything at all.”
“Good. Because I’d like to have our crime scene investigators take a look around.”
Warrick winced—that was a poor choice of words, considering…
Sherman flushed. “Crime scene…? Are you saying that after all I’ve been through, I’m a suspect, now? In my wife’s murder?”
Brass began, “Mr. Sherman, please…”
His spine straight, his eyes wild, Sherman almost shouted: “You come to tell me she’s dead after a year of me praying for a fucking miracle that she might be alive and I open up my heart to you and you have the goddamn audacity to accuse me?”
“Mr. Sherman, no one’s accusing you of anything—” Warrick protested.
“It sure as hell sounds like it! Crime scene my ass!”
“Sir,” Nick said, “we know it’s been a year, and that things have changed, but we have to look.”
“I don’t have to let you,” he said, almost petulantly. “You need a search warrant, don’t you?”
“You don’t have to let us,” Brass acknowledged. “But I was taking you at your word, when you said you wanted to help.”
For several long seconds, Sherman just sat there, his hands balling into fists that bounced on his knees; he was clearly struggling to decide what to do.
Catherine crouched in front of him again. “You loved your wife—we can all see that. But if there’s so much as a shred of evidence in this house that might lead us to her killer, wouldn’t you want us to find it?”
Slowly, the fists unballed. “Of…of course.”
She kept her voice low, soothing. “Then let us do our job. We want to catch your wife’s murderer as much as you want us to. But to do that, we need to examine everything pertinent to the case…and that includes this house. Unless you’ve gotten rid of her things, Missy’s home will have a lot to tell us about her.”
Sherman swallowed and sighed…and nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry I lost my temper. It’s just…”
Catherine touched his hand. “No problem.”
“And I haven’t gotten rid of her things, I could never do that. Everything’s exactly the way it was the day she left. I haven’t moved so much as her toothbrush. I always hoped the door would open and she’d walk in and we’d just pick up from where we left off…. ”
He began to cry again.
Several awkward moments crawled past, as the CSIs looked at each other, wondering if they should get started or not.
Then Sherman said, “If…if it will help, take all the…all the time you need. You won’t be keeping me up. It’s not like I’ll be sleeping tonight.”
Diving right in, Warrick asked, “I have to ask this, sir. Do you own a freezer?”
“Not a stand-alone freezer. Just the little one in the top of the refrigerator.”
“Not a chest-style freezer, either?”
The man shook his head.
“Ever had one?”
“No.” He looked curious about their questions, but pale, and Catherine could almost see him deciding he didn’t want to know why they were asking.
They went out to the Tahoe and got their equipment; inside the house, they split up. Catherine took the bathroom and the master suite; they didn’t want Sherman getting upset about one of the men pawing through Mrs. Sherman’s things, so Catherine volunteered for that duty. While Brass talked informally with Sherman in the living room, Nick and Warrick divided up the rest of the house. Nick started in the kitchen, Warrick in the garage. As with most houses in Vegas, there was no basement.
Warrick didn’t expect to find anything in the garage, really, at least not as far as the freezer was concerned. Even if Sherman had at one time had a freezer, and used it to freeze his wife, it would be long gone by now. But the criminalist did check the floor for telltale marks of a freezer or any other appliance having been dragged across; nothing. A small workbench with a toolbox atop it hugged the near wall. Warrick looked it over and checked the toolbox but again came up empty.
Missy’s Lexus, returned by Ecklie’s people months ago, sat on the far side, Sherman’s Jaguar parked beside it. The garage had sheet-rock walls, a large plastic trash can and a smaller recycling receptacle in the corner nearest the double overhead door. One of those pull-down staircases led to a storage space above the false ceiling. Walking around the cars, Warrick saw some gardening tools and a lawn mower against the far wall.
The place seemed only slightly less sterile than a hospital. Shaking his head at the cleanliness, Warrick tried the door of the Lexus and found it unlocked. Even though the Chinese food had sat in the car for some time, the smell was gone. In fact, Warrick noticed, the car smelled new. Too new—it had been professionally cleaned. Looking down at the carpeting, then studying the seats closely, confirmed his diagnosis: the SUV was cleaner than the day it had left the showroom.
After closing the door, he walked around between the cars and pulled the rope for the pull-down stairs. He climbed the flimsy ladder, pulled out his mini-Mag and light-sabered it around the darkened storage space.
A few cardboard boxes dotted the area, mostly close to the opening, and when Warrick touched them, they seemed empty.
Moving the beam from right to left, he paused occasionally, looked at something a little closer, then slid the light further along. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Putting the butt of the mini-Mag into his mouth, he leaned over and undid the folded flaps of the nearest cardboard box. Inside he saw the Styrofoam packing that came on either end of the DVD player he’d seen inside. The next box had held the receiver for the home theater system. It too contained only original packing. Warrick finished quickly and rejoined the others back inside.
The search had taken nearly two hours and they had nothing to show for it. As they packed up and prepared to leave, Warrick wandered into the living room where Brass and Sherman still sat. “Mr. Sherman, I take it you had your wife’s car washed?”
Sherman started. “Why, yes…yes I did. At one of those places where they really give it the works. Did I do something wrong? The other officers told me I could, they said they were finished with the Lexus and it was covered with what they said was fingerprint powder. I mean, the car was really filthy.”
Warrick nodded. “You didn’t do anything wrong, sir.”
“You guys about ready?” Brass asked.
“Catherine’s done and Nick’s just putting the drain back together in the kitchen. We’re done.”
Brass rose and shook Sherman’s hand. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but I’m sure you understand. And we are very grateful for your cooperation.”
“Whatever you need. Whenever you need it.”
Catherine trooped in, looking beat.
Sherman sat up. “Any luck?”
Dredging up a smile, Catherine said, “Too soon to tell. Thank you again, sir.”
All of them thanked their host and paid their sympathies, then followed Brass outside onto the sidewalk. The houses around them were dark now, and silent.
“Anything?” Nick asked Catherine, his voice a strained whisper.
She shook her head and, with her eyes, posed the same question of Warrick.
“Nothing,” he whispered. “Can’t blame him for wanting to wash the fingerprint crap and luminol outa his vehicle.”
Nick was shaking his head, his expression discouraged. “A year’s a long time,” Nick said.
Brass heaved a sigh, then said, “I’ll talk to the Mortensons tomorrow—maybe they can tell us something.”
“It’s no wonder we found ice inside Missy,” Warrick said, “with a case gone this cold.”
And they got in their vehicles and drove back to HQ.
5
W alking single file through the snow, Herm Cormier remained in the lead, followed by Sara, with Grissom bringing up the rear. They had trudged through a winter landscape tinted blue by twilight, though by the time they could see the hotel again, night had swallowed dusk, and the lights of the wonderfully ungainly conglomerate of buildings glittered in the darkness as if the lodge were a colossal jewel box.
By the time they reached the back parking lot, Sara’s breath was coming in short, raspy gulps. Despite the cold, she was perspiring, her hair lank and wet against her cheeks, forehead, and nape of her neck, and inside her coat she could feel a trickle of moisture down her back. Mostly it was from the exercise of the forced march down the mountain; but some of it was excitement, nerves.
Less than a dozen cars were scattered about the mostly deserted lot, all of them covered by various depths of powder, ice particles sparkling back the reflected lights of the hotel. The snow showed no sign of letting up—if anything, it seemed to be coming down harder now, as if God couldn’t wait to sweep their evidence under a gigantic white rug.
“Is Maher going to be all right out there?” Sara asked, as they stopped in the lot, convening in a little huddle. “Storm’s getting worse…. ”
“The constable knows what he’s doing,” Grissom said. “He’s better suited to thrive under these conditions than we are.”
With a chuckle, Cormier said, “Constable Maher lives in weather like this, Ms. Sidle…. He’ll be fine. We just don’t want to leave him up there alone for too long a spell.”
A spell? she thought. This guy was a fugitive from a Pepperidge Farm commercial.
Sara, who was usually game for anything in an investigation, was not looking forward to her own shift at the snowy crime scene. And she found it difficult to accept that the cold and snow would preserve the crime scene; she was glad to have those photos to fall back on, digital or not.
“Any idea how long this’ll keep up, Mr. Cormier?” Grissom asked, looking up into the falling snow, white shimmering along his eyelashes.
Squinting up into the snow himself, the hotel man said, “Storm like this’ll usually blow itself out, oh, in a day or so…no more’n two.”
“What happens to the conference?” Sara asked.
Shaking his head, flinging snow, Cormier said, “It may be just you two and Constable Maher. Not many were coming in early…instructors like you folks mostly…and those that come in today on later flights, well they sure as H aren’t gonna join us. Only a few other guests got here before the downfall commenced…but when we get inside, I’ll check the register, just the same.”
“You don’t expect anyone to trail in tomorrow,” Grissom said.
As if the storm had its own answer for Grissom, a howl blew through the parking lot, stirring up a new storm of snow.
“We won’t see anyone else make it in for at least twenty-four hours…unless it’s by sled or sleigh.”
Grissom wiped moisture from his face and asked: “Did anyone leave, after the storm started?”
Cormier shook his head again. “Can’t rightly say—guests usually check out no later’n one or one-thirty, but somebody mighta had somewhere to go tonight, in town maybe, and when the snow started, tried to beat the storm to where they were goin’.”
“You can check, though.”
“I’d have to—I don’t know who come and went, while we were in the woods.”
“The victim could’ve been a guest.”
“That’s a fact.”
Sara said, “And the killer or killers may well still be in the hotel.”
Cormier said, “Seems reasonable, too. Don’t cherish the thought, but I can’t rightly argue with it.”
“You have neighbors?” Grissom asked. “Anyone live in a cabin nearby, for example? Is there a private home tucked away up here?”
“No. The hotel owns all this land—everything your eye can see, Mr. Grissom.”
Glancing around at the billowing storm, Grissom said, “My ‘eye’ can’t see much right now, Mr. Cormier.”
“Well, if the sun was shining, and I made that statement, it’d still be no exaggeration.”
“Any of the staff live on the premises?”
“Only my wife and me—rest’re in New Paltz, and drive up here to work. Just before we went lookin’ for you two, I let the bellboys and the housekeeping staff go on home…and I’m pretty sure none of the night shift even tried to make it in.”
Grissom glanced at Sara, then said to the hotel manager, “Who does that leave, Mr. Cormier?”
“Well, let’s see…. Me and the Missus, Jenny, the desk clerk, Mrs. Duncan, the head cook, and maybe two or three more of the kitchen staff, maybe a dozen or so other guests, and the three of you.”
The wind wailed.
“We have to consider them all suspects,” Sara said.
“It’s not as many as I thought we might be dealing with,” Grissom admitted. His gloved hands were in the pockets of the black varsity jacket. “But questioning them indiscriminately won’t get us anywhere.”
Sara nodded, sighing, “We could use Brass about now, couldn’t we?”
Cormier, not understanding, said, “Oh I wouldn’t say that, Ms. Sidle—I got the utmost confidence in you folks…and the constable, of course.”
Grissom smiled a little and said, “Thank you, Mr. Cormier. But what Sa
ra means is, interrogation isn’t our strong suit. We follow the evidence.”
“Although if it leads us to a suspect,” Sara said, “we will interrogate that person, to the best of our abilities. It’s just not our specialty.” Then she turned to Grissom and said, “Trouble is, the evidence is two miles that way…” She pointed up the mountainside. “…under a foot of snow.”
Grissom twitched a smile. “Some of it is. But that’s not the only evidence…. The killer got to that body the same way we did—he walked.”
“Or killers,” Sara reminded him. “We saw two sets of tracks coming and going before they got buried, too. That is, two sets besides the victim’s.”
Grissom nodded. “And from what direction were the tracks coming?”
“Well, right down here.” Sara thought back, imagined the footprints she’d photographed. She could have checked on her digital Toshiba, but she did not want to reveal to Cormier that she had the camera with her. “There were three sets, the victim and the other two.”
“Go on,” Grissom said.
“Probably pretty close to the route we took to get back. As if they came straight up from this rear entrance.”
“So what should we be doing now?” Grissom asked.
“Looking for boot or shoe prints.”
Moving carefully, Grissom and Sara started toward the edge of the lot that bordered the incline. Sara had gone barely ten feet across the lot when Grissom said, “Whoa, Sara…don’t step down.”
She froze (not hard in this weather), with her foot hovering just above the snow.
“There’s an indentation just under your boot,” Grissom said, making his way toward her, watching his own steps carefully. “These prints have almost filled in—hard to spot.”
“I’m gonna lose my balance here!”
“Just put your foot down to the left—a good six or seven inches, please.”
Sara did so. Grissom, at her side now, pointed to a series of the indentations—they were so nearly filled in, she had missed them; the snow coming down—and the accumulation the occasional wind gust was blowing around—had been no help, either.
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