“How did Kevin seem to you?”
Vilma’s tears paused and there was a spark of happiness in her eyes. “Besides putting motives on his words, happy.” She dabbed a tissue to her nose. “Definitely happy.”
Madison picked up on the inconsistencies. He had told Vilma in e-mail, and in person, that he was feeling overwhelmed. Madison wasn’t sure how that translated to happy. “Did you tell the detective this?”
“Yes. As I said, the last time I saw him he was happy, but I didn’t admit to being at the motel that night.”
“One more thing before we go.” Madison reached into a pocket and pulled out a photograph of Lacy. She handed it to Vilma. “Do you recognize her?”
A fingertip traced the outline of Lacy’s head, and then Vilma looked up. “She was a secretary at Kev’s work. What does she have to do with this?”
He was expecting a guy from his office over. What if it was a woman?
“Did Kevin ever talk about her?”
“Was she the one you think he had sex with? No.” Vilma shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that to me.” She paused; her eyes lit. “Did she kill him? If she was the last to be with him before he—”
Madison could tell by the reaction, the pretense of denial about an affair had diminished. Vilma knew. Vilma didn’t want to accept it.
-
Chapter 34
MADISON SPENT MOST OF THE night at her computer, imagining Hershey at her feet, but it was best he stay at the kennel until her hours balanced out somewhat.
A few e-mails had trickled in from the printers and she had a list started of companies that manufactured envelopes with the infinity symbol woven into the paper. She responded to them and requested a list of the companies that purchased these, specifically in the Stiles area. She presented herself as a business owner who wanted to contact these places directly to ask about their satisfaction with the product. She hoped that by handling it this way, there would be less resistance. There wasn’t enough to obtain any sort of warrant for the lists.
In addition to her cold case, all the twisted motives of those surrounding Kevin Thorne played out repeatedly. Every time the killer was someone different.
Sovereign had called it wrong. Thorne’s death was too suspicious to just rule it a suicide. On top of it, Sovereign had missed vital clues, such as the cars the motel employee had seen that night. He had questioned Vilma about whether she went that night but hadn’t really pushed the inconsistencies when she had denied it. Again, if he had looked into the cars closer, he would have realized she had been there.
Vilma had opened up to Madison, but she had to wonder why. Why now? Was it because Vilma had something to hide?
Madison woke up about six in the morning, wiped the crusted sleep from her eyes, and got dressed for the day. She fanned her fingers through her short hair, teasing it with her fingertips.
Her eyes caught her attention in the mirror, and she touched beneath one and leaned in. Her age was starting to show. Only thirty-five, but all that she had witnessed in her life gave her a perspective many would never have. They were the fortunate ones that went about their lives, normally unaffected by the crime rate or the loss of loved ones to murder. She had decided to face this life head-on, but for the purpose of making a difference and bringing closure and justice to those left behind. She had opted to be the victim’s last voice.
One last fanning of her hair and she headed out the door. En route to the station, the details of both Lacy’s and Thorne’s cases melded together. They had their connection now—at least Madison suspected they did. They both worked at the same place.
Madison wondered if this was where Hargrove had obtained a job for Lacy, and if so, why not mention it to start with? Why talk as if securing employment for her was a future hope? What was he hiding? Did he know about Thorne too? Did he have a reason to kill him?
-
Chapter 35
“NICE OF YOU TO SHOW UP.” Terry sat at his desk, clenching onto a Starbucks cup like it was his savior.
She looked at the clock, ten to eight. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
“But you—”
“Come on.”
Terry slurped back on the rest of his coffee and tossed the cup in the garbage can. “Coming, boss.” He pulled his jacket from his chair and put it on in one fluid motion.
“Now, that’s a better attitude.” Madison laughed as she led the way to the lot to sign out a department car.
Today’s plan had been laid out before they had parted ways last night. They would be going over to Modern Computers, where Thorne had worked.
“I came in early and went down to evidence lock-up to look over the interview notes in Thorne’s file for his place of employment. Turns out Sovereign had interviewed both the owner, David Connor, and the General Manager, Christina Dunn. Neither of them knew of anyone who would want to harm Thorne. They also talked to coworkers,” Terry said.
“Any note of Lacy Rose?”
“No comment on my initiative?”
“It’s about time?” Madison laughed.
Terry shook his head. “And no, there wasn’t mention of Lacy. You know, he basically told her he was having an affair. He said he was having a guy from the office over. Who rents a motel room to hang out with a guy?”
“Yeah, I picked up on that too. Sometimes love can blind you to people’s faults.”
She knew it well, the statement touched too close to her on a personal level. She switched her focus. “If Lacy was working there, I’m curious why Hargrove didn’t say anything about it.” She weaved through the morning commuter traffic at a good pace. “Based on what Trevor from the motel said, he worked there two months and Thorne and Lacy were regulars. Taking into consideration when Hargrove got the apartment for her she probably just started there. She and Thorne must have hit it off right away. The guy’s stressed about his other obligations and he seeks comfort in another woman’s arms. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“True enough. Guess we’ll find out.”
MODERN COMPUTERS HAD REMAINED A viable business, despite the changing tides in e-commerce. Many people in the world still preferred to buy their electronics from someone they could have human interaction with and not just provide sixteen digits and a security number to.
The building was in a built-up part of the south end. It occupied a decent-sized storefront, which had curbside windows plastered with fluorescent-colored advertisements about the weekly deals and their in-house financing plan.
The door chimed twice when they walked in and a staff member, along with a few customers who were perusing the store, looked at them. Madison and Terry stepped to the side of the door.
His hands went straight to the keyboard of the weekly special. “Lightweight. Fast. Lethal.”
“You all right?” Madison looked at him with a smirk on her face.
“All that could be done with one of these.”
“It’s a computer.”
“It’s not just a computer. Is a Ferrari just a car?”
Madison laughed. It drew the attention of the salesman again, who held up a finger and mouthed, I’ll be right there.
The man he was helping noticed the motion, and Madison swore she registered jealousy over the clerk’s attention to another customer. The man was gesturing with his hands, rapidly, and Madison picked up a few of his comments from where she and Terry stood.
“What are its graphic capabilities?”
“Does it have Wi-Fi? It needs to have Wi-Fi.”
“Does it have a Blu-ray player and burner? Or only a player?”
Madison glanced at her partner, about to comment on the fact that modern technology was outdated the minute it left the manufacturer’s warehouse, but she noticed his full attention was still on the laptop he coveted.
He slid a hand up the backside to feel t
he smooth shell of the computer and stopped when he must have noticed her watching him. “Just to think, they are so light and are capable of so much. Technology is incredible.”
“That there is the best we have. It’s a terrific value.” The salesman who had raised his finger to her earlier came over and started listing off the features.
She looked past the salesman to the customer he had come from. He stood in front of a computer; his fingers touched the keys, his other hand caressed the back of the monitor, similar to what Terry had done to the laptop.
“You can do gaming on this puppy, and with all that storage you’ll never run out of room.”
“Sounds like a good deal. Too good.” Terry smiled, his eyes lit like a young child on Christmas morning.
Madison lifted her badge out from under her coat. The movement caused the sales guy to step back a few feet.
She gave him the formal introductions and asked to speak with either the owner or the general manager.
“David’s out. Christina is in, though.”
“Thank you.” Madison stuffed her badge back under the coat, yet ended up unzipping the jacket.
The sales guy looked over to the other customers in the store, as if making sure everyone was content for the time being, and then he turned back to Madison and Terry. “I can get her for you.”
“Actually, before you go, do you know her?” Madison reached into a pocket for the picture of Lacy and extended it to him.
He looked from the photo to Madison’s eyes. “She used to work here. Is she okay?” He received the message and verbalized the answer before she had to. “She’s not.” The flat of his one hand flew to cover his gaping mouth. “Oh God! That’s why…that’s why she hasn’t been in. We thought she up and quit.”
His raised voice and dramatics had the other customers looking over at them. Terry waved a hand for them to go back to their shopping and perusal.
“People up and quit often from here?” Madison fought for eye contact.
After resting his focus on the photo for a few seconds, his eyes shot to Madison. He handed her the picture back. “The pay here—” He paused, looking over his shoulder to an office door that came off the back of the showroom. “The pay here isn’t that great. It’s minimum wage. But first Kevin kills himself and now this?”
“What did she do here?”
“Lacy? Everything? She hadn’t been here long but had already proven herself an asset. She answered the phones, fielded customers’ inquiries. Greeted walk-ins.”
A woman of slight build approached them. Her light blonde hair was shoulder length. She wore a beige cardigan buttoned up to her neck paired with jeans.
“Is everything all right here?” Her question was directed to the salesman. Her voice carried the hint of a British accent.
“These are detectives. They’re here about Lacy. They were actually looking to speak with you.”
The woman’s presence seemed to fade as if she wished to be a chameleon and blend into his side. “About Lacy?”
Madison noticed one couple had become more interested in them than the electronics lining the shelves. “Christina Dunn I assume?”
A slow nod.
“Do you have somewhere private we can talk?”
“Sure.” The manager directed her employee to the customers in the store then led Madison and Terry toward the door at the back of the showroom. “Please excuse the mess.” Dunn gestured to computers, monitors, and laptops from different eras that lined the perimeter inside the room. Even with those there, the office felt spacious. It was about twenty feet square and furnished sparingly.
Dunn sat behind a gray melamine desk and slid her keyboard tray in as she took a seat. She nodded toward the assortment on the floor. “We also offer service on computers. The sales guys seem to find it easier to drop it off here than to take it back to the warehouse. I don’t really mind either because by doing this they are away from the front for less time.” She gestured to the chair across from her. “I only have one.”
Madison and Terry shared a look. Madison opted to stand then proceeded with their formal introductions. She told her Lacy was dead and Dunn’s face fell.
“Major Crimes. I’ve heard that one too much recently. I knew you guys were out there, and I still wish that’s all I knew. No offense.”
“Understandable. And none was taken. What can you tell us about Lacy? How long did she work here?”
“Oh, not long at all. Maybe a month, but we haven’t seen her in the same length of time.”
“How did she come to work here?”
“She was a referral from a friend of mine. He said she needed a break in life.”
Madison remembered Hargrove saying he was trying to find her a job and that she would be happy with anything. “Who is this friend of yours?”
Dunn’s eyes hardened over. “Does that matter? I thought you wanted to talk about Lacy.”
“We are, and this is part of the investigation.”
“Peter Hargrove. He’s a good man.”
“Did he bring people like Lacy to you before?”
“People like Lacy?” She crossed her arms.
“People with prior drug addiction or hard pasts?”
“No. Lacy was a drug addict? Is that what killed her?”
“No.”
An exhaled breath from Dunn lifted the edge of a sheet of paper in front of her. She put her hand on it to flatten it out. “What happened to her?”
“Before we tell you, we have a few more questions.”
“So, I answer yours and you don’t answer mine?”
“Sometimes that’s how this works.”
Dunn’s jaw stiffened.
“How was Lacy as an employee? As a person?”
“She was hard working, for the brief time we had her.” The corners of Dunn’s eyes moistened. “Does Pete know? I’ll have to tell him.”
“We’ve already spoken with him—”
“Well, don’t be thinking anything impure about the man.”
Madison cocked her head. “Why would we?”
The two women remained in eye lock, neither of them saying a word.
Dunn broke the silence. “It’s just you have a young girl, apparently vulnerable—”
“Peter never told you about her history?”
She shook her head. “No need. Pete vouched for her. I didn’t even pay her wages. He said she needed experience and that he’d cover the tab.”
Madison glanced at Terry. This man, by all accounts, truly fell from the sky as an angel to save mankind.
“Lacy didn’t know. She thought she was being paid by us. I’d cut the checks out of Modern Computers and deposit Peter’s money separately.”
“Sounds like a good deal. Labor for free.”
“After three months, if I loved her, I was to take over her wages. And I would have. She was that good of a worker. I could see it in the first couple of days.”
“Did Peter offer to pay for her because Modern Computers was having money difficulties? We know Kevin Thorne was let go from his job just before—”
“It wasn’t because of money issues, I assure you.” Dunn sat back in her chair and tugged down on her sweater. “He was let go because of his attitude. He kept going on about his fiancée and how she was pregnant. How was he supposed to support her on minimum wage? I told him he knew the job when he took it. He asked about advancement.” Dunn paused and gestured toward the showroom. “There’s not much room. Even our lifers. Tom, who you were just speaking to, has been here for five years and only makes minimum plus the standard pay increase for living expenses.”
“You’re making it sound like Kevin Thorne quit now. The interview you had with Detective Sovereign has you on record as confirming he was terminated.”
“He was.” Her eyes focused on
the space between them before settling on Madison. “He messed up bad. He sold a new model at the price of one from last year. It wasn’t his first screw-up.”
“He did this on purpose?”
“He said it was a mistake. Either way, it wasn’t up to me. The owner wanted him gone.”
“How did he react when he was fired?”
A shoulder rose to an ear, her brows shot upward. “Like anyone would, I suppose. Ranting, a little bit of begging, but it didn’t last long. His human pride took over. He was sitting right where you are.” She pointed to the chair Terry was sitting in. “He kept asking why.”
“Did he seem depressed to you?”
“No, absolutely not. He was upset by how much things cost in life, but he didn’t have highs and lows. He was, for the most part, a very balanced individual. I guess you never know what people are thinking.”
“What about Lacy? When did you last see her?”
“The day Kevin was fired.”
“How was her reaction to that news?”
“Oh, not good at all. She was more upset than he had been. She stormed out the door and we haven’t seen her since.” Dunn looked at Madison and then glanced at Terry. “What happened to her?”
“All I can say right now is her death is being investigated as suspicious.”
“Which is another way of saying murdered?” Dunn jutted her jaw forward.
“We’re still looking into all the possibilities. What was her frame of mind here?”
“I thought she was happy. That’s kind of why I was surprised she just up and left.”
“You haven’t seen her since Kevin Thorne was fired?”
Dunn shook her head.
“Do you have any reason to believe her old life caught up with her?”
Found Innocent Page 13