by Raven Snow
“Everyone is a suspect until we have more to go on.” Ben retrieved the papers from Dave, an officer waiting for them at the cruiser. It looked like they were going to be doing things a bit more officially this time. Rowen didn’t have any complaints about that. She signed the papers immediately. Eric was a little slower about it, actually bothering to read them. Maybe she should have done the same. “Since we’re consulting with you now, I can fill you in on some of the facts,” continued Ben, crossing his arms over his chest and looking quite seriously at the both of them. “And all of this is off the record until I say otherwise. I don’t want to see this showing up in your paper. Understood.”
“Of course,” said Rowen. “I told you I wouldn’t be publishing any of this already, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Ben sighed. “I’m sorry. I just can’t take any chances. This is a big case. I don’t want the details out there until we’re ready for them to be out there.” He looked around the parking lot as if to make sure they were alone. No one else was in listening distance aside from Officer Dave. “The victim experienced blunt force trauma. He has some broken bones. We believe this was from a fall that caused his death.”
Rowen nodded. She hadn’t seen much of the body. She hadn’t known what to expect for the cause of death. “Do you know where it happened?”
Ben shook his head. “We’ve looked at places around his apartment and around his work, but we haven’t had any luck determining the location so far. If you have any… I don’t know. Psychic visions? If you have anything like that about where it happened, let us know.”
“It’s not really that easy, but sure.” Rowen nodded. “So what? He was pushed from a high spot?”
“There were no signs of a struggle, so he probably didn’t see it coming.”
“Maybe it was someone he knew then.” Rowen wasn’t sure why she had said that out loud. He had definitely already considered that.
Eric handed over the papers. “Is there anything we’re looking for in there?”
“We already looked around,” said Ben. “Initially, we were hoping to find a laptop or his phone. He didn’t have his phone on him, and the laptop wasn’t with his things at work. Tech guy like him, you know he had some kind of personal computer.”
“No desktop?” asked Eric.
Ben shook his head. “Everyone we’ve asked agrees he had a laptop. Whatever you think he might have had that got him killed, it might have been on that.”
“So we’re looking for a laptop?” Rowen asked as Officer Dave got out of the car and they all headed toward the apartment together.
“If you find one, great,” said Ben. “But you’re not going to find one. We’ve practically torn this place apart. Honestly, I’m just bringing you here because of what you said over the phone. I’m hoping you can get a read on this place and maybe point us in the right direction.”
“Sure.” Rowen offered him a smile. “Happy to help.”
Ben smiled back at her. “I know you are. Sorry if I’ve been evasive about all of this. I’m sure Rose has mentioned what’s going on. I wanted to keep everything very by the book, but I’d be an idiot if I didn’t use every tool at my disposal. You’ve helped plenty in the past. If you can help again, great.”
Eric gave his wife’s arm a congratulatory squeeze. She felt good about what Ben had said. It was nice to be appreciated. She had been so afraid that he was angry at her. Geez, now she really hoped she got some information from coming here. This was a lot of pressure.
Craig’s apartment was on the second floor. Ben was the one who knocked. Craig was home after all. He answered after a few seconds, only opening the door a crack at first. “Lainswich Police,” said Ben. “Mind if we come in? Have a look at Mr. Borowski’s room?”
“Again?” Craig sounded annoyed. He had every right to be. They had shown up unannounced, after all. He closed the door back, unchaining it before opening it all the way. He was wearing a pair of plaid pajama pants and a Channel 2 t-shirt. When he saw Rowen and Eric, he frowned. “You don’t work with the police.”
“We’re consulting with them,” Ben explained. “Do you mind if we come in?”
Craig didn’t tear his eyes from Rowen and Eric. “I don’t want you guys writing about searching my apartment.”
“We won’t,” Rowen assured him. “We had to sign all sorts of papers and stuff. We’re just here to help solve this thing. I promise.”
Craig raised an eyebrow. He still looked skeptical, but he stepped aside. “Fine. Come in, I guess.”
Ben led the way. Officer Dave went next, with Rowen and Eric trailing behind. The apartment wasn’t all that big. It was about the size Rowen had expected it to be looking at the place from the outside. It was a bit dark. It was lit by lamps, and most of them weren’t on. There was a bowl of cereal getting soggy on the coffee table. A sitcom was playing on the television. It looked like they had interrupted Craig in the middle of a very busy day off. The apartment was meticulously clean aside from the errant bowl of cereal.
“You know where Jerry’s room is,” said Craig, motioning down the hall. “I haven’t touched it since you guys were last there. No one’s come to take his stuff either. Though, he has a sister I’ve been talking to. She lives out of town and says you guys contacted her. She’s coming for the stuff… I dunno… Later this week I think?”
Ben nodded. “She’s the only next of kin that we could reach. We shouldn’t need the room again after today. If someone wants to clear that stuff out of there, you can let them.”
“Good.” Craig looked visibly relieved. “Having all this stuff around here is really getting to me. I’m ready for it to just be gone.”
“Are you going to move?” Rowen asked. She didn’t think she could stand to live in a place with so many memories of a person who died. Well, maybe she could, but it couldn’t be somewhere this small. This place was so cramped that it would be difficult to get away from those feelings.
“No,” Craig said with a shrug. “Why would I? It’s not like he died here… I mean, he was a good roommate, and I hate to find a new one, but…” He shrugged again.
Rowen nodded. She could tell that he didn’t know how to feel about everything that had happened. He was trying not to seem too callous now, but Rowen knew he hadn’t been too close to Jerry. They couldn’t have been much beyond roommates and coworkers. He certainly didn’t seem to think much of him beyond that. She gave Craig a reassuring smile before continuing on to the bedroom they were there to see.
Jerry’s bedroom was nothing like the rest of the house. It was a cluttered mess. Granted, it could be a mess because the police had already torn it apart, but Rowen doubted that was the only reason. It seemed like his whole life had been shoved in here. Maybe he should have gotten a storage unit or donated some of these things to a thrift shop or something.
“Go see if that Craig guy has any remote clue where this laptop we’re looking for could be,” said Ben, nodding Officer Dave out the door.
Officer Dave shrugged. “You got it.” He must have known it was unlikely Craig had any new information for them. Ben was just trying to get him out of the way. He went anyway.
“You good?” asked Ben, looking in Rowen’s direction.
Rowen nodded. “Just give me a minute.” She stepped around the room, trying to get a feel for the place. This wasn’t an exact science. If Jerry had spent too little or even too much time here, there was a chance she wouldn’t get any useful information out of this at all. “You guys can look around if you need to. I just need to concentrate.”
Ben stayed near the door. Eric wandered to another corner of the room to search through a desk. Rowen began a slow circuit, stepping over clothes in the floor and discarded bits of wrappers and soda cans.
She already got the sense that he didn’t spend a ton of time here. At least, if he did spend time here, it didn’t feel much like home to him. This room had the vibe of an office, albeit a messy one. He slept, ate, and did work here.
There was nothing to indicate he really felt at ease between these walls.
There was a television on the dresser, and Rowen found herself drawn to it. Something about it felt alien to her. It wasn’t supposed to be where it was right now. It was a small flat-screen on a stand. She turned it a bit, giving it a quick once over. “He used this as a computer monitor,” she announced with confidence, looking up at Ben. “He didn’t watch television on a normal TV. A guy like him? No way. He watched everything on his computer. He had a desktop, and this thing went with it.” Rowen looked toward the desk where Eric was still going through some drawers. “Where is it?”
“There’s no desktop here,” said Ben. “We looked already. I thought there would be one, too.”
“Did you ask Craig?” Rowen didn’t like this at all. There was no laptop. Now there was no desktop? Whatever he had, it was definitely on one of those computers. Someone was trying to hide it.
“We did, yeah.” Ben wasn’t an idiot. Of course he had thought to ask something so obvious. “He said he was pretty sure that Jerry had a laptop.”
“Pretty sure?” repeated Rowen.
“He swears he never came in here after Jerry moved in,” said Ben. “The way he tells it, Jerry stayed out of his room and he stayed out of his. It doesn’t seem like they were real buddy-buddy.”
“Do you know his e-mail account?” asked Eric. “There could be something worth looking at in there.”
“We know his work e-mail,” said Ben with a shrug. “If he had a personal e-mail, we haven’t found it yet.”
Rowen went to the unmade bed. She felt drawn to that next. There was a lot of clutter on the night stand. Rowen sifted through it. There was an ash tray, some candles, and a bunch of receipts. She shuffled through the receipts and found one with some pen markings on it. ‘Car Payment,’ it read. ‘Rent, Student Loans.’ There were a list of expenses and figures written off beside them. At the bottom of the receipt, there were some numbers that stood alone. ‘10k, 20k, 50k?’ There was some math done beside him. “I think he was going to sell whatever it was he found out,” Rowen reasoned. “I think he had some evidence of something he thought was valuable. He wanted to sell it to the highest bidder.”
Ben went to Rowen and looked down at what she had found. “Maybe,” he agreed with a nod.
“Fifty-thousand dollars, though?” Rowen gave a whistle. “He must have found something big.”
“Maybe.” Ben didn’t sound so sure.
Rowen was about to ask what he thought when she felt an impression of emotions that told a different story. “He was ambitious… A little unrealistic. He thought very highly of himself and what he could accomplish.” Rowen thought back to what Tina had told her about the guy. “He thought he could solve a lot of his problems with whatever it was he found here.”
“He’s got your e-mail written down here, Honey,” Eric called, suddenly. He held up a Post-It note.
Rowen went over to him to take a look at it. Sure enough, there was her e-mail at the Lainswich Inquirer written out in sloppy cursive. “If someone saw that before now, they didn’t recognize it as yours,” said Ben, frowning down at the piece of paper.
“There’s only, like, a million scraps of paper in this room,” Eric said in his defense. “You’re bound to overlook something.”
“I can’t afford to overlook anything,” Ben grumbled. Clearly, the investigation he was under was weighing heavily on his mind. Rowen hoped it wasn’t negatively impacting his work too much.
“Why would he write my e-mail down?” Rowen wondered aloud. “Maybe he…” She trailed off and took her phone from her purse. She didn’t check her work e-mail often. No one sent her much on it. If they needed to speak with her, they normally just called. Granted, Jerry seemed more like the sort to e-mail rather than call on the phone. She got out her phone and pulled up her Lainswich e-mail account. She wasn’t sure she had even checked it before handing the reins over to Rose. It took her a minute to remember her password. It took her even longer to sort through the messages piled up in her inbox.
“Anything?” asked Eric, still looking through the desk. Ben had joined him. He was reading through every scrap of paper he could get his hands on. He probably didn’t want to risk overlooking something else.
“Not yet.” Rowen was a little disappointed. For a second there she thought she had been on to something. “I don’t think he sent me--Wait.” Rowen clicked her spam folder. Immediately, she spotted an e-mail that looked promising. ‘Hey!’ it read. ‘Interested in some news? I’ve got a scoop for you! I’ve got some footage guaranteed to boost your sales. Reply back if you’re interested, and we can talk details.’
That was vague. There wasn’t a name on it, and the e-mail address itself was just a series of letters and numbers. “This could be his personal e-mail.” Rowen held the phone out to Ben.
Ben took the phone from her, frowning down at the screen. “Maybe,” he agreed. “It could also be a throwaway just for soliciting people… At least we know for sure it’s a video now. And if we get into this e-mail, we can see who else he tried to sell the footage off to. It doesn’t seem like he had much experience in this sort of thing. He wanted to sell off what he had found, but it doesn’t look like he was being very savvy about it. Maybe he offered it to the wrong person and they took it without paying or word got back to whoever its subject was. Either way, this is a good find.” Ben gave Rowen a smile before leaving the room with her phone. “Hey, Dave!” he called.
“Well, I’m glad something came of this.” Rowen went back to searching the room with Eric. “I just wished he hadn’t taken my phone. I swear, I’ve had three phones go into evidence at this point. I’m just about certain that’s unnecessary.”
“I’m sure you’ll get it back,” Eric assured her.
Rowen did not get her phone back.
Chapter Nine
Solving mysteries was a good time and all, but sometimes it was just nice to spend a relaxing night at home. Between the paper and their little detective agency, there wasn’t much time for lounging about. Tonight was one of those rare nights. Rowen was stretched out on the sofa. A horror movie was playing on the television and the family dog Chester was stretched out across her lap. She scratched him between his big floppy ears as she watched. It was a good one. She hadn’t seen it before.
One of the characters on-screen got killed via jump scare. Rowen gave a yelp and jumped. She laughed at herself and looked over to see if Eric had been startled. He wasn’t even watching. He was looking at his phone. “Eric,” Rowen snapped. That made him jump. “Do you want me to pause this or something? Are you busy?”
“Huh?” Eric looked up from his phone. He didn’t seem to realize what she was getting at at first. When he did, his expression shifted to a guilty one. “Sorry. I was looking up stuff on Darren.”
“I thought you wanted to watch this?” she asked pointing emphatically at the screen.
“I do.”
“But you’d rather work.” Rowen paused the movie. “Come on, can’t you just leave work at the office for once? I thought we were going to see what we found out at that gala before we did any snooping.”
I’m just looking at his online presence,” Eric said in his defense. “That’s important. It says a lot about a person.”
“Which is why I’m sure you’ve already looked at it.” Rowen wasn’t going to give him any slack on this one. At this rate, he was just going to stress himself out. That wasn’t going to do anyone any good. “And I doubt you’re going to find much on him. Someone in his position isn’t going to have many damning things online.”
“It looks like he attends a lot of charity events. He’s helped build houses for the homeless. He regularly volunteers in soup kitchens. He started a scholarship program. He looks like a pretty good guy.”
“That’s all for his image,” Rowen said without hesitation. “It’s all calculated so that he doesn’t ruffle any feathers with some of these stories he runs on
the news… Though, I mean, yeah. I met him, and he did seem to be a nice guy.
“I can’t find much on Seraphina.”
“You’re looking her up too?” Rowen leaned over Chester to try and get a look at his phone. He had a candid of Seraphina lounging on a beach open.
“Of course I am,” said Eric, like it should be obvious that he would. “I’d be surprised if you haven’t already. I like to know who we’re working for. As a general rule, I don’t like to work for creeps and jerks.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but she might be both.” Rowen hadn’t actually looked the woman up herself. She went by her first impressions of people. Her impression of Seraphina was that she was wealthy and out of touch with reality. She was a bit of a jerk, but she also didn’t seem to be lying. She genuinely believed her husband was cheating on her, and she genuinely wanted this divorce.
“Seems like she rides on Darren’s coattails at a lot of these charity events,” Eric continued. “She’s also been married a few times before. The first guy she was with owned a car dealership. The second guy was a well-known surgeon. She’s been divorced twice now. This will be number three if we find what she’s looking for. It’s like she keeps trading up.”
Rowen shrugged. “That’s not really any of our business. If Darren is cheating on her, he’s cheating on her. She has every reason to divorce him if that’s the case.”
“You’re right.” Eric set his phone aside. “I guess you can’t always like your clients. I’m just overthinking this. Come on start the movie back.”
Rowen picked up the remote. “I’m going to rewind it.”
“You don’t have to-”
“I’m going to rewind it,” Rowen repeated, more slowly and with more emphasis. She was skipping back scenes when her own phone rang. Rowen groaned. She’d had to buy a new one earlier today. “Seriously?” She handed the remote to Eric and reached for her phone. “One sec. Don’t start it back or anything.” Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Rose calling. “Hello?”