‘Give us a light’, he said to Jude as he moved the ladder to one side. His voice sounded excited. He turned on the switch next to the hatch. A flickering lamp lit up the space and he saw a steep stair going down. Jude switched off the torch and followed him down. Against the right hand wall they saw an old, rusted freezer with the cord pulled out. Next to it a rickety cupboard with one door hanging on its hinge. Jude inspected the cabinet while Tim did the same with the freezer.
‘Got it’, Tim suddenly shouted out, holding two plastic bags with thin white powder in his hands. ‘I’m sure Dawson will end up in jail for this one…’
‘At least four pounds’, Jude said. ‘Not exactly what we were looking for, but good enough for an arrest.’
‘I wonder why he didn’t get rid of it after this morning. Why hide the pictures and not the drugs?’
‘The only thing I can think of is that his clients wouldn’t appreciate it if he didn’t deliver the stuff. There’s a lot of money changing hands there. And how could he know we would do a search? Calculated risk probably.’
Jude looked thoughtful.
Cameron jumped up at a knock on the front door. She wiped her hands on the towel next to the cupboard, lowered the heat under the soup and opened the door.
‘Hi Cam’, Sean said. ‘I was in the neighborhood and thought, why not pay Cam a visit.’
‘That’s really nice of you’, she said as she let him in. She doubted if he really had been in the neighborhood. ‘Just in time for a cup of soup. How are you doing with the job hunting? Any results yet?’ She put two plates on the kitchen table and arranged a few bread rolls in a basket.
‘It’s okay. I start again with my old boss next week.’
‘Wow, good for you.’
‘Yeah, you can say that all right’, he laughed while sipping from the hot soup. ‘Hm, lovely.’
She looked at him. Strange, she had never noticed before that he looked a lot like Tim. Same nose, same high hairline. She felt guilty that she had never told Tim she visited Sean in jail. Well, it didn’t matter anymore anyway. ‘Still in a hotel room?’, she asked while she buttered a bread roll.
He nodded. ‘Haven’t found anything else yet. You got lucky with this bungalow. Very nice.’
‘You will find something soon too’, she said as she took the empty plates to the sink. ‘Care for some coffee?’
‘That would be nice, thank you.’ He hesitated. ‘Heard anything from Tim lately?’
She shook her head. ‘No, and I don’t expect that to happen either. He went on with his life, and I have to do the same with mine. Obviously he doesn’t need me anymore.’
‘He’s working on these murder cases I heard. He can’t have a lot of time to spare.’
She laughed sarcastically. ‘Yeah, that must be it.’
‘Cam’, he said hesitating, ‘how do you feel about going out now and again for a glass or a movie, the two of us? It would do us both good, getting our minds off things.’
‘Sean, I know you mean well, but…’ She shook her head.
‘But what?’
‘I’m just not ready yet.’
‘I understand. It was only a suggestion.’ Sean shoved his chair back. ‘Good, I think I’ll get on my way again. Thanks for the soup.’
‘You’re welcome’, she laughed. ‘And maybe I’ll take you up on your offer one of these days.’
She had trouble falling asleep. After hesitating for a while, she had finally called Tim at nine. Since he didn’t pick up the phone she left him a message, asking him to call her back. She had waited till eleven. Nothing. She finally had gone to bed and had put her mobile next to her on the night stand.
Midnight. She put on her thin robe and switched on the light in the kitchen. She found half a bottle of Chardonnay in the fridge and took it with her to the living room together with a clean glass. She sat down in the rocking chair next to the window. Through the curtains the moon threw whimsical shadows on the walls. She heard the rustling of the trees in the front yard. Finally she fell asleep to the soft tones of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
CHAPTER 16
‘So you agree we keep Dawson based on this search’, Tim said. Foster looked excited.
‘The sooner the better. But make sure you don’t mention the photos and the notes. Only the drugs will do for an official arrest.’
‘You do understand that there will be a lot of people to be questioned and a lot of field work to be done’, Tim said. Foster looked at him with surprised eyes.
‘Of course I know that.’
‘And you do know that Jude and I can’t do all of this ourselves, at least not if we want to get this solved within a reasonable time.’
‘What you mean is that you need some help if I understand correctly.’
‘Yes, you could summarize is that way.’
‘Sackley, we are shorthanded as it is. Covacz and Hawkins took over most of your open cases so you could work on this one exclusively.’
‘I know that, but I was thinking along the lines of Connely and Haynes.’
‘They are cops Sackley, not detectives,’ Foster said shaking his head.
‘They don’t have to do detective work, but they can take a lot of other things off our hands.’
‘Like what?’
‘For example, I need to know who Dawson was close to in prison, who he had contact with. His phone numbers and cell phone have to be checked. Salmon Creek police have to be contacted to follow up on Flannery. Then I need to…’
‘All right, all right’, Foster interrupted him. ‘I get your point. I will assign Connely and Haynes to you till the end of next week, and then we’ll do an evaluation. But I want you to give the drug case to narcotics.’
Jude heard the end of the conversation between Tim and Foster as she passed them on her way to her desk. She stretched her back and smiled as Tim sat down.
‘I hear we are getting help’, she said as nonchalantly as possible.
‘Correct. Don’t you think we could do with the extra hands?’ He looked at her inquisitively. ‘Do you have problems with that?’
She hesitated. ‘No, not really. I just wondered why you didn’t consult me first. I’m not afraid of doing overtime, you know that.’
He smiled. ‘I decided that because I have been up almost half the night, thinking about things. There is still a lot to do, things that can easily be done by Connely and Haynes. And’, he continued, ‘opposed to what you may think, that doesn’t mean you’re not a worthy partner, on the contrary. I need you on the important jobs.’
She smiled. ‘You’re the boss, you decide what happens. I’m only the hired help.’
He shook his head but there was a faint smile around his mouth when he dialed the number of narcotics.
That morning, under loud protest, Dawson was taken from his cell in the police office to the Salem prison. Because he was only accused of possession of drugs and possibly dealing, they couldn’t question him about the murders, unless they found more evidence. Behind the scenes they could work on it, and it was that what Tim was planning to do.
Foster had obviously told Connely and Haynes already, because both of them came into the office with grins on their faces. Jude arranged two chairs at the desk. She smelt a vague scent of Tommy T Girl as Susan sat down and frowned.
‘Welcome to the team’, Tim said cheerfully, ‘if only temporarily.’
‘This is what I have always dreamed about’, Susan said, ‘detective work.’
‘I’m afraid you will be disappointed Susan. The detective work will be done by Jude and myself. You two are going to collect background information.’
‘No problem’, they both said at the same time.
‘Good, that’s settled then. Connely, I need a list of all the inmates who were in prison at the same time Dawson was, that means between February 2005 and July 2007. I need names, addresses, dates of birth, the crime they were convicted for and the date of release. Call the prison director first so
he knows what we need, and you have to collect the list yourself, don’t rely on him to send it. Get him to put the list on a CD in Access. Since it’s a fairly long trip to Klamath, you will be busy for the rest of the day.’ Connely nodded and made some notes on a pad. A few minutes later he left.
Tim looked at Susan. ‘For you I have another job.’ He handed her Dawson’s mobile phone. ‘You can check all his contacts and give me full name and address for each number. I don’t care how you get them, but I need them by late afternoon. Then you call Salmon Creek police to see how our friend Flannery behaved.’
Susan nodded with a shade of disappointment on her face, but she answered with a smile: ‘Okay boss.’
‘Is there something left for us to do?’ Jude asked pretending to inspect her nails.
‘We will pay a visit to Dawson’s ex girlfriend. What was her name again?’
‘Michelle Harris’. She pulled up the White Pages website and typed in the name. ‘Twenty eight in Oregon of which one in Corvallis and two in Albany. The rest are further away.’
‘Print the list and we both do half.’
Tim called the Michelle Harris in Corvallis, Jude took the two in Albany. None of the women had ever heard of Jacob Dawson. Then he tried Bend, Dayton and Beaverton. Finally Jude got lucky with the Portland number. As she talked to the woman she gestured to Tim that she had the right one, and then put down the phone. ‘She is expecting us at two in the afternoon.’
‘We got time for a sandwich then. I’m starving.’
It was a cloudy day and the wind had gone up in force. The monotonic beat of the wipers made Jude sleepy. She yawned.
‘Sorry’, she said, ‘didn’t get a lot of sleep last night either, just like you.’
She tried to find a radio station with some light music. ‘I wonder when the press will get wind of Dawson’s arrest.’
Suddenly Tim swerved to avoid a dog crossing the road. Skidding he stopped on the hard shoulder. ‘Dammit’, he shouted. ‘Why don’t people keep their dogs inside? They are accidents waiting to happen.’
Although she was a bit shaken up, Jude laughed. Tim turned the car back on the road and still cursing took the Interstate.
‘When I was a little girl I had a dog. You know, an indeterminate breed, black with white spots and floppy ears, but he was so sweet. I pestered my parents until they finally got me one for my eighth birthday. He was a rather lively little chap and I always made sure the garden gate was closed. But one day, when I came home from school, Toby wasn’t there. He normally greeted me barking and wagging his tail, but not that day. I still remember Sarah running towards me, crying. She was hardly two at that time and she kept saying: ‘Toby dead… Toby dead…’ That day I swore to never get another dog again. I was heart broken. Tim looked at her sideways and saw tears in her eyes. ‘I didn’t know you were this sensitive’, he said, trying to brighten her up. ‘And you kept your word? Never had another dog?’
‘Never again.’
Michelle Harris was the artistic type. She wore a purple sweater, at least two sizes too large. Her dark brown hair was carelessly tied together in a pony tail. Except for her thumbs, she had enormous rings on each finger. A showy chain in blue and green, not at all matching her clothes, hung around her neck. Jude didn’t find her even remotely attractive and wondered what it was that had drawn Dawson towards her. This certainly hadn’t been a match made in heaven.
‘Good afternoon detectives’, Michelle said in greeting. ‘Come in please and don’t mind the mess.’
While Tim introduced Jude and himself, they went into the living room where a big easel dominated the space. Magazines and canvasses lay all over the place and the smell of bacon hung in the air.
‘Well’, she said apologizing, ‘I’m not the cleaning type you know, only when it’s really necessary.’
Jude wondered when Michelle would find it necessary to do some cleaning. Probably when she couldn’t get through the room without breaking a leg.
‘No problem at all’, Tim smiled. ‘We can find somewhere to sit. I didn’t know you were an artist. You do this for a living?’
‘No, it’s a hobby and I want it to stay that way, but I make some money out of it. I just sold one of my paintings. I don’t know if you read The Canvas, but there was an article about it in last month’s edition. I have a part time job in the Academy also.’ The Canvas was the magazine Cam was the editor of. Talk about coincidences.
Michelle rubbed a stubborn tress from her forehead and sighed deeply. ‘I understood you need information about Jacob. Did he get into trouble again? I haven’t seen him in years you know.’
‘He was arrested this morning for possession of drugs and dealing.’
She shook her head. ‘Why doesn’t that surprise me? Only drugs?’
Tim looked at her interestedly. ‘What else are you thinking about then Mrs. Harris?’
She shrugged her shoulders and rearranged a few paint brushes as if she had said too much already. ‘Well, he’s certainly not a choir boy as you probably know.’
‘Can you tell me why you left him a few years ago?’
She hesitated and frowned but then decided to confide in them. ‘He was arrested for rape, but I can’t imagine you don’t know about that.’ She looked at Tim and he nodded. ‘I had enough of all his debauchery. I am an artist sir, and artists can take a lot. Whenever I want I can retreat in my own little world and not care about anything that happens around me. But even I couldn’t take it anymore. I could live with the drugs… God knows I took some too.’ She looked at him with a faint smile and shrugged her shoulders.
‘What was it you couldn’t live with then Mrs. Harris?’
‘Just call me Michelle, much easier.’ Her accent was terrible.
‘All right Michelle.’ He repeated his question.
She hesitated before answering. ‘Well, I can’t be a hundred percent sure of course, but I think he raped a lot of women, he only got caught for one though.’
‘Because that woman reported it you mean.’ She nodded in confirmation.
‘What was the reason you believed it happened more than once?’ Jude asked.
Michelle looked at her with eyes that still showed the pain she had endured. ‘I loved him, I really did. But when he wanted sex, he could be so rude. He wanted me to struggle and resist him, he wanted me to scream and scratch him. I humored him for a while, but when I didn’t want to do it anymore he started to go out in the evenings more and more often. A few times he came home with bleeding scratches on his arms and legs.’
‘I see’, Jude said. ‘And you thought he went on a chase if you don’t mind me putting it that way.’
She nodded. ‘One evening he forgot to shut down his computer and that’s when I knew. There were pictures of women. No porn or anything because it was clear to me they didn’t even know they were photographed.’
‘That may be unusual’, Tim said, ‘but it wouldn’t indicate he raped them.’
‘Maybe not, but to me one and one makes two inspector. There was one he photographed while she was undressing in a bathroom I think. It was clear to me he was standing in a garden because in the right corner of the picture I saw leaves from a bush. And another one of a woman sunbathing naked by a pool.’
‘And when he was arrested, that was it for you I take it,’ Jude said compassionately.
‘Yeah, I was so disappointed in him… I threw all my clothes in a suitcase and left. When I first met him he really was a gentleman and the first years were really good. He brought me flowers now and then, he took me out to dinner or a movie, he really treated me like a lady. He even treated me to a week in Miami but then it all changed.’
‘Did you ever visit him in prison?’
‘Yes sir, only once. I told him in person I was leaving him. I owed him that much.’
‘And did he contact you once he was released?’
She shook her head. ‘He doesn’t even know where I live, and I want to keep it that way.’
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‘Back to the drugs’, Tim said. ‘Do you have any idea who he was selling them to? Did he have regular visitors in the house?’
‘I haven’t got a clue where he sold them. A few times one of his friends came by, but I don’t think he had anything to do with that. Of course I can’t be sure.’
‘Do you know his name?’
She thought about it for a moment but then shook her head. ‘Only his first name, David. Jacob always took him to his office at the front of the house and when they went to the cellar they took the door at the end of the hall. It gives out onto the kitchen and from there you get into the utility room. They came through the living room once because we had renovation works going on in the kitchen and you could hardly put your feet anywhere on the floor. He was friendly though. He even introduced himself.’
‘Could you describe him to me? ‘Jude asked.
‘I only saw him that one time. He was rather tall and had blond hair. I think he was in his thirties. But I do remember his voice. It was very drawling. He pronounced his name as Daaavid.’
‘All right Michelle’, Tim said as he stood up from his chair. ‘It was a real pleasure meeting you.’
She smiled. ‘Not that I could tell you a lot and I even forgot to offer you something to drink’, she said.
‘Not a problem’, Jude smiled. ‘You confirmed our suspicions about Jacob and that’s something.’
‘Ah’, Tim said suddenly. ‘One more question. Was Jacob bald when you met him?’
She was visibly surprised by the question. ‘No, he shaved everything about two years after we met. I never really understood why, but I liked it.’
‘All of his bodily hair?’ Jude asked interested.
‘Yeah, not only his head.’ She rolled her eyes meaningfully.
As they got back to the car, Tim activated Bluetooth on his mobile and selected Connely’s number on the screen. Jude heard the phone ring on the other end.
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