“All right, thank you for clarifying.”
“Will you be able to find him? Have you talked to Tucker yet?”
“I’m hoping so, yes.” Mark looked at Ben. “Time to do some more research. We need to find this man.”
“I’m so glad. If it was Luke, he needs to be put behind bars.” Melissa looked sad. “I will miss her so much. She was such a light. To everyone she met. I just don’t understand it.”
“Do you know if Tucker and Luke knew each other in school?”
“Tucker didn’t go to our high school. We didn’t meet him until after. They might have.”
“Thank you for your help, Ms. Gilmore. We’ll be in touch.”
“Anything I can do to help, Inspector. Really.”
They headed back to the station to do more research.
“We should be able to search for him in the Department of Motor Vehicles database, sir.” Ben said. “We’ll track him down and see what he’s up to.”
“Yes, Ben, that’s the plan. We need to do it as quick as possible before he realizes he’s been found out. If Cindy called Tucker, she may have called Luke, as well. If they knew each other.”
“It sounds like the three of them were in on it together. But I don’t understand why.”
“This seems to have something to do with her investments. What we know so far keeps coming back to that.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben was still shaking his head. “It’s such a shame.” He murmured. “Carrie Wellington.”
“You sound like you were a pretty big fan, Keyes.” Mark said in a curious voice.
“I was, sir.” Ben gave him a small grin. “I have all of her sci-fi books. Never had the need for the children’s books but I like the way she wrote and was told her squirrel books were cute and entertaining.”
“I’m sure they were.”
“I was at a few of her book signings. I have a copy of her autobiography and, as I said, we had her sign that, as well.”
Mark nodded. “Well then, it should give you great satisfaction to catch her murderer.”
“Yes, sir, I will feel a lot of satisfaction, I can tell you that.”
Back at the station, they went immediately to the research division and approached one of the officers at a computer desk. “Do you have time to do some searching for us today, Drew?” Mark asked in a friendly voice, speaking to the woman. She looked up at him.
“Of course, Mark. Always have time for you. What can I do?”
“Much appreciated. If you would, please search for Luke Hayes in the DMVD. He looks like this.”
Mark set the photo down next to the woman. She glanced at it as she typed on the keyboard. She moved her mouse around the screen, scrolling down through a list of names.
“Well, if he’s from this area, there are 13 men known as ‘Luke Hayes’ in the Valley. I’ll bring them each up and we can look at the pictures and compare them. Do you have an approximate age? Would you say…” She looked at the picture. “Between 25 and 40?”
“I’d say that sounds right.” Mark nodded, leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen. Ben did the same on the other side. Drew narrowed the search down.
“Okay,” she mumbled. “Looks like he’s got brown hair. We can narrow that down. I’d say he’s no less than 150, no more than 200, right?”
“Agreed.” Mark nodded, watching her work.
“That leaves four active licenses in Clements Valley area for Luke Hayes.” She clicked on the first one and immediately clicked off of it. He was a black man. “Okay second one…” They all stared at the face for a moment, trying to see if he looked like the semi-blurry photo. “I don’t know about you two,” Drew said. “But I don’t think this is him.”
“Try the next one.”
When she pulled up the third driver’s license, they knew they had the right Luke Hayes.
“There he is.” Ben was washed over with a feeling of anger. He knew this had to be the man they were looking for. “Let’s go get him, sir.” He said anxiously.
Mark held up one hand. “Just having his address isn’t going to let us get him, Keyes. We have to be smart about this. The man committed a murder. He’s going to know the jig is up soon enough, let’s not go barging in with guns a-blazing and light a-flashing.”
Ben clenched his jaw and his fists at the same time. He almost wanted to punch the computer screen for showing the face of Carrie’s murderer.
“How do we go about it then, sir?” He asked.
“What else can your computer tell us about this Luke Hayes of Belmont Ave, Clements?” Mark asked Drew. Drew looked over her shoulder at him.
“I can find out where he works and his credit history. It would take a background check for any further information and that takes time.”
“Give us what you have.” Mark said.
They were sitting in the car, heading to the elementary school where Luke Hayes worked as a crossing guard. According to the computer, he worked there four days a week with Fridays off. He owned his home so he must have had other employment. After a check on his social media usage, Ben notified Mark that he also taught classical guitar to young people ages 6 to 18. He had a few adult clients. He had many friends on social media and lots of followers but rarely got on the page other than to post pictures of his students performing in shows or to announce an upcoming classical guitar show.
“If we are careful, he won’t notice that we are policemen until we already have him cornered. Otherwise, he may run.”
“I hope he runs.” Ben sounded angry. Mark gave him a side glance and grinned.
“Suddenly you are angry at the killer.”
“I’m angry at all killers of innocents, sir. I just happen to want to beat this one up, too.”
Mark chuckled. “Well, rein in your temper, son. We will do this by the book.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s almost time for the students to be let out. If there are children around, we will need to be even more careful. Listen, I’ve had a thought, go ahead and call for one of the officers nearby to come and act as crossing guard, just to make sure there are no traffic snafus when we pick Luke up. I don’t want any little children getting hurt.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben dialed his phone and put in the order. “There is one just around the corner, sir. He will wait until he gets the call to come to the area.”
“No lights.”
“Yes sir, I didn’t even have to tell him. He said he would be discreet.”
They were at the school quickly, moving through the traffic slowly as parents of small children who were car riders were being picked up. Mark pulled the car onto a side road next to where Luke was standing in the middle of the intersection, blowing a whistle and directing traffic into and out of the school.
They both got out slowly and pretended they were preoccupied talking to each other as they walked back toward the school. Ben pulled up his phone and texted the officer that was waiting to come to the area right then.
When they saw the police car pull up on the other side of the road from where they had parked, they looked at Luke.
Luke was still waving his hands in the air to tell the drivers where to go but his eyes were on the pair of them. Then they moved to the police officer, who had stepped out of his patrol car and was also looking at him.
He suddenly dropped his whistle and starting running down the middle of the street.
“Oh joy!” Ben called out and took off after the suspect. Mark was just behind him, gesturing for the officer to pick up the slack in the middle of the intersection where people were trying to watch the action without running over any children. The officer nodded and took his place, blowing his own whistle and getting the attention of the people around him.
Luke didn’t get far. Ben tackled him swiftly and brought him to the ground, pulling his arms around his back and cuffing him. He read him his Miranda rights and leaned down to growl in his ear. “I’m arresting you for the murder of Carrie Wellington,
Mr. Hayes. What do you have to say for yourself? How could you kill someone like her?”
“Someone like her!” Luke spit out. “She was nothin’ but a liar! A liar and a cheat!”
Ben jerked Luke to his feet and pushed him roughly so that he would get out of the street and onto the sidewalk. “Carrie Wellington was a fine woman!”
“She was a cheat and a liar! She made promises and then went back on them!”
“That’s no reason to kill her. Let’s go!”
They sat across from Luke in the interrogation room. He was giving them a stubborn stare, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“You’re not gonna just pin this on me.” He growled. “You want to know the truth? I’ll tell you the truth. Those friends, ha!” He spit the word out. “Friends! You need to go talk to Tucker and Cindy again. You need to find out the truth from them.”
“We have you here.” Mark said, calmly. “Why do we need them? What is your connection to them?”
“I’m not going down alone, cop. I’m not gonna be the only one in jail.”
“Right now we have evidence that points only to you. Why should we believe anything you say?” Ben asked.
“Why would I lie now? You got me! I’m just not taking this rap by myself!”
“Then tell us what we want to know.”
“Well, maybe I can get a reduced sentence or something!”
“We can certainly see what we can do about that.” Mark remained calm. “But I’m not the prosecuting attorney and can’t make promises like that. Your cooperation will certainly help you out though. Judges like to see cooperation.”
“Like I said, you need to talk to Cindy and Tucker. How would I know anything about them if they weren’t in on it?”
“But how are they involved, Luke?” Mark asked, trying to pry the information from the angry man. “Why do you call Carrie, who was loved by so many, a liar and a cheat? You are the only one who knows her that way.”
“You need to talk to Tucker and Cindy.” Luke sat back in his chair and stared at them through furious eyes. “They wanted her money! They needed it to keep up what they were doing!”
Mark slapped the table with one hand and sighed. “Officer, see that this man is charged with murder and put him in a holding cell.” He looked at Ben as they stood up. “I’m going to call Cindy Lockhart and Tucker Campbell in. You try to track down this Jackie and ask her to come in, as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
Three hours later, it was pushing dark. Three more interrogation rooms were now taken, with Cindy, Tucker and the elusive Jackie sitting across tables from police officers. Jackie was sitting with a public lawyer while Cindy and Tucker both had their own solicitors.
Cindy looked very nervous when Ben came in to talk to her. He sat down and started the tape machine next to him.
“It seems you may know more about this than you originally said, Cindy.” Ben was disappointed and he frowned at her. “What do you know? What is this business about money? How do you know Luke?”
“I told you I don’t know anything.” Cindy said defiantly, though she would not meet Ben’s eyes.
“But you do, Cindy. We know you do. Don’t you think Carrie deserves to have this solved? Don’t you think she deserves the justice?”
She refused to look at him.
“I thought she was your friend.”
“She was my friend.” Cindy said, weakly.
“Then why aren’t you being honest with us?’
She was silent once more.
He sighed, hoping Mark was having better luck with Tucker and Jackie.
Tucker wasn’t talking. Mark had spent almost an hour trying to get him to say even a few words but he refused. He wouldn’t express guilt or innocence. Mark gave up and tried Jackie, whom he hadn’t spoken to yet at all. When he went in the room, he was somewhat surprised to see her. She didn’t look like the same type of person as her friends. As Cindy had mentioned, she had several large tattoos on her arms, bright colored hair and several piercings in her face.
“Jackie Fossey?” he said, sliding in the chair next to her and nodding at the PL, who responded with his own nod.
“Yes. You are investigating Carrie’s death, aren’t you?” Jackie’s voice was low and rough, as if she had smoked too many cigarettes in her lifetime.
“We are.”
“Well, I didn’t do it! I wouldn’t have ever killed Carrie! She was my friend! A real friend! I don’t have many of them!”
Mark nodded and spoke reassuringly. “We have the killer in custody. But we need to find out why this happened for more evidence. We don’t want any foul-ups in this and he may not have been the only one involved.”
“It was that creep, Luke, who did it, wasn’t it? They finally did it.” Jackie shook her head violently and sat back in the chair, pressing her fingers against her eyes.
“Please, Jackie, tell us what’s going on here.”
“It’s all because of that money. If Carrie hadn’t had so much of it, she’d be alive now!”
“What do you mean? I thought she wasn’t wealthy.”
Jackie snorted and followed that with a sharp laugh. “Who said she wasn’t? Of course she was wealthy! Her books sold like wildfire! She has money coming out of her pores!” She broke down into tears. “I mean had! Oh Carrie!”
Mark allowed Jackie time to get herself together, offering her a tissue from the box on the table. She took it and sniffed.
“Please Jackie. Tell us what’s going on.”
“Carrie had an investment business on the side. She would put her money into businesses and get a percentage of their stock.”
“Yes, we know about that. And Cindy is her accountant.”
Jackie looked at Mark angrily. “Yes! That… that… Oh!” Jackie slammed both fists down on the table. “I should have said something before!”
“Never mind that now.” Mark said. “Continue please. Now is the time.”
“Cindy has been working Carrie’s books for over a year. She takes Carrie’s money and invests it where she wants or just plain steals it! She’s been…she’s been having an affair with Tucker for years! And when Tucker’s business started to falter earlier this summer, Carrie said she didn’t want to put any more money into it. It hasn’t been making a profit but it’s been taking a lot of Carrie’s money. And she never even used the gym!”
“So Cindy was funneling Carrie’s money into Tucker’s business without Carrie’s knowledge?”
“Yes. I found out about it and was going to tell Carrie.”
“Did you?”
“No, I was afraid.”
“Why do you think they killed Carrie instead of…pardon me, killing you?”
“Because Cindy is getting a lot of Carrie’s money in her will. With Carrie dead, they would have it all anyway!”
“It sounds like you might have been next on the list if they knew you knew what they were doing.”
“Why do you think I’m moving? Why do you think I’ve been laying low? I never would have thought they would really kill Carrie! I don’t want to die, too!”
“Would you be willing to testify to all of this?”
“I’ll do anything you need me to do!”
Mark nodded. “Thank you, Jackie. You’ve been a great help.”
“If Luke was the one who did the murder, will you be able to get Tucker and Cindy, too? Like for conspiracy or something? I don’t want to be murdered!” Jackie looked terrified.
Mark patted her hand. “Don’t worry, Jackie. We will put them behind bars. You will be safe. Thank you for telling us the truth. Carrie would be proud of you.”
Jackie lowered her head to cry. “Poor Carrie!” She repeated. “She was such a good lady.”
Mark nodded. Money could make good people turn bad too easily.
He got up and left Jackie mourning her friend with genuine tears.
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A Classic Case of Murder: Detective Crime Mystery Suspense (Ben and Mark Detective Investigator Mystery Series) Page 4