The Electrician's Code

by Clarissa Draper

  They parked and walked up to the front door. It was just starting to rain again. Theo pulled up the collar on his jacket and pressed the bell. At first no noise came from the house but after a few seconds, a light come on in a room on the second floor. The window slowly opened and a man poked his head out.

  “Who’s there?” the man asked.

  “Mr. Yoder?”

  “Yes?”

  “We’re the police, Mr. Yoder. May we talk with you?” Theo took out his ID and held it toward the second floor even though he knew the man would have no way of seeing it in the dark.

  “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  After about five minutes, the door finally opened and a man in a nightgown stood there. Theo once again held up his warrant card.

  “What is it?” Mr. Yoder asked.

  “May we come in?”

  “Of course,” he replied and stepped back, allowing them to enter. The hall was dark, the only light came from the top of the stairs. The house wasn’t modern in any way. The wallpaper was extremely dated and peeling. The house smelled of burned rice.

  Mrs. Yoder slowly came down the stairs, wrapping her old nightgown tightly around her. She stopped on the bottom stair.

  “My name is Detective Chief Inspector Theo Blackwell, and this is Detective Sergeant Dorland Jackson. We have something important to say. Perhaps we can sit down in the living room?”

  Mrs. Yoder came toward her husband and took his arm. Together they silently moved to the sofa and sat down.

  “It’s about your daughter, Sharon. I’m sorry to tell you that she was found dead this afternoon in her flat.”

  Mr. Yoder took a deep breath in. “Was it drugs?”

  “I’m sorry?” said Theo. “No, it wasn’t drugs. I’m afraid she was murdered.” He watched the parent’s faces very carefully. “You don’t seem surprised by this news.”

  “Well, with her lifestyle we’re not surprised,” said the mother coldly.

  “What do you mean? What was her lifestyle like?”

  “Well,” she replied, “all that carrying on with men. Drinking. I told you, Martin, I told you it would eventually get her killed.”

  “It would be really helpful if you could tell us who might want to kill her. Perhaps she owed someone money. Did she have any enemies?”

  The parents looked at him blankly, as if they didn’t understand the question.

  “We wouldn’t know,” the husband finally replied. “We haven’t spoken to her in years. We couldn’t have her living in this house anymore. So she left.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, do you know of anyone we could contact? Someone that she was close to? Perhaps a friend or relative. We are looking for information.”

  “We believe she went to live with Brian, her brother.”

  “You believe?”

  “Well, we haven’t had contact with him either.”

  “Oh, why is that?”

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Mrs. Yoder replied. “Our family—”

  Mr. Yoder put his hand on his wife’s knee and she stopped talking. “I’m sorry, we can’t help you. Although we tried to raise our children with morals, they have to make their own way in this world. Just try Brian. He’ll know more. Thank you for coming and telling us that she died.”

  “Can we get you to come and identify the body?”

  “Please ask Brian.”

  “Do you have Brian’s contact information?”

  “No.” The couple stood up.

  Theo and Dorland rose as well. They were walked to the door. Mr. Yoder opened it for them.

  “We are sorry for your loss,” Theo said. He handed them his card. “It’s too bad you don’t have more information about your own children. Well, if you do think of anything or could possibly come in and identify her, that would be wonderful.” They walked out and heard the door slam behind him.

  “What the hell just happened?” asked Dorland. “What could she possibly be involved in that caused that sort of shunning?”

  “They are obviously very religious.”

  “Obviously! I will never understand people like that.”

  “We don’t really know what Sharon or Brian were like when they were younger. I mean, I don’t think that’s a reason to . . . I think her father was or is a priest.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Above the mantle there was a picture of Mr. Yoder in his garb.” Theo unlocked the car door and got in. After starting the car, he blasted the heat in his face. He hated the rain and cold. “Now we need to find her brother. What was his name again?”

  Dorland looked at his notebook. “Brian.”

  “Tomorrow, we need to talk to Brian.”

  Chapter Forty

  Around 10:30, Theo and Dorland finally returned to the incident room. Although it was late, his team was still there, arranging desks, computers, and papers. He went to the board and scanned the photos of the crime scene.

  His last murder inquiry didn’t turn out well, and the powers that be insisted he move on. There was no end to the grief he received. Thank God none of Tipring’s family bothered to enquire about the case. It was sad. As far as the world was concerned, Doc left the world and no one paid any attention. Sharon wouldn’t end up that way, would she?

  He wouldn’t end up that way, would he?

  “Karen,” he yelled to one of the aides, “remind me tomorrow to send flowers to my wife.” Karen nodded. Theo didn’t explain and walked into his office and shut the door. Almost as soon as he was seated, there was a knock at his door.

  “Come in,” Theo yelled.

  “Gov,” Dorland poked his head in. “Got CCTV footage.”

  “Good, get a team started on it.”

  “What are we looking for?”

  “The killer. Dorland, I don’t know. Someone coming or going about three. Perhaps entering the car park at that time. Do we have other camera angles?”

  “Yes, we have a few different ones from the garden around the building. We should find something.”

  An hour later, Theo had read through all the case notes and interview statements he had so far. He stepped out of the office and into the main incident room. Most of the staff had left for the night, Dorland sat watching footage in the corner, laughing and munching on crisps.

  “What’s so funny?” Theo asked. “Have you found anything?”

  “Well, it’s a bit of a mess. As you can see, the footage is horrible. All nineteen cameras are stored on this hard disk and as far as I can tell, the footage is separate but we don’t know what camera faces where. The landlord told us that his nephew set up the system for the buildings and to save time, just stored all the data in one place. However, it’s hard to decipher. The landlord said it was the first time anyone asked for the footage.”

  “So we have nothing from it at all?”

  “Well, not nothing. Can’t really make out anything from this scene. The camera is working but it’s not focused correctly, so the footage is all blurry. The camera pointing to the car park is so high, I can’t even read the registration plates unless they are facing one particular direction and I can barely make out the make or models. It took me a long time to figure out what camera file came from the foyer of which building.”

  “So how did you figure it out?”

  “I just started watching the first, and fortunately I came across the victim entering her building. The date and time are stamped on the bottom or I would really be lost. So, round three o’clock I counted a hundred and fifty-two coming and going but can’t make out some of their faces. I’m having a look now at the other angles, but really I’m not hopeful they will turn up anything either. So far the cameras face every direction but the right one. One of the cameras was facing a tree. Unless our killer is an out-of-control robin, nothing of use is on it.”

  “What about CCTV footage from the street? Perhaps we can see more.”

  “We’ve sent for it. There is a camera leading to the block
of flats.”

  “I’ve read through the house-to-house statements and they’re useless. Most say all they can remember were children coming and going. Noise in the halls. One person remembers a man delivering take-away and another receiving a package but neither could confirm the time or remember what the people looked like.”

  “Looks like we could have another Tipring on our hands.”

  Theo went over to the board and looked at the photo of Sharon Yoder lying prone in her entranceway. “Dorland, come look at this.”

  With an eager hop, Dorland moved to the board.

  “What do you notice about this photo?” asked Theo.

  Dorland stepped closer and peered at it.

  “It reminds me of the last case we worked on, the Tipring case,” Theo said.

  “Well,” said Dorland, “I started running information through Holmes and I found something interesting about one of the tenants—a Mr. Frank Mitchell.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, apparently he’s got some suspected ties with organized crime. He’s been arrested three times for running illegal gambling establishments in London. Each time, he’s been let go without charge.”

  Theo grabbed the papers and started looking through them. “He’s even been suspected of murder . . . and a stabbing death at that. Shit, I’m never going to hear the end of it. The man didn’t have an alibi and he didn’t even seem to care. Cocky bastard. Have one of the officers bring him in. If he’s still there. Give me a few minutes and we’ll go back to the building. Ugh, and I gave him her bloody fish.” Theo went to his office and slammed the door.

  A few minutes later, Dorland knocked on his door.

  “What?” Theo asked.

  “The officers there say he’s not answering their knocks. You may be right, he stayed until he knew the officers weren’t going to stop him and he snuck away.”

  “Shit.” Theo stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, and walked from his office. “We need to search his flat.” Theo picked up the phone and started dialing.

  “Gov,” said Dorland. “Gov—”

  “What!”

  “Look who just arrived.”

  Theo turned around and standing with one of the officers was Frank Mitchell.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Frank sat across from the two officers at a table in one of the interview rooms.

  “I thought I would save you the trip over. In reality, I should have told you about my background when you came to my flat the first time. It’s just I’m trying to put that all behind me, that life. That was another time.” He leaned back in his chair. “Can I smoke in here?”

  “No.”

  “Hmm,” he replied. He pushed his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out chewing tobacco. He stuffed a few fingers-full in his mouth and then he said between chews, “I know it looks bad on me but I’m not lying. I had absolutely nothing to do with this. That part of my life is over. And Sharon is as far from that life as could be. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

  “So you have no idea who could do this to her?”

  “No.”

  “We have heard that there have been a string of petty thefts in the buildings. And—”

  “They also had nothing to do with me.”

  “I’m not accusing you, but perhaps you heard something. Maybe you—”

  “No.” He leaned forward. “Listen, Detective Inspector—”

  “Detective Chief Inspector Blackwell.”

  “All right, DCI Blackwell, I know what I’ve done. Also, I know what I’ve been accused of doing. And I’ve never been charged nor convicted of anything. You have nothing on me, so I really wouldn’t waste your time. Now, you may not be interested in my opinion but I don’t think you’re looking for those little punks who are stealing from the flats.”

  “What do you know about the break-ins?”

  “I think they’re a few stupid kids with too much time on their hands and no parental supervision.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  “I don’t know their names. But you’ll find them. Just watch all the footage you received. You did receive the shitty footage, didn’t you?”

  Theo put his hand over his mouth and closed his eyes for a moment before replying, “What did you come in for? You didn’t trek through the cold to come and convince me not to take you in.”

  Frank laughed and then nodded. “A bloke can’t do a nice thing once and a while? I babysit her damn fish. Perhaps I’m just a super nice guy. And perhaps she was like a bloody daughter to me, did you ever think of that?” He slammed his fist on the table. “She didn’t have family you know.” He waved his arm to silence them. “No, I mean, she didn’t have family to talk to because they shunned her. So she came to talk with me, not so much these days but she did. I want you to find out who did this to her because she didn’t deserve it.”

  “Was she seeing anyone? We found a photo in her flat.”

  “Yeah. Oh, what was his name?” He scratched his head. “An older bloke. Married, I think. Though he took off the ring when he was around her, you could still see the impression. I don’t know what she saw in him but she was happy.” He shrugged. “And she deserved to be happy.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this when we came to you before?”

  “Well, honestly, I didn’t think of him. He wouldn’t have done this.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Not the sort.”

  “What sort was he?”

  “Look, I’ve known killers and he wasn’t one of them.”

  “Maybe she threatened to tell his wife.”

  He waved it off. “Wasn’t him. You’ll find the killer on the tapes, but it wasn’t him.”

  “Still can’t think of the name?”

  “I want to say Brandon, but that wasn’t it. Only heard the first name once. She never spoke of him to me. I was coming home one afternoon and he stood in the foyer, he spoke into the intercom to her and said whatever his name was.”

  “What about Walter?”

  “Oh, that does ring a bell. I can’t be sure that’s him, but I do remember a Walter.”

  “So you don’t know where we can find him?”

  “I don’t know, but if she had any enemies he would be the one to know about it. Perhaps his wife found out about the affair.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The yacht was at least seventy feet long. Theo stared at the address in his hand and back at the boat in front of him. Brian had asked him to meet him here. Theo walked up the plank slowly, looking into the boat for any sign of Brian. The boat just rocked quietly in the waves.

  “Brian?”

  Still no sound.

  Suddenly a man peeked his head out from below. He was wearing a dress shirt and tie, which was loose around his neck.

  “Are you the detective?” the man asked. “I’m Brian.” He came forward with his hand out. “Come down, I still have some work to do.”

  Theo smiled at him. What a difference in personalities between the father and son. Below deck, the ship was five star. Plush carpets, high-end electronics surrounded him. Theo had never seen luxury like this before, especially in a boat.

  Brian led him to an office at the front of the boat and crawled under a large mahogany desk. He yelled to Theo, “Look, can you pull this cord over the top of the desk?” Theo reached behind and when he saw the cord end, grabbed it.

  “Thanks so much. I have to get this system installed by the end of the day and I’m running behind.”

  “This is not your boat?”

  “Oh lord no, don’t I wish. I’ve been working here for the last week installing the security system and various other computer related things.” He screwed the wire into the back of a monitor sitting on the desk. “So, what can I help you with, Inspector?”

  Theo motioned him to the brown leather sofa and they sat down. “It’s about your sister, Sharon.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’m a
fraid she was found murdered in her flat yesterday.”

  He sat there silently. “Who did it?”

  “I’m afraid we don’t know yet. I was actually hoping you could help us out in our enquiries. Do you know anyone who would want to kill her? Your parents informed us she had a drinking problem.”

  Brian let out a weak laugh and shook his head. “That’s a bloody joke. Drinking problem? No, she didn’t have a drinking problem. She rarely drank. My parents—and I use that term loosely—wouldn’t know.” He sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “My sister was the most innocent person that lived and didn’t deserve the parents she was given. Who would want her dead? I don’t think any person that truly knew her could hate her.”

  “When your sister moved out of her parent’s home, did she come stay with you?”

  “Yes. I was already on my own by then, I left at fifteen. My parents are strict Christians and everything was a rule. Rules abounded in our house, love didn’t. I stayed with friends. Actually, it was more like hiding with friends whose parents didn’t know I lived there, which wasn’t really that difficult. Most parents don’t pay any attention to their children whatsoever. My parents, you couldn’t put anything past them. They were on us about everything. My sister and I lost contact after I left. I was actually surprised when she showed up at my door one day. By then I had a flat of my own and I was working with computers to pay my way through uni.”

  “Do you know any of her friends?”

  “I didn’t really. My friends were her friends. You see, it was a bit awkward for us in school. Even in uniform, you know how most teenagers are, you can tell the cool ones from the uncool. My parents made sure we stayed uncool. Beyond uncool. Friends were really restricted. My parents thought all kids were from the devil. Well, you can see how that would be. She was really shy. Slowly she began to change. By the time she moved out, she had her confidence back.”

  “Her neighbors mentioned they’ve seen her with a man, an older man. Do you know if she has been seeing anyone?”

  “Well, she’s dated men in the past so she may be in a relationship. We learned as children to be tight-lipped about our feelings and our personal lives, so she never went on about the men she saw at all.” He sat back. “I wish I could tell you more because she was the closest thing I had to family in the world and I lost contact. I should have spoken with her more often.”