“Yes, and this one is from homicide,” Dave said, as he suddenly recognized Pierce.
Dave knew from the news that Pierce was also investigating the case of the girl that had gotten away from them. Dave felt himself grow angry. Every time he thought about that bitch getting away it pissed him off and he would have loved to have another shot at her... for more reasons than one.
The cop from missing persons, Detective Finder, came over and introduced Pierce to Dave, and asked him to join them in the empty conference room.
As he spoke to the two cops, Dave found that he had to make a conscious effort to meet Pierce’s gaze, which he found unnerving. The other cop, Finder, had an easygoing way about him that Dave liked, but Pierce was all business.
“What time did you leave here Friday night?” Pierce said.
Dave gestured to Finder.
“I told him all this the other day.”
“I understand, but now please tell it to me.”
“All right then, it was about nine when I finally got out of here. My car wouldn’t start and I called a buddy to come out and help me. He’s a diesel mechanic.”
“Someone else was here? What’s his name, and did he see Karen Dunham?”
“His name’s Jack Murphy, and yeah, yeah, he saw her. When Karen noticed my car was still here, she stuck her head out the door to see what the problem was.”
“What happened then?” Pierce said, and Dave realized that Finder was just along for the ride now that they found the body, although he was watching him closer than he had before.
“I told her that the battery wouldn’t take a charge and that Jack was going to tow me home.”
“I see, and that’s the last time you saw her?”
“Yes, and now I wish we had stayed and waited for her to leave. What the hell happened to her?”
Pierce stared at him for a moment before answering.
“Someone murdered her, and I’m going to find out who it is.”
“Murdered? Shit... that’s, that’s... what was it, a robbery?”
“We haven’t determined that yet.”
“I hope I’ve been of help?”
“Actually, I would like you to come down to the station for a longer interview. I also want to speak to this friend of yours.”
“Right now?”
“It’s nearly five o’clock, why don’t you come down to the South Ward station house after work, say, six o’clock? I promise not to keep you long, and uh, why don’t you give me your friend’s number so that I can invite him too?”
Dave smiled. “Do you have a pen handy?”
***
Once they returned to their cars, Finder asked a question.
“What do you think?”
Pierce shook his head.
“I’m not sure yet, I think I’ll wait until we interview the friend.”
“I checked Owens and Murphy for priors and found nothing, then, I remembered that they’d both enlisted in the army right out of high school. I checked there and my contact said that they were honorably discharged, but just barely, something about civilian complaints, but he had no details.”
“Maybe they were civilian complaints involving women, that’s good work, Al.”
“Thanks, but I guess it’s all yours now, but if you want, I’ll go and inform the mother. It might go a little easier since she already knows me.”
Pierce looked relieved.
“I owe you one. That’s the part of the job I hate the most.”
“You can pay me back by catching the bastard that killed her.”
“That’s the plan,” Pierce said.
***
Dave parked in the visitor’s lot of the station house and found that Jack was already there waiting for him. When he realized that Jack had driven the van there, he shook his head in astonishment.
“Jack, what the fuck? You know they must be looking for the van, why the hell would you drive it here?”
Jack grinned.
“Relax, so the girl told them that she was in a white van, so what? There’s a million of these, and this way, it looks like I have nothing to hide, besides, I cleaned it like a fiend since then.”
Dave calmed down as he thought it over.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, now let’s go inside and get this over with.”
They walked up the stone steps at the front of the building and entered the station house.
“Fuck me,” Dave whispered, as beside him, Jack froze.
The two of them had just come face to face with Valeria Mangieri.
CHAPTER 15
Inside the South Ward station house, Val stared at the two men who had just entered the building, stared at the men who were staring at her, with looks of recognition, with looks of fear.
Both men forced their eyes from hers and then looked about in trepidation, as if they were expecting to be pounced upon. When nothing happened, their postures relaxed, and they walked past her and over to the front desk.
“We’re here to see Detective Pierce,” the blond man said.
The desk sergeant looked at the men and then down at something in front of him.
“Are you two Dave Owens and Jack Murphy?”
They nodded.
“All right, take a seat, or you can stand, the detective is on his way down.”
Jack and Dave walked past Val as if she were a coiled snake, and huddled together near a corner of the room.
The elevator opened and Val saw Pierce walk off. She thought that he was even more handsome than she remembered. After saying a brief hello to the desk sergeant, he walked over to her, smiling.
“Ms. Mangieri, it’s good to see you up and about, how are you?”
“I’m much better, but my name is Val, remember?”
“Yes, Val, and how may I help you?”
Val was a bit taken aback and disappointed by the tone of business in Pierce’s voice, she had come here to see him again, hoping that maybe he would ask her to dinner.
“I, uh, I came by to see if you’ve learned any more about the men who attacked me.”
“We’re following a lead and working the case, but no, so far no breaks; I’m sorry.”
Val looked past Pierce at Dave and Jack and saw that they were staring at them. She dropped her voice and whispered to Pierce.
“Those two men, what did they do?”
Pierce followed her gaze and turned around, until then, he hadn’t spotted Dave, who he knew, and Jack, who he’d only spoken to on the phone, but he took note that both men seemed to be deliberately staying far away from Val.
“They’re here to answer a few questions about another case.”
“They’re guilty.”
“Of what?” Pierce said.
“Of whatever you suspect, there’s something off about them, and they’ve been staring at me since they came in here.”
Very interesting, Pierce thought, but he smiled at Val, not wanting to frighten her, or tip off Jack and Dave.
“Of course they’re staring, you’re beautiful.”
Val smiled back.
“I’m glad you think so... would you like to go to dinner?”
“I would, but I can’t. You’re the victim of a crime I’m investigating; it would be against department rules.”
“What about after you solve the case, what then?”
“Once I find the men who attacked you, we could have dinner... or anything else.”
“Anything else, hmm? I like a man who’s confident. Solve the case, Rick. I want that dinner.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Val put her hand on the door.
“I’ll see you around, Detective Pierce, stay safe.”
***
Pierce watched Val walk out the door, and then he turned to speak with Dave and Jack.
“Gentlemen, thank you for coming by, and I take it that you’re Jack Murphy?”
Jack offered Pierce his hand.
“Yes, detective; it’s nice to meet you.
”
“Same here, now please follow me upstairs and we’ll try to get you two out of here quickly.”
The ride up in the elevator was swift, and as they stepped off, Pierce introduced Dave to his partner, Bob Jerold.
“Detective Jerold will take your formal statement while I speak with Mr. Murphy. Mr. Murphy, please follow me.”
Pierce escorted Jack to one of the nine by nine foot rooms used to interrogate suspects. Jack tensed up, while wondering if the questioning he expected was about to turn into a grilling, but when Pierce asked him if he wanted coffee, he calmed down. He also declined the offer of coffee. The quicker he answered Pierce’s questions, the sooner he was back out on the street.
“As I said on the phone, Mr. Murphy, I’m investigating the murder of Karen Dunham. How well did you know the victim?”
“Not at all, really, Friday was the only time I ever saw her, and that was just for a second or two, while I was getting ready to tow Dave’s car.”
“I see, and what was wrong with the car?”
“It needed a new battery.”
“Did you and Ms. Dunham ever speak?”
“No, I nodded at her, you know, just to be friendly, but we never exchanged words.”
“Your friend, Mr. Owens, what was his relationship to Ms. Dunham?”
Jack shrugged.
“They worked together.”
“Anything more than that?”
“You mean... sexual? No, no way, Dave’s not the type to have an affair. I would have known.”
“You two are close?”
“Yeah, like brothers, we’ve been friends forever.”
“Did you see anyone else about the property?”
“No, that place is deserted. Dave says it’s half empty, and that they’re still renovating part of it.”
“Did Ms. Dunham seem nervous or frightened?”
“No, but like I said, I only saw her for a few moments.”
“Were there any other vehicles around?”
“There was one car still in the lot when we left, but I guess that belonged to Ms. Dunham.”
“What was she wearing, do you remember?”
Jack paused before answering, finding the question odd.
“Wearing? I really don’t remember. I barely saw her.”
“Has Mr. Owens ever said anything to you about Ms. Dunham?”
It was the question Jack had been waiting for, Dave had told him that Dunham was disliked at work, and if they pretended that she wasn’t, it might raise suspicion.
“Mr. Murphy?” Pierce said.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but Dave really didn’t like her, no one did from what he says, plus, she recently fired a lot of people. Maybe this was someone getting back at her?”
Pierce stared at him, looking as if he were thinking something over, but then his phone vibrated. When he checked it, he saw that he had a text from Jerold.
“Excuse me for a second, Mr. Murphy; I have to have a word with my partner. I’ll be right back.”
Pierce put his hand on the door knob, but then turned back around.
“You said you towed Mr. Owens car, what did you tow it with?”
“I have a van with a trailer hitch; it’s right outside.”
“I see. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Pierce went out into the hallway and found Jerold staring at Jack through the one-way mirror.
“What he just said about the victim being disliked, Owens said the same thing, he also told me about the firings. I already contacted the business manager and he’s sending over a list of names.”
“Good, that’s where we’ll start tomorrow, but for now, why don’t we let these guys go.”
“His name is Jack and he drives a white van; did you notice that?”
“I certainly did.”
“Could these be the two guys that attacked Mangieri?”
Pierce rubbed a hand over his chin.
“She was downstairs when they came in, said they were acting weird when they saw her, like they recognized her, although she’s never seen them before.”
“Why don’t we go hard on them?”
“No, we’ve got nothing on them. I think we’ll cut them loose, for now.”
“Even if they didn’t attack the girl, they still might have killed Dunham,” Jerold said. “The business manager says that Owens is next in line for Dunham’s job, could be a motive.”
“I don’t know; I doubt it’s enough. I mean what’s that get him, ten grand more a year? Doesn’t seem like enough for a guy like that to kill for, and then why would his friend lie for him? I’m not saying I’m ruling them out, for either case, but I don’t want them to know we’re interested in them until I’m ready to make an arrest.”
“Okay, Rick, then we’ll cut these guys loose.”
***
As Dave and Jack walked out of the station, each man breathed a sigh of relief.
A pair of uniformed cops walked past them, and Jack tapped Dave on the arm.
“Let’s sit in the van, we need to talk.”
Once they were in the van with the windows closed, Jack got right to it.
“We have to end the Boys’ Nights Out, if we keep going, sooner or later we’ll get busted, you know it and I know it. First, that little whore escapes and then you go off the deep end and strangle your boss. There’s too much heat on us, and now we’re linked to a murder. I won’t go out with you anymore, not for that. I’ve got too much to lose.”
“Jack, buddy, I agree, and shit man, I’m sorry about dragging you into this.”
“I know, but don’t worry, we’ll get out of it. The cops will spend the next few days investigating the people Dunham fired, and while they’re doing that, they’ll leave us alone.”
“That asshole Manny thinks he can tell me what to do, that he can blackmail me into killing his wife. It pisses me off every time I think about it.”
“Manny’s not a problem. We’ll take care of Manny, you know that, but I’ll tell you what almost made my heart stop, seeing that girl in there. I thought to myself, ‘Oh shit, they know.’”
Dave laughed.
“Yeah, I almost peed myself, but then I realized she was just there to see the cop.”
Jack sighed.
“Oh I wished we’d gotten a piece of that, the bitch is hot, a pure Italian spitfire.”
“My balls still hurt from when she kneed me.”
“That cop Pierce called her Ms. Mangieri, and then he called her Val, so her name is Val Mangieri. I bet she wouldn’t be too hard to track down.”
“Jack, are you stupid or something? Didn’t you just say that we should quit?”
“I did, and we will, but it’s tempting.”
“Just think of her as the one that got away.”
***
While Dave and Jack were discussing her, Val was watching them from the front seat of her car.
After leaving the station, she sat and waited for them to come out. They had already aroused her suspicion, but when she saw them get into a white van, a van like the one she was beaten in, she decided to not only keep watching them, but to follow them as well.
She saw Dave get out of the van and climb into a car. Now she had to make a decision, which one to follow?
She decided to stick with the van, and when Jack pulled out of the lot, she followed only seconds later. As she watched the van climb up a curving highway on-ramp, she saw the sun glint off something on the back of the vehicle.
She took the ramp and dared to pull closer to get a better look. When she saw what it was, her heart skipped a beat.
It was a trailer hitch, and it was just like the one she remembered.
***
They stayed on the highway until the van took the exit for Hillside, a small bedroom community. As they drove farther from the highway, the traffic thinned, and Val had to drop back so Jack wouldn’t spot her.
When she caught a red light that Jack had made on t
he yellow, she thought she might lose him, but the street was straight and long and she was able to keep the van in sight from a distance.
As the light turned green, she saw the van make a right turn up ahead and drove faster to make sure she didn’t lose him. She reached the street where she thought he had turned, but when she drove down it, she found herself on a cul-de-sac, and the van was nowhere to be seen.
She thought that maybe he could have parked it in a garage, but then thought that perhaps she’d made a wrong turn. She went back out to the road and took the next right. The van was parked six houses down on the left, its driver gone.
She read the house number off the mailbox and memorized it, and for just a second she thought about parking and trying to get a look inside the van, but fear made her think better of that idea, and she drove on.
***
Pierce told the desk to send her up, and he met Val at the elevator. Behind him, the squad room was empty, as he was the last one from the day shift working on a Friday night.
Val shot out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened and shouted into Pierce’s face.
“Those men who were here earlier are the ones who attacked me!”
“Why do you say that?”
“The van, the one with the dark hair drives a white van with a trailer hitch; remember I told you about the trailer hitch?”
Pierce stared at her for a moment. He had to calm her down. It wouldn’t do her or the investigation any good if she were to go around making accusations before they could build a case. He also remembered that she worked as an assistant to a television journalist, and the last thing he needed was the press butting in.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Follow me.”
He led Val to the end of the hallway, where a window looked down on the shopping center across the road. The parking lot was packed with vehicles whose owners were in the supermarket, stocking up on last minute weekend party and barbecue supplies.
Pierce pointed out the window.
“That’s just one parking lot; tell me how many white vans you see.”
Val looked annoyed that he wanted to play this game, but she soon realized why he had done so. She stopped counting when she reached ten, ten white vans, and two of them even had trailer hitches.
“I see your point, but those guys were still weird. When they first saw me, they both looked at me as if they knew me, and I’ve never seen either one of them before.”
Monsters (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 1) Page 7