Finally he gave up. His pants were soggy, but he flat out didn’t care.
He’d no more than made it to his desk when Ollie waved him over.
“The boss wants us an update on the Kathy Simmons murder,” said Ollie, while shoving the last quarter of a piece of pizza into his mouth. Glancing down at Lou’s crouch, Ollie said, “Didn’t make it to the john in time?”
“Hardy-har-har,” said Lou in a snarl. Not only were his pants still wet, but his stomach had twisted into a knot. That hamburger and fries weren’t sitting well. On the way to Davidson’s office, Lou tried to be strategic. He didn’t want to Davidson that he’d let Darcy Lahti fly the coop. It had been a colossal lapse in judgment on his part not to caution her more strongly. Davidson would be well within his right to bark at him. Lou decided that a good offense was his best bet. He’d lead off by telling Davidson everything they’d done right—and point out what Faraday had so obviously gotten wrong.
“Walk me through what you’ve got,” said Davidson, leaning back in his leather seat.
Ollie stepped over to Davidson’s desk. “Mind if I use your computer? Is it booted up? No? You might want to look at this spreadsheet while I get it started.”
“This is some fancy Excel work,” said Davidson, admiring the neat bars and colors.
“That represents a timeline of Kathy Simmons’ life,” said Ollie, talking as he tapped on Davidson’s keyboard. “It starts with the media event at The Treasure Chest. Using colors as codes, I filled in times and dates. Yellow is information from interviews. That’s cautionary, because we’re taking someone at his or her word. Blue is for time stamps on CCTV. Green indicates money, purchases, or receipts.”
"Impressive," said Davidson. “So our victim went to the media event at Cara’s store, back to the newspaper, drove her boss to Wendy’s, made a trip to Hobe Sound, drove back to Stuart, dropped her boss off, drove south, and disappeared?"
“Right,” said Lou.
“Start at the beginning,” said Davidson. “What do you know about the media event at The Treasure Chest?”
“We know that while she was there, after all the other reporters left, Kathy Simmons got into a quarrel with Cara Mia Delgatto,” said Lou.
“Really?” Davidson raised an eyebrow. “Over what?”
“Ms. Simmons wanted to buy an expensive framed photo that wasn’t for sale,” said Lou. “When Cara refused to part with it, Kathy Simmons threatened her. First she said she’d expose Cara’s legal troubles with her ex-husband. Then she said she’d print some dirt on Cooper Rivers. Skye Blue and MJ Austin both overheard the fight.”
“You aren’t seriously considering Cara Mia a suspect are you?” asked Davidson with a frown. “First off, any fool with a computer could dig up old newspaper articles about Cara’s problems with her ex, so that’s no motive. Second, Cara is not a stupid woman. Why would she respond to threats in front of witnesses and then commit murder? Much less park the victim’s car so it’s practically in her own backyard?”
Lou squirmed in his chair. “No, we don’t seriously think Cara’s a viable suspect, but the nature of the exchange does indicate the sort of person Kathy Simmons was. She obviously didn’t think twice about threatening people.”
“What else do you have?” Davidson asked.
“A loose end,” said Lou. “Kathy bought an expensive photo at Cara’s store. It’s gone missing. The frame and glass were in Kathy’s car. The picture has disappeared.”
“You’ll need to track that down,” said Davidson.
“Already on it,” said Lou.
Ollie had the images up on Davidson’s computer. “Here’s our first verifiable sighting after Kathy Simmons left The Treasure Chest. See? She ran into Wendy’s.”
“For some reason,” said Lou, “even though it was raining like crazy, Kathy Simmons parked her car and ran inside. But she did that after she drove through the drive-thru. We know because we can compare the time stamps.”
“That’s not surprising,” Ollie said. “Probably opened the bag and discovered something was missing. Or wrong. Happens to me all the time. Or she decided she wanted something that she forgot to order.”
Davidson’s mouth twitched with a suppressed smile. Everyone in the department knew that Ollie ate constantly. Even if you hadn’t seen him with a donut in his hand, you couldn’t help but notice the stains and crumbs on his clothes.
“I hope you’re planning to talk to the people who were working that night at Wendy’s. See what they say,” said Davidson.
“We’re on it,” grunted Lou.
“Here’s something else that doesn’t make sense,” said Lou. “One of the uniforms brought in this footage from the Winn-Dixie in Hobe Sound. It was taken Monday night."
A grainy scene showed Adrian Green walking up to the customer service counter and buying a package of cigarettes. The time stamp said 10:52 p.m.
“Here’s what doesn’t make sense," Lou said. "Notice how wet his jacket is? The car wasn’t parked in range of the camera. You’d think with it raining so hard, Adrian Green would have parked closer to the front of the store. Even in the fire lane, under the circumstances. He just ran in to buy one item!"
“Why was he driving Kathy’s car?” asked Davidson.
“According to him, she didn’t like driving in the rain. Since he’s from England, it doesn’t bother him,” explained Lou. “He told me that he was being a gentleman by running inside and buying the cigarettes for her.”
“It’s possible that he couldn't get any closer,” said Ollie, settling into his chair.. “Maybe some old coot blocked the fire lane. Anyway, after the Winn-Dixie stop, we have Adrian Green climbing out of her car and entering his apartment. I just received the images from the security camera at the front of the building. I’m working on verifying the timing by comparing the pictures to key card swipe records.”
“Right,” said Davidson, tapping the timeline printout with a finger. “Any other independent verification of where our victim was the night she disappeared?”
“After she dropped off Adrian Green, Ms. Simmons drove to a BP Station in Stuart, a few blocks from Mr. Green’s place, and topped off her tank.” Ollie got up again and pulled up another computer image. “We know all that from her credit card statements. You can see the Toyota. In fact, the way she parked we can read its license plate. This isn’t in color, but you can see the back of her head and her coat pretty clearly. That thing on her head is the same thing we found in our dead girl’s coat pocket.”
“A scarf,” said Lou. “Like Audrey Hepburn worn in that movie Two for the Road. See that coat, boss? It's the one our DB was wearing when we found the body. It’s the same one that Kathy Simmons wore to the media event at The Treasure Chest. Pretty distinctive. It’s got newspapers printed all on it.”
Davidson asked, “What’s the time stamp?”
“Monday at 11:35 p.m.,” said Ollie, taking his seat. For him, this up and down business had been a lot of exercise. “This proves our vic was alive after she dropped off Adrian Green.”
“Here’s the real zinger,” said Lou. “Faraday says our victim was drugged and kept alive in the trunk of her car for nearly 48 hours before she was asphyxiated. But he can’t be right. We’ve been able to track Kathy Simmons’ movements using her SunPass.”
“Go over with me how the SunPass works,” said Davidson. “I think I know, but I’d rather hear it from you so I’m clear on it.”
“Sure,” Ollie said. “SunPass is an automatic payment system for Florida’s toll roads. Citizens purchase the do-jobbies, register them to a specific vehicle, and link them to their credit cards. Each SunPass has an RFID, a Radio Frequency Interface Device. As the driver approaches the toll booth, it sends a message to the SunPass. The SunPass answers with its serial number. The number is recorded. The credit card is charged for the toll.”
“Are you telling me that you found evidence of Kathy Simmons’ SunPass being used?” Davidson raised an eyebrow.
>
“Right. The toll booths up and down I-95 recorded visits by the SunPass registered to Kathy Simmons’ Toyota.”
Davidson’s frown deepened. “Could someone have swapped out Kathy’s SunPass? Taken it off of her car and put it on theirs for a while? Then put it back in the Toyota?”
“The system would have noticed that a vehicle different from the registered car passed through the tollbooth,” said Ollie.
“Better yet, we’ve got pictures of Kathy at the rest stops,” said Lou. “At the West Palm Beach Service Plaza, she sat down and ate a Nathan’s Hot Dog. We also have a photo of her buying a donut at the Dunkin’ Donuts in the Pompano Beach Service Plaza. But Faraday is adamant that Kathy had been locked in her trunk. He’s waiting on tests to support his conjecture. The lab is looking at her stomach contents, blood concentration levels, and so on.”
“Could someone else have been driving her car? With her in the trunk?” asked Davidson.
Ollie shook his head. “Let me pull up the images.”
Once again, he went over and stood beside Davidson. With swift keystrokes, Ollie called up the image of a woman in a scarf and the newsprint raincoat. She entered two service plazas.
“According to the videos, Kathy looks like she’s on her way to Miami,” said Ollie.
“But we don’t have any footage of her on her way back?” asked Davidson.
“No,” said Ollie, returning to his chair. “It’s possible she didn’t take the turnpike back. She could have come back on I-95 or A1A.”
Davidson nodded. “Right.”
“Here’s the deal,” said Lou. “This contradicts what Faraday told us. I know you have a lot of faith in him.”
“But he’s human,” said Davidson, with a half-grin. “He could be mistaken. Tell you what. Take that timeline and share it with Faraday. Show him the images. Maybe he can figure out why his facts don’t jibe with what you’ve got there. Let’s move on. What else have you learned? Any closer to nailing down a motive?”
Lou shook his head. “Not really. We started with the known associates. We’ve learned that Adrian Green is a jerk and a coward, Kathy was chronically short of money but got along with her co-workers, and Darcy Lahti needed Kathy’s income or she wouldn’t have had a roof over her head. That pretty much covers Kathy’s circle of friends.”
“You’ll need to go back and re-interview Ms. Lahti,” said Davidson. “Ask her about Kathy’s relationship to Adrian Green. Find out whether Kathy really did hate driving in the rain. See if it sounds plausible that she demanded to go to the Winn-Dixie in Hobe Sound,” said Davidson.
“No can do,” said Lou, his heart sinking. He explained that Darcy had left town. “I should have cautioned her more firmly. “It’s my fault. We could try to find her, but if she’s off the grid, it’s pretty much a lost cause. Especially in Miami.”
“I’m sure that will never happen again,” said Davidson, but the sour look on his face told Lou that his boss was not pleased. Not at all. “Moving right along. What’s your theory? Any ideas yet?”
“Kathy was secretive about her research,” said Lou. “We also know she threatened Cara Mia with information about her past and she wasn’t even subtle about her attempt at blackmail. Kathy was always trawling the Internet. So we think that it’s possible that between her regular reporting and her research, she managed to get the goods on somebody, somebody who had a lot to lose.”
“That would explain why she was willing to buy a really nice birthday gift for her mother,” added Ollie. “Kathy was expecting a big payoff from somebody.”
“But instead of paying Kathy to keep quiet,” said Lou, “someone decided to shut her mouth permanently.”
“We need to find out who else she was threatening,” said Davidson. “Start a list.”
Lou nodded. “At the top would be Cooper Rivers.”
51
~Lou~
“You’ll need to approach Cooper Rivers carefully,” said Davidson. He’s a local boy who’s done well, a minority, and very civic-minded. Before you go after him, you need to have your facts straight. This could create tremendous blow-back.”
“I’ve been thinking about how to talk with Mr. Rivers,” said Lou. “First I want to see what Ollie can find on Kathy Simmons’ computer.”
“That’s easier said than done,” said Ollie.
“How come?” Lou was a caveman when it came to computers. Ollie was an expert, at least to Lou’s way of thinking.
“I copied the hard drive of the computer she used at work. There wasn’t anything there. At least nothing I could see. The files on her notebook computer seem pretty straightforward. Nothing scandalous or interesting. I have a hunch she didn’t store anything of value on the notebook. In fact, I’d bet you lunch that she didn’t.”
“I don’t understand. You’re talking in circles.” Davidson sounded slightly annoyed. This surprised Lou, because it took a lot to upset Davidson. He was one of the most even-keeled bosses that Lou had ever worked for.
“According to Kathy Simmons’ credit card statements, she recently opened an account to store files on the cloud,” said Ollie. “Considering how tight her budget was, paying for private cloud storage only makes sense if she had important information that she needed to keep safe.”
“Whoa,” said Lou. “I’m lost. The cloud? What’s that?”
“Cloud storage offers users a way to store information that can be accessed remotely at any time, through any device. Imagine, if you will, a giant USB stick in the sky.” Ollie sketched a rectangle with his index finger.
“USB stick? In the sky?” Lou was even more confused.
“Lou, you really need to make the hyper-leap into the computer age,” said Ollie, with a put-upon sigh. “Let me dumb it down for you. In a typical office, you might open a file cabinet and store papers inside manila folders, right? A USB stick is the computer equivalent of a huge file cabinet. But it’s only three inches long. You might have heard it called a ‘thumb drive.’ By contrast, cloud storage would be like renting an entire building’s worth of file cabinets up in the sky. Because it’s virtual, it can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. So if Kathy’s at the Shoreline News, she types in an address and she has access. Same-o, same-o if she’s sitting in a Starbucks. Unlike using a key or twirling a combination lock on a physical storage unit, you use a password to get into your cloud storage.”
“You’re telling us that Kathy purchased one of these invisible storage lockers but you don’t know how to get in and see what’s there?” asked Davidson.
“I’m trying my best,” said Ollie, “but guessing a password is frustrating and time-consuming. I might be wasting my time.”
“What makes you say that?” Davidson asked.
“Paying for cloud storage is not uncommon,” said Ollie. “A lot of people don't put important stuff on their computers. Not anymore. Especially if they are highly mobile or if they don't trust their environment. They use the cloud."
"Still sounds over the top to me,” said Lou. “Our victim had access to two computers. Why not hide the information on one or both of them? Put it in a file with a misleading name? Why all the secrecy? How hard is it to crack a password?”
Lou shrugged. “Depends on the person creating the password and how tricky she wants to be. For example, I know your password."
"Huh." Lou leaned back in his chair and frowned. "The heck you do."
"SkyeBlue2012."
Lou's face burned with embarrassment. He was so stunned that he could barely think, much less respond calmly. "I, uh…"
“Better change that right away,” said Davidson.
“Don’t worry. I plan to.”
“But Kathy’s password is a tough one,” said Ollie, barely missing a beat. “She used a combination of sixteen letters, capital and lower case, along with numbers and symbols. I know she used all three types of characters because it’s a high security password. That alone tells me she took her security seriously.”
“All this brings us to motive,” said Davidson. “Let’s look at the facts. We have penniless reporter for a podunk publication that’s only published three times a week, but she’s willing to fork over money to pay for cloud storage. She doesn’t like her boss, but she spends hours in the office using their access to websites. She doesn’t have any money, but she buys a gift for her mother, a framed black and white photo, and throws away the frame. These pieces don’t fit.”
With that, Davidson shut up and stared at the calendar on his desk. No one said anything. Lou found the silence oppressive. He had to stifle the urge to say something, anything, rather than just sit there. The waiting made him nervous.
“Let’s back up for a minute,” said Davidson at long last. “Cooper Rivers was the other name that Kathy threw at Cara. As far as we know, he’s squeaky clean, but he definitely has a lot to lose. His firm, his license, and his public standing. Maybe Cara told him about Kathy’s threat. Or maybe Kathy threatened him directly with information. Could that what Ms. Simmons was trying to hide?”
Ollie nodded. “It’s the best we have so far.”
“Then we have to assume the pay dirt is in the cloud storage,” continued Davidson. “We need what’s in those files to put pressure on Cooper Rivers. Otherwise, we don’t have any leverage. Our only other option is to try to replicate Ms. Simmons’ research. Ollie, can you crack Kathy Simmons’ password?”
“The more we learn about Kathy Simmons, the more information we have. The more info we have, the more likely it is that I can figure out her password. But it’ll take time,” Ollie said.
“The clock is ticking,” said Davidson. “The longer all this takes, the harder it will be to catch the person who did this.”
52
~Cara~
“Josiah Wentworth is dead?” Poppy repeated Honora’s words. The color drained from my grandfather’s face, as his eyes grew big as softballs.
Kiki Lowenstein Books 1-3 & Cara Mia Delgatto Books 1-3: The Perfect Series for Crafters, Pet Lovers, and Readers Who Like Upbeat Books! Page 109