Not Quite a Murder

by Liz Turner

  “Is there any security footage that covers the outside window the attacker used?” Ryan asked hopefully.

  “Sadly, no.” Garcia slowly climbed back to his feet. “But here comes the nurse now.”

  “Kendra!” Lily exclaimed, relieved it was her friend who’d be helping. “Is Doug going to make it?”

  “Yes. His attacker tried to suffocate him, but fortunately didn’t have enough time to complete the job. Doug is going to be as fine as he can be, considering everything he’s suffered. The doctor is still with him.”

  “Can you tell us what you saw?” Garcia asked Kendra, his pen ready.

  “I walked in to check up on Mr. Radley before the end of my shift. We’ve been keeping the door locked for security reasons, so I had to buzz in with my card.” She showed them the security card on a lanyard round her neck. “By the time I got inside the room, I saw a figure dressed in dark clothes and a hoodie escape through the window. There was a pillow lying on top of Mr. Radley’s face.”

  “The figure that you saw—can you describe the height, build, gender, or anything that might help us identify them?”

  “Well—and this is just a guess, detectives—but I’d say it was a woman. The attacker’s frame was small, and the jeans were super tight. The hood of the sweater was super bulky, which makes me think quite a heap of hair was tucked inside of it.”

  “Thanks, Kendra. This is a great help. Can you buzz us into Doug’s room so that we can scout for evidence before he gets back?” Garcia instructed more than asked.

  “Of course.” Kendra quickly opened the door for him. “And here’s the pillow,” she said, pointing to a chair against the wall. “I figured it might be important, so I kept it to one side.”

  “Quick thinking. Thank you.” Garcia walked straight to the window ledge, examining for any traces left behind by the attacker.

  “Did I do okay?” Kendra whispered to Lily.

  Lily grinned at her old friend. “Yeah. You were super professional, and your testimony might just help us catch this guy.”

  “I can see why you love this, Lily,” Kendra admitted with a warm smile. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “Hey, I doubt myself all the time, so I can’t really blame you for assuming I’d dropped out of med school, had a mental breakdown, and ran away with the police.” They both giggled.

  “Do you mind?” a grumpy Garcia complained. “We kind of need your eye in here, Lily.”

  Kendra winked at Lily and walked off.

  Lily went over to Garcia and crouched down next to the pillow on the chair. She could see where the fabric had creased at the edges, probably from the attacker’s sweaty grip. She pulled a small magnifying glass from her pocket and began examining the creased folds. Her heart hammered. “Guys, I think you might want to take a look at this…”

  Ryan stooped next to her. “What is it?”

  “Notice the tiny flakes of what looks like paint over here?” She pointed with a pen. “It looks like chips of nail polish. Recognize the color?”

  “That’s ruby red, for sure,” Ryan breathed out slowly.

  “Plenty of people wear red nail polish though,” Garcia commented.

  “But pair that with this.” Lily shifted her magnifying glass until it hovered over a single strand of hair. “How about that color?”

  “Well, that would be crimson red, and I know exactly where to find the rest,” Garcia said, staring grimly at the evidence.

  “So do I.” Lily shared a knowing look with Garcia. “Did you find any prints?”

  “I did indeed, and quite a number of them were left behind on the window ledge.” He raised an eyebrow. “It seems our attacker wasn’t very experienced in the art of murder.”

  “Great. I’ll lift these off, and Banks and I can work on them in the lab,” Lily said enthusiastically.

  Ryan shook his head. “I’m sure that’ll seal the deal for Mrs. Radley.”

  Lily shrugged. “Innocent until proven guilty. This just seemed like such a desperate attempt. The attacker is getting more and more careless with each attack.”

  “How many more attempted murders can one man take?” Garcia scratched his chin as he thought pensively over the last series of events.

  “At least they’ve only been attempted and not successful,” Ryan said.

  “Regardless, we better make sure there are no more attempts on this poor man’s life,” Garcia grumbled as he whipped his phone out.

  “What are you thinking?” Ryan asked a thoughtful Lily.

  “… we need a security detail outside the hospital room immediately…” Garcia was ordering over the phone.

  Lily shook her head. “Just thinking about the attacks. The evidence will complete the picture once I get into a lab.”

  “… I don’t care how short staffed you are!” Garcia raised his voice and began pacing the room. “We need a security detail outside the hospital too. If a suspicious character enters this building, I want to know about it!”

  “I’m sure Banks will be happy to see you,” Ryan whispered with a raised eyebrow.

  Lily snorted, her eyes flicking cautiously to Garcia, who was still yelling into his phone. “Please tell me you’re not jealous of Banks!”

  “You disappear into that lab of his for hours at a time,” Ryan said, cautiously watching Garcia. “Of course I’m jealous.”

  “What are you two on about?” Garcia scowled at them.

  “Oh nothing,” Lily answered quickly. “Just chatting about the case.”

  “Well, we’ve got an arrest to make,” Garcia said, collecting his things. “So as soon as you two are done chatting, let’s get out of here.” He stormed out of the hospital room.

  “Maybe he’s just really frustrated by this case?” Lily suggested doubtfully.

  Ryan shook his head, confused. “This isn’t like Garcia at all. I’m usually the grumpy one.”

  An annoyed Garcia popped back into view. “I’m not grumpy!” he snapped. “Now get a move on!”

  Chapter 6

  A Family Affair

  “You seem even more annoyingly cheerful than usual,” Banks groaned as he endured another round of Lily’s humming through her blood test examination.

  “Oh.” Lily smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t realize it. Sorry.”

  Banks peered over the edge of his medical mask. “What are you working on?”

  “I’ve just finished, actually. Let me give you a rundown of my findings. I matched the nail polish shavings to the exact same color and type Mrs. Radley was wearing. Have a look,” Lily shifted out of the way so that Banks could use her microscope.

  “Good work.” He nodded slowly. “Is she definitely our attacker then?”

  “The evidence points that way. And it’s not just the nail polish—the strand of hair we found is a match to the DNA swab Garcia sent down from Mrs. Radley.”

  “Mrs. Radley was at the hospital visiting her husband earlier that day though, so she could easily claim the evidence is simply circumstantial,” Banks reasoned, ever expanding the limits of Lily’s brain.

  “I thought you would point that out,” Lily said with a cheeky smile. “So, I also ran the prints from the window ledge in Doug’s room with those that they sent down from Mrs. Radley. It’s definitely her.”

  “Excellent work, Lily.” Banks gave her a rare smile, but there was still a twinkle in his eye suggesting her cross-examination wasn’t entirely over yet. “I’m impressed you thought to cover all possible avenues, but perhaps Mrs. Radley simply opened a window while she was visiting her husband.”

  Lily grinned. “I thought of that too. However, the quality of the attacker’s prints was still fresh, suggesting they were less than an hour old when we lifted them. Had they been laid there earlier, the prints would have collected dust and other dirt, which weren’t visible when I lifted them.”

  “But –”

  Lily held up her hand and Banks paused obediently, his eyebrows raising in surprise at her boldnes
s. “Let me finish. I also went back to the hospital and lifted prints off the outside of the window which proves without a doubt that Mrs. Radley entered and exited the room through that window. And before you come up with any other crazy theories rationalizing that it wasn’t her,” Lily continued, slightly running out of breath in her attempt to out-speak Banks, “we also found her shoe prints in the dirt outside the window—a match to Mrs. Radley’s size.”

  Banks folded his arms and looked down on her with one eyebrow still raised. “I suppose you’re feeling pretty smug right now?”

  Lily shook her head. “Not really. You taught me to consider all angles, so that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

  “Well, as usual, you did a better job than I would’ve,” Banks finally conceded. “There’s something that I would like to discuss with you later, if you’d be willing to meet with me…”

  “Uh…” Lily hesitated, uncertain of Banks’s intentions. “Of course.”

  “So, if all the evidence points to Mrs. Radley as being our attacker, then have you put all of your findings together in a report for your detectives, waiting patiently upstairs, with a riled-up Mrs. Radley in the interrogation room?” Banks asked casually.

  Lily’s eyes widened with the reminder. “Yes, I have. There’s just one glitch I wanted to speak to you about. Have a look at this. These are the blood samples from the first attack spot in the park. I was right—one blood sample does belong to Douglas Radley, our victim. But look at the other sample…”

  “Hmm,” Banks stroked his chin, his forehead furrowed in confusion. “You’d better run this report upstairs yourself and explain matters.”

  “I don’t appreciate how I’ve been treated. Dragged out of my bed in the middle of the night!” Mrs. Radley accused in a shrill tone, one scarlet coated nail pointing savagely in their direction.

  “We found you in a downtown bar, two blocks from the hospital,” Ryan pointed out dryly.

  “And then your officers manhandled me like some common criminal!”

  “Because you resisted arrest in a drunken state and had to be subdued like a common criminal.” Ryan sighed. “Look, Mrs. Radley, we’re not here to argue with you–”

  “My rights have been violated and I want my lawyer!” she snapped tartly, her make-up smudged and her hair plastered to one side of her face from her night in a cell.

  “Mrs. Radley, your husband was attacked last night in his hospital room,” Garcia proceeded firmly.

  “Oh, how awful!” she drawled with a wave of carefully contrived concern. “I mean, I hate my husband, but I’d never wish death upon him.”

  “Mrs. Radley, we’re offering you the opportunity to confess, which will help your case when prosecution steps in.”

  She scoffed with mock surprise as she slumped back in her chair and chewed on a fake fingernail. “What could I possibly have done that would require a confession?”

  “Our medical examiners are busy processing evidence that strongly implicates you in the attack. That’s why we took blood and saliva samples, which we had authorization to do,” Ryan said hastily before continuing. “So save yourself the breath and time you’d waste with lying and tell us the truth.”

  Mrs. Radley scowled darkly at Ryan and pursed her lips.

  “Mrs. Radley, you have motive,” Garcia said, pulling a sheet out of his file. “We know you discovered your husband’s will, and we know you discussed it with your lawyer. If your husband died before the divorce, you would inherit millions, pushing you to take matters into your own hands.”

  “When the attempt at the park failed, you swooped down on him in his weakened state and tried to finish the job,” Ryan added, painting the picture for Mrs. Radley, “shoving a pillow over his sleeping face until you felt his life fading away.”

  “No!” she protested. “That’s not true! I would never…” Mrs. Radley broke off into a storm of tears.

  “Give it up, Mrs. Radley,” Garcia snapped, his patience waning.

  An urgent knock on the door interrupted the brewing tension in the room. Ryan leaped up to find Lily waiting with a medical report.

  “Ryan, I just need to show you–” Lily attempted to explain while maintaining her hold on the file.

  “Don’t worry. I know how to read a medical report,” Ryan said, winking as he wrestled the file out of her fingers and shut the door in her face.

  Lily folded her arms and shook her head, offended. The male species, she thought bitterly before jogging to one of her favorite spots in the police station—a nook adjoined to the interrogation room. She crept inside and took a seat in front of the large window that enabled her to view and hear Mrs. Radley’s defense.

  “Well, we’ve got the evidence in hand, Mrs. Radley,” Ryan said with a smug smile. “Your hair and DNA was found at the scene of the crime.”

  “Of course it was. I visited my husband yesterday after I heard what happened! You detectives even saw me there.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “If that’s all you’ve got–”

  “That’s not all we’ve got,” Ryan interrupted. “It seems our medical examiner thought you might say that. She found prints on the outside of the window, proving you broke in and entered through that window.”

  “I… uh…” Mrs. Radley opened and closed her mouth several times, an expression of horror paralyzing her ability to formulate any more excuses.

  “It’s over,” Ryan slammed the file down on the table, “and unless you start talking, you’re looking at a very grim future.”

  “Fine! I went to the hospital room to try to talk some sense into my husband. But of course, they wouldn’t let me in. So I snuck around the back and broke in through his window.” She breathed heavily, reliving the scene that had played out next with a shiver of guilt. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” Mrs. Radley resumed, her face reddening and blotching. “I just saw Doug lying there, so pale and so helpless… When I realized he couldn’t comprehend anything I was saying, I figured there would be no harm in simply ending his suffering and allowing myself to benefit in the process….”

  “So what happened next?” Garcia prompted.

  “I climbed onto his bed and held a pillow over his sleeping face,” she said, her eyes filling with tears—real tears—and her voice quavering. “I thought I could do it, but when the machines started beeping and he gagged, I couldn’t go through with it. A nurse stormed in, and I panicked. I ran away, but I swear, I didn’t really mean to harm him! I’ve just been so strapped for cash… When I found out he was sitting on millions, I just snapped!”

  She continued to weep for a few minutes while Ryan and Garcia exchanged one of their famous ocular conversations.

  “All right. On the night of the first attack, can you explain on what happened?” Ryan asked with increasing smugness. Lily could almost see him practically planning the rest of the day off with the case wrapped-up.

  Mrs. Radley looked up, her mascara-stained cheeks flushed and her eyes wide with genuine confusion. “I’m not sure I understand. I told you everything…”

  “The night in the park,” Garcia pressed, “what happened between you and Mr. Radley?”

  “I wasn’t in the park!” Mrs. Radley exploded.

  “We have evidence that places you there, Mrs. Radley,” Ryan said, annoyed.

  “What evidence?” she demanded, her tears drying.

  Garcia raised an eyebrow at Ryan, who flipped open the medical file.

  “We found a blood sample of the attacker in the park,” Ryan began, his eyes scanning Lily’s report.

  “Here we go,” Lily mumbled under her breath, slapping her hand to her forehead.

  “And… and…” Ryan hesitated, his eyes flicking frantically back-and-forth as he read and reread Lily’s report.

  “And?” Garcia asked in exasperation.

  “And it’s uh…” Ryan leaned towards Garcia’s ear, “it’s not a match to Elise.”

  “What?”

  “The blood at the first a
ttempted murder scene matches Doug and an unknown attacker. There’s nothing that places Elise at the scene of the crime,” Ryan muttered.

  “Mmhmm.” Mrs. Radley gave Ryan a condescending look up and down. “I told you there was no evidence of me being there.”

  “And I told you I needed to explain the medical report,” Lily said aloud from the other side of the window.

  “Uh, I apologize for the confusion, Mrs. Radley,” Ryan said, fumbling over his words. “This still doesn’t change last night’s incident at the hospital though. You’re still in big trouble, including prison time, unless you offer us some assistance on this case.”

  “But I don’t know anything!” Mrs. Radley cried. “On the night of his murder, I was with our daughter, Tasha. Go talk to her!”

  Chapter 7

  Broken Hearts

  The black Chevy pulled up slowly outside Tasha Radley’s apartment.

  “But I told you I needed to explain the report,” Lily repeated, her tongue clicking with annoyance.

  “Yeah,” an exasperated Ryan persisted, “but you could have just said ‘the blood wasn’t Elise’s!’”

  Garcia chuckled. “I guess you live and learn, Detective Scott. Live and learn.”

  “What does that even mean?” Ryan grumbled as he flicked off his safety belt.

  “When the female species feel the need to explain something to you, close your mouth and listen,” Garcia said, chortling quietly again.

  “Thank you, Garcia. I couldn’t have phrased it better myself.” Lily smiled and rested her hand on his shoulder.

  “There she is,” a scowling Ryan pointed through the windshield at a young woman in her early twenties. She had dark wavy hair, and a tall and sleek build. “She matches the description of Tasha.”

  “Wait…” Lily practically jumped into the front seats to get a better look. “I know her!”

  “You know her?” Garcia and Ryan said simultaneously, turning to face Lily.

  “We went to school together. I should have realized!” Lily chastised herself. “Tasha is short for Natasha, and I went to school with a Natasha Radley.”