by Alex Harris
Chapter 26
Oriole and Fred organized the tasks that had surfaced on their case. Oriole took the coffee shop, Fred followed up with phone calls on male friends of Lisa.
Oriole showed pictures of Bobby and Phil to Mary and Jill and got confirmation that it could have been the two of them in the coffee shop on the day Lisa died. She called Fred to tell him of the new development, but got his voice mail and left a message. She decided to follow up with the accountant and Gerri to make sure the hold was placed on Lisa’s investment accounts.
“Gerri. It’s Detective Wolfe. Did you connect up with the accountant to get the hold placed?”
“I went over there to his office and it’s shut up tight. I called the number and it says he retired and closed his office. It refers everyone to another accountant. What do I do now?” Gerri was more than a little perturbed.
“Gerri. Go to the other accountant explain the problem and show him the will and get him to help put a freeze on the accounts. Then call me back. I gotta go. Bye.” Oriole wanted to tell Fred and see if he concurred on a BOLO on Tom Schumann. She disconnected with Gerri and immediately dialed the office rather than Fred’s cell so she could get the secretary to track him down. When he came on the line, she gave him the latest updates. He concurred with the concerns about the accountant. He shared what he had found out about the other men friends of Lisa. They agreed to meet at Schumann’s home.
“Mrs. Schumann. I’m Detective Wolfe. This is Detective O’Neill. Could we come in?”
Margie Schumann opened the door to the detectives and they could see she had been crying. “I’m so glad you’re finally here. I called to report my husband missing and I’ve just been crazy with worry.” She dabbed at her eyes with a wadded up Kleenex. “Won’t you be seated? Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“If it’s no trouble, coffee would be wonderful. Let me help.” Oriole wanted to give Fred a chance to snoop around.
“Mrs. Schumann when did you husband go missing?”
“He didn’t come home last night. I tried his cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. I drove over to the office about 9:00 and it was closed. I mean really closed. There was a note on the door that he retired. We hadn’t even ever talked about retirement. I called our daughter in Phoenix to see if she’d heard from him. Do you want sugar or cream? No. Betsy said she hadn’t talked to Tom since Father’s Day. What could have happened?” Margie picked up her cup, one for Fred and handed one to Oriole and moved into the living room.
The Schumann home sat smack dab in the middle of an oversized lot located in an upscale subdivision boasting of half million dollar homes. The entry way welcomed visitors with Italian marble butting up against off-white carpet throughout the great room.
Handpicked matching loveseat and sofa created a conversation center in front of a floor to ceiling stone fireplace that had never been used. Under the coffee table rested a hand woven throw rug half the size of Rhode Island.
Fred took the cup of coffee from Mrs. Schumann and set it on a coaster on a coffee table as he sat down on the couch next to Oriole. “Ma’am. Where would your husband go if he wanted to get away for awhile?”
“You mean a vacation? Or do you mean if he ran away?”
“Whichever.”
“I have no idea. We haven’t taken a vacation together for years. We were both too busy. I’m a teacher for the Montessori here and you know he works 50-60 hours a week at the office. We just never seemed to have time. But he wouldn’t just run away. Who will take care of everything-the bills, the yard? I can’t do it all. He knows that. He would never just walk away.” She blotted her tears gently to avoid mussing her makeup.
“Have you checked your bank accounts to see if everything is copacetic?” Oriole sipped her coffee and looked at Fred over the rim.
“Bank accounts? Are you saying he stole our money and ran?” Margie sat up straight in her Lazy Boy recliner.
“Why don’t you call the bank or maybe you can go online and check?” Fred put his coffee cup down and pulled out his notebook and started taking notes. “What is Tom’s full name and date of birth? Is his car missing too?”
Fred excused himself and returned to his car to call in the additional information Mrs. Schumann had provided on the missing accountant. Dispatch had an update for him from an accident report involving the missing SUV belonging to the accountant. Fred called Oriole on her cell phone in order to get her outside to give her the update.
“Mrs. Schumann. I have to go now. Here’s my card if you hear anything else. Thank you for the coffee.” Oriole moved to the front door.
“But, I’m all alone here. What am I supposed to do? Aren’t you going to send an officer to be with me?” Margie Schumann wrung her hands, whining.
“Maybe you could call your daughter in Phoenix.” Oriole opened the door and said to both Fred and Margie, “I have to go now my partner needs me.”
“Difficult departure. What did you find out?” Oriole asked as she climbed into Fred’s car.
“His SUV was involved in a rollover accident on the way to Jerome. State and county are investigating. Haven’t heard what they found. Let’s take your car back to the office and go out there and see if he’s there.”
They met up and drove 89A to the Jerome turn off. It was obvious where the accident had occurred based on the number of emergency vehicles positioned on both sides of the road. Traffic had been limited to one lane as officers directed travelers to share the road. Fred and Oriole got out of their car and joined the investigators at the side of the canyon.
“Is the driver present?” Fred asked.
“We’re getting a tow truck to pull it up from the bottom. We haven’t been able to determine if the driver was inside.” The State Police investigator responded.
The officers stood around waiting for the tow truck to arrive. The SUV was visible to the onlookers. It was crushed from rolling over and over. The windshield had shattered and the top had collapsed onto the seats. The tires had flattened with the impact. The officers scanned the surrounding area for an ejected driver.
The tow truck arrived and maneuvered through traffic to the side of the canyon. Reeling up the SUV took nearly an hour. When the chain was disconnected, officers approached looking inside and found nothing-no driver, no briefcase, no sign of anything.
“Either the driver was ejected and is down there somewhere or he walked away. Let’s get a cadaver dog to search.” Fred took charge of the situation.
The handler in charge of the cadaver dogs lived in Chino Valley. She and her three specially trained dogs traveled all over the United States assisting with searches for deceased individuals. Cindy Jance traveled the old road from Chino Valley to Jerome in less than an hour. She took Willy out of her air conditioned van and put him to work down the canyon. The dog traversed the rugged hillside by himself, but found nothing.
“Fred. Willy didn’t hit on anything, not even some blood. Your driver didn’t come down the hill with his car. Sorry we didn’t find him.” Cindy put Willy back in the van and left.
“Now we put out the BOLO on him. Let’s go back to his office and get Mrs. Schumann to meet us there and see if we can find anything. I’ll call in for a search warrant.” Fred and Oriole left the scene to the traffic officers and returned to their office.