Death at Lampier

by Alex Harris

  Chapter 30

  The search warrant was signed and served on Monique by 4:30 that afternoon. Oriole and Fred divided the search. Oriole took the office while Fred took the condo.

  At the office, Oriole confiscated the computer, contents of Monique's desk, and her personal locker in the executive workout room. Oriole, with the assistance of a deputy, logged all the evidence and took it to the evidence locker. Of particular interest were ledgers containing information about numerous accounts and amounts, plus coded notes seemingly connected to other men Monique may have been involved with. When Oriole finished, she called Fred at Monique’s condo.

  "How are you progressing?"

  "I just got here. If you're done, why not come and help me."

  "I am just finishing up the paperwork. I'll be there in15 minutes. Save something for me."

  "Where do you want me to start?"

  "You take the garage. I'll start upstairs and work my way down."

  Oriole opened the door from the condo to the garage to find an orderly accumulation of items. To the right were cabinets with labels affixed to the doors and to the left she found boxes of records and holiday items. First, she took pictures of the garage starting on the left moving to the right. Then Oriole systematically began searching the cabinets and boxes. Anything listed on the search warrant was bagged, tagged, and inventoried. Anything not listed, but of evidentiary value was set aside for a supplemental search warrant.

  In a box in the far left corner, Oriole found a broken lamp and a cut electrical cord. She keyed her portable radio."Fred, you might want to come here. I think I may have something." While she waited, she took five photos of the box, lamp and cord.

  "Whatta ya got?"

  "Broken lamp and cord. Same thing Doc said could be the weapon. What do you think?"

  "Let's take the whole box and get it to forensics immediately. When you're done here, come upstairs. I found some interesting stuff in the spare bedroom closet."

  Oriole finished her search of the garage, but found nothing else of value and left the garage to join Fred upstairs.

  "I found a little black book in a shoebox on the top shelf. Guess what's in this little book?" Fred held the book up and waved it in front of Oriole.

  "Names of boyfriends? Recipes for zucchini bread?" Oriole knew Fred liked to draw out his revelation.

  " Nope. And nope. It's a record of blackmail and a list of off shore accounts. The names of the victims are in some kind of code. There must be at least four vics and close to a million dollars in three different accounts. Also, there are names in some code that could be guys she was involved with. This matches up with what you found. Now we got something to arrest her for. Let's finish up with the rest of the house and get someone to pick her up."

  They meticulously went through the rest of the house. In the office, they confiscated Monique's home computer and her bank records, as well as files from the file cabinet.

  After logging in the evidence, they reached the on call county attorney and discussed an arrest warrant. It was determined they would go with a frontal approach while an arrest warrant was secured.

  They staked out her condo waiting for Monique's arrival.

  "There is nothing fun about a stake out. What if she's already flown?" Fred quipped.

  "Get over it. If she isn't home by 2200, we call it a night and go home." Oriole poked Fred in the ribs and shifted in the driver's seat. Light was fading by the time Monique’s BMW turned in the main driveway and the condo’s garage door slid up.

  Fred and Oriole left their vehicle and entered the garage on the heels of Monique’s exit from her car.

  “Ms. Richards. We need you to put your hands on the top of the car and do not move.” Fred commanded cooperation from a frightened Monique.

  “Wh…what’s going on? Wh...Why are you here?” Monique stuttered in disbelief as she turned her head to look at the detectives.

  “Just stand still. I’m going to pat you down for weapons. Do not move.” Oriole began the search. “Now, very slowly, I’m going to take you left hand and put handcuffs on you for officer safety. Do not resist and do not fight me. Okay?”

  And Monique Richards was taken into custody without incident. The trio proceeded to the SUV and Monique was placed in the back seat and secured. Fred drove to the Sheriff’s Office, parked in the sally port and turned Monique over to the detention officer to secure until the detectives were ready for questioning.

  Oriole called the Medical Examiner to ask about the electrical cord discovered in the garage. “Well, you’ve been a busy little beaver, now haven’t you? The cord matches by eyeball. We’ll need to send it to the DPS lab for 100% sure. Where did you find it?” Culpepper was ecstatic with the possible closure to the case.

  “Found it in a box in a garage along with some other stuff. Will you go ahead and send it off with the chain of custody? And thanks.”

  Fred and Oriole set up the interview room, started the audio and video recording and had Monique brought to the room in standard orange jumpsuit.

  “Why did you take my clothes? I can’t be seen in this horrendous thing. Give me back my clothes.” Monique stomped her orange plastic flip flop on the floor emphasizing her anger at being inconvenienced.

  “Please have a seat Ms. Richards. I’m going to advise you of Miranda warnings.” Fred read from the department issued card. “Do you understand your rights and will you waive them?” Fred had the consent and waiver in front of Monique with a pen at ready.

  “Of course I understand my rights. I’m not stupid. Now get my clothes and let me out of here or you will face the biggest lawsuit this county has ever seen.”

  “Are you willing to waive your rights and talk with us?” Oriole asked as she pushed the paper and pen toward Monique.

  “I’ll waive my rights. I have nothing to hide.” Monique signed the paper with a heavy hand tearing a hole in the form. “Now get my clothes and get me out of here.”

  “Sorry, ma’am. We can’t do that. We need some information about your activities. I have here the search warrants for your house and office and an arrest warrant for you. Are you willing to try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding these activities?” Butter wouldn’t melt in Fred’s mouth.

  “What do you mean? Activities? What activities?”

  “We have some ledgers that indicate you may have had a role in some embezzlements. What can you tell us about that?” Oriole was taking her cue from Fred by being circumspect.

  “Embezzlement? What are you talking about?”

  “Here is the first ledger. It appears there is over a million in off shore accounts. The accounts are in your name. The ledger indicates the monies came from several sources. Can you explain it to us?” Fred turned the ledger toward Monique, keeping it just out of hands reach.

  “Ah, ah, I’m not sure.” The aggressiveness had left her and Monique became visibly smaller. “I think that ledger was a summary of money given to me by my ex-husbands.”

  “Ms. Richards, this ledger summarizes monies taken from brokerage accounts belonging to Lisa Wood and other individuals. Not your ex-husbands. When did you start stealing from Ms. Woods?” Oriole pressed Monique for answers.

  “I kept that ledger for the accountant. That was his business. He needed a safe place to put it. I didn’t have anything to do with stealing money. It was all Schumann. I had no idea what these ledgers were. He didn’t want his wife to know about his money. Now if that is all, I’m ready to go home.” Some of the bravado had resurfaced.

  “We had a conversation with Tom this afternoon. He indicated you were the one who put together the idea of taking the money. He has confessed to everything. In fact, he gave us explicit details.” Fred watched Monique’s face as he delivered the news of her complicity.

  “Tom is just trying to save his butt. You can’t believe anything he says. He is a crook and the worst kind. Anyone who would take money from clients is a liar and cheat.” Monique tried to divert
attention back to Tom.

  “Tom says you put this together because you had something on him. What did you have over him?” Oriole carefully laid the ground work for the blackmail charge.

  “He’s a liar. He’s blaming me for all his problems.”

  “When did your affair with him begin?” Oriole continued to build on the charges.

  “Affair? He’s saying we had an affair? How pathetic is that?”

  “He says you were blackmailing him because of his penchant for videos.”

  “Ah, ah. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can I get a glass of water?”

  Fred left the interview room for a bottle of water and Oriole continued, “So, the blackmail for access to his client list so you could bleed them dry without searching for victims. We have documentation in this ledger going back four years. How many more victims will we find in the other ledgers?”

  “What other ledgers? What are you talking about? This is the only ledger. If Tom says there is another ledger, it’s his not mine.” Too late Monique realized she stuck her foot in it.

  “How did Lisa find out about your involvement?” Fred asked as he handed Monique a bottle of water.

  “That damn Phil let slip. He just can’t keep his mouth shut. She told him she was going to divorce him and he panicked. He was sniveling about how he wouldn’t have anything and she said he had already stolen most of her money and then he said it wasn’t him but me and then the shit hit the fan.” Monique continued talking and digging a deeper hole for herself and her cohorts. “Lisa called me and told me she knew about Phil and me and she knew I had been siphoning off the accounts. I convinced her to meet me to discuss it and I told her I had the money and I’d give it back to her. I had her meet me at her office and I called Phil and told him to be there to help me. I told her the ledgers were out at that ranch I had looked at buying in a secret place. She got in my car and I drove out there. I knew she was taking Ativan because Phil told me. I had coffee for both of us and in hers I put the liquid.” Fred and Oriole sat and listened without interrupting.

  “I had told Phil to go out to the ranch and put his car in the garage. Once we got out there, I convinced her that the ledgers were upstairs. Phil was already upstairs waiting. He strangled her and put her in the closet. I couldn’t let her destroy what I had worked so hard to achieve. Don’t you see, it was her fault she died. If she would have just kept her nose out of it, everything would have been fine. Phil and I could have been together. We’d have enough money. We could have traveled and lived the high life. But she just wouldn’t leave it alone.” Monique unscrewed the lid on the bottle of water and drank long.

  “Monique, how did Lisa’s car and purse get to Shuttle One?” Fred asked very quietly.

  “Well, I couldn’t drive it. I had to have Phil drive her car. He thought of Shuttle One because so many other cars park there. I met him at Pioneer Shopping Center and we put Lisa’s purse in the car and he drove over and left the car and I picked him up just around the corner.” Monique’s eyes had glazed over and she had gone somewhere other than sitting in the interview room.

  “What about Tom? What did he have to do with Lisa’s death?” Oriole followed up.

  “Nothing. It was just Phil and me. Tom wasn’t even around that morning. Tom doesn’t have the nerve for that, he likes kids, not murder.” Monique lowered the hatchet over Phil’s neck. Monique looked directly at Fred, her focus returning, “You would never have got onto me if not for Tom. It was a perfectly executed plan. Phil had no choice. We would have waited a few months and left separately. Even with Lisa changing her will, no one would have suspected, if only Tom wouldn’t have caved in.”

  “Monique, anything else you want to tell us?” Fred asked.

  “No. There is nothing else. I do want my clothes though. I don’t like this jumpsuit. It’s too rough. Also, I have an appointment tomorrow to get my nails done. What time will you be releasing me?” Monique raised her hand in front of her face to survey her French manicure.

  “If you will excuse us for a minute, we’ll be right back.” Oriole looked to Fred and they both got up.

  “Pretty bizarre don’t ya think. She’s still thinking she’s leaving. Is she over the top or crazy or out of touch or what?” Oriole asked as she leaned against the wall outside the interview room.

  “Snoopy, I’d say that woman is so self-centered she cannot imagine a reality of responsibility. Did we miss anything? Blackmail, conspiracy, murder, theft, porn? What else could there be?” Fred ticked off the crimes solved by the narcissist Monique.

  “Let’s turn her over to detention, get the paperwork filed and go get Phil.” Oriole moved down the hall to get an officer.