Deadly Sins

by Stacy M Jones

  Cooper looked too stunned to move. I knew him, he certainly wasn’t going to tackle an old woman. Instead, he gave a blow by blow account to Luke. I waited eagerly. I definitely had a newfound appreciation for Elaine.

  We watched her carefully move around the house not touching anything. She made her way through the living room and picked a silver picture frame off the end table and carried it back out to us, careful not to touch anything else.

  She relocked the door, handed me the photo and said directly to Cooper, “Well one of us had to do something. We don’t have all day if she is missing. I can’t stand around while you two play cops and robbers.”

  Elaine turned to me, pointing to one of the girls in the photo, who seemed about my age, and said, “This one is Laura, such a pretty girl. The other is her sister.”

  I knew it wasn’t either of the women they found last night in the river. I hadn’t seen the woman today. I handed the photo over to Cooper.

  He stared down looking at the photo for a few seconds. He looked up making steady eye contact with me and said to Luke who was still on the phone, “We’ve got another missing woman.”

  CHAPTER 27

  LUKE AND HIS PARTNER TYLER showed up about fifteen minutes later. By then, Elaine was back at her house searching for Laura’s parent’s phone number. She said she had written it down in case of an emergency.

  Cooper and I were sitting on Laura’s front stoop, not talking. I was pretty sure Cooper was angry with me. I didn’t care. This was all starting to feel like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. Not even a week ago I was home, safe and contained in my little world. The most I had to worry about was a late-night surveillance case that kept me from taking my dog out at a reasonable time or my younger sister who worked for me but did very little actual work. Now it seemed someone had turned the world upside down.

  We watched Luke pull up and park at the curb in front of the house. He and Tyler made their way to where we were seated. Neither of them looked too happy.

  “Just about twenty-four hours in town and we’ve got two missing women and three deceased. This has got to be a record for wreaking havoc if I ever saw one. You should go back to New York,” Luke said sarcastically. His hands were shoved in his pockets.

  “I think you had this going on way before I even boarded my plane. At least I can get someone to tell me their real alibi,” I shot back.

  He started to speak, but before he could get another word out of his mouth, Cooper glared at both of us and said angrily, “Knock it off. We’ve got more important things to focus on.”

  Luke and I eyed one another. I had to admit this was getting silly. He was better this morning and now his temper was flaring again. I was going to have to pull him aside and sort this out if we were going to be able to work together. We couldn’t keep going at each other like this. I’d have to take the lead. I was, after all, the one that caused all this anger. But now, Cooper was right. We had more important things to focus on.

  “Coop, what we got?” Tyler asked, moving past us on the porch, looking into the windows the same way we had. From his vantage point, I knew he could see Laura’s purse and the other personal items I saw earlier.

  Cooper gave them the full rundown. He motioned to the house next door and explained Elaine had retrieved a photo, which he handed to Luke. He mentioned Elaine was in the process of calling Laura’s family. Cooper also explained his neighbor Jenny hadn’t heard from Laura either, and she hadn’t shown up for her hospital shift.

  Tyler interrupted. Taking Cooper’s seat next to me, he asked, “Miss Riley, George really tell you he was with this woman on Friday when his wife went missing? Don’t you think that’s something you should have called us about before y’all made your way over here?”

  “George admitted he lied to you both and then told me about Laura,” I said, making sure to get in the dig that the two of them wouldn’t even be here if George hadn’t confided in me. “Given he’d lied a few times, I wanted to ask her before I wasted any more of your time. I assumed you have enough to do sorting out the crimes that have recently occurred.”

  “You don’t think it’s strange that now we got two missing women both connected to George and three more that show up in the river behind his office?” Tyler pressed me.

  “I think it’s a little too obvious if you ask me. If you knew George, you’d know how smart he is. I don’t think he’d be so obvious. Besides, we wouldn’t have even known about Laura if he hadn’t told me. I don’t think he’d be dumb enough to hand us another missing woman he can’t account for.”

  Cooper look down at me. When I caught his eye, he shrugged like maybe I had finally struck some reason with him.

  Tyler countered, “Maybe he knew someone saw him with Laura or that it would eventually come out. He was getting ahead of the game. Someone smart would see ten steps ahead of us. Maybe he’s smarter than even you think.”

  “Why would he bring me down here then? Why get me involved? He knows once I start digging on something I dig and dig until I get to the truth.”

  “Maybe you’re next,” Luke blurted out. Then he looked at us like he hadn’t meant to say the words out loud. Once they were out though, they hung in the air. I couldn’t really respond. I didn’t know what to say. What if George had some sort of psychotic break and was killing the women in his life? What if that is why he called me here? Maybe Luke was being jealous for no reason. I hoped that’s all it was.

  “Well that’s a theory if I ever heard one. Coop, you’ll have to keep an eye on her. We don’t need her to be woman number six.” Tyler looked at me sideways. “Then again, I think Miss Riley could probably handle her own.”

  Just then Elaine walked across the lawn with her cellphone in her hands. “I have Laura’s father Steve on the phone. He wants to speak with the detective in charge. I figured one of you would be him.”

  Elaine stood with the phone outstretched waiting for one of them to take the call. Luke took the phone and walked away from the group of us.

  “Have they spoken to her?” I asked Elaine.

  “Not in days. Her mother Eva is on her cellphone right now calling other family and some friends to see if they have heard from her. When I told them she didn’t show up at work, they knew something was wrong. Laura never misses work like that. Her father is going to catch the next flight here and make a missing person’s report.”

  Luke walked back and explained pretty much what Elaine just told us. Luke turned to Tyler and said, “Let me call this in and get the crime scene folks ready on this. Laura’s father gave us permission to go through the house and car and anything else we needed. While we wait for him to arrive tonight, let’s pick up George and have a nice little chat at the station.”

  Turning to us he said, “In the meantime, can you two track down Dean? Don’t let on that we know that he covered for George but see what you can get him to tell us. Maybe, like George, he’ll be more honest with you.”

  “Stay out of trouble, Miss Riley,” Tyler called over his shoulder as they walked off. Luke didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

  CHAPTER 28

  LUKE WAS LIVID. Not only had Riley gotten the jump on him getting George’s real alibi, she was still defending the worthless loser. He looked through the one-way mirror at George who was sitting at the small square metal table with his hands folded in his lap. Luke thought he looked entirely too calm and comfortable given the situation. He wanted to go into the room, pick him up by the shirt and shake the truth out of him. Or at least shake him until he pissed himself with fear.

  Luke watched George a few more moments, calmed himself and then left his partner and a few other detectives who planned to observe the interview. Once he entered the interrogation room, Luke was completely back to normal. His rage had dissipated, and he was ready to get down to business. There was nothing in the room but the small table and two chairs. George sat farthest from the door while Luke sat arm’s length from it. It wasn’t a big room
or comfortable in any way. It was designed like that.

  “Do you have any idea why we called you back in here?” Luke asked, pulling out the chair and sitting down.

  “You said earlier you wanted to go over some financials. I assumed you couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” George replied, leaning on his forearms making steady eye contact with Luke.

  “No, tell me about Laura Bisceglia,” Luke demanded, cutting to the chase. He wanted answers now. He had played too many games already with George and was tired of wasting time. Luke believed wholeheartedly he was staring down a killer. He wanted justice, and he wanted it now. If he had anything, the slightest shred of evidence to tie to George, he’d arrest him on the spot.

  “Riley told you already?” George said. He exhaled loudly.

  “Interesting. You told Riley this already but couldn’t tell us?” Luke waited, but George didn’t say anything.

  “No,” Luke lied. He didn’t want George to think he couldn’t trust Riley. “We got a tip from a neighbor who had seen your car at Laura’s place.”

  Over the course of the next thirty minutes, George detailed his entire relationship with Laura; how they met, kept in contact, met up, places they traveled and how they broke up – twice. Luke was a little surprised that George was giving him so much information. He bet money George was debating how much they knew. Luke didn’t think George was going to take any chances at this point.

  When George finally wound down, Luke looked at him and asked, “Anything else you think we should know?”

  And then he waited. Luke was skilled at using silence to get what he wanted. He could sit and stare at a suspect for hours, neither talking. George didn’t say anything. Five and then ten minutes.

  Finally, George spoke.

  He sat back and folded his arms over his chest and said, “I’ve told you it all. I don’t have anything else. This is a waste of time. I cheated on my wife. I admit it. You need to be out there looking for her. I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “Tell me where Laura is,” Luke demanded calmly and evenly.

  “What do you mean, where Laura is?” George asked clearly acting confused. “Work, home maybe. How should I know? I haven’t seen her since I dropped her off on Friday night. I already told you that.”

  “Funny thing, George, nobody has seen Laura since you dropped her off. Actually, to be more accurate nobody but you can confirm that you even dropped her off at home on Friday night.”

  “What?” George gasped as his eyes widened.

  Luke was impressed. George was a good actor. He looked thoroughly dumbfounded by the news.

  “I’m telling you the truth. We went out, drove around talking, and I dropped her off. I broke it off for good. She was crying and upset with me and just wanted to go home so that’s where I left her. I swear to God, you have to believe me.” George’s voice was so high he was practically screeching.

  Luke didn’t say a word and instead got an idea. He got up and left the conference room. Returning, he slid two eight-by-ten crime scene photos of the women pulled from the river across to George.

  “Look at these and tell me what you think,” Luke said. He wanted to shock George. Make him sick or see if he had a reaction to his own handiwork.

  George looked down at the photos, picked up each one for several seconds and then laid them back down on the table. He stared at Luke for several moments. He slammed his fist down on the conference room table and yelled, “Who is trying to ruin my life?”

  Hiding his shock at George’s outburst, Luke said all he could. “You tell me, George. You tell me.”

  CHAPTER 29

  DEAN’S HOUSE was just off Country Club Road and four houses down from the club’s entrance. He probably drove his golf cart from home right to the greens. The house was a massive two-story structure and landscaped perfectly. I had to admit it fit him and was a stark contrast to George and Maime’s unkempt house.

  I wanted to talk to Dean and see why he covered for George. Plus, he had reached out to Cooper so I was hoping he’d be willing to talk. Cooper and I approached, rang the bell and waited. Dean answered the door, looking like he had been asleep and startled awake by the doorbell.

  “What can I do for you?” Dean asked as he leaned against the door and crossed his arms. He was barefoot and had on baggy jeans and a button down emerald green shirt with the top two buttons undone. His sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms.

  “We need to talk to you about George and Maime,” Cooper explained.

  We had agreed on the drive over that Cooper would take the lead on the interview. I wasn’t really sure why as I could have done it myself, but Cooper felt that he might get Dean to open up. Some nonsense about good old boys, but Dean looked more ready to attend a polo match than sit in a duck blind.

  “What do you want to know?” Dean asked.

  “Can we come in and talk?” Cooper asked and started to step forward. Dean made no move to let us through the door. He didn’t take the stance of a cooperative man.

  “We’ll be fine right here,” Dean responded. He barely even blinked.

  “George told us he was with you on Friday. What were you doing?” Cooper asked.

  “Good try,” Dean responded impatiently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “George already told me he told Riley that we weren’t together.”

  “Well if you weren’t with George, then what were you doing on Friday?” Cooper demanded.

  “I see. Covering for George gave me an alibi, too. What am I now your number one suspect?” Dean asked, smirking.

  I wanted to smack the smirk right off his face. I really did not like this guy and something was gnawing at me that I couldn’t quite place.

  “You said it. Where were you?”

  “Well if you must know I was home alone. I was supposed to have a date but she cancelled last minute,” Dean said. Then he looked at me and winked. “That time of the month.”

  I jumped in before Cooper could. “Let’s just get down to it. What do you know about George and Maime? Where she might have gone? Your thoughts on George? Stop being such a pain in the ass. You get the drill. You know why we’re here.”

  He put his hands up as if to say he was an open book and then said, “George is my best friend and has been for years. He didn’t hurt Maime. He’s not the reason she’s missing. Yes, he had a couple of women on the side, but honestly, any man married to her would have too. She’s not exactly compliant. I don’t know anything more than that. I’ve always protected George, always have and always will. My business protects his business and his father-in-law’s. That’s the extent of my involvement.”

  I wanted to ask what he meant by compliant, but Cooper chimed in first. “You and Maime’s father seem very focused on his law firm’s reputation. I don’t really understand why that would be the focus here. Shouldn’t doing whatever it takes to find his daughter be more important than a business reputation? Care to educate me on that one?”

  Dean sighed. “I don’t expect you to understand. His firm handles a number of very wealthy, very important clients as does mine. Any type of scandal can have a damaging and lasting effect. Mr. LaRue cares about Maime’s wellbeing, of course, but is well aware of George’s dalliances and frankly how difficult his daughter can be. There are things that could come out that could have a negative effect on his business. That’s why I’m here.”

  Cooper and I exchanged a look and then he inquired, “Care to share what those negative things could be?”

  “No.”

  “Do you want us to find Maime? It was my understanding you were supportive of George hiring us. You seem to be stonewalling us now. What gives?” I asked.

  “I don’t think Maime’s coming back. George will have to face that, and the police will have to realize that George had nothing to do with it. There’s no evidence.”

  “You’re so sure? Are you saying you think she just took off?” I wasn’t really sure where he was going with this. But I
could tell our window for getting information was closing. He was talking in a lot of circles and not really saying anything.

  “I honestly don’t know what happen to Maime. I think whatever did, she caused. The only thing I’ll tell you is Maime was never the innocent victim to George’s philandering. She had quite the roving eye herself.”

  Dean started to close the door on us, but turned back and added, “For what it’s worth, Riley, George should have married you. Marrying Maime was the start of the destruction of a lot of lives. Now you’ll have to excuse me, I have a business call I need to make.”

  That was it. He closed the door in our faces, and we were left standing on his porch. Dean just said a whole lot but very little at the same time.

  CHAPTER 30

  LUKE WANTED NOTHING MORE than to charge the scum with murder, but he had to let George leave. After George’s outburst, he sat silently and didn’t utter another word for almost fifteen minutes. Luke stayed just as quiet. Finally, George looked up and said he was leaving. He challenged Luke to either arrest him or to let him go. Luke didn’t have enough evidence so George left.

  Obviously, something in the photos of the dead women struck a chord with George. Whether it was the realization that they were connecting him to those crimes or the idea that maybe the dead women were connected to Maime and that maybe she really was dead, Luke couldn’t be sure. Luke had watched George for any sign of recognition to indicate he knew the women, but other than the outburst, he didn’t see any.

  Luke didn’t know why but he felt sure that George was connected to all of the cases and assumed Maime was probably the first. Why her body hadn’t surfaced yet, Luke couldn’t venture a guess.