Behind The Lies

by Mark R Beckner

  “I don’t know Frank,” says King. They’ve already charged Ryan with the murder.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I thought it was strange they were asking about you.”

  “Do you have any cameras?”

  “No, I don’t, but Bob Saunders on the corner does.”

  “You don’t say. Do you know where the cameras are?”

  “No, but he was in security and has a good system, I know that. He tried talking me into one.”

  “Well I don’t know why they are asking Frank, but thanks for telling me. I gotta go.”

  “Alright, good night Justin.”

  Why are they looking for security footage? ponders King. And why are they still asking about me and Naomi? They’ve already arrested and charged Ryan. Did I make a mistake somewhere? Do they know about my affair with Naomi?

  For the first time since putting his plan in place six months ago by starting his affair with Naomi, King is worried it may not be working as well as he thought. He is starting to get nervous. King goes to his dresser drawer and pulls out his Glock Model 22 semi-auto .40 caliber handgun. He ejects the magazine to be sure it is fully loaded, then snaps the magazine back into the gun and chambers one round. He decides he needs to start keeping his gun with him for protection. I’m not going to prison, he says to himself.

  Meanwhile, Masters is at his desk watching and re-watching security video. At the 6:51 pm mark, he observes Naomi driving past the Saunders residence in her white Ford Escape, then turning left onto Oak Avenue. That has to be her going to book club, thinks Masters. Then, at the 7:25 mark, Masters sees a vehicle headed east on Oak Avenue. It slows down and appears to be parking along the south curb, just past Sandy Lane. The car appears to be a light-colored BMW. The car eventually leaves the frame before stopping. Masters is unable to read the plate. A few minutes later, he views a male walking southbound on the sidewalk across the street from Saunders’ home. The male fits the size and physique of King and is wearing a dark-colored windbreaker-type jacket. Masters believes it could be King.

  Masters continues studying the video until he sees Naomi turning south onto Sandy Lane at the 8:52 mark and continuing south toward her home. That is Naomi returning from book club. King is still at the house.

  At the 9:34 mark, Masters observes the same male figure walking northbound toward Oak Avenue. The male cuts across the front lawn of the far corner property toward the location where Masters believes the BMW is parked. He believes the car is King’s and it is King he sees walking, but others may not see it the same way. Masters hopes getting the digital file enhanced will make the license plate and walking male more identifiable.

  At 8:45 pm, Tippen snuggles into bed with a James Patterson novel, hoping to get some reading in before falling asleep. At 9:15, she is sound asleep with the book lying open across her stomach when she is awakened by her phone ringing on the bedside table. She sees the call is from Masters.

  “What is it Bill?”

  “He was there!” exclaims Masters.

  “What are you talking about Bill?”

  “King! He was at the house with Cooper the night of the murder. And get this, he was there when Naomi returned home.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He’s on the Saunders security video.”

  Tippen is still processing what Masters has just told her when he blurts out, “he and Naomi may have been arguing with Cooper over the affair when she was shot.”

  “This just keeps getting stranger all the time,” replies Tippen.

  “Yes, it does. I just wanted to share the news. I have to go and get this ready for our tech people to work on tomorrow. See you then,” says Masters as he hangs up the phone.

  Wednesday

  In the morning, Tippen arrives at work at eight o’clock and finds Masters is already there working.

  “Did you go home last night?”

  “Yes, about ten-thirty. Just wanted to get an early start today. I didn’t sleep well anyway.”

  “No, I didn’t either, not after your phone call anyway. I started going through different possible scenarios in my mind.”

  “No kidding,” says Masters, “we need to somehow figure out what happened between Cooper and King, and then what happened when Naomi returned home. If Cooper shot Naomi over the affair, why not also shoot King?”

  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”

  By early afternoon, none of the forensic results they are waiting on have been completed. Finally, Tippen receives a phone call from Brent Butler, the fingerprint analyst.

  “I’ve got some news I think might impact your case,” announces Butler.

  “Well? What is it?”

  “We were able to get three comparable prints off those unfired bullet casings using cyanoacrylate fuming, what you detectives call superglue fuming. We found no prints belonging to Ryan Cooper. All three prints are positively identified as belonging to Justin King.”

  “Holy crap,” says Tippen.

  “That’s not all. Remember the partial off the bottom of the drink glass?”

  “Yeah.”

  “As I said, we only have seven points for comparison, so I can’t make a positive ID, but all seven points match the side of King’s right-hand pinky finger, making it highly probable he is the contributor of that print as well.”

  “Thank you so much Brent, this is great information.”

  Tippen wastes no time in telling Masters the news.

  Masters summarizes, “So now we have King at the scene, and have him as the one who loaded the bullets in the gun that killed Naomi. And we now believe he was having an affair with Naomi. This case is getting turned upside down.”

  “This new information has me thinking,” says Tippen. “The fingerprints found on the gun were from Cooper’s right hand, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you remember him signing the property receipt when we gathered his clothing and cell phone?”

  “No, didn’t an officer handle that?”

  “Yes, but I saw him signing before he left. If I remember correctly, I believe he signed with his left hand.”

  “Call the assistant at the electric company,” suggests Masters, “she will be able to tell you if Cooper is left-handed.”

  Ten minutes later, Tippen returns to Masters’ desk and tells him Lisa Morgan confirmed what she remembers, Cooper is left-handed. She also tells him that according to Morgan, King is acting stranger every day. He is letting work slide, wants to remove Cooper as a partner, and is complaining about how the investigation is going.

  “You know Jane, I’m starting to think we may have gotten suckered into some grand scheme of King’s.”

  “It’s certainly looking like it,” she agrees.

  “And the more I think about it,” continues Masters, “I would not be surprised if this second blood test shows Cooper was indeed drugged.”

  Later that afternoon, the results continue to come in. Masters receives an enhanced copy of the security footage. Masters is now able to make out the plate on the BMW. It is Colorado plate KCS173. He is also able to see more clearly the person walking in the direction of Cooper’s home, and later away from his home. He can now see it is indeed Justin King. Masters shows the video to Tippen.

  “Amazing how well they were able to enhance this video,” she says.

  Just then, Tippen receives a phone call on her cell. It is the forensic lab calling.

  “Hello. Yes, this is Jane,” she answers, then listens for several seconds.

  “Really? Yes, if you send me a copy that will be great.”

  “More good news?” asks Masters.

  “I’ll say, the blood work came back positive for Rohypnol. Cooper was drugged.”

  “Better get yourself a large coffee,” says Masters. “This is going to be another long night. We need to get into King’s condo tonight. If we find Rohypnol and the box of bullets, we will have enough for an arrest warrant on King. I’ll start on a search warrant af
fidavit if you call DA Simmons and let her know what’s going on. Then you work on organizing and listing our evidence for me to include in the affidavit. Is that okay with you?”

  “Absolutely, I’ll go call Simmons now.”

  Two hours later, Masters has completed the affidavit and included a detailed list of the evidence supporting a search warrant of King’s condo.

  “This looks real good Bill,” says Tippen.

  “Great, I just sent a copy over to Simmons for her review. Once we get the okay, we’ll take it to a judge.”

  Thirty minutes later, Simmons calls Masters and gives him her approval to get the warrant signed. It is after 5:00 pm, so Masters and Tippen head over to the on-call judge’s home for issuance of the search warrant. They arrive at 5:35 pm. The judge reads the affidavit.

  “This is a strange twist of events,” says the judge.

  “Yes sir,” replies Masters, “it took a while to figure it all out.”

  “Nicely done,” says the judge as he signs the search warrant and hands it back to Masters.

  “Thank you sir, have a good night.”

  Masters had already requested assistance from the Lone Tree Police Department in executing the search of King’s condo. They agree to have two uniformed officers meet them in the parking lot of the condo complex. Masters and Tippen arrive at 6:30 pm. Introductions are made, and Masters briefly explains the case and who they are dealing with. The officers will assist with entry into the condo, then stand by for security as the detectives conduct their search.

  The officers approach the door and knock loudly on the door several times. There is no answer. With the use of a crowbar, the officers are able to get the door open. With guns drawn, the Lone Tree officers search the condo and find it empty. They then turn it over to Masters and Tippen.

  As they walk into the condo, they notice it is not well kept. A pizza box and some fast food wrappers are still on the coffee table in the living room. Dirty dishes are in the sink and on the kitchen table. A pile of dirty clothes sits at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom and the bed looks like it hasn’t been made in several days. The second bedroom looks as though it is used for storage only. The bathroom has a towel on the floor and various toiletries scattered on the sink counter.

  “Where should we start?” asks Tippen.

  “Let’s start in the most obvious places first. I’ll take the master bedroom if you take the bathroom.”

  “Okay.”

  Masters is searching the bedroom closet and shelves when he hears Tippen yell out.

  “I think I found something.”

  Masters goes to the bathroom and finds Tippen holding a small tinted pill bottle, unlabeled, with 7 small white tablets inside.

  “Do you think this is the Rohypnol?”

  “I’ve seen Rohypnol that looks like that, so it could very well be. Where was it?”

  “Right here in his medicine cabinet.”

  “I wonder how many women he’s used that on,” comments Masters.

  Masters returns to the bedroom and finishes searching the closet. Finding nothing, he goes to the dresser and opens the top drawer. To his delight, he sees a box of Smith and Wesson 38 caliber hollow point bullets. He also finds a Ruger six-shot revolver. Using latex gloves, Masters opens the box and sees eleven bullets missing. He then closes the box and picks up the revolver. He opens the cylinder and sees the gun is loaded with six bullets. That makes eleven. Six in this gun and five in Cooper’s gun, he says to himself.

  “I think I found the bullets used to kill Naomi,” shouts Masters. Tippen enters the bedroom and Masters shows her the box of bullets with eleven bullets missing. Masters then collects the box and revolver, carefully packing them in paper bags.

  While they are searching, King arrives home from work. He drives into the parking lot when he notices two Lone Tree police cars parked near his condo. He glances around and sees two uniformed officers talking outside his condo door and the door is partially opened. Are they searching my condo?

  King feels his face turn flush and his body starts to tingle with anxiety. Trying not to be noticed, King makes a K turn in the parking lot and drives back onto the street. He doesn’t know where he is going, but he is not going home right now.

  In searching the living room, Masters finds a dark blue windbreaker jacket hanging over the arm of the beige cloth couch. He asks Tippen if she thinks it looks like the same jacket he was wearing in the video.

  “Yes, it looks the same to me.”

  Masters carefully folds it and seals it in a paper bag. Tippen finds a pile of old receipts on an oak desk in the dining area. She quickly looks through them and finds several for local hotel charges. One is for the Comfort Inn Suites in Castle Rock from approximately three weeks earlier. She shows the receipts to Masters.

  “Good find,” he says. “I’ll bet we can match some of those up to the phone records.”

  Tippen carefully packages them up in individual envelopes. Once completed, both agree there is nothing left to search. They complete the inventory of items seized, then leave a copy on the kitchen counter. They leave the condo at 7:45 pm.

  “If these pills turn out to be Rohypnol, I think we have enough to arrest King,” states Tippen.

  “Oh, I agree,” responds Masters. “It shouldn’t take long to identify these pills. And if that box of bullets turns out to be the exact same as those in the gun, we even have a stronger case against King. How would he explain having his bullets with his prints on them in Cooper’s gun? A gun he said he didn’t know where Cooper kept it”

  “Good question Bill.”

  King is afraid to return to his condo. Afraid the police are watching it and will arrest him if he shows up. He checks into a local Best Western for the night. What could they possibly have to tie me to the murder? How could they know about our affair?

  Thursday

  King does not show up for work on Thursday. He is too afraid the police are looking for him. He is not sure what to do. He calls Lisa, his assistant.

  “Hey Lisa, I’m not going to make it in today. I’m not feeling well.”

  “What’s wrong Justin?”

  “Nothing, just haven’t gotten much sleep and need some time off. It’s been stressful. Hey, if the police call or stop by looking for me, let me know and I will call them right back.”

  “Okay Justin,”

  Just before noon, detectives get a quick answer from the lab. The pills recovered from King’s bathroom are in fact Rohypnol. The bullets found in King’s top dresser drawer are the same make and type as those found in the murder weapon. Whether they are from the same manufacturer’s batch will take longer to determine. Tippen shares this information with DA Simmons. Simmons agrees they have enough to obtain an arrest warrant on King. They still are not sure who shot Naomi, but there is enough evidence now to at least charge King as a co-conspirator in the death of Naomi Cooper.

  By 3:30 pm, detectives have their warrant for the arrest of Justin King on charges of First Degree Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder.

  “King is probably still at work,” says Masters. “Why don’t we try to pick him up there before he leaves.”

  “Thinking the same thing,” responds Tippen.

  Masters and Tippen arrive at KC Spark Electric at 4:10 pm, accompanied by four Castle Rock patrol officers. Two officers station themselves at the rear door in the alley. Masters, Tippen, and the other two officers enter the front door.

  “Hi Lisa,” says Tippen.

  A startled Lisa responds, “Hello, what’s going on?”

  “We need to speak with Justin. Is he in?”

  “No, he called in today. Said he wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Do you mind if we look around?”

  “Of course not. Am I in any danger here?”

  “No, Lisa, we just need to talk to Justin.”

  A quick search of the office area confirms King is not in the office.

  “Lisa,” says Tippen, “i
f Justin shows up, please give us a call, but don’t tell him you called. We need to talk to him.”

  “Okay,” says a frightened Lisa.

  Once the police have left, Lisa calls King.

  “What’s up Lisa?”

  “The police were just here looking for you. You told me to call.”

  “Yeah, what did they want?”

  “They said they needed to talk to you.”

  “Did they say why?”

  “No, they seemed kind of secretive about it. When will you be back in the office?”

  “I’m not sure Lisa, I’ll call you later,” says King as he disconnects.

  Masters and Tippen plan their next move. They both agree King was probably spooked after finding out his condo had been searched. The question now is, where can they find him?

  “Let’s have Lone Tree PD check out his condo,” suggests Masters. “If he is there, they can hold him until we get there.”

  After contacting the Lone Tree police, Masters and Tippen head back to the station to wait. It is not long before they receive word that King is not at his condo. They now believe King may be on the run. They decide to put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) for King and his white BMW four-door, license number KCS173

  “Nothing to do now but wait,” says Masters. “Why don’t we go home and get some rest and dinner. It’s been a long week and who knows when someone will find King. We’ll tell dispatch to notify us if anyone finds him.”

  “That’s the best idea you’ve had in a long time,” jokes Tippen.

  Friday

  Since seeing officers at his condo, King tries to keep off the main streets. He is afraid to return home or go to his office for fear of being arrested. He so wants to know what the officers have against him, but is afraid to be confronted. He is adamant he will not go to prison for this. He has managed to stay out of sight by only leaving his hotel for walks to get food or visit a nearby bar. By mid-afternoon, he decides he needs to leave but is not sure where to go.

  He gets in his car and starts driving through the foothills a while to clear his mind, King eventually finds himself in the village of Castle Pines, a small community of approximately 10,000 just a bit north of Castle Rock. Having only eaten junk food for the last two days, King is hungry for some good food. He drives around town until he finds a small quaint café in Castle Pines with animal heads decorating the walls. He hasn’t seen or heard anything on the news, so he doesn’t believe anyone will recognize him or even know the police are looking for him. He orders the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans with a Coors Light to quench his thirst. Comfort food is what he needs right now.