I Am Quinn

by McGarvey Black

  ‘I don’t want to get your hopes up,’ McQuillan said. ‘DNA will rule him in or out. I’m sending people up to Attica tomorrow to get a swab from him. Then we’ll see what happens.’

  The lab finally called back with the results — no match; Carden wasn’t the killer, at least according to the DNA.

  ‘Probably wouldn’t have been able to use it, anyway,’ said McQuillan to Crews when they got the news. ‘Goddamned Yancy strikes again.’

  Erin Delaney started to cry when McQuillan told her it wasn’t Carden. She had thought the nightmare was finally over, but it wasn’t. After the detective hung up, he chastised himself for getting her hopes up.

  They had also investigated Tater and Tot, the losers from the online discussion board. Once they figured out Tater was Morelle, they were able to identify Devin Borke as Tot, his partner in perverted crime. Both men had been high school classmates of Quinn’s. Crews and McQuillan had interviewed each of them.

  ‘You think I had something to do with Quinn Delaney’s murder?’ said Morelle, surprised but oddly smiling when the two detectives showed up at his office.

  ‘We’ve got to rule people out Mr. Morelle, and your comments on the American Witness website were somewhat alarming,’ McQuillan said. ‘Why would you be talking about a dead woman you hadn’t seen in over twenty-five years, now?’

  ‘I don’t know, my buddy and I were just riffing,’ said Morelle. ‘Quinn Delaney was hot.’

  After interviewing Morelle, they went to talk to Tot, aka Devin Borke. Morelle was a jackass, but at least he had a brain. Borke on the other hand, thought McQuillan, was a card-carrying idiot.

  ‘Your friend, Morelle, said you two were just free-associating when you talked smack about Quinn Delaney, her body and her murder,’ McQuillan said.

  ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ said Borke. ‘It was nothing. She just popped into our heads.’

  ‘Except,’ McQuillan said, ‘you discussed her murder more than once over several years. That doesn’t fit a pattern of a random thought, does it?’

  ‘I have random thoughts all the time, and sometimes I think them again.’

  ‘Mr. Borke, did you see Quinn Delaney Roberts at your twenty-fifth high school reunion?’

  ‘Yeah, she was still hot.’

  After years working on Quinn Roberts’ case, McQuillan had become protective of her. He didn’t appreciate this ass jockey talking about her like this.

  ‘Let’s stick with the facts,’ said McQuillan.

  ‘Oh, it was a fact alright, she was smokin’,’ Borke replied. ‘But she was also a stuck-up bitch. Once in high school, I tried to talk to her on the lunchroom line. She was in front of me looking at desserts on the cake shelf. I took a chance and spoke to her highness. I told her she should try the carrot cake because it was really good. She said carrot cake was disgusting and it would make her puke. Then she grabbed a brownie and walked away. She didn’t even look at me. Like I didn’t exist. Totally shot me down. I could never eat carrot cake again, and it was my favorite.’

  What a fucking moron, McQuillan thought. That’s when he decided Borke was too stupid to kill anyone and ruled him out.

  It appeared the only reason Tater and Tot went to the reunion was to get a look at Quinn Delaney Roberts. Turns out neither had the balls to speak to her or even make contact at the event. Quinn’s friends confirmed that, so did Mark Miller. In the end, they both had solid alibis the week Quinn was killed. Borke was playing golf in Ireland with friends and Morelle was at a trade show in Indianapolis the whole week.

  The last suspect on the murder hit parade was Ronny Hemmerly, the landlady’s son. He’d been in her apartment a few times and had even struck up a little friendship with Quinn by bringing his dog over; she was a sucker for dogs. For a while, some of the team thought it could be Hemmerly, especially after he was picked up for another assault. The only catch was, the week Quinn Roberts was murdered, Hemmerly was in the hospital passing a kidney stone.

  ‘No way he could have killed her,’ McQuillan said to Crews. ‘I had a kidney stone once. Trust me, you’re not killing anyone when you’ve got one of those bad boys moving through you.’

  That left only one person, Alec Roberts. All roads always led back to him.

  The police saw no point in pretending to pursue other actors like Tater and Tot, or the high school boyfriend when new crimes were happening in Newbridge every day. Their department didn’t have the money or the manpower to run after bogus leads just to appease the Delaney family, especially when the cops were certain it was her husband. They just hadn’t figured out how he did it. For McQuillan, Quinn’s murder had become a waiting game, waiting for someone to come forward and roll on Alec Roberts. It would take time. One day someone would step up and spill it. McQuillan hoped it happened before he retired or died.

  Chapter 84

  A few months after the fifth anniversary of Quinn’s murder, the Delaney family asked for another meeting with the Newbridge police. Mike, Colleen and Erin were led into a meeting room with a U-shaped table. Ed Delaney had recently had a heart attack, preventing him and his wife from attending. The Delaney group sat on one side of the U and a few minutes later, ADA Bernie Gonzales, Detectives Crews and McQuillan and Rights Advocate Candace Burrows filed into the room and sat on the other side of the U.

  It looked like a war room with everyone silently staring at each other from across the table waiting to see who would make a move first. Mike noticed the police looked uncomfortable, and they should, he thought; his sister-in-law’s murderer was still walking around teaching History in Rochester.

  The cops started the meeting, telling them there hadn’t been any new leads in a while. Then they dropped the bombshell. They were moving Quinn into the Cold Case Unit. They assured the family that this was a good thing. They said the cold case team would put a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ on Quinn’s investigation. That sometimes, cold case investigators found things that were initially overlooked. The cops sold the concept hard. Mike didn’t buy it. From his perspective, the police had failed miserably, and now they were bailing.

  ‘If a doctor does something wrong, you sue him for malpractice. With police, there’s nowhere else to go, no one to sue and they don’t have to tell you anything they don’t want to,’ said Mike the night before. ‘They keep saying it’s still an open investigation and only the murderer would know certain pieces of information so they won’t tell us anything more.’ After five years, the Delaneys still didn’t know how Quinn died or the exact day it happened.

  After Bernie Gonzales finished his politically correct speech, Erin pulled out pages of notes and started firing. At this point, she had nothing to lose and didn’t try to be polite. She wanted answers.

  ‘Detective McQuillan, did you interview Mark Miller, Quinn’s old boyfriend? Might there be DNA you can collect from Miller to rule him in or out? He wanted my sister to run away with him, and she refused. I’m sure he was angry.’

  Detective McQuillan looked weary but knew it was his turn up at bat.

  ‘We talked to Mark Miller a few times but he’s got a solid alibi,’ he said.

  ‘Detective, it’s been more than five years since Quinn died. You really think there’s still a chance for an arrest? Doesn’t look that way from where we sit.’

  McQuillan was about to give her a canned response when she interrupted.

  ‘What about those creepy guys we found online, Tater and Tot, the ones who posted all that crazy sexual stuff about my sister? Did you talk to them?’

  ‘We interviewed Devin Borke and Rich Morelle aka Tater and Tot,’ said McQuillan with a sigh. ‘Both men apparently went to high school with your sister and admitted having a thing for her back then. However, they each had a solid alibi for the week Quinn was killed. Rich Morelle even has his picture in a newsletter from the conference he was attending that week. It’s all been documented. I’m sorry, those two were cleared.’

  ‘But they posted things recently about how sexuall
y turned on they were by Quinn,’ cried Erin, ‘and about my sister being dead. Don’t you think that’s weird?’

  ‘It’s strange behavior for sure,’ said Gonzales jumping in. ‘There are a lot of whackos out there, but it doesn’t mean they’re killers.’

  ‘Did Tater and Tot break any laws writing those perverted posts about Quinn?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s not against the law to be a creep,’ Gonzales said. ‘Half the guys in this country would be in jail if that were the case.’

  The room fell silent waiting for Erin to continue.

  ‘Did you ever interview Alec’s girlfriends – those women I found on Facebook, Alison Moore and Cindy Kelleher?’ she asked. ‘The last time we asked you about Cindy Kelleher, you said Detective Crews had “attempted to contact her but had no luck”. Have you since spoken to her?’

  ‘I reached out to Ms. Kelleher several times,’ said Crews, ‘but she never responded and…’

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Erin, ‘Cindy Kelleher is a vice president with an insurance company. I think she would return a call from the police. Also, Alison Moore was sleeping with Alec at the time of Quinn’s murder. She was never interviewed. Why?’

  ‘Our officers talked to all material witnesses and took full statements from everyone,’ said Crews. His answer sounded like a bullshit party line, and Erin was having none of it.

  ‘I’m sorry, Detective, but we know that’s not true,’ Erin said. ‘Alison Moore sent us a message saying she was “surprised the cops never questioned her”, and that “weird things were going on the week of Quinn’s murder”. We don’t know why but we think you’re lying to us and you’ve missed a lot of important things. We want to register a formal complaint.’

  Bernie Gonzales stared at McQuillan and Crews with a ‘what the hell just happened?’ look on his face.

  ‘Officer Yancy took a statement from Alison Moore,’ said McQuillan, stepping in. ‘It was taken right after the murder to corroborate Alec Roberts’ alibi. As I recall, when the investigation picked up steam, Yancy did a follow-up with Ms. Moore. I’m not sure why she said we didn’t contact her, but I’ll look into it.’

  McQuillan’s response landed like a lead balloon. The Delaneys were sure the cops had missed something and now didn’t want to own up to it. Erin hoped after this meeting that the cops would finally talk to Alison Moore.

  Chapter 85

  After meeting with the Delaney family, Gonzales and McQuillan walked back to the DA’s office in silence. Finally, Gonzales spoke.

  ‘What the hell happened back there, McQ?’ You didn’t interview Alec Roberts’ girlfriend?’

  ‘We did,’ said McQuillan shaking his head. ‘I know we’ve got a statement from her. I’m not sure what happened. I’ll circle around with Yancy on the follow-up that he did. Our paperwork doesn’t jive with what Erin Delaney told us.’

  When McQuillan got back to the station, he let dispatch know he wanted to speak to Officer Yancy the minute he got off patrol. An hour later, Yancy strolled up to McQuillan’s desk.

  ‘You wanted to talk to me, McQ?’ he said cheerfully.

  ‘Just had a meeting with Quinn Roberts’ family,’ said the detective. ‘They said no one ever interviewed Alec Roberts’ girlfriend, Alison Moore. According to the files I have here, you interviewed Ms. Moore twice. You did interview her a second time, right? We specifically asked you to do that, to reconfirm everything.’

  The squirmy expression on the patrolman’s face told McQuillan everything he needed to know before the kid opened his mouth. Busted.

  ‘I c-called her,’ Yancy stammered, ‘but she never called me back. Things got busy, other cases were thrown at me. To keep things moving along, I picked up some sections from her original statement and used it in my second report. I thought it would be okay. She didn’t know anything anyway.’

  ‘Get out of my sight,’ McQuillan said with disgust. ‘This isn’t over,’ he shouted as the young officer slinked out the room. That afternoon, McQuillan wrote up an official grievance report on the young officer and handed it into the brass. Shortly after that, Paul Yancy was suspended.

  The following week, the Chief told McQuillan to shut down the Roberts’ investigation.

  ‘After all this time, why are you so sure the husband is good for it?’ said the Chief.

  ‘First, Alec Roberts had a history of physical and emotional abuse. The victim’s sister said he might have also drugged his wife. We know for sure Quinn sought help from a domestic violence group. Second, he had a motive. He was on the hook for lifetime alimony and she was going to get a big chunk of his pension and he wasn’t happy about it. Third, Alec Roberts is a word-class shithead.’

  ‘All circumstantial,’ said the Chief.

  ‘The husband had a history and a motive. While we didn’t get any DNA matches from the apartment, that little scrap from the university newspaper with her address written on it ties his place of employment to her apartment. There’s your connection.’

  ‘And, you believe he wrote her address down for someone else,’ said the Chief. ‘That’s why he gave his DNA so quickly. He knew he’d never been there but someone else had.’

  ‘That’s my theory.’

  ‘It’s possible but without anything more than your theory, we’ve got nothing,’ said the Chief. We’ve got over sixty thousand people in this city and new crimes that need our full attention. I have to put our limited resources into investigations we can actually solve. There hasn’t been a shred of new evidence or a lead in years. I’m sorry, the Roberts case is over. I’m moving it to cold case.’

  McQuillan was now officially off the Quinn Roberts’ investigation, the case that had consumed his life for five years. He had made her a promise, and he had let her down.

  Chapter 86

  In the five-plus years since her sister died, there had been several new murders in Newbridge. Now that Quinn was moved to cold case, no one was interested in her any more. That’s why Erin was surprised when she got a message about Quinn through Facebook.

  Hello Erin,

  I’m part of a group who works on cold cases in New York State. We are not investigation professionals but more concerned citizens. Our goal is to bring about justice for families. We read about your sister, Quinn Delaney Roberts, and want to help.

  We decided to look into her case, and we’re hoping you might share what you’ve know and what theories you may have. Any information would be helpful.

  We’re very sorry for your loss. Our group is comprised of Rochester professionals. Quinn lived near where many of us have families, and we care about our community, which includes your sister.

  We look forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely, Tom Franken

  Erin didn’t have a ton of hope that a group of hobbyists playing weekend detectives were going to crack the case when the police hadn’t, but she had nowhere else to turn. She and Mike decided to talk to them. It would probably piss off the cops, but at this point, she didn’t care. Carpe diem.

  Chapter 87

  When Melissa started dating Alec, he was a perfect gentleman. Smart and funny, he made her laugh all the time. Maybe it was because they maintained the student/teacher roles even after they started seeing each other. It worked for them, and they were happy. It occurred to Melissa that this arrangement felt good because she might have been looking for a ‘replacement dad’. She had always felt she had been cheated out of having a father when her own died when she was twelve. She convinced herself that she liked Alec for the man he was and pushed that other idea out of her head.

  In the two years they had been married, their dynamic had changed and deteriorated. A few months after their wedding, Alec started picking at her – little things at first. He wanted her to wear different clothes, tighter tops, shorter skirts. He corrected her grammar and finished her sentences. She couldn’t even tell a joke without him jumping in with the punchline. He always had to be the center of attention. At first, she blew it off. Whi
le she was insecure about a lot of things, she was confident about her looks. She had her own personal style and didn’t need a guy telling her how to dress. Still, he pressed her on those things. After the first year of marriage, he brought up new sex things he wanted to do with her. Melissa Roberts was, for the most part, a white bread girl. She didn’t go for kinky stuff, and she told him so after he said he wanted to make a sex video.

  ‘We’ll record ourselves while we make love,’ he said. ‘We can watch it together later on. It will be so hot.’

  ‘I don’t want to do that, Alec,’ she said, ‘I’d be self-conscious. I don’t do things like that. Besides, what if someone else saw it?’

  ‘No one’s going to see it,’ he said. ‘It will just be for us to keep. Come on, do it for me. It’ll be fun. You’ll see. Think out of the box, Melissa.’

  ‘I don’t want to do it,’ she repeated. ‘I’d be uncomfortable.’ And she refused. Alec brought it up a few more times, but she always said no and finally told him to stop asking her. He never brought it up again.

  Chapter 88

  Tom Franken and his band of weekend private eyes also sent Jack Roberts a message through Facebook. Jack thought they sounded like a bunch of ‘loser armchair detectives’ and didn’t trust them. He also wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to anyone about his mother. Not yet.

  It had been over five years. He had tried to move on with his life and put it behind him, but it wasn’t easy being the guy whose mother was murdered. People looked at him with a mixture of surprise and pity. He hated when that happened. He could feel it, even from behind.

  Talking to Tom Franken would only stir up all the pain again and wouldn’t bring his mother back. If the police don’t know who killed my mother, he thought, how are these amateurs going to find out?