Forsberg looked up and quickly added, “But he’s been out a lot of nights when nothing happened, either. So…”
“You’re right,” Jefferson said. “Just because he’s out some times when there’s been a killing, doesn’t mean he did them.” Jefferson pulled two cards from his cardholder and handed them to Forsberg. “Here are a couple of my cards. Give one to Aaron and tell him we need to talk to him. You keep one and if you think of anything else, give me a call.”
Marcie handed him two of her cards as well and all three of them stood. As they were leaving, Jefferson said, “Nice neighborhood. I noticed there’s a house for sale across the street. I’m thinking of moving. Are the owner’s home?”
“No, they’ve already moved. His job took them to Texas. You could call the realtor. It might be nice to have a cop in the neighborhood.”
“I’ll do that,” Jefferson replied.
They shook hands and Forsberg showed them out. On the walk back to their car Jefferson told Marcie to write down the name and phone number of the realtor on the sign.
“I thought the place was empty,” Jefferson said. “No curtains in the windows. Good place for a surveillance team.”
“I didn’t notice that,” Marcie said, a bit embarrassed, as they reached the car.
“Don’t worry,” Jefferson said. “You will. It comes with experience.”
Jefferson arrived at the office the next day shortly after 7:00 A.M. He went straight to the coffee pot then headed toward the conference room they were using as an office. He was surprised to see the lights in the room were already on. When he opened the door, Marcie and Jeff Miller were there to greet him.
“Be careful,” he growled at them. “I hate people who are already cheerful at this time of the day. It’s not natural.”
“Okay,” Marcie said. “I’ll be sure to be a crab ass for the next hour. Anyway, Jeff has some news.”
“Marcie called me before I left last night and we talked about expanding our search. I stayed late and did a ‘known associates’ check on the guys on our list who have a connection to the last three victims. I came up with another seven names. Guys who might fit the burglary profile and are not dead. None have a connection with Aaron Forsberg…”
“That would figure,” Jefferson said. “He did his time out of state and had no criminal past.”
“Right,” Miller agreed. “But three of these guys have prison connections with both Eugene Parlow and Howie Traynor.”
Miller handed several sheets of paper across the table to Jefferson. “Here’s a list of the names with bios, criminal histories and their connection to our guys,” Miller said.
“Have you been through this?” Jefferson asked Marcie.
“Yeah. I think we need some help. We can probably eliminate some of these guys but we’ll need more people to check them out.”
“Agreed,” Jefferson said while scanning through the pages. “Good work, Jeff. If you can think of anything else, go ahead and check it.”
An hour later, Jefferson began a meeting with four more detectives plus Selena Kane. There were two teams of detectives, one with two men and one comprising a man and a woman.
Jefferson had divided the list of seven new names giving three to one team and four to the other. He explained the situation to them and what was expected of them.
“You’ve been pulled from your current cases to work exclusively on this,” Selena Kane told them. “This is maximum priority.”
“We want to know everything we can about them. Especially prison records, who they did time with and what they’ve been up to since they get out,” Jefferson added.
“Shove a microscope up their asses and get anything and everything you can,” Kane said.
“You think one of these guys is involved with the Crown of Thornes killer?” a male detective named Mark Cullen asked.
“Crown of what?” Jefferson asked. “Where did you get that?”
“It’s in this morning’s paper,” Kane said. “Apparently they needed some cutesy name to sell papers.”
There was a sharp knock on the door and a man walked in, nodded at Kane and Jefferson and took a seat.
“All of you know Lieutenant Schiller from surveillance,” Jefferson said. Everyone silently nodded in assent.
“We’ve got one of these guys, Howie Traynor, under surveillance now,” Jefferson continued pointing at the whiteboard. “We’ll put two more, Parlow and Forsberg, under as well. We think those are our most likely suspects.”
“Why?” the female detective asked.
“They have direct ties to the victims, at least most of them and these killings started shortly after they got out of prison,” Jefferson said.
“And they all have reason to be pissed at these people for their convictions,” Kane added. “That’s it for now. You have assignments. You know what to do. We’ll meet again at nine o’clock tomorrow morning and I want some results.”
After the four detectives left, the meeting continued with Lt. Schiller saying, “I’ll need more people for this if we want them all covered twenty-four seven.”
“The chief and mayor say we get whatever we want,” Kane said. “If you need more guys, we can pull all you need from patrol into civilian clothes.”
For the next hour, the four of them went over the list of potential cops to use. They also set up a surveillance plan for Kane to take to the chief and mayor. Satisfied they were doing all they coul,d for now, Kane ended the meeting to go upstairs to what she called a come to Jesus meeting.
TWENTY-SIX
Three murders in three consecutive days had ignited a firestorm in the media. The national media, through local affiliates and wire services, also picked it up. The cable news networks, with twenty-four hours per day of air time to fill were having a glorious time with it. Never shy about fanning the flames for ratings and to sell more papers the reporting was barely a notch below hysterical. To make things even worse, the connection that all of the victims except one were judges or lawyers was leaked from the MPD. Within hours of this fact being reported, almost every judge, prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer in the Cities were calling the police insisting on round the clock protection.
The recipient of the leak, Gabriella Shriqui, was on her way to a meeting with Channel 8 management. She received a call from the station’s news director, Hunter Oswald, inviting her to the meeting. Hunter had not elaborated on what it was about and Gabriella’s curiosity was definitely piqued. A meeting with upper management was not a daily occurrence.
Gabriella knocked lightly on the office door of the station’s general manager, Madison Eyler. She hesitated for one second then turned the door handle and went in at the same time she heard Eyler’s response.
“Hi, Gabriella,” Eyler greeted her. “Come in and have a seat.”
“What’s up?” Gabriella asked looking back and forth between Oswood and Eyler.
“We want you to take charge and coordinate the coverage of this Crown of Thornes killer story,” Oswood said.
“Right now we have people running around like chickens all trying to get in on it,” Eyler added. “We need one person in charge and to be the main on air personality.”
“You seem to have a knack for getting information,” Oswood said. “For getting men…”
“And women,” Eyler interjected.
“…to talk to you,” Oswood finished.
“I have a good teacher,” Gabriella said referring to her new friend, Madeline Rivers. “She could get the Sphinx to speak. Okay, I’d be happy to do it. But you’ll put the word out to all of the staff that everyone backs off and I decide who does what.”
“Absolutely. That’s exactly what we have in mind,” Eyler said.
“And you’re likely looking at network air time also,” added Oswood. “You will report only to me. You and I will have final say about what goes on the air. Okay?”
“Great,” a delighted Gabriella said.
Her bosses gave each o
ther an odd look and Gabriella sensed there was something more.
“What?” she asked.
“We want to tell you something that I know is a little sensitive,” Eyler said. “We’re bringing back Melinda Pace.”
“I thought she was fired,” Gabriella quickly said.
“She was,” Oswood replied. “But…”
“Never say never,” Eyler interjected. “We’ve heard she is negotiating with a couple of competitors…”
“So let her turn them into a tabloid news sleaze factory,” an obviously angry Gabriella said.
“Gabriella,” Eyler firmly said, “we’re not here to ask your permission. You’re a terrific asset to this station and the job we’re giving you to handle, this serial killer, was given to you because of merit, not to placate you. The truth is, with Melinda gone, ratings are down and so are revenues.”
“She claims to have cleaned up her act,” Oswood said. “She’s quit drinking and is contrite about what happened. She’s got a couple of job offers but is practically begging to come back to us.”
“Gabriella,” Eyler continued much more softly, “no decision has been made. We just wanted to have you hear this from us first. We know your history with her from the Riley case and respect your feelings. Frankly, I share them. But myself and Hunter also share some responsibility for her behavior. We should’ve done more to reign her in.”
“No argument there,” Gabriella said. “Whatever you decide, I’ll live with it. Personally, I hope that sick bitch rots in hell.”
When Gabriella arrived back at her cubicle she checked her phone and found five messages. She had no interest in four of them. They were from a guy she stopped seeing when she found out he was married and he didn’t want to let it go. As she deleted the calls she thought about using Maddy Rivers to get him off of her back and out of her life. Maddy could teach him a lesson, Gabriella thought which brought a smile to her face.
The fifth one was the police source from whom she had received the information about lawyers and judges as victims. Gabriella sat down and called him back.
“Hey, Gabriella,” the plainclothes officer said. “Thanks for keeping my name out of the story.”
“I told you I would,” Gabriella replied to the man who was clearly smitten by her. “Anything new come up?”
“Well, yeah,” Josh Feherty said. “I was wondering if we could get together later for a drink or dinner and I could tell you then.”
There it is, Gabriella thought, the date question. “Geez, Josh. I can’t, sorry. I’m working tonight. I work Friday evenings as a backup for the anchors and if we get any breaking news… sorry. I could really use what you have….”
“I’m not sure you should use this,” a disappointed Josh said. “I got a line on one of the suspects but it’s an ongoing investigation.”
“You’re right. I won’t use it,” Gabriella said while thinking, unless I can get confirmation of it from another source.
Josh hesitated then, wanting to stay in good with Gabriella said, “His name is Howard Traynor. He’s one of the guys who got released from prison because his DNA test was doctored by a lab tech.”
“I remember that,” Gabriella said. “Interesting. Look, Josh, someone just came in and I have to go. Stay in touch if you come up with anything else. I really appreciate your help.”
Gabriella ended the call then took a minute to think about Josh Feherty. He was a fairly good looking and a nice, solid guy. The problem was he wasn’t the brightest bulb, had risen about as far as he would as a cop and Gabriella just didn’t feel it.
Putting him out of mind she pulled her chair up to her desk and plugged Howie Traynor’s name into Google. For the next twenty minutes she read over everything listed about him. When she got halfway through the trial for the murder of Lucille Benson, she came across a name she wasn’t expecting.
“Holy shit,” she quietly said. “Marc Kadella was his lawyer.”
Gabriella finished her research of Traynor and sat back in her chair. Then she looked at the clock and speed-dialed a number on her phone.
“Hey, Gabriella,” she heard her new best friend, Maddy Rivers say. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing for lunch? Can we meet?”
“Sure, what’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. I don’t want to talk about it here. Same place?”
“See you in a half hour?” Maddy asked.
“That’ll work,” Gabriella replied.
Maddy strolled through the door of the faux French bistro in downtown Minneapolis and saw Gabriella wave to her from a booth by the windows. The two women greeted each other as Maddy sat down in the booth across from her friend.
“So, what’s up?” Maddy asked.
Before Gabriella could answer, the server approached the table with the drinks Gabriella had ordered for them. The young man took a lot more time hanging around the two women than was called for looking back and forth at both of them.
“Cute kid,” Maddy said as he wandered off.
With a sad look on her face Gabriella watched him walk away then turned to Maddy and said, “Are they getting younger or are we…”
“Getting older,” Maddy finished for her.
“Thanks, I can hear my clock ticking which means I’ll probably get a call from my mother tonight. The reason I called,” Gabriella continued, “is I got a tip from a cop about that Howie Traynor, remember him?”
“Sure,” Maddy answered.
“He’s a prime suspect in the Crown of Thornes case. Did you know Marc was his lawyer? Someone should warn him.”
“Marc knows,” Maddy said. “Tony Carvelli called him to tell him about Howie Traynor. When Tony told Vivian Donahue what was going on, she offered to pay for security for Marc. You can’t use that as part of a story.”
“I know. I’m keeping it to myself for now. If my boss finds out I’m sitting on a piece of information like that he’ll have my ass. I’ll tell him I couldn’t independently verify it so I can’t ethically use it.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
The office intercom buzzed on Marc’s desk phone. His door was closed so he could work at his desk while eating a sandwich for lunch. He answered the phone and Carolyn told him Maddy was calling.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Marc said when Carolyn put the call through.
“This is a professional call so, behave accordingly and knock off the flirting,” Maddy good-naturedly chided him.
Madeline’s phone was on speaker and Gabriella leaned toward it and said loud enough for the phone to pick-up, “You can flirt with me all you want.”
“Is that Gabriella?” Marc asked.
“Hi, Marc,” Gabriella said.
“She says her clock’s ticking, her mother will call any day and she’s getting desperate,” Madeline said while Gabriella stared at her with a horrified look on her face.
“Wow, that’s very flattering, especially the desperation part,” Marc said with a touch of sarcasm. “But tell her I’m a little busy right now. Maybe some other time.” Gabriella heard this and almost choked trying not to laugh. “What are you two up to?”
“We’re having lunch. Gabriella got a tip about your old pal, you know, the one who just got out,” Maddy said not wanting to use Traynor’s name.
Gabriella took the phone from Maddy and quietly said, “I just wanted to make sure you knew about him. Maddy says Tony already told you. Be careful.”
“That’s kind of you Gabriella but Maddy’s right and I am being careful. I don’t believe it, though. My understanding is he’s been under surveillance for a while. And don’t use that unless you want to get sued.”
“I know and I won’t,” Gabriella said.
“Was that you that got the leak about the victims being judges and lawyers?” Marc asked. “I heard it was your station that first reported it.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Gabriella coyly answered.
“So that’s a yes and I figured it was
you. Listen you two, I need to get ready for a hearing this afternoon. Let’s get together next week. I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Deal,” Gabriella said.
“But Madeline, you only get a salad.”
“What? Why?” Maddy said into the phone.
“Well, um, because the last time I saw you I noticed you were putting on a few pounds, especially on the hips.”
Gabriella tried to stifle a laugh as Madeline snarled, “Give me that phone!”
Gabriella held it in the palm of her hand and pulled it away as Maddy reached for it. They could hear Marc laughing as Maddy tried vainly to reach across the table to retrieve the phone.
“I love saying things like that to her,” Marc said. “Even though it’s not the least bit true it keeps her ego in line. Plus, Gabriella,” he continued, “you watch, she won’t eat anything but carrots for the next month. I’ll call you next week. Bye.”
Before Marc entered the fourteenth floor courtroom he took a few seconds to look through the small window in the door. It was ten minutes before nine o’clock, the time his hearing was scheduled to begin. Marc could see eight or ten people inside including his uncle sitting in a chair behind the rail. Marc wasn’t looking forward to this knowing the judge would want to see the lawyers right away.
He saw Earl Bicknell, the lawyer for the city, already at his table. The judge’s clerk was next to the empty bench and several cops were seated in the gallery behind Bicknell.
Marc opened the door and all eyes turned to look at him. He greeted Uncle Larry and the two of them went through the gate to the defense table.
Before Marc sat down as the clerk said, “The judge wants to see both lawyers in chambers right away.”
The two men shook hands as they both walked across the well toward the rear doorway.
“Are you really going through with this?” Bicknell whispered to him.
“I don’t know,” Marc said shaking his head as the two of them went through the door. “It’s not up to me.”
Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series) Page 155
