Real Murder (Lovers in Crime Mystery Book 2)

by Lauren Carr

  “Did he?” Cameron asked.

  “O’Reilly couldn’t stay in the academy if he got married,” Joshua said, “and if he didn’t marry her, then she could claim statutory rape, which would have gotten him kicked out. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place and decided to take the coward’s way out.”

  She said, “Back when I first became a state homicide detective, Doug O’Reilly’s mother came in to see me. Every year or two, she would come in and try to get a detective to take another look at her son’s case, which was closed as a suicide. She swore that he wouldn’t have killed himself.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “In light of how Mike’s cruiser ended up in the bottom of Tomlinson Run’s lake, don’t you find it interesting that his father’s Mustang was found at the bottom of Raccoon Creek?”

  Joshua turned to look at her. In the moment that he took his eyes off the road, he swerved.

  “Look out!” Cameron yelled.

  Regaining control of the car, Joshua hit the brake to slow down on the winding country road. “Are you thinking it’s not a coincidence?”

  “Think about it, Josh,” she said. “What are the odds?”

  “It was suicide.”

  “Was it?” Cameron asked. “Mike Gardner was murdered. Someone killed his birth mother. Isn’t it possible that Mike’s father, whose car was also found at the bottom of a lake, was murdered, too?”

  “When you put it that way …” Joshua said. “Makes me wonder if it was a murder conspiracy or a family curse.”

  Chapter Nine

  “We’re still waiting for forensics to finish examining the cruiser,” Sheriff Sawyer told Joshua and Cameron when they arrived at his office next to the county courthouse in New Cumberland.

  “There’s no reason why we can’t proceed where things were left off when Mike disappeared,” Joshua said while Cameron took a seat in the sheriff’s small office. “He told me he was going to meet with a CI. A good place to start would be to find out where he was in his investigation and the identity of this informant.”

  Noticing two dusty white folder boxes, one stacked on top of the other, on the chair across from the sheriff’s desk, Cameron asked, “Are these the cold case files Josh requested you dig up?” Without waiting for an answer, she swung the top box around to read the label on the end. In black marker, it read:

  Null, Virgil R.

  02/13/1976

  “They are,” Curt said. “Take a gander at the check-out roster.”

  While Cameron peered inside the folder box, Joshua opened the flap of the envelope taped to the top of the lid. Inside the envelope was a roster on which officers and other law enforcement officials were to write their names, badge numbers, and the date and time they checked out the evidence box. There was an identical roster in the file room. If a detective or officer went looking for a case box, the roster would show who had it. Both rosters needed to be signed, even if the officer didn’t remove the box, as Curt had done.

  While Joshua read the second to last name on the roster, Cameron gazed up at him. She could see the recognition in his eyes.

  “I think you’re on to something,” Curt said.

  “Mike Gardner checked out this evidence box ten days before he disappeared,” Joshua told her. “On September third, nineteen ninety-six. He checked it back in on Friday, September sixth. Then, a couple of months later, the files were checked out on Monday, November fourth, by Philip Lipton.”

  “That name sounds familiar,” Cameron said.

  “He’s the head of the state forensics lab in Weirton,” Curt said. “Been there around twenty years. I checked when I saw his name on the roster there. That check out date is less than a month after he took the position. He’s the clumsy bum who spilt his drink in my lap at lunch today.”

  “What would prompt the head of the forensics unit to check out these files for two cold cases as soon as he came on board?” Cameron asked. “If your forensics unit is like ours, they don’t go digging into old case files unless something or someone, usually the investigating officer, asks for something.”

  “Like a deputy,” Curt said.

  “Which would have meant that Lipton would have known what case Mike was digging into,” Joshua said. “When I contacted the sheriff after Mike’s disappearance, I was told that no one had any idea what I was talking about.” He showed Sawyer the roster. “This right here proves that Mike was looking into Ava Tucker’s and Virgil Null’s murders. His disappearance was all over the news. At least Philip Lipton should have noticed the missing deputy’s name on this roster and the check-out date being less than a month before he went missing. Why didn’t Lipton say anything?”

  “Being new on the job at the time,” Cameron said, “it would have been to Lipton’s advantage in discovering a possible clue to Mike’s disappearance. Why did he keep his mouth shut all these years?”

  “Don’t ask me,” Curt said. “Ask him. And I want to be there when you do.”

  “Virgil Null.” Cameron read the name on the end of the box. “That’s the john who got murdered along with Ava Tucker.” She reminded Joshua. “He was tight with Lorraine Winter’s son who committed suicide.”

  “There was never any question that Toby Winter committed suicide,” Joshua said. “He left a note.”

  “What did the note say?” Cameron asked.

  “Ask his mother,” Joshua said. “She’ll tell you it’s none of your bee’s wax.”

  “Lorraine Winter is one nasty scary old lady,” Curt said in agreement. “She could make the Hulk pee his pants.”

  The label on the box underneath Null’s read “Tucker, Ava” and contained the same date.

  “How do you know about Virgil Null being Ava’s john?” Curt asked.

  “Dolly told me.” She removed the police case file from the box.

  “Dolly?” Curt turned to Joshua, who was digging through the top box as well. “The name of the gentlemen’s club where they were murdered was called Dolly’s. Are you saying there really is a Dolly?”

  “Why else would they call it Dolly’s?” Cameron asked him.

  “Because it was the place to go to meet dolls,” Curt said. “Remember, back when people were politically incorrect. Women were called chicks, broads, and …” He gestured with a shrug of his shoulders. “—dolls? That’s where I assumed the name Dolly came from.”

  “No, there is a real Dolly,” Cameron said. “She’s in her eighties now. I had lunch with her today.”

  “Are you talking about one of those little old ladies you were at Cricksters with this afternoon?” Curt leaned forward in his seat. “Which one?”

  “The sweet little old lady sitting next to me.”

  Curt gasped. “That darling little blue-haired lady? Are you serious? She was a …”

  “Madam,” Cameron said with a giggle. “And she used to babysit Josh.”

  “Seriously?” Curt looked up at Joshua. “Your grandmother used to let a madam babysit you?”

  “I don’t think she knew,” Joshua said.

  “Still,” Curt said. “Did she ever give you any advice about …” He waved one of his hands in a circle. “You know … secrets about how to …”

  “Secrets of the trade?” Cameron asked.

  “No.” The pink that came to Joshua’s cheeks stood out against his thick silver hair, which brought a grin to Cameron’s face.

  On the other side of his desk, Sheriff Sawyer shot her a wink at Joshua’s embarrassment. After clearing his throat, he settled back to business. “Well, it’s not surprising that no one knew what you were talking about back when you called in after Gardner’s disappearance. On record in these case files, Ava Tucker is listed as a dancer at a gentlemen’s club. There’s about a half dozen of those clubs around the track. Generally, the women who work there are considered dancers or bartenders, not prostitutes. If
they hook, it’s on their own time, and I don’t think they list that profession on their resume. Did this sweet little blue-haired madam tell you why Gardner put his life on the line to look into this murder that had happened like twenty years before he became a cop?”

  Cameron waited to let Joshua answer.

  Deciding that it was best to keep their sheriff in the loop, Joshua replied, “Because Ava Tucker was his birth mother. It’s a family secret. Mike Gardner was raised by Ava’s sister and her husband. I only got Mike’s mother, or rather, aunt, to confirm that today. So we need to be discrete.”

  Understanding, Curt nodded his head.

  “Both victims were suffocated to death,” Cameron noted. “The killer tied them up and then covered their faces, noses, and mouths with duct tape. They died of asphyxiation. What a way to go.”

  Joshua took note of a comment in Virgil Null’s autopsy. “It may not have been so bad for Virgil. He had a fractured skull. He may have been knocked out before being suffocated.”

  Cameron continued to leaf through the case file. “The roll of duct tape wasn’t found on the scene. The killer had to have taken it with him.” She scanned reports in search of the witness statements. “They were killed in Ava’s room. Wouldn’t someone have noticed her taking two men up to her room? Or was the killer hiding in her room when she walked in with this Null guy?”

  Joshua reached into the box for the police report on Virgil Null’s murder. “Did the police at the time investigate to see if Null was the intended victim? This was the seventies. Maybe he was into drugs as well as women. Ava could have been collateral damage?” He scanned through the reports in the file.

  “That’s a good question.” She closed the folder and held it in her lap. “Think about it. How long would Virgil Null have been in her room?”

  When she turned to Curt, he shook his head while waving his hands. “Don’t look at me. I have no need to visit hookers.”

  “Cameron’s point is,” Joshua said, “why kill both of them? If Ava was the intended victim, why didn’t the killer wait for Virgil to go home? It certainly would have been less difficult to control one victim instead of two.”

  “And if Virgil was the intended victim,” Cameron asked, “why kill him in Ava’s room? According to this case report, there were possible multiple witnesses in the rooms on either side of hers. It was a Friday night—”

  “Better for the killer to get lost in a crowd,” the sheriff said.

  “Speaking of crowds …” Joshua folded the case file inside out to read through a section in a witness statement. “What type of person stands out in the crowd in a bordello?”

  Both Cameron and the sheriff had to think before they could answer.

  “An ugly woman?” Curt finally responded.

  “Give the man a cigar.” Joshua held up the case file. “We have a statement from the bouncer that the bartender reported walking in on a middle-aged woman in the kitchen who ran out the backdoor into the night as soon as he spotted her.”

  “What time did that happen?” Cameron asked.

  “Close to one o’clock,” Joshua said. “They assumed that it was a suspicious wife checking on her husband.”

  “Any name on her?” Curt asked.

  Joshua paused to read through the statement before shaking his head. He flipped to the statement from the bartender and shook his head again. “None. They had never seen her before.”

  “It could just be a coincidence,” Cameron said. “At those types of places, it would not be unusual for a wife to sneak in to check on her husband. But even if she’s not the killer, she may have seen something upstairs while looking for hm.”

  “The bouncer’s name is Bart Walker,” Joshua said. “I know his family. He died more than ten years ago. Maybe the bartender is still around. He’s the one who saw her. He might be able to give us a description.”

  “Listen to this.” Standing up, Cameron read from a statement in the case file for Ava Tucker’s murder. “One of the girls at the club, who had the room next to Ava’s, swore that she thought she saw someone on the verandah off her bedroom. She tried to check it out, but her client had other things on his mind and wouldn’t let her. She said that was about midnight. The murders were discovered shortly after one o’clock.” She closed the file. “Verandah? Could that be like the verandah off our bedroom, Josh? It wouldn’t be that hard to climb up. The killer could have gotten into her room from the outside and escaped the same way without anyone seeing him.”

  “It was late at night,” Curt said. “Dolly’s was way out in the country. Secluded. The killer would have had no problem escaping into the night.”

  “I think the killer has gotten away with these murders due to luck, not skill,” Cameron said. “How did he control both Ava and Null without them running for help from the people in the rooms around her bedroom?”

  “Maybe he had a gun,” Joshua said. “He just decided to use the duct tape because the shots would have attracted too much attention.”

  “I’m hearing a lot of speculation and no proof of anything,” Curt said.

  Cameron resumed scanning the reports. “Did Null and Tucker have any connection before that night?”

  Joshua turned to the sheriff who shook his head while shrugging his shoulders. “These are two cold cases. I haven’t had a chance to read the reports yet.”

  “Can I take them home to examine them more closely?” Cameron asked.

  “No,” the sheriff replied. “Did that concussion make you forget that you don’t work in this state, let alone this county?”

  With a chuckle, Joshua asked, “Can I check out these case files to go over them?”

  “Yes, you may, Mr. County Prosecutor.”

  While Joshua went about signing the roster to check out the case files, Cameron asked, “How many people would Virgil have told that he was going to a whore house? Do men advertise that type of stuff?”

  “Dolly’s was a prestigious and very private club,” Curt told her.

  “Null was only twenty-four years old,” Joshua noted from the file.

  “His brother is a county commissioner,” she told him. “Dolly told me that.”

  “According to a statement here from the bouncer,” Joshua said, “it was Null’s first time there, and he was very nervous.” He leafed through the other statements in the file. “The other witnesses all say the same thing. It was Null’s first time there. One witness noted in her statement that he looked scared to death.”

  Curt said, “Maybe it was his first time in more ways than one.”

  Ignoring the chuckle in the sheriff’s voice, Joshua asked, “If this club was so prestigious and private, how did this twenty-four year old guy get in there?”

  “Dolly said that perspective members had to be vouched for by current members,” Cameron said.

  “We’re talking about people who have both power and money.” Joshua leafed back to the first page of the police report. “Virgil’s occupation is listed as a gardener in his father’s landscaping business.”

  “He certainly didn’t have the money to pay for any club membership,” Cameron said.

  “Unless he got the money from his daddy,” Curt said.

  “Brandon Null was the type to belong to those types of places,” Joshua said in agreement. “Virgil’s father is retired now. His son Russell is running the business and on the board of county commissioners. I think I’m going to go have a talk to him.”

  Cameron said, “Meanwhile, I’ll poke around to see if I can find the connection between all of these murders.”

  “I thought you were on medical leave,” Curt said.

  “Cameron is reopening a cold case that smells funny to her in her own jurisdiction.” Joshua winked at her while saying, “Douglas O’Reilly. Mike Gardner’s birth father.”

  Cameron turned to Curt. “What d
o you think? What are the odds of three members of the same family all being killed separately without there being a connection?”

  “Pretty bad,” Curt said. “Was Mike Gardner’s father murdered?”

  “His car was found at the bottom of a lake, just like Mike’s,” she said. “His death was ruled a suicide. His mother swore that it wasn’t. The police have been stonewalling her for years claiming that she was refusing to accept the truth.” She gestured at the case files in the boxes. “Now, I’m thinking it would be worth taking a closer look.”

  Joshua and Curt exchanged glances.

  Curt scratched his head. “Now you’re making me wonder just how far over his head Mike could have gotten.”

  “And over what?” Joshua asked.

  Chapter Ten

  “I’m stuffed.” Joshua groaned while turning the steering wheel to pull the SUV onto their cobblestone driveway. “Did we really have to order the extra-large platter of Buffalo wings?”

  “It isn’t like you had to eat the very last one.” Donny said with a moan from the back seat. The teenager’s stomach was usually a bottomless pit. This evening, though, Cameron suspected they had reached the bottom when they were forced to bring home the last two slices of pizza in a takeout box.

  Joshua’s SUV came to a halt behind a metallic blue sedan with New York tags resting in front of the porch steps.

  “Oh, no.” Cameron sucked in a deep breath with the realization of who was the owner of the car. “When did Tracy decide to come home?”

  “She told me that she was coming home last night,” Joshua reminded her while throwing open the door. “I told you …”

  The vague memory was coming back to her when Tracy came running out the front door with Admiral galloping next to her. Irving was close behind them. While Joshua gave his older daughter a bear hug, Irving raced across the yard, through the hedges, and out onto Rock Springs Boulevard.

  At twenty-two, Tracy Thornton was every father’s dream. The slightly built young woman had a flawless figure, lush auburn hair, and her father’s striking blue eyes. With culinary talent, and a compassion for the family that she had taken care of after her mother’s sudden death when she was only a teenager, Tracy was every bit Daddy’s little girl.