Imperious

by C. M. Sutter

  “Sounds like it. Jack said his voicemail message said he’d be back in town as of last night. Let’s shake his tree and see what he knows.”

  We returned to the apartment building and rapped on the first door. A shirtless man wearing pajama bottoms pulled the door open. It was nearing noon. I imagined we looked as startled as he did.

  “Martin Glover?” Amber asked.

  “Nope, Danny Greenly. Who are you?”

  I jiggled my badge at the end of the lanyard. “Is this Martin Glover’s residence?”

  He looked upward as if he had to think of the correct response. “Technically, yeah, but he subleases it to me, and I forward maintenance issues to him. Guess you’d call me the middleman. Why?”

  I ignored his question—we were conducting the interview, not him. “Do you know where Martin lives?”

  “Nope, never asked.”

  “Does he ever shine around?”

  Danny stared at Amber. “Not really. There’s no reason to. He has me, but if you have concerns about the building, why don’t you talk to him?”

  “That’s why we’re here, but we need to speak to him in person.”

  He scratched his head. Sorry, like I said—”

  I interrupted. “We’re cops. We’ll track him down. Did you know Becca Morbeck?”

  “No, she never had any complaints. I did hear about her death, though—a real shame.”

  I cocked my head. “Do you have a key to her apartment, Danny?”

  “Sure, I have a key to all the apartments, not that I’ve ever used them.”

  Amber wrote that down. “And Mr. Glover does too?”

  He shrugged. “I assume so.”

  I gave Amber a glance. “Okay, one more question before we leave. Why do the manager calls go to Mr. Glover instead of you?”

  “I guess he handles the C Corp business too, but like I said, I’m the middleman for the tenants here—a face, if you will. They don’t have his number, only I do. Guess he doesn’t want to be bothered unless it’s absolutely necessary. You know how tenants can be. They tell me the problems, if there are any, and if it’s warranted, I pass the information along to Mr. Glover.”

  Amber frowned. “Yeah, that seems like more work than necessary. Why not just have a real manager on site?”

  He shrugged. “My rent is cheap, so I don’t ask questions, and doing this doesn’t interfere with my life. I do have a real job—a late-night gig stocking grocery shelves.”

  “Got it.” I handed him my card. “You’ll let us know if anything else comes to mind?”

  “Yeah, no sweat.”

  Amber and I left and exited out the side driveway next to Becca’s apartment onto Clinton Street. I checked my map again and handed the phone to Amber. I showed her the route I wanted to follow. “We need to get to Edgewood and then go south. That’ll take us to H, we’ll head to Kettle View, and that runs parallel to the highway.”

  “Yep, I see it.”

  We were back at the sheriff’s office by twelve fifteen. I was curious to learn more about this Mr. Glover—a man who seemed to have a reason to stay in the shadows.

  Chapter 51

  With the ham-and-cheese sub unwrapped and a diet soda at my side, I settled in at my desk. I powered up my computer and typed Martin Glover’s name into the search bar.

  Jack leaned against the doorframe of his office and dug into a bag of kettle chips. “Why don’t you turn off your brain for a half hour and take a real lunch break with the rest of the gang?”

  I smiled. “Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?”

  “Touché.” He crossed the room and took a seat next to me. “What are you working on?”

  “This Martin Glover is an enigma, and I want to know why. There isn’t a logical reason that he’d stay in the shadows if he’s the manager of Becca’s apartment building, but even the real estate woman said he was odd. In essence, he handled the purchase, yet the real estate agency never met him face-to-face.”

  “Yeah, that is odd. Go ahead and research the guy.”

  “So Billings didn’t have any luck with Morton?” I asked.

  “Nope. There aren’t any credit cards or bank accounts that come up for him.”

  “So how does he pay his mortgage?”

  “Good question unless he just rents the property and pays with money orders or cash. Billings is going to walk over to the courthouse after lunch and check with the Register of Deeds office for Morton’s address. We’ll need a copy of it, anyway. We should know who the actual owner is soon enough.”

  “Did Clayton check with UWM about Morton’s claim of working there for nine years?” I asked.

  “He left a message, but nobody has called back yet.”

  “Hurry up and wait, right?”

  Jack crunched a chip and held the bag open for me. I reached in and pulled out a handful.

  “Yep, it seems like we do that a lot around here.” Seconds later, his desk phone rang. He stood and excused himself. “Go ahead and finish the chips. I need to start eating healthier, anyway.”

  I stared at the bag then placed it on Clayton’s desk. A round of cursing and the sound of Jack’s fist connecting with his desk got my immediate attention. Something was definitely wrong.

  He stormed out of his office. “Gather the team and head to Jackson City marsh. Donnelly was just flagged down by the DNR as he was making his rounds south of town. Sounds like they found a female body in the marsh while they were grooming the trails. I’ll be right behind you after I round up Lena and Forensics.”

  “Damn it!” I leapt from my chair, grabbed my gear, and headed for the lunchroom. “Guys, we have a dead female at the Jackson City marsh. Jack wants us to leave now.”

  Clayton jammed his sandwich in his mouth and headed for the bull pen, with Amber and Billings on his heels.

  I called out to Amber. “I’ll start the car.”

  Twenty minutes later, our group of four arrived at the state wildlife area.

  “Looks like Karen is here too.” I killed the engine along the four-foot-wide gravel shoulder and climbed out of the car just as Clayton snugged his cruiser at our rear bumper. We headed down the trail toward Tim and Karen, who were standing alongside the DNR truck with the two rangers.

  Clayton asked a few questions while we waited for Jack, Lena, and the forensic team to arrive. “How’d you guys happen to find the body?”

  Tom Rollins spoke up. “It wasn’t hard. We just followed our noses. We assumed it was a coyote kill—a deer, most likely—and were going to remove it from the park. That’s when we saw her nude body partially exposed under a pile of leaves. We backed out of the scene immediately.”

  “Good thinking,” Clayton said. “The forensic team and the medical examiner should be here any minute. Did you guys notice tire tracks leading back?”

  Bill Franklin pointed at the ground. “With the heavy tree cover, it’s pretty dark back here. To be honest, I wasn’t looking for anything unusual as I backed in. I focused on avoiding tree limbs.”

  “Understood. We’ll probably need you to pull out to the road, but let’s wait for our team to show up first. They may want to take pictures of how things look right now.”

  Moments later, Jack, Lena, Jason, Kyle, and Dan arrived. They followed Tom Rollins to the body then asked him to wait back at the truck. Minutes later, Kyle and Jason stepped out of the brush and said Bill should park the truck along the road so they could back in the vans. With that done, Kyle grabbed the forensic bag, and Dan secured his camera’s strap around his neck. They spent the next twenty minutes at the body while the rest of us waited on the trail.

  Dan emerged from the woods first. “I’ve taken the initial photos of the body before and after we cleared away the leaves. Go ahead, Lena. We’re good for the time being.”

  Jack and Lena disappeared into the brush.

  “The only noticeable injuries on the body are from the wildlife. It’s strange that we didn’t see a wound substantial
enough to kill her,” Kyle said, “but Lena may find something definitive after the body has been cleaned.”

  I looked at Tom. “If you guys hadn’t come out here to groom the trails, she could have gone undiscovered. Over time, there would have been no evidence of her being out here at all.”

  “That’s especially true with the dense underbrush,” Bill said. “This place is a haven for all kinds of animals, and at this time of year, the bug population is off the charts.” He swatted a mosquito on his neck.

  I jotted comments in my notepad as we waited.

  Minutes later, Jack stepped out of the woods. “I think that’s Naomi Hahn. The deceased has a four-leaf clover tattoo on her right ankle, and Naomi’s mom described the same tattoo.”

  I dropped my notepad to the ground.

  Jack looked startled. “You okay?”

  My response was garbled as I knelt over to pick up my pad. I teetered for a second, and Jack grabbed my arm. “Amber, get her out of these woods and into the cruiser. Keep your eye on her and call me in five. If her head doesn’t clear by then, take her to Emergency.”

  “You got it, Boss. Put your arm around my shoulder, Kate, and let me help you to the car.”

  Through my ringing ears, I heard Jack’s voice in the distance. “How far back do you think the body is?”

  Amber had a tight grip on me as I stumbled to the cruiser. “It’s fifty feet.”

  She pulled open the door. “What are you talking about?”

  “The body—it’s fifty feet from the path.”

  “How would you know that? Never mind. Just lie back and close your eyes.”

  Chapter 52

  Kyle nodded. “I was going to check the distance, anyway. Give me one second.” He reached into his forensic bag and pulled out the laser tape measure then knelt to the ground and found a clear spot where he could see Lena through the brush. He aimed the tool at her back, clicked it on, and took a reading. “From here to the body is fifty-one feet.”

  Clayton wrote that in his notepad as Jack flicked a gnat off his arm. “How soon can my detectives begin searching the area?”

  Dan scanned the surroundings. “We have no problem with you searching the trail and out by the road, but as soon as Lena finishes her field exam, we’re going back in to take more pictures. We don’t want to disturb the scene until we’ve photographed everything.”

  Jack tipped his chin at Clayton, Billings, Donnelly, and Karen. “Go ahead and look around on the trail then work your way to the road.” He glanced at the patches of sky between the tree canopy. “It’s dark back here, so use your flashlights if you need to. Anything that isn’t native to the marsh needs to be bagged and tagged.”

  Clayton and Donnelly walked to the cruisers to grab the flashlights. Clayton peered in through our passenger window. “How are you doing, Kate?”

  I sighed. “I’m better now, but I really got loopy back there after Jack said the deceased could be Naomi Hahn.”

  Clayton frowned at Amber then me. “Think it’s that transference thing again?”

  “I don’t know, Chad. Naomi was a student at the university, just like Becca and Daphne were. If Morton is the culprit and these weird feelings I get are actually transference, then I’d put my money on him being Naomi’s killer too. I felt like I had been drugged, like I was in some kind of stupor.”

  “I’ll pass that information on to Jack and Lena. She’ll do the usual exam and a tox screen for sure.”

  I reached for the door handle.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Amber asked.

  “I’m okay now. I just need to keep my distance from the body.”

  Chad jerked his chin toward the trail. “We’re grabbing some flashlights to take back in. Why don’t you two stay out here and search along the shoulders? Jack said if it isn’t native to the marsh, then pick it up.”

  I stepped out of the cruiser. “That sounds good.”

  “I’m still going to keep my eye on you. One misstep and you’re going back in the car,” Amber said. After popping the trunk, she grabbed evidence bags and gloves, and we began searching the roadside. Amber searched the side our vehicles were parked on, and I took the east side of the road.

  I combed through the ditches and gravel shoulders for anything that didn’t belong there. Fifteen minutes into my search, I caught a glimpse of a shiny object when the sun hit it just right. I knelt to take a look.

  Amber yelled across the road. “What have you got?”

  “A pull tab from a soda can.”

  “Go ahead and bag it.”

  I did and continued on. Minutes later, the black van pulled out. Lena, Jason, and the body were on their way to the coroner’s office. I waited until they passed, then began backtracking. I nearly missed it as I was about to cross the road. Lying where the gravel met the weeds was a cigarette butt. I picked it up and carried it to Amber’s side of the road. “A memory just came to mind.”

  She glanced at the cigarette in my hand. “What do you remember?”

  “Mike Morton’s odor when he took his seat at the restaurant. He smelled like cigarettes.”

  “Let me have a look.” Amber pinched the butt between her thumb and index finger. “Marlboro. Good memory, Kate. Now we just have to find out what kind of cigarettes he smokes.”

  We began our walk back to the trail. “Did you find anything?”

  Amber shrugged. “A screw in the gravel and a glass shard. Nothing else.”

  We reached the guys halfway down the trail. “Anything?” Billings asked.

  “I found a cigarette butt and a pull tab.” I held up the evidence bag. “How about you?”

  “Karen found a few threads tangled in the brush. Whoever carried the victim there left a little bit of their shirt behind.”

  “That’s something we can work with.”

  Jack put his hand on my shoulder. “Kate, how are you doing?”

  “I’m okay now, Boss.” I jiggled the bag. “This cigarette butt reminded me of the day when Amber and I met Mike Morton in the restaurant. I remember him smelling like cigarettes. The butt I found is Marlboro.”

  “I’ll let Silver know to keep a close eye on Morton to see if he lights up. If he’s lucky, he might be able to snag the butt when Morton puts it out.”

  Donnelly joined in on our conversation. “He was smoking when I interviewed him at the crash site. I saw him with my own eyes as he stomped the cigarette into the gravel. What are the odds that it’s still out there?”

  “I don’t know, but you’re about to find out. Do you think you remember where he was pulled over?” Jack asked.

  “Sure, within a hundred feet or so.”

  “That’s close enough for me. I’ll give the evidence bags to Kyle, and you five head out. Karen, take over for Silver while he grabs a bite to eat, and then get back to your patrol duties. I’m going to stop at the station and touch base with Lena. I have to read over Naomi Hahn’s description one more time, and if she is the victim, I’ll have to make that difficult call to her parents.”

  We left in our cruisers and followed Donnelly to the southbound lanes of the crash site. If luck was on our side, we’d find that one cigarette butt that would prove Mike Morton was the killer. Having matching DNA on both cigarettes would give us the evidence we needed to issue a search warrant on his property and end his killing spree once and for all.

  Chapter 53

  Jack returned to the sheriff’s office, poured a cup of stale coffee, and took a seat behind his desk. He opened Naomi Hahn’s folder and began reading through it.

  Clayton’s phone rang in the bull pen. Through the glass, Jack gave Chad’s phone a glance.

  It could be the university getting back to Chad.

  He rose from his desk, crossed the bull pen, and answered it. “Lieutenant Jack Steele speaking. How may I help you?”

  A female voice spoke up on the other end of the line. “Hello, this is Mary Johannsson from the administration office at UWM calling for Detective
Chad Clayton. Is he available?”

  “He isn’t at the moment but go ahead and tell me about Michael Morton. I’m Detective Clayton’s supervisor, and we’ve been waiting to hear back from you.”

  “I’m sorry for the delay, Lieutenant. Our entire system was recently updated, and some files have been archived. I had to do a little digging.”

  “Not a problem. What did you find out?”

  “Many of the professors here are tenured, so the faculty doesn’t change often. The only professors who left our university on their own in the last few years were Isabelle and Martin Glover but at separate times. When Isabelle disappeared, gossip spread throughout the university about infidelity and possible foul play, but nothing ever became of it. Mr. Glover made his exit several months later, citing something about wanting to live in the US Virgin Islands. I think he really left because of the rumors. But as far as a Michael Morton goes, we’ve never had any professor here by that name.”

  Jack ground his fists into his eyes. “Do you still have the files for the Glovers at the university?”

  Silence filled the other end of the phone line.

  “Mrs. Johannsson, this is a very serious criminal matter. The Glovers aren’t employed there any longer, so you don’t have a confidentiality agreement with them, correct?”

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  “Then please don’t make me go through the red tape of issuing a warrant.”

  “What exactly do you need, Lieutenant?”

  “Both of their entire files emailed to me in PDF format right away. It’s imperative that their photographs are included.”

  Jack heard a sigh on Mary’s end. He was hopeful.

  “Fine, I need your email address.”

  “Thank you.” Jack gave her his email address and clicked off the call. He grabbed Naomi’s folder and headed downstairs as he waited for the Glover files to land in his in-box. He rapped on the door then pushed it forward.

  Jason sat at his desk in the coroner’s office.

  “Is Lena in the back?”

  “Yep, she’s washing the body before the initial exam. Give me a minute to let her know you’re here.”