by Gina LaManna
“Well, you must have a guess. I mean, you wouldn’t say he was murdered if you thought he had a heart attack or something.”
“He had a bullet wound to his chest.”
Tammy raised a hand to cover her mouth. “Someone shot him? Why? Who could have ever wanted to shoot Travis?”
“That’s what we’re planning to find out,” I promised Tammy. “And anything you can tell us about any friends or enemies he might’ve had could be important. So give us a call if something comes up.”
Jimmy and I made our way back out to my car. When we climbed in and were en route back to the precinct, I glanced over at Jimmy.
“Thoughts?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Jimmy said. “She seemed genuinely surprised.”
“The emotions seemed real,” I agreed. “I’m not counting her out, but I also didn’t get killer vibes right off the bat.”
“I guess we’ll need to head to his office and ask around. I can’t go, though. I’ve got an appointment this afternoon, and I have to ditch out for a couple of hours.”
“Applying for new jobs?” I joked.
He scoffed. “Doctor appointment. I’d skip it, but the wife would cut off my best asset.”
I gave a snort. “I don’t want to hear anymore. Go and get checked out.” Almost as an afterthought, I added, “Everything okay?”
“Routine checkup.”
Jimmy didn’t meet my gaze as he said it. But like the good partner I was, I knew when he didn’t want to talk, so I let it drop.
“I’ll drop you at the station,” I said. “I’ve got to check in on things there. See if Melinda or Asha came up with something.”
“Why don’t you take your shadow with you this afternoon?”
“Huh?”
“Chloe,” he said. “Take her to the interview. Give her a little taste of what it’s like out there in the real world.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Come on. It’s a lawyer’s office,” Jimmy prompted. “What could go wrong?”
Chapter 5
ASHA WASN’T AT HER station when I passed through the tech room to our main office. Jimmy went straight to his desk and plopped down, digging out the sandwich he’d left behind earlier that morning. He spread it on his desk like a Thanksgiving dinner.
I’d barely sat down when a ponytail swung around, and a woman came to a stop before my desk. I raised my eyes slowly to meet Chloe’s gaze. Her expression was one of excitement mixed with trepidation.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly. “I think I found something.”
“On what?”
“The case. You told me to look into everything I could find about Travis Newton.”
“Oh, right.” I sat back in my chair. “Did you send it to my email?”
“It’s just something I stumbled across a few minutes ago. I was wondering if you have a minute to come to my desk?”
“Can it wait? We’ve got some more interviews to do,” I said, tipping my head in Jimmy’s direction. “I don’t want to let any leads get cold.”
“That’s the thing. This could be a lead.”
I took a deep breath, trying for patience. While it might not have been the absolute nicest thing to do, giving the new girl an assignment that I knew was already covered, it had been the best I could do under the surprise circumstances of the morning. I hadn’t intended to be mean, but I also couldn’t sit around training fresh legs when there was a murder to be solved. I’d planned to dive into training later, when things were calmer, when I had red-tape days between my cases.
“I think your victim might’ve been having an affair.”
I looked up, unable to help the curiosity in my gaze. “Travis?”
She nodded. “It’s not confirmed, but I’d also say it’s more than a hunch. There are some markers that point to him being involved with a woman who wasn’t his fiancée. He was engaged, yes?”
I nodded, thinking even that was pretty decent for her to have picked up in the short amount of time since I’d left her with the task of investigating Travis. I hadn’t given her access to any of our internal programs or resources. I’d set her loose without any direction.
“He was,” I admitted, rising from my chair. “Show me what you’ve got.”
I followed her over to her seat. To my surprise, she pulled up a tab on her browser with Facebook open. I felt eyes on my back, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Jimmy watching me. He was intrigued enough to have put down his sandwich and was blatantly listening in on the conversation.
“Here’s Travis’s Facebook page,” Chloe was saying. “He thinks his privacy settings are good, but they’re not. He’s too old to get it.”
“Too old?”
“I mean, he probably set this thing up when he was in high school or college or something and hasn’t been back since.”
I didn’t comment, seeing as that was pretty much what I’d done with mine as well. I’d deleted it before entering the force because, as I’d learned through my work, social media often did more harm than good—especially for people in the public eye. I had no interest in my career being tainted because of something stupid on the internet that I’d posted when I was eighteen.
“Sorry,” Chloe said, sensing me going quiet. “But it’s probably the truth.”
“Fair. What’d you find?”
“He didn’t post much. He’s tagged in the occasional family photo by his sister. She’s younger, currently in school at Iowa State. She’s studying environmental law.”
I nodded along, matching up Chloe’s information with what I’d already learned. It wasn’t new information, but it was accurate.
“Family of lawyers,” she said. “He worked at a law firm too. Divorce lawyer. Has to be sort of a depressing business, don’t you think?”
“I’ve never thought about it,” I said. “But I suppose you’re right. Not a lot of happy clients.”
“If Travis ever did post, it was usually something about a sports game. Pretty boring stuff.”
Chloe was candid, I had to admit, if nothing else. She didn’t only give the facts. She gave colorful commentary along with it. While not the most professional, it was amusing to hear her stream of consciousness.
“So how does all this lead to an affair?” I pressed, as Chloe clicked through a few photos. She was right. It was all pretty boring stuff.
“There’s this guy, Duke Silver, that likes all his stuff,” Chloe said. “I mean, he likes his photos and whatever.”
“And that’s wrong because?”
“First of all, Duke Silver’s not a real name. I mean, it is a real name, but it’s from a TV show,” Chloe said. “Parks and Rec?”
“Okay.”
“You’ve never seen it?” Chloe swiveled around to face me, her mouth shaped into a horrified little O. “It’s really funny.”
I grimaced. “I don’t have much time for TV. The murder?”
“Right, right.” Chloe swung back around. “Common Facebook rules are that dudes generally don’t like each other’s photos this much. It’s just not really done.”
“Sounds scientific.”
“Well, I don’t have access to any special resources,” Chloe said pointedly right back, “so I’m making a few leaps here that you can probably confirm with your tech team.”
“Fair enough.”
“If I click over to Duke’s profile, there are no real photos. He has like four friends.”
“Fake account?”
“All signs point to yes. I think there’s a chance this could be some woman’s fake profile in order to get in touch with Travis on the down-low.”
“The down-low.”
“Yeah, it means—”
“I know what it means, but why wouldn’t they just text?”
Chloe swiveled around again to face me. “They could have, sure. He could’ve saved her number as Bob from the office or something. But how long would that excuse work? I mean, he’s a divorce lawyer. Is Bob from the
office really going to be texting him a few times a week? Probably not. Most women would get suspicious of Bob from the office.”
“I see.”
“But with Facebook, you can use Messenger like a texting application. Little bubbles pop up on your phone, but you can turn those off, so you’re not getting dings all day.”
“So Duke Silver could text Travis, and his phone wouldn’t ding or show a message, but he would have access to it whenever he had his phone.”
“Exactly. And if his fiancée happened to glance through his phone, or his Facebook messages, just seeing the name Duke wouldn’t necessarily sound any alarms. She’d have to be really cruising for evidence to find it.”
“Assuming their messages weren’t obvious.”
“Well, yeah,” Chloe said, seeming like she was finding it hard to suppress an eye roll. “But if they’re that stupid, then they’re bound to get caught. I’m guessing they use the Messenger app for little notes or changes of plans. You know, like when they’re meeting up somewhere or have to cancel last minute.”
“It is a stretch,” I admitted. “And even if it is accurate, Duke Silver isn’t a real name as you so kindly pointed out. Which doesn’t get us any closer to whoever was actually the one on the other end of the fake profile.”
Chloe blinked. I felt a presence by my shoulder. Jimmy moved next to me and gave a nod at Chloe.
“Good work,” Jimmy said. “We can have our tech department dig deeper into his social media to see if you’re onto something.”
“If they haven’t started already,” I said. “Asha might already know who Duke Silver is. If that’s actually relevant.”
Jimmy looked like he was hiding a smile. “Good work, kid. Your instincts are on the right track.”
Chloe beamed under the praise. I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw praise out just yet. All the newbie had done was some Facebook stalking that may or may not even be accurate. But the way she was looking at Jimmy, it was like he’d just awarded her the Purple Heart.
“I’m going to take off,” Jimmy said, turning to me. “Sorry I can’t accompany you to the interviews at the law firm this afternoon. If you need someone to help you out, I’m sure Chloe would be willing.”
“Oh, absolutely.” Chloe popped out of her chair as if someone had poked her from behind. “I’d love to get out in the field. Beats sitting at a desk any day.”
“Thanks, Jimmy,” I said tersely. “But it’s a sensitive task, and Chloe doesn’t have much experience just yet. We might want to cut her teeth on something a little less urgent.”
“I do have experience with interviews,” Chloe said. “I am a cop. Not to mention, if Travis was having an affair, it might’ve been someone from the office.”
“You’re a cop but not a detective.”
“You can take the lead,” Jimmy said to me, then clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, I’m off for some blood draws. Wish me luck, and have fun, you two.”
Jimmy scooped up the sandwich from his desk and packed it into a bag. Then he took off for the doctor. If I had to guess, his appointment wasn’t for another few hours. He’d just wanted to set me up with the intern so he could eat his lunch in peace.
Chloe was staring at me with huge puppy-dog eyes when I turned back from watching Jimmy dip out of the office like his tail was on fire.
“I’d love to help,” she said. “Or just ride along with you.”
I swallowed, the chief’s words running through my mind. He’d told me in no uncertain terms not to be a jerk. It seemed I was having a hard time following orders. Swallowing, I gave a nod, hoping this would make up for my initial coldness toward Chloe.
“Grab your stuff,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“HEY, THANKS.”
I glanced over at Chloe. “For what?”
Chloe looked out the window of my car as if she hadn’t anticipated my response. We were currently en route to the law offices of Herman and Jones to question Joey Malone and Greg Schneider. Chloe had been suspiciously quiet on the first part of the drive, and I was wondering if I was about to find out why.
“I know you don’t like me. I know you’re only doing this because the chief is forcing you to be nice-ish to me. So thanks for trying.”
“I don’t dislike you,” I said. “I don’t know you at all. We met a few hours ago.”
“You don’t like me working for you.”
“Don’t take it personally. I’m a loner when it comes to my work.”
“You seem to like Detective Jones just fine.”
“That’s different. We started here together. We have a long history of tolerating one another.”
Chloe gave a thin smile. “You say that, but I know better. You guys really care about each other.”
“Okay.”
“Look, I’m new. I’m relatively fresh out of the academy. I’m young and have a lot to learn,” Chloe said. “I also happen to know that you are the youngest female detective in the state. It wasn’t an accident that you got asked to start up with this new task force or that you’ve been closing out cases left and right. I know you work hard, and I want you to know I’m going to work hard too.”
“Glad to hear it. Everyone on our team works hard,” I added. “It’s why we were each picked. We don’t have lives outside of this.”
“Neither do I,” Chloe said softly. She picked at a speck of dust on her pants. “I don’t have a life outside of this either. I need this to work, Detective Rosetti. If I didn’t have a career that I was passionate about, I wouldn’t have anything.”
Despite my front of cold indifference toward the new girl, I had to admit her tone had me curious. I could tell when people were lying. I could tell when people were trying to suck up to me. I could tell when people were stretching the truth just to tell me what I wanted to hear. I was confident that wasn’t what Chloe was doing.
“Thanks for letting me come along,” she said quickly as if she realized she’d said too much. “I know it wasn’t in your plans. That you’d rather it was Detective Jones sitting next to you. That’s all I was trying to say.”
“Sure.”
Fortunately, I’d pulled up outside of the law offices at that moment. I suspected Chloe had timed the conversation just so she’d have enough time to tell me what she wanted without having to endure any follow-up questions. The young woman was cleverer than I’d initially given her credit for, and it’d do me well to remember that.
As we climbed out of the car, I sized her up once more under a new light. My initial reading of Chloe was that she was a genuine person with good intentions. I had no data to tell me that except my gut, but my gut had been a crucial part to closing out several of my cases. I trusted my instincts, and my instincts told me to give Chloe a chance.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry for the cold welcome.”
Chloe looked up, surprised. “You don’t have to apologize.”
“I do.”
“Trust me,” she said, holding up a hand to stop me, “you don’t. I can put myself in your shoes and understand why you did it. I can’t imagine being particularly pleased to be tasked with showing a new person the ropes, considering the circumstances.”
“Circumstances?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“You know, how it was sudden. There wasn’t much warning,” Chloe said, shifting uncomfortably.
“There’s more you want to say,” I observed. “What other circumstances?”
“Well—”
“If you’re going to work with me, I expect honesty. That’s one of the reasons Jimmy and I get along so well. He’ll tell me if I’m being an asshole and vice versa.”
“You’re not an asshole. I mean, I guess I can’t say that for certain, but...” She stopped abruptly. “I mean the situation with you not liking other people.”
I gave her a quick smile. “Well, that’s mostly true. I don’t take offense to it.”
“And the fact that my very presence is a constant reminder that a pe
rson you care a lot about is on the verge of leaving the department.”
“Leave Jones out of this.”
“I was just being honest. I can’t imagine losing the person I trusted the most, even if it’s just to retirement.”
“Okay, that’s enough psychoanalysis.”
“You asked me to be honest.”
“Let’s just interview these guys and get on with it,” I said. “I’ve got other stuff to do today.”
“Like what? Anything I can help with?”
“Stuff. And no.”
On that note, Chloe and I made our way into the building. I wasn’t mad at her. I’d asked for honesty, and she’d given it to me. Maybe too much. I had to watch myself around Chloe. She was one of those types of people who liked to talk about feelings. They made me think too much, and at the moment, I didn’t need to be thinking about personal stuff any more than I already was.
I flashed my badge at the desk and identified myself. The front desk receptionist was obviously surprised to see us, and she stumbled through a greeting, struggling to figure out exactly how to handle a couple of police officers walking into the offices.
“We’d like to talk to Joey Malone and Greg Schneider,” I said. “We just have a few questions. Cooperate with us, and there’s no reason we can’t keep this quiet and not make a scene.”
“Can I ask what this is in regard to?” The receptionist was called Julie according to her name plate. She had blonde hair and wore a slim-fitting, demure navy dress. I could see high heels beneath her desk. She cast us a wary glance and reached for the phone.
“The murder of Travis Newton.”
“Travis is dead?” she asked, looking between me and Chloe as if expecting this to be a prank. “Murdered? Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“W-what happened?” Julie asked, her lips pursed in horrified shock. “How did he die? Oh my gosh, this is awful. His poor fiancée. He was supposed to be getting married, you know.”
I nodded. “Did you know him well?”
Julie shook her head. “As well as any of the lawyers who work here. I’m just the receptionist slash sometimes assistant. I don’t know any of them that well.”
