“Notice anything new?”
“No, should I?” he said teasingly, casting his eyes everywhere, avoiding the diamond ring on her left hand.
She gave him a friendly punch on the arm and said, “Look at this. He did it. He asked me to marry him!”
“Doug?” Sheski said jokingly.
“No. Dennis, Sheski. Dennis asked me. So you’re not the only one who has upcoming nuptials. It was so dreamy. He popped the question last night and I said ‘Yes.’ ”
“I’m really happy for both of you. When’s the big day?”
“We’re not sure, but you and Mike better be there.”
“We will. Hey, what did you mean when you said Pat won’t be in today?”
“All I know is when Paul was on his way to his office he yelled over to me, ‘Riley won’t be in,’ Debbie said, mocking Paul’s somber tone and cadence.
“Mike’ll be glad to hear that,” Sheski said.
“What’ll I be glad to hear?” Mike asked.
“That Dennis asked me to marry him,” Debbie said breathlessly.
“Congratulations. He’s a lucky guy. Tell him I said it’s about time,” Mike said.
“She has more glad tidings,” Sheski said.
“Pat won’t be in today,” Debbie said.
Mike smiled. He had dreaded coming in this morning, but the day was looking up. “Why isn’t she here?” he asked. “Broken fingernail? Typhoid? Someone finally did her in?”
“We don’t know. We’ll have to ask Paul that one,” Sheski said.
“Hey, let me know what he says,” Debbie said.
“Sure will,” Sheski said.
“Come in, I know it’s you two,” Paul said in response to their knocking. Without looking up he added, “Sit down.” He nodded to two chairs already placed in front of his desk and coughed productively into a tissue he was holding.
Paul shuffled papers. He finished writing before addressing the men in front of him. Pulling a plastic container of antacids out of his drawer, he dropped four of them into the palm of his hand. One by one, the colored pills were tossed into his mouth and ground vigorously. A look of relief passed across his face.
“You want to know why Pat Riley won’t be in, don’t you?” He continued without giving them a chance to answer. “Well it seems Dr. Carter wasn’t available to speak with her yesterday so she had to go back up there.”
Sheski and Mike smiled. They’d been angry when it happened to them, but hearing the same thing happening to Pat was a different story. Now it was amusing.
“She was really upset and complained, but it didn’t help. This is my show, not hers. Oh yeah, her daddy and I had a long talk yesterday and he’s backing off. Insufferable horse’s ass.” Paul’s expression did not change.
“So, you’ll have to manage without her again today. Kenneth Adams will be here soon with Attorney Smithson. Don’t you two have something to do until then?” He looked blankly at them and then back to his paperwork, dismissing them from his presence.
“I bet she’s madder than ever,” Sheski said when they got back to the meeting room.
“Tough. She had it coming,” Mike crowed.
9:00 AM
Attorney Jerry Smithson’s car pulled in with the attorney and Kenneth Adams inside.
Kenneth lit up a cigarette outside the smoke-free barracks. Concerned with his health, it was something he hadn’t done in more than 50 years. Today, he needed it. He puffed one down to a stub and lit another.
Jerry went inside and stopped at Debbie’s desk.
Sheski found him handing a business card to her.
She was trying to get away from him.
“Hi Jerry,” Sheski said, rescuing Debbie. “Where’s Mr. Adams?”
“He’ll be right in. He’s having a smoke,” Jerry said.
“A smoke? That fitness freak is having a smoke?”
“He needed it,” Jerry answered.
Small talk between the two men was mostly about local issues.
Jerry wasn’t at a loss for words. Finally, when a lull in the conversation threatened, he turned his attention back to Debbie, but she’d already escaped to the break room.
When Kenneth came in, Mike escorted him and his attorney to the meeting room.
Paul wasn’t there. He was sitting this one out. He had every faith in their ability to interrogate a witness. He’d already given them a copy of his lead-ins for their line of questioning.
Sheski joined them.
Jerry and Kenneth were seated across the table from the investigators. Jerry was looking his usual overly confident self. He had a sheaf of papers and a pen before him. After placing wire-rimmed eyeglasses on his face, he propped a hand under his chin, leaned on it and waited.
Kenneth, toned body in a dark suit and tie, sat next to his lawyer. His hands were moist and perspiration trickled down his neck.
Sheski placed a folder on the table in front of them and opened it. He rearranged the photographs inside, face down.
Kenneth saw the pictures and his sweating increased. His breathing was noticeably shallow and rapid and his pulse was racing.
Sheski thought the man wasn’t taking this well.
“What’ve you got there?” Jerry asked, his pen aimed at the photos.
“Well,” Sheski said, “The first one,” he flipped a picture of Thelma and Kenneth over, “your client already had a chance to see.”
No response from Kenneth.
“And the other?” the lawyer questioned. “What about that one?” More pen aiming. Jerry was sure he already knew what it was since he interrogated his client. “Let’s get a look at what you wouldn’t let Kenneth see when you last visited him.”
“Before I do, I wonder if Kenneth has anything he wants to tell us. Like, who took these photos and how he came to first see them.” It couldn’t hurt to ask.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Kenneth’s attorney advised him. Reaching out and retrieving the picture, Jerry looked it over carefully, showed it to his client, and then looked it over again. It was exactly as Kenneth had told him. Thelma Temple and Kenneth were caught in a cozy situation.
Kenneth stated flatly, “I have nothing to say right now.”
“Well, first of all, we know exactly when it was taken. November 12, 1954. We know it was taken with the same camera that took this one,” Sheski said, tapping a finger on the back of the other photo. “We computer-enhanced them and got some neat detail. It enabled us to make real nice copies.” He looked at Mr. Adams. “We can do a lot with computers today. A lot more than they could’ve done in 1954, if anyone had bothered to even look for these then. But they didn’t. They never asked for evidence and took very little testimony from anyone connected to the case.” He paused for effect. “Well, that was then. This is now.”
“Get on with it,” Kenneth said. “I don’t have all day.”
Jerry put his hand on his client’s arm to calm him.
“I don’t even know why we’re here,” Kenneth said. “The only real witnesses they have are a murderer at Rockview and an old alcoholic. Who’d believe those two? You couldn’t get a judge to rule on anything they have to say.”
“Actually, Kenneth, we have some witnesses from the past. Witnesses who may not be among us, but who nonetheless have something to offer.”
“Cut the cryptic nonsense, Sheski.” Jerry said. “I know what you’re up to. And my client’s not going to crack. As I said before, let’s see the other picture.”
Instead of taking the other one out of the folder for them to see, Sheski picked an envelope off the floor and pulled a picture out of it. Kenneth leaned forward to get a better view as Sheski handed it across the table to them. Judging from his expression, it wasn’t what he expected to see.
“What the heck is this?” he said. “I never saw this before. Who is it and why are you showing this to me?”
“Very good questions, Kenneth. I’ll be happy to explain them to you. This photo,” Sheski tapped i
t on the front, “is from the 1955 Le Tresor, Shirley’s high school senior yearbook. We’re familiar with this one from an earlier case. We found it in the back of the yearbook in a collage of photos. Here it is again in a larger size.” He produced the picture.
“So,” Kenneth said. “Big deal.”
“So,” Sheski repeated, “It is a big deal. This photograph is the key to another one we came across.”
This time he flipped out a large computer-enhanced print of the photo showing a grimacing Shirley with the teenage boy on the cot with her. He placed it next to the one from the yearbook.
Kenneth Adams was distressed to see the picture of Shirley on a cot with a boy. He gasped upon seeing it in such large print. It was Shirley with that no-good Joey with her. He wanted to rip it into a thousand pieces. He clenched his fists over and over.
“What’s your point here, Sheski?” Jerry asked. “Let’s not make this any tougher on my client than we have to, okay? Remember, he lost his daughter to a murderer. He’s a victim here, too.”
“I think your client is making it tough on himself, but I also think it’s going to get tougher. And the jury’s still out on who the victims are.” Sheski said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kenneth said. He looked pale. His labored breathing was audible and his armpits were damp. His chest was starting to feel tight and he touched it with his hand. He wished he could put a stop to this distressing confrontation. After all these years, he was facing the same terrible scene again - Shirley and her boyfriend in bed together. You couldn’t miss what they were doing and there it was in black and white for all to see. And they wanted money from me to shut them up. It was too much.
“As I said before,” Sheski said. “This photograph from the Le Tresor is the key to this one of your daughter and that young man.”
“That’s Joey.” Kenneth shouted. “He took a picture of Thelma and me together on her birthday at her house. He was using it to blackmail me. He sent that creep John Deadly to my house to get money for his silence. I thought he loved Shirley, but as you can see he also had someone take one of him and Shirley in that position. He’d have never done that if he loved her. And he’d have never blackmailed me either.”
He stopped. He’d said too much. Tears streamed down his face which now looked every bit his age. He held his chest even tighter.
“Kenneth, don’t say anymore,” Jerry advised. He was too late. The floodgates had opened.
“Go on, Kenneth,” Mike said. “He was blackmailing you. Then what?”
Kenneth’s shoulders were heaving under the weight of lethal decisions carried out in anger against a young man he believed had harmed his family. Joey Beck. Sobs wracked the muscular body and the investigators waited for them to subside.
“Kenneth, I’ll tell you what I think happened and you fill in the blanks for us,” Sheski said. “According to witnesses of events at your home,” he began, not wanting to reveal he had learned this information from the Sams’ journals, “John Deadly had been watching your house for a long time. He kept track of your daughter and Joey, and also your comings and goings. On one of those evenings, John confronted you with the photographs.”
Kenneth stiffly nodded in affirmation.
“Deadly told you Joey Beck had taken the picture of you and Thelma and Joey wanted money from you to keep quiet about it. If you didn’t pay up, he’d show the picture to your wife and daughters. To confirm Joey’s ill will, he showed you the picture of the young man and Shirley. Told you it was Joey with her and Joey had known they were being photographed. How close am I?” He paused. “Kenneth? I’m right, aren’t I?”
Kenneth nodded. “I hate him. Hate him. He ruined my life.” He spoke in a hardened, bitter voice. “Deadly said he was to take the money to Joey for him.” He sniffed and wiped his nose on a handkerchief. “I couldn’t let him get away with it. I knew John Deadly was no good. Never was. Everybody knew it. I figured if he’d do Joey’s dirty work, I could get him to do some for me, too.” He looked across the table at the state policemen. Dark circles under his eyes belied his pain and grief.
“What happened next, Kenneth?” Mike prodded. “It’s time for the truth.”
“I made him an offer. I told him if he would silence Joey, I would pay him twice what Joey was asking from me. The little traitor readily agreed. I didn’t care how he did it. I just wanted Joey silenced.”
“So John Deadly killed him,” Sheski said.
“Yes, he killed him,” Kenneth said.
“But why murder Shirley?” Sheski asked. “She had nothing to do with this.”
“Something went wrong. Terribly wrong,” Kenneth said. “I told Shirley she couldn’t go out that night with her boyfriend. Told her mother, too. I knew it was the night Deadly was going to take care of Joey, but she went anyway. She and her mother defied me. Chief Bill telephoned me as soon as Cal Kelly ran to the station and told him about it. I could hardly believe it. After all these years, I still can’t.” He began sobbing again.
“So Chief Bill covered up the events because his son was involved and he didn’t want Bill Junior’s name splashed all over the news, involved in a murder and blackmail, tampering with crime evidence, probably took the picture of Shirley. Who knows what else young Bill had done. Chief Bill threatened Cal Kelly after the boy told him about finding the bodies. So Cal left town to save his own skin.”
Sheski sighed. The worst was yet to come. How was he going to tell the old man the truth about Shirley and her boyfriend. That what he believed all these years was a lie. First, he wanted to know about Shirley’s mother Janet.
“Janet found out about you and Thelma the same night, didn’t she, Kenneth? That’s why she killed herself. As the weeks went on, she couldn’t bear the loss of her daughter to a murderer and her husband to another woman.”
“It’s all true,” Kenneth said.
Sheski cringed at having to recount the story. This kind of case was hard on everyone.
“Take a closer look at this yearbook picture, Kenneth,” Sheski said. “The one from the collage in the back.”
Sheski pushed the photo closer to him. It was a close-up side view of a young man’s head.
The old man leaned forward, grasped the photo in his shaking hands and pulled it close to his face. He looked at it, then at the computer-enhanced photo of the young man with Shirley. At first there was no hint he understood its significance. Then, slowly, recognition came. His eyes grew large.
“You see it, now, don’t you? The young man in the yearbook photo is clearly identified below the picture as John Deadly. His triangle-shaped birthmark above his right ear is visible just as it is in the enhanced photo of the young man on the cot with your daughter. You couldn’t see it in the original. It wasn’t noticeable until we used the computer to get more detail. Yes, Kenneth. Deadly told you it was Joey in the picture to get you to believe it was Joey who was blackmailing you. In truth, he was blackmailing you himself and blaming it on Joey Beck.”
“But what was Shirley doing with him?” Kenneth asked.
“I’m just guessing, but I believe Deadly was playing his blackmail from all sides. Shirley was a beautiful, well-liked young woman. I believe Deadly showed her the picture of you and Thelma and threatened to expose your affair if she didn’t do what he wanted. He made the arrangements for her to meet him. She agreed to protect her family. The expression on Shirley’s face convinced us the boy in the photo wasn’t Joey. And, from what we’ve been told about him, Joey wasn’t the type of young man who’d permit such a photograph to be taken. He really loved your daughter. We checked the fingerprints found on the original photographs and verified them. Deadly’s prints were on both of them.”
“What have I done?” Kenneth said. “What have I done?” He slumped forward, moaning and crying.
Jerry had to assist his client to keep him on his chair.
“Listen, you two, I don’t think he can take anymore.” Jerry was holding onto
Kenneth and wondering what to do next. He mumbled something to his client.
Kenneth still had much more to face before this case was closed, but now was not the time. He’d had enough for now. One thing was certain. He’d never tell anyone how he’d constantly blamed Janet with verbal abuse that didn’t end until she took the fatal overdose. He’d also not reveal how he was the one who gave her the bottle of pills and encouraged her to ‘do the right thing.’ She deserved it, he had believed. Still did. She’d threatened to take him to the cleaners through a divorce and if she’d only listened to him and kept Shirley home, things would’ve turned out differently. And it was her fault Shirley was born.”
Jerry was right. Kenneth was unable to continue the interview, saying he didn’t feel well. He was perspiring and short of breath and his chest and arm hurt. They scheduled another date to speak with him.
Kenneth left the office, convinced he’d fooled them all.
After their upcoming interview with Bill Davis, Jr., Sheski and Mike were sure they’d have more to say to Shirley’s father. As with most of their cases, after doing the grunt work and interviews, Teen Lovers was coming together for them.
Chapter Sixteen
Monday
Sheski and Mike took the weekend off to recover from the emotionally draining events of Friday.
Monday came more quickly than either wanted.
“How are my two favorite Lieutenants?” Debbie asked Sheski and Mike as they stepped inside the barracks. Without waiting for an answer, she presented them with two exciting pieces of news. “Pat Riley will not be in again today. Whoo hoo!”
No one complained. They looked relieved.
“And,” Debbie said, “You have an appointment this morning with Bill Davis, Jr. at his home. It was his request.”
“Why doesn’t he come here?” Sheski asked, hoping for the advantage of conducting the interview in their barracks.
“He says he’s ready to talk to you and Mike, but only you and Mike. He specifically asked that you not bring that ‘Pat Riley person.’ He thought she was ‘creepy. He’s obviously a good judge of character.” Mr. Davis also said for you to allow yourselves some time for a lengthy interview. He said you’ll understand when you get there.”
TEEN LOVERS: Murder Along the River Page 14
