An Eye for an Eye
Page 21
Baxter nudged my leg under the desk while Jessie was talking, but I didn’t know why. Then he asked her, “Leann texted you? So she had a cellphone?”
Jessie nodded. “She had a cell, but she didn’t advertise it. I don’t think her husband knew about it—in fact, I know he didn’t. It was one of those pre-paids. She wanted to be able to keep in touch with her friends without him hovering over her shoulder. He was such a control freak when it came to who she hung out with. He’d sometimes find out what bar we were going to—I think he followed her—and then come in and make her go home. Give her some sob story about how their kid was sick or something like that. It worked every time, because Leann loved that kid more than anything. The only reason she stayed with her stupid husband was to keep the family together.”
Baxter said, “Not that it would do us any good, but you don’t still happen to have her cell number, do you?”
Laughing mirthlessly, she said, “That was a half-dozen phones ago, before it was easy to transfer your contacts.”
“I figured as much. How did Leann seem right before her death? Was there any kind of change in personality or anything you noticed that was different about her?”
“She maybe wasn’t as closed off as she had been. She smiled more. I remember her saying that she thought everything was going to work out.” Her shoulders slumped. “Then she died.”
I asked, “Do you know if she was in any kind of extra-marital relationship? Did she ever confide anything like that in you?”
Jessie gave me a puzzled look. “Leann? I don’t see her as the cheating type. I mean, I would have in her situation. But she always stood by her husband, even when…” She sighed.
“Even when he beat her up?” Baxter supplied.
“Yeah. A bunch of us wanted to do an intervention with her, but…one time at a meeting Richard brought up the fact that we were all worried about her, and she lost it. She got pretty fierce about defending her husband and wouldn’t hear another word about it. We got the message.”
I felt another nudge from Baxter.
His tone softened. “Ms. Metz, we’re sorry for making you relive this after so long. If there’s anything else you can remember, please give us a call.” He handed Jessie his card. Once the door had closed behind her, he turned to me. “There was no cellphone found at the scene. I remember reading it in the case notes. The Foxes’ only registered phone was a landline, but the Sheriff noted that there was a thorough search of the home for cells and for computers. They found a computer, but all they got off it was Samuel’s porn.”
“Lovely. But if Leann was hiding her phone from her husband, maybe she kept it somewhere else, like in her car or at work.”
“Her vehicle was also searched, as was her desk at work.”
“Hmm. Well, it didn’t just disappear.”
“Or maybe it did if the killer took it so no one would find his number on it.”
I nodded slowly. “I could get behind that.”
“Besides, if Samuel Fox somehow knew about his wife’s secret cell, he might have automatically assumed she’d been using it to contact other men. He would have tried to use that in his defense at trial.”
“Right. Even if he’d found it and smashed it or threw it away, he would have at least had his lawyer bring it up and subpoena the phone records. He didn’t know about it.”
“But the killer did. Also, I’m starting to understand why Samuel Fox set his sights on Richard Kendrick. Say Leann came home, angry with the guy for what he’d said in that meeting. She’d made it abundantly clear to anyone who’d listen that her marriage was fine. Maybe she lets it slip about what Kendrick had said, knowing that her husband would go postal and shut him up like he did their neighbor. Only she doesn’t expect Kendrick to lose his job over it, which is why she freaked out and begged the boss not to go through with the firing.”
I sighed. “This is a sick, sick relationship we’ve got going on here. I say Justin Fox got screwed up long before the foster system got hold of him.”
***
Our next stop was at Russell and Cynthia Hawker’s house. They had been the Foxes’ neighbors opposite the Shivelys, but they’d since moved to a nicer neighborhood. The Foxes’ old neighborhood hadn’t been in the best part of town. I’d read in one of the files that the family had been forced to sell their former home when Samuel lost his job and move into a less expensive place.
Russell and Cynthia Hawker were a newly retired couple. Cynthia warmly invited us in and insisted on serving us coffee, which I didn’t mind. Hers was much better than anything I’d get at the station, and I was growing tired of fast-food coffee as well.
Once we were settled in the Hawkers’ homey living room, Baxter said, “Thank you for meeting with us today. We’re investigating an old case, the murder of Leann Fox, your former neighbor.”
I saw Cynthia’s hands begin trembling and Russell’s face twist into a frown. The murder that had occurred next door was probably not their favorite thing to discuss.
Russell said, “We were out of town, thank goodness, when it happened.” He glanced over at his wife. “We heard some of the things that went on over there. But after talking to Earl…well, we decided to look the other way. At that time, I was traveling quite often for work, and Cynthia would be at the house alone. I didn’t want that crazy man to have a reason to come after my wife, so we let him be.”
Unable to meet our eyes, Cynthia looked down and admitted, “It may not have been the right thing to do, but we were scared of retaliation. The neighborhood was starting to go downhill so fast at that time, and…” She shrugged tearfully. “We just didn’t want to get involved.”
“It’s understandable,” Baxter said, his tone kind. His disappointed eyes told a different story. “Did you ever notice anyone lurking around the Foxes’ home? Or anyone coming and going at odd hours? Anything out of the ordinary aside from the domestic disturbances when the police got involved?”
The Hawkers glanced at each other, then shook their heads.
Russell said, “Like I mentioned, we stayed out of their business. We kept the blinds down on that side of the house and tried not to even look that direction if we could help it.”
I frowned. “So there’s nothing you can tell us about the Fox family? What about the boy? Did you ever speak to him or see him out playing? Anything?”
Sighing, Russell replied, “He was a quiet kid. Seemed like he kept to himself and didn’t have a lot of friends.”
Baxter stroked his beard to hide a grin. Russell Hawker was that neighbor, who if interviewed on the news would give the stereotypical “he was quiet, kept to himself” answer when asked if he was aware he was living next door to a crazy person.
Cynthia held up one finger hesitantly. “I think… I think I might have seen the boy around the neighborhood a few times after the murder, if that’s of any interest to you.”
All business now, Baxter asked, “When was this? What was he doing?”
“Um…I don’t recall exactly. It was maybe a couple of times the year or so after. He was just hanging around, staring at the house. He seemed…sad.”
No shit.
Baxter said, “What about around the time of the Shivelys’ house fire? Did you see anyone lurking around then?”
Russell shook his head. “We’d already moved by then.”
Feeling like this trip was a giant waste of time, I stood. “Thank you for the coffee and for your candor. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”
Barely containing my disgust as I hurried out the door, I got into Baxter’s SUV and waited until the doors were closed before beginning my tirade. “Could they be any less helpful? I mean, come on. They closed their blinds on the side facing the Foxes’ house and hid, hoping Samuel Fox would forget that they were there? How could you listen to a screaming match next door and do nothing? Especially after the cops started making a couple of visits a month. There was a child in that house.”
“Um, not piss me off when I’m one more dumb comment away from kicking their asses?”
“At least the coffee was good.”
***
We returned to the station at lunchtime to regroup and share what we’d learned this morning. Jayne had sent out for lunch for the team, and for once I was in the mood to eat. Delving into the leads we’d spent last night gathering had helped my emotional state considerably, knowing I was doing something to get to the bottom of the case.
Manetti had efficiently divided up our down time. Jayne and Amanda had gone home to rest this morning after Baxter and I had gotten back, and after lunch it was Sterling and Martinez’s turn. Esparza and Manetti would be off in the early evening. With our time off spaced out like that, I felt better about the progress being made. There would be six of us working at all times.
We got our sandwiches and congregated around the conference room table. The four guys who had yet to get some sleep looked pretty rough, but none of them complained.
Manetti said, “I’ll start. This morning Detective Sterling and I visited Samuel Fox’s public defender as well as the warden at Fox’s prison. The public defender didn’t have a lot to say about the viability of her client’s defense. She believed he was guilty and had a hard time finding any shred of evidence to suggest otherwise. They tried to bring up the angle of Leann Fox having a stalker, Richard Kendrick, but there was no evidence to support Samuel Fox’s accusation that Kendrick had killed her.”
Baxter added, “In our interviews with their fellow PXT Corporation employees, we found that Richard Kendrick was fired practically without cause in the wake of an unrelated sexual harassment charge already facing the company. Kendrick was collateral damage because of it. No one thought he was actually stalking Leann Fox or had any kind of relationship with her aside from that of being friendly work colleagues.”
Manetti nodded. “Barring any other information that might come to light about Richard Kendrick, I think we can cross him off our suspect list. On to the warden—I think you all know that Samuel Fox died in a prison riot two years ago. The warden said Fox was an exemplary inmate during his eleven-year stint. He made no trouble, but unfortunately got caught in the crossfire when two rival gangs went at it one day. The warden was able to provide us access to the visitor logs that showed Justin Fox made regular trips to see his father in prison, starting when he was eighteen. Detective Sterling, do you have anything to add?”
“I have one more lead to run down before I cross Richard Kendrick off the suspect list. Other than that, I’m good,” Sterling replied.
Manetti said, “Detective Baxter, what else did you and Ms. Matthews uncover this morning?”
Baxter recounted our interviews with Desiree Gray and with the employees at PXT while I sat and wondered why Sterling was so interested in Richard Kendrick. From everything we’d heard today, he didn’t seem to be the type to snap and kill a coworker, nor did anyone suggest he’d been sleeping around. Something was stuck in Sterling’s craw, and I wanted to know what it was.
Thinking about Richard Kendrick made me wonder more about Leann Fox’s missing cellphone. When Baxter was finished, I said, “Jayne, one of Leann’s coworkers mentioned she had a cellphone that she kept a secret from her husband. Your report shows that no cells were found belonging to either of the Foxes. Are you sure every avenue was explored in the search?”
She replied, “Yes, I remember doing the requisite cellphone search myself…” Frowning, she flipped through her file, lost in thought.
Baxter murmured to me, “We already talked about what the report said.”
I murmured back, “But I want to hear it from her.”
Jayne tapped her pen on the table as she scanned the file. “I checked the house. The crime scene techs checked the house. We all checked her car. I even drove over to her work and went through her desk, hoping to find something. At home, they had a landline and a computer, which seemed to be Mr. Fox’s, judging from the amount and type of pornography on it. The only email account we could find for Leann was her work account. That was before the days of widespread use of social media, so there was really nothing else to check, communication-wise. There was no phone to be found.” She regarded us for a moment. “What do you think happened to it?”
Baxter replied, “We think the killer took it because it would tie her to him.”
Sterling snorted. “This case just keeps getting better and better.”
Frowning, Manetti said, “Chief Esparza and Deputy Martinez, an update?”
Martinez said, “We made calls to two residences this morning and checked out the barns on the properties. No dice.”
“Where are we on the background checks on the foster families?”
Esparza slid a file down the table toward Baxter and me. “Done and done, plus we pulled property records including parcels with barns owned by anyone related to them. We also had an expert determine that the truck our boy was driving was Ford F-series from the eighties, so we got county BMV records of those, too. Deputies are out canvassing as we speak, and I’ll join them after this meeting.”
“Excellent,” Manetti said, his mouth pulling into a tired smile. “Detective Baxter and Ms. Matthews, is there anything else you need us to work on while you’re out this afternoon?”
Baxter thought for a moment. “How about home arsons in the last seven years? Can you check those against our master list of Fox family connections? Maybe something will pop there.”
Jayne scribbled something in her notebook. “Amanda and I will research those this afternoon.”
“I think we all have our marching orders, then. Thanks, guys,” said Manetti.
We all picked up our files and the remains of our lunches and began going our separate ways.
Baxter said to me, “Ready to head out again?”
“Almost.”
“I’ll be at my desk when you’re ready,” he said, heading out the door.
I hung back for a moment and stopped Sterling in the hallway. “Hey, what’s your theory on Richard Kendrick? You’ve been saying from the beginning that he’s a good lead. What are you thinking?”
“Don’t micromanage me, Matthews. I said I’d handle it.”
“Don’t you think I deserve to know?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “It’s a long shot, and I don’t want you to get your hopes up. Now get off my ass about it.”
I was speechless. He might have talked tough, but Sterling was trying to spare my feelings. Who’d have thought?
“Um…okay. Consider me off your ass, then.”
“Keep it that way.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Since we were near the county jail, we decided to pay Wyatt Churchill a visit. He was nothing like I’d pictured. I’d assumed he was some scrawny, punk-ass kid like Justin Fox. Instead Wyatt Churchill looked like a giant teddy bear. He acted like one, too.
When Baxter and I entered the tiny room where he was shackled to a metal table, Wyatt gave us a genuine smile. “It’s not everyday I get a visitor, let alone two.”
Baxter and I sat down across from him. Baxter said, “I guess it’s your lucky day. I’m Detective Baxter and this is Ms. Matthews. We’d like to speak to you about a former foster brother of yours—Justin Fox.”
Wyatt’s smile faded. “I’ve been seeing on the news about what he’s done to those girls. He was always doing crazy stuff that would get me in trouble, but I never thought he’d turn out to be a psycho. We were pretty close for a while.”
“Tell us about the night seven years ago when the fire started in your bedroom.”
Slumping in his chair, Wyatt said, “Justin was in a weird mood that night. He’d turned mean for some reason. I think something had happened at school with a girl, and he was upset. He had this fancy
lighter he’d stolen, and he was dying to use it. He kept threatening to light my stuff on fire with it. Finally he calmed down, and I thought he went to sleep, so I figured it was safe to doze off. But then all of a sudden the whole room was on fire, and I could barely breathe.”
“And he blamed you for it,” I said.
“Yeah. I really liked living there, too. Our foster mom reminded me of my real mom.”
Baxter asked, “Have you had any contact with Justin Fox since the incident?”
Wyatt shook his head. “I was happy to be rid of him after that.”
“Did he ever talk about anyone he was close to—a family member or family friend, another foster family or foster kid…or maybe a friend at school?”
“Justin didn’t have a lot of friends at school. But he did talk about his real dad a lot. About how he wasn’t allowed to see him until he got older.”
“Did he talk about his mother at all?”
“No, just his dad. He also used to go on and on about his first foster family who’d moved. He got letters from them sometimes. I think he had a crush on the daughter from that family or something. He kept her picture under his pillow and talked about her in his sleep—Alyssa something.”
While Baxter noted that, I said gently, “I know there was abuse in the first foster home you were in together and that the two of you bonded. Were there any other kids there who either of you were close to?”
Wyatt thought for a moment. “Justin was pretty close to Courtney. Courtney Kapinski. She wasn’t there as long as we were, though. We ended up going to the same high school as another foster kid from that house, Tyrone Leonard, but not for long. And the Greens—the ones whose house Justin burned down—wanted nothing to do with either of us afterward. They kicked us out that night, and I never saw or heard from them again.”