by James Ross
“I just caught a quick glance of the photo. Was that 2 Dix?” Fred barked from the far corner.
“According to people that arrived at the scene Richards was waiting to car pool with golfing buddies when someone gunned him down execution-style,” Paula continued. A graphic flashed across the screen with a telephone number for a news tip hotline. “Anyone with information about this horrendous act is asked to call St. Louis County police at the displayed number. All calls and tips will be confidential.”
J Dub walked out of the office after hearing the newscast and answered Fred’s question indirectly. “That’s 2Dix. He and his buddies play here every Sunday morning. They tee off about an hour before you guys go. You’ve seen him. Lots of times they are in here when you guys get done.”
“He was just in here a couple of days ago,” Fred replied. “He and his buddies are always hanging around in here when we get finished.”
“Of course,” J Dub said. “I know all of them well. They play here on Sunday and take Monday off. They play at River Bend on Tuesday, Shenandoah on Wednesday, take Thursday off and play at Swopeland Valley on Friday and Havencrest on Saturday. They were just in here two days ago.”
As Paula wrapped up the news coverage Shari shrieked. “That’s Richie! No! No! It can’t be!”
“You know 2Dix?” Captain Jer mumbled.
“Yes, yes! That’s my Richie.”
“We call him 2Dix in here,” Captain Jer said. “I don’t think anyone called him Richie.”
“That’s his name,” Shari answered. “My husband and I have known him and his wife for years.”
“He have two first names,” YouWho said. “Dick and Dick so we call him 2Dix.”
“He liked it too,” Pork Chop added. “It made it sound like he was a womanizer.”
“No, no, no,” Shari sobbed. “He was a good friend.” She hugged Ashlyn and wept.
The picture of Richard W. Richards faded off the TV as the newscast moved to a commercial.
“Did it say who he was with?” J Dub asked.
“No, only that he was meeting some of his golf buddies to carpool,” Fred answered.
“Then he was meeting Knuckles, Fatboy and the Jeffco Echo. I know they were going to play River Bend today like they do every Tuesday,” J Dub said. “They had their standard time here with us on Sunday morning and then they would travel around on the other days.”
Shari reached into her purse and frantically looked for a pack of cigarettes. She found one and with shaking hands lit up.
“There’s no smoking in here,” Captain Jer yelled. “If we can’t then she can’t either.” He looked at J Dub.
“That’s right,” the pro informed Shari. “Do you remember me telling you about Illinois passing the law several years ago? You’ll have to take it outside.”
Shari gave a disgusted look and ground the cigarette in the ash tray. “Maybe I’ll just go. I don’t feel like staying here right now anyway.”
Curt sauntered in from the office and walked up to Shari. He had been eavesdropping. “How well did you know him?”
Shari stared into Curt’s blue eyes. “Tyler Cy and I double dated with Richie and his wife a lot. We took vacations together. He liked to dance and so did I. We were a lot tighter several years ago, but we still stayed in touch.”
“Tell him the truth,” Ashlyn encouraged.
Shari lamented the setting. “Now may not be the time and place.” She looked over her shoulder. “There are too many ears in here.”
Ashlyn whispered. “Then I’ll tell him.”
“No. No. No,” Shari chastised her friend. She continued in a whisper. “He wanted to get married to me.”
“I thought you were married.”
“I am,” Shari replied in a hushed tone, “after my divorce was final.” She fidgeted with her hands. “He wanted to divorce his wife and get together with me.”
“Now I can see why you’re so upset.”
“But I couldn’t do that. His wife would be pissed.”
“Tell him the real reason,” Ashlyn prodded.
“I didn’t love him,” Shari confessed. “He was a good friend and a dance partner and a drinking buddy, but I’d never marry Richie for the world.” She cried softly. “He doesn’t deserve to be dead though.”
“I’m sorry about your loss,” Curt consoled.
Shari wept some more. “He knew everything about me.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Detectives Mullen and Basnahan were assigned to the Richards murder case. They arrived at the scene, a commuter parking lot, shortly after being assigned in the early morning hours that Tuesday. The 911 emergency call center had received an urgent request for paramedics and an ambulance and the police from one of the victim’s golfing buddies who arrived at the scene apparently just moments after the shooting.
Lester J and Bazz secured whatever they could at the scene. There were a half dozen parked vehicles in the lot and four cop cars with lights flashing. Two were parked at the entrance to the lot and two were near the victim’s vehicle. The paramedics had arrived in an EMS vehicle. Its lights were flashing.
The victim, a male appearing to be in his mid-40s was slumped at the wheel of his car. Lester J and Bazz had arrived at the scene early. A cup of hot coffee rested in a cup holder and a bag with four breakfast sandwiches sat in the passenger seat. There was one bullet wound to the side of the head. Blood was splattered across the car’s seat and windshield. It oozed from the hole in the temple and pooled in the seat and floorboard.
The driver’s door was open as was the trunk. Golf shoes and clubs were waiting to be tossed into another vehicle. Apparently it wasn’t his turn to drive. Robbery didn’t appear to be a motive. His wallet, money, and valuables were intact.
The crime scene was photographed. Richie’s golfing buddies milled around nearby and were at a total loss for anything to say. It was noted that there was only one way in and out of the parking lot. The body was bagged and tagged and sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.
That was it. Lester J and Bazz had their work cut out for them.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Richard W. Richards. Who was he? Lester J and Bazz were about to find out.
Cops realize that the most crucial time in a murder investigation is the first couple of days. The pair knew they had to contact the victim’s wife but wanted to break the news to her in person. In the meantime they decided that a good place to start was with one of the golfers the victim was going to meet. They began the interview process on the spot.
The pair approached a middle aged guy that appeared to be Irish. He was the one that indicated he placed the call to 911 and was the first to arrive on the scene.
“You said that you were the first to arrive on the scene. You’re name?”
“Joe O’Laughlin.”
“Mr. O’Laughlin, could you shed some light on….”
“There’s no need to be that formal. You can call me what everyone else calls me.”
“What’s that?”
“Knuckles.”
“I dare ask why,” Bazz said. Knuckles held out a closed fist and nodded. “What?”
“I’ve got hair on them. Nobody else does.”
The detectives chuckled at the sight of the black curly hairs sprouting.
“Okay, Knuckles, can you tell us about your buddy? Why would somebody want him killed?”
“I’d say that could be a lot of people.”
The answer was mildly surprising to the detectives. “A lot?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Richie was a fun guy to be around. We had many good times. He was… what’s the best way to say it?” After a few seconds Knuckles answered his own question. “Competitive. Headstrong. Persistent. Things like that. That type of behavior can rub people the wrong way and piss people off. Richie had the ability to do that.”
“That’s not a good enough reason to get killed,” Lester J said.
“Personality
conflicts happen every day,” Bazz added. “You were the first on the scene. This was a planned hit. Nothing was taken. Somebody sent a message.”
Knuckles shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not a cop.”
Lester J thought he would go in a different direction. “We don’t know the guy from Adam. Why don’t you tell us about his life or family or work?”
“I can tell you what I know. Richie had a nice life. His father was a university professor. He grew up in a college town.”
“Which one?”
“I think it was in Champaign.”
“The University of Illinois?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Knuckles paused. “When he was little his mom and dad went through a divorce and his dad took up with a Mexican gal that was also a teacher with the university. Richie was fluent in Spanish. He said they would go down to Mexico every summer and spend the summer with his stepmom’s family.”
“Where?”
“Guadalajara I think. Why?”
“We’ll ask the questions,” Bazz snapped.
Knuckles glared. “Can I get a cup of coffee? I know that’s another question but I’m thirsty.”
Lester J replied, “If we were back at the office it would be no problem but we’re not near a coffee pot right now.”
Knuckles turned to Lester J. “Look, I’m trying to cooperate. I don’t need smart-ass comments from your partner. You guys don’t need to crawl up my tailpipe and go into your good cop, bad cop routine. I want to know who did this just as much as you guys do.”
Bazz acknowledged the request. “So he spent his summers in Mexico, right?”
“Yeah,” Knuckles agreed as Lester J wrote down notes on a legal pad. “But there was a by-product of that.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Being bilingual helped him get a job.”
“Doing what?”
“The military, or at least the border patrol.”
“Really?” Bazz acknowledged. “That’s no easy task.”
“He was good at it because his Spanish was excellent, but Richie had a temper and that was the wrong part of the world to go off on somebody. Too much was at risk.”
“Like his life?” Lester J asked.
“Yeah, at least from what I could gather. That job hardened him. He developed an attitude and then moved on.”
“Where to?”
“He bounced around, did a lot of different stuff. Richie was no angel. He ran book for a while. I think he was a pimp; at least the women were always at his disposal. He had a charm about him. Very persuasive. The ladies liked him. He could schmooze with the best of them and did.”
“What did he do for a living?”
“He was a financial advisor.”
“You don’t need any qualifications for that. Just a knack for smelling out money and having the gift of gab,” Bazz alluded.
Knuckles laughed again. “Pretty much. Richie had both.”
Lester J pried some on this topic. “Did he screw someone out of their life’s savings?”
“Hey, he wouldn’t talk to me about that if he did. Richie seemed to make a decent living. He always wanted to play golf around his seminars.”
“Seminars? What kind?”
“He’d send invites out to people and get them to show up and then talk about annuities and tax free investments and things like that. Some people bit while others weren’t impressed.”
Bazz jotted down more notes on his legal pad. Knuckles had a wide stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t know if he screwed somebody?”
“I really don’t know. It’s possible. Richie wasn’t the straightest shooter. He was hungry for a buck and would go after it any way he could.”
Bazz put a star on his legal pad. That was a possible motive. Lester J took over. “You said he had a temper.”
“Oh, did he,” Knuckles confirmed. “He couldn’t stand to lose or have anyone get the best of him. He always had an angle.”
“Did he have any ongoing feuds?” Bazz asked.
“He fought with his neighbors all of the time.”
“What over?”
“Anything. Yard work, noise, parties, and cars. You name it. If the sky was blue one of them would think it was green.”
“Does anything stick out?”
“The guy two doors down…”
“Which side?”
“I think as you look at his house it was the guy two doors down on the left. Richie made a pass at his wife and the guy really got pissed. They had an ongoing hard-on for each other.”
More notes went on the legal pad.
“How about his buddies? Did any of them want him dead?” Bazz was reaching.
“Come on. Not that I knew. Nobody would tell me anyway if they did want him snuffed out.”
Lester J looked at his watch. They knew if they wanted to solve the crime they would have to get on the move. “Okay. We know he was married. Did he have a girlfriend?”
“Oh, did he.”
“Why do you say it that way?”
“Well, what’s the best way to put it?” Knuckles relented to his conscience. “Richie was one of those guys that had a wife at home but girlfriends all over town. He did not have any morals when it came to that.”
“Before we get into his girlfriends,” Bazz butted in, “How many wives has he had?”
“This was his third. He has been divorced twice.”
“Any kids?”
Knuckles shook his head up and down. “It was always a problem with him.”
“What was?”
“Paying child support. They were always bitching for the money on time.”
“And I assume Richie was always late with it,” Lester J put words into Knuckle’s mouth.
“Oh yeah. It was a problem.”
“But it didn’t seem to douse his dating habits?” Bazz asked.
“Nope. He always had other women he was seeing.”
“Any favorites?”
“You bet.”
“Who?”
“Shari Daniels-Donnelly.”
Lester J and Bazz glanced at each other. “Who?”
“Shari Daniels-Donnelly.”
Lester J took over. “Can you tell us about that relationship?”
“Sure. Lots of people know about the two of them. I think they’ve dated for about fifteen years.”
“What? Isn’t she married?”
“Very much so. How do you know her?”
“We have our sources,” Lester J stated. “She’s married.”
“Yeah and that didn’t stop the two of them from seeing each other.”
“Can you expand on that?” Lester J asked.
“Yeah, fill us in on their relationship,” Bazz added.
“Look, all I know is that Shari wasn’t getting the attention she needed at home. She liked to get around town and socialize. So did Richie. They’ve been seeing each other for a long time.” Knuckles reached up and scratched the side of his eye. “She’s getting a divorce. I think that he wanted to take their relationship to another level once she finalized things.”
Lester J shifted his weight to his right leg as Bazz took notes. “So he wanted to get married to her and supposedly latch on to her half of the divorce settlement, presumably?”
“I don’t know about that. He never mentioned it.” Knuckles gnawed at his lower lip. “I do know that she was making him upset lately.”
“Really?” Bazz asked. “How so?”
“She didn’t want him to contact her anymore. That was pissing him off. You know, he was one of those type of guys that couldn’t take no for an answer.”
The detectives shared looks. “Anything else you’d like to add?”
Knuckles laughed. “Richie was one of those guys that probably should have stayed single. If he had he might still be alive.” Knuckles opened his hands as if to say that he didn’t have much more to add. “If I were you I’d talk to his wife.”
“We will.”
Bazz said. “She’s our next stop.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Becca Richards was still in her housecoat when Detectives Mullen and Basnahan arrived at her front door. She was average in looks and a little bit overweight for her five foot eight frame. Maybe the toughest part of the job is breaking news about the loss of next to kin. She was hysterical and distraught after being notified. After that she was anxious to assist the investigation into the murder of her husband.
“We’d like to offer our deepest sympathies,” Lester J began. “We know that it is tough to go through this process so soon after receiving the news.”
“Thank you.”
“We cannot tell you how sorry we are to put you through this right now. After having said that, would you know of anyone that might want your husband dead?”
Becca reached for her purse and grabbed a handkerchief. She fought back tears and dabbed at her nose. “Trouble seemed to follow Richie.”
“In what way?”
“Lots of people didn’t understand him. He could rub you the wrong way if you didn’t know him.” Becca sniffed. “He wasn’t one to stay at home. Richie needed to be out running around town. He liked to be the center of attention.”
“Did he have any business dealings that could have gone wrong?” Bazz asked.
“He was always digging to make a living and provide for his family. I don’t know of any one instance that could have made someone angry enough to do this.” Becca cried softly.
“Speaking of your family,” Lester J began, “can you tell us about yours?”
“Richie and I have one child together, but he had two from his previous wives.”
“Have they caused any problems in your relationship?”
“No, not at all. I’m not the jealous type. Life is too short for that. Richie got along fine with his ex-wives and his kids. They only got upset when the child support checks were late.”
“What about your neighbors?”
“What about them?”
“How did he get along with them?”
“I’d say that we kept our distance. He didn’t care for the people that live around us and most of them, especially the guys, didn’t care for him.”
“What would you say is the reason for that?”
