FIRST CASE - Novella (McRyan Mystery Series Prequel)

by Roger Stelljes

  “What about Bernier?” Mac asked.

  “She flew in from Atlanta this morning. She was there for the last four days.”

  “We could look at her financials and see if she hired someone to do it?” Lich speculated.

  “We can and should but does this really look like a hit to any of you guys?” Mac answered, shaking his head. “If it were a hit, there would be a bullet in his head or a hitter would have known enough to make it look like a robbery gone bad. He would have taken Oliver’s wallet and watch. This looks like neither.”

  “So what is this then?” Beckett asked.

  “This is someone angry at Oliver who made a mistake, didn’t mean to kill him or made a split-second decision to kill him for some reason. This person didn’t really know what they were doing, panicked and quickly hid the body and ran.” This train of thought gave Mac an idea. “Maybe there’s a surveillance or security camera that caught our guy nearby?”

  Lich was skeptical. “Mac, none of the buildings in the alley had any cameras, at least not ones on the alley.”

  “I know that,” Mac answered, thinking broader. “I’m thinking in the vicinity, within the three or four block area. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see someone walking, running or driving away from the area that is tied to Oliver, The Mahogany and the law firm.” Mac thought for another minute and looked at Beckett. He was good with video and computers. “Rick, you and Franklin hit the establishments around The Mahogany and get any video running in the time window of the murder. Maybe we’ll get a hit off of that.”

  “What are you guys going to do?” Beckett asked, a tinge of bitterness in his voice, knowing how boring surfing hours of video could be.

  Mac looked at his watch which said 3:44 p.m. “We’re going to go back to the station for a few hours. I want to go over everything we have and then Dick and I are going over and re-canvassing The Mahogany when it starts getting busy. I want to hit it when most of the staff and regulars are around.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “It must be the law firm.”

  Lich said he needed a break before they went over to The Mahogany. Mac was okay with that. It gave him some time alone with the case to work through the evidence. One thing Mac learned from watching his father over the years was that at some point in a case you needed to sit down and take a look at everything and see if a pattern, string or trail developed.

  In law school, a professor happened along Mac studying in the law library. He saw Mac had written ‘jurisdiction’ and drawn a box around it on his legal pad. He had a line to the left that read ‘personal jurisdiction’ and a line to the right that read ‘subject matter jurisdiction,’ the two components necessary for a court to have jurisdiction over a particular case. Then notes were jotted around each of the words. The professor smiled and said, “Mr. McRyan, you are mind-mapping.”

  A mind-map is essentially a diagram that uses words, ideas, tasks or other items arranged around a central key word or idea. Mac saw his father do it when he was a kid. Mac picked it up and used it in college and then law school. He never knew it was called mind-mapping but that’s what Professor Becker was telling him and Mac apparently had a good understanding of jurisdiction. He aced the Civil Procedure final.

  While Lich took his leave for a few hours, Mac jotted ‘Gordon Oliver’ in the middle of the page, drew a rectangle around it and started jotting down notes in bullet point format:

  • Associate at KBMP for 4yrs.

  • A very good young litigator according to several attorneys including Preston, Busch, Bernier, Anthony, Lund and Harris.

  • Worked killer hours, strictly litigation, going to trial next week.

  • No problems professionally at work.

  • Mr. “All the tools in your toolbox.” His signature catch-phrase for work and pleasure.

  • Womanizer. Slept with at least six women at law firm, probably more. 1. Burrows alibi’d out. 2. Mathis home with boyfriend. 3. Bernier in Atlanta. Other women are not good suspects, no apparent motive (might need to evaluate further?).

  • The Mahogany is favorite bar. Confrontation at bar but it was with Burrows, who alibi’d out.

  • No other apparent social life beyond law firm and bar.

  Mac drew another line away from Gordon Oliver and jotted down ‘Crime Scene’ and drew a box around it:

  • Alley at The Mahogany.

  • Time of Death - Midnight - 2:00 a.m.

  • Blunt force trauma to temple was the fatal blow.

  • Not a robbery. Still had wallet, watch and cell phone. New Ford F-150 left behind. If robbery all would have been taken and body left behind.

  • Body stuffed into truck bed. Why? To hide it. Why hide it?

  • Hit from behind by someone who was tall, at least 6’2" based on wound angle. Weapon unknown.

  • Brass plate with blood. Unsure if from murder weapon. Forensics still evaluating.

  • Why use the alley? If not robbery, then he was killed by someone who knew him. Alley was a good location but killer had to know that he would be there. Only someone who knew him well would know he would be there. The killer knew him - really knew him.

  Mac circled that notation on the legal pad. The killer knew him—really knew him. So how many people really knew him?

  Mac leaned back in his desk chair and twirled his pen in his fingers. Now that was something to think about. Only someone who knew him or talked to him all the time would know he was at the bar that night and at that time. Someone could have followed him or they knew he was there and then could lay in wait.

  Mac opened the folder on his desk that contained Oliver’s cell phone records. He’d asked that the records identify the number and identity on the other end of the call. A cell phone was essentially one of Oliver’s appendages according to the attorneys at his firm. The records reflected that. On the day he was murdered, he had thirty-three cell phone calls. Mac shook his head. A record day for him might be ten calls and this guy had thirty-three. The day he was killed was not an outlier. As best Mac could tell, he averaged somewhere around twenty-five calls a day.

  As for the day he was killed, the calls appeared to be from a collection of clients and from the firm. A number of calls were identified as being from the clients he was going to trial with next week on the RFX Industries shareholder suit. Opposing counsel in the case must have been from French and Burke as there were three calls from that firm. Gordon had calls from Stan Busch, Michael Harris, Constance Bernier as well as two from his secretary and one from a paralegal. The firm calls were mostly between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and as Mac looked back on his notes, Oliver took a long lunch that day with some other attorneys from the firm. Towards the end of the day, there was one call from Stan Busch at 6:30 p.m. and another from Michael Harris at 8:22 p.m. Mac made a note to follow-up on those phone calls to see what Harris and Busch discussed.

  He had to have been killed by someone who knew him, but why? Could be the womanizing but Mac was starting to think that was not the cause. Martin Burrows was their one good suspect on that angle and he was out. The others just didn’t feel right nor did the evidence really point in their direction. Nobody else seemed bitter enough to want to do anything to Oliver.

  Mac looked at the crime scene photos and in particular the pictures of Oliver. He had this nagging impression that given how the murder took place, the killer didn’t really know what he was doing. It was as if there wasn’t a plan. The first blow to the back of Oliver’s head was with something strong enough to stun him and knock him over but, according to the coroner’s report, it would not have been enough to kill him or even do any real damage beyond stunning him. It was Oliver hitting his head on the bumper that was fatal and that wound appeared to Mac as if it happened by chance or luck or even possibly bad luck. It would have taken real talent to have known that hitting Oliver from behind would have caused him to fall and hit the bumper. If the killer went for revenge, he would have used a tire iron or a bat if the plan w
as to hit Oliver from behind. Neither the evidence at the crime scene nor the wounds to Gordon Oliver revealed the use of any such weapon. The killer may have brought and, it appeared at this point, probably left with the weapon used to hit Oliver in the back of the head. But in the end, there was a definite lack of viciousness to the murder. It was almost as if it happened by accident.

  Mac kept thinking that the killer knew Oliver well. Knew his habits, his routines, where he liked to hang out. The killer knew, had to know, that Gordon Oliver was granted the privilege of parking in the back at The Mahogany. That he would be there, that he would come out the back. Given what they knew of Oliver thus far, it struck him that somehow his murder tied back to the law firm. These were the only people who seemed to know him really well.

  “It must be the law firm,” Mac muttered.

  “Why?” Lich answered. Mac was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn’t realize his partner was back.

  “How long you been back?”

  “About ten minutes or so there, partner. I’ve just been sitting here watching you. You were so intensely focused I didn’t want to interrupt. So why is it the law firm and not some spurned lover or the lover of a spurned lover?”

  “I’ve spent the last two hours running through the case. The angry boyfriend, fiancé or husband theory doesn’t add up for me.”

  “At least not yet,” Lich cautioned. “Given how prolific our guy is, I’m sure there is a woman he bedded that we’ve yet to uncover.”

  “I’m not dismissing it completely,” Mac answered. “There could certainly be someone out there we are not aware of yet. But even with that, I don’t buy the angry boyfriend angle anymore.”

  “Why not? Seems that’s the one thing he was doing that pissed people off.”

  “True.”

  “So why the firm and not some jilted lover or boyfriend or husband or ex-husband?”

  “Because of where he was killed, Dick. He was killed by someone who knew his habits, where he went, when he went there and that he would park his truck behind the bar. At this point, the only people who know Oliver well enough to know those things are the people at the law firm. I’m just thinking it has to be someone there and Oliver knows something, has something on someone, maybe he saw something that made someone need to track him to the alley behind The Mahogany for some reason. We find that, we find our killer.”

  Lich sat down in the chair next to Mac’s desk. “Let’s assume you’re right, which I’m not completely convinced that you are, but let’s say you are. That means going deep, much deeper at the law firm. You may know this better than I but at least in my experience, law firms do not give into something like that willingly.”

  “No, they’ll fight us because it probably means us getting into e-mail, files and all that stuff lawyers and law firms like to claim privilege over although that’s a bunch of bullshit,” Mac answered derisively, looking at his watch. “Look, it’s after six now so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get with the County Attorney’s office to evaluate our more involved access at the law firm. In the meantime, we can go back to Oliver’s apartment and see if we missed anything. Then we can cover our bases and go to The Mahogany.”

  “I can’t wait,” Lich sighed.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Yahtzee.”

  Mac cut the crime scene tape covering the door to Oliver’s apartment and he and Lich walked in. Mac carefully dropped a backpack containing a picture camera and video camera on the floor. They both pulled on rubber gloves.

  “So what are we looking for?” Dick queried, his arms folded across his chest, looking around the apartment.

  “We’ll know it when we see it,” Mac answered as he walked down the back hallway to the bedroom. When they’d been to Oliver’s place the day before, Mac had given only a cursory look to the bedroom. Now he wanted to take a longer look. If Oliver had something to hide, perhaps he’d have hidden it at home and, in the absence of a home office, the most likely place to hide it would be in his bedroom. Mac stood in the doorway, hands on hips, surveying the landscape.

  The bedroom was square in shape, probably twelve-by-twelve, with a long walk-in closet in the far right corner, wrapping behind the bathroom in the hallway. The room itself contained a queen-sized bed, walk-in closet and small Ikea three drawer dresser and nightstand. Mac started with the nightstand, which had a drawer resting over two shelves. The drawer contained a box of condoms, a spare watch, two pens and the remote for the small television sitting on top of the dresser. Next he moved to the dresser. The top drawer was the sock drawer, half athletic socks and the other dress socks. Underwear occupied the middle drawer and white t-shirts in the bottom drawer. He searched through all the drawers but all they contained were socks, underwear and t-shirts.

  Next was the closet. While dress codes had relaxed at law firms over the years, litigators still needed to be ready to go to court at a moments notice. Gordon Oliver was clearly ready if that were the case. The man was a suit horse. Mac had recently bought five suits for work to go with the five he already owned. He figured he’d use the suits and sport coats he had to have enough variety in clothes for the job. Oliver had him waxed.

  There were eighteen suits, ten sport coats, twenty-five dress shirts and ten pair of shoes. The guy worked long hours, made good money and was unmarried. He spent a good chunk of his disposable income on clothes.

  Mac checked the pockets on the suits, coats and pants and didn’t find anything of interest. There were three storage boxes on the shelves above the hanger rod. He pulled them down and searched them. One had athletic equipment, spikes, a softball glove, softballs and two baseball hats. Another box contained what looked like law school papers, two appellate briefs for moot court competitions, a series of Oliver’s resumes and cover letters.

  Mac opened another folder and chuckled. It contained form rejection letters from law firms. It was a right of passage in law school. Mac and his law school buddies used to hang the rejection letters up on the wall. They all said the same thing. We thank you for your application, your credentials are extremely impressive and you will do well in your legal career—just not at this law firm. He put the letters back and moved to the third box which contained personal effects, some photographs and financial information on his law school loans. As he looked through it, Mac didn’t find anything of interest.

  Mac checked the bathroom quick, looking under the vanity. Other than a box of condoms, spare towels and extra bathroom supplies, there was nothing of interest. Walking back towards the living area, Mac opened the hallway coat closet. Inside he found two trench coats, a ski coat and a brown leather jacket. There were tennis shoes and some additional casual shoes on the floor. A box on the top shelf contained a collection of winter gloves and hats. Leaning in the back corner were his golf clubs and a softball bat. Otherwise there was nothing of interest in the closet.

  Lich was looking through the kitchen cabinets when Mac walked back in and sat at the kitchen table. “I didn’t find anything in the living room obviously,” Dick said. “The kitchen doesn’t have anything either. Heck, half the cupboards are empty. Oliver didn’t have much in the way plates, glasses, things of that nature.”

  “Single guy who works all the time, not a surprise,” Mac said, looking under the kitchen table. “He didn’t care much about how his place looked, smelled or was organized. I mean, he’s got this dirty toolbox sitting under the table. I mean, what’s he even… need… a toolbox… for?” Mac stared at the box. “Could it be that simple?”

  “What?” Lich said, seeing the look on Mac’s face.

  “You have to use all the tools in the toolbox,” Mac mumbled as he flipped the metal clasps loose and opened the toolbox. A dusty tray sat in the top with a few screw drivers, wrenches, tape measure and hammer. Mac pulled the tray out and looked into the box itself. “Huh.”

  “What?”

  Mac pulled out a yellow folder that was clasped closed. “Grab the camera out of my backpack.
”

  Lich walked back to the door into the apartment and grabbed the backpack Mac brought along. Dick pulled out the camera and snapped three photos of the envelope. Mac then opened the top and slid the contents out onto the table. There was a computer flash drive and copies of a death certificate, driver’s license and other various papers. Mac read through the documents and a smile crept across his face.

  “What do you have?” Lich asked.

  “Yahtzee.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Your whole life is a lie.”

  At 10:03 p.m., Mac pushed into the interrogation room with Lich, sat down at the table and looked across at his suspect.

  “Why am I here?” Michael Harris asked.

  “You tell me, Michael,” Mac answered acidly, dropping a stack of paper down on the table in the interrogation room, “Or should I say Jordan. As in Jordan Paris.”

  You could have knocked Michael Harris a/k/a Jordan Paris over with a feather.

  “You look surprised. Wait until you see what I found,” Mac added with dramatic flair. “You know what they say. You gotta use all the tools in the toolbox.”

  In Gordon Oliver’s toolbox, Mac found a binder clip of documents that showed Michael Harris was in fact Jordan Paris and that the real Michael Harris was dead and had been for eight years. McRyan and Lich spent the better part of the last four hours putting it together.