“Just the sort of thing Bella could’ve picked up from the prop department where she worked,” Yuan spoke out loud what both of them were thinking. “And no one would’ve asked a question about it.”
“I still don’t get it. Why did she make a big deal about losing it? Moreover, why was the flash drive left inside the purse? If whatever information was on it was so valuable, why didn’t they take it? I can’t understand why both were discarded in the dumpster.”
“Plenty of things about this case don’t make sense,” Yuan commented. “I’m sure they will soon.” He looked at the same waitress from the day before who was giving him the eye from across the diner.
“I’ll bet you have no idea what she’s into,” Yuan told Williams.
“I’d rather not know.”
“So what say we pay a visit to Martinez again?” Williams suggested. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to see us.”
“We do need to find out why he acted so wild when Bella couldn’t give him the purse,” Yuan pointed out. “I mean, why get so upset over a stage prop? You want to get the bill this time? I don’t want Betty Sue to think I’m paying her too much attention.”
“That’s her name? Betty Sue? Seriously?”
“It’s the one I’ve given her. I think it goes nice with her outfit.”
“I dunno, all waitresses look the same in an apron and skirt if you ask me.”
“I’m not talking about what she’s wearing now. I’ve already got something picked out for her after the piano bar this Saturday. She’ll look nice in polka dots.”
“Christ, you and your women.”
***************
They drove Williams old Volvo over to the set this time. Although Yuan insisted the upholstery would mess up his suit, Williams told him it was the best vehicle to take. Martinez had already seen them arrive in the black SUV. No need to worry about him slipping out the back when he saw them pull up.
Once again, they found an open parking space near the movie location. The production was winding down from the way the trucks were hauling things out and the crew was breaking down the reflectors and lights. The trailer Martinez was using was still in the same location. The guards knew who they were by now and let them onto the set location without any trouble.
Martinez walked up the stairs and into his trailer. He was in a hurry by the sound of the steps. They heard him stop and look at the door, which they had left cracked open. He slowly walked inside to see the two police detectives sitting in his trailer. Yuan was in his chair looking at a rolled up plastic bag.
“What do you think?” He was saying to Williams. “This pure stuff or cut with baby powder like everything else we find on the street?”
“Probably a little bit better than the street grade,” Williams said to him as Martinez entered the trailer and shut the door behind him.
“Assholes,” he said. “You don’t have a search warrant.”
“No but I think we might have ‘probable cause’,” Yuan said to him and dropped the bag on the director’s desk. “I guess you better tell your girlfriends to stop bringing this stuff by. You can get in a lot of trouble for having it.”
“You want to tell us about the purse?” Williams said to him. “Somebody tossed it in a dumpster; they didn’t think the local cops were smart enough to check inside. Guess they’re the dumb ones now.”
“Why was it so important to get it back?” Yuan asked him. “The thing was a fake.”
“It wasn’t the purse,” Martinez told them. “It was the flash drive inside it I needed back.”
“What is on the flash drive?”
“The photo shoot of Adriana Havel. Plus, the entire video production of the TV series pilot I’m doing. I have to have the thing back. It’s the only copy I have of them. Yes, Adriana’s photos are risqué; she’s a beautiful woman and who wouldn’t want to look at her? But the video of my new TV series pilot represents a substantial amount of money. I could be in very big trouble if I don’t get them back.”
“Why did we hear you yelling at Bella about getting the damn purse back if it was a fake?” Yuan asked.
“Bella told me the purse was worth fifty thousand,” he told him. “I didn’t care about the value; I needed the damn flash drive back. She was the one who showed up with the purse. Jesus, do we have to keep talking about a woman’s purse?”
“It’s part of the investigation, Mr. Sanchez,” Yuan told him. “This is why we have to know about it. You’ll be happy to know we have the flash drive too”
A look of relief came over Martinez’s face. He seemed to drop a few points on the desperation meter. However, it wasn’t over just yet.
“The flash drive will have to remain with the PPD until this case is resolved,” Williams told him.
“Can’t I get the information off the flash drive?” Martinez asked.
“You’ll have to take that up with the department,” Yuan told him. “We have to run now, Mr. Martinez. I suggest you stay around town pending the investigation.”
“Yeah,” Williams said as they walked out the door. “And do something about that white powder in the bag. It might give people the wrong idea.”
“You think Bella saw the video on the flash drive?” Yuan said to Williams as they walked back to the Volvo. “She did have it in her possession and they’ve found her finger prints on it. What if she wanted the part Sandra Alvarez wanted? What if she was scared Sandra Alvarez would show it to people in Brazil and create a big sensation?”
“You think she’d kill her for that reason?” Williams asked his partner. “It’s crazy. Why would she do it?”
“Hollywood, I tell you, Hollywood. People do crazy things to see their names up in the big lights.”
“We need to find Bella. There’s enough evidence to bring her in as a person of interest.”
They stopped walking to the Volvo and turned around. As soon as they turned, Yuan spotted a meter reader headed in their direction. They stopped to watch her check each car parked on the curb as she went down the row. She went past them and headed to the Volvo.
“What time did you park the car?” Yuan asked Williams.
“I should have plenty of time,” Williams answered him. “We need to find Bella and bring her in. I can’t be worried about my parking time.”
“You’re right,” Yuan said to him and they continued back to the movie set.
Yuan and Williams found her working on the set when they told her she needed to come with them for a discussion. They told her no, she wasn’t under arrest, they just wanted to ask her a few things. She didn’t give them any trouble and Williams thought she was being too cooperative. He hated to do this to her, but everything pointed to Bella as the prime suspect and they needed to isolate her where she would be willing to talk.
It wasn’t a very long ride down to the station house and she sat quietly in the back seat while they drove her to the station. Yuan and Williams made sure one of them was on either side of her as they took her inside and led her to the room where they would be doing the interview. They left her alone for a few minutes and sent a policewoman in with a cup of coffee and some paper towels.
“What do you think?” Yuan asked Williams as they watched her from behind the two-way mirror. The room had one security camera on her that he could see and one she couldn’t. It was good policy to leave an interviewee alone for at least a half hour and tell them the door was unlocked. Williams remembered a few cases where the suspect had walked out and confessed in the first ten minutes.
“I think she’ll talk,” Williams said to his partner. “She hasn’t asked for a lawyer or wanted to call anyone. We told her she’s free to go anytime she wants to leave, but she knows we’ve our eyes on her. She’ll talk.”
“Then I guess we better go in and do the interview,” Yuan said as he watched the policewoman have Bella sign some forms. “This is the part of the job I hate.”
They came in one at a time
and closed the door behind them. Both of the detectives sat across from Bella and looked at her. She seemed deflated, more so than when they found her crying outside of the trailer. Yuan took out a pad and pen, as did his partner. They said their preliminary legal introductions for the legal affairs department and began the interview.
“We’ve found the purse and the flash drive inside it,” Yuan said to Bella. “We’ve also found your fingerprints all over the purse and flash drive. There was something else: a stage gun we found in the trash. It also has your fingerprints on it. Do you want to talk to us about what happened, Bella?”
“She was alive when I left her,” Bella said to the detectives. “I went right over to the Kimmel Center after the dinner with that ambassador. I lured her out into the alley because I claimed I had an important message for her. I wanted the flash drive. And what was on it. Look, I don’t know what happened after I snatched it from her and ran off.”
“You ran off?” Yuan asked. He’d caught her in a lie already.
“Yes, I did.” She seemed withdrawn as the two discussed the murder with her.
“Then why was the purse and flash drive inside the dumpster?” Williams asked her.
“I didn’t want them to be found,” she told him. “I saw someone had forgotten to lock the dumpster and thought it would be the best place. I figured the trash removal was in another day or two. Then they would be gone for good.”
“Do you want us to get you a lawyer or call someone?” Yuan asked her.
“No, I’m alright,” she told him. Bella took a sip out of her coffee cup.
“So what was in the flash drive you wanted gone?” Williams said to her.
“The pilot for the TV series,” she told him. “I was sick and tired of being his dish of the day. I wanted the part in the show. Martinez kept using me. He told me the part would be mine if I did some things for him. He even loaned me out to his friends. When I saw Sandra Alvarez on the set, I knew who she was and why she was there. He was going to give the part to her. All the times I’d been on my back for him and this is all the thanks I was going to get. I wanted the pilot episode destroyed and shoving it in the dumpster was the best way to do it.”
“So the purse really didn’t matter,” Yuan said.
“No it didn’t,” was her response. “I thought if I mentioned an expensive purse was gone you’d think some street person killed her for it.”
“Did you put the purse in the dumpster before or after you killed her?” Williams asked Bella.
Bella stared off into space as if she had no clue what to say. Then she turned back to the detectives.
“She tried to get the gun away from me,” Bella told them. “When I got her to come with me out into the alley I showed her the gun and demanded the purse. I knew the flash drive was inside it because Martinez had talked about sending Adriana to her earlier in the day with it. I showed her the gun and told her I wanted the purse.”
“Then what happened?” Yuan asked her.
The air in the room became stuffy and hard to breathe. Williams recognised the tension and knew how it smelled. He looked at his new partner and was surprised to see how well he handled it. Even in the expensive suit, he looked calm. The guy was a natural at this.
“She tried to grab the gun from me. It wasn’t a real gun and we were falling down on the ground when I felt something solid beneath us. I hit her with it. Then I got up, dumped the purse, and ran. I went home and found out she was dead in the paper the next morning. Does that make me a killer?”
“The courts will have to decide,” Yuan told her.
“Isabella Simpson,” Williams said to her, “you are under arrest for the murder of Sandra Alvarez. You have the right to remain silent….”
******************
“So what happened to the flash drive?” Yuan asked Williams a few days later at the diner. They were going over the notes for the final report they needed to file with the department. It would take them the better part of the day, but the sergeant at the station was already talking about the latest success in his part of town.
“It’s still impounded as evidence,” Williams told him. “They did let Martinez back-up the information on another flash drive. Damn if I can figure out how all this computer stuff applies these days. Used to be, you had a photograph and needed a negative to make the copy. Anyway, he’s happy, the bastard. Got his TV pilot video back and the pictures of his latest conquest. I wonder what those pictures looked like. He was a little too thrilled to get them back.”
“And the ambassador’s daughter?” Yuan asked him as he looked down and frowned at the dull shine on his shoe. He’d take them back to get it done right the next time.
“From what I heard, her father is supporting her decision to be an actress. I don’t understand that one at all. Martinez was slipping the pictures in a flash drive because he claimed he didn’t want her father to see them. Now, her father will support her. I hope he keeps her away from that sleaze ball Martinez because I wouldn’t want my daughter near him.”
“I guess she had one of these father-daughter talks you hear about all the time,” Yuan stated. He found the minds of women endlessly fascinating. A mystery to be explored and full of discovery. It was one of the reasons he spent so much time with them.
“So what’d next on the agenda?” Yuan said to him. “Do we have anything else that needs to be looked into?”
“Not today, but don’t worry it can always change. No, let me rephrase that: it will change. Our work never stops, it has a lull, but sure as the sun rises we’ll have to find a way to put someone else behind bars.”
“Speaking of which, do you think Bella will be doing much time?”
“I doubt it. First offense, young woman with big brown eyes. Do I have to spell it out to you? She has some money in the family and it’s likely they’ll get it down to third degree. She’ll see the inside of a cell for a while, but eventually, she’ll be out. I’ve seen it happen too many times.”
“Such a shame,” Yuan commented. “It makes you wonder about people. A guy kills another guy over a drug deal gone bad, happens all the time. But this sort of crime defies reason. I’m with you, it makes no sense.”
They finished their food and ordered desert. Williams chose a slice of sweet potato pie, Yuan, some vanilla ice cream. It had been a good week and they were celebrating. The diner wasn’t very busy. It allowed them to look outside at the mass of humanity who passed by the plate glass windows of the diner. The trash on the streets looked bad today, why didn’t people bother to pick it up?
Williams glanced around the diner and turned to Yuan. “I don’t see the waitress you were interested in last week,” he said to him. “How did the trip to the piano bar work out?”
“Worked out real good,” Yuan told him. “I’ve put her in rotation. She has real talent.”
“Talent?” Williams responded. “Is that why she’s not here? She works for you now?”
“Not that kind of talent. However, she is at my place right now. I need to call in and check to make sure she took care of everything I had on the list.”
“List?”
“Made it up for her before I left for work today. I let her sleep in because she was one very busy lady the night before. You would be surprised what a corset, fishnets and heels did for her appearance.”
Williams shook his head. “I guess I’m missing out on things, but I like the quiet life.”
“Let me know if you are ever in need of female company. She has friends who dig cops. At least that’s what she told me last night when I had her bent over the couch.”
“Enough! We need to get going. Sergeant is going to give us hell if we don’t have the report in on time today.”
They stood up and left the diner after Yuan paid the bill. Williams lingered back just long enough to watch him exchange glances with another waitress before Yuan left the diner. Maybe there was something to his life. Williams kne
w he was out of circulation, but he could work on his style and spend more time at the gym. Then he thought about the enormous cost in time and money Yuan had to be investing in his women. Lord, he spent most of his home time just listening to them, he claimed.
“You okay?” Yuan said to him as he walked out of the diner and saw Williams deep in thought on the street.
“Just grateful for things,” he told him. He liked his life too much and had no intention to change. Let Yuan have his fine clothes and the women; he’d stick to the Eagles’ games and his beer.
They walked down the street, got into Yuan’s SUV, and drove back to the station house. The traffic was heavy, but it always was in Philadelphia. After all, was it not the city of Brotherly Love?
Book 3: Evil
Chapter 1.
“Mission accomplished!” Hyenaman said as he stood in front of the big hotel and conference center in Center City Philadelphia. He flexed his arms and looked out across the night sky.
“Where do we go next, Hyenaman?” his companion, Sunbear, asked. The crusading duo had just finished their latest task: riding the city of their arch-nemesis, the insidious Doctor Clocker.
“I don’t have to tell you, Sunbear. We both know what awaits us in this city of broken dreams. How many children live in fear just two blocks from where we stand? How many crimes will go unreported tonight because we don’t know about them? There is, however, still one thing we have to do.”
“Agreed, Hyenaman, let’s get back to the Hyena Lair. We have a job to do tonight and the city can’t wait for us to stop the criminals just because we need the exercise.”
The costumed duo walked down the steps from the hotel and to the nearby street. Although their contrasting colors stood out, while the streetlights sent shadows into the alleys, they managed to walk away from the hotel without attracting too much attention. The noise of the traffic faded into the background as they took a familiar route away from the busy streets into the night.
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