“We are IPD Detectives. We need to speak with Ted King.”
I could see her looking at me like I was something from another world. At least she was professional enough not to gasp.
“Room 421,” she managed to get out.
“Thank you,” I said and we headed down the hall.
Dan’s shoes were squeaking as he walked along. Room 421 was like of the other hospital rooms that I have been in over the years. It had a bed in the middle; stands full of IV medicines, and machines measuring all kinds of things. Two chairs were situated close to the bed leaving me to believe that someone else had been here.
King’s eyes were closed. His face was pretty bruised and his ankle was in a cast. His eyes fluttered and then opened.
“Mr. King, Detectives Bartoni and Roberts.”
“Yes. I know who you are,” he said.
His voice was weak and his speech was rather slow. I assumed it was due to the pain drugs in his system.
“Do you feel up to answering some questions?” I asked.
“I think so.”
“Good. Can you tell us anything about your accident?” Dan asked.
I decided to let Dan handle this. I had been doing all the work for the past two days. It seemed only fair.
“Just flashes of it.”
“Alright. You were driving west on Southport Road. There was a slight rise in front of you. What happened next?”
“I was just going the normal speed, maybe forty-five or fifty at the most.”
“That isn’t really important. What we need to know is how did you end up having your car splattered all over the road.”
“Is my Vette totaled?”
“Oh yes. Now, about the actual wreck,” Dan said trying to get him focused again.
“I saw a car crest the rise and it was partly on my side of the road. It seemed to wiggle a bit then it headed right for me. I tried to get off the road but hit the shoulder and I felt the other car impact my side. I was trying to correct the slide when I hit the guardrail and then went across the road and into something solid. I don’t remember anything after that,” King told Dan.
“Do you know what kind of car it was, a sedan, an SUV, or a van?”
“An SUV I think.”
“Color?”
“Dark. I don’t really know. It was blue or maybe black. I didn’t have time to think about it.”
“Did you see the driver?” Dan asked.
“No way. The windows were heavily tinted. I couldn’t see a thing and like I said, I didn’t really have time to look. I was trying not to crash,” King replied.
“This is really important. Did it look like it was intentional or was it just an accident?”
“Intentional? Why would someone do this intentionally?”
“We don’t know that it was. It is just a question. If it was an accident that’s one thing,” Dan said, “But if someone intentionally tried to wreck you, that’s totally different.”
“I can’t imagine someone doing it on purpose. I mean they could have been hurt as well. It had to have been an accident. What did they say?”
“They didn’t even stop. They just kept on going.”
“What?”
“They didn’t stop. That is why I asked the question,” Dan said.
“But why wouldn’t they stop?”
“Any number of reasons. We just need to sort out the ‘why’. If it was someone trying to cause you to wreck then your life could still be in danger.”
“I…I don’t…This is unreal,” he finally managed to get out.
“Mr. King, everything about this case has been unreal,” Dan told him.
He just sat looking at his hands for several moments.
“Is this because I was a candidate for the CEO position?”
“It would seem so,” Dan answered.
“This is crazy.”
“Yes, yes it is. Someone has a screw loose; that’s for sure,” I added.
“So what happens now?” he asked.
“You get well. We will have a guard stationed at your room until you are released. The last thing we need is to have someone try to sneak in and finish the job,” Dan said.
I frowned. That wasn’t exactly what he needed to hear.
“Don’t worry Mr. King,” I interjected, “We will have you protected. You don’t have a thing to be concerned about. You just get well and if you think of anything, no matter how small, give us a call,” I said handing him one of our cards.
“I sure hope you get this idiot.”
“I’m pretty sure we will,” I replied as we left.
I told Dan that he had done a good job with King. It seemed to boost his moral.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
As predicted, Walter Pike, the Chief Financial Officer for Nemein Pharmaceutical, brought his attorney.
“I do not appreciate being ordered here like a common criminal.”
“Oh come on Pike. If you were a common criminal I would have you in cuffs and by the scuff of the neck. This is just a friendly get together,” I replied.
“You are?” Dan asked the attorney.
“Liam Carson with Carson, Miller, Thompson, and Dial, attorneys at law.”
“Quite a mouth full,” Dan muttered.
I knew he was just goading him. Dan liked attorneys about as much as I did. That is to say, not one little bit.
“We will be in interview room B. You are welcome to join us Mr. Carson.”
“I should think so,” he said.
I swear he had his nose turned up like we were an unpleasant smell. Heck, maybe we were. We were still damp from the drenching we had gotten at the hospital. Dan’s shoes squeaking when he walked seemed to annoy him. Good.
I took a seat across from the two of them and Dan leaned in the corner. It was a routine we had.
“Mr. Pike,” I said, starting off, “Can you tell us where you were yesterday at around 5:45 p.m.?”
“Yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“I imagine I was in my office.”
“At Nemein? And what time did you leave?” I asked.
“I don’t know, around 6:30 or so.”
“Did your secretary see you leave?”
“Heavens no. She goes home at 5:00p.m.”
“Did anyone see you leave?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Security doesn’t lock the doors until 7:00 p.m.”
“Did they see you leave?”
“I guess you would have to ask them,” he replied.
“I’m asking you,” I responded.
“He has already answered your question. He doesn’t know if someone saw him or not,” Carson retorted.
I let it go.
“What kind of car do you own?” I asked.
“A 750i BMW,” he answered.
“What other cars?”
“A 550 Mercedes, a Range Rover, Jaguar F.”
“Nice,” I said.
“Can we get on with it?” the attorney asked.
“Where are these cars now?” I asked ignoring the attorney.
“At home of course.”
“Of course. Would you mind if we took a look at them?”
“You will need a warrant if you want to look at Mr. Pike’s automobiles,” Carson interjected.
“Why?”
“You have no right to invade his privacy.”
“Mr. Pike, would looking at your cars make you feel like your privacy was being invaded?” I asked.
“I believe my attorney has already answered that question.”
“Why? Are you hiding something, like one of the cars being damaged?”
“Damaged? What are you talking about? My cars are in perfect condition,” he insisted.
“They why not let us take a look at them?”
“Get a warrant,” Carson said.
We spent the next thirty minutes going around in circles. Every time I thought we might make a little headway, Carson would intercede and we would be back at
square one. It was very frustrating.
“If I had a fleet of cars like that I would love to show them off,” Dan said from the corner.
“But you don’t,” Carson snapped.
Dan started forward but I motioned him back.
“Alright Mr. Pike, all I can say is that you have done yourself no good here today. I was hoping to eliminate you as a suspect but after this little talk…well you get it,” I told him.
“You can suspect him all you want but until you either charge him or have substantial evidence against my client, I will not tolerate any harassment. If you continue to hound him, I will file an injunction against you,” Carson told us.
“Oooh, you are so scary I quiver with fear,” Dan said taking another step toward Carson.
“Are we finished?” Carson managed to get out.
“For now. Thank you for coming in,” I said as I stood.
Dan opened the door for them but glared at Carson who was obviously a little nervous. When they were gone Dan and I sat back down.
“We didn’t get squat,” Dan said.
“I agree. Every time I was getting close to an answer Carson would break it off.”
“Attorneys,” Dan said disgustedly.
“We need to look at his Range Rover. It is the most likely vehicle to use to run someone off the road,” I told Dan.
“How do we do that?”
“A warrant.”
“Oh sure, like that is going to happen,” he replied.
***
“Absolutely not,” the ADA said when I explained what I needed.
“But the car matches the description of the one that ran King off the road. It will show signs of damage if we act now. If we wait he can have it repaired.”
“Listen to me Angie. I would help you if I could but no judge is going to sign off on a warrant based on what you have right now. There are thousands of cars that match that description. If you want a warrant you are going to need a lot more than what you have right now,” she said.
Linda Anderson was a good ADA and often went to bat for us. If she said it couldn’t be done I totally believed her. Her boss was another story. We had crossed swords a few times and I got in trouble for calling him a wuss once. We have managed to get past that and everything is much more cordial now.
“What do we need Linda?”
“It would help if they had even a partial license number and the make of the car. It would still be thin but I might be able to sneak it by. Have you put out a BOLO for a damaged SUV to the auto body shops?”
“Come on Linda. There are a thousand shops. They get a ton of SUV’s. Yeah we put it out but I don’t expect anything to come of that. If they were smart they would take it to a smaller shop where no one asks questions if you are paying in cash.”
“Sorry, Angie. I can’t do anything for you with what you have right now,” Linda said.
“Alright. If I get anything else I’ll be back.”
“Good luck,” she replied.
So now what? We really needed to get a look at that Range Rover to see if it had any damage. The trouble was, even if we found a way to get a look inside the garage it would be inadmissible in court and we would be violating the law.
I found Dan stuffing his face with a Honey Bunn and drinking coffee.
“We need to find out what car Pike drives to work,” I told him.
“So we are going to go over to Nemein?”
“Oh what a smart boy you are.”
“That’s why I’m a detective,” he shot back.
It only took a few minutes to get to Nemein’s headquarters. We ran into our first obstacle when we found that they had their own parking garage under the building.
Dan drove down the ramp to the gate where a card reader was positioned and a guard was on duty.
“This is a private garage.”
Dan held up his badge and the attendant looked at it.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“We need to take a look at Mr. Pike’s car.”
“Why?”
“We had a report that someone may have sideswiped it and we were trying to verify that,” Dan said.
Whoa. I was impressed. He was starting to lie as well as I do.
“I’ll need to call Mr. Pike first.”
“Okay, it doesn’t matter to us. If you don’t want us to take a look at it, fine. It’s his car and it doesn’t really matter to us, if he gets coverage,” Dan said, putting the car in reverse and starting to back up.
“Hold it. How long will you be?”
“Probably thirty seconds. Just long enough to verify that it was damaged.”
“Man, I don’t know. Mr. Pike is pretty strict,” the guard said.
“Then you don’t have to tell him. We will just check it out and be on our way.”
I could see him trying to decide what to do. I kind of felt sorry for him. He was between a rock and a hard place. Finally he lifted the gate.
“Make it quick, please.”
“Just a few seconds,” Dan said and we were through the gate.
All the big shots parked right next to the elevator and we found the space reserved for the CFO. A Mercedes Benz S550 was parked in the slot. It looked like it just came off the show room floor. Obviously it had not been in a wreck.
Thirty seconds later we were headed out the exit and the guard waved. He was obviously relieved to have us gone.
“Well, if he was involved it wasn’t in that car,” Dan said.
“I didn’t really expect him to drive a damaged car to work. I just wanted to eliminate one of the cars. The Jag wouldn’t be heavy enough but the BMW and the Range Rover would be and we know it wasn’t the Mercedes.”
“So you still think it could be the Range Rover?”
“If he is involved, that’s what he would use.”
“Yeah, but we still don’t have a way to access it,” Dan reminded me.
“Not legally,” I agreed.
“Come on Angie, I am not going to do an illegal search. McGregor is already keeping a close eye on me.”
“Illegal search? Me? I am shocked.”
“Sure you are,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dan was right. An illegal search was out of the question. I decided to give Link a call and see if he came up with anything.
“Oh, it’s you,” he said after I called.
“How nice.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. I was going to call you anyway.”
“You have something for me?”
“A couple of things. The paint on the Corvette came from a Land Rover. The color was offered from 2011 until 2015. It’s called Dark Blue Pearl Metallic.”
“That’s great. It solved one of my problems. And the other thing?”
“The transponder was made by Nexlink and was sold to a store called Spyline over on Market Street.”
“Wow. Great work Link. That is terrific,” I told him.
“Just remember that the next time we don’t come up with something that will help you.”
“You got it Link. Thanks a million.”
When I hung up I was feeling better than any time since we got this case. At least we could eliminate Pike’s other cars except for the Land Rover and just maybe find out who the transponder was sold to. I went to tell the captain and grabbed Dan along the way. The Land Rover was just another name for a Range Rover. Just don’t tell that to the snooty people who own one.
“We just got our first break on the case,” I said bursting into his room.
He sat and looked at me. He absolutely hated people coming in uninvited. It was a cardinal sin,
“You can’t knock? Something wrong with your hand?” he said leaning back in his chair.
“Sorry captain but this could be really big.”
“Bartoni, it only takes a second to knock. Nothing is going to change in that amount of time. Now get your rear out and knock,” he said, his face turning red.
What a grouch. What difference did it make? It isn’t like we were just barging in for no reason. I knocked on the door like a good girl. He didn’t answer right way. Payback I guess. Finally he told us to enter.
“Sorry about that captain. I was all excited.”
“Just spit it out.”
“The car used to run King off the road was a Land Rover. We know Pike has a car like that,” I told him.
“Okay.”
“The second thing is; we know where the transponder that Link found on King’s Corvette came from. We are headed over there to check it out,” I told him.
I could see that he was not as miffed as before.
“Well those are good leads. If you can find out who bought the transponder, you will probably be able to find the car involved.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“Alright. Let me know what you find out. Oh, and knock before you barge in again.”
“I will. Sorry about that,” I said.
Dan hadn’t heard the latest so this was all new to him.
“Link knows where it came from?” he asked.
“Yeah. There is a serial number and it has to be registered with the FCC when it is shipped. We are going to talk to the people at Spyline,” I told him.
“Spyline. How original,” he said as we headed for the car.
***
Spyline wasn’t much to look at. It was a small storefront operation with a cheap plastic sign hung over the door. Several hand lettered signs announced their specials. Peep-hole cameras, listening devices, and other surveillance items were displayed. Inside wasn’t much better.
The place looked like it hadn’t been cleaned or dusted in years. A guy in a cheap suit, shirt, and no tie was sitting behind the counter. He looked to be around fifty or so and hadn’t shaved in several days. Dan towered over him so I guess he couldn’t have been much more than five-seven.
“You the owner?” Dan asked.
“I’m the proprietor,” he replied.
Dan looked at me rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows.
“What can I do for you detectives?” he asked.
Obviously he had seen enough police to make us immediately.
“Well, Mr. Proprietor, we need to know who you sold this transponder too,” Dan said sliding over the paper with the N454-897H-023P-6671-9050Z number on it.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL: Angie Bartoni Case File # 14 (Angie Bartoni Case Files) Page 13
