“Ask your questions, Mr. Boyd.”
“Do you mind if I record our conversation, Mrs. Parker? I want to be sure to get the facts right.”
“That’s fine with me.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Chuck put Mary Parker at ease by asking questions he knew were pretty much public record regarding Dave’s attack on Sandy and his murder less than a week later. She was quite cooperative, but then again, there was nothing new in what she was telling him.
He nonchalantly asked his next question. “You say Sandy asked Dave for a divorce the night she was attacked.”
“That’s right.”
“Did she tell you why she wanted the divorce?”
“She couldn’t take it anymore. He was drinking more and getting more aggressive and she didn’t want to live in fear. She told me a couple of days before he stabbed her she was going to ask her parents if she could stay with them until the school year was over and she could look for an apartment.”
“Were either of them having an affair?”
Chuck observed Mary seemed genuinely stunned by the question. “Why would you even ask such a ridiculous question? No, of course not.”
“You seem very sure. Why?”
“In his own way, Dave really loved Sandy, although he had a strange way of showing it. During the good times, they were a happy couple. When things got bad, any affair he had was with a bottle. He kept Sandy on a tight leash. She went to work, came home, cleaned, cooked and was there when he got home. He knew where she was every minute. When they weren’t working, they were together. She had no time for an affair.”
“Did you ever see any strangers go into their house when Dave wasn’t home?”
“Do you mean strangers, as in men?”
“Well, yes.” Chuck knew he was walking on thin ice now and hoped he hadn’t gone too far. He watched as Mary Parker’s face showed the anger he now heard in her voice.
“Let me tell you something, Mr. Boyd. Sandy Flanders is a good woman who was abused by her husband. She tried to work it out with him. She didn’t look for another man to console her or give her the courage to leave the marriage. She decided to leave because she finally realized there was no chance of saving the relationship. If you’re looking for something salacious to sell your story, you won’t find it with Sandy Flanders.”
Mary decided she didn’t like where this interview was going so she looked at Chuck and said, “It’s getting late and I need to get ready for an appointment. Good bye, Mr. Boyd.” Mary said as she turned to re-enter the house.
“Just one more question, please. Can you tell me who some of Sandy’s and Dave’s friends were?”
“Sandy taught first grade at Buchanan. You might want to check with some of the teachers there. She always told me the only people they saw socially were people she knew because Dave wasn’t too good at making friends.”
“I want to thank you, Mrs. Parker for being so open with me.”
“Make sure you don’t substitute fiction for fact when you write your story, Mr. Boyd. Sandy has been through a lot this year. She needs time to heal both mentally and physically, so don’t stretch the truth or insinuate anything to make this more sensational than it already is.”
“I understand, Mrs. Parker. I don’t write fiction. I will recount the events as they happened to the best of my ability. Thank you so much for your time. You have my card. Give me a call if you think of something else.”
Chuck Boyd turned and walked to his car. He was pretty sure that all his other interviews would be the same as the one with Mrs. Parker. Jason Flanders was on a witch hunt, but his daughter-in-law was no witch.
CHAPTER 41
Office Hank Simonson arrived at the Lancaster Police Bureau around 2:00 p.m. His meetings with Campbell and Davis were turning into a daily event. He did have some information to share with the two detectives and hoped they had found anything to identify the person who committed these heinous crimes.
He walked into the conference room greeting Mike and Max as he sat down. He opened the file he brought with him and gave the two detectives their copies of the coroner’s report on Craig McGinley.
“As you can see,” he said, “cause of death was the same as your victim. Craig McGinley bled to death. He had several bruises on his face which were pre-mortem. His hands were removed after he died.”
“Almost a carbon copy of Dave Flanders,” Max said. “Was the coroner able to determine if the same weapons were used?
“Check his summary on page 4. He can’t definitively state the same weapons were used, but his examination showed the wounds could have been made by the same knife and hatchet. Have you come up with anything new?”
Max shook his head as he skimmed through the report. “We’ve gone through the evidence and interviews several times and haven’t found anything new. Has the coroner released Mr. McGinley’s body?”
“He did this morning. Mrs. McGinley contacted the funeral home and they picked up the body about an hour ago. Services have been scheduled for Wednesday. Did either of you go to Dave Flanders’ funeral?”
Mike nodded his head. “I did. I wanted to be there for Sandy and her family and also see who showed up to give their condolences.”
“Would it make sense for you to attend the McGinley funeral?” Hank asked.
Max looked at Mike and said, “That’s a good idea, Mike. The two victims aren’t connected in any way we can find, so if someone shows up at both funerals, he could be our man.”
Mike didn’t want to go to another funeral, but he could see the logic in the idea. “Let me know what time it’s scheduled, and I’ll be there early to make sure I see all the people offering their condolences.” He looked at Max and asked, “Do you really think our guy might show up?”
“It’s a long shot, but some of these killers get off on seeing the results of their work. We will know on Wednesday if our perp is a self-indulgent egotist. How is Mrs. McGinley holding up, Hank?” Max asked.
“Amazingly well. Her parents are staying at her house. Once the scene was cleared, they called in a cleaning company. Carol said her parents packed up all Craig’s clothes and donated them, so she wouldn’t have to go through that. She and the children are still staying with friends.”
Mike knew Sandy planned to sell her house and asked Hank if Carol had made any decisions yet.
“She’s taking it one step at a time right now. She told her parents once Craig is buried, she’ll decide whether to move back to Philly or stay here. She has a job and Craig’s life insurance was substantial enough to pay off the mortgage with a little extra. Her main concern right now is her children. Even though they are young, this has been extremely traumatic for them and she doesn’t necessarily want to take them away from familiar surroundings and friends. Craig’s parents are much older than her own. Travelling would be difficult for them and she doesn’t want to deny them access to their grandchildren, so she’s going to put off any major decisions until after the school year.”
“Making the decision to leave Craig before he was killed should help alleviate any guilt she might feel about being responsible for his death.”
“I hope you’re right, Max.” Hank said. “During my interviews with her, she was still in shock and thinking about the ‘what ifs’. I advised her to seek some professional help to get her through the next couple of months. She said she would consider it.”
“I can give you the name of the therapist Sandy Flanders is seeing.”
“Thanks, Mike. I’ll give the information to Carol and also let her know the other victim’s wife is seeing this therapist. It always helps to know you’re not alone.”
Mike gave the information to Hank before he left to go back to East Hempfield’s police building. As the other two detectives headed back to their office space Max commented, “You know Mike, those two women are very lucky people and they probably don’t even know it. Some might think this killer deserves a medal for ridding the world of trash like Dav
e Flanders and Craig McGinley.”
Mike didn’t know what to say, so he just kept walking. What was with Max? This wasn’t the first time he had made a strange comment during this investigation. Maybe he had seen too many abusive men during his time in Philadelphia. Mike decided it was time to find out a little bit more about Max’s past.
CHAPTER 42
By 2:30 p.m., Chuck Boyd had finished talking to the few neighbors on First Street who were home. Only one other person knew Dave and Sandy by name and she told Chuck they just waved when they saw each other. Chuck decided to wrap up the day by talking to the teachers at Buchanan school.
Classes were done for the day and the last bus was just pulling out of the parking lot when Chuck arrived. He stopped by the office and talked to the principal. She was extremely helpful and gave Chuck the names of two teachers who worked closely with Sandy. She notified them and showed Chuck to the teachers’ lounge to meet with them.
As each settled into the uncomfortable seats, introductions were made all around and Chuck gave them the same spiel he had used with Mary Parker. Both women nodded their heads, but remained aloof.
Joanne Montgomery was in her mid-twenties, slightly under six feet, slender with dark brown hair and eyes. Chuck wondered if she ever modeled, because she certainly had the looks and stature. She taught first grade and worked closely with Sandy. Engaged, she was planning an August wedding and her concern for Sandy was quite evident.
Stacy Roberts was a second grade teacher who had worked with Sandy for five years. Stacy was closer to Sandy’s age, but was still unmarried. She was the physical opposite of Joanne. She probably only topped five feet by an inch or two, carried more than a couple of extra pounds on her short frame, and had a sparkle in her eyes that lit up her face.
Chuck began the interview by getting background information from both women. As he questioned them, he observed each woman carefully. He had spent 25 years as a cop and had become adept at reading body language, so he wasn’t surprised when Stacy was the first to open up.
“Sandy and I have been working together for five years now”, Stacy said. “She’s a wonderful teacher and so patient with the children. She makes learning fun for them and her students seem to be genuinely happy to be in her classroom – except maybe on test day.” She smiled as she made the comment about the test.
Joanne also smiled and told Chuck “I was a student teacher here and Sandy was my mentor. An opening occurred when I was graduating, so I applied. With Sandy’s recommendation, my school and work record, I was hired. That was three years ago.”
These two teachers obviously thought a lot of Sandy as a professional, so he decided to see how much they knew about her outside the classroom. “Did Sandy ever talk about her personal life with either of you?”
Stacy and Joanne exchanged glances and Stacy answered, “Just the stuff we all talk about. You know, what we’re doing over holidays and vacations; work to be done at home; bargains we found; car repairs, the usual”, Stacy said.
“Yeah, Sandy’s life was centered around Dave. She cooked dinner for him every night and they always did things together on the weekend, so she didn’t have time to socialize outside of school.”
“Did she ever complain to you about Dave?”
Joanne shook her head. “Not to me. I’ve been dating my fiancé since I met him in college, so she would tease me about when he was going to get up the nerve to ask me to marry him. Once he proposed, we talked a lot about my wedding and honeymoon plans.”
“How about you, Stacy?”
“Sandy and I are good friends and neither of us have any siblings. A couple of years ago my mother had a stroke and Sandy was extremely supportive. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t been there. She listened to me when I needed an ear and helped me when I had to move in with mom to take care of her. She’s one of the most giving people I have ever known.”
Chuck’s next question was meant to evoke a physical reaction from the women before they had a chance to think. “Did she ever say anything about either her or Dave having an affair?” Chuck watched both women carefully. Unless they were both skilled actresses, the shock on their faces was genuine.
“Where would you ever get an idea like that?” Joanne asked.
“Just trying to cover all the bases to get my story correct.”
Stacy couldn’t respond quickly enough. “Well, just make sure you leave that part out, because Sandy was not cheating on Dave. I knew she was having some problems at home, but she wouldn’t share the details with any of us. She did tell me not too long ago, that she had a big decision to make. When I pressed her, she just clammed up. Did she say anything to you, Joanne?”
“After she had that fall last year and ended up in the hospital, she was extremely closed-mouthed about her home life. She did say Dave might be facing a layoff because his company was losing contracts due to the downturn in the economy. She was afraid Dave might have to go to work for his father, something he had been fighting against since they got married.”
“Dave didn’t want to work for his father?”
“Absolutely not. Sandy said Dave once told her he had spent his whole childhood trying to please his father and was never able to get a kind word from him. He did not want to spend his days working in that kind of an atmosphere.”
“Did she ever suggest Dave might be having an affair?”
Stacy’s irritation was evident again when she said, “Why do you keep asking that? Neither Sandy nor Dave was having an affair and if you imply anything like that in your story, I will urge Sandy to file a libel suit against you and whatever magazine prints it. Now if you will excuse me, Mr. Boyd, I have papers to mark and a lesson plan to prepare. Are you coming Joanne?”
“Right behind you. If you’ll follow me Mr. Boyd, I’ll show you out.”
Chuck had never been put in his place so adroitly. He got into his car and headed back to his office to write his report. He would call Tom Wyatt and give him a heads-up about what he would send Jason Flanders tonight and tell Tom he didn’t think there was anything to find on the Flanders’ side. Tomorrow he would look into Mike Campbell’s activities for the last year, write a final report and close this case because he was getting the feeling he was wasting his time and Jason Flanders’ money.
CHAPTER 43
After dinner, Mike went into his home office, which was nothing more than an oversized closet. He put his laptop on a small desk. A two drawer filing cabinet held his personal household information and supplies for his printer. He settled in his chair, opened his laptop and got on the internet.
He knew Max’s previous partner was John Wagner who had retired a month before Mike started as a detective. Earlier in the day, Mike asked Max if he and John had ever run into any interesting cases while they worked together. “Nothing out of the ordinary, which was perfect because he was getting ready to retire and I was looking for a little less stress. I enjoyed working with John. He was a good cop and the Bureau lost a lot of experience when he decided to retire.”
Mike asked Max if he and John still kept in touch. He told Mike they had gone out to dinner once, but since this case started they had lost touch. He told Mike John’s wife Martha started planning a trip to visit the grandchildren as soon as John announced his retirement.
“Have they left yet?”
“I think he said they were aiming for the beginning of June after the kids got out of school.”
Mike was glad to hear John was still in the area because he wanted to talk with him about Max. He needed to find out if Max had shared any of his Philly experiences while they were partners. Max had certainly been very tight-lipped about his time in the Philadelphia Police Department with his partner.
Mike wasn’t sure an ex-cop would be listed in the white pages, but he looked on line and found a J. Earl Wagner listed. He called the number.
“Hello, Wagner residence”, a deep baritone answered.
“Hello. My name is Mike C
ampbell. Are you the same John Wagner who worked for the Lancaster Bureau of Police?”
Mike heard a slight pause and was afraid John would hang up the phone on him. “Yes, I am” he finally said.
“Mr. Wagner, I’m Max Davis’s new partner.”
“I thought your name sounded familiar. How is Max doing?” John’s voice quickly changed to a friendlier tone
“Pretty good, all things considered. He is trying to bear up under the burden of having a rookie detective as a partner.”
“You couldn’t ask for a better trainer. He’s forgotten more about investigating than I ever knew. How come you’re calling me, Detective?”
“Please, it’s just Mike. I need to talk to you about Max. He hasn’t opened up very much about his personal life, and I was wondering if you knew anything about his time in Philadelphia?”
“I only worked with him for about a year. He had just moved out here after his divorce. Martha and I asked him to dinner several times, but he always declined, said he wasn’t ready to socialize yet.”
“Did he ever talk about any of his cases in Philadelphia?”
“Not really. He once told me every case was unique, so trying to determine what a perp might do based on what someone else did in similar circumstances might send you down the wrong path. Of course, while we were partners, we didn’t have anything too complicated. Aren’t you and Max working the case of the murdered and mutilated husband?”
“Yeah, that’s us. We’re also working with the officer in East Hempfield who caught the other murder case.”
“I’m not sure what you want to know, Mike.”
“To be honest with you John, I’m not sure I do either. It’s just that Max has said a few things since this whole thing started that just seem a little off.”
“Off in what way?”
“I guess inappropriate might be a better word. I’ll give you an example. We visited Sandy Flanders in the hospital a couple of days after she was attacked. She told us she was not going to press charges against Dave. He had agreed to an uncontested divorce if she let the matter drop. I was concerned about her decision, but glad she was moving away from the abusive relationship. Max was highly upset and showed his agitation. So unlike the professional I had seen during the week. He pushed so hard for her to file charges I thought she would stop talking to us. She told us she didn’t want to be responsible for Dave’s being in jail, because she didn’t think he would be able to handle it.”
Splintered (Mike Campbell Series Book 1) Page 17
