by Mike Faricy
Chapter Forty-Two
“Dev?” Louie stared at me wide eyed. What the…”
“I know what you’re going to say, Louie.”
“Really?”
“Well…”
“Shut up and listen. How’d your belt get in Dick Head’s place? Were you ever actually in there?”
“No. Honest. I never met the guy. I’ve never been in his condo, ever.”
“Well, how in the hell did your belt end up under his damn bed?” Louie was red faced and almost shaking he was so mad.
“I don’t know. I mean it, Louie. I have absolutely no idea. The last time I saw that belt it was wrapped around Danielle’s waist.”
“God damn it, Dev.” He nodded toward my lap. “You ought to cut that damn thing off with all the trouble it gets you into.”
My eyes grew wide as I stared at him.
“I’m not kidding, when are you going to stop thinking with the wrong head? Damn it. Okay, let’s think here. I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet at this stage that Danielle is tied up with Dick Head somehow.”
“I guess so.”
“You think? Jesus Christ. Okay, first thing, her client privilege just went out the damn door. You’re giving her name to Manning.”
The door suddenly creaked open and Manning poked his bald head in. It had the look of a shinny globe, the ceiling light over the door reflected off his smooth, pink skin. “All set, gentlemen?”
“Another minute or two,” Louie half shouted over his shoulder.
“We’ll be out here in the hall, just knock on the door whenever you’re ready,” Manning said, sounding just a little too chipper for my taste. Then he pulled the door closed.
“Prick,” I said under my breath.
“I have a sick feeling he’s just getting warmed up,” Louie said. “Dev, you’ve been compromised here. I want you to give Manning any and all of your Danielle Roxbury information. At this stage, you’re not just aiding their investigation, you’re protecting yourself. Does the term ‘set-up’ have any connotations? Sorry to say, but I think this woman has been playing you like a fiddle. Your belt under Dick Head’s bed, Jesus Christ.”
“I think…”
“Save it,” Louie said, then stood up, walked over and knocked on the door. “Ready whenever you are, Detective.”
Manning strolled in carrying his thick file in one hand and the manila evidence envelope with my belt in the other. He was looking fresh and happy. The uniformed officer stepped in behind him, closed the door and leaned back against the wall. The interview room suddenly seemed to smell of desperation.
“So, you were just about to tell me how your belt ended up beneath a bed in a condominium you’ve never been inside of.” Manning sat back, folded his arms and smiled contentedly. His eyes bored into me.
“Yeah, well, the only explanation I have is that I left that belt, my belt, at the home of my client. Her name is Danielle Roxbury. She’s the client we discussed the other day. The client I was representing when I met with Renee Paris and discussed his outstanding loan.”
“Really.” Manning nodded, but didn’t make any notes. It was almost as if he knew all this. He smiled again and looked comfortable with his arms contentedly folded across his chest.
I thought, ‘Oh, shit.’
“Oh, yes, that’s right, your so called discussion with Mr. Paris. That was the assault we viewed on the security tape, wasn’t it? At Casey’s? Just prior to the big fire there?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Haskell, would you speak up, please?
“Yes.”
“So, you were representing Danielle Roxbury at the time of that little incident?”
“Yes.”
“And she informed you that Mr. Paris was in debt to her for, I believe you stated in an earlier interview, a sum of fifty thousand dollars. Does that sound about right?”
“Yes, that’s the amount she told me.”
“A lot of money, fifty grand,” Manning said.
I nodded, and then absently said, “Yeah, all in cash.”
Louie’s head shot up with a very surprised look.
“Cash? Really? Did she happen to mention when this transaction occurred? When she gave Mr. Paris fifty-thousand-dollars in cash?”
“Not specifically, no. I, I guess she didn’t. She just sort of said sometime in the last year, I’m not sure. I never actually got an exact date.”
“What sort of documentation did she show you? A signed note? A letter of intent? Perhaps a securities pledge?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Really? Well, then, what documentation did she show you?”
“Actually, I sort of just took her at her word. She told me she had lent him the money and that Mr. Paris had promised to pay her back. Then she mentioned that she’d been unable to contact him and she felt he was avoiding her. She gave me a phone number to call along with his address.”
“Fifty thousand dollars. In cash. Wow, and she basically just handed it over. Does that strike you as strange, Mr. Haskell?”
“Well, yeah now that you mention it. I mean, I thought it was kind of different, you know when she told me.”
“Kind of different. She just gave the man fifty grand. Handed it over to him and then apparently just walked away without a care in the world.”
“I suppose in retrospect, yeah it does sound a little strange.”
Manning nodded like I was finally making sense. “But you trusted her?”
“Yes.”
“And even though she said she’s been unable to contact Mr. Paris, she just happened to have his address and phone number. And she passed them on to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you knock on Mr. Paris’s door?”
“No, I drove past his house, but it was vacant. It had been posted unfit by the city. I think it’s a category three building.”
Manning nodded. “And his phone?”
“That’s how I set up the appointment to meet him, I called the phone number.”
“The same number Danielle Roxbury gave you when she said she was unable to contact Mr. Paris? That phone number?”
“No, not exactly.”
“Oh?”
“See, the number she gave me didn’t work. So, I tracked him down through his business number. The one for his Bar-B-Que sauces, LuSifer’s. I got it from a grocery chain.”
“I see, and you spoke with him when you called?”
“No, I left a message, he returned my call that evening and we set up a meeting for the following afternoon.”
“How many times did you have to call him?”
“Just once.”
“Funny your client, Ms. Roxbury, had been unable to reach him.”
“I don’t know.”
“So, we saw the tape of your meeting with Mr. Paris. And then what? You gave Ms. Roxbury that personalized belt as a symbol of your trust and continued support?”
“Not exactly. I believe I just left that behind. I must have forgotten it at her home I guess. I sort of made a mental note to pick it up the next time we got together.”
Manning nodded again which made me even more worried.
“Fair to say you were in a sexual relationship with Ms. Roxbury?”
“Mmm-mmm, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“You did have sex with her, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And just for the sake of argument, if you left your belt at her home, this wasn’t some fifteen second spur of the moment, wham-bam, flash in the pan now, was it?”
“Well, no, not exactly.”
“After all, Mr. Haskell, you’ve got a bit of a reputation. Fair to say Ms. Roxbury no doubt enjoyed hers
elf?”
“Yes.” I nodded and smiled at the memory.
“Was that her form of payment to you? The sex.”
“What? Oh, no, Danielle, Ms. Roxbury paid me in cash. Ten hundred dollar bills, a thousand dollars.”
“In cash you say?”
“Yes. She delivered them herself.”
“Wow, cash seems to be how she likes to operate. Does that happen often in your line of work? Gosh, I can’t remember the last time I saw a grand in cash.”
“It happens once in a while. It’s not completely unusual.”
Manning looked down, flipped some pages in his file, and read for a moment while Louie and I exchanged glances. Manning looked back up at me with a puzzled expression on his face.
“See, our question is where would she have gotten a thousand dollars in cash? Or for that matter the fifty thousand you say she gave Mr. Paris?”
“I suppose she stopped at her bank and made a withdrawal.”
“Yeah, you’d think that, but her accounts have been closed for some time. As a matter of fact, her bank has initiated legal proceedings against her.”
“I think she has a trust fund, and well, she owns that big mansion.”
“Funny you should mention that. Actually, we’ve been looking, pretty thoroughly I might add, and we found no evidence of a trust fund, anywhere. I’m not suggesting one might not exist, but if it does we’ve been unable to find any record of it. Actually, the only bank accounts we found for Ms. Roxbury were closed by the bank over a year ago. She apparently took out an equity loan on her home back in 2006. She’s been in arrears on that property for over two years and the bank has begun foreclosure proceedings. Seems she’s also in arrears on her property taxes and Ramsey County has begun proceedings as well.”
“I, I had no idea.”
“And yet somehow, you tell me she managed to give fifty thousand dollars, cash, to Renee Paris and one thousand dollars in cash, to you. How do you think she was able to pull that off?”
“I, I don’t know,” I said. I was in shock.
“Now, we have Richard Hedstrom,” Manning said, switching gears. “I have to tell you, Mr. Haskell. I’m a little confused. Our investigation indicates that he was in a partnership with Mr. Paris, a number of partnerships, actually. You assaulted Mr. Paris. An item of yours, this belt, was found in Mr. Hedstrom’s residence.” Manning nodded at the evidence envelope. “The same residence you recently attempted to gain access to. Now, we learn that Mr. Hedstrom was reported missing as of three days ago.”
“I don’t know anything about that. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Are you at all familiar with a dark blue 2013 Audi A6?”
I had no idea where Manning was going with this. I shook my head blankly and muttered, “No.”
“It is, or rather was, Mr. Hedstrom’s vehicle. Apparently, someone took it for a joyride, smashed it up, removed the plates and then set it ablaze in a shopping mall parking lot the other night. Now, we can’t seem to locate Richard Hedstrom, Renee Paris or Danielle Roxbury.”
“You’ve been looking for her, Danielle?”
“Yes.” Manning nodded, and flipped some more pages in his file. “Apparently, we’re not the only ones. We have a record of a number of calls made to Ms. Roxbury from this cell phone number at various times of the day and night.” Manning took a page from his file and passed it across the table to me. “Interestingly, by checking the various cell towers we can be about ninety nine point nine percent sure that a number of these calls were made by someone actually located in Ms. Roxbury’s home. Would you happen to recognize this cell phone number?”
I didn’t really have to look, but I did, anyway.
“That’s my cell phone number. Actually, I wasn’t in her house. I was parked out in front on the street. I think one time I may have even been on her front porch.”
“Out in front of her home or on her front porch? Interesting. It’s been below zero for the past month. Why not just ring her doorbell?”
“I did, but she wasn’t home. At least, she didn’t answer when I rang.”
“Amazing she wouldn’t let you in. Maybe she thought you were coming back for another payment? Back for more sex? Maybe she was just in the shower, you know, getting spruced up for you. Can’t say that I really blame you. After all, she’s a very attractive woman, isn’t she, Haskell?”
“No. I mean, no, I wasn’t coming back for more sex. I just wanted to check on her. Make sure Paris hadn’t been stalking her or attacked her or something.”
“Gee, that’s very noble of you. And, what about that car belonging to Richard Hedstrom? Set ablaze in the middle of the night in a shopping mall parking lot. You wouldn’t have just happened to pass by at about that time, would you, Mr. Haskell? Maybe you wanted to ask him about your belt?”
“Actually.” I smiled back at Manning. “I saw the headline on that and I was sedated in the hospital that night until sometime after noon the following day. I have a witness who can attest to the fact I was home the entire evening until ten the following morning when she departed. At that point I had to taxi to my office and I’m sure somewhere the taxi service would have a record of that.”
“Was it Danielle Roxbury caring for you until ten the following morning? We’ve been trying to reach her.” Manning sneered across the table at me.
“No, the woman’s name is Heidi Bauer. She’s a long time friend and she merely wanted to make sure I was all right after having been involved in that accident and released from the hospital earlier in the day.”
“Does Danielle Roxbury know?” Manning shot back.
“Actually, I did receive a phone call from her. But not from the phone number she had given me earlier.”
Manning looked genuinely surprised.
“I have it on my cell. Here just a minute,” I said and dug my cell out.
“So you’ve heard from her recently, the Roxbury woman?” Manning asked, recovering.
“Yes, here’s the number. Louie, I mean Mr. Laufen was with me when her call came through, we were in our office at the time.”
“I can attest to that, Detective,” Louie said.
Manning seemed to deflate slightly when Louie backed me up. He made a note of Danielle’s new phone number in his file. Then he paged through a number of reports in the file, but didn’t ask any questions. Eventually, he looked up at us.
“I guess that will do for right now. I’d like you to stay in touch, Mr. Haskell. You’re not under arrest, at this time. But I think it would be wise if you’re planning any travel you might just contact our office first.
Louie and I nodded together.
Manning gave a long sigh, like he’d been so close, yet had somehow missed. “I guess unless you gentlemen have any questions that will conclude our interview, for the time being anyway.”
We both shook our heads and Manning had the uniformed officer escort us down to the elevators. Once the doors closed behind us we signaled one another to keep quiet.
Chapter Forty-Three
“No, please don’t say a thing. Just give me a moment to think here,” Louie said as we bounced across pot holes on our way out of the parking lot.
“That was Hedstrom’s car someone torched the other night?” I said.
Louie sighed, then said, “Well, smashed up first and then torched once they pulled the plates off. Bit of a coincidence I’d say, just after someone tried to run you down. You sure you didn’t get a look at that car? An Audi A6 sleek, fast and dark blue?”
“I can attest to the sleek, fast and dark bit, but that’s about it. I can’t ID the vehicle, it all happened too fast. What the hell, Danielle’s broke?”
Louie looked over at me for a long moment, then said, “She’s more than just broke. Broke suggests a zero bala
nce. It sounds like right now your little lady friend is running heavily into the negative numbers.”
“But I don’t get it. That huge damn house of hers?”
“Pledged at the peak of the boom and then lost, apparently. She wouldn’t be the first person that happened to.”
“But, Louie, her trust fund?”
“I’m guessing the generations before her pissed most of it away and she probably still can’t believe she went through whatever was left. God forbid she’d ever have to work like the rest of us.”
“Richard Hedstrom?”
“Dick Head? Obviously he’s tied in somewhere, Manning as much as said the guy’s invested in a number of different partnerships with Paris. Maybe he did the same thing for this Danielle that you did?”
I looked at Louie and he shook his head.
“No, not that,” he said. “Maybe she just followed your advice and hired some legal attack dog. Dick Head just delivered the same message to Paris that you did. Only he was a bit more understated and I’m guessing no one has it on tape.”
“And then what? She straps on my belt and goes over to Hedstrom’s place to play ride ‘em cowboy?”
“I don’t know, maybe. To be honest, that really isn’t anywhere near your biggest problem right now.”
“It just doesn’t sound like the woman I know.”
“The woman you know? Dev. Hello. Did you hear what Manning said in there? The woman you know doesn’t exist. Apparently, she never did. She has no funds, she owes back taxes and she’s in the process of losing her big old inherited house. We don’t really know for sure if she even gave Paris the fifty grand, let alone in cash. And in her spare time it looks like she could well be rolling around with Dick Head.”
“Yeah, but I mean other than that.”
Louie looked over at me.
“Relax, I’m kidding,” I said.
“Oh, well, good thing you can find something to laugh about. Just remember, Manning would still like to hang that fire at Casey’s and I’m presuming Renee Paris or whoever got roasted in there, around your neck. Don’t think for a minute he’s given up, he’s just gathering more ammunition, Dev.”
