“What if the DNA from Barbara matches that from the cold case?”
“Then we’re in business. An anonymous tip to the police will tell them where to look for Barbara. If she’s still in the hospital, then a tip about where she’s been living too. A police search of that apartment would reveal Delmar’s personal effects, and bingo. No doubt the police would then pull out all the stops to get the profiling of the DNA from Delmar’s apartment speeded up.”
“Well let’s hope her DNA matches the other crime scene.”
We drove on for a few miles in silence before Lucy spoke again.
“And what about Don?”
“Well I don’t expect Don’s DNA to match anything found at the cold case crime scene – although there was male DNA found on a couple of beer bottles there. So in Don’s case we’ll have to wait for the DNA results from Delmar’s apartment. When that’s done, only I will know if any male DNA found there is Don’s.”
Lucy and I exchanged glances.
“And what if it does? Will you tell the police?”
“Well that’s another one of those moral dilemmas Lucy. You’re going to find out that these tend to crop up quite often in this line of work. On the one hand you could argue that Delmar was engaged in a dirty business and got what was coming to him. And then there’s Lisa to consider – we can only imagine the devastating effect that it would have on her if Don was implicated in Delmar’s murder. But on the other hand, we can’t have people taking the law into their own hands, and meting out their own idea of justice, or the streets would be full of vigilantes. We have a rule of law in this country. It makes the difference between a civilized society and an anarchic one.”
“Oh, I do hope he wasn’t involved,” said Lucy. “It’s very worrying.”
“Well even if Don’s DNA is found in Delmar’s apartment, it’s doubtful that it would be enough to convict Don of his murder,” I said.
“But how would he possibly explain it away?”
“DNA isn’t the all-powerful forensic tool that a lot of people think it is,” I said. “For one thing, a person’s DNA on an object may be enough to prove that he touched it; but there’s no scientific way of proving when he touched it, or where.”
“Sorry, I don’t quite understand,” Lucy said.
“Let’s say that a person’s DNA is found on a moveable object − like a beer bottle for example. The presence of the DNA can’t establish where the bottle was when it was touched. The same is true of fingerprints, of course. We both know that Delmar’s cell phone is in Barbara’s apartment. It’s highly likely that Delmar’s fingerprints are on the phone. But that doesn’t mean that Delmar has ever been to Barbara’s apartment.”
“No, I see,” Lucy said. “But suppose the DNA is found on a wall, a door or a piece of furniture – or a bathtub?”
“There’s still the question of when and how it got there. Supposing Don’s DNA was on something inside that apartment; even in the bathroom. He could just say that he knew where Delmar lived, because I told him. He believed that Delmar was blackmailing his wife. He went there to confront him, but when he got there he found Delmar dead in the bathtub. He went in to see if he was still alive, but when he discovered he was dead he panicked and left.”
“Do you think a jury would believe that?”
“He only has to raise a doubt, Lucy. The judge would be bound to tell the jury that in the absence of any other evidence linking him with the death it was highly speculative. I imagine that any defense attorney worth his salt wouldn’t have too much trouble with a case like that. Plus, he’d have the obvious sympathy of the jury.”
“Still, it would be better if his DNA isn’t found there,” Lucy said.
“Yes, of course. Although the absence of it wouldn’t prove that he wasn’t connected to the murder either. Supposing he’d been wearing gloves? But of course, if there’s no DNA then there’d be nothing to link him evidentially to the death, so we don’t have to worry about that.”
“I feel a bit better about it now,” Lucy said. “But if Barbara’s DNA is found in Delmar’s apartment and the cold case apartment, together with the fact that Delmar’s things are in hers, she’d be dead in the water, wouldn’t she? Metaphorically speaking of course.” Lucy giggled.
“It would certainly provide a strong circumstantial case against her, I agree. But even all that might not be enough.”
“But why?”
“Partly because she’d no doubt come up with some plausible explanation for those things; but mainly I think the Defense would have a field day with the manner of death of both victims.”
“You mean because her attorney would argue that she couldn’t possibly have done it because she would have been physically incapable of overpowering the victims by herself?”
“Exactly. The prosecutor would need to have some forensic theory as to how she could have done it. We haven’t had the autopsy report for Delmar yet – it’s possible that he may have been drugged or incapacitated in some other way. But for the cold case there’s no evidence to suggest that the victim was incapacitated before he was killed.”
“Well, that’s not really our problem, is it? It’s our job to investigate the case and then let things take their natural course.”
“That’s exactly right – as a private investigator you can’t afford to let emotion get in the way. We have to stay neutral and objective. We mustn’t let other considerations cloud our judgment.”
We were about halfway back and we’d arrived at a truck stop, so we went inside to freshen up and get something to eat.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Solja
Being creatures of habit we decided to stay at the same motel.
“Better the devil you know,” Lucy said.
The same guy was behind the desk but he showed no sign that he recognized us. He started the same apparently pointless rigmarole of studying his half-empty register.
“How about you give us the same room we had before?” I said. “Twenty-three. We got kind of attached to it.”
“I’m checking availability,” he said, without looking up.
Five minutes later I was unlocking the door to number twenty- three.
“What’s with that guy?’ Lucy said.
“I guess there’s not a whole lot for him to do,” I said. “Probably feels that he’s got to justify his salary somehow.”
We’d made good time; it was only a little after three o’clock. As soon as we were settled I called Atterbury. He didn’t pick up so I left a message. I told him we had new information that might assist with his efforts to find out more about Delmar’s trip to Boston. We were back in town, but flying out early tomorrow. I hoped we could hook up.
I had the Highlander until noon the next day, so I left it in the motel parking lot. We might need it to meet up somewhere with Atterbury. Neither of us felt like venturing out again so we ordered some food in and spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for Atterbury to call. At six I telephoned his cell phone again. He didn’t pick up so I left another message. I told him that we had some wheels now and we could meet him anywhere that was convenient.
As the evening wore on, with no word from Atterbury, Lucy started to become anxious.
“You don’t think anything’s happened to him, do you – I mean because of all this?”
“I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm,” I said. “When I called and left a message for him on Tuesday it was several hours before he got back to me.”
At eight we strolled down to the local diner for a snack. We didn’t stay away long in case Atterbury decided to turn up at the motel unannounced; but when we got back there was no sign of him. At midnight we decided to turn in for the night.
“I hope he hasn’t got into any trouble,” Lucy said. “You know, by going around and asking questions.”
“Maybe he’s decided to leave the whole thing alone,” I said. “He’s been trying to stay o
ut of trouble, and he probably doesn’t mix with the kind of people he’d need to talk to anymore.”
“If anything’s happened to him it’ll be our fault,” Lucy said.
“He’s a grown man; I’m sure he knows how to look after himself – and it would be silly to blame ourselves. Nobody forced him to come here,” I said. It was something of an anti-climax though, and I lay awake for a long time before I was able to drop off to sleep.
My cell phone rang just after seven o’clock in the morning.
“Hi, it’s Atterbury,” he said.
Lucy stirred when the phone rang and now she sat up in bed. “It’s Atterbury,” I mouthed to her silently, pointing at the phone. Lucy let out an audible sigh of relief.
“I got somebody who wants to talk to you,” he said.
“Where do you want to meet,” I said.
“Are you in the same place?”
“Yes, and the same room.”
“We’ll come over there. Give us an hour.” He hung up.
“It looks like we may be in luck,” I said to Lucy. “He’s bringing someone to see us. Better get yourself up; he’ll be here in an hour.”
Atterbury’s companion was driving a navy blue Chrystler Imperial which had been lovingly restored. When he stepped out of the car I saw he was wearing an Abercrombie coat with a hood. The coat matched the color of the car almost exactly. He was a few years older than Atterbury. He was short and had a swarthy complexion and jet-black, lank hair swept back over his scalp. They came to the door and Atterbury introduced us.
“Soldier?” I said.
“Solja.” He spelled the name for me.
“You guys want some breakfast?” I said.
They looked at each other. “Sure…thanks,” Solja said. We walked over to Denny’s and settled in a booth.
“We were a bit worried about you when we didn’t hear from you, Atterbury,” Lucy said.
Atterbury looked nonplussed by the remark. “Solja was a friend of Delmar’s,” he said. “He knows a bit more’n I do about the case.”
The coffee arrived. “Let’s hear what you got,” I said to Solja.
“I hope you get the asshole that killed Delmar,” he said. “I’ll tell you what I know about it. Delmar had picked up some information from some guy when he was inside. He thought he could make plenty from it. There was some babe who was married to a rich guy back east and Delmar was planning some kind of shakedown. He didn’t tell me any details. He came to me coz I got contacts over there. See, he didn’t know exactly where to find her. Delmar didn’t even know how to use a computer, man, or any of that shit. So I asked around for him and eventually a guy I know over in Boston found this broad who knew how to do things like that – you know, locate people. But she wanted a whole lotta notes to do that and Delmar didn’t have nothing. So then he offered her a piece of the action instead. After about, I don’t know, maybe a month, this woman located the chick and Delmar headed off to the East Coast.”
“Do you know who this woman was? Do you know her name?”
“No, man, I never asked him about that.”
“What about your friend – the one who put him in touch with her?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you that. I don’t want the dude in any trouble.”
“After Delmar headed off did you have any more contact with him?”
“I didn’t hear nothing man, till Atterbury called me and told me Delmar had bought it. Delmar was no saint man, but he didn’t deserve to get taken out like that,” he said, shaking his head.
“Okay, Solja. Thanks for your help. Let’s eat some breakfast.”
Back in the room Lucy went on line to book our flight home. There was no point hanging around anymore. She booked us a flight leaving early afternoon.
“So you decided not to tell Atterbury what Norman told you?” Lucy said.
“There didn’t seem to be any point. I think we’ve got all the information we’re likely to get here. Anyway we both know who the woman was that Delmar contacted. He was just a small-time hustler who got out of his depth,” I said.
*
We were home by early evening. After I unpacked I dropped around to Lucy’s place. She was just putting the finishing touches to some pan-fried grouper with lemon grass and some lightly boiled potatoes with mint dressing, which made a change from the ubiquitous rice of late. We’d even eaten wild rice at Gladys’s house. I’d picked up a bottle of sauvignon at the liquor store after I dropped Lucy off, and it was tucked under my arm. Lucy eyed it suspiciously.
“I think we can relax for a bit, don’t you?” I said. “We’ve had a fairly productive few days. Tomorrow I’m going to see what else I can find out about Withers. You should call the hospital and get an update on Barbara.”
“Then what?” she asked.
“There’s nothing much more we can do. It’s likely to be another week until I get the DNA results from Jill. I guess we’ll just have to bide our time and be patient. You can concentrate on organizing the new office,” I said.
Lucy called the hospital after dinner while I loaded up the dishwasher. She had quite a long chat, and when she’d finished she came over to the kitchen where I was brewing some coffee. She had a concerned expression on her face.
“What is it Lucy?”
“Barbara,” she said. “She’s being discharged on Monday.”
Chapter Thirty
A Race against Time
“So why the long face,” I said.
“I thought you were hoping she’d be kept there until we’d had a chance to get her DNA results from Jill. She might disappear when they discharge her and we might not be able to find her again.”
She had a point – I was fairly sure that the apartment where she was staying was only a temporary home. Now that the blackmail caper was over – at least for the time being − she might take off somewhere else.
“I don’t think we need worry for a while. If she’s had surgery they’re bound to have made a follow-up appointment for her at the hospital,” I said. “I’ll get Tony and June to keep an eye on her round the clock when she gets out. I’ll go to the apartment tomorrow and see if I can get some information from the management office.”
“Or at least from the people who work there,” Lucy said mischievously, “If not the office itself.”
I shook my head and raised my eyebrows at her. “I think that little joke’s wearing a bit thin now,” I said.
*
I arrived at the management office of the apartment building just before ten in the morning. There was only one guy on duty there and he was watching Fox News on TV. I told him I was a friend of Paul Withers, from out of town. I’d been trying to reach him for a couple of days but without success.
“Mr. Withers is in India,” he said, “visiting his family.” He read the expression on my face and added, “His mother’s Indian as you probably know.”
“Yes.” I lied. “We haven’t been in touch for some time. Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“He left before Christmas – said he’d be back in about six weeks,” he said. “There’s a lady looking after his apartment while he’s away – a Miss Green. She may be able to tell you exactly when he’s coming back if you’d care to leave her a note.”
“Oh that’s okay. I guess I’ll just leave it until I’m in town again,” I said.
I drove home and called Calley on his cell phone.
“Just thought I’d give you a call and let you know I’m back from Minneapolis,” I said. “In case you’ve been worrying about me.”
“Yeah,” he said. “You’re in my thoughts every waking moment – why don’t you tell me what you want.”
“I need you to get the forensic report on any DNA found in Delmar’s apartment. I have a lead on who might be responsible for his death and I need the result sometime before she expires of old age.”
“That ain’t in my hands,” he said. “You think anybody
’s going to listen to me?”
“Well,” I said, “just follow it up – do the best you can?”
“You said ‘she’.”
“Full marks for paying attention,” I said.
“I’ll check on it tomorrow,” he said, “but you know how long these things take.”
He didn’t ask me what had happened in Minnesota, so I didn’t tell him. I went next door to Lucy’s instead.
“Paul Withers is in India,” I said, “according to the guy from the management office. He says he left before Christmas. Barbara’s looking after his apartment while he’s away. If what he says is true, then Withers is a red herring.”
“A what?” Lucy said.
“He couldn’t have been involved with the blackmail nor Delmar’s death. If he really did go to India,” I said.
“You could check with the Immigration Department, couldn’t you?”
“They won’t have any record of him leaving,” I said. “And even if they did they wouldn’t know where he was going. There are ways of checking through the airlines’ central computer system, but I rather think that would be beyond Calley’s capabilities.”
“At least it shows you were right about it not being Barbara’s permanent home.” Lucy said.
“But according to what the guy told me he’s due back soon, so it probably means we don’t have too much time to play with.”
I called Jill on her cell phone.
“Hi,” I said. “It’s Kane. I don’t want to hassle you, but how much longer until the DNA results will be ready? I think I may be running out of time. I’ve got a full DNA profile from a female from the police lab. Is it okay if I fax the details to you so you can make a comparison as soon as you’re ready?”
Till Death - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Four: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Stories...with a dash of Romance. A Murder, Mystery & Suspense Thriller Page 17
