by Liz Turner
That’s okay, she thought. He doesn’t need to speak. That’s enough of an answer for me.
“Can we please get back to the topic at hand?” Max proclaimed, his voice low and irritable. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention and pulled out the pieces of the torn photograph they found earlier. “Please have a look at these. Rupert said they were similar to the type of pictures Leo did.”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to tell. Lots of photos look the same.” Lorenzo took the pieces in his hands and squinted at them. “But yes, they look like they were taken with a quality camera like he has…or someone who has a similar camera. Where did you find these?”
“One was on Leo’s body, another was in Henry Mullins’ possession, and the third was in Rupert and Cale’s play area at the park,” Sakura added. Rupert glared at her, as if angry for sharing the location of their secret hideout. Veronica had a feeling it wasn’t really a secret, but it was the principle of the thing of course. “We think they were planted in Henry’s bag and the park.”
“It does look like his style,” Pietro confirmed as he looked over his father’s shoulder to look at the pictures. “It looks like someone was sitting on this bench.”
“How can you tell?” Max questioned.
“There’s a piece of a person’s clothing here.” Lorenzo pointed to a part of the bench where a small green fabric was. It matched the color of the grass fairly well, so its camouflage was probably why no one had seen it earlier. “Leo was taking a picture of someone.”
“Any idea of who it could be?” Max asked.
“No idea,” Pietro replied.
“Not a clue,” Rupert answered.
“I want to say I’ve seen this color before, but I can’t place it,” Lorenzo proclaimed. “This person must’ve posed. Leo rarely takes that kind of photo, unless it’s for work. Why would he be photographing someone like this?”
“And who is it?” Sakura asked. “And where are the rest of the pieces.”
“It’s a bench, that’s for sure,” Rupert declared suddenly. “There are lots of benches in the park. I bet this is the one by Naomi’s house.”
Veronica was startled a little at the confident statement. “What makes you say that?”
“See this tree?” Rupert pointed to the background. “It’s by her house. Cale and me play there sometimes...”
“Cale and I,” Pietro corrected his son.
“Cale and I,” the boy continued, annoyed at having to repeat himself. “Mister Edwards got really angry when I climbed that tree one time.”
“Maybe it would be worthwhile to see the place this photo was taken?” Veronica suggested to Max. “Maybe it’ll point us in the right direction?”
“It’s a bit of a long shot, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.” Max pocketed the photograph pieces. “Thank you for your time, Mister, Mister and Mister Amato.”
Rupert snorted. Looks like the detective had a sense of humor after all.
Chapter 10
The team of investigators had barely made it a few feet out the Amatos’ door before they were accosted by a young man on a bicycle.
Sakura yelled out in a panic as she jumped out of the way of the man-powered vehicle. “Watch where you’re going!”
“Sorry!” The bike finally slowed down, and the group instantly recognized the person on the seat. “I’ve been waiting for you to come out for ages!”
“Liam, it’s not nice to do that with you bike,” Veronica reprimanded. “You could hurt someone.”
The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead and kicked the stand out for his bike. “Sorry, but it’s important.”
“What’s so important?” Max inquired. “Does it have to do with the case?”
“Yeah.”
“And you were riding your bike around here until we showed up?”
“Well, I couldn’t just knock on the door! I had a big enough time keeping it from my parents!” Liam declared. He bit his lip as he lowered his voice. “Listen, I need to tell you something, but you’ve got to promise to keep it a secret. We could be in big trouble if you don’t.”
“Why do I suddenly get a bad feeling about what you’re going to tell us?” Sakura asked with a deep sigh. “That sort of promise is always made before really bad news.”
“It’s not really bad news, but you need to keep quiet about it,” Liam insisted. “It’s not even really about me. I don’t care about getting in trouble with my folks, but I don’t want to think about what might happen if this gets out to Naomi’s parents.”
“I’m a detective, young man,” Max reassured him. “Secrets are my business. What do you need to say?”
Liam looked like he wanted to speak, but he was still a little winded from both his bike ride and from his explanation of everything. Veronica held up her hands and smiled.
“Liam, relax. It’s just us here. Take a deep breath.” She waited until he did so. “Let it out slowly. Calm down? Okay. Now, calmly and slowly, tell us what’s happened.”
Liam had taken another breath before he was finally relaxed enough to explain. “Okay. You know how Naomi’s dad is very controlling and stuff?”
“We’ve experienced that first hand, yes,” Max responded.
“Well, she doesn’t like it much,” the young man resumed. “A couple years ago I found her at the park at night. She’d snuck out of her house, and we started to hang out.”
“She snuck out?” Sakura echoed. “That doesn’t seem like something Naomi would do.”
“When you've been sheltered all your life, I guess you eventually want to explore outside the nest,” Veronica concluded. “So you two met that night, without any parental supervision?”
“It wasn’t like we did anything bad. We just got to talking and hung out under the stars,” Liam described, insistent. “We were ten…well, she was ten. I was ten and a half. We’ve been sneaking out to meet every few nights ever since.”
“So this has been going on for a while?” Max deduced. “And you’ve never been caught?”
“We usually sit around Cale and Rupert’s secret area,” the boy answered. “No one ever looks for us there. No one’s ever found out.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to mention this in front of your mother and father,” Veronica said with a small smirk. “But why are you telling us this now? You said this was important?”
“Because Naomi was at my place last night!” Liam explained. “I snuck her in, and we played video games together all night. She’d never been allowed to do that before. She loved it.”
“She was with you?” Max tapped his nose as he thought. “All night? When did she get home?”
“Really early in the morning. She snuck back into her house. I don’t think anyone found out. But that’s not all.”
“Oh, there’s more?” Sakura joked.
Liam gulped and reached into his back pocket. From it, he pulled a scrap of paper and handed it over to Max. “Word gets around this neighborhood real fast. I heard about your picture hunt.”
“Where in the world did you get this?” Max nearly shouted.Without further notice, he grabbed the evidence bags out of his coat and set them all on the sidewalk. Veronica and Sakura bent down to watch as he put the scraps of the photograph together, forming an almost complete picture. Once they were all laid out flat, Max put the paper Liam gave him and set it in the middle, revealing the entire photograph.
They had been right. It was a bench in the park, and upon closer inspection Veronica was pretty sure she recognized the tree Rupert mentioned, now that she saw it in its entirety. The most shocking thing about the photograph was the main subject. Sitting on the bench, in a light green dress and flat shoes, was Naomi. She sat rather primly, with a small smile on her face and her hands folded gently in her lap. Her eyes were clear and bright, more so than Veronica had ever seen them. Her hair was a little blurred, possibly from moving in a light breeze when the photo was taken. Behind her and the bench was a line of
thick bushes, and behind that was a couple of trees. There was a hint of clouds in the sky, but most of it couldn’t be seen beyond the green foliage.
“Naomi,” Veronica stated bluntly. “It’s Naomi.”
“Sure is,” Liam said. “She gave me this piece yesterday. Asked me to keep it for her.”
“But why was it torn up?” Sakura wondered aloud. “And why would she have this one piece? Why not the rest?”
“I’m more interested in why it was torn up to begin with,” Veronica pronounced. Her eyes scanned the picture, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She didn’t need to look very hard for the first bit of suspicious evidence. Along the edge of the photo was some sort of dried red liquid. She reached down to touch it, but at the last minute thought better of it, and instead just pointed to the splatter. “What do you suppose that is?”
“Don’t touch it,” Max instructed kindly. “Looks like blood to me.”
“Blood?” Sakura made a disgusted expressed.
“Cool,” Liam said, completely relaxed. “I thought it might be, so I tried not to touch it too much.”
“If the picture was torn, maybe someone cut themselves when they ripped it,” Max deduced.
“So we should keep an eye out for anyone with cuts on their hands?” Veronica concluded. “Not sure how easy that’ll be, though.”
“I better call the lab rats,” Detective Max announced, pulling out his cell again. “We’ll need to get a sample of this before it deteriorates. Hopefully, it hasn’t already.”
“Why did Naomi give this to you?” Veronica asked of Liam as she stood from her crouching position.
“She was really attached to it, so she didn’t really want to give it to me,” Liam explained. “But she said she was worried about her father getting a hold of it, so she gave it to me for safekeeping.”
“And where did she get it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” Liam paused and shuffled his feet a little. He jutted his index finger at the three investigators. “Remember you can’t tell anyone what I told you. I promised Naomi I’d keep it a secret so her father wouldn’t get upset with her.”
Veronica gave the young man a smile. “You care a lot about her, don’t you?”
“She’s cool. Not like other girls. She likes to try new things all the time, but she doesn’t get the chance because of her dad,” he described with a stiff shrug. “She’s talked about doing fun things together, like movies and parties, even public school. Her mom’s home-schooled her, so she doesn’t have a lot of friends.”
“That must be rough,” Sakura determined. “Lonely. I can’t imagine being alone like that every day.”
“You’d go crazy without some outside human contact,” Veronica teased her, and Sakura gave her a gentle punch on her shoulder. The elder chef then turned back to Liam. “I’m glad you told us. It could be a big clue about why Leo might have been killed.”
“Did Leo take the picture?” he asked. “I caught him taking pictures of Naomi a few times, but he was always far away.”
“Yes, it was him,” Veronica confirmed for him.
Liam’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “And that’s why Leo was killed?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Max added. “But we think so.”
“But…why would someone want to kill Leo just because he took a picture?” Liam contemplated. “He always did that, all the time. It doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s why we’re trying to make sense of it,” Detective Bernard replied. “We’re headed for the Edwards’ place so we can ask Naomi about it now.”
Taking his cue to leave, Liam headed back to his bicycle and kicked the stand out from under it. He hopped on the seat and looked at the trio.
“Promise it’s a secret?” he repeated.
“Like I said, secrets are my business,” Max responded. He paused. “That being said if it’s important to the case I’m afraid I’ll need to share it. I can’t let a murder go unsolved.”
Liam nodded, licking his lips as he pushed off from the asphalt and peddled away.
Chapter 11
The sunny weekend was giving way to a cloudy afternoon as Veronica, Max, Sakura and Amber all returned to the Edwards residence. The sparkling windows on all the houses had dulled, and a few of the occupants had turned on their indoor lights so they could see what they were doing. It wasn’t quite nighttime, but the presence of the clouds covering the sun gave the neighborhood a gloomier atmosphere.
Can’t help but feel like the weather is telling us something, Veronica thought, but she kept it to herself and shook her head slightly. What’s wrong with me? First, I think Max is telepathic, then I believe the weather is talking to us. When did I become so superstitious?
As they approached the house, Veronica could see the darker environment was matched by Louis Edwards’ facial expression as he marched out of the house and down the driveway. He stopped next to his car and crossed his arms, his mouth twisted up and showing a couple of his teeth.
“You’re back here again? You can’t possibly have more to say to us,” he jeered. “Do I need to get a restraining order on you too?”
“Restraining order? Now that’s interesting,” Max said. Veronica noticed his hands clenching into fists before he hid them in his pockets. “Who do you have a restraining order against?”
“None of your business. Now get off my property.”
“Not this again,” Sakura sighed, bending down to hold Amber’s collar before Louis accused the puppy of doing something.
“Louis, you need to stop,” Amy said, walking up behind her husband. “They’re only doing their jobs. Don’t you want to find out what happened to Leo? I wouldn’t feel safe around here if a murderer gets off the hook.”
“Those two aren’t police officers or private investigators,” Louis argued, jabbing his fingers at Veronica and Sakura. He ignored Amber completely. “They have no right being involved in anything here.”
“They are assisting me in my investigation,” Detective Bernard debated back. “I’m the professional detective supervising this investigation. If you don’t like it, take it up with me, not them. I could call Chief Maerune and get her to make it official if you like.”
Louis was quiet except for the occasional snarl, but he eventually sighed. “Fine. But we talk out here.”
“Would you please bring Naomi here then?” Max requested of Amy, who was much calmer than her husband. “This has to do with her too.”
“Don’t bother.” Veronica glanced over Louis’ shoulder and spotted Naomi walking across the driveway to join them. “I’m already here.”
“I told you to stay in the house,” her father hissed.
“But they want to talk to me,” she protested. “I might as well stay.”
Max pulled the completed picture, now all in evidence bags, out of his pockets. Not wanting to give Louis a chance to argue again, he held the photograph out flat in his hands so they could see it. Louis’ eyes widened, and he reached to grab it, but Max pulled the picture out of his grasp before he had the chance.
“Where did you get that?!” he demanded.
“We found the first piece on Leo’s body, and the other pieces have been scattered around the neighborhood,” Veronica explained. “As you can see, it’s a photo of your daughter. Naomi, did you allow Leo to take this picture?”
Naomi immediately responded. “Yes. A few weeks ago.”
“Can you tell us about it?” Max requested.
“…Remember how I told you Leo was following me around and taking pictures a lot?” she asked, twirling her brown hair in her fingers. “What I didn’t tell you was that he approached me one day in the park and apologized. He said he didn’t mean to make me uncomfortable, and since it bothered me, he would stop.”
“And this was when he took this picture?” Veronica inquired.
“No. That was a few months ago,” Naomi corrected. “We met up by coincidence at the park a few weeks ago. He was photograph
ing some birds, and he showed them to me. They were really incredible photos. Anyway we talked some more, and Leo asked if he could take my picture, so I posed for him. He gave me the picture as part of his apology.”
“A few weeks ago, right?” Max asked.
“Right. I didn’t see or hear from him since until we found his body today,” Naomi finished.
“He hadn’t bothered you at all during that time?” Sakura continued to pet Amber to keep her calm around Louis’ gruff behavior.
“Not once.”
“I can’t believe you let him take your picture!” Louis reprimanded his daughter. “I told you to not speak with him unless your mother or I am present!”
“He didn’t do anything, Dad!” Naomi argued back. “It was just a picture!”
“We’ll talk about this inside,” he proclaimed, and Naomi’s eyes narrowed at the ending of the conversation. Louis looked at the investigators. “We’re done here. If you have anything more to ask, you can do so through my lawyer.”
Louis took Naomi by the shoulder to guide her back to the house. As he did so, Veronica spotted several bandages on Louis’ fingers, all right at the point of his second knuckle on his right hand. She was only able to see them against Naomi’s shirt for contrast. On Louis’ left wrist was a metal watch, black in color and quite blocky. It might have looked expensive if it wasn’t so bulky.
He’s right-handed, Veronica realized. And injured his hands somehow.
Louis continued to force his daughter to the front door. He called Amy to follow, but the mother remained where she was. Amber started barking as Naomi was taken away, growling a little in a way Veronica hadn’t seen her do before. Amber had never shown any aggressive tendencies, so why was she doing so now?
What’s gotten into her?
“Don’t listen to what my husband says,” Amy said suddenly, and Veronica raised her eyes to look at her. “I’m sure you’ll find out what happened to Leo. And don’t worry about the lawyer thing. You can call me anytime you need something.”
