A closer look revealed that the man’s clothing was stained with something, while the drunk’s hair appeared to be coated in grease of some sort.
The man appeared to be out cold, and so Owens spoke in a normal voice to Frank.
“This guy being here, does that change our plans?”
“No, it looks like he’ll be bailed out too, if what I overheard the guards saying was true. But Owens, Aaron and I got to thinking about that fire you want to set. It might not be easy to do. It rained last night and all we’ll have is a match. If we could just get our hands on some lighter fluid or something, the fire would be a cinch.”
Owens looked around and saw nothing that would help start a fire, and had no idea where they would even get a match to light one. He wrinkled his nose, as the odor coming off the drunk stung his eyes. He was about to move as far away from the man as he could get when an idea occurred to him. Owens reached through the bars and grabbed the hair of the drunk sleeping in the cell beside him.
Although Owens gripped the man’s hair, he didn’t pull on it, and the drunk kept sleeping. When he withdrew his hand and held it up for the other men to see, his hand was slick and coated with whatever substance the drunk had in his hair.
“I don’t know what this crap is, but it sure smells flammable,” Owens said.
“His clothes still look wet, but he’s been in here for hours. It must be the same crap that’s in his hair,” Aaron said.
“Let’s see what we got here,” Owens said.
He had torn the lining out of the cheap prison jacket he wore, and was using it to wipe the oily goop off his hand. When he was done, he held it up.
“If we set this on fire and toss it into the bushes they may burn, damp or not.”
“It looks too small. The flames may eat through that before the bushes and weeds catch on fire,” Frank said.
Aaron pointed at the drunk.
“Take that jacket off him. I bet he won’t even wake up.”
Owens looked at the drunk and shook his head.
“He’s bound to wake. I’ll have to roll him over.”
“So what?” Frank said. “You’ll still have the jacket.”
“Yeah, but won’t he start hollering his head off once Aaron disappears up into the ceiling again? He’s in here on a simple drunk and disorderly charge. He’d be an idiot to try to escape, while ratting us out might gain him some points.”
“You’re right, Owens,” Aaron said. “But we still need that jacket. If those bushes don’t burn out back, we’ll be stuck here.”
Owens reached into the other cell again and grabbed the collar of the drunk’s jacket. The garment was unzipped, which made it easier, but he still had to get the man’s arms out of the sleeves. He gave the jacket a tug and the man snored louder, while the bottom of the jacket moved up an inch.
Several more tugs elicited groans from the drunk. Owens had two handfuls of the soiled jacket, but the man’s arms were still caught in the sleeves.
Owens grew angry, said, “Fuck it!” and pulled as hard as he could. The drunk’s arms shot up into the air and the jacket came free, causing Owens to fall backwards to the floor. When he looked back at the drunk, he saw that the man had turned onto his side, but hadn’t woken up.
Frank and Aaron were laughing as Owens got up from the floor with the jacket in his right hand.
“I’m glad you enjoyed that,” Owens said. “But we still have a problem.”
“What?” Frank said.
“We need a way to light this jacket on fire.”
“I can take care of that,” Frank said. “I’m scheduled to make a call after dinner and they let me go out for a smoke too. I’ll be all shackled up and shit, but I’ll make sure that I come back with a match.”
Owens nodded, as a smile spread on his face. He might actually get free. It figured it would happen only after he knew he was dying.
“When do we go?” Owens asked.
“Tonight,” Frank said. “After the midnight shift change. There will be less guards here then.”
Owens grinned wide. He was going to see his daughters again, and once he’d done that, he planned to find Ricardo Pierce and kill him.
If everything went right, he’d die a happy man.
CHAPTER 13
Pierce had risen early on Tuesday morning and joined Jake at the station house. After checking the overnight reports and grabbing a quick cup of coffee, they headed out.
Each of them took an end of the street, where the rear of the houses faced the path where Oscar Carlson died.
It was still early, and they caught most people as they headed out to work. Without exception they were willing to talk, even if some were pressed for time. The idea of a murder happening in the woods right behind their homes was upsetting, to say the least.
No one reported seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary on Sunday night, while most said the violent storm made enough noise to drown out a gunshot.
However, when asked if there was anyone in the neighborhood who they felt was prone to acting violently, both Pierce and Jake were directed to one person. It was the husband of the woman who discovered Carlson’s body, Conner King.
Pierce and Jake went to Lana King’s house again after checking the records and finding that the neighbors had twice reported “disturbances,” coming from the home.
“According to the neighbors I spoke to, loud crashes were heard coming from the house on a regular basis,” Pierce said.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I got the same story, and Lana King is a small woman. If her husband is tossing her about, she could wind up seriously hurt.”
Mrs. King opened the door with her daughter in her arms. She looked surprised to see them again, but Pierce and Jake didn’t notice. They were too busy eyeing the hulking figure coming up behind Mrs. King. It was her husband.
Conner King was well over six-feet tall and sported the physique of a bodybuilder
As Lana introduced them, Conner King extended his hand as he smiled.
Pierce had expected to feel a bone-crushing grip, but instead, he found Conner King’s handshake to be merely firm. The man’s smile also appeared to be genuine, meanwhile, Lana King seemed nervous and was eyeing her husband carefully.
Jake asked Conner King if he knew Oscar Carlson.
“We’ve spoken a time or two.”
“Were they friendly exchanges?” Jake asked.
King nodded.
“Sure, I just asked him not to come in the yard again or to speak to my daughter,” Conner King used one of his massive hands to brush back his daughter’s hair. “The little one here gets nervous around strangers.”
That simple act of stroking the child’s hair made the muscles in King’s arm bunch up and flex.
“What do you do for a living, Mr. King?” Pierce asked.
“I’m a professional bodybuilder,” King said, and Pierce felt stupid for asking his question.
“Of course you are, and it certainly shows.”
***
Pierce and Jake asked Conner King and his wife a few more questions and then walked back to their car.
When Jake saw a neighbor waving for them to walk over to her home, they changed direction and spoke to the woman.
“You’re Mrs. Caldwell, right?” Pierce asked. “What can we do for you, ma’am?”
Mrs. Caldwell was a trim woman in her twenties with brown hair and gray eyes. She turned around in her doorway and pointed at her staircase. Like Lana King, she held a child in her arms, but hers was a boy no more than a year old.
“My son’s nursery is on the second floor. The window in that room faces the spot where that tree branch fell.”
Jake looked excited.
“Did you see something?”
“No, and as I told your partner here, I wasn’t at home that night. I had gone to visit my sister in the afternoon and returned yesterday.”
Pierce studied the woman’s face.
“You’ve remember
ed something since we talked?”
Mrs. Caldwell nodded.
“I have a woman watch my son a few evenings a week while I attend night school. This being summer, I haven’t been going.”
“Yes?” Pierce said, while hoping there was a payoff to the conversation.
“The thing is, I have a nanny cam in my son’s nursery. It’s a hidden camera and I forgot to turn it off.”
Jake’s smile returned.
“Please tell me that your camera is aimed at the window?”
“No, it’s aimed at my son’s crib, but the crib is right in front of the window, and the shade was up all weekend.”
“Mrs. Caldwell, it could be very important that we get a look at that film.”
The young mother reached into her pocket and took out a flash drive.
“Everything from the last week is on there, but remember, the power went out that night. I’m not sure how long it filmed.”
Pierce took the flash drive from her hand.
“Did you look at it?”
“No, Detective, and I don’t want to. If that poor man’s murder is on there, I don’t want to see it.”
“I understand, and this could be invaluable towards solving the case, thank you.”
***
On the ride back to the station, Jake used the computer to look into Conner King. The giant man trained for and entered several bodybuilding contests a year, and had done extremely well. By Jake’s rough estimate, Conner King’s income as a bodybuilder was well into the six figure range over the last few years.
“I haven’t heard the term in a while now,” Pierce said. “But could we be looking at a case of ‘roid rage?”
“Steroid abuse? I don’t know. I thought that the bodybuilding events tested for that now. Anyway, I don’t like him for it. Despite his size, I don’t think he did it.”
“That’s funny,” Pierce said. “I got the impression that he was hiding something.”
They waited until they were back at the station before they viewed the video from the flash drive. They wanted to look at it on a large monitor, and also make copies.
Most of the film from the day of the murder was innocuous and consisted of hours of video showing a sleeping toddler or an empty crib. When a tiny raincoat clad figure appeared on the trail at the far right edge of the camera’s range, it appeared to be heading towards Carlson’s shop. Jake froze the film.
“We need to get this blown up to be certain, but that looks like our victim to me.”
Pierce agreed, and the video resumed. Jake decided to fast forward it closer to the assumed time of the murder. Oscar Carlson’s sister, Leah Meyers, said that her brother closed his shop at six on Sundays but usually stayed late to catch up on paperwork and order more inventory.
They began watching the video from the 6:00 p.m. mark and saw that the picture quality changed drastically due to the growing intensity of the wind-driven rain of the storm.
At the 8:42 p.m. mark on the video, Carlson came into view as he headed back towards home with his head down and his hood up to avoid the rain.
“What the hell?” Jake said. “He’s already walked past the spot where the tree limb fell.”
Pierce was puzzling over the scene the video showed as well, but then, Oscar Carlson reentered camera range with an arm raised up and pointing. Carlson moved out of view as he continued to walk back the other way. He then reappeared minutes later at the very edge of the camera’s range, even as the tree limb fell from above and drove him to the ground.
“Did you see that?” Jake said.
“The branch?”
“No, watch it again. Carlson was running when that giant branch struck him. I think someone was chasing him.”
Jake backed up the video and this time Pierce saw it too. Carlson had been running. They let the film continue to play and saw that Carlson wasn’t moving. Although the coroner’s report stated that being struck by the tree limb wasn’t what killed him, it appeared that it had rendered him unconscious.
A figure appeared, a hulking shape that was almost surely Conner King. Carlson’s form had looked tiny because of the distance, but not Conner. He seemed huge, was dressed only in jeans and what looked like a T-shirt, but was only seen from behind.
Pierce and Jake looked at each other, and wondered if they were about to view a murder.
CHAPTER 14
Amy Lowe returned home with a load of packages and collapsed on her sofa in exhaustion.
She had been busy. While Jake and Pierce were working on solving a murder, Amy had been involved in planning a kidnapping.
Her preoccupied mind had barely let her sleep and she had risen before dawn and began writing out lists, plans, and strategies on a notepad.
Hours spent researching on the internet had proven fruitful and she believed that she knew what not to do, as well as what worked.
Simple worked, while complicated plans didn’t, but Amy also realized that she had a liability that could sink her plans like a stone.
It was her young lover, Matt.
Conversely, Matt was also her greatest asset. Matt could grant her access to the Pierce home while also keeping watch.
But, would he do that? Amy didn’t think so, not even for a share of the ransom money. However, the boy was in love with her, and while there were things he wouldn’t do, she believed that he also would do nothing to hurt her.
Amy took her phone out. It was the cheap phone she only used to contact Matt. After several text exchanges, they had made plans to get together the next morning. She would treat the boy like a king and make him fall deeper in love with her.
Matt had to remain silent, as he would surely suspect her once Val Pierce went missing. Amy had questioned Matt about Val’s life and had learned that the woman would be alone at her house on Friday afternoon. Valeria Pierce and her friend Ginny Drake alternated watching each other’s’ children on Fridays so that each of the mothers could have a period of “Me time” each week.
Amy envied Val Pierce. The woman seemed to have it all. She had a husband who loved her, two adorable daughters, that house and land, and even had a great career working for a celebrity, Maria Romo, the former news anchor. Amy’s features darkened. Val Pierce was living the life that Amy felt she should have had.
With a groan, Amy rose from the sofa and began emptying her bags, there was so much yet to do, and it made her sigh to think of all the tasks ahead of her.
Crime, if done right, was hard work.
***
As Pierce and Jake watched a video of the night Oscar Carlson died, they saw Conner King walk over and stared down at Carlson’s helpless form.
Connor King just stood there staring down at the man. Moments later, King dropped to his knees beside Carlson, and that’s when the storm knocked out the power.
“Damn it!” Jake said. “Another few seconds and we might have caught the murder on video.”
“Still, that looks pretty damning for Conner King.”
Jake rubbed the back of his neck.
“The funny thing is... I still don’t think he did it.”
“We know he lied about not seeing Carlson that night, and why was Carlson running away? Had King threatened him and then chased him down?”
“We need to bring him in for questioning,” Jake said.
“Yeah, and I bet you he’ll lawyer up right away.”
***
Pierce would have won the bet had Jake agreed to it.
Not only did Conner King show up with a lawyer, but the lawyer was his brother. Jason King was as tall as his younger brother but carried far less muscle. He was still a powerful looking man and he was insisting that his brother was innocent.
Once they showed the video to Conner King, Pierce saw the man become visibly shaken, but his brother and lawyer stayed adamant about his client’s innocence.
“That just proves that the man was killed by that God-awful branch. It was horrible luck and timing, yes, but it clears my brother
.”
Jake shook his head.
“Our expert says that Oscar Carlson was killed by a series of blows to the same area, not one massive impact.”
The lawyer smiled.
“I assure you, Detective, if this legal farce ever reached the trial stage I could find ten experts to refute your expert. My brother has no history of violence and if I were on a jury and saw that video, I would think the massive branch killed the man outright.”
Pierce knew that the lawyer was correct. They could arrest Conner King on what they had, but they really needed more before taking that step. At least, that was Pierce’s opinion, but he reminded himself that Jake was the lead detective on the case, and so it was his decision.
Jake was staring at Conner King, who looked back at him with something that resembled embarrassment.
“Is there anything you’d like to tell us Mr. King?” Jake asked.
Conner King broke eye contact and shook his head. He was following his lawyer’s instructions and staying silent.
“You’re free to go,” Jake said. “But advise us of where you’re going before you take any trips.”
The two King brothers, lawyer and client, stood and left the interrogation room. Jake crossed his arms over his chest and slowly shook his head.
“We’re missing something here, Rick, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.”
Pierce slapped his partner on the shoulder.
“It’ll work out. We just need to gather more info. What’s our next step?”
Jake checked his watch.
“We both have to give depositions in the Shaw case. After that, I guess we’ll call it a day and tackle this again tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow, remember? Tomorrow we go to Pennsylvania.”
Jake smiled.
“Right, and I’m looking forward to that. Stacey can’t wait. She hasn’t seen Cynthia in a while, although they talk on the phone often.”
“That girl is becoming a cop because of your wife. She worships Stacey.”
Angels (A Detective Pierce Novel Book 3) Page 6
