Death at Lampier

by Alex Harris

  Chapter 22

  Chalcey rode over to her friend’s ranch off Williamson Valley Road to spend the day practicing for the rodeo parade. Stephanie, although the same age as Chalcey, was five inches shorter and pounds lighter. A big gust of wind could have taken her to Mohave County. Stephanie worked her Morgan around the corral taking the mare through her paces as Chalcey watched.

  “Stephanie, will you show me how to get Red to make those turns?” Chalcey appreciated her friend’s ability.

  “I just learned from Mom. Maybe between Mom and me we can teach you.”

  “Why do you call your mom, Mom? I call my mom by her name and my grandma and great grandma by their names.”

  “Gosh, I never thought about it. She’s always been Mom. Why do you call them by their name?”

  “It’s always been that way. I just don’t know. Maybe I’ll get the scoop from all of them tonight and let you know. Are you coming over tomorrow to work on the entrance for the first night?”

  “Sure, I’ll be there. We need to finish up, I gotta go now. I’m running into town with Mom to pick up a new outfit for the rodeo.”

  Summer had pulled a chicken out of the freezer for supper, made dumplings for her world famous chicken and dumpling casserole, added salad and corn on the cob. Chalcey helped with the place settings while sipping iced tea.

  “Summer. Why do I call you Summer and Mom Oriole? Stephanie calls her mom and grandmother, Mom and Grandma.”

  “Gracious, child, the things you come up with. I guess I started it with Marlowe when she was little. My mother didn’t want to be identified as a grandmother. She felt she was just too high faluting and way too young to be a “grandma”. So I had Marlowe call her by her first name, Martha. Then Marlowe started calling me by my name instead of Mom. Then it just carried on to Oriole and on to you.”

  “What’s for supper?” Fred asked as he walked in with Oriole.

  “That’s no hello, Uncle Fred.” Chalcey hugged him.

  “Corn pone and chittlings and you’ll be glad to have it.” Summer laughed.

  “No, siree, we’re having chicken and dumplings. Your favorite.” Chalcey corrected her great grandmother.

  “Are we waiting for Marlowe? Or do we start without her?” Fred asked.

  “We wait. She’ll be here shortly. She got hung up on a new case.” Summer poured wine and iced tea.

  “Here she is now.”Chalcey said as the Mercedes stopped in the circle drive. “I’ll go help her get her stuff in.”

  “Hi, Marlowe. How was your day?” Chalcey opened the driver’s door and grabbed Marlowe’s briefcase.

  “Hey, punkin’. Thanks. Great day, just like all the others. What did you do today?” Marlowe walked her granddaughter up the steps and into the kitchen.

  “Well, Stephanie and I worked our routine for the parade and the grand entrance. She’s coming over tomorrow and we’re going to work some more.”

  “Tell you what, Li’l Missy, I’ll do chores tonight and you saddle up Red and show me all about it.” Fred suggested to Chalcey as he handed a glass of wine to Marlowe and gave her a hug.

  “Chalcey, you’re probably never going to get another offer like that. Maybe after dishes, we can all watch you perform.” Oriole encouraged her daughter.

  The dinner conversation touched on the day’s events and who did what to whom. “How’s the investigation into Lisa’s death coming?” Summer asked of the detectives.

  Oriole looked across at Fred, whose head came up and gave her a knowing glance.

  “Slow. Summer, where would Lisa hide something valuable and perishable?” Fred asked between mouth bites.

  “Like what?”

  “A cashier’s check. It’s missing and we can’t figure out where it went.” Fred answered hoping the matriarch would shed light on the hiding place.

  “Lisa trusted Frances. Did you talk to her?”

  “Frances had some documents, the will and a letter. But the check is nowhere to be found.” Oriole added.

  “When we were all younger, Lisa used to have an old fashioned roll top desk that had secret compartments. She used it for sentimental things she wanted to keep, you know, old love letters, birthday cards, her daddy’s war medals. The kind of things she wanted close to pull out and look at every once in awhile. Did you look in there?” Summer started clearing the table.

  “Didn’t know about it? When we were there we looked in her desk in her office but didn’t know to look for a secret compartment. Oriole let’s expand our search warrant tomorrow and go back out to lover boy’s house.”

  The inside chores were divided up and Fred and Chalcey went out to the barn to curry and saddle Red. After the women finished in the kitchen, they joined the other two at the corral to watch Chalcey put Red through his paces.

  Fred and Oriole arrived at the condo with the expanded warrant.

  “Mr. Mason, how are you today? We have a warrant to search the premises. Would you be so kind as to have a seat in the vehicle? This deputy will assist you.” Fred told Phil as he was escorting him outside.

  Fred and Oriole entered Lisa’s office and proceeded to the desk. Fred lifted the roll top and began to poke around the cubbyholes looking for this secret compartment. Methodically, he inspected the top row, second row and third row of pigeon holes, but found nothing. He sat down in the chair and studied the shapes and sizes of the drawers, cubbyholes, and roll top. “What am I missing?”

  “Move over and let a real puzzle solver take charge.” Oriole teased her partner. “When I was a teenager, I could hide stuff Marlowe and Summer would never find.”

  Oriole sat in the desk chair and ran her hands over the exterior of the desk looking for a release button. Nothing. She moved the desk out and did the same with the back. Nothing. She opened the center drawer and felt underneath. “Whoa. There’s a wood catch underneath here. Let’s take everything out of the drawer and turn it upside down.”

  They laid the drawer on top of the desk, slide the wood catch open to reveal an envelope inside. “Put gloves on and let’s see what we have.” Fred said.

  “The envelope is plain white. It’s tucked, not sealed. And lookee here. A missing cashier’s check. Now why would Lisa put the check in here? What was the purpose of getting a cashier’s check?” Fred pulled the check out.

  “She was fixing to divorce Phil. Maybe she wanted to have money on hand for the divorce. Or maybe it was a payoff to get rid of him. Or maybe she was hiding assets from him.” Oriole posited.

  “So, one more loose end tied up. Let’s ask Phil to get his attorney and meet us downtown after lunch and see if we can tie up some more ends.” Fred was moving toward the door when Oriole reached out and grabbed his arm.

  “Wait. There’s another compartment in this drawer. It’s the same size and shape but the latch is different. It’s sticking. You try.”

  “Never send a woman to do a man’s job, Snoopy.” Fred kidded as he took his knife out and gently pried the catch loose. “Presto. We have another cache. Looks like a notepad, one of those tiny little things about the size of a cell phone. It’s in Lisa’s writing. Last page is for May 2. In paging back, it doesn’t look like she wrote every day. Here’s one entry: ’MR tc off. PM od. fl 2 mr res. Jt tc re job. ‘ Looks to me like a code or shorthand. PM is probably Phil Mason. What do you think?” He handed the diary to Oriole.

  “’tc’ could be telephone call. ‘off” could be office. What is MR? It could be Monique Richards. If we follow this logic, ‘Jt’ could be Jennifer Tribble. So Monique Richards called the office. Phil Mason is ‘od’. Jennifer Tribble called re job. What is ‘fl 2 mr res.’?” Oriole turned the notepad back over to Fred.

  “’od’ overdose, -------. Pull Monique back in on ‘fl 2 Monique res’. What would res be? Reservation, responsible, research, residence? ‘fl’ could be flower, fly, floor. ‘2’ could be number 2 or to or too.” Fred was free associating with the letters and number.

  “’od’ could be overdr
awn. ‘fl’ could be follow. Now what do we have.

  “Monique Richards telephone call office. Phil Mason overdrawn. Follow Monique Richards to residence. Jennifer Tribble telephone call re: job. But which residence? Monique’s or Lisa’s or another? And what does it all mean? Why was she keeping a diary in a hiding place?” Oriole searched the rest of the desk for any clues and any more hiding places.

  “Finished? Let’s take this down to the office and use the shorthand we developed and see what else she may have written. I think we should insist on Happy Hubby joining us with his mouthpiece.” Fred stated as he put the drawer back in the desk.

  “How about you do that and I’ll go see Monique. Then we can get two things done at once.” Oriole suggested as they left the condo.

  “Ms. Richards, thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I have a few questions about the late Mrs. Mason.” Oriole asked knowing Lisa did not use the last name Mason, but wanting to see the girlfriend’s reaction.

  “You mean Lisa Woods? Not Mrs. Mason.” Monique’s voice was like fingernails on a blackboard.

  “Why did you place a call to her in early May?” Oriole went for the throat. Baffle them with bullshit and assumptions.

  “How did you find out about the phone call?”

  “I’m the one asking questions, Ms. Richards. Why did you call her at the office?”

  “I was looking to buy a foreclosure for investment and wanted some advice. Phil told me Lisa could give me an idea of the rates and if I could buy this one property for an investment or if it was one you had to live in.”

  The explanation was too pat to satisfy Oriole. There was something canned about the deliverance of the message.

  “I understand that you and Phil have been meeting.” Oriole was good about making a statement of fact and insinuating a whole other concept.

  “Where did you hear that? From that nosey Frances?”

  Oriole was moving ahead just by letting Monique put her foot in it. “How long have you been seeing Phil?”

  “I’ve known Phil for several years. He may come to work in our office.”

  “I’m talking about something more than work. For instance, why was Lisa following you?”

  The color drained from Monique’s face, leaving the blush applied in the morning to stand out like clown spots. “She was following me? When? Why?” Monique drew her eyebrows together in consternation.

  “You tell me.” Oriole offered nothing.

  “I think she was suspicious of Phil. Maybe even a little jealous, I guess.” Monique dropped her gaze.

  “Of course, she had reason.” It was a statement, not a question. “Anything else you can tell me?”

  “No.” The answer came out flat.

  As Oriole returned to her car, she turned on her cell phone to find a message from Fred to call. “Fred. What’s going on?”

  “Dispatch let me know they’ve found Mug Shot Jenny in Flagstaff. Our deputy is meeting a Coconino deputy at the county line for an exchange. She should be here in a couple hours.”

  “Good. Monique all but confessed to an affair with Phil. When are Phil and his attorney coming down?”

  “They’ll be here at 2:00. Will you make it?”

  “I’m leaving here now. I’ll be there before they get there.” Oriole hung up and started her car.

  The hard interview room was being used by another detective on a sexual assault case, so Fred and Oriole set up in the soft interview room. The soft room was usually used to interview victims and/or children. In order to make the room more unfriendly, they moved in extra chairs and a small end table and moved out the stuffed animals.

  Phil Mason arrived on time with his attorney in tow. John Williams, well known criminal defense attorney from Flagstaff, presented as a tall, well dressed man in his mid 50’s. The custom tailored suit, more likely for a mob mouthpiece, fit him perfectly. The pale blue shirt was creaseless. His red and yellow tie was matched with a handkerchief sticking out of the suit jacket pocket. His salt and pepper hair, recently styled added distinction to his presence. It was obvious that the recent hairstyle was accompanied by a manicure as his nails glistened in the sunlight.

  “Detectives. John Williams. I’m Mr. Mason’s attorney. He is here to answer your questions. Here’s how it works. You ask a question. I determine if it is a question he can answer. I tell him to answer or not and we move on. I have to be back in Flagstaff in two hours so let’s get started.” He sat down and motioned for Phil Mason to sit next to him.

  The room was equipped with audio and video capability. The video camera was positioned so that the officer usually sat with his back to the door to capture a better view of the person being interviewed. Either Mr. Williams didn’t know or didn’t care that he was facing full on to the video camera.

  “Thank you, Mr. Williams and Mr. Mason. Mr. Mason, tell us about your wife’s diary.” Fred jumped in with both feet.

  “My wife’s….” Phil began and was immediately cut off by the attorney.

  “Stop. You do not speak until I tell you to. Remember.” He reached out and squeezed Phil’s arm. Williams turned to the officers, “What is this diary?”

  “We located a diary in Lisa Wood’s handwriting. What do you know about it?” Fred continued talking to Phil rather than the attorney.

  “Answer.” The command sounded more like telling a dog to sit.

  “Ah, nothing. I didn’t know she had one. I’ve never seen one.” Phil answered.

  “In her diary, she mentions Monique Richards. Do you know why?” Oriole only partially told the truth.

  “Do not answer.” Suit barked.

  Phil having learned his lesson remained silent.

  “Monique called your wife’s office. Do you know why?” Oriole continued.

  “Do not answer.”

  “Lisa Woods had a cashier’s check for $25,000.00. Do you know why?”

  Williams leaned toward Phil and quietly asked, “Do you?”

  Phil leaned toward Williams conspiratorially and answered, “No.”

  “The answer is no. Move on.”

  “Do you know how Lisa got to work the morning she died?” Fred decided to try a different tack.

  “Answer.”

  “No.”

  “Why did you cancel your luncheon with her on the day she died?” Oriole peppered him.

  “Answer.”

  “I had a tee time with my golf team and was supposed to have lunch afterwards.” Phil was making it up as he went along.

  “But you didn’t show up for your tee time, did you? Why?”

  “Don’t answer.”

  “You lied about the luncheon didn’t you?” Oriole kept at him.

  “That will be it. We’re done here. You failed to respect the perimeters of the meeting. You can charge him or we’re leaving.” The suit stood up and reached down for Phil’s arm to pull him to his feet.

  “Sorry, you see it that way. We’re conducting an investigation into a homicide. I would think your client would want that solved as much as we do. If your client has nothing to hide, there’s no reason not to answer our questions.” Fred applied honey to the vinegar in his message.

  “Look, Detective, I’m not a 1st year public defender. I’ve been down the road before with detectives just like you. You get an answer you don’t like you twist it and make it into something it isn’t. You get an idea in your head and then make the idea a fact by an innuendo. I’m telling you here and now, charge him or we walk. And send me a copy of the video and audio.” Suit’s face had deepened to a red shade matching his tie.

  “Thank you very much for the opportunity to spend time with Mr. Mason. If you would like to continue this meeting, please call us. You are free to go.” Fred reached out to shake Suit’s hand and before Suit could think to react, he extended his hand.

  Shortly after Suit and Mason left, the detectives got word that Jennifer Tribble had been booked into Verde Jail. They packed up and drove over to interview the
absconder.

  “Ms. Tribble, you realize you were on probation and absconded from jail time. Correct?” Oriole started the interview.

  “I was so scared. I knew you would be looking at me because of the problems I had with Lisa. I just ran.”

  “Tell us about those problems.” Fred leaned forward to make eye contact with the probationer.

  “I wanted my old job back. I tried to tell her I’d learned my lesson. I wanted her to understand that I knew what I did was wrong and she wouldn’t listen. I went off on her.”

  “When was this?”

  “I wanted to see her so I could explain and she refused. I waited until I could get some time off of work and drove out to the office to wait for her to talk to her in person.”

  “When did you go out to the office?”

  “The day she died.” Mug Shot Jenny started crying. “That’s why I didn’t want to talk to you guys. I knew you’d think I did something bad. But I swear I didn’t. I didn’t have anything to do with her death.”

  Fred and Oriole looked at each other. Fred got out the Miranda card and recited it before they got into an area that an attorney could challenge.

  “Tell us about that day.”

  “I drove over to the office. Her car was in the front parking lot. I walked around to the back door and knocked. She came to the door. She was real mad to see me. She stepped outside and yelled at me. She wouldn’t even let me inside. She was so rude. All I wanted to do was talk with her about a job. She made me go away. I sat in my car for a few minutes; then I started to leave and saw her get into her car. Someone else came out of the office and got in her car with her. That’s all I know.” More tears fell as she started sobbing in earnest.

  “Did you know the person getting in the car?” Oriole was now leaning forward.

  “I didn’t get a good look. It could have been anybody. The person had on a hat.”

  Fred and Oriole reflected on the first meeting with Phil Mason.

  “Would you know the person, if you saw him or her again?”

  “No, I didn’t get a good look. I don’t even know if it was a man or woman. I was leaving and just glanced in that direction. Look I’m sorry I ran. I was just so scared. Can’t we do something to work this out? I need my job so I can pay restitution. Please don’t charge me with new charges.” She wiped her running nose with her sleeve and Oriole handed her some tissues.

  “We’ll be back shortly.” Fred stood, as did Oriole and they left the interview room.

  “Think it could be Mason? Or could it be someone we don’t even know about.” Oriole asked as they stood in the hall.

  “Maybe. His whereabouts are unsubstantiated.”

  “Gad, you sound like Marlowe. I don’t think we have enough for a warrant on his clothes. Suit isn’t going to let us talk to him. Let’s see if we can find anyone else who was involved with Lisa Wood. There is the accountant we need to track down as well as we need to find more about the embezzling and what about the appointment with MS. for 1:30. Is that Marlowe?”

  “Let’s get back to the office and start on some of the loose ends and see if anything shakes out.”

  “Sarge, we’re done with Mug Shot Jenny. You can take her on back to her digs.” Fred was ready to get on with the case.