Alibi II (9 page)

That was the last time anyone ever saw Christine Allison Snelling. Her family would be forever broken. Her mother would have a nervous breakdown and her father wouldn’t speak for months. She was believed to have been abducted. It was because of her sister that Lori ventured into law enforcement. And to this day, she still searched, hoping to find her long-lost sister.

“Knock knock, you ready, time for school,” joked Lori as she opened the door to the hotel room where Daisy was staying.

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be,” said Daisy, next to her bags.

“It’ll be great. Don’t worry, you’re going to love it. Did you decide on a name?”

“No…well, sort of.”

“Well, maybe for you the admissions line will be long today, but you have to figure something by the time we get there.”

A name was important because it identified you to the world. A name was also supposed to fit a person like a glove.

Daisy had a
People
magazine on a tabletop with Princess Diana gracing the cover. She was beautiful and regal and her life appeared perfect, loving, and safe. All her life since she was a little girl Daisy had dreamed of being a princess, playing with her dolls and acting as if she herself were royalty. She smiled at the kind face on the page smiling slightly at her. Then there was the challenge of a last name. Channeling her mother, only one came to life, Poitier, after Sidney Poitier, her mother’s favorite actor in all the world.

“Diana Abigail Poitier,” said Daisy, smiling.

“Wow, great name,” said Lori as she started gathering Daisy’s luggage and began helping her to the car with it.

The college campus was thirteen miles from Phoenix, Arizona. On the way over, while Lori finished up the paperwork with Daisy’s new name, Daisy stared out the window in silence, thinking about everything she had been through. Her life had taken a dramatic turn that involved many lost lives. Her life was certainly a mess, to say the least, and while she couldn’t change what had happened in the past, she promised herself that there would be some changes moving forward. The vast green countryside promised a new beginning filled with new possibilities.

Once on campus, Lori Snelling handled everything for Daisy. All she had to do was sit back and smile.

“Wow, you’ll be staying in McClintock Hall, and here’s your Arizona State Welcome Kit, your key to your room, your school schedule, a booklet and directory of the campus, your counselor’s booklet, whom you really need to let help you, and here you go, a welcome bag with all kinds of goodies. Make sure you look at that school schedule folder, because it will let you know all the books you will need to purchase for your classes.”

Lori stood over Daisy, passing her folder after folder, welcome kits, and bags of assorted goods, and when she was done, Daisy held a pile at least eight inches thick.

“Wow, that’s a lot, but you can handle it, I know you can. Go through everything and remember your counselor can really help guide you until you learn your way.”

“Thanks, Lori,” said Daisy, truly appreciating all that Lori had done for her over the past two weeks. She hadn’t just done her job, she had become a big sister, a mentor, a confidante for Daisy, and Daisy began to feel insecure at the thought of her leaving.

“What will I do without you?” asked Daisy, tears in her eyes at the thought of being alone and having absolutely no one in her life.

“Awww shucks, bumblebee, are you getting sentimental? Not you, city mouse with a heart of steel. Now you’re gonna be just fine, Daisy…I mean Diana.” She smiled, pointing out Daisy’s new name. “I don’t even question it. This is a new start and you can’t go forward if you stay in the past. Let everything go, and embrace the adventure of your new freedom, your new life, and don’t be afraid, just don’t be afraid.”

“But…I have no one in this world. I’m like the most alone person on the planet.”

“No, trust me, you’re not, there’s people way lonelier than you, believe you me. Listen, there are thousands of young people on this campus trying to figure out who they are, where they belong in life, and what their purpose is. Everyone wants to make friends. Trust me, there’s someone here dying to be your friend. I bet in less than a month, you’ll have plenty of friends. Really, you’re a pretty girl, and you’re gonna make friends with no problem. And besides, I’m here and I’m your friend, and I’m only a phone call away,” she said, giving Daisy a warm hug, letting her know she wasn’t alone. “Trust me, you’re not alone. It’s gonna be all right, just call me if you need anything. Besides, I’m still working with you. We have counseling to get set up, for these very issues you’re feeling right now. A lot of people suffer depression from being separated from their former life. Don’t worry, I’m going to help you get through this transition, this is what our ninety days is all about.”

They found Daisy’s dorm and unlocked the door. A young woman was standing in the middle of the floor looking at a calendar poster she had just hung on the wall.

“Hi, my name is Paige, Paige Hunter.” She smiled, extending her hand as Daisy walked in the door.

“Hi, I’m Da…” she quickly caught herself remembering her new name. “Diana, Diana Poitier,” she said, extending her hand and taking Paige’s into hers.

“I’m Diana’s aunt, you can call me Lori,” said Lori, though she was obviously a completely different race than Daisy.

Maybe she’s an aunt through marriage.
Paige smiled as she greeted her new roommate, a little upset that she’d no longer have the space to herself.

Lori Snelling stood quietly as she watched Paige, carefully making a mental note to investigate her and run her through central, make sure she wasn’t a risk for Daisy. She stepped outside the room and used a paging device that had a keyboard attached to ask her unit to do a background check on Daisy’s roommate. She’d know more about this girl than this girl knew about herself in less than three point six minutes.

“If you need anything just let me know,” said Paige, who was already settled, having moved into the dorm back in August when school began. She had the entire wall on her side of the room completely decorated with posters, calendars, and her life’s accomplishments. It was a little late for Daisy to have a problem with the left side of the room. Paige had already taken the twin bed and the wall on the right.

“Yeah, sure, it’s fine. This side is just great.” Daisy smiled, looking at Paige, who was so stunningly beautiful that Daisy couldn’t stop looking at her. She had long black hair and big brown eyes. She definitely appeared to be mixed, although Daisy wasn’t sure with what, maybe Spanish, maybe Asian, definitely black, but she had no idea of Paige’s nationality at first glance.

“Well, I’m hungry, would you like me to bring you back something from the campus market?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine, thanks,” said Lori.

“Yeah, I’m fine, too,” said Daisy, thinking how lucky she was to have a nice, pretty roommate.

“Okay, well I’ll be back, guys,” said Paige as she closed the door.

The room was smaller than Daisy had expected, but at least her roommate seemed nice enough. Her bed felt great as she sat down on it, testing the mattress for firmness.

“Not bad, right?” asked Lori.

“No, it’s not bad at all.”

“Well, I’m going to let you get settled,” Lori said, looking around the room, figuring it was best to let Daisy get comfortable in her new surroundings. She hugged Daisy and again promised she was only a phone call away. Daisy watched as she closed the door behind her. She looked around the room. It was hard to believe she was actually there. It was certainly a far cry from the rough inner-city streets of Philadelphia.

Diana Abigail Poitier.
She smiled at the thought of her new life and her new name. She spun around in a circle in the middle of the room before falling backward onto her bed. She had many plans for getting her life together. She was lucky to have gotten out of West Philadelphia and lucky to have another chance at life. She planned to do everything in her power to do the right thing and live a good life. At first she had been upset, but not anymore, everything for her would fall into place, her life wouldn’t be wasted. She had the power to be anybody in the world she wanted to be and she planned to use it.
I think this might really work out.

Tommy and Merva drove up Susquehanna Avenue and turned on Twenty-third Street, pulling up in front of 2234 N. Twenty-third Street, where police tape was hanging across the front door of the house, sealing off the home. Not even the family was to enter until forensics removed the tape.

“Let’s take a look,” said Tommy as they both closed the car doors behind them. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to, but, who followed the rules anymore?

Merva carried a camera and began snapping pictures. She walked down the block as Tommy looked around outside and on the porch. There were tire tracks in the street, and Merva took several photos of them, hoping that they would offer some type of evidence later down the line. She took pictures of the bullet-riddled front porch and the bullet-shattered window and then made her way up the porch steps.

“Think we should speak to any of the neighbors? You never know, maybe someone saw something,” said Merva, knowing that even if someone did see something, nine times out of ten, they wouldn’t be willing to offer any information to the police.

“I saw something,” said an old man a few houses down sitting on his porch.

“Really, what’s your name, sir?” asked Tommy as he pulled out his pen and pad and walked down the steps over to where the man was sitting on his porch.

“Clarence Wilson,” the man said, not caring about the thugs that were terrorizing the neighborhood. He wasn’t afraid and would be damned if he would be.

“It was a silver Oldsmobile. It came through here last night just a little after seven o’clock. I was going in the house when I noticed the car moving slower than a turtle, then it got…I’d say…maybe twenty, twenty-five feet from their house and the driver just started firing. I hurried up and got out the way and got in the house and next thing I heard the gunfire stopped and the car took off speeding down the block.”

“Were you able to see the driver or the tag number of the vehicle, sir?” asked Merva.

“No, I didn’t see the driver. I had to get in the house and get out the way, I told you, but it was a silver Olds, I saw that much,” Mr. Clarence said, for sure knowing that much was true.

“Do you know the make, sir, or the year of the car?”

“Well, I think it might have been an Oldsmobile, but I couldn’t tell you the year. It wasn’t new,” added Mr. Clarence, as if that was all he could remember.

“Here you go, sir, here’s my card. If you can think of anything at all, please call the number right here,” said Tommy, making sure the older gentleman knew how to reach him if he thought of anything else.

“Do you know if Beverly’s gonna make it? I saw the paramedics taking her body out the house last night.”

“We don’t know yet, sir. We’re gonna be stopping by the hospital to speak with some of the family members that were inside at the time of the drive-by,” said Merva. “We’re hoping that maybe one of the family members inside can give us a little assistance in helping catch the perpetrator.

“Oh, okay, that sounds good,” said Mr. Clarence.

“If you want call that number on the card, we’ll let you know and we’ll keep you posted.”

“Well thank you so much, I sure do appreciate it,” said Mr. Clarence. “I hope you find whoever did this and get ’em off the streets.”

“That’s what we’re here to do,” said Tommy as he and Merva walked back to the car.

“Let’s pay a visit to Mrs. Robertson’s and then stop by Jefferson and check on the victim,” said Merva, as if it sounded like a plan.

“And I’ll have central search this silver Oldsmobile, see if anything pops up. We might get a lead.”

“That’s a long shot without the tag,” commented Merva.

“Yeah, but you never know,” said Tommy.

“Yeah, you never know,” said Merva as she walked down the street, checking out the neighborhood.

The two of them cut through the park to West Philadelphia where Mrs. Robertson lived. An SPCA van was parked outside to rescue Boots. The detectives in the homicide unit had called for them to take away her now-homeless pet.

“Hey, kitty, kitty,” squeaked Merva.

“You serious?” Tommy asked, as they made their way inside the building and up to the fifth floor where Mrs. Robertson’s body had been found in her doorway. A white tape outline showed the exact position of Mrs. Robertson’s body, which had just been removed from the crime scene before they got there.

Detectives and police officers combed the older woman’s apartment. Tommy walked in, careful not to disturb the crime scene.

“Watch it, Delgado, that’s where her cat was sitting,” said 
Detective
Monahan.

“It’s a doorway, Monahan, I have to walk through like everybody else,” answered Delgado, wanting to tell him to take a hike.

“Look at all this blood,” Merva said, staring at the floor as if she hadn’t seen that much blood in her life.

“Come on, what you waiting for?” asked Tommy, wondering why she was so hesitant.

For Merva, the hardest thing about her job was the crime scenes. It was something that she couldn’t get used to no matter how many times she investigated them. The blood, the bodies, and the smell of it left her nauseated and light-headed; it always did. Merva stepped over the puddles of blood in the same footprints as Tommy. She walked past him and into the apartment and looked into the kitchen, then the living room. She had on gloves and a pair of investigating tweezers to pick things up and she was always careful not to disturb anything that might be considered evidence. She knew that there was nothing worse than contaminated evidence.

“What’s this?” asked Tommy, still at the door in the hallway, next to the blood, next to where the body was. He picked up a tiny piece of orange tiger lily petal with his tweezers. He held it up to Merva’s face.

“I don’t know,” she said, examining the piece of petal before Tommy placed it in a small bag.