Hollywood Prisoner: A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller (11 page)

I decided insomnia was now a permanent condition of my life. I lay in bed until after two in the morning before dozing off, then woke up at five. A hot shower and two cups of coffee later, I dragged myself into work. Bernie settled at my feet as I slumped into my chair across from Leo.

“You okay?” Leo asked, apparently seeing my condition.

“Fine for someone who got three hours sleep.” I remembered he’d gone home early yesterday to pick up his granddaughter from school. “How’s Meg?”

“Better. I think it’s just a touch of the flu. How did things go at the coroner’s office?”

I filled him in on Luke Morgan’s autopsy. “Two shots: one to the torso, a second at close range to the temporal region. It looks like Lambert moved in for the kill shot.”

“That’s not consistent with what he told us.”

“We need to go back to him today.” I then told him about Campbell’s autopsy, the findings that she was a heroin addict. “Natalie and Mo know about the murder from the news coverage. Mo said word on the street is that Campbell’s pusher works at her studio.”

“Maybe it was Morgan.”

“She didn’t think so. He was strictly a user, small time.”

“Sounds like we need to do some legwork at the studios.”

I agreed, then changed the subject, mentioning what my friends had said about a bartender seeing Pearl. “I thought we might go by his place tonight if time permits.”

“Let’s plan on it.” He glanced over, seeing that Darby and Mel were heading for the conference room. “Let’s go see if we can divide up duties without making those two unhappy.”

I stood and tossed my empty coffee cup in the trash. “We’d have a better chance at world peace.”

Lieutenant Edna was out of the office, but Selfie and Molly came to our meeting. We began by updating them on the autopsy results. Leo then asked our crime analysts if any of the involved parties had a record of drug offenses.

“Neither our victim nor Luke Morgan had any record of arrests,” Selfie said. She was sporting yellow hair and a matching blouse this morning. “Blake Lambert had a 11350 arrest that was dropped back in 2013.”

Section 11350 was a California Health and Safety code that made it illegal to possess certain drugs, including heroin.

“Do we know the circumstances of his arrest?” I asked.

Molly had the report. “He was at the beach in Santa Monica during some kind of disturbance. The police detained everyone and found a single baggie of heroin in a backpack. Lambert denied the backpack was his. The DA eventually decided they couldn’t prove it was his beyond a reasonable doubt and declined to file charges.”

  “Maybe both Turner and Lambert were regular users,” Mel suggested. Darby’s partner looked tired, like she was under stress, something that we had in common. “It could be that’s what brought them together.”

“And Luke Morgan was their dealer,” Darby suggested.

I shook my head. “My friend, Mo Simpson, said word on the streets is that Morgan was a user, but strictly small time. She thinks Campbell’s dealer might be working at Klondike Studios.”

“Your friend,” Darby scoffed. “What did you do, go home and tell her the details of our investigation?”

I raised my voice. “She saw what happened on the news and mentioned Morgan to me. I didn’t discuss anything with her.”

“You need to leave those meddling idiots out of our case.”

My voice went even higher now, along with my blood pressure. “They’re not idiots and they weren’t meddling.”

“Enough,” Leo said, as Darby opened his mouth. “Let’s stay on track and divide up duties.”

“Darby and I want to go back to Lambert,” Mel said.

“That could be a problem. If you’ll remember, he said he was going to be in seclusion.”

“Then we’ll un-seclude him,” Darby countered.

I glanced at Leo and shrugged, deciding that I was too tired to argue with him.

“Kate and I will meet with SID then,” Leo said, referencing the department’s Scientific Investigation Division. “After that we’ll canvass the neighborhood around the crime scene, see if anyone saw or heard anything. We can meet you both at Klondike Studios this afternoon and talk to the employees there.”

Before we ended the meeting, Selfie and Molly updated us on the Slayer case.

“We got a call from a detective in the city of Taft,” Molly said. “He’s working cold cases there and said they had a similar murder to ours back in 2012.”

“Why didn’t it show up in our databases?” I asked.

“The PD there is small. I got the impression they’re pretty much off the grid.”

“The MO is similar to our case,” Selfie said. “The victim was held in a rural area, probably for weeks, while she was assaulted and starved. The COD was a knife wound that slashed the carotid artery. We’re supposed to get the police reports later today, so we’ll let you know if there’s anything more.”

“Stay on top of it,” Leo said. “We need to catch a break.”

“If you’ll remember, that investigation is now with RHD,” Darby said. “It belongs to Markley and Waters.”

“Thanks to the chief trying to take the heat off an unsolved investigation,” Mel said. She glared at her partner and surprised me by saying, “There’s no reason we can’t take a look at the reports, then pass them along.”

Darby bit his lip but kept quiet. Maybe he and his partner weren’t seeing eye to eye on things.

Forty minutes later, when we were in the car headed to SID, I mentioned Mel’s reaction to Leo. “I don’t get the impression she’s happy with our new chief moving cases.” I then remembered that she’d supported the decision to make my father’s homicide a special interest case. “At least some cases.”

“She and Dunbar must have a whole lot of bad blood. You might want to talk to her one of these days. See if she’ll open up to you.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly best buds.” I exhaled. “I’ll try.”

Leo glanced at me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I get the impression you’re pretty stressed. Maybe returning to work so soon wasn’t the best idea.”

“I’m fine.” I was irritated by his comment, but had to admit he might be right. “I’m just…there’s a lot that’s happened in a short period of time. I think I’m still processing everything.”

Leo nodded, but kept quiet. The truth was, my upcoming meeting with Jenson Moore was on my mind. I didn’t have the slightest clue about how to handle him and I knew that both my life and my sister’s life could be at stake. I again toyed with the idea of telling Joe Dawson about the meeting, but decided the risk to Lindsay was too great.

The department’s SID division was located on the state university campus in Los Angeles. The criminalistics laboratory handled field investigations of crime scenes, firearm analysis, narcotic evidence, and did DNA, blood, and urine analysis.

We met with Kathy Maitland, the forensics supervisor who handled the Campbell Turner investigation, at the division’s technical laboratory. After discussing the autopsy results and issues related to where the bodies were located in relation to blood and tissue splatter patterns, Maitland gave us her overview of the crime scene.

“It looks like our perpetrator came into the house from the garage and confronted Campbell in her kitchen,” Maitland said. The crime scene supervisor was in her late thirties and rather plain, with mousy brown hair. “There was probably some kind of argument that ensued, and the attack started there. There was a blood trail across the tile in the kitchen that continued into the living room, where the body was found. It looks like Campbell fought back there, but quickly succumbed to the violent attack.”

Maitland went on for some time, talking about the amount of blood and tissue found near the body. I could tell that she’d been impacted by the gruesome scene and asked for her personal thoughts about what happened.

“It’s just a guess and nothing that can go into any reports,” she said, “but this crime was extremely vicious. The attack probably went on for some time, even after the victim was dead. I think anger played a big role in what happened.”

I looked at Leo. “If Luke Morgan did it, that would mean that he and Campbell were likely in some kind of relationship, and something went wrong that made him very angry.”

Leo nodded. “And, if they weren’t in a relationship, and Morgan was just infatuated with her, it doesn’t account for the level of anger or violence displayed.”

We went on for a few minutes, spinning scenarios, including the possibility that Blake Lambert murdered Campbell, even though there was nothing in the physical evidence that supported that. Maitland then turned her attention to Morgan, giving us her opinion about how he was killed.

“A single shell casing was found in the living room, about ten feet from where Campbell’s body was located. Morgan would have been several feet from Lambert when that shot occurred. The second shot was, as Brie indicated, made at a much closer range. It also appears likely that Morgan was down on the floor between the living room and the kitchen when it occurred.”

“Meaning that Lambert followed him and shot him at close range,” I said.

“Do you think Morgan would have been able to resist Lambert at that point?” Leo asked her. “Is there any chance he could have posed a threat to him?”

Maitland shrugged. “It’s impossible to say. But, considering the fact that Morgan had been shot once and was down on the floor…any resistance would have probably been minimal.”

Darby and Mel were unable to locate Blake Lambert, so they met up with Leo and me in front of Campbell Turner’s house to canvass the neighborhood. We told them about our meeting with Kathy Maitland.

Darby then gave us his opinion. “Maybe Lambert just lost control when he found his girlfriend’s body. He shot Morgan once, then went over and finished him off.”

“That’s the way it might have gone,” Leo agreed. “And, if that’s the case, we need to present the facts to the DA. I doubt that he’ll file charges on Lambert, but we’ve got to present the facts.”

“Lambert’s not returning calls,” Mel said. “According to his studio, he’s renting a place somewhere at the beach for a few days.”

“Somebody’s got to know where he is,” I said. “What about his parents?”

“They’re both dead, and he didn’t have any close friends. I think this might be a case where going into seclusion means exactly that.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon knocking on doors in the neighborhood, not getting much that was useful. It was getting late, and I told Leo we would have to go by Klondike Studios in the morning. We had almost given up canvassing the area when an elderly woman arrived at a house across the street from our crime scene.

We went over to her as she was unlocking her front door and heard a dog barking from inside the residence. After showing her our credentials, she said, “Give me a minute to put Billie in the back yard.”

The minute she asked for turned into five before the door finally swung open again. “I wondered when you’d get to me,” the woman said. “I saw everything that happened.”

Our witness was Winifred Shaw, who we learned was a retired school teacher. She looked to be in her late seventies, with silver hair and a pleasant round face. After learning that she’d lived in the neighborhood for over thirty years, she led us into her living room, where she told us about being friends with Campbell Turner.

“She was an absolute dear,” Shaw said. “We had coffee a couple of times, and she even walked Billie for me when I was sick.” We learned that Billie was a cocker spaniel. She looked at Bernie. “Is he really a police dog?”

“Yes,” I said, as Bernie rested at my feet, panting. “We’ve been partners for over four years.”

“He’s beautiful.”

“Thank you. What can you tell us about what happened the day Campbell was killed?”

“I saw her boyfriend arrive around five-thirty. That’s when I heard the shots. I heard he killed that handyman.”

“His name was Luke Morgan. He worked with Campbell at her studio. Had you ever seen him at her house before?”

She shook her head. “No, but Campbell told me someone was coming by to talk about remodeling the kitchen.”

“Did she say it was Mr. Morgan?” Leo asked.

“No, just that it was someone she knew who was a handyman.”

“Did you see him arrive at the house?”

“No, but there was a truck parked out front that I think was his.”

“Was it there when Mr. Lambert arrived?”

She took a moment, then said, “I think so.”

“What about Campbell’s boyfriend?” I asked. “Have you ever talked to him?”

“Just once when I went over to ask if Campbell was home. He wasn’t very nice and told me she was at the store.”

“Did Campbell ever say anything about their relationship?”

She didn’t answer, her gaze moving off.

I tried again. “Please, Ms. Shaw. This is important.”

She finally looked back at us. “She didn’t want me to say anything.”

I softened my tone. “Campbell is gone, Ms. Shaw. We need to find justice for her.”

She met my eyes and nodded slowly. “She said he hit her.”

“He abused her?”

She nodded. “She was afraid of him.”

“Did she say how many times this happened?”

She twisted her hands together in her lap. “Not exactly, but I think it was more than once. She had a cut on her lip a few weeks back.”

“Did she say that Blake caused that?” I got a nod and she looked away. It occurred to me she might be afraid of Lambert. “Thank you for helping us. Is there anything else you can tell us about what happened?”

“Don’t you want to know about the other man?”

I looked at Leo, back at her. “What other man?”

“The man in the blue car. He came by about an hour before Campbell’s boyfriend.”

“Do you know who he was?” I got a headshake. “Can you describe him?”

“He was older, maybe around fifty, with sandy hair like that actor.”

“I’m sorry?”

“That actor who played baseball and met his dead father.”

Leo spoke up. “Do you mean Kevin Costner?”

“Yes, that’s him.”

Leo smiled. “
Field of Dreams
was the name of the movie.”

After she acknowledged the film, I asked her, “What else can you tell us about him?”

“He was in a hurry when he left, maybe because of the blood.”

“What blood?”

“I think maybe he’s the one who hurt Campbell. He had blood on his shirt.”