Punish the Deed (19 page)

Thirty-Five

Lucinda snapped out of her sleep disoriented. For a second, she did not understand the weight on her stomach or the noise that popped her eyes open. She recognized that the familiar sensation of heaviness was Chester her cat first, then she identified the irritating sound as her telephone. She glared at the clock by her bed.
4:17? Damn.

She picked up the receiver and tried to sound alert when she muttered, “Pierce.”

“Hey, Lieutenant, this is Officer Colter on patrol. You might remember me from the school district case? I kept the superintendent from coming in the side door.”

Does it matter who the hell she is at 4 a.m.?
“Yes, Officer. What do you want?”

“Uh, you ordered extra patrols past the Broderick residence?”

“Yeah.”

“It says we’re, uh, supposed to call you if we noticed any signs of activity?”

“Yeah. Get to the point, Officer.”

“When I came by here a couple of hours ago, everything was the same as always. But right now, there are lights on and another car in the driveway.”

“You run the plates?”

“I thought you’d want me to do that,” she said, her smile apparent in her voice, “so I did. The vehicle is registered to Angela Dromgoole who lives over on Parsons Drive. No priors. Not even minor traffic violations.”

“Thanks, Officer. Are you there alone?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Call for back-up. But stay away from the house. I’ll be there as quickly as I can and I’ll want some force there in case it’s needed.”

Lucinda disconnected the call and pressed in the numbers to Jake’s cell.

“Lovett,” a gravelly voice answered.

“Up and at ’em, Special Agent. We’ve got work to do.”

“What time is it?”

“Doesn’t matter. Duty never sleeps. I’ll be there in ten minutes or less. Be out in front of the hotel.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain it all when I pick you up. In about, oh, seven and a half minutes,” Lucinda said.

“Shit.”

Lucinda grinned as she hung up the phone.

At Broderick’s house, Lucinda and Jake peered in windows hoping to get an idea of what to expect before they knocked on the front door. “I think I hear two people talking in there,” Jake said.

“Are you sure there are two people?”

“No, not really. It could be a radio or television.”

“Look over there, does that look like the same guy that’s in the driver’s license photo of Broderick?” Jake said, pointing to the far side of the room.

Lucinda shifted her angle of vision and got a glimpse of a retreating back. “Couldn’t tell.”

They slipped to the back of the house to the sliding-glass door taking care to stay out of sight. “There he is again,” Jake whispered.

“Yes, that is the guy. That’s Broderick. But who is that woman?”

“Angela Dromgoole?”

“Yeah, probably. But who is she?” Lucinda asked.

A short tan dog with big ears rounded the kitchen counter. “What is that?” Jake asked.

“That’s the dog,” Lucinda said.

“Are you sure it’s a dog? Ears of a bat and no sign of legs . . .”

“It has legs. They’re kinda stumpy. It’s a Corgi,” Lucinda whispered.

“A what?”

The dog’s head jerked in their direction. His tail curled up, his ears stiffened, a low growl issued from his throat.

Lucinda and Jake sprinted for the front door as the first bark rang out. They hit the doorbell and tried to compose themselves before it was answered.

Although it was quite early in the morning, the man who answered the door appeared dressed for the day – yesterday. His clothing was rumpled and wrinkled. His sandy-haired head showed no signs of bed-head but didn’t look like it had seen a comb for quite some time. His eyes were alert and squinted with suspicion.

Lucinda and Jake flipped open their badges in unison. “Steve Broderick?” Lucinda asked.

The man’s eyes shifted back and forth between the two investigators.

“You are Steve Broderick, aren’t you?” Jake asked.

“Yes. What’s it to you?”

“May we come in?” Lucinda said as she pushed forward, forcing the issue.

“Do you know what time it is?” Steve said as she walked across the room with the Corgi matching each of her steps with a fresh bark and a few inches of retreat.

“Steve, I can’t find your computer,” a woman’s voice sounded from down the hall.

Ignoring her, Steve turned to Lucinda and asked, “Have you been here before?”

“Yes, we have. We had a search warrant.”

“You took my computer?”

“Yes, sir. There is a complete list of what was removed from your home on your kitchen counter along with a copy of the search warrant.”

“I didn’t see anything like that.”

Lucinda walked across to the dining room and over to the bar stools beside the counter between that room and the kitchen. Pointing, she said, “Right there, Mr. Broderick. It was the only clean surface we could find.”

“Are you saying my house is dirty?”

“Cluttered, Mr. Broderick. That’s all, cluttered. Looks better than my place, actually,” Jake said. “We do have some questions we need to ask you.”

“Do I need an attorney?”

“That’s up to you, Mr. Broderick. If you think you do, we can go down to the station and wait for your lawyer to arrive. It’s your call,” Lucinda said.

A woman with long dark hair and a rail-thin body strode into the room. “Steve, don’t even say that. Everybody knows only guilty people get attorneys. You’ve done nothing. Nothing at all.” She turned to the officers and said, “Please have a seat. We just got back in town. We were away visiting family.”

“Really?” Lucinda and Jake said and then grinned at each other in surprise.

“Why, yes,” the woman continued. “Our relationship is getting serious so we thought it was time.”

“And you are?” Lucinda asked.

“Angela Dromgoole. Steve’s fiancée.”

“So, Broderick,” Jake said, “you just thought it was so urgent to meet this woman’s family that you tore off from work without letting anyone know where you were going.”

“I called the district offices several times but at first I got a recording asking if I wanted to leave a message. Then, I got a message that the mailbox was full. Here,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone, “you can check the list of calls I made on the log.”

“But why, Mr. Broderick, did you find it so urgent to leave when you did?” Lucinda asked.

“Angela wanted me to,” he said as he stepped toward her and put an arm around her shoulders. “And what Angela wants, I try to deliver.”

Angela giggled. Lucinda and Jake exchanged an eye roll.

“I imagine we’ll find a whole list of missed phone calls from the school district in your menu, too, Mr. Broderick. Why didn’t you take their calls?”

“Because I was on vacation.”

“An unauthorized vacation,” Jake said.

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t leave any loose ends around when I left.”

“No loose ends? Really, Mr. Broderick?” Lucinda said. “How about we try to get a truthful answer about the timing of your departure? We know about the Carney homicide in Maine.”

“See, see!” Steve said to Angela. “I just knew it. I knew I’d be a suspect. I just couldn’t face it again. That’s why I left Maine in the first place.”

“But, Steve, I told you running away is no way to solve a problem.”

“Angela, let’s not go into that now.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Broderick. Could I please get an answer?” Lucinda interrupted.

“Yes. Yes. Yes. I decided to leave town when I heard about Shari’s death. I just couldn’t deal with it again. I was feeling like some sort of bad luck generating machine. I pop up and a Communities in Schools Executive Director dies.”

“So, where did you go, Mr. Broderick?” Jake asked.

“We went to Jacksonville, Florida, to visit my parents, and to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to visit his brother,” Angela said.

“Please, ma’am, let Mr. Broderick answer for himself,” Jake said.

“I was just trying to be helpful, Officer. Steve is a bit freaked out by all of this and not as quick with answers as he usually is.”

“Please, Ms. Dromgoole. If you could have a seat at the dining-room table, we’ll let you know if we have any questions for you,” Lucinda insisted.

Angela’s mouth opened and shut.

“Please, Angela,” Steve said.

Angela plopped in a seat with enough noise to make her indignation clear to everyone.

Lucinda turned away from her. “Mr. Broderick, did you go anywhere else on this trip?”

“We stopped in New Orleans for a couple of hours but we didn’t spend the night there or anything.”

“How about Washington, D.C.? Anywhere near there?” Jake asked.

“No. We’ve spent a lot of time on the road but our route didn’t take us anywhere near there,” Steve said. “What happened in D.C.? I thought you were here about Shari Fleming’s murder.”

“Mr. Broderick, if you had been at the school district offices on the day Ms Fleming’s body was found, you would have been questioned along with everyone else. But because you disappeared for a few days, you’ve now become a person of interest in her murder as well as a few other homicides including one in D.C.,” Jake said.

“Man, I’m sorry. I just panicked. That’s all. I left town just to get away.”

“Where were you on Wednesday evening, the week before last?” Lucinda asked.

“Why are you pestering him? He just needed to get away for a while. What’s wrong with that?” Angela interjected.

“Ms. Dromgoole, you need to keep quiet. Or else we’ll have to take everyone down to the station,” Lucinda threatened, then turned back to Steve. “Mr. Broderick, please answer my question.”

“I went to prayer meeting at church and then I went home,” Steve said.

Angela jumped to her feet. “I went with him. I am his alibi.”

Steve turned a puzzled look to his girlfriend. “Angela, you can’t lie to the police.”

Angela thrust her chin out. “I’m not lying, Steve. You don’t need to protect my reputation.” She walked up to Lucinda and said, “I went to church with Steve that night and then came home with him and committed fornication. Now that sure is a sin but I don’t think it’s a crime. So why don’t you just take your ugly face and your uglier accusations and get out of here.”

Lucinda looked up at the ceiling and let out a big sigh. She looked at Jake and, after exchanging shrugs, they each pulled out a set of handcuffs. While Angela ranted about the outrage, Steve cooperated without saying a word and the little dog bounced around the room, barking and nipping at heels. Jake and Lucinda slapped the restraints on the couple’s wrists and escorted them both out to the car.