Punish the Deed (6 page)

Ten

Before leaving the station, Lucinda stopped by the forensic technology center. The review of the tapes from the Flemings’ community confirmed Conrad’s alibi. And Shari’s cell phone confirmed the call to her husband at 5:56 the evening before.

After interviewing Conrad, Lucinda thought he was blameless in his wife’s death – these details reinforced her opinion. The only doubt she had about his story involved the reported affair between Shari and the school superintendent.
Was Conrad in denial? Or was he right?
Time to pay a visit to Robert Irving’s wife
.

Again, as Lucinda pulled from the curb, she did not notice the silver Honda that started up and followed in her wake. She lost her tail, though, when she pulled up to the guard booth of the gated community that the Irvings called home.

She stood on the front porch of a mock-Victorian house and rang the bell. The door was opened by a chubby elf of a woman with highlighted blonde hair and a pixie smile. “Yes, may I help you?”

“Mrs. Irving?” Lucinda asked.

“Yes, I’m Trudy Irving – and you are?”

“Lieutenant Pierce, homicide,” she said as she flashed her gold shield.

“Oh, your scars! You’re the detective who was shot in the face by that abusive husband, aren’t you?”

Lucinda swallowed hard. Her hand made an involuntary move toward the damaged side of her face. She nodded in response.

“I’m so sorry,” Trudy said. “That was very rude of me. Please, come in,” she said with a smile. “This way, please.”

Lucinda followed Trudy through a spacious foyer with a grand staircase and into a book-lined room with large windows curving outward on the far wall. Trudy gestured to an over-stuffed chair. “Please have a seat, Lieutenant, and tell me how I can help you today. Did something happen to one of my neighbors?”

“No, ma’am,” Lucinda said, but before she could continue, Trudy blanched and clutched her throat, “Robert?” she gasped.

“No, ma’am. Your husband is fine. Nothing has happened to him.”

Trudy exhaled loudly, “Oh, thank heavens. Oh my, you gave me a scare for a moment.”

“Sorry, ma’am, but your husband is involved in my investigation.”

“Robert? Involved in a homicide investigation? How could that be?”

“It happened in the school district building. The body was found this morning.”

“Oh, my! I shouldn’t have skipped watching the news this morning. I wonder why Robert didn’t call me and let me know?”

“We haven’t been allowing any calls, ma’am.”

“Oh, I see. Who, who . . .?”

“Shari Fleming was murdered sometime last night.”

“Shari? Murdered? Are you certain it was Shari? How could anyone possibly want to hurt Shari?”

“We’re trying to find that out. And part of that process is to check up on everyone’s whereabouts at the time of the crime. What time did your husband return from work last night?”

“I don’t think I recall exactly. I was on the phone with my sister. I know it was after six o’clock, but definitely before seven.”

“Did he go out anywhere that evening?”

“No. We had a quiet evening at home. Went to bed after the eleven o’clock news.”

“When did you get up?”

“When some rude crank caller woke us up this morning.” At Lucinda’s prompting, she described the conversation she had with the anonymous man on the phone and reiterated her husband’s story about the two additional calls.

“How would you describe your marriage, Mrs. Irving?”

“My marriage?” she said with a laugh. “I do love my husband, Lieutenant. And I believe he loves me. But after thirty years together, it’s pretty predictable – almost boring.”

“Boring enough to make it easy to succumb to temptation?”

“Oh, heavens, no. It would be the death of Robert’s career. He’s so close to retirement now. That’s not something either one of us would want to put at risk.”

“Are you sure you can speak for your husband, Mrs. Irving?”

“I trust my husband. He’s not a lusty kid anymore. He is honorable, thoughtful and considerate. No, Lieutenant, I have no reason to believe he’s cheating on me.”

“What do you know about his relationship with Shari Fleming?”

“With Shari?” she said with a grin. “Oh, good grief, you’ve been talking to Monica, haven’t you?”

“Why do you say that, Mrs. Irving?”
“Who else? Make sure you get Monica to tell you about the three or four other affairs my husband has had. Good heavens, to listen to her you’d think old Robert was a stud muffin.”

“So this isn’t the first time Ms. Theismann has suspected your husband of an affair?”

“Oh, no. And she never tells me directly, but she always makes sure someone will.”

“Why are you so certain she’s wrong?”

“Because it’s Monica. She cornered my husband one day in his office and pressed her body up to his. He rebuffed her advances. And since then he’s declined her invitations to meet her off school district property nor will he even meet with her at the office unless someone else is in the room. So, to salve her damaged pride, Monica spreads rumors about any woman she ever notices behind closed doors with Robert. She is rather vindictive. Not a nice person, at all.”

“Why does your husband keep her on his staff?”

“You tell me. I’ve asked the same question over and over, Lieutenant. He says that she does a good job and although he is willing to dismiss someone for performance probleMs., he would never fire anyone for personal reasons.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me about the environment in your husband’s workplace? Is there anyone had a problem or disagreement with Shari Fleming?”

“You mean besides Monica? No, no one. She was universally admired. And Monica, well, let’s just say that I think she’s a coward and too passive-aggressive to actually
do
anything. Unless it was poison. Now that would be Monica’s style. Was Shari poisoned?”

“No, Mrs. Irving.”

“Then, you can scratch Monica off your suspect list, in my opinion. But what about me? If you suspect Robert of having an affair with Shari, wouldn’t I be a suspect, too? And what about Shari’s husband? I’d think we’d both be at the top of the list.”

“Both of you, and your husband, Robert, are persons of interest at this point in the investigation.”

“How exciting!”

“Exciting?”

“I told you my life was a bit boring, Lieutenant. I’ll grab at any diversion from the daily routine.”

Lucinda left the Irving home shaking her head. She was certain that Trudy Irving had nothing to do with Shari Fleming’s death. She felt the same way about Robert and Conrad. Her leads were drying up fast. She needed to get back to the school district offices and see if Ted had uncovered anything new.

Eleven

Back at the site of the murder, Lucinda stuck her head into the room where Ted sat, interviewing a woman on the staff. He ducked out to the hall where they compared notes. The information the two had gathered about Monica Theismann was remarkably similar. At Lucinda’s request, Ted reiterated the details from his interview with Monica.

Lucinda went a few steps down the hall to where that woman paced under the watchful eye of Officer Kirby. She’d barely passed through the doorway before Monica erupted. “Why am I being held prisoner here?”

“You are not under arrest, Ms. Theismann. You are here to help us with a murder investigation.”

“Why am I being isolated? Why am I separated from everyone else?”

“You made some statements earlier than required follow-ups with others. We did not want you repeating those statements until we had the opportunity to talk to the people you identified as possible suspects. Now, will you please take a seat?”

Monica folded her arms across her chest and said, “I don’t think so.”

“You really don’t want to make this difficult, Ms. Theismann.”

“Arrest me or let me go.”

Lucinda sank into the chair on her side of the table. “It’s not that cut and dried. If you won’t sit down and talk to me, I’ll have you taken to the station and talk to you later after I finish up here.”

“You have no right.”

“Yes, I do, Ms. Theismann. You see, at this moment, you are the only person we know with a possible motive for killing Sharon Fleming whose alibi cannot be verified by another source.”

Monica’s mouth flew open and her hands dropped to her sides. She couldn’t bring herself to say a word.

“Please have a seat,” Lucinda asked again.

Monica slouched into the chair, her posture limp, her face ashen. “You must be kidding, right?”

“Not at all, Ms. Theismann. Right now, you could look pretty good for the murder of Shari Fleming.” Lucinda concealed her serious doubts that her involvement was possible.

“What motive could I possibly have?”

“Your belief that Robert Irving and Shari Fleming were having an affair, for one.”

“Well, that makes him, his wife and her husband much more likely suspects than me.”

“Not necessarily. You see, Ms. Theismann, we are aware of your unrequited lust for Superintendent Irving.”

“How dare you?” she said, jerking to her feet.

“Please sit, Ms. Theismann.”

“I will not. Not until you apologize.”

Lucinda stared at her. Monica looked away but didn’t soften her rigid posture or the stubborn thrust of her chin. Lucinda pushed back from the table and walked towards the door. “Kirby, could you run her down to the station?”

“You can’t do that!” Monica shouted.

Lucinda turned and faced her. “Yes, we can, Ms. Theismann.” She turned her back to Monica and spoke to Kirby. “Cuff her if you have to.”

“Don’t you dare do this to me,” Monica shouted at Lucinda’s back. Then she turned a smiling face toward the patrolman and simpered, “Officer, you know she’s only doing this because she’s jealous of me.”

Kirby reached for her elbow and she shrugged him off. He pulled the cuffs out of his belt and dangled them in the air. “Your choice, ma’am.”

“But officer, don’t you understand? She’s just getting back at me because she has such a hideous face. And, well, me on the other hand . . .” she said, tilting her head and giving him her most seductive smile.

Kirby didn’t bat an eye. He just jingled the cuffs again and repeated, “Your choice.”

Monica snorted and stuck out her elbow, allowing him to escort her, uncuffed, to his patrol car.

Twelve

Lucinda and Ted finished up the staff interviews without uncovering any new, relevant information. The only other people left in the building were the techs on the second floor and the superintendent and the custodian still in the meeting room with a patrolman.

“I don’t like the way this is shaping up, Ted. We don’t know much more than we did when we got here this morning.”

“We do have one suspect.”

“Pfft. Monica Theismann?” Lucinda asked.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, please. Did you see how perfect her manicure was? No way she just beat someone to death last night. No, we’re left with the slim, almost negligible possibility that the tech guy we busted early this morning did her in ’cause she uncovered his drug habit.”

“Well, the tech guy is possible, I guess,” Ted admitted. “Although they didn’t find a stash of drugs in his office anywhere, they did find a half-straw and a white-dusted mirror.”

“Cocaine?”

“The vice guys took it to the lab. Could be traces of meth. Could be something he confiscated from a student.”

“Yeah, but to kill her with that much brutality would have to mean he had a great deal of hostility towards her and nobody indicated that at all. In fact, I don’t think they really knew each other beyond a ‘hello’ in the hall.”

“So, where do we go now?” Ted asked.

“We’ll have to talk to all of Shari Fleming’s staff and see if they know anyone – a teacher, a parent, a student – anyone she might have met with last night or who were angry with her about anything. Then, we’ll follow those leads. Hopefully, one of them will lead somewhere.”

“What about Irving and Nguyen?”

“Send them home. We know where to find them. I’m heading back to the station. Hopefully, by now, Theismann’s learned her lesson and I can send her home, too.”

Outside, something fluttered on Lucinda’s windshield. This time it was a torn piece of newsprint. In the margin she read another note: “I AM SERIOUS. STOP IT NOW.”

Block printing? Any connection to the legal pad in the kitchen? No. Too obvious.
She looked down the street both ways for anything that appeared at all suspicious. Her eye passed right over the silver Honda. The driver ducked down before the vehicle came into Lucinda’s view. She sighed and stepped into the car.

She pulled out her cell and keyed in Ted’s number. When he answered, she asked, “Have you found any note stuck to your windshield recently?”

“They call them parking tickets, Lucinda,” Ted said with a laugh. “No, I haven’t. Need me to fix one for you?”

“No, Ted,” she snapped. “I am talking about notes – vague notes.”

“Is someone threatening you?”

“Yes. No. I don’t think so.”

“Is it connected with this investigation?”

“No. It’s probably nothing. Forget about it.”

“Forget about what?”

“Sorry I bothered you, Ted. Bye,” she said, flipping her cell phone shut and starting her car. She drove back to the station with her silver shadow running close behind.