Romantic Thriller: Only Time Will Tell – A Romantic Suspense and Romantic Mystery Book: (Thriller Romance, Suspense, Mystery Romance, Suspense Romance) (4 page)

Chapter Four

The world of empirical morality consists for the most part ill will and envy. ~ Goethe

The rain had picked up again nearly an hour later. Thunder cracked and the rain pounded on the roof. It created a peaceful feeling and she felt more relaxed than she had ever been for a while. Maybe it was not only the rain, but her opening up to someone else. Perhaps her therapist was right after all. She would tell her this on her next visit.

Scanning the many lists to try and find where Austin Rodriquez lived was proving to be tedious. Her eyes were beginning to water from looking at the computer screen for too long. Then her phone rang.

“Madden,” she said as she held the phone between her shoulder and ear.

“Hey, we’ve finally figured out who made the phone call,” Pierce said. “His name is Justin Quincy and he lives right across the street. He also has a record and he just got out of jail on parole.”

“Why was he locked up?”

“Attempted murder of his girlfriend, Susan Wright, a few years ago. He somehow paid his way out of prison and now he is a free man. If he’s our man, then maybe this wasn’t a personal killing.”

“All right, do you want us to go pick him up?”

“No, they’ll be bringing him to us. I’ll be there in a few minutes so wait until I get there before you start the interrogation.”

“I can do that, and when will you be bringing in Jeanine Groves? She is a good suspect for this. She has a long list of assaults.”

“I sent an officer to her home but she was not there. We will be waiting for her though and we will surely find her.”

The call ended and she turned to see Weston scribbling something down in his notebook. Getting up from her desk, she walked over towards him and stood behind him.

“What are you writing?”

He tensed up as he turned towards her. He moved out of the way so she could take a look at his screen. He was making notes about Ashlee.

“Did you find anything useful?”

His hand went to his mouse and he showed her his progress. “I am trying to figure out if anyone in her day to day life could have anything to do with her murder.”

“Good idea, but you might be wasting your time. The man who called in the murder is now being brought in for questioning. He might just be our man. Pull up Justin Quincy’s file.”

Within seconds his file flashed onto the screen. He looked like your normal every day guy you would see on the streets. But his rap sheet was anything but normal. There were two previous reports of domestic violence; he did time for possession of drugs; and as a teenager he had shoplifted a handful of times. Her eyes scanned the rest of his file. All this would come in handy during the interrogation.

“Do me a favor, Dean, and pull up the case with him regarding Susan Wright.”

The file showed that the night he was arrested, he was screened for drugs and tested positive for lysergic acid diethylamide. For whatever reason, he had refused his rights to an attorney and went on to plead innocent. He told the jury that Susan had spiked his food with acid and provoked him when he was high. The jury convicted him and he only did five years.

“When was he released?”

“On the fourteenth,” he said. “He has not even been out of jail for more than a week!”

“Do you think he is the murderer or that it was personal?”

He paused for a moment, looking back at her. “Yes I still think it is. Although this guy has a rap sheet a mile high, I don’t think he is the type who would kill randomly without a justifiable cause. Plus he is eighty pounds overweight, and even if Ashlee was recovering from an injury she could have outrun him quite easily.”

Silent for a moment she went through all the possibilities and had to admit he had a point. They heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Pierce approaching.

“What do the two of you think about this guy?”

“He is scum, but he is not our guy.”

Carson shook his head. “I don’t agree. They found her blood on his clothes and shoes. But let’s wait until the interrogation is over, then we’ll get a clearer picture. Let’s go, they are ready for us.”

“We, as in all three of us?”

“Yes. You should see how an interrogation works. Plus you know how to talk to thugs like him.”

As they headed for the interrogation room, Chelsea noticed how empty the place was. There were only two other agents that worked in this department, much less than the resources they needed. This led to too many unsolved murders due to shortage of staff to carry out the investigations. Plus there were those who went missing and were never found. She wished she had the power to do something about the staffing, but she did not.

When they arrived at the interrogation room they saw Quincy sitting there looking very calm. He was no longer as heavy as seen in his mug shot, so maybe he could have been the killer. So what would have motivated him to have committed the crime? As she watched him closely, she noticed that he did not seem to be fazed by the situation. And why should he be. He knew the system inside out and probably also knew how they were going to approach this. It was already arranged for Pierce to take the lead and then hand over to her.

They entered the room.

“Mr. Quincy,” Pierce said, as he took a seat. “I am Detective Carson Pierce and these are my partners, Detectives Chelsea Madden and Dean Weston. We want to talk to you about Ashlee Thompson. We found her body because of a phone call we received this morning. Know anything about that?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never made any phone call.”

“Yes, you did. We were able to trace the call back to you. We even have your voice on tape,” Pierce continued.

“And we’re sure the blood samples we found in your apartment when we picked you up will be hers.”

“All I did was to make a call like a good citizen, what’s wrong with that?” He asked angrily.

“Oh, so now you’re admitting to the call. What else are you not telling us?”

“You can stop grilling me. I didn’t do it.”

Pierce was not done yet. He fired several more questions at him, but Quincy refused to answer. Finally he spoke.

“I’m not saying anything else to you, Detective. I’ll only speak to Detective Madden.”

Chelsea looked surprised at the request. Why me, she wondered.

“Really,” Pierce said evenly. “Why is that, might I ask?”

“I don’t have to tell you, but that’s how it is going to be…”

Chelsea watched as Pierce’s brow furrowed. He looked over towards her and she knew he was waiting for her to say something. But she could think of nothing. The request took her by surprise. For a moment she thought of denying his request, but it might get them what they needed. She nodded

Pierce and Weston went out leaving her alone with Quincy. She got to her feet and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you only want to speak with me?”

“Because I know you, but you don’t know me. Or at least not yet.”

Hearing him say this made her blood go cold, but she recovered herself and wondered what sort of game he was playing. Well, she would see. She decided to play it tough.

“I know you have a rap sheet a mile high. You started out with petty crimes and things got worse around the age of twenty. That is also about the same time your mother passed away.”

He looked a bit put out when she said that. She continued.

“You never loved your mother and you never knew who your father was. Well, let me tell you this. I know your mother was a whore and you knew it from a young age. She only kept you around so she could get benefits from the state, but she never loved you. No – she barely knew you were there. You rebelled and started getting mixed up in crime to get the attention you so badly needed.

But your mother did not notice. Instead she got married to some schmuck who had a fat wallet and he did not treat you right. You began to spiral downward when he died because you thought with him out of the way, it was your chance to win over your mother’s affections. But that too did not work.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about you fucking bitch!”

“I don’t? Well, then, tell me why you attacked and killed an innocent young woman?”

He did not answer immediately and she continued.

“People like you are easy to figure out. Your girlfriend did not spike your food. You are a well-known drug user and most likely a dealer too. However, your weakness is you both deal and use drugs. That’s not so smart. I am sure if we tested you right now we would find only one drug.

Slightly taken aback for a moment, he asked, “Why do you think I would test positive for only
one
drug?”

“Because I know methamphetamine is your favorite.”

“And why would you say something like that?”

“I told you, I have you all figured out and I know everything about you. That’s why I know you killed that girl today.”

As she spoke, she kept searching his face for any indicator that she was on the right path. But he gave her nothing.

“And you did not kill her randomly, but because she must have stumbled across something and you thought she was a threat to you.”

He sprang up out of the chair. “How many times must I tell you I did not kill her?” He shouted. He moved toward her.

The door burst open and Pierce entered the room and grabbed Quincy and forced him back down into the seat. He then beckoned to Chelsea to go. But she did not.

“Just give me another minute, Pierce, please.”

“Then I’m going to stay.”

She looked at Justin and waited for him to say something, anything, now that he was goaded.

It was not long in coming.

“You pigs think you know everything! Well, you don’t. You are just trying to pin this on me so you can say it’s been solved. None of you have any idea what you are doing. You’re just looking for a scapegoat. Well, it isn’t going to work this time. I demand to be released. You have nothing on me.”

“Not yet.” Chelsea replied.
“I say, you have no reason to detain me, bitch! I know my rights!”

“True, but how do you explain her blood being on your clothes? The lab test just confirmed that.” Pierce told him.

He quietened down a little and changed his belligerent tone.

“I am going to say this once, and you’d better believe me for it is true. Early that morning as I went to take out the trash I looked over the park in the faint morning light. I thought I saw someone bending menacingly over another person on the ground. I thought it looked suspicious and so I shouted. The person ran off and when I went to look I saw her lying on the ground. She was on her side and not moving. I turned her over for a closer look. There was blood everywhere. That’s when I called the cops and disappeared. With my record, I did not want to get involved. If I was the murderer, do you think I would have called you guys?”

Pierce looked at Chelsea who returned his gaze. What Quincy said sounded plausible. But one never knows with these criminal types. They have been in and out of the system so many times that they knew how to tell a good story.

“Maybe it was your guilt at murdering a complete stranger why you did make that call,” Chelsea said.

It was only the strong arms of Pierce restraining him that kept Quincy from leaping across the table and grabbing her by the throat. This did not prevent him from speaking his mind.

“For your information, Ashlee Thompson was not a stranger and, even though I didn’t do it, she got what was coming to her! You said you know all about me? Well, I know a thing or two about you too. How about the fact that both your parents were murdered and nobody is yet able to find their killers?”

The words stung her like a hard slap to the face. She took a deep breath and almost staggered under the verbal assault.

Pierce saw what was happening. “Chelsea, you’d better go, I’ll handle it from here.”

It was a command not a suggestion. This time she obeyed. She needed time to think, to process what she had just heard. Her chest tightened and her heart pounded with a mixture of fear and confusion. Somehow, she found the strength to walk out of the investigation room.

Chapter Five

I think we must safely trust a good deal more than we do. ~ Henry David Thoreau

A confused Chelsea almost staggered back to her desk. What did Quincy mean? How did he know about her parents’ unsolved murders? What else did he know about her? Could he be that unknown caller?

Not knowing what else to do, she flipped on the computer and started searching. There had to be some connections somewhere. As she searched randomly, she sensed the presence of someone standing behind her. She turned around and saw it was Dean.

“That was a rough one, eh?” He sounded very sympathetic.

She nodded, not daring to speak in case her voice revealed the turmoil she was in.

“Don’t let what Quincy said in there bother you. You know that when people are desperate they’ll do or say anything to get off.”

That might be true, but how did he know about her parents?

“Because of the blood on his clothes, they are going to lock him up for a while,” Dean told her.

That gave her small comfort. However, she would have some time to look more closely into what he had said. The phone on Dean’s desk rang and as he stepped away to answer it, he spoke to her.

“Remember, I’m always available if you want someone to talk to.”

As he left, a thought flashed through her mind. Why not look up her parents’ case on the police database? She had thought about it several times, but lost her nerve every time she considered doing it.

This time she decided to do it. She had to find out all there was to know. Maybe, she would find the truth and be able to make sense of what Quincy had said.

Just as she was about to log into that section of the database, she heard Pierce calling her name. Suspecting what was going to happen and with an uneasy feeling in her gut, she approached his office. Dean gave her a cheer up sign as she passed by his desk.

In Pierce’s office she tried to keep her eyes on the plaques on the wall so as not to look directly at him.

“Do you know Justin Quincy?”

“No.”

“Obviously he knows you and there seems to be a connection between you and the present crime we’re investigating.”

“I do not know what is going on Pierce, believe me, I don’t.”

“Is there anything that you are not telling me?”

“You already know about all you should. It’s all there in my file… I told the therapist everything when I was a rookie and you people sent me to her.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everything, knowing how secretive you are.”

She had to admit this was so, but she saw no reason to spill her innermost thoughts for everyone to read and neatly file away. She stood there not knowing quite what to say.

“It will take me some time to figure this one out.” She told him.

“I couldn’t agree more and that is why I am considering having you removed from this case, except you can give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”

No, this could not be happening. She wanted to stay on the case. She had promised Mrs. Thompson to find her daughter’s killer. Plus for her own personal reasons she wanted to stay on. She had to continue.

“Pierce, please do me a favor. Just give me a little more time. A few days, maybe to sort this out. It means a lot to me.”

She saw his mouth twitch and knew he was having a struggle to do what she asked.

“Chelsea, I really don’t know if I can do what you ask.” He face was set, although his eyes were understanding.

She felt she had no choice but to tell him what she had done. Maybe he would understand her request.

“I didn’t want to tell you this, but I copied a file from the department and took it home…”

“What?”

“Yes, the file about my parents…I wanted to see if could find any clue as to who their killer may be.”

“But you know that’s against Department policy and could have you…”

“Don’t say it, there’s worse to come…”

His eyes opened wider as if he could not imagine what could be worse.

“Yes. This morning I received a phone call from someone saying he knew about my copying the file.”

Now he seemed even more worried. “Did you tell anyone what you had done?”

She nodded.

“That means there is a dirty cop among us.”

“You want me to help you with this one?”

“No, just give me a few days and I will see what happens. If I get in over my head I’ll let you know. But this is something I would rather do alone. All I need is a few days.”

He paused for a moment, and then sighed heavily.

“All right, Chelsea, you know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’ll cut you some slack, a few days and that is it.”

Relief flooded her. She had to try and trace that anonymous call and follow up on some of the information she had found in her parents’ file and check if there was any connection between them and Quincy.

“What I’m suggesting now, however, is that you go home and get some well needed rest. Your lack of sleep has been showing.”

Chelsea turned to leave when he called her back.

He lowered his voice and spoke in a confidential tone. “Chelsea, this is just between you and me. You shouldn’t be too quick to share everything you know with Weston. He has a probing curiosity I don’t fully understand and since we don’t know him too well, I’d suggest caution.”

Chelsea opened her mouth to angrily protest, but thought better of it considering the favor he had just granted her. He mistook her angry looks for something else.

“Don’t get mad at me for saying this. I could have said more, but choose not to. I’m not blind you know…I see how you two look at each other. But that doesn’t mean you should get careless. And remember, it is not wise to get personally involved with your colleagues.”

Again she swallowed back the angry retort and stormed out of his office. How dare he intrude in her personal life? What right did he have to speak to her about such matters? She was a grown woman and certainly knew how to conduct her affairs.

“Sure,” she replied. As if to prove this point, she went across to Weston’s desk.

“Want to come with me? I am going by the pathology lab to see if they have found out anything else.”

“Sure,” he eagerly replied.

She grabbed her bag while he took his gun from the drawer and together they left the office. Along the way she thought of Pierce’s words. Her boss seemed to be suspicious of Dean but for her she was not sure. He was kind and thoughtful, always seeming to be concerned about her welfare. This made her feel good. But most of all, he was the first person she had opened up to in a long time and it did bring some mental relief. There were some minor nagging concerns, but she figured in time as they got to know each other better they would become clearer.

Pierce thought he knew everything, but she felt sure he was wrong about this one.