The Wife of a Lesser Man (LA Cops Series Book 1) (15 page)

Mark retrieved the spare key he had taken from Charlie’s desk and unlocked the front door.  They entered the house and were relieved to see that it had been cleaned of all blood.

“Well that’s more like it,” Richard said, breathing in the clean air in contrast to the stench of human rot they smelled with their last visit.

Exasperated, Mark said, “The place is a ghost town.  There can’t be anything left.”

“It didn’t take mommy dearest long,” Richard replied, placing a piece of sugar free gum in his mouth.

“Well her husband is dead so I guess that’s who has all her stuff.” 

“Maybe Lisa can hold her off for a bit,” Richard said, “But she’ll wonder what we’ve been doing.  We should take a quick look and get back to the office before she suspects anything.  The last thing we need is for her to talk to the press,” Richard said, scratching his head nervously.

“The only place I want to look is her bedroom.  Let’s go.”  Mark nodded toward the bedroom and they both headed there.  The room was empty and all that could be seen were track marks from a recent vacuuming.  Mark shook his head. 

“Jesus.  We better hope Charlie’s crew got everything.  If not we’re sunk.  Mrs. Masterson would be the last person to understand Charlie’s troubles.” 

“Not the average June Cleaver, huh.” 

Mark half laughed.  “No, she tore my head off for not calling her.  She definitely wasn’t broken hearted over losing her daughter.”

“Well then we better head her off and call her first.  Don’t give her the satisfaction,”  Richard advised.

…

On the drive back to the office, Mark’s phone chimed in a text message.  It was Shelley.  ‘Going to Yoga tonight.  Will I see you for dinner?’  Mark grimaced and keyed in ‘Probably not babe.  Long day ahead.  Catch up with you later.  Love yo
u
’

Shelley returned the sentiments and Lisa chimed in ‘Masterson left a message on vmail.  What should I tell her?’  Mark explained they were pulling up at that moment.

Mark entered the office and Lisa gave him a warning look.  “She’s pissed.” 

“I know.  Monica Sutherland is emailing a picture.  It will need to be enlarged.  Get a good look at the guy in it and see if his face matches anyone on file.”  Lisa nodded and handed him Martha Masterson’s number.

Mark asked, “What did she say on the message?”

“Nothing except that she better get a call back promptly.”

Mark nodded as he opened his office door and let Richard enter.

“There’s one more thing,” Lisa said and paused.  Mark turned around. 

Lisa’s voice lowered.  “Andy’s on the phone with Charlie.”  Her frown told him what he said. Mark lowered his head and nodded.  He closed the door behind him.

Richard sat on the visitor’s chair perusing the Reed file.  He held the picture of her sitting on the park bench.  His eyes carefully scanned the blue bracelet. 

“What’s on your mind?”  Mark asked, removing his jacket and placing it on the back of his chair.

Richard nodded.  “Nothing.  I am to jewelry what a mechanic is to purses.” 

“Hm.  Shelley can kick Martha Stewart’s ass and still fix the dishwasher with that handy tool she has,” Mark said matter-of-factly.

Richard stuck his tongue out halfway and raspberried while Mark dialled Martha’s number. 

“I’d sooner call Martha Stewart than this one.”

Richard half laughed.

Martha answered on the second ring.  Mark looked up at the clock.  It was 1:45pm and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Masterson.  This is Chief Tame returning your call.”

“Well thank you for calling, sir.  I do appreciate you taking the time,” her voice was cold.

“It’s my pleasure.  What can I do for you?”  As he said that, Richard’s eyebrows lifted.  Mark quickly waved his head from side to side.

“I’ve arranged to have my daughter’s house vacated and I am currently in possession of all her belongings.”

“Yes.”  Mark was curious why she was providing this update.

Martha’s voice raised a decibel and her tone became harsh.  “I don’t know what kind of investigation you people did but I can assure you it was completely unacceptable.” 

Mark’s heart began to beat faster.  He cleared his throat.  “Um..what do you mean Mrs. Masterson?  Did you find something?”  Richard’s eyes widened and he could see the colour in Mark’s face fade.

Martha took in a deep breath as though she was preparing to blow up a balloon.  She spat, “As a matter of fact I did.  Did you people even look through
any
of her things?”  She paused.

“Yes, we did Mrs. Masterson.  Everything was done to protocol.”  Mark lied.  He knew she wouldn’t hear anything less.

“Well I can tell you your murderer had
quite
a sense of humour, one which
I
for one
don’t
appreciate.” 

“What do you mean ma’am?”  Mark asked, swallowing and feeling a bead of sweat slither between his shoulder blades.

“I know it probably seemed like a lot of work for your people to go through all the shoeboxes full of old jewelry cases that my daughter had.  But had they done their job correctly they would have found your evidence,” Martha proclaimed, satisfied.

“Yes, I was told Karen had a lot of jewelry, mostly in cases.”  Mark confirmed, remembering the pile he went through personally.

“Well, I went through all the little boxes that were in her closet, in all the shoeboxes and storage containers and I found a ring box with a bullet casing in it.” 

Mark’s fist punched the desk and his eyes closed tightly.  Richard looked at him imploringly.

“Did you get any fingerprints on it?”

“Of course not!  I didn’t touch the thing!  I don’t believe in guns and I refuse to have them or any evidence of them in my house!” she said exasperated.

“Can you bag everything and courier it to me right away?  I’ll give you our account number and reimburse you for fuel,” Mark said.

“Well that’s the problem, Chief.”

Mark was afraid to ask.  “
What
is the problem?”

Then she rounded on him.  “I have been inundated with calls from the press, night and day.  Now I know you are protected from the media and all their shenanigans over there in your little office and all.  But I live in a small town and word gets around fast.  My front lawn has practically been a camp site for all the paparazzi waiting for information about my daughter.  It has only gotten worse since you people declared it a serial murderer. You people have done nothing to protect me and to keep me abreast of updates on the investigation and I’ve been victim to constant harassment.  Well, I had enough of it.  Yesterday when the moving van came with all Karen’s things I made a deal with them: they were to leave me alone for the day while I organized everything and I would give them any information that I found.”

Mark suddenly felt nauseated and scratched on his pad quickly so Richard could read what Martha had been saying.  It was as if someone had wiped their hand over Richard’s face.

Mark took a deep breath.  “Where is it now ma’am?”  he asked, knowing full well what she had done with it.

“Well, I wasn’t having that in my house so I gave it to one of the members of the media.  A nice lady, young and new to the industry.  She was looking for a break and I gave it to her,” she said proudly.

Mark nodded.  “Thank you ma’am.  Would you please inform me
first
should you find anything else?” 

Martha half laughed.  “I certainly hope I
don’t,
but if I
do
I will be sending it to your superior!”

Mark heard the phone click and he exhaled, leaning back in his chair.

Lisa’s face pressed up against the window.  He knew there was another call waiting for him and judging by Lisa’s face, he knew who it was.

…

Lisa entered, closing the door behind her.  Mark had risen in his chair with his hands on his face, as though he was trying to wipe the misery away.

He slammed his fist down again and grunted “Fuck!”  Lisa knew this was bad. Mark was never one to swear.

Mark looked apologetically at Lisa for his foul language and she motioned her hand downward.  She wasn’t offended. 

“I’ve got Peggy Beck from WNYU holding.  Apparently she’s got something you might be interested in.” 

Mark’s face brightened slightly.  “You mean it’s not Lipkus on the phone?”

Lisa shook her head.  “Put it through,” Mark said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.  Lisa took five paces and pressed the transfer button on her phone.

“Hello Ms. Beck, this is Chief Tame.”

“Good afternoon, sir.  I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“No, not at all.  I just hung up with Mrs. Masterson.  She explained that you have some evidence in your possession?”

“Um.  Yes, that’s right.”  Mark and Peggy discussed logistics, and then Mark reminded her of the publication ban.

“Yes, sir, I understand.  But will that be lifted once you have a suspect?”

“That is definite.  We will need widespread media coverage to find the suspect once one is determined.”

“How close are you to finding one at this point?”

“We may have a person of interest later today, which we’ll need coverage for as well.  I take it you’re interested in covering that story?”

“Yes sir, very much so.  After Sergeant Lipkus humiliated me during the last media conference, I took nothing back to my boss.  I’ve only been on the job a month.  My butt is on the line now.”

Mark chuckled.  “No worries Ms. Beck-“ 

Peggy interrupted, “Please, call me Peggy.”

“You bring me the evidence, Peggy, and I’ll make sure you are the first to know who this person of interest is, okay?  But NO leaks,” Mark emphasized.

“Absolutely, sir, I promise.” 

Mark hung up the phone and looked at Richard.  They exchanged knowing glances. 

Richard broke the silence.  “So how do we deal with Lipkus on this?  He’s gonna know the minute that bullet gets processed.” 

Mark looked at Richard and frowned.  “To hell with Lipkus.  What the hell are we going to tell Charlie?”

Chapter 13

When Shelley arrived at the community center, she found Sarah’s car parked close to the entrance.  They met up on the corner sidewalk where bikes were kept.  As they proceeded up the walkway they heard a car horn toot.  It was Matt.  He smiled at both of them.

“Hi ladies.  I’m running
so
late.  Would you mind saving me a spot?” he asked with a wink.

Shelley waved him off.  “Sure.”  Matt smiled and drove away.

“Oooo.  Looks like someone will be close to you tonight!”  Sarah teased.

“Oh, would you grow up!”  Shelley smacked her gently in the butt with her bag.

They went into the entrance and saw that the place was packed.  There seemed to be a commotion going on over by the yoga studio and Shelley and Sarah headed in that direction to see what the fuss was all about.

The sign said ‘Yoga class cancelled for tonight.  Sorry for the inconvenience.’

“Oh crap!”  Shelley said, frustrated.

“Oh well.”  Sarah giggled, clearly pleased.

“Yeah right.”  Shelley wasn’t convinced.

“Seriously.  I was looking forward to this.”

“You’re such a bad liar,” Shelley scoffed.

Suddenly Matt was behind them.  “What’s the problem?  No yoga?”  He asked, putting his arms around the girls so he could read the sign from between them.  When he released them they both looked at each other like school girls.

“Well, what do you say I buy you
both
a drink then?”  Matt suggested.

Sarah looked at Shelley with an “I’m in” look on her face.

Shelley reluctantly shook her head and said, “It’s either that or go home and clean.”

“Drinking it is!”  Sarah proclaimed.

…

They decided to revisit the same bar they had gone to previously, although this time they used a taxi service on Sarah’s suggestion.

“Why do we need a cab?  We’re only going for a drink or two?”  Shelley asked while Sarah called the cab company.

Sarah gave her a knowing look.  “Do you remember what happened last time?  I had to
pour
you into your house and I don’t think Mark has forgiven me yet.”