Chapter 16
Thursday Morning
Parker relished the early morning hours. This quiet time before the throng arrived was when he reviewed complicated issues and sorted them down to a list of tasks. Tasks that could be dealt with quickly by investigators to make progress on a case. The routine was simple. Get coffee and sit with a yellow pad in the conference room. Make notes.
Before Parker wrote a single word on his yellow pad, the phone rang. It was Officer Williams.
“Sir, there’s a lady who has come in about the dead diver case. Shall I send her in to you, or would you prefer for me to handle this?” She cleared her throat. “It’s an artist friend of the victim.”
“I’ll take it. Send her through.”
In a few minutes a sturdy young woman with short red hair marched into the coference room. “Are you Detective Parker? Are you in charge of Martin’s murder?”
Parker looked up. “The Martin Lane case? Yes, I’m the investigating officer, miss. What is your name?”
“I want to report harassment by your consultant.”
“Interesting. Give me your name. Last name first, please.”
“She called me this morning and threatened to charge me with murder. She was being perfectly ridiculous. I was Martin’s partner—in business and in his bed.”
Parker raised his eyebrows and noted the shrill edge to her voice. He tried to maintain a low, calm tone. “Ma’am, if you sincerely want to report this, you are required to give me your name and the name of the consultant.”
“Oh,” she said, then stopped talking.
Parker stood and raised his voice. “Ma’am, if you want to file a complaint, you must give me your name.”
“Her name is Amanda Blake. She works as an instructor at Webb’s Glass Shop. I think she killed Martin. She had the nerve to accuse me of stealing Martin’s artworks to sell online. That’s a lie. Martin and I had an agreement. I inspired his work and gave it a fresh spin. That’s when his pieces began to sell. Sold like hotcakes.”
“Ma’am—”
“I don’t believe her when she says Martin was trying to dissolve our partnership. Martin wouldn’t have done that to me. She was jealous of my influence. I was Martin’s muse, not her. You need to arrest her for Martin’s murder. She killed him. I want to make this an anonymous complaint, but you need to take action.” She quickly turned and left the conference room.
He looked down at his yellow lined pad. He had written, “Amanda as consultant?” Knowing that Amanda was indeed connected to Martin Lane, since there was plenty of evidence of their texts in Martin’s phone records, he dialed the extension for Officer Williams.
Parker was thrilled with this new recruit, Officer Joy Williams. She was a breath of fresh air compared to the officer she would hopefully replace in a few days. A small, trim young woman with long dark hair, she was Officer Boulli’s opposite in every way. Her parents had fled Cuba during the intellectual exodus a few months before she was born. Boulli was being transferred to Jacksonville. It was a win for everyone.
“Officer Williams, have the complete phone records been extracted from Martin Lane’s cell phone? The one we found in his truck? I know we have a copy of the texts, but what about the full record?”
“I’ll check. One moment.”
Parker could tell she had tucked the phone receiver between her ear and shoulder. The fast clicking of her keyboard was a skill he envied. He was a “one finger on each hand” typist. More and more data was shared on secure servers, and he was beginning to feel like a Luddite, asking for hard copies of critical reports.
“It’s been posted to the investigation folder. Would you like for me to print a copy for you?”
Blessing her thoughtfulness and acknowledging that she was a quick study, he said, “Yes, please. Put it on my desk. Thanks. And could you check the visitors’ log for this morning? I would like to identify our reluctant visitor. She had to show ID to get up here. I think we may have another person of interest.”
He picked up the yellow pad and his coffee cup. After pouring his third cup of the morning, he walked into his office, sat, and eyed the stack of morning reports piled on top of his basket labeled IN. Much more caffeine would be needed for him to trudge through the reports that were piling up.
No sooner had he gotten comfortable than Williams flew in and placed the phone records in his hand.
“Thanks. Very fast.” He smiled. He flipped to the back of the stapled list of Martin’s calls. At the bottom of the page, in her neat hand, was a small note. “Most frequent number called is registered to Amanda Blake. The next two most frequent numbers called are registered to Vicki Lilith and Larry Collins.”
Williams smiled and quickly left Parker’s office.
Parker nodded. As he flipped through the preceding pages, the records indicated that Amanda and Martin had been calling each other five or six times a day for a little over three weeks. He also noted the next two most popular numbers on Martin’s cell. One was a local number Martin had called every morning, at around 1:00 a.m. That was Collins. Definitely worth investigating, so he took a yellow highlighter and ran it over those calls. The next one was called at random times throughout the month. He highlighted that one, as well. Must be Lilith, he thought.
Finally, Officer Williams entered at a trot and presented Parker with a copy of all the texts Martin had sent and received over the week prior to his death. As Parker scanned the messages, he could see her reading them upside down. A dusky flush began to work its way up from her neck to her hairline.
Parker chuckled. “I’m guessing you know what all these text shortcuts mean. True?”
Officer Williams nodded. “Yes. Would you like for me to explain them?”
“You could confirm that I’m interpreting them correctly, how’s that?”
She took a deep breath, aware of the fact that she had implied that her new boss was unaware of the insular language of texting—more specifically, sexting. The flush began to lighten by the time she had translated the tenth acronym into explicitly graphic language.
“Good enough. I certainly get the gist.” Detective Parker adjusted his collar. “Would you interpret from these texts that the couple was in an intimate relationship?”
She nodded her agreement. “Oh yes, sir. They were definitely lovers in the first stages of a relationship.”
“I don’t even want to know how you know that.”
She grinned and handed him a yellow sticky note. “Yes, sir. Here’s the name of this morning’s visitor.”
“Vicki Lilith,” he read. “Okay, she appears to be Martin’s partner and knew him well. I would like you to arrange an interview with her and see what you can add to our investigation. Are you good?”
Her cocoa-brown eyes lit up. “Yes, sir. I’d be happy to set it up.”
“Good. Meanwhile, I’m going to personally investigate her complaint about Amanda Blake.” He stood.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m sure our visitor would be pleased with an immediate response. If you have any questions or need assistance of any kind, give me a call.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Officer Williams, I would expect you to need some advice, and it would be a good indication of your potential if you took advantage of the vast experience of your peers and superiors.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Excellent, Officer Williams. Report to me when you return.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Officer Williams, a few ‘Yes, sirs’ indicate respect. Dozens of ‘Yes, sirs’ get annoying.”
“Yes—” Officer Williams quickly cut herself off. She didn’t want to be annoying.