Heather admired the new polish on her toenails as she padded her way to Steve’s front door. She expected to see the face of the delivery guy bringing a fresh supply of sushi and fried rice, not Detective Hall. He gave her a quick look and said, “Nice color on the nails. That wasn’t there yesterday.”
She took a step back and swung the door all the way open. “You’re more observant than you were when you worked the Ned Logan murder. I notice you don’t have Detective Lowe with you.”
Hall’s next words came out with a sigh. “He doesn’t know I’m here, and if it’s all the same, I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Come in,” said Steve. “Don’t worry about us giving up your secret. I don’t know any good detectives that haven’t had to work around something, or someone, in order to solve a case.”
Heather closed the door and followed the detective to the dining room. She’d no more sat down when a second knock on the front door caused her to stand. “That has to be my supper.”
Sure enough, the same blue-haired delivery driver stood outside with a plastic bag extended and said, “Thanks for the ten-dollar tip you put on your card. It’ll sure help get my little girl a new pair of shoes.”
Heather reached into the back pocket of her shorts and put her fingers on a ten-dollar bill. “Come in and put the order on the counter.” She gave the young man the stare she’d perfected when she interrogated suspects back in Boston. “I’ll double your tip if you truthfully answer one question.”
The eyes of the delivery driver focused on Heather’s forehead. “What’s the question?”
She nudged her head toward the dining room. “Before you answer, I need to tell you that a former homicide detective, a police detective, and an attorney will hear your answer. Each of us are experts in determining whether a person is lying or telling the truth. Do you understand?”
“I guess so.”
Heather locked her gaze on the man’s eyes. “You don’t have a daughter, do you?”
He licked his lips before the blue hair swung from side to side. “It’s a line my girlfriend made up for me to say to get more tips. She told me to invent multiple stories that would make customers feel sorry for me.” He looked down and blew out a breath. “I remember now. I delivered here last night and used the daughter’s new shoes story. Sorry.”
Heather handed him the ten-dollar bill. “Tell the truth and you’ll always get a good tip here. Lie again, and your manager will receive a phone call.”
Steve and Detective Hall both muffled a laugh with their hands when Heather returned from the front door. Hall said, “That’s what I like about you two—always perfecting your skills. I never would’ve considered a delivery driver might cook up a scam to get extra tips. How did you know he didn’t have a daughter?”
“I didn’t, and neither did Steve. The odds were in my favor because of the way I worded the sentence.”
Steve added, “Heather turned what could have been a question into an accusation. Young parents are universally proud of their new status and their children. The second the delivery guy hesitated we knew a daughter didn’t exist.”
Heather popped open the top of a styrofoam container, unwrapped wooden chopsticks, and reached for a packet of soy sauce. “I hope you don’t mind if I eat in front of you. My protein shake left me a couple of hours ago.”
Steve took over the conversation. “I assume you didn’t come here to watch Heather eat or hone your skills of observation and detecting deception in delivery drivers. What’s on your mind?”
“Detective Lowe will be back tomorrow after a multi-day vacation. He’ll be in a bad mood and will want to sit at his desk, drink coffee, and review the files of the cases I worked. The case in the optometrist's office is the only one I haven’t cleared. I’m afraid he’ll come in, read the file, and tell me to lean on the ex-wife for a confession. I spoke with her today and she seemed torn up about the injury.”
Steve lifted his chin. “Describe how she reacted.”
“Like I said, it upset her. She took up for her ex. Said there had to have been tampering at the manufacturer or by someone else. She asked if his practice was open again. When I told her we had to confiscate and check the rest of the medicines for contamination, that really got to her. Said she’d collect what he needed to get him back open.”
Heather swallowed a bite of fried rice. “Was she concerned about Chris, or the possibility of not receiving a child support check on time?”
“I may be wrong, but the tears looked real to me. I don’t think she’d blubber the way she did over money. Her waiting room was jammed and the retail side of the business had people lined up to try on glasses. I ran a bank check on her and she’s sitting flush. I can’t say the same for Chris Craddock.”
Steve took over again. “Any results from the lab?”
“Not yet. The ophthalmologist that treated Mattie Arnold said Dr. Craddock followed proper medical procedures when he spent so much time irrigating the eye. He doesn’t expect permanent damage, but wants the eye to rest a couple of days before checking it again.”
Steve summarized. “Chris did everything according to protocol, and his business is deep in debt. His ex-wife can get by fine with a delay in child support, and she seemed abnormally upset about his business having to shut down. She’s even sending him supplies so he can reopen as soon as possible. Does that sum up what you saw and heard?”
“That’s pretty much it, except I’m afraid Detective Lowe will add two plus two and come up with seven. How can I handle him tomorrow morning?”
Steve puffed out his cheeks and let the air out in a rush. “If it were me, I’d buy time.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you need to delay, a bureaucracy, government agency, or a large corporation can be helpful allies. In this case, tell Lowe you think the tampering occurred in the factory. You don’t have to be right or even believe it, but it will buy you time while you dig deeper into who has a reason to harm Chris or his practice.”
Detective Hall stood. “Thanks. I’ll keep digging while my partner eases back into the swing of things.”
Steve added another piece of advice. “Dig fast and without noise. You don’t have much time. Once the manufacturer goes into a full defense of their reputation, they’ll send in investigators and lawyers by the busload. They’ll accuse anyone and everyone in order to take the spotlight off themselves. It won’t be long before you and Lowe will receive emails and phone calls from your boss wanting this thing to go away.”
“Do you think it’ll come to that?”
Heather answered for Steve. “As a shark that swims with other attorneys, I can guarantee a drug manufacturer will do what it takes to keep adverse publicity about their product out of the news. It’s a safe bet there’s a meeting going on right now about who they can blame. The one thing you don’t want is your name added to the list.”
“Me? Why would they blame me?”
Steve leaned forward. “The press wants a story that goes on and on. The attorneys know this, and they’re looking to deflect suspicion from the company that’s paying their fat salaries. Until you can give them the person who did this, or their own internal investigation proves otherwise, they’ll keep up the narrative of blaming others. If that peters out, they’ll accuse the police of incompetence. It’s all a smokescreen.”
Hall sat down again and rubbed his temples. “How did this simple case get so complicated?”
Steve shifted to face Heather. “I know this isn’t in our contract, but are you well rested?”
“I slept until noon today.”
“Good.” Steve turned to face Detective Hall. “What about you? Are you ready for a late night of doing background checks?”
“Huh?”
Heather rose and moved toward the coffeepot. “Steve and I need the names of all the employees who work for Chris Craddock and his ex-wife. Also, any employees who’ve worked for either of them in the last six months.”
Steve corrected her. “Make that the last twelve months.”
Heather continued. “If all three of us work on this, we’ll have a good start on suspects. That should give you plenty to get ahead of the vultures before they swoop down.”
Steve added, “It will also show your supervisors you haven’t been sitting on your hands. Lowe will probably take credit for all the work we’ll do tonight, but that’s the way it goes.”
Heather looked down at her food. “I can’t be eating alone. Who wants pizza?”
Steve held up a hand. “You can’t start a thorough investigation without pizza.”
Hall also raised his hand. “Pizza’s good, but I’d rather have a partner like either of you.”
“Remember that when you’re promoted to senior partner,” said Steve. “You can help mold your partner into something special.”
Hall stood again. “I need to run out to my car and grab my computer.”
After Hall closed the door, Heather scooped Honduran coffee into a paper filter. “He’s a good cop.”
Steve countered with, “Still a little green, but he has what it takes.”
Talk ceased as Heather filled the reservoir with water and punched the buttons required to bring the brewer to life. She leaned against the counter. “What bothers you most about this case?”
“Motive.” He hesitated, then continued. “We both know that at least ninety-nine percent of what we’ll do tonight is wasted effort, but it has to be done. I’ve been rolling around what happened to Mattie Arnold in my mind since yesterday, at least when I wasn’t sleeping. The only thing I can come up with for a motive is that someone wants Chris to fail, and fail big. Why? That’s what has me stumped.”
Heather took her phone off the table and punched in a number she’d called many times before. “Do you want the standard order?”
“Yeah. Meat lover’s supreme with extra cheese.”
“Anything else?”
“A side order of the person who hurt an innocent college girl.”
Heather tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “If it were only that easy.” She finished placing the order as Hall reentered the condo. “You’re getting a meat lover’s supreme with extra cheese. I hope that’s all right with you.”
“Perfect. Let me get the tip when the delivery guy arrives.”
Steve chuckled. “It’ll give you a chance to practice recognizing deception.”