Once we were back at the precinct, I made a stop at Lutz’s office, and Frank continued on. He said he would call Bill and get the list Tammy had put together.
I knuckled Lutz’s door, and after looking up from his computer, he waved me in.
“Got a minute?” I asked.
He pointed at one of his two guest chairs. “Sure. Have a seat and tell me what’s on your mind.”
“What’s your gut instinct on the Dwayne Lincoln murder?”
Lutz raised a brow. “Too early to tell. Why?”
I let out a long sigh. “Because the typical murders in Fuller Park are from drive-by shootings, drug deals gone bad, and gang wars.”
“Uh-huh, and?”
“And none of those examples involve waking up a man in the middle of the night and taking him out with an execution-style shot to the forehead. In my book, that was either a paid hit or a revenge killing.”
“So by someone he knew?”
I shook my head. “Not sure. I checked the door—no peephole and no window close enough to see who was standing on the porch. Either he recognized the voice on the other side and let the person in, or they said something to him through the door that sounded urgent.”
Lutz raised a brow. “Hmm… maybe it had something to do with Tammy.”
“That’s what my gut says.”
“I guess we’ll never know. There aren’t any house cameras in the area, and even if there were, at that time of night, we wouldn’t be able to identify the killer in the dark.”
“So you’re saying we’re dead in the water?”
“Unless you can find a motive from interviews with the people on Tammy’s list. Talk to her again and push harder. She has to know somebody who stands out from everyone else.”
I patted the doorframe before walking out. “I’ll keep you posted, and Mike said they’d have their report completed by tomorrow.”
“Good. That’ll give you time to pull background checks and interview the names Tammy wrote down. Oh, and I’m sending Kip and Tony to the shelter. They’ll conduct those interviews since you have enough on your plate.”
I nodded a thanks, and as I walked down the hallway, I saw Frank enter the bullpen with a sheet of paper in hand. I was sure it was the list of names, and that meant we would have our work cut out for us over the next few days. After making a pit stop in the cafeteria to grab a snack, I continued on. I had a feeling our workday would extend into the night.
With a sandwich, a bag of chips, and a soda as an afternoon snack, I settled in at my desk. “How many names are on that sheet?”
Frank tipped back his chair and stretched. “Fourteen.”
“Not as many as I thought. We should be able to whittle that down a bit after checking criminal records. We’ll interview those offenders first. What about friends and acquaintances?”
Frank chuckled. “Those were the friends and acquaintances. She’s still working on the names of people who had a grudge against Dwayne.”
“Shit. Where’s Dwayne’s cell phone?”
Henry spoke up. “Tech has it. They’re trying to pull up deleted texts and voicemails.”
“Okay. Meanwhile, we’ll check into those fourteen names for criminal records.”
By four thirty, we had come up with seven names out of the fourteen who had various types of arrest and conviction records ranging from shoplifting to assault with a deadly weapon. I called Bill and asked if Tammy had given him the rest of the names. He said she’d just finished the list, and he’d bring it up.
“Nah, don’t bother,” I said. “I need to stretch my legs, and I have to pay Todd a visit, anyway.” I hung up, pushed back my chair, and grabbed a notebook and pen before I headed downstairs.
After crossing through the doors of our tech department, I found Todd working at his computer. “Has anything popped on Dwayne’s cell phone?”
“Digging a little deeper. We’ve gone through his text messages, and nothing unusual came up. To be honest, hardly any texts came up at all, which leads me to believe we’ll find more in the deleted files. His incoming voicemails gave us more information, though.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Like threats from the bank of foreclosing on the house. Apparently, he’s behind in the payments by seven months. Same goes for the credit card bills and the car payment—all past due.”
I scratched my cheek as I thought. According to Tammy, Dwayne worked as a janitor, and that made me wonder where his paycheck went. “So what more can you do with his phone?”
“I didn’t find anything important in his photo gallery, so we’ll move on to the deleted text messages and voicemails to see if they have value.”
“Sure. Can you print out his contact list for me first?”
“No problem. I’ll have that ready in a few minutes.”
“Good.” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m heading to the jail wing now, but I’ll stop back and pick it up in a bit.”
I continued down the hallway and checked in with Bill.
“I have that list right here, Detective McCord.”
“Thanks, buddy.” I gave it a quick glance, counted the names, then pocketed the piece of paper. “I need to speak with Tammy again before she’s returned to the shelter.”
“Okay. You want her in an interview room?”
“Yep, if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind at all. Give me five minutes.”
As I waited, I called Mike since I needed to set priorities for the prints they had lifted. Mike answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Jesse, what’s up?”
“Are you guys back?”
“Yep, got back about a half hour ago.”
“Good. I need you to check the prints you lifted off the doorknob—inside and out—before anything else. Let me know if you get any hits.”
“Will do.”
Bill returned a few minutes later and gave me the okay to go into the first interview room, where Tammy waited. I entered and sat opposite her.
“When can I go back to the shelter?”
“Soon. Have you had lunch?”
She nodded. “Your guard brought me a sub sandwich, a soda, and chips.”
“Good to hear. I have a few more questions about Dwayne. The more we know, the better chance of catching his killer and bringing that person to justice. It shouldn’t take more than a half hour, and then I’ll have one of our officers take you back to A New Life. Deal?”
“I guess so.”
“Okay, I need to know about all of Dwayne’s vices.”
She rolled her eyes. “He had plenty.”
I opened my notebook and was ready to write. “Go ahead.”
“Well, many of those people on the sheet I just finished are involved in those same vices. That’s why I wrote down their names.”
I tapped the page with the pen and waited.
“Dwayne liked to gamble, and that’s when he drank the most. I always knew when he lost money because he’d get home and take it out on me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Tammy.”
She nodded. “It’s my own fault it continued for as long as it did.”
“Because you never pressed charges?”
“Uh-huh. I allowed it because I was afraid the police couldn’t protect me. Dwayne would likely go to jail for a night, get released the next day, and then come home and beat me even worse. A protection order is useless. I’ve heard about women that have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends, and a stupid piece of paper does nothing to stop them.”
“I’ll admit, the system is far from perfect. So what types of gambling was Dwayne involved in?”
“Everything. We never had any money because he pissed it all away on drinking, gambling, whores, weed, and pills.”
“We didn’t see any drugs or paraphernalia inside the house, but we can’t do a thorough search without your permission or a warrant.”
“You didn’t find anything because his buddies hung onto his drugs for him.” She snickered. “He knew I’d throw it all away if he brought it home. I found weed once and flushed it down the toilet.” She rubbed her jaw. “That was a painful lesson.”
I shook my head and wrote that down. “And the types of gambling?”
“Oh, sorry, I lost my train of thought. Poker, the ponies, casinos, football, and basketball.”
“So he had a bookie?”
“I suppose so, and he could be one of the people on the list I just made, but I couldn’t tell you who. Dwayne and I didn’t communicate a lot unless it was with his fist. He went to work and then, who knows? He usually didn’t come home until late at night.”
“Did you know any of his buddies personally?”
“Nope. I only heard names when he was on the phone.”
“So the names you wrote down will match up with people from his phone’s contact list?”
Tammy nodded. “Some will.” She shook her head. “In all honesty, Detective McCord, Dwayne was a good-for-nothing jerk. The only reason he worked was so he’d have money to gamble away.”
“Did he owe people?”
“Dwayne owed everyone.” Tammy glanced at me as a worried look spread across her face. “Am I safe, or will they come after me now to collect on Dwayne’s debt?”
I pulled the folded sheet of paper from my pocket, flattened it on the table, and handed my pen to Tammy. “I don’t have an answer for that, but put a check mark next to every name that Dwayne knew from gambling.”
When she finished, there were eight check marks out of eleven names.
“It looks like I have my work cut out for me. In hindsight, I don’t think you should move back home until we have Dwayne’s killer in custody. Is there anyone you can stay with who’ll allow you to have your dog along?”
She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I don’t have any friends, Detective McCord. Dwayne made sure of that. Coby is all I have.”
“I’ll talk to the shelter administrator and see if they’ll make a temporary exception. I’ll let you know. If not, we’ll make sure the car gets to you. It isn’t like Dwayne needs it anymore. That way, you can go visit Coby until you get settled in a place where you can both live. Just so you know, Tammy, we’ll have to go through your financial records to see if there’s anything that’ll help with the investigation. A warrant is probably needed for that, especially since Dwayne can’t give us permission to access his accounts.”
Tammy shrugged. “Go ahead. Nothing was in my name, anyway.”
I stood to leave. “As soon as we release the house to you, I’d suggest putting it up for sale if you really don’t want to live there. It might be safer for you to relocate to a different neighborhood, plus selling the house could put a few bucks in your pocket before the bank has the chance to foreclose on it.” I tipped my head toward the door. “Bill will get an officer to take you back to the shelter. Take care, Tammy, and stay safe.”
I returned to the tech department and picked up Dwayne’s phone contact list before making my way upstairs. Lutz and I and the rest of our team needed to sit down, go through the names, and find out if anyone on that list had a death wish for Dwayne.