Chapter 30
Friday afternoon,
police headquarters
Detective Parker and Officer Williams stood before the whiteboard in their temporary staging room for the murder room. A single whiteboard had been delivered to Detective Parker. He rolled it into an empty cubicle near Officer Williams’s open-plan office. He had researched the personnel records to determine who was on vacation and appropriated use of that office.
“I thought you had found another whiteboard and had your eye on a corkboard,” said Officer Williams.
“I did. It appears that other clever officers have cottoned on to this trick. This was the only one I could get.”
A picture of Nicole’s smiling face was at the center top of the first whiteboard. Beneath Nicole’s image was a printed copy of the trust fund that their uncle had written up to protect Nicole’s share of his fortune. In the same row on the far left was a picture of her parents, her brother Phillip, and next to him her brother Alan. To the far right was a picture of her wife, Elizabeth, and next to her was a social media picture of the graffiti artist SNARK, the face shrouded by a black hoodie.
Officer Williams shuffled the second row of pictures over to the right to add a picture of Samuel Joven.
“Who’s that?” asked Detective Parker.
“He’s a server who works part time at Queen’s Head Pub. I ran a background check, but he has no priors. While I was getting an update from Savannah, Edward, and Amanda, this guy dropped a tray of glasses and ran out the back door. He was driving a white car.”
“That’s not particularly suspicious. There are masses of white cars.”
“According to Savannah, he’s skipped town. She went to his apartment to follow up on why he fled the restaurant. It appears that he left without collecting his security deposit, not to mention his wages.”
“Still not overly suspicious. Honestly, he could be undocumented and nervous around police—not a thing to do with Nicole.”
“Savannah called me last night and said that a white car tried to run her down while she was leaving Samuel’s apartment building.”
“Now, that might be something. Did you add that to the case file?”
“I tried. I got half done and the server kicked me off and wouldn’t accept my password. I’ve applied for a new password through the IT department, but I rather think they’re a little busy.”
“I would hope so.”
Standing back from the whiteboard, Detective Parker folded his arms across his chest. He stared at the board. “The two most promising leads are still with Nicole’s wife and possibly her brother Alan. Alan has that rescue farm that is failing. Have you confirmed an alibi?”
“Not for Alan, but I’ve verified that Phillip was at home in Zephyrhills. His phone recorded his location when he received the call from Elizabeth about the accident. Also, Savannah says that he’s been helping her obtain a forged painting from Nicole’s uncle that may be relevant to the case.”
“How is a forgery pertinent?”
Officer Williams paused a moment. “I’m not quite sure, but Savannah insists that it is a significant lead.”
Detective Parker removed Phillip’s picture. “Trust Savannah to stretch her authority as a consultant into the thinnest thread possible.”
“But she’s proved herself useful in the past.”
Detective Parker turned to Officer Williams. “I’m concerned about the hit-and-run. Her curiosity and knowledge may be causing the killer to feel threatened. Warn her to keep her nose out of the investigation side of the business.”
Officer Williams rolled her eyes. “I’ll repeat my memorized warning to Savannah the next time I see her.”
“What’s new on this SNARK character?”
“Savannah has tracked down a correlation between a little-known forged masterpiece that Nicole gave to her uncle, and some contemporary murals. The murals are by SNARK. She’s letting Jacob take a closer look at both the murals and the painting. She says he has several pages of notes that indicate that SNARK is the forger.”
“That’s promising. Any progress on identifying SNARK?”
“None. It seems unbelievable that he could remain unidentified. It not like he’s an international spy—or double agent. He could be keeping his identity a secret out of habit, or to generate an air of mystery. There are precedents, however, of famous graffiti artists who just plain don’t want to be known.”