Chap 17 A Death in the Night

by Shin

 

 

 

Alex was already at the location when Matt drew up. He placed the JPD star in his jacket pocket and went into the house. The coroner's staff were tracing and recording the evidence.

“Single bullet entry at the back of the head....9 mm, shell casing on the bed. Victim was under sedation of some kind, there's a syringe on the night stand. Coroner says its probably morphine based. No signs of struggle.” Alex filled in.

He passed the wallet to Matt. Matt mentally followed the rehearsed steps on the manual.

' Male, Caucasian, age 45, address, ht., wt. and Oklahoma driving license.'

He picked out a name card. It mentioned his name as Trent Crockett.

“We called up his workplace. Is an attorney at Schumburg & Lawrence. We called up and spoke to one of the partners. He's supposed to be on his vacation and guess what....,” he gestured at the plaques on the wall, “ our friend is also a CPA and....,” he said it with some emphasis, ' is an assistant pastor at the Lutheran Church, on main. My man's stellar.”

“Time of death?” asked Matt.

The coroner's staff member looked up.

“Best we can tell, early morning,” he said.

“Anonymous call came in at 12.30 noon, “ Alex said, walking to the door. “Take a look at this,” he called.

“Hang on a second,” Matt replied and went back to the bed to take a good look at the face up close. Something Sara had said about everybody being loved by someone. It had given Matt a clear cognition of faces.

He looked at the hair, eyes and features. He pictured him alive and felt a curious sense of loss of an intelligent man of faith.

He told the coroner to bag the body and followed Alex to the next room. It was a study. On the computer screen was a letter the victim had composed to a friend but had not sent it. It was a brief note.

It said,

Hi,

Just a short note to say I regret what happened between us. In retrospect, we should have kept up the communication. It's a new world and new ways and darling, I screwed up, I couldn't adapt.

“Why didn't he send it?” Alex asked.

“The killer?..,” Charles offered, then turned to the coroner's staff, “ are you done in here?”

“All done,” came the reply.

“Entry signs?” he asked Alex as he sat on the chair.

“Checking now,” Alex said and left.

Matt printed the letter and checked the victim's contacts. He printed out all contacts.

Alex came back in.

“Neighbor says he came back last night at about 8.00 pm with a brunette about 5' 8”, 160 lbs, but says it was brief, didn't pay too much attention, so can't remember the face.”

Matt got up, walked into the kitchen and checked the garbage. Then he took out a zip lock and picked up with his gloved hand a phial. It said OxyContin. The packaging lay next to it and he bagged that too.

“She left it for us to find?” he asked.

“She's sending us a message, “ Matt rose. “ Check the house for more clues. Take down pictures, behind the fridge, everything.”

They combed the entire one floor house carefully.

“Any ideas what we are looking for?” Alex asked after a while. There was nothing behind the pictures.

“You'll know it when you see it,” Matt replied.

The living room had a bureau with a counter. On the counter were some family photos of the victim, a wife, daughter and son. Next to it were some porcelain items....a cottage, a dog and a petite lady. The price tag on the lady was still fresh.

Matt walked back to the kitchen garbage and checked it again. There was some junk mail, chocolate wrappers and bills. He picked up the bills and checked the dates. There was one from Milly's Gifts at the mall. It was dated the previous day. It contained a product code and the price was US 15.00. He picked it up, then went back to the living room.

The porcelain doll was US 15.00. He bagged both of them. Then as an after thought, he went back again to the garbage. This time, he picked up the chocolate wrappers and smelled it. It had a fresh scent. It was a bar of Hershey's wafers. He bagged the wrapper.

Alex called from the bedroom. He went there and showed him the bags.

“Is this anything?” he asked and pointed at the back wall of the closet.

There were two wavy lines and something that looked like an outline of a rocket, pointing upwards, drawn with a pencil.

“Photograph it,” he suggested.

There was nothing else and they were feeling a little of a wild chase. They stopped.

It was evening when they came out. Some curious onlookers were still hanging about. Cars slowed down to take a look. They sealed the house with a note from the department and walked to their cars.

Matt lit up a cigarette.

“You first,” he suggested.

“Picked up a maniacal broad who didn't like her father and is bumping off middle aged men.”

“A dissatisfied client from the law firm.” Matt added.

“A victimized parishioner.”

“What did he do with a CPA?”

They paused but had nothing.

“Nature of the murder,” suggested Matt.

“How about one for old times sake darling and then needle into arm?”

“How about, you know what you did was wrong, Trent darling. I have suffered loss. Now its only fair that you do too. What do you say? It won't hurt.”

“Reason for messages?” suggested Alex.

“I have done nothing wrong. This is justice in the eyes of god.”

“You've been in the marines too long,” commented Alex.

“What did you mean by ' My main man stellar?'” Matt asked.

“It's Black talk. My main man who can do anything and everything.”

They got into their cars and went back to the station.