Missing: The Body of Evidence (5 page)

Nancy
pressed STOP on her CD player, as she parked outside the janitor’s apartment.
Flying
Without Wings
, on this occasion had failed to lift her spirits. She saw the
curtains twitch at number one, which was becoming something of a habit.
At
least I know he’s in.
She arrived at his door and knocked. There was
movement inside, but he didn’t respond and she rapped the door hard.

Nancy called out. ‘Detective Roberts.’

He failed to answer. She unfastened the
button on her jacket, slipped the safety strap of her shoulder holster and
stood to one side. Nancy knocked on the door again, with one hand rested on the
butt of her 9 mil Glock automatic.

‘Mr. Kelly, police. Open up.’

She could still hear him rummaging about.
Nancy experienced a hot flush as the time ticked by. She knocked again; at the
same time, she wished she had backup with her.

‘I know you’re in there.’

Finally, he called out.

‘Yeah, yeah, keep your skirt on,’ she heard
him shout.

She took out her gun and held it with both
hands. The door opened and she aimed it at Kelly. He thrust his hands in the
air and his eyes bulged with a look of terror.

‘Why didn’t you answer?’

‘Hell, can’t a guy have a crap. What do you
want?’

Nancy held her stance. ‘We need you down at
the station to register your fingerprints and DNA so we can eliminate yours
from the scene.’

‘Ya don’t need to stick a gun in my face
for that. I ain’t got no problem with that.’

Nancy didn’t reply, but made him assume the
stance and patted him down.

‘Precaution, that’s all. If you’d answered
straight away, there’d have been no need. Sorry about that, safety first, I
want to get to be thirty-seven. We need to go now.’

Kelly locked his door. Nancy holstered her
gun and they set off to her car.

‘So, you’re not going to cuff me, or read
me my rights?’

‘Not unless you want me to.’

Nancy cast him a smile. It was not that
Nancy hadn’t thought about it, but she reckoned he would clam up if she made it
appear he was under arrest.

‘Nah, like I said, you’re not a suspect,
just me being cautious. It comes with working fifteen years over at South
Central. I feel a bit embarrassed now.’

‘Ah, South Central! Forget it, I
understand.’

On the way back to the station, he seemed
like a different character and they chatted away amiably about anything but the
fire.
Empathy, I can create it by the bucket load when it counts.
Nancy
knew from experience not to be taken in by his new persona. Even the hardened
criminals she’d arrested over the years acted that way before she charged them.
Nancy parked the car and opened the door for him and she smiled.

‘This way, Jason.’

‘Sure, Nancy.’

Walking beside Kelly to the entrance, she
allowed herself a self-satisfied smile. All the questions she needed answers
to, she had formed on the drive to headquarters. If her interview went to plan,
she reckoned Logan and Kyle would have to feed her more than doughnuts.

Kyle
greeted Kelly and Nancy at reception, as if he had been waiting for her to arrive.

‘I need a word, could you direct Mr. Kelly
to the waiting room?’

His tone of voice and his demeanour did not
suggest a prelude for him apologizing for snickering at her earlier predicament
in the meeting. She wondered if his officious manner was for Kelly’s benefit.

‘Sure.’

She escorted Kelly to the waiting room and
returned to Kyle at reception.

‘What do you want?’ Nancy asked, Kyle, and
gave him a blank stare.

‘Whoa, steady on there, tiger. Why the
look?’

His treacherous snicker and lack of any support
during her meeting earlier with Logan still festered, but she was not about to
point him in the right direction, preferring him to squirm.

‘I’ll tell you later. What is it you want?’

The curtness of her delivery had the
desired effect. Kyle inspected his shoes and mumbled.

‘Strategy, Logan wants you to take his
prints and DNA, and after, you’re to join him in the viewing room. I’m to take
the interview. I need your notes.’

Nancy stood akimbo and thrust her face near
to his as he looked at her for a response.

‘Is that right?’

‘Look, it’s not my idea, climb down.’

Kyle took a step back. He looked puzzled.

‘I don’t suppose you argued against
interviewing Kelly?’ She took out her notebook from her purse and slapped it
against his chest. ‘I suppose he’ll want me to make the coffees?’

‘Nance, it’s not like that. He...’

Turning on her heels, Nancy ignored his
protest, and marched off to the waiting room. At the door of the waiting room,
she went through her ritual of smoothing down her jacket and waving her head
from side to side. Nancy took a deep breath and opened the door. With a beaming
smile and a friendly pat on Kelly’s shoulder, she beckoned him to follow her to
the fingerprinting room. Nancy switched on the computer, explained the
procedure to Kelly, and donned gossamer gloves. She took each finger and his
thumb in turn and placed them on the digitization pad, gently rolling each one.
The process infuriated Nancy. His hands shook so much it was hard to get the
computer software to accept the prints.

‘Look, I drink a little and my hands shake.
I need something to settle them. Do you mind?’ He took a hip flask from his
pocket and held it up.

‘Go ahead.’
Drink a little, that’s an
understatement.

The process seemed to go a little more
smoothly after he had taken a swig. She finished off taking final palm prints
and took a swab from inside his cheek to collect DNA. Saving the prints to
disc, she opened the distribution file, typed in Tracy’s name and looked at the
“Any Comments” section. The devil in her wanted to type “Stuff you, suck it up
bitch,” but she simply typed Kelly’s details and the case name before she
pressed SEND.

‘That’s it, we’re all done.’

‘Are you taking me back home?’

‘Sure, we won’t leave you stranded, you’ve
been a big help. But first my colleague, Kyle, wants to ask you a few questions
about the professor, so we can put the case to bed and get on with some real
crime detecting.’

He looked relaxed. Her words appeared to
have done the trick and the procedure did not seem to have caused him any
concern. She led him to an interview room and he sat on a chair next to the
interview desk. Nancy headed for Logan’s office. Logan and Kyle were waiting
for her.

‘He’s all yours,’ she said, and could
barely look at either of them.

Kyle led the way and stopped outside the
interview room. Logan and Nancy entered the viewing room. Logan started the
CCTV monitor. He pressed the record function button. Through the one-way
mirror, she could see that Kelly sat at the desk, his fingers clasped and
twiddling his thumbs.

Nancy thought she could smell gasoline.

‘Can you smell something?’

‘Yeah, it’s me. Filled the tank up on my
car and gas splashed on my sleeve.’

The door in the interview room opened. Kyle
walked into the room and introduced himself to the Kelly.

‘Now watch...’

Nancy interrupted Logan.

‘Watch, listen and learn, I know.’

If this was meant to be a lesson for
wasting their time, it was working. Nancy felt totally dejected.

Kyle seemed to be putting the janitor at
ease with banter and softening him up, before he came to the crunch.

‘Before we start, I have to tell you that
our interview is being recorded and that anything said can be used in a
coroner’s court, or a court of law in front of a judge. You are not under
arrest, but simply assisting us with our enquiries. Do you understand that?’

‘Sure, anything to help.’

‘Would you like a coffee before we begin?’

‘Nah, can’t stand the stuff. Never touch
it.’

‘Okay let’s get on with it.’

‘You said you heard the professor moving
about, what time was that?’

‘Around midnight.’

‘When did you hear the fire alarm?’

‘Around five-thirty the morning. I dialled
9.1.1.’

‘Did the alarm continue to sound, before
the fire department arrived?’

He started to fidget around, placed his
hand on his legs and started tapping his fingers on his knees.

‘Guess it stopped just before they arrived.’

‘What time did you go to bed?’

‘Maybe one... one-thirty.’

‘And you didn’t hear anything else from the
professor’s apartment?’

‘No.’

‘What were you doing when you heard the
alarm?’

‘Sleeping lightly I guess.’

‘What did you do in the fifteen minutes
before the fire department arrived?’

‘Erm... I erm...’ His demeanour changed and
his voice rose. ‘I did what anyone would do; I got the hell out and waited
outside.’

‘So you didn’t think to smash the glass on
the main fire alarm at the exit to alert the other occupants?’

‘Hey, what is this, what are you driving
at?’

‘Just asking.’

‘Hell, if I could hear the smoke alarm, I
just as soon reckoned everyone else could.’

‘Listen, I’m just asking what my boss wants
to know to pass onto the Coroner’s office.’

‘Well ya can tell the bastard I ain’t
sayin’ no more. I want to make a phone call.’

Logan picked up the handset and dialled a
number.

‘Okay, you can go in and try for a warrant,
I’ve heard enough. Add to it the Janitor says he can’t stand coffee, contrary
to what he told my detective and uniform. Before you go in to see the judge,
I’ll send you a transcript of the interview in an email attachment. CSI are on
standby to check the prints on the carton and to investigate the batch numbers
to see if it was supplied to the Wal-Mart on the receipt we found.’

Nancy looked in Kelly’s direction. Kelly
stood up behind the desk and stared at the one-way, his face contorted in rage.

‘Is that where your boss is hiding, behind
the mirror? Tell him to come and ask me to my face.’

Logan looked uncomfortable and ran his
finger on the inside of his shirt collar. The image on the CCTV monitor started
to flicker and Logan gave it a tap.

‘Damn, is it me, or is warm in here,’ Logan
said, and he reached to change the setting on the air conditioner.

‘Chief!’ Nancy shrieked.

She whipped her jacket off and rushed over
to him. Logan jumped around, wafting his arm about and trying unsuccessfully to
take off his jacket. Flames danced on the sleeve of his jacket.

‘Be still.’

She wrapped her jacket around his arms to
kill the flames and helped him take off his jacket. His shirtsleeve ignited.
Nancy grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and sprayed the contents over
him to douse the flames. He ripped his shirt off, knocking over the CCTV
monitor in the process. Logan stood there, his potbelly hanging over his pants
and dripping wet from head to toe. She wanted to laugh at his predicament, of
having his dignity stripped bare, but she managed to hold it back.

‘Quick thinking, damn regulator must’ve
sparked.’ Logan tipped the monitor upright. ‘Damn, it’s ruined. Get a
technician to see to it, will ya.’

The monitor screen had lost its colour,
save for a purple patch in one corner. Nancy turned to the one-way mirror.
Kelly stood facing the mirror, with his hands on his hips, an evil grin on his
face. Kyle took Kelly by the shoulder and sat him down on his chair.

‘Wait here,’ she heard Kyle say over the
monitor speakers, and she watched him as he rushed out of the room.

Her attention turned to Kelly. He took out
his hip flask and took a swig. Kelly set the flask down, ran his coat sleeve
across his mouth, rested back on his chair, and a self-satisfying expression
developed on his face.

Nancy
had finished the call to the technician, when Kyle entered the viewing room.
Logan’s jacket and shirt were strewn on the floor in a puddle of water. Kyle
glanced around the room slack jawed.

‘Well, you’ve done it now. I’ve just seen
Logan squishing in his shoes down the corridor.’

‘Done what?’ Nancy snickered.

Kyle pointed to the fire extinguisher she
was holding.

‘I mean... I know you have a chip on your
shoulder, but you’re sure to get fired for drenching Logan.’

‘Chip, really. What else is wrong with me?’

‘I heard you scream, what were you fighting
about?’

‘You first, what else is wrong with me?’

‘You seem to think everyone is trying to
put you down, when in fact they’re trying to help you, if you weren’t so pig
headed.’

‘Pig headed? Nice to know where you’re
coming from... asshole. If you want to know what happened, ask your friend,
Logan.’

She put the fire extinguisher down, held
her head high and brushed him aside. Nancy returned to her station and put a
call out for the cleaner to clear up the mess in the viewing room. She was
annoyed that Kyle had jumped to conclusions.

Everyone in the office crowded around her
desk asking what happened.

‘Time someone drenched Logan,’ said Bill.

‘Did he come onto you? Because if he did,
I’ll stuff this T-shirt he asked for down his miserable throat,’ said Claire.

‘Whoa, hold on there, it was an accident,
nothing else. His jacket caught fire from an electrical fault.’

The crowd shuffled away back to their
desks, leaving Kyle staring at her.

‘I heard that. Sorry, but you have to admit
you’re a bit touchy lately.’

‘Touchy, chip on my shoulder and pig
headed. So maybe you’ll admit, I’m not really your type and you should stop
chasing me.’

‘Awe, Nance, it’s not like that. Six-months
on probation is likely to stress anyone out, you need a break, that’s all I’m
saying.’

‘Out of sight, out of mind, is it? So you
can take over all my cases.’

‘Out of sight? I was going to ask you to
come away with me this weekend to that place you like to go hiking. How about I
bring a bottle of wine around tonight and we can make plans?’

‘Bottle of wine? You think that’s all it
takes to get into my pants. Think again before you start jumping to conclusions
like you did in the viewing room.’

Nancy picked up some papers from her IN tray
and buried her head in them. Kyle walked up beside her, took hold of the papers
and turned them the right way around.

‘I’ll talk to you later when you’ve snapped
out of your mood.’

She ignored Kyle and he walked back to the
interview room. Nancy heard a cough. She swivelled her chair and could see it
was the technician.

‘That was quick!’

‘Already in the building. I’ve fixed the
positor in the monitor.’

‘What the hell’s that?’

‘A device that controls the current in the
de-gauzing circuit. I fixed it with my magic wand.’

‘Magic wand?’

‘Yeah, it’s a powerful magnet. Wave it at
the screen, and say the magic word,
hey presto
. All the colour returns
like magic. That’s the problem with these old analogue monitors; you need to
ask your boss to upgrade it to a flat screen.’

‘Not much chance of that. What about the
regulator in the air conditioner?’

‘Sorry, not my job, I’ve isolated it, so
it’s safe.’

He thrust a work sheet at her and she
signed it with a flourish. The technician walked off and Claire came up beside
her, with Logan’s wet pants over her arm.

‘I heard that exchange with Kyle. Don’t go
snapping my head off, girl, but he could be right and he is kinda cute. Most
men would have told you to take a hike. There ain’t many of him hanging around
on a mulberry bush at your age, if you get what I’m sayin’?’

‘I guess, maybe I do have issues. I’m not
sure working with a boyfriend is the best way forward in a relationship.’

‘You could be right, but you need to sort
it out, girl. Maybe it’s that competitive streak I seen in you from the first
day you arrived here. You ain’t got nothing to prove. Hell, there’s more to
life than work, you just haven’t found that out yet. Well, all I can say is,
try an’ bury your issues, hon, ’cause Logan wants to see you in his office.’

‘What, Logan wants to see me without his
pants?’ Nancy managed a smile. ‘Listen, Claire, thanks. I’ll think about what
you said. I know I’ve been a bitch to him lately.’

Nancy made her way to Logan’s office. She
knocked on the door and walked into the room.

‘Take a seat.’

Nancy enjoyed the moment; Logan sat at his
desk in his boxer’s, stripped of his power and wearing a T-shirt two sizes too
small. Nancy couldn’t help but snicker.
Nice one, Claire.

‘Okay, I can see the funny side, but let’s
get down to business. Give me a summary how you see it.’

A deep breath and she managed to stifle her
giggles.

‘Kelly’s asked for a phone call, so he’s
not talking. Okay, let’s look at what we have. The professor is obviously of
interest to the CIA, but I don’t think they’ll give us any answers; they just
want this case to die as an accident. Kelly had the keys for access to the
apartment, which was locked. His witness statements change every time we talk
to him. Kelly is the janitor, but he didn’t try to warn anyone by setting off
the building alarm. The lasagne packaging could go some way to proving he stole
it from the professors apartment.’

She took a deep breath.

‘If we can get forensics to find prints
that tie the lasagne packaging to the professor and to him, then that would put
him with the professor after the last time the professor was spotted alive, and
carrying a Wal-Mart bag. The batch numbers could go some way to prove it was
from the same store as the receipt, but that would only be circumstantial.
That’s as far as we can get. Everything else we could dream up would be just as
circumstantial, especially without the body to prove how the professor died. It
all depends on if we can find something when we search his apartment that will
give him a strong motive to have wanted to kill the professor, or we can get
him to confess.’

‘I think that’s a fair summary.’

‘So you don’t think my hunch was stupid?’

‘What I say and what I think sometimes, can
be opposite sides of the moon. What I think was stupid, was you not bagging the
packaging when you found it and bringing him in for questioning at the time.
You should know you don’t need a warrant if you find something that could be
connected to a crime. The only reason I let it pass, was because it was a
tenuous connection, and if we obtain a search warrant, it enables us to do a
more in-depth search. But if we don’t get the warrant, you’ve got problems.’

Nancy mulled over what he had said. She
knew he was right, but at the time it wasn’t as if she’d found a kilo of coke.
She knew better than to start making excuses.

‘So, I take it we can make a file on this.
Am I heading the investigation on this, only Kyle...’

‘Only Kyle what, took the interview? Just
because you saved my skin, don’t think you can go questioning my authority. If
you’d have taken the interview, maybe it would have jogged his memory and he
would have given you the same story on the coffee from your notes.’

If a chasm had appeared under her for her
to climb down, she would have been eternally grateful.

‘Your hunch… your case. Now go and find out
all you can about the professor while we wait for the search warrant.’

My first case? Yes!
The elation quickly subsided as the realization of what that meant
took hold.
Damn it, now I have to come through with the goods.

Logan tapped his knuckles on the desk.

‘Well, snap to it, what are you waiting
for… Detective?’