Murder on Sagebrush Lane (28 page)

79

Sunday, June 15

Harrie looked around her kitchen. Saturday had been a busy day. The last of the laundry had been put away, the groceries sorted and stored, and the last traces of this past week’s activities cleaned up. Caroline had even donated her old answering machine to them. It now sat on the kitchen desk, replacing the one Harrie had dropped on Monday. Everything looked the same as it had a week ago, before all the drama, mystery, stalkers, and one sweet little girl. Harrie sighed and shook her head. She wondered if she’d ever be the same again.

DJ’s revelation at dinner on Friday evening had given her the last piece of the puzzle. Knowing the identity of the murderer of Vince Weber and Winnie Devlin, and who had tried to killed her, almost gave her the sense of closure she needed. But there was one more thing she needed to do to before she felt ready to move on.

DJ sat in the family room, in his big overstuffed easy chair, looking through the Sunday paper. “Are you serious about selling this house and buying another one?”

Harrie brought herself out of her reverie and processed his question. “Yes, I am. Aren’t you? I thought you agreed with me.” She went over to join him.

“I do, I told you that Friday night. I just didn’t know if you’d really made up your mind, or if you were merely trying on the idea to see if it fit.” He grinned at her. “You occasionally do that, you know.”

She perched on the edge of the easy chair and put her arms around his neck. “You think you know me pretty good by now, huh? Our second anniversary is next month, and you’re the big expert on Harrie McKinsey Scott?”

He dropped the newspaper, pulled her down into his lap, and kissed her. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. I’m still learning, but I think I’m beginning to see trends here.” He sobered. “Seriously, is it the neighborhood or just this house?”

She hugged him one more time, then crawled out of his lap and stood beside him. “It’s both, I think. I never thought I’d say this, but I don’t feel safe here anymore. I know it’s silly. Nothing’s really changed. I guess it’s just me.”

“No, it’s not silly at all. When two people are murdered, a block away from where you live, it sort of puts a damper on your enthusiasm for a place.”

She felt no mirth as she smiled. “I’m glad you understand. And there’s one more thing. I’m not sure how you’ll feel about this, but I hope you’ll hear me out before you say no.” She sat on the ottoman in front of him and leaned forward.

“I’ve thought about this all week, and I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me before now. I thought I’d use some of my inheritance to buy a new house.”

“It’s burning a hole in your pocket, is it?”

She frowned. “No, but you have to admit I haven’t really spent any of it on myself or you. I’ve set up trusts for several charities, but most of it is still there, earning interest all the time. It now seems to me we should invest in real estate.”

“I take it you have a particular piece of real estate in mind?”

She nodded. “As a matter of fact, I do. I want to buy a house in Canyon Estates.”

He whistled softly. “I didn’t see that coming.”

She felt tears welling in her eyes, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I want us to find our dream home. And with all the security they have there, maybe I’ll feel safe again.”

80

By 6:00, everyone had gathered in one of the banquet rooms at Prairie Star for the celebration. Harrie introduced Steve to Cabrini Paiz, and they all met her husband Jason for the first time.

Harrie said, “Captain Paiz, please thank your team of firefighters and EMTs for all their help on Friday. You guys are great.”

He grinned and nodded. Detective Sergeant Paiz spoke up. “Believe it or not, he’s a little shy.” She smiled up at him. “People are always complimenting the firefighters. I think they get a little embarrassed at all the attention.”

Swannie clapped him on the shoulder. “Next time they bother you, young man, give me a call. I have an entire squad of police officers who’d be happy to take on some of that positive attention for you.”

Everyone laughed, and Captain Paiz joined in. Then Dennis brought out two bottles of wine and poured a glass for each of them.

Caroline stood, holding up her glass. “I propose a toast to our amazing law enforcement people here today. In less than a week they solved two murders and found a missing father.”

Steve raised his glass and said, “Here, here.”

Then DJ looked at Harrie. “I’d also like to propose a toast.” He turned back to the others. “To my amazing wife who simply refused to stand back, stay out of trouble, and let us law types solve this crime by ourselves.”

The entire group laughed heartily, and Harrie looked down at the table. Ginger put her arm around Harrie and said, “Cut it out DJ. You know you wouldn’t change a thing about her.”

DJ grinned. “You’re absolutely right, but I thank her anyway.” He held up his glass. “Because she wouldn’t stand down, we actually caught not only the murderer, but the man responsible for the security breach at Sandia National Labs last year.”

Harrie raised her eyebrows. “You know, we still haven’t heard the story about that part of the case.”

“I know,” he said, “be patient. There were several issues we had to resolve, but now I have permission to share most of the story. For help with that, I’ve invited another guest.” He gestured toward the door, and they all turned to look.

Colin Crider stood stiffly in the doorway, looking mildly uncomfortable at joining the group assembled. DJ beckoned to him.

“Come on over here, Colin. I want you to meet these people.”

Crider joined them, and DJ introduced him. “Colin is the one who rescued Michael Rinaldi, and gave us the information we needed. Michael’s kidnapper was attempting to sell stolen classified data to a foreign government. So since we’re having a toast to people who helped, Colin should be included.”

Swannie stood. “Welcome, Colin. It’s nice to see you again. Glad to finally know your real name.”

Crider shook his head. “Sorry about the deception, Lieutenant. Old training is hard to break.”

He sat in the vacant seat next to DJ, and Dennis took their orders.

While they waited for their food, they sipped wine and discussed the case.

Steve said, “DJ, you promised you’d tell us how Al Murray managed to do what he did.”

“Well, for one thing,” DJ said, “when Sgt. Paiz took custody of Murray, no one knew who he was. At first, he wouldn’t talk about anything but the injury Harrie gave him. But after Harrie told Sgt. Paiz what he had done to her, there wasn’t a lot of sympathy for him on that score. Sgt. Paiz walked him over to the EMT unit and stood guard while the techs worked on him.”

He stopped and lifted his glass to Cabrini, and she returned the toast. “When the EMTs finished treating him, Sgt. Paiz took him downtown. He still wouldn’t identify himself or talk about why he was at the Rinaldi home. Swannie called me, knowing I had an interest in questioning the suspect. When I walked in, I recognized him instantly because I interviewed him this past Tuesday when I went out to Sandia.”

Ginger said, “But why would Rinaldi’s supervisor murder Vince Weber and beat Rinaldi so badly?”

DJ turned to Crider. “I’m going to let Colin tell you about that.”

Crider took a sip of wine and then explained his connection to Michael Rinaldi.

Ginger spoke up. “Why didn’t we know about your relationship to him right after his murder?” Then she shook her head. “I mean when we
thought
he’d been murdered.”

Crider nodded. “It was too soon. I had made a few calls and satisfied myself that Michael’s past career had nothing to do with what happened—or so I thought. After all, I had been in on the planning to catch Falcon. So, after the operation went wrong, and I thought Michael had been murdered, I had to sit back and watch things unfold. I couldn’t do anything to interfere in the investigation until I knew what had actually happened.”

He explained the original plan as it had been outlined to Vince Weber. “Vince thought he had no choice but to cooperate because Falcon had threatened to frame him for the security breach.”

Crider explained about the original buyer to whom Vince Weber was supposed to deliver the data, and how Weber panicked when that buyer was gunned down at the bar in Los Huevos.

“By that time,” Crider said, “Vince thought his only way out was if Michael helped him. Falcon held all the cards, and Vince was vulnerable. Of course, that’s when Michael contacted me.”

Steve said, “Do you think it would have worked?”

“I guess we’ll never know.” Crider shrugged. “I do have one question, and I hope DJ can answer it. Why did Al Murray end up at Rinaldi’s home? He was supposed to pick up the money at the drop site in Montgomery Park.”

DJ said. “I’ll get to that in a minute. We had several long sessions with Mr. Murray Friday afternoon and most of Saturday. I think he told us most of the details.”

Steve reached for one of the wine bottles and added to his glass. “I’m surprised he gave up without a fight.”

Swannie chuckled. “I think he’d reached the end of his rope. Everything went wrong and he had nowhere else to go. You should have been there when we told him Rinaldi was still alive. He came close to crying.”

“That wasn’t all,” DJ said. “When he was first arrested, he still didn’t know his buyer had been gunned down in Los Huevos. We gave him that news on Saturday. The wind really went out of his sails then. His grand plan was in the toilet, he had murdered two people, and even if he had managed to locate the thumb drive, he would have had to start all over securing a buyer.”

Harrie studied her wine glass. “I want to hear about this plan he cooked up, and how Rinaldi ended up with the thumb drive.”

DJ sat back. “That’s what we wanted to know. It seems Murray took the thumb drive to the post office and left it in the box. That was part of the original plan. Then Weber went and picked it up Sunday night as instructed. But unbeknownst to Weber, Murray waited and watched for him. When Weber came to pick it up, Murray thought he acted kind of hinky. It made Murray suspicious so he decided to follow him. Weber even told Michael he thought he had been followed, but he believed he’d lost the tail. Of course, he hadn’t.

“At that hour of the night it was almost impossible to remain undetected, so Murray hung back as much as he could. Weber was driving all over the place—so much so that Murray felt sure he’d been spotted a few times. Still, he managed to keep his prey in sight. After about an hour of cruising the streets of Albuquerque from one end to the other, he saw Weber park his car in a neighborhood just east of Tramway, get out, and start walking. Murray realized Michael Rinaldi lived close by. He’d even been to his house a few times for work, but he couldn’t figure out why Weber would be headed there. Then he remembered seeing them together at the Lab a few times while Weber was still an employee.”

Steve spoke up. “DJ, did you ask him why he didn’t just wait to see what Weber would do next?”

“Actually he volunteered that information.” DJ turned to Crider. “You’re going to love this. It seems that Mr. Murray had used his hacking skills over the years for many things. He devised a way to do a background check unlike anyone else, except for maybe the FBI, and I’m guessing the CIA. He would get into a company’s employee records and back out again without leaving a trace.”

“Are you saying Al Murray had discovered Michael’s past employment with the CIA?” Crider shook his head. “I don’t think I want to be the one to pass along that bit of information.”

DJ chuckled. “Don’t worry. Somebody, who has more juice than either one of us, has already been assigned the task. That’s why the director gets the big bucks.”

Crider frowned. “Since Murray knew about Rinaldi’s background, he probably panicked when he realized Weber had headed straight to Rinaldi’s house with the thumb drive. I’m guessing he figured that Rinaldi would interfere with the sale of data, which of course is exactly what happened. Is that why he decided to get the thumb drive back?”

DJ said, “Absolutely. When he realized Rinaldi and Weber were working together, he knew the only way to save his plan was to regain possession of that thumb drive. He was pretty sure Michael would be able trace the thing back to him and he had to prevent that, whatever the cost. Once he had it back in his hands, he would contact the buyer directly. But this new development forced him to play things by ear. So he snuck up to the living room window. He thought maybe he could listen in on their conversation, then figure out how to handle it. He had the forethought to bring along a baseball bat, and he took his opportunity to use it on Weber.”

Swannie said, “We never found a bat. In fact, we didn’t find anything that even remotely resembled a weapon that could have been used to bludgeon the victim.”

DJ shrugged. “He took it with him to use on Rinaldi.”

Harrie interrupted. “Excuse me. Do you think Winnie saw him there when he was lurking around outside Rinaldi’s house looking in the window? Is that what she blackmailed him about?”

DJ nodded. “That’s exactly what happened. Apparently Winnie didn’t tell Murray at first that she’d spotted him on Sunday night. She dropped that bombshell on him Friday morning after she saw him go into the Rinaldi house again.”

“She should have known better,” Harrie said.

Swannie shook his head. “But that’s what happens to people like Winnie Devlin. She’d been engaging in her little blackmail schemes so long she forgot that not everyone can be manipulated like that. She had only herself to blame.”

Steve said. “Okay finish telling us about the rest of what Murray did that night.”

DJ said, “Well, there he was, peering in the windows, or trying to. He said he couldn’t see inside the house, but could hear their voices. He heard Rinaldi tell Weber Katie was awake, and that he had to go stay with her until she went back to sleep. He asked Weber to wait for him in the living room.”

Harrie tilted her head and frowned. “Then wouldn’t Rinaldi have heard Weber being beaten to death? Surely that would have made a lot of noise.”

“I asked Murray the same thing. He said Rinaldi’s stereo was playing while the two men talked. When Rinaldi went upstairs to take care of Katie, Murray slipped into the house. The music covered any sounds he might have made coming in. He was able to sneak up behind Weber and strike a blow to the back of his head with the bat. Weber sank to the floor without a sound, and Murray immediately turned him over, going through his pockets to look for the thumb drive. But Weber wasn’t dead yet. He opened his eyes, and Murray saw that Weber had recognized him.

“This was another major problem. He didn’t know how much time he had before Rinaldi would return, and now Weber knew who was behind the data thefts. Murray panicked. He used the bat three more times on the front of Weber’s head, permanently silencing him. In the process, of course, he destroyed Weber’s face to the point we could only identify him by his fingerprints. Murray’s only hope now was to find the thumb drive and contact the buyer himself.”

Swannie had been thoughtful during this conversation. “Are you saying that Michael Rinaldi did not hear Vince Weber getting the life beaten out of him?”

DJ said, “I haven’t had the opportunity to ask that specific question of Rinaldi, did you Colin?”

Crider nodded. “Yes, he was feeling much better today, and we talked for a long time. He said the child had not cried out that night. That was just an excuse he used for a reason to leave the room. When he went upstairs, Katie was sound asleep, and he took the bear out of her crib. He was focused on hiding the thumb drive in it, so his concentration was on the task at hand—not what Weber might be doing. He went to his office, closed the door, opened up the bear and hid the drive. He sewed it up as quickly as he could because he was worried about Weber being followed.

“When he came back down the stairs, the first thing he saw was Weber lying on the floor, and he rushed over to him. Michael bent down to help, and someone came up behind him and hit him over the head. When he came to, he realized the attacker had trussed him up, blindfolded him, loaded him into a car, and driven him out to the desert somewhere.” Crider leaned back in his chair. “It must have been horrible for him—not knowing where he was, or what might have happened to his daughter.”

The group sat still, contemplating the story Crider had shared.

Then Steve said, “That’s where Rinaldi was tortured?”

DJ took over the story. “Yes. Murray confessed to all of that when we questioned him. He said he worked Rinaldi over pretty good. But Michael never gave him any information. Murray beat Rinaldi until he stopped breathing—at least that’s what Murray thought. He believed Rinaldi was dead, so he left him out there for the scavengers. Then he drove back to Albuquerque.”