Mystery: Missing Rita: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (3 page)

“We are going to ask the neighbors around here if they saw anything suspicious around the house on the night of the murder or prior to that,” Lohan announced and looked over at his partner. “Should we split up? Or do you want to do this together?”

“I would rather do this with you,”Sam answered. “I would love to learn a few things from you.”

“O.k.,” Lohan answered. “If you feel there is something I am overlooking, please feel free to point it out.”

“Alright.”

Lohan glanced around the place and wondered where to start. He looked at the different papers he had been given earlier by the estate’s resident chairman that contained all the different people’s names of the estate.

“Let us start with old Mrs. Murphy,” he said and pointed at the deceased’s next door neighbor. “Old people are always looking for some spice in their lives.”

Sam let out a slight chuckle and followed closely behind his partner and knew they were in for a good laugh. He watched as Lohan rang the doorbell, and stood right behind him.

“Good morning, Mrs. Murphy,” Lohan said with the utmost dazzling smile Sam had ever seen on him.

“Good morning, sir,” was the reply.

“I am Detective Lohan and this is my partner, Detective Sam,” he announced. “We’re here to ask a few questions about your neighbor Rita, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, sure,” she answered and stepped aside to allow them into her house. “Can I offer you boys some tea?”

Sam hesitated but Lohan was more than happy at the mention of tea. He had left home without any breakfast after getting into a fight with Gina that morning.

“Muffins?” she offered as she directed them to the living room and ushered them to the seats that were directly opposite her.

“Yes, please,” Lohan said excitedly and settled well into his seat.

“I will be right back” she announced and left the living room and headed for the kitchen. They could hear the usual clutter of cutlery before Sam looked over at Lohan and noticed that the thought of tea was literally making him drool.

“Had an argument with Gina today?” he asked. He was so used to Lohan complaining about his wife that he could always tell when he’d had a feud with her.

“How did you know?”

“I know you all too well by now,” Sam answered. “And Gina too.”

Lohan reached for his bald head and scratched it gently before looking over at Sam and nodding slightly in his direction. He was just about to narrate his marriage squabbles but the soft footsteps of Mrs. Murphy made him hold back. Sam got to his feet and offered to help her with the tray before pouring a cup of hot, steaming tea for both he and Lohan.

“I hope you do not find the muffins stale, I made them the day before yesterday,” she said. “Blueberry, that used to be my husband’s favorite….”

Lohan looked around the living room for any pictures of the husband with an assumption that he had passed on but could only spot pictures of children.

“Is Mr. Murphy around?” he asked curiously and almost burst out laughing from Mrs. Murphy’s facial expression. The mention of him made her face scowl with disgust.

“That old bastard ran off to Vegas with a young bimbo a few years back,” she answered bitterly before letting out the warm smile that she’d worn only minutes before. “Do you like the tea?”

“Yes, thank you, ma’am,” Sam answered for both and knew that his partner was enjoying it more than him.

“Were you close with the deceased?” Sam asked and watched as Mrs. Murphy’s face lit up with total amusement. She was definitely ready to dish about her neighbor.

“I never really talked much to her,” she started before nodding her head in disagreement at what she was about to say. “She was rather standoffish if you ask me.”

“Why would you say that?” Lohan interrupted later, taking a few bites of his muffin.

“Because for starters she never talked to anyone in the neighborhood, never attended any neighborhood meetings or parties she was invited to,” she explained.

“Do you know of anyone she may have had an altercation with perhaps?” Sam went on to inquire and wondered if his partner was really paying any attention or merely hogging all the muffins.

“She never talked to anyone,” she started to explain. “Of course there were always a few men who were parked outside her house a few times in the night.”

“Did any of them sleep over?”

“Not that I know of,” she answered and was all of a sudden lost in a thoughtful moment before remembering something.

“There was of course that one time when she got into an argument with her ex-husband.”

Sam took a sip from her teacup and leaned forward showing the curiosity that Mrs. Murphy was trying to arouse in him.

“What was the argument about?” he asked.

“It first started with her wanting him to take care of the kids while she went on a trip to God knows where. Then he accused her of having a secret boyfriend. Then she asked him why he cared and that they were divorced and it all ended up being a huge fight and the ex-husband stormed out angry at her.”

Sam looked over at Mrs. Murphy and out the window to where Rita lived. He silently wondered how she could hear all that from such a distance.

“How long ago was that, ma’am?” Lohan chipped in after being silent for a while.

“About two weeks ago.”

“Did he ever get physical with her?” he asked again and watched as her expression softened before her mind raced through her recollections searching for something useful.

“I wouldn’t say that he got physical,” she started. “But there were times that I could hear the sound of whips and chains coming from her house – whenever the ex-husband was around.”

She fixed her gaze on the floor shyly before looking up at both men and saying, “She might have been a silent sufferer, you know, and being a nurse it was easy to cover up the scars and bruises.”

Sam could not imagine the kind of stories that Mrs. Murphy could possibly be telling herself in that house and the conclusions she would draw by herself.

“O.k. ma’am.” Lohan got to his feet and gave her a fixed look. “Thank you for the information, ma’am.”

“Are you boys leaving already?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lohan said teasingly and played with his belt as he said these words. He looked stuffed from the muffins he had just eaten. “You have been mighty helpful, you know.”

Sam took out a card from his pocket and gave it to her. “If you remember anything that would help us in the investigation, ma’am, please give us a call.”

“Does it only have to be about the investigation? I might need your help with my own personal needs, you know,” she said and for a moment Sam wondered whether she was flirting with him or with Lohan.

“We will be right at your service, ma’am,” Lohan said knowing well enough that Sam would have nothing to say to her.

“Thank you ma’am,” he said and started walking towards the door.

“I hope I was helpful,” she said. She trailed after to close the door behind them.

“You were,” Sam said and gave her a polite “thank you” accompanied by a warm smile. He stepped out into the scorching sun right behind Lohan.

“What do you think?” he asked Lohan who was looking into the distance thoughtfully.

“A lot of nonsense,” he said. “Her views were all based on speculation and not actual facts. In short, she is the ultimate nosy neighbor.”

“Her muffins were really good though,” Sam said as he remembered how Lohan had shamelessly hogged most of them down.

“I know that’s right.”

They walked back to the crime scene. The yellow tape was still in place but the analysts had all left.

The duo went on to question a few more neighbors. Most of them did not really know Rita because of the nature of her work and her busy schedule. They tried however to collect as much information as they could get and were just about to head back to the office when a call came through for them.

“Lohan,” he echoed in the phone’s receiver when he picked it up.

“O.k.,” he answered. “We’ll be right over.”

“What’s the problem?” Sam asked as he trailed behind him and headed slowly towards the car.

“We’re urgently needed at the city morgue,” he answered.

“Did they say what the problem was?”

“No, they didn’t,” Lohan answered smartly. “That can only mean one thing.”

“What?”

“It is really bad news.”

Sam felt a sudden adrenaline rush as he got in the driver’s seat and got behind the wheel. He looked over at Lohan and marveled how he was always calm in every case they handled.

“So did you sort out your issues with Gina?”

Lohan looked over at Sam for a moment and took in a deep breath. It was a topic he had been avoiding ever since he reported to work that morning, but he knew in the end he would blurt it all out.

“What do you think?”

“From the nonexistent sex glow on your face,” he chuckled, “I think not.”

Lohan looked over at Sam and wondered why he confided so much in him when all he did was make fun of him. He looked straight ahead at the road and wondered what it was that was so urgent at the morgue.

“Gina is a handful,” he blurted without warning as he remembered events from the previous night.

“What happened last night?”

“She told me to go to a strip club and I went to a strip club.” Lohan’s words sunk in slowly. He began to wonder what he meant by that.

“I don’t get it,” he said out loud. “I thought she hated it when you went to strip clubs.”

“Hate is an understatement, my friend.”

“So why did you go?” Sam asked.

“Because she threatened me,” Lohan answered bitterly. “No one threatens me.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”

“Of course she meant it,” Lohan replied defensively. He settled back in his seat and looked straight ahead at the road with a distant look on his face.

“Sir,” Sam began, “you are a trained police officer who has been in the field for a good ten years. You chase criminals and put them behind bars – and you want to tell me you are afraid of your own wife?”

Lohan let out a chuckle from the question he was asked and his mind again wondered to nothing in particular. His gaze shifted out of the car.

“Ironies of life my friend, the simple ironies of life…”

“Please do me a favor,” Sam begged.

“What?”

“Please remind me of this moment when I tell you I want to get married.”

Lohan again laughed out loud before saying, “I will kick you right in the behind but I will not stop you.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because marriage is a beautiful and sacred institution,” Lohan said sarcastically and Sam did not miss the contempt in his voice.

The city morgue’s building appeared in the distance. Sam parked in the driveway and both got out of the car. They began heading for the building slowly, both wondering what was so urgent and both had their professional hats on.

They took the flight of stairs to the ground floor and the atmosphere suddenly changed to cold and somber, something they were both used to now. They were however greeted by a few people making unnecessary noise and arguing about something, they could not tell what.

“It is never this loud at the morgue,” Lohan said as they approached the small crowd of people at the far end. The morgue attendant Rodney’s face lit up when he saw the two approach them and waved them over. He looked flustered and pale.

A familiar figure was yelling at Rodney and they could not tell who it was from behind.

“Calm down, sir,” Rodney said in a calming voice.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down until you give me a proper explanation.”

“This kind of thing never happens,” Rodney said apologetically. “I simply have no explanation for you.”

“Well, maybe if you did your job right last night this would never have happened.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Rodney said yet again. “We store dead bodies, not diamonds and priceless artifacts. All I have to ensure is that the place is cold enough.”

The man glared at Rodney with a murderous look and was just about to say something but was interrupted by both Sam and Lohan walking over.

“What seems to be the problem here?” Lohan asked as his gaze finally landed on the man who was causing all the commotion. His face suddenly lit up. “Mr. Sutter, what seems to be the problem?”

Ryan Sutter was still in the same suit they had met him in that morning. His hair was a tangled mess and his eyes were shot with red.

Rodney did not wait for him to give an explanation in fear that he would fabricate facts.

“Mr. Lohan,” he began. “The body is missing.”

“Whose body?”

“The late Rita Sutter’s body,” Rodney explained and there was a sad tone mixed with much regret in his voice.

Lohan looked at Rodney quizzically and back at Ryan before giving Sam a signal to escort him out.

“Sir, would you please come with me,” Sam begged Ryan and saw him recoil in defeat as they both walked out of the morgue.

Lohan waited for them to move out of earshot before turning his attention to Rodney.

“What the hell happened, Rodney?”

“I have no freaking idea,” Rodney answered and the pressure he was under suddenly showed on his face. “I didn’t know she was missing until he showed up and asked to see her.”

He said these words as he walked over to the supposed tray that Rita had been placed in. He pointed at it and it was empty.

“There was no sign of forced entry. I started my day as usual after locking up from last night and walked in as I usually do.”

“There was nothing odd about the place?”

“No, everything was in the right place,” Rodney said before heaving slightly. “I told you I only noticed she was missing when he requested to see her body.”

Lohan could understand Rodney’s frustration but knew at some point he would have to be a suspect in the investigation. He looked around the morgue and the silence was very disturbing. He wondered how Rodney could sit there by himself, reading the newspaper and having his morning coffee.

“What’s on your mind, chief?” Rodney cut in nervously.

“What isn’t?” he asked back before taking his cell phone from his pocket and asking a few people from the station to come to the morgue.