The Equalizer (27 page)

Chapter 41

DAY TWENTY-SIX

O
n Tuesday morning, I wrote
my notes to the side of what I wrote last evening on the white board.

QUESTIONS:

• Who had access to Jeremy’s rifle/computer?

• Who may have had a grudge with either Peterson or Kohler?

• Why did Ronny’s cell phone end up in a truck he didn’t sign out?

• Is there a drug connection? (Jeremy’s blood panel still not back)

• Who called at five a.m.?

• Who would Jeremy let in his parent’s house?

• Was there someone he felt he needed protection from?

• Who knew about the Ruger?

• Who had a motive to kill Jeremy?

• Who is smart enough to carry out a perfect murder?

Troy poked his head in.

“What are you doing?” he said.

“You know about Mobergs’ contention their son didn’t commit suicide or murder?”

“Yeah, but what parent wants to believe their kid is capable of either?”

“I hear ya, but Ralph promised the parents we’d check it out.”

He stood before the board and took time to read the whole thing.

“So who do you figure fits all these points?”

“Maybe not all, just most.”

He reread my words. His head turned slowly to face me. “You think it’s her?”

“Interesting you came to that conclusion. I believe she’s the only one who fits the criteria.”

“Bullshit,” he mumbled and walked out. My thought was the big baby was going to go run to Ralph. I went to the investigations office and waited for the call. And a call did come, but it wasn’t from Ralph. The sound of her voice always gave me a rush.

“Where are you?” Adriana asked.

“At my desk. Where are you?”

“At
my
desk . . . in Minneapolis.”

“Are you wearing a skirt?” I asked.

“Stop it. I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

“I just got a call from Phillip Warner. He said the life insurance company is holding back on Jeremy’s premium payout after they talked to the sheriff’s office about his case. Seems you guys are thinking about reopening?”

“Maybe. So what does Warner have to do with it?”

“His office is handling Jeremy’s estate.”

“You handled his will?”

“Yes, his and Naomi’s, but I didn’t remember all the details. Philip says his beneficiary is still Naomi since the divorce papers were never filed or the beneficiary changed. She stands to receive a million dollars.”

“Holy shit! What about Naomi’s policy?”

“Hers was for one hundred fifty-thousand.”

“Who’s the agent?”

“John Parker. Parker Agency handles Estelle’s executives’ life insurance policies. He told Phillip that the suicide clause was in affect for the first two years, but since this is the third year, it shouldn’t be a problem. Want me to call if I hear anymore?”

“Please.”

Ralph entered
the Investigations office.

“Miss your old job?” I asked.

“I do. I’m ready for Jack to return.”

“Man, I’m not. I’d rather work under you. You should run against him.”

“No way,” he said.

“That’s what I was afraid you’d say.”

“I saw your notes on the white board. It seems to me you think it’s Naomi.”

“Interesting you and Troy came to the same conclusion.”

“Something else that’s interesting: John Parker called to tell me the underwriter of Jeremy’s life insurance wants him to verify the cause of death before the payout is released. He said Naomi is the beneficiary of one million big ones.”

I didn’t let on I knew. “What did you tell him?”

“The truth: that we have new evidence and may reopen.”

“Naomi’s not going to be happy—keeping a million bucks from her.”

“I had to tell the truth.”

“Of course. Do you think Allan and Pat would come in? I’d like to ask them a few questions.”

“I’m sure. Hey, the real reason I came up here was to tell you only Jeremy’s prints showed up on Moberg’s pistol and his prints were on the top but not the bottom of the lockbox and no prints whatsoever on the key.”

“You know what that means.”

“How do you handle a lock box by just touching the top. Cal, we need physical evidence that proves Naomi did it. We need to tie this up tighter than a drum.”

“Did you talk to Troy?” I asked.

“No, why?”

“When he read my notes on the white board, he took off.”

“Well, he better not be talking to Naomi about this.”

He punched a number in his mobile. “Where are you? . . . Okay, after you’re done, come directly to my office.”

When he hung up he said, “He’s interviewing the owner of the Sub Shoppe.”

Ralph got another call. He listened then said, “Bring her down to my office.” After he’d hung up, he wrapped his knuckles once on the desk. “Naomi Moberg’s here to talk to me. Dollars to doughnuts it’s about the insurance settlement.”

“Huh. I think you tell her we’re reopening but don’t let on we suspect her—see what her reaction is.”

“Good idea. I’ll call Allan and ask him to come in.”

When the deputy brought
Naomi into the interview room, she looked surprised to see me.

“Naomi, have a seat. Would you like some coffee?” Ralph said.

“No thanks. I’m fine.”

After everyone was seated, I leaned back and crossed my arms and let Ralph handle things. I was so curious what she would say.

“I thought we would meet in your office,” she said.

“Oh, well, this room was available. So what can we do for you?” he said.

“My insurance agent tells me Jeremy’s life insurance company needs more than the certificate of death. I guess they want proof Jeremy’s death was ruled as a suicide. Can I get that from you?”

“Not exactly.”

“So who can help me?”

“The insurance company was informed the case could be reopened because of new evidence.”

Narrowing her eyes, she dropped her head slightly and said, “What new evidence? Wait. Is this all about Allan and Pat’s contention that Jeremy would never kill himself?”

“That’s only a small part of it.”

She looked to me for help. I didn’t give it. “What’s the rest?” she asked.

“We believe the individual who killed Peterson and Kohler set up your husband, then murdered him.”

She stiffened in her chair. “Really? That seems farfetched. What makes you think that?”

“We’re not at liberty to say at this point.”

“So why haven’t you made an arrest? Or don’t you know who this mysterious person is?”

I couldn’t resist. “Oh, we know who it is. We’re just pulling the details together before we slap the bracelets on.”

She rubbed her hands together. “Are you going to tell me who killed my husband?”

“You’re one of the first people we’ll notify,” I said.

She made an airy sound through her nose and looked like she didn’t know if I was being sarcastic or not. “When’s this all going to happen?” she asked.

Ralph leaned back in his chair and crossed his leg. “Can’t say exactly. But I think we have it about wrapped up. Right, Cal?”

I nodded and stared her down. “Absolutely.”

Naomi chewed on her lip and looked between Ralph and me. She broke the few seconds of silence. “They’re wrong about him not ever being depressed. My guess is he hid it from them.”

I crinkled my brow, showing how interested I was in what she was saying. “Tell us about that.”

“He called me crying more than once.”

“Is that so?” Ralph said. “Did you share that with your in-laws?”

“I didn’t feel it my place.”

I sat forward. “Don’t you think it was
your place
to share that with us the day he was found with half his head missing?” I said.

She winced, which turned into a look of disgust. “My, how sensitive of you. Anyway, I was too upset to think clearly.”

Ralph tapped the desk with his fingertips. “Well, we’ll be in touch. Shouldn’t be long. Cal, will you show Naomi out if she has no more questions?”

She shook her head. “No more questions. I just want to know when this is settled.”

“We’ll let you know,” I said. “You’re good to go then.”

When in the corridor her eyes were ablaze with anger. She asked, “Is this your doing?”

I shook my head. “No, no. Actually, everyone on the team came to the same conclusion. See the problem was the M.E. felt pressured for a quick ruling, and well, that was just wrong. Is there some reason you’re troubled over finding the truth? ”

“No, of course not. I want the truth as much as anybody.”

You want your prize money.

After I lead her to the lobby, I smiled and shook her hand. I said, “Okay. See you later, then.”

She stomped out.

The Mobergs were waiting
in Ralph’s office. He said he’d sit in, but he wanted me to handle it.

“How do you get along with Naomi?” I asked.

Pat said, “Very well. She’s always been like a daughter to us. Even after the separation we still spoke frequently.”

“What were you told about their separation?”

“Jeremy told us they hadn’t been happy for a long while, but Naomi was the one who told me he was seeing someone else. When I saw Tiffany I knew why . . . Jeremy was just going through an early mid-life crisis or something. I told Naomi not to give up hope.”

“Have you seen Naomi since Jeremy’s death?”

“Sure, every day. She wanted us to stay with her at the house,” she said.

“She’s moved back in then?”

“We told her to. Silly for her to buy a townhouse now,” Pat said.

“When they separated, did she keep the keys to Jeremy’s house and your place?”

“Yes.”

“You’re positive about this?”

“Sure. Naomi told me when Maggie forgot her blanket—she can’t sleep without it—she had to go into the house because Jeremy and Tiffany weren’t home.”

“Are you sure Jeremy wasn’t depressed?”

“I’m positive,” Pat said. “Why? Does someone say otherwise?”

“Naomi.”

“Really? She never mentioned that to us,” Allan said. “Are you saying you think he
did
kill himself?”

“No, there’s evidence he didn’t,” I said. “If Jeremy didn’t kill himself, whoever did, had a motive. Do you know Jeremy’s life insurance situation?”

Pat said, “We know he had a good policy. He updated it—must be three years ago now. He asked if we thought he should increase the amount. We told him he had to consider what would be enough to raise the kids if something should happen . . .”

“Did you know the policy had a suicide clause for two years? This is year three. Naomi is still the beneficiary. She inherits one million dollars.”

They looked thunderstruck. Eventually Pat found her tongue, “You think it was
Naomi
? But she and Jeremy had recently talked about reuniting. He admitted he’d made a mistake.”

“Did Jeremy tell you that?” I asked.

The couple looked at each other. “No, Naomi did,” Allan said.

“What did Jeremy tell you about Tiffany?”

Pat continued, “That we would learn to love her like he did.”

“So he was in love?”

“I suppose he thought he was.”

“Did he tell you they were planning to marry in December?”

“He mentioned it once,” she said.

“Have you had contact with Tiffany since Jeremy’s death?”

“Yes, she came by this morning. She wanted to know what we were planning for the service.”

“Did she tell you where she’s staying?”

“With her mother in Myrtle. She says she’s moving to the Cities to find a job.”

“It’s just so hard to believe Naomi would do such a thing,” Allan said.

I said, “Unless we find physical evidence to link anyone to the shooting, we have no case.”

Ralph sat forward. “You need to keep this to yourselves.”

“We won’t say a word,” Pat said.

When they left, Troy was waiting to speak to Ralph.

“I want to talk to both of you,” he said.

I responded with a nod.

When we were seated around Ralph’s desk Troy said, “Cal, I think you’re right.”

“Sweet Jesus. About what?”

“The morning of the murders I bought doughnuts for Naomi.”

“Doughnuts? What’s that got to do with anything? Besides, I thought you went to Vegas that morning with April Kadinsky.”

“I did. After I bought the doughnuts, I took off for Minneapolis.”

“So she wanted doughnuts?”

He flicked something off of his shirt and said, “I was with her the night before the murders. I cooked her dinner at my house, and she went home about eleven. She called that next morning to thank me and to tell me she had a good time. Then she said she’d overslept and was running late and still had to pick up doughnuts for a meeting. She asked if I could possibly pick them up and bring them to her place.”

“What time did she call?”

“Seven thirty.”

“Notice if it was her home phone?”

“It was her cell.”

“What time did you bring her the doughnuts?”

“She needed them at seven fifty.”

“Did she have a county truck at home at that time?”

“No.”

“So tell me, why was your dating a secret?”

“
She
wanted it that way.”

“And that didn’t give you pause?”

“Her divorce wasn’t finalized. She was being careful.”

“Jeremy had been shacking up with Tiffany for months. Why would Naomi dating you be a problem?”

He twitched his shoulders then looked at me for the first time. “I don’t know. I was just respecting her wishes.”

“Are you seeing how she manipulated the
both
of us—putting us right in the middle of this shit?”

He rubbed his whiskers. “I’m beginning to, yeah.”

“If we could just put her at the park that morning.”

Troy asked, “Why did you ask me if a county truck was at her place? You think she drove one out to Emmaline.”

“It would be least conspicuous, now wouldn’t it? Why don’t they have a damn security cameras in that county parking lot?”