“I cannot believe you’ve accomplished all this in two days,” Lou said. “You’re like an entire task force. You’re supposed to be part of the support for us detectives. Instead, you’ve done our job and yours. It’s unbelievable.”
“Thank you,” Laurie said. She knew she was blushing. Getting such a compliment from Lou truly meant a lot to her.
“On the security tapes there were two people involved in the killing,” Laurie said, to divert attention away from herself. “I hope you are taking that into consideration.”
“Don’t worry, I remember. From what you’ve said, there’s probably another body out there in the harbor, which I’ll get right on. It’s good that we’ll be getting an ID on the first guy. It will provide a solid place to begin our investigation. As I said this morning, my biggest fear is that whatever is going on might be the harbinger of a nasty turf war.”
“I don’t think number one was a member of the Yakuza,” Laurie said.
“We’ll see,” Lou said.
“And to think I tried to discourage you,” Jack said, speaking up for the first time.
“You tried to discourage her?” Lou asked, looking at Jack with a questioning expression.
“I did,” Jack confessed. “My sense was that her case was a natural death, especially after a completely negative autopsy. I didn’t want her to make a huge effort and then come up with nothing. Not on her first case.”
“It’s true,” Laurie said. “He tried to talk me out of watching the security video, which did take quite a while. And then, of course, was the threatening letter. I have to say, Jack, that was a low blow. I suppose it bothered you when I failed to respond to your prank.”
“What do you mean ‘threatening letter’?” Lou blurted with immediate concern.
“We occasionally get letters or e-mails from paranoid people who somehow misinterpret our role,” Laurie explained. “Usually we turn them in to the front office, who alerts security, and that’s the end of it. The people are usually grieving and angry, having a problem dealing with the loss of a family member and want to put blame someplace. They used to upset me, but one gets accustomed to just about anything. No big deal.”
The elevator door opened, and they all got out. Jack put a hand on Laurie’s shoulder and spoke very deliberately. “I didn’t write you a threatening letter! I’d never do that!”
Laurie tipped her head to the side. “You didn’t write me a letter threatening me if I didn’t stop my investigation into the first case?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“Are you sure?” Laurie questioned. “I mean, doesn’t it sound like your style of black humor? You were, after all, serious about trying to talk me out of continuing what I was doing.”
“Maybe in some respects it sounds like me, but I assure you, I’d certainly never do it to you.”
“What did the letter say?” Lou questioned
“I can’t remember exactly, but it was short and to the point. Something like if I didn’t stop working on the case there’d be consequences, and if I went to the police there’d be the same consequences. I mean, it was so over-the-top melodramatic. All the other letters I’ve ever gotten ran on and on with all sorts of ranting and raving. This one seemed like a joke in its brevity. Marlene had found it having been slipped under the front door. She put it on my computer keyboard.”
“I’d like to see this letter,” Lou said gravely.
“Fine,” Laurie said with false indifference. She couldn’t help feeling judged in the middle of a moment of glory, although she did feel a touch guilty. “Let’s first meet the Good Samaritan who has identified my first case. Then we’ll head back to my office and examine the letter.”
33
March 26, 2010
Friday, 5:08 p.m.
On second thought, maybe I should leave,” Ben said, pushing back his chair and standing up to stretch. Although he’d been waiting only a few minutes for the medical examiner, he’d begun to have second thoughts about agreeing to additional questions. It had occurred to him that although he wanted to appear cooperative, providing more information before obtaining counsel was probably not in his best interest. He had no idea if Satoshi’s death had anything to do with the six deaths in New Jersey, but the chances were that it did. Having discovered the mass murder and identified Satoshi’s body, he was going to be involved no matter what. It was best to limit any additional exposure and say no more. Ben was certain any defense lawyer he might hire would say exactly that.
Rebecca climbed out of her chair. “I wonder where Dr. Montgomery-Stapleton is? She said she was coming right down. Let me check.” Rebecca opened the door, and as she did so she saw Laurie approaching across the expanse of the foyer registration area. Behind her were Dr. Jack Stapleton and another man whom she did not recognize.
“Here comes the doctor,” Rebecca said, opening the door wider. Laurie came in with a bit of attitude after the conversation about the threatening letter but quickly recovered when introduced to Ben.
Ben was immediately taken by Laurie’s attractiveness and smile. For a brief moment his newly realized concerns about talking with the authorities moved to the back of his mind. A moment later, when he was introduced to Detective Captain Lou Soldano, they all came tumbling back. Meeting Dr. Jack Stapleton had no effect at all, not even the fact that he and Laurie shared the same last name. Ben was overwhelmingly concerned about meeting another detective. His paranoia spiked upward.
“First I want to thank you sincerely for taking your time to help us identify one of our cases,” Laurie said. “I cannot tell you how important that is for us.”
“I’m pleased to be of assistance,” Ben said, hoping that his tenseness was not apparent. He noticed the detective pick up the identification form that contained his information and study it. “But I do have an important meeting in New Jersey that I’m already late for.”
“We’ll make it quick,” Laurie said. “We have a second body, another Asian man, who came in last night. We would be very appreciative if you would take a look and see if you recognize him as well. We know there is some connection with him and the person you already identified. Would you mind?”
“I suppose not,” Ben said without a lot of enthusiasm.
“It’s the case I did this morning,” Laurie said to Rebecca. “The case with the wild tattoos.”
“Got it,” Rebecca said, and slipped out of the room.
“Would you like to sit down?” Laurie said, gesturing at the table from which Ben had just arisen.
Laurie took the identification form from Lou and quickly glanced at it.
“How did Satoshi die?” Ben asked, trying to make the question sound like an unimportant afterthought.
“I’m sorry,” Laurie said, placing the completed identification form on the table. “The case is still open, and we cannot reveal anything to the general public until it is signed out, and then only through our public-relations department. If you were family it would be different. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Ben responded. “Just curious.” He was more than curious, but did not want it to show.
“So you were Mr. Machita’s employer,” Laurie said. “Can you tell us about that?”
Ben repeated what he’d told Rebecca, emphasizing that Satoshi was a very recent employee whom he did not know particularly well. Ben also described his company as being in the biotech field and that Satoshi had been a little-recognized but talented researcher.
“I understand you called the Missing Persons Squad this afternoon.”
“I personally did not call,” Ben said. “But I was concerned. Mr. Machita did not come into the office over the last two days, and he did not answer his cell phone.”