“Mrs. Bork, one last thing. If you don’t mind we’d like to get your fingerprints. It’s just for elimination purposes…comparison.” She looked at him strangely for a minute, like she was working through something difficult, like she was confused.
“Barry!” she yelled with her head turned toward the hallway. Boom Boom quickly appeared. He didn’t look happy but Tony was still relieved when he didn’t make any moves like he was going to sack them. He glanced at the bottle on the counter, saw how much lower the level was, and sighed.
“What is it, babe?”
“They want my fingerprints?”
Tony turned his palms up on the table top. “It’s just for elimination. There are a lot of prints in the house. It’ll help us find the killer.”
“You want mine, too?”
With that question the crisis was over, the issue decided. Tony got out the kit and printed both of them. Tia was sullen. Her husband rubbed her back while Tony guided her fingers from the pad and rolled them across the card. Boom Boom did his by himself. After washing her hands Tia excused herself, said good evening to the detectives, and climbed unsteadily up the stairs.
“She’s upset.” Boom Boom shook his head. “Hell, I’m upset too. She usually doesn’t drink like this.”
“It’s understandable. They were close.” Ray looked once more at his notebook. “I need to ask you where you were Monday morning, early, from seven to nine.”
Boom Boom chuckled. “I haven’t needed an alibi since training camp last year.” He rubbed his hand over his face once. He seemed weary too. “Tia and the girls headed out early. Cherie has swim practice Mondays. I was up, read the paper. Oh yeah, about eight I got a call from Coach, wondering if I was interested in coming in for some weight work. I still help some of the guys with weights. That help?”
Back in the car and headed for St. Paul, Tony stared out the side window, thinking about the Borks.
“We don’t have a motive. We don’t have a suspect. We don’t have any leads. I’m discouraged, Ray.”
Bankston stared out the windshield, looked straight ahead at the interstate traffic. He was thinking too, thinking so hard he didn’t even glance to the left at the massive Boeing 747 bathed in white light next to the gigantic maintenance hangar at the airport.
“It’s early yet.”
Tony started flipping through his notebook, looking for names and numbers. “You want to talk to someone else?”
“Not tonight. I mean it’s early in the case. This one’s different. The first 48 hours usually makes or breaks a case. This one’s different.”
“I don’t see us solving this tomorrow, boss.”
“I don’t either, but I’ve been surprised before.”
Ray glanced over when Tony fished out his cell phone. “I still haven’t heard back from the other roommate, Stuckey.” Tony dialed the number again and got Stuckey’s voice mail… again. He left another message. “You think it means anything? Him not calling me back?”
“Not without more information.” Tony dialed another number.
“Hello.”
“David Hong?”
“This is Dave. Hey, detective. What’s up?”
“Just wondering if Sean’s there.”
“You just missed him. He blew through, grabbed something out of his room and headed out. He’s probably gone for the night.”
“Well damn. You talk to him? Tell him I want to talk to him?”
“Nope. He was in and out. Hasn’t he called you?”
“No. And I’ve left messages.”
“Not surprising, Tony. If it isn’t a chick he doesn’t seem to have time for it.”
“A ladies man?”
Hong laughed into the phone. “More like a pussy hound. You want me to give him a message if I see him?”
“Just to call me. How’s Scotty doing?”
“Haven’t seen him all day. He’s been with his dad.”
“Sure. Hey, thanks David. Later.” Tony flipped the phone shut and went back to staring out the side window.
Carol and Vang were at their desks when Tony and Ray trudged into the squad room. Vang was keyboarding his notes, Carol on the phone. Tony fished out his notebook and dropped it on what he guessed was his desk. Ray pointed to one next to his.
“This one’s yours.”
De Luca shifted over and spun in his chair. “Want me near you?”
“Sure. Gotta keep an eye on you.”
Carol finished her call and came over to join them.
“How did it go?” Ray asked. Carol looked tired. Her jacket was wrinkled, her slacks creased behind the knee. Tony guessed she’d covered a lot of ground during the day.
“We got squat, Ray. The woman was a saint. Loved by all. A tireless worker. Everybody’s friend. We couldn’t get a whiff of anything to look into.”
“I sort of expected that.”
Carol crossed her arms and leaned on Tony’s desk. “What about you two?”
“We interviewed Lakisha Marland and Tia Bork.” Tony looked up at her where she was perched. He knew she wanted the girlfriend interviews and couldn’t help but rub it in a little.
“How’d the rook do?” She directed the question at Ray, her thumb at Tony. Tony knew she was hoping he’d stepped in it at some point during the day. Then he remembered he really hadn’t said much-nothing at all to the Marland woman and damn little at the Borks.
“Tony did fine today.”
Ray sensed that Carol was doing a little baiting, playing with his new partner. He’d heard rumors that they’d had a thing the last year or so and wondered if that was in play. He also guessed Carol was put out because the lieutenant had partnered him with Tony and not her. When things slowed down she would be back in the Sex Crimes unit. Homicide was not her permanent gig.
Tony grinned up at her. “I got to meet Boom Boom Bork this afternoon.”
“You get his autograph?” Maybe she meant it as a joke but it came out snippy.
“Better than that,” Tony said. “I got his fingerprints. Which reminds me, should I run these down to the lab?” Tony waved the cards. He didn’t ask Ray about Lakisha Marland’s. He wanted to see what he would volunteer.
“Before you go home is fine.”
“So did you two sleuths do better than we did? Tell me we’ve got something to work with.”
“Maybe. Until we come up with something better I’m going to concentrate on the women friends. The ‘Go Girls’.
“Because?”
“Because…” Ray flipped a few pages in his notebook. “Because Deanna was a saint, loved by one and all, supermom, and…Roxie’s a lush, Lakisha can be a bitch, Karen’s always frisky, and I don’t even have a clue what ‘we have Ally’ means. Tia Bork’s going to be hung over tomorrow.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
“Want me to work the women with you tomorrow?” Carol was still angling, still pushing. Tony looked expectantly toward Ray.
“Early, yes. Tony, the more I think about it the more I’d like you to get the last roommate either off the list or on it.” Tony nodded. “Maybe Kumpula will come up with something.”
Vang drifted over, listening to them, and added, “I didn’t get much from the neighbors either. I had an idea though. It’s a couple of blocks away but there’s a Holiday station down the street. I’d like to see if their cameras look down Victoria.”
“Do it.”
“And I missed a couple of them. I’ll stay on that.”
“And help Ted with the financials and the phone records. Who did she talk to Sunday night and Monday morning? Did she draw a lot of cash out of any of the accounts recently? You know the drill.” Vang nodded and left.
Ray stood and stretched. “And with that, I’m calling it a day.” Tony realized that his first day as a detective was over. It had started out weird. It had started out damn early too, and he caught himself stifling another yawn. Ray gave a wave at the door and he was gone. Carol smiled down at him.
“Want to go get a drink?”
“I’m beat, Carol.” He checked his watch. It was only seven. If he hurried he could get to the Gander Mountain store and see about finding a holster.
“Right.”