“So you’re calling Stuckey a suspect now?” Tony asked. He was in his mind, but he wasn’t sure if he should make the point yet.
“Not yet, but he’s of great interest to me. I need to meet him.”
“You’re the boss. How far are you going to push him?”
Ray didn’t answer. He just stared out the side window. He hadn’t decided how far yet, and it was too complicated to explain to his rookie partner in the short time they had. All they had so far were coincidences. Kumpula was fiddling with a Nikon in the back seat, a sophisticated digital camera with a high powered telephoto lens. Ray wanted some pictures of Sean Stuckey, and he didn’t want him to know they had them.
Tony found parking and led them across campus. He knew he would have to keep a sharp eye out when class was over. There were two doors exiting the Fine Arts building. Kumpula was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, to better blend in with the crowd. He set up about 75 yards from where Ray and Tony were standing. The big telephoto would allow him to get a head shot at that range. He was having fun playing sniper.
Stuckey emerged from the building, backpack slung over his shoulder, talking to a pretty, petite, dark haired woman. When Tony approached him and said, “Hi, Sean. Got a minute?” he didn’t recognize him at first, the blue suit and tie were a much different costume than what he had been wearing when he’d met him at the house. “Detective de Luca, remember?”
The dark haired girl frowned and melted into the crowd. She didn’t want to have anything to do with ‘detective’ anybody no matter how cute he was.
“You lying piece of shit!” Tony was surprised by the anger in Stuckey’s voice. “You said you were going to talk to Angie the next day. That was a chicken shit move.”
Tony recalled the message from the Code-A-Phone. He put on one of Ray’s half smiles, thinking ‘gotcha, punk’, and shrugged. “Chill, man. It was still early and I can put in for all the overtime I want.” Tony didn’t want to antagonize him. “I just wanted her off my list.”
“What do you want? I got another class.”
Ray stepped up. He was wearing a very dark gray suit and an even darker pair of Ray-Bans. Stuckey eyed him, wary and suspicious.
Tony, still smiling, said, “This is my boss, Detective Sergeant Bankston. He’s got a couple of questions for you.”
Stuckey ignored Ray’s hand. “I got another class.”
“We’ll walk with you.” Ray gestured, inviting Stuckey to lead the way, calling his bluff.
Stuckey looked around as if he was getting his bearings, making a decision. “What questions?”
“Your prints came back with a hit. Seems you had a little trouble out in California?”
“Fucker! You said those were for comparison.” Stuckey glared at Tony.
Tony shrugged, not threatened at all by the accusing tone. “That was your fault, Sean. You ducked me so long the lab sent them out with all the unknowns.” Stuckey didn’t need to know that once the LA connection was made the prints would have gone out anyway.
Stuckey’s reply was nearly a whine. “My phone got crunched. I showed you.” Ray stooped down to tie a shoe. Tony noticed it wasn’t untied, then realized he was giving their ‘sniper’ a clear shot.
“Here’s the thing, Mr. Stuckey.” Ray’s tone was matter of fact, not threatening at all unless you were hiding something. “Your alibi’s a little shaky. Your girlfriend aside, no one can put you in the film class Monday morning. Not for sure.”
“I was here.”
Tony edged closer into Stuckey’s space, glaring back now, telling him ‘playtime’s over’ with his eyes. “You told me the wrong movie, Sean. I checked.”
“So I was wrong about the movie. Big fucking deal. We watch three of them a week.” Neither Tony nor Ray said anything. Stuckey moved away from Tony and paced for a minute. He was agitated. He finally sighed and stood directly in front of the two detectives, shifting an angry look from one to the other.
“I did not kill Scotty’s mom. I met the woman once, at their house. We went over to watch some football. She and Scotty’s dad were there for like, five minutes, if that. They said hello and left. The bullshit out in LA has nothing to do with this shit. I was in class Monday. That’s it. I’m done talking to you.” Stuckey turned, hitched up his backpack, and strode off.
Back in the car, Kumpula proudly showed off his work with the camera. Several good head shots of Sean Stuckey flashed across the tiny screen.
“Do you think he was lying? You’ve spent the most face time with him.” Ray was starting to trust his new partner’s observations.
“His phone was busted, I saw that. And he could have been in the class and just mixed up the movies. I noticed you didn’t front him on the prints upstairs.”
Ray smiled. “It’s not time yet. I want to work these pictures first. You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yeah, he’s lying,” Tony said. “I just don’t know about what yet.”
Kumpula leaned over the seat with the camera. “So what do you think?” There was a picture of Stuckey’s jeans on the screen focused on his crotch. Both Ray and Tony gave him a disgusted look.
“What? This is the guy supposed to have a big wiener, right? Whadda’ ya’ think?”
Chapter 21
Kumpula had prints of Sean Stuckey’s photo for them in short order, a head shot with a neutral expression for them to show around. Tony and Ray used the time to take a look at the pictures on the disc Lakisha Marland had given them from the club in LA. Both of them were quiet while they scrolled through the images. Both of them were embarrassed. Carol strolled by, taking a short break from talking to Marcy in LA and making other calls. One glance at the images on the monitor sent her back to her desk and the phones, shaking her head and muttering.
Ray had Jonny make up a set of six photos, five young white males in their twenties and Sean Stuckey. It was common practice to show a witness a six-pack, as the set was known, but Tony was puzzled why the senior detective was going to all the trouble. All they wanted to know was if any of the ‘Go Girls’ had ever seen Stuckey before. He guessed Ray had his reasons.
They caught up with Tia Bork at home. When they showed her the six photos she studied them closely. The liquor was nowhere in sight and neither was Boom Boom.
She tapped the stack of pictures with a manicured nail. “One of these guys is a suspect, right?”
“Right now just a person of some interest.” Ray kept using that term. In Tony’s mind Stuckey a suspect for damn sure, but he kept it to himself.
“What kind of interest?” The look on Tia’s face asked if Deanna’s murderer was in the photo spread.
“I can’t answer that at this point,” Ray said. “What we really need to know right now is if you recognize any of these men.”
“Here in the cities or on one of the trips? You were very curious about the trips.”
“Anywhere.”
Tia studied the pictures again. Finally she sighed and set them back down. “No. I don’t remember ever seeing any of these guys. Not anywhere.”
“Maybe in LA?” Tony suggested. Ray’s head snapped to him, nostrils flared. The move was so abrupt, so obviously angry that Tia noticed.
Tony raised his hands in surrender. “What?” He honestly didn’t know what he’d done wrong. All he’d done was point Tia Bork toward the place they thought she might have run into Stuckey.
Tia looked at the pictures again. “LA?” Her brow furrowed before she looked back up. “The club thing?”
“Detective de Luca shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Why not?” Tia was still searching the faces in the photos. “Okay, you know, I might have seen this guy out there.”
She pulled one of the photos from the stack and placed the others face down. It was the picture of Sean Stuckey.