Bob Moats - Jim Richards 01-03- 3 for Murder Box Set (58 page)

I filled him in on all the details from the last time I saw him, and he just sat bobbling his head.

I finished and then asked him if he ever ran the plate from the car in the surveillance videos at the storage. He said he hadn’t because he assumed they were from Lincoln. I asked if he could and took out the paper I had the plate number written on. He took my desk phone, called his precinct, and talked to someone in the system. He waited while they ran them and then he hung up.

He looked at me, smiled, and said, “The plates are registered to Bruce Blair. Now isn’t that sweet?”

“OK, we now know Brucie is definitely involved with this. He’s boyfriend to Melody, and she was working for Noreen,” I said as I drew more lines on my board. “I think it’s getting narrowed down. Melody and Bruce, or just Bruce, conspire to blackmail Noreen’s clients using her name and then probably Noreen finds out, so they, or he, kills her. They, or he, keep blackmailing the clients, and then step-daddy Lincoln finds out step-boy is involved in the murder, takes over the case and tries to cover up. I wonder if he’s getting a cut of the money, too.”

“Lots of lines crossing over each other, but it’s coming together,” Trapper said as I stepped back to look at the mess.

“But if Lincoln is going around trying to find the list, how did they know who to blackmail? If Melody worked there long enough to recognize a few clients, they could start with that. But why would they need the list? Is Lincoln trying to protect someone he knows on that list before it gets out? Way too many questions and not enough answers.”

“Welcome to the wonderful world of detecting. You never get answers right off, or they wouldn’t need us.” Trapper smiled.

“OK, this case isn’t in your jurisdiction so you can’t pull Bruce in, and I don’t dare go to Lincoln to ask him to pull him in. So I got to skate around the whole thing on thin ice, especially if Bruce is living with Lincoln. I wonder where Melody goes during the day when she says she is going to work. Maybe I need to go check out Noreen’s office again. Care to join me?”

“What the hell, I’m not chasing crime in my town.” He laughed. “May as well go invade someone else’s town.”

We headed out in our own cars, in case Trapper got a call to duty, and drove over to Noreen’s office. I parked across the street, and Trapper pulled in behind me. We walked up to the office and were surprised to find it open. We walked in and found a smallish blond girl behind the desk. She smiled and welcomed us. I looked around and saw that it was a lot cleaner than the last time I was in there. I reached in my pocket and turned on the record button on my Palm just in case. I walked up to the desk and asked to see Mistress Black. The girl smiled and said Mistress Black was out of town for a week, but she could schedule an appointment if we liked. I asked her name. She said Melody and held out two three-by-five cards for us. She said to put our names and information and a little detail of the domination we desired.

I put the cards back on the table and asked, “Where might Mistress Black be at?”

“Oh, I’m not at liberty to say. It’s confidential.” She smiled.

I looked at Trapper and asked if he knew anyone in fraud or vice in Roseville. He said he did. I looked at Melody and said, “Melody, Noreen is dead, but I’m sure you know that. I’m a private investigator, this gentleman is a police lieutenant, and we find it a bit odd that you didn’t know your employer is deceased. You are either naïve, stupid, or you killed Noreen. Which is it?” 

She had a panicked look on her face. “I didn’t want to do this, but he said I’d die if I didn’t keep up with the con.”

“Who, Melody? Who warned you?” Trapper asked.

“My boyfriend, Bruce Blair. He said we should continue taking new clients to blackmail them since we didn’t have Noreen’s list.” She started to tear up. “I said it was too risky, too soon after her death.”

“Melody, who killed Noreen?” I asked.

She gave me a pained look and said, “I don’t know. I came here to work the other day and Bruce’s stepfather was here. He told me what happened to Noreen, and I went to Bruce and told him. Bruce was already blackmailing a couple of clients, and he didn’t want to lose the con. I had a key to the office so we got in and cleaned it up, figuring the cops were done with it, so we could keep taking clients.”

I took Trapper aside and said, “We can keep this away from Lincoln if you can get your vice friends to take this. It’s fraud and blackmail, but nothing towards Lincoln’s case of murder.”

Trapper agreed, stepped out the front door, got on his cell phone, and made a few calls.

“Melody, how long did you think you could get away with this?” I asked her.

“I didn’t think we could, but Bruce insisted we do it. I’m honestly afraid of him. He’s nuts. I wish I never met him.”

“Melody, we are having vice come in and arrest you. It will hopefully keep you safe for now and away from Lincoln who may be involved in ways I don’t want to say right now. You will have to cooperate with the officers and let them know everything you know. Understand?” She nodded her head and started crying harder. I felt so sorry for her.

*

Chapter Twenty-three

Trapper came back in and said he had a friend on his way. He told his friend to keep it on the quiet and not let Lincoln in on it. His friend was not a fan of Lincoln and agreed. About ten minutes later an unmarked car and a patrol car pulled up. Trapper’s friend entered, and I was introduced to Detective Sergeant Mike Gregory. We shook hands, and I filled him in on what was going on, all the way back to Noreen’s death, which he knew about. Trapper explained that we needed to keep Melody out of Lincoln’s hands. This had nothing to do directly with the murder, just an after effect of it. Gregory agreed and liked the premise of our plot.

Gregory went to Melody and read her the Miranda rights, explaining it to her. She was looking so wretched, I hated doing this to her, but it was for the best. Gregory sat and asked her a number of questions then called for a warrant on Blair. That ought to piss off Lincoln. They took Melody into custody, and I said to Trapper that I felt sorry for the girl, being dragged into this.

“Jim, you’re going to have to toughen up a bit. First, she may be innocent, but after you get involved in a number of cases like this, you’ll find that she was probably just as cooperative as Blair was in the crime. She’s a big girl and knew what she was getting into.”

Gregory came over. “Trapper, are things so slow in Clinton Township, you got to come to my turf and stir up trouble?”

“Don’t look at me. I’m just an observer. Blame Richards here. It’s his case. So far I’m getting sick of Roseville.” He grinned.

“Well, this is going to piss off Lincoln one way or another. I look forward to booking that asshole kid of his. I hope Lincoln tries to start something with me. I’ve wanted to clean his clock for years. You guys going to lock up here?” he asked and then left after we said we’d take care of it.

“Jim, you are starting to get the swing of this business. Welcome to my world,” Trapper offered.

Trapper headed back to his boundaries, and I went back to my office. I wondered what Buck was up to. I hadn’t heard from him all day. I went in and called Benson’s office and after he came on I explained about the incident at Noreen’s office. His case with Weston was closed since I found the mystery woman, so there was no trial to go to. I asked if he ever did pro-bono work, and he said on rare occasions. I told him about Melody and her involvement in the con job Bruce was pulling. I said she was most likely guilty but I’d like to see the court go easy on her, if possible. Benson said he liked my compassion and would look into the case for me.

We finished and hung up. Then I got Frank Ropiello’s number and called him. I reminded him who I was and told him about catching Bruce Blair as his possible blackmailer. I asked if he could identify the person who took the money. I assumed it was Bruce. He said he could, so I gave him the number off the business card Gregory gave me. I told him to call and explain what I told him and see if they could get him in a line-up. He thanked me and hung up.

I had done my good deeds for the day and was wondering how Penny was doing. I decided to close up and go home, so I headed out and drove over to Jefferson and into the drive. Penny said they had a child psychologist on her show that day so I couldn’t see any surprises that Penny might throw at me. I was wrong. I got into the house and saw a child, about two years old staring at me from a crib in the middle of the family room. I just stood there hoping it would go away, but it was still watching me. Penny came into the room and said in a happy voice, welcome home, daddy.

“OK, did I miss something? Was I gone for a few years, and now I’m a father?”

Penny giggled, picked up the baby and brought it to me. I recoiled in fear. Penny said to stop that and act like a father.

I took the kid and said, “What do I do now, and where did this thing come from?”

“I kidnapped it from a playground,” she said.

I looked at her as if she was crazy. “What did you say?”

“Oh, grow up. I’m babysitting for one of the girls on my staff, Liz Davis. She needed a babysitter, and I thought it would be a great idea. Liz lives out this way in Harrison Township and dropped the baby off.”

I handed the kid back to her and said, “I hope the two of you are very happy together.”

“If you ever want to have sex with me again, you will play daddy for a couple of hours, at least till Liz comes to get the baby.”

I hemmed a bit and then said I would. She handed the baby back to me and said she had to go make us food for dinner. I went to the couch and yelled to Penny, “What is it? Boy or girl?”

Penny yelled back, “Her name is Diana. She’s my god-child.”

“Ah, I see. I guess. Where is the mother?”

“She’s at a Lamaze class for her second child. Her partner and she are going natural childbirth.”

“Her partner? As in husband or life partner?”

“Life partner, yes, Liz is gay.”

I looked at the child and said, “Boy, I hope you’re going to be strong. You’re going to need it.”

The baby goo’d and flashed her long eyelashes at me. I thought she was kind of cute. I bounced her on my knee, and she started laughing and giggling aloud. Penny peeked in and saw what I was doing, came over and kissed me on my bald head, then went back into the kitchen.

We ate dinner of tacos, and baby had something out of a jar, something that didn’t look very appetizing. After dinner I took the baby, went to the family room and put her on the couch next to me. She was waving her arms around and hitting my arm.

“Yep, she’s a female, already beating on a man,” I kidded.

Penny came out and sat on the other side of her. The baby crawled over and tried to latch on to one of Penny’s breasts. I said, “Hey, that’s mine. You get the bottle while you’re here.” I picked up her bottle and pulled her to me, laying her on her back, then inserted the nipple into her mouth. Penny sat and watched me with the child. She wished she was able to have children and wondered if we were too old to adopt. She knew at 60 we would be too old to take care of a child, and with her show and my out playing detective, it wouldn’t be fair to the baby. So she enjoyed the moment.

“I went through all this with my son. I’ve been there. Not that I want to do it again. I can’t change diapers, I have a low threshold for odors, I gag big time,” I warned. Penny laughed and said she’d take care of that end.

We played with the child for a few more hours and then the doorbell rang. It was Liz. She came into the family room. I was on the ground with the baby on my belly, bouncing her.

Penny said, “Now you see what I go through every night.” She laughed and came to rescue the child. Liz thanked Penny and me for watching Diana. I said, no problem, just don’t let it happen again. Penny whacked me on the arm, and Liz laughed.

“I’ve heard all about you, Jim, Penny tells us all kinds of gory tales. Especially the ones with handcuffs.” She smiled.