Color of Justice (8 page)

Danny dropped the last page of Fiona's report on his desk. He'd spent two hours that morning reading it with
Police Forensics
by Lance Kimbrough at his side. It was the detective's guide to the subject written in plain English. Fiona liked to use the technical terms in her written work, and Danny sometimes needed translation.

He could barely keep his focus on what he was reading. Thoughts of his mother's death had wrecked his mind since he'd started the case. There was nothing to compare to the loss of a family member, he thought. It was awful when someone who had formed the foundation of your life was suddenly taken away. You were left to determine who you were without them, afloat without explanation or reason for the pain. The sadness and horror of it had left a stinging pit in his gut and peeked at him around every image in his head.

Focus, Danny thought to himself. The report was thorough, but it contained nothing of use. The
killer had taken his victims from this earth and left not one clue. The analysis of the dirt had not yielded anything. All of the slugs had been studied and other than the doctoring on the tips, they were just ordinary pieces of lead. The SCU's routine check uncovered thousands of .22 caliber handguns in the tri-county area. The gun would not be the clue to catch the killer.

The Bakers had dined on steak, potatoes, Caesar salad, and red wine. For dessert, they'd packed away a chocolate soufflé. A great meal. Sounded as if they knew they were going to die, Danny thought to himself. Mrs. Baker had not been sexually assaulted, and Fiona, always the pro, noted that neither had Mr. Baker. He knew everything, which told him nothing.

Erik was fresh from the property room of thirteen hundred, where, with an expert from Fraud, he'd looked over the Bakers' records for New Nubia, the Internet company. He sat down opposite Danny with a smile on his face.

“I hope you got news,” said Danny, “because Fiona's report ain't givin' me shit.”

“The list of investors in that company is a who's who of Detroit's big-money players,” said Erik. “And the Longs were small-timers in terms of their losses on the deal.” He pushed the thick file across the desk to Danny.

“Was it on the real?” asked Danny. “Or some kinda scam?”

“The Fraud guy says the company was real, but the way they ran it was bogus. All we know is the
thing went belly-up and a shitload of money disappeared.

“Where did it go?” asked Danny.

“A lot of it was spent by the Bakers. They were living pretty large, according to the records, but that doesn't seem to cover all of it. There's about two million unaccounted for.”

New Nubia.com had fallen apart and lost all of its value. The investors had gone down for more than twenty million dollars. People brought in by the Bakers were drawn to the enterprise by the booming tech stocks and the big money being made in the market. Danny imagined someone with dreams of cashing in big and coming out with more money than God, then seeing those hopes dashed. In his experience, that was more than enough for murder.

“Maybe someone really wants that two million,” said Danny. “More than enough money to kill for. Let's start with whoever went down the hardest,” said Danny.

He was silent a moment, thinking about how money drove men to desperate means. If a crackhead would kill for a dollar, two million could drive a desperate person to do almost anything.

“I'd like to find that hooker,” said Danny finally. “See what other skeletons my man had in his closet. One of them might point us in the right direction.”

“You read my mind,” said Erik. “Maybe Mr. Baker's little sins caused him to lose that money.”

Danny and Erik reported their findings to their
boss, who appreciated knowing that they were about to interrogate some of the most powerful and connected people in the city. Jim suggested that they get the lowdown on each of the people on the list as they didn't want to go in unprepared. Many of these people were powerful, rich, and very intelligent. They would be way ahead of the normal questioning.

Danny and Erik contacted city hall and the local papers and got all the information they could on the affluent people on their list. Danny left the Sewer thinking that if he found the missing New Nubia money, the killer would not be far from it.

 

Virginia Stallworth was regaling a small crowd with a story as Danny and Erik walked into her garden party. She was entertaining, and there was a large crowd of mostly black people in her spacious dining hall. On the far wall was a banner that read:
STALLWORTH FOR NOAA PRESIDENT
!

Danny didn't like the idea of interrupting a party, but Virginia Stallworth and her family had been number one on the list of money losers in New Nubia.com. By making her entire family investors, she had lost more than three million dollars.

Danny and Erik inquired as to which of the women was Virginia, then made their way through the crowd of well-heeled people.

The party was a political rally for Virginia, who was running for president of the National Organi
zation of African Americans, which was composed of several civil rights groups. The NOAA was powerful, prestigious, and doing well these days, thanks to powerful allies in Washington.

The president of the organization was a coveted job. In many ways, he or she was the de facto black president of the United States. His picture was in every major newspaper, his words were quoted as gospel, and he wielded considerable political power. The president of the NOAA also went all over the world meeting with heads of state and was on the A-list of every political party.

So it was no surprise that the NOAA's current president, Hamilton Grace, was conspicuously missing from the party. He was Virginia's opponent in the race and there was no love lost between the two. Hamilton was annoyed at being challenged and even more angry that the competition had come from within his own backyard.

Danny approached Virginia Stallworth in a corner of the room, a regal-looking black woman. She was in her fifties, but she looked ten years younger than that. Virginia had a head of full, silky dark hair with gray streaks, which cascaded over her shoulders. Her eyes were gray and jumped out at you because she was dressed in an outfit that matched. And if Danny hadn't known she was black, he might have mistaken her for a white woman as she was very light in complexion.

Virginia held a flute of champagne as she finished her story. Then she, along with a tall woman, broke off from the crowd. Danny and Erik took
the cue and intercepted them before they could get lost in the party.

“Ms. Stallworth?” asked Danny.

“Yes,” said Virginia. “May I help you?”

“I'm Detective Cavanaugh and this is Detective Brown. We need to speak with you.”

Virginia reacted with surprise to the statement. Danny didn't know if it was the cadence of his voice or the word
detective
that elicited the response. He suspected a little of both.

“Police?” said Virginia. “You picked a terrible time to come around.”

The tall, black woman with Virginia was stunningly beautiful and about thirty or so. Since Danny and Erik had walked up, Virginia's companion had not taken her eyes off Danny. In her heels, she looked Danny right in the eyes. After a moment, the tall woman cleared her throat and looked at Virginia.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” said Virginia. “Gentlemen, this is Olittah Reese.”

Danny and Erik turned and nodded to Olittah. Danny was surprised to find her thrusting out her hand toward him. Instinctively, Danny shook it. Olittah's grip was firm and she lingered on it a bit too long. She smiled beautifully at him. For his part, Danny was looking at the big wedding ring on her left hand.

“Nice to meet you,” she said.

“Same here,” said Danny.

Olittah took a second then turned to Erik and said a very businesslike hello.

Danny ignored the flirtation, but Erik was already smiling like a snake.

“Ms. Stallworth, is there some place we can speak in private?” asked Danny.

“Sure,” said Virginia. “Olittah, we'll finish up later, okay?”

“Sure,” said Olittah. She took another lingering glance at Danny then walked away.

Danny, Erik, and Virginia moved in the opposite direction. Danny didn't want to look after Olittah, but he let himself sneak a peek at her. When he did, he saw her long legs carrying her away. He also saw her turn and look back at him over her shoulder. Embarrassed, he smiled awkwardly and turned to find Erik looking at him with a smile.

Virginia led Danny and Erik out of the dining hall into an adjacent room. Inside, they found a group of young black people, all in their twenties.

“Gwen, we need the room,” said Virginia.

The room emptied on command, and Danny couldn't tell to whom Virginia had spoken.

“I suppose you're here about the Bakers,” said Virginia.

“Yes,” said Danny. “We got a few questions for you if you don't mind.”

“I surmised that. My family will be here shortly.”

“We'd rather just talk to you and your husband,” said Erik.

“Anything you say will be said to us as a group,” said Virginia. “We all invested in the Bakers' company.”

“Your call,” Danny replied.

The many pictures on the walls caught Danny's eye. One in particular drew his attention. He walked over to it. It showed a group of black people gathered outside for a barbecue. The title below the photo read:
CASTLE PICNIC
—
DETROIT
1943.

Danny noticed there were policemen in 1940s uniforms. They were all white cops who were watching the gathering from a distance. There was a woman in the photo who looked a lot like the one in the room with him.

“Your mother?” Danny asked.

“Yes,” said Virginia. “She lives in Florida now.”

“Was this a family picnic?” asked Danny.

“No, it was a society event,” said Virginia. Then she casually walked over to Danny and stepped in front of the photo he was looking at. “I wasn't alive when that one was taken,” she said. “Here I am with my mother some years later.” She pointed to another picture of the same woman, ten years older, holding a little girl of five or so.

Danny was about to ask Virginia why there were white cops watching a black family picnic in the 1940s. The races were not very friendly back then.

Before he could speak, the rest of the Stallworth family filed in. Oscar Stallworth, Virginia's husband, entered first. He was sixty and looked every year of it. He was a smallish man and slightly overweight. His head was balding, and he sported a graying beard. He was just a little darker than Vir
ginia, but not much. Oscar followed by a tall young man who looked a lot like Virginia, and two young women. One of the women was thin, pretty, and wore glasses. The other was tall and full-bodied, not fat, but shapely. This one fixed her gaze on Danny as if he had insulted her.

“I heard the police were here,” said Oscar in a tone that suggested he was not happy about it.

“Yes, they are,” said Virginia. “Detectives, this is my family. Gwen, Cal, and Felecia.”

Danny and Erik nodded. Danny stared at Gwen. She held his attention because she was many shades darker than the rest of the family. If she hadn't been introduced as family, he would not have guessed.

“My people told me you had two sons,” said Danny. “Where's the other one?”

There was a brief silence at this and Danny felt a tension rise. Cal shifted on his feet, and Felecia shot Danny a look of annoyance. Oscar stepped forward with the same look on his face.

“Are you trying to mock me talking like that?” Oscar asked Danny.

“Ain't nobody mocking you,” said Danny. “This is the way I talk.”

Oscar looked at Erik as if to ask: “Is he for real, brother?” Erik just returned Oscar's gaze, unsmiling. Danny caught this exchange and grew irritated. This was the last thing he needed right now.

Oscar relaxed a bit. “Our oldest son is dead, Detective,” said Oscar. “Whatever it is you want, get on with it. As you saw, we have guests.”

“I'm sorry,” said Danny. “We need some information about your dealings with New Nubia.com.”

Virginia let out an exasperated sound. “That bogus company was over a long time ago—”

“Just a moment,” said Oscar, cutting her off. “Cal, you and the girls leave now.”

“Why?” asked Cal in a voice that sounded a lot like his father's. “This concerns us, too.”

Oscar went to his son and whispered something to him. Cal's expression turned embarrassed, then he took the girls and left the room.

“Okay, Detectives,” began Oscar after his children were gone. “I'm an attorney in case you didn't know, so I know what you're doing here. The Bakers lost a lot of our money. Therefore, you see that as a motive for their deaths.”

Virginia's face expressed shock at this and Danny couldn't tell if it was staged or genuine. She just looked at her husband and absently covered her mouth.

“We hated them for deceiving us, Detectives,” said Virginia, “but we are not—”

“No, Virginia,” said Oscar. “We are under no obligation to say anything.”

“Okay, Mr. Stallworth,” said Danny. “Since you want to cut to the chase, can you account for your whereabouts on the night of the murder? The seventh?”

Virginia and Oscar looked at each other for a second, and something passed between them. Virginia shook her head ever so slightly and Oscar turned to Danny.

“We were together that evening. We had guests. My children were all at home with us.”

Danny took down the response, not surprised that they had an alibi. The Stallworths were not the kind to go lurking with a gun looking for revenge.

“Did you argue with the Bakers about the company?” asked Danny.

“Yes, we did,” said Oscar. “But it was not a big deal.”