Dead Broke (Lana Denae Mystery Series Book 1) (16 page)

“So, again, he could be telling the truth, but we don’t know,” Ray said.

“He could be telling the truth about all of it, for all we know,” Lana sighed. “But he could just as easily be lying through his teeth. Problem is, we have no proof either way.”

“So, what do we do then?” Jamie asked.

“We proceed as if he is lying but at the same time, we may have to consider that this phantom boss of his actually exists,” Lana said.

“Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t,” Ray said. “On the other hand, there are a lot of indicators that suggest Eric is our guy. He’s anti-social, parents are deceased, a college dropout, sees himself as smarter than everyone else. He’s unemployed, moody, goes through life with that silly smirk, and identifies as a citizen of the planet. If that’s not the profile of a killer, I’ll eat my computer.”

“Well, for your sake, let’s hope he’s our guy,” Lana said with a laugh.

“I didn’t say he
was
the killer,” Ray said. “I said that this was the profile of a killer.”

“You been talking to Sophia?” Lana asked with a worried look.

“No if I can help it,” Ray said. “Why?”

“You’re starting to sound like her.”

Ray gave her a look of dismay. “One major difference, I ain’t making things up to fit my own idea of who is responsible. What I gave you is the classic profile of a killer. And I stand by that. I ain’t saying that makes him guilty.”

“So, a definite maybe?”

Ray nodded. “Something like that.”

Damien broke in suddenly, changing the subject. “We also talked to Holloway again. Just to go over everyone who might have that info, and came up with nothing.”

“Common theme on this case,” Lana said with a sigh.

Damien nodded. “By the way, Holloway is bringing by some additional information from past employees that we requested,” he informed her. “Probably tomorrow.”

“For all the good that will do,” Jamie said.

“You never know,” Lana said. “I know it’s frustrating but there’s not a lot we can do about it except to keep digging until something turns up. Meanwhile, I still need to go see the Captain and then meet with the D.A. I’ll check in with you guys later.”

With those words, Lana left, her head and shoulders set in determination.

When she was gone, Jamie and Damien looked at each other with a blank stare. “And how are we supposed to find a phantom boss?” Damien asked.

“Like the lady said, keep digging and see if something turns up,” Jamie repeated.

“What exactly does that mean?”

Jamie shrugged.

“I could run an algorithm,” Ray offered. Using all of the criteria Eric gave us about the boss: prominent, local, rich, and powerful. Shouldn’t take long to get a list of names that I could cross-reference with the names of our victims and Cascade Global Investments. We just might end up with a few likely suspects.”

“Yeah,” Jamie agreed. “Whatever you said, do that.”

“How big a list are we talking?” Damien asked.

“I don’t know,” Ray confessed. “Could start off with a few hundred, I suppose. But after matching the names with the other possible prospects, it will get considerably smaller. The more we refine the parameters, the smaller the list of candidates.”

“Well, let’s hope so,” Jamie said. “A few hundred names is not even close to feasible.”

“Yeah,” Damien agreed. “We’d like to solve this case sometime this decade.”

“I’m sure Miss Lana would say check them all out anyway,” Jamie grunted.

“I’m pretty certain I can narrow it down to a better number,” Ray assured them.

“A better number would be one,” said Jamie.

“Well,
that’s
not likely to happen.”

“Just do what you can,” Damien told him.

Leaving Ray to his self-appointed task of subjective computer analysis, the title he gave his endeavor, Jamie and Damien decided to make another visit to Cascade Global Investments. When they had seen Holloway earlier they’d not shared Eric’s explanation of events with him. But both agreed that it couldn’t hurt. The man might be able to offer something of importance if he knew the story.

Meanwhile, Lana was busy explaining the situation, and her take on it, to Captain Hayden. After detailing the gist of the questioning and Eric’s responses—such as they were—she outlined the activities of her team. Then, somewhat sheepishly, she admitted they hadn’t gotten far on any of it. “We’re still working to discredit his statements, or prove them, whichever comes first, I guess.”

The Captain listened attentively, taking it all in, and not interrupting. When Lana was done, he sat contemplating her words in silence. Finally, with a slight frown, he said. “Only advice I have is to keep doing what you’re doing and follow your instincts.”

Lana nodded. “I will, sir. And right now my instincts say I need to go have a talk with the D.A.”

Chapter Seventeen

There is nothing quite like the high of solving a murder case; having the satisfaction of seeing a killer brought to justice and knowing you were the one who figured it all out.

But there is nothing quite like the low when things aren’t going well either. And right now, things were definitely not going well.

Lana was reminded of why lately she’d been thinking of switching careers. Why she
needed
a new career. Despite her love for it, detective work could be utterly frustrating—enough to make her want to pull her hair out at times. Sorting through the mass of evidence, trying to make sense of the bits and pieces was, on occasion, purely maddening.

On the other hand, that same process could be thrilling and exuberating. This case, though, had certainly been more frustrating than thrilling. And frustration tended to weigh on the mind.

Whoever said “Don’t take your work home with you” was obviously, not a homicide detective. Because, as a detective, it couldn’t be avoided. After visiting with the D.A., Lana had retreated to her cozy stone-built house for the evening, but that didn’t mean she had stopped working. Far from it.

Lounging now in her recliner, reflecting for the umpteenth time on the convoluted storyline Eric had given during questioning; Lana let her mind wander again, back to her early days as a detective. Recalling her first interrogation, she smiled thinking of how nervous she’d been. “How do I know if the suspect is telling me the truth?” she’d asked her training officer.

Detective Brent Daniels hadn’t answered in the manner she’d expected. “You don’t,” he’d said simply. Then, seeing Lana’s profound look of confusion, he’d explained. “That’s what an investigation is for. An investigator, not an interrogator, is the best lie detector test available. The two, however, do go hand in hand. And being a detective, you will need to play both roles.”

“So, as an interrogator, I should assume they are telling the truth?”

“No. Never assume anything. Just ask the questions.”

“What if it’s obvious they are lying? How do I respond? Do I change my line of questioning?”

Brian shook his head. “I know that’s what they do on TV but this is not a television show. As an interrogator, never make the mistake of deciding who is lying and who isn’t. Some people are excellent liars. If you start to rely on a ‘tell’ or your own gut instinct, eventually, someone will make a fool of you.”

“So why do we bother to go through with the questioning at all? Why not just investigate? Seems kind of pointless if we don’t know whether to believe them or not.”

“Questioning a suspect during an interrogation is not to determine if they’re telling the truth,” Detective Daniels told her. “It is to get them to talk. To get them to tell you a story. To give you something that can be fact-checked. Their words and the so-called ‘facts’ they give, provide an almost tangible body of information. That information can then be investigated and vetted.”

Lana nodded. What her partner said was starting to make sense.

“Only after an investigation is conducted, matching the story of the suspect or witness to the facts and evidence, can it be determined who is telling the truth. Until that point, make no assumptions.”

“Just get their story and then check it out.”

“Exactly.”

Hearing the sudden wail of passing sirens outside her window brought Lana back to the present. She smiled to herself. Recalling the old days was always a pleasant escape when things were not making sense. Although, exactly how Detective Daniels’ words of wisdom could help in this instance, she didn’t know.

“I guess I need to focus more on the investigation than the interrogation,” she told herself.

“Investigate the story,” she could hear the voice in her head saying.

“Which is what I thought I’ve been doing,” she mumbled.

With a frustrated sigh, she glanced at the clock above the dining room table. The hour was late. Another day slipping away, and almost nothing to show for it—again. The one glimmer of hope being the conversation she’d had with the D.A. that afternoon. She wouldn’t know for sure how that would turn out until the following day.

 * * * * *

“We have a full report on the man and his phantom boss,” Jamie said to Lana when she arrived to work.

“Unfortunately, that isn’t a whole lot,” Damien added. “But the phantom part may not be accurate.”

Lana blinked in surprise seeing that he and Damien were there ahead of her. “Up a little early, aren’t you? Impressive!”

“It’s not that out of the ordinary,” Jamie protested.

Lana smiled. “What did you find?”

“Well, thanks to Ray, we were able to determine that if this so-called phantom boss does exist, there is a pretty short list of possibilities of who it could be. Only four guys in the area fit the profile. Well, five if you count Holloway, who technically, matches the criteria. We interviewed two of them last night and it doesn’t appear either are connected to the case.”

Damien added, “A third, Sonny Pierson is currently out of town, according to his secretary, and did not return our call.”

“When is he expected back?” Lana wanted to know.

“Later this afternoon,” Damien said. “Problem is, if he is our guy, we’ve already tipped him off by trying to make contact.”

Lana shrugged. “Can’t be helped.” Then with a questioning look, she said, “So, why did you say the ‘phantom’ boss might not be accurate? Sounds like you have nothing that suggests any of these guys are the boss, only that they match some sort of profile that Ray created.”

“Well,” Damien said. “That’d be because of the fourth man on the list.”

“Does this man have a name?”

“Perry Carson,” Jamie said.

Lana’s eyes widened. “The real estate developer?”

Jamie nodded. “And famed philanthropist. When we contacted him, he immediately clammed right up. Told us he had nothing to say to us and if we had any questions to contact his attorney.”

“And who is his attorney?”

“Well, that’s just it, he didn’t tell us, which was a little odd. But then, not ten minutes later, we get a call from a Miss Rita Faulk, threatening to bring charges against us and the Portland Police Bureau for harassing her client.”

Lana slowly shook her head in amazement.

Jamie said, “I think we may be on to something, ’cause Mr. Carson obviously has something to hide.”

“Not necessarily,” Lana countered. “While Mr. Carson may indeed have something to hide, it might very well have nothing to do with our case. I’m not saying it doesn’t, but rich and powerful people almost always have a few secrets.”

“He
is
rich and powerful,” Jamie acknowledged. “He runs a lot of successful businesses, in addition to his real estate ventures.”

“Low income housing, if I remember correctly,” Lana said.

Damien nodded. “And for that he enjoys some pretty hefty tax breaks.”

“Not a crime,” Lana pointed out.

“So should we bring him in?” Damien wanted to know.

“No,” Lana said, and then paused. “But keep him on your radar. If anything concrete turns up, linking him to our victims or to Eric, then we’ll bring him in.”

“And his lawyer?”

“Let me handle his lawyer,” Lana said. “Just because Perry Carson is an influential member of the community doesn’t make him immune from our investigation.”

Ray broke into the conversation then. “You just may get your wish.”

All three detectives turned to look at him. “What do you mean?” asked Lana. “What wish?”

Ray gave her a worried frown. “I just got off the phone with a very irate Rita Faulk, wanting to speak to the Captain about reigning in a couple of his detectives who have been harassing her client.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” Lana asked. “I wasn’t involved.”

“Captain Hayden isn’t here today,” Ray explained. “And when I informed Miss Hot Shot attorney of that fact, she said she would speak directly with you about it. When I told her you were busy at the moment she said she’d be down later this afternoon and you could make time for her or...”

“Or what?”

Ray shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. But I got the impression, she would make things hard for you.”

Suddenly, Lana whirled around, her mouth set in a hard line. Fixing her hardened eyes on Damien and Jamie, she said, “I’ve changed my mind.”

The two detectives returned a blank stare.

“About what?” asked Jamie.

“About Mr. Carson,” Lana answered.

“So, what’s that mean?” Damien said. “What do you want us to do?”

“Put the man under a microscope. I want to know everything there is to know about him, including what he had for breakfast this morning. If he’s involved in this case in any way, find it. Or any other questionable activities, for that matter. Whatever the man is hiding, we’re going to unearth it.”

“We get the picture,” Jamie said before she could go on. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, why the sudden change?” asked Damien.

“I don’t like being threatened by lawyers.”

“We see that,” Jamie said.

“You really think he’s involved with our case?” Damien asked.

“I don’t know,” Lana admitted. “It’s possible but I doubt it.”