Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (36 page)

She
rolled over to where Mike had been sleeping and tried to doze off
snuggled to
his
pillow
.
She
could smell the faint hint of
his
cologne
and she smiled
.

Quent
was
hanging
his
coat in the front closet as Mike walked in the living room. "Hey Mike, I'm sorry to bother you so early, but I thought you
would
want to know what we found at the Border's house and the Explorer." Quent noticed Mike looked tired
with
dark circles under
his
eyes and they were bloodshot. He always looked professional, but today he had on workout pants and a t-shirt. He
was
n't going to the office, so he might as well be comfortable. He thought the stress
was
getting to Mike a little bit. Knowing him for several years, Quent knew he could go days
with
out sleep.

He scanned the room and saw all the boar
ds set up and they had posted
pictures, timelines, and a blank spot for blood types and DNA. In the far left corner, a computer
was
set up
with
a printer. One thing is for sure about the marshal's they were always prepared and ready to go.

"I hope you have good news." Mike extended
his
arm to persuade Quent to move to the living room to sit.

Quent reached into
his
shirt pocket to grab the notebook
where
he wrote
his
notes. He also
grabbed a couple of Tums. When he stayed up all night
his
stomach produced more acid. Then he had to sit up to sleep. Six anti-acids tablets every morning did the trick. "We did find some hair evidence in the Explorer and at the home. We know Mrs. Borders bit the perp. The coroner found blood around
her
mouth and couldn't find any other source of the blood. He also said they have been dead about a week. The crime scene investigators left the house a few hours ago. Hopefully we'll know all the blood types
with
in the hour."

"
Lana
has been here a week, do you think
that
's a coincident?" Mike asked.

"Maybe, bu
t I don't think so. We need
to check everyone's blood type to either rule them out or make them a suspec
t. And Mike I have to be honest,
the three clown's alibis are
panning out
, at least so far
. They were not even in t
his
part of the country last week. They have family in Muskogee and their phone records and gas receipts prove they were there. All we're waiting on is the video from some of the ga
s stations they say they
stop
ped
. I know t
his
is not what you want to hear, but I don't think they killed Johnson either. He's been dead at least three days, and I think they were truthful when they said they stole the truck and cell phone. The cell phone number is the one
that
's in the phone book. The only crime they are guilty of, or at least so far is breaking and entering, attempted rape and grand theft auto. I can assure you, the DA will not charge them on the attempted rape charges because
Lana
never entered the house. Even though they admitted they were there to rape
her
, they never laid a hand on
her
."

"
That
doesn't surprise me, and you found Johnson?" Mike
stayed
busy writing notes.

"Yes, we found
his
body just down the road and
it looks like he leaned against a tree and sat down, and died.
His
body is at the medical examiner now. I'll let you know the results. We know he died way after the Borders because
his
daughter last talked to him four days ago."

"Do you think he died of natural causes?"

"Any other time I
would
say yes, but
with
everything else going on, I think he
was
murdered, and I hope I'm wrong."

"It does seem too coincidental. So I guess the next step is to officially turn the case over to the feds,
that
is, if you're ready." Mike
was
ready to hi
t t
his
case head on because there were
big stakes in t
his
crime,
Lana
. Mike did want to wait for Quent to officially hand
the case over to him.
He didn't want to step on any toes. He had a great working relationship
with
Quent and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize
that
.

"Well Mike I can't tie the three suspects to any of these crimes, or at least so far. But I'll have the lab keep working on it. Give me through the morning and I'll be glad to give it to you. I have to make sure everything is in order for my captain."

"I understand how the chain of command works. When do you think the blood type results will be
finished
?"

"I'm hoping
with
in the hour or so. They've been running samples all night. I told them not to call me until they have all the samples checked.
We had over two hundred
, so it will take a little while. I don't want them to come in bits and pieces."

"Thanks for doing
that
. I guess we'll wait for those. How about I buy you a cup of coffee?"

"You're on, and then I'm heading home, it has been a long night. Maybe the results of the blood types will be in before I leave."

Mike patted Quent on the shoulder and they walked in the kitchen. Quent
would
have made a great federal agent. He always thought three steps ahead. Most importantly he
was
an honest man. Many cops
would
have thrown the book at these three clowns and be done
with
it, but Quent always wanted the truth.
His
look
s
did fit the typical cop stereotype. He
was
extremely overweight and some
might
say obese. He had the military hair cut
that
was
so short when
he looks down it looked like he was bald
on the top of
his
head. Some women might find him attractive, but most probably
would
not. Mike commented to Quent many times
that
he married one of the nicest women in the county.
She
stood by Quent when he almost died of staff infection a few years ago.
She
attends and was
strongly involved in all the police functions and fund raisers like crime stoppers. Between the two of them they have seven children.
She
had two from a previous marriage and he had two, and then they had three together. What Mike liked best about Quent
was
his
virtue of honesty. Mike
would
have been proud to have Quent on
his
team.

"So Quent how do you like your coffee?" Mike asked as he reached in the cabinet to pull out two mugs.

"Black," answered Quent.

"
That
's how I like it too." He poured two mugs of steaming hot coffee and put the plate of pastries on the bar so they both could reach them.

Quent eyed the several varieties and picked the raspberry, he reckoned it
was
the sweetest. "I see you guys started your investigation?" Quent said between taking sips of the hot coffee and took a bite of the raspberry filled donut.

Mike noticed powdered sugar around
his
mouth, and handed him a paper towel. Quent took the hint and wiped
his
mouth. "Well, after getting your news t
his
morning, we will be starting from scratch. We were leaning towards the three guys. But after your information, we'll have to develop more theories." Mike reached into the fridge to get some french vanilla cream. It
was
pretty good stuff and he wanted something sweet, something besides a pastry.

While blowing on
his
coffee Quent said. "You're not starting from scratch. You know these three aren't suspects anymore. There will be no need to
was
te your time on these petty criminals." He reached
his
mug out when he saw the creamer.

"Eliminating them does help us, and we can thank you for
that
." Mike didn't want to tell t
his
to Quent, but he
would
double check all the results the state lab concluded. It
was
n't a federal law enforcement policy to do
that
, but it
was
Mike's policy.
The state had made errors in
past
cases
. When there were three murders, it
did
n't hurt to double check the lab work.

"
That
's my job Mike and you've helped me out plenty of times
on
past
cases
. Remember
that
little girl rape case several years back. You had your lab process the work three times faster than ours and you help save another girl from being raped."

H
e didn't think he
would
ever forget
that
case
. A pedophile had a life sentence, and he escaped out of a mental hospital in Portland Oregon. DNA
was
fairly new and the state lab took several weeks for the results to come back. Mike pulled favors at the FBI and got the results in a couple of weeks. Then the FBI ran the results
and got
a hit in a matter of minutes. They were shocked the man got all the way to Plymouth
with
out being detected. They ran a check and found three other little girls had been raped on
his
route across country. They literally captured him seconds before he abducted another child. "I
was
more than glad to help. I just wish all local and federal levels worked together as well as you and me."

Their conversation
was
interrupted by Quent's phone. He quickly got out
his
pen and pad to take notes. "It's the lab, maybe it's the results. Quent speaking … yea … great job … thanks for putting a rush on t
his
, I know Mike will appreciate it … keep me informed." He wrote a few notes on
his
pad before he continued. "Well, we've got good news and bad news."

"I'm ready. What did they find?" Mike listened intently.

"The blood on Ms. Border's mouth is male B- and
that
's the good news, we got a blood type. The lab
was
n't sure they could get anything since it
was
a small sample, and the killer poured bleach on
her
mouth." Mike turned pale and he didn't have to ask. Quent answered Mike's questioning face. "
She
was
already dead when he poured the bleach." They both had been in law enforcement long enough to hope the victims suffered as little abuse as possible.

Mike let out a sigh of relieve. These people were not just victims, they were
his
neighbors.
"I think I already know the bad. It doesn't match any of the three suspects."

"
That
's not the only bad news."

             
Raymond walked in to get some coffee and knew he should listen.

Then Quent continued glancing back and forth between the two. "The sperm on the outside wall is AB+ and all the suspects in jail are O+."

Raymond stopped in
his
tracks and looked at both Mike and Quent and said. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" For the moment, Raymond put off getting coffee. T
his
information
was
far more important than a cup of coffee, even t
his
early hour of the morning.

Quent looked at both Mike and Raymond. "Yep, there are two different unknown suspects. And the lab eliminated the husband. I'm betting there were two involved
with
the Borders murder. And if I
was
a betting man, the killers saw someone over here. And they did all t
his
to scare you. I think you need to check out the Borders. My hunch is the killers knew them."