PART III Chapter Twenty-five

PART III Chapter Twenty-five
Kate knocked on the door and stood waiting for several members before yelling for a group behind to bring up a battering ram. Kate stood aside while two of her team members from the department rammed into the front door. The door opened easily and Kate switched on the lights. Kate started looking around each room as soon as she entered the cabin. 

The team divided the real estate into sections. The officers each took their own room and examined for contents that could be related to murder. Kate was looking through a bedroom in the back of a closet. At the bottom of the closet buried under a stack of clothes were a pair of eleven and a half Skechers boots with mud still on them. Kate closely examined the pair and found the pattern of the sole matched the prints they found at Susan Warren’s home.

Kate gathered the boots along with the shirts that were wrapped around them and placed them in a collection bag. The rest of the team were still working and Kate heard someone yell out, “I found something”. Kate made her way to the room where she heard the yell and witnessed a patrol officer holding a nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol. Kate watched him place the weapon into a collection bag and she took the bag and added it to the boots she already had.

Kate knew there was still a thirty eight caliber revolver to be found somewhere but decided to document where the first weapon was found and she asked the officer to show her where that weapon had been found. He showed her the panel he found in a closet that was loose and was easily pushed away. Kate moved the panel completely away and looked to see if the revolver was anywhere to be seen. 

Kate didn’t find the revolver and assumed it had been hidden in a separate location. She was sure it was somewhere in the house and she told everyone to keep looking. She was excited now, she had boots she was sure came from the crime scene at Susan’s house as well as the weapon from that scene. Kate told the crew to be especially careful to check closets and other spaces with hidden panels in the ceiling and floors.

Megan was looking through the garage when she discovered a pile of rags behind a large metal toolbox. She carefully moved the rags and found a thirty eight caliber revolver underneath the rags. Megan took a photo showing where the revolver was found and then placed it in the collection bag she had left open to collect it with.

Megan went in to show Kate what she found and they both knew the weapons found would have to be taken to the lab to do ballistic testing and checking for prints and DNA. They finished with the house and left with the weapons, boots and some other clothes that were stored with the weapons.

All of the items taken from the house were given to the lab for testing. Some of the clothes they had discovered contained gunshot residue on the sleeves. The shooter would have been too far away for any blood splatter to be found. Kate left the seized items with the lab and headed back to her office. Megan knew to let Kate know what they had found as soon as it was discovered.

Kate sat at her desk looking through the evidence while the lab looked for something to prove their murder. It would take some time for them to extract the necessary evidence from the items they brought back. Megan called Kate and told her they found DNA on the shirts that had gunshot residue on the sleeves. Megan planned on comparing the DNA to Tim’s even though the prints on the weapons didn’t match. 

Kate knew the likelihood of DNA matching Tim after prints failed to match was slim at best. She had already started looking at other possible suspects that were connected to the family. She asked Megan to compare prints to Tim’s wife, Christine, even though it wasn’t likely due to the placement of the footprints on the door.

Kate was beginning to think more about Christine’s brother, Alan Kroft. He was the right height, could have a motive of helping his sister exact revenge on the women who slept with her husband. It wasn’t a strong motive but she had witnessed murders committed for a lot less. Since Kate didn’t have Alan’s fingerprints on file she would have to figure a way to get them.

Megan said, “Why don’t you interview Alan under the guise of asking questions about Tim? That will put him at ease and he won’t be thinking about himself as a suspect.”

Kate responded, “I think I will and we need to get his prints to compare with those found on the murder weapon. If they match we will search his home and vehicle.”

Megan said, “In a background search I conducted on him, I discovered Alan owns a Toyota 4Runner and the tires on those matched the mussy tracks we found in the alley of Susan Warren’s house.”

Kate replied, “That may be enough evidence to get a warrant for the prints, but I am going to try to get them from a discarded item first. I have a crew staking out his home now and we can check his trash for bottles thrown out, but any prints found there could be from anyone in the house. If we can get them from something he touches during an interview it would be more likely we can get a warrant for a house and vehicle search.”

The plan was hatched to invite Alan to come in to answer a few questions about what he knows about Tim. Kate figured Alan would love to implicate Tim in the murders and would be more than willing to come in to push as much suspicion to Tim as possible. Kate was unsure if Tim’s wife knew about any of the activities her brother was involved in but that was something she would be looking into.

Kate had extended the invitation and Alan had quickly agreed to come in and talk. Kate knew that Alan would be quick to implicate Tim and would be very open about Tim’s indiscretions. 

Kate led Alan to the interview room as soon as he walked through the station entrance. She pointed to a chair for Alan to take a seat in and then she took a chair across a table from him. She told Alan they had discovered some questionable behavior that Tim was involved with and hoped that he could tell her what he knew about Tim.

Alan said, “I know a lot about Tim’s secret life with other women. I can tell you whatever you need to know.”

Kate replied, “We have made a lot of discoveries ourselves and mainly just need witness collaboration about the events. Do you have actual firsthand knowledge about the women Tim was involved with?”

Alan happily replied, “Christine suspected him for a long while and asked me to help find out what he was doing. I agreed and followed Tim for almost a month. In that time frame I saw Tim with a half dozen women.”

Kate had photos of both Susan and Shannon so she laid them on the table in front of Alan before speaking. She had them in a lineup of six women. She didn’t want to influence Alan, she wanted him to pick the photos out of a group.

Kate asked, “Do you see any of those women that Tim was involved with in this photo group?”

Alan pointed to both Susan and Shannon in the lineup and Kate removed the other photos after Alan confirmed the two women Kate already knew about. Kate and the lab had printed the photos on high gloss paper that held finger prints well. Alan was allowed to handle the photos to get a close look and Kate would submit the photos for fingerprint extraction as soon as Alan left.

Kate said, “Those are photos of our two victims and we were aware of Tim’s relationship with them but we needed a witness to identify them as well. Will you be willing to testify about Tim’s relationship with them when we go to court?”

Alan said, “I would be interested in helping the truth to come out.”

Kate doubted Alan wanted the real truth to come out but knew he would be anxious to get “his” truth to come out.”

Megan came into the interview room bringing a bottle of water to Kate. This move had been previously timed and planned out. It was orchestrated to give Kate an opportunity to offer Alan something to drink without it looking too suspicious. Kate reacted as previously planned and offered something to drink to Alan. Alan accepted and Megan left to get a bottle of water for their suspect. Megan had carefully picked up the photos to immediately attempt to obtain prints from the photo.

Megan brought the water bottle back quickly while Kate and Alan were having a candid conversation about what a slime ball Tim was. Kate agreed that Tim was a slime ball but nothing as yet pointed to him being a murderer. Kate kept the ruse going that the interview was about Tim’s activities. 

Kate showed some photos they had of Tim with other women, but she knew Alan had seen all of these women with Tim when the event was live. Kate knew Alan was infuriated at how Tim was treating his sister. Alan had gone on record acknowledging that he knew the victims. Kate intended to get a search of phone records added to the warrant in the works. She wanted to see if Alan’s phone would show where he was located at the time the victims were killed.

Alan told Kate he had some photos of Tim and the women in compromising positions. He showed her the photos on his phone and Kate asked for permission to copy the photos for her investigation and Alan agreed to allow Kate to give the lab the phone to the lab to copy the photos. She intended of course for the lab to copy the entire phone. Since Alan had voluntarily given his phone to her she didn’t need a warrant.

The phone was given to the lab to extract its contents. Kate kept the interview going to keep Alan’s mind busy while they extracted phone contents. After they brought the phone back Kate ended the interview and excused Alan to leave. She had prints on the bottle and phone info. She finally felt like the investigation was going somewhere.