Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter twenty-seven:
Kate and Cindy were up running before Megan woke. It was a quiet run, neither woman spent much time talking, they were both concentrating on running. Kate said she would make breakfast when they returned. She didn’t tell Cindy it would be a protein smoothie.
Megan was up taking a shower when Kate and Cindy returned from running. Cindy watched Kate put ingredients into the blender before saying, “I hope that isn’t what you are counting as breakfast.”
Kate replied, “It is full of vitamins and minerals, just the thing to replace what your body loses when you run.”
Cindy said, “Megan told me you make a good breakfast, with an emphasis on omelets.”
Kate replied, “That is on the weekends when I have plenty of time. I am not going to cook a big breakfast during the week.”
Cindy responded, “Okay I’ll try it. I usually just eat a banana as I go out the door.”
Kate said, “You’re in luck, this has a banana in it.”
Cindy took her glass full of nutrition and drank most of it. Kate told her she could take the first shower in her master bath. Megan had finished her shower in her own bath. Kate cleared away empty glasses and washed out the blender and put it away. She got a shower right after Cindy and both women worked on hair and makeup. They were in Kate’s car headed for the safety deposit box facility well before it opened.
They walked over and got back into Cindy’s stakeout car with a thermos full of coffee and waited to see who showed up. They saw the same manager who closed up the night before walking over with a set of keys and inserting one into the front door. It was quiet after that until they saw lights turned on inside the building.
At around eleven o’clock they saw Vicky pull up out front and watched her get out and look around to see if anyone was watching. It was clear she didn’t want to be spotted going inside.
Cindy asked, “Do we go in after her and catch her with whatever is inside?”
Kate said, “No, let’s wait till she has the material safely in her possession. We have told her we found the safety deposit box, if we catch her out front with materials being removed from the box, we have probable cause to check and see what the contents are.”
Kate and Cindy waited inside the doorway at the building next door, where they could watch and wait for Vicky to exit the building. They would be close enough to make a move when Vicky came out but far enough away to not be discovered early. When they saw her exit the building, Kate and Cindy stepped forward out of the shadows.
Kate said, “It’s nice to see your schedule open. I am sure you were getting the documents for us.”
Vicky replied, “I’m sorry but this is personal material, you don’t have a warrant.”
Kate responded, “I am sorry to inform you that because we told you about the safety deposit box and you came out early with the material, we have probable cause to search the material. I would advise you not to run, I run every morning.”
Cindy reached out for the manila envelope and Vicky loosened her grasp and let Cindy retrieve it.
Kate said, “Since you gave us the information, I won’t take you to the station but I may have questions later.” Kate turned to Cindy and said, “I guess we can both take our cars back to the station.”
When they returned to the station Kate sat at her desk while Cindy stood beside it and they opened the envelope and out came a note and several photos. The photos were of the victim having sex with an unknown man. None of the photos showed his face but Linda’s face was present in every shot. The note said, “Just a reminder of what I saw. If you don’t want your husband to find out, we need to come to a financial arrangement.”
Kate looked at Cindy and said, “She was being blackmailed. Linda Miles was having an affair and someone found out and blackmailed her. Why was she killed?”
Cindy responded, “Maybe her husband found out and wanted to save the family from disgrace. Maybe she refused to pay and the blackmailer wanted to prove he meant business. Maybe a third party was involved.”
Kate said, “Maybe the blackmailer was the person she was having the affair with. Maybe he was married and the wife found out and paid someone to kill her. Let’s send the photos, note and envelope to the lab to be checked for fingerprints or DNA.”
They took the materials to the lab for testing and to make additional copies of the photos and the note. Kate and Cindy could work from the copies of the note and photo while the lab worked on the testing. They kept looking at the guy in the photo trying to find some distinguishing marks. The man in the photo had a wristwatch on, maybe they could get a close-up of it to find out the brand.”
Kate said, “I think we need to talk to Vicky again to see if she knows who may have known about the affair.”
Kate called Vicky to ask about them coming over to ask questions.
Vicky whispered to her and replied, “Not here, I will come there.”
True to her word, Vicky showed up at the station asking for Lieutenant Kate Murphy. Kate walked down to the entrance desk and escorted Vicky back to the office area she shared with Cindy and then on to the interview room. .
Vicky said, “I guess by now you have seen the contents and have some questions. I will answer what I know.”
Kate asked, “Did you know about the affair before you found the contents of the safety deposit box?”
Vicky replied, “Yes, I knew. Linda and I had no secrets.”
Kate asked, “The important question now is, did her husband know?”
Vicky replied, “I never saw any indication that her husband knew.”
Cindy asked, “Do you have any idea who the man in the photo is?”
Vicky replied, “No, I saw the photo a week ago and spent some time trying to figure out who it was but not much to go on.”
Kate asked, “Was your sister prone to having affairs?”
Vicky replied, “This is her first.”
Cindy responded, “It didn’t work out well did it?”
Kate asked, “Did your sister ever confide details about the affair, maybe why etc.?”
Vicky replied, “Linda told me that Richard was gone all the time and even when he was around he wasn’t attentive. She said she felt lonely. They never went out. The only time she ever got to go out was when she went out with Mark and I.”
Kate asked, “Mark is your husband then, correct?”
Vicky answered, “Yes. Rarely Richard would join us but he usually had some kind of pressing business to take care of.”
Kate told Vicky she could go but they may talk to her later. She gave her a card and asked that she contact them if she thought of something. At least now they had some new motive that was introduced. She just wasn’t sure whose motive it was.
Kate and Cindy went to the lab to see if anything turned up in the photo and noted what was left there. Randy, their lab guy said, “I wish my apartment was as clean as this material you left. There are no fingerprints anywhere. I found nothing on the photos, I found no fingerprints or DNA on the envelope. No one licked the gummed tab. They used the metal clasp and those had been wiped clean.”
Cindy said, “It sounds like someone was very careful.”
Randy said, “The only fingerprints I found I referenced against those you got from the family and they matched the victim’s sister Vicky.”
Kate said, “Vicky went through the stuff before she brought it to us, I am sure she got some prints there. That shows us she didn’t know the items had been wiped of any prints.”
Cindy said, “Yes if she had known that the prints had all been wiped, she would have wiped hers from there too.”
Kate said, “I guess we can spend some time looking through Linda’s social media accounts, and that of family members. Let’s look through her accounts and see if we find anyone she seems chummy with.”
Cindy said, “That sounds like a good idea, but we can do that at home.”
Kate said, “Okay, that sounds good, let’s go.”