Sheriff Ericsson is sitting at his bare desk deep in thought Thursday morning when Sue brings him his first coffee. She says, “Can you share what the medical examiner found?”
The sheriff replies, “Yes, I took his report home last night and studied it carefully. Sadly, he concludes Martha was raped and strangled.”
“Did he find any evidence on the body that’ll help your investigation?”
“No. Apparently the heavy rain that night washed any evidence away. He says she was killed between 4:00 and 6:30 Saturday afternoon. The rain started around 8:00 and didn’t end until about 7:00 in the morning; it rained on her all night.”
“It’s sad to think of her lying in the rain in the woods all night,” laments Sue.
Then she adds, “What do you make of the time of death?”
Sheriff Ericsson replies, “The gift shop was locked when the Sunday cashier opened up so she must have locked it when her shift ended at 5:00. I believe the rapist must have been waiting for her when she left the gift shop.”
“Did he find any fluids from the rapist with his DNA?”
“Strangely no. That’s important I believe. The rapist must have worn a condom. That means he must have planned to rape and kill Martha. Her underpants were missing and possibly a ring. The report says there’s a lighter spot on her right hand ring finger, possibly from wearing a ring.”
“She did have a gold signet ring, her parents gave it to her for high school graduation. I remember her showing it to me at the beauty salon one day. It had her initials on it, a big C with a small m inside the C. Do you have any suspects in mind, Sheriff?”
“Her boyfriend is on top of my suspect list.”
“It’s hard to imagine that nice young man killed Martha. I heard they’ve been going together for nearly a year. I thought she would be announcing her engagement soon. Poor girl, she can never know the joy of sharing an engagement with friends now. Why do you suspect her boyfriend?”
“Things go bad in relationships. Maybe she cheated on him and he found out,” the sheriff says.
“Oh, I can’t believe that. She was such a sweet girl. Darn, there goes my phone again. I’m afraid today will be as bad as Tuesday afternoon and yesterday with all the calls,”
“You can thank Mary Jane Bloom for all the calls, Sue. Let me know if any of them have anything important to say. Thank God you are able to sort them out.”
The sheriff calls Deputy Wilson on his cell phone and says, “I didn’t get a report from you or Towner on your search of Martha Crawford’s house. Where is it?”
Wilson replies, “I thought Towner was writing it. Sorry for the mix-up.”
‘Well, what did you find?”
“We searched her house from top to bottom. It took hours. She has two file drawers full of papers. We went through them all. Nothing suspicious. All the papers had to do with banking. I guess they’re about her work. Then we checked everything in her desk, all her closets, all the kitchen drawers…”
Sheriff Ericsson interrupts, “I don’t need a step by step report, just the important findings.”
“We didn’t find any evidence pointing to an enemy or any problems she was having with anyone.”
“Did you find anything from the boyfriend? I told you he’s the primary suspect.”
“Yes, I know. We didn’t find anything from him other than a gift card for something he gave her for her birthday.”
“Damn, I hoped you’d find evidence of a riff between them. Did she have a diary? Did you find a gold signet ring with her initials on it?”
“We didn’t find a diary or any gold rings, and we searched everywhere.”
“Did you seal the place up?”
“Yes, Sir. We locked it and put crime scene tape around every door like you said.”
“Good. Come to my office in half an hour. Let’s talk about how we’re going to go after the boyfriend.”
“Do you want me to write up a report on the search, Sir?”
“No, tell Towner to write it. He’ll write two paragraphs instead of three pages of stuff I don’t need to know.”
After the sheriff ends his call to Wilson, he yells to Sue, “Have Towner bring me Martha Crawford’s cell phone if it was in her purse.”
Sue answers, “Yes, Sir.”
Fifteen minutes later Towner hands the sheriff an Apple IPhone. He says, “Here’s the phone from Martha’s purse, Sir. I gave it a ten minute charge. I hope that’s enough. Anything else you want?”
“Wait a minute, I’ll check the phone log if the phone isn’t locked. If there’s strange numbers I’ll want you to run them down.”
“Okay, Sir.”
The sheriff finds Martha’s phone unlocked. He opens the recent calls list and scrolls through the previous week’s calls. He says to Towner, “The only local calls are to the boyfriend, her parents and two women. The rest are all incoming calls from several different area codes. Her father told me she translated Spanish for branches of Mid West National Bank branches in several states. That must be what these calls are. I assume the two local women are Martha’s friends.”
Sheriff Ericsson hands Towner Martha’s phone and says, “You go see these two women. Find out if they know of any problems between Martha and her boyfriend, or if anyone else was harassing her. Also, confirm these calls from other area codes are from Mid West Bank branches. While you’re doing that Wilson and I will concentrate on the boyfriend.”
Checking his watch the sheriff sees it’s 15 minutes before he expects Wilson. He decides to start checking the criminal records of the eight people on the sex offender registry living in the county. He starts with the two women thinking it’ll be easy to dismiss them. He guessed correctly about the first woman. She is on the registry for having sex with an underage boy during her first year of teaching art at Pineville High School. She’s no longer a teacher, but has no other criminal record. He crosses her off his suspect list.
The second woman has a strange record. She has a conviction for 2nd degree sexual assault against a man. She kicked the man in the genitals repeatedly after knocking him down with a pool cue in the Corner Bar.
The second conviction is for assault against a woman. A similar story. The two women got into a fight over a man. She punched the other woman repeatedly in her breasts and kicked her several times in her crotch after knocking her down. Both convictions are within the past five years. Sheriff Ericsson guesses the prosecutor had t in for this woman to charge her with 2nd degree sexual assault. Her conviction put her on the sex offender list, and she is surely a woman with a violent temper. If she got mad enough to murder a woman she might mutilate the woman’s genitals. He decides to keep her on the list.
Before the sheriff looks at the record of any of the men on the list Wilson comes in. The sheriff says, “As I’ve said a couple times, the prime suspect in this case is William Lafleur, Martha’s boyfriend. You didn’t find any evidence against him at Martha’s house so we don’t have any leverage on him yet. I don’t want to bring him in until we get some leverage. He claims he was at the Black River Bar and Grill Saturday evening waiting to have dinner with Martha. It appears the killer waited for Martha to lock up the gift shop at 5:00. We can assume the rape and murder took place in the next half hour. It’s only a ten minute drive from the gift shop to the Black River Bar and Grill. Unless Lafleur got to the restaurant before 5:15 he had time to wait for Martha, commit the crime and get to the restaurant to claim it as an alibi. So, the first thing I want you to do is go to the Black River Bar and Grill. See if anyone remembers Lafleur being there Saturday night and what time he got there. If it’s before 5:00 then maybe Martha locked up early.
The medical examiner says the time of death could have been as early as 4:00. You may be able to establish what time she locked up when you talk to the volunteer who was at the Lighthouse until 4:30. If Lafleur didn’t get to the restaurant until after 5:15, or if no one remembers him being there, he has no alibi. After you check with the restaurant, go see Lafleur. Use your casual approach. Engage him in a long friendly conversation like you have with other suspects. See if you can learn anything new about his relationship with Martha and where he was at 5:00 last Saturday. While you’re out I’ll continue checking the names on the sex offender list.”
“Yes, Sir. It’s almost noon. I’ll go to the bank and get Lafleur to go to lunch with me. I can make up a reasonable story he’ll buy. I’ll go to the restaurant later when it’s more likely the dinner staff will be there.”
Wilson leaves. Sheriff Ericsson looks at his watch, sees it’s close to noon as Wilson said. He calls his secretary, “Sue, it’s nearly noon. I don’t want to go to the Corner Bar for lunch as I usually do. Everyone would be hounding me about the case. Would you mind getting me a ham sandwich, some coleslaw and a coke from the Harbor Deli?”
“Certainty, Sir, if you don’t mind answering the phone while I’m out. I need a break from these incessant calls about the case,” replies Sue.
“Turn the phone off while you’re out. I don’t want to have to listen to any of those callers. I have better things to do.”
At 4:00 the sheriff has completed checking the names on the sex offender register and ready to talk to Wilson about their strategy. He tells Sue, “I’m tired. This case is stressing me out. I have prioritized my suspect list. After I get Wilson’s report on Lafleur I’ll be ready for the next step. I’m going home early tonight. Did you learn anything from all the calls you’ve been getting?”
Sue replies, “Only one of the callers offered anything that might be useful. A woman living near the lighthouse said a tree trimming truck left the area around 4:10 or 4:20 last Saturday. She didn’t see any company name on the truck.”
“That could be helpful. I’ll have Wilson check with the volunteer working at the lighthouse and the gift shop people to see if they know what a tree trimmer was doing there. Maybe one of the tree trimming guys saw someone hanging around the gift shop that afternoon. If the lighthouse volunteer reports Martha leaving between 4:00 and 4:30 then one of the tree trimmers is a possible suspect.”
“I’ll make sure Wilson is here tomorrow morning when you come in. Have a good evening, Sheriff.
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