Wilson is waiting Friday morning when Sheriff Ericsson arrives. Sue has coffee ready. She fills two cups and hands them to the sheriff and Wilson as they go into the sheriff’s office.
“What did you learn from Lafleur about his relationship with Martha and his alibi?”
Wilson starts to give the sheriff a detailed report on his conversation with William Lafleur. The sheriff interrupts. He says, “I don’t need the details, Wilson. Just tell me if he and Martha were having any problems in their relationship.”
“I concluded they weren’t. I believe he was truly in love with her,” says Wilson.
“I conclude you didn’t learn of any problems, but maybe Lafleur is hiding something. Did anyone at the Black River Bar and Grill remember seeing Lafleur Saturday evening?”
“I showed his photo to all of the waitresses on duty last Saturday evening, One rememberers waiting on Lafleur. She thinks he got there a little after 5:00. She said he stayed a long time and was by himself the whole time. The manager looked up credit card receipts and found one for the waitress signed by Lafleur a few minutes before 7:00.”
The sheriff thinks for a few moments and says, “So, we know he was there. We know he didn’t arrive before 5:00. If Martha locked up early he could have had time to kill her and get to the restaurant when he did. He has to remain at the top of my list.”
At this point Sue interrupts saying, “Towner’s here, Sir. Do you want his report on the people listed on Martha’s cell phone log?”
“Yes, send him in,” the sheriff says.
“What did you learn, Towner?” The sheriff asks when Towner sits down.
“I confirmed what Mr. Crawford told you about Martha’s job with the bank. All the incoming calls from out of our area code were from branches of Mid West Bank. She did translation for them like he told you, Sir.”
The sheriff asks, “What about the two local women she called often?”
“I met with each of them. They were good friends of Martha. As far as either one knows there were no problems in Martha’s relationship with Lafleur. The one named Helen had lunch with Martha last Saturday. Helen told me Martha told her she was having dinner with Lafleur that night, and she hoped he would propose marriage during or after their dinner,” Towner replies.
“Did you ask if Martha mentioned any other men harassing her?”
“Yes, and they both said she never mentioned any problems with any men,”
“Okay, good job, Towner. I’m keeping Lafleur on the top of my suspect list until we learn more about his alibi. Let’s get back to the names on the sex offender registry. Let me tell you what I learned checking their criminal records yesterday. There are eight names, two women and six men. I eliminated one woman, but I’m keeping the other one on the suspect list. She has a record of violent assaults. I think she’s capable of killing a woman and mutilating her genitals, maybe to make it look like rape, or maybe just because she’s weird that way. We’ll have to check her alibi and see if she had a beef with Martha. Towner, I wish now I had asked you to ask Martha’s girlfriends if Martha had any problems with a woman, as well as with another man.”
“Two of the men on the registry were convicted of having sex with a minor when they were barely 18. It looks like they had underage girlfriends. The parents found out the kids were having sex and insisted the boys be prosecuted. Both are married and in their 40s now. Neither has any arrests since the ones getting them on the sex offender registry. I think we can eliminate them as suspects. Half the men in the county could be on the sex offender list for having sex with fifteen year old girls.”
Wilson and Towner snicker and look furtively at each other. Towner says to Wilson with a smile, “Remember Rosalie Parker?”
Wilson replies, “Too well.”
The sheriff says, “We don’t have time for you two to relive your high school exploits. Now, the third man is in his 80s. We’ll need to check his health. If he’s still in good health we’ll put him on the list and check his alibi. The other three are in their 30s and 40s. We’ll have to take a hard look at each of them.”
Sue interrupts again, “Sheriff, Mayor Waters is on the phone and insisting he speak with you.”
The sheriff picks up the phone and says, “Good morning, Mayor, how can I help you? Yes, Sir. Uh uh, yes, Sir. I understand, Mayor. We are making every effort, Sir. I agree, Mayor. Okay, we will, Sir. Goodbye.”
The sheriff looks up at his deputies and says, “As you can imagine, the mayor is demanding we solve this case in a hurry. He’s getting calls like we are, except his calls are all critical instead of offering supposedly helpful information. He tells me he won’t support me for re-election if I don’t have the killer behind bars in a week. That’s an empty threat. He knows if he takes me down I take him down with me. He just doesn’t like people harassing him. Now, where was I?”
“You said we have to look hard at three of the men on the sex offender registry,” says Towner.
“Yes, first though I want to eliminate the other two. Towner, you check this Anna Sobel woman out, and Wilson, you look into this old man in his 80s, his name is Clark Nulff. Sue has a copy of the sex offender registry with their addresses. Towner, be alert with this Sobel woman. She can be violent, even with men.” directs the sheriff, “Report back right after lunch.”
After Wilson and Towner leave, the sheriff grabs his hat and leaves his office. He says to Sue, “I’m going to the Coffee Mug. I want to see if Jimmy Romano has any advice on interogating sex offenders.”
“You better be prepared for a lot of questions and comments from the table full of retirees hanging out there. I can just imagine how they have worked themselves up over this case,” Sue advises.
“I know they’ll be on me, but it’ll be worth it to get Jimmy’s advice. He must have delt with a lot of sex offenders in his years as a Detroit cop.”
“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The sheriff doesn’t return until after lunch. When he comes in Sue asks, “Did those retirees at the Coffee Mug hassle you?”
“They started to, but I shut 'em up. I walked over to their table and told them if they had anything helpful to say, come to my office, otherwise shut up. They did.”
“Did Jimmy Romano have any advice for you?”
“Not really. He said every sex offender is different, just like every other suspect. Except, he said, they are more used to being hassled by cops. He said I shouldn’t expect any one of them to be helpful in the Crawford case. At least I learned I can shut up the people who want to hassle me. After my success with the retirees at the Coffee Mug, I braved having lunch at the Corner Bar again. I feel better after my beer and a burger.”
Wilson and Towner show up for their after lunch report. Sheriff Ericsson says, “Come in and tell me what you learned.”
Wilson and Towner each sit at one of the straight back chairs facing the sheriff’s desk. They wait for the sheriff to sit down. Then Wilson says, “We can forget about the old guy. He’s 84 and is suffering from post polio syndrome. He can’t get out of a chair without struggling. No way he could have killed Martha and carried her body 50 yards into the woods. He can barely walk with a cane.”
“What about the Sobel woman, Towner?” Asks the sheriff.
“I didn’t find her. She isn’t living at the address on the registry. Neighbors said she’s living with a man at one of the trailers in the trailer park. I went there and asked around. I finally found a woman who said they live in the trailer next to hers. She hasn’t seen them all week. She saw them putting fishing equipment in his pickup last Saturday morning, She said they drove off and haven’t returned. She thinks they went fishing in the UP. She said the man has talked about fishing up there before. I asked her about Anna Sobel. She only knows Anna as a new neighbor. She didn’t know anything about Anna’s past. I asked her if she thought Anna is strong enough to carry a 120 woman. She said she’d watched Anna easily pick up a huge rock and put it in the man’s pickup. She believes Anna could carry or drag a 120 woman.”
The sheriff says, “Good job, men. We can eliminate the old guy. He doesn’t have the means to commit this crime. I believe we have to say Anna Sobel has the means. We don’t know if she had the opportunity or a motive. Not that she needs much of a motive to be violent. Towner, go back to the trailer park and ask the neighbor to call you when she sees Sobel return.”
“Already did, Sir.”
“Good. That leaves us with the other three men. I’d like to bring them in and sweat a confession out of one of them. The problem is, we don’t have anything to use as leverage. Same as with Lafleur. I know Sue would tell me to be patient and she would be right. We can’t afford to screw up this investigation. In spite of all the flak we’re getting we have to proceed carefully. Wilson, you have to go to the lighthouse this afternoon and talk to the volunteer who was working there last Friday afternoon. See if he knows what time Martha locked up the gift shop and ask him if he saw anyone suspicious hanging around that afternoon. Towner, go back on road patrol this afternoon. We’ll wait to see what Wilson learns before we have a go at Lafleur or one of the three sex offenders. See you both Monday morning.”
No comments:
Post a Comment