NINE
It was nearly an hour before Stillman showed up. When he did he had a folder in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other. He noticed all of the other detectives gathered around one desk and asked where Scotty was. Lilly told him and he just nodded. Then he had them bring him up to speed on the case.
"So as you can see," said Lilly, "we're no closer to solving this thing than we were this morning."
"Maybe not," said Stillman. "I checked out Fontane's house. It seems he was living with his sister when he died. At the same house where his sister was arrested earlier. Since it's still classified as a crime scene I was able to get in and have a look around."
"What did you find?" Will asked.
"Not much. I found the room where Casper Fontane apparently stayed. It was up in the attic. It had been converted to a small room. There wasn't much in it other than some old clothes, magazines, that sort of thing. Apparently his sister hadn't cleaned it out since he died."
"Maybe she was too busy running her girls to be concerned with it," suggested Nick.
"Maybe," said Stillman. "But I did find this." He opened the bag and removed a small tub of drywall compound, a drywall trowel, and some folded up newspapers The tub was only partially full and the trowel had dried compound on it. "According to the dates on the newspapers and a receipt I found with these, they were purchased at a local hardware store a couple of days after the Parkers were murdered."
"What's this have to do with the case?" Lilly asked.
"Well," said Stillman, "the original theory was a burglary gone bad. But we've found evidence hit might have been a murder-for-hire scheme. Now, assuming the burglary was just a cover for the murders, the murderer or murderers wouldn't want any of the items taken to surface again. It might connect them to the murders. So they had to dispose of the items where no one would ever find them."
"So you cut a section out of a wall, put the items inside, and then repair the section," said Will. "Once it was painted over there would be no way to tell it had ever been done."
"Exactly," said Stillman. "And it might be years or even decades before the items were discovered in the wall. And whoever discovered them might not have turned them into the police meaning they might never be connected to the murders. I checked around the house. It hasn't been painted in years and there was no indication of any repairs to any of the walls. So I don't think the items were hidden there."
"But maybe at the college," said Lilly. "They're always doing some kind of construction or repairs there. Fontane could have taken them to work with him and hidden them in just about any wall in the place. Once he had them hidden in the wall they might never have been found."
"Temple University is a big campus," said Nick. "There are a lot of buildings there. It might be impossible to find exactly where he hid the stuff."
"Wise might know," said Lilly. "He's been there 27 years. He could probably tell us what construction or repairs were being done around that time."
"And tear up every wall where we think the items might be?" Will asked. "With no guarantee they're even there? Fontane could have hidden them in a friend's house or some other place we don't even know about."
"It's a start," said Lilly. "It can't hurt to check with Wise and see what he knows."
"Hey boss," said Scotty, coming into the squad room, Holcomb close behind. "I'm glad your back. Mr. Holcomb wants to take the painting from the Parker murder back to his studio to check out something. I said he'd have to get your okay first."
"What do you want to check out, Mr. Holcomb?" Stillman asked.
"I'd rather not say just yet," said Holcomb. "It's very possible I'm wrong in which case I don't want to look foolish. But I did figure out what was bothering me about that painting. I just want to check it out and see if I'm right. I do have the proper clearance for it, Lieutenant. And I have done extensive work for the police department in the past. I can assure you I'll return it as soon as possible without any damage to it."
"I'm familiar with your credentials," said Stillman. "And you do know the procedure for removing evidence from the evidence room. How long will you be needed it?"
"Only a few hours," said Holcomb. "I can have it back first thing in the morning."
Stillman motioned for a uniform to come over.
"Take Mr. Holcomb back down to the evidence room and make sure all the appropriate paperwork is filled out," he told the uniform. "He's doing some work for us and he needs to take some evidence to work on."
"Yes, sir," said the uniform. "Mr. Holcomb, this way please."
Smiling, Holcomb followed the uniformed officer back to the evidence room.
"You're going to let him take evidence out of the station?" Nick asked.
"He's cleared for it," said Stillman. "Not much different from sending tissue samples out to a lab for analysis. And he does have all the proper clearances. I have something else." He opened the folder he had and spread some papers out on the table. "I ran by the DA's office and had a talk with them. They got me a warrant for these."
"What are they?" Lilly asked, looking over the papers.
"Bank records," said Stillman. "If this was a murder-for-hire plot then money had to have changed hands somehow. I thought with these bank records we might be able to find out who paid who."
"What are these?" Scotty asked, picking up three photographs from the folder. One was of RJ Parker. The second was of Garland Probst. The third was an unidentified young man.
"Oh, I took those with me to show at the bank," said Stillman. "In case we needed an identification."
"Who's this one?" Scotty asked, holding up the photograph of the unidentified man.
"That's Casper Fontane," said Stillman. "As I understand it that was the last photo taken of him before he died. It's his work ID at the university."
"I've seen him before," said Scotty. "In one of the pictures in Wise's office. He's in the background. I think he's talking to someone but I don't remember exactly who or which picture. But I'm sure it's him."
"Well," said Lilly, "looks like we have another to go back to Temple University."
"Oh?" questioned Scotty. "Did we miss something the first time?"
"Not exactly," said Lilly. "Something that came up while you were out. Come on. I'll explain on the way." She handed the bank records to Stillman. "Hang on to those, boss. It looks like this thing might be coming together. I want to stop in the archives room and have a look at something down there. Something that I remember seeing in one of the photographs of the crime scene. Then we'll head out to the university and see if we can't find those missing items."
"Get back here as soon as you can," said Stillman. "We don't want anyone running on us before we have a chance to get them."
"Be back just as soon as we can," said Lilly.
The next day RJ Parker was sitting in the interrogation room. Lilly sat across from him with a folder full of papers. Nick sat in a chair at the head of the table to Parker's right.
"I'm not really sure what else I can help you with, Detective," said Parker. "As you know I was at the mayor's house for dinner when my parents were killed."
"Oh we know that," said Lilly. "But you weren't exactly honest with us when we spoke, were you?"
"I'm not sure what you mean. I told you everything I know."
"You said you made a good living as a vice president. But you neglected to mention that you're living well beyond your means."
"I wouldn't exactly say that."
"Oh, come on," said Nick. "You're up to nearly $500,000.00 in debt to a bookie in Vegas. We spoke to Nicky Spinoza. He said you've been betting with him for years."
"Gambling is quite legal in Vegas," said Parker. "And Nicky knows I'm good for it."
"You claimed you never met Fontane," said Lilly.
"I didn't. The first I knew his name was when you mentioned it to me."
"But neither my partner nor I mentioned his first name. You're the one who mentioned his first name was Casper."
"I'm sure you mentioned it to me."
"No, I didn't," said Lilly. "Neither did Detective Valens. So if you didn't know Fontane, how did you know his first name was Casper?"
RJ didn't say anything. He just looked at Lilly as if trying to think of an answer. Lilly took a photograph out and slid it over to RJ. The photo showed Robert Wise and Daryl Hall and John Oates standing together. In the background of the photo were RJ and Fontane apparently talking.
"You did meet Fontane," said Lilly. "This photo shows you and him talking when Hall and Oates were there."
"Well, perhaps I did meet him briefly," said Parker. "I really don't remember."
"I think you do," said Nick. "I think you lied to Detectives Rush and Valens so they wouldn't be able to put the two of you together."
"You can't prove that."
"Maybe not. But we can prove that you and Fontane knew each other. That photo proves it."
"So? I'm sure he knew lots of people."
"Like Garland Probst?" Lilly questioned.
"I don't know. Maybe. I only knew Mr. Probst in passing. He was the aid to a good friend of my parents."
"Oh, we think you knew him better than in just passing," said Lilly. She slid another picture over to RJ. This one showed an older woman lying on a floor in a house robe covered in blood. "This is a photo taken by a police photographer. That's your mother on the night she died."
"I know," said Parker, sliding the picture away. "I'm sure you understand that's not exactly a picture I care to look at."
"There's something interesting about this photo," said Lilly. "Your mother is wearing makeup. You said she was ill and wasn't going to the mayor's party. So why is she wearing makeup in this photo?"
"She had started to get ready and then decided not to go. I suppose she all ready had her makeup on when she started feeling worse."
"Except you told the police you left the house at about 5:15 to get to the mayors party in time," said Nick. "Your parents were killed until 8:30. You mean to tell us that in more than 3 hours your mother didn't remove her makeup?"
"I'm sure I don't know. All I can tell you is she decided not to go to the party. I wasn't even there so I can't tell you what she did after I left."
"Unless she couldn't remove her makeup," said Lilly. "Because she was all ready dead."
"That's crazy. My parents were perfectly fine when I left. My mother wasn't feeling well but she would have gotten over that. This Fontane broke in and murdered them during a burglary. Your own investigators said so."
"That's what they thought at the time," said Lilly, sliding another picture over to RJ. "But I think this tells another story. Look in the corner of that picture. See that little square next to the table? You know what that is? It's an electric blanket."
"That doesn't prove anything. It was the middle of April. It was still cool at night. My mother probably just got it to ward off the chill instead of turning the thermostat up."
"Except the blanket isn't on a chair or the sofa where you'd expect it to be," said Lilly. "Instead it's folded all nice and neat on the floor next to where your parent's bodies were found. We checked with the coroner. He tells us if you put an electric blanket on a dead body and turn it on it will keep the body warm for several hours. Enough to throw off the time of death."
"You know what I think?" said Nick. "I think you murdered your parents for the inheritance. And you paid Fontane to break into your house while you were at the mayor's party to give yourself an alibi. Fontane was probably supposed to take their jewelry, watches, your dad's wallet, and any other cash or jewelry he could find in the rooms he ransacked. Must have really ticked you off when he took that painting. That probably wasn't part of the plan."
"You're crazy," said RJ. "No one would believe any of this. And you can't prove anything."
"We can prove you paid Probst," said Lilly, sliding the bank statements Stillman had brought in over to RJ. "According to your bank records, after your father's will was probated, you withdrew $250,000.00 from your bank account. And a couple of weeks later Probst deposited that amount into his bank account."
"That money was for gambling debts," RJ insisted.
"Try again," said Nick. "We had a nice long chat with Spinoza. He says you never owed him anything near that amount five years ago."
"It was to another bookie," RJ insisted.
"Who?" Lilly asked.
"I don't remember his name. It was 5 years ago."
"You give a guy $250,000.00 and you don't remember his name?" Nick questioned. "I'd sure remember who I gave that much money to."
"Well, I don't. Just some bookie in Vegas. That's all I know."
"Well," said Nick, pulling a wallet out of his pocket and laying it on the table, "I guess with the type of money you're used to handling two hundred and fifty grand is probably a small amount."
RJ glanced at the wallet and then suddenly took a harder look at it. The initials RJP2 were engraved on the outside of the wallet. A look of recognition crossed his face.
"I see you recognize your father's wallet," said Lilly. "We almost didn't find it. But Mr. Wise at the university remembered that just after your parents were murdered Fontane repaired a whole in a wall in a classroom there. Claimed he had accidentally broken it while working in the room. We found that wallet inside the wall where he hid it." She pulled out a small plastic bag containing some jewelry and laid it on the table. "This was also in it. It's all the jewelry that you identified as being stolen during the robbery."
"That doesn't prove anything other than Fontane was the murderer," RJ insisted. "It doesn't prove I had anything to do with it."
"Interesting thing when we checked the wallet," said Nick. "We found your prints on it."
"That's not so unusual. I've handled it dozens of times. Of course my prints are on it."
"Except our fingerprint expert says that yours were on top of all the other prints on it. Which means you were the last one to handle it. Another interesting thing. Fontane's prints weren't on the wallet. But they were on the bag we found the items in. Along with yours."
RJ just looked at Lilly and Nick. He was nervous and they could both tell it.
"We can also prove that the alarm was sabotaged from someone within the house," Nick continued. "If the alarm had been cut by a burglar trying to get inside the alarm company would have been notified. The only way the alarm could have cut the way it was would be if someone turned off the alarm first and then cut the cables. Then turned it back on trying to make it look like someone had broken into the house."
"Plus there was no mud in the house that night until the policemen who arrived tracked some in," said Lilly. "That means whoever killed your parents was all ready in the house before the alarm was disabled. And according to your own statement to the police that night, only your parents and you had been in the house all day. This was a murder-for-hire. That's capital murder. This makes you eligible for the death sentence."
"It wasn't my idea," RJ suddenly blurted out. "Probst put me up to it. He planned the whole thing."
"Garland Probst was in on it with you?" Nick asked.
"I told you, he planned the whole thing. I met him at one of the college fundraisers and we got to talking. I was complaining about how my old man kept me on a short financial leash. Always insisting that whatever money he gave me I had to earn. Probst told me there was a way I could have all the money I ever wanted. He introduced me to Fontane."
"Did he tell you why he wanted your parents dead?" Lilly asked.
"Not then. I found out later he'd been skimming from the mayor's election fund. When I asked him about it he said the only way to protect himself was if my parents weren't around. So they couldn't tell the mayor they'd made a donation. He said without them there was no proof any money had been donated."
"So you just got lucky," said Nick. "Your mother got sick the day of the mayor's party which provided you with the perfect opportunity to murder your parents."
"No," said RJ. "My mother was allergic to codeine. It made her sick to her stomach. I just put some in her morning coffee. Not enough to send her to the hospital, just enough to make her feel sick enough not to go to the party. The I went to the party anyway so I'd have an alibi. It was Probst's doing. Like I said, he planned the whole thing."
"Write it all down," said Nick sliding a pad and pen to RJ. "And make sure you include Probst's involvement."
"Scotty," said Stillman watching from the observation room, "get Will and go pick up Probst. I'll call the DA and the commissioner."
"On our way, boss," said Scotty who then turned and left the room.
