Episode 9: harcèlement de la célèbre
Ella May Parker was used to getting notes that she didn't feel entirely comfortable reading but the one she had received this morning had not pushed the envelope but completely busted it apart and left her nerves fried more than a funnel cake at a county fair.
"Ella it's time for the morning show."
"I know Mary." She replied. "This interview has been set for months now."
"They will ask you about the rumors."
"Again Mary I know." Ella told her as she checked her reflection one more time before leaving for her interview on the Today Show with Michele Uley.
A few hours later Ella was in her dressing room getting ready for her next concert. She was happy that she didn't have to talk to the annoying entertainment news reporters anymore. She had started to fix her hair when someone knocked on her door.
"Come in." She called.
The door was opened and a set of hands set a box on the end table by the door. They started to close the door.
"Wait who's that from?" Ella asked.
"Your manager miss."
"Oh thanks you can go now." Ella said.
The door snapped closed. Ella wondered why her manager would send her a box. Her manager normally did things face to face said relying on snail and electronic forms of mail as communication as impersonal and not for her even if some of the things she said were brash and insensitive or at least seemed that way. Email and snail mail were used only when her manager couldn't get to her quicker, She walked over to it and cut the box open and the next thing she knew was nothing but darkness.
Mac had been sitting down to dinner with Christine and had almost finished the meal when he got the text about a bomb going off at the Waynemore Theater.
Bomb at Waynemore Theater. Ella May Parker injured. Possibly more bombs.
"Duty calls." Christine said. "I'll keep desert warm for you."
"I'm sorry." Mac said. "And get ice cream that way you won't have to worry about an oven."
Christine smiled kissed his cheek and mumbled a quick minutes later Mac was pulling up to the scene. It was crazy. Cop cars, firetrucks and the people that worked in them were all along the street in front the theater. He found flack at what was clearly the command post of the whole thing.
"Flack there you are what do we have?" Mac asked.
"A bomb went off just before eight in Ella May's dressing room. She survived by the grace of god. There where a few others hurt but no one has been found dead or gravely injured." Flack said.
"Are we clear to go in?" Mac asked.
"Waiting for the firefighters to finish their sweep." Flack said. "They are not sure about the safety of the stricter either."
"Well something happened." Mac said. "Someone is coming over."
Mac was right a man covered in soot and wearing a fire department uniform. The man stopped and told Flack and Mac that it was clear for them to go in. Mac grabbed his kit from the truck he drove over and headed inside.
"Hey boss where do you want me." Danny said running up with his own kit.
"We are going inside to look for bomb parts starting at the point of explosion and working our way out. Collect anything and every thing that looks like it doesn't belong and that could help us in the investigation." Mac said.
"Jo is going to the hospital to get evidence from Ella and the others that went there." Flack said. "And she said Adam was on his way."
"Danny where is Lindsay?" Mac asked.
"She and Lucy both have the flu." Danny said. "I would have taken care of them but Lindsey sent me into work saying that one of us had to be healthy."
All three men stopped when they stepped inside the old theater. The damage looked worse than it was. Ella May's dressing room was destroyed and almost everything had been pushed out into the hallways.
"We're lucky the blast wasn't bigger."
"Ella wouldn't be alive if it had." Mac said. "She's lucky to be alive as it is."
"I think your right." Danny said holding up a one inch section of a two inch wide pipe. "A pretty big pipe bomb by the looks of it."
"Look for the other pieces and I'll look for the detonation device." Mac said.
Over the next couple of hours they found all the parts to the bomb. Except for the detonator Mac was looking for. They packed up all the evidence and hauled it back to the lab to be examined and tested.
"Excuse me ma'am you can't go back there."
"Jo Danville NYPD, I'm here to collect evidence from Ella May Parker."
"She's not awake at the moment."
"That's okay I only need everything that came in with her and make a note that if anything is missing who ever took it can be arrested for obstruction of justice." Jo replied.
"Excuse me miss are you from the crime lab?" A man in white scrubs asked.
"Yes." Jo replied.
"The girls things were put aside after they were removed. You can take them now. Ella is still in surgery right now and will be asleep for a while afterward. so she can't speak with you right now."
"I understand that but I also need any thing that is removed from her body it could be part of the bomb."
"Hey Jo you're back." Hawks said.
"Yes I am and I come bearing evidence." Jo said. "I figured you can take the phone and camera that I finally got from Ella's hotel room while I go over this note book."
"Mac I just got the results back on the substance found on Ella Parker's shirt and it was the same stuff found on the bomb parts Danny tested yesterday. Adam wants you in the AV lab."
"Did he say why?"
"He might have but he got to talking so fast that I only caught a few words."
"I'll see what he wanted. I want you to go and look at the pieces of the bomb again. Print them by hand if you have to." Mac replied.
"Got it boss."
Danny did as Mac asked and went over the bomb parts again. They still hadn't discovered what set the bomb off.
"You're working with the bomb again and I think this might help." Hawks was standing in the doorway holding a clump of plastic. "I think it's a timer."
"I think you are right but there is no way we can get it to look brand new." Danny said. "I'll print it and see where that gets us."
Danny set the clump of plastic on a small platform and a tray of supper glue to be heated underneath it. Ten minutes later a partial print appeared. Danny then took the print and ran it through AFIS and waited for a hit.
Beep
A picture of an older man popped up on the screen.
"That's Ella's old manager."
"I got to get this to Mac."
Twenty minutes later they pulled up to the guys last known address. It was a run down apartment on the other side of town from the crime lab.
"The place is empty." Flack said. "Tea is still hot, he couldn't haven't gotten far. Go check the roof and fire escape."
"I don't think he got that far." Mac said.
He was looking at the closet doors. They were closed but bowed off the track. Quietly but quickly Mac pulled the door open and inside was a man hanging from a belt. Mac felt for a pulse but found nothing.
"Call Sid." Mac said. "EMS won't help him now."
"Is he the guy we are looking for?" Flack asked.
"I Don't think so but I do think he made the bomb."
"So the former manager hired this guy to make the bomb and then set it to go off then the guy commits suicide."
"That's the way it looks."
"Sid what can you tell me about the suicide victim?"
"It wasn't suicide. He was drugged heavily with a variety of sleeping aides. Including a few over the counter ones."
"So cause of death was?"
"I haven't gotten that far but I suspect strangulation." Sid said. There are signs of a hematoma on his neck but that could be from a previous suicide attempt."
"I thought you said he didn't kill himself." Mac said.
"I did say that but this man has obviously tired to kill himself before the scars on his wrist are proof of that."
"Mac! Flack just called he has the former manager in interrogation."
When Mac got to the station Flack was already talking with the suspect when he got there so he slipped into the observation room.
"Listen man I didn't kill the guy in my apartment and I didn't kill Ella. I have been in Italy for the last six months." He replied. "I rented my apartment out before I left to a Mark Wayne but I never met the guy and I've never been arrested so I don't have a clue how my prints got in the system."
"We'll be taking them now to compare." Flack said as he motioned for Mac to come in.
"Well his prints didn't match the ones we have on file and Ella did say that he was her manager but they parted ways when the partnership didn't feel right." Adam said. "But Ella did say he was invited to the performance Friday night."
"Mac look at that guy he looks just like the manager." Flack said. "Some people do believe we have doppelgänger so out there."
"Excuse me are you Mark Wayne?" Mac asked not bothering to reply to Flacks statement.
"Yes I am." The man replied. "Is there something I can help you with officers?"
"Your prints were found on a bomb set to kill a young woman. Can you explain that?"
"Maybe your tech messed up."
"He didn't I double checked his results myself. The only problem we have is the name that comes up with the prints isn't the one you are using now."
The mans had twitched before he turned on his heel didn't and booked it down the alleyway. Flack ran after him and tackled him to the ground. He put the cuffs on the guy while reading the guy his rights.
"I hate it when they make me run." Flack said walking he suspect back to the cruiser.
Ella May Parker was sitting up in her bed when Flack and Mac appeared in the door way.
"You can come in." She said. "Are you the ones that found the guy that tried to hurt me."
"Yes." Mac replied.
"Did you find out why?" Ella asked.
"He was angry the you didn't see him but saw his twin brother instead. His twin brother, your former manager had no idea he was adopted nor that he had a twin brother." Mac said. "You former manager has asked us to tell you he's sorry that his brother did that to you."
"He had no control over that and the only reason I fired him as my manger is because my feelings were changing and I didn't think they were okay to have in a business relation ship. I'm not Celine Dion I couldn't make that work."
"You should tell him before it's too late. He cares for you maybe just as much as you care for him."