Chapter Eleven

The Questioning of Cortney Richardson

"This is fucking crazy! My husband is not a murderer!"

Those were the first words that came out of Cortney Richardson's mouth as she rushed inside the investigation room.

"I'd ask you to watch your mouth, Mrs. Richardson. There is a child in this room," Detective Wu warned, pointing to Denise.

Mrs. Richardson bit her tongue and sat down across from Detective Wu. She glared at me and Detective Wu.

Before Detective Wu could talk, Mrs. Richardson spoke. "What makes you think my husband killed the little Tanner girl?" she asked sharply.

"Well, first off, we have a witness here. Denise has already confirmed that your husband is the one who snatched her and later killed her. Her description matches your husband."

"And you're gonna believe her? She's just a little girl," Mrs. Richardson retorted.

I looked at her, in shock and unbelief. This woman has blind faith in her husband! I thought, in disgust. Her husband had killed my baby, we had a witness and yet she refused to believe the obvious.

"Well, if your husband didn't kill my daughter, Mrs. Richardson, then who did?" I asked her angrily.

"I don't know, Mr. Tanner. Anybody could've taken Michelle, but not Thomas. He's a descent, loving man. He would never do such a thing."

"And how do you know that? Would a decent, loving man, as you claim your husband to be, kidnap, rape and murder my little girl? I don't know what your idea of decent and loving is, but your husband clearly isn't all he seems."

Mrs. Richardson opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. The two of us just glared at each other.

It was quiet for a minute.

"Can I go now?" Denise asked.

We all looked at her. I had forgotten she was there.

Mrs. Frazier took her hand. "Of course, honey. Will you be needing Denise anymore?" she asked.

Detective Wu shook her head. "Not for awhile. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Frazier, for giving us permission to talk to your daughter. And thank you, Denise."

Denise nodded. "You're welcome," she replied. "'Bye, Ms. Wu. 'Bye, Mr. Tanner," she said, waving.

I was a little surprised to notice Denise had not said anything to Mrs. Richardson. Perhaps it was because she was hurt Mrs. Richardson had pretty much called Denise a liar.

I waved to her as she quietly shut the door.

Mrs. Richardson turned to Detective Wu. "This is outrageous! I tell you, my husband did not kill anybody!"

Detective Wu glared at Mrs. Richardson. "Mrs. Richardson, until we receive evidence different from the evidence Denise gave us, we will see otherwise. And"

"And you believe her? She's only a little"

I rose up from her seat and put my hand up to stop Mrs. Richardson from talking. "Excuse me, Mrs. Richardson," I snapped. "But didn't you see the girls walking to school that morning of Michelle's kidnapping?"

Mrs. Richardson put her hands on her hips, glaring at me angrily. "Yes. So what?"

"And was your husband home that morning?"

"No, he wasn't. What's that's gotta do with anything?"

"Where was he?" I asked sharply.

"He told me he was going to work."

"Bullshit. He wasn't working. He kidnapped my daughter!" I said, almost yelling.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't think Denise would lie, especially at a time like this."

Detective Wu stepped in coolly. "So, Mrs. Richardson, you just said your husband left for work. Is that right?"

"Yes, it is."

"And what time did he leave?"

"He usually leaves home at 7:45 in the morning."

Detective Wu turned to me.

"Mr. Tanner, what time did Michelle leave for school that morning?"

"I wasn't really checking the clock, but she usually leaves for school at around 8 o'clock to 8:15. I remember checking my watch briefly and it read 8:20. Michelle left home at 8:20 that morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Detective Wu nodded thoughtfully.

"Now, back to you, Mrs. Richardson," she replied. "What time did your husband come home the day of Michelle's kidnapping?"

"Thomas usually comes home at around 1:00 in the morning. That job has him working at all hours of the night, but that day, he came home a little early. He came home at around 11:45pm that day."

"Was there anything suspicious about him? Did he look like he done anything suspicious?"

Mrs. Richardson shook her head. "No. Not at all," she answered.

"Speaking of his job, Mrs. Richardson. What does your husband do, exactly?"

"My husband works for a printing press. He's in charge of checking all the stock that comes in."

"Such as what? Newspapers? Books? Magazines?"

"Books. Just books."

"What's the name of the printing place, Mrs. Richardson?"

"The name of the place is called Bookworm Press. It's a fairly new place here in San Francisco. We moved here from Kenner, Louisiana because the new building had more electronics and technology than the other place. Bookworm chose the people they wanted to work for them and my husband was chosen."

Detective Wu took notes furiously. "So that explains why you and your family moved here. Now, tell me about your children. Your children were close with Denise and Michelle, were they not?"

"Yes, they were. I remember Michelle and Denise coming over to hang out with my kids almost everyday. And Michelle would invite them over to her house. I really thought Michelle and Denise were great because they were the first ones to embrace Lacey Lynn and Jason into the neighborhood and make friends with them. They didn't have many friends in Kenner. The twins were shy people and kept to themselves. But they opened up more and more when they started making friends with the girls."

Detective Wu scribbled more notes into her little notepad. "Okay. Denise told us that Lacey Lynn had opened up to Michelle and mentioned that Mr. Richardson – your husband – was never around. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's true. Thomas works from early in the morning until about 2am. He works hard at what he does."

"Hmmm…Mrs. Richardson, has it ever occurred to you what exactly your husband does when he's out of the house?"

Cortney Richardson shook her head. "No. I trust my husband 100. I even filed a police report for him when he went missing. He's been gone for three weeks now!"

"You don't think he may be out cheating on you or "

"Thomas would never do that to me!"

"Yeah? How do you know, Mrs. Richardson. Give me one reason why you think your husband is such a saint?"

Mrs. Richardson glared at Detective Wu with contempt. "And who are you to ask me such a question like that? How dare you?"

"It's a simple question, Mrs. Richardson. You don't know what your husband does when he leaves because you hardly see him. No one has seen him, as a matter of fact. Now, why don't you learn the obvious: Your husband has been seen very, very rarely by anyone, Mr. Tanner's daughter has just been murdered and now he's been missing for three weeks since her death. To me, it all adds up. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that your husband had something to do with it."

"But"

"Your problem is, Mrs. Richardson, is that you have blind faith in your husband. You believe everything he says and does. You think he's such a saint and a great father, but you're wrong. Denise said so herself that your children were not happy with him. Now, you listen to me. We are going to find your husband. And when we do, we will question him. And if he somehow has us convinced that he has killed Michelle Tanner, he will suffer the consequences for his actions."

Mrs. Richardson bit her lip, as if to stop herself from crying. "I-I ju-just don't wanna lose him. If he did kill that baby, then I believe you should do whatever is necessary. But I don't wanna lose my husband. He's all that I got," she said in a quivery voice.

"We're sorry, Mrs. Richardson, but it has to be done. And your husband is not all you've got. You've still got your children. Imagine how hard this is for them. They've lost their friend. Their father has disappeared. And now he might be a suspect in their friend's murder? Mrs. Richardson, you've got to learn to see reason and use common sense. From everything we've heard today, it's a safe bet that your husband is the main suspect in that little girl's death. I've even taken notes of the events. See?"

Detective Wu slid the notebook across the table to Mrs. Richardson. I looked over her shoulder to take a peek. Here's what it read:

On October 5, 1995, on a Thursday morning in San Francisco, California, Michelle Tanner, age 8, was kidnapped on her way to school. The only witness to her kidnapping was Michelle's best friend, Denise Frazier, also 8. A month later, Michelle's body was found nude in a grassy knoll in a park in Oakland, California by two walkers-by.

An autopsy was conducted later to conclude that Michelle had been strangled. There were traces of saliva, hair and semen on her body to comprehend Michelle had also been raped as well as murdered.

On December 4, Cortney Richardson visited the Tanner household and other neighborhoods to report her husband, Thomas Allen Richardson, missing. A police report was found by the San Francisco Police Department two days before Mrs. Richardson visited the house to look for her husband. Mrs. Richardson presented Daniel Tanner, the father of the victim, a photo of Mr. Richardson. According to Mr. Tanner, his friend, Joseph Gladstone, remembered Mr. Richardson from the older description Miss Frazier had given to police about the kidnapper the day Miss Tanner was kidnapped. Miss Frazier has confirmed that Mr. Richardson is the man in the photo responsible for Miss Tanner's kidnapping, rape and murder.

Cortney and Thomas Allen Richardson have two children, fraternal twins, one male and one female. Jason Trevor Richardson and Lacey Lynn Amanda Richardson, both 9 years old. The Richardsons moved from Kenner, Louisiana to San Francisco, roughly around March of 1995. Mr. Richardson's previous job was for BookWorm Press, a publishing company located in Kenner. The company re-located due to change in technology and re-located in San Francisco, which is why the Richardsons moved. Since then, Mr. Richardson has not been seen or located by any person in the neighborhood, before and after Miss Tanner's death, although Michelle and Denise were friends with the twins and friendly with their mother. Mr. Richardson has not been found as of yet since his three-week disappearance.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked after I'd finished reading the grisly report.

"This will become a document of the case as of now. When the events expand, I will add more. But in the meantime, this is all we've got."

I sighed. If this man did kill my daughter, then how would we find him? We had no idea where he was and he could be anywhere.

Mrs. Richardson looked up at us. "Detective, Mr. Tanner? I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with my husband's disappearance. As much as I love him, I knew he was doing more than just work. He was very secretive about everything, you know? I guess you're right, Detective. I do have blind faith in him. But he is a sweetheart and a great provider. I know he loves us, but he just doesn't show it enough. But I swear I didn't tell him to leave or hideout or anything. He just did it on his own, without telling anyone anything…I'm sorry about your baby, Mr. Tanner. Michelle was such a sweet little girl. If my husband did kill her, then I'll never forgive him because killing anyone is wrong, but a child is a million times worse. And I'm sorry for my actions. I apologize for the way I've acted. I'm sorry."

I nodded.

"But if you all think my husband is the one who caused all this, then by all means, you should look for him. But if he isn't, then…I hope you do find the bastard who killed your daughter, Mr. Tanner. But I hope my husband didn't do this."

She gave me a sad smile. "Detective, is it okay if I leave?" she asked.

"Yes, but I need the info about BookWorm Press. Just the address and phone number of the place. Both here in San Francisco and Kenner, if that's no problem."

Mrs. Richardson sighed. "Alright," she replied.

She took out her miniature phone book out of her purse and began looking up the information for Detective Wu. After she was done, she wrote it down quickly on a scrap of paper and gave it to her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Richardson. Have a good day, will you? Rest and spend some time with your children. They really need you."

Mrs. Richardson nodded and silently left the room.

After she'd gone, I turned to Detective Wu.

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked.

"The addresses to both places are just what we need, but we need more information, Mr. Tanner. We're going to pay BookWorm Press a little visit."