13
Greg Montague popped the flashdrive from the property management company into the side of the monitor in Dunkirk's office and the pair watched the footage of a small woman with long dark hair wearing a blue baseball cap, blue jeans, and a gray t-shirt walking up to Tamara Placer's door. She rang the bell and waited, rang it again, and after a slight delay, produced a key and opened the door. The timestamp showed 6:24PM. The young agent reached for the mouse and advanced the footage to 12:24AM when Placer had entered the apartment. At 12.26AM the small woman in jeans emerged and a pistol was just visible in the back of her waistband. Other cameras on the property showed her emerging from the front doors of the building and going south on Colfax.
"Wow. Where did the key come from? And she didn't even try to hide her prints. She waited there for Placer."
"Most likely in the laundry alcove where we found those fingerprints. We were able to get a plate number from the cameras outside the complex. Her name is Rhonda Green, widow of Placer's former cameraman Ellis Green who tried to kill Houston a couple of years back on New Year's Eve. He was shot and killed by Houston. I'm about to go pick her up for questioning."
"Good work. Let me know when you get her here. I'd like to sit in on it."
"Yes sir." The young agent left the office and tagged Ron Brevenski to go with him.
They parked in front of the apartments on Marathon in the Silver Lake area and rode up to the second floor and knocked on the door of 217. Greg instantly recognized the small woman from the video in Placer's apartment building. "Ms. Green? Agent Greg Montague, Bureau of Investigation. We need you to come with us." Both men fully expected her to put up a fight but she merely shrugged, picked up her purse from a small table near the door and after locking the door, quietly went with them as if she had been expecting them.
When they arrived at the bureau offices, the woman was escorted into an interrogation room and the group was joined by Dunkirk. After Brevenski advised her of her rights, Montague played the footage from the apartment complex on a monitor that was in the corner. When it was done, he sat down across from her. "Ms. Green, can you explain to us why you killed Tamara Placer?"
"She took my husband away from me - in more ways than one."
Dunkirk leaned forward. "Could you elaborate on that, please?"
"First she had him out at all hours following Houston, then she seduced him. That's why Ellis went after him on New Year's Eve. He told me earlier that day that we were done." For the first time Rhonda showed some emotion and spoke with a shaky voice. "It was our anniversary."
Montague and Dunkirk exchanged a surprised look, both thinking about the journal that Placer had left behind on the computer. She was obviously infatuated by the private investigator: why would she seduce Green? Quietly the younger agent asked, "Where did you get the key to her apartment?"
"It was in Ellis' belongings after he died. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what it went to - and then it dawned on me to try her place."
"So can you tell us exactly how it happened?"
"I went to her apartment, waited for her, and shot her down like the bitch that she was."
"Where is the gun?"
"I threw it away in the dumpster behind the Burger Nerd on Ventura close to her place."
Dunkirk sat quietly for a minute. "Ma'am, do you realize that you not only killed someone, but you put two other lives in jeopardy by your actions? Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Houston were both suspects before we found that video of you."
"Why in the hell should I care about them? Whitaker is a low-down schemer and Houston killed my husband. I used the scanner that belonged to Ellis to monitor when he would be called in to a scene and tipped her off every chance I got. Every time I heard the cops on the radio say, "They called in the cowboy" and practically celebrating, I tipped her off. It was great seeing her torment him. What part of that do you not get?"
Rhonda refused to comment further after that and was formally charged with the death of the reporter. When she was led out of the building in handcuffs, the crowd of reporters began shouting out questions to her as well as Montague and Brevenski as they escorted her to the waiting car. She never uttered another word.
Matt went to Joshua Fortner's home and found the young man sitting on his front porch - blind drunk and crying. After introducing himself, he was amazed when his suspect held out his wrists.
"I did it. I killed her."
"Sir, I need to read you something." As Matt read the Miranda rights to the young man, he couldn't help but be both surprised and saddened. "Do you understand what I just said?"
"Yeah." Tears and snot ran down Joshua's face. "I was going to turn myself in to you guys. I was just too drunk."
"Maybe you better not say anything else right now." After placing Fortner in cuffs, Matt called in for a patrol car and waited uncomfortably as the young man threw up and continued to cry and talk.
"He was too old for her, man. I just couldn't believe that she would shack up with somebody like that. Before I shipped out on my last tour I told her that I was going to marry her when I got back. And she just…" The next part was gibberish. "I just knew that Uber driver would tell the cops about picking me up. So I was going to save you the trouble. But I'm so drunk they won't pick me up." He broke down once more, then threw up again. All the detective could do was to keep him from falling over as he vomited.
After having Fortner checked into the hospital wing of the jail for possible alcohol poisoning and filling out the report, Houston was heading out to his truck when a voice called out to him. He turned to see Greg Montague coming outside the building just a few steps behind him.
"Mr. Houston, I'm glad to catch up to you."
"Oh?"
The younger man motioned over his shoulder toward the jail. "I just booked Rhonda Green on the murder of Tamara Placer."
"Rhonda Green?" His mind flashed back to the New Year's Eve attempt on his life at the office and he remembered being hit in the thigh by pellets from the shotgun that Ellis Green was wielding. He also remembered the man grabbing his ankle and tripping him into the hot tub where he was nearly knocked unconscious when he hit his head. Green had jumped in on top of him and Matt had pulled the trigger of his Glock at point blank range, hitting the man in the center of his chest before passing out. If not for the quick action of Michael Hoyt, the PI would have drowned. "Ellis Green's wife?"
"Yeah."
"Wow."
"Just wanted to let you know."
"I appreciate it." He held out his hand and the two shook.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Just booked in a guy on the double murder up at the Backbone Trailhead early this morning."
"Unbelievable. Well, guess I better get going. More paperwork. See you around."
"Thanks."
Driving toward the ranch, Houston thought back over the last couple of days. People watching crime shows on TV really had no idea how stupid most criminals were. If not for that, there was no way he would have been able to solve the two cases in such a short time. It was depressing as hell.
Three days later…
Houston and Ben loaded the four horses in the trailers and pulled up to the house to load the rest of the passengers.
"Hey now, y'all settle down back there." Matt shut the back door on the pickup and slid behind the wheel. "Remind me why I thought this was a good idea?" He looked over to CJ who was doing her best to stifle a giggle.
"It seems like you said something about a family road trip. And then there was the line about the kids seeing the country. And of course you said you wanted to spend more time with them. And-"
"No need to be a smarta-"
"Language, hon." She burst into laughter.
Grumbling, he shook his head and then began to smile as they started down the driveway.
From the back a little voice called out, "Daddy, I gotta go to the bathroom!"
"This is going to be a looooong trip." He backed up as CJ continued to laugh.