Chapter 38
The Case of One Man's Treasure
Part 2
The following morning I got up early and made my darling daughter breakfast. That is not all unusual as I do make an effort to make her breakfast from time to time. This morning I made a point of getting up early, even setting my alarm clock to make sure.
It was Alexis' first day of her internship at the 12th precinct and I wanted her to go to work on a full stomach. With breakfast over Alexis went upstairs to get dressed and be ready for work. I cleaned up the breakfast things and then set about making her lunch. Again, it was not unusual for to make her lunch, though these days it was becoming a little rare. Alexis is more than capable of making her own lunch. As this was her first day at work, I thought it would be a nice gesture from her old man to make her lunch.
I had made Alexis a nice turkey wrap sandwich and popped it into the large brown paper lunch bag that was sitting on the kitchen counter. Then I turned and finished up making her a nice fruit salad snack. I heard my darling daughter come down the stairs.
"Good news." I called out to her. "I'm finally embracing the lecture you gave me on the importance of organic food."
Alexis had once sat me down not all that long ago and gave me a lecture about the importance of organic food compared to the stuff I usually liked eating. While I have not totally embraced it, I have embraced it enough when it comes to feeding my daughter.
"You made my lunch?" Alexis said sounding a little surprised.
"You think I'm going to let you risk your life on the vending machines and stale doughnuts of the break..."
I had picked up the container with the fruit salad and was about to place it in the lunch bag when I saw my daughter standing there. The sight of her had my voice trailing off. Mother was standing a little off to the side a big smile on her face.
"Wow." I managed to get out as I stared at my darling daughter.
"What?"
"You look all grown up."
"Really?"
"Really."
She really did look all grown up. She was dressed in a purple shirt with a black leather jacket and dark trousers. In all honesty she looked amazing. For a moment I was choked up at the sight.
"Well, Grams said presentation is vital." Alexis said a little nervously as she glanced at her beaming grandmother. Mother having the spotlight turned on her could not help herself, she smiled a little more and waved her hands in her granddaughter's direction. I have to admit Mother had outdone herself when it came to dressing Alexis for her first day at work.
"I forgot my phone." Alexis announced. She turned and raced back up the stairs.
Mother made her way to the kitchen counter. I smiled brightly as I put in the fruit salad into Alexis' lunch bag.
"That ever happen to you with me?" I asked. "One day you look, and you see your boy is all grown up?"
"I'm still waiting for that moment, actually." Mother replied in her best deadpan voice.
"I set you up for that, didn't I?" I said smiling.
Mother smiled brightly and nodded her head.
A few minutes later Alexis came down the stairs ready to go. I passed to her the lunch bag and then disappeared into my office to get my things. A moment or two later I emerged from the office. We both kissed Mother goodbye and headed out.
XXX
For the next part of the story I have to thank my darling daughter for her assistance.
Beckett was waiting for us at her desk. She greeted Alexis with a warm and welcoming smile and asked if Alexis was ready to go on the orientation tour. Alexis said that she was. The two women got up and I also rose to my feet ready to follow them. Alexis had me returning back to my seat when she said that she would be fine and did not need my supervision. Not even my best pout could convince them to change their minds.
Beckett took Alexis on a tour of the precinct and they ended up in the property room. It was a room whose shelves were crammed with boxes full of items that had not been claimed.
"Okay, this is the property room." Beckett announced. "It's where we keep all the items that we find at a crime scene that aren't classified as evidence."
"Sort of like a lost and found?" Alexis suggested.
"Um, sort of." Beckett agreed.
"Why don't the victims' families claim this stuff?" Alexis asked looking about her taking in the shelves.
"Well, loved ones are aware of the big ticket items, like ring and watches." Beckett said. "But things like sunglasses and lighters, those usually go unclaimed."
"Are these case numbers?" Alexis asked. She had moved to a near by shelf and was pointing a number written on the side of a box.
"Exactly, so the idea is to get rid of this stuff and stick it into storage." Beckett informed her. "But before we do that, we have to catalogue it, just in case someone comes in with a claim."
"Oaky, so you need a description of every item along with the corresponding case number downloaded into the database." Alexis said with a nod of her head.
"Mm-hmm. And I know that this isn't exactly what you were thinking when you asked to volunteer, but we're low on manpower and this would very helpful."
Alexis smiled as she she removed her jacket.
"Don't worry about it." Alexis assured her. "This place is going to be so organised, you wont even recognise it."
"I bet I wont." Beckett smiled and started to head for the door.
"Detective Beckett?" Alexis called out. Beckett paused and looked back at Alexis.
"I know my Dad can sometimes be a handful." Alexis said hesitantly. "And by sometimes, I mean all the time. But I want you to know you don't have to worry about me. I'm all about getting the job done."
Beckett gave Alexis a smile and a nod of her head before she headed out leaving Alexis to get down to it.
While Beckett was giving Alexis the orientation tour of the precinct, I was standing in the hallway near the elevator waiting for Beckett to return. I was eager to find out how it had gone with Alexis.
I must have been staring off into space while I was waiting because I was shaken from my day dreams by the sound of Captain Montgomery's voice greeting Beckett. I straightened up.
"Well?" I asked Beckett hopefully, as I joined Beckett and the Captain as they made their way along the hallway.
"Alexis?" Beckett said.
I nodded my head.
"She's fine."Beckett assured me.
I felt a little relieved to hear that Alexis was okay. I started smiling as I looked over to Captain Montgomery.
"You know, her first day at pre school, I hid outside in the bushes all day just to make sure she was all right." I told the captain.
"First time my son went to summer camp, I followed the bus all the way to the Adirondacks." Captain Montgomery said and then laughed. I too started laughing. It was one of those Dad moments that we shared. I understood him completely. I could see myself following a bus containing my daughter all the way to summer camp. No, wait! I did do that!
"You two are both either very sweet or very creepy." Beckett intoned as she brushed past us and headed for her desk. Captain Montgomery stopped laughing and went on his way. I too stopped laughing and followed Beckett top her desk a little surprised by what she had said. She gave me a small but gentle smile to show that she was only joking as we sat down in our chairs.
Ryan and Esposito came walking into the bullpen and approached Beckett's desk. Ryan was carrying a large box which he placed on Beckett's desk.
"Super let us into Sam Parker's apartment." Esposito informed us.
"Jake Holland's apartment." Ryan replied.
Esposito looked at his partner.
"Same guy, bro."
"Yeah, just trying to keep it straight for everybody."
Esposito glared at Ryan before he turned to look at Beckett and me. From out of the corner of my eye I could see Beckett looking down at her desk as a way of trying to keep a straight face at the Laurel and Hardy routine from the boys.
"Anyway," Esposito continued. "There was no signs of struggle, and Sam's bag was..."
"Jake's bag." Ryan interjected.
Ryan removed a large bag from the box he had been carrying and set it on the desk.
"Was still sitting by the front door from when he came home from visiting his family in Connecticut." Esposito finished.
"Which explains why we found the Sam Parker wallet on him when he was killed, as opposed to the one we found in his dresser." Ryan said as he picked up a wallet from the box.
"Jake Holland's wallet." I said.
"It's got his driver's license with his New York address, work ID, the whole shebang." Ryan added.
I watched as Ryan reached in to the box again and pulled out a large framed photograph of our victim and fiancée. My eyes lit up at the sight of the picture frame.
"Oh, please tell me that's the old double-sided picture frame gag." I said.
"Lovely fiancée which can be easily be swapped for..."
Ryan showed the side with the photo of our victim and his fiancée and then he turned the picture frame around and opened the back to reveal a photograph of our victim with his wife and children.
"...the wife and kids, should they ever visit Daddy in the big city." Ryan said with a grin on his face.
I must say I was a little impressed with Sam Parker, he had gone to a lot of trouble. I especially loved his double-sided picture frame gag.
"Big news is we found this sitting on the kitchen counter." Esposito said, holding up a cell phone. "There's a voice mail you're going to want to hear." He pressed the play button.
"I'm not going to let you get away with this, you worthless piece of trash." A deep male voice said angrily. "if you don't call me back tonight, then my next call is to Helen."
"Someone caught on to Sam's double life." I remarked.
"We ran the number." Ryan said. "Belongs to one Charles DePetro."
"DePetro?" Beckett said with a little surprise. "That's his wife's maiden name. It's hyphenated on her driver's license."
"Mm-hmm. Charlie is Helen's brother." Esposito confirmed.
Beckett turned to look at me.
"He found out what Sam was up to." Beckett said.
"And decided to take out the trash." I replied.
As jokes go, it was not exactly one of my best. I'd be the first to admit it. Beckett did not think much of the joke either. She rolled her eyes and shook her head leaving me in no doubt what she had thought of the joke.
Beckett turned to look at the boys and ordered them to bring in Charlie DePetro to answer some questions. The boys nodded in unison turned and headed out once more.
A couple of hours later Beckett and I were standing in the interrogation room. Sitting at the table was one Charles DePetro. He was aged in his mid to late thirties, of average height with a slim build and a balding head. There was a scowl on his face which I guess had a lot to do with the invitation he had been given to come in and have a little talk with Beckett and myself.
Another reason for the scowl on his face had to do with the playing of the recording of his voice mail message to Sam Parker.
"Mr DePetro, I can understand the instinct of protection." Beckett told him. She moved and sat down at the table opposite from DePetro.
"If I had a sister, and her husband was cheating on her, I'd want to set him straight." I added.
"That's not why I left the message." DePetro replied.
"Did you know Sam was cheating on Helen?" Beckett asked.
"Not until she called me last night and told me he'd been killed."
"Then what did you mean when you said, 'I wont let you get away with this?'" Beckett said.
"He owed me money." DePetro declared.
"So, Sam borrowed money from you?" I said with some surprise. I had been leaning against the two way mirror and chose that moment ease myself off it and walk over and sit down beside Beckett.
"Twenty G's." DePetro confirmed. "He needed it to cover the mortgage. They'd already borrowed against the equity in the house."
"And what was the arrangement?" Beckett asked.
"He said he needed a couple of months." DePetro said. "And when he started the new job in the city, I figured he'd be making more dough."
"Helen didn't know about this?"
"He didn't want her to worry. And as long as he paid me back, I said it be our secret."
"And did he pay you back?" I asked.
"Not a cent." DePetro said his face hardening. "He kept saying he was pulling in less money. I thought he was lying. Why take the job that far from home and force Helen to deal with the kids on her own? Comes out now, he wasn't doing it for his family. He wanted the freedom to cheat on my sister."
Beckett asked DePetro a few more questions concerning his whereabouts around the time of Sam Parker's murder. DePetro provided the necessary details of his alibi. He claimed that he was working late. Winding up the interview, Beckett informed DePetro that he would have to remain here until his alibi checked out.
Emerging from the interrogation room Beckett and I returned to the bullpen. Before going to her desk, Beckett made a detour over to Ryan's desk. She handed him the address of DePetro's place of work and ordered Ryan to check out the brother-in-law's alibi. Ryan said he would get on to it right away.
Beckett arrived at her desk to find me sitting in my chair. Beckett sat down and did some paperwork that had been awaiting her attention for some time. I spent the time either watching Beckett doing paperwork or playing on my phone.
An hour later Ryan arrived at Beckett's desk.
"Brother's alibi checked out." Ryan announced. "He was working late when Sam/Jake was shot."
Beckett nodded her head. "Any word on Parker's financials?"
"Yeah, they were a paycheck away from defaulting on their mortgage." Ryan reported.
I could not help but frown at that piece of news. I looked across to Beckett.
"You know, the brother said that Sam was pulling in less money at his new job." I said. "If Sam was strapped for cash, why would he quit the job he had to take one that paid less?"
"Didn't his wife say he was passed over for a promotion?" Ryan said. "Maybe it was a pride thing."
I looked up at Ryan. "Yeah, but factor in the sublet, not to mention gas, that's a high price to pay for pride." I suggested.
"Yeah, well, never underestimate the fragility of the male ego." Beckett said with a rather large smirk on her face which she covered by bringing her coffee mug up to her lips and taking a sip.
"Oh, see, that's just a stereotype..." Ryan countered.
"Don't, don't." I said, looking at Ryan. "That's...She is baiting us, alright?"
I turned and looked at Beckett.
"Just ignore her, and she'll lose her witchy powers." I joked, and looked away from her.
"You wish." Beckett retorted.
Beckett rose from her chair.
"Alright, let's go to Parker's office." Beckett said to me. She gathered up her things.
I quickly rose to my feet but noticed Beckett was looking about her as if she had lost something.
"Lose something?" I asked her, as I started looking as well.
"Um...Where...where...um...where's my broom?" She said as she slowly turned to look at me, fixing me with a look. Another smirk on her face.
I let out a sarcastic laugh.
"I was looking." I said.
"Yeah." Ryan said.
"Yeah?" Beckett said amused.
Beckett and I headed for the elevator.
"For the record, I did not." Ryan called after us.
Safely alone in the elevator heading down stairs, I took the opportunity to complement Beckett on her little joke. It brought forth a delightful smile on Beckett's face, one that I would never tire from seeing. Silently I offered up a prayer to the Universe, hoping that she never lost her witchy powers.
Sam Parker's place of work was the offices of New York Recycle. The exterior of the building looked like some glass fronted pyramid with some of the sides falling in on each other. It kind of reminded me of that glass pyramid found at the Louvre in Paris. The building looked a little out of place amongst all the other New York architecture.
The ground floor lobby was wide and spacious with a lot of glass frontage and walls. At the reception desk Beckett asked the receptionist to speak to the head of the company. A phone call and about five or so minutes later the head of the company, one Lance Carlberg came down to the ground floor to greet us. Carlberg was a tall slenderly built man with a bald head and a goatee beard. He was dressed in a casual business suit sans a tie. He was one of those CEOs of the generation who eschewed the old fuddy duddy style of suit and tie, preferring the neat casual look.
After the introductions were completed Beckett informed Carlberg the reasons for our visit. Carlberg escorted us up to his office. The CEO's office too was a wide spacious affair, all glass and green potted plants, and ergonomically designed furniture, modern and functional.
"I don't know. Maybe I should have seen it." Carlberg said unhappily as he made his way to his large desk. "His resume was almost too good to be true. Top of his class at Berkley, Stanford Business School. He must've really need this job to lie so bad."
"So there's no reason you can think of as to why he lied?" I asked.
"No." Carlberg said after he had sat down behind his desk.
"When you hired him, did you look into any of his references?" Beckett asked.
"Of course I did, Detective." Carlberg replied, sounding almost offended that Beckett would ask such a question. "I called them all myself. And I got nothing but glowing recommendations."
"For a guy who didn't exist." I quipped.
"I'd like to take a look at a copy of his resume, if you still have it." Beckett said.
Carlberg nodded his head. "I'll have Human Resources email it over to you." He said.
Beckett handed him her card.
"Uh, before we go, did you know that Mr Parker was romantically involved with one of your employees?" Beckett said.
Carlberg nodded his head again. "Sarah, yeah. She's one of my best engineers."
"Ever notice any dram there?" I asked. "Drunken fighting at an office party, that sort of thing?"
"No. Never." Carlberg replied. "They actually seemed like a pretty solid couple. And she must be going through hell right now."
Beckett wound up the interview with Lance Carlberg by thanking him for his time, and we headed out and back to the precinct.
XXX
Not long after our return to the precinct, Beckett received the copy of the resume she had requested from Carlberg. She printed up the names and numbers of the references that were listed. Beckett started calling the numbers. Each number that was called turned out to be disconnected. The boys and I gathered at her desk as Beckett dialled up the numbers again.
Calling up the last number, Beckett got the same out of service message she had received for all the other numbers called. Beckett hung up the phone.
"That's the last one." Beckett said.
"Every single reference he gave is suddenly out of service?" Esposito questioned, looking a little confused.
"When, according to his boss, they were all up and running six months ago?" Ryan added.
"So, who was answering the dummy lines?" I asked.
Beckett picked up the sheet of paper containing the telephone numbers.
"Let's get a warrant for all these numbers." She announced passing the paper across to Esposito. "I'd like to know who they were registered to."
"Okay." Esposito replied, glancing down at the list of telephone numbers. Both he and Ryan walked off.
"They must have amazing dental." I remarked.
XXX
While Beckett and I waited for the warrants to come through, Beckett informed she was going to go down and check on Alexis. This time there was no way Beckett was going to stop me from accompanying her. Thankfully Beckett made no move to keep me in the bullpen.
Reaching the property room Beckett and I entered and I saw my darling daughter placing a set of false teeth into an evidence bag. She was making a face as she did so.
"I don't know where you get this work ethic." I called out cheerfully as I approached. "But it certainly was not from me."
Alexis turned and greeted us with a welcoming smile.
"How's it going?" Beckett asked with a smile.
"Pretty good." Alexis replied as she glanced down at the desk she was standing in front of.
The desk was covered with numerous items, some in evidence bags others not. There were a couple of boxes on the desk as well.
"The computer was a little glitchy at first." Alexis said, motioning to the computer. "But that's because no one had run a software update in like, two years. Plus it picked up some viruses I had to zap."
"I am realising that you are way over-qualified for this job." Beckett remarked.
"Told you she was a smarty." I said proudly, glancing at Beckett.
"But I do have one question." Alexis said. "Like you said before, most of the items are pretty junky and meaningless." Alexis picked up a small photo album. "I did find this though."
Alexis handed the photo album to Beckett. Beckett opened the book and flipped through the pages of photographs.
"Oh! It's a brag book." I exclaimed. "So you can brag about your kids. I used to have one in my wallet. Now it's on my phone."
"Some of the pictures are really old. Like they're one of a kind." Alexis pointed out. "It seems like something worth returning, only it wasn't tagged or anything."
"Yeah, but the problem is, without a case number, it's difficult to find out who the victim was and how to get this back to the family." Beckett said.
"Okay, so then it goes into the storage box, right?" Alexis asked.
A small smile appeared on Beckett's face as and idea came to her. She handed the photo album back to Alexis.
"I'll tell you what." She said. "I'll give you a list of all the detectives who possibly worked this case. Show them the pictures, maybe it'll strike up a memory."
"Only, don't bother them if they seem busy." I pointed out to Alexis.
"You're one to talk." Beckett shot back.
Beckett's phone started ringing.
"Excuse me." She said as she moved away and answered the phone.
My attention was drawn to something on the desk and I reached for it.
"Mmm, what's this?" I asked.
Alexis reached out and grabbed my hand to stop me from picking up the item that had caught my attention.
"Dad." Alexis said in an admonishing tone of voice that I knew only too well. I quickly lost interest in that object on the desk.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Beckett said in to the phone and then rang off. She looked at me. "The fiancée's here. She wants to talk."
I nodded my head. I turned to Alexis and smiled at her.
"Have fun." I told her before I quickly moved to catch up to Beckett who was walking out of the property room.
XXX
Beckett and I found Sarah Reed waiting for us in the interview lounge.
"I knew she looked familiar at the morgue, but I couldn't place it at first." Sarah said when Beckett asked her what she was doing here.
"So, you're saying that last night wasn't the first time you had seen Helen Parker?" Beckett said.
"Well, there was something about the face. And then it hit me." Sarah said, looking at Beckett. "I had seen her in front of Jake's apartment a couple of weeks ago."
"Was she leaving the building?" I asked.
"No." Sarah shook her head. "She was sitting in her car across the street."
"And you're sure it was Helen Parker?" Beckett pressed.
"I'm sure of it now." Sarah insisted.
"A positive identification from all the way across the street in a car?" I queried.
"I made a note of it because the way she was staring at me was creepy. Like she was sizing me up."
"Miss Reed, the past couple of days have been overwhelming, to say the least." Beckett said gently.
"It's not uncommon for witnesses' memories to be confused after a traumatic event." I suggested.
"We just need to be absolutely sure." Beckett added.
"Look, I know what I saw." Sarah said trying to restrained her anger. "She was sitting in a silver hybrid staring at the front of the building."
Beckett nodded her head.
"And did you tell your fiancée about this?" she asked.
"No. At the time, I just dismissed it. But now...It makes me wonder if I'm the only person in the whole situation who didn't know what was really going on."
Beckett got a few more details from Sarah Reed before winding up the interview and then showed her out. I headed from the interview lounge and went to Beckett's desk sitting down in my chair and waited for Beckett to come back. When she did we discussed what Sarah Reed had just told us. Beckett and I looked at each other.
"Road trip." We said at the same time.
It was a moment of great minds thinking alike. The next moment Beckett was rising to her feet and snatching up the keys to her Crown Vic and both of us heading for the elevator.
XXXXX
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Con