Chapter 11
Several hours later, Roy Chapman returned with the list of Danvers future victims.
Fred and Daphne had decided to take photographs of the list and research them at home.
They ordered a pizza and each had a glass of whisky. Daphne sat cross-legged on the couch with her laptop on her legs, she had attempted to balance the whisky on her leg but decided that it wasn't a good idea.
The next day, after spending hours researching their suspects, Daphne and Fred returned to the station and presented their findings to Silverman.
He looked the list over, raising his eyebrow as he read.
He pointed to a name on the list, 'This one, the jewellery store guy, I had my suspicions about him for a while.'
'We'll catch them, Captain.' Fred spoke but Silverman shook his head.
'I'll be sending Garrett out with a team to watch these people and arrest them when the time comes.'
Daphne said, 'We can help, Captain.'
Silverman shook his head again, 'No, Garrett could do with a challenge, plus I need you both, you're too valuable to be on a case like this. I'll need you if something comes up, and we all know it will do.'
Daphne and Fred listened as he spoke.
'You can be on standby to help Garrett if he needs it, but for now, he has a team of undercover cops and tech guys. There are a few cold cases I'd like you guys to check out.'
'Cold cases, why?' Daphne asked.
'The commissioner wants cold cases to be reviewed – I believe he has a plan to set up a cold case team but I'm not one-hundred per cent sure. So, I'd like you both to visit the archives room and go through the cold cases.'
Fred and Daphne exchanged looks.
'Why do I feel like Silverman is hiding something from us?' Daphne asked as she fumbled for the key for the archives room.
'Because you're super suspicious.' Fred chuckled.
Daphne rolled her eyes and pushed open the door.
The small room contained many shelving units – all of which were stacked full of brown boxes.
Taped to each of the shelves were paper signs which read SOLVED FILES
However, at the back of the room was a shelf that had a paper sign labelled COLD CASES
They looked at the boxes on the shelves, labels on each of the boxes.
Daphne pulled one down, the box was labelled DAVID BUCHI MURDER 1985
She put it back.
'I'm kinda relieved the shelf isn't full like the others.' Fred spoke. Daphne hummed in agreement.
Fred pulled a box off the shelf and he read out the label, "Laura Shafer Murder 1990."
'I heard about this one, didn't her husband kill her?' Daphne asked.
Fred shrugged, 'I think the charges were dropped, he had a fairly good alibi, and they never found the real killer.'
Daphne hummed again – she looked at the other boxes, most of the murders, one of them a jewellery store robbery but there have been at least two other attempts to solve this case and they were dead ends.
Fred put the box back on the shelf.
'Hang on, maybe we could look more into this one?' Daphne suggested.
'Sure.' Fred replied, taking the box back off the shelf. He opened the lid and they looked inside the box.
There was an autopsy report, Laura Shafer's missing person's report and a copy of the 911 call which started it all off.
Fred put the lid back on the box after they decided to go ahead and solve Laura Shafer's murder.
They took the case out of the archives room, and Daphne signed sign-out sheet for the archived cases.
They returned to their office to begin their work.
Daphne typed "Laura Shafer" into the system on the computer.
It brought up the file of a woman and they saw Laura Shafer's photograph – she had dark hair, green eyes and was approximately 5'3.
'Born in Cooperstown, New York. Died in the Upper West Side in her apartment building.' Daphne read.
'Her husband Tyrone Shafter was born in the city. He's a businessman working for…' Fred cleared his throat.
'My father.' Daphne spoke. Her father's name had been everywhere recently, and it felt normal for his name to be on the police report of a murder investigation, 'My sister and I were born in Cooperstown.'
'You wanna pick something else?' Fred asked.
Daphne shook her head, 'No, let's just get on with it.'
'Laura was reported missing by her husband on July 12th 1990 at 8 PM. She hadn't picked the kids up from her in-laws' apartment, she was supposed to have arrived 4 PM to collect them. She had some errands to run that day. Tyrone dropped the kids off at his parent's house in the morning before heading to work. Laura's plan for the day was to visit her friend's book club, go to the supermarket before finally picking the kids up from her in-law's home.'
'She never arrived to pick up the kids?' Daphne asked.
'She didn't even arrive at the book club.' Fred spoke, as he read through the rest of the report. 'Tyrone was called by his parents at 7 PM to tell him the kids hadn't been picked up.'
'His parents waited three hours before calling Tyrone?'
'Uh-hu.' Fred replied.
'Why was Tyrone arrested?' Daphne asked.
'His alibi was that he had left work at the usual time, and taken the kids to his parents on time, but they questioned him for his behaviour when Laura's body was found, neither of the kids had seen Laura in the morning, but they told a child psychologist who spoke to them, that they woke up in the car en route to their grandparent's home.'
'So, they let him go because of his alibi?' Daphne asked.
'Seems like it. He was accounted for at his workplace, he clocked out at 7:12 PM.'
'He could have planned it.'
'If he did there's no proof. None of his DNA was found at the scene, it was obvious that his DNA would be found on her body as they were a married couple. They found no murder weapon and there didn't seem to be anything missing from the apartment.'
Daphne sat back in her chair, 'We should look more into this, there were no other suspects, I think Tyrone got away with murder here.'
Epilogue
Several weeks later
Daphne woke up a little earlier than usual.
Fred was still sound asleep under the covers, snoring softly.
Daphne stepped into the kitchen and flicked on the kettle, as it boiled, she picked up her phone which she had left to charge overnight.
She flicked through Facebook, nothing new apart from a photo of her niece which her sister posted – she hit like.
Finding nothing on Facebook, she went onto Google to look at the news, and her jaw dropped.
She sat reading through the article, the kettle had finished boiling, but she ignored it.
Wearing only his boxers, Fred stepped into the kitchen.
'You're up early.' He yawned, pulling two mugs from the shelf, 'Daph?' He asked when she didn't reply.
He turned to her. Her back to him, she was still looking through the article on Google.
'What's that?' He asked, looking over her shoulder. She turned to face him, she looked angry, 'Jane Brock wrote a book about my father.'
'Huh?' Fred asked.
'I told her not to publish it, but she went ahead and did it anyway.'
Fred sighed.
Then Daphne grunted as she read a part of the article that mentioned her father helped Jane Brock with most of the book.
She pushed her phone away from her, running her hands through her hair. She felt Fred's hands on her shoulders before he turned her around and pulled her into his arms for a tight hug.
'I doubt anyone will read it.'
'Everyone will read it.' Daphne replied.
Her phone began vibrating, she turned to it and saw it was her sister. She ignored it. She knew what she was calling about.
Daphne decided to stay home from work. She would work on the Laura Shafer case from home, Fred was going to the station to get some copies of the file that hadn't been inside the case box.
She moved the file to one side, before she flicked the TV on. The news of Adam Danvers' arrest had died down, but his trial was due in the coming months and he was bound to be back in the news again.
But today on CBS, they were talking about Jane Brock's book, and of course George Blake's crimes and his conviction, and she was sure that the book would include the things she had read in the file which she took from Jane Brock's office.
She slumped back into the couch. Staring at the TV. Her phone vibrated on the coffee table, she saw that it wasn't Fred, so she ignored it.
She turned the TV off and tried to return her focus onto the files, but it was no use.
This wasn't going to go away for a while.
THE END