The Day The Music Died
Note: I don't own Cold Case, or Ghostbusters, just the Doom Patrol team, the characters Salina Duran, Erin Cummins, Robert Lennox, his parents James and Jennifer, his brother Kevin, Dierdre Jones, Jaslean Dhillon, Andrea Klassen, her parents Bruce and Camille, and Stacey Chambers. The Spengler Twins John and Eden, although they're just mentioned, are created by Fritz V. Baugh.
April 17th, 1996
It was in the evening, and Salina was at the local roller-rink with a couple of her friends from University. Things were going fine, but while other people's song requests were being played, Salina did not hear any of her song requests at all, especially this one song, "American Science" by Duran Duran. She told her friends that she going to find the DJ and ask him what was going on. An argument broke out, and Stacey, the floor supervisor for that night had to separate them.
Later that evening, the skate session was over and everyone had gone home for the night. The only people left were Stacey and the DJ, who's name was Rob. As Stacey left, she told Rob to lock up when he was finished. After checking to make sure all the equipment was shut off, and all the cash registers locked, Rob packed up his bag. As he opened the door, three gun shots rang out. One of the bullets hit him in the heart, killing him instantly. The glass doors behind him were shattered from the other two bullets that passed through Rob's body. It was a bloody mess. The only evidence that was recovered were the two bullets. The gun was never found and neither was the body, for the killer had moved it to somewhere else. To where, is still unknown to this day. All that remains of this case is a box of paperwork, which sits in the evidence storage warehouse, and waits...
Eight years later, in May 2004...
An area of land was being cleared away in one of the residential areas. One of the construction workers who was operating one of the bulldozers was digging out for the basement of the house they were building, when on the fourth dig, he discovered a huge object amidst the dirt in the bulldozer's scoop. He carefully lowered the arm and cut the engine. "Hey boss!" He called. "Come take a look at this!" The crew's foreman, and some of the other workers came to take a look. On closer inspection, the object that was dug up was wrapped in an old blanket.
"What is it?" Someone asked. The foreman and one of the workers carefully lifted it off the dirt, and set it down. When the foreman unwrapped the blanket, he made a gruesome discovery. Inside was a human skeleton. Where the skull rested, there was a patch of old blood. Same with the area of the blanket that had touched the chest. "We better get the police down here." Within minutes, police were on the scene, along with Detectives Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens.
"What have we got?" Lilly asked.
"A skeleton in a blanket. It was discovered by one of the workers who was digging out for the basement of the house they're building." replied one of the police officers. Snapping on some latex gloves, Lilly stooped down to examine the body.
"Whoever shot him had really good aim. With this amount of blood on his shirt, he was hit in the heart. Whoever wanted him dead, must've had a personal grudge." She commented.
"How do you know this is a he?" Scotty asked.
"The clothes. Plus when you look at the skull, the eyebrow ridges are very pronounced." Lilly started going through the pockets and came across a wallet. "Let's see what the ID says." She opened up the wallet. On the driver's license, the name read as Robert Lennox.
"Robert Lennox?" Scotty asked. "Wasn't he that DJ that was missing in '96, presumed dead?"
"Yeah. The crime scene at the roller-rink was saturated with blood, and two bullets were also recovered."
"I wonder what he did to make someone want to kill him." Scotty commented.
"Well, he was a roller-rink DJ. Maybe someone didn't like what music he played?" Lilly quipped.
Lilly and Scotty were now in the evidence storage warehouse, looking over the paperwork on Rob's case. "Robert Lennox, aged 23. Worked as a DJ at the Starlight Roller-rink. Parents are James and Jennifer Lennox, and he had a brother, Kevin." Lieutenant John Stillman read aloud. "Was reported missing when he didn't come home. Stacey Chambers, a supervisor at the rink discovered the scene when she arrived for work the next day. DNA gathered from the blood evidence was proven to be Rob's, and two bullets were also recovered from the scene. No murder weapon was found, and neither was the body."
"Until now." Scotty commented.
"Any suspects?" Lilly asked.
" A few. Three regular roller-rink customers, and an ex-girlfriend. Names of the customers are Salina Duran, Jaslean Dhillon, and Deirdre Jones. The ex-girlfriend's name is Andrea Klassen."
"We'll take these names to Vera and Jefferies. Meanwhile, we got a family to contact." Lilly took the paper with the suspects' names on it from Lt. Stillman.
After finding the current address for James and Jennifer Lennox, Lilly and Scotty went to pay them a visit. A woman answered the door. "Jennifer Lennox?"
"Yes, and you are...?"
"Detectives Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens." Lilly replied.
"Is this about my son Robbie?"
"Yes. Can we come in?"
"Of course." Mrs. Lennox replied and ushered them in.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Rob is dead. We found his body, which had been buried in one of the residential areas."
"Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. When we reported him missing, and police told us that his blood was found at the rink, along with the bullets, we were told that it was a definite possibility."
"Did Rob have any enemies?" Scotty asked.
"No. He was well liked. The only people he ever had any problems with were his ex-girlfriend, what's her name...?"
"Andrea Klassen?"
"Yeah, that's her name. And there were these customers he'd mention occasionally. Sometimes they'd give him grief. Something about music, I don't know." Mrs Lennox said.
"Well, we're going to be re-interviewing anyone he had contact with before his death. Hopefully they might remember something that'll provide a new lead. Meanwhile, we have all that we need from his body, so it's ready to be released." Lilly told her.
"Okay. Thank you. When my husband gets home, we'll come down to the station to sign the release forms."
Meanwhile, Detectives Nick Vera and Will Jefferies had arrived at the headquarters for Doom Patrol, the recently opened franchise of Ghostbusters, and also the current residence for Salina Duran. "Gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?" The group's secretary, Erin Cummins asked when they came in.
"I'm Detective Will Jefferies, and this is Detective Nick Vera. We'd like to talk to Salina Duran. Is she available?" Will asked.
"Sure" Erin said, paging her. "She should be downstairs in a bit." Salina was upstairs, on the phone with Janine, back in New York, telling her about how to keep the mehndi design that she painted on Janine's hand long enough from fading. Salina then got off the phone, as she had been buzzed, and Janine had told her she had to look after her kids, John and Eden. Salina came down the stairs.
"Salina Duran?" Nick asked.
"Yes. Who are you?"
"I'm Detective Nick Vera."
"And I'm Detective Will Jefferies." Will added. "Is there someplace where we can talk privately?"
"Yeah, sure." Salina led them to the TV room. "So what is this all about?"
"We're re-investigating the murder of Robert Lennox." Nick told her.
"Rob? The DJ from the roller-rink? I thought he was just missing."
"His remains were just recently uncovered, which is why the case is being re-examined. Is there anything you can tell us?" Will asked.
"Nothing different than what I already told the police back in 1996." Salina replied.
"Well, you were considered a suspect then, because you didn't get along with him." Nick said.
"That, is an understatement detectives. I hated him. He sexually harassed one of my friends, and he wouldn't play my song requests..." Salina replied, thinking back...She was at the roller-rink, and was at the entrance to the DJ booth, by the cash register. "Hey, when are you going to play "American Science"?" She asked.
"I'll play it soon." Rob replied non-chahalantly.
"You said that two hours ago! I made that request before anyone else did! There's no excuse for this!"
"Look! I've had complaints whenever that song is played!" Rob snapped.
"Whatever! You just don't want to play the song because YOU hate Duran Duran!"
"Are you saying that I'm a liar?"
"No, I'm saying that you're not doing your job!"
"Alright, that's enough!" Stacey interjected before Rob could react. "Rob, just play her song for now. I'll talk to her. She took Salina aside... "And that's basically what happened. He would do that to me every time my friends and I were there. But, that's all that happened detectives. I may have hated him, but I never killed him." Salina said.
"Where were you at the time of his murder?" Nick asked.
"At home. I went home after the session ended. Ask my parents and my sister. They'll back me up."
"What about your two friends, Jaslean and Deirdre?" Will asked.
"As far as I know, they went home tooafter the session was over."
"Alright. Well that's all we have for now." Nick said. "We will come by again if we have anymore questions."
"Sure." Salina replied.
Next, the people that Will and Nick went to interview were Salina's two friends, Jaslean Dhillon and Deirdre Jones. "Yeah, I remember Rob Lennox. The pig sexually harassed me one night at the rink. Salina was even a witness." Jaslean said.
"What would he say?" Nick asked.
"Oh, the usual. Comments like, "nice tits!" or, "Sweet piece of ass!", that sort of thing. He even pointed me out to this random guy this one other night and says to him while pointing at me, "She wants to ride you!". I don't know how he managed to not get fired for such behavior. I mean, we wrote in and complained about it."
"Where were you the night he was killed?" Will asked.
"I was here at home. My parents can vouch for that." Jaslean replied.
"Is there anything out of the ordinary that you can remember happening at the rink that night before he was killed? Anything to make you think something was about to happen?"
"All I remember was Salina getting upset and confronting Rob about her song requests not getting played. But, that happened all the time. It's not much of a reason to kill him."
"Yeah, we know. We already talked to Salina, and she's told us that." Will said.
"But I do remember this one other girl..." Jaslean added, thinking back...She was sitting down, taking a breather when sheheard loud voices. She turned andthis blonde girl arguing with Rob. "Andrea, get it through your head! It's over!" Rob shouted. "Stop trying to change my mind!" Jaslean never forgot that name..."Her name was Andrea, and they were arguing about something being over. She must've been a former girlfriend." Jaslean said, then snorted sarcastically. "Personally I don't know why on earth she'd want to go out with someone like him."
"Andrea. That sounds familiar." Nick commented to Will as his cellphone went off.
"Just a second." Will said to Jaslean as he answered his phone. "Jefferies."
"Guess what was just uncovered at the roller-rink?" It was Lilly on the other end. "Someone was looking for their shoes, and when they stuck their hand into this small hole under the benches, there was a gun hidden in it, and it's a .22 calibre. The same kind of gun used to kill Rob."
"Think there's a chance we'll get any prints?" Will asked.
"Let's hope so. The serial number's been filed off. I also hope we can match the striaetions on the bullets to the gun."
"We'll keep our fingers crossed." Will replied and hung up. "Thank you for you time Ms. Dhillon." He shook hands with her before he and Nick left the house. It was time to interview Salina's other friend, Deirdre Jones.
Deirdre's place was fairly easy to find, as she lived not too far from Jaslean. "I don't know what else to tell you that hasn't already been said." Deirdre told Will and Nick. "Rob would jerk Salina around by not playing her songs, and he would make crude, piggish comments at Jassie, but nobody didn't do nothing."
"What about you? I mean, here he is, doggin' on your two best friends. Surely that must've made you mad." Will said.
"I know what you're thinking, and it's not true. I didn't kill Rob." Deirdre replied.
"We're not saying you did, but obviously his behavior must've provoked something." Nick told her.
"Just a bunch of complaint letters, that's all. But they didn't work."
"Did Rob ever say anything to you directly?" Will asked.
"Once. He called me a nigger. That really did it for me."
"What did you do?"
"What do you think? I hit him in the face. Got me kicked out of the rink for the rest of that one night, but hell it felt damn good." Deirdre said.
"But that didn't make you want to kill him?" Nick asked.
"Hell no."
It wasn't until a few days later that the results on the gun's serial number came in. Lt. Stillman knew about a forensic technique that still recover a filed off serial number. Now the results were in. "It's a success. We have a serial number." He announced when he came to into the department offices that morning. He handed the results to Lilly and Scotty.
"Alright." Scotty got the computer and entered the serial number into the database. "How's it going with the prints?" He asked.
"Still working on it. We should have those results soon." Just then, a beeping sound went off. It was the computer, and it had found a match.
"Well, look who our gun owner is." Scotty remarked. Lilly got down to have a look.
"Bruce and Camille Klassen." She said.
"Look who their daughter's name is." Scotty pointed at the screen. Lilly's eyes widened.
"Andrea Klassen. The ex-girlfriend."
"Let's pick her up." Lt. Stillman told them, but Will and Nick were already on it.
After finding her residence, they picked up Andrea and brought her back to the police department building. "So why exactly did you bring me down here?" Andrea asked. She, Lilly, and Scotty were inside one of the interrogation rooms.
"We found your gun." Lilly said
"My gun?" Andrea asked with a strange look on her face. "I don't own a gun." Scotty pulled out the evidence bag with the gun in it. Andrea's eyes widened. "You mean my parent's gun.That gunwas lost eight years ago."
"We know. We found it at the roller-rink." Lilly said.
"Any idea how it might've gotten there?" Scotty asked.
"I have absolutely no idea." Andrea replied.
"Oh come on Andrea. We know how badly you wanted to get back with Rob. We know about the restraining order his family had to take out on you. So maybe you figured, 'Well if I can't have him, then nobody else will', and decided to kill him." Lilly told her.
"That is a very interesting story detectives." Andrea replied non-chahalantly. "Unfortunately it's not true."
"Well if it's not, then maybe you won't mind telling us where you were the night of his murder." Scotty said.
"At home."
"Can anyone verify that?" Lilly asked.
"I was by myself because my parents were out for the evening."
"See, that doesn't help your alibi, especially when we have a witness who says you were at the rink that same night." Scotty said.
"Oh really? And what exactly did this 'witness' say?" Andrea asked sarcastically.
"That you were there, arguing with Rob." Scotty replied.
"Seeing if he'll retract the restraining order and take you back." Lilly added. "But when he turns you down again, you decide that's the last straw, you go home, get your parents gun, come back, and kill him."
"I didn't kill Rob!" Andrea snapped angerly. "I was at the rink, I'll give you that. But that was way before he was killed. When I left, he was still very much alive."
"Which brings us back to our original question. How did your parents' gun end up at the rink?" Lilly asked. Andrea was about to reply, when there was a knock at the door. It was Lt. Stillman.
"Results just came back on the fingerprints from the gun." He said.
"And?"
"They don't match Andrea's." Andrea rolled her eyes.
"I told you so." She muttered.
"Well if they're not hers, then who's are they?" Scotty asked.
"Unknown. Whoever's they are, that person is not in the system."
"Wonderful." Lilly remarked.
"Now we have to start all over again." Scotty added.
Lilly and Scotty were working when someone came up to them. "Detectives?" They looked up to see Salina Duran was there. She had come down to the station.
"Something you have for us?" Lilly asked.
"Yes. I heard that you almost had somebody in for the murder. I thought maybe what I have for you might help." Salina replied.
"You remember something else?" Scotty asked.
"Something she said to me when we were sitting out on a break."
"What did Andrea say?" Lilly asked.
"Andrea? No, Deirdre..." Salina replied, thinking back... "Friggin' idiot. He just doesn't want to play the damn song because he's the only one that hates it. It's his own personal opinion, and this whole 'other people complaining about it' is just a farce." Salina growled.
"Forget about it girl. He's just trying to get to you. Don't let him win." Deirdre said.
"I wish Stacey would just see that he won't play the song because of his own personal opinion of it. I know that if he did this at a radio station, they'd toss him out on his ass."
"Well, I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon." Just then, Deirdre saw Rob arguing with Andrea out of the corner of her eye. She turned around to get a better look, and thought of something.
"What? What is it Dee?" Salina asked.
"I think tonight may be your lucky night girl." Deirdre replied, with a bit of a menacing tone to her voice.
"What do you mean by that?" Salina asked suspiciously.
"I don't know right now, but I'll think of something." She got up and went back to skate some more. Salina sat at the table, wondering what Deirdre meant by her cryptic remark... "So you think Deirdre might have something to do with Rob's murder?" Lilly asked, making Salina's blood run cold.
"I don't know. But then Rob ends up dead that same night, so now I am beginning to think that it's more than just a coincidence." Salina replied.
"How come you never mentioned this during the original investigation?" Scotty asked.
"Like I said, I thought it was just a coincidence at the time. She didn't directly come right out and say she was going to kill him. I would've stopped her before that ever happened. That, and I didn't think she'd ever have it in her to do something like that. And Deirdre is also a good friend of mine. I wouldn't want her to get in trouble for something she never did."
"Salina, this is very important. Did you ever see Deirdre talk to Andrea at any time that night?" Lilly asked.
"Andrea? You mean the blonde chick that Rob was arguing with? Yeah she did. Why?"
"Just wondering. That's all." Lilly replied.
Nick and Will were now back at Andrea's place, to verify with her what Salina had told them. "Haven't you bothered me enough already?" Andrea asked when she answered the door, and let them in anyway.
"Do you know a girl by the name of Deirdre Jones?" Will asked.
"Deirdre Jones? Yeah. Man, I've known her since high school." She handed the detectives a picture. It was of her and Deirdre from a ski trip in 1995. "Is she in some kind of trouble?"
"We're not exactly sure, but we think she may be somehow involved with Rob's murder, and somebody said she was seen talking to you that night before he was killed. Do you remember that?" Nick asked. Andrea then suddenly felt sick to her stomach.
"Oh my god."
"Something you remember?" Will asked.
"Yes. She did talk to me that night. But what I meant before was about something that happened earlier. See, you figured out that it was parents' gun by the serial number on it, right?"
"That's right." Nick replied.
"Well, a few days before that night, they found out the gun was missing. At first, I thought my dad had misplaced it. Oh man, it can't be..." Andrea started to tremble.
"What happened?" Will asked.
"She must've taken the gun. And when I was talking with Deirdre that night, I said something like, if I couldn't have him back, the nobody could have him. She must've thought I really meant it."
"How come you never mentioned this before?" Nick asked.
"I honestly didn't think she'd have it in her, or that she'd take what I said so seriously." Will was now on his cellphone, getting a hold of Lilly and Scotty.
"Yeah Lil'? It's Will. We need to find out where Deirdre Jones lives, or works." He told her.
"We're on it." Lilly replied.
Lilly and Scotty found where Deirdre worked, and had Nick and Will bring her back to the police department building. "What is so important that you had to come to my work and lead me away in front of all my customers?" Deirdre asked when she arrived at the station along with Will and Nick. Then she saw Salina. "What are you doing here?" She asked her.
"Nothing Dee." Salina replied.
"Don't you "nothing Dee" me!" Deirdre snapped. "What did you tell them?" Will and Nick had to hold her back, to keep Deirdre from lunging at Salina.
"Come on, let's go." They led her to the interrogation room, where Lilly and Scotty were waiting for her.
"Why did you lash out at Salina like that?" Lilly asked as she shut the door.
"Nothing. I just thought that friends don't rat on each other, that's all." Deirdre replied angerly. "At least, I thought she was my friend."
"You two have a falling out or something?" Scotty asked.
"Sort of. She had her interests, and I had mine. We kind of drifted apart. Especially after that night at the rink."
"Yeah, and speaking of that night, we talked to Salina about that, and also Andrea. They said that you were at the roller-rink the night Rob was murdered." Lilly said.
"Well yeah, 'cos I was also with Salina and Jassie too."
"But then you didn't go home after the session, didn't you?"
"Well, maybe..."
"So did you kill Rob?"
"No. Why would I do that?" Deirdre asked.
"Well he was being a jerk to Salina, sexually harassing Jaslean, and not only that, we heard he insulted you with a derogatory racial slur. Those seem like reasons enough to want him dead." Lilly replied.
"Plus, you said something to Salina about that night being 'her lucky night'." Scotty added.
"So? By that, I meant I was gonna get him fired, not get him killed."
"And not just that, Andrea also said that when she talked with you after her fight with Rob, she mentioned something along the lines of, 'if I can't have him, nobody will'. So you figured, maybe you'd do her a favour." Lilly said.
"I didn't kill him!" Deirdre snapped. "Besides, if Andrea was the one who said those words, then she must've been the one to act on them!"
"How could she?" Scotty asked. "Her parents' gun was already missing, and we checked the prints on the gun. They're not Andrea's. She couldn't have killed him."
"So I'm gonna bet that when we take your prints and compare them to the prints on the gun, they'll match yours. Because who else could've killed Rob? Who would have the motive and the means? Both Salina and Jaslean have alibis. They both went home after the session ended that night." Lilly said.
"Which leaves us with one person left." Scotty added. "You." Just then, tears began to fall from Deirdre's eyes. Her tough stance began to soften. Lilly sat down and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Why did you kill him?" She asked.
"He was such a jerk to Salina, and nobody would do anything about it. He would constantly make sexual remarks at Jaslean. And it pissed me off when he called me a nigger, and I was the only one who got in crap for punching him. No one called him out for saying that to me. I'd write letters, talk to the supervisors, but nobody listened. So one night, while I was at Andrea's house, I took her parents gun, and waited for the right opportunity..." Deirdre said, thinking back... "Andrea, what happened?" Deirdre asked as she walked by.
"Rob and I had a fight. Nothing major."
"Are you sure?"
"Deirdre, it's okay." Andrea said.
"Andy, why would you want to continue going out with someone like him anyway? He's rude to my friends, he makes these piggish comments especially to this one friend of mine, and not only that, he called me an effin' nigger."
"I realize that Dee. But deep down, when there is a girl that he loves, he really is a nice guy."
"You're looking at him through blinders girl" Deirdre said. Andrea sighed dejectedly.
"I'm telling you Dee, if I can't have him, then nobody will." She walked off, and headed out the main doors.
"Maybe I can arrange that." Deirdre said to herself.
Later that night, Deirdre was waiting in her car as everyone headed home at the end of the session. Finally, the last person to leave was Stacey. Deirdre took the gun of her car's glove compartment and got out of the car. She took a place behind the bushes, and crouched down, waiting for Rob to come out. She didn't have to wait for very long. As the door opened and Rob came out, Deirdre got up and without hesitation, fired the gun three times, killing Rob instantly. After taking a blanket out of her car, she wrapped up Rob's body, placed it into the open trunk, and drove off.
Finally, it's over. As Deirdre got up from the chair, Scotty placed the handcuffs on her, and Lilly took her to the holding cells at the back. As Deirdre was being led towards the back, she looked at Salina in disbelief and shame, feeling like she had betrayed her. Later on, Salina and Jaslean were at the cemetery. With all feelings of hate for Rob gone, they each laid a flower down at his headstone. As they were leaving, they passed by Andrea, who was also coming to visit his grave site. At the evidence warehouse, Lilly placed the box with Rob's case file back on the shelf, but with the word "closed" written across the lid. As Lilly drove home that same day, she went by the roller-rink, and for a moment, saw and image of Rob, waving and smiling, as if to say, "Thank you".
The End