Cold Cases, Chapter 3
Emily walked up to the door of the Mendell house. She knocked and waited patiently.
A young girl, of no more than 7 opened the door. She was pretty, with curly brown hair and big blue eyes.
Emily smiled down at the girl. "Hi. My name is Emily Taylor. I'm with the police. Can I speak to your father?"
An older man walked up. He pulled his daughter away from the door and stood protectively in front of her.
"What do you want?"
Emily kept her calm demeanor. "I need to ask you some questions about your wife, Mr. Mendell.
He studied her for a moment, as if sizing her up. He slowly opened the door.
"Come in."
She followed him into the house. It was simply but beautifully decorated. The layout of the house was open and spacious; Emily had expected nothing less from the house of a former real estate agent.
Mr. Mendell directed her to the kitchen table where she sat. He poured himself some water, and asked her if she wanted a glass. She accepted. He sat next to her.
He sighed. "I don't usually take well to police officers, but I've never seen you before."
Emily smiled and sipped her water. "I just started working with the MDPD. I'm with the Crime Lab."
Mendell nodded, still looking slightly skeptical, but she could see that he was more relaxed. Emily took another sip of her water and looked up at Mendell.
"I would like to ask you a couple of questions about your wife," she said gently.
Mendell nodded slowly, his eyes seeming to cloud over.
"How was your home life?"
"We were very happy," he answered. "Her real estate firm was doing well; we had just bought this place. My wife had just found out she was pregnant again. Life was pretty good."
Emily nodded. "What did your wife do in her spare time?"
"She was very involved with Sarah," he said, nodding to his daughter. "She volunteered with the preschool Sarah was attending, drove her to soccer practice, started Sarah on the violin, you know, she was a good mother."
Emily scribbled down some notes and nodded. "Anything else she liked to do?"
"She loved photography. Never went anywhere without her camera. Most of the pictures in this house were taken by her."
Emily smiled at him. "Would you mind if I took a look at some of your wife's things?"
Mendell stared at her. "We've had police coming to our house on and off the year my wife died, but I haven't seen an officer come on over here in forever. Suddenly, you show up and want to go through my wife's stuff?"
"I reopened your wife's case for a reason. I just want to make sure we didn't miss any details."
He stared at her for minute, still looking skeptical, before nodding slowly.
He led her to the attic, which was filled with old boxes. He pulled out three boxes, laying them out in front of Emily.
"My wife's things are all in here. Mostly books and things, and her cameras. I gave away all her clothes to charity."
Emily smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Mendell.
Mendell left with a curt nod.
Emily snapped on some gloves and began looking through the boxes. The first box contained family albums and photographs. She perused these for a minute.
The second box was very interesting. It contained a worn and much highlighted Bible, as well as notebooks detailing devotionals, and detailed notes on sermons. She also found a prayer journal, and a diary, and many Christian books.
She closed that box, deciding to bring it along with her to the lab.
The third box contained one regular film camera, two digital cameras, and a digital camcorder. There were also three smaller boxes inside, containing neatly organized and labeled film canisters, memory cards, and mini DVDs.
She sighed. She had along day ahead of her. Besides interviewing the families of the other four victims, she now had all this new evidence to go through.
Make that long days.
Hours later she was back at the lab. She hadn't gotten a lot from the interviews. It was mostly the same story, happy family, good lives, and then the wife was gone.
She had collected prayer journals, devotionals, and diaries belonging to each of the murder victim's houses, as well as many Christian books.
She sighed. This case was bugging her slightly because these houses had looked very similar to her house. Her family attended church every Sunday, some of the titles of the books she had found she recognized, as they were in her own house.
She sighed as she made her way to the layout room. It was empty for now as shifts were changing. She decided to use that to her advantage.
She called home to tell her mom she was busy with a case and would be at the lab, and began to unpack the boxes of evidence, knowing it would be a long night.