Police Station
Mike Celluci returned to the station half awake. He needed coffee. With nothing more to do, he went home to eat, shower and catch a few hours of sleep if possible. He managed three or four before he was called back in. They had the suspect.
Standing in an observation room adjacent to the interrogation room, he watched a young man through the window. He paced with tangible anxiety. While his behavior didn't guarantee he was innocent, it supported it.
Kate entered with a folder. She looked annoyed. He wasn't sure what angered her but it had something to do with Vicki. "Joshua Thompson. Age 27. An inventor with no priors and a solid alibi." Pause. "Uniforms arrested him when he came home from a meeting in Vancouver."
"What's his explanation for the basement?"
"Example props for a low budget horror movie. His roommate was filming some kind of demo while he was gone."
That sounded dumb enough to be true. "Do we have the roommate?"
"At the morgue. Kevin Johnson was found the bike trail two days ago. North of the woman. Almost to the bridge. It looked like a mugging gone wrong."
"How solid's the alibi?"
"The company flew him to and from Vancouver. CCTV shows him exiting the plane. We're waiting back from Vancouver PD. But the hotel says he ordered breakfast in his room all three mornings."
Mike didn't like it. "Anything stand out in the autopsy?" Lewis had injuries consistent with cold exposure but there was no evidence she was molested.
"No."
He hated going into an interrogation with nothing. While Thompson wasn't the killer, he was connected somehow. Getting information out of a terrified suspect was difficult.
Mike entered. "Joshua Thompson, Detectives Celluci and Lam. Will you sit down, please." He sat with his back to the mirror and opened the folder Kate gave him.
Thompson sat but couldn't sit still. Caffeine, drugs or anxiety.
"Do you know this woman?" Mike set a picture from the pub's CCTV in front of him.
"Sophie. Why?"
He removed a picture of Vicki. "What about her?"
Thompson shook his head.
"Miss Lewis was found dead in Etobicoke Creek south of Horner Ave." Mike waited a moment. "Her fingerprints." He set a picture of the stone slab and candles on top of Vicki's. "And blood were found in your basement."
"That's a movie set," Thompson emphasized. "Sophie was helping Kevin."
Mike unfortunately believed Thompson's confusion. "How did you get the stone into the house? It's extremely heavy."
"I don't know." Thompson kept shaking his head. "Kevin set it up after I left."
"Did he tell you anything about the movie project? Where he was getting props? Who he was working with?"
"It had a cheesy plot involving Lakeshore Psychiatric hospital and cultists using the cemetery for a ritual involving an evil psychologist and a demonic entity."
Mike hoped it was just a bad horror movie. Toronto had an epidemic of crazy lately. "Did it involve the Creek or Queen Elizabeth bridge?"
"The full script had the cultists transporting the woman they thought was dead from the cemetery to the bridge and throwing her off."
That was too much of a coincidence. "Were any of the characters killed on the bike trail?"
"I don't know. The screenplay's on Kevin's computer."
Mike looked at Kate. He didn't remember a computer being recovered from the house. She held up her phone and stepped out of the room.
He picked up the picture of the stone revealing Vicki's picture. "There was a wall-sized collage of her on the basement wall. Did the plot involve a stalker?"
Thompson shook his head.
"Did Kevin like to take pictures of women?"
"I don't think he likes women."
"He was gay?"
Thompson looked like he realized something. "Was?"
Mike provided the basic details of Johnson's death. "Can you think of anyone who wanted to harm him?"
"No."
After questioning Thompson for half-an-hour Mike had more questions than he started with and no idea how to get the answers. He needed backgrounds on Lewis, Johnson and Thompson. They attracted the wrong attention somehow. The pub came to mind. The killer had to know CCTV would lead the police to the house. Unless he was stalking the trio, he knew them. The missing computer suggested an online connection.
Vicki's Office
Vicki Nelson opted to contact Lakeview Library and ask questions instead of going. After explaining it to two different people, she was told someone would call her back. Her patience was wearing thin. She needed answers. Nothing in her papers or emails filled the gaps in her memory.
Nicholas stepped into the open doorway much like Coreen used to. After filling out the application, he went and retrieved a laptop and case from his car. He arranged a
chair and table from somewhere. Despite no employment agreement, he sat in the reception area typing on his computer and happily singing in a language she didn't recognize.
"I found something."
Vicki wondered if she should encourage him. "Solve one of your cases?"
"One of yours." He walked over to her desk holding his laptop. "A group of women celebrating a divorce took pictures of themselves on East Beach. The night you were found unconscious."
How drunk were they? She wondered looking at the screen.
He motioned toward one side. "He is in three different pictures. The women thought he was watching them."
Why didn't the police find that? They either didn't look hard enough. Based on their attitude of the responding officers that wouldn't surprise her. Or they needed to know where to look.
"Did they know him?" Vicki kept the suspicion from her voice. His timing was bad. Her hospital stay was public knowledge. It wouldn't take much to find out Coreen took time off. The incident in the strip club was publicized as a result of her being drugged. His reference was a ghost she had no way to speak to. Although it made her wonder how he knew about it.
Nicholas withdrew the laptop. "One person thinks he works in an antique shop near Beck Park."
She mentally pictured the area. It took a moment, but she realized it was next to Alderwood Library. That reminded her of Mike's case. "How far is it from Alderwood Church?"
He set the computer on the desk and typed. "A few blocks."
Before Vicki could decide what to do with the information, her cell phone rang. She checked the screen as she picked it up from the desk. Lakewood was finally calling her back. "Hello." She reached for a notebook hopeful for information.
Nicholas walked out without a word.
"Ms. Nelson," a young woman said nervously. "This is Chelsea."
"Did your coworker explain why I was calling?"
"You don't remember me."
That was progress. "Something happened after I went to the library. I need to know what I was investigating."
Chelsea sounded uneasy. "A girl's stalking my brother Colin." Pause. "His boyfriend Kevin disappeared. The police are saying he was killed on the bike trail near his place."
"I need names and details."