8
Before leaving Matt called Roy and filled him in on this latest turn of events. Roy didn't seem surprised but said, "Well, apparently whoever has killed these three people wants the media spotlight and they think targeting people associated with this radio station will do that. What's the plan Matlock?"
Matt answered, "Well, C.J. is about ready to go and I was thinking you and I should head over to talk to Amanda Calemon since we both saw her leaving Nick Peterson's apartment after stealing something and then we can maybe go talk to Richard Romanes and John Witman and see if they have alibis or just to see what they have to say. We know Nick Peterson has an alibi for the murders too, but I'd like to talk to him for a minute. We can stop by the hospital last maybe."
Roy told him, "Sounds like a plan and a long day. See you when you get here."
C.J. came down the stairs and told Matt, "I'm ready when you are." He took her hand and they walked out together. They got in the car and on the way over she asked what they planned to do with the investigation.
Matt told her that he wanted to talk to all the suspects. At that point she offered, "Why don't you and Roy go talk to Romanes and Witman and I'll go talk to Amanda Calemon. That way we can get through all the interviews by 5. What do you think? Divide and conquer?"
He hesitated and started to tell her that he wanted her to stay put in the penthouse, but after the argument they had over the weekend, he decided to come up with a better compromise. So he told her, "How about Uncle Roy and I go talk to Peterson and then I'll send him to interview Witman and you and I go talk to Calemon and Romanes, the station managers. What do you think?"
She nodded her head in agreement and when all three made it to the penthouse Chris was waiting with a message for C.J. They entered and she got up with a small stack of papers for Matt to sign. She said, "These need both your signatures and C.J., you missed a call from F. Lee Bailey's office. I wrote it down on that message pad over there." She motioned to her desk.
C.J. reached over to pick it up while Matt signed his name and Roy went over to the bar to start some coffee. She read that the junior lawyer who tried unsuccessfully to keep Turner in jail wanted to meet with her this morning at a coffee shop down the block.
'Great' she thought to herself, 'What does she want? Its kind of too late to do anything about Turner now.'
She thanked Chris and went to join her husband and Roy. They were talking about the case, the discovery in the park and Matt was telling him about the new plan. He was explaining why he wanted C.J. to be with him most of the day. He didn't want to share the argument they had though.
Matt told him, "Thanks for going out to do that interview with Witman. Until I'm sure Roy Turner has no designs to hurt C.J. I'd rather keep her close to me and I'd rather not have her talking to this Nick Peterson at all."
Roy asked, "And how does the lady in question feel about this?"
Matt replied, "She's fine. She loves spending time with me Uncle Roy." He started to sit down on the couch and Roy did likewise.
Roy then added, "I'm sure she does, but I wouldn't crowd her Matlock. She doesn't need a bodyguard necessarily."
Matt looked irritated and told him, "I don't have a single problem with guarding her body. What are you getting at?"
"I'm just saying C.J. is a strong, smart woman who can take care of yourself. You get too overprotective and you know you're going to get a fight from her."
Matt wondered if his uncle were slightly psychic given that he hadn't told him anything about the fight they had. He said, "Look Uncle Roy, I know how determined she can be and I certainly know she can take care of herself, but I also know a paroled convict has made it clear she is in his sights and I'm not about to just let her run around and put herself at risk."
Roy nodded his head and then told him, "I understand, I'm just saying you need to be careful you don't make her too aware. You know, I had people watching your Aunt Flo the entire time I was in the Company and she never knew it. If she had, and she only figured it out once, she nailed me and gave me the yelling of my life. Worst fight we ever had. After that I convinced her to take piano lessons. Martin La Crosse was one of the best French operatives we had until he got hurt, but he played one mean piano."
Matt was stunned and stopped drinking his coffee and asked, "So Aunt Flo taking those lessons was all just to keep her safe. I remember she loved the lessons and showing off to me and Daddy when all three of ya'll would come visit."
Roy nodded his head, "Yep, and I loved watching her eyes light up every time she did." Matt was sure he saw a tear from as his uncle got up to excuse himself for a minute when C.J. came back in the room.
She asked, "What's wrong with Uncle Roy?"
Matt took her hand as she stepped down on the couch and said, "We were just talking about Aunt Flo for a minute. He still really misses her."
C.J. nodded her head and said, "I'm sure he does. At least he has gotten out in the dating scene and Lucy seems to make him happy enough. He's been through a lot though."
"He sure has and I agree that Lucy has brought some joy back in his life." He looked over at C.J. and then said, "Maybe we should send them on a little vacation after this case is over, what do you think?"
She nodded her head and leaned over to kiss him when she said, "I think that's a great idea, Matt. I remember your Aunt Flo and I know she would want him to be happy."
He put his arms around her and held her for a second before seeing Roy come back in and sit down. They discussed the case and the new plan to interview people. C.J. told them about needing to meet with the lawyer at the coffee shop at the end of the block and Matt told her that he and Roy would be back soon and they could interview the station managers together. She agreed and when they got down to the parking garage holding hands, Matt turned her to face him and kissed her before they parted ways each telling the other to be careful.
Matt and Roy drove past her and Matt honked as she waved back to him as she walked on the sidewalk. She quickly made her way to the coffee shop and stepped inside looking for the lawyer she had met only once. She didn't see her, but instead saw Roy Turner.
Turner walked up to her and said, "My, my, my it has been a long time. I see time's been good to you."
C.J. tensed up and tried to look as though he didn't phase her and that she was looking for someone. She told him, "I'm not here to see you Turner, I'm here to meet with someone. So if you don't mind..."
Turner then made sure he was making eye contact with her when he said, "Oh but I do mind. I thought we needed to have a little a talk. That little blond won't be joining us today. We need to clear the air."
He motioned over to a table with two chairs. She didn't want anything to do with him, but figured this might be the best way to gage his true intensions so she went to the table. After all this was a public place and he would have to be plumb crazy to try something here.
"So what exactly is it you wanted to say, to clear the air?" she asked.
He took a sip of his coffee and asked, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? I guess you were huh. I must have scared you good since you went to all that trouble to keep me in jail. You and that Bailey guy were there to get me out last year, not keep me in!" He slammed his fist on the table and had raised his voice before then calming down. "I just wanted to make sure you remembered that."
He kept drinking his coffee as a waitress approached and asked C.J. if she wanted a cup to which she said, "No thank you" as she smiled to the waitress.
She then told Turner, "I think our meeting is over," as she started to get up.
He grabbed her arm and told her, "I'm not finished though." Then he smiled and asked, "Did you like my flowers?"
She jerked her arm back and sat down and told him, "I don't need any flowers from someone like you. Now you go your way and I'll go mine..."
He interrupted and said, "Well you definitely are a pretty little thing now aren't you, and feisty...I like that. I bet you take care of that body of yours real well. Go out jogging much? You like parks?"
She swallowed hard and tried to appear that nothing he said phased her, "That is none of your business. Now I'm going to tell you this only once. Do not attempt to contact me again. If I see or hear from you, I'll file a TRO against you. Do you know what that means? No? Well, I'll tell you. It means you'll go back to jail. I make myself clear?"
He looked at her, his eyes hard and cold as he told her, "You'll die before you put me back in that stinking prison."
She got up and told him, "You've been warned." She heard him pound his fist on the table again but kept walking out of the coffee shop.
When Matt had called to talk to Hoyt earlier he was told that the Lt. was out in the field on a case working and that he would get the message when he got back.
He and Roy pulled up to Woodland Memorial and quickly enough found their way to Peterson's hospital room. In fact, in only 2 more days, he was scheduled to be released. They entered the room as he was watching something on tv and flirting with the nurse taking his pulse, "You know you won't get an accurate reading, just looking at you makes my heart race."
Matt and Roy looked at each other and Roy said, "I hope he's got more pick up lines in his arsenal than that." Matt chuckled at that and they nodded to the nurse as she left.
Matt asked him, "Are you Nick Peterson?"
Nick answered, "Yeah, and who wants to know? You a friend of that crazy lunatic father of that stupid blond. Cause if you are I'm gonna call the police."
Hoyt walked up behind Matt and Roy at that point and said, "No need, we're already here."
Matt and Roy looked back at him surprised. Matt asked, "What are you doing here?"
Hoyt looked irritated and answered, "I'm doing my job. Harmago finally came through." Then he walked past the two men and handed Nick a legal document. "This is a search warrant Mr. Peterson. We will be looking through all your belongings here. Since I can't ask you to leave the premises, I'll ask you to remain quiet as we do our job."
Nick threw down the document and shouted, "What the...what gives you the right to come in here and go through all my stuff. You're supposed to be going after that animal that put me in here."
Hoyt walked back over and told him rather loudly, "If you read that document there, you'd know why we have the right to do this. It appears one Ms. Laci Summers had her apartment broken into and she thinks you did it. Someone claims to have seen you limping around her complex last night. We also heard you had to have your IV put back in because you lost it somehow after visiting hours and no nurse remembers checking in on you. She called it in, reported it and that's why we're here. Oh and a judge thought we had the right..."
Matt and Roy looked at each other in surprise and Roy leaned over, "We should probably get a hold of Ms. Summers and ask her and then explain we need to know if there is a new development. I'll run over to their apartment before I go see Mr. Witman." Matt nodded.
He was about to say something and Hoyt was about to explain more to Nick when one of the officers with gloves on called him over to Nick's bag. Hoyt came back with a locket and asked Nick, "So I guess you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for this?"
Nick looked at it and said, "I have no idea where that came from or what it is, other than someone's necklace. Maybe it's Amanda's, she came to visit last night."
Hoyt informed him, "Its Laci Summer's necklace and its one of the items reported missing. Mr. Peterson I am obligated to inform you that you have the right to remain silent..." Hoyt continued as Matt and Roy stepped out into the hallway.
Roy spoke up, "So much for our interview."
Matt looked puzzled and then said, "This just seems all too neat here." He scratched the back of his neck.
Roy asked, "What are you thinking?"
Matt looked at him as the officer pulled a chair to sit outside Nick's room, meaning he was basically under arrest. He said, "I don't know Uncle Roy. It just seems like Nick makes the perfect fall guy. I think he really was stalking Laci, but what motive would he have to try to sabotage the wedding? He probably still thinks they're married, unless Laci told him otherwise. I thought maybe he wasn't a rational guy necessarily and I could see him calling just to harass her that's easy enough to do from a hospital bed, but this latest development...I mean the guy is in the hospital and I know he's recovering, but if it were me, I'd wait to break into her apartment." Matt shook his head, "No, I think its being set up to make it look like he's the guilty party."
Roy agreed and said, "You're right and it does seem too easy and I'm guessing the Amanda he was referring to is Amanda Calemon. That either means its set up well or that's just what happened. Sometimes we can over think things when we shouldn't be. Some criminals just aren't that smart and we give them too much credit and can waste time looking for something that isn't there."
Matt nodded but then said, "I know, but that's not what I think we're doing here. I don't think he's guilty. I think he's being framed by the person running this, maybe by Calemon. The object she took out of Peterson's apartment could very well have been that necklace and she could have slipped out his IV after he fell asleep." Then Matt took a deep breath and told him, "I still need to talk to Hoyt about the bodies discovered in the park this morning and how this might relate to the case. That's another thing, he didn't look to me like he was physically able to overpower anyone right now, let alone a couple, but I'm not sure Calemon could either."
Hoyt came out about 10 minutes later and looked at the two, holding up his hand saying, "I don't want to hear it right now...I've got enough on my plate without you adding to it Houston."
Matt and Roy started walking with Hoyt and Matt told him, "I'm sorry about that Hoyt, but I think we need to sit down and have a talk."
Hoyt looked at him and said, "Why?...No wait a minute, I don't want to know why...I want to go back to my office, file my report and then go home tonight at a decent time for once. I've got my hands full with this serial killer case and the mayor calling my office every ten minutes for an update."
Matt then stopped him by gently grabbing his arm and told him about the case in the park that Hoyt was only vaguely aware of. He agreed with Matt that he didn't think Nick could have committed that crime and he got the same feeling in the pit of his stomach that Matt had when he found out the spa was also tied to Laci and Blaze. Hoyt's last words to Matt were, "Let's hope whoever our serial killer is, he slips up before killing so many he does gain the fame he seems to be looking for and that the happy couple don't get caught in the crossfire."