Chapter 22
"Well Lynn I have some bad news for you. We're going to charge you with the murder of Tim Watkins, three counts of accessory to attempted murder, two counts of breaking and entering, and one count of extortion. You're in one hell of a hole," Charlie told the woman seated at the interrogation room table as he entered the room. Mika was right behind him and so was Rex.
"I want what you've been smoking," Lynn said.
"It gets worse because you're a lock for these crimes. See we have you on tape, we have witness statements, and… what was that other thing Detective Parsons?" Charlie asked as he took a seat across from the suspect. Rex curled up on the floor; positioned so that he could keep an eye on the suspect.
"The dead guy's laptop," Mika spoke up as she took a seat next to him.
"Oh yeah. We found that in your apartment with your fingerprints on it. Our techs were able to stop the program you started that was wiping the hard drive. They're sifting through it now, but even if we don't find any files, it has your prints and the serial numbers match the manufacturer's records stating it belonged to Tim Watkins," Charlie smirked.
"So, we're going to start simple. Why did you put those photos in Danny Bauman's apartment? Why did you convince Danny that Tim Watkins had those photos?" Mika wanted to know.
"I didn't put any photos in Danny's apartment," Lynn said.
"Wrong. See we know that you had William Blanchard mail that envelope. Then we have you on tape entering Danny Bauman's apartment building. Somehow that envelope ended up in Danny's apartment, buried in a footlocker," Charlie shook his head.
"I was going to see a friend," Lynn argued.
"Wrong again. We talked to every tenant in that building. None of them would admit that they knew you," Mika said. Lynn started fiddling with her sleeves.
"It gets worse because we have you on camera entering the building the next day with a duffle. The same duffle that we found in Danny's apartment. The bag contained gun powder residue. Our guess is that it's from your dad's missing shotgun. See Danny doesn't have a shotgun and isn't registered to have one. His handgun is registered and it had a lock box, so he wouldn't put it in a duffle," Charlie continued.
"You knew Danny went through hell. Why would you do that?" Mika asked. Now Lynn had her hand near her mouth and her sleeve cuff was in her mouth.
"See the truth is Lynn, we don't think you did this on your own. There are a lot of moving parts and we can't find a reason why you'd want your own therapist dead. Wasn't he helping you?" Charlie didn't give her time to answer. If it was possible, Lynn was trying to swallow her sweater while still wearing it.
"Lynn, you have to give us something here or you're going down for the whole thing all by yourself. Life in prison," Mika tried to soften a little bit. She watched as Rex got up and put his head on Lynn's lap. Usually a good judge of character, Rex's move made Charlie look over Lynn a little bit more. He leaned over and whispered to Mika. She nodded and Charlie quickly exited the room.
"We need a psychiatric center doctor. I think I know what is going on with Lynn, but we need a doctor to confirm or tell us different," Charlie told his boss once he entered the viewing room.
"I'll make a call. What do you think it is?" Joe was curious.
"It's called Pica. It's when someone tries or even successfully eats things that aren't food. It can be caused by lots of different things but one of them is abuse. The eating is a coping mechanism," the detective explained. Joe raised an eyebrow.
"I was helping Sarah study," Charlie said rather sheepishly. Joe chuckled, pulled out his phone and made a call.
To Be Continued…