LIES OF THE PHOENIX (A Lieutenant Cassidy Mystery Book 1) (2 page)

“We’ve run the decedent’s finger prints through the system, but there were no matches,” Cassidy said. “We also ran facial recognition on him in our state system, but there were no hits. He’s not a local career criminal. Do you recall ever seeing this man before? At work? Out shopping? Walking on your street?”

Jordan answered for both of them. “No, we’ve never seen him before.”

Sarah hadn’t really looked at the face of the body lying on her living room floor. In fact, the police had shown up while she was still on the phone with the 911 operator. The police escorted her out of the room where the body was located so she never took a close look at the dead man’s face. She cleared her throat to get Cassidy’s attention and added, “I don’t think I’ve seen him before, but I really didn’t look very closely.”

Detective Cassidy directed his attention to Sarah. “Thank you, Mrs. Lawrence,” he said with a smile and then continued, “There’s a couple off unusual things here. This intruder was in his early 40’s, dressed better than most criminals —expensive shoes, trousers and shirt. He doesn’t look like the typical house burglar we see.”

“What does that mean?” Sarah asked.

Just then Jordan squeezed her hand under the table as if messaging her to stop talking. She wasn’t sure why. Confused, she retreated into silence.

Cassidy continued to focus on Sarah and saw the confusion on her face. He studied her reactions intently as he provided additional information. “Your car was in your garage; lights were going on and off in the house before you went to bed. It’s likely this intruder knew you were home when he entered the house. This was a high risk break-in. Not very appealing to the average house thief.”

He watched her response carefully as he continued. “The back door lock was carefully picked, not kicked in, no windows broken. Implies a higher skill set than we usually see with neighborhood burglaries perpetrated by the usual array of drug addicts, gang members, and local thugs.”

Sarah looked puzzled and turned to Jordan, but he said nothing and just listened to Cassidy with a blank expression. The lack of any response from Jordan was not lost on Cassidy.

Cassidy addressed his next comments to Jordan, “That gun had the serial numbers drilled off to make it untraceable.” Cassidy paused, but Jordan said nothing. Cassidy continued looking for something that would hit a cord with Jordan, “Any idea as to what this guy was looking for?”

Jordan immediately answered, “No idea. We’re newlyweds. We don’t have any art treasures and we don’t keep large amounts of cash in the house that would attract a thief. Maybe he confused our house with someone else’s.”

“Possibly,” Cassidy said as he leaned back in his chair. “But Mrs. Lawrence’s purse was sitting right on the desk with a wallet full of cash and credit cards and he didn’t touch it. There was also an electronic tablet sitting on the coffee table that he ignored. Easy pickings for a house thief who usually likes to get in and out as quickly as possible—particularly if there are people in the house. Instead, our dead suspect went to a desk drawer first. Seems like he had something specific in mind and you stopped him before he found it.”

“Look, we don’t know who this guy is, and we don’t have any idea why he broke into our house,” Jordan made no effort to hid his exasperation with Cassidy’s detailed inquiry.

Sarah was surprised by Jordan’s rising impatience. He was always so calm and controlled. Nothing ever seemed to ruffle him.
He’s upset about the shooting. Who wouldn’t be?
she reasoned.

Cassidy did not miss the quickness of Jordan’s response and the irritation in his voice. He was hiding something. He redirected his attention to Sarah, “Do you have any idea as to what this man was looking for?”

Jordan moved closer to Sarah. Cassidy could tell that Jordan was not happy with his questioning of Sarah.

“No. We don’t have anything of great value. I have to agree with my husband,” Sarah answered.

She had the sense that Cassidy thought they were holding something back. Then she decided she was just being overly sensitive. Cassidy needed to investigate every angle of the case so as not to miss an important detail. She waited for the next question, but it did not come.

“Alright, I think we are done here for now,” Cassidy said. “Our investigation team should be finished with things in a day or two. Unfortunately until then, this place is still a crime scene. Do you two have somewhere you can stay tonight?”

Before Sarah could even think about where they might stay, Jordan replied, “We’ll stay at a hotel tonight. Are we free to leave?”

“Yes, I think we have what we need for now. Just leave your contact information with one of the officers.” He handed both Jordan and Sarah a business card, but looked directly at Sarah. “Call me if you remember anything else that you think is important.” Sarah placed the card in her purse, but Jordan left his sitting on the dining room table.

Sarah was about to thank Lieutenant Cassidy when Jordan took her by the hand and guided her to the stairs leading to their bedroom, “We need to get dressed and pack some things so we can leave.”

Cassidy watched as they went up the stairs. His detective senses were prickling.
There is something not right about that guy.
Just then a member of the investigation team approached.

“The field officer from the Medical Examiner’s office mentioned that she did not find any bruises or abrasions on the body. She’ll confirm that at the time of autopsy, but she wanted you to know.”

“Interesting,” Cassidy replied. His brain was processing everything he had seen and heard in the investigation so far. “The dead suspect never got past the first floor, but I’d like the team to do a search of the whole house. Just to see if anything unusual turns up. Keep it neat, though.”

“O.K., Lieutenant. We’ll go over the upstairs as soon as soon as we finish down here. The Lawrences are packing up to leave, so they won’t be in the way.”

“Good,” replied Lieutenant Cassidy.

* * * * *

Jordan and Sarah went to their bedroom to dress and pack overnight bags for a stay at a hotel. Jordan was very quiet. Sarah was worried about him.

“Jordan, are you O.K? We should talk about this. You can’t keep everything inside,” she said.

“What? Oh, I’m O.K. Don’t worry. I’d just like to get out of here. A quiet night at a hotel will be good for both of us after all this.” Jordan had a small overnight bag open on the bed. “Say, could you look in the spare bedroom and see if my computer bag is in there?”

“Sure, but do you really think you need your computer?”

“I guess it’s just habit. I’ll feel better if I have it with me even if I don’t use it.”

Sarah went to the spare bedroom to look for the computer bag, but it was not there. When she returned to their bedroom Jordan had already packed and his computer bag was sitting on the bed.

He saw the surprised look on her face and said, “Oh, I found it next to the bed. Sorry, Honey.” He zipped his bag and set it on the floor. “Hurry up with your packing so we can get out of here. I want to get you away from this place as soon as possible.” He gave her a quick hug and kissed her on the forehead. He then nudged her toward her overnight bag that was sitting empty on the bed.

Sarah dressed and packed the few things she thought she would need. When everything was ready, Jordan picked up their bags and headed downstairs.

She started to follow, but then hesitated and called to Jordan, “I think I want to take a different sweater. I’ll be right down.”

Jordan was almost at the bottom of the staircase. Without turning he said, “O.K. I’m going to take these out to the car. That is, if the police aren’t crawling all over that too.”

He walked through the living room and into the kitchen. The backdoor to the townhouse was located off the kitchen. It led to a small yard and then to the garage that opened into an alley. The forensics team was still working on the immediate crime scene in the living room. As Jordan passed a broom closet next to the backdoor he quietly opened it and removed a brown paper bag from behind the brooms and mops in the closet. He slid the bag and its contents into his computer case and continued out to the garage.

Sarah went back into the bedroom and took a light sweater from the closet. As she started to leave, she stopped in front of Jordan’s dresser. She looked at it for a moment undecided, then quietly opened the top drawer and ran her hand under the clothes expecting to find the ammunition clip. There was nothing there. She did a quick search of the other drawers in the dresser. The ammo clip was gone. She closed the last drawer and hurried downstairs. Jordan had already loaded their bags into the car. He was waiting impatiently for her at the backdoor.

They left in Jordan’s car and checked into hotel a few miles away from their townhouse. After they were settled in to their room, Sarah sat down next to Jordan on the bed. He already had his laptop up and running and was concentrating on his screen.

“I need to ask you about something. Something to do with what happened at the townhouse,” she said.

“O.K., Love. I was hoping we could just put things out of our minds for a while. What is it that you want to talk about?”

Sarah smiled. He sounded more like his old self. “I know that this whole mess has been awful for you—I mean, shooting that man in our house and everything. But I heard you tell the police that the gun belonged to the intruder. I need to ask you—is that really true?”

Jordan looked up from his computer, “And why would you ask that?”

“I heard you take something out of your dresser last night before you went downstairs.”

“I did take something out of that drawer. It was a flashlight. Never used it, though. Didn’t you see it sitting on the table downstairs when we were talking to the police? Anything else bothering you, Love?”

Sarah couldn’t remember if there was a flashlight on the table or not. She was relieved to hear Jordan’s explanation. She was hesitant to bring up anything else, but she wanted to clear the air so they could get back to normal. “I, uh, didn’t hear you say anything to that man. I didn’t even hear any sounds of a fight.”

Jordan smiled at her and gave her a hug, “I think your imagination is working overtime and the stress of today is not allowing you to think straight. That whole confrontation lasted less than minute. You were on the phone talking with the 911 operator and things were happening pretty fast. Are you really sure about what you did or didn’t hear?”

Sarah thought about what he was saying. He was right. She was groggy from sleep and things were happening lightning fast. The 911 operator was asking her questions. Maybe she didn’t remember everything as it actually happened.

“You were sitting on the bed on the far side of the room away from the door.”—He hesitated a minute to let what he was saying sink in—“You heard the lamp break, right? That happened when I made a grab for his gun.”

She did hear the lamp break.
Maybe I was so distracted with the 911 call I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on
, she thought. This was her husband talking, and she should trust him.

Jordan put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “What you should be thinking about is how lucky we are. An armed robber broke into our house. We are both safe, and that guy got what he deserved. Whether you remember all the details doesn’t matter. He was a criminal and I took him out before he had time to hurt one of us. I would do it all again to protect you.”

Jordan was right. He risked his life to make sure she was safe. He could have been killed! Here she was trying to pick apart his version of the facts—and for what? None of it would change the fact that someone broke into their house, went through their personal things, and threatened her husband’s life with a gun.

She didn’t care about the ammunition clip anymore. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want him to know she went through his personal things or that she ever doubted him. All she wanted was to put this day behind her as soon as possible and for them to get back to their lives.

She surrendered to his logic and gave him a kiss. “You’re right. We are the victims here. Forget everything I said, my brain is running in circles. I love you. Let’s not think about this anymore right now.”

“That’s my girl.” He looked at his watch. It was just past 11:00 a.m. Why don’t we go out for something to eat and see if we can get back to normal? I know just the place. It’s a little early, but I think they should be open for lunch.”

Sarah put on a light sweater and they left the hotel. A misty drizzle had started to fall.

Jordan wound his way through the streets and they arrived at a small Italian restaurant that Sarah remembered well. It was where he had taken her on their first real date.
Always the romantic,
she thought. But that was one of the things she loved about him.

Jordan stopped in front of the restaurant and said, “No use both of us getting wet. You go ahead in while I find a place to park. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”

Sarah hopped out of the car. “I’ll get us a table.” She walked into the restaurant and was feeling better already. This was just what they needed to take their minds off last night.

Jordan drove around the corner looking for a parking spot and found street parking a short walk from the restaurant. Before exiting the car he reached under the front seat and pulled out the brown paper bag that he had removed from the broom closet at the townhouse. He had placed it under the seat when he carried the overnight bags to the car. He wrapped the bag tightly around its contents and then shoved it into the waistband of his pants. He pulled his shirt over the bulge and got out of the car.