Marcie's Murder (46 page)

“This is
definitely
irregular
.
What’s your name again
?”

“Detective
Clarence
Muncy from the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office.” Muncy
tapped the badge pinned to the wallet draped over the breast pocket of his jacket
. “Detective Stainer and Lieutenant Donaghue have been assisting in the investigation of the homicide of Marcie Askew,
but right now I’m going to be asking the questions. You can answer them here or we can go to Tazewell and you can answer them there
in private
. Your choice.”

“I’ve got nothing to hide,” Morris sa
id.

“Since you’re teaching criminology,” Muncy went on, “you should be aware of your Miranda rights
, but how about if
I
remind you of
them
now
?”

Morris laughed.

Muncy recited Morris’s rights.
“
Now, a
m I to understand you’re waiving
these
rights and will answer questions here and now, or shall I place you under arrest and transport you to Tazewell where you’ll answer them there?”

“
This is bizarre.” He looked around the class. “I hope you’re all taking notes. There’s an important dividing line between custodial and non-custodial questioning, and
it
’ll be on the final exam. Pay close attention.”

“I think this should be done in Tazewell,” Muncy said, standing up.

“You might be right,” Hank said, sliding off the table and putting his notebook away, ready to assist.

“Don’t be stupid,” Morris said, waving at them
with a superior expression on his face
. “I’ll answer your questions.
I knew Marcie. That’s about it. We may have spoken once or twice in the halls.” He looked
at Rachel Meese, standing against the wall next to Karen
. “I’m not sure what Rachel thinks she knows, but
she’s
obviously
confused about things
.” He rubbed the side of his nose
and yawned
.

“Did you ever meet with Mrs. Askew late at night in a public place?” Muncy asked.

“No, of course not.
”

“We have eyewitnesses who tell us different.”

“They’re mistaken.”
He looked again in the direction of Rachel Meese.

“About recognizing a former
c
hief of
p
olice
in a community this small?
” Hank scoffed. “Not a chance. And no, Miss Meese is not the eyewitness.”

Karen stirred.
“Did Dr. Morley,
your other squeeze,
find out you were bonking Mrs. Askew?
Did she go ballistic on you? Threaten to reduce the competition?”

“Good lord,” Morris said
, looking around until he found Cynthia Witherspoon
. “
D
on’t you think this has gone too far?”

Witherspoon chewed her lower lip. “I don’t know what to think right now, David.”

“Answer Detective Stainer’s question, Professor Morris,” Muncy said
, sitting down again
. “Did Dr. Morley find out you were having an affair with Mrs. Askew?”

“Who says I was having an affair with Mrs. Askew?”

“Were you?”

“It’s completely ridiculous.”

“Are you having an affair with Dr. Morley?”

“That’s personal and private and none of anyone’s business.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Muncy said. “Were you at Gerry’s
B
ar on the night of Saturday, September 1
7
, between eleven and midnight?”

“I might have been.”

“You were,” Hank said
.
“I saw you there. You arrived at 11:25
 
p.m.
, drank a beer
,
and stepped outside for a smoke at 11:35
 
p.m
.
Y
ou were taking out your pack of cigarettes as you walked to the door.”

“If you say so,” Morris said dismissively.

“I say so.” Hank
shoved his hands in his pockets. “You stepped outside for a cigarette and didn’t come back in. Why’d you leave?”

“To go home. I went to bed. I was tired.”

“What size shoe
s
do you wear?”

Morris rolled his eyes. “Eleven. Why?”

Muncy cleared his throat. “We found size
eleven shoe prints leading from the spot where Mrs. Askew was murdered down to the spot in the ravine where her body was dumped. Care to comment on that?”

“No.
Do
you
have
any idea how many people wear size eleven shoes?”

“Would you be willing to provide us with the shoes you wore Saturday night to Gerry’s?”

“Not without a warrant, I wouldn’t.”

“Dr. Morley,” Karen said suddenly,
stepping toward the front of the classroom
where Jane Morley sat with her hand in front of her mouth
,
“the victim, Marcie Askew, was manually strangled. That’s a very violent, brutal act.
The killer had both hands around her throat and he squeezed hard enough to crush
her
larynx. There was enough light
back there
for him to watch her die. To see the life empty out of her eyes.
The autopsy
also
show
ed
that Mrs. Askew
had a series of injuries dating back more than six months
that correspond to a pattern of physical abuse
.
A broken wrist, a separated shoulder, a cracked jaw
,
loose teeth. Did David Morris ever hit you? Has he been physically abusive during your affair?”

Morley stared at Morris, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Oh Jane,” Brogan said from the back of the room. “Oh, no.”

Rachel Meese began to sob.

“Did you break Mrs. Askew’s
wrist, Morris?” Muncy demanded.

“Did you ask her husband that question?” Morris retorted. “Everyone knows what kind of temper he’s got.”

“He denies it,” Muncy said, “and the funny thing is, I believe him.”

“You shouldn’t,’ Morris scoffed. “You’ve got him in custody
already
. You’re wasting your time talking to
me;
you should be practicing your interrogation skills on him. God knows they need improvement.”

“Did you know Marcie was pregnant?” Karen interjected.
“And that she wanted to have the baby even though it was a huge risk to her life? Did you know that her husband was sterile
,
and it’d be obvious someone else was the
father
? Did you
go to the bar Saturday night because she wanted to talk to you about it? Did you figure out she was going to
refuse to abort it? Did you
find her at
the back of the bar
? Did you
argue with her,
lose
your temper, shut her up with your hands around her throat, then just
ke
ep
on going because it felt so good? Is that how you got those scratches? From her trying to pry your hands away from her neck? Are we gonna find your DNA under her fingernails?”

“You bastard!” Morley shouted, launching herself at Morris.

Hank intercepted her and
pushed
her back against the projection screen. Cynthia Witherspoon and Colleen Richardson materialized beside him, trying to calm
her down.
Behind
him
,
everyone seemed to be
on their feet and
talking at once.
Hank turned around to see what was happening.

“Leave him alone!” Rachel shouted
at Karen
. “Stop trying to trap him!”

Adamson
shouldered his way up
to Muncy. “Back off Professor Morris right now! Just back off and leave him alone!”

“Stand aside, kid,” Muncy warned
.

Adamson put his hands out, as though to shove Muncy aside.

“Don’t do it,” Muncy growled
, putting his hand on the butt of his gun
.

Branham stepped forward to block
an
other male student from join
ing
Adamson.

“You’re just being mean and vindictive!” Rachel
protested
. “
David’s
wonderful. He loves me and we’re going away together after I graduate to start a new life away from this hole!”

“Rachel,” Karen said, putting a hand on her arm, “calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! He loves me and I won’t
put up with
you slandering him like this!”

“Oh, shut up, you stupid child!” Morley shouted
across the room
.

“Quiet,” Hank growled at her.

“Leave him alone
!
” Adamson ordered Muncy.

“Lou!” Karen shouted. “Do you have a twenty on Morris?”

Hank swung around. Morris was no longer
in sight
. Hank spent a few precious seconds hunting for him among the milling bodies in the classroom before spotting the open classroom door. He caught Karen’s eye and pointed with his chin.

She nodd
ed and turned away from Rachel.

“Muncy! Your suspect’s in the wind!”

32

They wasted time looking for Morris on campus, rushing to his office, which was unoccupied, searching classrooms, lounges, the food court
,
and gymnasium
.
Officers Brooks and Louden
, accompanied by
Ansell
Hall,
arrived and joined in the search, followed about fifteen minutes later by
two
Tazewell
d
eputies. Karen doubled back to the classroom to ask Rachel where Morris might have gone
and found
that she, too, had vanished.
S
tudents
loitered
in the hallway, chattering among themselves
and
texting the juicy news
to friends
.
Adamson made a brief attempt to interfere with
Karen’s
forward progress,
thumping the butt of his palm into her shoulder,
but a brief
martial arts
thumb
-bending thing convinced him that Karen’s mood would only get worse if he persisted in being stupid.

No one
seemed to know
where Rachel had gone.
For the most part
, they probably wouldn’t
tell her
even if they
knew
.
It reminded her once more of the significant gap between students taking law enforcement courses and police officers enforcing the law. These kids clearly had a lot of ground to cover before making it to the other side.

She headed for the parking lot behind the building and found Hank circling
around from
the north side, having had the same idea. Rachel’s smart car was nowhere
to be seen
. Instead, they discovered Jane Morley hurrying across the lot
toward her own
vehicle
. They caught her just as she unlock
ed
the
door and
threw
her purse onto the passenger seat. Karen tugged her
back
while Hank closed the door with his hip.

“Where is he?” Karen
held the sleeve of Morley’s jacket with terrier-like tenacity as Morley tried to
pull
away. “You called him, didn’t you?”

“Let me go! Let me go or I’ll sue you!”

Karen laughed.
“You’ll what?”

The posse approached, threading their way through the parked cars. “Dr. Morley!” Muncy called out, “stay where you are! Stainer, don’t let her go!”

For a beefy guy, Muncy had good wind. When he reached them
,
his breathing was
more or less
normal
. H
e narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. “Where is he, Dr. Morley? Where’d he go?”

Muncy’s deputies bracketed her meaningfully as Karen let go and moved to one side.