All the Deadly Lies Page 25

  “No. I’ll take it.”

  Louie looked at his younger son, who remained silent through the whole meal. “What’s up, Carmen?”

  “Nothing, Dad,” he said as he sulked.

  What is wrong with all of them tonight, Louie wondered. “Got a problem?”

  “Do I have to go to school every day?”

  “It’s the law,” Louie said.

  “Well, it sucks.” Carmen tapped his fork on the table.

  “What happened?” Louie lay his hand over Carmen’s to stop the noise.

  “Greg took my lunch again. If I were two feet taller, I would’ve smashed him right in his face.”

  Louie hid his feelings. There would always be bullies in the world. Carmen, the runt of the litter, would have to fight his way through life. “Carmen, you have to tell the teacher, or I will. This has been going on way too long now.”

  “Dad, it would make it worse.”

  “I’ll swing by the school tomorrow and walk Carmen home,” LJ offered.

  “You’re too old to get involved, LJ,” Louie said.

  “I’m only going to talk to Greg. I promise, nothing more.”

  Louie left it there. He knew LJ would use discretion when he spoke with the kid. After dinner, he helped Sophia clean up then settled in the living room where they sat to enjoy their coffee and quiet as all the kids raced to their rooms to call friends under the pretense of doing homework.

  “It’s been a tough couple of weeks, Louie,” Sophia said.

  “Yeah, it has. Sorry for missing so many dinners.” He smiled at her as he took her hand in his.

  “It’s part of the package. But I missed you, as did the children.”

  “Since when did Marisa become such a wise guy?”

  “Since always, but you used to think it was cute.”

  “Well, someday someone’s going to take exception to her comments.”

  “She’s joking. What’s bothering you?”

  “I guess I’m frustrated with the cases. Jake’s frustrated with the cases. Plus, there’s a chance Spaulding might get out. So much evidence came in this week on the Wagner murder, but it still doesn’t point to any one person. This case is ripping Jake apart. Last week, I walked into his office… Lord, he had tears running down his face…”

  “What did he say?” Sophia asked.

  “He said to leave it be. He wouldn’t talk about it.”

  “You’re not his guardian angel, Louie. This is his baggage, not yours. He’s the one who has to deal with it.”

  “It’s a good thing the other guys didn’t see it.”

  “Yeah, God forbid he showed any emotions. Like it would kill his authority,” she said sarcastically.

  “I feel helpless. It’s like sitting on pins and needles waiting for the prison system to submit George Spaulding’s DNA results. I’m afraid what it will do to Jake if they don’t match the ones from Eva’s scene. On an up-note, it looks like things are going good with Mia. He went to dinner at her place on Saturday and didn’t get home until this morning,” Louie said.

  “You told me this earlier, remember? It’s still awesome.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “I see you have your file folders out. Working tonight?”

  “If you don’t mind, I want to spend an hour or two on it.” He knew his wife, so he asked instead of telling her—and got the results he hoped for.

  “It’s not a problem.” She picked up a book and started reading.

  He opened the file on his lap and began reviewing everything in it for the hundredth time.

  Chapter 26

  Jake’s neck ached. He’d been buried in the Wagner file for hours. Standing, he stretched, reached for the ceiling, and then walked from the kitchen to the living room and back again. He was a little restless and a lot lonely. It amazed him that in such a short time how his feelings for Mia had grown. Him—a “love ’em and leave ’em” kind of guy. The thought brought a smile to his face. Normally, he cherished his time alone when in a relationship. A loner, he hated to have his privacy invaded. That was before Mia came into his life. He used to be able to spend hours on his files, dissecting them without interruptions or complaints. Now all he wanted was Mia to be there, to talk to her, joke with her, and most of all, make love to her. Shaking his head, he laughed. He decided to dig into his files to keep his mind occupied.

  * * * *

  Tuesday morning proved to be busier than Monday. Another trip to Judge Eisenberg’s chambers had them waiting over forty-five minutes before he called them in.

  “What’s up now, Jake?” Eisenberg asked.

  “I need some search warrants on the Wagner case.”

  “What are you searching for?”

  “The diary we told you about yesterday.”

  “Where are you going to look for it?” Eisenberg asked.

  “I need warrants for the Wagner’s house, Meryl Drake’s house, Mark Cavilla’s house, and their cars,” Jake said.

  “What’s your probable cause?”

  “I read her old diaries last night. They explain her relationships with Chloe, Meryl Drake, and Mark Cavilla. They weren’t always flattering. Chloe Wagner called me last night.”

  Eisenberg interrupted. “I thought you had a restraining order on her? Doesn’t it also include contact on your personal phones?”

  “Yes, it does. She called because Cavilla called her last night, after months of no contact and asked about her arrest and if there was any new evidence. He also asked if she knew the reason for the new interviews.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Chloe Wagner, when asked, had no qualms about telling us about the diaries, and where they were kept. She even offered the old ones, stored at her parents’ house. She gave them up without a warrant.”

  “If that’s the case, why get a warrant for her house?”

  Jake talked himself down. He needed to remain calm, lay out his logic. “Maybe she held back on the last one. We need to be sure. Your Honor, the violence in this crime suggests a crime of passion. Both Drake and Cavilla were Shanna Wagner’s lovers. We feel the recent evidence, and new information, warrants a second look.”

  “Relax, Jake. I want to make sure it’s not another goose chase. You have your probable cause, get it done.” Eisenberg issued the warrants.

  Outside the courthouse, Louie asked, “Are we taking a team with us?”

  “Yes, but I want a few minutes to explain to the Wagners, including Chloe, why we got a warrant this time.” Jake looked at Louie, noting his frown. “She turned the other diaries over without a warrant.”

  Louie nodded.

  “Are you leaning toward her for this?”

  “What if she’s the guilty one?” Louie asked.

  “Louie, we’ll be talking to her at the house. I’m not giving her advance warning. Besides my gut tells me she’s not the one.”

  “Well, Jake, didn’t your gut tell you last week she was the one?”

  “No.” With Louie he could be honest.

  “No? Then why’d we detain her?”

  “Last week she crossed a line when she went after Mia. What would you have done if she’d gone after Sophia?” Jake asked, staring at Louie.

  “The same thing.” Louie patted Jake’s shoulder.

  “Let’s go set up our teams for Drake and Cavilla’s houses. I want to take the Wagners first to eliminate them.”

  “I’ll review today’s roster, see who’s on,” Louie said.

  “I’ll update the captain while you’re at it. Meet me in my office in twenty minutes.”

  Louie nodded as they parted ways.

  Jake chose his team, consisting of three uniformed officers—Burrows, Sherman, and Jones. He briefed them and showed them the diaries he confiscated yesterday to give them an idea of what
they were looking for. Officer Jones hid a smile as she coughed into her hand.

  “Is something amusing, Officer Jones?” Jake asked.

  “No, sir,” she replied, coming to attention.

  “It’s going to be a long day. We’re not going to stop until we find the diary. Pick up lunch on your way to your first assignment. We’ll eat on the road on our way to the second house. Sergeant Romanelli or I will give you a call when we’re on our way. Questions?” Jake looked around.

  In unison he got, “No, sir.”

  “Great, we’ll see you in an hour or so.”

  Officer Jones hung back. “Sorry, sir, for the smirk.”

  “What’s so funny?”

  “The diary, sir, and you having to explain what it was.” She flashed him a big, toothy grin.

  “Most men, Officer Jones, don’t have a clue a woman keeps them.”

  “I know.” She continued to grin as she turned, and left his office. He laughed at her back.

  Jake had called the Wagners, and was surprised to find Chloe home from work. He told them he needed to speak with them about the diaries, offering no other explanation.

  “Lieutenant?” Mr. Wagner opened the door before Jake had the chance to knock.

  “Can we come in?”

  “Yes. Anna’s at a doctor’s appointment. I dropped her off before your call.”

  “Good, we don’t want to upset her.” Jake looked up as Chloe walked into the room.

  “What’s this about, Jake?” Chloe asked.

  “Chloe, you gave us the diaries with no warrant. I wanted to return the courtesy. We have a search warrant here to see if Shanna’s missing diary is still hidden somewhere within the house…”

  “You mean if I hid it, after I killed her,” Chloe said bitterly.

  “Yes.” He couldn’t offer her more. “In order to lock down the killer we need to be thorough. We have warrants for all the suspects in the case and we can’t show favoritism.” He stressed the word suspects.

  “Do you understand? It’ll be me and Louie. I’m not bringing in a team.” He decided that on the way over.

  “You have to do this to eliminate Chloe?” Mr. Wagner understood what Jake wasn’t saying.

  “Yes.”

  “Get it done, Lieutenant. We’ll be in the kitchen having coffee. Do either one of you want coffee?”

  “No, thanks.” Jake and Louie walked down the hallway to Shanna’s room and began their search.

  They rummaged through the drawers and the closet. They tested the floor boards and found the loose one where Shanna had kept her diaries.

  Jake walked back into the kitchen and spoke to Chloe. “Your room’s next. Do you want to be there?”

  “What, and watch you rifle through my underwear? No, thank you.” She turned away and poured another cup of coffee.

  A few minutes into the search of Chloe’s room, a thought hit him and Jake headed to the kitchen. He stopped outside the kitchen door when he heard Joe talking.

  “I’m sorry I ever doubted you, honey. Please forgive me,” Mr. Wagner said.

  “Dad, I wish there was nothing to forgive. I understand Jake planted the seed in your head, but you should have had more faith in me.”

  Guilt tugged at him when the pain in Chloe’s voice cut through his thoughts as he eavesdropped. Unfortunately, in a murder investigation the innocent sometimes got burned while the police dug for their answers and the killer. Sometimes it ripped their lives apart and it could never be mended. He was always sorry for his part in it, but it was the victims he worked for, not the survivors.

  “I understand your grief. Nobody realizes how much I miss Shanna. You should never have doubted how much I loved her.”

  “I have no explanation, Chloe. I do love you as much as I loved Shanna. Finding the ring in her room—it threw me. I forgot Meryl was here… I rushed to hock it just to get it out of the house. I knew they’d look at you first. I didn’t want you involved. I can’t lose you. Please forgive me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Honey, these last few months almost destroyed us. Maybe the three of us can go away for a couple of weeks when this is settled. We’ll try to heal.”

  “Will we ever heal, Dad?”

  “We’ll always miss her, Chloe. We’ll never be whole again without her, but we’ll heal somehow and go on with our lives.”

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you too, honey.”

  Jake decided he would ask his question later. He went back down the hall to help Louie.

  * * * *

  They searched the whole house, from the attic to the basement. They found nothing. Jake called the team as they headed to Drake’s apartment complex.

  On the way, they stopped off at Nardelli’s and picked up grinders for lunch. It was already eleven o’clock, and he didn’t want anything to hold him up from leaving on time tonight. Nothing less than a bomb would keep him from seeing Mia.

  Chapter 27

  Jake gave Meryl Drake a call. She wanted to be present for the search. As they waited outside her building for her to arrive, Louie turned to Jake.

  “I’m glad it wasn’t at Chloe’s,” Louie said.

  “I am too.”

  Meryl pulled up to the curb.

  Jake explained the scope of the warrant when she walked up to them and explained what they were looking for. He also introduced her to the team. Though not happy, Meryl cooperated.

  “If I took the diary, Lieutenant, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave it here.”

  “People leave incriminating stuff lying around all the time,” Jake stated.

  “I do have a request though.” She looked away. “If you do find it, can I have it after the case is tried?”

  “Meryl, her parents are her heirs. You’d have to ask them.”

  “Oh.”

  Jake, along with Louie, searched the bedroom. Officer Jones searched in the kitchen, Officer Burrows searched in the second bedroom, which was being used as an office. Officer Sherman searched the basement storage bin assigned to Meryl Drake.

  Meryl stayed in the bedroom while they foraged through her most intimate things. Jake understood the anger he saw in her eyes.

  He noticed the pictures lined up on Meryl’s dresser of Shanna and her at different stages in their lives.

  Jake asked, “You don’t keep a diary?”

  “No, it’s too much work.”

  “Why did Shanna?”

  “Her mother gave us each one for our sixth birthdays. Shanna had nice things to write in hers, I didn’t. My parents are alcoholics—abusive. I didn’t want it to get out. I thought if someone read it, they’d take me away from Shanna. My mother always threatened if I told anyone, I’d be worse off.”

  It was the most she’d ever said about herself and he found himself feeling sorry for her. It explained a lot about Meryl’s personality. He’d seen it often on the job—the abused child—and it still generated sympathy for the adult the child became.

  “I’m sorry, Meryl. Is that why you always hung out at the Wagners?”

  “Yes. They even called social services once. SS thought the Wagners exaggerated the situation. So they recommended no action be taken—left me with my parents to fend for myself. I could’ve sued when I reached legal age. Turns out the SS agent was a friend of my mother.”

  “Sometimes the system doesn’t work, Meryl. Why didn’t you sue the state?”

  “Because by failing to do her job, the woman gave me the one thing I wanted—to be near Shanna. Nothing else mattered to me.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. Jake watched her eyes become unfocused and wondered where her mind took her. When she came back to the present, she abruptly turned away and walked out of the room.

  He and Louie spoke with the other officers when they finished their search. T
hey also found nothing. Jake thanked Meryl for her time and apologized for the mess they left behind. There wasn’t a neat way to search an entire apartment. He asked her to tell no one.

  “Who am I going to tell, Lieutenant?”

  “I don’t know, Meryl. For now, keep it to yourself. We have others we need to search today, so I repeat, please don’t talk to anyone.”

  Chapter 28

  Cavilla wanted to be there. Jake and Louie waited in front of Cavilla’s house for twenty minutes. Annoyed, Jake put a call into Mark’s cell phone. When his voicemail picked up he left his message.

  “We have a runner. Let’s get the search started. If we find anything then we’ll put out an APB on him.”

  Louie nodded. Jake knocked on the door.

  A petite woman in a loose-fitting dress and fuzzy slippers opened the door. Her gray hair stuck up in all directions. Jake figured he was speaking with Mark’s mother.

  Jake spoke up, explained their warrant and how it would be executed. He asked her to stay in the living room while they conducted the search of her home.

  “You can’t do this. Where’s my son? He didn’t do anything. He’s a good boy. Get out of my house.”

  “He was asked to join us here, but he hasn’t arrived yet. Where is he, Mrs. Cavilla?”

  “He’s at work, naturally. He’s a good boy.” Mrs. Cavilla folded her arms across her sagging chest.

  Jake looked over at Louie. Louie shook his head no. He already checked in with the accounting firm where Mark worked.

  “He’s not at work. Where would he go, Mrs. Cavilla?”

  “He has to be! He’ll lose his job if he takes time off.” Tears started to fall down her cheeks. “What’s this about?”

  “It’s about Shanna Wagner. Mark’s a person of interest.”

  “I’m going to call my husband.” She stood, started to walk to the phone.

  “Mrs. Cavilla, while the search is in progress, you’re not allowed to make any calls or have any visitors. Your son had the opportunity to be here while we searched. He chose to stay away. If he calls you, tell him it’s in his best interest to contact me.” Jake handed her his card. She took it and tossed it on the table by an old brown and white flowered chair. He didn’t move until she sat back down. Looking around the room full of aged furniture it spoke volumes to him. Jake picked up the portable phone and took it with him to start the search.