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CHAPTER 33 - THE SUSPICION AND THE ALIBI

 

52ND DISTRICT POLICE DEPARTMENT - FOUR HOURS LATER

 

INTERVIEW ROOM 2

 

DET. JENIA STEWART

 

“I need you to listen to something.” Ms Peterson looks panicked and hands over a phone. “This is James’ phone, he’s my late husband. Listen to the recording!” She commands, then gestures frantically. “I just don’t want…” She trails off. “...I can’t believe he would do this, let alone why?!”

 

“Okay, Ms Peterson, try to remain calm.” I put on gloves and signal for the recording to start then pause. My eyes widen as I see the length of it. “How much of this did you listen to, Ms Peterson?”

 

“Just after whoever it is says that he saw him stab Kinney. Why?”

 

I look through the papers in front of me, then again at the length of it, this is not good. “Ms Peterson, this recording is 15 minutes long. It was started at 2227 and finishes at 2242 on the night of your husband’s death. According to the medical report, your husband was pronounced dead at 2252, which means…”

 

“Oh my…” She rushes to the trash can and I signal for water. Ten minutes later, she is being taken to another interview room and I hit play.

 

Frowning, I play it again. I could’ve sworn I heard a name mentioned. “Hardy, can you come in here a second?” I call my partner on the intercom. As usual, she doesn’t take long. “Can you listen to this, please?”

 

“And this is?”

 

“Remember that booze wreck that happened a few weeks back and killed the professor?”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“The widow brought this in, someone said that he saw him stab Kinney.” She gapes at me. “I know, right? And I have had a call from Jennifer Taylor about wanting to look through his records, the professor, I mean. For a friend she said, you remember me telling you?” She nods as she unwinds her headphones before glancing at the paperwork. “Mmm. Okay, ready?” She nods and I hit play. She, like me, winces when we hear the crunch of metal and his scream. “Well? Do you hear him say a name?”

 

“Bow? I think he says Bow. So why did the widow come with this?”

 

“Was going to ask her. Want to join me? Oh, by the way, her studio was recently set on fire. We lifted partials from the back door and have got someone in the frame for it, but…”

 

“You’re not sure? If not, why not?”

 

“Nothing on the petrol can, although he refuses to say where he was at the time of the fire.” I open the door to Interview Room 1 and Ms Peterson is looking a little less sickly. “Sorry to have kept you, Ms Peterson. This is Rebecca Hardy, she’s my partner. Do you need some more water?”

 

“Yes, please.” She gestures again to the phone. “So…?”

 

“He definitely says someone’s name.” We sit down and Becks nods for the taping of this interview. ”But before we come onto that, why have you only just brought this to us?”

 

“During the arson I lost my phone, but my late husband and I shared some contacts. I wanted to add them to my new phone and advise them of the number. I saw he had voicemails, and got curious…” Her hand shakes as she pushes it through her hair. “It’s not real, is it?”

 

“Well, the Kinney that the person refers to was stabbed, so…” I clear my throat. “...did you recognise the voice?”

 

“No.” Then she frowns. “I wonder why he was calling this person so much, then made a recording of their call?”

 

“That was going to be my next question.” Becks regards her calmly. “Was your marriage a happy one?” She frowns before shaking her head. “For the recording, yes or no?”

 

“No. And on the night he died we had just split up.” She frowns again. “You don’t think I had anything to do with his death, do you?!”

 

“No, not yet.” Becks replies, and that takes me by surprise. “But it just seems a little odd that you come to us with this just after your studio was set on fire.”

 

“That Novotny imbecile did that! We were almost killed!” She declares. “And I did not kill my husband!”

 

“Were you faithful to each other?” I ask. “How did he know Kinney to allegedly stab him in the first place?”

 

“We had an open marriage, and I don't know how he knew him then, but he certainly knew him recently…”

 

“Meaning?” Becks leans forward.

 

“Meaning Brian Kinney warned James to stay away from his boyfriend, Justin Taylor. He had developed a fixation with him, which effectively got him fired.”

 

“Fired from where?” I look through the papers again. “Ah, got it, Carnegie. Define fixation.”

 

“He wanted him, as in to sleep with him. Justin’s family came to our house and warned him off.”

 

“They came to the house?” Becks gasps. “Who? The mother and the daughter or the father?”

 

“Mother and daughter.” She rubs her temple. “I know I am speaking ill of the dead, and I am not going to pretend that I miss him, but he did keep away from him after Brian Kinney warned him off.”

 

“Do you have an interest in Justin Taylor?”

 

“Only from the perspective of his talent as a singer and songwriter.” She clips out. “I happen to be a lesbian.”

 

“Who was married to a man.” Becks points out just as tartly. “So an open marriage of convenience then.”

 

“It benefited us until it no longer did.” Ms Peterson glares at us. “But with all my works destroyed, I have no use for his services.”

 

“Hmm. Now back to this recording.” I try stop the catfight that is about to happen. “We will stop it before that, we just want to make sure that you don’t recognise the voice or the name he says.”

 

“Fine.” She leans closer to the phone again Becks watches her carefully. She huffs in annoyance and shakes her head, then pauses. “Play it again, please?” We do so and her frown deepens. “Is he saying Ebow?”

 

“I thought he was saying Bow. Did he know anybody called Bow?”

 

“Then? I doubt it, and there is nobody called Bow in the directory. He did call this number a lot back then and then again the night he died. I called the number and left a message for them to tell them that he had passed away.”

 

“Why didn't you say that before?!” Becks sneers.

 

“I didn't think, I was too shocked!” She sneers back. “Thank goodness they  never called me back!”

 

“What do you mean??!” Becks almost screams at her. “Again, why not mention that before?!”

 

“Which number did you ring from?” Once more I try to stop this escalating.

 

“My new number.” She looks thoughtful. “All I said in the message was that James had died, left my name and number saying if they wanted to call back they could.”

 

I have been looking at the phone during our interview and think about the Kinney case. Our now retired forensics guy, Rodney, had asked about it recently and a maybe-a-break thought enters my mind. “Ms Peterson, what parts of the phone did you touch?”

 

“Just the outside, just there…” She points to the corner. “..to, um, clean it and…” She pauses as I flick over the phone and my heart begins to race, as I see the back of the phone can come off. “...I never touched anything else!”

 

“So the only person who could have touched the battery was your late husband.”

 

“Yes.” She replies slowly.

 

“Good, you did something right!” Becks carps, and this time I shoot her a warning glance. “Well, really, come on!”

 

“Why don't you go get forensics with a kit and see what we can pull up?”

 

“Yeah. Detective Rebecca Hardy exits interview at 1634.” She stalks out and we sit in silence for over an hour that it takes her to come back. “Detective Rebecca Hardy and CSI Finch enter the interview room at 1800.”

 

“What kept you?” I frown.

 

“Had to call Rodney. He took a while to answer.” She grins and I lift my eyes skywards, he is an old rascal! “So why did you call him?”

 

“Wanted to know what he knew, at least the bare bones of it. But he did say, Ms Peterson, that your late husband, gave a Mr Ethan Gold special dispensation to attend Carnegie, and pulled a favor to get him into another class.”

 

The look of confusion on her face is mixed with worry. “I have no idea why he would do that. Ethan never mentioned it. In fact, he never said anything about knowing James at all when I hired him to do the music score for my opus. It wasn't until I mentioned it that he said he knew James...”

 

“Your late husband taught maths, correct?” Becks demands.

 

“Yes he did.” She just keeps on the right side of civil.

 

“Any idea why, having given him special dispensation to attend, that he was allowed to drop out of classes all except music?” Becks growls.

 

“No, I didn't have any interest in his work, unless it was to get Justin to do the film score.” She replies.

 

“Count to ten!” I order.

 

“One…” Becks begins.

 

CSI FINCH

 

I love Jenia and Becks. Although they are relatively young for detectives, they have good minds and heads.

 

“I will put a rush on the battery for you.” I tell Jenia who grins her thanks. Carefully, I bag it up and am about to head out when a thought occurs to me. “I could clean the recording up a bit, maybe you can hear it better. Want me to do that?”

 

BECKS HARDY

 

“Please, that would be great.” Jenia smiles, and he steps out. The smile drops off her face as she turns back to Ms Peterson. “Hopefully, this will rule your husband out of the attempted murder of Brian Kinney and not in.” She turns back to me. “Send a squad car to pick up all the people on this list.”

 

JUSTIN AND CHRIS’ HOUSE - TWENTY MINUTES LATER

 

OFFICE

 

CHRIS

 

All three of us stare at the screen before turning to Justin’s equally stunned parents, sister, and Hunter.

 

“But why?” Daph demands. “I don't get why!”

 

“Maybe he was thinking that if he found Brian, he would find Ben.” I venture before turning back to the screen. “There’s no doubt about it is there?”

 

“No. Not one. Can I see the report again, Hunter?” Craig orders, and after a few minutes silence he slams them down on the desk. “You guys have to face this, you are his alibi, Justin. Novotny was watching the house when her studio went up.”

 

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

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