Homewrecker Ch. 01

"Ah, there you are, Commander Troy." said Gwen Munson with pretend happiness. "I wondered when you were going to show up for the advanced Police browbeating----"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her as I came up behind Coleman and Rodriguez, putting my hands on the backs of their chairs and leaning over like a vulture. As Munson recoiled, I said "You speak only when spoken to. Ms. Wilkins, someone committed first degree murder in Suite 802 last night. First. Degree. Murder."

I continued, boring in on Deborah Wilkins, who was beginning to look frightened: "Let's get one thing very, very straight, Ms. Wilkins. YOU checked into Suite 802 as part of a bloc of rooms. YOU took possession of the key to that room. Now if you don't give up a name for who you gave the room key to, then the whole thing is on YOU."

"That's ridiculous!" shouted Gwen Munson.

"I said SHUT UP!" I yelled at Munson again. "Speak only when spoken to!" It is possible that the look in my eyes conveyed the message to Munson that her antics were no longer being tolerated.

Turning back to Deborah, I said "YOU, madam, are the last, and right now only, person who we KNOW had a key to the room. And that makes YOU my prime suspect for the murder. So you can either start talking and give us some information to help solve this crime... or you personally are going down for it."

"He's lying. Don't let him intimidate you." said Gwen Munson to Deborah. To me, Munson said "You don't have a thing. No proof. At all."

"I'm not intimidating her." I said. "I'm giving her the facts of the matter. I'm telling her exactly where she stands. And you better start giving her much, much better legal advice than your Fake News crap about intimidation. Ms. Wilkins, this is not a game. This is the real deal. We're talking murder in the first degree, here."

"I... I need to talk to my lawyer." wailed Deborah Wilkins.

"Patrol Officer Burrell," I said, "has this suspect been taken through booking?"

"The initial part, sir." said Lisa Burrell. "Like we do for material witnesses."

"Ms. Wilkins," I said, "you can talk to your lawyer... after you've been taken through full booking. Fingerprints, photographs, orange jump suit, the works. We'll be getting a warrant to take a DNA sample. Go ahead, Officer Burrell." Lisa Burrell came over, handcuffed Deborah Wilkins's hands behind her back, and led her out.

"You bastard!" Gwen Munson spat. "There really is no limit to you, is there?"

"Roark, go get a drink of water." I said. Coleman moved out smartly through the door to the anteroom. I sat down in his chair, picking up the folder Julia had brought in. "One more time, Ms. Munson, don't speak until I ask you something. And tune your ears to the sound of my voice if you want to represent your client with any degree of competence and professionalism."

I opened the folder, which showed the Crime Lab's photos of the terminally unfortunate Beverly DeAngelo. "This woman was murdered in Suite 802 last night. The door was not forced; a key was used to gain entrance. The hall cameras on that end were very carefully painted over with black paint hours in advance, meaning someone knew ahead of time that the deceased would be in that room. That alone shows premeditation. Right now, we know for a fact that your client was issued a key to that room. And she's the only one we know for a fact had a key to that room."

"Again, it proves nothing." said Munson.

"It proves opportunity and means, and motive will follow rather quickly, I would be willing to bet." I said. "Now if your client can give us some information that will lead to someone else we can prove to be the killer, it would do her some real good. Like her life vs. 'life-without-parole' kind of good."

"This is crap." said Munson. "You're playing with a totally worthless hand, Commander. It's so beneath you."

"I think Ms. Munson likes you, Commander." Detective Rodriguez said cattily. I chuckled as Gwen Munson gave Julia a withering look filled with hatred. We all fell silent.

Some minutes later, Deborah Wilkins was brought back into the room, wearing an orange jumpsuit. Upon my instructions, Officer Burrell handcuffed Wilkins to the ring on the table.

"Is that necessary?" Munson whined.

"She's the prime suspect in a Murder-1 case." said Julia, aware of what I was doing: exerting maximum psychological pressure upon a woman that an hour ago had been a top-tier official with a major technology firm.

"Give me five minutes with her." said Gwen Munson. Julia and I got up and went into the anteroom.

"That was a pretty good interview, Ms. Rodriguez. You did well." I told Julia as we waited in the anteroom. "But I had to come in because of Munson's crap tactics. Gwen Munson is the outright worst lawyer to have on the other side of the table, and by worst I mean the most annoying. Asking what time of day it is is like pulling teeth with her. At some point, you just have to stop letting her play games and show her who is in charge, here."

"Thank you, sir." Julia said. "And yes, she is a bitch." I chuckled.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After Munson was done talking to Wilkins, we came back in and sat down. Munson said "I've asked my client to make a hypothetical statement regarding---"

"No." I interrupted. "You just don't get it, do you Munson? The time for your games is long past. Your client has two choices: she can answer our questions, and not with hypotheticals; anything and everything she says counts. Orrrrr... she can invoke, and take her chances at her trial for murder in the first degree. No in-betweens."

Gwen Munson looked exasperated, but realized that it was her hand of cards that was empty of jokers. She leaned over and whispered something to Deborah Wilkins, who nodded. "What do you want to know?" Deborah said.

"You took possession of the key to Suite 802?" I asked.

"Yes, with a lot of others." said Deborah.

"Did you give that key to anyone else?" I asked.

"No, but I didn't have possession of it the whole time, either." said Deborah. "We had a lot of keys in a box, with the suite numbers on the paper sleeves the keys come in, in one of the side rooms. They were given to the Executives that came in last night."

"Including the CEO, Elliot Sanders?" I asked.

"Yes." said Deborah. "He was in 801. I took him and his wife up there myself."

"Who was assigned to 802 and 804?" I asked.

"804 went to our CFO, William Dalton." said Deborah. "He goes by 'Bill'. Room 802 was for Kara Zorn, our COO. She wasn't scheduled to come in last night, but we had the room in case she changed her mind and showed up."

"Ohhhhhh." I said. "Kara Zorn was going to come into my Town & County, eh?"

"I don't know what her plans were. We have to prepare for any eventuality." said Wilkins, perhaps not understanding the full nature of my comment.

"I dunno... I dunno." I said mockingly. "Maybe I'm just not making myself clear---"

Just then the anteroom door burst open and Sheriff Griswold appeared. "Red alert, Crowbar!" he said.

"Officer Burrell, after we leave the room, take Ms. Wilkins to her holding cell." I said as Julia and I got up, and I uncuffed Wilkins from the table ring. "Ms. Munson, come with me."

Gwen Munson snarled "Where are we going?"

"Just come with us. Right now." I said. We went through the anteroom, and I had Julia escort Gwen to the breakroom. The Sheriff and I continued down the hallway towards my office.

"You get one guess who just showed up in our front lobby." the Sheriff growled.

"I don't need to guess, Sheriff." I said. "Elliot Sanders, CEO of MegaTech Industries..."

To be continued.