Cat and Mouse
By Terri D. Thomas
Part 12
"There really wasn't much to go on," the rotund detective Rollie Harrison said as he leaned back in his chair, sighing at the effort. "The McCarthy woman went missing, that's it. Husband reported her gone, family hadn't seen her. There were no other leads to speak of."
"What kind of independent investigation did you do?" Harry asked of the Riviera Beach officer.
"The normal. You know how it is. You check into her social habits, check the records for domestic reports."
"What did you find?" Tom pressed, making it clear he didn't appreciate the detective's lax manner.
The man shrugged. "Nothing. No records on our end. Family said there were stresses in the marriage, but nothing out of the normal. There was certainly nothing there which led us to believe this was a domestic violence situation."
"What did her friends and family think about her disappearance?" Harry tried a different tactic.
"They were worried. Said it was out of character for her. She was apparently responsible. . .not prone to pulling off disappearance acts." Harrison leaned forward in his chair and frowned at the visitors. "Why are you asking us these questions? From what I've seen of your investigation you already know who's behind the killing. Why are you poking your nose here?"
Harry looked over the rim of his glasses. "We don't have a conviction yet. We're not willing to jump to conclusions. Right now we don't have much linking Sara McCarthy's death to Ollie Murdock. Until we have more we want to check all angles."
"What ever floats your boat," the man muttered and opened the file which was sitting in the middle of the desk. "Here's our write up. Knock yourself out."
He shoved the file at Harry. The captain gave the man a disapproving glare, which the man promptly ignored as he left his desk and made a beeline for the coffee machine in the corner.
Harry moved the file between him and Tom so that both men could review the records at the same time. Tom pointed to the first page of the file. "Jason McCarthy's statement," he commented.
The statement was similar to what the distraught husband had reported to Tom and Cassy the morning before. "He reported her missing on Monday morning after she had been gone for over twenty-four hours. There's certainly nothing inconsistent here."
Harry read through the rest of the report. "You're right. Nothing." He flipped through a few more pages. "Here's the background check on Jason." Tom read over Harry's shoulder.
"Teacher at the local college. Teaches computer science. No warrants, no arrests. It's clean," Tom muttered.
Harry flipped to the second page. "Ouch," he commented.
"What?"
"Take a look at this." Harry held up the report to Tom. "It's his credit bureau."
"Jason McCarthy seems to have had some credit problems recently."
"That's more than some, Thomas," Harry corrected.
"Okay, lots. But is it enough for a motive?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "We won't know until we do some more digging."
Tom looked around the squad room for Detective Harrison. He found the man still standing next to the coffeepot, talking with his associates. "Det. Harrison. One moment, please."
The man grimaced, but obediently returned to his desk. Tom handed the man the credit bureau report on Jason McCarthy. "Did you take a look at this?"
The man snorted. "Yep. But that in and of itself doesn't make a motive for murder in my book."
"Did you check into Sara McCarthy's estate? What does Jason get from his wife now that she's dead?"
"Everything, as far as I know. Of course everything is a sum total of about $150,000. Not much for murder."
"How did you verify that?"
"We pulled bank statements."
"No other insurance policies?"
"Nope. That's it. Jason McCarthy wouldn't be getting much for killing his wife," the man commented smugly.
Harry sighed and rubbed his hands over tired eyes. Whether he liked it or not, Rollie Harrison was right. Money didn't appear to be a motive.
The large detective collapsed back in his chair. "Look, we aren't a large community. I've known Jason McCarthy for over a year now. He has never given us any problem. I suggest you go back to your original suspect. He's a lot more probable.
Tom frowned. "You know Jason McCarthy?"
"Sure. He's done some work for us."
"Work? What kind of work?"
"Computer work. He teaches the stuff up at the college, does programming on the side. We contracted some work out to him."
Harry glanced at Tom, eyebrows raised. "What kind of 'stuff'?"
"A little bit of everything. Most of us are computer illiterate and we don't have the money to keep a tech head on the payroll. Chief decided this was the most efficient way to handle our system." The man paused for a moment. He then narrowed his eyes at the two men. "What's it to you?"
Harry shook his head. "Maybe nothing, but we have reason to believe that the murderer may have accessed our computer files."
"Your files? Which files?"
"Ollie Murdock's arrest record and the statement of the arresting officer from last year."
The detective shook his head. "Are you implying that Jason McCarthy accessed those records?"
"We don't know. The point is that he may have had access to those records through your system. Your department is linked on the state-wide system, right?"
"Yeah. . .I guess so," the man answered.
"Look, we know it is," Tom responded. "And we know that inquiries were made into Ollie Murdock's file from your department."
"Is there any other reason you can think of that your department would be accessing that investigation file?" Harry asked.
Rollie Harrison shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know of a reason, but I'm only one detective. Who knows what the others are doing? I'm not their babysitter."
"Right," Tom agreed. "So when Jason McCarthy was working on the computer system, who was babysitting him?"
Harrison pushed his chair away from the desk. "I think you'd better be talkin' to the Chief."
Tom held the door open for Harry as the two left the Riviera Beach Police Department. "Okay, so we have another reason to tie Jason McCarthy to the murder," Tom commented as they returned to their vehicle.
"We're still a long way from proving a case. We have absolutely no evidence to prove that Jason McCarthy accessed the Murdock file. Remember, Jeremy listed several cities that made inquiries to the file."
Tom sighed. "So what do you want to do?"
Harry glanced at his watch. "Let's head back. I want to get an early start in the morning. I think we should head back up here to talk to Mr. McCarthy first thing in the morning. See what happens when we shake the tree."
Tom and Harry were back in Palm Beach after sunset. When Harry failed to exit when he should have to return Tom home, Tom knew what his boss had in mind.
"You missed the turn, Harry," Tom sighed.
"No I didn't," Harry simply replied.
"My apartment's back there."
"Yes, it is. But you're not going there."
Tom's head fell back against the headrest. "Harry, please. . .take me home."
"I am."
"No, I mean my apartment."
"Nope, you're staying with Frannie and me."
Harry, no. I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."
"Sure you can. That's why I had to fix an ice pack for you last night, right?"
Tom's fingers lightly rubbed the bruise on his forehead. "But Harry. . ."
"Sgt. Ryan, you have a choice. You can either be taken to the hotel and spend the night with Cassy under protective custody, or you can come to my house and spend a quiet evening with Frannie and me. And before you make your decision, I'll just mention that Frannie is making lobster tonight."
Tom weighed his choices. He could spend the evening with Cassy and two police officers and get the added bonus of listening to his partner complain all night or he could have relative peace and quiet in the Lipschitz home. "Fine. Your house it is," Tom sighed, defeated.
End Part 12
To Part 13