Bob Moats - Jim Richards 01-03- 3 for Murder Box Set (64 page)

I went in and found Mr. Suit again, nodded to him. Gregory and Lincoln went in and sat across from Doan’s wife. They asked if she was read her rights. She said yes. They told her the session was being recorded on video, was that all right with her? She said it was. Then they asked if she needed an attorney, she said no.

“For the record, state your name,” Gregory requested.

“Beverly Jane Doan,” she said.

“You are the wife of the accused murderer, Albert Doan?”

“Yes, I am, but he didn’t do it. I did,” she said.

“OK, tell us why we should believe you when we have hard proof that your husband did do it.”

She was silent for a moment, then she said, “I found out my husband was going to a Dominatrix. It pissed me off.” She paused. “I’ll start at the beginning. One day two weeks ago there was a phone call for Albert. He wasn’t home. I asked the person if there was a message, and he said that they wanted the cash tomorrow at the drop off point or else they would tell the newspapers about his little fetish. I asked him what he was talking about. He laughed and said to ask my husband. Then he hung up. Albert came home, and I asked him about it. He tried to tell me to forget it. We got into an argument, and he finally told me he was seeing a Dominatrix and was being blackmailed by her not to tell. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe my husband would do such a thing.” She paused, cleared her throat.

Lincoln asked if she would like some water. She said that would be nice. He got it for her from the cooler in the room and handed it to her in a paper cup.

She drank, then continued, “We really got into a screaming match. I was worried about our standing in the community if this got out, and what would happen to his business. I wasn’t thinking about his problems, just my own. I badgered him about who this tart was, and he finally told me. I said we have to do something about it, to stop it. He said there was nothing to do but pay them. I said for how long, till we were broke? He stormed out and didn’t come back till late.” She paused again for a drink of water.

“We had the Warren Mayor’s party to go to the next night. I said I wasn’t feeling well and he should go by himself. He was still mad about our fight and said that was fine with him. He got ready and left. I was still pissed and saw that stupid knife of his hanging on the wall. I took it down, wearing gloves, and put it in an oversized purse I had. I looked up this Dominatrix’s address and went there. It was her office, but she wasn’t there, just some blond girl at a desk. I pretended to be an old friend of Noreen in town for a visit and wanted to surprise her. The dumb bitch gave me her home address. She should be fired.”

I smiled at that remark, knowing Melody was in jail.

“I went to her house and sat outside for a while. Finally a woman drove up and went in the house. I went to the door, rang the bell, and she answered. I asked if she was Noreen Black. She was hesitant, but said yes. I pulled the machete out and pointed it at her. She was shocked to see what I had and backed away, then she turned to run but I started hacking at her, just swinging the thing until she fell, and then I continued to hack. Finally I severed her head.”

Lincoln asked what she did with the head.

“I put it on a shelf in the living room next to a cute picture of her family. I called Albert at his party and told him what I had done. He was in a panic and said he was coming to get me. I said I was going home and hung up. I put the machete back in my bag and left. I got back home and was cleaning up just as Albert arrived. He grabbed on to me and shook me, yelling about what I had done. I was still covered in blood, and got some on him. He said he was finished with me, and we would discuss this later. He changed his jacket and went out. I found out later he went back to his precious party and enjoyed himself. He came back, packed a bag, and said he was going to a motel. He was gone for a week. I just stayed around the house getting madder and madder. I took the machete and buried it in his flower bed out back of his office. I was going to call the police anonymously and tell them it was there, but you beat me to it.” She smiled and drank some water.

“Why are you coming forward now?” Lincoln asked.

“I wanted him to know the humiliation of being pulled into a jail and treated like a criminal.”

“Why didn’t you wait for him to go to trial and be sentenced, then come forward?” Lincoln asked.

“Because I’m going to die today. I just wanted to make him suffer before I go. Oh, I don’t want him in prison for what I did. I’m not that cruel. I’m not happy with what I did to that woman. It’s been eating at me, and so I must atone for my sins. That’s why I’m here to confess and die,” she said with a smile.

“How do you know you’re going to die today?” Gregory asked.

“Because I’m going to kill myself,” she reached into a small pocket of her billowing dress, pulled out a small caliber pistol, held it in her mouth, and pulled the trigger. The back of her head exploded as Gregory and Lincoln jumped up. Gregory ran to the door yelling to call for EMTs. Lincoln went to her and saw that she was gone. He told Gregory. We all were in shock. I looked over to the suit. He was vomiting in the corner.

I came out of observation. Lincoln came out, looked at me, and said, “I’m definitely retiring now.”

After Mrs. Doan’s body was taken out and the room was being cleaned, Lincoln and I sat on chairs in the squad room. I asked, “Do you believe she did it?”

“Oh, I know she did. You see, the head was put on a shelf in the living room, and we never let that detail out. She had to have done it. I’ll ask Doan if he can tell me what he did with the head just to be sure, but I’m good for her doing it.”

“You don’t need me anymore today?” I asked.

“I won’t need you at all now that this case is officially closed. You did good, Richards. I didn’t like you at first, but you’re all right,” he said quietly.

I stood and said, “Well, you’re all right, too. I’m getting out of here. Enjoy your retirement.”

*

Chapter Thirty-two

He smiled, and I left. I got back to my office and called Weston and told him to come to my office as soon as he could, I had some news for him. He said he’d be right over. About a half hour later he came in, and I asked him to sit. I told him about the events of the last couple of days and that we found Noreen’s murderer. I told him who and why all the way back to Marylou in the bar, to Melody and Bruce, finally up to Doan and his wife.

Weston was quiet. “All because two nitwits wanted to blackmail a few people. Damn stupid. Well, thank you, Mr. Richards. I’ll have a check to you soon as possible.”

“Don’t worry about it. Put the cash towards your children, just a little gift from me,” I said as we walked to the door.

He said he was going up to Port Huron to visit them, and he would buy something special for them. I asked for the address or number in Port Huron in case I needed to get in touch with him. He pulled out a Palm Zire 72 and turned it on to get the number. I was amazed someone besides me used a Palm. I asked him how long he had it. He said it was actually his wife’s, he got it after she was murdered. He didn’t know much about how the thing worked, just the address book. I felt a skip of my heartbeat and asked him if I could see it.

I showed him my Palm and took his to my desk. He followed. I cycled through the pages and found a file that said “Clients.” I was feeling real good right then. I opened the file, and it was a list of names, codes and links to other information in the file. A database of her clients. I asked if he minded if I copied the file to my Palm. He said he didn’t care. I did a beam process that sent the file to my Palm TX by wireless link. I checked the file on my Palm and then deleted the file on his. I told him not to say anything to anyone else about the Palm or the file I just copied, it could be dangerous for him or his family. He said he didn’t want to know, gave me the number where he was going to be and left.

Finally found what everyone was looking for, the list. I sat back and grinned from ear to ear as I read off names.

I cycled through the names on the list and found an interesting entry. It was a Dora Lincoln. Now why did that name pique my interest? I called Lincoln, and he finally came on. I told him that I found Noreen’s client list. He was silent.

“I found it on a computer,” I lied. “All the names, numbers and personal information of her clients.” Still no reaction from Lincoln. “Is your wife’s name Dora?” I asked and he quietly said no, that was his sister.

“Well, anyway, I deleted the file on the computer, too dangerous to leave lying around, but not before I rummaged through it. So I just wanted to let you know the list is now history.” I heard him say thank you. I said, you’re welcome, and hung up. I thought Lincoln would rest easier that night. I put a copy of the file on an SD card and put it in my lock box. Might be handy one day.

I was totally ripped, so I headed home and found Penny sitting on the couch watching a sad movie. She was tearing up with used tissues all around her. I sat next to her and asked if this was a hormonal thing that she discussed on her show. She smacked my arm and said to shut up, she was watching her movie. When it ended, I told her about my day. She smiled and said I did good. I was feeling good. So I took her out to a fancy sit down dinner at a real restaurant, and we had some wine. Then we got home and had some beer and crawled into bed to watch a happy movie.

The next morning, Penny and I were getting ready to go out, she to play host, and I to watch Ralph get his just desserts. Penny stopped me at the kitchen. She looked worried.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Don’t go out today, stay home for me,” she said quietly.

“Why?”

“It’s silly, I know, but I had a bad dream. In it you got shot.” She was grabbing my shirt like she was not going to let me go.

“Penny, I’m not going to get shot. Don’t worry. I’m just going to a courtroom to watch Ralph Flagg get sentenced. I’m sure I won’t get shot in a courthouse. Now go to work and don’t worry about me,” I said to comfort her.

She looked at me, gave me a big kiss and went off. I stood at the door thinking about what she said.

A half hour later I was in Trapper’s office waiting for him to go to Pontiac with me. He looked at me and asked if I was all right, I had a strange look on my face. I said that I didn’t think it was anything.

An hour later we met Buck in front of the courthouse. He had Elma with him. We all went in. Lawson was at the entrance and led us around the line to be searched for explosive devices. He signaled to a guard that we were good, and we went into the courtroom.

Ralph was seated at his table, and we sat about three rows back. They had what amounted to church pews for seating, and we sat with Elma on the aisle. She was avoiding looking at Ralph. The judge came in, and we stood and sat for his honor. He looked at the papers in front of him and told Ralph to stand. He did, along with his lawyer. The judged passed a life sentence on Ralph for the murder of the dominatrix. The court was making little noises and the judge banged his gavel demanding silence. The judge told the officer to take Ralph to a holding cell for transfer to county lock-up. The guard came over and started to take Ralph’s arm when Ralph tackled the guard. They went down, and when Ralph came back up off the floor, he had the guard’s gun. He fired once into the ceiling, and everyone ducked down. He jumped forward, grabbed Elma, and dragged her towards the front doors, putting an arm around her neck. Trapper, Lawson and I moved out from the pews and had our guns out.    

Ralph had the strangle hold on Elma with his left arm and swung the gun back and forth at Trapper, Lawson and me. We had our guns aimed at him but didn’t want to hit Elma. Ralph looked at me, and I could see hatred in his eyes.

“This is all your fault, Richards, you and your damn interference.” He pointed his gun at me and fired twice, hitting me in the chest. I fell back. Elma screamed and stomped on Ralph’s foot then bit the wrist around her neck. He screamed and pulled his arm away, just enough for Elma to get loose. As soon as she was clear, shots rang out from Trapper and Lawson, dropping Ralph like a brick, blood streaming from the holes in his chest.

Buck ran to me, yelling for a doctor. “Jimmy, don’t die, man. You can’t die! Where’s a fucking medic?”