Raven: A political thriller (6 page)

Chapter 9

Fred had been watching Don closely ever since the incident at the
victim’s house. His behavior at her parents’ house was somewhat strange also.
Fred had only worked with Don for a little better than a month, and yet he knew
this case was different. On the other homicide cases they worked on, Don had
always been analytical and very focused on the facts, almost to the point of being
annoying. Fred honestly did not feel Don cared
enough
about the victims in those cases. And now he was faced
with Don caring too much, to the point he was becoming obsessed with Raven
VanBuren.

Fred turned to Don, “You okay?” he asked.

“Okay as I’ll ever be,” Don snapped, a little annoyed at Fred’s
insistence on asking him if he was okay.

“What’s gotten into you?” Fred asked. At that point he knew there was
definitely something different about his case. He was sure Don did not know
Raven VanBuren before she became a victim, so he was not sure what the problem
was with him. It was a question that was really troubling him at that point.

Don finally replied. “There’s something about her,” Don said. His
voice sounded desperate. “I can’t put her out of my mind. Last night I couldn’t
sleep.” Don looked around. “Something is not right, and it’s staring us in the
face. But we can’t see it.”

“The coroner should be done by now. Maybe he will have an answer for
you.”

“It’s a start. Afterward I’d like to talk to Mrs. Maxfield and put
something to rest.”

“You think her husband’s disappearance is connected to the murder?”

Don looked at Fred. “I want to hear her voice. We still have the voice
on the tape threatening our girl. I want to know if there’s a side of our victim
Mama and Pop VanBuren didn’t know about.”

Fred turned to Don with concern. He was worried Don’s ability to solve
this case was flawed, but his reasoning still seemed to be intact. Fred still
had a lot to learn, and the Chief spoke highly of Don’s ability to be a
valuable mentor. Fred just had to sit tight, keep his mouth shut, and make sure
he kept Don on the straight and narrow road in solving who killed the young
woman.

“Will you be ready for that?” Fred said.

Don turned to Fred with a look that could kill. “What do you mean by
that crack?”

Don knew what Fred was getting at, even though he didn’t answer him.
From the start Don had been troubled by the murder of Raven VanBuren. It
started when he walked into her house and saw her portrait above the mantel.
Something inside troubled him, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Raven or the
image of the corpse in the burnt-out Mustang. He was having a hard time coming
to terms with this whole case. And what part of it had to do with Senator
Maxfield’s disappearance?

They drove through traffic in silence after that. Fred didn’t want to
say more. Don, on the other hand, had to deal with his partner’s concern. When
they finally got to the coroner’s office, it was Don who walked in first. As
they waited for Dr. Schmidt to open the door, Don turned to Fred with one of
his looks.

“I’ll do all the talking,” Don said.

“Don’t you always?” Fred was getting tired of Don treating him as if
he didn’t know what he was doing.

Fred, in all actuality, had learned a lot from watching Don in action.
That was why this case was troubling him so. Don was not on top of his game.
His judgment had been clouded the moment he walked into the victim’s house last
night.

* * *

The coroner’s office was cold and impersonal. The sterile, stainless
steel interior only added to the cool feeling. Fred never liked going there. It
always gave him the creeps. Don on the other hand didn’t let anything bother
him. That was, until this case started.

Don had his pad opened, taking notes, while Fred sat back and just
listened to the two talk about the dead body on the metal slab as if it were
nothing unusual. Dr. Schmidt had been the coroner for going on fifteen years.
Don liked him and he was easy to talk to. He always talked to Don and not down
to him, unlike some of his assistants when Dr. Schmidt was working on another
case.

Don after a long silence looked at Dr. Schmidt and asked, “How sure
are you that it’s the VanBuren woman?”

“There wasn’t much to go on.”

“Give me what you got,” Don said.

“We have a woman the same height as Ms. VanBuren,” he said.

Don turned and stared at the charred body on the table as Dr. Schmidt
continued. “Same weight and build. A dental ID is impossible with the damage
from the blast to the face.”

“What if it isn’t her?” Don asked.

“You have the body in her car. To me, it’s a safe bet that it’s her.
Unless you have reason to believe otherwise.”

“What about blood type?” Fred asked. He was tired of just listening to
the two and decided to get into the conversation.

Dr. Schmidt glanced at him for the first time, as if not realizing
Fred was even there.

“Same as our girl. We could do a DNA, but you’d have to bring me
something to compare it to,” Dr. Schmidt quickly replied.

Fred shook his head for a moment. He then stared at Don for the
longest time. It would be easy enough to go back to the house and get something
that belonged to Raven VanBuren and finally put to rest for Don who was on that
slab.

“If it wasn’t our girl, then who could it be and why wouldn’t our girl
be calling us to set us straight?” Fred quickly interjected. It was a
reasonable question, one that Don and Dr. Schmidt hadn’t really thought about.

The look on Don’s face told Fred he wasn’t getting through, and then
he just shook his head and continued.

“Christ, Don, this has been in all the papers, not to mention the
radio and television. You’d have to be living in a vacuum not to have heard
about it.”

Don turned to Dr. Schmidt. “So you’re positive it’s the VanBuren girl
on the slab,” he said as he motioned to the stainless steel table in front of
them.

“As sure as I can be, given what I have to go on. Who else could it
be?”

Don just shook his head and then asked, “Have her parents called to
make arrangements about when her body can be picked up?”

Dr. Schmidt just shrugged. “No, not that I know of, which is strange.”

Don walked out, while Fred quickly followed Don out of the room and
caught up with him down the hallway.

“What’s gotten into you?” Fred asked as he stopped and just stared at
Don.

Don shook his head and then shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he
replied.

Fred stared at Don. “Do you think by wanting her alive you can change
what happened last night,” he said as he turned and walked away. He then
suddenly stopped and turned back to Don. “Face it, she’s dead. She’s just
another broad wasted. Nothing you do or say now will bring her back.” Fred just
raised his arms and then continued. “God, I can’t believe what you just did.”

Don walked up to Fred and held up his hands for him to stop. He took a
deep breath.

“What if it’s not our girl?”

“Then who is it?

Don shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said and then touched his
forehead as if he had a headache.

Fred hit Don in the arm. “Listen to yourself. Our job is to find out
who did this,” he said as he paused a moment before he continued. “And if it’s
not her, then maybe she’s our prime suspect. Did you ever think about that?”

“Yeah,” was all Don could muster up to say.

“And if it isn’t her, where is she?”

“I wish I knew those answers, but something isn’t adding up.”

Fred laughed at Don. “I know, and I wish to hell you’d get help.”

Fred walked off down the hall to the elevator. Don stood rubbing his
head to make the pain go away. Fred turned back to Don.

“I think that hit to your head sent you over the edge.”

Fred only hoped Don would snap out of it, but knew he was like a pit
bull when it came to setting his sights on something. But there was no valid
reason for why he should actually think Raven VanBuren was not the woman who
was killed in that car. Fred tried his darndiest to think back to last night
and analyze step-by-step to see if there was anything he in his own mind could
come up with why Don could feasibly think she was still alive but could not
come up with anything. It was just wishful thinking on his part.

Once they talked to Senator Maxfield’s wife maybe they would get a few
more pieces to the puzzle on this case. If the Senator’s wife was the one
making the threats, then maybe that would put an end to Don’s fixation with the
dead girl.

Chapter 10

Don drove up to the estate of Senator Maxfield. It was in a gated
community with mansions surrounded by high security fences. Some even had
guards posted out front. Don drove through the open gate and up the long
winding driveway. He knew senators didn’t make the kind of money that bought a
house like this, so there had to be old money behind this lifestyle. It was at
times like this he thought about the family he was born into. His parents
always struggled to make ends meet, and, looking at this estate, he wondered
why some people seemed to have it all and others had to work hard for
everything they had.

Don parked near the front door. He glanced at the four pillars that
graced the two-story mansion. The structure looked like it came right out of
the book
Gone with the Wind
, even
down to the cluster of old Magnolia trees that graced the front lawn.

Fred was out of the car, walking up the path to the front door as Don
slowly got out while looking around. Fred pressed the doorbell. The chimes were
loud enough to be heard on the porch.

It didn’t take long before the maid opened the door. She had on a
dark-blue dress with a white apron like you see on the television, which
surprised Don because he never really knew what maids in real life wore. Her
matronly figure wore the uniform well. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun.
Don half expected a perky little white cap, but then that would have been too
much. The woman stood staunchly and stared at Don and Fred standing on the
front porch with suspicion in her eyes.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a curtness in her voice as she
glanced beyond them to the car they drove.

Don could tell that the woman was not impressed and figured she judged
everyone by the automobile they drove. It was like that with the upper crust.
Even their help had an air of superiority about them.

Don normally didn’t get involved in high-profile cases. It just
started with the investigation into a woman murdered in a burnt-out car, and
now it was leading to a senator who had been missing for over a week. He only
hoped he wasn’t stepping on any toes with his investigation. He would know soon
enough.

“Is Mrs. Maxfield in?” Don asked, taking the lead.

“Is she expecting you?”

“This is official business.”

By then Don had his badge out and held it in front of the elderly
woman. She turned and started to walk away. Don followed her, but she quickly
turned around and held out her hand.

“Wait here, I’ll see if she will receive you.”

Don stared at her for the longest time, because this visit was not up
for debate. They would not leave under any circumstance without seeing the
Senator’s wife. He didn’t know why the maid thought there was a choice in the
matter. Don reached in his pocket and handed her his business card.

The maid accepted it reluctantly and just stared at it for the longest
time before looking up and saying with a tone of concern, “She is not well.”

The maid disappeared through a side door, leaving Don and Fred
standing in the foyer. Don glanced up at the crystal chandelier that hung down
from the tall ceiling. The winding staircase was impressive, and Don wondered
how many bedrooms were up on the second floor, not to mention bathrooms,
because he knew there had to be more than one. Don thought about his growing-up
years with his two brothers, always fighting for bathroom-time first thing in
the morning. Being the youngest, he always seemed to be last. The cold shower
when he was younger was annoying, but as he grew older he found it to be
invigorating first thing in the morning.

It didn’t take long and the maid was back. Don wondered if she had
other clothes that she wore when cleaning because the white apron didn’t look
like it was worn while doing housework. Plus, her knees didn’t look like she
did any work on her hands and knees. It finally occurred to Don that there
might be people who came in for cleaning the mansion and the maid was just for
show. The maid cleared her throat to get Don’s attention and then handed the
business card back to him.

“Mrs. Maxfield will receive you in the sun parlor.”

The maid turned quickly and, without saying a word for them to follow
her, she started walking toward the door she’d just come through. She had been
very curt and tight-lipped, not giving Don any more information than what he
asked for.

Don was curious what a sun parlor looked like and didn’t have to wait
long to get a glimpse of one. He was lucky enough to afford an apartment with a
living room. Once they walked up to the door that was at the south end of the
mansion, the maid turned to them.

“Try not to upset her, please,” she said, in a way that reminded Don
of his mother.

Don didn’t say anything, just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know
what he could say to reassure this woman. This was a police investigation. He
was not going to dance around this with kid gloves on.

As the maid opened the door, Don knew now why this was the sun parlor.
In his old neighborhood this room would have been called a screened-in porch
but this room was lined with triple-pane windows, no screens. The sun almost
blinded them. Sitting in the corner was Ellen Maxfield, holding a beautiful
Siamese cat on her lap. Its blue eyes stared cautiously at Don and Fred as they
walked in. Through the window Don could see the kids playing in the backyard
with an adult nearby. The adult looked more like a bodyguard than a nanny of
sorts.

Mrs. Maxfield had to be in her mid-thirties. Her hair was combed but
nothing more. She wore no makeup and looked heavily sedated. The bags under her
blue eyes contested to a woman who was in great turmoil. Don’s heart went out
to her, yet he had to keep an open mind at least until he heard her voice.

Don walked up to her and cleared his throat. Mrs. Maxfield finally
looked up as if just realizing he stood in front of her. She clearly was not in
her right mind.

Fred on the other hand just stood inside the room and shut the door
behind him.

Ellen smiled politely and then said, “Susie said you were here on
official business.”

“Yes,” Don replied. Given her present state of mind he wasn’t so sure
she would be of any help. And even though she spoke only a few words, Don knew
now that she was not the woman who left the threatening phone messages at
Raven’s work or at her home.

“Is this about Willie?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“No, not exactly,” Don said.

“Then what,” she asked, seeming a little confused.

“Raven VanBuren. Did you hear about what happened to her?”

“Yes, it was awful.”

“We’d like some information.”

Mrs. Maxfield continued to stroke the cat as if by doing so she could
concentrate on what she was supposed to say. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“Your husband is missing, his assistant has been murdered.”

Suddenly the cat let out a screech as Mrs. Maxfield suddenly clenched
her fingers into the cat’s back. It quickly jumped off her lap and scurried
across the room.

Fred took notice but did nothing, just kept a close watch on what Don
was up to.

“When was the last time you saw Ms. VanBuren?”

Ellen fidgeted while twisting her fingers around a tissue that she
took out of her pocket. She proceeded to tear it into shreds. “I can’t remember
what day it was. Everything is such a fog lately,” she said as she tried
focusing her eyes.

“Please try.”

Ellen appeared deep in thought for the longest time and then glanced
up, as if suddenly coming out of he fog. “It was the last time I saw Willie. I
think it was last Friday. He called from the office,” she said and then waved
her hand before continuing. “The doctor has me on these pills and it’s hard to
concentrate.”

“Madam, your husband has been missing for almost two weeks.”

Don looked suspiciously at Mrs. Maxfield, as she seemed genuinely
surprised by what he had just said. He knew she wasn’t faking it, either. He
had seen enough people lie to him, but Mrs. Maxfield really looked out of it.

“Has it been that long? I told the police all of this already.”

“I know, but I need you to think back. It’s important to the case I’m
on.”

“You think Willie’s disappearance is somehow connected to Raven’s
murder?”

“We’re not sure.”

Fred looked out the window at the kids playing. In the distance there
were tennis courts. It looked like everyone was dressed for swimming, but he
couldn’t see the pool and guessed it was hidden behind the fence near the
tennis court. Fred turned to Mrs. Maxfield.

“Why did your husband call you?” Fred asked before Don could. Fred
sensed they had to keep the woman on task if they were going to get any
pertinent information out of her.

“He wanted to meet me for lunch. When I got there he had to cancel. He
sent me home with his briefcase.”

“Didn’t that seem a little odd?” Don asked.

“Not in the least,” Ellen said, a little puzzled by his question. “He
wasn’t sure he was going back to the office.”

“Then you didn’t actually meet at the office?” Fred asked.

Ellen glanced over at Fred with a confused look on her face and then
she replied, “Why no, he was with Raven at the restaurant.”

“Do you still have the briefcase?” Don asked.

“Yes, it’s upstairs in the bedroom.”

“Could I see it?”

“I’m not sure,” she said with a concerned look on her face.

“I could get a search warrant.”

Ellen stared at Don for the longest time and then she turned to Fred,
as if to ask if he was serious.

“He’ll do it, and then the press will be on it like vultures.”

All she did was shake her hand. “I couldn’t have that. They’ve just
stopped calling.”

Ellen didn’t say a word as she slowly got up and walked out of the
room. The cat took the opportunity to scurry out quickly, following its
mistress. Don turned to Fred.

Fred just shrugged. “What do you think?”

“Definitely not the woman on the tape,” Don said.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“With what that doctor has her on, I don’t think anything is going to
bother her for a while.”

Fred took the opportunity to walk up to the window and stare at the
surroundings. Don walked over to Fred at the window and stared out at the
manicured lawn.

“I wonder how much something like this sets a person back?”

Fred turned to Don and laughed. “Trust me, it’s out of your league.”

“Do you ever stop to wonder what crossroad you missed?”

“I’m perfectly happy with my life the way it is,” Fred said and then
he glanced around and laughed. “You regretting what happened to Jackie?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“You being philosophical?”

“Maybe that’s the difference between us, that and ten years on the
force. You been at this as long as I have, you wonder why there isn’t more to
life.”

“Maybe Jackie will take you back.”

“That’s one crossroad I won’t go back to. It wasn’t what I meant,
either.”

Mrs. Maxfield walked back into the room. She handed the briefcase over
to Don, who took it from her and then set it down on the coffee table. He
quickly sat down on the sofa. Don slowly opened the clasps and then opened the
case. It was empty. Don glanced up at Mrs. Maxfield with a look of surprise.

“Did you remove anything from this?” he asked.

Don watched her intently for a hint of whether she was lying to him.

“No,” she snapped. “I never gave it a thought until you brought it up
just now. You’re the first person to touch it since Willie gave it to me that
day.”

Ellen walked over to Don on the sofa and sat down next to him. She
reached over and flipped a hidden lever, and the back panel released. An
envelope quickly fell out. Ellen reached over and picked it up. She handed it
to Don and shrugged her shoulders.

“That was a feature Willie liked. He sometimes carried confidential
information and felt he wanted the added precautions.”

Don opened the envelope and took out the 16 GB flash drive. “Mind if I
have a look at this?” Don asked.

Don held it in his hand and then turned it over. He looked at Mrs. Maxfield,
who seemed to be deep in thought.

“I’m not sure I should,” Mrs. Maxfield said with concern.

“Your husband is missing. This could help in the investigation.”

“What if it has something to do with national security on it?”

“Then I’ll gouge my eyes out when I’m done,” Don quipped.

Mrs. Maxfield just glared at Don for the longest time. She might have
been medicated, but she knew there were things that her husband dealt with on a
daily basis that even she wasn’t privy to. Yet at this point, after two weeks
of Willie being missing, she was desperate to have her husband back. The
investigation into his disappearance seemed to have hit a dead end. She was
about to throw caution to the wind as she glanced over at Don.