The Ravine (16 page)

“According to the statement by Vonda, shortly after the store closed at 7:45, Danny met with him privately, accused him of stealing from the cash register, and told him he was fired. At first Logan denied it, but then he admitted it and promised to pay back the cash. According to Logan, Danny said that it was out of his hands, that his brother and boss, Tony, had seen the video, and they had a strict policy of firing anyone caught stealing. He begged Danny not to fire him, and finally Danny said something like, ‘Okay, there might be another way,’ and said he should get in his truck and follow him back to his neighborhood.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Detective,” Tom said, “but if Tony saw a surveillance video of somebody stealing, we would have had to fire him, even if he did offer to pay it back. That’s the store policy.”

“That may be the policy, but that isn’t what happened on Tuesday night, if you’ll let me continue, Tom.” Thompson was starting to get concerned that they were getting off track, and he was the type of person who needed to follow procedure.

For his part, Mitch began to wonder what all of this had to do with how Danny wound up killing Rachel and Evan, but he kept his mouth shut.

“So,” Thompson continued, “after they arrived at the parking lot in the senior center, Logan climbed into Danny’s truck. He said that Danny seemed like a different person, and had even bought him a cup of coffee. Then Danny changed his demeanor again and started yelling at him, according to Logan. Logan calmed Danny down and asked him to tell him about the idea he had mentioned back at the store, thinking Danny wanted him to obtain drugs for him. When he suggested he could take care of Danny if that was what he wanted, he says Danny just
started laughing hysterically, and then said something along the lines of, ‘It’s gonna take much more than that.’”

“Why would this guy care so much about losing a crappy job at a sporting goods store?” Pete asked. “I’d just go down the road to another store and get a job.”

“Logan isn’t too bright,” Tom answered, “and he had been working at Steve’s for a long time, so the job was important to him.”

Mitch thought he saw something the cops had overlooked, and that this might be a good time to mention it. “So, isn’t it possible this Logan Vonda guy helped Danny murder Rachel and Evan? Why did Danny then commit suicide? How do we know this guy is telling the truth and that he didn’t commit the murders and then stage Danny’s suicide?”

Carolyn nodded and added, “I agree, that makes much more sense.”

All the people who had known Danny for years warmed to this explanation, and they tried to persuade Thompson to pursue this possibility.

Thompson took a gulp of water and glanced around the table. He then said, “I know how hard this must be for all of you, or maybe I don’t, because I’ve never had a family member or close friend commit a heinous crime like this. We have explored Logan Vonda’s role, and we are fairly confident he didn’t participate in the murders, but not 100 percent certain yet. However, I can tell you with certainty that Danny committed these murders and then took his own life.”

There was a collective feeling that their hope that Danny might in some way be redeemed was being peremptorily dismissed. Mitch spoke again for the group. “All we are saying is that it’s very suspicious that this Logan guy has admitted to plotting a crime with Danny, and that it’s confusing to us that he is getting off scot-free, while Danny, who isn’t here to speak for him—”

“I assure you there is much more to this story that you don’t yet know,” Thompson interrupted. It was obvious his patience was wearing thin. “I have tried to explain this in the way in which it unfolded because the details of the actual murders are very difficult, or, to be blunt, they are exceptionally unpleasant. Once you have heard all the facts, I assure you it will become apparent that Mr. Turner committed this crime.”

He glanced at his watch. “So please, be patient and let me continue.”

C
HAPTER
10

Midnight

Deep into that darkness peering
,

long I stood there
,

wondering, fearing

—Edgar Allan Poe

T
HOMPSON HAD BEEN
reading from a report that had been provided to him by the officer who interviewed Logan. He now picked up the folder with Danny’s name on it. “I know that some of you are aware that Danny spent time in jail for a particularly brutal crime that he committed with his brother.” Except for Tom Schroeder, all the people at the table had grown up in Cuyahoga County and were aware of this, and so they just kept silent in reaction to the comment. Without knowing it, they had come to a tacit agreement not to mention this incident. But Tom was shocked.

“What do you mean, Dave? Are you saying that Danny and Tony went to jail for killing someone?”

“No, the individual was not murdered, but Danny beat him with a tire iron, and had it not been for his brother stopping him, it is almost certain he would have killed the man.”

Tom was befuddled. Danny in jail? He knew about Tony, but always presumed he was busted when a kid for selling pot or something benign like that. Tony would say he’d made some mistakes as a teenager, but he
was upfront about it, and said that’s what had convinced him he had to change. Tony alluded to that time as a life lesson that had contributed to his success. Tom didn’t know what to make of the fact that it actually had been a serious and violent crime.

“That’s really hard to believe, Dave, because Danny just doesn’t, I mean, didn’t have a temper. When did—”

Mitch jumped in. “It’s true, Tom. Danny and Tony broke into some guy’s house one night to crack into his safe and steal money. They didn’t think anyone would be home, so it wasn’t like a home invasion or anything, where they intended to harm someone. But it turned out the son of the owner was asleep in the house, and then Danny beat the crap out of him, and the guy wound up in the hospital, seriously injured. There was some other guy involved, but he was killed in a car accident trying to escape.”

Tom just sat back, stunned, and let out a long, slow breath. At that point, Anna and Maryann returned, and asked what they were talking about. Tom told Anna he would explain things later.

“And the testimony,” Thompson added, “was very explicit about the fact that Danny completely lost control of himself and was vicious in his attack. So, while that in itself isn’t proof that he committed this crime, it does make what I’m about to tell you much more plausible.

“When Logan and Danny were sitting in the truck, he told Logan he wanted him to help fake a jewelry heist at his house so he could make an insurance claim of thirty thousand dollars, which he said he would share with him. Vonda told us he declined getting involved with a fraudulent insurance claim, but agreed to go to Danny’s house with him and fake the robbery. He didn’t think that was really a crime. So they agreed to leave Vonda’s truck at the senior center and drive to Danny’s house together.

“According to Logan, they arrived there at approximately 10:15, and Danny told Logan to wait in the garage for him. He also made Logan
hand over his phone, saying he wanted to be sure Logan didn’t tell anyone what he was doing. According to phone records, Danny made several phone calls in the next few hours, including one to his brother and several to Logan’s friends, in which he claimed that he had fired Logan, and that Logan had threatened to kill him.”

“But doesn’t this Logan guy also have a record? Why should we believe what he has to say?” Pete asked.

“He does have a minor record, but his statements check out.” Thompson replied. “When you’re dealing with a crime of this nature, it’s not surprising for the witnesses to be people with dicey backgrounds. We know Logan Vonda isn’t a Boy Scout, and we haven’t yet totally cleared him. This is an ongoing investigation. However, the fact that we have been able to verify that Danny made these calls indicates he was attempting to frame Vonda and create an alibi for himself.

“Then, according to Vonda, Danny went inside the house and told him he would come back to the garage to get him once Rachel fell asleep. At around 11:30, he came back and told Logan to break the glass at the back door of the garage, to make it look like a break-in, and then he went back into the house.”

Carolyn, like the rest of the group, was totally confused. They all looked at each other impatiently. Now the detective was coming to the difficult part.

“At around 1 a.m., or some time shortly afterward, Danny returned to the garage again, and told Logan that there was a change in plans. He never really planned to steal jewelry; in fact, there wasn’t any jewelry to steal. Instead, he wanted his help in killing Rachel.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Now Mitch was totally nonplused. “I know it’s reported that Vonda stayed in the garage all night. Who in God’s name would simply hang around when somebody tells him he wants help killing his wife? That sounds like total crap to me. That’s when anyone would just pick up and leave.”

“Well, Logan says he stayed because, when he refused to help Danny kill Rachel, Danny then said something like, ‘Did you think I was serious? I was just putting you on, dude,’ and Logan was convinced that he wasn’t serious about killing her,” Thompson answered and continued.

“However, he started to get ‘freaked out,’ to use his term, because Danny wasn’t acting like himself. The last time he appeared at the door, he had seemed calm and had turned on the garage light. This time he seemed jumpy and wild-eyed, shouted, and stood in the dark. He refused to give Logan his cell phone, and then he abruptly went back into the house. Logan says that at that point he got spooked; he found a pipe sitting in the corner, placed it on the passenger seat, and then fell asleep. He didn’t wake up until around 4 a.m., when Danny opened the garage door.

“We believe that Danny committed the murders sometime between midnight and one o’clock, prior to when he asked Vonda to help murder Rachel.”

Everyone at the table was speechless, confused, and dubious about the whole picture, but no one interrupted Thompson.

“Vonda said that he next saw Danny around 4 a.m. At that time he appeared to have showered and changed his clothes and his demeanor was very different. He seemed very calm. Vonda asked if he could have his cell phone back, and Danny gave it to him, along with Rachel’s car keys, and told him to leave her car in the lot at the senior center. So Logan left, and then discovered several voice messages concerning the calls Danny had made to his friends. He then got into his own car and drove to his manager’s house, and they called Tony Turner, who was on vacation in Italy.”

Now Sam had to speak up. This was his sister and nephew who had been murdered. He generally didn’t trust the cops, and this was clearly an example of a small-town force blowing an investigation. He was apoplectic that they would believe such an outlandish story. Additionally,
they were clearly overlooking one very important and obvious fact. He tried to maintain his respectful demeanor without success as his question turned into a statement and then an accusation.

“Officer, it’s hard enough to believe that somebody would just take a nap with all this craziness going on, but, excuse my language . . . how the
hell
can you believe this Vonda creep would sleep through the sound of several gunshots? The house isn’t that big. Come on, this is total nonsense.”

He rolled his eyes and looked around the table for support. Before anyone could respond, Thompson replied abruptly.

“Well, that’s the point I’m coming to. There weren’t any gunshots.” Thompson was dreading telling this part of the story to the family, but the moment had finally arrived.

Mitch tipped his chair back, curled his fingers behind his head, and started to realize what the detective was alluding to. Perhaps the rumors he’d heard earlier that morning were true. The rest of the people around the table must have heard the same rumors, but no one wanted to accept that Danny might have beaten his wife and child to death, as the news reports contended.

Now they were completely silent, save for Maryann, who said softly, “I didn’t want to believe it when I first heard it.” Carolyn stared at her without a clue. Then she turned to Thompson, touched his hand, and said, “What are you trying to tell us?”

“Listen, I know this isn’t going to be pleasant to hear, and if anyone wants to leave before I go further, please do so.” No one moved. “As awful as a simple gunshot, multiple homicide would have been, this wasn’t that. This was much worse. It’s easily the most horrific crime scene I have ever encountered in my career.”

“Perhaps it’s time for you to tell us the details,” Pete said in a quiet, dull monotone. No one wanted to go there, but everyone knew they had to.

“Both victims were brutally stabbed and beaten in a manner that is commonly referred to in a homicide investigation as ‘overkill,’ meaning the victims would have died had they only incurred a fraction of their wounds, but the killer continued to stab and bludgeon them in an excessive and frenzied manner. I’m sorry to have to be so graphic, but there is no other way to say it.”