a vacation to take. A cruise, we were thinking. Right before he . . .”
And once again they’d circled away from the topic of the outside job.
Nate came back, slipping the cell in his pocket. “Ms. Parker, that phone call was from my captain. There are some questions about your and Roland’s finances.”
Nora’s eyes grew wide. “Questions? From who? Our finances are our own business. I don’t see what they have to do with you.”
“You recently bought beachfront property in Florida. After you buried your husband.”
It took effort for Risa to keep from reacting. The information was news to her. The warrant for the victims’ financials must have come through, and Eduardo would have taken a look at them.
The tears were flowing in earnest now, and Nora’s large bosom was heaving. “Ro had insurance,” she sobbed. More tissues were sacrificed to her tears. “And I can’t bear to be in the house without him. There are just too many memories.”
“Our information shows that the price of the property you bought was over a million dollars.” Nate’s tone was hard. “Your husband didn’t carry that much insurance.”
The tears stopped as suddenly as if someone had turned off a faucet. “How dare you come here and interrogate me! Why haven’t you caught his killer yet? It’s all over the news. Another detective has been killed. Go do your jobs and stop the murderer before someone else dies.”
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Risa said evenly. “But our job is just made harder when people aren’t honest with us. Like you. Now.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Nora insisted, and dabbed at her tear ravaged makeup. “I didn’t want to talk about it because he said the department didn’t like it when officers moonlighted. It didn’t take that much of his time. An evening a week maybe. Sometimes a while on the weekends.”
“What was the second job, Nora?”
“Protection, he said.” She raised her gaze to look at them hopefully. “I figured maybe he filled in on the security detail sometimes for a celebrity or local politician.”
“Because the money was good?”
The woman blew her nose noisily before answering Risa’s question. “I never knew how good because Roland always took care of it. I never saw bankbooks or anything until after he died, and I found the one to that overseas bank.” Her eyes filled again. “He always said it was our retirement nest egg.”
There was a charge in the air at the briefing that afternoon. Mark Randolph’s death, coming just days after Christiansen’s, lent the meeting a sense of urgency.
“The offender may have a criminal history,” Risa told the silent group when it was her turn to speak. “We know he’s adept at changing VINs and circumventing security. We’ll resubmit the ViCAP with those details, see if we can find any intersections with kidnappings.” They’d already struck out a couple times on the manner in which he killed his victims. Which made her think his criminal background perhaps included car theft and burglary, but not homicide.
These homicides had been planned. They were special. Revenge a long time in the making.
“He’ll have Randolph’s car with him or hidden away.” Until the next victim, she thought, but didn’t say the words aloud.
Nate looked at Cass. “Where are we on that stolen plate report for a 2005 burgundy Chrysler and Christiansen’s 2010 Malibu?”
“Sixteen possibilities on the Malibu,” she responded. “We’ve gotten in touch with all but three of the owners. Eliminated four of the reports because the theft happened out of state. Twenty-seven for the Chrysler. Started a map of the areas where the owners first noticed they were gone, leaving out those who weren’t sure when it happened. Also have a list of the plates and associated VINs in case either car surfaces with a new ID.”
“Still don’t understand how it took so long for Parker’s car to register with impound,” Shroot grumbled.
“The VIN switch was expertly done,” Nate said. “Whoever this guy is, he either has the skills or access to someone who does. The plates and VIN matched up to a vehicle belonging to an elderly woman who had been hospitalized recently, so there was no reply to messages regarding the tow. Since she doesn’t use her vehicle often, she didn’t even realize her plates were missing. At any rate, I think Parker’s car may have been used to abduct Sherman Tull, as well. So we’re going back to the traffic cameras—” There was a collective groan from a few of the detectives. Nate gave