Chapter 2 #4
“It’s not even that,” Eric noted. “It’s more about doing what we can. We’re extremely short-handed, so take pleasure in what we can close, and don’t let the rest of it wind you up.”
“I get that, but, if we can’t find any information and if there’s no forensics—”
“We don’t have much to go on,” Eric admitted, his tone matching Cody’s now.
“I know. I wasn’t trying to—”
“To bitch?”
Cody had a goofy smile all over his face now.
“Yes, you were,” Eric declared cheerfully, “and with good reason.”
“But, if you’re okay to run this down as far as you can take it, then put it in front of somebody else, get fresh eyes on it. See if anybody has anything to add.”
“And if not?” Eric asked.
“We park it, unless forensics comes back and says she was drugged or something equally bad,” Cody replied. “Then we have a whole lot of other things to work on. The forensics team is still at the rape-murder site.”
“What’s the latest on that one?” he asked.
“The police are canvassing the area. I should look at doing that on this one too,” Cody suggested. “I need to check with the neighbors to see if they saw or heard anything during the evening hours last night.”
“Right, so go do what you can do this morning, then park it until we know more. I will still be a couple days,” Eric shared.
“Yeah, but Debbie is also important.”
“Other cases become more important when we don’t have any other leads or a direction to take,” Eric noted, with a heavy sigh, as he looked down at his notebook. “I’m running names on the rape-murder case then will go back to the crime scene.”
“I’ll go run this down and talk to the people I need to talk to. And then I can help you,” Cody offered.
“Good.” With that, Eric turned and headed to his desk. Picking up his phone, he made appointments to go talk to the people on his list.
He figured he could just talk to Debbie’s boss on the phone. So, when the clock turned nine, Eric called her workplace and had a quick talk with him. He confirmed what Eden had already told him in terms of the two women being the best of friends.
They appeared to have been close friends for decades. Eric didn’t see any real issues between them, but he had no way of knowing for sure yet.
He did confirm that Debbie had submitted notice that she was quitting, which she had done by text, something her boss most definitely did not appreciate. And, when the boss tried to talk Debbie out of it, to give it some time, she had been adamant.
“Honestly, Detective, she was quite belligerent, and I had never experienced that side of her. I’m not at all sure how I feel about it, now that she is dead, but nothing quite like people quitting and airing grievances to bring out aspects of their personality which you hadn’t seen before,” he explained.
“I was quite surprised. Stunned, really, and I was also terrified that Eden would quit too.”
“Would she have done it?”
“They tended to do a lot of things together, although Eden is typically quite stable.”
“Do you think Eden would have been jealous of her friend having this new relationship?”
“Jealous? No, I think she would have been more wary than anything,” the boss clarified. “Debbie had a history of making poor relationship choices and some very flamboyant decisions.”
“So, Debbie has done this before?”
“Not that I want to share details that are not mine to share, but I have given her several days off in order to settle up some relationships that had become, … let’s say, very difficult,” he replied.
“So, I imagine, from Eden’s perspective, it was more about trying to stop Debbie from moving too quickly and from getting in over her head again. ”
Which is just what Eden had said. Eric marked that down in his notebook, thanked the man for his time, then called to speak to the man who had set all this in motion. Richard Santino.
When Richard answered, Eric explained who he was and heard another agitated voice whispering in the background.
When he asked what was going on, Mr. Santino told him that he was putting his phone on Speaker because his brother, Rinaldo, was also with him.
Eric introduced himself again and asked both men to take a moment to explain who they were and how they came to know Debbie Kingston.
Richard sounded distraught. “It’s absolutely awful,” he muttered. “I called in for a wellness check. I was worried when she didn’t call me after she’d gotten home, and then I couldn’t get an answer, but to hear she was dead?” He left it at that.
Eric did note a lot of emotions were packed in his tone.
Richard sniffled once, twice, and his brother mumbled something to him, sounding tense.
“Look,” Rinaldo added, “this is an absolutely horrible thing. I have no idea what happened to her, but I can tell you that she was a lovely person.”
Eric listened intently to see if anything was in their voices that sounded off.
Either they were professional liars or they had no knowledge of Debbie’s death.
Considering that they were in the business of sales—essentially selling themselves—Eric imagined the brothers couldn’t afford any blemish on their reputations and likely would do a lot to keep themselves out of it.
Eric could certainly understand that, as long as they were free and clear.
They both had alibis, but, as Eden had pointed out, those alibis weren’t strong, since they had each provided an alibi for the other—which in Eric’s mind crossed both out.
He asked Rinaldo a few questions, and then talked to Richard specifically.
Trying to get his brother Rinaldo to stay out of the conversation was a little hard because he kept jumping in, trying to answer for Richard.
“Can you tell me exactly the nature of your relationship with her?” he asked Richard.
Richard sniffled a couple times, before answering. “We had just met that weekend, and she was the loveliest person whom I have ever known. I had really hoped it was the start of a beautiful relationship.” Then tears erupted once again.
Not a lot, just a few, enough that gave the impression of being sincere, but also gave the impression that everything was on par and yet maybe a little superficial.
“I don’t know what anybody has told you,” Richard added, “but I can tell you that she had a big argument with a friend, and that was very difficult for her. But we fell in love. And when you fall in love,” he stated, “you have to follow your heart.”
“And what were your plans from here on in then?”
“We were going to take it slow and steady. We obviously wanted to spend as much time together as we could. I had planned to go to her place the following weekend, so we would spend as much time as we could getting to know each other. We weren’t making any definite plans for the future,” he pointed out, “but I didn’t really want to let go of an opportunity—in case she was the one. ”
Rinaldo spoke up. “Obviously this is very stressful for my brother. I’m also very concerned about our name. I know it may sound cynical, but any association of our company with a case such as this, … it can tarnish our reputation.”
“Yeah, but, if you haven’t done anything, it shouldn’t matter,” Eric replied.
“Public perception is a fickle thing,” Rinaldo stated, his tone pointed. “I’m sure you can understand that we want to confirm this is kept very low-key.”
“Of course,” Eric noted in a noncommittal voice. “At the moment, we’re not even sure that a crime has been committed.”
At that, Richard whispered, “I really hope not. She caught a ride with another attendee because Debbie had a bunch of stuff to sort out, and I perfectly understood that. It had been a whirlwind for me too.” He choked back a sigh.
“This is our company, after all,” he said, with a heavy sigh.
“Sometimes doing this work takes a toll on us, and sometimes it’s pure joy.
And right now, when something like this happens, I have to be very aware of how much negative energy is surrounding me. ”
“But it’s not necessarily negative energy surrounding you,” his brother clarified. “We just have to confirm we meditate, stay in our own bubble, and try not to let this affect us. Plus sending as much loving light energy to Debbie and her eternal soul.”
Eric’s eyebrows shot up. Was that even possible? If you fell head over heels for somebody, and she suddenly died, how could that not affect you? But he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t his place to offer anything, just to get answers. He sat silent, waiting to see what would happen next.
“You’re right, Rinaldo,” Richard murmured, followed by a heavy emotional sigh. “When we go home, we can light a candle for her.”
Again it was on the tip of Eric’s tongue to ask what good that would do, but he also didn’t want to sound like an asshole.
That could potentially shut down the very lines of communication he was working on building.
There may not be any need for any of this, but he also couldn’t be sure, and he may well need the little rapport he had established with these men for future communications.
With the contact information on the attendee who drove Debbie home that weekend, Eric ended the call and then placed the next one.
“She was silent almost the whole way home,” Susan offered. “I was okay with that as I was pretty chill myself. I dropped her off outside her apartment and left to go home to my husband and kids.”
Eric asked several more questions. Susan hadn’t met Debbie before the meditation weekend but had been happy to give her a ride home as they lived near each other. Once home, Susan hadn’t gone out again and thankfully her husband confirmed it.
So, all in all, another dead end.