*****
I somehow made it through the commencement ceremony that afternoon, and thankfully Mom cancelled my graduation party. She told everyone that I wasn’t feeling well, and although not the result of an illness, her excuse wasn’t any less true. Max was on his hiatus from work, so this would be the opportune time to get away. Sunday morning I sprung on my parents that I was going camping with Max for a few weeks. It was obvious they had little idea what to do with me in my current state, so both thought it was a great idea.
Max was way more excited about the trip than I was, but I told myself I just needed to get away. As soon as the city was behind, us I could forget about voices, destinies, a friend I hadn’t been able to save, and everything else. We decided to leave Tuesday morning.
Monday late afternoon after I’d just returned from Paul’s funeral, the phone rang. I picked it up and it was Officer Johnson. “Hi, Lauren, how’re you feeling?”
I had struggled with this question every time someone asked it. I was alive, something that might not have been possible just three days ago. I was a college graduate, though I had no desire to celebrate. I felt like I was in my own little world and everyone I talked to believed the same. “I’m okay, getting ready to get out of town for a while.”
“Well, then I’m glad I caught you before your tires hit the pavement. I just wanted you to know in the course of investigating Paul’s murder, we made the assumption that the McMasters’ murders had to be tied to his. We believed the killer thought Paul knew more than he did and was trying to cover his tracks. You once told me you were a huge true crime fan, so what are motives for killing someone? C’mon this is Detective 101 stuff.”
Not wanting to play along with his game, I remained silent.
“Okay, it is love, money, impact, or mental illness. Meaning people kill out of passion, kill to receive money or compensation of some kind, or the kill will have a positive impact on the killer in some way. When we got back into the McMasters’ investigation, it was clear that Mrs. McMasters was very heavily insured - three million dollars heavily insured. When you told us that Paul said something about her barber we checked to see who the beneficiaries on her policy were. There wasn’t an individual: her business was the beneficiary. She was a co-owner of a business, and with her death the entire payout goes to her partner.” As Officer Johnson was talking, I heard Paul’s last words echo in my mind, “Not a cop, Mrs. McMasters’ partner.”
We interviewed him shortly after the double homicide and the subject of an insurance payout never came up. After Paul’s death, we re-interviewed him. We were already aware of the payout, but he denied that he would receive any financial gain from her death. His denial set off warning bells because that was not the case. Once we caught him in the lie, we just dug a little deeper. What kind of car do you suppose he drives?”
Not wanting to jinx whatever Officer Johnson was about to tell me, I stayed quiet. He was so excited he made a game show noise and announced, “Thank you for playing but too slow, yes he drives a gray Chrysler 300. Things were starting to add up, so we had a search warrant issued for his residence. Where do you suppose his residence is?”
This time I could feel the excitement from Officer Johnson, knowing he had solved it, so I chimed in, “Let me guess, the apartment building across the street from where the ambulance came?”
Not even trying to contain his excitement, he yelled, “Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, very good, Lauren! You mentioned that the unknown suspect was wearing a white button up shirt the night of the shooting. When we executed the search warrant, we found a white button up shirt in the laundry that had gunshot residue and blood on the sleeves.”
“So he killed Mrs. McMasters for the money. Why did he kill Paul?”
“Sorry, Lauren, he’s not talking right now. He’s lawyered up, but we think that he was under the impression that Paul had seen him there that morning, and it was only a matter of time before we stopped suspecting Paul for the McMasters’ murders. I guess he thought that if we had Paul as our main suspect, and he turned up dead, we would close the case.” Officer Johnson waited a few seconds and revealed in a more solemn voice, “If you and Paul hadn’t have come by to give his alibi evidence, I’m sorry to say that’s exactly what would have happened.”
I felt a huge weight lift off of me, “I know in my statement at the hospital I said Paul was talking about Mrs. McMasters’ barber, but that was just because I was in shock. I’m sure that he told me Mrs. McMaster’s partner. Is it too late to amend my statement? I remember hearing something about a ‘dying declaration’ being admitted as evidence.”
Officer Johnson chuckled into the phone, “If you really believe that, then yes we can amend your statement, but I really don’t think it’s necessary. I didn’t need anything from you. I just wanted you to know that we found Paul’s murderer, so you don’t have to look over your shoulder. It’s over.”