Fred Limberg - First Murder

“What do you want to know about our group for?”

“Was there any friction in the group?” Ray couldn’t tell her that he was still scratching for a motive, even a hint of one, and that the ‘Go Girls’ and their trips intrigued him.

“Is that a cop word? Friction? Get five or six women together and you’ll get more than that.”

Ray frowned. “So there were problems?”

“Not really. Not like you might think. Deanna is…was…the peacemaker of the group. I’d be jealous of something Lakisha bought and she’d get me over it. Erika pissing and moaning that all the good men were taken. She’s the only single one, well, unless you count Ally. Roxie would want to go to a certain bar and Ally would want to go to a restaurant. Problems like that. Certainly not life and death problems.”

“Tell me about the ‘Go Girls’.

Tia took another sip of her drink. “Like what? It’s just a bunch of us that have been friends for a long time. We like to do stuff together. We care about each other.”

“Like your trips?”

“That was originally Karen’s idea. Her husband is a big outdoors type, hunting and fishing-gone a lot. Hell, Barry’s gone half the year during the season, but she got it in her mind that we should ditch them for long weekends and get a little wild.”

“Wild?”

“Not really. Well…maybe a little. Like the time in Vegas when Lakisha entered this Texas Hold ’Em tournament. We were in the audience screaming every time she made a bet. We almost got tossed. We went deep sea fishing in Mexico. All of us, all but Ally, went scuba diving. We were just obnoxious in LA. We wanted to meet Harrison Ford. We got Woody Harrelson. We went to this strip joint. In LA they have strip joints for women. It’s creepy. That kind of wild.”

Ray stayed with the trip questions, intrigued. “You went to a lot of places that are what, maybe risky is the term. Did you ever get in any trouble?”

“Like cop trouble? No…never. Like men trouble? Not really. We’d get approached, sure. It was funny. We’d blow ’em off. Maybe tease a little, but that was all. It was girl time and we’re the ‘Go Girls’.”

“Tell me about the others.”

“No.” That took Ray back. Tia had been cooperative so far, informative. The ‘no’ had been definitive.

He must have had a puzzled look on his face because Tia went on to explain, “Look, you’re asking a lot of questions about our group, about Deanna’s circle of friends. It’s not my place to tell you what I think about them. I could tell you Roxie’s a lush and Lakisha can be a real bitch and Karen is frisky all the time, but that wouldn’t be fair to them and it would affect your thinking. There’s no way…no way in hell that any of us had anything to do with Dee’s murder.”

She stood quickly and the chair squeaked when she shoved it back. It almost tipped over. Tia retreated behind the kitchen island and poured more whiskey. A bit splashed over the rim of the glass. She looked like she was getting a little drunk.

“Mrs. Bork, one last thing. If you don’t mind we’d like to get your fingerprints. It’s just for elimination purposes…comparison.” She looked at him strangely for a minute, like she was working through something difficult, like she was confused.

“Barry!” she yelled with her head turned toward the hallway. Boom Boom quickly appeared. He didn’t look happy but Tony was still relieved when he didn’t make any moves like he was going to sack them. He glanced at the bottle on the counter, saw how much lower the level was, and sighed.

“What is it, babe?”

“They want my fingerprints?”

Tony turned his palms up on the table top. “It’s just for elimination. There are a lot of prints in the house. It’ll help us find the killer.”

“You want mine, too?”

With that question the crisis was over, the issue decided. Tony got out the kit and printed both of them. Tia was sullen. Her husband rubbed her back while Tony guided her fingers from the pad and rolled them across the card. Boom Boom did his by himself. After washing her hands Tia excused herself, said good evening to the detectives, and climbed unsteadily up the stairs.

“She’s upset.” Boom Boom shook his head. “Hell, I’m upset too. She usually doesn’t drink like this.”

“It’s understandable. They were close.” Ray looked once more at his notebook. “I need to ask you where you were Monday morning, early, from seven to nine.”

Boom Boom chuckled. “I haven’t needed an alibi since training camp last year.” He rubbed his hand over his face once. He seemed weary too. “Tia and the girls headed out early. Cherie has swim practice Mondays. I was up, read the paper. Oh yeah, about eight I got a call from Coach, wondering if I was interested in coming in for some weight work. I still help some of the guys with weights. That help?”

Back in the car and headed for St. Paul, Tony stared out the side window, thinking about the Borks.

“We don’t have a motive. We don’t have a suspect. We don’t have any leads. I’m discouraged, Ray.”

Bankston stared out the windshield, looked straight ahead at the interstate traffic. He was thinking too, thinking so hard he didn’t even glance to the left at the massive Boeing 747 bathed in white light next to the gigantic maintenance hangar at the airport.

“It’s early yet.”

Tony started flipping through his notebook, looking for names and numbers. “You want to talk to someone else?”

“Not tonight. I mean it’s early in the case. This one’s different. The first 48 hours usually makes or breaks a case. This one’s different.”

“I don’t see us solving this tomorrow, boss.”

“I don’t either, but I’ve been surprised before.”

Ray glanced over when Tony fished out his cell phone. “I still haven’t heard back from the other roommate, Stuckey.” Tony dialed the number again and got Stuckey’s voice mail… again. He left another message. “You think it means anything? Him not calling me back?”

“Not without more information.” Tony dialed another number.

“Hello.”

“David Hong?”

“This is Dave. Hey, detective. What’s up?”

“Just wondering if Sean’s there.”

“You just missed him. He blew through, grabbed something out of his room and headed out. He’s probably gone for the night.”

“Well damn. You talk to him? Tell him I want to talk to him?”

“Nope. He was in and out. Hasn’t he called you?”

“No. And I’ve left messages.”

“Not surprising, Tony. If it isn’t a chick he doesn’t seem to have time for it.”

“A ladies man?”

Hong laughed into the phone. “More like a pussy hound. You want me to give him a message if I see him?”

“Just to call me. How’s Scotty doing?”

“Haven’t seen him all day. He’s been with his dad.”

“Sure. Hey, thanks David. Later.” Tony flipped the phone shut and went back to staring out the side window.

Carol and Vang were at their desks when Tony and Ray trudged into the squad room. Vang was keyboarding his notes, Carol on the phone. Tony fished out his notebook and dropped it on what he guessed was his desk. Ray pointed to one next to his.

“This one’s yours.”

De Luca shifted over and spun in his chair. “Want me near you?”

“Sure. Gotta keep an eye on you.”

Carol finished her call and came over to join them.

“How did it go?” Ray asked. Carol looked tired. Her jacket was wrinkled, her slacks creased behind the knee. Tony guessed she’d covered a lot of ground during the day.

“We got squat, Ray. The woman was a saint. Loved by all. A tireless worker. Everybody’s friend. We couldn’t get a whiff of anything to look into.”