Allison Brennan - Stalked

“He lives in Queens-not far from Citi Field. But why would he set her up?”

“I don’t think he did-I think the killer used his name.”

“Too many what-ifs,” DeLucca said. He pulled out his phone. “I’ll check him out myself, as soon as we’re done here.”

He sent a message, then pocketed his phone. “We can’t find Weber’s phone, but she uses a digital planner that she backed up on her computer. The last back-up was two nights before she was murdered, and there was no scheduled meeting.”

“What was her last appointment?” Tony asked.

“The morgue,” DeLucca said. “She made a notation to pick up files. We checked with the staff, and she’d filed an FOIA for the official autopsy reports of all Cinderella Strangler victims.”

“I talked to Panetta this morning,” DeLucca continued, “and she’s been hounding him. He keeps sending her to you, Suz, since it became an FBI case when your SWAT team took out the suspect. She’d pulled the initial police reports of each Cinderella Strangler victim from the responding precinct.”

Tony said, “I’m going to talk to the librarian and ask them to pull the archived manuscripts and catch up with you.”

Suzanne and Joe went up to the sixth floor and asked for directions at the information desk to Cleveland’s grad student office. They found Kip Todd sitting at a table with several books open in front of him. He was twenty-six, attractive, blond. By the way his legs were folded under the table, he was at least six feet tall and rail thin. He glanced up when they entered, surprise in his eyes.

“Mr. Todd? Detective DeLucca, NYPD, and Special Agent Madeaux, FBI. We have a few questions about your employer.”

He blinked rapidly, then sighed. “I’m still in shock.” He closed his books after marking his place. “Professor Cleveland said you’d probably want to talk to me.”

Suzanne sat across from Kip while Joe stood. “You spent a lot of time with her. Whatever you know may be helpful in finding out who killed her,” Suzanne said.

“I really liked Rosemary. She was tough, but I learned so much.”

“You were her assistant for the book she was currently researching?”

“The Cinderella Strangler-” His eyes widened. “You’re Suzanne Madeaux. Oh, wow. Rosemary really wanted to talk to you. She said without you her book wouldn’t happen.”

“Then it wouldn’t have happened.”

Kip looked at her quizzically.

Suzanne said, “It’s up to my boss’s boss, and they usually assign a media rep to work on these things.”

Joe said, “Did you know who she was supposed to meet at Citi Field last night?”

Kip shook his head. “I didn’t know anything about the meeting, but that’s not strange. She assigned me specific projects.”

“Like?”

“She had me pulling records. Do you realize that four different morgues handled the victims and the suspect, depending on where they were killed?”

“I’m aware,” Suzanne said.

“That’s a lot of groundwork. Then verifying all the information-Rosemary was a stickler for details. Everything had to be verified and reverified.”

“Where were you Tuesday?”

“Tuesday I went to the Jacobi Medical Center, in the Bronx. Yesterday, before I knew she was killed, I was taking pictures outside of the suspect’s art gallery.”

Joe asked, “What about Rob Banker?”

“The Times reporter? They were friends.”

“Was he consulting on this particular book?”

“She talked to him about it. I wasn’t part of those conversations.”

Suzanne asked, “Did you or Ms. Weber contact anyone involved in the Cinderella Strangler case who seemed agitated or angry about the prospect of their lives being dragged through the mud?”

“Rosemary handles these situations carefully. She’s very fair. Have you read her books?”

“No,” Suzanne said. And she didn’t want to, though she thought she might have to now. Lucy was reading them; maybe Suzanne could rely on her analysis.

Joe asked, “Did you go with Ms. Weber on the interviews?”

“She hasn’t even gotten that far. She sent preliminary communications to the key people in the case-like you,” he said to Suzanne, “and Detective Panetta, the reporters who documented the investigation. The guy Barnett.”

Barnett, who’d been a key suspect in the Cinderella Strangler case, would not want to be the subject of any true crime book, not when it would drag his younger brother through this mess again. Barnett had a temper as well. But Suzanne didn’t see him stabbing Rosemary Weber and stealing her ring and phone to make it look like a robbery. And why would she meet with him in the parking lot of a baseball stadium? Still, Suzanne would talk to him. If he thought that Weber was a threat to his younger brother, he might hire someone to kill her. It didn’t feel right to Suzanne, but she’d have to confirm it one way or the other.

“How did the meeting go with Barnett?” she asked.

“She talked to him on the phone; that’s all I know. She didn’t give me any notes to transcribe.”

“Notes?”

“She records everything; I transcribe them. But she hasn’t done any interviews yet. The only things I’ve transcribed were her notes to herself.”

“Does she use a tape recorder? Her phone?”

“A small tape recorder. She has several.”

No tape recorder had been found on Weber’s body.

Suzanne asked, “Did Ms. Weber ask you to research a consultant on the case, Lucy Kincaid?”

Kip shook his head and Suzanne was relieved; then Kip said, “She mentioned her, but didn’t ask me to do anything. Why?”

“Kincaid’s involvement wasn’t part of the public file.”

Kip said, “Rosemary knew everyone. And I mean everyone. She knew things she probably shouldn’t know. You should read her books-you’ll know what I mean.”

Joe said, “I’ll need all your notes and files.”

“Why?”

“Part of the investigation.” Joe slid over his card. “To my attention, please.”

Suzanne asked, “Did Rosemary receive any threatening letters or e-mails?”

“Not that I know of. But she had a P.O. box and she handled her own mail. There was this one guy, though, up at Rikers, who kept sending her letters. Every week. He wanted her to write a book about his crimes and prove he was innocent. She laughed over them and threw them away. Said she got hundreds of letters from prisoners claiming they were framed, but this guy was the most persistent.”

“Do you remember his name?”

Kip shook his head. “Sorry.”

“If you remember anything else that may be important to the case, please let us know.” Suzanne gave Kip her card to go with Joe’s. “No matter how small.”

Leaving, Joe said, “What do you think?”

“I think I need to talk to Barnett and you need to check out her P.O. box and this guy from Rikers.”

“Motive?”

“I don’t see Barnett killing her, but he’s very protective of his brother, and leave no stone unturned, right?”

“If this prisoner wrote her every week, someone at the prison knows who he is. What about the assistant?”

Suzanne raised an eyebrow. “Motive?”

“Maybe she was going to fire him, or she pissed him off. His professor said he had no complaints about his job with Weber, but you never know. I’ll run him, but he seems to be what he is. In the meantime, I’m going to head over to the morgue. Want to come?”

“No. I’ll talk to Barnett and let you know what I learn.”

“Dinner?”

“No.”

“I’ll see you at seven. Same place.”

“I said no, Joe-and this time I mean it.”

I hope.