The White Angel Murder

49

They sat at the conference room table and looked over the list. There were only four names and just one of the four was male. Scribbled next to the names was the relationship they had with Pamela. Two friends, one cousin, and one ex-boyfriend.

“Dropped it off himself,” Tommy said looking over Stanton’s shoulder at the list. “Could’a just called or emailed.”

“He’s from a different time, Tommy. This was something he wanted to do himself.”

“Yeah, I guess. My grandpa still refuses to use a computer. Says technology is throwing off the balance of nature and causing the world to go crazy.”

“Well,” Stanton said, “I think I should hit the ex-boyfriend. Do you want to hit the two friends and the cousin?”

Jessica looked over the list one more time, memorizing the names. “I think I should talk to the ex. If it is him, it may piss him off if you come at him.”

“Okay. I’ll hit the friends and the cousin. Let me know as soon as you’re done with him.”

Jessica rose and walked out of the room as Stanton leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head, trying to force himself to relax.

“You sleeping all right?” Tommy asked.

“Good enough. Why?”

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

He sat down in a chair next to him. “How you holding up?”

“I’ve been better.”

Tommy glanced around. “I know what the chief did, Jon. It made me sick when he told me. You didn’t deserve that, no cop does. As far as I’m concerned, he crossed the line.”

“But you didn’t do anything to fix it, did you?”

“I … no. No I didn’t. Truth is, I’m a coward. I think you need to be to do what I do. I’m basically his assistant. I’ve never sought a promotion or to branch out or anything like that. I just do what I’m told. But I’ll tell you, there’s freedom in that. I don’t have to think, just act.”

Stanton rose. “That’s slavery, Tommy. Freedom at the end of a leash isn’t freedom. Thanks for the list.”

“Sure.”

*****

No one answered their phones at first so Stanton had to leave messages. While he waited for return calls, he tried to busy himself by reading the newest issue of Scientific American and going through some profiles of known sex offenders that were released from prison around the time of Tami’s death. He wasn’t sure what he hoped to see, but he studied every face, every expression. He wished that something would scream to him, or at least give him an uneasy feeling in his gut. He needed something to follow up on, some goal to be working toward rather than treading water and wasting time.

Slowly, as the day wore on and people began leaving work, the calls came in. Pamela’s cousin was the first to call. She worked at the make-up counter at the local mall and hadn’t seen Pam for at least a year. They had exchanged a few messages on Facebook but nothing substantive. She didn’t know anything personal about her or who she might’ve been dating. The one thing the cousin knew for sure was that Pamela was a drug addict. That her family had spent their savings to get her into the best treatment facility in the state located in Palm Springs, and that Pamela had convinced one of the other patients to steal a car and take off with her.

One time, she was certain, Pamela had prostituted herself for a thousand dollars.

It was chilling for Stanton to speak with the cousin, not because of anything she said but because of how normal she and her family were. There was a disconnect somewhere between the life Pamela should have had and the life she actually had.

Stanton talked with the friends next and they were even less help than the cousin. Both of them spoke in the whirlwind unintelligible speech of meth addicts and Stanton guessed one if not both were dealers for Pamela. Towards the low-end of the addiction, addicts believe their dealers are actually their friends.

As he hung up the phone and knew he had no one else to call, a heavy melancholy came over him and he hoped Jessica had fared better. Pamela’s family had given up and abandoned her; she had no friends and no one that really cared about her. He prayed that they would not be another in a long line of people that had failed her.

“Hey,” Tommy said, poking his head in, “they found him.”

Stanton’s heart jumped. “Who?”

“The homeless guy at the factory. They’ve got him at Salton City. Jessica’s heading down there right now.”