Long Shadows

Chapter 82

A​s they were heading out White got a call. It was the officer from Miami’s Cold Case Squad.

“Didn’t expect to ever hear back from you in my lifetime,” said White.

“Yeah, I surprised myself. But even though you didn’t have a name, you had a specific date. I ran it through our missing persons database for the day after, and got one hit that matched your physical description. Her name is Wanda Monroe, African American, age twenty-three. She was reported missing by her roommate. According to her rap sheet, Monroe was a known prostitute who worked the strip back then, including the Fontainebleau.”

“Can you send me a photo?”

“Soon as I hang up.”

“I assume she was never found?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, thanks a lot.”

A minute later the photo dropped into her inbox. They looked at the young woman with long dark hair, a fetching smile, and lovely features.

“What a damn waste,” said White.

“Yeah, it is. Send that photo to Deidre Fellows and see if she recognizes it as the woman in her father’s hotel room.”

“It was over forty years ago, Decker.”

“Sometimes a memory like that gets seared into your head.”

“Is that how all your memories are?” she said curiously.

“For better or worse, yeah.”

She sent the email off. “Now what?”

“I was thinking there was one thing we didn’t check.”

“What’s that?”

“Where did the killers get all that old Slovakian money to stuff down Draymont’s and Lancer’s throats?”

White shot him a glance. “I just assumed—”

“Yeah, so did I, and that was a mistake. I looked online, and it’s sold on Etsy and eBay for the most part.”

“I can run a check on recent purchases of the currency. I can’t imagine there’s a big market for it.”

White made a call and got this in motion. “I told them to make it a priority. Hopefully, they won’t need a warrant or anything.”

“Yeah.”

“Now where?”

“Let’s talk to Doris Kline again.”

“Why?”

“She lived next door to Julia Cummins and knew her maybe better than anyone else. And she held back before. Maybe she’s still holding back something.”

Kline was out on her lanai reading a book and having orange juice, though knowing the woman now, Decker doubted it was solely juice in there.

She was dressed in a salmon-and-white-striped shirt and white capri pants. A pack of cigarettes sat next to the juice. An ashtray with a few butts in it sat next to that.

“Long time, no see,” said Kline, laying her book aside. “Have you solved the case yet?”

“Not quite.”

“Where’s the other FBI guy?”

“In the hospital.”

“What? Is he sick?”

“No, he was shot.”

Kline had picked up her glass and nearly spilled it.

“My God, was it connected to—”

“Maybe,” interrupted Decker.

“Okay.” She gingerly set the glass down. “I understand Barry has been arrested.”

“That’s right. And charged with the murders of Alan Draymont and Alice Lancer,” said White. “But not Julia Cummins. At least not yet. What do you think about that?”

“If you want the truth, I don’t think Barry has the guts to kill anyone.”

“We understand that he sometimes watched Cummins’s house?” said Decker.

Kline nodded. “And Julia caught him at it. They had words. And he ran off with his tail tucked between his legs.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this before?” asked White.

“Like I said, I don’t believe Barry did it.”

“His gun was used to kill Alan Draymont and Alice Lancer,” noted Decker.

“I didn’t even know he had a gun.”

“He had it at Cummins’s house the night before he was arrested. Looked like he was going to kill himself with it. Fortunately we were there in time to stop him.”

“Jesus, Barry?” She reached for her Zippo and slid a cigarette out and lit it, blowing smoke off to the side.

“That surprises you?” asked Decker.

“I always thought Barry was having too much fun in life to want to end it. But then you think you know people and it turns out you know squat.”

“He was clearly not over the divorce,” observed White.

“I just hoped he would eventually move on. Do you really think he killed those people?”

“Doesn’t really matter what I think if all the evidence points to him.”

“Okay, Julia and the guy she was sleeping with, I get. But what about this other gal, you said her name was Alice?”

“Alice Lancer. She worked with Draymont. She was killed separately, but with Barry’s gun.”

“Why would Barry kill her? Did he know her?”

“We’ve turned up nothing to show that. But she might have seen him next door that night. Maybe she was blackmailing him.”

Kline shook her head and puffed on her cigarette. “And here I thought I had nice friends.”

“It’s not been conclusively proved that Barry did it,” pointed out Decker. “His son will testify that he was at the condo when his mom was killed. But since he’s Barry’s son, a jury may not believe him.”

“Okay, but from all you just said, who else could it have been other than Barry?”

“Cummins was a judge. Judges do make enemies.”

“That’s true.”

“But she wasn’t receiving threats. She just used that to disguise the real reason Draymont was over there. Why would she feel the need to do that?”

“Maybe she was afraid of someone’s finding out,” said Kline.

“Other things being equal, that might also point to the stalker ex-husband,” interjected White.

Kline eyed White, blew out a final mouthful of smoke, and stabbed out her cigarette.

“I guess that makes sense, but, again, I never would have figured Barry as the violent type.”

“Did they ever have fights?” asked Decker.

“What couple doesn’t? But nothing bad. Hell, my ex and me? We’d light up the neighborhood. I could never hear Barry and Julia going at it. Julia would always talk to me later about it, though. And Barry always backed down, usually because Julia was right and had the facts to back her up. At least that’s what she told me.”

“How about the Perlmans? They seem pretty compatible.”

“Yeah, they get along fine. Most second marriages do. You figure it out by then, and even if you haven’t you don’t have the energy or lungs to scream like you used to.”

“Maybe I should think about getting married again, then,” quipped White.

Kline eyed her. “Honey, I would advise against it unless you’re damn sure, and what woman really is?”

“True, we met one recently who thought she had Prince Charming in a bottle, only to find out it was Pandora’s Box.”

“Did she manage not to open the box?” asked Kline.

White eyed Decker and smiled. “Yes, with a little help from a good Samaritan.”

“So is Barry going to prison over this?”

“He could,” said Decker. “Unless we find another plausible theory.”

Kline shook her head. “That means Tyler will have lost both parents. Poor kid.”

“He believes in his father’s innocence, although he’s clearly not happy with Barry’s drinking and lifestyle.”

“Barry’s all he has left. That’s pretty scary for a kid.”

“Yes, it is,” said Decker, rising to leave.

Later, back at the hotel, White rapped on Decker’s door. When he opened it she looked triumphant.

“We got a hit on the Slovakian currency purchase,” she told him.

“That was fast.”

“Sometimes the good guys get lucky. And the Bureau has a team devoted to online purchases that might later figure in prosecutions. Apparently criminals really like to get their felonious shit on platforms like that. And as you said, not much trafficking in the currency. It was purchased on eBay. Happened three weeks ago.”

“They have a name?”

“Yep.”

“Who?”

“Kasimira Roe.”