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First Date or Second Thoughts
Chapter Seven – Payback
Julie Davis was a shy,
unobtrusive woman, who sat across from Brass and Catherine in her modest living
room, looking completely bewildered. Catherine had a hard time believing that
she could be the cold-blooded killer type. But at the same time nothing
surprised her anymore. After all, she’d seen a little old lady murdered by a
pen-wielding child and a dead man in a raccoon-suit, so there wasn’t much that
she hadn’t seen…
‘When was the last time
you saw Vincent McMann?’ Brass asked.
‘About a week ago,’
Mrs. Davis replied nervously. ‘He came by for the money I owed him. And to tell
me that the interest was going up again.’
‘How many times had he
raised the interest on your loan, Mrs. Davis?’ Catherine asked her.
The other woman sighed.
‘I’ve lost count. Five or six times in the last year… He’d tell me I wasn’t
paying him back fast enough and, next thing I know, he’s putting the rate up
again.’
‘As I understand it, it
was your husband’s loan,’ Brass said.
The woman nodded.
‘Jimmy’s business got into trouble about two years ago. He tried to turn it
around but…’ She shook her head sadly. ‘He went to Mr. McMann for a short term
loan. The bank had turned him down. But Mr. McMann’s charges were really
high. It became hard for Jimmy to pay
him back and…’ her voiced cracked and she couldn’t continue. Tears glistened in
her eyes.
‘He could cope, so he
took his own life,’ Catherine interjected. ‘Is that what happened?’
Unable to speak, Julie
Davis nodded.
Catherine gave the
woman to collect herself before continuing. ‘Mrs. Davis, do you take Valium?’
Julie looked surprised.
‘Why, yes. I do. How did you know that?’
Before Catherine could
answer, a new voice interrupted her. ‘What’s going on, Mom?’
A young man of around
19 stood in the doorway looking suspiciously from his mother to the two
strangers in his home.
‘Kevin, the police are
here to ask about Vincent McMann. He was found dead yesterday.’
‘No great loss,’ Kevin
replied. ‘Why are you questioning my mother?’ he demanded of Brass and
Catherine.
‘We’re talking to
anyone who might have had dealings with Mr. McMann,’ Brass answered
diplomatically. ‘We won’t take up much more of her time, if you just want to
give us a few minutes.’
Instead of leaving the
room, Kevin sat down beside his mother. ‘I’m not leaving,’ he replied
stubbornly.
‘As long as your Mom
doesn’t mind,’ Brass replied.
‘No, that’s fine,’
Julie replied.
‘Mrs. Davis,’ Catherine
continued. ‘We were wondering if you would volunteer to give a DNA sample. Just
to rule you out as a possible suspect.’
‘You think my Mom
killed McMann?’ Kevin cut in angrily. ‘How dare you come into our home and
start accusing…’
‘We’re not accusing
anyone of anything, Kevin,’ Brass replied. ‘We need to check out everyone on
the victim’s clients list as a possible suspect. We’re just asking your mom
here to help us out. Eliminate her self so we can shorten our list.’
Kevin still looked
angry and mistrusting, but his mother shrugged. ‘I have nothing to hide. What
do you need?’
Catherine reached into
her kit and removed a swab. ‘I just need a saliva sample. It’ll just take a
minute and then we’ll be out of your hair.’
---
Sara strode into the
layout room on a mission. She knew Greg had been working on the evidence
without her, and while she secretly admired his dedication, she was royally
pissed at being left out of the loop. She was usually the one who spent too
much time working on a case. Now it looked like Greg was vying for her crown as
the lab workaholic.
‘Let me get this
straight,’ Sara said, trying to keep a lid on her annoyance. ‘You stayed here
all day, after making me go home, working on the lists we were supposed to be
working on together?’
Greg swallowed
nervously as he looked up at her. ‘I didn’t work on them all day…’
‘And what happened to
calling me when you came up with something?’
‘I was going to…’ Greg
trailed off under her glare. ‘Sorry Sara.’
‘Well, fill me in now.
What have we got?’ Sara asked, taking a seat beside him.
‘Well, I narrowed down
our list of suspects to 9, based on the interest rates and loan amounts. Like
you suggested,’ he was careful to add. ‘The rest on the list either didn’t owe
enough or hadn’t been on McMann’s books long enough to make it likely they
killed him. Of the 9, Brass found out that one client had committed suicide,
and his widow is still being hit up for repayments. Brass and Catherine are
checking it out.’
‘What about the other
8?’
‘No criminal records.
No wants, no warrants. No red flags at all.’
‘So the nearest we’ve
got to a suspect is a woman who’s husband killed himself, possibly as a result
of the money he owed the victim. That’d be great if it wasn’t for one thing.’
‘What?’
‘The DNA I collected
from the scene was XY.’
‘So our suspect is
male,’ Greg replied. ‘Damn it.’
Just then, Grissom
entered the room. ‘What’s wrong Greg? Finally, the evidence is going our way.’
Greg looked puzzled.
‘Gris, our only viable subject is a woman, which isn’t supported by the
evidence. How is it going our way?’
‘Because her son works
in a juice-bar around the corner from McMann’s house.’
---
Mia had processed the
sample for DNA in record time, and handed over her findings to Grissom and
Catherine when they entered the lab a few minutes later.
‘Julie Davis’s DNA
doesn’t match the reference sample,’ Mia told them. ‘But I’m guessing you
already knew that, since the sample was XY.’
‘But I’m guessing that
the profile still makes interesting reading,’ Grissom replied.
‘Yes. Her DNA profile
and the reference sample share alleles. The donor of our mystery sample is a
close male relative - either a father or a son.’
‘Well, we didn’t have
probably cause to get Kevin Davis’s DNA before,’ Catherine smiled.
‘But we do now,’
Grissom added.
---
Kevin Davis sat in the
interview room, fidgeted with a can of 7up. He reminded Grissom of a cornered
animal, frightened and ready to bolt. Only he and Brass had gone into conduct
the interview, while Catherine and Sara watched from the viewing room.
‘Have you ever been in
Vincent McMann’s house, Kevin?’ Grissom asked him in his mild voice.
‘No. Why would I want
to go there?’
‘I don’t know? Maybe to
help pay your Mom’s debt?’ When Kevin didn’t reply, Grissom continued. ‘Your
Mom says you work part-time, everyday before college. Is that to help her out
with the bills?’
Kevin nodded. ‘It’s all
been too much for her since… since Dad died. She tried to tell me that we’re
okay, not to worry, but… I’ve heard her cry at night.’
‘Did you blame Vinny
McMann for that?’ Brass wanted to know.
‘He was always on my
Dad’s back, you know? Constantly calling the house. Demanding money. My Dad
tried his best but…’
‘So what happened,
Kevin? You’re Dad’s gone, your Mom can’t cope with the debts he left behind,
and so you decided what? Take matters into your own hands? Get rid of the
problem once and for all?’ Brass quizzed him.
‘No! I didn’t go near
him.’
‘The evidence is
telling us a different story, Kevin,’ Grissom told him. ‘We found your DNA in
McMann’s house. And your fingerprints on the murder weapon.’
Kevin just hung his
head in reply.
‘I think you tried to
get McMann to ease up on the interest he was charging your mom. He had just put
it up again last week, right? Maybe you talked to him when he came into the
juice bar you work in. But he wouldn’t budge.’
Kevin’s head had
snapped up at the mention of his place of work. He was looking rattled. Grissom
knew he was on to something, so he continued.
‘So then you took your
Mom’s Valium, maybe crushed it up into his juice. From what your manager tells
me, McMann was a regular, came in the same time every morning. So you fix him
his juice and when you get off work you go to his house, where you know he’ll
be out cold. You went inside, tied him up and killed him. But it didn’t go to
plan. You killed him too quickly. And then afterwards you freaked out; threw up
in the bathroom, didn’t get rid of the evidence. You didn’t think that part
through, did you?’
Kevin still said
nothing. Grissom knew they had enough evidence against him. They didn’t need a
confession. But for once, Grissom wanted to know why. Why was this young man
driven to kill in the way he had.
‘The only thing I can’t
figure out is why you decided to kill him like that. Young kid like you, no
history of violence. Why not just give him a fatal overdose? Why attempt to
make him slowly bleed to death?’
‘McMann was bleeding my
family dry,’ Kevin replied, anger and fear both shimmering in his eyes. ‘It was
poetic justice.’
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