Behind The Lies by Mark Beckner (top ebook reader .TXT) 📕

“I’m trying, just give me some peace right now, okay?”

“Alright Justin, let me know if I can do anything more to help.”

Lisa walks out and shuts the door behind her. This is not going to end well if Justin doesn’t get his act together, Lisa says to herself.

At 2:30 pm, Masters and Tippen meet to share what they’ve learned since yesterday.

“As for the partial fingerprint from the glass,” Tippen says, “Brent can eliminate Ryan Cooper as a contributor.”

Masters looks at Tippen with raised eyebrows, “really.”

“And get this, he cannot eliminate Justin King.”

“Interesting,” replies Masters.

“As for the note, Brent said it would be highly unusual to not have any prints or smudges on a handled piece of paper unless it was handled in a cold, dry climate or the person handling the paper wore gloves. Since the note was found inside the house, he would expect it to show some signs of being touched. He’s still working on the bullet casings.”

“Nothing solid, but it does raise more questions, doesn’t it?” asks Masters.

“Sure does,” agrees Tippen.

“As do the phone records,” states Masters. “There are plenty of phone calls back and forth between Naomi and King. There is also a day about two weeks before her death when, according to the cell site location data, both phones made outgoing calls from the same area.”

“What area would that be?”

“Lone Tree.”

“Isn’t that…”

“Yep,” Masters interrupts, “where King lives. I’ve been thinking, if King was actually at the Cooper residence on the night Naomi was killed, he had to have driven there. I’m wondering with all the ring doorbells and security cameras these days, whether we might be able to find some footage from around Cooper’s home.”

“It’s worth a shot. But even if we can prove King lied about being there, we still have Cooper’s prints on the gun, gunshot residue on his hands, and the affair as a motive.”

“Yeah, I still think Cooper probably killed his wife out of anger, but King is hiding something. Maybe he just doesn’t want us to know he was the one having the affair. Either way, we need more answers. I’ll go out this afternoon and see if I can’t dig up some security footage.”

“Great,” responds Tippen. “Oh, I almost forgot. I got a call from DA Simmons late yesterday. Inglesby has requested to have Cooper’s blood sample re-tested for Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine. Apparently, Inglesby had Cooper interviewed by a doctor, and based on Cooper’s description of his conditions, the doctor suggested he may have been drugged by one of those three.”

“All three are considered date rape drugs,” says Masters. “They do knock you out pretty well. Given the half-empty bottle of rum, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s a good idea, especially with all this new information.”

“Yeah, the DA has already requested the new testing.”

Later that afternoon, Masters responds to Sandy Lane to check for security cameras in the neighborhood. He finds one neighbor, Robert Saunders, has an advanced security system. Saunders used to be in the security business, and lives in the first house on Sandy Lane off of Oak Avenue,

“Yes, my system keeps data for thirty days,” informs Saunders. “I would still have footage for that Wednesday.”

“What type of coverage does it have?” asks Masters.

“I’ve got one camera focused on the drive looking out into the street. You can see out to the corner of Sandy Lane and Oak.”

“Would I be able to get a copy of that? It might help us with the investigation of Naomi Cooper’s murder.”

“Absolutely. I can email you a digital copy this afternoon. What time frame are you looking for?”

“How about from five pm to ten pm?”

“No problem. Give me some time to find it and make a copy for you. You should have it in the next hour.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Saunders.”

“Happy to help. Have a good day detective.”

Masters is feeling excited about the potential to see who came and left that Wednesday evening on Sandy Lane, but also weary knowing he has a long night ahead of him. It isn’t long after arriving back at his desk that he sees the file in his email. He gets himself a sandwich out of the cafeteria vending machine, grabs a cup of coffee, and settles in to watch some video.

This same night, at about 7:00 pm, King receives a phone call from Cooper’s next-door neighbor, Frank Parker. Parker is an outgoing gregarious man who knows King from his many visits to Cooper’s home and summer bar-b-ques.

“Hey Justin, just thought you might want to know that the police keep coming out here asking if we saw anyone or anything suspicious on the night of Naomi’s murder. They even asked me about you.”

“They did?” asks King. “What did they want?”

“The first time they were asking if we saw anyone. This time they were asking specifically about you and wanted to know if I had any security cameras. The detective wanted to know if I’d ever seen you and Naomi together. What’s going on? I thought they had solved the case already.”

“I don’t know Frank,” says King. They’ve already charged Ryan with the murder.”

“Yeah, that’s why I thought it was strange they were asking about you.”

“Do you have any cameras?”

“No, I don’t, but Bob Saunders on the corner does.”

“You don’t say. Do you know where the cameras are?”

“No, but he was in security and has a good system, I know that. He tried talking me into one.”

“Well I don’t know why they are asking Frank, but thanks for telling me. I gotta go.”

“Alright, good night Justin.”

Why are they looking for security footage? ponders King. And why are they still asking about me and Naomi? They’ve already arrested and charged Ryan. Did I make a mistake somewhere? Do they know about my affair with Naomi?

For the first time since putting his plan in place six months ago by starting his affair with Naomi, King is worried it may not be working as well as he thought. He is starting to get nervous.