Deadly Exposure

FIVE

“Hey, buddy. Wakey, wakey. It’s eight-fifteen, and the captain’ll catch you sleeping.”

Caleb rolled over with a groan. “What time?”

“8:15.”

“So much for Rikki waking me up.”

“Hey, that’s what partners are for.” Todd’s grin stretched even farther across his face.

“What do you mean ‘partners’?”

“Captain’s decided I get to babysit you.”

“Don’t I get a say?” Caleb forced a frown on his face.

“Nope. Donaldson’s on vacation, Frank got food poisoning last night and Williams is training at the State Patrol Academy. You’re stuck with me, buddy boy.”

Caleb stretched his arms toward the ceiling as he worked out the kinks. Eyeing Westmont’s bright eyes with jealousy, he muttered, “You must have gotten sleep.”

“Comfortable sleep. You need a place closer to town. Anything’s better than that couch.”

“This morning I agree with you, but lakeside living has its advantages.”

“I’m waiting to see ’em.” Todd hooked his thumbs on his belt loops. “Jack’s headed to campus to check with the registrar’s office.”

“All right. Let’s get to work and see if forensics has anything yet.”

Westmont studied him a moment before answering. “It’s too early for them to process much, but the techs’ll finish the house soon. Let’s call Ms. Richards and meet her on the way. I want to hear her story myself.”

A trilling sound echoed from the end of a long tunnel. Its persistent ring tugged Dani from a dream. One filled with the image of a twisted scarf. The trill drilled into Dani’s head.

Opening her eyes, she realized she’d slept curled in the oversize chair. She shifted, and a book fell to the floor. Aunt Jayne’s Bible. She must have fallen asleep reading it. Despite all that had happened, she’d managed a few hours’ sleep. Maybe there was something to the Bible and the God behind it.

As the phone continued to ring, she grabbed the cordless handset from the end table.

“Hello?” Her voice croaked in the stillness.

“Dani Richards, please.”

She struggled to place the voice, and cleared her throat. “Yes.”

“This is Caleb.” At the sound of his tired voice, she tried to sit up despite the blanket tangled around her legs.

“Sounds like you got less sleep than I did.”

A sigh echoed across the line. “Probably. I need to ask you a few more questions about last night. Can we get together this morning?”

Nothing on her calendar sounded worse than starting a day with Caleb. To get to the precinct and on to Channel 17 by her eleven-o’clock meeting, she’d have to run. “It’ll be tough to squeeze in.”

“I could meet you somewhere other than the police station.”

“My office won’t work. Once I’m there, I’m at the mercy of the assignment editor. Maybe I could meet you at the precinct at ten.” She looked at the clock and winced. Even if she flew, it wouldn’t be possible. “No. Just come to Aunt Jayne’s house in forty minutes. I won’t have long, but I guess I can answer some questions.”

“We’ll be there.”

Thirty-eight minutes later, a knock sounded. Dani applied the final touches of blush to her cheeks with shaking hands. The thought of Caleb in her house caused her stomach to lurch and made her feet want to bolt. She hesitated as long as possible before opening the door. Caleb looked weighed down, with bags under his eyes. The man next to him had copper hair and a grin that prompted her to smile in response.

“Good morning. Come in.” She stepped back to allow them to enter.

Caleb pushed from the doorpost and walked in. “This is my partner, Officer Todd Westmont. You probably saw him last night.”

Dani shook her head. “No. It’s nice to meet you, Officer Westmont. Would either of you like coffee? I have a fresh pot.”

Caleb nodded. “Sounds great. Black’s fine.”

She led them to the kitchen. “Have a seat at the island. Anything for you, Officer?”

“No, thanks.”

She poured two cups and handed one to Caleb. “How can I help?” She pulled a stool around the island and took a seat.

“We wanted to review a couple things with you.” Caleb pulled a notebook from his jacket pocket. It looked like the same jacket he’d worn the previous night. “You knew the victim?”

“Not really. I interviewed her about a week ago for a report on food safety. It was hard to understand the topic, but she loved her research.”

Officer Westmont leaned his large frame on the island. “Mind telling me what you saw?”

“I entered her box when Aunt Jayne wandered in before the show. At intermission I remembered who she was, and looked in to say ‘Hi.’ It wasn’t until I faced her that I realized she was dead.”

The officers reviewed the details with her, but she couldn’t add anything to what she’d told Caleb the previous night. “I wish I had more to tell you, but I didn’t see or hear anything.” Dani paused and poured more cream into her coffee. As she watched the coffee and cream swirl together, she searched her thoughts. “She must have struggled, but I was focused on the stage. Cats isn’t exactly a quiet musical.”

She lifted her chin and met Officer Westmont’s questioning gaze. “After I talked to you, I think I saw the usher in the parking garage. A man waited on the second floor and tried to stop the car.” Dani searched for the right words to describe his behavior. “I felt like someone watched me on the second floor, and he seemed so angry. And almost frantic. I don’t know why.”

Caleb considered her, and she fought the warming sensation that spread across her. “We’ll try to find him. It would help if you could tell us anything else about him.”

Dani lifted her chin. “Sorry, he didn’t volunteer his name, and I was focused on the dead body.”

“We don’t have much to go on.”

“Fine. I’ll find him.”

“That isn’t your job. Leave that to the police.”

Dani gritted her teeth. Caleb wasn’t the only one with investigative skills. She vowed to find out more about the usher before the police did.

He rolled his eyes. “I see you’re still stubborn. Who did you talk to about the murder?”

“Andy Garrison, a producer at the station, and Logan Collins, the photographer with me.” Dani looked at her watch, ready to end the conversation. “I have to leave now to get to work.”

Both men pushed back from the island and stood. Caleb reached into a pocket and pulled out a card. He handed it to her. “My cell’s on the back. Call if you remember anything.”

Ten minutes after their departure, Dani pulled into the station parking lot and scrambled out of her car. With a quick hello to the receptionist, she raced through the lobby and into the newsroom.

The studio and advertising offices dominated the station, leaving a large room filled with cubicles for the news team. Dani entered the cavern and absorbed the chaos as the familiar insanity calmed her.

The assignment editor sat at the front surrounded by white-boards showing three days’ worth of assignments. As she walked to her cubicle, the day assignment editor’s shout followed her. “I need to talk about your assignment.”

Vic Davis juggled the phone and scanners like a pro, but Dani never found herself on his good side.

“Kate wants you on the theater-killing story.” He grunted out the words.

She flashed her best Katie Couric smile at him. “That’s why I’m here.”

His dour expression deflected her smile. “Play things up with the police.” With that, Vic returned to his kingdom and its telephone chime.

They needed to get rolling on the story. Dani glanced around the newsroom for Logan. Kate Johannson, the tiny news director with a nose for what viewers wanted, waved Dani to her office.

Logan reclined on the love seat in the office. “You’re slow this morning.”

“I’m here now. I’ve already talked to the police this morning.”

Kate settled in behind her desk. “Today you’re slated for live shots on the 5:30 and 10:00 p.m. shows, as well as shorter packages during the other newscasts. The noon show is covered. I want you to figure out who the victim is so we can tell her story today.”

“We already know her name. I interviewed her last week. Haven’t the police released her identity?” Dani looked from Logan to Kate, brow wrinkled.

“They haven’t said anything.” Kate crossed her arms, and let silence linger.

“Kate, her name is…Renee Thomas, though I need to verify it.”

“Do it and get the name in a story. Don’t stand there like a decoration.”

Dani pirouetted on her pointed heel and left Kate’s office. Logan stood at an edit bay, arms crossed. She quickened her pace, oblivious to the clatter of noise in the background.

“Ready to get to work?”

“You can’t release the name, Dani.”

Dani opened her mouth to argue back. “Why? Trying to do my job, too? Who do you think you are?” With each syllable her voice rose. She was moments from losing control in front of her colleagues. She spun away from Logan. “Outside…now.”

Reaching the exit, she pounded on the release bar. With a satisfying thud the lock released and the door flew open. Blinking in the bright sunlight, she stepped past the doorway. A shadow grazed her when Logan joined her in the parking lot.

“Logan, you are the best photographer I’ve worked with, but you are not a reporter. That’s my job.”

Logan stepped out of the doorway. “You’ve known Caleb as long as I have. You’re making a mistake if you release the victim’s name before he releases the information.”

“He never asked me to hold it back. It won’t hurt anybody unless she has a secret life.” Nervous energy propelled Dani back and forth in the parking lot. “This is my story. I found the body, and I knew Renee. I owe it to her and the station to get this right. This is our break. We have a window when we know something no one else does. We’ll make the most of it.”

His brows knit together, and he remained silent.

“Unless you give me a good reason, I’m running with it. If you won’t help, I’ll get a photographer who will.” Dani winced. The words sounded more threatening than she’d intended.

Logan nodded. “All right. Let’s get to work.”

“Grab your equipment and meet me at my desk.”

Logan returned to the editing bays on the inside wall of the newsroom as Dani charged to her cubicle. Half of the cubes were empty. With five shows scattered across the day, the reporters and anchors rarely overlapped. That happened on exceptional days like 9/11 or the launch of a war.

Dani grabbed a notepad from the pile that teetered on the edge of her desk. Logan pulled a chair around and straddled it.

Before Dani could open her mouth, Kate approached. “Glad to see you two made up. Dani, track down everything you can about the victim. We need more than her name by five-thirty. I want her to come alive. Logan, have your buddy at the police station confirm her name. Isn’t he in charge of this investigation?” As Logan nodded, Kate glanced at her Rolex. “We’ve got fifteen minutes to airtime. Dani, you’ll do an on-set report.”

Adrenaline surged through Dani at the new deadline as she watched Kate storm back to her office. “There went my five hours to prepare. Is she always this intense?”

“Only when the story’s big, and we have an edge. I’ll call Caleb.”

“Wait.” Dani turned to her open notepad. The victim’s name wasn’t enough to fill a report in fifteen minutes. And she couldn’t release the name without confirmation. “Can you find the tape of our interview with Renee? From last week?”

Logan nodded. “I’m on it.”

He sprinted toward the tape room. Dani crossed her fingers. This had to work or her silence was all that’d fill the air during the newscast.

She quickly outlined talking points and uploaded them on the network. The producer would call them up for Dani to ad-lib from when Rochelle tossed the newscast to her.

That taken care of, Dani typed Renee Thomas and Lincoln into a search engine. Five hundred results. She hoped a handful highlighted her Renee Thomas but would settle for one.

Glancing at her watch, she put her computer in hibernate mode, grabbed her jacket and hustled to the studio for the noon newscast. She hurried to the mounted mirror and counter inside the door to touch up her makeup. Unlike her time in St. Louis, here she had to apply her own. She topped it all off with a coat of powder and walked to the side where the director could signal her to join the anchors.

She resisted the urge to rock on her heels as she waited. Each sound echoed off the studio’s concrete floor, and the sensitive microphones the anchors wore picked up everything. Would Logan find the interview tape? The floor director flashed a hand signal. She had thirty seconds to get seated and micced. She slid an earpiece on and heard Tori talking to an assistant producer.

Dani cut in. “Tori, did Logan get you the tape?”

“Not yet. He’s trying to cue it up.”

“I need it now.”

“Do what you’re paid to do. Ad-lib.”

Dani painted a smile on her face and faced a camera as the package wrapped up. Without the video confirmation she had nothing to report. Logan entered the studio. She quirked an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head.

Rochelle Nicholson raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow and looked at Dani. “Dani Richards joins us on set with the latest on last night’s murder at the Lied Center. Dani.”

Dani smiled at Rochelle. Taking a deep breath, she turned to camera two. She imagined Aunt Jayne on the other side of the lens. “Last night, a university graduate student was murdered during act 1 of Cats.” She filled in the few details that she could, before turning back to the anchor. “Rochelle, police ask that anyone having any information about this crime call the CrimeWatchers’ hotline.”

“Thanks, Dani. When we return, Mike will fill us in on the weekend weather.”

A commercial filled the air, and Dani slipped off the microphone. She left the studio and ran headlong into Kate Johannson.

“Miss Richards. Please come to my office for a moment.” Underneath her calm demeanor, a bright red climbed Kate’s neck.

Dani braced herself for a torrent of words. Kate liked to pull staff into her office and berate them.

“I expected more in your report. Didn’t you forget something?”

“No. I reported everything I could without outside confirmation. We raced to confirm the victim’s name but couldn’t. Logan and I will find that tape.”

“The police haven’t denied her name, right?”

Dani nodded.

“You blew an opportunity—one delivered on a platter. Get your confirmation, or I’ll run her name and this will no longer be your story.”

SIX

Caleb pulled up to the victim’s house and parked behind the crime scene van. His contacts scratched his dry eyes, but his glasses sat at his cabin. He and Dani had spent a summer racing around the lake on his Jet Ski. The innocent sparkle and joy that had filled her eyes had disappeared. How much of that came from her job that forced her to see too much darkness? That aspect paralleled his career. Could they build something from the ruins of the past? He wanted the answer to be yes, but ten years ago Dani refused to see him after the night he’d pushed things too far. Based on her reaction during the last twenty-four hours that hadn’t changed.

The deep rattle of a vehicle that could only be Westmont’s caught his attention and pulled him from the past. The engine quieted down with a last hiccup.

“Sounds even worse than last week.” Caleb walked toward the car with a grin. He tapped the hood and watched Westmont leap from the car.

“Careful.” Westmont’s expression flashed pain. “The mechanics only made her worse.”

“That’s possible?”

A screen door slammed, and Caleb looked up to see the techs exit the house. Now he could walk through the rooms, and if lucky, learn something about Renee Thomas’s killer.

Caleb deposited his empty cup inside his car and started up the sidewalk. Westmont caught up as they flashed their badges to the officer posted at the door.

Renee’s bungalow was built in the 1930s. The tiny porch contained a single plastic chair which one stiff Nebraska wind would blow across the yard like a tumbleweed. From the front door, Caleb could see through to the back door. No photos or prints hung on the bland beige walls. She’d expended no effort to make the house a home. Either she rented or lacked the interest to decorate.

The office filled with bookshelves, file cabinets and an overflowing desk beckoned him from the right of the entry way. A bonanza of personal information waited. “I’ll start here.”

“Glad to leave you the paper. Can’t stand the paper cuts. I’ll check her bedroom.” Westmont disappeared down the hallway.

Caleb pulled on a pair of gloves and opened drawers and rifled papers. The drawers contained a haphazard assortment of bills and advertisements shoved on top of pens, notepads and stamps. How had she located anything in that jumble?

He pulled open the file cabinet. Cleanly labeled folders lined the first drawer in contrast to the messy desk. Satellite. Phone. Credit Cards. He pulled those files out.

Next, he grabbed a file labeled House and opened it.

The file contained a copy of the recorded deed, purchase agreement and her real estate taxes. He didn’t know many graduate students who owned houses, even small ones. Maybe a wealthy uncle or grandpa had helped her.

The doorbell rang. The officer standing guard should intercept the visitor. When the doorbell rang again, Caleb craned his neck to see who stood on the porch. The angle was all wrong and none of the vehicles on the street looked familiar.

The doorbell rang a third time, and Westmont strode down the hallway.

Caleb waved him into position behind the door. “Coming.”

“Five bucks says media’s on the other side.”

Caleb raised his eye to the peephole. With a flourish he opened the door. “Dani Richards.”

“Hello, Caleb.” She smiled up at him with a lovely sparkle in her eyes and stepped closer. “I wondered if I could look around since the crime scene guys are gone. Hmm. She didn’t decorate much.”

Caleb stifled a grin at the cute way she tried to slip past him. He had to hand it to her. The woman had gumption. “You know I can’t do that, Dani.”

“I found the victim. Doesn’t that earn me one look?” She flashed a flirtatious smile that he soaked in for a moment. She must really want to see what was inside to try to blind him with the charm that had been absent the day before.

“I wish I could, but I’d violate all kinds of procedure. Can’t let you disturb evidence.”

“I only want to look around. I didn’t even bring a camera.”

“Nope. Can’t do it. I’d be happy to walk you to your car though.” Caleb eased out the door and closed it behind him.

Dani’s smile turned into an expression that could freeze a lake in an instant. “You won’t help.”

“Not today.”

“Thanks a lot.” Her eyes sparked at him as she spit the words out. “Don’t bother walking me to my car.”

Caleb watched until Dani’s car pulled onto the street. He shook his head at her antics. Dani reminded him a lot of his sister, and he couldn’t give that compliment to many women. Too bad she’d hate him for the rest of her life. Where had the officer gone? If disappearing on the job was a regular practice, he’d stay a junior officer for the rest of his career.

“Westmont, any idea where our guard went?”

“Nope. I’ll check out back. I bet he’s stretching his legs.”

“Thanks.” Caleb returned to the House file. He scanned the deed and stopped cold. He reread the document. Phil Baker. Evening anchor at Channel 17. Dani Richards’s station. Did she know the connection?

He set the deed aside for Westmont.

The purchase agreement came next. Caleb’s jaw dropped when he saw the price. Renee brought the house from Phil Baker two months earlier for twenty-five thousand dollars. He wasn’t a real estate agent, but the house could sell for a hundred and twenty-five thousand more. Caleb jotted down questions he wanted to ask Mr. Baker, like why he sold the house for a song.

Binders labeled Research stood on their sides in the bottom drawer. The well-organized volumes looked to contain notes about her university projects. He’d assign those beasts to someone else.

He closed the file drawer. Bookshelves sagged under the weight of textbooks, an eclectic mix of science and psychology. She’d won a fellowship to the University of Nebraska. Maybe the fellowship had conditions attached to it.

The floor squeaked, and Caleb turned from the bookshelves.

“Johnson’s back out front.” Westmont pulled a small porcelain picture frame from his jacket pocket. “Recognize this guy?”

Caleb took the frame and examined the picture. Renee at a football game with her arm wrapped around a man most in the city recognized. “Phil Baker. Ties into what I wanted to show you. He sold Miss Thomas this house far under market value two months ago.” Caleb flipped the folder to Westmont.

“I can’t tell for sure from the photo, but it looks like they were good friends. If he sold this house on the cheap, it makes me think they were more.”

“I agree. We’ll question him about this. What else did you find?”

“Only what I expect to see in a lady’s bathroom and bedroom. She lived alone. I didn’t see doubles of anything to suggest a frequent guest.”

Caleb looked around the office while he considered their next step. “I’ve searched the files. Did anything clue you into who she went to the theater with last night? Maybe a letter with her ticket?”

“Nada. She has a paperless bedroom. Not even a book on the bedside table.” Westmont nodded at the sagging bookshelves. “She kept ’em all here.”

“Let’s search the living room and kitchen before we head back. Maybe we’ll find something—information about a car, or a calendar.”

Caleb walked through the kitchen. It was as bare of personal details as the other rooms. A tiny table perched against a wall with two folding chairs tucked under it. The small window above the sink had no curtains. Opening the refrigerator door, he saw an impressive collection of condiments but little else. He didn’t know if a woman could live on ketchup and dressing alone, but she’d tried.

Turning his back on the kitchen, he wandered into the living room. Who were you, Renee Thomas? And why is your house so empty of personality?

Caleb watched Westmont remove each cushion from the couch to examine underneath them. “Find anything?”

“Nope, just a few quarters.” Westmont flipped the final cushion in place.

Caleb grabbed a couple boxes from the office doorway. “Let’s head back.”

When he reached the station, he went straight to the conference room with the boxes.

Had the chaplain’s office contacted Renee’s family yet? If so, the chief could release her name. If not, they’d wait. The worst experience of his life had occurred when he learned from an impersonal television that his father had died. He wanted to spare her family that.

Caleb had commandeered the conference room for the investigation. Fortunately, Lincoln had little violent crime, so the extra space was his until the case cleared.

“Jamison, you’d better get over here.”

“What?” Caleb stuck his head above the dividers and searched for the voice.

“Over here. I’m in the break room. You’ll want to see this.” Caleb recognized Officer Chapman’s voice.

As Caleb walked into the break room, his eyes glanced at the television sitting in the corner. A banner marched across the bottom of its twenty-seven-inch screen. “Renee Thomas, identified as woman murdered at Lied Center. More at five.”

He closed his eyes. Opened them to the same words. His jaw clenched. Who released her name? Dani?

SEVEN

Dani fumed at the appearance of a police car behind her as she raced to campus. She eased off the gas. A delay and ticket were the last things she needed. She’d wasted time driving to the Thomas home only to blow her opportunity.