Read Murder My Love for Free Online

drove back to the stationhouse to brief the Chief. The first question Abby asked was,
    “Where’s this other lady?”
    “I don’t know Chief, I just learned myself.”
    “Well, find her!”
    “I will!” He paused, then added, “I think the old lady knows more than she’s telling.”
    “Get friendly with her, Devlin. Get very friendly.”
    Chief Wilson thought about Devlin’s report and tried to recollect the details of the crime scene inspection. She recalled the bedroom. She clearly remembered the bed in the master bedroom, the clothes closet, the clothes inside, and the upstairs bathroom with its toiletries. It all looked like it belonged to one woman. There was nothing to indicate that anyone else lived in the house. Detective Devlin had no sooner finished telling Chief Wilson what he had learned when Lieutenant Jeff Stanton entered the office.
    Stanton was an imposing figure who, even in his early fifties, remained in excellent physical shape. He could easily have served as the model for a recruitment poster. He stood six feet three inches tall and weighed two hundred ten pounds. His black hair was combed straight back without a part in it. His brown eyes were set deep and his square jaw jutted just enough to make him look intimidating. Stanton reported that he had found the landlord by looking up the tax rolls. He was a Giovanni Barollo who lived in New Haven. He called him and luckily found him at home on that Sunday night. He had not been back to West Warwick in over a year because Linda Greenwell was an exemplary tenant. She paid her rent on time and took care of the house better than any of his former tenants had. Barollo went on to say she was a welcome relief from the scumbags who had previously occupied his home. Stanton had asked him, “Why do you think no one in the neighborhood befriended her?”
    Barollo said, “I don’t know. Maybe the neighbors thought Miss Greenwell was like all my other tenants.”
    “That can’t be the whole reason,” Stanton replied.
    “Hey, I grew up in that house and the neighbors treat me like shit every time I come back to West Warwick.”
    “Why?” he inquired.
    “Because of my previous tenants,” he replied. “All I did was check up on my property. They blamed me for the low life tenants.” Barollo tried to recover by adding, “I didn’t know they were bad tenants until they were already in the house.” Stanton thought it was an odd comment, but said nothing more.
    The Chief complimented Stanton for getting the facts so quickly and added, “So much for New England hospitality.”
    “We’re not all like that, Chief.”
    “I know.” She paused for a moment then asked, “Did he say anything about a second tenant?”
    Devlin, who had remained in her office to hear Stanton’s report, looked perplexed.
    She turned to Devlin and said, “Definitely, someone had to know her.”
    What about the dog? Did she have a dog?”
    “I forgot to ask.”
    Abby stood up, leaned forward across her desk and said, “Really?”
    Stanton and Devlin turned and began to quietly walk out of her office.
    Chief Wilson returned to finish her paper work. On the way out, Stanton stopped at the door and interrupted her before she could get started.
    “One more thing, Chief; there’s a lady from the Gazette waiting to see you.”
    “Tell her to be in the conference room tomorrow at eight o’clock. Make sure Kruger is ready to make a presentation, and invite the Mayor. Oh, and call the college and notify Dean Martin Judson, too.
    “Why Judson?” asked Stanton.
    “He’s tight with the mayor. We may as well brief them and take their flack all at once”
    At the end of the day, Wilson signed out to the desk sergeant and walked briskly to her car. As she put her key in the lock she paused. “Oh shit,” she thought. “I forgot to call the D.A.”
    It was a rather warm day for May. She removed her jacket, hung it in the back seat of her SUV. As she drove the short distance to