“You’re trying to confuse me. I didn’t rip him off and I didn’t kill him.”
“You spotted some money he had around and you knew a rich guy must have plenty more around the place. You left as you said, went home and got your gun. Someone else buzzed you back in. You shot him and beat it out of town at seven. We’re going to put it all together, Sonny. Now’s the time to tell us about it.”
Barner put his hands in his lap and stared down at the floor. “You twisted it all around. I wasn’t thinking all that and I didn’t shoot him. Can I go?”
Goddard thought that was enough. He still had some control and didn’t want to force Barner into asking for a lawyer.
“I want the job tickets on the two jobs you said you did after Towson.”
“They’re outside in my truck.”
Goddard walked out with him and stood while Barner searched around and found the job tickets for Saturday.
Goddard examined the copies. “Here’s the copy for Towson, the next job is around three and the last four- thirty. None are signed by your customers. You could have made these up. Anyway, you’d plenty of time to go back and shoot Towson.”
“I left after four-thirty, had to drive to Orlando airport, you know. I don’t have no siren.”
“I need to look through this truck now, Sonny, to be sure you’re in the clear, and then you can go. Okay with you?”
“Don’t you need a search warrant to do that?”
“Okay.” Goddard held up the job tickets. “But I need to make copies of these. Can I give them back to you later?”
Barner nodded and locked the van door.
“I’ll see you around, Sonny. Don’t start traveling around the country again.”
The detective went back inside and joined up with Moran and the chief in the hall.
“Chief, I want a tail on him right now. He’s scared enough now to get rid of the gun. If the gun’s not in his house, it could be in his van, assuming he’s guilty, of course.”
“We’re shorthanded, Chip. We have to escort all the funeral’s V.I.P.’s out of town.”
“One man, give me one man. Moran, I need a search warrant for his house and for his van. We’ll keep a tail on him right up to the minute we go in. We can’t let him ditch that gun.”
Moran smirked. “Dumb bastard.”
“No, you’re wrong, He’s not dumb. Didn’t you hear his answers? He was sailing right along until I mentioned Tammy Jerrold, then he fell apart.”
“He’s dumb enough to commit murder.”
“Is he smart enough to get away with it? That’s the question. I’ve no doubt he could plan it and do it. Not smart for him to run away and call attention to himself though. Remember, Moran, if you ever murder someone don’t run, it’s a dead giveaway.”
“You sure hit a nerve talking about Tammy. How did you know to push his sex button?”
Goddard wasn’t about to mention finding the sexy photo purporting to be Tammy in Barner’s house. “He obviously has the hots for Tammy. He turned red when I mentioned her name. That might be enough motive for him to kill Towson. I wanted him to know we’re aware of that motive. That should make him extremely nervous. When the guilty get nervous they make mistakes, such as leaving town and trying to dispose of the weapon. The guy’s emotional. Maybe he’d kill for love. Maybe he shot Towson, and the found money was an unexpected bonus. He’s just committed a crime, gets scared, finds himself with lots of money, and runs off to hide in Vegas.”
“What about his alibi?”
“Right now we don’t know if he actually flew anyplace. We’re going to check on his trip details. Otherwise, his alibi’s not bad. He didn’t have much time to go back to Towson’s. And he needed a couple of hours to get to the Orlando airport.”
“I’ll get you the warrant. It’ll take a little time but you’ll have it today.
Goddard collected his papers and headed outside to his vehicle. His phone beeped. It was the chief, “Thought you’d like this; we’re tailing Barner, he’s not headed home, he’s headed for the bridge.”
“Stay close. If he stops on the bridge, move in immediately, don’t let him toss the weapon.”
After a few minutes, the chief came back on. “He didn’t stop. He drove directly to Loraine Dellin’s house.”
“You’re kidding. How about that, is he still there?”
“Just got there. I’ll tell you when he leaves.”
Goddard swung his unmarked vehicle into traffic and hit the siren. “I’ll try and catch him there, catch them together, see how they explain it. Interesting, he’s going to see Loraine. He ran straight to her. He had on a suit when he left here, so it's not a service call.”
A minute later the chief was on the phone again, “Well, you missed him. He just pulled away from her house.”
“Okay, keep on him.” Goddard switched off the siren and slowed. Loraine, Loraine, what are you up to? What’s the connection between an upscale woman who lives on the barrier island and a scraping-to-get-along bug killer? Has to be money.
Word came from the unit tailing Barner that he was now at his house. Goddard drove there. The officer who had tailed Barner said he’d been inside about ten minutes. Goddard radioed for two blue and whites and went to the door. “Where you been, Sonny?”
“Don’t have to talk to you anymore.”
“Is that what Mrs. Dellin told you? Did she also tell you I need a search warrant to come inside?”
“I knew that.”
“Why did you just run to Mrs. Dellin? Are you tight with her like you are with Tammy? Why were you over there?”
“Came back from Vegas broke. She owes me for my services, hasn’t paid in a while. Thought maybe I could collect something.”
“Did she pay you?”
“No, cried that she didn’t have it. Told me to bill her. Jesus, what’s she think I’ve been doing for the last three months? Like I don’t need the money and the rich bitch does.”
“We’re going to search your house and your van, Sonny. A search warrant is on the way and you’ll get a copy. You can give us permission to start the search right now and get these police vehicles away from your house sooner, or we can sit here waiting until more police vehicles with lights flashing bring us the warrant.”
Barner nodded to go ahead. For the next hour, Goddard and the uniformed officers searched the house and the van. The only weapons found in the house were two hunting knives and the two old shotguns resting in plain sight in an unlocked closet. In the van, hidden on a tool rack, they found a sawed-off 20-gauge with the standard wooden stock replaced by a custom pistol grip. Ominous but they measured it, and it was legal. Goddard told them to bag it anyway; he wanted Barner’s prints.
He noticed the old newspaper clipping with Senator Towson crossed out was no longer stuck on the refrigerator. In the bedroom, the erotic photo purporting to be Tammy Jerrold wasn’t in sight. He’d have loved to shuffle through stacks of paper and boot up the computer, but the search warrant covered only weapons. Goddard called off the search and left with no evidence.
He wondered if Barner was sexually involved with Tammy Jerrold. Sexual selection is full of surprises. The Barner-in-love-with-Tammy part wasn’t surprising, but Goddard couldn’t visualize her reciprocating, or extending the triangle to include Towson. But there’s no accounting for love. Just consider the men some women end up with, and vice versa.
Perhaps Tammy saw something in Barner that escaped the eye. Perhaps she did indeed pose for him. She definitely turns him on. How far would he go to get her out of Towson’s clutches? Would that be enough for him to murder? Oh, yes, absolutely. Sex is a magic word. Just say the word and men will turn red and start stammering— some will reach for a gun.
