“The medical examiner’s report didn’t give us much help there. The pool water was eighty-five degrees. In water that warm, body tissue degrades quickly. The latest we know she was alive was eleven-ten P.M. on Saturday, when she sent her last text. The family found her in the water at eleven-fifteen A.M. on Sunday. So the maximum amount of time she was in the water is about twelve hours.”
“So she could have been killed at four in the morning?”
“Yes, but that’s highly unlikely. Alan Crowley in his statement said she was going to clean up outside and then go to bed. Her text to him says the same thing. I was at the property. In another ten minutes she could have finished cleaning the backyard.”
“So there’s no evidence to suggest that she might have gone to bed and then Crowley forced her to come back outside?”
“No, there isn’t. But there is evidence that she never went to bed that night. We checked her room. Her bed was made.”
“That doesn’t tell us much. For all we know, she went to sleep on the couch.”
“Agreed. But the autopsy showed that at the time of her death she still had her contact lenses in.”
“People forget to take them out, particularly if they’ve been drinking.”
“I spoke to the victim’s sister. According to her, Kerry never would have forgotten. One time she left them in overnight and got a serious eye infection. She was religious about taking them out before going to sleep.”
“So what time do you think the murder took place?”
“Between eleven-ten, when she sent her last text, and about ten minutes later, when she would have finished cleaning the backyard.”
“Precisely the time Crowley came back to the house.”
“Artie, I believe that subject to interviewing Crowley’s friends who were at Nellie’s and confirming that they lied, we have more than enough to arrest Alan Crowley. He was at the party. He was jealous. He sent angry text messages to her. Phone records show that he went back to the home to see her after the party and lied about it. He asked his friends to lie. His fingerprints are on the murder weapon. He denied having touched it the night of the party.”
“Where are we on this Good Samaritan flat tire changer?”
“Kerry’s friend said Kerry told her that after she picked up the beer, he was aggressive and tried to kiss her. But a couple of her friends say she was a flirt. Maybe she was exaggerating. She was a very pretty young woman. As of today, we’ve made almost no progress in trying to find him.”
“I wish we could have nailed that down, but everything really seems to point to Crowley.”
“And we can’t talk to Crowley any further because Lester Parker won’t allow us.”
“All right. Get back to me after you question his three friends. How soon can you talk to them?”
Wilson checked his whiteboard. “One of them is taking a term off. Two of them are in college locally and have agreed to come back. They’re coming in to talk to me this afternoon.”
31
Bobby, Stan and Rich each received the phone call they dreaded. Detective Mike Wilson told them that the information they had given when they first spoke to him was very important to the investigation. He wanted them to come down to Hackensack and give formal statements. All three had agreed to go to the Prosecutor’s Office together at 4:30 that afternoon.
Mike took them into the interrogation room. Normally he interviewed witnesses separately, but he thought it would be more effective to challenge the three of them together. All of them had sweating palms as they sat in the three chairs on one side of the conference table. He turned the video camera on.
Mike began gently. “Alan is your friend, right? You played baseball together.”
They all nodded.
“It is very natural for friends to want to help a friend that might be in trouble. I’ve done it myself. I’m convinced that is what each of you did the last time I spoke to you. Well, things are different today. I know a lot more about what happened that night and who was where at what time. So I’m going to ask you questions. This is your chance to put things right. If you lie to me today, you will be charged with false swearing and obstruction of justice.” Mike paused. “And possibly accessory to murder. Now, let’s get started.”
Words tumbled out of the mouths of all three of them. “Alan left Nellie’s before we did. We didn’t know we’d be in trouble. When Alan phoned, he sounded so scared. The minute we lied for him, we knew we were making a mistake.”
Mike said, “Okay, hold on. What time did Alan leave Nellie’s?”
Desperate to be exact, the three of them agreed it was about eleven-fifteen.
Mike asked, “Did he say anything about where he was going?”
Stan answered, “Kerry had sent him a text telling him not to come over until tomorrow. But he said he wanted to straighten things out that night.”
Mike said, “So it was your impression that he was leaving Nellie’s and going directly to Kerry’s?”
“Yes.”
“When Alan joined you at Nellie’s, can you tell me if he had been drinking?”
There was a moment of silence. Then all three nodded.
“A little? A lot? How much?”
“He was kinda drunk when he got to Nellie’s, but after he had the pizza and soda, he was pretty okay,” Rich said.
The three affirmed that they were together at Stan’s pool that Sunday afternoon when Alan phoned and asked them to lie for him.
“I thank you for coming here today. You did the right thing by telling us the truth.”
Watching them leave, Mike thought that nobody had ever been happier to get out of here than these three.
He went back to his office and called Artie. They agreed that it was time to arrest Alan Crowley.
32
June and Doug Crowley
