about the evidence the day before. He said a quick hello and dumped his notebook on his desk and went to make a coffee in the staff kitchen. He growled when he discovered that the litre of milk he had bought that morning and put his name on, was already empty, but had been placed back in the fridge regardless.
“No doubt someone’s idea of an amusing joke,” he thought to himself. In disgust he threw it in the recycling bin and used someone else’s. He then returned to his desk, turned on his computer and ignored the still beaming Robards.
“Thoms didn’t get bail. And I’ve found out some very interesting information about him.” Robards offered after less than thirty seconds of painful silence.
“What’s that? He didn’t get bail? Good. Good stuff,” replied Nelson casually, continuing to type an email, trying his best to torment Robards. It was a small gesture but Nelson had never considered himself a particularly big person.
“Yeah and I’ve found out some good stuff.”
“Oh?” Nelson gave up his game and turned to face him.
“Yep,” said Robards no less smug, despite the delay. “I’ve been doing a little digging into his background. I spoke to some people at the hospital where he works. The head nurse from the Geriatric ward says there have been drugs go missing recently. Now she didn’t come right out and say it was him but she has her suspicions and Thoms was at the top of her list. Apparently the drugs only started disappearing when he started working the ward and other wards have experienced similar problems when he worked in them. Hard to believe it’s all a coincidence.”
Nelson rubbed his chin as he listened, weighing up the information. “I suppose drugs go missing every day from hospitals though. I’ve met plenty of dodgy doctors in my time.
Robards ignored the comment. “I also spoke with a former employee, who’s a retired traffic cop named John Carmichael. Thoms was employed at his security business before he worked at the hospital. It’s where Bruce McKinlay still works. Anyway he had some not-so-good things to say about Thoms as well funnily enough. He basically said that he was a worthless piece of shit that he wouldn’t piss on if he was on fire. His words, not mine.”
“Not exactly a glowing character reference then.”
“No. Anyway after six months of working there, Carmichael discovered Thoms had been pilfering equipment from the shop, so he sacked him.”
Nelson sat quietly and listened. Robards had his full attention now.
“But wait, there’s still more,” continued Robards, enthusiastically attempting to impersonate an infomercial salesman. “Carmichael also said that Thoms was always hassling him for money to start up an internet porn business or something. He said that he was desperate for financial backers because he was always broke, but Carmichael didn’t want a bar of it.”
“Did Carmichael have Thoms charged over the thefts?” said Nelson, backtracking to the earlier issue.
Robards looked slightly crestfallen at the question. “No. Thoms returned the stuff so he didn’t proceed with it. But it all adds up. I mean Thoms is probably a dirtbag drug dealer and maybe a user and has a history of always being short of cash and stealing. During his stalk he probably stumbled onto a drug deal. He waited in the bushes until it was completed and then he popped Fogliani, grabbed the cash, and took off.” Robards looked to Nelson for a sign and was rewarded with a nod of his head.
“It sounds reasonable.”
“Yeah it does.”
“That’s good work Pete. It looks like we’ve got a few more questions to ask Thoms about now.”
Robards smiled in agreement. Nelson thought that it was starting to fit too. It fit well enough with the information that Raph Sanchez had told him, in that Emilio Fogliani was possibly still involved in drug operations of some kind. Maybe Thoms
“But why did he tell the other stalk club members about seeing the murder if he was the one who committed it? Why not just keep the whole thing to himself and not mention it at all?”
Robards thought for a moment and couldn’t think of an immediate explanation. “Probably because he’s an idiot. I mean he left the gloves too close to the crime scene, was caught on video and left his footprints there, so he’s made a whole bunch of mistakes. Or maybe he was trying to impress them? Maybe he was trying to get into the pants of the girl I interviewed today, Jen. She was pretty nice. Blue eyes and dark hair always does it for me. What was the other one like, Natalie?”
“Yeah she’s good too,” Nelson admitted absent-mindedly. “Did you dig anything else up on Thoms?” said Nelson, dragging Robards’ mind back on track.
“Yeah, I found some other stuff, nothing too serious though. He’s got a couple of priors for drunk driving and a couple of assault charges that didn’t make it to court. But that’s the reason why we have his fingerprints on the NAFIS database.”
“It’s hardly the record you’d associate with a cold blooded murderer.”
“Maybe not, but maybe he’s just got into the drugs fairly recently. Drug users are capable of anything.”
“I can’t argue with you there. Is that it?”
“Just about. It’s probably nothing, but he was a suspect for a vehicular manslaughter some years ago.”
Nelson looked at him quizzically. “Tell me more.”
“The accident was about fifteen years ago but there were file notes made on the case up until just a few years ago. A couple of people died. It probably doesn’t mean much. He must have been just a kid back then.”
“Can I have a look?”
Robards slid the printout across his desk and Nelson scanned it.
“As you say, it’s probably nothing,” said Nelson as he handed the sheet back to Robards. “What about his stalking friends? Were you able to find out much about them?”
“No, not much. They all look pretty clean. None of them have criminal records. Bovis ran the checks. I asked Carmichael about Bryce McKinlay and he said he was a good worker and a stand-up guy.” Robards hoped Nelson wouldn’t ask him any further questions about the other stalk club members, because beyond running their names through the on-line Criminal Record database he and Bovis had done little else to investigate their pasts. After digging into Craig Thoms’ life and discovering his checkered past he remained convinced of his guilt and that the focus of the investigation should remain on him.
”Ok. I think it’s time to talk to Thoms again.” Nelson checked his watch. “Tell him and his legal counsel that we’ll be re-interviewing him at the station at five p.m. sharp. I’m going to grab something to eat first.”
Nelson returned ten minutes later with a ham and salad roll and waited for Robards to get off the phone to Craig’s solicitor.
“How’d you go?” he said through a mouthful.
Robards smiled. “His solicitor isn’t happy. He said we’re trying to railroad his client.”
“Railroad? Who says that anymore?”
“He does I guess.”
Nelson told Robards what he had found out about Emilio Fogliani. After some consideration he decided not to mention the behind the scenes political manoeuvrings of Crighton. Although Raph Sanchez may have been correct in his theories as to why the case had been taken on by the Homicide squad, it was still pure conjecture and didn’t overly interest Nelson at this point in time. He had other things to worry about. He told Robards that Fogliani was still suspected of being involved in the drug trade and Robards quickly saw the connection between that and his theory that Craig possibly stumbled onto a drug deal. If Robards hadn’t already been completely certain about Craig’s guilt, then this new information would have ensured it.
Nelson left Robards to bask in his own glory and returned to his desk to quickly prepare for his next interview with Craig Thoms. He jotted down questions based on the new information they had gathered and then decided to take a closer look at Craig’s criminal history. He scanned through the case notes for each infraction. The unsolved vehicular manslaughter case from fifteen years previously piqued his interest. He noted that as Robards had mentioned, there had been a few brief file notes added to the case in the years after the accident, with the final note being in 2009.
