~ SHEILA ~
"As I said earlier she came in with a lot of people especially on Saturday nights. My girls have a thing for counting. I on the other hand don't keep count or really care for such". Mrs Lori-the absent minded neighbour who scanned the environment on the day of Tracy's murder hissed casually. Apparently she wasn't as timid as I observed that day. She was quite the talkative with a wit.
"Mrs Lori are your girls around?" Her body countenance made a brief pause at that question; as if contemplating whether to tell their whereabouts or not. After a brief moment of intrinsic thinking, she finally responded.
"Off to school but I doubt they could help." She seemed reluctant to help and I understood her. No mother would want to involve her kids with anything that has to do with the court especially a murder case.
"Mrs Lori, I understand your reluctance. I don't mean to cause any trouble for you nor your beautiful girls..." I said darting my eyes to the shrine of family pictures aligned adjacent to the TV stand then continued. "And I assure you, if you could help me with this case, no harm will come to them. If you're not doing it for me, do it for Tracy. I know she was a people person..."
"That girl was no friendly goose around here, she was a snub"...ok...goose? Let's try something else.
"Ok, at least do it for your community. A neighbour getting murdered in cold blood in their own house poses a future problem to everyone around here. Nobody is safe". Seeing the stressed look on her face I knew this conversation was going nowhere. She was still very uncomfortable and that didn't work well with getting answers.
"Mrs....."
"Graine"
"Mrs Graine, I understand how important this case is for you. Seen you around here a couple of times. You were her friend. If you truly valued that friendship, you should have told her to take a big pause on her body counts but you didn't, hence why she ended up in that mess"!
"So you're saying, a partner did that to her" I decided to keep it professional and ignore that obviously rude statement.
"I didn't say that but if you were truly her friend and with your experience in law, my love you don't need me to tell you that she could have been killed by anybody else. That young girl kept a lot of affairs; flings, boyfriends and even married men!"
Ok, now she was pissing me off. Her derisions clearly showed she didn't like Tracy but having to seat here to listen to her make them was nerve raking. She didn't do married men, I knew my friend.
"Mrs Lori what you said is true. I do know her and I'm happy you know the emotional weight this case has on me. So I kindly appreciate it if you could be less disrespectful to her memory and just answer the questions directed to you."
She exhaled relaxing her restrained look but still glaring.
"I'm making pie. I should go check it, as for your questions Mrs. Graine; I shouldn't tell you how to do your job. My girls are at school and when there are free, I will let you know, I have your card. I believe I have answered all your questions. I didn't see anything. She kept too many for me to care to describe all of them. I am an aged woman. I really do not care for a promiscuous neighbour escapades neither should I be keeping records of them and-" she inhaled, paused for a moment before continuing
"As for the community, we will do just fine if we could all close our legs. Now I'm going to go check on my food" She said as she woke up from the aged cushion, as aged as the fabrics and materials used in building the house. She retired to the kitchen turning off the beeping sound from the oven completely ignoring my presence.
Yes Mrs Lori you're aged and your long life here on earth should have thought you that withholding information from the state's federal unit is a crime. Why was she holding back? Because I mentioned her kids? She was the one who told me they were the once who kept count of the men. Or was that an after-thought statement? No information was giving about the identity of the murder or the relation of the murder to the victim, If Mrs. Lori concluded, she must have been killed by a sexual partner, then she definitely knew more than she was leading on.
I turned to the family pictures and pulled my Samsung Galaxy ten from my purse, quickly taking pictures of the young brunettes in the portraits.
"Mrs Graine, you're still here" I jilted from shock. I hope she didn't see me. From the look on her face, I think I'm fucked! I needed a diversion.
"Mrs Lori are you frightened for your girls"? She wasn't buying it.
"Not at all Mrs. Graine. That was a statement; that's all it was. I didn't mean that in literal terms. Anything else? I will like to retire to my room please."
"Mrs. Lori you seem to be hung up on the perception that her killer must have been a partner and based on my ever ticking law sense which you praised earlier, its definitely telling me you know more than your leading on. I will have you know, withholding information from the federal unit of the state can costs you some couple of years behind bars"
"And that ticking sense should also tell you that I have rights and I've said all I have to say Mrs Graine. Threats are not necessary. If you don't mind, you may take your leave now"
...
Traffic on Fridays was extreme especially in East-west Artery 42nd Street. The constant horns from vehicles and the mixtures of dancing Christmas lights from their head lambs was even more chaotic. Like all that noise was going to dissolve the traffic. The only solace this type of moments gave was the serenity to think;
Tracy...married men? Nahhh....she had a rule. Hurting people was not her thing and it was shocking to know someone didn't warm up to her charm. I honestly need to know what Mrs. Lori has against her. Those type of glaring statements didn't just come out of the blue. Anyways, she didn't tell me much about her neighbours, hell she was hardly even in her own home. Picking up my Samsung, I forwarded those pictures to Sussie to start working on them.
A call notification popped up on my dashboard display. It was Pete. I hope he got something concrete. We have been turning in circles since we started working on this case and honestly, it's getting frustrating. I clicked on the monitor to return the call.
"Please tell me you have something substantial".
"Close...we have a contact, tried dialling but no responds. Looked up social security number. Apparently it's one of this random preloaded cards"
"Dealers card?"
"Yeah"
"looked him up?"
"Yeah. Forty year old physics teacher. He gave us all the numbers he uses currently and even in the pasts. Ran by FBI and looked up all the conversations and chats with those numbers. Nigga's clean. It ties up. All accounts, passports and even utility bills are aligned with the contacts. We also searched his house, he's clean"
"He could have thrown the card you know. Destroyed the evidence after doing what he did."
"Nope he didn't"
"How are you so sure?"
"Because the FBI looked up the deleted chats from Tracy's number..."
I rolled my eyes. Couldn't he have said that since and saved my breathe? Typical Nick.
"Apparently, she called him Bennie, they have been dating for quite a while and from the chats, it was an affair".
The washed out sound of the car horns became more distant at the sound of that revelation. Mrs. Lori knew her killer!