19: Bad Gets Worse – Pt. 2

“You look like hell!” Mike expressed as Victoria dropped behind her desk and kept her head low as her monitor flickered to life. “Are you sick?”

“No. I’m just not sleeping well. Every night for a week it’s been the same dream and it always seems to wake me at the same time, 2:04 am.”

“Wanna tell me about it?” She scrunched her nose and nodded her head negatively and Mike shrugged and tossed a file over the partition for her to read. “New case, Robert Goldman comes home from work and finds his wife and son dead on the living room floor. Haven’t pinned down any suspects or witnesses just yet but the husband didn’t seem too bothered by their deaths. We’re heading over to his office to question him.”

“What are we thinking? Domestic abuse? Insurance scam? Murder for hire?”

“Well the wife was worth a couple million from an insurance policy and her share in some of the mutual stock. The kid had a half mil on his head. Looking into old complaints and I found one against the husband filed on behalf of the child by a teacher. Apparently he was going to school with injuries explained as bicycle accidents and ‘boys being boys’. When the kid got to school with a black eye and complaining of a sore arm, the teacher took him to the hospital and called social services. Doctors found a break in his humerus as well as hairline fractures in the ulna and radius of his left arm. The teacher filed a report and after an investigation, CFS placed the kid back in his care citing no parental neglect.”

“Awesome so his money speaks. Just love it when CFS fails to act accordingly. You ever think that if more social workers cared enough for the child’s well being that we’d have less residential homicides involving 12 and under?”

“It’s the world we live in Vik. Come on let’s head out before Mason comes out yelling.” 

Mike drove them towards the financial district and flashed his badge at the security sitting behind the reception desk. The two walked through the lobby and on the way to the elevator, Victoria’s eyes fell on Business Weekly with a frown. “He owns the company?”

“He’s trying to. From what I understand he’s invested quite a bit of money into the business to buy his way up the ladder. You know the type; ambitious.”

“You mean ruthless.” 

The elevator stopped on the 8^th floor and Victoria was first out. After announcing themselves to Goldman’s secretary they were led inside his large office and he waved them forward as he finished his phone call.

Mike picked up a golf trophy from beside the door and huffed. He’d been trying to improve his game for a while and would constantly go on about the force of his drives. Victoria, being the supportive partner she was, nodded her head as if she was interested and splashed a smile on her face. That was until he told her next time he goes, she was coming with him. 

Victoria took in the expanse of the room as she stood in front of the chairs. The office was immaculate. Everything was in its place and even the papers that sat on the desk where angled at 90 degrees and stacked neatly one on top of the other. The décor was done in dark tones, the walls she remarked first as the dark blue color offset the moody furniture and Persian rug in the center. The desk and bookcases were cherry oak and fashionably set into the walls filled to the brim with various business and legal aids. 

His desk sat in front of two large windows overlooking the small lake and employee area out back and enough sunlight cascaded through to make use of the overheads pointless. “I’m sorry about that,” Robert smiled hanging up the phone and stood from his seat. “Lawyers, you know how they can be. We’re on the verge of a huge business acquisition and I just…well I won’t bore you with the details detectives, please, have a seat. How can I help you?”

Mike glanced towards Victoria who had the same look on her face about Robert Goldman. For a man who had just lost his wife and child, he didn’t seem all too broken up about it. “Uh, we’re here to question you about the night your family was murdered, Mr. Goldman. Do you have a moment?” Mike asked all the while assessing the man’s mental capacity in the back of his mind.

“Of course. What do you need to know?”

“Do you mind if we use audio recording?” Victoria asked flipping on a mini recorder from her pocket.

“Be my guest.”

“Thank you. Now let’s start by where you were during the hours of 4-7,” Victoria took a seat across from the man and watched his eyes move up and to his right as he answered.

“I was here at work of course. Like I just said we are on the brink of closing a major deal and it’s pretty much an all hands on deck situation. I’m one of the trustees on the account so I have to be available in order to better serve our clients.”

“And can anyone verify that?” Mike followed up immediately watching the man for the smallest sign of twitching.

“Uh well there were several people here around that time. The main offices close at five and I stayed around until about 8:25 closing up notes on the account and just doing basic office care. I like for my space to look a certain way for when I come in.” Goldman glanced at his shoulder and brushed off a piece of lint before folding his hands over his desk again neatly in front of him.

“Right. And can you run us through what happened the moment you discovered the bodies?”

Goldman blew out a breath and shook his head solemnly. “Oh it was dreadful. I remember pulling up to the yard and waiting a moment at my car. Robbie, that was my son, he usually runs out to greet me the moment I got home. But he didn’t come out. So I walked up to the front door. The lights were on in the living room and I could smell something burning inside.”

“I opened the door and walked in just a foot and saw my wife on the ground beside the kitchen. She was lying away from the hallway and just a ways up by her hand was my little boy. Both had been viciously attacked. I immediately called 9-1-1 and waited for you all to arrive.”

“At any point did you go near the bodies or attempt to move them in any way?”

“Oh no I couldn’t. I rushed outside choking on a little smoke. Not to mention I was in shock. Seeing someone you love lying in a pool of their own blood…it’s not something I’d wish on my worst enemy.”

“In speaking of enemies, can you think of anyone who would want to see you or your family harmed?” Mike asked as Victoria continued taking notes.

“No one that I can think of. Sarah was the sweetest person anyone could have known; always ready to help at a moment’s notice. And Robbie was just a kid. How many enemies can an eight year old have?”

Victoria tapped her pen a few times against her hand as she listened to the man in front of her try and sound sincere. She wasn’t buying it. Added to the fact the man wasn’t wearing his wedding band, something just seemed off. “Mr. Goldman, were you and your wife having marital issues?”

“Good heavens no! Why on earth would you ask such a thing?”

“In these types of cases we try to rule out family members first and work outward. Knowing about anything, anything at all that may have perhaps been taken in the wrong way or caused an issue for someone outside of your marriage is important in solving your family’s murder,” Mike explained in a sympathetic tone. “Was your wife a homemaker, Mr. Goldman?”

“Best in the business!”

“So she took care of all of the housework, cooking, cleaning and childcare?”

“Yes. Sarah insisted on being there for our son and I didn’t argue the point with her. Besides I can’t boil water, I stay out of the kitchen. So believe me detective I wasn’t about to decline her offer to maintain our home.”

Victoria looked at her partner and waited to see if he had anything more to ask. Once he stood, she followed him and took another look around the office. “Well, thank you for your time Mr. Goldman,” Mike smiled cordially. “We’ll let you know if there’s anything more we need.”

“Certainly detectives. Good luck on the case. I hope you catch this guy!”

The air outside was a little crisp, refreshing considering the stifling heat inside of Goldman’s office. Victoria sighed and walked along side her partner towards the curb. “Mike that guy’s dirty,” she remarked as they started down to the motor pool.

“Oh yeah? He seemed rather clean to me, a little too clean to be exact.”

“Yeah and that’s exactly my point. Everything was so neat and in its place, even the pens in the holder on his desk did you notice that?”

“Yep! I also noticed how he avoided major eye contact immediately after we asked him something and the way he looked up and to our left. He was definitely lying. He knows more than he’s saying. He either hired someone to do the deed or pulled the trigger himself.”

“My money’s on him being our guy. I mean you walk in the house and see your wife and child lying on the floor hurt, possibly dead and you don’t attempt to even revive them, check their pulse or anything? It doesn’t make sense that he didn’t touch the bodies at all. The lack of a wedding band also points to something not right in that relationship. I want to take a look at those crime scene photos again I gotta hunch about something, something he said about how the bodies were found,” she explained and hopped into the passenger seat of his pick up.

“Hey Lou, any messages while I was out?”

“Forensics on the double homicide you’re working. I had Marie drop it on your desk.”

“Awesome thanks Lou.”

“Yeah, thanks Lou,” Derrick mimicked and shot Victoria a smile as she neared her desk. She smiled in return and looked over him curiously. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and see how my favorite detective was doing,” he explained before she had a chance to ask. “So, how are you doing detective?”

“I’m…fine, Derrick. Thank you?”

“Ah yeah of course,” he stood and leaned into her. “I just wanted to make sure you’re sleeping well you know since finding out the boogeyman is real and all.” Victoria’s eyes opened wide and she grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him towards the break room.

“What do you know about it?”

“About what Detective?”

“Cut the bullshit, Derrick!” A few officers stopped and turned towards them and she pinched the bridge of her nose as she composed herself. “My dreams,” she started again in a lower tone mimicking a whisper. “What do you know about my dreams?”

“Absolutely nothing at all. I just know you’re not sleeping.” Motioning to her wrist again she noticed the bracelet appeared nearly yellow in color and sighed.

“What is this thing?”

“Like I told you before Victoria, it works off your body’s emotions. Fear, happy, sad, frustrated, angry, excited, etc. I can’t be sure what the different colors mean really. I just know when it says you need to talk. So, what’s going on with you?”

“Vik, photos are up when you’re ready!” Mike yelled and grabbed himself a cup of coffee before rushing towards his desk.

“Alright, thanks Mike,” she turned back to face Derrick with a frown. “Look I’m in the middle of a case right now I don’t have time to talk about this multicolored noose you wrapped around my wrist. Catch me later ok? I have to go.” She rushed through the bullpen passing a few other detectives milling about the posting wall. Derrick waited until she disappeared around the corner before starting for the exit.

It was a long day, grueling and tiresome and all Victoria wanted was to soak in a hot bath with a glass of wine before curling up in her satin sheets and passing out. Then again, sleep wasn’t something that was coming easy these days. Her eyes moved to the bracelet on her wrist and she sighed. Derrick knew more than he was saying, she was sure of it. “He just happens to show up and KNOW I’m not sleeping well?” she posed to herself and turned the radio up to drown out the voices in her head.

She still had not fully checked on his background. When last she tried she hit a brick wall in the form of sealed federal case files and red tape. There was no way she was prepared to go through all of that just yet. She had thought about asking Cole but he seemed to be trying to avoid her at present. “Cole!” She gasped as she thought about him. It had been a little over two weeks since they last spoke. Someone needed to make the first step and as much as she dreaded sending the wrong signal, she knew it would have to come from her.

Victoria pulled into her garage and listened as it roared to life closing behind her. For the first time in a while she looked towards her stoop and remarked at the fact that no one was waiting on her to arrive. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small black object land near the roses. “Vex!” she smiled greeting the bird as he hopped up towards the door. “And here I thought you’d abandoned me for some other chick, no pun intended. I was however considering hunting down this other woman and kicking her ass. Then again, I’m sure your Raven honey would have just pecked out my eyes.”

Holding out her wrist, she waited for him to move closer and attach himself to her shoulder. With a smile she started inside her home, poured herself a glass of wine and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. Vex flew off and perched himself on the bed frame as Victoria began undressing for her bath. The Raven quickly turned its tail feathers in Victoria’s direction and she giggled lightly. “What a perfect gentleman you are Vex.”

She scooped up her phone from the bedside table and punched in Cole’s number, he picked up on the third ring. “Well hello there stranger.”

“I was thinking the same thing about you Cole. How have you been?”

“Busy. You?”

“Pretty much the same. I just wanted to check on you and see…”

“Look I can’t really talk right now, just a minute.” Victoria heard him try to muffle the phone as he spoke to someone in his home. From what she could determine it was a woman’s voice and she sounded rather annoyed. “Um so yeah I should get going.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your um…evening,” she replied hoping to get him to open up about his visitor.

Taking the bait he sighed with a roll of aggravation in his voice, “Look Vik, you made it perfectly clear where I stood in your life. Don’t call and think that I shouldn’t have a life simply because you pushed me to the side. Most women actually find me attractive and engaging!”

“Cole that wasn’t what I…”

“And another thing, Tessa finds me utterly desirable! She can’t keep her hands off of me!”

“Cole what…?”

“You know what? Perhaps it would have been best had you not called me at all!” The call ended abruptly and Victoria gazed down at the smart phone in her palm with a look of astonishment. That didn’t seem like the Cole she knew at all. Had she said something to upset him?

Chewing her bottom lip she replaced the phone to the table and frowned. “Well that was beyond strange Vex. I don’t think I’ve ever known him to be that quick tempered before.” She grabbed her wine and a towel and moved into the bathroom.

After filling the tub with lavender oil and hot water, she slipped beneath the bubbles and let the heat soak away her concerns. When she opened her eyes she found that Vex had decided to join her and perched himself on the bath panel beside her. “Something tells me I won’t be getting much sleep tonight either Vex. Although it’s of my own volition this time; work. I didn’t want to attempt another of those dreams again so I’m distracting myself with crime scene photos and witness statements.”

She slowly sipped from the glass over her shoulder and sighed. “I’ll get you some food once I’m done here.” He squawked his approval and Victoria closed her eyes and slipped deeper into the tub letting the warm water wash over her.

Moonlight sparkled off the water just outside the window. The oak trees bent beneath the cool gust of October wind as the sound of a train horn carried over the breeze. Victoria stretched in her seat as her eyes wandered to the clock on the wall for the 50^th time. It was late and she’d been at it for the last three and a half hours. Her body was sore as she sat in the same dining chair pouring over the information from the case she carried home from work. “Alright Vex, it’ll be your job to keep me awake. Sleeping is bad for me right now. Think you can handle that handsome?”

The squawk that reverberated off the glass chandelier above widened her eyes in surprise and she laughed at herself coming to an understanding with the bird in front of her. “You know if I didn’t know any better I’d think you actually spoke English. Ok, let’s review,” she growled and returned to the papers in front of her.

“Robert Goldman states that he came home around 8:25-9:00, the coroner puts time of death at about the dinner hours of 6:00-7:00pm. A neighbor states that she was walking her dog at 6:10 and there was no appearance of strange cars or visitors. She didn’t hear a commotion or witness any suspect activity. So the murders could have happened before then or just shortly after. Goldman’s secretary claims that her boss has a ritual which Goldman confirms, making his space appear a certain way. He doesn’t like to be disturbed and keeps his door locked at least an hour shortly before heading out. I could hear the vacuum running inside.” 

Victoria looked at one of the stills taken from the neighbor’s security camera, the time stamp was 6:20pm. The neighbor was clearly seen walking back towards her house and there was a light colored SUV driving down the street away from the neighborhood. “Ugh! I know it’s here Vex, it has to be. It’s staring me right in the face I just can’t see it. Goldman has money, although that’s never stopped anyone before.”

Victoria swirled her glass of wine for a moment as she completed her thought. “Hmm, according to his bank records Goldman withdrew a large amount just three days before his wife’s murder in the sum of $75,000; possible payment to a hit man? Although from what I can tell he was in the red on a couple of unpaid bank loans. Why would a man like him need bank loans?”

“The rich never pass up an opportunity to get richer right? The wife was a stockholder in the company he is ladder climbing and had a nice sum on her head with the insurance as did the child. It obviously speaks to motive. And Goldman states that there were no marital woes, like that’s believable and yet he wasn’t wearing his ring. And on top of that the guy was acting like it was a normal day and he was just going about business. He didn’t seem to care at all that his family was viciously…viciously attacked!”

“The coroner states that both Sarah and Robbie Goldman were savagely attacked by a kitchen knife at least 8 inches in length. Sarah had 32 knife wounds to her chest, neck and stomach while Robbie suffered 21, the one through his heart killing him instantly. That kind of assault is almost always a crime of passion, someone close to home. It takes a lot of rage to pick up a knife and hack away at someone you love like this. And then to do the same to a child!”

“I don’t think I could ever understand the world we live in Vex. And then to imagine that Derrick is sucking me into a whole new world with this talk about magic and vampires and werewolves? I mean to think that people could be this sadistic to their own I am not sure I’m ready to see how an amped up vampire goes about revenge.”

“Firefighters on scene reported to smoke inhalation but found no vapors that would cause the extensive damage done to Goldman’s lungs. The source, however, was cited as the burnt food on the stove. How does a man get smoke inhalation without the presence of smoke?” her fingers sifted through the box beside her until she found the little black notebook she’d taken with her to Goldman’s office. Flipping through the pages she stopped on the part where Mike asked him about the discovery of the bodies. ‘The lights were on in the living room and I could smell something burning inside’. 

“THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed and jumped up from her seat. Grabbing her cell phone from by the door, she paced frantically as she punched in Mike’s number. “Come on Mikey pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up.”

“Hello?” the groggy voice of her partner answered.

“Mike I got it!”

“Vik? Vik what the hell are you talking about got what?” he groaned annoyed into the phone. “It’s almost 4 O’clock in the morning, this couldn’t wait until I saw you at work?”

“Oh, yeah, maybe, but listen I think I can prove Goldman killed his wife and child. He lied about not going near the bodies and he tripped himself up when he told firemen on the scene he inhaled smoke.”

“What? Victoria slow down, start from the beginning.” She could hear Mike sitting up as he was slowly coming around and she calmed herself as she began again.

“The stove, the stove is the key Mike. When you asked Goldman about entering the house, he said that he smelled something burning inside. But when firefighters arrived on scene they found no vapors. We need to fingerprint that stove because if I’m right, Goldman turned it off after he murdered his family. That’s how he got smoke in his lungs and also why the firefighters found none when they arrived almost two hours later when the call came in to 9-1-1!”

“Is that all?”

“Not even close! The cameras hanging on the neighbor’s fence show three cars passing in the area between 6 and 7 pm that night. The images aren’t very clear but I was able to make out a partial license plate on a specific car, a 2009 Lincoln Mercury MKX, the exact make and model as Goldman’s. Now I don’t have his information on hand to confirm the tag but the neighbor said there were no strange vehicles in the area. She didn’t say however whether or not she saw Goldman’s truck in the driveway, I want to re-interview her.”

“Vik you’re grasping at straws here. If the car pans out, that’s great but you just said yourself that the image is too distorted to tell for certain. Have you been up this whole time?”

“Hmm? Yeah I can’t sleep, I told you that.”

“You consider sleeping aids of any kind?”

Victoria ignored him as she went through the information again in her head. “He did it Mike, ok? He said he never went into the kitchen so if we found his fingerprints on the stove…”

“It proves he touched the knob but there’s no telling when. Vik, I’m worried about you really. You need to try and rest. We can sort this out in the morning.”

“Wait a second there was something else I found interesting during his interview. The crime scene photos and the area and direction the bodies were found. Ok, Goldman said ‘I opened the door and walked in just a foot and saw my wife on the ground beside the kitchen. She was lying away from the hallway and just a ways up by her hand was my little boy. Both had been viciously attacked.’”

“Yeah so?”

“Stay with me Mike. Question: at any point did you go near the bodies or attempt to move them in any way? Answer: Oh no I couldn’t. Mike you were there at the scene so you can confirm what I am about to say next. Standing from the front door imagine walking in as Goldman did and tell me what you see.”

She waited a moment as her partner blew out a disgruntled sigh before giving in to her demands. “Uh, there was a sofa, two La-z-boy recliners, coffee table, television to the right corner of the room. The den was separated by a sideboard and behind that was a dining set, four chairs at a circular table where the kid’s arm was hidden beneath one of the table legs.”

“Anything else?”

“No Vik. Standing from the door there was no way possible to see…,” he gasped silently before continuing. “The amount of furniture on top of the sideboard behind the couch, there was no way possible anyone could see the bodies in detail from that door.”

“Especially to say they were ‘viciously attacked’.”

“Of course, he’d have had to come inside in order to even know they were dead or panic enough to call police! Nice work partner! It sounds like we have our work cut out for us as far as gathering the evidence against him. But like I said it’s 4am, not really many people awake at this hour to get a jump on this thing. You need to at least get a few hours of sleep. We can take care of all of this once we hit the clock ok?”

“Yeah sure.”

“Vik that doesn’t sound reassuring.”

“I’ll sleep Mike, I promise. You go back to bed. I’ll see you at work. Goodnight.” Victoria hung up the phone and Vex flew up and towards her. “Whoa,” she smiled as he gently landed on her arm. “You’re ready for bed too? I guess I have kinda locked you in here. I did leave the upstairs bedroom window opened for you though. I figured when you were ready to go you could just use that. Anyway, thanks for keeping me company; again. Such a sweet and helpful fella. By the way, if you ever get tired of the grains, just give me a squawk and I’ll try and figure out something else to feed you.” Turning out the downstairs lights, Victoria started for her bedroom and watched as Vex took his leave through the window disappearing into the early morning sky.

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