“My mouth is watering just thinking about it.”
Brenda leaned toward Dupree and lowered her voice. “Can I ask a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“Not for nothing, but what’s the deal with Prince Charming and you?”
“Prince Charming?”
“T.J.”
“I’m not following you.”
“All the while we were talking, he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“I think you’ve been reading too many Danielle Steele novels.” She recalled when T.J. had softly touched her face and how she had reacted. Was there substance to Brenda’s claim, or was it merely a fairytale?
Dupree headed for the conference room. She found T.J. looking through the case file.
As if she didn’t have enough to think about, Brenda’s comments about “Prince Charming” aka T.J., made her stop and think. Ever since T.J. and she had traded their life stories, the dynamic between them had changed. She could not deny the fact that an unexplainable intimacy existed between them, but she’d never considered that it might be driven by a romantic undertone—at least not from her viewpoint.
“So you think Brenda will be able to identify the account holder of that number?” T.J. asked.
“It isn’t very often she disappoints us, so let’s assume the best.”
Sitting next to T.J., Dupree felt a little self-conscious about Brenda’s observation. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind.
“Let’s recap what we know.” Dupree opened the folder and flipped through the pages.
“Dr. Lauren Crawford, research scientist for Horizon Cancer Research Center, on the verge of announcing a revolutionary treatment for cancer, is murdered by Oscar Cassano on the evening of June 30 at approximately ten-thirty p.m. in the ramp garage near Yankee Stadium. She stabs Cassano in the face with a nail file and he shoots her three times in the head with a .22 caliber pistol. We found blood from both victim and killer in the backseat, but no fingerprints or anything else we could use for a forensic evaluation. We confirmed that one sample of blood matches Cassano’s DNA. We could not make a visual identification of Cassano with the surveillance cameras in the garage. However, we did verify that Cassano has a birthmark shaped like a figure eight on the back of his neck.
“We interviewed both Dr. Edward Mason, Executive Director of Horizon and Leona Crawford, Dr. Crawford’s mother. Both gave us a brief history of Dr. Crawford’s relationship with Hulda Clark, and explained how Dr. Crawford expanded Dr. Clark’s research theories on cancer treatment.
“Jonathan Lentz, Dr. Crawford’s ex-boyfriend, had an affair with Maggie Hansen, research scientist at Horizon, which resulted in Crawford ending her relationship with Lentz. Shortly after, Dr. Crawford fired Hansen and she did not leave calmly. Lentz, supposedly working two jobs and barely making ends meet, bought an Audi A8 for over sixty-thousand dollars. I spotted Lentz and Hansen in a Starbucks and could tell that they were in a romantic relationship. During an interrogation of Lentz, he confessed that his step-father, Dominic Gallo, deputy director for the FDA, paid Lentz one-hundred-fifty thousand dollars to hire someone to steal Dr. Crawford’s computer. We verified that Lentz deposited the money into his savings account on July 1. According to phone records, over a one month period, Lentz and Gallo spoke via telephone thirty-seven times. In view of Cassano’s confession, Lentz’s role in this ordeal was not to have Dr. Crawford murdered, only to have her computer stolen.”
Dupree flipped a few more pages. “Cassano stated that after Lentz hired him, Lentz told him that he’d be contacted by someone else to give further instructions and make arrangements for payment. Lentz maintains that Gallo was supposed to make contact with Cassano via a pre-paid cell phone that Lentz gave to Cassano. But Cassano claims that he was contacted by a woman with a southern accent who offered him seven-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars to murder Dr. Crawford. Weighing all the evidence we will cover later, this person was likely Maggie Hansen. Prior to killing Dr. Crawford, Cassano hired Ivan Tesler to follow her and report back to Cassano with her whereabouts. Ivan Tesler’s testimony led us to Cassano. Aware that Tesler fingered Cassano as part of a plea bargain, Cassano brutally tortured and murdered Tesler. We have an eye witness who saw Cassano leaving Tesler’s place right about the time he was killed. The plate number of the truck the man was driving is registered to Oscar Cassano. Before Tesler died, he wrote ‘Dupree’ and ‘Oscar’ on a piece of paper.”
Dupree yawned.
“Want me to continue?” T.J. asked.
“I’m fine. Just need to refocus my eyes.” Dupree rubbed her tired eyes and yawned again. “After Dr. Crawford’s murder, several pharmaceutical companies expressed a desire to partner with Horizon and continue with the research. Dr. Mason claims that a group of companies tried to bribe him with what they called a ‘cash incentive’. He decided to go with Hyland Laboratories—a pharmaceutical company that earlier tried to hire Maggie Hansen. If Horizon does ultimately partner with Hyland, Dominic Gallo, Lentz’s step-father, Deputy Director of the FDA, will work closely with them.
Dupree stood up and reached for the ceiling.
“Sure you don’t want me to finish?” T.J. asked. “I’m sitting here like a bump on a log.”
“I need you to be sure I’m giving an accurate account of the investigation and to add anything I might miss.”
“So far, you’re spot on.”
“Great.” Dupree glanced at her watch. “If we’re lucky, we’ll get out of here just on time for breakfast.”
Dupree fingered through a few more pages. “Let’s get back to Maggie Hansen.”
“After checking her bank statement and phone records, we discovered that she called the pre-paid cell phone in Cassano’s possession three times and also called Michael Adelman, CEO of Hyland Laboratories in Albany, New York three times. Hansen allegedly told Cassano to get rid of the pre-paid cell phone once their business was completed. Cassano claims that he threw the phone in the East River.
“Because Hansen went to the top of the list as a suspect, we secured a warrant and searched her apartment. We found Michael Adelman’s business card, and written on the back was 650K, a phone number, GCI Trust, Ltd., and what appeared to be an offshore bank account number. Hopefully, Brenda will be able to determine if, in fact, the number on the back of Adelman’s business card is a bank account number. And if it is, find out whose name is on it.”
Dupree closed the folder. Her eyes took on a haunted look. “There is also the issue of the two envelopes I received.” She balled her hands into fists. “No doubt Hansen’s handiwork.” The mere thought of it, welled her gut with anger. The audacity of this woman to place Dupree’s life in danger infuriated her beyond words. But she had to remain calm and in control. She’d learned that unrestrained anger is a homicide detective’s nemesis, that it compromises objectivity and logic. So close to cracking this case wide open, she had to put her personal feelings aside and not lose sight of her only goaclass="underline" putting Dr. Crawford’s killer behind bars.
“Anything else to add?” Dupree asked.
“You nailed it, Amaris. But as you were recapping, two things occurred to me. First, if either of us has any doubt that Hansen is capable of violence, let’s not forget that when she attended college, she beat the shit out of her roommate and was charged with assault. And it just happened to be over a guy. So, with the little triangle between Lentz, Dr. Crawford, and Hansen, who knows just how far Hansen might go? Second, nearly all of the key players, persons of interest, and witnesses are somehow intertwined.” T.J. picked up the folder and opened it. He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and removed a pen from his shirt pocket. Across the top of the paper he wrote, Crawford, Mason, Lentz, Hansen, Gallo, Cassano, Tesler, and Adelman. He drew a circle around the names and then drew lines from each name to any other name where an association existed.