Officer Paul Kennedy wandered back into his office. If this Gloria lady was right, maybe Andrea Malone wasn’t the killer and they were holding an innocent woman. He turned what was more-than-likely new evidence in the case over to the crime lab for testing. Maybe they should hire Gloria Rutherford as a crime scene investigator. She seemed to do a much better job at finding clues than the paid professionals, he thought wryly.
Now it was time to pay another visit to Daniel Malone’s insurance agency and talk to his partner, Barry Hicks.
“And what was your name?” The bookish receptionist in red-rimmed glasses peered over the top of them as she studied the man in front of her.
“Officer Paul Kennedy.”
“Just a moment.” She disappeared behind a cheap Lauan door as Kennedy gazed around the front lobby. Nothing looked suspicious. He’d heard the rumors about running an illegal gambling business, using the insurance agency as a front, but that wasn’t his department.
The receptionist stepped back into the front lobby. “He’s ready to see you now,” she announced.
Kennedy followed her through the plain brown door marked by a cheap plastic sign that read “Private.”
She scooted to the right and waved him in to one of the dreary, wood-paneled offices in the back of the small building.
Barry was seated behind the desk, his hands clasped together in his lap. “So what do I owe the pleasure of another visit?”
Barry Hicks was a tall man. Not so tall as to stand out in a crowd but tall enough that you noticed. Not necessarily an unattractive man either.
Kennedy didn’t wait for an invitation before taking a seat. He looked around the small office. Maybe there was a picture of Mrs. Hicks in here.
“We just got some new evidence in your business partner’s murder case. Thought I’d stop by and ask you a couple more questions.”
Barry Hicks was one cool cat. Didn’t even bat an eye. “I’ve already answered your questions but I’ll be glad to help in whatever way I can.”
Kennedy’s eyes landed on what he was looking for. A picture. A picture of Barry and what was more than likely his wife.
Kennedy pointed to the 8x10 sitting on the old 70’s credenza behind Barry’s chair. “Nice picture. That your wife?” he asked.
Barry swiveled around. He looked at the picture as if he’d never seen it before.
“Yes, that’s Chelsea.”
Kennedy nodded. “Hmmm. Nice looking lady.”
“Thanks.”
“Has anyone ever told you she looks a lot like Andrea Malone?”
Barry Hicks slowly shook his head. What an odd question. “No. Not that I can ever recall…”
“Well, they do look a lot alike.” Kennedy got to his feet and walked over to the picture. He picked it up and studied the smiling blonde. “Yes. She really does look a lot like Andrea Malone.”
The pieces were starting to fall into place. Barry didn’t like where this was going. Not one little bit. “I thought you were here to talk about Daniel’s murder?”
Kennedy pulled the charm from his pocket, leaned over and set it in front of Barry Hicks. “Ever seen this charm before?”
Barry swallowed hard as he focused on the charm. “No. Never. Should I have?”
“It was found right next to Daniel Malone’s body.”
“You charged Andrea Malone for her husband’s murder. It was probably hers,” Hicks sputtered.
Kennedy made his way back to the chair across from Mr. Hicks. His eyes narrowed as he studied the man.
Hicks rubbed a nervous hand across his brow.
Kennedy leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared at the man across from him. “That’s what we thought. At first.”
He decided to switch tactics. “Your wife and Andrea Malone could be sisters. Yeah, I think it would be pretty hard to tell the two of them apart.”
Kennedy tapped a finger on the side of his cheek, as if in deep thought. “Except for the mole.”
He quickly went on. “Yeah. Moles are kinda like tattoos. No two are alike, wouldn’t you agree?”
Barry Hicks swallowed the lump in his throat. He stood up. “Unless you have something specific you’re here to ask me about, I’m a very busy man and you’ll need to leave.”
Kennedy got to his feet. “Oh, but I do.”
Just then there was a small, timid knock on the door. Barry’s eyes grew wide. He started shaking his head in the direction of the doorway.
Kennedy turned around to see the woman in the picture, Chelsea Hicks, hovering uncertainly just outside the door.
The timing couldn’t have been better if he planned it himself. “We were just talking about you.” Kennedy waved her in. “Please, come in Mrs. Hicks.”
She took a small step forward. “I’m- I hope I’m not interrupting.”
Kennedy pushed one of the cheap, vinyl chairs in her direction. “No, not at all. Have a seat.”
She didn’t take her eyes off her husband as she made her way over to the empty chair.
Kennedy studied the blonde woman. “I was just telling your husband that you and Andrea Malone look a lot alike.”
Chelsea Hicks swallowed hard.
“Except for that little mole you’ve got.” Kennedy pointed in the direction of her face. “You two could almost be twins.”
Chelsea shifted uncomfortably as she glanced at her husband and then back at Officer Kennedy.
Kennedy picked the charm up off the desk and reached over to hand it to Chelsea Hicks. “Have you ever seen this charm before?”
Chelsea’s eyes grew huge. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the charm the officer was holding out. She looked at him as if he were holding onto a snake. She shook her head adamantly. “No. Never.”
“Have you ever been to “A Moment in Time” thrift store?”
A very nervous Chelsea Hicks shook her head again.
Kennedy got right to the point. “Then you won’t mind taking a ride to the thrift store so that the owner can confirm he’s never laid eyes on you before?”
Barry Hicks jumped out of his chair, knocking it backwards into the credenza with a loud thud. “That’s ridiculous! Why on earth would my wife need to do that?”
Kennedy turned to study Chelsea Hicks. “The shop owner isn’t sure if he sold this charm to Daniel Malone and his wife Andrea or if he sold it to Mr. Malone and your wife Chelsea.”
Barry Hicks was blubbering now. “This is preposterous! You’re dragging my wife into something she has no part of.”
But Officer Kennedy wasn’t so sure. Chelsea Hicks was now pale as a ghost. She grabbed her throat and abruptly jumped to her feet.
Kennedy felt a twinge of sympathy for the poor woman. “You do understand you don’t really have a choice, Mrs. Hicks?”
He looked over at a red-faced Barry Hicks. “She either goes now of her own free will or she goes after we press charges against her for the murder of Daniel Malone.”
The woman gasped. Her knuckles turned white as she clutched the sides of the chair. Her terror-filled eyes staring blankly at her husband. “I-I’m just going to go and get it over with, Barry.”
“Over my dead body!” Barry Hicks lunged forward.
Just then, two uniformed officers burst into the room. Kennedy hoped to avoid the situation escalating to this level but he just had a feeling…
“Feel free to accompany your wife,” Kennedy offered as the officers took a warning step forward.
“Of course I’ll go,” Hicks sputtered, keeping a close eye on the two burly police officers.
Mr. O’Donnell was waiting for them when they made their way inside the small antique shop.
“Mr. O’Donnell, as I explained earlier, we need to ask you whether or not you’ve ever seen Mrs. Hicks before.”
Kennedy moved to the side as Chelsea Hicks slowly shuffled over to where Mr. O’Donnell was waiting. The shopkeeper carefully slid his glasses on as he studied Chelsea Hicks.
“This is ridiculous,” huffed Barry Hicks. “Of course he’s never seen her before!”
After several long, agonizing moments the store owner nodded. “Yes, I have seen this young lady before.”
By now Chelsea was visibly trembling. She gripped the edge of the counter in an effort to steady herself.
“I sold her and a gentleman a heart-shaped charm,” he continued.
Kennedy pulled the charm from his pocket. “This charm?”
The man carefully studied the small piece of jewelry in Kennedy’s hand before nodding. “Yes, that’s the one.”
The store owner turned to an ashen-faced Chelsea Hicks. “You were so excited to get the charm. It certainly is a one-of-a-kind.”
He went on. “And very expensive. That’s one of the reasons I remember it. Don’t sell too many of those expensive treasures very often. Made enough money off that one sale to keep my shop open for months.”
That was all Kennedy needed to hear. He glanced at the two officers that were standing guard by the doorway. “We won’t take any more of your time, Mr. O’Donnell. Thank you.”
With that, the small group made their way back outside. “We need to take you down to the station for some questioning, Mrs. Hicks.”
A wide-eyed Chelsea Hicks stared straight at her husband. “You’re going with me.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
Kennedy rolled back on his heels. Things were beginning to get interesting.
Barry Hicks nodded. “I’ll follow you down there.”
That was not what Chelsea Hicks had in mind. “No. You’re riding with me in the police car.”
Kennedy was just about to say it would make more sense for her husband to follow behind but something told him to keep his mouth shut.
“I can just follow you there Chels.”
She ignored her husband and turned to Kennedy. “He needs to ride with us.”
“We can’t just leave our car here,” Hicks argued.
But she wasn’t going to have any of that. She stubbornly shook her head.
“We can have one of our officers drive your car to the station,” Kennedy offered.
And so it was decided. Chelsea and Barry Hicks slid into the back seat of the police cruiser. The ride to the station was eerily quiet. Not a murmur or a peep out of either one of them.
Back at the station, they made their way to the interrogation room. Officer Kennedy had one of the best in the field on stand-by. Jack Green could get anyone to talk. He was a real pro and Kennedy loved to watch him work. He sniffed out liars like a springer spaniel flushing out a pheasant.
Jack Green stepped inside the room and closed the door. Years of interrogations trained him to immediately zero in on the weaker of the two. He studied the pair as he made his way over to where they were waiting.
He used one of his favorite tricks first. Try to catch them off guard right out of the box.
“You look lovely today, Mrs. Hicks,” Jack flattered. “I can’t help but notice your designer bag. My wife’s been begging for one of those exact same bags for months.”
Chelsea smiled hesitantly as she glanced down at her brand new Louis Vuitton. She liked this Detective Green much better than the other fellow.
Barry Hicks was nervously pacing. Jack Green turned to the man. “Would you like to have a seat, Mr. Hicks?”
Hicks stopped just long enough to glare at Jack Green. “What I’d like to do is get the heck out of here!”
Jack looked back at Chelsea. “We’ll work on that but first I have to ask Mrs. Hicks a few questions.”
Chelsea looked uneasy again. The bag completely forgotten.
Jack set the charm on the desk in front of Chelsea. “Is this your charm?”
Chelsea leaned back as if the charm was about to bite her.
“It’s OK to admit it’s your charm,” Jack added softly.
She glanced uncertainly at her husband. He stopped pacing and stared at his wife. His face was expressionless.
She looked back at Jack and nodded ever-so-slightly.
“So it is your charm,” the detective confirmed.
She nodded again.
“And that was you in the thrift store?” he prompted.
“Yes,” Chelsea Hicks admitted.
Jack was almost done. “And that was Daniel Malone with you inside the antique shop?”
“I object!” Barry Hicks shouted.
Jack calmly faced the angry man. “Mr. Hicks, this isn’t a courtroom.”
Hicks walked over to his wife and squeezed her shoulder. “Chelsea, don’t say another word.” He glared at Jack Green. “I want my attorney present for any further questioning,” he huffed.
Jack ignored Hicks as he turned his attention back on Chelsea Hicks. “Is that what you want Chelsea?” he softly asked. “We can wrap this up right now if you want to tell us what happened.”
Just then, Paul Kennedy got a call from the crime lab. He walked over to the corner, his back turned away from the others in the room. “Hello?”
“Hey Paul. It’s Allen down here at the crime lab. We have the results back on that evidence you brought in earlier.”
“I’ll be right there!” Kennedy turned to Jack Green. “I’ll be right back.” He looked over at Chelsea Hicks. “We might have a new piece of evidence in this case.”
With that, Paul Kennedy yanked the door open and rushed down the hall.
Five minutes later, he was back, a manila envelope in his hand. He walked over to the table and placed the envelope on top. “Would you like to have a seat, Mr. Hicks?”
Barry Hicks had no intention of doing that or anything else. “I already told you. I’m out of here until I can have a lawyer present.”
Kennedy shrugged. “That’s certainly your prerogative, Mr. Hicks.” He pulled the object – a folding knife with a long serrated blade – out of the envelope and set it on the table. “We just recovered this from the crime scene.”
Barry Hicks mouth dropped open. Every bit of color drained from his face as he stared down at the knife. Chelsea Hicks’ hand flew to her mouth as she stared at it in disbelief.
Kennedy picked the knife up and turned it over in his hands. “This is certainly a unique knife.” He adjusted his reading glasses as he inspected the sharp blade. “It look like there are some sort of initials engraved on it. “BFH.”
Paul pulled off his reading glasses and looked over at Barry Hicks. “Correct me if I’m wrong but your middle name is Franklin, isn’t it? Quite a coincidence, I would say,” he added.
Barry Hicks clamped his mouth together in a hard straight line. Things were not going well for Barry.
Chelsea Hicks burst into tears as she began sobbing hysterically.
Her husband quickly careened out of control as he grabbed his wife’s hand and attempted to yank her out of the chair.
Two officer’s standing nearby pounced, grabbing Barry Hicks arms and dragging him away from his wife.
Mrs. Chelsea Hicks stopped sobbing long enough to point at her husband. “He did it!”
Hicks fought to break free as he lunged towards his wife. “Chelsea stop!”
“He killed Daniel Malone!” She screamed.
Barry Hicks tried in vain to break free from the officers. They quickly wrestled him to the ground as Paul Kennedy began reading him his rights.
He cursed at the officers. “You can’t arrest me!”
The cuffs were finally on and they half-carried, half-dragged Barry Hicks from the room.
The three of them sat in stunned silence for a long moment after the outbreak ended.
Jack didn’t even have to nudge Mrs. Hicks into talking this time.
Chelsea’s face teared up again as she began to speak. “Daniel and I had been having an affair for several months. We did a pretty good job of keeping it quiet. No one knew.”
Kennedy walked over and handed Chelsea a box of Kleenex. She grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her eyes before continuing. “Daniel and I planned on leaving Andrea and Barry. We just hadn’t found the right moment yet.”
She twisted the handkerchief around her finger before going on. “Not long ago, the four of us were having dinner together. Daniel, Andrea, Barry and me. I noticed Andrea had on this stunning charm bracelet.”
Chelsea’s eyes narrowed. “I remember remarking to her how much I liked it. She went on-and-on bragging about how each charm was a priceless antique.”
“After that evening, I couldn’t get that bracelet out of my mind. I just had to have one, too.”
She looked woefully at Detective Green. “I hounded Daniel until he finally gave in. I wanted mine to be even nicer and more expensive. Not long after that night, he tracked down a similar bracelet to surprise me with.”
“For once, I had something better than Andrea.” The tears were forgotten as she smiled smugly.
“It was only about a week after he gave me the bracelet, I wandered into that antique store and spotted the heart charm. I dragged Daniel there the next day and he bought it right there on the spot,” Chelsea explained.
She shook her head as she thought about the charm. “I had no idea how much the darned thing cost until the shopkeeper told me. By then, it was too late and Daniel had already paid for it.”
Her expression grew solemn as she looked directly into Jack Green’s eyes. “He loved me more than he loved her.”
Jack was going to ask her what about your husband but thought better of it. He wanted her to finish telling her story.
He didn’t have long to wait. “Anyways, a couple days later, Barry and I were getting ready for a dinner date and he noticed the bracelet. I’m not sure why. He never notices anything I wear.”
“He said something like, “Doesn’t Andrea have a bracelet like that?”
She went on. “I knew I’d been busted. Barry must’ve seen right through me even though I tried to tell him I bought it for myself on a whim.”
“We argued for a long time until I finally confessed that Daniel bought it for me and I admitted to the affair.”
She began rubbing her wrist. “We got into a little scuffle and Barry tried to yank the bracelet off. The charm came off in his hand. I watched him shove it in his pocket. That was the last time I’d seen it until today.”
Chelsea looked at Jack Green imploringly. Her blue eyes filled with unshed tears. “I tried to reason with him but he was so angry! He knew Daniel was working late in the back of the office that night so he drove there to confront him.”
She shuddered as she remembered that night. “He was furious.”
Jack was curious. “Why didn’t you go over to the office, try to smooth things over?”
Chelsea shook her head. “Not when Barry gets angry like that. He was out of control! He had crazy eyes. Like he wanted to kill someone.” She looked down at the tissue in her hands. “I waited for hours for Barry to come home. Finally he did.”
The tears trailed down her cheeks. “He came into the bedroom and turned on the light. He was covered with blood. It was all over his pants, his shirt. Even his shoes.”
She began trembling as she remembered that moment.
“Daniel’s blood?” Jack prompted.
She nodded. “He told me they got into a heated argument. Barry pulled his hunting knife on him and stabbed him.”
Paul Kennedy stepped forward. “Weren’t you scared you’d be next?”
She shook her head. “Oddly enough, no.”
“Barry told me after he killed him, he freaked out. Drove around for hours until finally, he dragged Daniel’s body into the woods behind the school and dumped it.” She went on. “He panicked and threw the knife into the bushes. I guess he thought if the police pulled him over, he didn’t want the murder weapon on him.”
She glanced down at the charm on the desk. “I completely forgot about the charm until Officer Kennedy showed it to me.”
Kennedy walked over to where the two were seated. “So you were going to let an innocent woman take the fall for your husband’s crime?”
She nodded a blonde head. “It’s not as if Andrea and I were really friends or anything.”
Jack looked up at Kennedy. “Looks like we have enough to charge Barry Hicks with murder.”
He looked back at the woman across from him. “You know you’re an accessory.” It was more a statement than a question.
Chelsea nodded her head. It was beginning to sink in. They were in deep trouble.
“Maybe I need to keep my mouth shut until I get a lawyer, too.” But it was a little too late by then.