“Roger, did you see the paper today?” Roger was the eldest son of Michael Massey.
“Yes. Why?” he asked his wife Kay.
“Channel six news followed the police to your dad’s house and the police questioned him about the murder of Melanie, the girl who was brutally beaten in her house.”
“She was a friend of Halle’s, not my father’s.”
“She had been over at your dad’s house the other night.”
“Look, I know you hate my father, and I’ll admit he is an intense guy, but he’s not a murderer.”
“I told you about what Mrs. Baker said. The man has issues with women because his wife had cheated on him with that lawyer. I don’t need to remind you that he is dead too.”
“Why would he kill Melanie? Why?” Roger was angry. “He has no reason to want to kill her. Now get out of my face.”
Roger was very annoyed. His wife was driving him crazy. All she seemed to do is ponder how evil his father was. “It’s being out here all alone with too much time to think.” After he walked out of the room and slammed the door, he got into his car and drove to work.
--------------------------------------------------
“Detective Mangino.”
“Detective Chanello. How are you doing this morning.”
There was a friendly nod between them. “Feels like the chief is beating me with a bat to get this murder solved,” he said facetiously.
“Ha-Ha. You should have more sympathy for the victim. Is there anything new to go on today?”
“Same old. Same old. We have gotten lots of calls but no solid leads to go with. I’ll bet money it’s the boyfriend.
“He already passed a lie detector test.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time a murderer had done that. There is a good reason they aren’t admissible in court. They are not completely reliable.”
“It might not be the first time, but it would probably be a rare occurrence.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Does he have an alibi?”
“No. He was at home by himself when it happened, or so he says.”
“You know, I would feel a lot better if he had an alibi, and he had passed a lie detector test before we let him off the hook.”
“If he had a strong enough of an alibi, we wouldn’t even need to give him a test, now would we?”
“You are such a good detective. What should we do from here?”
“I’ll go talk to her friends at work and you go talk to her social friends. She had a gym membership at the Y.M.C.A. on Downey Avenue.”
“We’ll catch up later. Michael Massey has an older son. And I think we should pay him a visit later. It’s doubtful, but maybe he can shed some light on whether anything happened between Michael and Melanie. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” Mangino said and left.
----------------------------------------------------
Roger pulled up to his assigned spot at Massey Truck Brokers. He had only worked for his father for one year and was already one of the leading salesmen. He was destined to take over the company and would one day be fairly rich like his father. The only problem was Kay.
Why did he bring a country girl to a city as big as Los Angeles? She wanted to go back home so she could live in poverty again. “How exciting,” Roger thought. “I need to show some understanding. No one likes to be away from their family. After all, isn’t this the reason I am here in California? I want to be with my family.”
He was in a predicament. If he didn’t get her back to Virginia soon, she would leave him. Luckily, he had a plan. He had made $125,000. last year and he had saved $25,000. If he could convince Kay to stay one more year, he might make $150,000. and then they could save 50,000.
Seventy five thousand would make a nice down payment on a house in Roanoke Virginia, and his mortgage payment would be cut in half. He wouldn’t get rich this way, but his family could live comfortably. Maybe, he could convince his dad to open up an office out there.
All he did was talk on the phone every day. He could just as easily do the same job on the east coast as he did in California. If he made $100,000. in Virginia it would be like $200,000. in California. Today was the day to run it by his father, and if all went well, he would buy Kay a dozen roses and a bottle of wine when he told her the good news.
“In a couple of days Kay would see the truth about that man,” he thought. He knew his father wouldn’t want him to lose his wife. He liked women too much. He liked her too much to let that happen.