retrospect, those might be the things that someone had considered most damning in terms of the case. The first had been the autopsy. For the most part, the body had been as expected. Belinda Frias had died of multiple stab wounds to the face, neck and torso. The crime was personal and heated. The only real surprise had been that she was expecting.
I thought about that again in terms of the changes to the Frias family. They would have had another mouth to feed, but the fact that she was pregnant was no big surprise. Unless – I wondered if the baby could belong to someone other than Mr. Frias. What if the baby was the result of an affair? It could have been a tryst with one of her clients or someone she knew in the neighborhood. That would provide a motive both for Mr. Frias, who might have let his passions run away with him, even if it did cost him financially. Or it could have been the lover who had killed her. Admitting that the baby was his could have cost the lover his family and his friends. I thought about Mr. Gillespie. Would he possibly have killed Belinda Frias?
The family had arrived home at the same time. They gave each other an alibi so that all of them were in the clear. Would it have been possible for Mr. Gillespie to have crept in before the rest and killed the maid? It would have been possible, yes, but the dying screams of the woman and the amount of blood on his clothing and body would have given the matter away to the rest of the family. Had they all decided to protect their own, even in the case of murder.
I looked back over the police report. 911 had been called around 7:15. In their talks to me, they had indicated that they’d arrived home around 7pm. Since Mr. Xanthus had said that he had seen Frias alive at a few minute before 7pm, the likelihood of anyone else managing to kill Frias and escape in the matter of a few minute seemed remote. The luck involved in finding the woman alone and killing her when the return of the family could be imminent either meant that the killer didn’t care if he was apprehended by the family or he knew when the family would arrive. Only the family would have known for sure when they’d return. Either one member of the family had notified someone else, or they had committed the deed themselves.
The second piece of information taken from the police file was the report from Mr. Xanthus. He’d shared the piece of information about the timing of the murder. Instead of nearly an hour and a half, the window of opportunity had been culled to nearly ten minutes. That was a significant drop in the time that the crime could have been committed and narrowed the list of suspects down to the family.
So I wondered what the last piece of information could be. I looked at the clock and saw that nearly an hour had been spent on my ruminations. I checked my phone, but no message from Sheila. I decided to call her and see if she’d found the information I needed.
I called her and got her voicemail, but in a few seconds, my cell phone went off. Then it went off again. I picked it up and read the message. The first one was a phone number, which I assumed was for Robert Jones. I scribbled down the number as I looked at the other message.
It read “I’m in a meeting with IA about the files.” I was shocked. Had Sheila jeopardized her job in letting me read the files? I wondered what the laws were on giving out that kind of information. I knew that police reports as a whole were considered public records, but most of the internal legwork would be considered proprietary information. Likely the interviews and other information I’d read through would not be considered public, and perhaps she could get in trouble for sharing that information with me. I immediately felt bad because I’d asked for that information, and she’d willingly shared it with me.
I immediately knew who had called informed the department about the police report. It had to be Siever. I was pissed beyond
I thought about that again in terms of the changes to the Frias family. They would have had another mouth to feed, but the fact that she was pregnant was no big surprise. Unless – I wondered if the baby could belong to someone other than Mr. Frias. What if the baby was the result of an affair? It could have been a tryst with one of her clients or someone she knew in the neighborhood. That would provide a motive both for Mr. Frias, who might have let his passions run away with him, even if it did cost him financially. Or it could have been the lover who had killed her. Admitting that the baby was his could have cost the lover his family and his friends. I thought about Mr. Gillespie. Would he possibly have killed Belinda Frias?
The family had arrived home at the same time. They gave each other an alibi so that all of them were in the clear. Would it have been possible for Mr. Gillespie to have crept in before the rest and killed the maid? It would have been possible, yes, but the dying screams of the woman and the amount of blood on his clothing and body would have given the matter away to the rest of the family. Had they all decided to protect their own, even in the case of murder.
I looked back over the police report. 911 had been called around 7:15. In their talks to me, they had indicated that they’d arrived home around 7pm. Since Mr. Xanthus had said that he had seen Frias alive at a few minute before 7pm, the likelihood of anyone else managing to kill Frias and escape in the matter of a few minute seemed remote. The luck involved in finding the woman alone and killing her when the return of the family could be imminent either meant that the killer didn’t care if he was apprehended by the family or he knew when the family would arrive. Only the family would have known for sure when they’d return. Either one member of the family had notified someone else, or they had committed the deed themselves.
The second piece of information taken from the police file was the report from Mr. Xanthus. He’d shared the piece of information about the timing of the murder. Instead of nearly an hour and a half, the window of opportunity had been culled to nearly ten minutes. That was a significant drop in the time that the crime could have been committed and narrowed the list of suspects down to the family.
So I wondered what the last piece of information could be. I looked at the clock and saw that nearly an hour had been spent on my ruminations. I checked my phone, but no message from Sheila. I decided to call her and see if she’d found the information I needed.
I called her and got her voicemail, but in a few seconds, my cell phone went off. Then it went off again. I picked it up and read the message. The first one was a phone number, which I assumed was for Robert Jones. I scribbled down the number as I looked at the other message.
It read “I’m in a meeting with IA about the files.” I was shocked. Had Sheila jeopardized her job in letting me read the files? I wondered what the laws were on giving out that kind of information. I knew that police reports as a whole were considered public records, but most of the internal legwork would be considered proprietary information. Likely the interviews and other information I’d read through would not be considered public, and perhaps she could get in trouble for sharing that information with me. I immediately felt bad because I’d asked for that information, and she’d willingly shared it with me.
I immediately knew who had called informed the department about the police report. It had to be Siever. I was pissed beyond
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