A Stranger on the Beach(92)

“We went through Caroline’s very lengthy witness statement and compared it to forensics at the crime scene, looking to corroborate. A few things don’t add up. There was a lot less blood in the house than would be expected if an adult male was shot and bled out, even accounting for cleanup. There was some blood. But the blood belonged to Caroline Stark, not Jason. And that brings me to the forensic evidence most damaging to Caroline’s credibility. The wound to her hand, which she claims she got by grabbing the knife away from Callahan, is extremely shallow. It’s also on her left hand, and she’s right-handed.”

“What are you getting at?” Mays said.

“I believe that the knife wound to Caroline’s hand was self-inflicted.”

Jess drew back in shock. Hearing about the insurance policy, Jess had begun to accept that Caroline might be lying. That in fact she was probably lying. But to stage the crime scene, to fake an injury? That would mean Caroline had engaged in a carefully orchestrated, premeditated murder and cover-up. How could Jess have been so wrong about her?

“Lieutenant Messina, do you have anything further?”

Jess struggled to gather her thoughts.

“Um, yes. Okay. First, sir, the Starks’ next-door neighbor, Mrs. Francine Eberhardt, who admittedly is elderly and was viewing the scene through the rain caused by the hurricane, says she saw three people leaving the Starks’ house at or around the time of the murder. Specifically, she saw two people dragging a third. One theory is, that was Caroline Stark and Aidan Callahan dragging Jason Stark’s body. Another theory is that Chief Thomas Callahan helped his brother dispose of the body, and he’s the third individual that the neighbor saw.”

“I strongly disagree with that,” Mike said. “It was Caroline.”

“There is some troubling evidence against Chief Callahan, who’s our suspect’s brother, which I will report through channels whether or not it impacts this case, sir,” Jess said.

“The neighbor didn’t say who it was? Just that she saw a third person?” Mays asked.

“She couldn’t see clearly,” Jess said.

“Could be anyone then. Might even be one of your Russians, Melanie. We simply don’t know.”

“Sir, there’s something else. Something that does directly implicate Mrs. Stark,” Jess said.

“Go on.”

“Deputy Castro learned that Caroline Stark took out a five-million-dollar insurance policy on her husband two days before his murder. She is the sole beneficiary of that policy.”

The room fell silent at that. Every eye was on Jess.

“Well,” Mays said, “that’s a problem. No jury would believe that’s a coincidence. I don’t see how we use her as a witness now.”

Jess’s stomach sank. “Shouldn’t we at least ask Caroline about the insurance policy? Give her a chance to defend herself?”

“Ask her? You can’t find her, Lieutenant. And this has got to be why. She knows she’s guilty and she’s on the lam. At any rate, she’s now made herself useless as a witness. Callahan’s lawyer would wipe the floor with her over that, and we’d be forced to disclose it.”

Mays rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe the way to salvage this case is to go after her. Make Caroline Stark the centerpiece. Phil, do you see any forensic evidence implicating Caroline?”

“I do. Her fingerprints are on the murder weapon,” Phil said.

Mays pounded the table. “Beautiful.”

“But, so are Callahan’s. And Callahan’s fingerprints are bloody, which means he had blood on his hands when he touched the gun,” Phil said.

“How does that make sense?” Mays asked. “Wouldn’t the blood come after he shot Jason Stark?”

“Two possibilities. Either Caroline shot Jason, and Aidan handled the gun afterwards, during the cleanup. Or Aidan shot Jason without leaving prints, and picked up the gun with blood on his hands afterwards. As I’m sure you all know, it’s possible to touch something and not leave a print if your hands are perfectly clean and dry.”

“About the gun?” Jess said.

Heads swung back her way.

“Caroline claims that the murder weapon belonged to Aidan Callahan. She saw it in his apartment and she handled it there. That could explain why her prints are on the gun.”

“She could be lying,” Mays said.

“She could be,” Jess conceded. “And there’s evidence that she is. Hannah Stark contradicts her mother. Hannah says the Beretta recovered from the truck matches the general description of a gun carried by her father. She saw it in his briefcase.”

“We have information on the source of the gun,” Phil said, shuffling through some papers in a folder in front of him. “This is based on a query of the serial number to the ATF database. Okay, here it is. This firearm was originally purchased online three years ago in a batch of twenty firearms bought by a company that runs gun shows. No record of what happened after that, until six months ago, when the gun was reported stolen by its then-owner, a Joseph Lombardo of Massapequa, New York.”

Jess sat up straight in her chair.

“Joseph Lombardo is Caroline Stark’s brother-in-law,” she said. “He’s married to her sister, Lynn, with whom she’s very close. Lynn knows where Caroline is, but she’s not talking.”