The Curious Case of Christopher Comtois (Part XII)

Searching

     Geoff Laney was not pleased.  “This is bullshit,” he said to no one in particular as he walked out of the Denver City Jail.  He was flanked by a couple of other Orlando Police officers who had made the trip to Colorado with him.  He knew that he’d eventually have to come out to Denver at some point, but he wasn’t expecting to be there just five days after his only suspect had been arrested.  Since Friday night when he had put out the arrest warrant on Justice, Laney had been planning his next moves.  He’d need to collect more evidence, talk to more of Justice’s friends and acquaintances and finally go to Colorado to pick him up and bring him back to Florida.  He had assumed that Justice would fight his extradition and then not be able to afford the high bond amount, which was exactly the way that it had played out thus far. That would give him somewhere in the ballpark of two weeks to get things straight before traveling west.  He wasn’t prepared for the phone call that he had received the day before from Detective Harrison Franklin of the Denver PD.  

     “I’m not sure what the hell kind of police work they do out here in Colorado, but Justice is lying and I can’t believe that Franklin is buying it,” Laney told his crew.  “I spent two and half months putting this case together and he meets Justice for ten minutes and all of sudden I’ve got the wrong guy.  This is bullshit.”  

     It was late when the officers from Orlando pulled up outside Justice’s residence on Grant Street.  Justice had told Laney that his roommate, Kermit, would be home and most likely in bed asleep.  They were all tired since they were on east coast time, but Laney was anxious to get in and take a look at where Justice lived.  They parked on the street and made their way to the doorstep outside of the duplex on the corner.  After several knocks, a light turned on inside the house and soon after the door was opening.  It was obvious that the person who answered the door had been sleeping.  “Are you Kermit?” Laney asked.  The man at the door nodded “yes” as he rubbed his eyes.  He was wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt.  “I’m Detective Geoff Laney from the Orlando Police Department.  These other men are officers in my division.  We met with your roommate, Chris Justice, this evening, and he gave us permission to search the premises.  Do you mind if we come in?”  Technically they could come in regardless of what Kermit said, but Laney wanted to be cordial.  Kermit said that he didn’t mind as he opened and held the door for the men as they entered.  Laney explained that they would be focusing on Justice’s room but that they may need to look in other parts of the home.  They asked which room was Justice’s and Kermit pointed at the closed door next to the living room and said, “This one.”  Laney thanked him and apologized for being there so late.  He told Kermit that they may have questions for him at some point. Kermit nodded and sat down on the couch.  He asked if they minded if he turned on the television.  One of Laney’s men waved back to indicate that it was OK.  Kermit turned on the TV with a remote and got up to move a video game system onto the floor.  He turned it on and pulled the controller towards the couch and sat down.  "NHL Live 95" appeared on the screen.  "Let me know if this cord is your way," Kermit said to the group of officers.

     Laney and his men went into Justice’s room and took a quick look around before Laney gave out his search instructions.  The room was small.  There was a bed next to the window, a computer on a small desk next to the bathroom door and a dresser against the opposite wall.  There were a few posters and photos on the wall and a small closet in the corner.  Laney knew what he was generally looking for and he reminded his officers of what they had discussed on the plane.  “Anything related to music or Justice being in a band, a black stocking cap, any cologne, some sort of red sports jersey and anything else that would seem to relate to young girls,” Laney said.  The suspect had been wearing a red sports jersey and a black stocking cap in the photo taken on the night of the crime.  He had also spoken extensively about his music career and mentioned the brand of cologne that he was wearing.  Laney instructed one of the officers to log on to Justice’s computer and go through his search history and his email accounts.  Justice had given him all of the passwords to his computer and accounts when they met at the jail earlier in the evening.  Laney asked the other officer to check the rest of the upstairs for anything out of order.  The man left the room and closed the door.  

     The search began much like one would see in the movies, with no regard for keeping things neat and orderly.  Laney walked over to a small, two-drawer end table next to Justice's bed and took out the top drawer.  He dumped the contents on the bed and began to go through the pile, which included a stack of various papers and random odds and ends.  He looked at each piece of paper for a few seconds and discarded each one on the other side of the bed after determining that it wasn't important.  Old bills, junk mail, photos, blank checkbooks, letters, etc., none of which indicated anything abnormal.  Laney knew that the search would be slow and painstaking but that important evidence was there to be found.  The pile of unwanted junk piled up on the bed.  

     The other two men were doing the same as Laney.  One officer was sitting on a small chair scrolling through e-mails and looking for anything on Justice's computer that would incriminate him.  E-mail after e-mail was read, as well as saved documents and the internet search history.  Nothing raised an eyebrow.  After an hour or so Detective Laney asked the officer on the computer to move aside so he could empty the two drawers under the computer onto the bed, just as he had done with the drawers next to the bed.  The pile had grown and spilled onto the floor.  So far nothing the officers had looked at gave any indication that Justice had anything to hide.  Laney walked out to see if the officer in the living room was having any luck.  He just shook his head "no" without saying anything and Laney went back into the bedroom to start on the new pile he had dumped onto the bed.  As he began to go through the fresh stack, he started discarding papers and keychains and other trinkets on to the floor.  Finally he saw something that caught his eye.  "Hey, come over here and take a look at this," he said to the officer on the computer.  He handed him a piece of paper that appeared to be a letter written to Justice from someone.  There was no date on it and there was no envelope.  It read:

Fletch,

Knaggs and I just crossed the California border.  Wish you were here.  Best vacation ever.  Call us when you have no class.

Jimbo

P.S. We're getting the band back together

     "This is it," Laney said.  The other officer nodded.  "I knew he was in a band.  Everyone has been lying for him.  It's right here.  "Getting the band back together."  Laney took out a zip lock bag and put the letter into it unfolded.   He was confident that this was the break that he needed to help put his missing pieces together.  So far, his investigation hadn't been able to connect the suspect and the extensive talk of his musical career to Justice.  This letter, he felt, proved what all of the witnesses had talked about.  Justice having some sort of musical career was a centerpiece in what every witness, including the victim, had mentioned.  Most of the evening with Justice prior to the crimes being committed was spent listening to him talk about his exploits of being a professional musician and in a touring Christian rock band.  "Keep looking for anything connecting him to music, " he said loud enough for both officers to hear.  He put the letter in the zip lock bag and set it aside. He resumed going through the stack.  

     There were probably over one hundred photos included in the various stacks of papers.  Most were just Justice and friends taken in various locations.  None seemed out of place.  As he flipped through another ten or so pictures, one got his attention.  It was a photo that looked like Justice standing on a small stage with a microphone in his hand.  He was by himself with a monitor in front of him. There was a banner sign behind him that said, "Music Plus Karaoke."  It appeared that it was taken in a bar.  The Justice who committed the crimes spoke about being the lead singer in his band.  This photo looked very much like Justice singing somewhere.  Laney again showed the other officer.  Without speaking, he took out another plastic bag and carefully put the photo in it and placed it on top of the bag with the letter.  The pieces of the puzzle were coming together, he thought.  He knew he would find what he needed.

     The officer on the computer worked for nearly two hours and broke the silence in the room.  "There isn't anything on here, Geoff.  No links to the website that the suspect talked about and no e-mails or otherwise that look suspicious.  I went through his search history and hard drive and there was no downloaded child porn or anything out of order,' he said.  Laney looked up and asked him to start checking inside the closet on the other side of the room.  He continued and moved another stack of papers that he'd already gone through to the floor, which was totally covered with the contents of the drawers that he had already gone through. He started the search by trying to keep things in neat stacks on the bed, but gave up when papers started falling on the floor.  It was hard to tell what had been checked and what hadn't.  It looked like a hurricane had come through the room.  Papers were everywhere.  Drawers and desks were turned upside down.  Hanging clothes from the closet were stacked in corners.  Shirts that had been folded and inside a dresser were strewn everywhere.  

     After three hours of searching, all three officers stood in the mess in Justice's room and mapped out what they wanted to do next.  The officer who had been looking through the closet pulled out a milk crate that contained gloves and winter hats.  He dumped it on the bed.  Laney sorted through the mix of clothing.  There were running shorts and gloves and six or eight stocking caps.  He took one and held it up.  It was a nondescript black stocking cap.  "Is this black?" he asked the two other men.  They both looked at it in the light and agreed that it was black. "This is what he was wearing in the photo," Laney said. Again, he took out a plastic bag and placed the cap inside and tossed it onto the other two bags of evidence.  The search of the room was nearly done and Laney walked back out into the living room.  Kermit was still on the couch still playing his hockey video game

     "Kermit, do you know if Chris ever wears any cologne?" he asked as Kermit pushed the pause button on his game.  Laney had briefly looked around in the small bathroom that connected the two rooms but couldn't find any cologne.  Kermit laughed.  "Nope.  I don't think that we have any cologne in the house," he said, still chuckling.  .  

     "What's downstairs?" he asked as he looked at Kermit.  "Just storage and random stuff," Kermit said, looking up at Laney.  "Can you take us down there?" he asked.  Kermit stood up and walked towards the kitchen and down the stairs.  The three men followed.  When they got downstairs, Kermit pulled the string hanging from the ceiling and turned on the light.  The basement wasn't finished and there was a weight bench on one side with some clothing on the floor.  The washer and dryer was behind them in the corner.  There were two rows of clothes handing on hangers from the rafters.  "Whose clothes are these?" Laney asked Kermit.  "They are all Chris's" Kermit said. Laney started flipping through one of the rows.  They were a mix of button down shirts and jackets and a couple of suits.  After going through one row, he turned and went over to the second row on the other side.  He stopped midway through and took a hanger off of the rail that it was hanging from.  It was a red football jersey with a black number 6 on the front.  "Is this yours?" he asked Kermit.  "No, it's Chris's.  It's the football jersey he wore when he played football in England," he told Laney.  Laney took out a photo from his folder.  It was the photo of the suspect that was taken the night of the crime.  He held up the picture and put it next to the jersey on the hanger.  Although the rest of the red jersey that the suspect was wearing was obscured, it was obvious that it was a red sports jersey with a black ringed collar.  He motioned for the other two officers to take a look.  "This is what he was wearing that night," he said to no one.  He wished that the suspect photo showed the entire front of what he was wearing, but it was obviously red with black.  This was it.  He had all that he needed.  It was late and he was tired.  "Kermit, I think we're done here," he said as he started to walk back upstairs.  Kermit pulled the light off and followed them.  Laney had the red jersey in his hand.

     Laney took a few steps back into Justice's room and picked up the bags containing the letter, photo and black hat.  "We appreciate your cooperation tonight, Kermit.  And we're sorry that it was so late." he said.  He shook his hand and gave him his card.  "I may need to talk to you at some point if you don't mind," he told him as all three officers put their jackets back on.  Kermit stood behind them holding the door as the officers shuffled outside back onto the porch.  The door closed as they walked towards their rented car.  Laney opened the trunk and found a larger plastic bag to put the jersey into.  He closed the trunk and got into the driver's seat.  The other two officers were already in the car.  It was nearly 2am.  They were parked directly behind Justice's green Jetta. 

     "Guys, I think we're done here.  I'll call the Denver P.D. in a few hours and let them know that we are heading back to Florida," Laney said.  All three were very tired.  It had been a long day.  "I'll tell them that they will need to send Justice's DNA back to us immediately so we can run the test."  Laney was satisfied.  He had his connection to Justice and his music.  He had the hat and shirt that he wore that night. Soon he'd have a positive DNA test.  He knew that he was nearing the end of the road and that Justice would soon be in Florida waiting for his trial.  "Great job, tonight, guys," he told the other two as they pulled into the hotel parking lot.  After a few hours of sleep they would get back on a plane and go back to Orlando to get ready for Justice to join them soon.