Blake had joined the sheriff’s department because Sheriff Matt Dowling was his best friend. They had gone to school together and grown up together. Blake enjoyed police work and was exceedingly good at it. He had a keen, inquiring intelligence and a stubborn tenacity. The combination made him the best detective on the force.
Earlier that morning, Sam Blake and Sheriff Dowling were having coffee together.
Sheriff Dowling said, “I hear my sister gave you a bad time last night. We got half a dozen calls from the neighbors complaining about the noise. Serena’s a champion screamer, all right.”
Sam shrugged. “I finally got her calmed down, Matt.”
“Thank God she’s not living with me anymore, Sam. I don’t know what gets into her. Her temper tantrums—”
Their conversation was interrupted. “Sheriff, we just got a 911. There’s been a murder over on Sunnyvale Avenue.”
Sheriff Dowling looked at Sam Blake.
Blake nodded. “I’ll catch it.”
Fifteen minutes later, Deputy Blake was walking into Dennis Tibbie’s apartment. A patrolman in the living room was talking to the building superintendent.
“Where’s the body?” Blake asked.
The patrolman nodded toward the bedroom. “In there, sir.” He looked pale.
Blake walked to the bedroom and stopped, in shock. A man’s naked body was sprawled across the bed, and Blake’s first impression was that the room was soaked in blood. As he stepped closer to the bed, he saw where the blood had come from. The ragged edge of a broken bottle had punctured the victim’s back, over and over again, and there were shards of glass in his body. The victim’s testicles had been slashed off.
Looking at it, Blake felt a pain in his groin. “How the hell could a human being do a thing like this?” he said aloud. There was no sign of the weapon, but they would make a thorough search.
Deputy Blake went back into the living room to talk to the building superintendent. “Did you know the deceased?”
“Yes, sir. This is his apartment.”
“What’s his name?”
“Tibbie. Dennis Tibbie.”
Deputy Blake made a note. “How long had he lived here?”
“Almost three years.”
“What can you tell me about him?”
“Not too much, sir. Tibbie kept pretty much to himself, always paid his rent on time. Once in a while he’d have a woman in here. I think they were mostly pros.”
“Do you know where he worked?”
“Oh, yes. Global Computer Graphics Corporation. He was one of them computer nerds.”
Deputy Blake made another note. “Who found the body?”
“One of the maids. Maria. Yesterday was a holiday, so she didn’t come in until this morning—”
“I want to talk to her.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get her.”
Maria was a dark-looking Brazilian woman in her forties, nervous and frightened.
“You discovered the body, Maria?”
“I didn’t do it. I swear to you.” She was on the verge of hysteria. “Do I need a lawyer?”
“No. You don’t need a lawyer. Just tell me what happened.”
“Nothing happened. I mean—I walked in here this morning to clean, the way I always do. I—I thought he was gone. He’s always out of here by seven in the morning. I tidied up the living room and—”
Damn! “Maria, do you remember what the room looked like before you tidied up?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you move anything? Take anything out of here?”
“Well, yes. There was a broken wine bottle on the floor. It was all sticky. I—”
“What did you do with it?” he asked excitedly.
“I put it in the garbage compactor and ground it up.”
“What else did you do?”
“Well, I cleaned out the ashtray and—”
“Were there any cigarette butts in it?”
She stopped to remember. “One. I put it in the trash basket in the kitchen.”
“Let’s take a look at it.” He followed her to the kitchen, and she pointed to a wastebasket. Inside was a cigarette butt with lipstick on it. Carefully, Deputy Blake scooped it up in a coin envelope.
He led her back to the living room. “Maria, do you know if anything is missing from the apartment? Does it look as if any valuables are gone?”
She looked around. “I don’t think so. Mr. Tibbie, he liked to collect those little statues. He spent a lot of money on them. It looks like they’re all here.”
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