Body of Evidence (Marcus Douglas 2)

“So, they’ve got no physical evidence linking her to the crime scene?” Marcus asked.

Before Garrett answered, the intercom on Marcus’s desk rang to life again.

“Olivia’s here. Do you want me to send her in?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Marcus said.

“Gentlemen, have I got news for you,” Olivia said proudly the moment the door swung open and she sauntered in through it. She captured both Garrett and Marcus’s attention instantly. “It seems our little Ms. Abril was a busy, busy girl.” She walked around to stand between Marcus and Garrett. “Not only was she seeing, Scott Daniels, I talked with a witness who says there were even more men in her life.”

“What?” Marcus asked trying to figure out just what they were dealing with.

“Yes, it seems she had quite the lucrative business going,” Olivia smirked.

“Business?” Garrett’s eyebrow elevated.

“Oh yeah, not only did Abril have the gift of gab, but combine that with her taste for the finer things in life and her hypnotizing beauty, she was literally a man-eater,” Olivia reported. “And from what I’ve seen, no man with a sizeable bank account was safe.”

15

Marcus and Garrett made their way through a packed JFK airport. Once at curbside, the two stood in a long line for a taxi. They were there to follow up on a lead that had been furnished to them by Olivia. After talking with Ms. Brown, Olivia called her contact in the department. He granted her access to all of the evidence collected from Abril Arrington's apartment, which included a copy of her cell phone bill. Then she contacted a friend of hers that worked for Verizon. She was able to provide Olivia with Abril Arrington's phone records for the last six months. During that time Abril Arrington only called five numbers. Those numbers belong to Pascal Larrieux, Harrison Fuller, David Harrington, Leonard Smith and of course Scott Daniels.

Abril Arrington's records revealed that six months prior to her death, she was in contact with Leonard Smith, Harrison Fuller and Pascal Larrieux. She stopped calling Leonard Smith over five months before. About a month after that, she began talking to Scott, which was about the same time that she stopped talking to Harrison Fuller. A little more than a month after she began dealing with Scott, Pascal Larrieux dropped out of the picture. David Harrington only started calling a month before her death.

Olivia began to look into each of the men and found that other than Abril Arrington, they all had money in common. Each was successful in his chosen field. Pascal Larrieux was an investment banker in New York. Scott Daniels was in construction and property development. Harrison Fuller was a popular movie producer who lived in Los Angeles, and Leonard Smith owned a good bit of property in the metropolitan Atlanta area as well as several nightclubs. David Harrington, the new addition, was also the pauper in the group. He operated three Subway franchises.

“Which explains why she stopped returning his calls; his pockets weren’t fat enough for this broad,” Olivia noted as she studied her records.

Over the weekend, Olivia spoke to Leonard Smith and David Harrington. Smith told Olivia that he had known Abril Arrington for about a year. During that time, he was paying the mortgage on her condo and paying her car note. He cut ties with her when she began trying to get him to give her twenty thousand dollars for a land deal.

“Excuse me for being so blunt, but the sex wasn’t that good for me to just up and give her twenty grand,” Smith told Olivia.

Then she paid a visit to David Harrington. According to Abril Arrington's records, he was still calling her cell at least twice a day. He had no idea that she was dead. “When was the last time you spoke to her, Mr. Harrington?”

“I guess it was two weeks ago,” Harrington said, obviously shaken by the news of her death.

“What happened then?”

“She said she was behind on her mortgage and asked me if I’d loan her twenty-five hundred dollars until some deal she was putting together paid off. I told her I didn’t have that type of cash.”

“How did she take it?” Olivia asked.

“Fine, I thought. After I told her that, we—you know, so I thought everything was fine. But I didn’t hear from her after that.”

I guess you didn’t pass your first money test so she had no more use for you, Olivia thought as she left Harrington.

Harrison Fuller was on location in Africa filming a picture and Pascal Larrieux simply refused to talk to her. Marcus recognized the pattern and knew how important this was to Panthea’s defense. Any of those men would have a compelling reason to kill Abril Arrington. When Marcus told Garrett that he planned to fly to New York to talk to Larrieux, Garrett insisted that he needed to tag along.

“Where you headed?” the cabby asked over his shoulder.

“We’re going to the Hearts Tower,” Marcus answered. He looked down at the card he had. “Fifty Seventh near Eighth Avenue.”

“I know it well,” the driver said and took off.

Nearly two hours later, the taxi pulled up in front of the forty-six-story, triangle-shaped building. When Marcus stepped out and paid the fare, they walked inside and looked around. The lobby's floor was made of stone. After checking a nearby directory, Garrett said, “Let’s take the escalator up to the second floor, and then take the elevator up.”

On the ride up they marveled at a three-story sculptured waterfall.

“This Pascal Larrieux must be loaded to be able to afford this address,” Garrett commented.