Who Killed Faith?: A Stratton and Davis Mystery

By Barbara Bailey

As Devonfield Township grows, so does its serious crime rate. Just promoted Detectives Stratton and Davis land a new case even before all congratulations on their promotions are offered. What begins as a missing person situation quickly elevates to a deadly scenario with no witnesses, no motive, and no suspects. Time as ever is not on the detectives’ side. Even the Chief of Police and their immediate boss, Senior Investigating Detective Ortiz, are not sure Stratton and Davis will solve this. In this third novel of the series, the author continues to offer a fast-paced read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796085426

Barbara Bailey

Barbara Bailey is Professor Emerita of Gender and Education and former University Director, Institute for Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

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Copyright © 2020 by Barbara Bailey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/05/2020

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Early Morning First Monday In October

Chapter 2 Later Morning First Monday In October

Chapter 3 First Tuesday In October

Chapter 4 First Tuesday Afternoon In October

Chapter 5 First Wednesday Morning In October

Chapter 6 First Wednesday Afternoon in October

Chapter 7 First Thursday Morning in October

Chapter 8 First Thursday Evening in October

Chapter 9 Early Morning Friday in October

Chapter 10 Second Friday Afternoon in October

Chapter 11 Second Friday Night in October

Chapter 12 Second Saturday Morning in October

Chapter 13 Second Sunday in October

Chapter 14 Second Monday Morning in October

Chapter 15 Second Tuesday Morning in October

Chapter 16 Second Tuesday Afternoon in October

Chapter 17 Second Wednesday Morning in October

Chapter 18 Second Wednesday Afternoon in October

Chapter 19 Second Thursday Morning in October

Chapter 20 Second Thursday Afternoon in October

Chapter 21 Second Thursday Late Afternoon in October

Chapter 22 Second Thursday Later Afternoon in October

To my husband

for his continued support

and encouragement.

Many thanks to Bonnie Johnson, my first reader,

whose patience, time, and enthusiasm

were greatly appreciated.

CHAPTER 1

Early Morning First Monday In October

You can go in now, said Hannelore Taylor to Provisional Detectives Alexis Stratton and Silas Davis. It was precisely eight o’clock as she opened the door for them to the office of Devonshire’s Chief of Police Curtis Phillips.

The two stood and walked into their Chief’s fifth floor office. As always it was with some trepidation. One never knew exactly what awaited one when the Chief beckoned. It may have been unintentional on his part. It may have been a way to keep the upper hand. Intentional or not, it worked. Everyone was a little off-balance. Everyone, but not the Chief.

No calls, Hannelore. I want a leisurely chat with these two Provisional Detectives.

Yes, Chief Phillips, she said as she quietly pulled the door closed to his inner office.

Sit. She’s efficient and you’re on time, so all’s good with the world. How’s that for a greeting? My Lady says I still need practice.

Stratton and Davis knew it really wasn’t a question so neither offered a response.

The results of the Detective Examination are in and I wanted to present you two provisional dicks with your scores. Yes, I know what they are, but I won’t state them here. That’s your private business. I will say neither of you made a hundred percent and I will say that your scores aren’t identical. For that I am especially thankful because if they were, there’d surely be questions to answer. No one has ever scored a hundred and no partners have ever had the same scores.

That said Chief Phillips handed the two their envelopes. They opened them in silence. The Chief’s eyes never moved from the two. When he saw they had absorbed the contents, he uttered, Well, now you two are officially detectives. We can drop the provisional. Congratulations. I expected you’d pass first time around. Both of you, know what I mean.

Now that is sounding almost like what your Lady would expect, ventured Alexis Stratton.

The Chief was about to say more when Hannelore knocked, opened the door, approached his desk, and said, Chief Phillips, I think you’d better take this call.

Okay. Put it through. Seeing that Stratton and Davis were about to follow Hannelore out so he could talk privately, the Chief said, You two stay.

Hannelore exited the office alone, shut the door, and sent the call through.

This must be important, the Chief said to the two new detectives. She’d never counter my order for no interference. She’s still relatively new, but as I said she’s efficient. That counts for a lot.

To the caller at the other end of the line, Chief Phillips. What seems to be the problem?

There were several minutes of silence while the Chief only listened. However, he did pick up a pen and jot a few notes.

Yes, the information you were given was right. It is forty-eight hours. I have two detectives in my office now. Stratton and Davis. They’ll be on it.

The caller must have said something else because the Chief responded with, No, no. You did exactly right asking to be put through directly to me. The whole Force is here to serve the citizens of Devonshire and that includes me. I am here to serve.

The Chief ended, positive his Lady would like the way he handled this call. He was authoritative, yet compassionate. That to her would be a winning combination.

You two, this will be your first assignment in your new roles. Here’s the address. Go see this woman and get the information about her son that didn’t come home last Friday. She’d called in downstairs earlier and was rightly informed of our forty-eight hour policy. Do what needs to be done and get back to me.

Stratton and Davis again were about to exit the Chief’s office. This time they were stopped by the entrance of their direct boss, Senior Investigating Detective Ortiz.

Hannelore had opened the door for him saying to the Chief, Sorry, Chief, but he has to see you now.

Sorry, Chief Phillips, but I need to start my eight-thirty early. I just got a call from downstairs that it seems a body was found. Some resident’s dog got off the leash and rumbled into this. There are two patrols keeping a small group at bay. This is in the new Sun Rise Village area. Not good news for sales.

Not good news for the victim’s family either, Alexis thought.

I’m about to send a team out and I want my detectives on board so we can start to see who needs to do what so we get to a quick solution. Ortiz continued.

I was sending these two out to see a resident about her missing son. I’ve given her their names already. Maybe there is no connection, but I’m diverting them from seeing the parent I just spoke with to go instead to the scene at Sun Rise Village. That place seems to stay in the news. The Chief was referring to a home designed by a recent murder victim and named to commemorate her. As provisional detectives, the work of Stratton and Davis led to finding the woman’s killer.

Chief, it’s not their rotation, Ortiz said with some deference. My men might balk. These two are still the new kids on the Third Floor.

I’m confident you’ll handle this so there will be no complaints from your team.

Yes, Chief. You know I will. With that said, Ortiz turned smartly and left the room. He could be as unflappable as the Chief could be caustic.

Okay, now you two can go to the new scene. I’ll call downstairs and request a few more nearby patrols until you get there. Want to preserve the scene, whatever it may be later labeled. Let the parent you were heading to see know that you’ll be in contact with her ASAP.

With that, the Chief returned to materials on his desk. At least he didn’t say, Close the door behind you. His silence was taken as a form of dismissal.

Silas couldn’t help but say on his way out, We’ve passed the Detective Exam with…, well with high marks. Now we’re given a case out of sequence. Will that really bode well?

You worry too much. You do a great job, but you worry way too much, answered the Chief without looking up from his desk. "Ortiz is a team player and there is no I in team."

True. But there is a M and an E in team and he’s the me, if you know what I mean, said Silas like a dog unwilling to let go of a bone.

Like I said. You worry too much. Time’s wasting. Get moving you two. You’ve got the location of the patrols and you’ve got the name and number of a woman with the missing son. Her call didn’t come in to us because it was less than less than forty-eight hours since the teen was last seen. Let’s hope it’s not him. Close the door behind you. This let Silas know the conversation had gone on far too long.

Alexis thought his Lady wouldn’t like the Close the door behind you, but he’s the Chief, not her. And a damn good Chief at that.

As the two headed to the elevator from the Fifth Floor, Silas asked, Do you think he’s right?

About what?

About me worrying too much.

I’d say he’s got the important half right.

Meaning?

You do a great job, but you don’t worry too much.

By the way, how are things with us? You know we sort of started something when we worked on the Love case," probed Silas.

It’s all good with us. We’re partners. We’re good partners.

So are you back with Jeffery?

Hey, I don’t ask about Ivory. You don’t ask about Jeffery. But you and I are good and that’s what counts. And on second thought, the Chief was exactly right

How’s that?

"You are great at what you do, everything you do. And you do worry a lot. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, worrying about stuff."

Yeah. I’d call it thinking about stuff rather than worrying.

Yes, you worry a lot. Remember how worried you were about being called Abner?

That was different. When the group first heard me talk when I introduced myself they thought of me as big and slow and then one of the guys shouted out, ‘Hey, Li’l Abner, that’s enough. Sit down.’ They all laughed and half the time I was Abner rather than Silas.

I wasn’t here for that bit, but once they saw your work they could see that you weren’t slow and so they stopped calling you that, didn’t they?

No. It wasn’t until they heard me fingering the guitar. Before that, most of them thought I could only finger my…

Hey! Don’t go there, her voice was deep and firm.

My bad.

"I may be one of the guys, but I am definitely not one of the boys. After a brief intake of breath and in her normal voice, Alexis added, I would have expected a mea culpa from you, not a my bad."

There’s a story that goes with that too, but I don’t think we have time for it now. We’ve got more important things to deal with.

True and only someone who knew you early on would ever think of you as Leslie, said Silas, still like a dog unwilling to give up the bone.

When I introduced myself to you guys I said something like ‘Alexis Leslie Stratton reporting for duty.’ I probably even saluted. That was too much even for the sergeant though she tried calling me Alexis Leslie for a while.

It all seems to work out in the end. The Captain is the Chief, as he should be and you’re Alexis or Alex as you prefer and I’m Silas, which makes everybody happy, especially me.

By now the two had reached their car. I’ve got a feeling about this and it’s not a good one, Alexis said as she strapped her seatbelt.

There was a lot they could have talked about en route to the scene, but each was consumed with private thoughts about what they would find. Hoping for the best didn’t always produce the desired results, but a positive attitude went a long way in police work.

Patience was also necessary, even though time was rarely on their side. If this body proved to be a homicide, they would have to work fast and race against the clock yet again.

Neither Stratton nor Davis seemed to be in a hurry to discover the findings at the scene. There would already be uniforms there and no doubt the crime scene, if that what it was, would be as much intact as it could be. At least the call for police had been made right away from what they could tell. The Chief had already requested more uniforms to keep order until they arrived.

Did you see that? She didn’t even pause; she went straight through that stop sign. Alexis was not surprised, but angered by the temerity of the driver.

If we were still doing patrol we might want to stop her, offered her partner.

I want to stop her anyway. Turn on the light and pull her over. It wasn’t a gentle request. It was an outright demand.

Silas decided to do as asked. There’s no sense in escalating the situation. Alex can do that by herself, he thought.

When the driver pulled over to stop, Alexis nearly jumped out of the car and dashed toward the car, her badge already showing.

Miss, do you know why we are stopping you?

"Actually it’s not Miss; it’s missus and I certainly don’t. I’m sure I wasn’t speeding." The driver replied emphasizing each word.

You went through that stop sign when you turned right. You didn’t even pause to do a rolling stop. You just went through it.

Alexis’s tone was civil though she still was angry at the recklessness of the driver.

Yes, I did go through it, but I was just turning right. I didn’t think I needed to come to a full stop as there was nothing in front of me.

That was the problem. You thought. What you should’ve done was to react.

What do you mean? asked the now perplexed middle-aged driver.

What I mean is that when you see a stop sign, you stop. You don’t think. You don’t ‘just turn right’. You don’t do a rolling stop. You come to a full stop. Period. That’s what I mean. That’s the law.

Realizing the detective was speaking to her in a normal tone of voice calmed the original rancor of the driver.

Pleadingly she asked, Oh. Are you going to give me a ticket?

No. Not this time. Just a verbal warning. It’s for your own safety as well as the safety of others. See you later, missus. Drive safely. Learn the laws of operating a motor vehicle and obey them. Always and completely.

That said, Alexis turned smartly and headed back to her car and her partner. If Alexis had requested a driver’s license, she would have used the woman’s surname when leaving her. But Alexis knew what she was doing. She never intended to issue a ticket. Fortunately the woman calmed down so all was fine.

What do you think that’ll do for the popularity of the police? asked Silas. He hadn’t heard the conversation between Alexis and the female driver.

I frankly don’t give a damn. I want a safe populace.

I’m hearing that loud and clear and even the near literary allusion.

Alexis relaxed and almost smiled as she said, Near literary allusion, huh.

"Yep. I ain’t quite as dumb as I look,’’ said Silas reverting to his comfortable drawl.

They both laughed aloud and the mood lightened considerably. They continued to the scene having lost only a little time. Both were ready and now eager to get on with their duties.

They were familiar with the neighborhood and knew that there wouldn’t be many civilians at the scene. Sun Rise Village was still too new for there to be a large crowd of residents. The possible crime scene was in capable hands. Stratton and Davis knew how well the patrols worked. Not too long ago, they were uniformed patrolmen. Now the two detectives were ready for whatever would meet them. More importantly, they were completely in sync.

CHAPTER 2

Later Morning First Monday In October

The uniforms were at the construction disposal site in Sun Rise Village. Police Line Do Not Cross was cordoning off the area that would be investigated. Because there were only a few people milling around, engaging in private conversations as they waited to see what would happen next, it made no sense for the patrols to disperse the folks who were assembled. They weren’t getting in the way and if no confrontation was needed, why stir things up.

The detectives parked close by and walked to the cordoned off area. They were met by familiar faces and told at once that forensics had been called and an ambulance was on the way.

Did you two encounter a traffic jam? I thought you’d have been here several minutes ago. Patrolman Tucker actually was questioning their delayed arrival. Not usually the sharpest knife in the drawer, this time he was right on the mark.

We had a traffic situation on the way. We got through it as fast as possible, said Silas believing that less was more by way of explanation and still within confines of the truth.

Just make sure we aren’t disturbed. If forensics gets here before we’re finished, we’ll see them and let them know when they can move in, said Alexis more formal in tone than her partner.

Did anyone say anything yet? Silas asked another one of the uniforms.

That guy over there, the one with the dog, was the first one here. We asked him to wait till you got here so you’d get his story firsthand, know what I mean?

Sure do. There are four of you here. Would you bring him over so I can talk to him while Silas looks at the body?

Sure thing, Detective. With that the patrol officer went to get the man with the dog.

When Alexis saw how eager the dog was