Chapter 27. Suspects and Witnesses
Well, I wasn’t able to talk to Junior that day. When I went by the police station, it was crowded with people, including lots of reporters, and I found out why right after dinner. As always, we turned on Channel Three right after we finished eating, and there was Richard Gallagher talking about the murder in Essex. That was to be expected, as this was the first regular weeknight news broadcast since the body had been found, but what was not expected was the scene at the Essex Junction Police Station.
Sergeant Fat, Mean, and Stupid Slingerland was holding a live press conference from the station. I don’t think anybody expected that, and, having dealt first-hand with Chief Mulrooney, I had to wonder what he would think of it when he found out.
My Dad shushed everybody so we could hear what was being said. Slingerland had just started speaking into the big, round Channel Three microphone.
“Is this thing on? Hello? Okay, okay, just let me… Ahem, I’m Sergeant Slingerland, and I’m in charge of this murder investigation. First, let me tell you that this is definitely a homicide. The victim, Sally Delisle, of Downey, California, was struck twice on the back of the head with a blunt object. We do not have the autopsy report yet, but there’s no doubt about what happened. As I said, she was struck on the back of the head, probably while standing at the top of the hill. The force of the blow not only killed her, but knocked her down to the bottom of the hill, where her body was found.
“The killing took place on Saturday, the 26th, sometime before 4:00 P.M. We can be certain of that because there was very little snow on the ground underneath her body, so it must have happened before the snowfall became heavy, which was between 3:30 and 4:00. The victim’s body then lay undisturbed until the following afternoon, when it was discovered under a deep layer of snow.
“Our Essex Junction Police Department has been actively pursuing leads and interrogating witnesses since the body was found, and we are now focusing on two primary suspects. Roger Warren, of Hawthorne, California, was the victim’s boyfriend. He is a former student at the University of Vermont, currently in the Burlington area, and he is known to have brought the victim to Essex Junction earlier in the afternoon of the 26th, and was believed to be picking her up again around the time of her death. His exact whereabouts are currently unknown, but all local law enforcement agencies have been alerted, and he will be located soon.
“While we believe that Warren may have been involved, and will certainly have vital information about Miss Delisle’s movements and activities on the day of her death, the suspect we believe was most likely the killer is Benjamin Flanders, of Essex Junction, the janitor at Prospect Street School.”
We were all stunned, as I’m sure people all over the village were. All of us older kids had known and loved Old Ben, as we had all been through three years at that school. Our parents knew him, as well, as did virtually everyone in Essex. It was unbelievable that this kindest and gentlest of men could have murdered poor Sally Delisle. My dad shushed us all again as Slingerland went on.
“The janitor was the only person known without doubt to have been at the school on the day in question. What’s more, the victim’s purse was found underneath her body, and Flanders’ fingerprints are all over it.”
The sergeant paused as someone asked a question we could not hear.
“No, Flanders has not been charged, as yet. He is in custody for questioning, and we will determine in the next twenty-four hours exactly what charges to bring. I should point out that Mr. Flanders’ background is very suspect, and he may very well not be the person he appears to be. He arrived in Essex Junction during the war, allegedly from Quebec, but our records are very sketchy about his past. Given the great number of displaced persons from all over the world flooding into the country at that time, it is possible that Flanders may have had a criminal background in whatever place he really was from.”
Another pause.
“Yes, of course we have been in contact with the authorities in Quebec. We hope to fill in the missing pieces of Flanders’ past history very soon.”
Another pause. It was annoying that we couldn’t hear the questions, but, so far it was pretty easy to figure out what was being asked.
“The murder weapon? No, we haven’t recovered it yet. As I said, it was a blunt object, but we don’t know exactly what, and we haven’t found it. The whole scene is covered with sixteen inches of snow, much of which was plowed up yesterday before the body was found. It’s going to take a lot of searching.”
He grimaced with disgust at the next question.
“No, I can’t tell you who found the body. That information cannot be disclosed. It’s not important anyway.”
I was relieved, but I was quite certain that, whatever his reasons, consideration for me was not one of them. Now he was getting flustered.
“No, it has nothing to do with that case. There is no connection between the boy who found the body and that other case. Like I told you, it doesn’t matter who found the body. Are there any more questions?”
Well, we couldn’t see the reporters on the screen, just the Sergeant and a couple of patrolmen standing behind him, but it sure sounded like there were more questions being asked. But Slinger had apparently decided that was it. He walked away, and the camera shot went back to Richard Gallagher.
We were all really upset. There was no way that Old Ben killed that girl, and we all knew it. My Dad, with his inherent trust of the system, tried to convince us that it was possible. After all, the police would do the best job they could, and they knew better than we did, right?
My Mom wasn’t buying it. She knew what an idiot Slingerland was, and she said so, which caused quite a bit of embarrassment. My parents hardly ever disagreed, at least not in front of the kids, and it made everyone uncomfortable.
Then the phone rang, which kind of broke the tension. My Dad answered, expecting it to be reporters, but it was Jackie, calling for me.
“Denny, they’ve got it all wrong! Ben couldn’t have done it, you know that!” It sounded like she had been crying.
“I know, I know,” I said.
“She told us about the purse. Did we tell you that?”
“The purse? I don’t think so.”
“When she got to the school, she went looking for Ben because the teachers’ room was locked. She found him in the Principal’s office, stripping the floor. She was carrying her purse in one hand and her portfolio in the other, and she set her purse down on the desk. When she walked to the teachers’ room with Ben, she forgot the purse. Ben brought it to her later. That’s why his fingerprints are on it. She told us that.”
“Oh. Well, that explains that. You’ve got to tell them.”
“That’s why I called. Have you talked to Junior yet? We’ve got to tell him everything we know before they make a terrible mistake.”
“I haven’t been able to see him yet. I’ll walk over to the station and see if he can talk to me. If he’s not there tonight, I’m sure I can find him tomorrow. It’ll be okay, Jackie, I promise.”
She was pretty distraught, and I was sure Kate and Amy Ducharme would be, too. And somehow, I had got myself into the position of being the go-between with the police for all three of them.
I put my outdoor stuff on and walked over to the police station. All but a few of the reporters had left, but the ones remaining seemed to be sniffing around for more news, as if something was going on. Patrolmen and other people were going in and out of the station, and I could see Shit-Slinger through the doorway, but I couldn’t see Junior. There seemed to be a lot of tension in the air.
Then one of the reporters recognized me and tried to corner me to ask me some questions, so I ran for it. I would try again in the morning.
I was up early Tuesday morning. My Mom had the radio on, and in between bites of Cocoa Puffs and pleading in vain for more bacon, I heard the next surprising development in the murder case.
“Burlington police have just announced that they arrested twenty-one year old Roger Warren, of Hawthorne, California, at a motel on Shelburne Road last night. Warren will be charged today with possession and sale of marijuana, a Schedule One narcotic. In a prepared statement, Chief Craven said ‘Burlington police have been working hand-in-hand with University of Vermont police for several months on the charges against Warren. Warren was expelled from UVM in May, and has been selling marijuana, which he has transported from California, at least since July of this year, possibly much longer than that, mostly to students at UVM. When arrested last night, Warren had in his possession over four pounds of marijuana, as well as sixteen thousand dollars in cash.’
“When asked about the murder of Sally Delisle, who apparently was Roger Warren’s girlfriend, in Essex Junction over the weekend, Chief Craven stated that his department was cooperating fully with Essex Junction Police, but that there was no direct connection between the two cases, at least at this point. ‘We have been watching Warren for months now,’ said Chief Craven, ‘setting up undercover drug buys and building our case against him. Warren had planned to stay in the area until New Year’s Eve, and we had a major buy set up with him for later in the week, which would have made our case even stronger. But when Essex Junction Police publicly named him a suspect in the murder case Monday evening, we had no choice but to pick him up. There was too much risk that he would flee the area.’
“WJOY News attempted to reach out to Essex Junction Police this morning, but Sergeant Slingerland, in charge of the murder investigation, was unavailable, and other officers would not comment.”
Wow! Nobody in my family, even my oldest sister, knew anything about marijuana, and nobody I knew had ever heard of it being in Vermont before. My Mom was really upset; all she knew about marijuana was that it was a narcotic. She had no idea how it was used or what it would do to the user. Her first concern was that my sister might somehow be exposed to it if it was being sold on the UVM campus. The fact that Roger was Miss Delisle’s boyfriend, and that she had been teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth graders was even more terrifying. What if Miss Delisle had been a user?
Well, I had to talk to Junior, as soon as possible, so I got my coat and boots and hat on and headed out the door. All the way to the station I kept going over the things Kate and Jackie had told me; that Sally was scared about whatever Roger was doing, and that he wanted her to help. Well, now I knew what that was all about, but how much could I tell Junior?
The station was only a few minutes’ walk away. I was nervous, because I didn’t know who was going to be there, and I wasn’t using my brother as a middleman this time. When I reached the back door, Patrolman Kane was just coming out. I asked him if Junior was in, and he smiled and nodded at me, and let me inside. That was a relief.
The dispatcher grinned at me and told me to sit down while she picked up the phone and buzzed Junior. It was beginning to look like some of the members of the Police Department didn’t hate me after all. A minute later, Junior opened the office door and beckoned me inside.
As I sat down in a chair opposite the desk, I could see files and loose papers all over the desktop. The file right in front of Junior’s chair was open, and I couldn’t see whose file it was, but there were three other files lying on the desk, with a photo on top of each one. One was Miss Delisle, one was Old Ben, and the third was a young woman I didn’t know. I guessed, by elimination, that the open file was that of Roger Warren.
“You’re up early,” Junior said, as he sat down, “for a kid on Christmas vacation. It must be something important. Do you have some new information for us?”
“Well, it’s not actually me. I know some people, that is, some friends of mine, who have some information for you, but they’re kind of nervous. Not that they’re hiding anything, but no one, that is, the police haven’t asked them anything yet, but they really need to talk to you. They’re nervous about talking to, umm…”
Junior raised his right hand as if to stop me, and, choosing his words carefully, said “If it will make it easier, I can tell you that Sergeant Slingerland is taking some time off this week.”
“So he’s not in charge anymore?”
“All I can tell you, Denny, is that Chief Mulrooney is flying back from Florida today, and he will be handling the murder investigation himself. Until he arrives, I will be scheduling the interviews myself, so your friends can talk to me. Of course, assuming they are juveniles, their parents will have to be present.”
That gave me a lot to think about, but first things first. I told him that Miss Delisle had been at the Best Ever Bake Shop on the afternoon of the murder, that Amy had waited on her, and that Kate and Jackie had sat with her for almost an hour. As soon as I mentioned the Bake Shop, his eyes moved to the third file, that of the woman I didn’t know.
“Do you know,” he asked me, “or do your friends know, if she told anyone else she was stopping at the Bake Shop?”
“Not for certain,” I said, “The girls thought she might have told her friend, Jane, that she was meeting them, but they didn’t know for sure.”
Junior picked up the third file and turned it around so I could see the photo right-side-up. Dark brown hair, wavy, with up-turned curls, just like Lesley Gore.
“Do you know Jane Alberts?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “I know about her; she was Miss Delisle’s friend. But I’ve never met or seen her.”
“Alright. Well, we will certainly visit the Bake Shop today, and I will interview Amy Ducharme myself. As for your two classmates, I will contact their parents and arrange to get them in here for an interview.”
“Junior,” I said, almost pleading, “you know Old Ben couldn’t have done this, don’t you?”
He sighed and leaned forward, his elbows on the desk and his hands pressed together, but he didn’t say anything. I told him what Jackie had told me, about the purse, and he didn’t seem surprised at all.
“Well, that’s good; that will help.”
So, I’m guessing that Ben had told the police about bringing the purse back to Miss Delisle, but Slinger hadn’t believed him. Now he had a witness to back up his story.
“You’ll let Ben go now, won’t you?”
“Look, Denny, I know how you feel about Ben, and everybody in the Junction feels the same way. But he’s still a suspect, and a critical witness. I very much doubt that he’ll be charged with anything today, so he’ll be released, probably this afternoon, but he’ll be required to remain in the area and available.”
I smiled, very relieved, then I asked Junior if he thought Roger Warren did it.
“Come on, Denny, you know I couldn’t tell you that, even if I did.”
“Yeah, I know. Well, I guess that’s it. Thanks for listening.”
“Any time. Thanks for coming in and helping us out.”
I walked back home, lots of things going through my head. So Chief Mulrooney was cutting short his Florida vacation to take over the murder investigation. Not a big surprise, considering how rare violent crimes were in Essex Junction. The Chief would want to be in the spotlight and grab all the glory for himself. It was also pretty clear, although Junior wouldn’t say it, that Shit-Slinger had messed up royally, and Junior and the Chief were having to clean up his mess.
He shouldn’t have described how the killing took place, especially since they didn’t have the autopsy report yet, he shouldn’t have named Old Ben as the “most likely” killer, and he shouldn’t have named Roger Warren without checking with other departments to see if they had any information on him. By not following basic procedures, he had not only jeopardized the murder investigation, but had also prevented Burlington Police from making a major drug buy, weakening their case against Roger Warren.
I couldn’t help feeling a little smug about the fat bastard, but, more than anything, I wanted them to find Miss Delisle’s killer.
I hadn’t said anything to Junior about Sally possibly being involved in Roger’s business, or that she obviously knew what he was doing, at least. I figured that should come from the girls; it would have been third-hand information coming from me. But I was really nervous about it. You have to be so careful when you talk to a cop!
That afternoon, I met up with Win and we walked out to Tom’s house. It was a nice day, sunny and not too cold, and a lot of kids in the village were sliding, but, for those of us who had been on High School Hill on Sunday, the memories were still too fresh. Besides, our favorite hill was closed down, and the police still had my sled.
We wanted to talk things over among the four of us. There was too much activity at Tom’s house, and no privacy, so we walked over to Rollo’s house, where he seemed to have exclusive rights to the basement. Rollo’s Mom poured us some Kool-Aid and we settled into his subterranean parlor to talk about Miss Delisle.
“Unbelievable,” Rollo said, shaking his head back and forth, “My dad said there hasn’t been a murder in Essex in decades. Why Miss Delisle?”
“And why,” Win asked, “would they blame Ben? That is unbelievable.”
“I don’t think Ben’s really in trouble,” I said, “I think that was just Slinger being stupid.” I told them all about my talk with Junior, and my assumptions about Slingerland screwing up and Mulrooney taking over, and they agreed with my conclusions.
“That fat bastard,” Rollo said disgustedly, “They should fire him.”
“They won’t, though,” Tom said, “He’s Mulrooney’s favorite. The Chief needs to have somebody around all the time who’s stupider than he is; it’s the only way he can ever look good.”
We all had a laugh over that.
“You guys saw the news last night, right?” Tom asked, “About Roger Warren?”
Of course, we had all seen it.
“Tom, what do you know about marijuana?” Win asked.
“Well, it’s been around for decades, especially among musicians. It’s in the big cities all across the country, and it’s really big in California; all the west coast bands smoke it. They call it ‘pot’ or ‘reefer,’ and they roll it into ‘joints,’ which are marijuana cigarettes. I’ve never heard of it being here in Essex, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s being sold at UVM. Warren was probably making a killing.”
“They said he had sixteen thousand dollars on him,” Rollo commented.
“He must have been selling to more than just students,” I said, “If he was hanging around to make a big sale for New Year’s Eve. All the college students are on break.”
“You’re right,” Tom replied, “I hadn’t thought of that. But I suppose there are a lot of upperclassmen who live in apartments, not in dorms, and they might not go away for the holidays. And if it’s been around the campus for a while, it’s probably spread all over the city. Warren could probably find enough customers just going to the Burlington bars.”
I had read about marijuana in the Kerouac books; it was mentioned fairly often. I had no idea, though, what it did, or what the attraction was.
“He was her boyfriend,” Win said rather solemnly, “Do you guys think Miss Delisle was on it?”
“How would we know?” I asked, “Is it like booze? Can you tell? Is there a hangover, or something like it, so you can tell if someone smoked it the night before?”
None of us had any answers, but we certainly didn’t want to believe our beloved Sally Delisle was a drug user, or a pusher.
“Jesus, Denny,” Win said in alarm, “That’s what Kate and Jackie were talking about, when they said she was scared about what he was doing. And he wanted her to help. What did you say to Junior?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. That should come from them. I just told him that they wanted to talk to him, to give him some information.”
“What did they tell you?” Tom asked.
Of course, Tom and Rollo weren’t at the Bake Shop with us the day before, so we filled them in on the conversation with Kate and Jackie and Amy. They listened studiously, then Tom raised his arms triumphantly and announced his verdict.
“It’s perfectly clear. Roger Warren returned to Essex at four to pick her up at Jane’s, but she wasn’t there because she had walked back to the school. He found her there and he killed her. She was refusing to help him, and she knew too much, so he had to get rid of her.”
We all sat silent for a couple of minutes, thinking it through. Tom’s theory fit all of the facts, but hardly any of it could be proven, at this point, anyway.
“What about Jane?” I asked, “She must have known about his business, too; why didn’t he kill her?”
Tom thought about it briefly, then declared, “Well he should have killed her. He was a fool not to.”
He broke out laughing at his stretch of logic, and then we were all laughing. It was kind of morbid, but it was a good release for us.
It turned out that all three of the girls talked to the police that day or evening. Junior interviewed Amy at the Bake Shop after her shift ended, and both Kate and Jackie were interviewed at the station after supper, with their parents.
I talked to Kate Wednesday morning on the phone, and she told me all about it.
“Junior was very nice,” she said, “He started off by telling our parents that we weren’t in any trouble, and that he really appreciated our coming forward to volunteer our information. That made them feel a lot less nervous, and us, too. He asked us to just tell him everything that happened on Saturday, before he asked any questions. He had a tape recorder running the whole time, and he was taking notes, as well.
“So, I told him the whole thing. Well, Jackie and I told him, but I did most of the talking. I tried to be as detailed as I could, because this was official, not like talking to you and Win, but of course I forgot some things. Junior only interrupted a couple of times to ask questions, then, when we got to the point where we had said goodbye to Sally, he looked over his notes and asked a few more questions, which brought out the things I had forgotten to mention.
“Then he asked a lot of questions about Sally at school; about how we got to be such good friends, and how she got along with the other kids, and with the teachers. Finally, he asked about Roger and about Jane. That part was hard, because we had to tell the truth, and not leave anything out, but we knew that what we said could get them both in even more trouble. I mean, Jane might not have been involved in Roger’s drug dealing, but it seems kind of obvious that she and Sally both knew about it.”
“Yeah,” I said, “that’s what we were thinking. They must have already questioned Jane, and searched her apartment, haven’t they?”
“Oh, I’m sure they did. Slingerland knew on Monday that Roger had dropped Sally off at Jane’s, so they must have talked to her. Besides, the Burlington Police were in Essex last night. When we got to the station, Chief Mulrooney was talking to two Burlington cops, one in uniform and one in street clothes, so they must have been talking about the drug case.”
“Well, then, I don’t think anything you said could have gotten Jane in any more trouble than she was already in.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Anyway, I’m glad that’s over. Junior said it’s possible they may need to talk to us again, but it’s not likely. Have you talked to Amy Ducharme yet?”
“No, not yet. I’ll stop in at the Bake Shop this afternoon.”
So, that afternoon I stopped to see Amy, after the lunch rush was over. She was in a good mood; Junior had made her feel very much at ease when he interviewed her, just as he had with Kate and Jackie. I knew that Amy had a crush on Junior anyway, so it would have been a pleasure for her.
“It was easy,” she said, “There wasn’t that much to tell, anyway. Miss Delisle spent the whole time with the girls, not with me, so mostly he just wanted to know what time she got here, what time she left and if she talked to anybody else while she was here, which she didn’t. He asked about her mood, and I told him, like I told you, that she seemed agitated, at least when she came in, but the girls would know more about that than I would.”
“Did he ask you about Jane?”
“Yeah. Like I told you, I didn’t really know her that well. I just knew that she was Miss Delisle’s friend, and that she let her stay at her place some nights. That’s all I know, so that’s all I told him. Do you think she’s in trouble? Jane, I mean?”
“Don’t know. It seems like Jane might have known about Roger selling drugs. I mean, it seems, from what Sally told the girls, that Sally knew.”
“Well, yeah. He was her boyfriend.”
“Anyway, I’m sure the Burlington police will have plenty of questions for Jane. They’ve probably already talked to her.”
Amy leaned over the counter and whispered, although there was nobody close enough to hear. “Do you think he killed her?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. He was arrested Monday night, still in Burlington two days after she died. If he killed her, why didn’t he get out of town as quick as he could?”
“They say he was going to make a big sale for New Year’s Eve, and that’s why he stuck around.”
“Yeah, I heard that, but how could it be worth the risk?”