LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 14

A man in Maury County could have supported himself for at least a year with the amount of money and jewelry Adriana had on her the day she was murdered. If he had included the vehicle in the deal, he would have been set for more than a year. Something else was being missed here, Sharon had a gut feeling about that.

"No DNA?" Sharon asked Detective Mike Jackson.

"Nope. Nothing. The scene was clean. We are pretty sure she was killed there, as opposed to being dumped, but that means she was somewhere else that that afternoon and evening. Somehow, she ended up in that alley," Jackson said.

"Lured there, perhaps?" Sharon asked.

"Possibly. She was shot from the entrance of the alley, so she could have been lured there, or chased, maybe," Jackson said.

Sharon read over the officer's reports. It appeared that Adriana had not gone into the store, so that meant she had probably been meeting someone in the alley, or she had been taken into the alley and executed. The killer was familiar with the alley and also familiar with the ability to take a life while one was concealed there, so there was a good possibility that the person was from Maury County. Sharon jotted down 'local' on her notepad.

Sharon murmured to herself, 'How did you get her there? What would draw Adriana to that area? Who was it? What could be the reason?'

"There was a footprint in the dirt near the body," Jackson shared with her.

"What size feet are we talking about?" Sharon asked.

"Smallish. The dude must be little."

"Really? Any photos of the print?" Sharon asked.

"Sure," he replied.

The footprint was around a size eight or smaller. This was exciting. If they had a shoeprint, it would probably be easy to match it up with a shoe, Sharon thought. "What other evidence is there?" she asked him.

There was not much, but there are a few insignificant things we gathered from the crime scene. The way that Adriana was found, it was clear that she did not fight back. She knew and trusted the person who killed her. It was a total surprise," Jackson said.

Sharon kept on thinking. Who would Adriana trust? Her husband, of course, but there had to be others as well.

"The grocery store owner called and informed about the body, right?" Sharon asked.

"Yep. He did not find her until ten o'clock the next morning, but she had been there since the night before. He did not take out the garbage until that time," Jackson said.

The murder book said that Adriana died somewhere between midnight and 3:00 a.m. What had she been up to before that time? If she were having an affair and things went wrong, that could explain the time of her death. But no proof of an affair had been found, as yet. Sharon needed to think of other situations that could have occupied her time before she was finally murdered. Could it be possible that she had been held somewhere before being taken to the alley and murdered?

"What leads did you guys have?" Sharon asked.

"Virtually nothing. We did not have much in the way of leads, that was partially the reason why we thought about the cheating angle being the reason. The husband was difficult to deal with, and we had to therefore think of him as a suspect, but no one really thought he did it. It seemed like he really loved the woman... and was pretty broken up over things. We actually hated him, but he was not a killer.

"Why did you hate him?" Sharon asked.

"He was very rude; thought we owed him something, which we did, and we knew that, but he treated us like simple servants. He was always throwing big words in our faces and getting all upset because we could not tell him why his wife was in a place like Maury County, or why she was murdered," Jackson answered.

"He was never really a suspect?" she asked him.

"For a minute; but he was at work during the time that she was murdered, so there was no way that he did it. We also thought about the hired killer's angle but found that the guy had no major motive. Adriana did not have any money of her own, and they seemed to be happy, so there was no reason to get rid of her. Over time, we figured that we just did not like him personally, but he was not a real suspect," Jackson shared.

Chase had been relatively easy to deal with, but he was not a warm and fuzzy guy. It was easy to imagine him clashing with the police detective, Sharon thought.

"I assume that you guys investigated the infidelity angle?" Sharon asked him.

Jackson tilted his head to one side as if he was formulating what he wanted to say. "The boss wanted us to close the case fast. When we could not, we needed to cast suspicion on the victim. It was not right, and it was not what we wanted to do. That is part of the reason why I am the only one here to talk to you," Jackson told Sharon.

Corruption runs unchecked in some areas. There is no acceptable excuse, but the job breeds internal breakdowns, Sharon felt. "What happened to your partner?" she asked Jackson.

"He was disgusted by the politics, while he was one of that die-hard kind of person, who always wanted to do the right thing. From what I have heard, he was a lot like you; focused and grounded in both morals as well as ethical values, that do not always fit in with the way we should do things. I hope you understand what I mean?" Jackson said.

And Sharon certainly did, and that was the reason why she had left the police force.

"He had been on the force for ten years, but he started young, advanced quickly, and avoided politics for the most part. All his success was on merit, but this case...There was more to it... Things that were out of our control," he informed Sharon. 

"Was there someone you thought could be a suspect, but could not be investigated because you were rushed?" Sharon asked him.

"No, it was not anything like that. I just... well, the family was weird," Jackson said.

"Chase Reed? How do you say?" Sharon asked.

"Not her husband so much, but Adriana's parents and her brother. The only person in her family that was of any help was the sister-in-law. She said that Adriana had a secret of some sort. She had been meeting with some dude, but the sister-in-law did not think it was an affair," he told Sharon.

"Interesting. This is the sister-in-law that recently divorced Adriana's brother?" Sharon asked.

"I did not know they were planning a divorce, or that they got divorced? But it does not surprise me. That guy was wound so tight," Jackson replied.

"The sister-in-law thought there was something Adriana was hiding?" 

"Yeah, and she was friendly, unlike the rest of them. You want a lead to chase, then better contact the sister-in-law," Jackson advised Sharon. 

A/N: To be continued...