Chapter Twenty-Nine
The longer Albert Lloyd thought about what his son had told him, the more he started to doubt the whole proposition. He was humbled by who he thought was a junior staffer in Senator McKenzie’s office. What worried him more was, on further and dispassionate reflection, how the account of what transpired that night had continued to flourish. He had taken it all to mean Keith was having a better recollection as he became more comfortable talking to his father.
If that revelation had happened in his home, in the presence of his son answering his cross-examination questions, that would be one thing. He was sitting in the waiting area at the Police Station waiting for Detective Sloan to make time to speak to him. Before the in-person meeting was agreed to, he had given information intimating he knew what happened the night before and wanted to discuss immunity for his son in exchange for collaboration. As the minutes ticked forward, he was swarmed in terrifying sweat at the prospect of everything his son had told him being untrue.
“Mr. Lloyd, thank you for coming in,” Sloan approached him at the reception area. “I’m sorry for making you wait.”
Sloan was the furthest from sorry. He was receiving a report he had been waiting for anxiously. DNA evidence collected from the house of Bernie Lindberg had matched with that the one found on Alyson Crawford. He knew he had his primary suspect, but decided to hear out what Albert Lloyd had to say.
“No trouble at all. I’m so sorry for bothering you.”
“Don’t mention it. So, you are here to give information in the death of Alyson Crawford.”
“That is right.” Albert felt trapped. If he now backed out, he could arouse suspicion about his son’s involvement and would be asking for trouble. In a moment of indecision, he went with his gut feeling that he would have more to lose by not cooperating now than not.
“Before we start, I want to be assured my son will be granted immunity.”
“If the information leads to the capture of the person responsible, yes you have it.”
“I don’t want anything to be pointing to him.”
“You know how the process works, Mr. Lloyd. I will make sure this good will gesture is taken into account in any kind of prosecution that will arise from this case.” Sloan was getting a little frustrated. This was likely going to be a waste of time. He needed to move quickly to find and arrest Bernie Lindberg.
With feigned confidence and practiced pacing of a trial lawyer, Albert detailed everything his son had told him. From start to end without holding back any information. To gain additional credibility, he admitted his son was the one that made the call to the police.
Hearing the details about the house in Newton, Sloan’s interest was immediately captured. This was going to be the eye witness account he would need to seal the deal. He could imagine how this information in the setting of a public testimony could exponentially increase the interest of the media. He had seen Nancy Smith’s coverage with interest and was scheduled to meet the reporter by the name of Katie representing the network. He had been stalling in the hope of holding a news conference to announce they have a primary suspect in the case.
“Thank you for coming in, Mr. Lloyd. This will certainly help a great deal. My office will be in touch. I would ask that your son refrains from traveling out of state. Here’s my card. You can call me anytime if you have any questions in the interim period.”
Albert took the business card and walked out the station feeling like he had dodged a bullet. His strategy had worked. If the detective had any suspicion whatsoever, he would have certainly made it known to him instead of getting excited about the information Albert shared. When he arrived at his house, he found Keith reading a book. Such a well-behaved son he had. He gave a big bear hug to his son and told him about the arrangement made to get him immunity. Albert could see a black cloud lift from Keith’s face. He smiled broadly with relief.
“It will soon be over, son. You have done something courageous.”
“Thank you, dad. Doing what I can to do the right thing as you always say I should...”
“Couldn’t ask for anything more!”
To celebrate the occasion, father and son went out to a bar to share a hearty meal.
For Sloan, the information obtained from Albert had created additional layers of intrigue. He was keenly interested in what was said about Caroline McKenzie’s involvement. Until this time, he hadn’t heard anything linking her to the case other than the fact that they were casual friends. He feared he may overreach and destroy his case given the popularity of Senator McKenzie. It also piqued his interest in going after the secondary suspects who might have had involvement that night.
The first order of business to the investigative team was locating Bernie Lindberg, who was last seen flying out of JFK heading to Geneva. The dossier on the man was quickly thickening with the revelation of the extravagant lifestyle the man maintained living on inheritance. A mediocre artist, notorious socialite, and self-declared bisexual, who was addicted to gambling. It was quickly developing into the kind of villain any detective would want to pit against an innocent little girl. With the evidence thus far collected, he wouldn’t need anything other than catching the man to put him behind bars.
What troubled Sloan was as details of the globetrotting adventure the man had been on emerged, there was no evidence to indicate that the man was in the country let alone the house. How can it be? The DNA evidence was a perfect match, and he had gotten an eye witness account that independently verified the deranged partying was taking place inside the man’s own house. What am I missing, Sloan asked himself staring at the giant board filled with pieces of evidence and schematics of his investigation. All the arrows were pointing towards one Bernie Lindberg.
Was Sloan putting all his eggs in one basket?
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