Chapter 2

Detective Nesbitt decided to hold off for a few minutes before getting a preliminary statement from Lisa Evans, and it seemed that she wasn't interested in broaching the subject on her own. Instead, the two of them sat at the kitchen table drinking their coffee while the detective retold the details of how the car came to be discovered, and the state of its interior.

Lisa seemed horrified by some of the details that came out, particularly that there was an apparent bullet hole in the center of a thoroughly blood-soaked section of the front passenger seat of her husband's car. He had described as well that there was blood evidence that a second bullet had been fired into a body that was resting against a block of firewood on the ground beside the car, and that this bullet was in the process of being removed from the wood for testing in their Forensics Lab. The car had been towed for examination, and evidence was still being gathered from it. Finally, he stated that a medical examiner and a forensics investigator were still going over the scene in detail.

They had barely started their second cup of the coffee she had made when Detective David Klein, Peter Nesbitt's partner, arrived much sooner than expected with the search warrant that had been requested. He was accompanied by two forensics technicians, and soon the three new arrivals began a systematic and careful search of the Evans home, to be followed by the garage and Lisa's car. While this was taking place Detective Nesbitt arranged with Lisa to locate her husband's razor and toothbrush, so that DNA could be obtained to compare with the blood evidence they already had.

Throughout the duration of the search, and particularly when the subject of DNA comparisons came up, Lisa was in such a state of distress that Detective Nesbitt was eventually forced to take her to the living room, where he requested that she remain seated on the sofa while he joined the others in completing the search of the home.

At the end of an hour of seemingly fruitless searching in the house, the detectives decided that about the only things that they would need to return to the station with, besides the DNA samples, were Mark Evans' briefcase and laptop computer. Detective Nesbitt had already discovered that the computer was protected with a password, and they wouldn't be able to access anything on it until they found a way around that.

"Mrs. Evans, do you happen to know the password your husband used on his laptop?" This question seemed to bring Lisa out of her state of desperate and intermittent crying, as it seemed like something that she could perhaps assist with.

"It used to be his first name, followed by his year of birth. Try Mark1971. That should be it." Unfortunately, it was soon apparent that he had changed his password, as no variation of his old one would work for the detective.

"That's all right, Mrs. Evans. We have expert computer technicians in our forensics department who will find a way past your husband's password. With any luck at all, that shouldn't take too long." The two items were tagged and removed to the van used by the two forensics technicians.

Alone with Lisa Evans, Detective Nesbitt decided to again broach the subject of getting a preliminary statement from her. "Now then, Mrs. Evans, I'm going to need to get some basic facts about your whereabouts this weekend. Let's just cover Saturday morning until you arrived back here this afternoon." He got out his notepad and pen, and sat poised to record her description of how she had spent the time period in question.

Lisa Evans took a deep breath, and began, "Well, until noon on Saturday, I just did normal housekeeping stuff around the house. Mark phoned me from Pittsburgh around one o'clock, or maybe it was 1:30. We talked for just a few minutes. He told me how sorry he was that he couldn't be here for the weekend. After that, I went shopping until about 4:30, and then I came home. After supper, about 7:30 p.m., I went out to visit a friend, and I spent the night there. I got up late this morning, took my time, and got home, as you know, around two o'clock." She seemed to have been getting more tense as her explanation went on, and by the time she was finished she was looking down at the floor, and was wringing their hands together.

When he finished writing the last word of her explanation into his notepad, Detective Nesbitt flipped it closed and sat there tapping it with his pen for several seconds before he said, "We may need more detail than that, Mrs. Evans. This will do for now, but be prepared to provide more details and closer times if the progression of this case demands that." He slipped his notepad and pen back into his pocket before standing.

Detective Nesbitt was about to leave the house to join the others who were searching the garage and Lisa's car. He was confident that the house had been fully checked out, when he suddenly realized that there was one other item he needed. "Oh, Mrs. Evans. Do you have any recent full body photographs of your husband? A good head shot would also be helpful. We only have his photo from the driver's license database at this time. Something a little less official would be good for us to circulate amongst the patrol officers." After saying this he walked over to the mantle above the fireplace and looked at several of the wedding photos there, while Lisa Evans quickly moved to a book rack where she selected a thick photo album.

"Here are several good recent photos, detective. Take your pick." She had returned to her seat on the sofa, and the detective sat beside her as she opened the album. The last page in the book contained several very good photos for his purposes, with perhaps the best one including Mark's wife standing to his right, while a tall, well-built, sandy haired man stood close by to his left.

"This one would be good," said the detective as he indicated the group photograph. "We can crop out you and this other fellow." A couple of seconds later the detective selected another photo, a very good head and shoulders shot of Mark Evans. "These two photos will be more than sufficient for our needs."

When Lisa had removed the two photos from the book and handed them to the detective, he took another look at them and asked, "Would the fellow in this photo with you and your husband be a relative of his? If he has a sibling or parent available for providing a DNA sample, it might be helpful if they can't get anything usable from the razor or toothbrush."

Lisa quickly replied, "No, that's Blake Moore. He's my husband's best friend, since grade school. My husband doesn't have any relatives who live near here."

After thanking her for the photos, Detective Nesbitt went out to join the others in the garage. He left Lisa sitting at her kitchen table looking forlorn and on the verge of tears. He was beginning to think that he felt sorry for the woman, and the position she was now in. Her husband was missing, and may or may not have been involved in a serious shooting. The fact that she didn't know he was even in town, though, made the detective wonder what exactly was going on.

The detectives, along with their two forensics experts, soon concluded the search of the garage and car. It was while the technicians were carefully going over Lisa's car that they noticed something potentially important, and certainly suspicious. Both the accelerator and brake pedal showed staining by what turned out to be blood, when it was tested chemically. It was immediately decided that the car would be towed back to the garage for extensive examination and testing.

While the two technicians packed up their equipment, and prepared to leave, the two detectives stepped aside to discuss their feelings about the case.

Detective Nesbitt, standing so that he could look back at the side door of the Evans house, said to his partner, "What's your opinion of Mrs. Evans? I've been back and forth in my thoughts about her, and this positive test for blood on the pedals in her car really has me wondering."

"Well, you have the advantage on me, as regards Mrs. Evans. I've just been here for the search. She seemed like a typical worried wife, but you know how that kind of thing can go. Right now I wouldn't want to put money on whether she's involved in something here, or is simply what she seems to be."

Nesbitt suddenly started walking towards the side door, saying as he went, "Come with me, Dave. Let's both see how she reacts when we tell her about the blood we found, and that her car is being towed."

The two detectives walked up to the side door, knocked, and entered. Lisa Evans was on her cell phone, and looked very startled when the two men stepped into the kitchen. She quickly turned off the phone, without even saying a word to whoever was on the other end of the conversation. "You're back! I thought that you were all finished here."

Peter Nesbitt stepped aside, so that his partner would have an equal opportunity to observe Lisa Evans. "We thought we were done here, too. However, the forensics technicians have found what appear to be smears of blood on both the brake pedal and accelerator of your car. Where taking your car to the impound lot so that we can give it a thorough inspection. I hope you don't mind."

Lisa appeared genuinely shocked when she said, "Blood in my car! How would that get there? I didn't see any blood anywhere."

The two detectives were watching her closely, as he replied, "That's a question we're likely going to want an answer to. We have no way to know at this time whether it's related to the incident in the park, but if it turns out to be a match for the blood found there, you can be sure we're going to insist on some answers. Oh, and we're going to need the shoes that you were wearing today."

"I wasn't anywhere near the park. I haven't been there in weeks. I don't see how there could be blood in my car; certainly not any of the blood that you described was in my husband's car." As she was speaking she reached down and removed the shoes she was wearing, handing them to Detective Nesbitt. When that was done she slumped in her seat, covered her face with her hands, and began sobbing. The two detectives, realizing that there wasn't very much more they could say or do without more information, said goodbye to her, leaving her in the same position, slumped in her kitchen chair.

"What do you think, Dave? Is she what she seems; a wife worried sick about her husband? Or do you think that maybe she's just a very good actress? Did you notice that she was on the phone when we walked in, and hung up on whoever it was?"

David Klein shook his head and said, "I just don't know Pete, I just don't know. She seems genuine enough, but you know how these things go. If the blood in his car turns out to be the husband's, there's a good chance his spouse is involved. We see that over and over. Maybe we should make some background checks on this couple; talk to their friends and neighbors. Somebody may know something that is relevant to this whole business. As for the phone call, she was probably talking to her best girlfriend. Women always seem to turn to their best girlfriend when things go wrong."