More Heat Than Light: Carter Peterson Mystery Series Book 4 Read online

  “Why is that?” James asked.

  “Because our general manager, Lee Sands, asked me not to.”

  James nodded. “Do you happen to know what kind of ratings the program received on the four nights Kayla Brock was on the air?”

  Corey paused then answered. “I do. Regarding Kayla’s first night in August, the numbers weren’t quite as strong as those Amanda generally pulled down. However, the second night’s numbers were better than Amanda’s. Remarkably, the third night was one of the best shows in the history of WTLK Presents.”

  “And last Tuesday?”

  “Uh … a bit higher than usual,” Corey admitted.

  James began writing, as if he were banging out notes for some kind of novel. A few minutes later he placed his pen on the table, slid his paperwork into the case file, and stood up. “Thank you, gentlemen. That’ll be all for now,” James said and walked out. A few seconds later an officer walked in to escort Corey back to the holding cell.

  The door to the viewing room flew open and James stood in the doorway, eyebrows raised. He remained there, checking the hall periodically until both Corey and his lawyer were out of earshot.

  “We need to get Lee Sands back in here,” James said.

  Chapter 27

  Lee Sands had agreed to come in and speak to Detective James again, but asked that their meeting be scheduled for late afternoon/early evening so Sands could wrap up his business day at the radio station.

  It was just after 3:00 pm when James told me of the delay, so I decided to head home and take a load off.

  * * *

  “Hi, babe,” Sarah said as I walked in the kitchen, greeting with a kiss.”

  “How’s my favorite sleuth,” I asked.

  “Busy. I just finished compiling a list of businesses owners over at Briarwood. I’m about to start making calls so we can find out who uses a cleaning service. I’m also going to ask each of them if they had any staff on site last Sunday evening.”

  “Good call. Nice work.”

  “By the way, did you know WTLK has been broadcasting a ‘best-of’ series as a tribute to Amanda Enright?” Sarah asked.

  “Nope. I had no idea.”

  “I read it online. They decided to broadcast the tribute between 7 and 8 at night. Same time slot the live show had.”

  “Cool. I may have to check that out.”

  “Thought you might,” Sarah replied. “I’m going to take a shower. Then maybe we can talk about dinner.”

  “Sounds good,” I said and headed for my office. I thought about what Sarah had said concerning the WTLK tribute. I was glad the station decided to honor Amanda Enright’s memory by playing back her best bits, wondering if the idea had been the brainchild of Lee Sands.

  I was disappointed James couldn’t get Sands to come in right away. The anticipation of hearing what he might say about Kayla Brock’s brief radio stint was borderline painful.

  I’d spent the ride back from the PD trying to figure out why I hadn’t noticed the substitution of Kayla Brock during Amanda Enright’s absence, now that I was aware such a switch had been made. There was no question in my mind I’d listened to the shows, because WTLK Presents was part and parcel of the time spent in my office every night. And whenever I missed a live broadcast, I’d always check it out on the internet soon thereafter.

  That’s when the lightbulb switched on inside my head.

  I grabbed my tablet.

  Corey had mentioned three substitution nights in August, and said WTLK had let listeners know Kayla was filling in at the beginning of the first two. Which would make them fairly easy to find.

  I brought up WTLK’s website, clicked on the archive section, and scrolled to the radio programs from August. Unfortunately, the shows were organized by name and air date, only. There was no information relating to content or substitution. I’d have to listen to the intros if I wanted to identify the recordings in question.

  I felt a strong sense of loss as soon as I heard Amanda’s voice, my heart heavy with the knowledge that these archived recordings were all that remained.

  I began listening to the intros from each night, as well as the first few minutes of Amanda’s opening lines, in order to rule out a normal program before moving on to the next. One after another, I repeated the process, straining my ear for an identifying announcement. A different voice. A different style, or temperament.

  Nothing.

  This continued for 45 minutes, until I was down to the last two.

  Nope.

  And nope.

  I let the last recording continue to run as I leaned back in my chair. I rubbed my eyes, irritated that I’d gone through the entire exercise without the results I’d expected. Could Corey Anders have been mistaken? Had Kayla Brock’s substitution happened in July, or earlier this month, instead?”

  I leaned forward, scrolled down to September, and clicked on last Tuesday’s radio show. There was little chance of confusing the substitution day and date on this one. It had occurred one week ago today.

  I heard the familiar WTLK Presents intro run once again.

  Followed by the program host’s voice.

  I listened intently for several minutes then dragged the indicator ball back to hear her words again.

  If I hadn’t known ahead of time who I was actually listening to, I would have bet my life that the person’s voice on the recording was that of Amanda Enright.

  I would have been wrong.

  Chapter 28

  “If you don’t mind, I think you should ask Lee Sands the questions in the exact order they’re listed,” I said to Detective James while staring at WTLK’s producer through the privacy glass. “Just like you did with the list of questions we hit Corey Anders with.”

  “That’s fine. I’ve got this. Now, you going to give that list back to me, or what?” James asked.

  “Oh, sorry,” I said as I obliged.

  I found myself thoroughly baffled as James enter the interrogation space, his presence doubling the number of occupants in the room.

  Sands’s lawyer was conspicuously absent.

  “Mr. Sands, I know I read you your Miranda rights a few moments ago, but I’m going to ask you again. Are you sure you don’t want to have a lawyer present?”

  “I’m all set,” Sands replied.

  “Suit yourself. Mr. Sands, you have an intern who works with you and your paid staff at WTLK, but receives no compensation. Is that correct?”

  Sands shook his head. “No, that’s not accurate. At present, we have four interns at the station. But you’re right about the compensation part. None of them receive anything but experience from our organization.”

  “Kayla Brock. Is she still an intern with your organization?” James asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Could you confirm for me that Ms. Brock filled in for Amanda Enright, on-air, on four separate occasions?” James asked.

  “That’s incorrect.”

  “So, you’re saying Brock never filled in for Ms. Enright?”

  Sands shook his head. “No, that’s inaccurate as well. I’m not 100% sure on the number of times she filled in, but an educated guess on my part would put the number closer to seven.”

  James looked up at Sands. “Just to clarify, you believe Kayla Brock, intern for WTLK, filled in on-air for WTLK Presents host Amanda Enright approximately seven times?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Mr. Sands, did you ever announce the substitution of Kayla Brock for Amanda Enright at any time during the live broadcasts of any or all of those seven programs?”

  Sands sat back in his chair and shrugged. “I don’t know. We may have. That’s an odd question, Detective. Why do you ask?”

  James ignored the question. “Mr. Sands, are you required by law to announce the substitution of one radio personality for another on the air when such a substitution takes place?”

  “Depends on the show,” Sands replied. “For this particular show the answer is no. The
host’s name is not included in the legal name of the program, so we’re not required to do so.”

  “That’s odd,” James said. “I thought the name of the program was, ‘WTLK Presents, with Amanda Enright?’”

  “No. It’s simply, ‘WTLK Presents.’ The rest is a courtesy. Enright is not technically, nor legally, directly affiliated with the show.”

  “I don’t understand,” James said. “It’s her show. Amanda Enright is the host. She’s the reason people listen. The reason they call in.” I noticed James had gone off script, and I was glad. He was handling Sands just as I would have, in his position.

  “Detective, I wouldn’t expect you to be familiar with the contractual intricacies of a broadcasting entity any more than you should expect me to know the legal statutes you use to keep order on our streets. Suffice to say, Enright is---was---in the employ of WTLK, but how or where we used her talent is inconsequential. Or more simply put, Amanda, and the radio program she hosted, were nothing more than divisions within our corporate structure. That’s the way it was set up.”

  James took down some quick notes then proceeded. “Just one more question, Mr. Sands, and we can wrap this up. Do you and WTLK intend to continue your live radio program, ‘WTLK Presents,’ with Kayla Brock at the microphone?”

  Sands sat back in his chair and stared directly at James. “No comment.”

  Chapter 29

  Kayla Brock looked terrified as Officer Bray led her into the interrogation room, cuffs around her wrists. Bray instructed her to sit then reconfigured the steel bracelets to secure Brock to the table.

  Detective James and I stood facing the privacy glass, observing the young intern’s state. “Kid peed her pants when I rattled off Miranda rights to her over at WTLK,” James said.

  “Guess it’s not too tough to guess what we’re going to discover,” I said. “Goes to show what we can accomplish when we put our heads together, huh?”

  “Not so fast, speedy,” James said. “We may have rolled the dice and won the first round, but don’t forget … her parents are well-off. I’m not sure who they’re sending to represent her yet, but if they’ve hire a good lawyer we may not get jack out of her.”

  “Are you kidding me? You’re the Monty Hall of the detective world. Bet you a hundo all you’ll have to do is utter those four magic words of yours and she’ll be singing like Adele.”

  “Let’s make a deal,” James said and let go a laugh. “I used to love that show when I was a kid. Always thought I’d marry one of those models.”

  “You weren’t too up on how the world works back then, were you?” I asked.

  “Obviously not,” James said. “I ended up married to this unenviable career, instead.”

  Officer Bray popped his head into the room. “Excuse me, sir. Just wanted to let you know the girl’s father is out front.”

  “Guess Kayla’s change of clothes has arrived. Be right back,” James said.

  “I’ll be here,” I said. I sat back and reflected on all that had taken place over the last 3 days, unable to remember a case that had involved so many suspects who appeared guilty, only to wash out once the next round of clues flowed in.

  I looked through the glass at Kayla again, both disappointed and impressed with the way she’d kept her cool right up until today. She’d fooled everyone. Especially those closest to her.

  But there’d be no need to order a plaque with her name on it to affix to the cutthroat trophy. That award was reserved for the individual James and I were convinced she’d be throwing under the bus in order to save her own cheeks.

  I watched Officer Bray enter the interrogation room and unlock Kayla’s handcuffs.

  “Lawyer just got here,” James said as he walked back into the viewing room. “Had a quick discussion with him and Kayla’s father. They told me if I vowed to put in a good word for Kayla with the district attorney, they’d let her spill it all. ”

  “What did you hit them with?” I asked. “Conspiracy to commit murder?”

  “Of course,” James said. “That’s what we’re banking on, right?”

  “I can’t put the pieces together any other way. Nice work. Go get ‘em, tiger.”

  James squeezed my shoulder and left. Less than a minute later, Kayla and her lawyer walked inside the interrogation room, followed by James. I noticed Kayla was wearing a fresh pair of slacks. I hoped, for her sake, she’d thought to use the ladies room before coming back.

  The trio got settled in, then James spoke. “Kayla, I had a long conversation with WTLK’s general manager Lee Sands this afternoon. Mr. Sands shared some very unsettling news with me, concerning your mutual decision to eliminate and replace Amanda Enright.”

  I held my breath, but didn’t have long to wait.

  James hadn’t even asked his first question and Kayla’s tears were already splashing down onto the interrogation room table’s cold steel surface. Kayla’s lawyer reached inside his jacket and handed her a kerchief.

  “Kayla, what did Lee Sands promise you, in exchange for your help in eliminating Amanda Enright?” James asked.

  Kayla began bawling her eyes out, face buried in her lawyer’s kerchief as her sobs came on like a bad case of the hiccups. Both men sat back and let her apparent guilt and sorrow run its course. I got the impression the tears were half genuine, and half for show. Several minutes passed before she looked up, seemingly ready to proceed.

  “Kayla, would you like me to repeat the question?” James asked.

  “No, I heard you,” she said. “Lee kept telling me I had the talent to, like, exceed Amanda’s level of success. He said there was nothing she was doing that I couldn’t do better. I … I didn’t believe him at first. I thought he was just saying that to win me over. So … so he could, like, have his way with me. But I soon learned that a physical relationship was never part of his plan.”

  “I see,” James said. “What was his plan?”

  “He told me to stay close to Amanda. Learn her style. Study her methods. You know, like, provoking listeners, and that. He told me I needed to be able to make callers angry. He said it was why people tuned in to the show. He called Amanda’s style ‘more heat than light.’ Lee said that what Amanda did was what he needed me to be able to do. So … I did what he asked. Then, back in August, he told me he wanted me to fill in for Amanda. I was, like, petrified … until I had that microphone in front of me.”

  “So you liked it?” James asked.

  “Loved,” she responded. “I knew right away it was what I was meant to do. After my first couple nights Lee showed me the ratings. I’d managed to pull numbers close to Amanda’s. Told you so, he said. It was all a big blur after that.”

  “Please explain,” James said.

  “Well, once I’d agreed to replace Amanda, Lee gave me a two week crash course on how things really worked at the radio station. I honestly learned more from him in ten days than I had in three years of college. Then he showed me how much Amanda got paid, and … I kinda, like, lost it. I’d been doing so much for her and Corey at the station, without getting paid a dime. Lee showed me Corey’s contract, too. He was making almost as much as Amanda---six figures.”

  Kayla’s lawyer put his hand on her shoulder then leaned in close to whisper in her ear. He spoke to her for almost two minutes straight.

  I watched Kayla nod as the lawyer sat up straight in his chair. “Lee Sands gave me specific instructions,” Kayla said. “Like, for how I could help him get Amanda and Corey to leave the station. Lee said if we succeeded, I’d end up with Amanda’s position, a $60,000 starting salary, and full benefits.”

  James sat back and ran his hands through his hair. “Kayla, this is very important. I want you to think real hard, and give me specifics about what Lee Sands asked you to do.”

  Kayla looked at her lawyer for a go-ahead then thought about the question. “My first task was to dig for some dirt. Like, something gritty about Amanda’s past. Lee said that as soon as I brought him a juicy story abo
ut Amanda, we’d strategically leak it to throw her off her game. That’s why he hired those men to disrupt Amanda’s Music Hall show. He was trying to freak her out.”

  “Is that when you had your bicycle messenger friend steal the information about James Coughlin from Herod Erlichman?” James asked.

  I watched Kayla’s eyes grow wide, obviously taken aback by James’s knowledge of her deed. She nodded.

  “Was that a yes?” James asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then what?”

  “Lee told me the station was going to be purchasing new phones for the entire staff, and that I needed to get one, too. He sent me to the place with Corey so we could get them together. Lee told us to get a specific phone. And he insisted on them being exactly the same.”

  “Did he tell you why?” James asked.

  “No, but when he told me what I was supposed to do next it all made sense. He said I needed to find an opportunity to send Amanda somewhere, alone, then to let him know. He told me that late at night would be best, and that I needed to use Corey’s phone to contact Amanda. Like, pretend the message came from him. Lee kept telling me, over and over, how important those details were.”

  “Was that how Amanda ended up at Meghan McCue’s office condominium?” James asked.

  Kayla looked down in her lap, lower lip quivering uncontrollably. “I sent two texts, using Corey’s phone, got confirmation back from Amanda, then deleted the messages.” She burst into another round of sobs, holding her lawyer’s kerchief under her nose.

  The lawyer put his arm around Kayla to console her then leaned in and whispered in her ear again.

  She immediately pulled herself together. “Lee Sands never told me he was planning to have Amanda killed. I had no idea anything bad was going to happen to her. I was totally shattered when I found out she was gone.” Kayla’s tears continued.