Read Death of a Bankster for Free Online Page A

Crawford. Let me get someone from homicide to come talk with you. It may not have been entered into the computer yet. These delays do happen, over a weekend particularly. They can be on the case, but late booking it in. Please. Over there.” He pointed. “Please. It shouldn’t be long.” Paige turned and walked toward the seating.
    The desk sergeant picked up a phone and hit an extension. “Hello, Detective Martin, I’ve got a Mrs. Paige Crawford downstairs. She said her husband, Samuel, was murdered last Thursday. That the FBI was there, at her home right after the murder, and told her they would contact us. I don’t have any record of that in the computer. Do you know anything about it? … No. She seems a solid citizen. No nut job.”
    Not more than five minutes later, a woman in a dark blue pant suit approached. “Mrs. Crawford?” Paige stood up. “I’m Sergeant Madeline Richards. This is my partner, Detective Sue Martin. You say your husband was murdered a few days ago, that the FBI was supposed to have contacted us. Is that right?”
    “Yes. Don’t tell me they didn’t tell you? That was days ago. Special Agent Powell and Agent Withers, a woman, both working out of the Washington, D.C., headquarters were there. Your local medical examiner took the body.”
    “Why would the FBI be involved in a local murder?” Sergeant Maddie Richards asked.
    “How should I know?” Paige snapped. “You guys are the cops, not me. They were there in minutes. Not more than five minutes. They said they had had Sam … my husband, under surveillance for some time. That was the first I knew of it. They took his computer … his body. And now the local police know nothing about any of it?”
    “Excuse me, ma’am,” Detective Sue Martin spoke. “You said your husband was murdered. Where is his body?” Sue had a soft voice despite her powerful image. She was five-foot-nine, one inch taller than Maddie and about twenty pounds heavier, very muscular. Sue spent a lot of time in the weight room. She was a black woman with big biceps and broad shoulders. Sue, who had known Maddie since middle school, earned her detective’s badge and became Maddie’s partner after her former partner, Gil Ortega, had resigned to take a job as a defensive line coach at Northern Arizona University.
    “I’ve already told you,” Paige Crawford said. “Agent Powell called it in to your local medical examiner. For Christ sake, he came and took Sam’s body away. Here. Look. Here is Agent Powell’s card, Dennis Powell.” Paige held the card in one hand while poking it with the index finger of her other. “The other agent was Ann Withers, I don’t have her card.” Maddie took the card and handed it to Detective Martin while still speaking to Paige. “This is the guy who came in right after your husband was shot?”
    Paige nodded.
    “Sue,” Maddie Richards said. Sue nodded and headed for the front desk, went through the opening in the counter and picked up a phone.
    “Mrs. Crawford,” Maddie said, “please. I understand you’re upset. This is a difficult time for you. We only learned of it a few minutes ago. We’ll get to the bottom of it. Detective Martin is contacting the medical examiner’s office. We’ll get this cleared up, hopefully in a few minutes. I apologize for the impression this must be giving you. Please, let me sit with you. We should know something shortly.”
    After a nervous minute or two of sitting together quietly, Paige said, “Ah, thank you, Sergeant Richards. I appreciate you being so generous with your time.”
    “You’re welcome, Mrs. Crawford. Detective Martin and I are close to wrapping up a case. Plan to close it tomorrow afternoon, so we can start working yours in. We certainly have no shortage of cases. Then again, it guarantees job security, you understand.”
    “I do, Sergeant Richards. The city has plenty of cases to keep you busy. Or so it would seem from what I see on the local news.”
    “You