Daniel James Mysteries

“Good morning Madison,” Daniel said as he walked through the door of the house. “What do we have?”

“His name is Jonathan Cole, 52, looks like one shot to the head,” Madison said.

“Neat and clean shot. This doesn’t look personal, it looks more like professional,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly,” Madison agreed.

“Nice place he has here. Do we know what he does for a living?” Daniel asked.

“No, but I’d like to make the kind of money he does,” Madison said.

“It didn’t do him a whole lot of good, now did it?” Daniel said as he turned his attention to young Patrol Officer Hernandez who had just entered the room. “I understand that you were the first to arrive on the scene.”

“Yes, Sir,” Officer Hernandez replied. “My partner and I were on patrol in the neighborhood and were here within minutes. We found the housekeeper at the back door waiting for us. She informed us that she had not touched anything and had called immediately upon finding the door open and the security system turned off. I told her to wait outside while Officer Carter and I checked inside. We found the victim lying in bed and immediately called it in and returned outside.”

“Thank you,” Daniel said. “That was good work. I look forward to reading your complete report.”

“I’ll have it on your desk when you return, Sir,” Officer Hernandez said as he turned and left the room. Madison had finished with the body and Daniel was now alone to begin his methodical search of the residence. He discovered that Mr. Cole was an Advertising Executive who was married, no children, so where was the wife? Daniel returned to the station with more questions than answers.

“Daniel,” Captain Summers said, “Can I see you for a moment?”

“Yes, Sir,” Daniel said.

“I hear that Jonathan Cole was the victim this morning,” the Captain said.

“Yes, I’m trying to find out where his wife is now,” Daniel said.

“Don’t you know who he is?” Captain Summers asked.

“No, Sir, should I know him?” Daniel asked.

“His father was Donald Cole, of the Boston Cole’s who died about six months ago and left his only son a rather large fortune,” Captain Summers said.

“Oh, that Cole,” Daniel said. “Now I really have some questions to ask his wife when I find her.”

“She sure has motive for wanting him dead and the money to pay for it,” Captain Summers said.

“This could get messy,” Daniel said as he went back to his desk and began his computer search for information. What he turned up was interesting and gave motive to several people.

Jonathan Cole had married his high school sweetheart Shirley at eighteen and they were happily married for thirty years until Savannah entered the picture. Within two months Shirley had been replaced by a twenty-five year old blond bombshell who now had Jonathan wrapped around her finger and Shirley was left with nothing but the clothes on her back. Shirley had found work in housekeeping at the Devanville Medical Center and now was living in a small apartment within walking distance. Savannah had used credit cards to purchase a round trip ticket to the Bahama’s and was due back on a flight landing that afternoon. Daniel decided he would be there when she landed but first he wanted to stop by the Medical Center and there was no time like the present.

At the Medical Center he found that Shirley was on the third floor working. It wasn’t hard to find her as she was busy cleaning one of the rooms that had recently been discharged.

“Shirley Cole?” Daniel asked as he entered the room.

“Yes, may I help you?” Shirley asked.

“I’m Detective Daniel James and I need to speak with you about Jonathan Cole,” Daniel said. “I’m not with him anymore,” Shirley said.

“Yes, I’m aware of that, but we found him dead this morning. He has been murdered and I need to ask you some questions.” Daniel said.

“What did you say?” Shirley asked turning the palest color Daniel had ever seen.

“Jonathan Cole has been murdered,” Daniel said and lunged just in time to catch the falling woman.

“Help, I need help please,” Daniel called as he picked up the small, unconscious woman and walked into the hall. Within seconds there were nurses and doctors all assisting the woman who had become their friend.

“What happened to her?” one of the doctors asked.

“I gave her some bad news and she passed out,” Daniel said. “Will she be alright?”

“That depends. What did you tell her?” Dr. Duncan asked.

“Jonathan Cole was found murdered this morning and I needed to talk to her,” Daniel said to the back of the doctor as he carried Shirley into an empty room.

“That man!” the nurses chimed.

“What happened, did somebody shoot him?” one nurse asked.

“I hope they did, but whatever, he deserved it for what he did to Shirley,” another nurse chimed.

“That no good low life. Hangings too good for him,” a third said.

“Whoa, ladies,” Daniel said. “Was he that bad?”

“Yes, he was. This precious woman was with him since they were children and along comes some hot piece of trash and off he goes and doesn’t even give her a roof over her head. This is the kindest, sweetest person you will ever meet, and she won’t even say a bad word about him,” Nurse Fran said.

“Didn’t he do anything to help her?” Daniel asked.

“No! And Shirley is the kind who would never ask. She just keeps it to herself,” Nurse Trish said just as the doctor came out of the room and motioned for Daniel to come in.