Dani Hayward P.I.: The Joshua Franklin File Page 5

It was five minutes to four when Dani Hayward heard the outer door of the two-room office open. Dani had situated her desk so she could see through the interior door. She looked up to see a uniformed man close the outer door. "Come in Captain." She laid the file aside and gestured to the only chair in front of the desk as the officer stepped through the doorway. "Have a seat. Care for some coffee?"

  "No thanks." Gerald Thompson sank to the chair the brunette indicated. "Your secretary already gone for the day?"

  Dani leaned back in the wooden desk chair. "I work alone Captain, both in the office and out."

  "I see." There was something in the woman's voice that told him to change the subject. He was more than happy to oblige. "Where do you want to start?"

  "At the beginning. Were you one of the first on the scene?"

  "No. We sent out a patrol car first. The two officers broke into the study, found Franklin dead, and then radioed for homicide."

  "How long before you and Adamson arrived?"

  "About twenty minutes." Captain Thompson had spent most of the afternoon going over the Franklin file, re-familiarizing himself with the old case so he could answer the woman's questions.

  "Had the study been sealed off?"

  "Yes. No one went into that room after they discovered the body."

  "Was Mrs. Franklin present when they examined the body?"

  Thompson was sure all of the answers to her questions were in his preliminary report that was in the folder along with the reports of every officer involved. He was also equally sure Dani Hayward had already read those reports. “Just in the hallway, she didn’t go into the room.”

  "I see. Was anyone other than Mrs. Franklin in the house when the officers arrived?"

  "There were three other people on the grounds. The maid was in her quarters at the rear of the kitchen watching television and the groundskeeper and his wife, who was also the cook, were in their bungalow behind the house."

  "No other staff?"

  "No."

  Dani propped her foot on the handle of the desk's bottom drawer and tilted her chair back slightly. "What was your first impression of Mrs. Franklin?"

  Gerald Thompson frowned in recollection. "She seemed very distraught, like a woman would be if she had just discovered her husband's body."

  "Where was she when you arrived?"

  "She was sitting in the living room with one of the officers."

  "Where was the other officer?"

  "He was outside the study door."

  "I'll need to talk to those two officers."

  "Phil Smith is a Sergeant now,” the Captain informed. “I'm afraid Dwight Ellis isn't with us any longer."

  "Do you know where he is?"

  "He was killed in a robbery a couple of years ago."

  "Was Ellis the officer who was with Mrs. Franklin?"

  Thompson thought about that for a second. "I don't think so. It seems he was at the study doors. Why?"

  "Just curious." Dani glanced at the file then slid it into her top desk drawer and locked it. "I'd like to see the house. Care to drive out there with me?"

  The Captain checked his watch. "It's a little late today. What about tomorrow instead?"

  "I don't think so." The brunette got to her feet. "We'll take my vehicle."