A Mystery Just for You

Back in the archives the men shifted uncomfortably as Tim reentered the room. They slowly pushed Buster forwards to face Tim

“Hey, man,” he pulled Tim aside, “Listen, Tim, we all know you have to solve this case, we really do, God, I know I want to find out who killed Romo, but it’s late. Really late. We need to sleep.”

Tim sighed and ran his fingers though his hair. He knew Buster was right. His sleeping schedule was still irregular from all the traveling he’d done. He had only vaguely registered the clocks chiming half past 12. His only problem was trusting everyone to return. Buster seemed to read his thoughts.

“No one will go anywhere. It’d be as good as a confession of guilt.”
Tim was still feeling uneasy, knowing the guilty party would have the opportunity to destroy any evidence that may be left, but Tim didn’t have much choice. He escorted the men down the back hall, through the conference room and out the front door. Bochy lagged behind to talk to Tim.

“The police are stationed here all night. They have the building surrounded. I’ll see you in the morning.” He patted Tim on the back cordially as he started to leave, but Tim stopped him.

“Wait, before you leave, did you know anything about Romo’s ‘secret’ project?”

Bochy pondered for a moment.

“No, other than he was working with Zito and whatever it was it was investigative. He was hoping for a promotion and wanted to surprise everyone.”

Tim nodded and closed the double doors behind Bochy as he exited. Tim turned around and slouched against the doors, letting out a sigh. The body that had been across the way had been removed while he had been conducting hi interviews, but the large blood pool remained. It was weird thinking of the origins of the blood, because it wasn’t Romo. It was just a body.

Tim cautiously stepped around the blood and walked to the library. He examined the chair in which Zito’s body had been found next to. It was painfully ordinary and simple. It was a wobbly wooden chair that had no strange marks and had no hidden compartments. Tim glanced at the bookshelves in the immediate area. There was nothing that would have held Zito’s interest. He must have just gone there to get away from everyone else.

Tim tried to think back to the interview with him, brief as it had been. Nothing had stood out, except perhaps the self-blame.

It occurred to him that that was the last conversation he would ever have with him.

Tim sniffed sadly and headed back towards the offices. He decided to check Zito’s office first.

His desktop was tidy as always and so were his drawers.

Tim glanced at some of the article he had stacked on the desk. They were all about the opening of a market and the new businesses opening around the city. Nothing out of the ordinary considering Zito usually covered business interaction around the town. Tim riffled through the other drawers and the only peculiar thing Tim found was Zito’s key ring. It was hanging on the knob of one of the drawers. Most people working here had 4 keys: 1 to the main door, 1 to their private office, 1 to the archives and 1 to the front door. But, Tim noticed an extra key. It could be anything, a key to his house or mail box, but Tim didn’t think so. He grabbed the keys and put them in his pocket. As he did so, his hand brushed the things he had picked up from Romo. He pulled them out and laid them on the desk in front of him. He sat down in Zito’s chair and breathed deeply trying to get the faint smell of Zito that was still left in the room. Tim scanned the paper.

The date in the top of the corner said the paper was 3 months old. Why would Romo have such an old newspaper on him? He stopped and read the article more thoroughly. Something caught his eye. The headline: “LOCAL BLACK MARKET BUST.” Tim read the article. It contained a story about a black market that had been selling things stolen from various places, including the newspaper building. 

… … …

YES! Tis true! I (snowpawss aka Megan) am your Merry Christmas Anon!

I plan to continue the story despite having revealed my true identity, but I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Merry Christmas!

Tim pulled Machi out into the hall and stood by the library door.

“Did you see what happened with Zito?”

“No. He was sitting in the chair, we were all talking to each other and suddenly Cain yelled out and everyone got quite. We all looked at him and his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell out of the chair. A couple guys ran towards him, but he was dead before he hit the floor.”

“Who went to him?”

Machi scratched his head for a moment then answered: “Vogelsong and Crawford. Crawford shook him to try and wake him up and Vogelsong took his pulse. Vogey nearly fell over backwards when he realized he was dead. Craw kept shaking him and telling him to wake up.”

“How could that have happened without anybody seeing anything.”

Machi shrugged.

“Craw said his mouth was a funny color. Maybe someone poisoned him.”

“But what would he have drank or eaten? He was barely well enough to talk to me.”

Machi shrugged again.

“Well, where were you today?”

“Here, until 8. Then I left for home and stayed there until I got a call. Then came back.”

Tim nodded his head.

“Do you know anything about Romo’s secret project?”

“Nope.”

“His partner?”

“Nope.”

“Did you see anything strange today or recently?”

“Nope.”

“Thanks, you’ve been a real help.” The sarcasm couldn’t be missed and Machi shot Tim a look as they headed back towards the archives.

The archives were dead silent except for Affeldt who was stomping around, rubbing his hands on his arms. He was whining about the cold and shivering dramatically. Tim rolled his eyes and called Cain out.

“Where were you today?”

“Well, I got up and came to work earlier than usual. I had a lot of things I need to catch up on. I worked until lunch, went with Affeldt to the bakery. We got back a little late, but managed to get back to our desks without being caught. Then I got back to work. Around eight, me, Craw, Posey, Pence, Blanco, and Affeldt walked out of the office. We all went out for dinner, except Affeldt. He went home. We had all just finished eating when a messenger came in and asked for us and told us the news. That’s when we all came home.”

“Did any of the guys ever leave the restaurant?”

“Not until we all got the message.”

“Do you know anything about Romo’s secret project?”

“I think he had a partner. He must have. It sounded like a big project. He had been spending quite a bit of time in the archives prior to this week, even.”

Tim nodded thoughtfully.

“Did you see anything that happened to Zito?”

“No. I looked over and he looked sick or something so I called everyone to be quiet and then he fell out of his chair. Craw and Vogey ran over to him. Craw thought someone poisoned him.”

“Did you see him eat anything?”

“No.”

“Alright thanks.”

Tim walked Cain back to the archives. Everyone seemed to have lost their tongues, except for Affeldt who was still complaining about the cold. Tim decided that he might as well talk to him next.

Affeldt sighed with relief when they got into the hallway.

“It’s so cold in there man. Do we have blankets around here or something?”

“Oh come on, it wasn’t even that cold in there. Maybe a window was open or something.”

“Maybe. Man tonight sucks.”

“Mhm. Tell me about it.”

Affeldt nodded.

“No really, tell me where you were today.”

“Oh,” said Affeldt, “Well work was the normal and I left at the normal time. Some of the guys invited me out for dinner, but I couldn’t go because I had to get back home and watch the kids tonight. Larisa was complaining, because I almost made her late. Which I didn’t,” he added.

“When did you get back here?”

Affeldt exhaled slowly. “Around 11 maybe? Sorry I wasn’t paying attention at the time.”

“It’s alright. Do you know anything about what happened to Zito?”

He shook his head ‘no’.

“Did you see him eat or drink anything after you got back?”

He shook his head again.

“Did you notice anything strange at all lately?”

He shook his head  a third time.

Tim sighed exasperatedly. The case was progressing so slowly.

“Any theories about any of it?” Tim wasn’t sure he should just be asking people for input that might be biased, but he felt like he was getting nowhere fast.

 “Something about that secret project.”

Tim nodded and started back towards the archives.

“Man it’s cold in there.”

Tim snorted. He wanted to get to sleep. 

Kontos sat down across from Tim with tears still in his eyes. He wiped his eyes and sniffled. He wouldn’t look up at Tim.

“Hey, man, are you ok?” Tim sighed, the stopped, “I mean that’s sorta a strange question to ask,” Tim felt flustered. He hated having to interview his closest friends on the worst day of their lives.

“It’s ok,” Kontos inhaled and tried to calm himself, “What can I do to help?”

“Can you tell me where you were tonight?”

“Yea, I left for my apartment around 8 and got home at the quarter hour. I was going to read in my chair, but I accidentally fell asleep. Next thing I know, Javi was shaking me awake. I opened my eyes and he was crying. I didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t say anything he just grabbed my- me and pulled me here and-“ Kontos was sniffling so hard he could hardly speak. He wiped his face. “Sorry. Uhm well he pulled me here and I saw and I… I broke down. He pulled me into the back halls and let me… “ His voice trailed off.

“Did you ever learn anything about his secret project?”

“No,”

“I heard you were talking with him for a while today?”

“It wasn’t that?”

“Then what?”

Kontos opened his mouth, but no noise came out. The tears welled up in his eyes again and he looked like he was going to break down again, but Tim stood up, walked over to him and pulled him up into a hug. Kontos rested his head on his shoulder briefly then pulled away. He gently pushed Tim away, sat down and motioned that he was ok to continue. Tim sat back down somewhat confused.

“Uhm, well, I… “ Kontos took a deep breath, but not like before, “I had talked to Romo earlier this week and I, I mean, well we kinda got… .sidetracked.”

Tim leaned back in his chair and gave Kontos a look that implored him to continue. Kontos smiled sadly before he continued.

“It wasn’t business related at all. We were just talking. I finally got something off my chest and he was cool about it and it felt good to not be carrying it around, but I guess I’m on my own again.”

“You can tell me ya know. We’re friends too.” Tim felt slightly hurt that Kontos didn’t trust him.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I promise, it’s just that I don’t know how to say it. I never even said it to Romo, he kinda just guessed.”

“Tell me. I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

“I don’t think you’d tell anyone, but I really just don’t know how to say it.”

“Just try.”

“… I… Uhm, me and… Javi. I… we…” Kontos gulped loudly, “I like him,” he managed to choke out and he seemed pretty proud of himself, but Tim was still looking rather lost.

“I like him too?”

“No, no, no, I mean I like him…“ he let his words hang in the air.

Tim stared at him.

“I care for him, I-“

Tim suddenly understood: the affectionate embrace, the showing up at his apartment.

“Uhm, we’ve been seeing each other for some time. Well, we were. We had some problems,” the fear was back in his eyes for a moment, but then passed, “Romo figured it out partially. I can’t explain it Tim. I really… I,” he sighed, “Do you have any other questions?”

Tim shook his head. He actually had about a million more than he started with, but didn’t even know where to begin.

Tim walked Kontos back towards the library and decided he might as well interview Lopez next. He brushed his hand against Kontos’s arm as he passed him.

“Where were you today?” said Tim, once they’d seated themselves in his office.

“Here. At home briefly. Then at George’s after I heard the news.”

Tim wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. He decided it would be better with a straight forward address.

“He told me about you two.”

“Best be careful. You saw what happened to the last person who found out.”

“Wait, do you really think him knowing about it got him killed?”

Lopez just shrugged.

“Do you?”

“I don’t know man.” He shrugged the question off.

“If you don’t mind my asking, Kontos said you were having some troubles. What kind of troubles?”

Javier turned his head and began fidgeting with the cuff on his sleeve, “Well, we wanted to keep our relationship a secret, but we may have gotten caught once. He was freaking out… . awhile after and so he broke it off.”

“Who found out?”

Before Javier could reply they heard loud yelling and screaming from the library. Multiple people were calling to Tim and Javier. They stood up and quickly walked towards the library. It was deafeningly silent when they got there. A ringing started building up in his ears.

There was another sinister crowd at the end of an isle of bookshelves. Tim pushed his way through the crowd. At the end of the isle was a limp, lifeless Barry Zito lying on the ground next to a chair.

Tim spun around and looked away. He wanted to run away and never deal with anything again. The silence was broken and everyone began babbling. People were trying to tell him things, but nothing came through the pounding in his ears.

“Stop!” he yelled loud enough to silence everyone, “Everyone go back into the archives. Now. Nobody leaves tonight until I’ve talked to all of you.” Everyone stared at him thunderstruck. “Did anyone leave already?” There were some light head shakes, but still everyone was rooted to the spot where they stood, “Go!”

They all slowly shuffled back towards the archive. Tim sat down in the chair next to Zito’s body as his own tears clouded his vision. 

mattycains-perfectgame asked: I still think you're Megan....

Tim waved down Vogey who was standing nearest to the door when he got back to the library. He pulled Vogey away and began the interview.

“You were the one to find the body right? Can you tell me about it? What time was it?”

“Uhmm,” Vogelsong took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “Well it was just after 9pm. I was headed to the library to look for a book on the report I was making up and that’s when I saw him. I panicked. I’m sorry if I messed up the scene or anything. I ran over to him and tried to wake him. I promise I don’t think I messed it up too bad.”

“It’s fine. Why isn’t there blood all over your clothes?”

“Bochy ordered one of the guys to run to my house and grab me a clean shirt. That was all that got dirty.”

“Did you notice if you accidentally smudged any blood down by his feet?”

“No, I don’t think I did. It was mostly just on my hands. There wasn’t even half as much blood as there is now when I got there.”

“When was the last time you saw him? … uhm, alive” Tim added.

“Much earlier in the day. Several people were in and out of his office all day, but sometime in the afternoon he left his office. He came back in briefly just before most people were leaving for home, but then left again.”

“Do you know anything about the secret project he’d been working on?”

“Nope. Everyone was trying to find out, but he can be … could be very secretive when he wanted to.” Vogelsong sighed again and hung his head. Tim put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Do you know where Romo had gone during the afternoon hours?”

“Nope.”

“Who all came by his office?”

“Today alone, there was Javier, Kontos and Affeldt.”

“Were they all there in the morning?”

“Javi and Kontos were. Affeldt came later.”

“What about on the other days.”

Vogelsong listed the same people that Pill had as well as Affeldt, Machi and Cain. Tim wracked his brain trying to tie all the different ends together.  

“Could you ever hear what was being said in Romo’s office?”

“Most the visits were extremely short. He could just guess who was going to ask him about the project and turned them away almost immediately. You’d think they all had something to hide or something.”

“Did anyone stay very long?”

“Actually, yea, Kontos went in and then Romo stood up and closed the door.”

“When was that?”

“Uhh, 6 days ago I think. He didn’t stay in there a real long time, but longer than the others. Javi stayed for a bit this morning too.”

“Thanks Ryan. Anything else you noticed about him recently?”

Vogelsong shook his head and Tim thanked him as he headed back towards the library. He asked him to find Bumgarner and send him to his office.

Bumgarner entered and sat down wearily in the seat across from Tim.

“How ya doin’?”

“Is that a joke?” Bumgarner said bitterly. Tim averted his eyes.

“Uhm, when was the last time you saw him alive?”

“You could use his name you know.”

Bumgarner’s aggression caught Tim off guard. “Uh, sorry. When was the last time you saw Romo alive?” Tim blushed.

“He left Zito’s office around 7 I think.”

“Do you know why he was in there?”

“No, but he was in there for a long time. Did you ever figure out what his secret project was?”

“No,” Tim sighed, “I was hoping you’d heard something. Any idea who he was working with?”

Bumgarner shook his head. “Well, he was talking to Zito for a really long time today.”

“Where were you from 7 to 10 tonight?”

“Just sitting in my office.”

“What did you do when you heard Vogey yelling?”

“I ran out there.”

“Did you go through the conference room or down the hall and through the library?”

“Does it matter?” Tim opened his mouth, but only stuttered, “I’m sorry Tim. It just got to me. I went through the library. Are we done?”

“Yea.”

Tim stepped into the library and called out Pill’s name. The tall man stepped out from behind a book case and slowly walked over. He followed Tim back down the hall way.

“Hey man, where ya been?” Tim asked

“I had the day off. One day away and all this happens.”

“Humph. I know. Do you have anyone that can confirm where you’ve been all day?”

“Well, I’ve just been home with my wife and we had dinner with our neighbors.”

“Ok. Have you noticed Romo or anyone else acting strangely around here this past week?”

“Everyone has been! And it’s because of Romo!”

“What?”

“You were here last Saturday before you left?”

“Yea, that was the night I left.”

“You were in that meeting. Right? When Romo made the announcement?”

Tim inhaled sharply and nodded.

When going around the conference room discussing the project everyone was working n, Romo had stood up and announced a very secretive project. He wouldn’t say what, but he said he had found ground breaking evidence on a case and (though Tim had thought he was just joking or being dramatic) he also had stated there were people in the office that were involved. Of course everyone had looked around at each other and wondered who the guilty party was, but no one said anything at the time. Romo had also said he was getting help from someone, but wouldn’t reveal that either.

“Did he tell anyone anything during the course of the week?”

“Nope. Not as far as I know, but plenty of people tried to get him to talk. In fact there were a ton of people up and down our hall of offices all week.”

“Do you remember who?”

“Uhm, let’s see. I remember Kontos, Belt, Casilla, Craw, Machi, Cain, Pagan and Blanco went together, and Bumgarner.”

“Wow, all those guys?”

“Those were the ones I saw go down out hall and most of them left with disappointed faces.”

“Did you ever talk to him about it?”

“I passed him once and mentioned it; he wouldn’t say anything.”

“Thanks man. Hey before you go back, could you draw me a map of where everyone’s office is?”

“Sure thing.” Brett laughed at Tim, because he was notorious for getting everyone’s offices mixed up.

Tim handed Brett his note pad and pencil. He scribbled squares onto it and handed it back.

“Thanks.”
Brett nodded and headed back to the library. Tim examined the little map before following him and pulling Zito out.

Zito’s eyes were still really red. Tim walked him back to his own office so they could sit down. Zito rubbed his eyes and continued to clear his throat trying to making talking easier, but it didn’t seem to help much.

“Hey man. Where were you tonight?”

“In my office, listening to Pablo snoring.”

“Did you ever hear anything else?”

Zito sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, “No, not until Vogey started screaming bloody murder.” Then I ran out and well … saw that. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again. I’ll never be able to close my eyes and not see that. Oh god. What if it’s all my fault? I should have been more alert. I should have been there or done something.” He ducked his head in his arms and started sniffling again. Tim stood up and rested a hand on his shoulder and helped him up.

“Come on. You need a break. Get some rest if you can. You can help me figure out who is responsible for this later.” Zito stood up and growled as he wiped away his tears again. Tim led him back to the library and intentionally stood in the way of Romo’s body as he steered him over to a secluded chair at the end of an isle of books.

Tim sighed and walked back to grab his next interview.