A Southern Noir: Deception by Any Other Name

Chapter 23

In the morning, I started going through the files Vivian gave me last night. I began by reviewing the list of employees she gave me and comparing the names to the payroll records. It took most of the morning, but I got a good idea of who worked there and for how long. Tedious work, to be sure, but by the time I finished, a picture began to form around the employee information. So far, everything looked legit.

The next part was to take the names I found and start putting faces to them, trying to find as much as possible about the people on the roster. I looked up things like police records and social media profiles. The police records didn't help me much at first. Construction workers are an interesting mix of humanity, and most contractors don't ask many questions about the people they hire, and for good reason. In construction work, you often only keep employees around for a short time. Many come through looking for work, and then they're gone as fast as they came in. Many of the guys who worked on the sites had arrest records for anything from assault to petty theft. Interestingly enough, I found out that Vivian was arrested twice for DUI.

The social media search proved more valuable. A large number of the people on the list did not have a social media page at all. I guessed some were Hispanics who were illegally in the country. Others were older men who may not want a social media page. It's an educated guess as to why someone did not have any social media presence, but if they did not, I jotted their names on a legal pad.

Finally, I cross-referenced the names I wrote with the criminal history search. If I could find any evidence of them in a police record, then I eliminated them. However, three names stuck out.

The first name was Murray Donovan. According to payroll records and personnel records, he was twenty-eight years old and married. It seemed suspicious that a twenty-eight-year-old man with no police record wouldn't have a Facebook page or social media presence, but the search yielded nothing. I then looked up his wife, Debbie, and likewise found nothing. I turned the page in the notebook and wrote down his name again.

Arthur Johnson was the next name of interest. The file listed him as a thirty-year-old man without a social media presence, criminal history, or traffic accidents. It was like the guy was a ghost. Same for his wife. No history or traces of her anywhere to be found.

The same held true for Nathan Sulligent—nothing to prove that he existed. Of course, none of this means anything taken by itself. All three could be very careful drivers or stay out of trouble. Some people don't keep up with social media. It could be nothing, but to have no presence at all was odd.

Next, I checked their employment dates and found that Knight Brothers currently employed all three men. Each earned twenty dollars an hour. That amount struck me as funny for three men who were not foremen or held leadership positions.

I picked up my phone and dialed Nathan Sulligent's number. It rang a few times before an automated voice told me the number was not in service. Dialing the next number, I got a lady's voice who told me she had never heard of Arthur Johnson. Similar story for Murray Donovan, the person on the other end told me no one of that name lived with them. It was still possible they had all changed their numbers, but that seemed unlikely.

My next move was to check the addresses listed in the payroll. I started gathering my things when someone knocked on my office door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Detective Palmer, Mr. Landon. May I come in?"

Without answering, I opened the door. "Detective, please come in. Would you like a cup of coffee? I have some K-cups."

"No, thank you. I was stopping by to deliver the information you requested from Officer Turner."

"Officer Turner?"