Chapter 5 - What was in the pool
Police did not drag the black bags out while television cameras waited.
There were no cameras.
They obtained a warrant after:
A child was found confined in a padlocked cage.
She described threatening statements involving the pool.
Derek was present.
Potential evidence was visible.
The first bag came out after dark.
Then another.
No bodies.
No human remains.
No blood.
The relief in that sentence is difficult to describe.
The bags contained:
Two broken laptops.
Three old mobile phones.
Paperwork.
Mail.
A small metal cash box.
Several cut-up credit cards.
A jewelry box without jewelry.
One portable hard drive.
Contractor invoices.
A stack of unopened bank letters addressed to Laura.
All water damaged.
Some inside additional plastic.
Some not.
One bag had paving stones added for weight.
The police found silver duct tape on the bag openings matching the roll in Derek’s workshop.
Did that prove a financial crime?
No.
It proved he was deliberately sinking property.
Whose property?
That became the next question.
Laura identified one laptop as hers.
The jewelry box too.
The bank letters were hers.
One phone belonged to Derek.
Another appeared to be an old device Laura thought she had lost.
The third was prepaid.
Why destroy them?
Derek initially said:
“Old junk.”
Then:
“I was clearing the garage.”
People do not usually dispose of old junk by weighting it and sinking it into a swimming pool.
May you like
His attorney advised him to stop talking.
Wise.
