Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 12:47:22
Subject: Noted at the Funeral
From: det_thomas_johnson@chicagopolice.org
To: det_richard_longfellow@chicagopolice.org, det_harold_barstow@chicagopolice.org

Dick, Harry,

Well I guess you could say either:

A) The wake and funeral were festering with clues

or

B) There was remarkably little to note

Take for instance, the fact that there were some 25-30 single women there, aged 20 to 50, all wearing black dresses. We might hypothesize that any or each of these women was at one time or another a lover of Regine's. Many of them were weeping. I took digital photos of the guestbook and we can certainly look most of these women up. Did any of the weeping women exhibit telltale signs that they, out of jealousy, might have committed the murder? Not in particular.

The beneficiaries of Regine's estate are her parents, Edna and Claude DuBois, and her cousin, and one Edward DuBois, a San Francisco junkyard sculptor of little note. Edward got half of Regine's savings and half of her life insurance. A sizable chunk of change. But would such be enough for this (apparently relatively distant) cousin to feel motivated to arrange for a long-distance contract killing of his own flesh and blood? I don't think so. He certainly appeared to be surprised that he had hit this particular lottery, it was the talk of the reception after the burial. The fact that he quizzed me so extensively about the progress of our investigation might have raised some flags, but I think he was just angry that we didn't have any news.

The family in general, by the way, I would describe as frustrated, unfriendly. Everyone expects the detectives to appear in the parlor room to announce the killer's identity within 48 hours of the act. Like we're some kind of fucking magicians here.

Skipper showed up at the wake, shot me a dirty look. He was practically humping Susanne's leg.

Regine's business associates sat in their own section, and within that division, there appeared to be two distinct groups: those who had worked for Regine and had disliked but respected her, and those for whom Regine had worked, who seemed essentially ambivalent. The reception after the funeral was kind of an advertising networking clusterfuck. Many of Regine's former business associates seem to be on the job market and taking any opportunity, including burial rituals, to sniff out new employment.

There were a couple Feds there. Any reason the FBI should be horning in on our investigation? Might want to check the wire for similar crimes out of state. Or I suppose we could call them and ask. Don't you just love the way they're so careful to let us know when they might be interested in something?

So anyway, nothing like spending the weekend with your work, especially with a bunch of belligerent bereft instead of making your kid's little league game. But that's the job, that's the job I signed up for.

Any luck on the tapes?

Tom