The Turn

by Carolina Mac

  “That’s what I figured and why I wasn’t worried. Makes sense if you’re doing a thorough investigation.”

  Jesse smiled. “You’re a logical thinker, Sean. Any thoughts about applying to the police academy?”

  “Uh huh. Already did. Waiting to get a call.”

  “Good for you.” Jesse reached across the table and shook the boy’s hand. “Do you have someone who can verify where you were Monday night between eleven and three?”

  “Yep, I was at work. I can give you the name and number of my supervisor.”

  “That’s all I need, Sean. Write that down for me, and I’ll have a squad take you home.”

  “Thanks, Ranger Quantrall. Do you think I should apply to the Rangers too?”

  “Definitely. We can always use good people with a brain in their head.”

  Jesse walked Sean out to the waiting area and on his way back he met Blaine. “Nothing so far.”

  “Why don’t you and I do the last two and I’ll send the boys to pick up lunch,” said Blaine.

  “Sure,” said Jesse, “where do you want me?”

  “Dave Hewlett is in room three. I’ll take Doctor Endicott.” Blaine smiled. “Love the ones with no patience.”

  Blaine tapped twice and entered room four. “Doctor Endicott, Blaine Blackmore. Did anyone offer you coffee?”

  “Nobody offered me a fucking thing, Ranger Blackmore, and I don’t want anything except to get out of here and get back to my patients. You better have a damn good explanation of why I was picked up like a common criminal and brought here against my will. Do you know how easy it is to sue for false arrest?”

  “I do know a little about the law. I’m an attorney.”

  Endicott stared in disbelief. “I’m not buying it.”

  Blaine turned on the recorder. “You’re not under arrest, Doctor, and the reason you were brought here is simple. We’re questioning every person who had contact with JoAnne Engels through the dating site that y’all were on.”

  “I’m not on any dating site. Why would I be? I’m happily married with three children.”

  “You are a verified client of ‘EZDate’, Doctor Endicott. Lying about it won’t make it go away. I have copies of all your emails to Miss Engels.”

  “I want my lawyer.”

  “You just said the magic words, Doctor. You can have your lawyer present, but why would you need one if you have an alibi for Monday night?”

  “Of course, I have an alibi, but I know how you cops twist things around to make innocent people look guilty. I watch TV—well not much, but sometimes.”

  “Where were you Monday night, Doctor, if you weren’t with JoAnne?”

  “I don’t remember right now, but I wasn’t with anyone from an online dating site. I don’t cheat on my wife.”

  Blaine smiled. “I’ll be right back.” Blaine stepped out of the interrogation room and looked for Farrell. He found him in the Chief’s office with Travis eating Whataburger’s. “Get me and Jesse any food?”

  “Yep.” Travis pointed. “In the bag. Might have to nuke it a little.”

  “I’m not quite finished,” said Blaine, “when y’all are done, Farrell, go to Endicott’s home address and question his wife about Monday night. Push her hard.”

  “Do you think he’s a possibility?” asked the Chief.

  “He’s asking for his lawyer and he’s antsy about something. He can barely sit still on the fuckin chair. I’m going to release him.” Blaine nodded to Travis. “You’re on the doc.”

  “Got it.”

  “The dentist is way too old for the crowd he’s talking to online and that puts him at the top of my list,” said Blaine. “If he’s not our killer, he’s into young girls and possibly way too young—under-age girls.”

  “At least we have a list,” said the Chief as he finished his last onion ring. “More than we had this morning.”

  TRAVIS sat in his silver Ford F-450, smoking with the windows down and sweating from the noonday heat, while he waited for the squad to pull around to the front door to pick up Doctor Endicott.

  The cruiser came around about five minutes later, Endicott came out of the building, shaking his head and refusing to get in. He pulled out his phone and the squad car drove away. Ten minutes later a cab picked him up.

  Doesn’t want to be seen getting out of the squad at the dental building.

  Travis chuckled as he put the truck into gear and followed the cab. Endicott’s dental office was downtown in a medical building, not ten minutes away from headquarters. The cab stopped in front and Endicott paid the driver and hustled inside.

  In the parking lot behind the building, Travis used his cell to check with DMV, verified that the Beemer parked in Endicott’s spot belonged to the doc and tagged it.

  Hyde Park Area. Austin.

  FARRELL followed the nav system to Endicott’s home address and parked his red Silverado in the drive behind a dark blue Buick SUV with car seats in the back.

  “Big house,” Farrell mumbled to himself as he followed the brick pavers to the front door. “Must be big bucks in teeth.” He rang the bell and waited.

  No one answered, so he pushed the button again. He heard a woman yelling inside and then a skinny lady with skunky-looking black and blonde hair—a dye job gone wrong—opened the door a crack and peered out.

  Farrell held up his creds. “Police, ma’am. Are you Mrs. Endicott?”

  “Yes, I am. Why are you here?”

  “I have a few questions about your husband, ma’am. Won’t take long.”

  She smiled, and her teeth were crooked.

  Why didn’t he fix his wife’s teeth?

  When Farrell was afforded a clear look, he realized she was butt-ugly, and even straight teeth might not help her out much.

  “Come in, I can’t imagine what you want to ask me about Max.”

  Farrell stepped into the foyer and narrowly avoided stepping on a blue rubber dolphin. Toys were everywhere, and the air reeked of something. He tried to place the smell and realized he had no marker for what dirty diapers smelled like, but that could be it.

  “Doctor Endicott was interviewed at headquarters this morning, ma’am and gave you as his alibi for Labor Day evening.”

  “Why on earth would Max be interviewed by the police? And why would he need an alibi? What do the police think he did?” She pointed to the sofa in the front room and Farrell took a seat next to a stack of wooden puzzles. He turned the recorder on and set it on the corner of the glass coffee table, smudged and encrusted with what looked like half-eaten Oreos.

  “There’s no easy was to tell you this,” said Farrell, “so I’m just going to lay it out there. A young girl was murdered at one of the clubs downtown on Monday night, and your husband had been seeing her on occasion.”

  The wife stared at him, then she laughed. “That’s not possible. I know where Max is every minute of the day and night.”

  Farrell watched her closely as she tried to keep it together. A quiver of her lower lip gave her away. She was angry.

  “I think y’all are mistaken about Max, but I’ll think about it. Hmm… Labor Day.”

  “That was Monday night, ma’am.”

  “It was, and I’m trying to remember what we did on the holiday.” A scream came from the other room and she ran off to deal with a kid crisis. When she returned, her story was ready, as Farrell thought it might be.

  “Max and I put the children to bed and then we barbequed outside. We opened a bottle of wine, and then a second one. One thing led to another and we ended up skinny dipping in our own pool.” She giggled. “How did I forget about that?”

  Because it never happened?

  “And Max was here all night after the swim?”

  “He sure was. All nice and cozy in our king-size bed.”

  Farrell turned off the recorder, slipped it into his pocket and stood up to leave. He was a few steps from making it out alive when three identical little people with blond curls rushed toward
s him yelling out words in a secret language. “Triplets.”

  Mrs. Endicott smiled her crooked smile. “Aren’t they adorable?”

  “Sure are.” Farrell retreated as rapidly as possible and sought the safety of his truck.

  “She’s not a good liar. Why would she lie for him?”

  He backed out the drive and called Travis. “Wife’s lying. He wasn’t here Monday night. I’d bet my left nut on it.”

  “I’ll stick tight.”

  “Roger that.”

  Dental Office. Downtown Austin.

  TRAVIS parked down the street from the medical building where Endicott had his office and waited. He hadn’t done surveillance in a while and wasn’t used to it. Almost asleep, he jerked awake when his cell rang. Blacky.

  “Hey, boss, Farrell says the dentist’s alibi is iffy.”

  “Yeah, he told me. The wife might be lying for her husband, but the reason is unclear after Farrell told her the guy was cheating on her. Stick on him. I’ll send a couple of Junkers to spell you off later.”

  “Thanks, boss.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Boss is still pissed at me.

  Blackmore Agency. Austin.

  BLAINE went home to get ready for his date with Olivia. Tired from the day at headquarters and not much sleep the night before, he didn’t have an ounce of energy in his body. He grabbed a Corona from the Sub-Zero and waved Carm over to sit with him.

  “I’m having dinner with the garden lady,” he said in Spanish. “She’s going to give me the plan for the property and another if we don’t like the first one. You don’t have to like anything she says. I want you to pick what you want.”

  Carm nodded. “Si.”

  He chugged his beer, felt worse instead of better and ran upstairs to shower. He was toweling off his long hair when he thought of it. “Shit, I didn’t make a reservation anywhere. Too fuckin busy today.” He stood naked in the middle of his room and called The Capital Grille.

  “Sure, we can fit you in Mr. Blackmore.”

  “Could I have a private dining room? It’s a business meeting.”

  “Sure thing. For seven-thirty?”

  “Thanks so much.”

  He was late leaving the house and by the time he found Olivia’s bungalow, it was ten after seven. He pulled into her narrow drive, left the truck running and hopped out. He was on the bottom step when she opened the door looking amazing in a pale blue dress and white boots. Over her arm, was draped a white sweater and her purse. Her other hand held a leather briefcase.

  He reached up and took her hand. “You look gorgeous.”

  She smiled and followed him to the truck.

  “Sorry I’m late.” He opened the door on the passenger side and gave her a hand up to the sidestep.

  “Cool truck.”

  He slid behind the wheel and noticed she had lowered her window all the way down. “Yeah, I know it’s smoky in here. You smoke?”

  “Only a joint now and then. It’s healthier.”

  He grinned. The girl continued to surprise him. “Okay.” He backed out of the drive and headed downtown. “I should have asked you where you wanted to eat, but I’m not thinking clearly where you’re concerned. Dating isn’t one of my strong points.”

  She turned her head and the colors in her hair shimmered. “What are your strong points? I want to hear them.”

  Blaine let out and exhausted sigh, “Let’s save that for another day. I’m… in the middle of something and it’s taking all my energy. Sorry.”

  “You’re on the murder of the young girl killed at the dance club. I read it in the paper.”

  He nodded. “We spent all day interviewing.”

  “I guess you can’t talk about the case. They always say that on TV.”

  He parked in the lot behind the Grille and opened Olivia’s door for her. She left her sweater on the seat when she climbed down, and Blaine reached in and grabbed it. “Better bring it. The air might be turned up high in there. It is sometimes.”

  “Thanks. I’m not used to someone caring about me.”

  “No?” He shut the truck door and pressed the lock. “You should be.”

  “I’ve been on my own for a long time, building my business and not much time for anything else.”

  “Your business appears to be thriving. I was impressed.”

  “Must take a lot to impress you.” She winked at him and his heart thumped.

  Blaine held the front door open and they paused at the hostess station. “Good evening, Mr. Blackmore, your table is ready for you.”

  “Thanks, Kit.” He placed his hand lightly on Olivia’s elbow as they followed the hostess. She showed them into the private dining room. “Your waiter will be with you shortly.” Kit left and closed the door.

  “We’re the only ones in here,” said Olivia looking over her shoulder.

  “I don’t want to be disturbed while we’re talking.”

  “Oh, that was thoughtful.”

  “More selfish than thoughtful.” He smiled. “What would you like to drink?”

  “A beer is good. I’m not a wine person.”

  “Your hair is amazing. I’ve never seen rainbow hair before.”

  “Thanks. Your hair is also a turn-on, at least it is for me. I love a guy with long hair.”

  The waiter took their drink order and left.

  “Can I show you the drawings I made, or do you want to wait until after we eat?”

  “No, go ahead,” said Blaine, “I’m no good at small talk and I don’t want you to think I’m boring.”

  Olivia giggled. “How could anybody think that?

  Blaine shrugged.

  Olivia opened her briefcase and spread out renderings she’d done of his property from several views.

  Blaine’s eyes widened. “You’re an artist.”

  “In a way.”

  “In a big way. Wait until Carm sees these pictures.”

  Olivia gave him a look. “You said Carm wasn’t your mother, so she’s…?”

  “She’s like my mother—but I have a mother—I’m adopted.” Blaine let out a breath. “Carm was my girlfriend’s mother.”

  “Was?”

  “Fabiana was a DEA agent. She was killed in Columbia by a cartel.” His heart picked up speed, “I was there… I… couldn’t…” Blaine became lightheaded and pictures of the jungle shot through his brain. He thought he might be sick. He stood up and headed for the men’s room.

  I can’t talk about Fab.

  When he returned the waiter was serving their drinks and waiting for the dinner order. Olivia was staring hard at the menu to avoid making eye contact.

  Blaine sat down and picked up his menu. “Let’s order.”

  The waiter left, and Olivia apologized. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It’s okay. I should be better than that by now, but I’m not. I can’t talk about Fab, Carm, my dead parents and even Annie. I have a helluva time explaining my relationship with my mother.” He shook his head. “I probably should be in fuckin therapy. Believe me, this isn’t the way I wanted our date to go.”

  “You have issues that you can’t share with a stranger. You need to know me a lot better. I can understand, and I respect your privacy.”

  “Thanks.” He picked up his beer and chugged half of it down.

  After an almost silent dinner, Blaine drove Olivia home. He parked in her drive and turned the engine off. “I’ll bring Carm over to the nursery tomorrow after she sees the drawings and I’ll let her pick some things out.”

  Olivia put her hand on the handle. “I feel like I messed things up before we even got off the ground.”

  “It wasn’t you. Just goes to show what a mess I am. Let me walk you to the door.”

  “You don’t need to. I’m a big girl.”

  Blaine ran around and opened her door. She slid down from the sidestep into his arms and he kissed her, a long passionate kiss.

  Hyde Park Area. Austin.


  TRAVIS tailed the dentist to his residence and found a suitable place to park down the block. He squeezed his large truck tight to the curb behind two other vehicles and used them to screen him from view. From his vantage point, he had an unobstructed sightline to the front of Endicott’s house and the vehicles in their driveway.

  MAX tore inside the house hollering at the top of his lungs for his wife. “Renee, where the hell are you?”

  She came running down the stairs with a finger to her lips. “For God’s sake, Maxwell, be quiet. Do you know how long it took me to get them to sleep? You keep it down.”

  Max strode past her to the bar in the corner of the living room and poured himself a tumbler of bourbon. “Did the police come here today?”

  “Sure did. They wanted to know where you were on Monday night. And that’s the same question I want answered. Where were you on Monday night, Max? And your answer better be good.”

  “I went out for drinks with a couple of doctors from my building.”

  Renee laughed. “Try again. That lie sucked. I know most of the doctors in your building, and I know their wives too. I can check that story out and I’ll be doing just that. Let me get my phone.”

  Max clutched his drink in his right hand and swung his left fist at Renee’s head. He connected with her right temple and knocked her to the floor. “Don’t mess with me, Renee. I’ve had a helluva day. You’ll be sorry you were ever born.”

  She scrambled up on her stick legs and hissed at him. “You were with that JoAnne girl, weren’t you? Did you kill her?”

  Max smiled. “Of course, I didn’t kill her, Renee. You know me better than that.”

  “I do? It seems like I don’t know you at all, you fucking cheater.”

  “Make me some dinner, Renee. I’m tired of your bullshit.”

  Renee screamed so loud, the veins stood out in her neck. “Make your own dinner, you lying creep.”

  Babies began wailing on the upper level.

  Max grabbed Renee by the hair, dragged her to the kitchen and banged her forehead twice onto the granite counter top. “I’m done with your crap, Renee. You bossing me around like you own me and dragging me to marriage counsellors. From now on, I call the shots around here.”