by Liliana Hart
“What about when you returned home after the run?”
He frowned and studied Jack. “I don’t know,” he said. “I honestly wasn’t paying much attention. I was focused on getting back and getting to the office. I had court that morning.” He picked a piece of lint off his sleeve and smiled again. “You know, people make mistakes all the time. Maybe you’re looking for a murder investigation where there isn’t one. Those kinds of headlines are great during an election season. Maybe it’s just another tragedy that’s befallen an elder living alone.”
“That would be easy to believe except for the fact that someone bashed her over the head,” I said. “You said it yourself. Everyone in that neighborhood knows more than they should and they like to talk about it. I wonder what it was that Mrs. McGowen knew that got her killed.”
His smile tightened, but stayed in place. I had to give him credit where credit was due. Harrison Taylor wasn’t a man who lost control easily. He was cold and ruthless.
“It’s anyone’s guess. Sorry, Jack, but I’ve got to cut this short. I have appointments to keep. You’re a lucky man. Congratulations on your marriage.” He turned to me. “Jaye…” he said, the smirk coming back into his eyes. “I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.”
I resisted the urge to yell out, “over my dead body,” and instead watched him turn on his heel and walk away.
“You okay?” Jack asked for the second time that morning.
“Yes, but if I ever end up in a room alone again with Harrison Taylor, he’s probably going to end up with a broken face. No wonder the women on that street surround themselves with protection. He doesn’t like to take no for an answer.”
“Do I need to kill him?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But I’ll let you know.”
“Harrison could’ve killed her,” Jack said. “He’s got the temperament.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, blowing out a breath.
“I put in the request for a warrant to Judge Reiner for Carl Planter’s financials. We need to go talk to Richard Selby. He’s back from his conference and working at the clinic today. And then we need to talk to Maria Clark.” He put his hand on the back of my neck and massaged the tension there. “And maybe on the way, you could tell me why you were so upset when you came in this morning.”
I waited until Jack had gotten away from the square and we were on our way to the King George Veterinary Clinic. It was out a ways, in a rural area, because it had a barn attached for some of the larger animals and sometimes they had to stay for extended periods of time while they were on the mend.
“You remember how I thought someone was in that vacant house yesterday?” I asked.
“I do,” he said, stopping at a red light.
“It turns out I was right. I ran into my father this morning.”
“I’m assuming there’s a good reason you didn’t call me immediately to come pick him up.”
I could hear the tight accusation in Jack’s tone, and I really wasn’t in the mood for it after the morning I’d had.
“Yeah,” I said, the tone of my voice full of attitude. “It was probably the fact that I was passed out on the floor after he chopped me in the neck. When I woke up he was gone. Otherwise, I would’ve called you right away. Promise.” My last words were saccharine sweet and I saw Jack wince.
“Sorry,” he said, blowing out a breath. “I know you would’ve called if you could’ve.”
“Believe me, Jack. I know the kind of man my father is better than you. I’m the last person who would try to protect him after everything he’s done.”
“I know that too. I’m sorry,” he said again. “How did you find him? Or how did he find you?”
“I had some time to kill this morning before the meeting, so I wanted to drive the streets behind each side of Foxglove Court. I started thinking about the trek through the woods in the middle of the night and that the easiest way to accomplish the goal was to already be established in the neighborhood. It would just be a huge pain in the ass to park, walk through the woods in the dark, scale a creek with a twenty-foot drop, and not be dog tired by the time you got to her house to kill her. And if you say quarter to me right now I’m going to lose my religion.”
Jack’s lips twitched. “I wouldn’t think of it. Keep going.”
“I parked in front of the crime scene and then walked across the street to the vacant house. I tried the front door and it was locked, but when I went around to the back, the door was open. I’d still swear the house was empty when I went in. You know how you can feel when you’re not alone? I walked through the house and never had a sense that there was anyone else there but me. But when I went to the front bedroom where I saw the curtain move he was there when I turned around to leave.”
“Let me guess,” he said. “He wants the flash drives.”
“Right in one,” I said. “Well, he wanted the flash drives and to let me know that he enjoyed our wedding.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jack said, lightly hitting his hand on the steering wheel. “Of course he’d want to be there, moving in and out of all those cops. It was probably the biggest high of his life.”
“I said pretty much the same thing. He also said those flash drives are his salvation. That whatever information that’s on there is enough to exonerate him and my mother, and to bring everyone at the top of different government agencies to the ground. He asked for my help.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I was going to call you so you could arrest him. That’s when he incapacitated me. I wasn’t out for very long. Maybe a few minutes. But when I woke up, he was long gone. I didn’t see a car or any kind of transportation nearby, so I don’t know where he went or how he got there in the first place.
“He also told me that the vacant house was getting a lot of action. Apparently, the neighborhood was taking advantage of it for their liaisons. He said Richard Selby is the one having the affair with Monica. And he also said the man across the street was having an affair with the woman next door. You don’t think he meant Robert or Carl, do you?”
“Who knows,” Jack said. “Stranger things have happened. Katie said she saw the mystery man in Monica’s house just before midnight on Sunday. If it was Richard, that means he wasn’t in D.C. for the conference after all.”
“I guess we need to ask him then.”
Chapter Thirteen
The vet clinic was not the most convenient place to get to, but it served all four towns, though there was a smaller clinic on the south side of the county.
The clinic itself was a tan metal building that sat on a patch of green field. The parking lot was gravel, and there was a big red metal barn attached to the back side of the clinic. There was a fenced in area where two horses grazed lazily. The parking lot was full of cars, and there was a horse trailer pulled along the side of the building.
Jack parked his unit toward the back of the lot, and our shoes crunched the gravel as we walked toward the building. He opened the door and a bell jingled from above. A blast of cool air and the distinct smell of animals and disinfectant greeted us.
We walked into a waiting room of chaos. Dogs and cats sat with their owners. There were barks and hisses and meows, and a harried looking receptionist sat behind the desk with a phone to her ear. She was petite with bright red hair cut like a pixie’s, and she wore black framed glasses on a chain around her neck. She was writing frantically in her appointment book and chewing gum a mile a minute.
When she hung up, she spotted us and a look of defeat came over her face. “Dr. Selby really doesn’t have time to talk to you right now,” she said apologetically, obviously recognizing us and knowing why we were there. “He’s been gone all week and the waiting room is backed up.”
“We wouldn’t do it if it weren’t absolutely necessary,” Jack said. “We’ll try to be as quick as we can, but human life is our priority.”
“Don’t let some of these people hear you say that,” she whisper
ed. “There will be a riot. Y’all can follow me back and I’ll get the doctor.”
We went through a wood-paneled door into a long hallway that smelled like antiseptic and dog shampoo. Richard Selby’s diplomas hung on the wall. There were a couple of treatment rooms to the right and an area where they weight and measured the animals to the left. The receptionist led us into a room that was something of a catch-all. There was a mini-fridge and a long counter with various supplies. A shelf with packaged syringes of various sizes sat on the counter. There were unopened boxes pushed against one wall and a huge industrial sized bathtub in the back, raised about three feet off the ground.
She left us in there to wait and I tried to get a closer look at the samples of medicines and other vials left out in the open. There were no narcotics. Just locals and mild sedatives.
“Sheriff,” Richard Selby said as he came in. He pulled off his gloves and tossed them in the trash before reaching out to shake Jack’s hand, and then mine. His smile was friendly, even though he looked distracted. “You caught me in a tight schedule today.”
“We’ll be quick,” Jack assured him. “I’m sure you’ve heard Rosalyn McGowen was murdered early Monday morning.”
“Yes, it’s terrible. She was the sweetest woman. Always doing for someone. She reminded me of my grandma. When the kids were born, she set us up with meals for a week and knitted blankets for each of the kids.”
I was having a hard time putting Richard and Janet Selby together as a couple. The talkative, critical woman we’d met the day before didn’t seem to go with the man we were meeting today. Janet had shown a lot of resentment when she spoke of her husband, which made me think she knew about his affair.
“Janet called as soon as she heard the news. I actually came back from my conference early last night. I’d originally planned to drive back from D.C. this morning and open the clinic late, but after I saw the backlog of appointments I decided it was best to bite the bullet and head home early. Plus, it sounded like Janet was taking the news of Roz’s death pretty hard when I talked to her.”
“What time did you leave on Sunday for your conference?” Jack asked.
“About noon,” he said. “It took me close to two hours with the traffic, and I had a drink in the bar once I got to the hotel with a couple of friends. They opened up for check-in about three.”
“What can you tell us about your relationship with Monica Middleton?”
I saw it. It was just a flash of fear, but it was there in his eyes before he smiled again. “Sure, I know Monica. She and her husband live on the street. We’re all pretty close on Foxglove Court.”
“Do you have a sexual relationship with her?”
“No, of course not,” he said. “I’m a happily married man. I’ve got a business. The Selby’s are sixth generation in Bloody Mary.”
“A neighbor told us they saw you through the window at Monica’s around midnight on Monday night. And we had another report that you and Monica frequently use the vacant house next to yours to meet up.”
Richard seemed to deflate in front of our eyes and he leaned back against the counter. He put his head in his hand and rubbed at his brow.
“Does Janet know?” he asked.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Jack said. “But in my experience, they always know. They just might not want to face the truth. My job here is to find a murderer. That’s all.”
Richard blew out a long breath. “It’s times like this when I wish I’d never quit smoking. This is tobacco country, and all you see everywhere is warnings on how the things will kill you. I never really cared much that they’re bad for you. But then you have kids and it’s hard to explain to them why you’d keep doing something that’s bad for you.
“That’s kind of how I feel about Monica. I know it’s not going anywhere. We’re both married. We’re both entrenched in our own lives and own circles. It was just one of those things,” he said, shrugging. He was looking off in the distance as if we weren’t even there. “I knew it was wrong, and I swear to God it’s never happened before. But I found myself working harder and longer hours here, and when I’d get home, Janet would already be drinking. And Lord, that woman never shuts up. She never hears a word I say or listens to what I want.
“And then last summer we were having our monthly barbecue at the Miller’s house. Everyone is in bathing suits and drinking and having a good time. I’d gone in to grab a beer out of the fridge and she was sitting on one of the barstools looking out at everyone having fun. Her husband hadn’t come to the barbecue, and she just looked…sad.
“We started talking and before we knew it, we’d made plans to have coffee one morning before we both left for work. The timing worked out perfectly when the Goldmans won the lottery and the house went up for sale. It wasn’t hard to get a copy of the key to the house next door. Janet’s one of those people who doesn’t get out of bed before nine, so I didn’t worry about her noticing what was going on at seven in the morning. It started out innocently. I’d bring the coffee and we’d sit and talk until it was time to leave. But there was a connection there. We both felt it. And it wasn’t long before I’d wait for Janet and the kids to go to sleep and I’d slip down to Monica’s house for a few hours. It was like a drug. I wanted to be with her. She listened to me and I could share anything with her.
“And then it stopped being so innocent.” He stopped and smiled like he’d been lost in the memory. “She met me at her back door one night wearing absolutely nothing. I don’t know how long I stood at the threshold of that door wondering what choice I would make. Ultimately, I walked over the threshold, and I’ve felt guilty about it every day since.”
“But you didn’t stop,” I said matter-of-factly.
There was part of me that felt sympathy for Richard Selby. But as someone who’d had the experience of being cheated on, I had very little tolerance for cheaters or their excuses. It’s what they chose to do after the fact that showed their character. Janet Selby clearly had problems and had contributed to the issues in their marriage, but marriage was a two-way street, and she didn’t deserve what he was doing to her.
He sighed and said, “No, I didn’t stop. Not until Monday night when I went to see Monica for the last time. The affair cooled off a few months ago, but it had become more of a habit than a need. I knew for Janet and I to have any chance at fixing whatever is left of our marriage, I had to put a stop to that part of things. I’d planned to tell Janet what I’d done. But I guess this makes it more of a reality. Especially if the neighbors know. I don’t want her to hear it from someone besides me.” He broke down, a sob catching in his throat and he buried his face in his hands. “I’m afraid she’s going to leave me.”
I glanced at Jack and saw he was as at a loss for words as I was. This wasn’t where we’d seen the conversation going.
“Dr. Selby,” Jack said softly. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing. But I need to ask what you did after you left Monica’s. And can anyone confirm your whereabouts?”
“I left,” he said, grabbing a paper towel from the holder on the wall and wiping his face. “I parked a couple of streets over, so I just walked back to the car and drove back to the hotel. I had a seven-thirty tee time the next morning. I guess the hotel cameras would have me coming back.”
“We’ll check it out,” Jack said. “We appreciate your time.”
Richard didn’t tell us goodbye. He seemed shell-shocked, and he was just staring off into space when we left.
When we got back in the car, the electronic warrant for Carl’s financials had come through, and Jack put in a call to Martinez to send him the information once he got it. Then he put in another call, and I felt my body tense as I realized who was on the other line.
“Carver,” Jack said, putting him on speaker phone. “What are your weekend plans?”
Ben Carver was one of my favorite people, but he was the last person I wanted Jack to call at the moment. My dad would
go to any lengths to get those flash drives back, and Ben was currently in possession of them. If it came down to my dad’s life or an FBI agent he didn’t know, I could guess which he’d choose.
“It’s funny you should ask,” Carver said. “Someone gave my wife a weekend at a spa as one of her baby shower gifts. She packed a bag and left this morning. It took me twenty minutes to find the baby. She likes to hide. And someone put peanut butter on my electric shaver. I don’t know who gave Michelle that gift card, but I’m going to hunt them down and kill them. She packed a lot of clothes. I’m not sure she’s coming back. She sent me a text that said she’d send me a picture of the baby once she’s born.”
I laughed and wiped tears from my eyes. Ben was high energy. If I had to guess, I’d say his wife was escaping from him as much as the kids. I’d never had the opportunity to meet his wife, but she sounded like an incredible woman. She had a PhD in English and she’d given birth the three girls in the last three years and was pregnant with their fourth.
“Why?” Ben asked. “What have you got going on?”
“I was going to see if you wanted to visit for the weekend and bring Miranda,” Jack said. “But since you’re on dad duty…”
“Are you kidding me? If duty calls, Miranda and I will be there. You’ll tell Michelle it’s for work won’t you? She probably won’t believe me.”
Jack’s lips twitched and he said, “I’ll write you a note.”
“Let me call my mother-in-law,” Ben interrupted. “She’s been calling every half hour since Michelle left. She’s afraid something will go wrong. I haven’t told her about losing Sophie so I’d appreciate it if you’d keep that to yourself.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Jack said. “Bring the flash drives.”
“Will do,” Ben said, “But I told you I haven’t been able to encrypt them. Whoever put the security on those things is a freaking genius. If I do it wrong, the whole thing will be destroyed.”
