“Morty, we have ample evidence to charge you with the crimes. You must know that it is unlawful to move a dead human body with the intent to abandon or conceal the corpse. Verne,” Chief Hopper ordered the officer, “cuff him and read him his rights.”
“Please, no handcuffs. That’s so humiliating,” Mortonson begged. “Take me up to my office and we can talk. There must be a misunderstanding.”
Hopper looked at Clay who was smiling a big smile. The chief shook his head. “Why not. This whole investigation has been unorthodox. Let’s go upstairs and talk, Morty, but, Verne, read him his rights first. And Clay, make yourself useful, and get his car out of the way.”
Chapter 24
After Marshall was read his rights and led inside the Depot, he was allowed to call his attorney. Erika, who was at work in her office, heard that Toni Nickel had been summoned, so she called Andi Nickel and asked her to attend as well. Consensus was that potential charges of tax fraud and tax evasion and a suggested civil suit by Erika might motivate Marshall to break down and cooperate. Furniture was organized in the banquet room for everyone that would be present for the interrogation.
Erika gave Clay another tender hug when she finally got a chance. Then she pulled back and gently touched his black eye. “That looks painful. What happened? Did you fall?”
“On my eye?” Clay said without thinking. Then he laughed. “Actually, yes. I fell off the treadmill and hit my eye on a weight bench.”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at Tanner as if to say, “Really?”
“That’s the story he seems to be sticking to. I prefer the one where he got slugged by the midget.”
“Little person, Tanner,” Clay corrected.
At approximately 2:25, all of the key players were present: Chief Hopper, Officer Verne Gilbert, Marshall Mortonson, Clay and Tanner Thomas, Toni and Andi Nickel, and Erika Payne.
After a few introductions, Chief Hopper explained to Toni Nickel why her client had been arrested. She turned to Mortonson. “Have they read you your rights?”
“Yes.”
“And you understand them?”
“Yes…This is just some sort of mistake.”
“I would advise that you don’t talk, Morty. I don’t even know what evidence they have.”
“You want to talk,” Tanner calmly told him inside his head.
“I want to talk,” Marshall announced.
“I need a few moments with my client,” Toni said. Officer Gilbert followed them to Erika’s office and then let them have their private meeting, a meeting in which Toni told Marshall not to talk. When they returned, Toni announced, “My client would rather not talk right now.”
Just then, Logan Payne appeared in the banquet room doorway, arriving at the Depot after school had ended.
“Tell her you want to talk,” Tanner spoke inside Marshall’s head.
“I want to talk, Toni.”
“What? We just decided not to!”
“I feel like I want to talk.”
“Good,” Hopper quickly said. “Here’s the situation, Ms. Nickel. Your client is being charged with a felony for moving and hiding the body of the late Adrian Payne on the night of Friday, August 8, 2003. Later, he moved the body a second time, at which time he concealed the corpse at the gravesite along the railroad tracks about a quarter of a mile west of the South Oak Street crossing where the body was eventually discovered. We have DNA evidence that confirms that the body was stored in his railway storage shed just east of Oak Street before it was buried, and we have a witness that will testify that Mr. Mortonson’s bloodied body exited said storage shed just minutes after the train wreck. Additionally, we have our forensic experts working diligently to determine the possibility that Adrian Payne may have been murdered by Mr. Mortonson.”
“I didn’t murder him!” Marshall nearly yelled.
“What happened, Morty?” Erika asked.
“We were on our way back from Lansing. Logan went to see Adrian and came back upset.”
“That’s because Adrian had struck him in the face,” Clay said.
Logan noticeably flinched from the doorway of the banquet room. He had never told a soul that he had been hit. It appeared to Clay and Erika both that he was very embarrassed that people knew what his father had done.
“Well, I can believe it, but I didn’t know it at the time. I just went to talk to Adrian about the boy, you know? He wanted a ride in the engine with his dad. When I approached the engine, Adrian appeared to be passed out on the floor. I looked up and saw we were approaching something on the tracks much too fast. I hit the emergency door release switch and picked up Adrian. The train was going to crash and the engineer jumped, so I jumped with Adrian. I tried to save his life. We hit the ground and I tumbled away, but Adrian landed and barely moved. The train crashed and two cars tipped. I guess the front one landed on the engineer, but the second one I know for sure landed right on Adrian and then slid off. He was crushed. I tried to save his life,” Marshall ranted. “Instead, I may have caused his death. He could be a horrible person, but he was my best friend.”
“So why did you hide and then bury the body?” Hopper asked.
“Don’t answer that question,” Toni advised.
“Answer the question,” Tanner commanded with his mind.
“As soon as I saw him, I knew he was dead. That meant that Erika would be my partner. Fifty-fifty. She didn’t know a thing about the railroad business. And she must have hated the man. She had every reason to. She would have wanted to sell her half, and I would have had to buy her out or sell. I couldn’t do the one and didn’t want to do the other. Our contract stipulated that Erika would inherit Adrian’s portion of the business upon his death, but only I would have decision-making powers. I figured if Adrian disappeared instead of dying, I could build the business back up. I knew without Adrian wasting the company’s money, I could make it a respectable business.”
“Are you suggesting,” Andi Nickel interrupted, “that stealing from Erika and committing tax fraud is a respectable way to run your business?”
Before Marshall could respond, Hopper interjected and looked at Toni Nickel. “That brings us to another issue, Ms. Nickel. Based on the books currently in the possession of your sister, I believe we have enough information to take to the Criminal Investigation Division, who will most certainly file charges of criminal tax fraud, tax evasion, and possibly money laundering.”
“Listen to me, Morty. Do not say another thing.”
Tanner’s thoughts invaded Marshall’s mind. “You have more to tell us.”
“But I have more to tell. I took money from the business and lost it all. I was doctoring the books so Adrian wouldn’t find out, but he did, and he blackmailed me. He started acting and spending irresponsibly. Whenever I approached him, he threatened to press charges. He told me however I could cover his spending, I’d better do it, or I’d lose my share of the business. He forced me to lie, steal, and file false tax reports. I did everything I could legally and illegally to fix the books so I could show Adrian I no longer owed the company, but he was killed in the wreck before I could get out from under my debt. I was still in such a hole that there was no way to buy out Erika. I realized that as long as Adrian was missing, Erika wouldn’t inherit the business from him. I did my best to provide for her. He was a sleaze, Erika, but I’m not. I didn’t leave you out in the cold.”
“You think by giving me a low-paying office job, you were providing for me. I have your books that show that just this week you were plotting to offer me a payment for the last seven years far below my rightful share. Is that what you call ‘providing’ for me? Jeez, Morty, if he’d been declared dead, I’d have had a two million dollar insurance policy to cash in. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt the need to sell if I had the insurance money.”
When she said “two million dollar insurance policy,” Hopper made eye contact with Clay. “A good motive to kill the man, don’t you think? I told you that you might be
wrong about her.”
Clay could read Hopper’s mind, and he didn’t like what Hopper was thinking, but as much as it pained him, he had to admit for the first time there was doubt in his mind about the woman he was falling in love with. The last person he truly loved was unfaithful and was murdered. Could his relationship with Erika end just as tragically, with him proving that Erika somehow pulled off a murder?
“I’m sorry, Erika. I’m truly sorry. Chief Hopper, I’ve done some bad things, but I didn’t murder my partner. I tried to save his life.”
“Is there anything else you’d like to share, Morty, before we take you off to jail?”
“I knew this day was inevitable. I worried about it for seven years. No, there’s nothing else to share.”
“Okay, Verne, take him away. Book him, print him, and lock him up. It looks like we’ve solved our mystery.”
As Officer Gilbert led him away, Marshall pulled his skeleton keys from his pocket and placed them into the hand of Erika Payne.
***
Eventually, Clay, Tanner, Erika, Logan, and Luke Hopper made it into Erika’s office. Logan looked embarrassed, but when Erika hugged him, he hugged back.
“Logan, why didn’t you ever tell me that your father hit you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Mom. Not here; not now.”
Erika nodded in understanding. “We’ll talk about it later when you’re ready. But Logan…now that we know what happened to your father, and we know he won’t be back, maybe you can be happy again.”
Clay felt a coolness in the room, a temperature drop that he alone could sense. He was sure that Adrian Payne was present. Logan stood still for a few seconds then reached into his pocket and pulled out the jackknife that his father had given him so many years ago. He looked at it as if he was thinking some deep thought. “I don’t want this anymore,” he said. Then he slowly walked to the wastebasket and tossed it in.
As the knife hit the bottom of the basket, Clay heard, “Waste not; want not.” Logan then walked out of the room, followed by Erika.
Clay took a confused look at the picture on the wall, but then he heard again, “Waste not; want not.”
Clay turned to Tanner and Luke. “It’s Adrian.” Then he said to his ghost. “You want me to get Logan’s jackknife, right?”
“Yes. Can you figure out what’s the point of it?” Adrian replied.
“Now you’re asking me questions? I hardly understand anything you say, so how can I have answers to your riddles?”
“Do you think I care about you?”
Clay got out of his seat, walked to the wastebasket, and pulled out Logan’s knife. He turned back to the picture. Tanner looked on, wondering what was going on while Luke seemed more than a bit distracted. “You have anything meaningful to say to me, Adrian?”
“Skeleton key.”
“What? Is there something else back there in the attic? I don’t understand anything you’re saying to me!” Clay said in frustration.
There was no answer.
Clay walked back to the family picture that was hanging on Erika’s office wall. He wanted to wipe that stupid, dimpled grin from his face. There he was in all his selfishness, sitting next to his beautiful wife and his son who wanted nothing more than his love and attention. “Tell me, Adrian. Did Erika have anything to do with your death?”
“It was a heart attack. Ease the pain,” was the response he was given.
Clay turned to his son and the chief in frustration. “He wanted me to get the knife, and then he asked me if I could figure out the point of it. He’s still saying ‘skeleton key’ and ‘heart attack,’ and he still wants me to ease his pain. I don’t care about his pain, and I don’t know what I should be looking for.” He remembered that Hopper didn’t know about Tanner’s gifts, so he looked Tanner in the eyes and spoke telepathically to him. “Have you had any other visions?”
Tanner shook his head no.
Finally Hopper blurted out what was bothering him. “I need to know if you made Morty talk in that banquet room.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I was hoping that was the case. So, what do you think? Since Adrian hasn’t made his way to the light, or whatever he needs to do, I assume there’s more to this than just Marshall Mortonson. If we figure it out, maybe he can make his way to the next life.”
“I want to get away from here. One good deed and I can move on.”
“Maybe Morty killed him,” Hopper continued, “but maybe Erika did, or maybe Robbie Gomez or Dan Duncan. Or maybe he was passed out and just died unfortunately by getting squashed by a train. Or maybe he had a heart attack and died. If there’s more to this, how do we figure it out?”
“Well,” replied Clay, “Robbie doesn’t want us to check out the train engine, so we should start there.”
“Done. I have an expert coming in today.”
“And maybe we can learn something from the truck driver. Did you figure out how to contact him?”
“Way ahead of you, Clay. Contacted his work, and he’s still a valued employee. Guess they overlooked that he managed to get his rig stolen while he was takin’ a leak. Considering his entire precious cargo was killed as a result, they seem to be pretty forgiving. He’s been making Michigan deliveries regularly over the past seven years. You’re the luckiest investigator I’ve ever known, my friend, so it’s par for the course that he just happens to be on his way to Michigan today and will be at Sports Creek Raceway tomorrow a little after noon. Name’s Lawrence Maloney. Company’s Equine En Route, Inc. from Louisville, Kentucky. I’ll bet if you show up there around noon, you’ll get a chance to talk to him. Forgive me, but I’ll be doing some more digging into Erika. Believe me, I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t be doin’ my duty if I didn’t investigate. That insurance policy is a mighty good motive for foul play.”
Clay said, “Morty, Dan, and Robbie all said they killed him, but there’s no real evidence. The medical examiner assumes he died in the crash, and Adrian himself thinks he died of a heart attack. Erika was out of town, so why is she a murder suspect?”
“You’re right. I don’t even know if Adrian was murdered, and if he was, there are better suspects than Erika. But what I do know is that there is a lot more to that night than an accidental crash. We’ll just keep trying to figure out what happened as we go along.”
***
The Thomases had an early dinner with the Paynes. Tanner and Logan were both very quiet during the meal. Afterward, they headed out to the driveway to shoot baskets. Clay and Erika were sitting on the couch, snuggling closely and holding hands, both temporarily caught up in their own thoughts. Finally Clay said, “Two million dollars?”
“Yes. I guess I need to call the insurance company, don’t I?”
“You haven’t called them?”
“Unlike a lot of other people, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Adrian was alive. I figured he’d gotten himself into trouble, and was on the run. I figured he didn’t really care about us enough to call, but someday, he’d come strolling back into our lives. I knew about the insurance policy because I signed it, but I never checked into it or his will or trust. The break-ins made me think of ghosts, and Morty’s office especially made me think of Adrian, but there was no other reason to assume he was dead.”
“You didn’t even call your insurance company now that you know for sure?”
“I hadn’t even thought of it. Besides, they’re still holding the body. Isn’t there supposed to be a funeral and such before I would look into my inheritance?”
That made sense to Clay, so he asked something else that was on his mind. “What do you make of Logan?”
“Clay, I’ve become really a simple woman. I care about him more than I care about myself, and I’d die for him if I had to. It hurts me more than I can say to see him unhappy. Now that I know that Adrian hit him, I assume he did it other times too. Maybe that’s why Logan was withdrawn before the accident. Losing a father has to be traumatic, s
o maybe that’s why he was unhappy after the accident. Maybe he’s lived under fear that his dad would return, or maybe his last encounter with his dad was so traumatic that he can’t get over it. Whatever it is, it has caused me just as much pain as it’s caused him.”
“But you were hoping once the body was found, he’d change for the better, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but it didn’t seem to happen. I was hoping that learning his father didn’t abandon him would help too. Then I was hoping that finding out Morty was involved would make some sort of impact, but he still doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“What can I do?” Clay asked sincerely.
“Pray for him. Be a friend. Keep bringing Tanner around. Find out what happened. All of those things, I guess.”
“What do you want me to do with his knife?” Clay told her that Adrian wanted him to take it from the wastebasket.
“Adrian gave that to him. It always seemed important to Logan. I figured it symbolized something, or there was some sort of sentimental value to it because it was something he got from his dad. I was surprised to see him throw it away. Why don’t you keep it? Maybe someday, he’ll want it back, and it would be nice if he got it from you.”
Erika hugged Clay and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek that made the hairs on his arms stand up. She felt so good to him. He wanted to help her. So he prayed all right. He prayed for Logan, but he prayed harder that Erika wasn’t involved in any unscrupulous activities. The second prayer was futile, though, because if she was involved seven years ago, no prayer was going to change that. It just made him feel better to pray it. It gave him hope.
The back door opened, and they jumped apart like guilty kids hiding from their parents. When the boys returned, Logan actually had a smile on his face. “If I play tonight, I think I’m gonna do all right,” he said.
“How ’bout I trim those bangs from your eyes so you can see?” Erika said while smiling back. That was a lot of words from her son.
“Okay,” was his more typical one-word reply.
They disappeared into the bathroom. Tanner said, “I may have told him that he’s gonna have a good shooting night tonight.”
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