Davenport Mysteries 03-Perfect Crime

by Varun Vashist

  “In short, we tried to find the person who could’ve been behind hiring Karl,” Kiara summed up.

  “And, I feel you’ve found something that makes you believe that you’re right.” Carlson’s face turned pale at the mere possibility of the case getting a new life.

  “Yes, the police checked his house and found only a journal. The journal mentions a woman who came in a black luxury car and paid him five grand for his services. Naturally, they didn’t find the money in his house. But, when we checked with the neighbors, we found that he conducted all his business from his office, which no one else has checked. We found from the vendors across the street that a woman indeed came to his office and met him, and she came in a black Mercedes.”

  Sweat drops glistened on Carlson’s forehead. “Who do you think that was?”

  “We suspect it to be Shirley Campbell, as she owns three black Mercedes,” Kiara said slowly.

  “But it isn’t her, right?” Carlson took a cue from Kiara’s tone.

  Kiara nodded. “The police report says that no cell phone was found in Karl’s house, but the neighbor gave us his phone number.”

  “And you have the phone records with you,” Carlson said. His heart was sinking with each passing moment. “Come on, who is it?”

  Kiara pushed the pages across the table.

  Carlson looked at it, and his eyes widened at what he saw. “This is not possible. Cynthia was held captive on these dates. How could Karl speak with her on her number?”

  “When we met Shawn the first time, he had mentioned that he tried her number but found the phone in the bedroom instead,” Jake replied.

  Carlson looked at him with disbelief. It took him some time to digest what he had just heard.

  “So, Shawn was in financial distress. The Mafia hired Lorenzo to threaten him. At the same time, Cynthia arranged for their vacation. He saw an opportunity and approached Rafael, who set up a meeting with Lorenzo. This is what he told us, right?”

  “Yeah, and we believe the story is true until this point,” Jake agreed to Carlson’s interpretation.

  “But, instead of asking for help to placate the Mafia, Shawn paid him to get Cynthia kidnapped. He paid someone to approach Karl, maybe Amy. She told him to get the proofs. It does make sense now. He would be the only one besides Amy to know that he had transferred the money to her account. He would have specifically ordered Karl to get the bank statement so that no fingers are pointed in his direction. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is why he did all of this.”

  “Only he knows the exact motive behind it. What we think is that he was threatened, and he reached out to Lorenzo to help him out since he doesn’t have that kind of money to pay to the Mafia. When Lorenzo disagreed, he gave an alternate proposal. He couldn’t have arranged the money by himself, but if Cynthia—the heir to the Campbell fortune—was kidnapped, the money would come in no time. We’re sure that he actually had an affair with Amy and wanted to end his relationship with Cynthia. There are rumors that his rise in his company has a lot to do with his marriage, so it’s not a wedlock out of love.

  During the investigation, he thought of leveraging the situation further by bringing the affair to public. He knew that his image was going to be maligned, and since he was holding the reins, he knew that whenever this hatred would reach its peak, he would ensure that Cynthia was released and she would come to know about the affair and would divorce him.”

  “We checked that there is no prenup signed between them. He is going to gain millions in alimony,” Kiara said.

  “But, it backfired, didn’t it?” Carlson asked. “Cynthia isn’t going to divorce him.”

  “Again, we think that the Campbell family doesn’t want bad publicity right now. They hate Shawn a lot and have wanted him out of Cynthia’s life all these years. But, this isn’t the right time. It will happen, maybe six months down the line. The press conference was arranged to salvage their image,” Kiara explained.

  “What about the woman who approached Karl?” Carlson asked.

  “It could be anyone. She was wearing a scarf and large shades. Only Shawn knows who she is,” Jake said. “As you said that it could also be Amy. Although, the vendor pointed out at her being middle-aged though he wasn’t that sure.”

  Carlson nodded. “It does tie up the loose ends. The way you started this discussion, I felt you were repeating what I had told you earlier.”

  Kiara gave a sheepish smile. “We just wanted to interest you in the details by starting with that.”

  “You guys never let a case die its natural death,” Carlson said with a smile. “We have enough evidence to take Shawn into custody now, and I believe Lorenzo will agree to our theory too.”

  “What about Michael Campbell?” Jake asked in confusion.

  “What about him?” Carlson asked.

  “I thought you had your allegiance toward him, and that’s why you were not letting us have a free hand,” Jake said.

  “What?” Carlson asked with a faint smile and looked at Kiara. “You haven’t told him?”

  Kiara shook her head. “I thought you didn’t want me to.”

  Carlson turned toward Jake. “I only took Michael Campbell’s help to use his connections with the Italian-American community to find out Lorenzo’s whereabouts. And, the daily calls were his idea; even I was fed up with that.”

  Jake smiled sheepishly. “I feel stupid now … I’m actually sorry this time. I over read the situation.”

  “So, you didn’t mean it the last time you said sorry to me?” Carlson asked with surprise.

  “I think we should get going,” Kiara intervened. “I want to bring in Shawn Hansen personally this time.”

  “Me too,” Jake said and got up at once.

  “Yeah,” Carlson said, raising his brow. “For the first time, I’m not scared of your theories. Good work.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  With that, they stepped out of Carlson’s office.

  Carlson looked at the door and gave a beaming smile. “So much for the public image. How are you going to get out of this, Michael Campbell?”

  “Wow! We nailed it,” Jake beamed as they drove to Liberty Plaza.

  “Shawn Hansen doesn’t have a clue what’s going to hit him,” Kiara replied. “It feels great when Carlson is on our side, doesn’t it?”

  “Absolutely, and now I feel guilty for not trusting him earlier,” Jake said apologetically.

  “You lured me into thinking that too,” Kiara replied. Anyhow, he must be happy with this discovery of ours.”

  “You bet,” Jake nodded.

  “Now, let’s hope Shawn cooperates,” Kiara said.

  “He has no other way out,” Jake replied with a smile.

  CHAPTER 11

  The joint press conference had the desired impact as hoped by Shawn and Cynthia. Liberty Plaza, which was covered on all sides by the media vans a few hours back, looked like the most peaceful place on earth now. All the rumors had been put to rest by Shawn and without rumors, there was no news to be manufactured.

  Kiara and Jake had visited Liberty Plaza so many times by now that the guards had started to recognize their car. They opened the gate without asking anything to them. Kiara looked around the compound for a parking spot.

  “Lots of luxury cars, huh?” she remarked.

  “You name it; they have it. I don’t even know the names of half of them,” Jake said while remembering his embarrassing moment when he had accompanied Shawn to his apartment.

  “Doesn’t matter. Shawn has to go with us on our old machine,” Kiara smirked and got out of the car.

  It was almost three in the afternoon and the whole place looked deserted, with not a single soul around the whole building. Even the guards didn’t look that attentive.

  “You know what we’re going to tell them?” Kiara asked.

  “Yeah, nothing.” Jake smiled.

  Kiara smiled back. She was enjoying every moment of this, and she knew Jake was als
o loving it.

  “How did it go?” Carlson asked while looking at Shawn Hansen through the observation mirror.

  “Well, he resisted as we had expected him to, but we didn’t tell him anything this time,” Kiara replied. “We just told him to call his attorney.”

  “He had to plead James to join him. That was a good scene,” Jake said with a smile.

  “He had to plead after he confessed out of turn last time.” Carlson smiled back. “What about Cynthia?”

  “She also questioned us, but when we didn’t reveal anything, she just asked Shawn to cooperate. According to her, he doesn’t have to fear anything as he has done nothing wrong,” Kiara said.

  “If she comes to know that he was the one behind her kidnapping, she will be the first one to dump him,” Jake said with a grin.

  “We requested one of the neighbors to stay by her side in Shawn’s absence,” Kiara added.

  “Well, she has to stay with her indefinitely,” Carlson said while looking at his phone. He showed the message to Kiara and then to Jake. “I shared our theory with our Italian counterparts, and as suspected, Lorenzo confessed that Shawn Hansen was the one who hired him.”

  Jake and Kiara gave a winning smile together. “Wow! It is going to be a cakewalk.”

  “I guess you should start without any delay,” Carlson said while pointing at James entering the main door.

  “Why are you disturbing him again? I thought the case was closed,” James asked.

  “It’s far from over. My friends here are going to ask a few questions to your client while I arrange for an arrest warrant,” Carlson smirked.

  “What?” James asked in confusion.

  “Your client is the one behind Cynthia Hansen’s kidnapping.”

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  “We are not. And, if he insulted you last time by confessing his role without discussing with you, this time you are in for a bigger disappointment,” Carlson said and gestured to Kiara, who nodded.

  Kiara and Jake walked to the interrogation room. James looked at Carlson one more time and then followed them reluctantly.

  “This is going to be fun,” Carlson mumbled. He walked towards the observation mirror but changed his mind midway. He thought for a moment and then walked into the investigation room.

  Jake and Kiara were about to settle down when they heard the door open. They were surprised to see their boss walking in.

  Carlson walked to the corner and gestured them to start the questioning.

  Jake was in a rather jovial mood and with Carlson’s backing, he wanted to fire on all cylinders.

  “Mr. Hansen, let me come directly to the point,” Jake said. “I don’t want to prolong the discussion and make your attorney suffer. If he wishes to leave the room, he should do that at the start itself.”

  “Is this the way the whole discussion will go?” James asked and looked at Carlson.

  “Jake,” Carlson said firmly.

  Jake nodded. “Okay, let’s get started without much delay. And, remember, this is not a discussion as your lawyer friend thinks it is.”

  Shawn was already irritated, and it was showing on his face. Kiara knew what Jake was trying to do. She thought of taking the backseat for the time being.

  “Mr. Hansen, did you hire Karl Bennett?” Jake asked directly.

  “Who?” James asked.

  “He was the private detective who disclosed Amy’s account statements,” Jake said and again turned toward Shawn.

  “Are you insane?” Shawn said firmly. “Why would I hire someone to malign my image? Why would I put my marriage, my career, and my family name in the line of fire?”

  “So that you could get out of this sham of a marriage and pursue your affair with Ms. Amy Brooks without any interference,” Jake said.

  “I can’t even answer such a flight of fantasy,” Shawn said in exasperation.

  “And, you don’t have to,” James said firmly. “You’re accusing my client based on some false theories, again?”

  “Well, brace yourselves, we have a bunch of those coming your way. It is just a start. Once all of these will link together, you will hand over your client to us yourself,” Jake said with a smile.

  “Jake,” Carlson said in a stern voice.

  Jake nodded once again. “I’m sorry. Here is how the events happened: Mr. Hansen was working with an organization that was about to go bankrupt. Luckily, he met Cynthia during the same time. We believe that as he came to know about her background, he devised a plan—a plan that could help him advance in his career. He befriended her and started dating her. When he knew that she had fallen for him, he proposed to her and got married in a hurry. We have met her family during this investigation. We know that her grandfather, as well as her father both dote on her, and will do anything for her. So, they helped his organization get out of its financial distress, thus helping him. He got a big promotion and a huge paycheck for saving the company from doom that in reality was saved by Michael Campbell.”

  “I’m going to sue you if you continue with your baseless accusations,” James interjected.

  “Please, let us finish,” Carlson said firmly. “We do know what will stand in the court of law and what won’t.”

  “I hope that part is coming up soon,” James sneered.

  “It is. So, as I was saying, he got what he wanted, but it was not enough for him. He had a big house, a big car, and everything else that money could buy, but he knew he could have something else too. As I said earlier, Cynthia married him out of love, but he married her for money. So, when he and Amy became closer, he started to think ways of getting out of his marriage. But it wasn’t that straightforward. She’s the granddaughter of Michael Campbell, the most powerful man in New York. Also, they didn’t have a prenup. If he initiated the divorce, he could’ve lost millions of dollars. He wanted Cynthia to initiate the divorce to have both Amy and the money. In a nutshell, he wanted to do two impossible things: one, to save his ass from Michael Campbell, and two, to make Cynthia so angry that she initiates the divorce proceedings. And, that’s when he created this great plan.”

  “What plan?” James asked. Shawn was listening to every word patiently. The resistance that he had shown initially had all but evaporated.

  “He hired Rafael—which he had already confessed to, but not for taking Lorenzo’s help to appease the Mafia. Instead, Shawn met Lorenzo to make him a part of his plan. Lorenzo and Rafael had to kidnap Cynthia and ask for a ransom. But, to keep Shawn out of it and to make it look authentic, they asked for his client list too. It misled us to believe that they were doing this because Shawn had mismanaged their money—which he has actually done—but it’s something that his clients knew beforehand. It’s part and parcel of the business. There was no threat to his life because of that.”

  “That’s some imagination; I must say. You guys should be awarded for this story,” Shawn finally broke his silence.

  Carlson walked to him. “Drop this act, Mr. Hansen. Lorenzo has already confessed to it.”

  “What?” James asked with surprise and looked at Shawn, who began to shake nervously.

  “This is just the beginning. It also involves a couple of murders, though we aren’t too sure about that count. There may be a third one too,” Carlson said calmly.

  James again looked at Shawn, who had buried his face in his palms. James shook his head in disbelief.

  “You want to leave, or shall we continue?” Jake mocked him.

  “I think I will take it from here,” Kiara jumped into the discussion before it turned ugly. She knew Jake was enjoying every moment of it, but she didn’t want it to turn into a fistfight. Jake looked angrily at her, but she ignored it for the moment.

  “The kidnapping was just a cover-up to show that he was a victim. The actual motive was not to get rid of Cynthia but to get rid of the relationship. That’s why he took Karl Bennett’s services to get a proof of his affair. He already admitted that he transferred the money to Am
y’s account. Apart from him, only Cynthia had the access to the joint account. We checked the details further and guess when the first payment was done.”

  “When?” James asked.

  “The day they returned from Rome. That means it was also a part of the plan—a plan that was created when he came to know about the trip. It was a foolproof plan; they go on a trip to Europe as a surprise gift from his wife. So, no chances of anyone doubting his hand in organizing the trip. The Mafia he chose was European, so the police thought it as a coincidence rather than an elaborate scheme.

  “Anyhow, he knew that once the bank account details go public, the media will take it up from there. If the authorities acted fast—which they had to, as Michael Campbell was behind their backs—Cynthia will be freed at the same time the media will be portraying Shawn as a villain. It will undoubtedly affect her, and it will be accentuated further by the trauma of being kidnapped. And, with her whole family against him, it will be additional pressure on her. This would mean she will ask for a divorce. Thus, his grand plan will come to fruition.”

  “But, they aren’t getting a divorce. Are you?” James asked his client with confusion.

  Before Shawn could have said anything, Jake pitched in. “We believe that they will get a divorce once they are away from the media spotlight.”

  “And, before you again accuse us of having a flight of fantasy, here are Karl Bennett’s phone records. He was in constant touch with someone. Do you recognize this number?” Jake said pushed the sheet across the table.

  Shawn looked at the number, and his face turned pale with fear. “This is Cynthia’s number.”