Richter excused himself to return to his family. "I'm hoping they'll all go home now that you two are safe and sound."
After a few minutes, Estelle said, "I'll head to my room if you don't mind?" She carried her plate of halfeaten food to the sink, cleaned it and put the dish and silverware in the dishwasher.
Cooper watched her retreat, then said, "I thought you came to talk to Simone. To check out JoLynn's room for that necklace? What happened?"
Simone. With what I'd just been through, I'd forgotten about her. "I did talk to her, as a matter of fact. Before I decided to invite Estelle for a drive. I mean, Estelle's probably seen and heard plenty, yet we never questioned her."
"I questioned her as soon as I found out JoLynn lived here," Cooper said.
"Okay, you questioned her, but I didn't. Anyway, that's not what's important." I lowered my voice. "Get this. Simone admitted she took the pictures of JoLynn at the cemetery."
Cooper said, "That's one question answered. How did they get in Dugan's hands?"
"She doesn't know," I said. "She said she threw them away because they were such poor quality. She also lost her camera."
"That's certainly true." Richter was back and he'd heard us. "I bought Simone a new one. What does this have to do with the investigation?"
He obviously hadn't heard the first part of what I'd said about the cemetery pictures. So I told him.
"Are you considering the possibility that Simone somehow met this Dugan man?" Richter said. "Gave him the photos?"
"I don't think so. Her biggest concern was her lost camera and how to replace it. She thought she may have left it behind on a trip to U.T."
"Yes. She went with Adele and Ian. Those two in the same room is bad enough, but in the same car? No wonder Simone was distracted enough to lose something as important to her as her camera."
Ian? I'd assumed Simone meant Leopold when she said she took the trip with her parents. "Can you excuse me a minute for a restroom break?" I said. If Estelle was still around, I needed to ask her something.
I stood quickly and started for the big hall.
"There's a powder room right off the utility room this way," Richter called.
"I noticed you have a bathroom with cherubs last time I was here. I love cherubs," I said over my shoulder.
As I hurried down the hall, I noticed the living areas were both empty, so the rest of the family had taken off. I made the left turn and saw all those closed doors. Which one belonged to Estelle? I had to talk to her. Now.
But when I saw JoLynn's door ajar, I knew where she was. Replacing the necklace. Sure enough, she was in the room. Her back was to me and she was fluffing pillows at the head of the bed.
She gasped and turned when I whispered her name.
"You scared me," Estelle said. "You can't act like we're suddenly best friends, Abby. You'll make Mr. Richter suspicious."
"I know. But I have to ask you something important. You've cleaned all those houses. Did you notice if Adele Hunt or Ian McFarland had a camera similar to Simone's?"
"Actually, I thought Simone lent hers out. Which was odd because she was in love with her camera. Hardly ever let it out of her sight. Then I decided Mr. McFarland must have bought one just like hers. Simone probably convinced him—so she could have a spare handy in an emergency."
"Thank you, Estelle. Thank you so much."
I paid a visit to the bathroom then, the one that reminded me of Glenwood Cemetery. I sat on a little bench against the wall and thought for a minute. Ian found the pictures, maybe in the trash here at the ranch or maybe in Simone's camera case on the trip to U.T. He got worried. What else did his daughter have on her camera? If Ian somehow met up with Kent Dugan, and Simone saw them together, she might have taken their picture with her new telephoto lens, just like she'd taken pictures of JoLynn. He couldn't know unless he looked at all her pictures. And he had to be concerned that others might see any or all of what she'd shot. So he stole the whole friggin' camera.
I stood, put my hands under the cold water and then rested my palms against my warm cheeks. I don't want to bring Estelle into this if I don't have to. I walked slowly back to the kitchen. Maybe I didn't have to reveal how I learned where the other camera might be.
I found Richter and Cooper holding beer glasses when I returned, while Kate was cleaning up after me.
"I realize now that I didn't see Ian here tonight," I said. "He came back from Houston with you, right?"
"Yes. He called Simone right after dinner—which didn't make Adele too happy," Richter said. "He took off right after he spoke with Simone and I assumed she said something that bothered him. She gets to him. Gets to all of us at times."
Cooper said, "Why the interest in Ian?" He knew I wasn't simply making polite conversation.
"I have this gut feeling. Can we act on it without every single piece of evidence in place for once?" I said.
"You suspect Ian of something? That's ridiculous," Richter said.
"Can't hurt to ask him a few questions," Cooper said. "Is this about the camera?"
Richter looked back and forth between us. "Simone's camera? The one I bought for her?"
"Actually, this is about the one she lost." I walked over and picked up the cordless phone from its spot on the kitchen desk. "Do me a favor, Mr. Richter. Call Simone. Tell her mother or whoever answers that you didn't get to see Simone today and want to say good night."
"What's this about, Abby?" But he took the phone and dialed.
"I'll explain later."
I breathed a sigh of relief when Simone apparently answered and she and her uncle talked briefly before he wished her that good night.
When he disconnected, he said, "I've never done that before. She seemed . . . glad to hear from me. Now, please, what's going on?"
"I wanted to make sure she was safe—and she is," I said.
Cooper was already headed for the door and I grabbed my bag and was on his tail. "Kate, we'll call the two of you when we get this figured out."
"Um, okay . . . sure," I heard her say.
We took Cooper's truck and I gave him the general direction of McFarland's house. I was sure glad he didn't ask me how I knew.
Cooper said, "Is there evidence on the camera Ian took from his daughter?"
"I don't know. But he believed there might be. I'm guessing he thought Simone caught him meeting with Dugan," I said.
"That's what you asked Simone about today—her pictures, about what she saw." Cooper was driving so fast I was holding on to the handle above the passenger door for dear life.
I said, "When Ian called his daughter after dinner, I'm betting she mentioned my visit to her earlier today."
Cooper steered with one hand and unclipped his cell phone from his belt. "And that's why McFarland took off in such a hurry." He flipped open the phone and pressed a speed dial number. "This is Boyd. I need you and the patrol car at Ian McFarland's house. And I need you now." He paused to listen, then said, "It's on the Richter property. Look it up on a damn map if you have to, Marshall." He closed the phone and looked at me. "I don't know how much more I can take of this job."
Those were probably the longest two miles I've ever gone. What had Ian done? What did he plan to do now? Finally we saw the house lights up ahead. Cooper killed the headlights and slowed his truck to a crawl. "I prefer surprises," he said.
"I'm not sure you could surprise anyone. This road is too noisy."
"Worth a try," he said.
The wide rectangle of light coming from McFarland's open garage door made the last few feet of our trip easy. We stopped right before a giant oleander bush—there was one on either side of the driveway. "Stay in the truck, Abby. Let me ask this guy a few serious questions first."
He reached across me, opened the glove compartment and took out his weapon. Something semiautomatic, but it was impossible to tell the make in the dark.
After he quietly left the truck, not bothering to fully close his door, I took my Lady Smit
h from my bag and slid across and out the driver's side.
I stayed hidden behind the oleander and saw Cooper with his weapon trained on the door inside the garage that led into the house. The Lexus in the garage had all the doors as well as the trunk open. From the looks of things, someone was taking a trip. And I was betting that someone wasn't coming back anytime soon. Cooper positioned himself beside the front passenger door, maybe eight feet from the entrance to the house.
When Ian McFarland came out into the garage with a box in both hands and saw who was there to greet him, he froze.
"Put down the box and place your hands on your head," Cooper said.
"What's this?" Ian said. "We're playing cops and robbers, are we?"
"Put down the box, Mr. McFarland," Cooper repeated.
"Or what? You'll shoot me?" And then suddenly, McFarland threw the box Cooper's way and whipped a pistol from his waistband. "Why don't I simply take care of this little problem myself?" He raised the gun to his temple.
I felt my stomach drop. I didn't want to witness a man murdering himself. I was sure Cooper didn't, either. I set my Lady Smith on the gravel and stepped out from behind the tall bush.
"Please don't do that," I said.
"Look who's joined the party. How many times have you seen a man make a bloody mess of his head? And I'm using the word bloody in the literal sense, by the way."
"Never saw anyone commit suicide. And I don't want to now," I said.
"Abby," Cooper said slowly, his eyes fixed on McFarland. "Get back in the truck."
No, he didn't know me very well, either.
"Brits aren't big on guns, are they, Ian?" I started walking toward him, my elbows bent, hands so he could see I held no weapon.
"Please, let me handle this," Cooper said in a strained whisper.
I kept my eyes on Ian. "I talked to Simone a long time today. Saw the photos all over her walls, the ones she'd taken. She's talented, Ian. And I'd say half of them were of you."
"That's why I hoped to leave without a word," he
said. "She doesn't need this disaster of a father in her life. Now I have to depart another way."
"And what's your thought process on that?" I said. "You kill yourself and leave us with unanswered questions— leave her devastated. You think she'll want to go off to school then? You think she'll want to pick up a camera when she finds out she might have driven you to this?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cooper inching closer to Ian.
"That's ridiculous. It's not her fault," McFarland said. "I was a fool. I had no idea Dugan would try to kill JoLynn when I told him she was trying to con Elliott out of every penny she could get her hands on. Money that belongs to my daughter. Then Dugan comes round looking for her. The idiot. The stupid, stupid idiot." The gun was wobbling in his hand now, not pressed against his skull.
"How did you find Kent Dugan?" I asked.
"Through JoLynn's cell phone, the one I nicked not long ago. She kept it hidden with a bag of old makeup under her sink. I charged it up and voila` —I had her history."
"If you do something stupid, Simone will blame herself for taking those pictures," Cooper said. "Kids always find a way to blame themselves."
Cooper and I were on the same page now. Meanwhile, he was getting closer by the second without Ian seeming to notice.
But the desperation I saw in Ian's eyes made my hands shake, made my mouth grow dry. But then he started to lower the pistol and I almost let out an audible sigh of relief.
And that's when we heard the siren of the approaching police car.
All hell broke loose.
Cooper dived at Ian and someone's gun went off—I didn't know whose because I ducked at the sound, my hands over my head.
Then I heard them scuffling and opened my eyes. They were rolling on the concrete as Cooper tried to restrain Ian.
I stood and hurried back to where I'd left the Lady Smith, cursing all the way. By then, the patrol car came to a screeching halt in front of the driveway. But I made it to Cooper and Ian first. Neither of them now held a gun—both weapons were swept aside during the struggle and lay five feet away.
I raised my .38 and shot into the garage ceiling.
The two men stopped moving. Nothing like a gunshot to get everyone's attention.
Then Marshall came rushing in, weapon drawn. "Drop your weapon, ma'am," he shouted.
Cooper, meanwhile, used my distraction to his advantage. Ian was pinned and very much under his control. "Not her, you dumbass," Cooper said to Marshall. "Cuff this one."
If I didn't laugh, I probably would have cried. So I laughed.
31
The police station in Pineview reminded me of JoLynn's latest hospital room. Small and smelly. Cooper and Kate didn't seem to mind sitting elbow to elbow behind his desk as we waited for DeShay and Chavez to drive from Houston and pick up Kent Dugan's killer. I sat in a corner on a molded plastic chair drinking a Diet Coke. Ian McFarland was in one of the two holding cells, being watched by Marshall. After all, he did threaten to kill himself an hour ago. Cooper decided to keep him here, rather than in the basement jail of the old courthouse near that town square, the courthouse I was supposed to have seen today.
Cooper complied with Ian's wish that his daughter not be called right away. Ian wanted to give his official confession to HPD first. But that didn't mean he wouldn't give us his unofficial confession, despite Cooper reading him his Miranda rights twice. No, Ian simply wouldn't shut up—that is, until Elliott Richter and the nerdiest lawyer on the planet arrived. If the attorney cinched his pants any higher, he'd strangle himself. Ian suddenly stopped giving us his version of events.
The nerd was the company lawyer—a stand-in until Richter could find his friend "the best defense attorney in Harris County." Richter actually shouted this out to Ian through the open door separating the office area from the holding-cell area. A suicide watch, Marshall had pointed out to Cooper, meant that the door must remain open.
I wondered if Richter's offer to get another lawyer would stand when he learned how his friend Ian uncov ered JoLynn's past by stealing her phone and tracking Dugan down. I'm sure he had an easier search than Cooper and I. The Internet can find anyone with a number attached to their identity and Ian found out where Dugan lived thanks to that number. Then he researched Dugan thoroughly before talking to him, learned he ran an ID shop and put two and two together. That's how JoLynn inserted herself into their lives—by making fake documents.
At first, he thought Dugan was in on the scam, but Dugan apparently didn't believe a word Ian said—until Ian showed him the photos his daughter discarded in the trash when she'd been visiting over at Ian's place.
"All I wanted was for Dugan to come and get his girlfriend, blackmail her into leaving by threatening to expose her to Elliott," Ian had said while Marshall used the first-aid kit to clean abrasions on Ian's face. Ian was sitting on the cot in the cell and we were all in the small area right outside. "That way," Ian went on, "Elliott would never know what I'd done, that I was the instigator. At least, that's the deal I made with Dugan. Paid him a pretty penny, too."
Instigator? I thought. Has anyone ever used that word in a confession before?
"What real harm was she doing at Magnolia Ranch?" Cooper asked—which I found a surprisingly sympathetic question for him. "I mean, there's plenty of money to go around. I believe JoLynn made your friend Elliott happy."
"Don't you agree that would have changed over time?" Ian said. "Money aside, I didn't want Elliott to get his heart broken. He's got a lousy ticker as it is."
I said, "She needed a home and he needed a granddaughter. She was a threat to your own daughter's inheritance. Maybe your own. Isn't that what worried you the most?"
"Absolutely not. I was protecting Elliott as well as Simone's inheritance. How was I to know Mr. Dugan would corrupt her automobile—I don't even quite understand what he did to the car, by the way. I suppose he was a psychopath bent on revenge and I had
no way of knowing he was capable of murder."
"Actually," Kate said from her spot against the farthest wall from his cell, "the correct term is antisocial personality disorder."
"Thank you for correcting me, Dr. Rose. I will store that information to impress my future cell mates."
I said, "Maybe you didn't realize what a bad dude he was, but like our daddy would have said, 'You roll around with the hogs, you better expect to get muddy.' "
"I am certainly ashamed of what I did behind Elliott's back. But I never intended to kill that man. I met with him late Thursday evening hoping to terminate our relationship. I wanted nothing more to do with him after what he'd done—that murder attempt he was so proud of. But he grew hostile, wanted money to keep quiet, and when I drove off, he got in the way of my automobile."
That's when I started to wonder what the autopsy showed. Somehow, I doubted Dugan's death was an accident. Ian wanted us to believe that, though, wanted to sound noble and concerned, if only for his daughter and his friend. I also began to consider the possibility he never intended to harm himself. He'd been caught like a minnow in a bucket in that garage tonight. Maybe his repeated pronouncements of remorse along with his confessions were all for show.
I finished my Coke just as I heard the sound of a car. DeShay and Chavez must be here. I saw that Cooper rested his hand on Kate's back when the two of them stood, and smiled to myself. They probably had a very nice drive on the way up here and maybe an even nicer dinner. I wanted all the details on our ride home.
DeShay held the door for Chavez and said, "I hear you have someone who needs a ride back to the city." He looked at me. "You never stop working, do you, Abby girl?"
"Take him," Cooper said, "because I'm tired of listening to him yak."
Richter and the nerd backed up to give the new arrivals room, and Richter shot Cooper a look.
Cooper saw it and said, "Sorry if that bothers you, Mr. Richter. You're a very smart man, but you made a mistake with McFarland. Your friend is bad news."
Richter's face reddened, but he didn't argue.
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