TARA (The Trouble Sisters Saga Book 2)

by Taylor Lee

  Magnus leapt to his feet and glared at the sheriff. “You better be damn sure that you read him his rights before you questioned him.”

  “You can be sure that Mr. Black’s rights were observed. To be clear, Mr. Armstrong, at this point we are not arresting Mr. Black, but we do have serious questions for him.” As Magnus stormed to the door, Titus called after him, “By the way, sir, after you have talked with your client, we also have some questions for you. It is our understanding that you may have been one of the last people to see Ms. Yanlin alive.”

  Magnus turned back and glared at the frowning sheriff, then shook his head in disgust. “Now you not only think Griffin strangled her but that I did as well?”

  Titus drilled him with a hard stare, then said carefully, “At this point, sir, we are questioning everyone who was close to Ms. Yanlin. That includes you and Mr. Black, as well as the rest of your staff.”

  ****

  Striding into the small interrogation room that had one-way mirrored windows on three sides, Magnus didn’t hide his shock. “Jesus, Griff, I can’t believe this. Good God, man, are you all right? I sure as hell hope these officers told you that you didn’t have to answer any of their questions—in fact, that you shouldn’t until I got here.”

  Griffin raised a weary hand and motioned for Magnus to sit down across from him. “Relax, Magnus. My ‘rights’ were respected. There was no need for me to wait for you. The sheriff and his officers are honorable people. And professional as hell.” He breathed out a hard sigh. “Moreover, as you well know, as angry as I was with Jia, I would never physically hurt her. Yes, I fired her on the spot after you told me what she said to Tara—outrageous lies. But the last time I saw her was at the country club. After I told her I never wanted to see her again, I left to see Tara and then went home.”

  Magnus glanced at the door to ensure that it was closed and then leaned across the table close to Griffin. “God, Griffin, I acted like an outraged attorney with the sheriff, but I gotta tell you, man, from all the gossip at the office, apparently a hell of a lot of people heard you screaming at Jia.” He hesitated, then blew out a hard sigh. “Uh, Griff, I hate to tell you this, but some of the wait staff at the club said that you even threatened her . . . with her life.”

  Chapter 26

  Ryker met Titus’s hard gaze. “Jesus, Titus, you can’t believe that Black had anything to do with killing that woman?”

  The sheriff shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Do I think that he did? No, Ryker, I don’t.” Glancing at Tanya, who was sitting next to Ryker, he added, “Tanya will confirm that if he did have anything to do with it, he is a hell of a good actor. When we went to his house, the only thing he was concerned about was if something had happened to Tara. In my mind, his fear that we were coming to tell him that Tara was hurt was sincere. He also seemed genuinely shocked that Jia Yanlin was dead.”

  Ryker glanced at Tanya, who nodded in agreement. “Dad is right. Either Black is a hell of an actor or he was genuinely surprised. There was no question. His first and only concern was that we were bringing him bad news about Tara.”

  Titus grimaced. “The problem is that we have at least three credible witnesses who heard Griffin accosting the Yanlin woman and verbally threatening her. A couple of them said he was fierce. According to the witnesses, he told Jia that she didn’t know what he was capable of and that she would be sorry. To me, that obviously meant he’d fire her.” He shook his head and then added, “Hell, Ryker, he said the same things to us. He didn’t make any attempt to hide how angry he was. To me, if Griffin had done anything to the dead woman, my sense is he would have couched his anger. As I remember it, he said something to the effect that if he never did another thing, he would make the ‘bitch’ pay for lying to Tara. But I took that to mean that he was as angry with her as he had the right to be.”

  At that moment, there was a skirmish in the hallway, and the door burst open. An angry Tara barged into the room. Her face was flushed as she charged up to his desk and confronted her father. “Where is he, Dad? Where is Griffin? I can’t believe this is happening. You arrested him?” As Titus rose to his feet, Tara turned on Tanya as if seeing her for the first time. “You have to be behind this. You’ve never liked him. You . . . you . . . ”

  Titus rounded the desk, caught Tara’s arm, and pulled her up next to him. “First of all, Tara, no one arrested Griffin. He came here of his own volition to answer our questions. In addition, you are being unfair to your sister. Tanya is as concerned as we all are about what has happened.”

  Tara turned to him, her eyes wide, frightened. “What did happen? All I know is that Magnus Armstrong called me and told me that Jia . . . Jia was killed, strangled, and that you arrested Griffin and brought him to the station. I . . . I can’t believe this, Dad. Why . . . why didn’t you call me? You have to know how frantic I would be!”

  Titus wrapped a firm arm around her and led her to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Tara, I understand that you are shocked. And yes, I had hoped to be the one to tell you what happened. I never thought that Armstrong would call you. In fact, I asked Tatiana to go to Tanya’s to get you. I assumed you were still sleeping.” He glanced at his watch and sighed. “Hell, it’s only eight o’clock, as it is.”

  When Tara tried to shake free of his grasp, Titus tightened his grip, forcing her to look up at him. “Listen to me. You have every right to be upset. But you need to understand what is happening. To start with, Griffin is not under arrest. Yes—we, Tanya, Gunnar, and I did go to his house early this morning and request that he come with us to the precinct.”

  “But why, Dad? Why would you do that? Admit it. That is just a nicer way of saying that he is under arrest. What if he’d said no? Would you just have said, ‘Oh, okay, never mind’? And dammit, where is he? I want to see him. Now!”

  “And you shall, but first you need to settle down and listen to me. We asked Griffin to come with us because after we learned that Jia Yanlin had been murdered, no fewer than three people indicated that they heard Griffin threaten her.”

  “But, Dad, you know why he did that—if he did. He was upset about what she said to me. The lies that she told me.”

  Backing her into a chair, Titus stood beside her, making it clear that she was to stay seated. “Yes, Tara, we all know how upset Griffin was. He made that clear to us and apparently to a number of other people. We had no choice but to bring him here for questioning. I’m sorry that you had to learn all of this from Armstrong. As I said, I fully intended to tell you everything as soon as I could.”

  When he seemed confident that she would stay seated, Titus rounded his desk and sank into his chair with an audible sigh. He put up his hand as if knowing what she was going to say. “Yes, you can see him in a few minutes. Armstrong is with him, but I was about to go in and tell him that he could leave for now.”

  “What does that mean, for now?” Tara’s tone was sharp.

  “It means exactly what I said, Tara. He may leave for now, but we are in the middle of a murder investigation. And please remember, Tara, as nasty a person as Ms. Yanlin apparently was, she did not deserve to be strangled to death.”

  Tara swiped at the tears she couldn’t hold back. “I know that, Dad, it’s just that if anyone has to be upset, I know Griffin is. As angry as he was with her, they have worked together for years. And God, as much as I hated her, the last thing I would ever want is for her to be dead. Even worse, murdered.” Tara made a visible effort to control herself, then turned to Tanya. “I’m sorry, Tanya. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I know you were angry with Griffin last night. But I know you were trying to protect me.”

  Tanya nodded. “It’s okay, sis. I don’t blame you. Damn, we’re all upset. But I have to tell you, when we went to his house this morning, Griffin looked terrified. He thought that we were coming to tell him that something had happened to you. He was desperate to know that you were okay.”

  Tara shook her head and appealed
to her father. “Please, Dad. I need to see him.”

  Titus nodded in agreement. “And you shall. Let’s go. I will take you to him now.”

  ****

  Looking through the glass, Tara saw Griffin in an intense discussion with an animated Magnus. Her heart leapt at the sight of him. She knew how incredibly difficult this had to be. Breaking away from her father, she threw open the door and rushed in.

  Griffin was out of his chair in seconds. Rounding the table, he caught her in his arms. Tara cried out as she clung to him. “Oh, Griffin, I’m so sorry. This is horrible. You must be so upset.” When he held her tight against him, she burst into tears, clinging to him, crying uncontrollably.

  He held her, murmuring soft words of comfort, telling her that everything was going to be okay. When she seemed to be settling down somewhat, Griffin glanced at Titus, who was standing by the door, a grim expression on his face.

  “Any chance this means that you are finished with me for now, Sheriff?”

  “Yes, Griffin, you’re free to go. You’ve answered all of our questions, and I presume you have discussed the possible issues with Mr. Armstrong. However, given your professional relationship with the deceased and that both you and Mr. Armstrong were among the last to see Ms. Yanlin alive, we will likely have more questions for both of you as well as other members of your staff.”

  Holding Tara by his side, Griffin nodded to the sheriff. “Of course. You know where to find me.” He breathed out a hard sigh and then said bitterly, “Please don’t misunderstand, and I apologize if I seem hard, Sheriff Trouble. But it appears that Jia is capable of causing damage even now. I’m confident that the news of my being questioned in a murder case will throw a bit of a wrench in the custody battle I’m engaged in. I had hoped to learn as early as Monday that the judge would be ruling in my favor. That I would be on my way to New York to bring my children home with me.” He barked a harsh, mirthless laugh. “I assume we all agree that is now unlikely at best.”

  Tara looked up at him, horrified. Remembering how she’d refused to go home with him, she was overcome with remorse. “Oh God, Griffin, if I’d only gone home with you like you wanted me to. I’m so sorry.”

  Griffin shrugged. “Please, Tara. There’s nothing we can do about it now.” Turning to the sheriff, he said, “All I ask is that you and your whole department turn this goddamn thing upside down and find the person who killed Jia.” Once again, he couldn’t hide his bitterness. “The only problem for you, Sheriff, is that you’re going to have a hard time finding anyone who considered Jia a friend. That doesn’t mean that they would have killed her, but to say that Jia Yanlin was not well liked is an understatement.” He walked to the door, holding Tara next to him, then stopped and faced the sheriff. “Look, Titus, I know that you consider me your number-one suspect. I will only tell you that I didn’t kill Jia. I admit I was angry enough last night to do serious damage to her. But kill her? Christ, strangle her? No, Sheriff Trouble, even as angry as I was, I’m not capable of that.”

  Magnus Armstrong spoke from the side in a loud voice, not hiding his concern. “Jesus God, Griffin, shut the fuck up. You’re right when you say that you are their number-one suspect. Don’t give them any more reason to think that you’re guilty.”

  Griffin just shook his head. “Relax, Magnus.” Meeting Titus’s gaze, he said quietly, “The sheriff knows I’m not guilty.” Glancing down at Tara, he said softly, “Let’s get the hell out of here, sweetheart. As much as we all need a stiff drink, I think it would be improper for your father to offer the guy who Magnus thinks is his number-one suspect a drink. Given that, let’s you and I head for my house or yours and try to recover from the worst morning I can remember.”

  When they got to her car, Tara stopped him. “Griffin, this is my fault. I meant what I said in there. If only I’d gone home with you or let you take me to your house, you wouldn’t be a suspect. But once again, I acted true to form and, dear God, look what’s happened because of it.”

  “Tara, stop. None of this is your fault or mine. And yes, I shouldn’t have threatened Jia like I did. But goddammit, I would do it again after what she did to you. You need to understand. Jia behaved horribly last night. But badly enough for someone to kill her? Hardly. There is more to this than any of us now know. But one thing I can tell you is that if anyone can find the hideous person who strangled Jia to death, it’s your intrepid father. I have faith in him, and you should too.”

  Turning to Magnus, he added, “I trust you agree.”

  Magnus just shook his head. “I hope to Christ you’re right, Griffin. But I agree with you, if anyone is capable of causing grief even from the grave, it’s Jia Yanlin.”

  Chapter 27

  One thing is clear, according to every person we have interviewed. If ever there was a bitch on wheels, it is—make that was—Jia Yanlin.”

  Titus eyed his youngest daughter and blew out an audible sigh. “As much as I dislike speaking ill of the dead—particularly a woman who was brutally murdered, I have to agree, Tanya.”

  Before Titus could continue, Ryker concurred. “Yeah, Tanya is right. Clearly, the Yanlin woman was universally disliked. Which makes our job even more challenging. Particularly when we try to discern who hated her enough to kill her.” He added with a sigh that equaled Titus’s, “Or . . . who was angry enough with her to kill her.”

  “And therein lies the rub. We all know where the arrows are pointing.” Titus didn’t hide his concern. “The only thing all of our witnesses agree on, from the lowest secretary to his goddamn attorney, is that Griffin was angry. The question before us is was he angry enough to kill the woman who took off after the woman he loved?”

  Ryker pushed back. “Look, let’s admit that none of us three believe that Griffin killed her—even if all the signs point that way. But let’s look at this as impartially as we would in any other murder investigation. Assume for the moment that we don’t know Griffin personally. Like the other witnesses, we also heard him express his fury about what Jia said to Tara. After he left last night, we only have his word that he went directly home. And according to you and Tanya, Sheriff, he was clearly shocked to hear that Yanlin had been murdered. Again, assume that may be our bias. What do those who worked with him think?”

  “I can answer that,” Tanya said. “I’ve now interviewed all the Black Enterprises employees. The response was universal. Griffin is considered to be a good boss. Most of them indicated that he is arrogant, a loner, but on a personal level, he is professional and unfailingly polite. I even interviewed a couple former employees who Black essentially fired. Even they said that they weren’t surprised when he indicated they would need to leave, that he didn’t think they were a good fit with the company culture. All three of them said they’d agreed. That the pace was too fast, too intense for them. However, Black even gave each of them a month’s severance pay, which their contract didn’t require.”

  “There’s also the fact only Jia was closer to Griffin than Magnus was. Tara teasingly called Armstrong ‘Griffin’s consigliere.’ ” Tanya added, “I don’t know what the heck they called Jia, maybe his ‘attack dog.’ At least there wasn’t a person on Griffin’s staff—woman or man—who didn’t admit that they did their best to stay out of her line of fire.”

  Titus finished filling his pipe, then took a couple of puffs on it, blowing the fragrant smoke into the air. Finally, he shook his head and said reflectively, “Let’s look at the murder itself. First, the victim was found in Griffin’s office. In fact, at his desk. A strange position to say the least.”

  “Dad, are you asking why Griffin would leave her in his chair if he had done it?”

  Ryker laughed. “A good question, Tanya. Among others. For example, the ME indicated that Ms. Yanlin was strangled to death. There was no evidence of drugs, or even alcohol, in her bloodstream. That means that someone was able to strangle her even when she was presumably in control of all of her faculties. At the very least, that means that she knew
the person who killed her well enough to be alone with him.”

  Tanya posited on his theory. “Which tends to throw the blame back on Griffin or means that the killer either has to be Griffin or someone on their team. On that point, someone who could be expected to be in Griffin’s office late at night.”

  Adding to the analysis, Titus noted, “In addition, even though she is a tiny woman and would have been powerless against a much stronger assailant, at the very least she must have struggled. Which would mean that her killer would or should have scratches or marks of some kind on his hands or arms. Griffin had none. I specifically looked for them. Moreover, there were no signs of a rope or any kind of a garrote. Again, according to the ME, whoever strangled her did it barehanded. Finally, there were no signs of a break-in. The door was unlocked.” He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, then murmured, “A fucking Gordian knot if I ever saw one.”

  “Do we know who had keys to the office besides Griffin, of course?”

  “That’s a good question, Tanya. One that we need to ask.” Ryker added, “If you two don’t mind, I’m going to put on my FBI hat. As you know, we Fibbies always try to make every case we have as complicated as possible. I guess to justify our involvement. Given that, I always look for the why, the rationale for the crime in every case. If we agree that Griffin killed her, the rationale for Ms. Yanlin’s murder is simple. He did it out of anger. But let’s assume he’s not the killer and look for other rationale.”

  Titus nodded. “I agree that you Fibbies do like to complicate matters. I, on the other hand, tend to simplify. In the absence of anger, I’ve decided that ninety-nine percent of the murders committed are the result of one of two things.”

  Ryker held up his hand and said with a grin, “Let me, Titus. I was a cop before I joined the bureau. The answer is either sex or money, or both.”