SCENT OF A MYSTERY...A CITRUS BEACH MYSTERY (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 2)

by Victoria LK Williams

  Aiden shook his head, somehow not even surprised that Megan was involved in a criminal investigation. From experience, he knew the best way to deal with Megan was to tell her all the information that he could, then be prepared to accept her input and the fact that the two of them would end up working together on his case. He was smart enough to know that if he didn't, she was stubborn enough to continue to work behind his back and put herself in danger and possibly foil the investigation.

  "Yes, Tom Jamison is definitely one of the good guys. He's our informant and he was just as anxious as we were to figure out what was going on within his own company and set things to right. How do you know about Tom Jamison? And just what are you trying to find out with all your Internet trolling?"

  "Oh, thank goodness. I knew when I met him he had a good heart and couldn't possibly be involved in anything illegal. You don't know how relieved that makes me feel because I would hate for Taylor to be disappointed in her father after just finding him again."

  "Megan, what do you mean you just met him? The man's been dead for years. Believe me, we had a major search on for him, but we could never find a body or any evidence that he might have left behind."

  “Okay, this is where the good and the bad news comes together. Just hear me out and I'll try and explain everything that has happened in the last few days. First your good news: Tom Jamison is alive and currently is in a safe place. Probably the safest place in Citrus Beach.

  "There's no way, Megan. How in the world did this happen? I'm ecstatic that the man is still alive, but where has he been and what has he been doing? And how did you come to find him? Where is he, how do you know he's safe; is he in jail?"

  "Oh, he's safe all right. He's not in jail, but he and his daughter and mother are spending the night with Charlotte Potter. No one knows he's here and they have all agreed to keep the news of his reappearance quiet for a few days."

  "That's wonderful news, I need to get over there right away to talk to him."

  "Well, that's where your bad news comes in. Tom Jamison is in perfectly fine physical condition, but mentally not so good.... He's suffering from amnesia and I'm not sure what help he can be to your investigation at this time. Oh, Aiden, let the family have tonight to reacquaint themselves. Morning will be here soon enough and we can be over there first thing. Call your office, or wherever, and let them know this new development but don't take any action yet."

  Aiden could not help but to hear the pleading in Megan's voice and looking over at her, he could see that she felt strongly about letting the family have time together uninterrupted. Thinking for a second, he realized she was right and nodding his head, agreed with her.

  "Okay, Megan I can agree to that, we will give them tonight. In the meantime, let's you and I catch up on both ends of our investigation. I'll give you the background of what I know, and you fill me in on what you have recently found out. Listen, I flew directly from DC to Miami where I spent a few hours listening to the other agents wanting to know why a retired FBI agent was suddenly back in the middle of their case. Remember, I’m supposed to be only doing consulting work now. After I finally got them to fill me in on where the case was opening up (imagine my shock when I found out it was from you), I jumped in a helicopter and landed here in Citrus Beach. Sheriff Green met me and brought me right here, by the way, he is expecting to be filled in on what’s going on in the morning too. Needless to say, it’s been a long day and I’ve been going nonstop. What I’m trying to say is there any chance I could bum a meal off you--I’m starving!”

  Megan looked over at the man next to her and laughed out loud at the comical face he was making from hunger.

  "Of course I'll feed you, silly man. I'm not sure what I have, but I know there's enough miscellaneous items to make a decent omelet. Does that sound okay to you?"

  "Right now that sounds better than a porterhouse steak. What can I do to help?"

  "Nothing. I can handle this, why don't you go play with the dogs while I get things ready and just relax. I'll have food on the table in fifteen minutes, then I want to hear everything you can tell me about Tom Jamison."

  Aidan nodded in agreement. Getting up, he gave her a quick kiss and walked out to talk to Fred and Barney. As promised, he was soon sitting down enjoying a stuffed omelet, filling Megan in on the background of the Tom Jamison case. While she listened, Megan sipped her wine, giving each of the dogs at her feet a pat on the head. It was a cozy scene in her kitchen, more fitting for the telling of a fairytale rather than the information that Aiden was about to tell her.

  "About nine months before Tom's disappearance, he contacted our office concerned about some certain discrepancies in the paperwork involved in items coming into his import holding facility. It was a very good thing that he came in when he did, because we had already red flagged his company and had them under surveillance. But everything seemed aboveboard; we just couldn't put our finger on what was going on beneath the surface. Now that Tom Jamison had come forward to offer his help, we thought we could break the case wide open. We knew it was going to take time and we were going to have to put an agent in undercover. That could take months; the agent would have to learn the business and gain the trust of those involved. That's when Tom offered to do some investigating for us. What could be more natural than the owner of the company looking around the warehouse and looking into the paperwork?"

  "Did you have any idea who to investigate, if it wasn't Tom?" asked Megan.

  "We were pretty sure it was his partner, but then his wife started spending money like crazy and we weren't sure. It looked like the two of them were in on it together." Aiden took a bite of his omelet before continuing.

  "Tom himself was starting to have second thoughts, especially when the suspicion was beginning to focus on his wife as well as his partner. He did not want to believe that his wife could be capable of international espionage or smuggling. The investigation was starting to take a toll on his already rocky marriage and Tom was worried that they suspected him of being, at the very least, too nosy about the affairs that his partner Malcolm Fields handled. Tom expressed the worry that his wife would somehow take his daughter away from him if he continued to probe.

  He came to me about a week before his disappearance, excited with news that things were going to heat up. By now, he knew that his wife and his partner were having an affair and he had resigned himself to the failure of his marriage. The only thing he wanted to salvage was his little girl and he wanted my assurances that she would be safe no matter what happened."

  "What an awful feeling that must've been for him, knowing that his marriage was in ruins and that there was a possibility that his daughter could be in danger because of his actions. I think I would be having second thoughts as well."

  "I gave my word that we would look after his daughter, Taylor, and he agreed to consider it. Something happened between him and his wife, something that made his mind up for him. He never told me what it was, but I'm pretty sure it was part of the reason he disappeared so suddenly. He gave me what details he could about a new shipment that was coming in from China that we had been watching. With that information our team was able to set up a surveillance detail.

  But the night the shipment was due to arrive, something went wrong. We received a scrambled message from Tom to hold back, then his communication went silent. We waited, as he asked, but after an hour decided that it was time to confront the parties inside and try and salvage what was left of the operation. When we entered the warehouse, we found the shipment had never arrived and Tom was missing. Searching the office, we found that there had been an obvious scuffle; files were missing, furniture was broken, and there was blood on the floor."

  Megan couldn't help but gasp, even though she knew Tom had survived the attack in the warehouse. Aiden paused, took another bite of his omelet, and washed it down with a swallow of wine before he continued filling Megan in on the events of that night.

  "We immediately sent teams in diffe
rent directions, one to ensure the safety of Tom's daughter and another to keep a fix on his wife and partner. Taylor was spending the night with her grandmother because her parents were supposed to be at a benefit dinner that night. We lost track of Gina Jamison and Malcolm for a couple of hours, but they showed up at that dinner looking and acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  We spent days looking for Tom Jamison and the missing cargo, but it was like both disappeared off the face of the earth. We couldn’t prove anything definitive on his wife or partner without Tom’s validation and the case became stagnant. Gina and Malcolm played their parts as well. Showing just the right amount of concern over Tom's disappearance, taking all steps necessary to search for the man; it was like watching a well-rehearsed play. The years went by and they seemed to fall off the radar, then almost to the date on being able to legally declare the man dead, Gina did. Within a week of the declaration of his death, there was a memorial service for Tom. Then, within days, Gina and Malcolm were married at City Hall. We kept an eye on Tom's daughter as promised, but the child seemed fine. We never saw any threat made against her and she never seemed to be in any danger. The only thing I noticed was the child seemed to be denied the love from her mother who seemed to want to push her in the background as she went on with her new life."

  Megan and Aiden fell silent for a few minutes, each thinking over what Aiden had just said. Megan saw this sad look on his face and got up and came behind him to give him a hug.

  "I think this is where I should butt in and tell you what I've been up to the last couple of days and let you in on what I know of Tom Jamison's tale from this point."

  Aiden returned her hug and looked at her questioningly, waiting to hear what she had to say. She smiled to reassure him and picked up his now empty plate and took it to the sink, before she grabbed his hand and let the way into the living room, where they could be more comfortable. Once they had settled themselves on the sofa, Aiden's arm across her shoulders, Megan began to fill him in on all she had learned from Tom.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Aiden listened attentively to Megan, asking only the occasional question as she filled him in on what had been happening to her over the last few days. She started with her and Lucy’s arrival at Lady Fish Bay and ended with all that had transpired tonight at dinner. He only interrupted a few times, wanting to hear all she had to say before asking questions and find out from her what she suspected or might have theorized about the case.

  After she had finished, Aiden had pulled her laptop over to sit on the table in front of him. After entering his password and security clearance code, he opened his own account into the FBI files that he had started on the Jamison case. Once the file was open, he pushed the laptop back in front of Megan and invited her to read what his team, with his help, had compiled on the possible smuggling through the Jamison Import Company. While she was busy with that, he made a call to Sheriff Green. Without supplying any details or giving any reasons, he requested that the sheriff have his deputies add in a few patrols past Charlotte Potter’s house during the night.

  Megan became so deeply entranced with the information Aiden had given her access to, that she didn’t notice when he got up and went in to clean up the kitchen from his meal, or acknowledge when he refilled their glasses with wine. At one point, she did stop long enough to grab a pad of paper and start jotting down a few questions she had as she read, not wanting to stop and lose her place. Seeing that she was lost to him while she poured over the materials, he grabbed the leashes for both dogs and took them out for their evening walk, leaving her with the solitude she seemed to want.

  By the time he and the dogs returned, Megan had finished, but was now pacing across the living room, going over the questions she had written down. Aiden smiled; he knew from experience that she did her best thinking when she was pacing or moving around. This meant that Megan and he would be rehashing this case for the next few hours, he was sure of it. Seeing him enter the room, Megan came to a stop and returned his smile as she began her first round of questions.

  “Aiden, how much of this information is Tom aware? I mean before he lost his memory. What you have here is pretty damning for his business partner. Was his wife involved this much, or were you just speculating?”

  “We didn’t fill Tom in on all the facts and details that our team had collected, but somehow I think he knew most of it. Like I said, something changed in those last few days between him and his wife. I had a feeling that he had resigned himself to the role he had to play to bring her and Malcolm Fields to justice. I always had a feeling that he had found some evidence that he wasn’t ready to share with us that would be the final nail in their coffin, so to speak. We searched any feasible place we could, without being detected or setting their operation into a shutdown, but never found anything we could use.”

  Megan tapped the pen in her hand against her teeth, while she considered this information. Looking him straight in the eye, she asked her next question.

  “Do you truly believe that Tom is innocent of all this illegal activity? You guys aren’t just using him to get the info you need and then, when everything wraps up, use his knowledge against him are you? Because I have to be honest, if that’s the case, I don’t want to get any more involved with any of this. I’ve grown to like Taylor, and I couldn’t live with myself if I was part of something that would cause that young girl any more heartache.”

  “Megan, rest assured, Tom is innocent. Our team has covered all the bases on that question, inside and out. We all felt guilty and angry when he disappeared. We were angry at ourselves that we didn’t protect an innocent citizen who was not only doing what was right, but also putting himself in danger. We felt like we had failed him and his daughter. I want to put right what was wrong and see everyone involved with his attack behind bars.”

  “Okay, then, how can I help?”

  “You have a sharp mind and you’re coming at this fresh. That might be just what I need, to look at everything differently, or at least from a different angle. Plus, Tom trusts you, if for no other reason than the fact that Taylor does. With his memory loss, I don’t have the connection with him that I did before. When I meet him tomorrow, to him, I will simply be a member of the law enforcement community.”

  “True. So let’s start going over everything, piece by piece. I already have some questions for you. The more I know and have answered in my head, the better I am going to be able to help you, and Tom.”

  “Alright. And, Megan … it’s good to see you again, I missed you.”

  Caught by surprise by his intense look, Megan began to blush as she answered him.

  “Me, too. Everything was left up in the air, the way you had to leave town so fast, and we had to deal with the approaching hurricane….” she left her thought unfinished and looked over at Aiden.

  “We are going to continue what we started, that’s a promise, sweet lady. But for now I’m afraid we have to put our own lives on the back burner and tackle this quickly. I have a feeling when word gets out that Tom Jamison is still alive, no one is going to wait around to see what he knows or remembers; they are going to try and finish what they started that night in the warehouse.”

  Megan heard the passion in his voice as he made her the promise and she knew he was right; Tom’s life was on the line and their developing relationship was going to have to wait. Nodding her head, she sat back down in the chair he held for her. She asked him what his take was on all the material she had just read. As they went over Aiden's notes and Megan’s questions, he was reminded again of how well they worked together. Megan was smart and had a mind that questioned the details rather than glossing them over. Details in his line of work were often what solved a case, or prevented a death.

  “So, tell me if I’m right. Simply put, Jamison Imports has, for years, been working out of the Port of Miami. Tom built his business by specializing in antiques and designer furniture coming into the US from China. He acts as a custo
ms broker for high end interior designers, private collectors, and small museums. As their agent, his responsibilities are to clear customs for his clients by being a party to facilitate the process, arrange transportation, cover insurance, and arrange logistics support. He also has to file entry documents on incoming materials authorized by CBP (Custom Border Patrol), pay duties, arrange for examination and release of the imports, and process the documents provided by cargo disposition. Is that right?”

  “Right. Then when his daughter was born, Tom decided that he needed to have more time with family and less sixteen-hour work days.”

  “So that’s when he brought in Malcolm Fields as a partner. I wonder how the two of them found each other.”

  “According to Tom, his wife managed the introduction at a dinner party. Apparently, she was pushing for Tom to bring Malcolm on board. Tom’s original thought had been to offer the position to his warehouse manager, but his wife insisted that a partner needed to be able to mingle with the upper crust of Miami society to benefit the business and a warehouse manager would never fit the bill. Of course, we now know that her reasoning was probably more self-serving than that.”

  “Agreed. Now that Malcolm is a partner in the company, he seems to work well under Tom’s company guidelines and policies. When did things start to go wrong?”

  “Malcolm did work well with Tom for the first couple of years. We later found out that he was working behind Tom’s back making connections with smugglers in the art and antiquities world. As the business continued to grow, Malcolm made the push for them to expand and also become operators of a bonded warehouse. This would allow them the opportunity to expand into more areas and offer different services for their clients. Tom held out for a long time, but Malcolm convinced him and about two years before his disappearance, he finally agreed.”