Deception Trail: A Maggie McFarlin Mystery

by Charisse Peeler

  “Old news,” Sue said. “Even I knew that.”

  “You did?” Maggie said.

  “Honestly, I guess I assumed you all did.” Sue said, sitting back in her chair, “There was something wrong with her eggs, so they had to use a donor.”

  “Did you also know the donor egg is Angel’s?”

  “That I did not know,” Sue leaned in.

  “What?” again, Maggie’s volume caused people to look. She sat back just as the server walked by. She held up her almost empty wine glass. “I’m going to need another one of these,” Maggie said to the server.

  “Me too. Kat held up her glass.”

  “Angel told you all this. She just opened up?” Maggie asked.

  “You know I have a way with women, Maggie.” He smiled and took a huge bite of the burger that had just been set in front of him.

  “Oh, brother. Seriously, how did you get her to talk.” Maggie opened the small bag of oyster crackers and poured them into her chowder and stirred.

  “I told her I was a private investigator looking into the murder of Chase Dawson and that’s all it took. She spilled.”

  “What else did she tell you?”

  “For one, she isn’t planning on giving the baby to Liza. She told me she isn’t a fit parent and Chase was the one who convinced her of that fact. He told her that he would not only turn over full custody to her; he was going to provide some financial support. He didn’t want another child.”

  “Did Liza know about any of this?” Kat asked.

  “Angel wasn’t sure. She was supposed to meet Chase on Monday, the day after he was killed. According to Angel, the whole reason he agreed to take Liza hiking was to ask her for a divorce.”

  “That’s a good story with no proof,” Maggie said.

  “She said her attorney could back it up,” Mike said.

  “Even if this is all true, which I highly doubt it, I don’t believe my sister killed Chase.”

  “Well, it’s a lead that we still need to investigate,” Mike said, “but she wouldn’t tell me her attorney’s name.”

  “What that tells me is that Angel has a motive. She is bonded with this baby and might have gone to great lengths to come up with the whole story. She could be the one who killed Chase,” Maggie said.

  “What do you think, Kat?” Maggie looked at her friend for some perspective.

  “I’m sitting here in shock,” Kat said, shaking her head.

  “Sue?” Maggie asked her friend.

  “The one thing I do know is that Chase has been talking to his mother a lot lately, ever since Liza announced the baby. If anyone knows anything, it’s going to be his mother.”

  “I guess we go see his mother,” Mike said.

  “I guess so.”

  Just then, all three women received a text. Maggie looked at her phone.

  You are invited to my baby shower tomorrow at 3 pm.

  “What’s up?” Mike asked, reaching out, touching her arm.

  “I am going to a baby shower.”

  The other two held up their phones.

  “Us two,” they said in unison.

  Chapter 13

  Silverhill’s Estates was an upscale senior living community situated on a high point with spectacularviews of Dyes Inlet in Silverdale.

  Mike found a parking spot in front of the building with the giant brass A handing on the face.

  “This is her building,” he told Maggie.

  “Nice place,” Maggie looked around at the manicured boxwoods that lined the sidewalk and the fresh-cut green carpet of grass across the hill. She watched two adults on bikes ride down the concrete path on Clear Creek Trail. They had matching helmets and the man had a baby seat behind him with a child waving its arms in excitement at the small girl following behind on a pink bicycle with training wheels. Her little legs were pushing the pedals as fast as she could to keep up with her parents. Maggie imagined her children at that age riding side by side on their matching bikes, only one pink and one blue.

  “You coming?” Mike said, shaking her from the past. He was standing at the passenger's door that she hadn’t even noticed he’d opened for her.

  “Yes. Sorry,” Maggie said. “Just calming my nerves.”

  “You will be fine, Maggie. Trust me.” He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the door marked 102.

  Maggie stood back, noticing the brightly colored welcome mat and a small statue of a happy Buddha next to a large pot overflowing with bright pink impatiens. It was exactly Sharron’s style. Maggie had nothing against Chase’s mother, but they stopped talking many years ago when Kyleigh refused a relationship. Sharron had taken over Maggie’s job as a mother. It was Maggie’s most significant failure, and it was Maggie that stopped trying.

  Mike knocked and Maggie held her breath until the door opened and a smiling older woman appeared in the doorway, almost knocking the air out of Maggie as she flung herself around Maggie in a tight embrace.

  “Sharron. It’s so nice to see you again,” Maggie said into her thinning white hair.

  Sharron let go and took a step looking Maggie over as if she was examining a dress she was considering buying.

  “You look marvelous, my dear. Maybe a little more sleep would get rid of those bags under your eyes.”

  “It’s been a tough couple of days,” Maggie said in defense.

  “And you must be Michael.” Sharron turned to Mike with a sly smile. “Please, come in. She stood aside and waved them into the modestly furnished apartment. It was neat and organized with just a few decorations. Maggie searched the room for any familiarity when she spotted several picture frames on a small side table. There was a young woman in a cap and gown and several at stages of her life. It took everything Maggie had to resist taking the pictures in her hands to see what she missed in the last few years.

  “Please sit,” Sharron motioned to the couch. “Coffee? Tea?”

  “No, thank you,” Mike and Maggie said in unison.

  Sharron took the chair across from the pair waiting for one of them to speak.

  Mike noticing Maggie, still distracted by the pictures, spoke first.

  “Sharron, first of all, we are so sorry for your loss.”

  Sharron bowed her head. “Just senseless,” she said, looking at Maggie.

  “It is your loss too, I’m sorry, Maggie, but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

  “Excuse me, Sharron?” Maggie sat close to the edge and leaned toward Sharron.

  “I didn’t feel like it was my business at the time, but if I had to do it over, I would have interfered in your relationship with my son. Instead, I watched it disintegrate from the outside, believing it wasn’t my business. The loss of a child was just too big of a burden to bear. But I had no idea your sister was going to take advantage of the situation and…well…you know.”

  “Sharron, it’s no one’s fault and it’s the past.” Maggie quickly wiped away the tear that escaped.

  “Do you know if your son had any enemies?” Mike asked, breaking the spell between the two women.

  “Do you mean, do I know who shot and killed my son?” Sharron’s face twisted and didn’t let Mike answer. “It was his wife, Liza. She had motive and opportunity.”

  “The problem with that theory is that the instigators on the scene tested her hands for gun powder and it was negative.”

  “Then she had someone else do it.”

  “What was the motive?” Maggie asked, swallowing hard.

  “Money, of course.”

  “Do you have any proof?” Mike asked.

  “My son told me that he found a secret bank account that Liza had with over a half a million dollars in it. When he confronted her, she went ballistic and started hitting herself and throwing herself against the furniture. She said she was going to call the police and claim domestic violence. So, he moved out.”

  “He moved into my father’s house.”

  “It’s Chase’s house. Your father left it t
o him. He had a silent alarm installed, so if Liza tried to break in and set him up for something, he could have her arrested. He had a restraining order served a week before he died.”

  “So, why would Chase agree to go hiking with Liza?” Mike asked.

  “She was blackmailing him.”

  “Did he tell you that?” Maggie asked.

  “No. Kyleigh told me.”

  Maggie’s heart stopped when she heard Kyleigh’s name.

  “Where do you think Kyleigh got that information?” Mike asked Sharron, watching Maggie wince as he said Kyleigh’s name.

  Also noticing Maggie’s body stiffen, Sharron leaned in and spoke directly to Maggie, “Chase and Kyleigh had just started talking again. I set it up that they were both here at the same time and…well..”

  “How was Liza blackmailing Chase?” Mike refocused the conversation.

  “It was the vaccine. She was going to turn him in if he left her.”

  “You know about the vaccine?” Mike asked, putting a hand on Maggie’s knee in support. He could tell her head was spinning.

  “It was my fault, I think,” Sharron said, sitting back.

  “Do you think she will talk to me?” Maggie said, coming out of her daze.

  “I don’t know, Maggie. I will ask her, but I had to fake a heart attack to get those two together. I am not sure that will work twice.”

  “But you will try?” Maggie said again, wiping a tear from her cheek.

  “Of course, dear.” Sharron got up, crossing the room and set a box of tissues in front of Maggie.

  Maggie got a hold of herself and refocused her attention on the task at hand. Her sister was now being accused of not only murder but blackmail.

  “Please continue telling us about the blackmail,” Maggie’s voice cracked, but it was now confident in its tone.

  “It was about six months ago. Kevin was always full of questions about Chase’s job. I don’t even know how the subject shifted to the shipment of vaccine that had to be rejected because of an FDC screw up. Kevin said it seemed such a shame to throw it all away over a simple signature. Many older adults live here who have money and would pay for the vaccine. I didn’t even realize he contacted Chase until Chase showed up unannounced one day and gave me a pile of cash. He told me to keep it under the mattress for a rainy day. Honestly, I didn’t question it. I only get $700 a month in Social Security and if Chase wasn’t paying for this place, I don’t know what I would do. I would likely be homeless.”

  “Chase pays the rent for this place?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes, but money is tight for him too. Liza spends, spends, spends. She is irresponsible with money. That’s why your father left Chase the house and split the rest into a trust for you and your sister. He knew if he gave it to Liza, it would be gone.”

  “It is a monthly annuity, but it's barely enough to live on,” Maggie admitted.

  “That’s why Chase was so surprised when he found the secret account with almost a half a million dollars in it.”

  “So, you have no idea where the money came from?” Mike asked Sharron.

  “I think he had figured it out, but I’m not sure. I never saw him again.” Sharron now hung her head and her shoulders dropped.

  “Are you okay?” Maggie asked her.

  “Maggie, your sister killed my son. I don’t know why you can’t see it.”

  “Did you know they were having a baby?” Mike asked.

  Sharron let out a screech, “Ha! Very funny.”

  “Why is that funny?” Maggie asked. “They hired a segregate.”

  “I don’t know where the sperm came from,” Sharron said, “because Chase had a vasectomy right after your divorce. Your sister didn’t know, and Chase was just keeping her happy by going into the clinic donating sperm, it just wasn’t his sperm. When the segregate was pregnant, he finally had evidence against her of fraud. As soon as the baby was born, he would ask for a DNA test and threaten to take the child. He already had it set up with Angel. It was her egg, so he was going to sign the parental rights to her. Chase finally felt like he had a way out.”

  “Whose sperm did he use?”

  “He didn’t tell me that and I didn’t agree with his method, but I also didn’t want him to lose his job or go to jail.”

  “For selling the vaccine?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes. I know he did it for me.”

  “How do you know it was Chase?”

  “He told me that Kevin offered $5,000 for 50 of the doses and free rent for me for a year. It took Chase a few days to decide. He was close to resisting, but the temptation was just too great. No one would get hurt and Kevin convinced him that it would benefit the older people who didn’t have access to the vaccine. No one would get hurt and no one would know.”

  “So, Chase went for it?”

  “He delivered the vaccines the same afternoon. But then the director called him the next day and asked for another 50 for another retirement home. Chase delivered that 50 and then 100 and then 1,000. Kevin must have sensed Chase wavering, so he offered to purchase the remaining 25,000 vials for $200,000, but he would have to pay Chase in installments as the director sold the vaccines to other retirement communities. Eager to be out of the whole thing, Chase agreed and moved the rest of the shipment to another bay at the same storage place rented by the Director.”

  “What did Chase do with the money?” Mike asked.

  “Most of it’s under my mattress,” she said, “for a rainy day.”

  “How much is it?” Maggie asked.

  “It’s about $10K. When Chase died, Kevin stopped paying.”

  “People kill for a lot less than $200,000,” Mike said.

  “Kevin didn’t kill my son. Liza did. I’m sure of it. Kevin isn’t a killer. He is just an opportunist.”

  “Thank you for speaking with us today, Sharron. You have been a big help.” Mike stood and Maggie followed his lead.

  “I just hope I’ve helped convince you, Maggie, who your sister is.”

  “Could I get Kyleigh’s phone number,” she said, ignoring Sharron’s commentary on her sister.

  Sharron looked at Maggie with concern, “I’m not sure if she would want me to pass that information along. I promise to ask her to consider reaching out. I think it’s about time you two get back together. It would be good for her to let go of all the resentment.”

  “Resentment,” Maggie started, but Mike interrupted her.

  “What if we leave our information with you and you contact Kyleigh and ask her to call us. We are just trying to find out who killed her father.”

  “Again, I think we all know who killed Chase,” Sharron said again, looking at Maggie. “Chase would never have owned a gun. Not after what happened to Kyle.”

  “I don’t know, Sharron, but I don’t think Liza could have done it.”

  “You have always been so naïve, Maggie. Your sister has always been in trouble. She is manipulative and selfish. She is responsible for your ruined marriage and the loss of your family. She is poison.”

  Maggie held her head up, resolved to show strength.

  “Thank you again for all your help,” Mike said, stepping in between the two women blocking the animosity and allowing Maggie to exit gracefully.

  Sharron said something, but Maggie didn’t hear the words as she was already at the car. Mike was close behind and as he took the steering wheel; he froze in thought.

  “I have an idea,” he said, backing out of the parking spot.

  Chapter 14

  Maggie pointed to the exit sign, but Mike drove past it and instead followed the signs that said, MANAGER. He pulled in at the front of the small building where instead of a visitor parking spot, the sign cleverly was Future Resident Parking Only.

  “Are we going to talk to Kevin now?” Maggie asked.

  “We may as well. We are already here.”

  “What are we going to say?”

  “Hmm.” Mike closed his eyes tight for a moment. “Follow my
lead.”

  “Oh, boy.”

  The door was made of glass but was covered in flyers announcing specific events. In the center hung a blue cardboard sign that currently was turned to show the office was Open. There was also a small clock below that showed lunch hours as 12 to 1. Mike held the door for Maggie that led into a small office. It furnished nicely, with a grey leather couch on one wall and two large, framed pictures of salmon running up stream. A dark-haired younger-looking man was sitting behind a large modern desk. He stood when they entered.

  “Welcome to Silver Hills. Can I help you?” he asked, smiling wide. He was wearing a well-tailored suit and his hair was perfect.

  “We are here on behalf of my aunt,” Mike said, “She currently lives in North Carolina, but our family all lives here. She is interested in finding a place to rent that would accommodate her age. We have a friend here in town that highly recommends your property,” Maggie was impressed at Mike’s quick thinking.

  “You have come to the right place; my name is Kevin Carson, and I am the property manager here on site.” You could almost feel the testosterone fill the room as the two men shook hands.

  “My name is Mike Monroe, and this is my wife Margret,” Mike said. Maggie felt her face flush as he referred to her as his wife.

  Kevin reached out to Maggie and, with a lot gentler hand, shook hers. Kevin paused a moment noticing Maggie’s left hand.

  “Please have a seat,” Kevin motioned to the two grey leather chairs in front of the desk.

  Mike pulled out a chair for Maggie before sitting in the one next to her. Kevin opened the side drawer and pulled out a brightly covered folder between Mike and Maggie. Maggie was distracted by Kevin’s hair when he bent over to pull open the drawer. When he shook hands, stood up, or sat down, it didn’t move. It was so thick and perfectly formed on his head. It didn’t look like it was held in place with gel or spray. It reminded Maggie of a GI-Jo in a suit with plastic hair.

  “We are a full-service community here at Silver Hills,” he smiled with a perfect set of whites. Each unit is complete with a full kitchen and bath. We have units with one or two bedrooms. How old is your aunt?”