It didn't make sense. Sure, it was clear that Ron White was running his own "amateur" investigation into the murder of Luke Bryant, and it was obvious, based on the notes and files that were retrieved from White's laptop, that Ron White fully believed that Jack Bryant had murdered Luke Bryant. But Ron's investigation was flawed in many ways. First off, White started his investigation under the premise that Jack was the murderer. Having that mindset prejudiced everything that he learned, read, or found out about the case. Second, White totally and completely neglected to consider that Jack was as much of a victim of his father's murder as was his dad. If Mark was right and someone took Jack's father from him, and in such a vicious way, few would be surprised if Jack didn't have some lasting emotional challenges.
But even as Mark was pouring through the case notes, he was still missing something. Even though he kept an open mind, the evidence still pointed to Jack Bryant as Luke Bryant's killer and to Jack Bryant as the man who killed Ron White in order to shut him up. However, it was when he started looking into Vanessa Jones, the woman beaten nearly to death outside of Portland, that Mark put the pieces together.
As his team assembled, Mark knew that there were still plenty of questions that needed answering and that Robby and Maggie Bryant and Matthew Jones were still in serious danger.
"Vanessa Jones," he announced to his assembled team of troopers and investigators as they gathered in the Bryant's home, "is not Jack Bryant's mistress, and her son, whose name is Matthew, is not Bryant's son. Vanessa Jones is Jack Bryant's sister, making her son Jack Bryant's nephew. Seems Jack's father, Luke Bryant, was the one who had a mistress.
"Looking back into the murder case of Jack's father, I discovered that all the evidence pointed to Jack as being the killer: the confession/suicide note found -- by illegal search -- tucked into his dresser drawer, his fingerprints all over the baseball bat that was covered in his father's blood, his father's hair samples, and Jack's lack of an alibi. The investigators fingered Jack for the murder, but without an eyewitness or the ability to use the confession note, they were stuck.
"But they didn't know about Vanessa Jones. They didn't know that Jack's father had a mistress and that she had given birth to her daughter eight days before Luke Bryant was murdered. Now," Mark said, pausing intentionally to see which members of his assembled team were following the trail he was leading them on, "if we take a closer look at the Luke Bryant murder, who are our suspects?"
"Are you suggesting that it wasn't Jack Bryant?" a trooper asked.
"I'm saying that just because he was the prime suspect that we shouldn't be blind to looking at others as the killer. If we take Jack out of the equation, who is left?"
"Jack Bryant's mother," one trooper offered.
"Vanessa Jones's mother," suggested another. "What was her name?"
"Her name was Michelle Jones. She passed away three years ago. Why do you ask?" Mark questioned.
"Was Michelle Jones married at the time she and Luke Bryant started their little fling? If she was, we'd have to start looking at her husband for the murder."
"Excellent," Mark said. "But unfortunately, Michelle Jones was not married. Never was and never got married."
"That leaves either Jack Bryant, his mother, or an unknown suspect. Didn't Bryant claim that an intruder killed his father?"
"He did make that claim, but there was zero evidence of an intruder. Considering the brutality of the murder and the fact that Luke Bryant was dragged through his home and left to die in a pile of snow in his own backyard, it makes it hard to believe that an intruder could have pulled off the murder and left no traces of himself or herself behind at the scene."
"So that just leaves Jack and Jack's mother," a trooper surmised.
"And where is Jack's mother today?" Mark asked.
The room was silent except for a few mumbles and the sound a turning head makes when brushing up against a collared shirt.
"Jack Bryant's mother, Rita Bryant, was all but forgotten about once the investigators turned all their attention onto her son, Jack. She became background noise. But she lives right down the street in Ogunquit in a little house overlooking the Marginal Way. She received a rather sizable life insurance check after she was cleared from the murder of her husband. Seems Rita was good at real estate and bought a small house on the Marginal Way. Zillow puts the home's worth at just under three million."
"You saying that Rita Bryant killed her husband for money?"
"I don't know the motive. Based on case files, Rita Bryant was abused several times in the years leading up to the murder. Maybe she killed him in self-defense, maybe she killed him once she found out about his affair, or maybe for the money. I don't know. But what I do know is that I think she was behind the murder of Luke Bryant and the murder of Ron White. White had plenty of information on his laptop about the Luke Bryant murder. Seems he was doing his own investigation into it. I suspect that Rita found out that Ron White was getting close to finding out the truth behind her husband's murder and needed to end his investigation."
"Based on what I've seen," a trooper said, "Ron White was fingering Jack Bryant for the murder."
"He was, but if he continued his investigation, I think he would have changed his mind. There was a retired Portland cop named Henry Turck who White interviewed. According to the notes on White's computer, Turck was the lead investigator in the Luke Bryant murder. Turck was leaning towards Rita Bryant as the murderer and was doing his own investigation. Unfortunately, Turck was either pushed down a flight of stairs or fell and when he was killed. He was leaving the apartment of Vanessa Jones when his life ended. We know that he didn't meet with Vanessa since she was out of town when he called on her, and do we know what he wanted to find out from her. All we know is that evidence points to him being pushed and that Jack Bryant couldn't have done the pushing."
"Why not?"
"He was on a job site in Kittery. Had at least 20 witnesses that would testify to him being nowhere near the apartment building of Vanessa Jones," Mark replied. "What I also found out is that Rita Bryant's car was reported to be seen leaving the apartment complex shortly before Turck's body was discovered."
"So an elderly woman got the best of Henry Turck?" a trooper remarked.
"Rita turned 60 years old a few months back and according to reports, walks three miles a day and spends 30 minutes a day working out in a gym outside of town. In other words, she's in great shape. The few people I spoke to who know Rita, told me that she's a bit of a religious nut, always going on about the 'end of days' and how sinners will pay for their indiscretions." Ron continued. "We found a single, bloody fingerprint in the laundry room of the nursing home Ron White was killed in. Any guesses as to who that fingerprint belongs to?"
"Then what are we waiting for?" a trooper demanded. "If we have evidence that Rita Bryant killed Ron White, why is she not in custody?"
"Great point," Mark said. "And actually, there are a few reasons why. First, it took longer than expected to find the fingerprint and get it matched to Rita Bryant. Second, when we did identify the fingerprint as Rita's, Robby Bryant had already been abducted by his father, Jack Bryant. Third, Vanessa Jones was discovered in a bloody mess and her son, Matthew was also missing. If we arrested Rita as soon as we figured she was our prime suspect, we might never get the kids back. I don't know if Jack is involved with this whole mess yet, but since he abducted his own kid we needed to proceed with extreme caution.
"We put out a news briefing saying that we were looking for Jack Bryant for a couple of reasons. One was to make Rita think that we weren't on to her, and second, to see if Maggie Bryant was involved in this whole mess. We expected that she would lead us right to Jack. We figured that after she left our barracks that she would run off to find Jack, and that's exactly what she did. We followed her up to Jack's hunting cabin but lost her after she left due to the storm. Based on some other news I'll share in a minute, it seems that she is clean and has no idea where Jack is. I hon
estly believe she is scared out of her mind about her son."
"Mark?" a trooper called out, "something doesn't add up for me. Why would Jack Bryant abduct his son and possibly his nephew as well? You said you weren't sure if he is involved in the Ron White murder, but doesn't the fact that he kidnapped two kids make him guilty of abduction?"
"Jack Bryant is a huge mystery right now," Mark said. "I have to believe that he knew his mother killed his father. I even suspect that he witnessed the murder based on him leaving a suicide note. Seeing your mother kill your own father has got to have a pretty severe effect on a kid. But, as for his involvement in the Ron White murder or what he knows, I still am unsure." Mark paused. "But yes, we are very interested in finding him, but this storm is not making things easy for us."
As if on demand, a strong wind gust sent howling sounds throughout the Bryant home. The windows reported that the heavy snow was now mixed with sleet by sounding high-pitched "pings" that filled the living room.
"What about the priests and what happened to the one priest up in the attic?"
"There's only one priest. Father John Flannigan is, in fact a priest and is the pastor over at St. Mark's Church. His associate is Derek Cole, a private investigator who likes to call himself a 'freelance detective.' He was asking Bill Jeffries questions over at his liquor store. Bill asked me if I had heard that there was a private investigator milling about town yesterday."
"If you knew he wasn't a priest, why did you let him search the house?"
"I got a call from Melissa Humphrey who is a teacher up at the public middle school. She told me about Derek Cole and what he was investigating. Seems that Robby Bryant thinks he is seeing a ghost. Jack and Maggie hired Derek to find out if someone convinced Robby that ghosts exist. I also found out that Derek Cole visited Ron White the day before Ron was killed. No idea what the conversation was about, but it seems that Derek Cole is here to chase ghosts."
"Mark," a trooper said tentatively, "then what the hell happened in the attic?"
"That, I do not know. There was no one up there with him. I know that much. And, based on his injuries, I do find it hard to believe they were self-inflicted, though I will admit to believing that he faked the whole incident at first. He had a scratch running up the middle of his back. It looked like fingernails made those scratches. I don't know what happened up there and don't know why he and Father John were looking for old family photographs, either. I was hoping to let them find what they needed, then have them followed, but the whole idea blew up in my face when Cole came crashing down from the attic. I thought that they might be involved in the Ron White murder and kidnapping at first, but I no longer suspect them of anything more than impersonating a priest and of being dishonest."
"What's the other intel you mentioned?"
"I don't believe Jack beat up his sister Vanessa or abducted her son, Matthew. Based on some of the files I've read on Ron White's computer, Jack had known about Vanessa and Matthew for quite a long time and, for whatever reason, was very intent on keeping their true identities away from public knowledge. There were a lot of strange notes on White's computer, many of them about his ghost hunts and his theories on ghosts. To me, they were all nonsense and a waste of time. But, the files and notes on Jack Bryant were enlightening.
"White believed Jack Bryant not only killed his own father, but two others involved in the investigation. Henry Turck was one of those White believed was killed to cover up the truth behind the murder. White also believed that a transient was murdered as well. According to White's notes, this transient was involved in some satanic ritual that Luke Bryant was a part of. No idea if this transient ever existed or not. Where Ron White made his mistake is when he neglected to consider Jack's mother, Rita Bryant, as a suspect. My suspicion is that Jack Bryant got his son, Robby, out of school to either keep him safe from Jack's own mother, Rita, or, and this possibility is tough to think about, to bring Robby to Rita so she can do to Robby whatever it is she is planning on doing to Matthew Jones.
"As for Maggie Bryant, neither I, nor any of our team or even Ron White found anything to suggest that she had any involvement in any of this mess. I believe that she suspected that Jack killed his own father, but that she has no idea if he really did. I have no evidence to suspect that she is helping or has helped her husband or Rita Bryant with any of the things that have recently happened. I am confident that she is just a very scared mother, desperate to get her son back in her arms. That makes her dangerous to herself. If I am right, she will not hesitate to approach Rita Bryant or her husband if she believes that doing so will get her son back. We have put out B.O.L.O.'S on every one of the Bryants, but this storm has us dead in our tracks." Mark drew a deep breath, knowing that the team of troopers assembled around him would be processing the information he just shared with them for several minutes.
"So," a trooper said, "we have evidence that Rita Bryant killed Ron White, for what reason, we don't know. We know that Vanessa Jones was assaulted, probably by Rita Bryant, but we aren't sure that Rita did the assaulting, and we don't know why Vanessa was assaulted. We know that Jack Bryant kidnapped his son, Robby, and believe that Rita Bryant kidnapped Matthew Jones, but aren't sure why they both took their respective abductees. And lastly, we have a priest-impersonating private detective, who was hired by the Bryants to capture a ghost. All seems crystal clear to me."
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
There was too much sin in the world for one woman to erase. Much too much cleaning. Rita knew that she too needed cleansing, but that God would take care of that Himself. She wasn't proud of what she had done, and she knew that her soul would forever be stained with sin as a result of her actions. But she also knew she was guided and directed in her actions.
Still, there was so much more cleaning that needed to be done.
There was so much filth in the world that, unfortunately, she knew was beyond her reach. But filth in her own family? That she could clean. She knew it would not be easy to do, and that others, those not guided and directed, would never understand. Unless they opened their hearts, they could never understand.
There would be many that Satan would send to try to stop her. She understood that, and she knew that, someday, eventually, Satan would find the right mix of sinners and her mission would draw to an end. But until that day, there was so much more cleaning that needed to be done.
She wasn't surprised when her only son in this world scolded her. He had yelled in utter disbelief and out of ignorance the day she began her mission. That was so many years ago, but the sting of being misunderstood by her own blood still traveled throughout her body. Then again, she always remembered that her son was not of pure blood. Her pure, cleansed blood was mixed in an ironic blend with another's. If only she could remove the unclean traces, her son could be spared.
As she sat in her dark living room, the storm screaming suggestions and instructions to her, she shook her head, knowing that it was her weakness that allowed the evil line to continue. If she had only the strength and courage that day when her mission began to end the line then and there, things wouldn't have spread.
She smiled when remembering that if it weren't for her only son that she would have never found out about the "other." It twisted her gut into a sour promise of wrenching to know that "she" existed. Born out of the very essence of human frailty and sin. She had ended the start of that sickening line as far back as she could, but now it had extended. Beyond the "other."
But she was guided and directed. Each step, unknown to her simple mind, was plotted and planned.
"That line will cease," she whispered, glancing at the young child bound and gagged in front of her. "And when that line is snuffed out in you, child born of sin and of dirt, the others will follow."
#####
"Where are you, Jack?" she asked.
"Mother, what have you done with Matthew and Vanessa?"
"You need to listen to your mother. Your mother asked where you are."
"I'm keeping my son safe from you," Jack fired back. "I know what you're planning, and you cannot have my son."
"Watch your tone with me, young man," Rita spat into the phone. "I was the one who saved you all those years ago before your evil father could have done only God knows what to you. Remember what you saw your father doing in the basement that night? I was the one who shielded you from harm. Wasn't it me," she asked, her voice low and calm, "that willingly sinned with that detective to keep you out of the reach of the police? Tell me, Jack, wasn't it me?"
"Mother," Jack said after a long pause, "you need help, and I can get you the help you need."
"Jack, I have more help than what you could provide if you lived a million years. And I have one other thing that you should know about, Jack."
Jack paused, his thoughts racing a thousand different directions. But soon his thoughts gathered together and pointed in a single direction. "Where is Matthew?"
"Oh, he's here with me, of course. Quiet as church mouse."
"Mother, do not..."
"Do not assume to give me commandments, Jack," she bellowed. "Giving commandments is not for you to offer but only for Him."
Jack glanced at Robby who was sleeping soundly in the back seat of his pickup truck. "Mother, I am going to the police, and I will tell them everything."
"Everything, Jack? Tell me, please, what is it that you plan on telling the police?"
"That you killed my father. That you made me write that letter confessing that I killed him. I will tell them that you seduced that cop who found that letter that you planted in my dresser, and that you threatened to tell his wife what he had done unless he made that letter unusable in court. I'll tell them that you killed Ron White because he was getting too close to finding out all your secrets. I'll tell them that you tried to kill Vanessa and that you kidnapped Matthew. I'll tell them everything."
Those of the Margin: a Paranormal Suspense Thriller (Derek Cole Suspense Thriller Book 2) Page 17
