Trail of Secrets

by Sandra Robbins

  Maybe Uncle Dan’s notebook did hold the key to who might have wanted to kill him. If so, it was up to her and Seth to find the answer.

  * * *

  Seth stood at the kitchen sink and stared out over the backyard. He still couldn’t believe that Carlos Allen was dead. Just a few hours ago he’d thought he might be on the verge of finding out who was behind all that had happened to Dan and Callie in the past few days. That hope had gone up in smoke when his fellow officers killed Carlos. Now he had to find another way to solve this case.

  With a sigh he poured two cups of coffee and set them on the kitchen table. Callie walked in the door at that moment. “Thanks for making coffee. I need some.” She slid into one of the chairs and glanced up at him. “I thought your mother would be here, but I didn’t see her upstairs.”

  Seth shook his head. “No, she’s off with some of her friends. She left a note saying they were going bowling tonight.” He pointed toward the notebook she’d placed on the table. “I’ve looked at that notebook dozens of times with Dan, and I’ve never seen anything that led me to any conclusions about Hope. There has to be something that I’m missing.”

  “Maybe you’ve always looked for clues about Hope’s identity. This time we need to search for anything that might point us in the direction of who wants Uncle Dan dead.”

  He nodded. “So what do you suggest?”

  “I think we should go through this again and look at each page. See if there’s anything that he may have added since the last time you looked in here.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  For the next thirty minutes they turned the pages of the notebook and discussed every detail that Dan had noted on each page, but Seth had seen all this before. Nothing appeared to have been added until Callie turned the page and he saw a flyer for Midtown Mission.

  He reached for it. “Where did this come from?”

  “You haven’t seen this before?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t see this the other night when we were looking through the pages, and I don’t remember it being here before.” The conversation with Melvin popped into his head. “This is the shelter Melvin said he told Dan about, where Carlos does community service. I wonder if Dan got the flyer because of that.”

  Callie reached for the flyer. “I remember him saying that. Do you know anything about this place?”

  “I know it’s a well-respected shelter and gives a lot of aid to the homeless. It’s run by a woman named Dorothy Tipton. Her picture is in the paper a lot because of all the work she does there.”

  “Did Uncle Dan volunteer there?”

  Seth thought for a moment before he answered. “I never heard him say anything about it.”

  “Do you think we should go down there and ask Mrs. Tipton about him?”

  “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

  He’d no sooner spoken than his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, smiled at the caller displayed and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hey, Rick. I can’t believe you’re already getting back to me about Carlos Allen.”

  Rick chuckled. “You should have given me somebody more difficult to track down for you. Carlos has been in the mix of things for quite a while now.”

  Seth reached for the notebook and found a blank page in the back. He pulled a pen from his pocket and waited for what Rick was about to tell him. “Really? Like what?”

  Rick took a deep breath. “Well, he’s had several arrests over the past few years. Once he was arrested for attempted murder. A gun found at Carlos’s house was determined to have been the weapon used, but then it disappeared from the police evidence room. The victim who’d identified him also disappeared. So without a victim or a weapon, the charges against him were dropped.”

  “Yeah, I remember that now. It happened right after I’d moved to the Cold Case Unit.”

  “His next arrest came when he was accused of nearly beating a guy to death in a barroom brawl. That time the charges were dropped because the police didn’t read him his rights, and the judge threw the case out.”

  Seth scribbled down the details Rick had just given him. “Anything else?”

  “Oh, there’s all kinds of little stuff on him over the past ten years or so, but he’s never served any time. Most of the time the charges have been reduced, and he’s been allowed to do community service work.”

  “At the Midtown Mission?”

  “That’s right.”

  Seth’s eyes grew wide, and his heart pounded. “Who approved that?”

  “Assistant District Attorney Abby Dalton. It appears she’s a big supporter of the mission. I’ll send you some links to check out that tell about the mission and its supporters. Her face shows up quite a bit.”

  “Thanks for all this information, Rick. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. I always enjoy working with you guys in the Cold Case Unit. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Seth thought for a moment. “Yeah, one more thing. Can you find out who arrested Carlos when his rights weren’t read to him?”

  “I already know the answer to that. It was on the record I saw. Lieutenant Marty Weaver was the arresting officer.”

  Seth sucked in his breath. “You don’t say. That’s very interesting. Thanks again, Rick.”

  “Call if you need anything.”

  Seth disconnected the call and sat there lost in thought for a moment. “Well,” Callie said, “are you going to tell me what he said?”

  Seth gave a start and straightened in his chair. “Oh, sorry about that.”

  For the next few minutes, he replayed the phone conversation for her. When he’d finished, she bit down on her lip and frowned. “So Lieutenant Weaver pops up again. Do you think they might have had some kind of connection?”

  Seth pushed to his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. But I’m not about to bring suspicion down on a fellow officer until I have more to go on than I do now.”

  “I understand that. So what’s our next move?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “After what happened tonight, what makes you think there’s going to be a next time? When you’re not at the hospital with Dan, you need to stay here. That way I can make sure you’re safe. A police officer will be out front, and this time you need to take his presence more seriously.”

  Callie took a deep breath and rose to face him. “I promise I will, but I’ve been thinking about this. I think the danger to me may be over.”

  “Oh? What makes you think that?”

  “The only way I could be a threat to whoever is after Uncle Dan is by identifying the man who attacked him in the hospital. Carlos had the star tattoo and scar on his face, so I’m sure he’s the one I saw in the Critical Care Unit. Now that he’s dead, there’s no one else I can point to, so maybe we don’t need to be so cautious.”

  Seth smiled. “That’s a good try, Callie, but I don’t think the threat is going away that easily. You’re forgetting the two men at the department store. Even if one of them was Carlos, we still don’t know who the other one was. I’m concerned these people will come after you again.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. “That may be true, but I still want to get to the bottom of this. Uncle Dan must have had a reason to leave that flyer about the Midtown Mission in his notebook. I know you’ll go down there, and I want to be with you. Please don’t deny me the chance to help find out who is responsible for everything that’s happened.”

  He started to tell her no, but the pleading look in her eyes made him swallow the words. With a sigh he nodded. “All right. You can go with me to the mission, but you have to do exactly what I say. Understand?”

  “Yes, and I promise I won’t cause any problems like I did tonight.”

  “Good. Now I need
to get some sleep. I have to be at the office early in the morning, but I can drop you at the hospital on my way and come back for you when I get ready to go to the shelter. You should be safe with the marshal there.”

  She nodded. “That sounds great. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

  He watched her leave the kitchen before he picked up their coffee cups and carried them to the sink. He stood there a moment, staring out the window into the darkness beyond and thought about what she’d said about not causing him any problems.

  The truth was that her very presence caused him a problem. Every time he looked at her he remembered that day two years ago when she’d refused his proposal. All this time he’d tried to tell himself he had dealt with that, but there was still something that puzzled him about her behavior that day. He doubted if he would ever bring full closure to his relationship with Callie until she decided to tell him her real reason.

  He groaned and rubbed his hand down his face. What was he doing? It didn’t matter what her reason was. Their relationship was history, and he was glad. He’d moved on, and he needed to quit dwelling on the past. Instead, he needed to concentrate on finding out who wanted to kill Dan. That was the most important thing.

  And the Midtown Mission just might provide the answers he needed.

  SEVEN

  The next afternoon, Callie sat beside her uncle’s bed in the Critical Care Unit and watched his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm. She’d been at the hospital since Seth dropped her off early this morning, and she’d kept a silent vigil beside her uncle all day. Although he appeared to be breathing better, he still hadn’t regained consciousness. She covered his hand with one of hers and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with the other.

  A nurse stopped outside the door where a deputy U.S. marshal sat and spoke with him a moment before she came into the room. She smiled at Callie, walked around the bed and checked the panel of instruments that displayed vital signs. After a moment she straightened and smiled again. “Everything looks good. He’s doing well.”

  “Then why hasn’t he regained consciousness?” Callie asked.

  “There’s no way of telling when he’ll wake up, but don’t give up. Keep talking to him like you’ve been doing. Sometimes patients who’ve been in comas tell us things that were said to them while they were unconscious.”

  Callie’s eyes grew wide. “Do you think it’s possible he can hear me?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s sure worth a try. Let him know you’re here.”

  Callie grasped her uncle’s hand tighter and leaned forward until her mouth was closer to his ear. “Uncle Dan, it’s Callie. I’m here with you this morning. It’s a beautiful day. I wish you would hurry and come back to me so we can get on with our plans. That beach house in Hawaii is still waiting for us, and I would like to take you there. Maybe we can go for you to recover. Would you like to sit on the beach while you’re getting your strength back?”

  The nurse gave a little chuckle. “Did you see what happened? When you started talking to him about going to Hawaii, his heart rate increased. I think he was giving you an answer. He wants to go as badly as you do.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she leaned forward to kiss her uncle’s cheek. “We’ll be on that plane to Hawaii as soon as you get well. I’m waiting for you.”

  There was no other movement or change in his vitals, and in a few minutes Callie stood. The nurse who was in the process of straightening the covers on the bed glanced up. “Are you leaving?”

  She shook her head. “No, I think I’ll go sit in the waiting room for a while. I’m expecting Detective Dawtry to come for me, and I know he’d like to see Uncle Dan while he’s here.”

  The nurse glanced at her watch. “Family visitation starts in about five minutes. If he gets here in time, he can come in then.”

  “Thanks. I’ll tell him. And I want to thank you for giving me the extra time in here with my uncle today.”

  She smiled. “It’s no problem when everything’s quiet in here. Besides, I think he likes having you sit with him.”

  The marshal sitting outside the cubicle didn’t look up from reading a newspaper as Callie walked out, and she didn’t stop to chat with him. She headed to the door and exited into the outside hallway before she stepped into the hallway that led to the family waiting room.

  As usual, the room was nearly filled today. As she glanced around the area, her gaze came to rest on Seth, who was standing off to the side with a man and woman she’d never seen before. A boy who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old stood next to Seth. The animated look on his face told her he was enjoying the conversation.

  She walked over and stood next to Seth, but he didn’t appear to notice her presence for a few moments. “I think that’s a great idea, Michael. We need to let the church board know about this right away. We might even be able...” He stopped midsentence when he noticed Callie standing next to him. “Callie,” he said, “I didn’t hear you come in.” He pointed to the couple facing him. “These are my friends Michael and Glenda Bennett and their son, Jeremy, from church.”

  She smiled at the couple and stuck out her hand. “And I’m Callie Lattimer. Do you have family in the unit?”

  Michael shook his head. “Not really family. There’s an elderly lady who lives down the street from us. We keep an eye on her because her family lives in Missouri. She fell this morning, and the doctor has put her in the unit for now. We’re here to check on her.”

  “Oh, I see.” Callie’s gaze drifted over them to the young boy standing next to his father. “And is this your son?”

  The boy grinned and ducked his head. Seth reached out and grasped his shoulder. “This is Jeremy. He’s going to be the best quarterback Memphis has ever seen when he gets to high school.”

  Jeremy’s face grew red. “Oh, Coach. You tell everybody that. I’m not as good as Freddie Coleman.”

  Seth’s eyes widened. “You’re both great players, but you have to remember Freddie is two years older than you. I’m lucky to have both of you on my team.”

  Callie turned to Seth. “You coach football?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It’s the youth league team for our church. I’m not kidding when I say that Jeremy has a real gift for playing football.”

  Michael reached out and ruffled his son’s hair. “Seth has worked untold hours with him, and we really appreciate it.”

  Glenda nodded. “Seth is great with the kids. We can’t figure out why some woman hasn’t already snatched him up. He’d make a great husband and a wonderful father. I’ve tried to fix him up with all my friends, but he’s never interested.”

  Seth’s face turned red. “Glenda, I’ve told you I don’t have time for that.”

  Callie glanced at Jeremy and saw the hero worship for Seth in his eyes, and her heart lurched. Glenda was right. Seth would make a wonderful father. She cleared her throat and turned to Seth. “The nurse said visitation is going to start in a few minutes. You can go in my place this time. They let me sit by his bed for a while this afternoon.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “It’s fine. I think it will do him good to know you’re here. I talked to him, and there was some response in his heart rate. See if he reacts to you. While you’re with him, I think I’ll go get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria. Meet me there when you’re finished.” She smiled at Glenda and Michael. “It was nice meeting you, and good luck next fall on the football team, Jeremy.”

  She turned and hurried out of the waiting room before they could say anything more. At the elevator she punched the button and waited for it to stop at her floor. She groaned inwardly and wondered why Glenda’s words had upset her. It wasn’t as if she and Seth were ever going to get back together, but somehow it had rankled a bit when Glenda spoke of trying to fix him up with her friends.


  Callie bit down on her lip and shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Seth was the man she had loved once, but he was only a friend now. She stared down at the floor and rubbed at the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks.

  The elevator door opened, and she stepped inside without looking up. The door closed, and she reached over and pushed the button for the basement level where the cafeteria was located. Behind her someone coughed, and she jerked in surprise. She hadn’t noticed anyone at the back of the elevator when she stepped in.

  Before she could turn around, a voice she’d heard once before drifted to her ears. “Well, Miss Lattimer. This is a surprise. I didn’t expect to run into you today.”

  Startled, she whirled around and gasped when she saw Lieutenant Marty Weaver standing at the back of the elevator. “Lieutenant Weaver,” she said, “I didn’t see you.”

  He smiled and straightened up from leaning against the back wall. “You looked a bit upset when you got in. I hope your uncle isn’t worse.”

  She eased to the far side of the elevator and shook her head. “He’s not worse, but he hasn’t regained consciousness. I’ve just been in to see him. What are you doing here?”

  “I came to interview a victim of a robbery yesterday. I just got through and was about to go back to the station. Are you leaving?”

  His eyes narrowed, and his gaze swept her. Something about the way he looked at her made her skin prickle. “N-no. I’m going to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. Seth is going to meet me there in a few minutes.”

  He glanced at his watch and smiled. “A cup of coffee sounds good, and I have a little time before I need to report back in. Mind if I join you?”

  Callie searched her mind for a reason for wanting to be alone, but she could think of nothing. “I guess not.”

  The elevator came to a stop on the ground floor. He smiled and gestured as the door opened. “After you, Miss Lattimer.”