by Cindy Bell
Chapter 12
When Steve and Kerri reached Kerri’s house her grandfather’s car was in the driveway. She led Steve inside.
“Grandpa? Are you here?”
“In the kitchen.”
She walked in to find him at the table with his computer.
“Where did you go this morning?”
“After you told me about the caretaker on the property last night, I decided to look into him. His name is Bernard and he has been making regular deposits of checks written out to him by the owners of the property.”
“That makes sense, but I still don’t understand why Bill didn’t mention him.”
“Me neither.” George looked up from the computer. “Steve, glad to see you. I’ve got my program up and running. I just need Damian’s ID if you think you might know it.”
“Yes, I do.” Steve leaned over the computer and typed the ID in. “I remember it from when we collaborated on a project.”
“An investigative journalist and a sports journalist?” Kerri sat down at the table. “What story did you work on?”
“Actually, it was before he settled into sports. When he first started out he wanted to work in investigative journalism, so we tried to put a story together. It ended up falling through though. I have no idea what his password is.”
“No problem. I’ll have it cracked in a few minutes.”
“How?”
“Do you really want to know, Steve?” George smiled as he looked at him. “Don’t you think it’s better to have a little mystery in our relationship?”
“Funny.” Steve squinted one eye as he looked at him. “I never can tell what you’re up to.”
“That’s for the best, trust me.”
As George worked on the password, Kerri and Steve filled him in on their experience with Jasper.
“I agree with Kerri. I think if he cared about Damian he would be interested in finding out who his murderer is. Unless he knows it’s too dangerous, or he knows who the killer is,” George said.
“Jasper has always been a good guy. I’ve never had a problem with him. I can’t see him covering up for a killer.”
“You may be right about that. Oh wow, here we go.”
“That fast?” Steve leaned over his shoulder again.
“Magic, kid.” He offered him a half-smile.
“Sure.” Steve skimmed over the documents on the screen. “There, that’s the most recent one.” He tapped the screen. “It should be what he was working on.”
“I don’t know, it looks like it’s just some boxing stats.” George narrowed his eyes as he read it over.
“Boxing again?” Kerri stood on the other side of her grandfather and peered at the screen. “What do these numbers over here mean?” She pointed to some dollar amounts.
“Oh, I would guess winnings of some kind?” Steve said.
“Maybe Damian was betting on fights?” George suggested.
“No way.” Steve shook his head. “Damian was totally against gambling on matches. He said that it made boxers take very dangerous risks, because of the pressure to win, and it leads to fixed-fights.”
“So then why was he tracking the fights and what appears to be bets?” George tapped a button on the keyboard and a printer activated in the other room. As the machine whirred to life, Steve sat down in one of the chairs at the table.
“It couldn’t be that he was involved in it. I bet he was trying to expose the gambling ring and to pin down who was in charge of it.”
“When I was at the gym I was approached by this guy. He asked me if I wanted to bet on the fight this weekend. I declined, and he moved along,” George said. “So clearly betting is happening at the gym.”
“It’s not supposed to be. I’m sure it’s illegal.” Steve frowned. “I wonder if Jasper knows about this.”
“Before we play our hand, let’s try to figure out who Damian was tracking. That should give us a good idea of who was involved in the gambling ring.”
“But would someone murder over a few bets?” Kerri shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“It depends on just how big the gambling ring is, I guess, and what they have to lose,” George said.
“Can you send me the rest of the documents?” Steve asked. “I can review them at home. I have to get going or my cat is going to eat every plant in the house.”
“Ah, the cat.” Kerri grinned.
“Yes, the cat.” Steve sighed.
“Sure, I’ll send them. Let me know if you think of anything.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Kerri stood up and followed Steve out to the driveway. As soon as they were alone, he slipped his arm around her waist and guided her close to him. She smiled as she anticipated a kiss. Instead, he looked into her eyes.
“Promise me, you’ll be careful.”
“Careful?”
“We’re getting close to something now. I can sense it. Just be aware of everything around you.”
“Okay, I will be.” She held his gaze. “You, too.”
“I promise.” He smiled, then met her lips in a soft kiss. “I’ll check in with you later.”
“Okay.” She was a little dizzy with excitement as she stepped away from him. Once he was out of the driveway she stepped back into the house. Her grandfather looked up from the computer.
“He has a cat? I didn’t picture him as a cat person.”
“He’s not. He inherited it.” She grinned as she poured them both a glass of ice tea, then sat down at the table with him. While he continued to read through the documents, she evaluated their progress. She spun the glass slowly between her palms and tried to clear her mind from all distractions. So far they hadn’t been able to eliminate any suspects. Her mind kept returning to Chloe. No, she didn’t seem strong enough to kill Jasper, but she just couldn’t let go of the thought that Chloe had the best motive. How coincidental was it that a groom-to-be would abandon his bride on their wedding day and just a short time later end up dead, without the two events being connected? She closed her eyes and took a breath.
“You’re lost in thought I see.”
“I was.” She opened her eyes and smiled at her grandfather.
“Sorry if I distracted you.”
“No, it’s a welcome distraction. Being lost in my thoughts is not getting me anywhere.”
“Tell me what kind of thoughts you were wandering through?” He took the glass of tea from her hand. Only then did she realize that all of the ice cubes had melted. “Let me get you some fresh ice.”
“No, don’t bother, I probably won’t drink it. I just can’t get these thoughts out of my head. It’s like they are stuck in a loop. I keep thinking back to Chloe, and the wedding. She’s such an obvious suspect.”
“Why do you think that?” He leaned against the kitchen counter and studied her.
“Because she was the one with the emotional and financial motivation.”
“Motivation isn’t always the answer. Sure, there are lots of reasons why Chloe might have wanted to murder him, but that doesn’t mean that she did. Until we can find a shred of evidence pointing in her direction, we’re just going to have to accept that.”
“That’s the thing, as much as she seems like the perfect suspect, when I was with her in person I didn’t think that she was the killer. She seems nice, and perhaps she has the potential to be emotional and overwrought, but I just didn’t see that in her. I saw a woman who escaped a marriage that she didn’t even want. She said she was relieved when Damian didn’t show up. I’ve considered that maybe she was lying about that to throw people off her trail, but now looking back, I don’t think she was.”
“But I thought she was your prime suspect? Now I can see the circle that you’re going in.”
“She was my prime suspect, yes, but then I realized it’s not so much her that is the suspect, but the event. The wedding. There were hundreds of guests, including those closest to her, her family, who witnessed Chloe’s supposed heartbreak. Maybe one of t
hem decided that what Damian did was so horrible he deserved to die.”
“Interesting. Yes, I can see that happening. Maybe the mother or father of the bride?”
“Yes.” She snapped her fingers. “That’s it. I bet it was Chloe’s father. How can a man endure his daughter going through that kind of hurt, not to mention the financial loss he must have bore from the wedding. Chloe told me that Damian intended to pay him back for anything that he lost, but maybe that wasn’t enough for her father. Maybe he wanted justice for the embarrassment. Chloe acts like it was no big deal, but her father is the one that has to face the relatives, and the rest of this community, knowing what Damian did to her. Maybe he just couldn’t let it go and decided to make Damian pay the price in a different way.”
“I think it’s very possible that you’re on to something here. How are we going to find out if it’s true?”
“The only option we really have is just to talk to him. Though I can’t think of an excuse that he will believe.”
“So, maybe we don’t make an excuse? We can just show up there and see what he has to say? I’ve found through experience that sometimes the most efficient way of getting information out of someone is to confront them when they are least expecting it, the shock can cause them to say more than they intend to. Or sometimes their expressions give away everything that you need to know. As long as they don’t have time to prepare a lie, it’s much harder for them to come up with one. So what do you think, should we try it?”
“Yes, absolutely.” She nodded. “Let’s give it a try and see if he’s home.”
“Good.” He straightened his collar. “I’m ready.”
“Do you think we should call Chloe? Or Natalie?”
“No, remember, no warning. It’s the only way a surprise interrogation can work. If he has any inkling that we are going to show up there, it will make his reaction less reliable.”
“Okay, then let’s just go.” Kerri grabbed her purse and keys. “Be back soon, Cashew.” She blew a kiss to the dog, then headed out the door with her grandfather on her heels. Once in the car she looked up the address for Chloe’s father’s house. It wasn’t hard to find, as they shared a last name, and they both lived in Cascade Grove. Once she had it, she drove in the direction of it. The closer she came to the house the more nervous she became. It was hard enough to talk to Chloe about the murder, now she had to talk to her father about it. Would he really be angry enough to do something like that to Damian? She’d heard of protective fathers before, but something made her doubt that he could be that protective. As she parked in the driveway, her grandfather started to step out of the car.
“Grandpa, I didn’t even turn the car off.”
“Surprise, remember? Hurry up.” He walked quickly towards the front door and began to knock on it.
The front door swung open and a short, thin man stood before them. “How can I help you?”
“We’re here to speak to Garret.”
“I’m Garret.” He crossed his arms and looked directly into George’s eyes. “What do you want?”
“We’re sorry to bother you. We just wondered if we might ask you a few questions.” Kerri offered him a warm smile.
“About Damian?” He refused to look away from George.
“Yes. About Damian,” George said.
“I already spoke with the police about this. I don’t know who the two of you are, but I have nothing more to say about it.”
“I know what it’s like to want to protect someone you care about, Garret. I know that when your daughter was left at the altar you must have been furious. Not only did he break your daughter’s heart, but he also cost you a good bit of money, didn’t he?” George continued to return the man’s gaze.
“What business is it of yours?” Garret took a step through his front door towards George.
“It’s not really.” George shrugged. “But, I do know that when these types of things happen, rational thought can go right out the window. Men and women both can do things that they never imagined they were capable of doing. These things, they happen. It’s not something that can be explained really. And juries have sympathy for men in situations like yours.”
“Oh, keep quiet. I had nothing to do with any of this. But since you’re so interested in Damian, you can take this to his family.” He disappeared into the house, then returned with a box. “I collected these from my daughter’s house, since she was a little too upset to do it. I just…” He paused as he held out the box. “I can’t face them.”
“Why not?” George took the box from him.
“Why do you think? Their son is dead, and my daughter is alive. They spent their entire childhoods together. Me showing up there would be wrong.” He closed the door.
“Well, he wasn’t too interested in talking to us.”
“No, but look what he handed us.” George held out the box to her. In one corner was a silver ring, with an amber stone on it.
“That’s Damian’s ring!” Kerri gasped. “So the one in the woods couldn’t have been his.”
“And it looks like Damian must have visited Chloe before he died.”
“I thought she was hiding something! Should we pay her a visit?”
“No.” He walked back towards the car with the box in his hands.
“What do you mean, no?”
“We don’t know when the ring was left there, and if it was left after Damian called off the wedding I’m certainly not interested in forcing a grieving woman into confessing that she had a goodbye tryst with her ex.”
“Is that what you think it was?” Kerri asked.
“Sure. Damian took off his ring, because it was too tight, and probably left it on her nightstand.”
“We can’t be sure of that though.”
“No, we can’t. But I can tell you what I am sure of. It wasn’t Chloe that lost her ring out in those woods, was it?”
Kerri climbed into the car and nodded. “You’re right. Whoever lost that ring in the woods might just be our killer.”
“It’s a good lead, I’ll say that.”
“We already know that there’s something Bill isn’t telling us. I want to talk to him again. If he lied about Bernard, then maybe he lied about someone else in the woods, too.”
“That would probably be a good idea. And if the brothers that own the property send their caretaker away when they visit, then they are up to something. I think the best way to figure out what, is to do more research on them.”
“I think Steve’s already working on it.”
“That he may be, but I still have access to some sealed databases, or I should say, access to people who have access to those sealed databases.”
“Do you mean Dad?”
“Yes, I do. I think you should call him.”
“He might be busy.”
“It’s been a long time since you spoke with him, Kerri. I think it’s worth a phone call.”
“He knows my number.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t, don’t do that. Whatever you may think about your father not contacting you, it’s not true. I guarantee you he spends hours of his day thinking of you. Family, it’s the only thing that keeps people in that position motivated sometimes.”
“I get it. He has an important job. I’m an adult, I should be able to handle myself. But Grandpa, I barely know him. And that’s because he chose his job over me.”
“It’s nothing like that.” He sighed as she stared at the road. “No Kerri, listen to me.”
“Grandpa, this is silly. We don’t have time to dwell on things like this right now.”
“It’s important, Kerri. Your father, he could walk away from his job, you’re right. He could quit, after years of hard work and investment, and he could be much more available to you, but what would he do then. He’s still young, all he knows is being a spy. It would be a huge sacrifice to make just to satisfy his desire to have a normal relationship with you.”
“And you know this?”
<
br /> “I do, because I lived it. Trust me, he’s not out there somewhere partying, he’s out there helping to ensure the safety and well-being of people in this country and beyond. That’s not something that you can just walk away from, no matter how much you love someone.”
“Now I feel awful for thinking it.” She frowned.
“You shouldn’t feel awful. It’s a normal thing to want him to be more accessible. All I’m asking is that you take the opportunity to speak with him, whenever you can. That phone call might be fifteen minutes to you, but to him it will be what he needs to get through another few months.”
“Do you really think so?” She shook her head. “I just feel like it would be a distraction.”
“It will be a reminder, that he has an exciting life with you to look forward to. It will be a reminder of who he is. I’m sure your mother would love to speak to you as well. I’m not going to tell you what to do, I’m going to trust you to figure out what’s right on your own.”
She frowned as she parked in the driveway. It seemed to her that her grandfather was telling her exactly what the right thing to do was.
Chapter 13
As Kerri looked through the box of Damian’s possessions, she thought about the look in Garret’s eyes as he handed the box over. Maybe he hated Damian at one time, but there was also grief there. As a parent it appeared as if he could sympathize with what Damian’s family was going through. She felt a twinge of her own grief, for her grandmother, they were so close and she died so suddenly. What if one of her parents passed away before she ever had the chance to mend fences with them. There was nothing else of interest in the box so she put it aside and picked up her phone. As she dialed the number, she didn’t expect them to answer. Instead after the second ring, her mother picked up.
“Kerri?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“Wow, it’s so great to hear from you.”
“Thanks, Mom. Sorry I haven’t called more.”
“It’s all right, I know you’re busy. Your grandfather let me know that you weren’t able to open the shop this past weekend because someone was murdered. That’s just terrible. I hope everything gets straightened out.”
