A TWISTED MIND (Clean Suspense) (Detective Jason Strong Book 21)

by John C. Dalglish

  Jason gestured in the direction of where Vanessa stood. “It’s down this way.”

  “The kids are waiting for me in the lobby.”

  “We’ll ride down with you.”

  If Ellard objected, he didn’t voice it. Vanessa joined them at the elevator and the three rode down in silence. When the doors opened, Jason spotted the family waiting across the atrium. “They’re over there, sir.”

  “Thank you.”

  Jason and Vanessa trailed the man but stayed back as he was embraced by his children. Destiny stood just off to the side, and Jason gestured her over.

  She skirted the family and came up to Jason, her eyes red. “Yes?”

  “Do you know what the family’s plans are?”

  “So far, it seems the only arrangement is for a gathering at Doctor Ellard’s home.”

  “When is that?”

  “This afternoon. I believe they’re going to receive friends and well-wishers.”

  Jason nodded. “Thank you.”

  The group had started toward the door, and Destiny joined them. Jason and Vanessa watched them leave. It seemed heartless to believe one of them was a killer.

  Vanessa said it for both of them. “My suspicious nature bothers me sometimes.”

  Jason met her gaze. “Comes with the job.”

  “Doesn’t me I like it.”

  “I understand.”

  As they walked toward the car, Jason pulled out his phone and dialed.

  “Homicide. This is Lieutenant Savage.”

  “Lieutenant, it’s Jason. We’re leaving the hospital now.”

  “Is Janet Ellard dead?”

  “She is.”

  “Hatcher has been told to expect a call. He’ll go over and pick her up this afternoon.”

  “When’s the autopsy?”

  “He was going to try and get it done later.”

  “Excellent. Hopefully, we can put this whole thing to rest.”

  “Amen to that.”

  Chapter 4

  Events at the hospital had left a dark cloud over Jason and Vanessa, so much so that when he asked if she wanted to have lunch at Stumpy’s, she declined.

  He cast a sideways glance at her, though he wasn’t completely surprised. “You sure?”

  “Let’s just say, to quote Colt Ellard, I’m not feelin’ it.”

  “Me either, I guess.”

  Instead, they stopped at a sandwich shop and grabbed a couple hoagies to go, which they ate at their desks, washing them down with hot coffee.

  It was approaching three o’clock when they arrived at the Ellard home. Jason had mixed feelings about intruding, mainly because they still didn’t have an official ruling of wrongdoing, and therefore they might be unnecessarily adding to the family’s struggles. His trepidation grew when they rounded the corner on Edgewood Place.

  Cars filled the driveway and lined both sides of the street for more than two blocks from the home. As he cruised past in search of a place to park, Vanessa did a quick count. “More than twenty.”

  “Should we hang out and wait for the crowd to thin?”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Other way around. Let’s go in now, when we won’t stand out as much.”

  Jason found an open spot and smoothly parallel parked.

  “Nicely done.” Vanessa was impressed. “I never have gotten the hang of it.”

  “Good thing you don’t live in New York.”

  She grunted. “You can say that again.”

  Getting out and making their way down the street, they were passed by two couples leaving. Neither pair looked up or made eye contact. Both seemed visibly shaken.

  At the door, Jason was about to knock when it suddenly opened. Damon Stern stood in front of them. “Oh, hey Detective.”

  “Mr. Stern.”

  “I stopped by to pay my respects.” Stern avoided Jason’s gaze.

  “Of course.”

  Stern stepped around them and headed down the driveway. Jason and Vanessa watched him go.

  “Hello, Detectives.”

  They turned to see Destiny Carter at the door. “Hi, Destiny.”

  “Did you want to come in?”

  Jason nodded and stepped inside, Vanessa right behind him. Destiny pointed toward the rear of the house. “Doctor Ellard is in the dining room. You can go through the kitchen.”

  “Thank you. How are you making out?”

  She shrugged. “I’m trying to stay busy. The less I think about it, the better off I am. But it’s…it’s hard.”

  Jason’s heart went out to her. “How’s everyone else?”

  “About as well as you could imagine. Doctor Ellard is greeting people who come up to him, while Colt has opted to stay in his room. I was just going to see how he’s doing.”

  Vanessa looked across the living room to their left. Small groups were gathered, whispering and occasionally nodding their heads. No one seemed particularly interested in Jason and Vanessa’s arrival. “Do you know all these people, Destiny?”

  “Most. A large number of them are colleagues or patients. They work in the same building or have been in the office. I know some of the Ellard’s friends from my time dating Colt.”

  A man in his early thirties with sandy hair and intense eyes, came into the living room and began stopping at each group. He would shake hands, maybe say a few words, then move on to the next.

  Vanessa dipped her head toward him. “Who’s that?”

  Destiny sighed. “That’s Robert. He’s Tasha’s boyfriend. He’s appointed himself the host.”

  Her distaste wasn’t lost on Jason. “You don’t like him?”

  “He’s okay, I guess. He lives with Tasha.”

  “What’s his last name?”

  “Davis.”

  “How does Doctor Ellard feel about him?”

  She shrugged. “He tolerates him. At least, that’s my impression. Mrs. Ellard didn’t like him though.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He wasn’t welcome at the office. I never knew why, just that she wanted to know if he ever showed up again.”

  “Again?”

  “He was there several times when he and Tasha first started dating.”

  Vanessa glanced at her notepad. “I thought Tasha lived in Houston.”

  “She does. They started dating while she still lived here. It was around the same time Colt and I dated. Anyway, when she moved, he went with her to Houston.”

  Robert had made his way around the room and now approached the three of them. Destiny stepped back. “Excuse me. I need to check on Colt.”

  Davis extended his hand to both Jason and Vanessa. “Thank you for coming. Are you friends or colleagues?”

  Jason opted to use the connection with Mr. Ellard. “We’re colleagues of Dale Ellard. I’m Jason and this is Vanessa. We’re detectives with the San Antonio Police Department.”

  “Oh, I see. Dale is in the dining room.”

  “Right.”

  “Okay then. Excuse me, I have others to greet.”

  He stepped around them and moved toward the kitchen.

  Jason looked at Vanessa. “Bit of an oddball.”

  She nodded. “Just a bit. Didn’t seem interested in chatting with us.”

  “If this thing blows up, he’s someone we’ll need to interview formally.”

  “Definitely.”

  They made their way down the hall and into the kitchen. Several more groups of people were in there, including Natasha Ellard. Jason decided that out of respect, their first stop should be with Dale. Turning left, they stepped into the dining room. An expansive table had been robbed of all the chairs for people to use elsewhere in the house, except for one. Dale was the lone occupant of the room.

  He sat at the head of the table, his back to a window that looked out on the patio. A half-finished cup of coffee rested near his right hand, and a plate with an untried sandwich sat in front of him. An eight-by-ten photo of he and Janet sat propped up in the middle of the table, so
me flowers laid against it.

  Dale’s eyes were closed, and Jason wondered if the weary man had nodded off. Someone in the kitchen shut a drawer a little too hard, and the noise prompted the man to look up.

  “Hello, Detectives.”

  Jason came closer. “Hello, sir. Again, let me say how sorry we are for your loss.”

  “I appreciate it.” He looked past Jason into the living room. “You see how many people she touched. I only know a small portion of them. Many are her clients who are grief stricken.”

  “We did notice the large number of vehicles. It’s a tribute to her.”

  He suddenly locked eyes with Jason. “When can I bury her?”

  “Uh, well sir…there’s the autopsy to be—”

  “I know that! When will they be done with her?”

  The outburst took Jason aback. “I believe they’ll be doing it this afternoon, but I’m not positive.”

  “Doing what?”

  Jason and Vanessa turned to see Natasha Ellard standing in the doorway. Jason kept his voice low. “The autopsy.”

  “It’s shameful they need to do that to her.”

  “I’m afraid it’s out of our hands.”

  She snorted. “Whatever. Dad said you needed to talk to me.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “So talk.”

  Jason looked at Vanessa, who stared back with wide eyes. It seemed neither the time nor place for the conversation. Jason looked down at Dale, but he had closed his eyes again.

  Vanessa pointed out the window toward the patio. “Perhaps we could speak outside?”

  “Fine.” Natasha turned back to the kitchen. “Follow me.”

  Vanessa and Jason trailed after the woman. She crossed the kitchen, opened a sliding glass door, and stepped out onto a covered patio. The heat was keeping most folks inside, so they were alone except for one couple who stood chatting out under a shade tree.

  Natasha wore her hair in a hastily gathered top-knot, but her make-up was fresh. In fact, it seemed excessive to Jason, but he was no expert. Still, with an especially heaving dose of blush accentuated by heavily lined lips and eyebrows, the overall look was almost clownish. Her clothes—a simple black dress reaching below her knees—were significantly less flashy and suited the occasion.

  Vanessa took out her notepad. “We’re very sorry about your mother.”

  “Thanks.” The woman’s level of sincerity was near zero.

  Vanessa ignored the cold response. “You live in Houston, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I have your phone number, Natasha?”

  “Five-five-four-fourteen-o-three.”

  Jason noted that Natasha did not suggest Vanessa call her Tasha, though everyone else did. Another indication of her animosity, which Jason found surprising. Why does an autopsy provoke such hostility? Perhaps there is another reason, one buried in a motive?

  Vanessa went directly to the point. “When was the last time you were in San Antonio?”

  “I assume you mean before today?”

  “Yes.”

  “About a week ago.”

  “Was Mr. Davis with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you visit your mother and father’s office?”

  Natasha cocked her head to one side, her eyes narrowing. “Why does that matter?”

  “Just part of gathering background.”

  “You’re wasting your time. I’m sure Mom’s death will have a reasonable explanation.”

  “We certainly hope so.” Vanessa met the woman’s gaze. “Did you visit the office?”

  “No. Robert is not welcome there.”

  Jason had to give her credit for telling the truth about that, anyway.

  Vanessa did her best to look surprised. “Really? Why not?”

  “My mom didn’t like Robert.”

  “What was the issue between your mother and Robert?”

  She hesitated, then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. I’d rather not re-hash it.”

  Though Jason expected Vanessa to press, she didn’t. Instead, she moved on. “Did you stay here when you were in town?”

  “No. At a hotel. Same reason we didn’t go to the office.”

  “But you visited the house?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long was your stay in town?”

  “Just overnight. We had some business to attend to and went back the next day.”

  “What sort of business?”

  Natasha glared at Vanessa. “Personal business.”

  Again, Vanessa opted not to push. “How was your relationship with your mother?”

  “I loved my mother.”

  Vanessa’s thoughts matched Jason’s, and she said exactly what he would have.

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  None of Natasha’s frostiness had dissipated. “My mother and I got along fine.”

  Vanessa gestured toward the house with her pen. “Except when it came to Mr. Davis.”

  “Yes, mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “We had another issue we didn’t agree on.”

  “May I ask what?”

  Natasha glanced toward the kitchen door, then let out a long sigh. “Not what—who. We did not see eye-to-eye on my brother.”

  “Colt?”

  The woman curled her lips into a sneer. “Yes, Colt!”

  Vanessa stayed the course. “What was the disagreement over?”

  “Colt was using my mother. She couldn’t or wouldn’t tell him no, and he took advantage.”

  Jason found the statement blunt, and considering Natasha’s hostility toward them, she was being remarkably frank.

  Vanessa’s eyebrows spiked. “Advantage how?”

  “He dropped out of college and moved home, then for a ridiculously small amount of office work, she would hand over large sums of money. I told both her and him that he needed to grow up and stop sponging off her.”

  “How did they take it?”

  “Mom said it was just temporary and he needed the help. She was always making excuses for him.”

  “What about Colt?”

  “He told me to mind my own business. We haven’t spoken since.”

  “Since when?”

  “It’s been several months.”

  Jason considered whether Janet’s death would end the gravy train. “How did you father feel about the situation?”

  “It created alot of stress between Mom and Dad. He felt the same way I did. Unlike me though, Dad was finally able to get through to Mom. She cut him off except for hourly pay when he worked.”

  Jason exchanged a glance with Vanessa. Cutting off someone’s money source might create enough anger to lead to murder.

  He pressed. “I gather your brother wasn’t pleased.”

  She shrugged. “He still got funds somewhere, though Mom swore to Dad it wasn’t from her.”

  “Did your mother also tell him to move out?”

  “No. Dad wanted her to, but she refused.”

  Jason could see a scenario where Dale had enough of his wife funneling their money to Colt, and had killed her. The biggest problem with these hypothetical theories was that they still didn’t even know if they had a crime.

  “Natasha, before we let you get back, we would like to see the room where your mother was found. Could you show it to us?”

  “Sure, but it’s been cleaned up.”

  He nodded. “I understand. It would just help to fix a picture in our mind.”

  She shrugged and led them back inside, past her father whose eyes were still closed, and down the hall to the last door. She reached in and flipped on the light, then stepped back.

  Jason and Vanessa walked in, and after a quick scan, Vanessa went directly to the bathroom. Jason noted the bed was made, curtains were drawn, and the side tables had nothing on them but lamps. He gestured at the bed. “Which side was your moms?”

  “This side.”

  Jason went to the
near side table. Opening the top drawer, he scanned the contents.

  Bible, hairbrush, Unisom.

  He picked up the small box, which was marked 8 softgels, and opened it. The blister pack still contained six pills.

  She didn’t overdose on these.

  Regardless, he bagged the package. More than one case of poisoning had come from tainted medicines. He closed the top drawer and opened the bottom one. Just a rubber hot-water bottle. He shut the drawer and went around the other side of the bed. Dale Ellard’s top drawer was empty, but his bottom drawer held a surprise— a Ruger 38 caliber pistol.

  Jason considered whether to check if the weapon was legal, but a gunshot was clearly not the cause of Janet Ellard’s death, and he saw no reason to trouble the man more than they already had.

  Vanessa came out of the bathroom. “Standard stuff. Nothing medicine wise other than a blood pressure pill for Mr. Ellard, and that bottle is nearly full.”

  “What was the medicine?”

  “Hydrochlorothiazide.”

  “Water pill?”

  “Yeah.”

  He looked up to see Natasha watching them with a mixture of boredom and disdain.

  He went to the door. “There’s one more thing. Your mother apparently drank a protein shake at work. Destiny said they were a homemade variety. Do you know where that powder is?”

  “Sure. She kept it in the pantry.”

  “Can you show it to us?”

  “Okay.”

  Jason and Vanessa followed her to the kitchen, and waited while she went into the pantry. When she came back out, she was carrying a cylindrical Tupperware container filled with brown powder.

  “This is it. She’s been making it for years.”

  Jason accepted the tall container. “Thank you.”

  “Anything else?”

  “What did your mother use to take the powder to work?”

  Natasha reached up in a cabinet and came away with a plastic shaker bearing the GNC store logo. “One of these.”

  “She had more than one?”

  Natasha held the cabinet wide. Jason noted at least seven more containers. “Is there a dirty one from yesterday?”

  She closed the cabinet and stepped over by the sink. Pulling the dishwasher open, she found another container like the others. “This one.”

  It had been washed and sterilized. “Okay. I won’t need that. Thank you for your time. We’ll get out of your way now.”