Dead By Dawn

by Juliet Dillon Clark

  “Then you took off for Vegas?” Avery asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Did you get paid for the rest of the job?” he asked.

  “No, we tried to contact the person who hired us, but we never heard back,” she said.

  “Who hired you?”

  “Elizabeth Davenport.”

  Penny Royce and Steve Magon let out a gasp at the same time. “I thought that Marty Van Buren paid you,” Magon said.

  “No, we met with her. She was adamant that we not hurt her grandchildren,” she said.

  “But she was okay with you killing her son,” Magon said in disbelief.

  “She hated David,” Ellen said.

  “Do you know why?”

  “Because David knew Marty’s secret.”

  “I don’t follow. Because David knew that Marty killed Letty and her baby?” Magon asked.

  “No, because David knew that Charlie wasn’t Charles senior’s son,” she said.

  A stunned silence passed over the room. “Do you know who his real father is?” Magon asked.

  “It’s Van Buren,” she said.

  Magon said, “Ellen, the reason the D.A is sitting here today is because we have to know if Barton Edmunds was involved in the murders.”

  “No, he wasn’t. I don’t know who he is,” she answered.

  “He was the ranch hand that found the bodies and was convicted of the murders,” Magon said.

  “He wasn’t with us,” she said. “It was just the three of us who were paid by Mrs. Davenport.”

  Penny Royce absorbed that information. “Are you sure of this?” she asked Ellen.

  “Yes, there were only three of us and Mrs. Davenport,” she said.

  Chapter 65

  Marty Van Buren was asked to come in for questioning about the murders of Letty and their baby. Taylor Kragen didn’t believe he could be prosecuted for them based on the letter that was found, but he wanted answers.

  When Marty came to the station, he was alone. “No attorney, Judge.” Kragen questions.

  “I don’t need one,” Marty said confidently.

  Magon came in to hear what the Judge had to say. “I guess you know about the letter that Davenport wrote to his grandson,” Taylor said.

  “I’ve known about the letter for years. My wife tried to blackmail me with it,” he said. “It didn’t work. I didn’t murder them.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Kragen said.

  “Lizzie got pissed off and killed them,” he said.

  “Why would she kill them?” Kragen said.

  “She knew I got Letty pregnant and she was pregnant with Charlie,” he said. “She was mad that I was sleeping around on her.”

  Magon interjected, “I don’t get it. You were married and she was married, right?”

  “Yes, but Lizzie thought that I would leave Darla and marry her,” Marty said.

  “And you didn’t because she was your best friend’s wife?” Kragen said.

  “Oh, hell no. My wife was rich and without Charles, Lizzie didn’t have anything. It was that simple,” he answered, as if it were a simple explanation.

  “Then why did you go to Charles’ dad and tell him that you did it?” Kragen asked.

  “Because I knew he would take care of the problem. I didn’t think I needed to explain the rest to him,” he said.

  “Did you know that Elizabeth Davenport had her son and his wife killed?” Kragen asked.

  “I suspected. She was always asking me to look into the status of the investigation,” he said. “Every time the cops were headed away from the drug angle, she would get Charles all fired up.”

  “That’s it?” said Carver.

  “That, and the fact that she was so riled up about that letter when Charles told her about it,” he said. “She came to me and said that she would take care of it.”

  “What did you think she meant by that?” Magon asked.

  “I don’t know. I do know that she got David to show it to my wife,” Marty said.

  “Were you angry about that?” Magon asked.

  “I didn’t find out about it until years later when Darla tried to blackmail me with it,” he said. “And yes, I was mad. I met with Elizabeth and told her if she ever fucked with me again, I would tell everyone that she killed Letty.”

  “Is that the reason she killed your wife?” Kragen asked.

  “My wife died in a car accident,” he said.

  “Your wife was run off the road,” Kragen said.

  “That’s not what I was told,” the Judge said with confusion.

  “We found the car that ran her off of the road at the ranch in Shandon,” Kragen said. “It used to belong to Elizabeth Davenport.”

  “That can’t be. Lizzie was jealous, but I can’t imagine she would kill Darla,” Van Buren said.

  “Why was your wife divorcing you?” Kragen asked.

  “She met someone new,” Van Buren said. “She got tired of my infidelity.”

  “She blackmailed you with this so your divorce settlement would be less?” Kragen asked.

  “Yes, that is why I was so mad at Lizzie. She was messing up my life with this game of hers.”

  “Were you still having an affair with her?” Kragen asked.

  “I did on and off for thirty five years. So yes, I was,” he said.

  “So, with Darla out of the way, you would have gotten it all,” Kragen said. “With Darla blackmailing you, it would have been much less of a settlement.”

  “Yes, but why would Lizzie care about the amount of my settlement?” Marty answered.

  “Did she think with Darla gone you would marry her?” Kragen asked.

  “I was never going to marry her. She had to know that after all of theses years,” Marty said.

  “What if she didn’t know?” Kragen asked. “Do you think she would have killed Darla?”

  Marty didn’t answer.

  Chapter 66

  Jeff came into the house and saw Lindsay sitting out on the patio with a man he didn’t know. He put down his brief case, got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and went out the French doors to greet them.

  Lindsay looked up, “Hi babe.”

  Jeff bent over to kiss his wife. “Cheating on me again?” he joked.

  “Jeff this is Jeremy Davenport,” Lindsay said.

  Jeremy rose from his seat at the table and reached across to shake Jeff ’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  Lindsay stood up. “I’m glad you are here. We need your advice,” she said.

  “Legal?” he asked.

  “Sit down and I’ll explain,” she said. They all sat down around the table.

  “Tracy McCarthy is actually Jeremy’s sister, Kelly,” she said.

  Jeff, who was sipping his water, choked. “Are you kidding?” he said wiping the water from his chin.

  “No, I’m afraid I’m not,” she said. “I’m under the gun here because the story is about to break and someone needs to tell Tracy before that happens.”

  “And you want me to do that?” he said.

  “I think it should come from you,” Lindsay said. “You know her better than the rest of us.”

  “How much time do I have?” he asked.

  “A couple of hours at the most,” Lindsay said. “The D.A.s office in Paso Robles is going to make an announcement about arrest warrants soon.”

  “How do I tell her this?” Jeff said.

  “Why don’t I go with you and I can explain everything to her?” Lindsay offered.

  Jeremy spoke for the first time. “Can I come too?”

  Both of them looked at him. “I’m not sure she’s going to want to meet all of you yet,” Lindsay said.

  “Look, I’m not asking for an instant bond. My grandfather doesn’t have much time. I really would like to make a plea for her meeting him,” he answered.

  “I think he should come,” Jeff said.

  Jeff went into the house and called his client. She agreed that they could mee
t at her home as soon as they could get there.

  ***

  Tracy answered the door of her beach home in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. There was a glistening of sweat on her forehead. “I was so anxious, I did some weight lifting,” she said.

  They sat in the living room. Her spacious home on the sand in Manhattan Beach had a sweeping ocean view. Jeremy walked over to the window that overlooked the bike path running the length of ocean. “I’ve always wondered if it bothers the people who live here to have all of these strangers looking into their homes,” he said.

  Tracy answered, “It was kind of weird at first but, you learn to ignore it.”

  Jeff decided to take control of the conversation. “I think I mentioned to you that after you hired my wife to look into Jeremy, he hired her to look into another matter.”

  “Yes, Lindsay told me that Jeremy thought that I was his missing sister,” Tracy answered. “I remember that.”

  “Well, there is a long and complicated story but, the truth is that you are his sister,” Jeff said.

  Tracy sat down on the couch and looked at Jeff in disbelief. “How can that be?”

  Jeremy sat down next to her. “Lindsay found the woman who took you. She confessed that she left you with her parents instead of killing you the night our parents were murdered.”

  “How did the McCarthys not know this?” Tracy asked.

  “It was their daughter who took you and gave you to them,” Lindsay answered. “Your brother saw a girl at one of your tournaments that was a dead ringer for his sister, Ellen. He had me get DNA from her and we found out that she was the daughter of his missing sister.”

  “Dan’s sister kidnapped me?” Tracy asked. She was rubbing her temples with her fingers trying hard to comprehend what they were telling her.

  “Dan’s sister was hired by your grandmother to kill your mother and father to protect a secret. You children were not meant to be hurt,” Lindsay said.

  “Oh right,” Tracy said sarcastically. “She killed our parents and expected that no one would get hurt. What about the hurt from growing up without parents?”

  “I don’t think she thought about that,” Jeremy said. “You’d have to know Grandma Davenport. She’s cold and controlling.”

  Jeremy continued, “I grew up with these people. Grandma and Grandpa kept me from mom’s parents. I didn’t know about them until I was a teenager.”

  “Were our parents killed in front of us?” Tracy asked.

  Lindsay answered, “Yes, they were. Your sister was too.”

  Tracy was pressing her temples with her fingertips again. “If I was there, why don’t I remember any of it?” she asked.

  “I can’t answer that,” Lindsay said. “Maybe it’s better that you don’t.”

  Jeremy took Tracy’s hands into his. “I’m here because I have a request. I know that you don’t know me or our family, but our grandpa is very sick.”

  Tracy squirmed in anticipation of his request. She withdrew her hands from his. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.

  “He has lung cancer. The doctors gave him six months to live almost a year ago. I think he has been hanging on in hopes that we would find you,” Jeremy said.

  “When do you want me to see him?” she asked.

  “Soon,” Jeremy said. “I don’t think that he’ll be around more than a few weeks.”

  “I don’t know him. It will be weird,” Tracy said. “This is all weird.”

  “It is, but he would die a very happy man,” Jeremy said. “He’s never given up hope that we would find you.”

  Chapter 67

  The news that Elizabeth Davenport had been arrested for the murder of David, Shelly, and Dayna Davenport made the national news. It wasn’t often that a thirty-year-old murder case was solved.

  Even bigger news was the release of Barton Edmunds from prison. The state was given 60 days to make a decision to retry him or let him go free. The District Attorney was not convinced that he wasn’t in on the crime and prepared to go to trial. The day the retrial was set to begin; she went into the courtroom and announced that they would not prosecute. A few months later, she petitioned to have Edmunds returned to prison because he had not filed his appeal in a timely manner. The federal judge presiding was not willing to entertain putting Edmunds back in prison because of a technicality.

  Tim Herron was arrested in Las Vegas and extradited back to California to stand trial. At first, he denied Ellen McCarthy’s account of the murders. When Dan McCarthy identified him as the man who was with Ellen when she dropped Tracy off, he changed his story and agreed to testify against Elizabeth Davenport.

  Charles Davenport hired the best defense lawyers in the state to represent his wife. At first, she maintained her innocence. Then the façade started to crack. She told her attorneys what had really happened.

  Elizabeth admitted that she had killed Letty and her child in a jealous rage. She called Marty to clean up the mess for her. He was outraged that she would call him for help, but realized that it was in his own best interest to make the mess go away. He contacted Charles’ father and arranged to dispose of the bodies at the ranch that no one used in Shandon. Elizabeth begged Marty to leave his wife and marry her. Marty refused and stopped seeing her for a while.

  Marty and Elizabeth got together again a few years later. Marty maintained his friendship with Charles and was happy to see that Charlie, or Chip, as they called him was being raised well. Then, Charles’ father died and David took over the ranch and the secret. David had confronted his father about the bodies and asked him to do something about Marty. When Charles confided in his wife about the meeting with David, she took control of the situation. Elizabeth met with David and Shelly and told them that she would make sure Marty paid for his mistake. She also told David that Charlie was Marty’s child. A few days later, David and Shelly were dead.

  Over the years, Elizabeth and Marty would meet again and again. Elizabeth loved him more than anything and was constantly frustrated that Marty would not leave Darla. When she heard that Darla was divorcing Marty, she thought that he would finally marry her. When Darla tried to blackmail him during their divorce, Marty was angry at Elizabeth. He told Elizabeth that she had jeopardized his future. Elizabeth took this as a cue to make sure that Marty got everything and ran Darla off of the road and killed her. Marty still didn’t marry her.

  When the attorney’s Charles hired told this to him, he tried to get Elizabeth to plead instead of going to trial. When she refused, he did the only thing he could think of and cut off the money for her defense. She was forced to plead guilty to life in prison.

  With Elizabeth in prison, Charles struggled to regain his life. Nothing was the same. His wife had betrayed him and killed their son and granddaughter. She had betrayed him and produced a son that he had raised as his own but wasn’t his at all. His childhood friend Marty betrayed him with his wife. He was as much a victim as the rest of Elizabeth’s dead victims. Charles did the one thing for his grandson that he had not done for his son, David. He supported Jeremy’s endeavor in the winery. He sold off all of the family land in San Luis except the land the ranch house was on and split it between his grandchildren, so David’s dreams could live on through them.

  Epilogue

  Robert Doran died in his sleep ten days after meeting his granddaughter. Before he died, he made it clear to everyone in the family that he harbored no ill will toward the Davenports. He was ready to forgive and die in peace and he hoped that the rest of his family would heal and do the same; if not for themselves, then at least for him.

  Tracy McCarthy was who she was. There were days she dreamed about how different her life would have been. All in all, she decided the life she grew up with was as good as it got. It was nice to have more family. It was nice to have more people around her to love. Her Grandfather Davenport had bought her a stake in her brother’s vineyard. Jeremy was running the day-to-day business, but Tracy was delighting in all of the things s
he was learning about viticulture. Her celebrity also helped to attract tourists to the winery.

  Naming the winery was something Jeremy and Tracy wanted to do together. They tossed family names that they thought would honor their mother and father. One day, someone pulled out a baby book and looked up the word Shandon. The English translation was, God is gracious. After toying with the translation for a few days, they decided that the Shandon Farms Winery would grace their bottles. The irony was not lost on them. God had not been gracious to this stretch of earth or this family for the last thirty years, but all of them felt that their luck was changing. God had been gracious and brought all of them back together as a family. God had been gracious in his ability to let them know that there was nothing more important than the family.

  The first family dinner was held at the ranch, in the new dining room built in the tasting room. Martha Doran was there with both of her daughters, Terri and Debbie. Jeremy was there with a new girlfriend. Tracy and her husband were there. Martha had made sure to include the McCarthy’s, since they were Tracy’s family too. Martha Doran also made sure that Charles Davenport was included in all family plans. Her daughters protested but, Martha was adamant. It was what their father would have wanted.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31