Ashton stopped again and looked at Logan. Logan still didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“I hear a lot of ‘what if’s’ and while I think you believe what you’re telling me, it would never fly in court. At least I doubt that it would,” Logan finally said.
“So, I’m SOL then?”
“Pretty much except for a couple of things you don’t know that lend credibility to your story.
“What things?”
“We dug into Larkins financials and found some interesting things. Seems he has been having an affair at the La Strada motel on a hot and heavy schedule. It started about a year and a half ago. He’s bought her a lot of expensive gifts. Bracelets, earrings, and stuff like that. We checked Mrs. Larkins' jewelry against the receipts but none of it ended up there.”
“So Carla was right. He is having an affair. Is that what this is all about? He wanted the money but didn’t want to end up giving half of it to Carla?”
“I think part of that is right. This isn’t going to be easy but it is what it is. We found some of the items in your wife’s jewelry box,” Logan said, watching Ashton.
“What? The things Terry bought were in Stephanie’s jewelry box?”
“Correct. There is more. We showed the picture of Terry and Stephanie to the manager at the La Strada and he confirms that is who has been coming there,” Logan replied.
He sat there and let it sink in. Ashton had a bewildered look on his face. He could see he was trying to work it out in his mind.
“No. No way. Terry and Stephanie? That’s not possible. Terry would never do something like that and neither would Stephanie,” he said.
“Sorry, it’s true. They have been seeing each other for the past eighteen months.”
“You’re saying that they are in this together?”
“Most likely,” Logan confirmed.
Ashton laid his head on the back of the seat with his eyes closed. He scrunched his eyes tight, trying to come to grips with what Logan had just told him.
“No...no...no. There has to be another explanation,” he muttered to himself.
Sorry Mr. Ashton. We have it nailed down solid. Did you know one of the wireless phones from the den was missing?”
“What? Why does that matter?”
“If someone was within say fifty to seventy feet of your house they could call on it and it would ring through as if the call originated from inside the house.”
“Ah shit. That’s why the phone calls looked like they came from me,” Jim said.
“Yeah. We found your real jacket as well. Seems someone was setting you up to take a hard fall while he took off with your money and your wife,” Logan said.
“Terry.”
“So it would seem.”
“Terry and Stephanie. Man, I never saw that coming. I didn’t even think Stephanie liked Terry all that much. I mean she liked him because I did but otherwise she didn’t seem to care two hoots about him.”
“People can be very devious. Look at Larkins.”
“Son of a bitch. But I still look like the bad guy officially, right?”
“More or less. I mean if you went to trial I think a good lawyer would get you off with reasonable doubt but it’s a tricky thing, a trial in front of a jury. You never know how they will turn out.”
“So what do I do next?” Jim asked.
“You said that Larkins had a house around here someplace. Do you think you could find it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been there a couple of times. I know it’s right on the lake. Where, I don’t know exactly.”
“I’ll call it in and see if someone can come up with an address. You stay here, I’ll be right back,” Logan said getting out of the car.
He walked back to this car and called the precinct. He had Jake find out where Larkins had his lake house and passed the word to the others to come meet him.
He gave him a quick overview of what Ashton and he had talked about. When he was finished he went back to let Jim know what was going on. Now all they could do was wait until the others showed up.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Terry had parked the van on the other side of the house. He reached back and patted the suitcases one more time. Twenty million dollars. Now all they had to do was get the hell out of there and then call and tell the cops where they could find Carla.
He would wait until they were out of the country first and then call. No use giving them too much notice. He checked his jacket pocket to make sure his passport was still there. He got out and went down the hill towards the lake.
A large two story wood shed was located just before the boat dock. A sleek 25 foot Regal cabin cruiser sat gently rocking in the water.
He went to the shed and found Stephanie pacing back and forth.
“God, what took you so long?”
“Hey, I had to be careful. I sure as hell didn’t want to screw it up this late in the game.”
“I’ve been going out of my mind. All kinds of scenarios have been going through my head.”
“Well you can stop worrying now. How is Carla?”
“No better, no worse. I tried to bring her out of it but she isn’t fighting any longer. She has just given up. She’s worthless,” Stephanie replied.
“Still. It would be better if they found her alive,” Terry said.
“I doubt if it will matter much one way or the other with everything else that’s been done.”
“Anyway, we need to transfer the money to the boat. I have another car over at the Wyler place.”
“Is that safe?”
“They are in Europe for the summer. Won’t be back until September,” he assured her.
“Do you want to check on Carla one last time?”
“I guess that would be the right thing to do. I don’t really care much one way or the other.”
“I think you should,” Stephanie said.
“Okay,” he said and turned to go up the stairs to where Carla was being kept.
He felt the blow hit him in the middle of his back, sending him smashing into the wall and slumping to the floor. What the hell had just happened? He rolled on his side and saw Stephanie pointing the gun at him. For some reason he was mesmerized by the smoke coming from the barrel of the gun.
“What..” he struggled to get out.
“You pathetic little shit. Did you really think I wanted to run away with you? It was all I could do to let you touch me, you worm. You were supposed to be Jim’s friend but all you wanted was money and a piece of ass,” she said with an ugly scowl on her face. Her eyes were almost bulging as she sneered at him.
“But I thought..”
“What? That I loved you? Give me a break. You are a loser and always have been. Jim made the company what it was. You were always the chicken shit. I have to give Jim credit, without him I wouldn’t be walking away with twenty million dollars.”
“You evil bitch,” he struggled to get out.
Blood had pooled under him and was creeping across the floor. His legs were numb and he knew he didn’t have much longer to live.
“You are nothing but a whore you filthy..”
The second shot caught him just below the chin taking his teeth out along with the back of his head. The wall was splattered with blood, brains and skull fragments.
“Maybe so, but I’m a rich whore,” she said.
****
Every few minutes another car would arrive until the whole task force was assembled at the store. Logan had called in the Sheriff's department as well since they were operating in their territory.
“We are going after Terry Larkins. He has a lake house at 123 Whispering Pines Lane,” Logan said pointing to a map that had been stuck onto one of the store windows with duct tape.
“We will park here and here,” he said pointing to two different spots. The Sheriff’s deputies will come in from the east and stop and we will come in from the west. We will maintain contact by cell phone.”
�
��That’s not such a good idea,” the Sheriff said.
“Okay, I give. Why not?”
“Cell reception is really ‘iffy’ in this area. Sometimes you get a signal and sometimes you don’t. Lots of dropped calls as well.”
“Okay. Good point. Thanks Sheriff. Ok, we will use the car phones. It will take a little time to set it up but I don’t see any other options. There are too many trees and gullies for line of sight transmissions. Jake, can you start to work on getting us and the Sheriff’s deputies connected?”
Winston waved and headed to his car.
“We know there is at least one hostage inside. Mr. Ashton said there is a large barn at the back of the property. Most likely if they are here, that is where we will find them. Assuming they haven’t already skipped by now. Try not to shoot anyone but don’t put yourself at risk. If you have to take them down, do it. If you can wound then great, if in doubt, do what you have to do.”
They went over the plans one more time while Jake got the cars coordinated.
“Everyone ready?” Logan said at last.
They were just starting out of the lot when Carrie Brown came up in her car.
“Ah shit. Brown is here,” Logan said to Jake.
“Want me to get rid of her?”
“No. I’ll go talk to her,” he said, undoing his seat belt and climbing out of the car.
He walked back to her car and she lowered the window.
“What the hell are you doing here Ms. Brown?”
“Strange, I was about to ask you what you were doing here,” she shot back and smiled.
“Damn it, this isn’t the time for you to be snooping around.”
“I’m here and guess what? I’m not going away. So given that, where are we going and what’s going on? I see Ashton in the back of your car. What gives?”
“For Christ sakes, Brown. We don’t have time to go into all of that. You can follow but if you get in the way I’ll shoot you myself. Got it?”
“Got it boss,” she said and rolled up her window.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Stephanie went up the hill to the van and looked at the suitcases. There were three of them. She started to pick one up then realized how heavy it was. She decided she would drive the van down as close to the dock as she could and then lug the money to the boat. It wasn’t going to be easy but for twenty million in cash she damn sure would get it done.
She wondered how far it would be from the dock to the where the car was parked at the Wyler place. She decided there was no use in worrying about it, she would do whatever she had to do.
She got in the van and started backing it down the hill. It was harder to do than she had realized. The ground was soft from all the recent rain and was causing the wheels to slip and slide around. She gave it too much gas and the van fishtailed into the side of a small tree.
“Son of a bitch,” she yelled and put it in drive but the wheels just spun. She tried rocking it back and forth but the wheels just dug in deeper. She got out and looked at the tires. No way was she getting it out of the ruts.
The boat was still a hundred yards or more away. It was a long way to lug the heavy suitcases but she didn’t see another way. Opening the side door she pulled one of the cases out and it fell to the ground almost yanking her arms out of the sockets.
“Damn. Money weighs a lot. I should have had Terry load it first then shot him,” she sighed. She started dragging the money down the hill, stopping every few minutes to see how far she still had to go. It seemed to take forever to get the one case to the dock.
Once on the dock she had to get it onto the boat. She tried picking it up and swinging it over the side but it was too tall. The case hit the side of the boat and bounced back onto the dock.
“Shit,” she yelled. She sat down on the dock and realized she would never be able to lift it on board.
“Okay, there is more than one way to skin a cat,” she thought. She opened the suitcase and started taking the bundles of money and tossing them into the boat. She would get it down to where she could lift it into the boat.
She finally finished and was able to climb aboard with the suitcase. She piled all the money she had thrown into a neat stack. One down, two to go.
She climbed back out and trudged up the hill again for the second suitcase. It was going to take her a lot longer than she had anticipated but damn, it was worth it.
****
It took the Sheriff’s deputies and Logan’s task force almost twenty minutes to arrive at the designated spots.
“We’re in position,” the Sheriff informed Logan.
“We’re set too. Make sure you remind them about the hostage,” Logan said.
“They got it,” came the curt reply.
“Okay. Easy does it. Let’s go.
The two teams started to converge on the Larkins' lake house. The trees were thick, making it difficult to see.
“It gets better in a few yards,” Jim told Logan.
“I sure the hell hope so.”
They crept through the undergrowth and a short time later, just like Jim had said, it started to get less dense.
“I don’t see the van,” Logan said.
“Probably parked it around the back. He did that with his Jag the last time I was here,” Jim informed him.
“Okay, here we go. I hope no one is watching out the house windows or we will be sitting ducks.”
Logan advanced until it was a clear dash to the house.
“You stay here. I mean it, no screwing around trying to be a hero,” Logan warned Ashton.
“Got it.”
“I damn sure mean it.”
“I said Okay, I got it.”
Logan started to take off but looked at Ashton one more time. Jim just rolled his eyes.
Just as John broke for the side of the house he saw one of the Sheriff’s deputies heading for the other side. They would have to be careful not to shoot each other. After Logan was safe against the house he waved the others over. Jake and Ashton ran to where he was standing and put their backs against the side of the house.
“So far so good. I’m going to look around the back. You guys stay here,” Logan said.
“John, let me go. I’m faster,” Winston said.
He was right. The human ball of energy was not only faster but more agile. Hell, he vibrated so much a bullet could never hit him.
“Go ahead but be damn careful. Just a quick look. Remember the Sheriff’s deputies are on the far side of the house. For God’s sake don’t shoot one of them.”
“I’ll try not to,” Jake said and edged his way along the side of the house.
When he got to the corner he stooped down and quickly looked around the corner. Nothing. He took another quick peek and saw the van up against a tree with the side door open. He didn’t see anyone around. He made his way back to Logan.
“No one around the back. The van seems to be stuck. The side door is open but I didn’t see anyone. We may be too late.”
“Ashton thinks the hostage, if she is alive, is in the barn further down the hill by the boat dock.”
“I couldn’t see the dock. The barn is in the way,” Jake told him.
“Okay, send Sam around to the deputies and tell them to hold up. We will circle around the van and head for the barn. I don’t want them to shoot at us by mistake.”
“Got it,” Jake said and went to tell Sam to relay the message.
They waited until Sam came back before they decided to move. Slowly they worked their way around the van, taking a quick look inside. Logan saw two suitcases sitting by the side door. They were still here someplace. No way would they leave the money. They crept down to the wooden barn.
Logan looked up the hill and could see one of the deputies watching them through binoculars. He waved and then indicated they were going to go into the barn. The man waved back.
That’s when he saw Carrie Brown sliding up beside the van. He almost stopped everything and went to tell her to
get the hell out of there but felt it was too big a risk at this point. Finally he turned to the task at hand.
With Jake on one side of the door and him on the other and the rest lined up along the side, he opened the door and rushed in. He stayed low and Jake went in high. Nothing, except the body of Terry Larkins slumped against the wall.
“What the hell?” Jake said.
“Not sure. Be careful. There’s an upstairs. We need to check it out,” Logan said.
“Is Terry dead?” Jim asked.
“About as dead as you can get.”
“Who?”
“Well, there aren’t many left now are there?”
“You think Stephanie did this?”
“Can you think of anyone else?”
“I can’t believe it.”
“There is a lot of that going around,” Logan said and started up the stairs.
****
Stephanie knew she was in trouble. She had heard sounds coming from the barn. Someone was here. Shit. Now what? Jump in the boat and take off? So much money would be left behind. This was just a third of it. She could have stayed with Jim until he got the money and then divorced him. She would have come out ahead.
She slipped the ropes off the boat and jumped in. She moved the throttle forward twice to pump gas into the carburetor. She needed the damn boat to start on the first try or they would be all over her. Surprise was all she had going for her at the moment.
She held her breath and pushed the start button. The engine sprung to life immediately. She slammed it into gear and the boat leapt forward like it had been shot out of a hole. She looked back but she was a good thirty or forty yards away from the dock before she saw the first person run out on the dock. She kept the throttle all the way forward. The dock was quickly disappearing. She headed for the Wyler’s dock.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Logan had just opened the upstairs door when he heard the loud roar of a boat.
“Go,” he yelled to Jake.
Jake and the others took off out the door towards the dock. Logan turned on his flashlight and went inside the upstairs room. He played the light over the room and finally saw a figure laying half against the wall.
Avarice or Innocence (JOHN LOGAN FILES Book 1) Page 20
