by Terry Spear
She was enjoying having Roxie to bounce her findings off, too, when she normally only did that with someone trained in investigations. She’d found that the siblings could provide some great input.
“Okay, it appears neither of Oscar’s parents had other spouses or kids,” Nicole told Roxie as she searched through her investigative resources. “The mother’s name was her maiden name when she married her current husband. I couldn’t find any other marriage certificates for the dad. So it appears they had no stepchildren or half siblings.”
“What about an illegitimate son?” Roxie asked, not taking her ear off the listening device next to the wall. She was really getting into this spy business.
“Ohmigod, yes. What if there was another son who was illegitimate? Or Eli was an illegitimate son? The mother is the true mother, and she had a lover or—”
“The father had an illegitimate son, and his wife was raising the boy instead of the birth mother for some reason.”
“Okay, I’m checking for birth records on the younger brother, Eli.”
“Or maybe it was an adoption. Maybe he wasn’t even a birth son,” Roxie said.
“True. No, wait. Okay, according to his birth certificate, he’s the son of Rhys’s mother, but the dad is listed as unknown.”
“Aha. Another fly in the ointment. If her husband knew that the boy wasn’t his, he could have been angry about it. He might have taken it out on the son. Why would they pay for a life insurance policy on her son and make it payable only to her?” Roxie asked.
“Because Oscar’s father wasn’t the boy’s father. Due to the insurance payout, I’d say she’d have a motive for getting rid of the boy, but her older son was with him at the lake, not her.”
“Unless she gave him part of the proceedings if the boy should die,” Roxie said. “And the parents did make Oscar take Eli with him and his friends.”
“Hmm.” This could get more and more complicated. “The father would also have a motive because Eli would be a constant reminder that his wife had had an affair with another man. If Eli knew Arthur wasn’t his father, he might have even thrown that in his face. You know how rebellious teens can be. ‘You’re not my father. You can’t tell me what to do.’”
“Yet Arthur stayed with his wife. He might not have known Eli wasn’t his own son. Eli might not have either. Though if Arthur was clueless, you’d think she would have named him as Eli’s father on the birth certificate. Unless there’s another son. Do you see a pattern there?” Roxie asked.
“Yep,” Nicole said. “I’m checking with the insurance company. They show that the mother was the one who signed the policy. The father, or I should say her husband, didn’t. He might not have known about it. And the policy was taken out only six weeks before her son’s supposed drowning. The mother received the money for her son’s death. Then her living son inherited everything else upon his parents’ death.”
“And then for his own faked death,” Roxie said.
“Right. So Oscar learned about getting life insurance payouts from his mother.”
“Exactly. What about Oscar? Was he legitimate?” Roxie asked, her voice still hushed.
“Checking. Yes. Louise and Arthur Kovac were his birth parents.”
“I hear movement in the bathroom. No one’s talking. Just someone’s getting out of bed and the bathroom door shut. The shower’s running now. A light was turned on in the bedroom. I heard the click of the lamp going on. I love this hearing device. Box springs are squeaking. No one seems to be very talkative first thing this morning.” Roxie sounded disappointed she couldn’t help break the case wide open with some damning recorded conversations that would give Nicole more to go on.
“It can take months to learn the truth, even years sometimes, unfortunately.” Nicole was hoping she’d learn the truth about the men at the ski resort though. With as many people hanging around the place as there were, she could blend in more than usual while doing her surveillance. And the Wolff family were incredibly helpful. Not to mention she really, really liked Blake.
Then Nicole had another idea and began looking for police reports that showed Eli might have been suffering from abuse. If his father knew Eli wasn’t his son, he might have abused him. Then again, once the boy was gone, wouldn’t the dad be glad? Supposedly, Oscar’s parents had given him a rough time when his brother had died—unless that had all been for show.
“Did the mom have a life insurance policy out on the other son too? Or her husband?”
“Not on Oscar, which I thought was odd. But yes, both the husband and wife had them.”
“What if Eli didn’t drown and just went to live with his real father?” Roxie asked.
“Huh, that’s a possibility. Though he would have to keep the secret about being dead, unless he lived in a different country.” Nicole went to the wall to listen in. Drawers were opening and closing. The shower was running in the background.
“I’m going out today. I’m going skiing too. I don’t have to go with you. Nobody’s going to be looking for me. I’m dead.” The voice sounded like the younger man Nicole had heard before. “You’re the one who should worry about being seen.”
Nicole couldn’t believe it. She truly hadn’t believed the brother was alive.
“Nobody knows me here. I told you that already,” Rhys said. Then there was a rustling sound. “Fine. I’ll give you some money for the lift ticket, skis, boots, and a rental locker for the rest of the week. If you get injured and give yourself away, I’ll end you. Here’s some money for food. Don’t buy anything alcoholic. You’re bound to blab your mouth off. If you’re in the room, fine, as long as you stay quiet.”
Roxie’s mouth was agape as she stared wide-eyed at Nicole. “Wow,” Roxie mouthed.
Nicole nodded. Some of Nicole’s cases were really straightforward, like the arson case she’d been working on before she got this assignment. Some of them seemed straightforward until she delved further into the case and found herself caught up in multiple webs of deceit.
Nicole whispered to Roxie, “See what he’s wearing when he goes by our room.”
Roxie hurried to the door and watched out the peephole.
Nicole texted Blake: Check man on elevator in a couple of minutes or so. It’s the younger dead brother. Roxie is watching to see what he looks like.
Blake: Living dead brothers seem to run in the family. Scoping out the elevator. A family with two small kids got off.
Ski-boot buckles were clamping in place in the cousins’ room.
Nicole: Should be soon. If you can pretend to be taking a selfie of yourself, get a picture of the guy, okay?
Blake: You got it.
The shower shut off. “Hey, where’s your brother going?” William asked.
“Skiing,” the man they thought was Eli said.
The door to the room opened, then clunked shut.
“He’s leaving his room now,” Nicole whispered to Roxie.
“I hope you’re right about letting him loose,” William said to Rhys.
“Hey, how do you think we’d feel if we were cooped up like that? He’ll be okay. He knows what’s at stake.”
At the same time, Roxie was giving Nicole Eli’s description, and Nicole was texting Blake: Eli’s headed to the elevator.
“Shaggy blond hair, black ski hat, dark-gray ski jacket with pale-gray and red stripes, gray ski pants, and white snow boots. Lanky male, older teen,” Roxie reported.
Nicole texted Blake the guy’s description.
Blake: He’s coming out now and headed to the ski rental shop. I got a couple of pictures of him. Do you want me to follow him?
Nicole: Carefully. See if he grabs a bite to eat after he leaves the rental shop.
Blake: Will do. I’m sending you the pictures now.
In Rhys’s room, drawers opened and closed.
“He’s staying away from us,” Rhys said to William.
“All right. Let’s go get some breakfast.”
Their door opened and shut.
“I’m off to follow them. As long as they’re gone, you could watch them on the security monitors,” Nicole said to Roxie. She didn’t know what she would have done without having the Wolff family backing her on this, especially with three men to watch. At least Rhys and William seemed to stick together most of the time.
“Okay, I’ll monitor the security feeds until I see that someone has… Wait, they’re all gone. What if we can get some DNA evidence on Rhys in their room?” Roxie asked.
“We would have to replace whatever trash we would take or water glasses if they had used those,” Nicole said.
Roxie pointed to the disposable cups and water glasses in Nicole’s room. “You can use those to replace anything they’ve used. I’ve got a master key. Here. Use it to unlock the adjoining door to their room. I’ll call Landon to tell him to watch the cousins, but I’ll keep watching the security monitors too.”
“Let me know pronto if someone is returning to the room.”
“I will.”
“I’ll return here to grab what I need once I learn what they’ve used.”
“Landon said they’re going into the restaurant,” Roxie said. “There they are.” Roxie pointed to them on the security video.
Nicole watched the cousins walk into the restaurant. “Okay, good. They’ll be there for a while. Wish me luck.” Nicole slipped forensics gloves on, stuffed a bag to gather evidence in her pocket, unlocked their adjoining door to the other room, and moved to their adjoining door. Her heart was pounding as she unlocked the suspects’ door to their room.
Without having any maid service since they arrived and being three young males, she expected the room to be a mess—unmade beds, clothes everywhere, rank wet towels, trash on the counters and filling the wastepaper baskets. They were empty, the water glasses unused, and the towels hadn’t even been used! The beds were unmade. But no clothes were lying about. They had to be removing all their trash. Then she saw a package of paper towels. So that was how they were drying off. Which made her think about Rhys being a former MP. She wondered if he had learned a thing or two about leaving DNA evidence behind and how to cover his tracks.
They hadn’t even left hair or beard hairs anywhere.
Well, damn it. She couldn’t even find their toothbrushes. She opened drawers, and underneath several pairs of boxer shorts, she found a 9mm gun. Crap! She’d hoped they wouldn’t be armed, though she had considered they might have a gun in the glove compartment of their vehicle. She’d never suspected they’d leave one in a drawer.
She pulled out the magazine—full of rounds. Was it the same gun Rhys had pulled on Roxie in the attempted coin heist? She rushed back into her room with the gun.
Roxie’s eyes grew huge.
“Is it the same one Rhys pulled on you?” Nicole started to dust it with the powder used to obtain fingerprints.
“Yeah, could be. Looks just like it. Is it loaded?”
“It sure is.” Nicole finished lifting fingerprints and cleaned off the weapon. She took a few pictures of it. “The serial number is filed off. Which means whoever did it has committed a federal felony.”
“Great.”
Nicole started to head back to the cousins’ room. She didn’t want to return it. She wanted to remove the rounds. She wanted to turn them into dummy rounds or blanks. But if done improperly, they could be lethal too, like in The Crow when someone attached a tip accidentally to a blank and it killed Brandon Lee. The bottom line was she didn’t want to tip the three men off that she’d been in their room, so she left the gun the way it had been.
“You’re not going to return it to them, are you?” Roxie sounded astonished.
“I can’t disturb anything. If these guys notice anything’s changed, they could make a run for it.”
“Eli’s returning to the elevator,” Roxie suddenly warned.
“All right. I’m putting the gun back.” Nicole was sweating it out, even though she knew she had a few minutes before Eli showed up at the room. She tucked the gun under the boxer shorts, shut the drawer, and ran to the adjoining doors.
She left the room and locked their adjoining door just as she heard the outer door open. She took a breath and hurried out of the space between the rooms and shut and locked her adjoining door.
Roxie’s mouth was agape. “He didn’t catch you.”
“No, we’re good. Why did he return to the room?” Nicole asked. “I thought he was going skiing.”
Roxie listened to the wall. “He’s in the bathroom.”
Nicole returned the master key to Roxie. “You would not believe how clean they leave that place.” She explained in detail what she’d found.
“Because the bastard was an MP,” Roxie said before Nicole could mention that.
“Yep. Rhys could very well have a permit to carry a gun, since he’s never had a felony conviction, but the business with the filed-off serial number? That changes things. I just couldn’t take it from his room and charge him with it, unfortunately. Okay, I’m going down to watch the cousins. Are you going to be all right?”
“Yeah. I’ll let you know where they are. Well, right now, they’re waiting on food in the restaurant.” Roxie pointed to them on the monitor. “Maybe you ought to wait. The younger brother is still in the bathroom. Flushing the toilet. Did not wash hands. Door just opened and shut. He’s headed down the hallway to the elevator.”
“I hope you clean the elevator buttons frequently.”
Roxie smiled at her.
“Okay, see you later.” Nicole hurried out of the room and went down the stairs to sit by the fireplace.
Landon saw her and came to join her. “Hey, the cousins are getting takeout. Roxie texted me to let me know you were delayed while you checked out their room for DNA evidence.”
“Naturally, on the takeout. They cleaned their room. I couldn’t find any evidence I could use, until I found a 9mm in a drawer.”
Landon frowned at her. “The one Rhys used on Roxie?”
“Could be and it’s loaded.”
“I didn’t expect them to have a gun in the room.”
“It has a filed-off serial number.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“It sure is. I took fingerprints anyway. Maybe we can learn whose it is that way.”
“I’ll let Peter, our sheriff, know about the gun.”
“Thanks.” She handed the fingerprint evidence from the gun to Landon. “If you can give this to Peter, that will be great.”
“I sure will.”
“Where’s Blake?”
“When Eli went back up to the room, Blake made a pit stop,” Landon said.
“Okay, he’s allowed.”
Landon laughed. “But Eli just got takeout, so Blake grabbed another cup of coffee and he’s headed out to the deck.”
“Thanks, off to catch up with my boyfriend.” Though she was thinking about skiing because the cousins were on the slopes.
Landon winked at her. “Blake will be delighted to hear it.”
Chapter 8
Blake was sitting out on the deck, drinking a cup of coffee and watching Eli eat eggs, bacon, and toast with a cup of cocoa. The sun was rising in the morning sky, casting a golden light through the tree branches laden with snow, the breeze crisp, the clouds gone. He wished Nicole could be out here with him, drinking a cup of coffee or cocoa too. After the blizzard last night, it was a beautiful day to ski.
Eli rose from the table and started unzipping his backpack. Blake assumed he was being as careful as his brother and cousin about getting rid of his trash. As Blake expected, Eli tucked his trash in his backpack, then went off to the chairlift. Roxie had sent Blake a text saying Nicole was
in the room looking for evidence, but she wasn’t able to find anything but a gun. That was bad news. He was glad Nicole had made it out of the room before Eli had caught her, but now they knew these guys were armed and dangerous.
Blake was torn between wanting to help her prove these guys had defrauded the insurance company and wanting to date her, knowing that once she was done with Rhys, she would be moving on to another assignment and out of his life. Which he didn’t want! But this business with the gun really worried him.
He got a call from Nicole and wondered if she needed him now. He loved hearing her voice, so cheerful and sweet-sounding. She didn’t sound like a hotshot investigator searching for clues.
“Hey, Blake, the cousins are skiing, so there’s nothing else for me to do. Do you want to go skiing? Maybe we can overhear their conversation on the slopes if they pause at the top of the runs to talk.” Nicole asked.
“Yeah, I sure do. I’ll meet you at the office to get our skis. The other one is already out skiing too.”
“Okay, I’m headed to the office now.”
Blake saw the cousins heading outside, and he dumped his empty coffee cup in the trash, then walked inside the warm lodge. As soon as he met up with Nicole at the office, she gave him a big smile and an even bigger hug. She was wearing a soft, pale-blue sweater and ski pants, and she felt warm and cuddly, while he had to feel wintry cold, his ski jacket carrying the scent of the outdoors with him.
Not wanting to chill her, he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her even tighter, and gave her a hot-blooded kiss. Mouths melding, her warm lips heated up his cold ones.
“You’re cold,” she said, smiling up at him.
“But getting a whole lot warmer.” He didn’t let her go, wanting to revel in the feel of her against his body. He noticed her ski jacket was sitting on one of the chairs, and he liked how she’d made herself at home at their lodge.
“This business can be so slow. But this time, I’m glad it’s allowed for some entertainment.” Nicole didn’t let go of him either, and he knew there was more to their interest in each other than just her using him as her pretend partner.
