A Trail of Breadcrumbs

by D E Dennis

  Monica shook her head. “I don’t think they can do a more thorough search than the one we just did. It’s not here. Why is it not here?”

  “Maybe there’s a secret safe or panel and she stashed it away to keep it secure,” Samira said as they descended the stairs. “Maybe she left again after coming home with the mail and put the drive somewhere else. Maybe—”

  “Maybe the killer took the drive after making her death look like a suicide.”

  Samira didn’t pause in her stride. “We don’t have evidence of a break-in or signs of a struggle. There is no proof this wasn’t a straight suicide.”

  “Mira, I know you’re thinking the same thing I am,” Monica replied. “Harper’s computers were wiped and she is killed. Then she sends the only potential copy of what was on those computers to Rowan Presley, and the day she gets it, she is killed too. And guess who doesn’t have an alibi for both murders.”

  “Liam Antarr.”

  Monica nodded, face grave.

  “We’re looking for him, Mo,” Samira said, matching her soft tone. “When we find him, we’re going to have some serious questions for him, but he wasn’t under house arrest. Legally, he did nothing wrong by slipping out in the middle of the night so we can’t hold him when we do get our hands on him. I need something that will stick.”

  They stepped out onto the porch, pausing next to a familiar chair.

  “What about the friend of yours that Michael told me about?” Samira asked. “The one tracing the origin of the virus.”

  “He hasn’t called me with news yet,” she admitted. “But you know I’ll tell you when he does.”

  Samira cracked a smile. “You’re the one Grimm I can count on to always tell me what’s going on.”

  Monica squeezed her shoulder. “Speaking of my brother, I have to go find him before he gets himself in trouble.”

  Samira laughed. “He’s lucky to have you watching his back.”

  “That’s what I keep telling him.”

  Monica climbed off the porch, making her way toward the orange markers.

  “Oh and, Monica?”

  She halted, looking over her shoulder.

  “Tell him— Tell Michael I...”

  Monica smiled. “Don’t worry. I will.”

  “...GONE ON TOO LONG,” Michael said. “I’m thirty-two years old. I need to get over this stupid fear.”

  Glenmore Grimm took a languid sip of tea, assessing Michael over the rim. “We don’t choose our fears, son, and sadly, we also don’t choose when they go away. You went through an extremely traumatic experience. It will take time to come to terms with that.”

  “This is the second case where I’ve needed to go into the woods and couldn’t even think about it without fear paralyzing me. This is starting to affect my job. It has to stop.” Leaning back in his chair, Michael picked up his own tea and took a slurp.

  He looked out across the lawn. It was a nice day. Perfect for sitting on the porch like they were now, watching a few scant clouds cast shadows on the billowing grass.

  “So what will you do?”

  Michael looked back at his dad. “What?”

  “How will you make it stop, Michael? What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  Glenmore raised a brow. “You don’t know?”

  “You could offer some suggestions you know,” Michael snapped.

  He laughed. “Am I allowed to do that? Frankly, I’m surprised you’re here talking to me to begin with.”

  Michael shrugged. “I had to go somewhere Monica wouldn’t think to look for me.”

  “Ah, kicking your old man when he’s up.”

  Now it was Michael’s turn to laugh. “No, no. I do want your advice. What do you think I should do?”

  “Michael, I would raze Siren Woods to the ground, if I thought it would make things easier for you, and trust me I’ve thought about it. The day you went missing, I also experienced my worst fear. That something terrible would happen to my family, and with all my wealth and resources, I would still be powerless to stop it.

  “It’s not an easy thing to conquer your fears, but I think it’s possible when you open up. Let people support you.”

  Michael was silent for a moment. “Are you angry I didn’t tell you the reason I went into the woods all those years ago?”

  “Angry, yes,” he said mildly, “but not at you. If I was the kind of father you felt you could talk to, it wouldn’t have taken you thirty-two years to find your way to this porch.”

  Michael shook his head, staring into the depths of his tea. “You’re not so bad.”

  Glenmore chuckled. “High praise indeed.”

  “No, really,” Michael insisted. “It’s taken me a while but I realize now... you were always there. Even when I didn’t want you. You came to every birthday party, every track meet, every parent-teacher conference. You sent me to that viper’s nest they call prep school, but I got a great education that turned into a scholarship to a top-notch university where I met Samira Reddy.

  “And when I got lost in those woods, you came for me, Dad. I cried for Mom all night, but it was you who stumbled through the bush and found me curled up under that tree. As dads go, you’re one of the good ones, and I have the Liam Antarrs of the world to remind me of that.”

  Glenmore roughly cleared his throat. “Yes, well, that’s... very kind of you to say.”

  Michael couldn’t be sure, but he could have sworn his father’s eyes were glistening. He chuckled but the smile didn’t stay on his face for long. “It must have been hard for you too,” Michael said, “living in this grand manor by yourself.”

  “It was unbearable,” his father said simply.

  “How did you do it?” Michael burst out. “Let go of Mom. You didn’t want to, but you had no choice. How did you accept it and let go of her?”

  “That’s easy.” Glenmore placed the cup on the table and leaned forward, looking Michael in the eye. “I didn’t. I never let go of your mother. I’ve never stopped loving her.”

  “Oh.” Michael nodded slowly, taking another sip.

  “And if you were looking for more advice...”

  Michael glanced at his dad.

  “...you shouldn’t let her go either.”

  “Are we talking about Mom or...?”

  Glenmore threw his head back, laughing. “You know quite well I mean the lovely Samira Reddy. I’ve always liked her.”

  He made a face. “You barely know her.”

  “Not true. She used to visit me quite often when you two were engaged. We’d have lunch and talk on this very porch.”

  Jaw dropping, Michael sputtered, “You’re not serious?”

  “She said we would soon be family and she wanted to get to know me. I always thought you two would balance each other out nicely. She is open, honest, and fearless, while you hesitate to show the world the true Michael Grimm. I don’t think there is anything you couldn’t overcome with Samira Reddy at your side. Don’t let her go, Michael. You don’t want to find yourself on this porch over twenty years later wishing you had done something different.”

  Michael cleared his throat. “Well, I think we’ve hit our limit on fatherly advice for today.” He gave his father a slight smile. “But... thanks, Dad.”

  Glenmore lifted his cup in acknowledgment. “Anytime, son. Anytime.”

  They sat in a companionable silence until Michael’s phone buzzed again. This time he answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Michael Grimm! Where are you?”

  Wincing, he pulled the phone slightly away from his ear. “I’m at Dad’s place,” he told his sister.

  “You— Wait? What? You are? Why?”

  “We’re just hanging out. Having some tea.”

  “Who is this?” she asked, voice laced with suspicious. “Put my brother on the phone.”

  He laughed. “Very funny, Mo. It’s really me, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost it with Spencer and run
off like that, but I’m good now. How did the search of Presley’s place go?”

  “I’m glad you’re okay, and we are going to be talking about this later, but as for the search, you won’t believe this, Michael. The missing flash drive. Harper sent it to Rowan.”

  Michael lurched forward, tea sloshing out of his cup. “She did? What’s on it?”

  “No idea. The drive is missing. We only found a ripped-up envelope and a plastic cap.”

  “Dad, I have to go.”

  Michael drained the tea, tossed his father a wave, and hurried through the manor and out the door.

  “If Harper sent her the flash drive,” Michael said, “it must be because she wanted to make sure it was safe. Presley discovered the information Harper was trying to protect and then just—”

  “Kills herself. According to the police. But if it was the smoking gun she’s been waiting for, why would she do that? And we saw her when she drove off yesterday. She was a woman bent on retribution. If she was handed the key to putting Antarr away—”

  “She wouldn’t have committed suicide. And it’s hard to believe there was nothing important on that drive because Harper wouldn’t have flipped on her assistant for not sending it if that was the case.”

  The Grimm siblings were on a roll. Monica—the heart—and Michael—the head—perfectly in sync.

  “No, this doesn’t add up, no matter how you look at it,” said Michael. “Rowan Presley was murdered by the person who took that drive and that person was Liam Antarr.”

  Monica’s hums of agreements stopped. “Michael, the police haven’t found him yet. What if he killed Rowan, took the last shred of evidence against him, and disappeared? After all this, everything he has done, he can’t get away again.”

  “He’s not going to,” Michael said firmly. “The police will find him and they’ll bring him in.”

  “And they’ll have nothing to hold him on unless they can find something to tie him to the murders.” She cursed. “Goodness, Dougie. What is taking so long?”

  “He might not have found something, because there is nothing to find. Either way, we’ve done what we can for now, Mo. We’ll just have to wait for the police to pick him up.” He took a deep breath. “This is it, Mo. We know the who. We know the why. Antarr all but announced his guilt, taking off in the middle of the night like that. We’ve solved this case and I’m going back to the office to call Mrs. Engelbert and tell her what we’ve discovered.”

  “So that’s it? We’re done?”

  “We certainly can’t carry out a town-wide manhunt for Antarr. Samira will find him, and once she gets him in that interrogation room, she’ll have him singing like a Broadway star.”

  “Okay. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I just... wish I knew what was on that drive.”

  “If Antarr took the drive it’s long gone by now. He’ll have destroyed it or buried it in the woods.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. But there’s also how she got this evidence. We spoke to all the people she did. Did the same research and we didn’t find any smoking gun. What are we missing?”

  “We went by what the assistant told us, but he was canoodling on an island when she started working on her article. We always suspected she went off script a bit. That would have been on the drive, and that’s why the killer took it.”

  “True, true.”

  Another pause.

  Driving up to the Fairy Tails gate, he waved to the guard while waiting patiently for his sister to sort through her thoughts.

  “I still want to know why, Michael,” she said. “Why did he pick those children?”

  “We may never know why, Mo.”

  She sighed. “Our job sucks.”

  He cracked a smile. “There are some good moments. Like you putting together a moving tribute for the victims of the Siren Woods Killer. You get to do this for Andrea, Harper, Rowan, and Mrs. Engelbert. What we do is tough, but I know we do some good.”

  “Yes,” she replied softly. “You’re right.”

  “So, I’ll be back at the office in forty minutes. See you soon.”

  “No, don’t bother. We’ll just have to turn back around.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Nelson Finley asked to speak to us again, remember? We might as well swing by his place now then pick up lunch on the way back.”

  “Did Ella tell you what he wanted to talk about?”

  “No, she just said he was insistent we come by as soon as we could.”

  “Okay, see you there.”

  “You’ll beat me there so wait for me before you talk to Finley.”

  “Will do.”

  Michael hung up and switched lanes, changing course for Finley’s house. It was a short drive and, as promised, Michael parked the car on the street in front of Finley’s house and sat back to wait for his sister.

  Turning on his music, he reclined in his seat and let his eyes flutter closed, enjoying a peaceful moment. Michael felt the stress of the last few days leak out of him and disperse like smoke.

  There was still a long way to go before a trial, but he had followed the breadcrumb trail and it had taken him exactly where he expected to go. Antarr was running scared, scrambling to hide whatever Harper had discovered, and that would lead to mistakes. For all he knew, the crime scene unit was at Rowan’s place right now, collecting evidence on the person who truly killed her. Antarr would not get far, and this time he would not escape his crimes.

  Now, Michael could do what his family and friends have been begging him to do since Mrs. Engelbert walked through his door: leave Antarr to the police.

  Michael sighed, shifting to get comfortable in his seat. Frequent nightmares had left him bone-weary. Maybe he could take a quick nap before Mon—

  Knock. Knock.

  Michael’s eyes snapped open.

  “Grimm? Watcha doing in there?”

  Finley peered through the driver’s window at Michael, his bushy gray brows halfway up his forehead.

  Michael popped his seat back up. “My sister is on her way,” he said through the window. “I’m waiting for her.”

  “Don’t gotta wait in there. Come join me on the porch. I’ll get you a beer.”

  Finley strode off like that settled the matter, and Michael didn’t know what else to do but follow. What was he supposed to say?

  Sorry, I need my younger sister to do all the talking while I observe your every wince and twitch?

  We have our man anyway. Investigation is all but over. I can make do until Monica gets here.

  Michael climbed the porch steps and settled into the chair next to Finley. The former detective reached into the cooler at his feet.

  “Want a beer?”

  “No, thanks,” Michael said. He took in the view with a smile. “You have done an amazing job on this lawn, Mr. Finley.”

  “Nelson, please, and thank you very much,” he replied, beaming. “This garden was my wife’s pride and joy. I’ve worked hard to keep it going.”

  He nodded. “So you told my assistant you had something important to talk to us about?”

  Nelson chuckled. “One who likes to get straight to the point. I appreciate that, although I seemed to have caused more of an alarm than I meant to. I just needed to talk to you, flatfoot to flatfoot.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Nelson wasn’t looking at him, his gaze was cast over the lawn. “Tell me straight, Grimm. Did Liam Antarr kill Harper Rowe?”

  “Yes,” Michael said without hesitation.

  “How do you know?” There was an urgency in his voice. “Do you have proof? Evidence?”

  “Antarr had means, motive, and opportunity. Harper had been investigating him for years, trying to dig up evidence to put him away. We believe she found that evidence and it got her killed. But Harper was a smart woman and she had a backup plan in case anything happened to her. She sent that evidence to someone else who was also killed.”
/>
  “When was this?” Nelson demanded, face screwed up in thought.

  “This was last night.”

  Nelson deflated, sinking back into his seat. “Oh, thank goodness. He was here.”

  “Excuse me?” Michael said, blinking.

  “No, I don’t mean—” Sighing, Nelson finally turned to face him. “This is why I called you. I haven’t told you everything.”

  “About the old case?”

  “No, about this one. Harper Rowe.” He squeezed his eyes shut, face heavy with shame. “I’m sorry. I respect the profession. Know how important it is to tell the truth, the whole truth. But he is my best friend’s son. I just couldn’t believe it of him.”

  Michael was not following along at all. “Nelson, I don’t understand—”

  “This is my favorite spot,” he interrupted. He patted the arms of his chair. “I spend most nights, sitting out here with a cold beer. Porch lights off.”

  Michael looked up. “Porch light?”

  “That’s why they didn’t see me.”

  “Who didn’t see you?”

  Nelson jerked his thumb at the house next door. “Kaiden and Harper. They didn’t see me sitting here or they might have taken the fight inside.”

  “There was a fight? Between Harper and Kaiden?”

  “Oh boy, was there. Last week, I’m minding my own business, enjoying some peace and quiet, when their door slams open and Harper comes charging out. Kaiden is right on her heels, and they’re arguing something fierce. I couldn’t make it all out, but I heard something like, ‘I have to go. I’m going to prove it.’ Then Kaiden tells her, ‘I’m done with this, Harper. I won’t stand for it anymore.’ It was hard to make out, but I think she said, ‘made a mistake. No one knew. Only I can make this right.’

  “Kaiden gets really angry then, and raised his voice loud enough for me to hear, ‘I had to live through this once and it destroyed my life. I’m not going through this again. You either let this go, or I’ll make you let it go.’ It got worse from there. She said it wasn’t her fault his old man screwed up the case. If he had been able to do his job, it wouldn’t have fallen to her to do it for him. She said she was going and good luck trying to stop her. Then she hopped in her car and peeled out. Kaiden chased the car, shouting and cursing, then he ran back, got in his own car and took off. After her I assume.”