by Sala, Sharon
“This is getting too complicated to do over a phone. Are you up for a trip downtown to the police department?” Charlie asked.
“Yes.”
He hesitated. “This isn’t going to get you into any trouble, is it? Because if it is, we’ll find another way to—”
“I don’t leave tracks.”
Charlie grinned. “Then get some shoes on while I call Bruner.”
* * *
Detective Bruner was on his way to Chief Forsythe’s office. He’d been summoned, which made him nervous. The chief was going to want to know where they were in the investigations, and learning about the addition of three murders connected to the attacks on Carter and Jason weren’t going to make him happy.
He was pulling up into the parking lot when his cell phone rang. He started to let it go to voicemail, then saw it was from Charlie Dodge.
“Lord, please let this be a good call,” Bruner muttered, then answered. “Detective Bruner.”
“This is Charlie. We’ve got news. It’s convoluted as hell, but we have all the proof you need to arrest Miranda Deutsch. Your problem is going to be finding it again through proper channels to keep it legal.”
Bruner groaned. “Sweet Mother of God, you did not just say that. This is my worst nightmare coming true.”
“Is there somewhere private we can talk to lay out what we know for sure? After that, it’ll be up to you as to how you go about verifying the same information.”
“Yes, I can do that,” he said. “I’m about to go in to see Chief Forsythe. Let me get that over with. I doubt it’ll take long. It’s just our weekly ass chewing for not having all the answers. By the time you guys make it to the precinct, I’ll be back in the office.”
“I’m bringing Wyrick.”
“Works for me.”
“Then we’ll see you later,” Charlie said and disconnected.
Wyrick had made a quick change into pants and a blue-and-white-striped tank top and white knee-high boots.
Charlie was on the phone with Carter when she returned.
“Wyrick and I have an appointment with Detective Bruner. We’re leaving now, but we’ll fill you in after we get back.”
“New info?” Carter asked.
“Yes.”
“By the way,” Carter said. “Dina and Kenneth left a short while ago. Jason is being released from the hospital. It’ll be good to have all the family together again.”
“Glad to hear it,” Charlie said. “Then we can fill everyone in at the same time. Do you still have security on the grounds?”
“Yes, they’re here.”
“Stay close to the house,” Charlie said and ended the call.
Twenty
As soon as Bruner got back to his office, he went to see if they had an open conference room. If what Dodge and his assistant were going to give him was this controversial, he needed to hear it in total privacy first. As soon as he had one reserved, he went down to the lobby to wait for them.
He wasn’t there long before they arrived. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking Charlie Dodge. He moved like a man on a mission, and the woman beside him was just as compelling.
Bruner went to meet them, greeting each of them with a handshake.
“I have a conference room reserved.” They rode the elevator in silence, and then walked to the room the same way. Once they were inside, Bruner relaxed, but Wyrick obviously did not.
She walked the room from corner to corner, looking for cameras.
“Is it possible for people to listen in?” she asked.
“No,” Bruner said. “And believe me, I don’t want this information out, either, until we have a lock on everything we need to get an arrest warrant.”
Charlie sat down. “I’m going to let Wyrick explain most of what we’ve learned, because she broke the case. Neither of us saw this coming, so trust me when I say we know how you feel.”
“Have a seat,” Wyrick said.
“It’s that bad?” Bruner asked.
Charlie shrugged. “It’s that crazy.”
Bruner sat as Wyrick began pulling pages from a manila envelope.
“This is what we know for sure,” she said and started ticking off the various points, laying papers in front of him to corroborate each one she made.
“Miranda owns a handgun that’s the same make as the one that killed Buddy Pierce and Rey Garza. While she was using these guys, she paid them out of a trust fund. There are withdrawals that coincide with paying off three different people. Charlie will explain the last withdrawal.”
Charlie picked up the story. “There was a third withdrawal on the day Jason Dunleavy was shot, which was redeposited the next day because Jason survived, which is why she shot Garza. He failed her, like all the others had.”
“Why did she go after Carter?” Bruner asked.
Wyrick pulled out another page and laid it in front of him.
“The answer begins here. I found an odd expenditure for a DNA kit. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed up on it. To make a long story short, Johannes Deutsch is not her birth father. On the ancestor site, she found a distant relative in Ireland who had already linked herself to a man in America named Dillon Dunleavy, who turned out to be the father of Edward, Dina, Carter and Ted.
“At that point Miranda bought two more DNA kits, collected a sample from Jason and one from herself, which she sent to a private laboratory. It verified Jason was her first cousin. After that discovery she had an abortion, but she still didn’t know which of the three Dunleavy brothers was her birth father.”
Bruner held up a hand. “Stop! Wait! What am I missing here? She’s related to a family she’s trying to kill, and she aborted a baby she was having with the man she wanted to marry? I don’t get it.”
“There’s more,” Charlie said. “We think she made an assumption as to which brother would be her natural father because of her mother’s age at the time. Edward was thirty. Carter was twenty-five, and Ted was sixteen. Her mother was twenty, so she picked Carter as the logical one, but she was wrong. We found out through an innocent conversation at dinner the other night that it was Edward. He was already blind, and it was a one-night stand at a New Year’s Eve party. He only knew her name as Vivie, and shortly thereafter, Vivie aka Vivian Morrow, married Johannes Deutsch. Eight and a half months later, Miranda was born. And just so you know, we haven’t said a word to any of the Dunleavy family about what we learned. We waited until we could turn it all over to the police. It’s going to be hard for them to hear.”
Bruner wiped his hands across his face. “Hard for them to hear? I’m having a struggle of my own. My personal opinion? Miranda Deutsch is a psychopath.”
Wyrick pointed to the file. “You have a hard copy of everything to back up what I said, and as dumb as it sounds, she paid for her abortion with a credit card. I’m also willing to bet that she wrote Wilma’s suicide note in her own handwriting. Whatever else she is, she’s a stupid criminal.”
Charlie leaned across the table. “It’s in your court now, and I expect total anonymity for Wyrick.”
Wyrick frowned at Charlie. “I already told you I don’t leave tracks.”
Bruner stood. “Thank you, ma’am. You’re a wonder. And thank you, Charlie Dodge, for picking up the slack when we dropped the ball on Carter’s disappearance. I’ll get my guys on the paperwork, and I’ll let you know when we arrest her.”
“Make it snappy,” Charlie said. “I’m here until Carter is safe. That was our deal, but we’re both ready to go back to Dallas.”
Bruner nodded. “Understood. Now, let me gather all this up and I’ll walk you out.”
A few minutes later, Charlie and Wyrick were in the car, waiting for it to cool off.
“So do we go to lunch on our own or go back to the house?” Charlie asked.
�
��Lunch on our own,” Wyrick said. “The food at the estate is impeccable in looks and taste, but I want a burger and fries.”
Charlie grinned. “You read my mind.” Then he paused, frowning. “You can’t really do that, can you? Read minds, I mean.”
“I’m going to pretend you did not ask me such an asinine question. Just drive.”
Charlie pulled out of the parking lot and back into street traffic.
Wyrick sat in silence beside him, but it was a comfortable silence, and when he spotted a Red Robin Restaurant, turned in and parked, she smiled.
“Best burgers ever!” she said. “In my opinion, anyway.”
“Agreed.”
They got out, but as they were walking inside, Wyrick began to tense. Public places were not her friend, but she wanted the food badly enough to deal with the stares.
Charlie was immediately aware of the diners’ reactions to seeing her. Some laughed. Some just stared. He saw the tension on her face and felt so indignant on her behalf, it was all he could do not to react. But he was determined that this meal would not be more of the same for her, so when they were seated, he leaned across the table and lowered his voice.
“Yes, people were watching every step we took, and I can’t help it. No matter where I go, people stare. I can’t decide if it’s because of how good-looking I am or the way I dress, but when a guy has it going on, it’s hard to ignore.”
Damn. He’s being thoughtful again. “You are so full of shit, and I’m fine. I’m ten years into this life.”
“You doubt me? I never saw that coming.” Then he reached for the menus and handed one to her.
As Wyrick took the menu, she saw him glare at a man sitting at the nearest table and wanted to cry. She didn’t know how to feel about someone who had her back, but he deserved an acknowledgment.
“I’m going to deny I ever said this, but you are a good man, Charlie Dodge.”
“I’m better than good. I am stupendous,” he muttered.
She grinned.
Moments later, a waiter showed up to take their drink orders. When he brought them over, he asked if they were ready to order.
“I am,” Wyrick said. “I want the Chophouse Burger with fries, and some mayo on the side.”
“I’ll have the Burnin’ Love Burger with onion rings,” Charlie said.
The waiter left. Wyrick had a slight smirk on her face.
There was a moment of silence between them.
“When do you tell the Dunleavys?” she asked.
“When we get back, I guess. Carter is going to want to know what we were doing at the PD, and Jason is going to be there, too,” Charlie said. “We accomplished what we came here to do. They’ll have some tough adjustments to make, but on the plus side, they’re all still alive.”
“No one could’ve seen this coming.”
Charlie nodded, and they went silent again. A few minutes later their food arrived. He reached for an onion ring and took a big bite, while Wyrick took her burger apart, spread mayo on both sides of the bread, then put it back together again. After that, they ate in mutual silence and passed on dessert.
Wyrick went to wash up while Charlie was paying, and when she returned, they drove back to the estate. Their meal was the most normal thing they’d ever done together and neither quite knew how to handle the quiet aftermath during the ride.
* * *
Jason was so glad to be out of the hospital that he couldn’t stop talking. The ride home had been a little harder than expected, but he breathed easier as they wheeled him in the front door.
Because the residence was so large, Jason’s doctor had insisted he go home in a wheelchair. Walking was good for healing, but not in hallways so long that walking up and down them amounted to miles every day. And since they had the elevator, there’d be no problem getting him up and down the stairs to his room.
Charlie and Wyrick’s absence was duly noted at lunch, and when they learned Charlie was meeting with Detective Bruner because he had information to share, they were even more excited. They were still at the table having coffee together when Charlie and Wyrick returned.
“Hey, Jason! Good to see you!” Charlie said.
Jason smiled. “It’s good to be home. I hear you have news. We can’t wait to hear it.”
Charlie glanced at Wyrick. Her face was expressionless again, but there was a faint tic at the corner of her left eye. He knew she was anxious, and so was he. Jason’s health was a concern.
“Jason, are you up to this now? If you need to rest for a while, I’ll hold off, because when I tell this, you all need to be together.”
“I’m not exerting myself at all,” Jason said. “As soon as you’ve finished, I’ll go up to my room and rest.”
“Then how about we go to the library? It’s a little quieter there, and we won’t be disturbed,” Charlie suggested.
The Dunleavys filed out of the dining room, chattering among themselves and talking about Jason getting well so he could walk his mother down the aisle.
Wyrick dreaded the revelations, especially for Edward, whom she’d come to adore. “I hate what’s about to happen,” she whispered.
“It’s okay. I’ve got this,” he said.
She tensed as they entered the library, and Charlie could relate to what she was feeling. They were about to drop a bomb on this family that would change them forever.
Carter seated Edward on the sofa and then sat down beside him.
Kenneth pushed Jason’s wheelchair between the two wingback chairs in which he and Dina had chosen to sit, and now they were all looking at Charlie, who was standing in front of them.
The time of questioning was over. Charlie felt like a judge delivering a bad verdict to people he knew were innocent.
“I’m going to ask you to hear me out without a lot of questions right now. Wyrick will back me up with details if I forget any. And I need to tell you one last thing before I start. You’re not to take on any guilt whatsoever after you’ve heard me out, because not one of you carries any blame.”
“You’re scaring me,” Dina said.
“Yes, ma’am, and I’m sorry. I hardly know where to start, but I guess the best place is to let you know the police have everything we collected and are working toward getting it documented in their own way so it won’t be thrown out in court. Right now, what I’m going to tell you is not to be discussed anywhere, with anyone, because there’s been no arrest. But the person behind the attacks on both Carter and Jason is Miranda Deutsch.”
“What the hell?” Jason shouted as everyone began talking at once.
“You’re sure?” Carter asked.
“As a heart attack,” Charlie said. “We’re just not sure why she did it, but here’s what we do know. Some months back, Miranda bought a DNA kit from one of those ancestor sites. I already had Wyrick running background on her once I found out she was Jason’s girlfriend, but when he was shot, the timing of that, directly after their breakup, was too odd to ignore. So I had Wyrick dig deeper. She initially thought the kit was an odd expenditure for Miranda and followed up, but this is where it’s going to get hairy. Miranda found out Johannes is not her birth father. She followed the DNA trail on the ancestor site and linked up to an older woman in Ireland who was distant kin. Then she discovered who the old woman was linked to and found herself a much closer relative named Dillon Dunleavy.”
“Oh, my God! That’s Dad!” Carter cried.
Charlie nodded. “At that point, she bought two more DNA kits, which she sent to a private facility for results. One was for her and one kit was Jason’s.”
Dina gasped. “Why would—”
“The tests revealed that she and Jason are first cousins,” Charlie said.
Jason moaned, “I’m gonna be sick,” and covered his face.
Charlie went on a moment later. “And o
nce she discovered that—I’m so sorry to say this, Jason—she aborted the baby she was carrying.”
Jason’s voice broke. “She killed a baby we made? Before we broke up?”
“Months before,” Charlie said. “And the reason you were targeted, Carter, was just a stab in the dark. She didn’t know which one of Dillon’s sons was her father, but since you were closest to her mother in age, you got tagged.”
Carter frowned. “I don’t even know who her mother was.”
Jason was shaking, but he pulled himself together enough to answer. “Her name was Vivian Morrow.”
Carter shrugged. “I still don’t know who—”
Charlie shook his head. “It’s not you, Carter. It’s Edward. He told us himself at dinner last night. About Vivie—Vivian. That’s when Wyrick and I knew Edward was the father.”
Edward was ashen and still, so still.
Carter reached for his brother’s hand. “It’s not your fault, Eddie. None of this madness is our fault.”
Tears were rolling down Edward’s face, but he couldn’t speak.
“I’m so sorry,” Charlie said. “This has been the worst case we’ve ever worked, and it’s our first brush with a psychopath. There’s no explaining how they think, no point in trying to rationalize their actions. But once we knew all that, Wyrick began looking for a way to connect her to the people she’d taken out, the ones who’d failed to deliver. We found Jason’s shooter when his body was recovered. His name was Rey Garza. His car, and the gun inside it, matched up with witness testimony and the evidence they already had.
“When Garza’s body showed up for autopsy, the coroner caught something else. He linked Garza’s body with another murder victim named Buddy Pierce. Their wounds were identical, and the bullets he removed from each body were from the same gun.
“Buddy Pierce and Wilma Short had been married when they were young. Buddy was the one who kept trying to wreck Carter on the freeway, and Miranda went to high school with Garza. Miranda was paying for the hits with money taken from her trust fund. Bottom line, Carter, once she’s arrested, the danger to your life is over.
