Mystery: Double Cross - The Davenport Mysteries (Suspense novel series of adventure mystery books and Crime mystery thrillers)

by V. S. VASHIST

  “You think she may be the Chief?”

  “Well, she has all the credentials,” Jake said as he turned the ignition on.

  “Wait, where are we going?” Kiara asked.

  “You asked Robert to get Rebecca’s phone records, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “We need to go through them before all other leads,” he said as they got out to the main street. “Though I feel it’s already late for that, with all the commotion that he’s created.”

  Jake drove as fast he could. The only thing bothering him more than Rebecca’s betrayal was that he had to take Robert’s help.

  Chapter 10

  Neither the night nor the sixteen-hour shift had dampened Robert’s spirit a bit. He was running from the basement to the main gate as if he was possessed. Every detail that Captain George was clearing for the media was being supplied to them by him and he was making sure they knew who he was.

  Media vans were parked on the road opposite to the farmhouse. Jake shook his head as he looked at the swarm of media personnel. He pushed as much as he could and somehow made a way through them to the gate. He was sure he trampled the feet of at least three reporters.

  There was a sergeant standing on the other side of the gate. Kiara showed her badge. He opened the gate for a second and let her in.

  “He’s with me,” she said.

  “He’s not carrying his badge?”

  “He forgot to bring it,” Kiara said. “Let him in one time. Will you?”

  “Sorry, can’t let him inside. Detective Robert’s order,” he replied back. Kiara looked at Jake, who nodded his head in frustration. He kept looking as Kiara went inside.

  It was getting difficult standing amidst the crowd. He made his way back to his motorcycle, getting his feet trampled in the process. He wasn’t sure, but he heard a chuckle from behind.

  “Very mature,” he said and limped towards the other side of the road.

  After ten minutes or so, the gate opened. A police car came out and stopped in front of him.

  “Let’s go,” Kiara shouted.

  Jake looked at her and then at Robert. Robert waved at him and gave a smile. Jake wanted to rip his head off but controlled his emotions somehow. He started following the car. The reporters did not pay heed to any of this and continued with their vigil.

  “You moron! You jeopardized the whole case!” Jake shouted as soon as they entered one of the cabins at the station.

  Robert was taken aback. He jumped at Jake and caught hold of his collar. Kiara separated the two.

  “My partner is a little hotheaded. Please don’t mind him,” she said and took Jake aside.

  “Are you mad?” she said. “Don’t you want your job back or what?”

  Jake heaved a sigh. “OK. Let’s get to work.” He walked to the table and pulled one of the chairs. Kiara looked at him one more time and then towards Robert.

  “Did you get her phone records?”

  “Yes,” Robert said and pulled out some papers from the envelope left at his desk.

  Jake came forward, but Robert gave it to Kiara purposefully. Jake looked at him with anger.

  “Guys, can we focus on the real issue!” Kiara yelled.

  “Yes,” both said together and looked at her.

  Kiara took a pen lying on the table and looked at the numbers.

  “There is only one number on the list,” she said. “It’s Brendon’s.”

  “They are too smart for us. They’ve planned everything. Brendon had only two numbers. She has only one. Great,” Jake said in angst.

  “What now?” Robert asked.

  “Let me think of something,” Kiara said and got up. She walked across the room. As she turned around, she saw another bunch lying on the other side.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “Oh … I forgot. That’s Burt’s phone records,” Robert said. Jake looked at him with frustration. They were running across the whole city to find a single clue and Robert was enjoying his moment under the Sun. He had completely forgotten about the case’s importance.

  “How could you forget that?” Kiara said sternly and looked at the pages curiously.

  “What are you trying to find?” Robert asked.

  “He wouldn’t have planned on leaving the country without telling someone,” she said as she scanned the whole sheet. “What time did we leave his office?”

  “Around quarter to two?” Robert replied thoughtfully.

  “He made a call immediately after we left at 2:51 and he called the same number before he switched off his phone at the airport,” she said and smiled as she looked at the name of the person against the number. “Jackpot!” she screamed.

  Both Robert and Jake looked at her with question-filled eyes.

  “You remember I met Ralph Harrison at Windsor Estate?” She looked at Jake. Robert was still clueless.

  “Yes. Is that his number?” Jake asked.

  “Yup. He may be the mastermind after all,” she mused.

  “We should catch him before he leaves New York then?” Jake said and looked at Robert.

  “Wait. Will someone tell me what’s happening?” Robert finally asked.

  “Your biggest windfall is waiting for you. Let’s not waste the time,” Jake mocked him. Robert looked at Kiara, who nodded in frustration.

  “He should know if we need his help,” she said softly and turned towards Robert. “Burt told us that the person who’s behind this has to have the knowledge as to who owns the illegal antique. Right?”

  “Yes, I remember that,” Robert replied.

  “Who best fits that description?” she asked further.

  Robert thought for a moment. “You’re saying Burt was giving this information to someone?”

  “Yes, it’s really simple actually. Burt sells the antique and makes money. He keeps calm for three to four weeks so that nobody will suspect him. After that, he passes on the information to someone who steals it and gives a share of the loot to him. He’s making double profit at no cost.”

  “Wow! That’s something,” Robert said. “I told you that something was up with this guy.”

  “Yeah, you said that,” Kiara murmured with a hint of sarcasm. “But he did make one mistake. The person who was making him do this had to show his identity to Burt to earn his trust. After all, he was the one who was going to make this happen for him. That’s why he had Ralph’s direct number while others were called from the internet.”

  “Let’s get to the Windsor Estate and hope Ralph is still there,” Jake reiterated and looked at Robert, who stared back.

  “Come on!” Kiara shouted and pushed the two out of the room.

  “Do you think we should do a search of the property?”

  “No … not right now. Let’s catch the mastermind first. Everything will come out itself,” Kiara suggested. She did not want to waste any time in getting the search warrant. Besides, with all the media coverage, it was a great possibility that Ralph would have gone underground by now.

  “What kind of guy is Ralph?” Robert asked while driving.

  “Well, he looks really aristocratic and carried himself with great poise. I wouldn’t have suspected him to be a criminal in a million years,” Kiara replied.

  “Super rich, huh?” he asked further.

  “Not actually … he didn’t inherit it. He is there just to take care of their business.”

  “And, he took a good care of it,” Jake mocked from behind, but this time there was no reaction from Robert.

  This surprised him. He was thriving on Robert’s reactions. But Robert’s eyes were fixed in the other direction. Jake looked at him and then in the direction he was looking at. Even Kiara found it unusual. The last time she had come here, there was not even a single vehicle in the vicinity during the day. Right now the street was full of cars. As they drove further, they heard noises.

  “Let’s park here,” Jake said. Robert nodded and parked at the side of the road.

  “W
hat’s happening?” he asked.

  “My gut feel says we’re late,” Kiara said while jumping out of the car. They rushed towards the other side of the road and as they crossed the street, their hearts sank. The street leading to Windsor Estate was full of people and an ambulance was standing right outside the main gate.

  Robert took out his badge and made his way through the crowd. Kiara and Jake followed suit.

  “What happened?” Robert asked the ambulance driver.

  “The owner committed suicide,” he replied casually.

  “What?” His words hit Robert like a hammer.

  “We got a call from the caretaker fifteen minutes back,” he replied while looking towards the building.

  “Let’s go inside.” Kiara patted on Robert’s shoulder.

  “I thought he was the caretaker?” he asked as they crossed the barricade tapes.

  “No, he handles the business part only. The estate is looked after by a Ms. Davies,” Kiara replied as they made their way inside.

  Ms. Davies was standing at the staircase base. She was sobbing quietly.

  “Ms. Davies, where is he?” she asked softly.

  Ms. Davies looked at her and pointed towards upstairs. The three of them rushed towards the upper floor.

  That floor had three policemen standing outside a bedroom. The bedroom was sealed and a sergeant was standing inside with another policeman.

  “Joseph, what happened?” Robert asked as he recognized the sergeant.

  “Hey, Robert. What are you doing here?” the policeman asked and walked towards him.

  “This guy is … I mean, was the prime suspect in the antique theft case I told you about,” Robert explained.

  “Oh … so he was the big ticket to fame that you were talking about?” Joseph replied with a smile.

  Kiara rolled her eyes. “Will you guys concentrate on the case?”

  “Who are they?” Joseph did not like Kiara’s interference.

  “They’re with me,” Robert replied. “Where is he?”

  “In the bathroom,” Joseph said. “Finished the whole bottle of sleeping pills. Left a suicide note that says something about letting down his ancestors. I don’t know what it means.”

  “It means he knew we were going to arrest him and charge him with stealing the antiques that belonged to the Windsors,” Kiara said and walked towards the bathroom. Jake and Robert followed her.

  Ralph was lying on the floor, foam coming out of his mouth. The body was still warm—he was alive at least an hour back. Kiara looked at Robert. “I blame you for his death.”

  “I know, I made a mistake. Will you guys give me a break?” Robert said nonchalantly.

  Kiara knew there was no point arguing with him. She looked around, but the bathroom looked clean. She came out and walked towards the other end of the room. Two laptops were lying on the study table.

  “We need to get these scanned,” she said and looked at his phone. “Let’s get the phone records also checked.”

  Jake was checking the other end of the room. “There’s some typed notes here.”

  “What is it?” Kiara asked.

  “Looks like the instructions that he used to give to Brendon and other people,” Jake said and handed it over to Kiara. “He was preparing notes, huh. What criminal does that? This guy had some serious self-doubt.”

  “Another reason for changing his voice while calling his men,” Kiara said. “Even I wouldn’t have been threatened by his actual voice.”

  Joseph walked towards them. “Can you please not touch anything in this room?” he said and snatched the papers from Kiara’s hand. Kiara looked at Robert, who nodded.

  He took Joseph to the corner. “Need your help here, buddy. This is much bigger than you think. This guy is behind all the antique thefts and also a murder. Let them search the house. I promise they won’t touch anything.”

  “You owe me one,” Joseph said. Robert nodded and gestured Kiara to continue. Kiara walked around the room one more time but could not find anything significant.

  “We need to check the other rooms for the stolen antiques,” she suggested.

  “Anything that takes me out of this room. There are two Roberts in here,” Jake said and looked at them. Kiara punched him on the shoulder.

  “Thanks, Sergeant, for letting us have a look at the crime scene. We’ll go and check other rooms,” Kiara said. Joseph just nodded.

  Kiara and Jake came out. Robert came almost running behind them.

  “What do you think?” he said hurriedly.

  “We were a little late, otherwise we could have caught him alive,” Jake said before Kiara could have said anything.

  “I know it’s my mistake. Can you get over it?” he retorted.

  Kiara interjected. “The laptop and the phone records will tell us everything. I believe he hatched the plot with Burt’s help and had several people like Brendon and Rebecca working for him.”

  “Rebecca?” Robert said with surprise. “I thought she had nothing to do with it except following her husband.”

  “That’s what we also thought. She knew we were going to catch her after Brendon’s murder. She misled us the whole time. She helped Brendon with stealing old painting by replacing them with forged ones that she used to paint.”

  “Wow! This case is something. Everyone is outsmarting us,” Robert exclaimed.

  Jake could not believe why Kiara was putting up with Robert.

  Kiara noticed that. “Let’s go to other rooms.” Both of them nodded.

  There was a small library opposite to Ralph’s bedroom. It had a wall full of books on one end and a study table at the other corner. Jake glanced at the books while Kiara checked the drawers of the table. Most of them were history books and few of them even looked quite old.

  “What are we looking for?” Robert asked while moving his fingers across one of the books.

  “Anything that could make our case stronger,” Kiara replied while closing the top drawer.

  “Will this help?” Robert said and walked towards her.

  Kiara took the book from him and shuffled through the first few pages. “Yeah, it can.”

  “What is it?” Jake could not believe Robert had helped.

  “This is a book written on their family history. There is one chapter on the family heirlooms and other possessions. He has circled the one … I suppose he stole.”

  “This is good. The pictures will help in locating them,” Jake said. His words made Robert even happier.

  “Let’s check downstairs,” Kiara suggested.

  Robert came out first. He wanted to have the first look. Jake nodded and gave a smile to Kiara, who ignored it for the moment.

  “What a shame,” Kiara said as they looked at the hall full of Windsor family paintings. “Such a legacy and what an end. The Windsors may not even know what he has done to them.”

  “Some of the antiques that he stole are in these paintings,” Jake said and pointed at one of the ladies wearing one of the pearl necklaces that he had found in the packet outside the jewelry shop.

  Kiara ran her fingers across the painting.

  “Anyway, I don’t think there is much to be seen here. The call records will tell about Brendon’s murderers and I believe the laptop was being used to make those calls,” Kiara told Robert. “Also, I’m sure you will find some of the stolen antiques in the backrooms.”

  “Aren’t you going to check those?” Robert asked.

  “Your team is better equipped in doing that. Besides, we are not in a hurry now. The Chief can’t run away anymore,” she said and looked towards Ralph’s bedroom.

  “Let’s go then,” Robert said. “I’ll get a search warrant and check for the antiques.”

  Kiara looked at the paintings one last time before walking towards the main door. Mrs. Davies was standing there with her head down. Kiara patted on her shoulder.

  “I never suspected he will do this to his family,” Mrs. Davies said with moist eyes.

&
nbsp; “Well, no one could have thought that he could do that,” Kiara said. “Have you informed the Windsor family?”

  “Yes, they will be arriving here by tomorrow afternoon.”

  Kiara nodded. “Take care, Mrs. Davies.”

  With that, they came out. By now the commotion outside Windsor Estate had settled down.

  “I’ll need your help one last time,” Robert said as they crossed the street.

  “Yeah, sure,” Kiara said.

  “We’ll be recording Burt’s and Rebecca’s statement for the report. I’m sure they are not going to lie now,” Robert said. “Would like you to come there too? In case I miss something.”

  “I’m sure you can handle it,” Kiara answered. “There’s nothing left in the case. It’s your moment under the sun. You got to enjoy it fully.”

  Robert thought for a moment and held his hand out. “You were great. I could not have solved this case on my own.”

  “I am glad I could help,” Kiara said and shook his hand. “We will need the ride though.”

  Robert smiled. “Of course.”

  The last few days had been full action packed for Kiara, but finally, they had an end to the case. She knew she was going to sleep better tonight and the same held true for Jake. Robert on the other hand had already started to think about the report that he was going write. The promotion that always allured him from a distance looked at an arm’s length now.

  The next morning felt unusual to Kiara. There were no phone calls, no hurry to be somewhere. The good old days were back. She got up at half past seven, then she sat on the bed for fifteen minutes. She read the newspaper after so many days, while having a proper breakfast. Robert had been cautious this time. There was no news of the case. This time he was going to have all the facts noted down first before calling the media, she thought.

  She left at around nine thinking what was in store for today. The thought made her cringe a little. She knew Carlson would be giving them some insignificant, mind-numbing chore of a case. All the adrenaline rush that they had in the past few weeks was going to be replaced by boredom from some obvious cases that could be solved in minutes.