Broken Trust (Missing in Action Trilogy Book 1) (11 page)

Nancy eyed him and he knew she only saw him in a tank top and a pair of sweat-pants and he was covered in sweat. “Would I be able to speak to you in private?”

John looked over towards Sheila and she motioned as if it was alright, but he knew she was uncomfortable with her being there. John led Nancy to his room, shut the door behind him and locked it.

“What the hell Nancy, what are you doing here?”

“You have been avoiding my phone calls. I’ve been wanting to see you.”

“I have been busy. I told you I would call you when I had the time and right now I don’t have time. This case is involved and I have a lot of people to talk to about this situation.”

She rolled her eyes. “And why is that bitch here? I thought she was just your assistant.”

“When I originally hired her, yes. But she is really good at investigating and she has helped me uncover a few things. I need her help.”

“No, you want her help, there is a big difference. I mean are you seriously going to stand here and tell me you don’t notice she has feelings for you?”

“We just work together,” he said. “Look you should not be jealous, alright. Besides even if that were the case it would be wrong for me to be with her since we work together.”

“John this country doesn’t work with ethics anymore. People don’t have ethics anymore and that’s why we have all these scandals.”

“Nancy there is nothing going on between me and Sheila. I will admit she is attractive but there is nothing going on. And you should not be jealous anyways.”

“Is that so,” she said as she wrapped her arms over her chest. “And why is that?”

“We are not in a relationship. What we had was a fling. You want to have sex or I do and we do it. There is nothing more.”

“There could be,” she said. “And you are choosing not to because your heart belongs to someone else.”

There was nothing he could say and he didn’t want to argue.  Nancy took a step closer to him. “We can be together,” she said as she was unbuttoning her trench coat. He realized she was wearing a revealing bra underneath. “It’s your choice.”

He couldn’t help but want to put her in his bed. Her lips met his as she took his hand and was guiding him to her breasts. He heard as the coat fell to the floor and he wanted her. Nancy was right they could be together. Sheila was beautiful and smart, but he knew they would never work out.

John pushed Nancy away and she looked as if he had slapped her. He took a step closer and whispered. “I have to catch a plane, but when I get back we can start where we left off.”

“Or we can finish now.”

He watched as she unclasped the front of her bra and they fell in bed together.

***

They were boarding the plane and Sheila had not spoken a word to him. It was as if she was angry with him and he was not too sure why. Maybe it was because he made them run a little late, which was not his fault. Had Nancy not shown up he would have left on time, but she was there. He realized he could have easily said no to her, but he hadn’t. He looked to Sheila, but she refused to return his gaze.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” she said. He realized that it seemed she was struggling to breathe.  He looked at her and he wondered if there was something else wrong.

“Sheila you don’t look too good.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “I just don’t like being cramped in with a lot of people. I get really anxious.”

He understood. She was claustrophobic and he realized she was facing one of her fears as well as he was his own. He took his seat beside her and they were silent for a moment.

“Do you need me to do anything to make you more comfortable?”

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “I have my own way of coping with it,” she said as she pulled out an MP3 Player. He nodded. Music seemed to be the remedy to all of her issues. She zoned out, he pulled out his files and he began to read over everything. It was good to review everything more than once because there was always something that may have been missed.

>

They were being escorted up a flight of stairs by Mrs. Geerdes. Her long black hair was in a wave of curls and she was glowing. John could tell she was only a few months pregnant. When they had finally made it to the second floor, she turned to them and spoke, “My husband is a very busy man and it’s surprising he even agreed to meet with you. Especially with this topic.”

Sheila smiled slightly. “Would it be alright if I stayed out here with you? I am just his assistant and I’m only here for reservations and such.”

Mrs. Geerdes returned the smile and she agreed, as they had thought she would. She walked over to the first door on the left and knocked on it three times before entering. “John Watson is here to speak with you.”

John didn’t hear anything but he was motioned to go inside. He glanced over his shoulder at Sheila and she walked away with Mrs. Geerdes.  He stepped into the office and saw Jason sitting there reading over a few sheets of paper.

“Please sit down,” he said and John found a seat. It was not as comfortable as his chairs, but he doubted people came to Jason’s home office often. He knew what type of business he was running anyhow and he knew anyone that walked through those doors were known criminals or those who were too good at what they did to never get caught.

“John Richard Watson,” he said without even looking up from his files. “You are different than most people that want to ask me questions. You are not a cop and yet here you are wanting to know so much about Carlisle Castro. I do think it’s odd you have taken an interest in this. Especially as seeing as how you live in another state all together.”

“It is a very interesting case,” he began.

“I do agree with you, but it still makes me wonder why someone is just now wanting to further investigate what had happened. Especially after he’d been proven guilty.”

“Well,” John said as he adjusted in his chair. “There has been another murder in my town. Her name is Natalie Granger and she died the same exact way that the three women died. I was looking to see if there was any way there was a connection.”

“I do assure you Mr. Watson that the killer is behind bars.”

“Why do you think your friend was responsible for these deaths?”

He watched as he hesitated for a moment. “Carlisle Castro was a good man, but that is just how he looked. If anyone knew his family they could tell you otherwise. He didn’t come from good people and being as successful as he was made it so he could, you know, do things without worrying about the consequences.”

“There was never a record on Carlisle Castro before those girls were murdered, how can you explain that?”

Jason leaned back in his chair, “He was good at not getting caught. There were things we used to do together and neither of us got caught doing it.”

“Would you mind giving me an example?”

“As a matter of fact I do. You see I am successful now. I have a gorgeous wife and a child on the way and I’m not going to start telling you the sort of things I had done as a kid. They are irrelevant.”

“I do understand,” he began. “So how do you feel being a father?”

“Well I have never had a child before.”

“I thought you has a son. Wasn’t his name Emilio?”

Jason shook his head. “You are misinformed. I have no idea who you are speaking of.”

“Kathleen Winters had your son and his name was Emilio, was it not?”

“My relationship with Kathleen was not exactly traditional and we were not in a serious relationship. We would sleep together and that was it. There was nothing more to our relationship than that.”

“And why would you suspect that you were not the father?”

“Because Kathleen was a slut,” he said with distaste. “There was no proof I was the father of Emilio and truthfully I wouldn’t have wanted to be his father. I am happy I’m having a child with a woman that is actually faithful.”

“So are you telling me you had no motives to have killed Kathleen?”

“I have absolutely no motive to kill her. There was nothing about her that is worth going to prison for.”

“Then would you mind telling me why Carlisle Castro was the one who would kill her if she wasn’t worth it?”

Jason moved his chair so he could be closer to his desk and shook his head. “I didn’t suspect him of anything. He was not that type of person. Yes we did some things I hope to God my child never does, but he was not a killer. However, I was wrong since they found evidence that he was there when Kathleen died. Hell they even proved he had motive to go ahead and kill her.”

“Did he have motive, or do you just think he did?”

Jason shrugged and for a moment it seemed as if he was actually deep in thought. “Look, Carlisle did have motive – not just for killing Kathleen, but he also had motive to kill Lorraine and Daniella as well, but everyone had more motive than he did.”

“Would you mind telling me what the motive is for him to kill all three of them?”

“I didn’t even tell the cops that so why the hell should I tell you?”

“Because I am not the cops and it’s as simple as that. I’m here because I was asked to investigate this for someone and that is what I’m doing. There is nothing more to it than that.”

“Can you assure me that nothing I tell you will backfire on me?”

John nodded, “I promise you that. All I need is this information and you are the only one who can provide it.”

He nodded. “Alright, I will tell you, but this all starts with Daniella. She and Castro were neighbors back in the day. I knew her too. In fact all of us neighbors knew one another. All of us were about the same age. I was the oldest out of all of them. Anyways, it was Daniella, her brother Robert, along with William and Alicia Gemangini. We were all in high school when Castro and Daniella started dating. They were serious for one another but they broke it off the first time. Daniella and Robert’s mother died. She was found murdered in their home, but no one knew what had happened to her. It was later discovered that someone had broken into the residence and they were searching for something. She had gotten home and they killed her. It was a gunshot to the chest.

“At that time, Daniella was only seventeen and Robert was nineteen. They were living with the Gemangini family. Daniella started to have a relationship with William. Carlisle wasn’t too thrilled when he found out, but he was leaving the state and he was going to Jersey to be with his Uncle Lenny. Then we all learned that Daniella was pregnant but she had a miscarriage, or that is how the story goes.

“Anyways during all of this was when Robert was arrested and he was pretty much in and out of jail ever since then. Carlisle met Lorraine and he got her pregnant with twins. They had a daughter, Felicia, and a son they named Wyatt. Lorraine refused to marry him and that was a big disappointment to him, but he respected her wishes. She moved from Jersey up to Maine and opened up her own business. From there, Castro moved back here after his uncle passed away, he took his inheritance and opened Castro Industries. He and Daniella were on speaking terms again and she got knocked up with Teresa, but the only thing about it was Teresa was not his daughter. William is the actual father, but no one other than Alicia knew and she had been the one to tell me. The thought was that maybe Castro found out about that, but I don’t think he would have killed her all of those years later to be honest, and then three years later was when Daniella had his daughter Samantha.”

“What made Castro and Daniella separate again?”

“Daniella would not leave the Gemangini family alone. She continued to associate herself with them even though they were tied in with the mob. I have always believed she had stayed because of her brother, but Castro was not going to have anything to do with it and so he left. He told her he was not going to be part of their lives, and I think he mostly said that to possibly make her rethink everything, but that didn’t work.”

“Do you truthfully think Castro snapped and he did kill those women?”

“He could have snapped, but I doubt he did. I strongly believe someone else has the means and opportunities and I do believe it’s someone who had an agenda against him.”

“But wait a minute,” he said as he was thinking about this. “How does Castro have a connection to Kathleen, you know, other than you?”

“As I have already told you, she was not faithful and she had betrayed me. He was sleeping with her too, but he had not known I was with her. In fact, I don’t know a person who didn’t sleep with Kathleen, but that is not the point. You see Castro was married,” he said. “It was not a big wedding, it was something they just did at the court house.”

“Who was he married to?”

“Her name was Angela Edwards and they had been married for only a year before everything went public. She divorced him and since he didn’t get a prenuptial agreement that bitch took a lot from him. I have talked to him once since then and he has assured me that he hadn’t slept with Kathleen in a while. He said he had broken it off with her because he wanted to be faithful.”

“So what were his motives for all of them? Would you be able to walk me through all of this,” John asked intrigued.  Jason began to tell him everything.

Sheila was waiting for John in the sitting room and was talking to Mrs. Geerdes as if she had known her all of her life. He had always wondered how women were able to do that. Sometimes they were the best of friends before they even spoke a word and other times they had drawn a conclusion that the other was an outright bitch. Whatever the case he knew they were beyond weird.

When she saw him, she got up and walked over towards him. “I hope you were able to get all the information that was needed,” she said.

“I did, thank you.”

Mrs. Geerdes opened the door for them and they walked out to the rental car. It was a Prius and it surely was not John’s choice in a vehicle, but Sheila thought it was a good idea. He wanted to tell her what his true feelings were towards it but he refrained. They got in and he started the car.

Once they were pulling away, Sheila spoke, “Boss, did you learn anything of interest?”