Burning Seduction (15 page)

“I get it. Dad never could tell us much when he was working on a case either.”

He couldn’t believe how understanding she was. “Then you won’t mind if I take this into the station to have it checked out?”

“Yes, I mind.” Her anger flared, but only for a moment. She looked so damned cute with a slightly red face.

He waited a beat to let her think about what he said. “Are you positive nothing can be retrieved from the computer? Not even the FBI could get anything off it?”

She looked to the side and blew out a breath. “You’re right, but is the Rock Hard Police Department sophisticated enough to restore deleted files?”

“They are.”

“Do I have a choice? I mean you probably could get a warrant for it.”

He wanted to be honest with her. “I could, but I’m hoping I won’t have to.”

“When do you think I’ll have it back?”

“When we’re done looking.” He appreciated she didn’t put up a fuss.

She punched him in the arm and then smiled. “If they harm it, you owe me another computer.”

He didn’t want to promise something he couldn’t deliver. “We’ll be careful.”

“As long as we’re talking about Mr. Goddard’s things, would you mind taking this box of his books to Harmon? I’m hoping he’ll know who might be able to use them.”

“Sure.”

*     *     *

Trent yawned, barely
having slept last night. He kept wondering how things could have become so out of control with Charlotte. She’d seduced him, plain and simple, and he’d let her, because he wanted what she had to offer.

Being with her had felt so right, but what if he’d been called into work while they were playing strip poker? He wondered if he would’ve been able to leave, and it bothered him not knowing how he would have reacted.

Trent needed to let it go for now. He had a killer to catch. As he walked into the station, he spotted Cade in his office studying some papers. Trent delivered Mr. Goddard’s laptop to the tech department then knocked on Cade’s door and entered.

Cade looked up, his eyes wide. “Look who the cat dragged in.”

He didn’t look that bad. At least he’d shaved and changed his clothes. “Didn’t sleep much last night. Had a lot on my mind.” He’d been talking to Cade when he’d received the call from Charlotte to come over, so his partner knew where he’d been last night. Trent pulled up a seat in front of a desk and sat down.

“Thinking about Charlotte, I take it?”

Cade was too damned perceptive, but Trent wasn’t in the mood to elaborate. “That and other things.”

Cade smiled. “Trust me, it gets easier with time.”

“What does?”

His friend and fellow detective leaned back in his seat, looking smug. “The sleepless nights, the hard-ons, and not being able to focus on the job.”

Trent sat up straighter, not liking that his partner hit too close to home. “I’m doing just fine.”

“Sure you are.”

Trent needed to get this conversation back on track. “You find out anything from Jayson Kendall?” Trent hadn’t seen him at the firm when he’d spoken with Frank Hamilton, but perhaps he was on vacation.

Both he and Cade believed the murder was connected to Harmon somehow since the timing of Goddard’s death was too coincidental. While they couldn’t know for sure, it seemed like the killer wanted the police to think Harmon had killed the man since Goddard had accused Harmon of insider trading.

At the time of his brother’s arrest, only four people worked at the firm—Bill Goddard and Frank Hamilton who were the owners, and Jayson along with Harmon who did most of the grunt work at the firm, from bringing in clients to doing research.

Jayson had come onboard about two months after Harmon had, and his brother claimed his coworker was a good guy. Harmon didn’t think the new kid on the block had what it took to frame him. Jealousy didn’t seem to be the motive either. According to Harmon, Jayson was having a hard time handling his own clients. He had no reason to want Harmon gone.

“Yes, but it was a bitch to find him. He’s no longer with Ardton Investments.”

So that was why Jayson wasn’t in the office. “Who’s he with?”

“Works at the bank now in the mortgage department. Said he didn’t like lying to people.”

“Good to know.” That alone didn’t exonerate him.

Cade opened a folder on his desk and glanced down at it. “When I realized Jayson didn’t work there, I interviewed the rest of the staff. All were hired after Harmon left.”

“Which lessens the likelihood that any of them would have the motive to set up Harmon for the murder. Did they have any insight into who might have wanted Goddard dead?”

“No. The only remotely interesting tidbit was that one of the new hires, John Samuels, was promoted after Bill’s death. With Jayson’s departure, John took over Bill’s clients.”

“Not the best motive for murder. Someone had to be promoted. I don’t see anyone in the firm wanting Bill dead. Not only would his death cast a pall over the whole firm, the firm’s income might be affected.”

“Agreed.”

He wondered why Frank hadn’t mentioned Samuels’ promotion. Perhaps he didn’t think it was relevant. “What do we know about Samuels?”

“Not much. I ran his name, along with the others, into our databases but they all came up clean.”

This seemed like another good job for Vic. Trent certainly didn’t have the time to follow him around for days on end. “Did anyone beside John benefit from Bill’s death?”

Cade shook his head. “Not that I could tell. Frank will now be the sole owner of the firm, but again, is that enough motive to kill Bill? And if it is, why wait until now?”

“Good question. I spoke with Frank, too, but nothing seemed out of place. You said you talked with Jayson?”

“Yes, no sooner had he said he had no idea who would want to harm his old boss, than he began talking about the night Mrs. Goddard’s brother spilled the beans about his company’s merger.” He leaned on his elbows. “What do you know about that Christmas party?”

Trent shot to high alert. Did Jayson know something that he’d kept secret? After all, this was the infamous night when the insider information had been divulged. “I wasn’t there, but Harmon, of course, was. The FBI handled the case, but my brother claimed that Elaine Goddard’s brother, Richard Delaney, had gotten drunk at their annual festivity. Richard, Hepfield Electronics’ accountant, never would say what set him off that night, but he started bragging about how Hepfield Electronics was going to buy out another company, and that the merger was sure to drive up the price of their stock by at least ten percent.”

Cade whistled. “And in theory, Harmon let that sensitive material leak to a client, and said client benefitted.”

“Yes. Did Jayson have anything new to add?”

“Not about that, but about something else that happened that night. Were you aware that Jayson walked in on Harmon and Mrs. Goddard doing the tongue tango?”

Tongue tango?
A wave of injustice slammed into him. “Harmon never said anything about that. My brother may or may not be guilty of trading company secrets, but he’d never do anything with a married woman.” His mom accused their dad of that very thing, and while Trent never believed it and Dad denied it, it was what started the divorce. “Harmon knew better than anyone how damaging that could be to a family.”

Cade shrugged. “Perhaps he was too embarrassed to tell you, or was afraid that you’d judge him.”

“I don’t buy it. Did Jayson tell Bill what he saw?”

“He said he never mentioned it to his boss for obvious reasons, but that he did speak to Elaine’s brother.”

“I bet that didn’t go over well. I’ll ask Harmon about it, and then I want to talk with Richard Delaney. Perhaps his memory has improved.”

“I doubt it, but let me know what you find.”

Trent pushed back his chair. Harmon wouldn’t be at work for another hour. It was time for a heart-to-heart conversation.

After a short drive to his brother’s apartment, Trent grabbed the box of books for Harmon that Charlotte had given him, hiked up to his brother’s door, and knocked. “It’s me.”

The door opened to a smiling Harmon, but the look of joy disappeared as soon as he saw Trent’s scowl. “What’s wrong?”

Trent stepped in, set down the heavy box, and motioned they sit at the kitchen table. The hint of coffee beans in the air implied his brother had already made a pot. “Got some coffee to spare?”

“Sure. What’s in the box?”

“Just some old books.” Trent wanted to discuss something else first.

“Oh, shit, did something happen to Dad?”

“Stop, will ya. He’s fine. You should go see him.”

“I will. Soon.” Harmon poured a cup, brought it over, and sat down across from Trent. “I’m listening.”

“What can you tell me about the night Richard Delaney spilled his guts about Hepfield Electronics?”

His brows pinched. “Why are you asking me about this now?”

“Some new information has come to light.”

Harmon straightened, a sparkle appearing in his eyes. “Really? I can’t tell you any more than what I’ve been touting for the last three years. Richard was drunk, spouting off about his company’s merger. I was there, along with Bill, Frank, and Jayson. Like I said before, a few of Bill’s clients had been invited to the party, but I can’t remember if they were in the living room at the time. If they were, any one of them could have leaked the information.”

That was what Harmon had said before. Trent had spoken to Bill during the trial and learned the names of those clients, but none of them admitted they’d heard anything. “What do you remember about Elaine Goddard that night?”

Harmon stared at Trent. “Oh fuck, what did she tell you?”

“It’s what Jayson told Cade that has me worried. He saw her kissing you.”

Harmon waved a hand. “She was even drunker than her brother and came on to me. She wished me a Merry Christmas then threw herself at me. Trust me, I did not return the affection. Do you really think that I would have an affair with a married woman?”

“No.” Harmon had a lot of women after him and didn’t need to chase anyone. Besides, he was the better looking of the two. “Did you see Jayson in the room during this display of affection?”

“I wasn’t looking around. I was trying to be polite and get away from Elaine without making a scene.”

Trent drank his coffee. The rich aroma and bold taste really hit the spot. “I forgot you always did buy the best blend.”

“It’s one of my few indulgences.”

Trent leaned forward on his elbows. “Suppose Bill saw you kiss Elaine or found out about you making out with her. In order to put a stop to it, maybe he framed you to get you out of the picture.” Bill Goddard was a rich and powerful man but wasn’t particularly attractive.

“It’s possible, but why wouldn’t he have just confronted me? He could have threatened to fire me if I ever saw his wife again, when in fact, he never acted as if I was a threat for the few months afterwards.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to let you know he was upset. If no one knew he was angry with you, when your client benefitted from the stock trade, they wouldn’t glance his way.”

“It’s a great theory, but with Bill dead, you’ll never be able to prove it.”

“I’m not so sure. Remember I mentioned that Mrs. Goddard hired Charlotte to redecorate Bill’s office?”

“Yes. Did she learn something?” The lines around Harmon’s eye tightened.

“I don’t know yet, but Mrs. Goddard gave away all of Bill’s possessions.” He nodded to the box. “Charlotte packed up some of his books. She asked me to bring these to you. She thought you might know of someone who could use them.”

“Tell her thank you. I’ll check the dates on these books to see if our library would want them.”

He finished off the delicious brew. “I find it rather odd that someone would be in such a hurry to throw everything away, especially after all their years of marriage.”

Harmon dropped back against his seat. “I don’t know. If my spouse had died tragically, I might not want to have her things around.”

Trent didn’t buy it. “You wouldn’t keep a favorite painting of hers, or her most cherished book?”

Harmon smiled. “I see your point.”

“Besides the books, she gave away Bill’s computer to Charlotte, claiming she deleted all the files, but I’m hoping our tech gurus can find something of interest.”

“I can’t imagine Bill would keep any damning information on his computer. He was smarter than that.”

“You’d be surprised what we’ve found on home computers. Remember, people don’t expect to die. I don’t know what we’ll find, but I want to look.” He wrapped his hands around his empty cup. “What can you tell me about Elaine Goddard?”

Harmon’s chin tucked under as if he was at a loss for words. “I can’t say I knew her very well, but I did know Bill, and he wasn’t a very emotional man. It’s hard to be in the kind of business we were in and give out hugs and kisses. If I had to speculate, I’d say theirs was a rather loveless marriage.”

“Did he tell you that? Or did she?” Trent didn’t like to act on pure guesswork.

“Neither one said anything. Since Bill is a dead end, pun intended, you might want to find out what the neighbors thought about their relationship. Maybe Elaine was only staying around for the money. If he was being a jerk, maybe she offed him.”

Trent didn’t think she’d killed her husband. “Women don’t usually stab their victim. It takes a lot of force.”

“Maybe she drugged him first.”

That was a possibility. “The coroner is checking for drugs, and then I’ll know, but let’s say she did kill Bill. What’s her motive? Her source of income would stop.”

“True, unless he had a huge life insurance policy. That, or she couldn’t take it anymore. Some women just snap. If she knew the cops would be looking in my direction, she might have decided to take her chances. I bet Bill had quite the nest egg saved up, too.”

“I’ll see what I can find, but do you believe Elaine Goddard is capable of killing her husband? Divorce is much simpler.”

“Perhaps she had a pre-nup, though after all of the stories I’ve heard in prison, nothing would surprise me about what people are capable of.”

This whole line of thought had just made Trent’s job harder. “Thanks for letting me talk this out.”