Burning Seduction (5 page)

“Want to help me make some coffee?” he called from the kitchen.

She could use a cup. “Sure.”

Together they managed to find everything, and soon she had a steaming cup in her hands. He nodded toward the living room. “Let’s sit.” Harmon took the chair and she sat on the sofa.

She placed the steaming coffee on the coffee table to cool, wanting to take advantage of Harmon’s willingness to share. “So what can you tell me about Trent as a kid.”

“He was a hellion.”

Her brows rose. “You’re talking about Trent?”

“Hard to believe, I know.” Harmon leaned back. “Dad demanded we both work hard, whether it was at school or when doing chores about the house. Our father insisted that Mom shouldn’t have to be a slave to the family, even though he wasn’t around a lot. I think his guilt made him be so strict. Could be why Trent rebelled.”

“I can’t see him doing anything bad.”

“He did. He might not have harmed any one and was always kind to animals, but he did smoke weed and once spray painted the side of an abortion clinic. He was only fifteen at the time, and claimed it was because one of his friend’s sister had been harmed there.”

She could understand that. From what her dad had told her about Trent, he always seemed to fight for the underdog. “What did your dad do when he found out?”

“Sent him to a school for troubled kids. It was kind of like juvenile detention expect that it wouldn’t go on his record.”

Now that her drink had cooled a bit, Charlotte sipped her coffee and loved the burst of flavor on her tongue. “This is really good.”

Harmon winked. “It’s a special family blend.”

She leaned back. “I have to say I’m a bit curious. You seem so different from Trent.”

“I’m seven years older and had Mom to run interference for me. I was in college when she left Dad, whereas Trent was only eleven. He had to split his time between both parents. It was rough.”

That could affect a kid big time. She knew all too well. “Given all you’ve been through, you seem so…normal. I would have thought you’d be bitter and combative.” Her idea of prison life had come from the movies.

“I won’t deny that I was quite angry at first. Everyone I met in jail claimed to be innocent, but I really was framed. Hell, I hadn’t been at the job long enough to be jaded to hand out insider information.”

She wanted to be sympathetic to his cause, but if his own brother wasn’t singing his innocence, she felt she couldn’t either. “Who do you think framed you?”

From the slight chin tuck, he hadn’t expected her to ask that question.

“I worked at Ardton Investments run by Bill Goddard and Frank Hamilton. Jayson Kendall worked with me, but he came to the firm after I did.”

“Do you think one of them framed you?” She didn’t understand how insider trading even worked.

“I’ve had three years to think about it, and the answer is yes, but which one of the three is anyone’s guess. I always figured Bill Goddard was out to get me for some unknown reason, but I had no proof.”

“That had to be beyond frustrating.” The cheer that had surrounded Harmon suddenly disappeared, so she set her half empty cup on the coffee table and stood. “I have a lot of work to do, so I best be going.”

“You don’t have to leave.”

She imagined he was lonely, especially after being in jail for three years, but she didn’t feel right being there alone for too long. “I’m opening my shop in a few days and have a lot to prepare.”

“I understand. I sure did enjoy talking to you. I also appreciated the ride.”

“Any time.”

*     *     *

Trent stepped next
to his partner Cade Carter who was in the bedroom with the corpse. “He looks different dead,” Trent said. “Did you know he used to be my brother’s boss?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I thought the name sounded familiar.”

“Any idea when he died?” Given his state of rigor, he had to have died more than twelve hours ago. Trent glanced over to the sobbing redhead in the corner who was probably the victim’s wife.

“We’re waiting for the coroner to give us the time of death.”

Trent nodded toward the woman. “What did she say?”

“Mrs. Goddard was at her sister’s last night to help out with the new baby. She came home about an hour ago and found him dead.”

“Bloody mess.” The body had a knife protruding from his chest. Given the amount of blood pooling around him, he didn’t die right away. Black fingerprint powder covered the handle. “You get any prints off the murder weapon?”

Cade shook his head. “No. The killer must have worn gloves.”

“What’s your take?” Trent asked looking around for signs of a struggle.

“Given the smashed window in back and the mess left in the office, it looks like a robbery gone bad.”

Trent’s heart pounded fast, praying Harmon hadn’t had anything to do with this. He checked the victim’s hands, but didn’t see any defensive wounds. “Doesn’t look like he put up a struggle.”

“No. And nothing’s been disturbed in this room.”

Something didn’t make sense. “What was taken?”

“Mrs. Goddard hasn’t composed herself enough to tell us, but the file cabinet in Bill Goddard’s office is mostly empty and papers are strewn all over the place.”

Trent couldn’t imagine coming home and finding a spouse murdered in bed. “Was the point of entry a window or a door?”

“Back door. The pane was smashed in with a rock. And no, there were no prints on the handle.”

“Breaking glass is loud. Mr. Goddard must have been a sound sleeper. We should have the medical examiner run a tox screen to see if someone drugged him. Who’s canvasing the neighbors to see if they saw anything?”

“Devon Navarro.”

Devon did good work, but at the moment Trent wasn’t all that enthusiastic about working with the guy. However, if the playboy was on the case, he couldn’t be bugging Charlotte. “You take the wife’s statement yet?” he asked in a low voice.

Mrs. Goddard was sitting with a woman who could be her sister. They both had the same color hair and were about the same age, take or give five years.

“I haven’t taken her full statement. I was leaving that pleasure to you.” Cade cocked his brow.

“Thanks.” This was the worst part of his job—speaking with the relatives of the deceased. Wanting to put this past him, Trent pulled out his pad and walked over to her. “Mrs. Goddard? I’m detective Trent Lawson. May I ask you a few questions?”

She nodded to the other woman. “Deb, can you get me some water?”

“Sure.”

While Lawson was a fairly common name, he was surprised she didn’t ask if he might be related to Harmon. Then again, she might not have been involved in her husband’s business.

Mrs. Goddard inhaled and sat up straighter. “I’m not sure what I can tell you. I found Bill like this.”

“Start with where you were from say, yesterday to right now, assuming you feel up to going over what happened.”

“Like I told the other fellow, I went to Deb’s last night for dinner. She’s been having a hard time with the baby, so I said I would help, I spent the night there since Bill wasn’t supposed to arrive home from a business meeting until late last night.”

Trent made a note in his pad. “And then?”

“The baby started fussing, so I stayed until four. I returned home an hour ago and found Bill in bed. Dead.” She broke down again, and Trent had to wait until she composed herself.

Deb returned with the water, and with shaking hands, Mrs. Goddard sipped the drink.

“Do you know of anyone who would want to harm your husband?”

She looked up and grimaced. “Detective, probably every client who lost money at Bill’s firm would be out to get him.”

“Do you have a list of his clients?” She acted as if the cops knew what her husband did for a living.

“I’m not involved much in what he does, but his partner, Frank Hamilton, might know.”

Trent didn’t need to write down that name, but he’d be sure to visit the partner. “When you get a chance, I’d appreciate you looking around to see what was taken besides some office stuff.”

“I will.”

The poor woman had been through enough. He turned to her sister. “Is there any way she can stay with you for a few days? This needs to remain a crime scene for a short while.”

“Of course.” She wrapped an arm around the grieving woman’s shoulders.

For the next hour, the crime scene unit investigators did their thing while he and Cade planned their next move.

“I’ll have to question Harmon, you know.” Cade said.

Trent had been dreading that from the moment he found out who’d been murdered. “I understand. To my knowledge he was at my house asleep.”

“Could your brother have slipped out without you being aware?”

“Anything’s possible though he doesn’t have a car, and I keep the only set of keys to my Jeep with me on the nightstand.”

Cade shifted his weight. Suggesting someone’s relative might be guilty of such a heinous crime was never easy. “Then let’s hope Harmon can give us some insight regarding this guy.”

Trent shrugged. “It’s doubtful as he’s been out of the loop for so long.”

By nine, the coroner had come and gone and the crime scene unit was packing up. Cade stretched. “Let’s head out. Heaven only knows we have a ton of stuff to do tomorrow.”

“Amen.”

They both headed out. About the only positive thing to come out of the evening was that Trent hadn’t been focused on Charlotte as much.

Once he returned home, he sat in the drive for a moment trying to sort out how he wanted to break the news to his brother. Hell, Trent didn’t know if his brother would cheer or be pissed. In theory, Bill Goddard held the key to proving Harmon’s innocence.

When he entered the house, Harmon was watching television, and he immediately clicked it off. “You okay?” he asked. “You look beat.”

“Let me shower and grab a coffee. We need to talk.”

“About?”

Trent held up a hand. “I need a minute.”

He was thankful when Harmon didn’t push it. The shower wasn’t long enough, but he didn’t want to delay the painful questions any longer. When he came out still rubbing his hair with his towel, Harmon had fixed a pot of coffee.

“Thought you could use some.” Harmon nodded to the cup on the coffee table.

“Thanks.”

“What do you need to talk about?” His hand raced to his chest. “Oh, shit. It wasn’t Dad was it?”

It took Trent a minute to figure out what he was asking. “No, Dad’s still alive.”

“Thank God. For a moment I thought that was why you ran out of the restaurant.”

He hadn’t meant to scare Harmon. “I ran out because a crime had been committed and I was needed. Someone murdered Bill Goddard.”

Trent studied his brother’s facial expression, but he gave nothing away. Their father had trained them well.

“Can’t say I’m sad.”

Trent nodded. “Thought you might feel that way, and as much as this pains me to ask, where were you last night around midnight?” Yes, Cade would be the one asking that question officially, but he wanted to study Harmon’s reaction. The coroner had put the time of death between midnight and two a.m.

In a flash, his brother’s expression changed from fairly placid to livid. “What? You think I killed him?”

Trent’s blood pressure soared. “I didn’t say that. You had a reason to want him dead. I asked his wife the same question. Doesn’t mean I think she did it.”

“I was here. With you. In my bed. Asleep.” He ground out each word.

“Okay. I believe you.” He did.

Harmon drew his cup to his lips, drank some of the coffee, and then set it down. “Well, fuck. Now, I might never prove I was framed.”

Chapter Five

C
harlotte was arranging
her samples on one of the tables near the back of her store, when a knock sounded on the front door. Since she wasn’t open for business, she was surprised to see a well-dressed woman peering in.

Charlotte stopped what she was doing and hurried to greet her. “I’m not open for business until next Monday.”

The woman’s shoulders slumped. “Oh.” She looked around Charlotte and into the store. “I have a job I need done quickly and was hoping you could help.”

Her pulse raced. Just because all of the samples weren’t in yet didn’t mean she couldn’t find out what this woman wanted. “Sure. Come in. Excuse the mess.”