Death Changes Everything (13 page)

“Well, both the plates and the VIN came back as stolen, which is a break for us.”

“Why is that a break?” asked Kristy.

Matt answered. “The woman hasn’t broken any laws so we wouldn’t have grounds to search the vehicle if it weren’t stolen. This will give us a chance to see if there is any evidence in the car tying her to the burglary or Steven Hill’s murder.”

A tow truck pulled up, stopping in front of the closed gate, waiting for the search warrant that would permit the police to impound the vehicle. The lab van arrived, parking behind Brugnick. “You’d better beat feet before Captain Danning gets here. I’ll call you when we’re through.”

Kristy took Matt’s arm and pulled him toward her car. He went, but his eyes remained glued on Brugnick, who was leaning on the fence, chatting with the lab tech as they waited for the search warrant. He buckled his seatbelt and Kristy pulled away just as Captain Danning arrived.

Matt watched the action in the rear view window until Kristy turned off the street, heading back toward downtown. He sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, but his hand gripped the center console. Kristy noticed the white knuckles and put her hand over his. Matt relaxed his grip and she threaded her fingers into his.

13

The safe in the impound office had proven easier to open than Matt had feared. The clerk, confronted by the combined force of the lab technician, junior detective, and police Captain with a search warrant, had provided the owner’s cell phone number. When the Captain explained the situation, he had immediately offered the combination and stayed on the phone until the lab tech got the safe open and found the form in question.

The clerk had refused to have his fingerprints taken until Brugnick pointed out that, without his prints on file, they would have to run any found on the document through the system. The clerk so quickly saw the wisdom of cooperation that it made Brugnick wonder what he might be hiding.

The name on the form was Valerie Smith. The cell phone number she had listed was disconnected and she’d given no address. When Brugnick called to check on it, the cell phone company had referred him to their legal department. Captain Danning had asked the judge for a court order and had faxed it to them. Two days later, they informed him that the number did not exist, nor did they have any other number on record for Valerie Smith.

In the meantime, Brugnick had sent officers door to door at Matt’s apartment complex, but no one admitted to seeing the mystery woman or her impounded Camaro. He had questioned bus and taxi drivers, but again had drawn a blank. Valerie Smith either had access to another vehicle or she had been walking wherever she needed to go.

The team was assembled in Kristy’s apartment on Thursday evening when Brugnick made his report. Jake, back from his hunt with a freezer full of venison, was frowning. Grace looked thoughtful and Jeb, seated beside her on the sofa, had been jotting down notes as Brugnick spoke. Emma and Kristy were carrying on a whispered conversation at the table, and Matt sat twirling a pen between his fingers.

“What did they find in her car?” he asked.

“Not much, but they did find this.” He slid an evidence bag across the table. Inside was a scrap of paper with Roger Hill’s name and address scrawled on it.

“What is Valerie Smith, if that is actually her name, doing with Roger Hill’s address?”

“Does this make it more likely that she is the person who broke into his house?” Grace’s question brought no answers. Kristy add the question to the notes on the dry erase board. The intercom buzzed and she opened the door for the pizza delivery.

“I forgot to ask. What did you find out from the secretaries?”

Brugnick put down his pizza to answer Matt’s question. “Nothing. No appointments between the two men other than a standing monthly meeting and that was two weeks before Hill was killed. No meetings with anyone else from finance for Hill. In fact, he had hardly anything on his calendar. Golf. Fundraisers. Service club meetings. I should have a job like that.”

He took a drink of the sweet tea Kristy had made especially for him and continued. “Lewiston’s secretary said she didn’t know anything about the fund and Hill’s just looked at me like I was crazy. There’s a lotta grumbling going on since the judge froze that account. I got some mighty hostile looks when word got around the building that I was a cop.”

“They’ll blame Casper PD if Hill Energy has to do layoffs now. Chief’s gonna get an earful from the Council,” said Matt. “Why is it taking the auditor so long to get us that final report?”

“I called him before I came over. He says we’ll have it tomorrow.”

“Has he found out who established the fund?” asked Jake.

“He wouldn’t tell me. Said to wait for the report.”

“What about the authorization to draw from the fund? They had to have been dipping into it by now or they would have already been laying people off.”

“Everything I asked him, he said to wait for the report. The problem is, there’s only one forensic accountant in Wyoming and our case isn’t his only case.”

“He told you that a few times too, I’ll bet,” said Jeb and Brugnick nodded.

Jake’s cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer, walking away from the dining area. The conversation continued without him until he returned, his face grim. The voices stilled as his friends caught sight of the look on his face.

“What is it, honey?”

“That was Pam Young. Roger’s dead. He had a heart attack. He flat-lined in the ambulance and they declared him twenty minutes ago.” Emma put her arms around him. No one spoke, but Matt wrote something on his notepad and showed it to Brugnick, who nodded and texted something from his phone. A minute later, his phone beeped. He showed the message to Matt, who nodded.

***

For the second time in as many weeks, the family and friends of the Hills gathered to say goodbye. This time, the service was held at the LDS Stake Center and there was standing room only, with people flowing over into the welcome area. The Bishop, lay leader of the ward to which the Hills belonged, opened the service. The current Stake President and two past presidents spoke of his service to the Stake and his leadership in the community.

Pam’s son, Ryan, spoke about his grandfather’s kindness and his leadership within the family. Since Guy wasn’t able to attend the funeral, Maddie’s daughter, Melody, broke with tradition and spoke on his behalf. When the funeral ended, a long line of cars worked their way across town and through the adjoining town of Evansville for the interment at the Wyoming Veterans Cemetery. Full military honors were awarded, including the traditional twenty-one gun salute, taps, and bestowing of the flag on his widow.

Only close friends joined the family at the house, where kindly women from the ward had set out a buffet lunch. Jake and Emma waited until Della was alone to pay their condolences and Della invited them to sit and talk with her.

She put her hand on Jake’s knee. “Roger was always fond of you, Jake. He had a great deal of respect for your father and he always told me you were cut from the same cloth.”

“That means a great deal to me, Della. Roger was a good man.”

“He was,” she blotted her tears with a lace-edged handkerchief. “He told me, after you left, what you two were talking about the last time you were here.”

“I’m sorry if you were hurt by it Della.”

“It was so many years ago and it hasn’t made a bit of difference. I was more hurt that he hadn’t told me when it happened.”

“I asked him about it when I first started working with him. He told me that, at first, he was afraid he’d lose you and later, he didn’t know how to tell you.”

“He should have had more faith in me.”

“I’m glad he finally told you.”

“Confession is good for the soul and I’m sure it was good for Roger’s.” She noticed Emma’s puzzled expression. “I’m sorry, dear. Here we are talking about something and I can see you have no idea what. You can tell her when you get home, Jake. It’s not healthy to have secrets in a marriage.”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell, Della.”

“Well it is now, dear. You do what you think is best. Wasn’t that what Roger told you?”

Jake covered her hand in his and held it. “I believe it was.”

“I suppose I should tell the family. We’ve all had enough secrets.”

“It can wait, Della. Give yourself time to get over the shock.”

“Is there anything in the will about this?”

“No, there isn’t.” She nodded, satisfied.

“Did I hear Mother ask about Dad’s will?” Three heads looked up to see Pam looking down at them. She smelled faintly of alcohol, which surprised Jake since he had never known anyone in the Hill family to drink. “When are we gonna get a look at that moldy old thing, Jake? Did you bring it with you? Go ahead and read it. That ought to liven up the party.”

  Della looked pained and Emma’s mouth hung open. Pam’s husband rushed up to her and put his arm around her, turning her toward the door. “Come on, honey. I think it’s time we were heading home.”

She shrugged him off. “Oh, what are you looking at?” she asked Emma. “Did you think a good little Mormon woman couldn’t drink? It’s not a sin.”

Jake watched Emma force her features into what Grace called
counselor neutral
mode
. Pam was still arguing with her husband and a half dozen women stopped refilling dishes on the buffet table and were staring at Pam. Jake knew she would be the talk of the ward before dinner.

Pam didn’t seem to notice. “Stop yanking my arm! I don’t care who hears me. I’m tired of playing the dutiful daughter. I’ve got twice the head for business than Steven ever had and he just threw me out like I was yesterday’s newspaper.
Go home and take care of your family, Pam.
Thank God I never have to hear him say that again.”

She wheeled around and confronted her mother. “Did you know Steven was stealing from you? He was the one who took all of that stuff and then made up this stupid burglar story. And you all believed him. Yeah, Saint Steven would never lie, would he? Probably was stealing the company blind, too.”

There was a crash from in front of the buffet table and all heads turned. Maddie Hill was staring red-faced at her sister-in-law. “Take that back!”

“Truth hurts, doesn’t it Queen Maddie?”

“It’s a lie! Steven never stole a dime from that company.”

“He was skimming money off the company fifteen years ago. Why do you think he wanted me out? I confronted Steven with it and he laughed at me. He told me to go home and make babies. I tried to get Dad to listen, but frankly, he didn’t think Steven was smart enough to pull it off. After that, I figured whatever Steven did, it was Dad’s own fault.”

“You lying piece of…” Maddie started, but Melody interrupted.

“Mom!”

“I’m not going to stand here listening to her make up lies about my husband with him not here to defend himself.”

She started toward Pam but Melody blocked her so she spit the words over her daughter’s shoulder. “That’s convenient, isn’t it, Pam? Steven’s dead and you can say anything you want about him. Maybe you’re the one who was stealing and you’re pinning the blame on him to save yourself.”

“Stop it, Maddie!” Pam’s husband stood in defense of his wife. “You’re upset. Pam’s upset. We all just need to calm down.”

Maddie ignored him. “The police are auditing the books right now, did you know that? What are they gonna find, Pam? Is that why you’re throwing Steven under the bus?”

“In your dreams. Why are you even defending him? How many affairs has he had, Maddie?” asked Pam.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Maddie sagged against Melody, sobs wracking her body.

“Don’t you tell me to shut up!” Pam pushed her husband away and went after Maddie, but Jake got between them.

“That’s enough!” His voice cut through the room, silencing both women. He looked pointedly at the women in aprons, who suddenly found things they urgently needed to do and fled the room. “Pam, Maddie, I’m willing to hear both of you out, but not here and not now. Pam, I believe your husband suggested it was time to leave.”

Pam allowed her husband to escort her from the room. The sound of the front door echoed in the silence they left behind. Jake turned to Maddie. “Maddie, I can’t tell you whether the truth will hurt or help Steven’s memory, but I will get to the truth. Now, I think it’s time Melody took you home.”

Maddie looked the picture of misery. “Leave it alone, Jake. Nothing’s going to bring him back.”

“Maddie, I know you don’t mean that.”

“I just want it to be over. I don’t want to feel this way anymore.”

“Come on, Mom. Let’s go home.” Melody spoke to Jake as she passed him. “I’m taking Mom home to Colorado with me, at least until after Christmas. I need to get her away from this place.”

Melody led Maddie out of the room and soon the sound of the front door signaled their departure as well. Jake looked around at the handful of friends and family who remained. Ryan stood in a corner of the room with his girlfriend Becca. With his mother and his aunt gone, he walked over to Della. Kneeling beside her chair, he took her hand and spoke softly. The older woman smiled and nodded, then looked up at Becca and smiled at her as well. Becca put her hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

Ryan stood and addressed Jake. “I’m sorry my mother freaked out on you, Jake, but she didn’t kill Uncle Steven.”

“I never said she did.”

“She’s a good person. She’s just always had this thing about Grandpa and Uncle Steven.”

“I’ll get to the truth, Ryan, but as I told Maddie, I have no control over what that truth may be.”

***

“Oh my gosh!” exclaimed Emma when she and Jake were safely headed home. “Grace is gonna die that she missed it.”

“It’s not funny, Em.”

“I’m not laughing. It’s a horrible thing, watching a family fall apart like that. Which one of them do you think is telling the truth?”

“They may both believe they’re telling the truth. Steven could have been siphoning money from Hill Energy. He may have stopped when Pam confronted him fifteen years ago or he may have, as she said, driven her out of the company so it would be easier for him to get away with it.”