False Front (21 page)

The tech turned the laptop around with slow, deliberate moves, making Lucinda want to jerk it out of his hands. As the screen came into view, she looked down and saw the file of Tess Middleton, CEO. ‘Ah ha!’ leapt to her tongue but she bit down and refused to let the words escape her mouth. She cleared her throat. ‘May we please look over her email messages?’

‘Absolutely not,’ the attorney said, swiveling the screen away from her. ‘As I am certain you’ve noticed, that is the account of our CEO. Nearly all of her communications are proprietary. We cannot allow a fishing expedition through them.’

‘I can get another warrant,’ Lucinda said.

‘Yes, but we have the right to a hearing before you do so.’

Lucinda was fuming but she swallowed it down to keep her voice level and calm. ‘You certainly do. I suppose that means you believe your CEO has something to hide.’

‘I did not say that. I did not intimate that,’ the lawyer snapped. ‘We are a business with extreme security issues, including some government projects that are subject to classification on different levels.’

‘Mm, hmm,’ Lucinda said. ‘And amidst all that, there may be messages that lead to the identity of a killer and you simply do not care.’

‘I believe you have everything you are entitled to according to the court document. It is time for you to leave the premises, Lieutenant.’ He pushed at her shoulder.

Lucinda spun towards him with her fists clenched at her sides. Ted pushed himself between Lucinda and the attorney. ‘Do not ever again put your hands on the lieutenant or on any member of law enforcement.’

‘Excuse me for my familiarity,’ the lawyer said after a pause. ‘If you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you outside.’

Lucinda fumed as she walked to the car. She was now convinced that Tess Middleton was the Tess on Rowland’s note. And she was hiding something. But what?

THIRTY-NINE

J
ake considered his options. He had three rooms filled – one with Seth O’Hara, another with Todd Childress and a third with Becky Carpenter. Who should go first? He decided that he should save Seth for last. He could play Todd and Becky off one another – they both knew something. Todd was eighteen years old, he could interview him without any concern about his parents. While he did, he’d send a deputy for Becky’s mother.

Todd had a sneer on his face when Jake stepped through the door. The fear he felt for his life earlier had now been replaced by a surly cockiness backed by the strong, fit body of a football linesman. Placed on an NFL team, Todd would look small and puny in comparison – as he did when he begged for his life a short time ago. But isolated in that small room, his shoulders appeared broad, his upper arms massive. Jake knew he had to knock down the boy’s false front if he was ever going to get to the truth.

‘I understand that you and Dylan had a fight.’

Todd shrugged.

‘You lost, right?’

‘No,’ Todd snapped back.

‘It makes a sick sort of sense. You have a fight. He humiliates you with a loss. You kill him to get revenge and prevent him from telling others about the way you sniveled on your knees, begging him to stop.’

Todd leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. An ugly, arrogant smile crossed his face. ‘Yeah, right.’

Jake instantly realized that he needed a different twist. ‘OK, I admit it. I was just jerking you around. I like to toy about cold-blooded killers like you.’

‘I didn’t kill anybody.’

‘That’s not what I hear.’

Todd turned his head and stared at the wall.

‘A murder charge will blow your football scholarship out of the water, Todd.’

‘You’ll never prove it.’

‘You think not?’

‘It didn’t happen.’

‘Don’t you know? I don’t need to prove it. All I need to do is charge you. The moment I do, the Crimson Tide will roll up on the shore and spit you out.’ Jake watched as that statement crept into Todd’s thoughts.

The young man jerked his attention back to Jake. He blinked and the corners of his mouth quivered. ‘My dad won’t let you do that.’

‘Hey, Todd, wake up. I’m FBI. I’m a Fed. You think your father, the deputy – a county official – can stand in my way?’

Nothing remained of Todd’s smile. The spastic blinking of his eyes betrayed his apprehension. ‘You can’t bring charges without proof.’

‘Is that what your father told you?’

Todd pursed his lips and shook his head.

‘Does your father know you killed Dylan? Is your father helping you cover up this crime? Do I need to arrest him, too?’

‘There was no murder.’

‘Then why were you bragging about killing him?’

‘I wasn’t. Dylan committed suicide.’

‘Really? And why would Dylan do that? He had excellent grades, great prospects for the future. Why would he take his own life? Doesn’t make sense to me. No, I think it was murder. And I think you did it. What happened? Did he humiliate you? Did the nerd steal the football star’s girlfriend?’

‘That’s stupid.’

‘Why is it stupid, Todd? Jealousy is often a motive in murder.’

‘It wasn’t murder.’

‘So who’s the girl?’

‘There is no girl.’

‘What about Shawna, then? I heard you two were a pretty hot item. Until recently, that is. Did you catch her under the bleachers with Dylan?’

Todd turned away again without a word.

‘Was it worse? Did you walk in on them doing it?’

Todd’s head jerked back. ‘She wouldn’t do it with him.’

‘Why? ’Cause he’s a wimpy nerd and you’re a big football player? Don’t you ever go to movies? It happens all the time, Todd. You might as well admit it. Your girlfriend, your Shawna, cheated on you with Dylan.’

Todd shot to his feet and kicked the leg of the table. ‘She wouldn’t let that faggot touch her!’

‘What was that, Todd? What did you call Dylan?’

Todd slumped back into the chair. ‘Faggot. I called him a faggot.’

‘Is that just a casual insult, Todd? The response of a homegrown bigot and homophobe? You know what they say about homophobes, don’t you, Todd? They say that homophobes are homosexuals in denial. Is that what you are, Todd? Are you homosexual?’

‘No!’ he shouted, slamming a fist into the table.

‘Some homophobes’ distress about their own sexual identity makes them hate anyone who is gay. They hunt for them. Beat them up. Kill them. Sometimes, they didn’t mean to kill them, they just got carried away. Is that what happened, Todd? Did you put a bullet in Dylan’s head because he was gay? Or was it because he found out you were gay?’

On his feet once more, Todd shouted, ‘No! I did not shoot him. I did not do anything but threaten to tell. I didn’t think he’d kill himself.’

Jake allowed that statement to hang in the air, filling the room, seeping into the walls for a long minute. While he did, Todd heaved with an intense emotion that caused him to sway in place.

‘Have a seat, Todd,’ Jake said. He waited until Todd sat down, bending over in the chair, shoving both of his hands between his thighs. ‘What did you threaten to tell?’

‘You know,’ Todd squirmed. ‘I told him that when I got to the microphone at the pep rally the next day, I’d tell everybody. He begged me not to. That’s when I said that just before the rally I’d call his dad and let him know first.’

Leaning forward in his chair, his voice barely above a whisper, Jake said, ‘Know what, Todd?’

‘He begged me not to tell his dad.’

‘What did you say you’d tell Mr O’Hara?’

‘I said – I said I’d tell him that his son was a faggot.’

‘How did you know that, Todd? Did you catch him with another boy?’

Todd hung his head and shook it hard.

‘Did the two of you—?’

‘No, no! It wasn’t like that.’

‘What was it like, Todd?’

‘We were in the locker room. In the shower. Dylan was looking at me. He was all excited, you know. He turned away and covered himself with a towel but it was too late – I’d seen it. But he should have known I wouldn’t tell anyone.’

‘Why should he have known that, Todd?’

‘Because if I told anybody I got him all worked up, what would they think about me?’ Todd turned his face up to look at Jake. Tears formed in his eyes. ‘If they thought I turned on gay boys, what would they think was wrong with me?’

Jake closed his eyes and rose to his feet. ‘I’m going to leave you here for a little while, Todd. You think about what you’ve just said. See if you can think of a reason why that wouldn’t give you a motive for murder.’

Jake left the room, hoping some time to think might bring Todd to a point of epiphany – make him understand what great harm bigotry can inflict. He wasn’t sure that Todd had the maturity or insight about himself to understand. He was fairly certain, though, that Todd did not kill Dylan and felt he now knew why Dylan committed suicide.

He stepped down the hall to the room where Becky Carpenter waited with her mother. If she was clinging to a promise to keep Dylan’s secret, he needed to scare it out of her.

FORTY

L
ucinda dropped Ted off at his car and returned to Scott Technologies. She parked outside of the gated, guarded parking lot, watching for Tess Middleton’s car. She knew it was a new red Lexus ISC and she had the license plate number. She also knew Tess’s home address. She wanted to catch her off guard away from the security of her corporation. She thought about sitting outside the woman’s home but that could prove to be a long wait without any awareness of when it might end. Instead, she decided to follow her and know exactly where she was at all times.

The red Lexus pulled out of the lot at 4:37 p.m. Lucinda wondered if Tess always left at that time or, she hoped, the warrant and its results had sent her fleeing from the office earlier than usual. Lucinda was certain that the attorney had informed his boss what the search had uncovered.

Lucinda followed her prey downtown where she stopped in front of her campaign office and went inside. The plate-glass windows of the former storefront were plastered with posters, allowing Lucinda to hide behind them and peer in through the clear glass in between. She watched as Tess patted some workers on the back, looked over paperwork and engaged in an earnest conversation with a young man in a suit. When Tess turned from him, he was beaming.

Back in her car, Tess led Lucinda out to the suburbs and up to a gated community. Lucinda pulled to the side of the road outside the gates and waited. Once the Lexus was out of sight she pulled up to the gate with her badge in her hand.

‘The name of the guest you’re visiting?’ the guard asked.

‘Sorry. That’s police business. Open the gate.’

‘I can’t admit you without knowing where you are going.’

‘Yes, you can and you will,’ Lucinda insisted.

‘I am sorry, Officer . . .’

‘Lieutenant. Look closely. Lieutenant.’

‘Sorry, Lieutenant. But it is against policy to admit anyone without knowing a destination.’

‘So, you’re telling me that if I had reason to believe that one of your residents was being stalked by a dangerous man – a man who possibly scaled the stone wall in the far corner of your community – that you would not allow me in to hunt him down.’

The guard grabbed the phone.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘Calling the security office.’

‘Hang it up, now.’

‘I have to report this.’

‘You dial that number and I’ll have you in cuffs before the call connects.’

He looked at her, really seeing her for the first time. Lucinda saw that combined look of fascination and repulsion as he absorbed the damage on one side of her face.

‘You call anyone – you tell anyone that I am here or the purpose of my visit and I will arrest you for obstruction of justice.’

He slowly lowered the receiver.

‘Is that clear?’ she asked.

The guard nodded.

‘While I’m on this property, not a word. When I leave, you can tell anyone you like. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Lieutenant,’ he said as he pressed the button to release the gate.

Did you really have to lie? Lucinda asked herself. You didn’t lie, you just gave a possible example, she responded to her conscience. She followed the directions from the GPS on her iPhone, taking one turn after another until she pulled into a position that blocked the driveway in front of a white columned home with black plantation shutters.

Lucinda walked up the sidewalk and onto the porch. Above her head hung a large, crystal-festooned chandelier that she estimated would cost at least six months of her salary. She pressed the doorbell and heard a few notes that sounded vaguely like
Hail to the Chief.

The door opened before the sound faded. A young woman wearing a tan uniform and a white apron stood on the threshold, one hand on the edge of the door. ‘May I help you?’

Lucinda flipped open her badge. ‘Tess Middleton, please.’

‘I’ll see if she is at home.’

‘I know she’s at home. Get her.’

The maid flushed. ‘I’ll see if she is available,’ she said and started to shut the door.

Lucinda shoved out her hand, blocking the closure and stepped inside.

The woman winced. ‘One moment, please.’

Lucinda watched her ascend the stairs. When she was out of sight, Lucinda shut the front door behind her.

A moment later the woman reappeared at the top of the stairs and walked down saying, ‘It is not convenient at this time. Ms Middleton is preparing to go out this evening. She said she would be delighted to speak with you tomorrow if you would just call her appointment secretary and set a time that is mutually convenient.’

‘I certainly wouldn’t want to disturb her preparations. I’ll be glad to talk to her upstairs,’ Lucinda said as she walked up and met the young woman midway.

The maid threw her arms across the stairway from wall to banister. ‘No. That is not possible.’

Lucinda grabbed the woman’s wrist and wrenched it from the banister. ‘Now, are you going to step aside or am I going to arrest you?’

‘I’ll lose my job,’ she pleaded.

Lucinda genuinely regretted that possibility but could not allow that to stand in her way. She stared at the woman, silently counting to ten before making a move.