Making New Memories (9 page)

"Oh Jesse! I can't believe you are here in my
arms again! I have dreamed of this moment for so long."

"My Clarence, I love you so. Please don't
ever leave me again," begs Jesse tears streaming down her face.

Watching from the sidelines, Stump's heart
pounds heavily and his eyes fill with tears when he sees the joy on
his parent's faces. He is so happy he was able to bring them
together again after so many years. He sees his half brother Johnny
coming out of the office and he smiles. Johnny was five when Bear
left for boot camp and he remembers things about Bear that Stump
never had the opportunity to know. The recording of the bedtime
story Bear left for him was played over and over for the boys as
they grew up. In fact, his mother had paid to duplicate it at least
twice to preserve it for them and so each one could have a copy of
his own.

When Jesse realizes Johnny has arrived she
says, "Clarence, this is Johnny."

Opening his arms he encloses both boys in his
big bear hug.

From the airport they all head to Jesse's
house where they spend the afternoon getting reacquainted. Bear
tells Jesse why he didn't come home and asks her to help him get
enrolled in the program for PTSD so he can overcome his flashbacks.
He tells her he wants to get past them so he can spend the rest of
his life with her.

Two days later Stump calls Goose to come and
pick him up. His father is settled in the inpatient facility
undergoing treatment for PTSD and his mother and father are well on
their way to reconciliation. He is happy. Finding and getting to
know his father has been the best experience of his life.

Now it's time to go help the guys investigate
the murder that Dylan has been accused of. It all sounds very fishy
to him. He knows Dylan could not have killed the woman. If he had
been going to kill her he would have done it eight years ago when
he caught her in bed with another man.

******

When Goose picks him up he is surprised to
see Pinky on board and they head straight for Texas. After landing
they go to the hotel where Jacob has made reservations for the
group. Jacob has called a planning meeting for one o'clock in his
suite and they are going to be just in time. When they walk into
the suite, they are happy to see Dylan and spend a few minutes
greeting him with slaps on the back and assurances they will
support him no matter what. Tom Christensen, the private
investigator and Jason Murray, Jacob's twin brother are also
present.

Jacob stands and says, "Okay guys, we have a
lot to cover so let's get started. The facts according to the
prosecution are as follows, the police received a tip about an
unresponsive woman in a car at the mall at six o'clock on Saturday
night. Flight records indicate that Dylan had already taken off
from the airport before the tip was received.

"During the police investigation a witness,
one Richard Thomas, came forward and swears he saw Dylan in the car
with Elena around five o'clock. That witness just happens to be the
same man Dylan found in bed with Elena eight years ago that caused
him to file for divorce. He is well known in Amarillo since he is
the Vice President of the First National Bank. He is generally not
well liked and rumors are circulating he cheated several of the
bank's customers over the years. He and Elena Drake had an open
affair after the divorce even though Thomas is a married man. The
affair lasted until sometime last year. Elena met him at the bank
where she was employed at the time of the divorce.

"Dylan's sister who works at the mall saw
Richard Thomas leave the area of the game room around five on the
day Elena was killed. He was gone approximately thirty minutes at
which time he returned to the game room, picked up his three
children and left. We need to canvass all of the mall employees
around the game room and see if anyone else can testify to seeing
him leave the area and verify what time he returned to the
area.

"Also, Dylan's sister witnessed a fight
between Richard Thomas and Elena Drake the previous weekend here in
the mall. She heard Thomas threaten Elena. We need to find anyone
else that might have witnessed that argument. It happened right in
front of the game room. I am not going to be able to call Evelyn as
a witness since she is Dylan's sister.

"Now, Tom has reviewed Elena's bank records
and has found several suspicious cash deposits over the last year.
These deposits amount to over twenty thousand dollars and we
haven't been able to determine yet where they originated. Any
questions so far?"

Pinky asks, "Have we been able to access
Thomas' bank records? He is the logical source of the cash
deposits."

Jacob says, "Not yet, Pinky, since you are
our resident hacker please take a peek and see if you can find
anything. If you find something, I'll find a way to legally
subpoena them. See if you can get his cell phone records too.

"Stump, since you are our press person, I
want you to check with all of the local media and see if you can
dig up anything on Thomas. In fact, why don't you see if you can
land an interview with Thomas?

"Goose, since you are our medical expert I
want you to review the medical reports I got from the hospital and
the coroner. You might also want to hang out around the area of the
hospital and see if you can pick up any gossip about the case that
is not in the reports.

"Jason has some contacts among the local
stockbrokers and he is going to try to get information about
Thomas' financial portfolio and any recent large transactions. Can
any of you think of anything else?"

Dylan asks, "Jacob, where exactly are you
headed with this?"

Jacob answers, "Well, since we know Thomas
threatened her, I believe he killed her and framed you, Dylan.
Since he brings his kids to the game room every Saturday it is a
reasonable assumption that he has seen you at the mall before with
Damian. Once he saw you on Saturday, it would have been easy enough
for him to lure her to the mall, kill her, and frame you for the
murder. All we have to do is prove he killed her. To prove it, we
will need to find the motive. If there's nothing else, we'll meet
again here tomorrow at one. Good luck."

******

When I call that night, Dylan is in much
better spirits. When he answers he says, "Hello Gorgeous, I'm glad
you called."

"Oh Dylan, It's good to hear your voice. You
sound more upbeat tonight. Did something good happen today?"

"No, nothing good happened exactly, but the
guys are all here now and they have a plan to find the evidence
that will clear me. I am much more optimistic than I have been. I
wish you were here, Skye. I want to hold you. How are your talks
with the counselor going?"

"I'm making progress. You remember what you
said about overwriting the bad memories with good ones. My
counselor said the same thing today. I told her about the day I
kissed you and she said that was good and suggested the rest will
happen the same way."

Smiling Dylan says, "I can't wait to help you
practice. When all this is over we will definitely make some new
memories for you."

"Do you promise Dylan?"

"I promise. Goodnight Skye."

******

He hangs up the phone and turns around to
find Evelyn smiling at him from the door, "Are you going to tell me
about Skye?"

Blushing he says, "Skye is the bravest, most
beautiful woman that I have ever met. Her eyes are the same color
as the blue sky on a clear day. She has long blonde hair that hangs
in curls halfway down her back. She is sexy and feminine, and I
think I may be in love with her."

"It certainly sounds like it to me. I don't
think I have ever heard you say such poetic things about a woman. I
can't wait to meet her," says Evelyn.

"I can't wait for you to meet her. She is
amazing. Her father was a movie director and she was raised in
Hollywood and never wanted for anything but she is not at all like
what you are thinking. She had something bad happen when she was a
teenager but I'm not sure what yet that made her terribly afraid.
She spent the last three years living in a two room cabin in the
mountains of Montana. She saved my life when I went to Montana to
bring her to Barry's ranch. That was when I met her for the first
time. She killed a mountain lion in mid-flight with one shot as he
was attacking me. She sewed me up then she skinned, gutted, and
cooked the animal for our dinner. She is just amazing."

Smiling to herself Evelyn knows without a
doubt that her brother is in love and that makes her happy. He
deserves to be happy after the way Elena has treated him. She
hadn't known that Elena was refusing to let him spend time with
Damian or she would have helped him. Elena had lied about that too.
She told Evelyn that Dylan never tried to see Damian. It breaks her
heart that she wasn't able to help him through all his problems
with Elena.

Dylan removes his shirt, "Oh Evelyn, I'm
going to need your help removing these stitches. I almost hate to
take them out and destroy Skye's handiwork. Do you have scissors
and tweezers?"

Evelyn stares at his shoulder, "Oh my God,
Dylan, you mean a mountain lion did this to you? Skye must really
be special if she was able to sew you back together. You could have
died!"

It has been a month since Dylan was arrested
at the ranch and taken to Texas. Thanksgiving was last week and
December is just around the corner. The guys have been pursuing all
avenues to try to find evidence to clear Dylan but haven't been
able to turn up anything significant yet. Richard Thomas' bank
records and financial statements didn't reveal anything. Nothing
suspicious was found in his cell phone bill.

They have found other witnesses to the fight
Evelyn had witnessed at the mall between Thomas and Elena. They
located two other people who saw Thomas leave the area of the game
room on the Saturday Elena was killed around five returning about
thirty minutes later for his children.

Dylan's Marine buddy, Bobby Feldman, will
testify that Dylan never left the gameroom from the time he arrived
until leaving just before six. Child Protective Services is not
allowing Jacob to interview Damian claiming they don't want to
upset him further about the death of his mother.

Playing a hunch, Pinky and Jason are scouring
the internet for any related files. Pinky has attached some
monitoring software to all of Richard Thomas' computer's web
addresses that notify him of any financial transactions as they are
happening. Late one night he is awakened by his computer's alarm
notifying him of a transaction. Watching the computer screen he
sees Thomas transfer a total of one hundred thousand dollars from
several different accounts at the local bank to an offshore account
in the Cayman Islands.

He calls Jason Murray's cell phone, "Bingo!
We got him!"

Excited Jason says, "I'm on my way."

He looks at the file Pinky is monitoring.
Unbelieving he says, "Do you mean he has been embezzling from the
bank and transferring huge chunks of money to the Caymans? If Elena
was blackmailing him that certainly would be a motive. Can you get
the transaction history from this interface? It may be how the
money is getting into Elena's account too. Let's tell Jacob."

While Jason calls Jacob, Pinky pulls the
history of the interface Thomas uses to transfer money and finds
the deposits into Elena Drake's accounts. He also discovers a more
troubling trend. When Jacob enters the room he says, "Look,
tonight's transaction is the largest he has ever made. I think he
may be getting ready to split."

Jacob looks through the file Pinky pulled
then says, "I think I better notify our esteemed prosecutor. I
doubt he would want his only witness leaving the country."

******

Tom Christensen is at the Amarillo airport
early the next morning when Richard Thomas checks a large bag for
his flight to Dallas continuing on to the Cayman Islands.
Approaching him as he heads toward the security check point, Tom
says, "Going somewhere Mr. Thomas?"

Surprised, Thomas turns around and asks, "Who
are you?"

Flashing his badge he says, "Tom Christensen,
I'm a private investigator and I've been waiting for you."

Nervous, Thomas says, "Well, I don't have any
business with you, if you'll excuse me," and he starts to run down
the corridor. Tom watches as airport security guards stop him,
place him in handcuffs, and escort him outside to the waiting
police car.

Smiling, he calls Jacob, "Thomas is in
custody."

Jacob says, "Thanks, Tom."

When he walks into the prosecutor's office
later that day, Jacob is surprised to learn the bank was notified
yesterday of a detailed audit by the government scheduled for the
following week. The audit was triggered by a tip they received from
a local citizen and former employee of the bank, a Ms. Elena
Drake.

Based on information obtained from the tip
the FBI had been tracking Richard Thomas for just over a month and
had given the prosecutor information proving that Elena Drake had
been blackmailing Thomas. Once he had framed Dylan for Elena's
murder Thomas thought he was home free. The notification about the
audit came as a surprise to him and forced him to try to run.

Jacob asks the prosecutor, "So, when can I
expect you to drop the charges against Mr. Drake?"

Frowning, the prosecutor answers, "Well, I'm
going to have to review the evidence. While this new evidence
certainly points to Mr. Thomas as the murderer, I still don't have
anything to prove it wasn't your client. The timeline points to
your client and he also had a motive to murder Elena Drake."

Frustrated Jacob says, "If that's what you
want, then fine, I'll see you in court."