by Sal Bianchi
I left the office with Jase in tow and waited until the door was closed behind us to speak.
“So, who should we go see first?” I asked as we made our way toward the entrance of the office. “The daughter or the son?”
“Daughter,” he decided after a moment of pensive hesitation. “If Shane really is behind it, he’ll probably have come up with a million excuses by now. Getting the story from Marina first will give us more ammunition to approach him with.”
“Great, let’s go then,” I declared as we left the office and headed toward the elevator. I was relieved that Flint either hadn’t heard about my squabble with Domenico the previous night, or had chosen not to bring it up.
Since I didn’t actually work for the SDCT, he wasn’t my boss, but he could easily kick me off the case and bar me from consulting with them again. I knew that he was already going out on a limb even to allow me to work with them, so I tried not to do anything stupid that would reflect badly on him.
As we got into the car to head to the daughter’s address, I made a mental note to myself to avoid running into any of the other mafiosi for a while.
17
Nick
The house that the daughter, Marina, lived in was as opulent that the senator’s. Possibly even more so, if the fleet of fancy cars parked along the front facade of the house was anything to go by.
“What did Flint say Carlisle did for a living?” I asked as we drove up the long driveway and into the large front courtyard where all the other cars were parked.
“He didn’t,” Jase replied as he put the car in park and pulled his tablet from his work bag. “According to the report he sent, though, apparently he was a stock trader and owned a few hotels here in Miami.”
“I can see why the son didn’t want to lose out on his inheritance,” I scoffed. “Money can bring out the absolute worst in people, and it looks like Rutherford had plenty of it.”
“Let’s hope Marina is willing to speak to us.” Jase sighed as we made our way up the wide staircase that led up to the front porch.
I’d never liked houses this big and opulent. I’d been in some before as a child, back in Italy. They were good for playing hide and seek in, but otherwise, they were so big and empty that your entire family could be inside, and you’d still feel alone.
I waited as Jase rang the doorbell. Even from outside, I could hear the melody echo throughout the massive house. For a long moment, nothing happened. Right as Jase was about to press it again, I heard movement from the other side of the door before it suddenly creaked open a few inches.
“Hello?” A young woman with long, honey-colored hair and clear blue eyes asked as she peered through the small gap.
“Hi.” Jase smiled politely at her. “I’m Agent Park with the SDCT, and this is Costa P.I. We were hoping to speak to Marina Rutherford about the death of her father.”
The woman gasped with surprise before throwing the door open.
“Seriously?” she exclaimed. “Ugh, it’s about time. Come in.”
She ushered us into the house before shutting the door behind us. She was wearing expensive-looking silk pajamas and a long, filmy dressing gown that looked like it might tear at the slightest touch. They were the kind of clothes people wore not for the sake of practicality, but for showing off and looking pretty.
She led us through the main foyer and into a large living room at the back of the house. One of the walls was lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out into the back garden of the house. I couldn’t imagine how much money it cost to air-condition this place, considering all the sunlight that must be flooding through the windows right now. Florida heat was no joke, and even now, at the beginning of autumn, the temperatures often drifted close to the three-digit mark.
“So, have you found any new leads?” she asked as she sat down on one of the plush couches in the center of the room and motioned for us to do the same. “That’s why you’re here, right? You finally found proof that Shane had something to do with it?”
“Ms. Rutherford.” Jase smiled nervously. “We might have some new information, but we were hoping to go over the details of that night first, if you don’t mind.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry, it’s just everyone I spoke to kept telling me that it was most likely natural causes. Even the police kept telling me I was wrong. What organization did you say you were from?”
“Oh, the SDCT,” Jase replied. “It stands for Special Domestic Crimes Taskforce. Basically, we take on cases that go beyond run-of-the-mill stuff. Things like trafficking rings, for example.”
“Oh my goodness,” Marina gasped. “Wait, then why are you investigating my dad’s case? Is Shane involved in something? Is that why he killed him? Did he owe somebody drug money or something!?”
“Ms. Rutherford, please calm down,” Jase pleaded as Marina began to screech. I grimaced. In my experience, telling a woman to calm down was usually a surefire way to make her angrier. Fortunately, Marina seemed embarrassed by being seen losing her temper, and she quickly composed herself.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized again. “I don’t know what got into me. Anyway, you said you wanted to ask me some questions?”
“Right,” Jase nodded. “Well, to begin with, what happened the night before your father’s body was found?”
“He was just fine,” Marina insisted in a tone that suggested she’d repeated this same statement many times before. “He was feeling a little tired, but he always felt that way, ever since he went into remission.”
“We heard his health was poor,” Jase prompted to see what her response would be.
“It was.” Marina nodded reluctantly. “But he was doing so well! People don’t just drop dead out of the blue like that, right? We had a nice night. We watched some reruns of this dumb soap opera he liked, and then we played a card game. He was laughing and talking the entire time. He was completely fine.”
There was an edge of desperation in her voice, and I felt a little bit of sympathy for her. Regardless of the circumstances, suddenly finding a parent dead without warning would be traumatic for anyone.
“You were the one who found him, right?” Jase asked gently.
“Yes.” Marina nodded. “Usually, we ate breakfast together in the mornings. When he didn’t come down, I thought maybe he was just sleeping in. But then ten O’clock rolled around, and he still hadn’t come out of his room. I knocked on his door, but he didn’t answer. Then I went inside and…”
She could not continue and dropped her head into her hands. I could hear her crying through short, stuttering breaths.
“Why did you think your brother had something to do with it?” Jase asked, finally getting to the meat of the issue.
“Daddy was going to write him out of the will,” Marina snapped as she looked up at us. Her face contorted with rage, and there was fury in her watery blue eyes. “Shane lost it when he heard that. He said that it wasn’t fair to do that after everything Daddy had done to him. He’s an ungrateful brat!”
She was seething with anger, but something about what she’d just said gave me pause.
“Why was he going to write Shane out of the will?” I asked. I was hung up on what she’d said about how Shane had accused his father of doing something to him. If that was true, maybe money wasn’t the primary reason that Shane would want his father dead.
“Because he wouldn’t break it off with his trailer trash girlfriend!” Marina scoffed. “Some nobody who he met on spring break. She told him that she was a ‘nomad’ and that she spent all her time hopping from place to place. She was living in a dingy little motorhome, and she convinced Shane to take a year off from college to ride around the country in it with her. Dad was furious when he found out.”
“Is that right?” I asked, barely managing to suppress the disgust I felt at her. It was becoming increasingly clear just what kind of people Marina and Carlisle Rutherford were.
“First, he tried cutting h
im off,” Marina explained. “He said he wouldn’t give him any more allowance and that he wouldn’t pay for him to start college again next year unless he broke up with her. He told Daddy that he didn’t care! After that didn’t work, Daddy decided to threaten him with the inheritance. That finally got Shane’s attention.”
“But he still didn’t leave her?” I guessed. Considering things have escalated to the point of murder, obviously, they hadn’t been able to reach an amicable agreement.
“No,” Marina huffed. “That little gold-digger got pregnant. Shane told Daddy there was no way he was going to choose money over his own baby and left. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I see,” I replied quietly. It never ceased to amaze me the lengths people were willing to go just for money, even to the point of hurting their own family.
“So, what’s the new lead?” Marina demanded impatiently. “Didn’t you say you had some new information about who killed my father?”
“We do,” I replied as I stood up. “I’m afraid we can’t divulge much else, though, since it’s still an open investigation.”
“What?” she squawked indignantly. “That’s ridiculous. I spoke to you because I thought you would tell me--”
“Have a nice day, Ms. Rutherford.” I smiled as charmingly as I could manage under the current circumstances. “Let’s go, Agent Park.”
Jase was shooting me a confused glare too, but he just sighed and stood to follow me out.
“Are you serious?” Marina scoffed behind us as I hurried out the door. She kept talking, but I tuned out everything that came after that.
“What was that about?” Jase asked as we got back into the car.
“She was irritating me,” I grumbled. “Wasn’t she annoying you, too? All that elitist crap about her brother dating someone beneath their family.”
“I guess that’s true.” Jase shrugged as he started the car and pulled away from the house.
“Anyway, I don't think we could have gotten much else out of her, anyway,” I said as we got back onto the street. “We should go speak to Shane. It sounds like he has a pretty strong motive, and his family might suck, but that still doesn’t excuse murder.”
We now had a concrete motive, but we still needed to figure out how Ryan Rothschild was connected to all of this. The only way we would figure that out was by speaking with Shane.
18
Jase
The neighborhood Shane lived on was a classic, family-friendly subdivision. All the houses looked similar, and all the lawns were tidy and well-kept. Personally, it wasn’t the kind of place I would have liked to live, but I could see why it would be appealing to a young family.
“It’s that house with the green roof,” Nick suddenly interrupted my stream of thought.
“Oh, right.” I nodded as I hit the brakes before we rolled right past it.
“You’re going to get into an accident one day,” Nick chuckled.
“Don’t say that,” I frowned as I turned into the small driveway. “You’ll jinx it into coming true.”
Shane’s house was a stark contrast to the Rutherford mansion we’d just left. The house in front of us was a tiny, single-story ranch house with a worn shingle roof and aged, yellowing exterior walls. The front yard was just a tiny patch of grass, and there were a few small potted plants by the front door.
As I got out of the car, I could hear children playing and yelling somewhere in the distance. Overall, this seemed like an adorable little neighborhood for a small family.
I waited until Nick was out of the car before walking up to the front door and knocking.
“One second!” Someone called from inside. A few moments later, the door swung open, and a rosy-cheeked and heavily pregnant woman stepped into view.
“Oh,” she yelped, her eyes wide with surprise. “I thought you were my husband. He usually gets home around this time for lunch. Can I help you gentlemen with something?”
She was smiling politely, but I could tell from her guarded posture and the way her eyes kept shifting between us that she was nervous.
“My name is Agent Park,” I said. “I’m with the SDCT, and this is Costa P.I. We were actually wondering if we could speak to Shane about something.”
“Oh,” she sighed, all the tension leaving her shoulders as soon as she saw my SDCT identification. “Come on in, then. He should be home soon. I was worried you were a pair of door-to-door solicitors, or something. I’m Ellie, by the way. Would either of you like something to drink?”
“I’m fine.” I smiled at her.
“And you?” She nodded and then turned to Nick, who also refused. “All right then. Why don’t we have a seat on the couch then?”
“Actually, now that we’re here, would you mind speaking to us while we wait for Shane?” I suggested. It might be good to get the opinion of someone outside the family.
“Sure, that sounds all right.” She smiled nervously. “But, what exactly is this about?”
“The death of Carlisle Rutherford,” I replied. I didn’t want to beat around the bush since Shane might be back any moment.
“I see,” she replied curtly. “Well, Shane didn’t do it. The police already investigated, and he was cleared of suspicion. We were at my baby shower that night. All our friends were there. All of them posted pictures of it online. You can check for yourself.”
That was another eerily similar detail to the Rothschild case. Ryan was also at a party that night and also had multiple photos of the event to back up his story.
“I’m sorry if my question upset you.” I smiled apologetically. “I actually wanted to know more about the relationship between Shane and his father.”
“His dad was a jerk,” Ellie spat bitterly. “Shane told me he was strict to the point of being abusive. He wanted Shane to take over the hotel line, and he would slap him if he got bad grades or did anything he wasn’t supposed to. All his life, Shane did everything that monster wanted, because he knew one day it would all pay off when he finally croaked. Then, he had the audacity to go and cut him off completely just because he got together with me. All those years of putting up with his crap, all for nothing. Shane was devastated.”
“Devastated enough to retaliate?” I asked. She was worked up enough that she might just blurt something out without thinking about it.
“What do you mean?” she asked before suddenly realizing what I was implying. “No! He wouldn’t do that! Yeah, he was mad, but he would never do something like that. He cares about our baby and me too much to risk going to jail. And besides, I already told you he was at my baby shower. We were all up ‘til like four in the morning, and then we crashed at my friend’s place. Everyone was drunk but me, so there’s no way he drove anywhere.”
I frowned as I watched her get increasingly more upset. She didn’t seem like she was lying, but there was something about how desperate she sounded that made me think she might be holding something back.
“I’m sorry,” Nick suddenly piped up. “I don’t suppose I could use your bathroom?”
“Oh, of course,” Ellie sniffled. “I’ll show you where it is. Just a minute, Agent Park.”
I watched with mild consternation as she led Nick down the hall. I could never tell what he was thinking, since he just acted on every impulse that popped into his head, but I knew he must be up to something. He wouldn’t have interrupted my interview with her otherwise.
I sighed as I waited for her to return. When she came back, she looked less panicked and teary, and I mentally cursed Nick for messing up the roll I was on.
“Agent Park,” she began calmly, “I understand how this might seem suspicious, but you don’t know Shane like I do. He wouldn’t do something like this. He couldn’t.”
“Do you really believe that?” I asked, and for just a second, there was a change in her expression. It was small, and gone so fast that if I’d blinked, I would have missed it, but it was enough for me to know that my question had struck a nerve.
; “I do,” she nodded confidently.
“The timing of Carlisle Rutherford’s death is awfully convenient,” I mused. “The money will be useful with a new baby on the way.”
“I guess,” she mumbled. “I never cared about that, though, and neither did Shane. I told him that we could be happy without any of his dad’s support.”
“So you weren’t upset when you heard that Shane was being cut out of the will?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide, and this time, she didn’t bother trying to conceal her reaction to my question.
“What are you talking about?” she asked quietly.
I raised an eyebrow at her, genuinely surprised by how confused she sounded.
“Carlisle was going to write Shane out of his will,” I replied slowly. “Didn’t Shane tell you that?”
“He... there’s no way,” she muttered, a look of horror slowly coming over her face.
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, the door clicked as a key turned in the lock.
“Hey babe, I’m home,” a voice called as the door swung open. A man with shaggy brown hair wearing a pressed white shirt and tie stepped inside. He froze in the entryway as he looked up and saw Ellie and me sitting in the living room.
“What is this?” he yelled as his eyes landed on me. “Who are you?”
“I’m Agent Park with the SDCT,” I explained as I got up off the couch. “You must be Shane. I was just speaking to Ellie about your father’s death.”
His face went white as I spoke, before quickly turning red.
“Get out of my house, now!” he roared. His teeth were bared, and he looked like he wanted to attack me.
Without an arrest warrant, I didn’t have any choice but to leave if the owner of the house didn’t want me there. I was about to call for Nick, but stopped myself before I formed any words. Ellie was shaking and seemed too distracted to remember that Nick was still in her house. Knowing him, he was probably off snooping or doing something else illegal. Whatever he was doing, I didn’t want to rat him out if he was in the middle of it.