Evil at Echo Point

by Grace York

  "That's a bit harsh," said Addison. "Surely there were other things he could have done."

  Adam shrugged. "Yeah. He could have cut him loose, let him fend for himself. Presumably the partying would have stopped pretty quickly if Daddy wasn't around to pay for it."

  "Any other motive?" Addison asked.

  "Not that I can think of. But what about the driver? If Malcolm was in town a day early, so was Daniel Haddad."

  "That's a good point. What's his story?"

  Adam leaned back in his chair and drained the glass of juice. "I've been looking into him. It seems he's been with the Burchard family for a long time. He's in his mid-thirties, so about ten years older than the twins. There's not a lot known about him, he tends to stay in the background. But he's very loyal to Malcolm Burchard."

  "How do you know that?"

  "I'll show you." Adam raced off upstairs, returning a moment later with his laptop. He opened the screen and brought the computer to life, then navigated to the page he wanted.

  "Here," he said, pushing the laptop in front of her. "Read that."

  It was a news article, but Addison didn't have her reading glasses. "Can you just summarise it for me?"

  Adam turned the screen back towards himself. "Apparently Daniel Haddad got picked up for drink driving about ten years ago. Malcolm not only stood by him, he used his own lawyers to defend him. Daniel had his driver's licence suspended for six months, but rather than fire him, Malcolm hired another driver. Look here at the picture." Adam pointed to the screen.

  Addison squinted, but all she could see was Malcolm Burchard being driven by someone other than Daniel.

  "So? Of course he'd hire another driver while Daniel was suspended."

  "Yes, but look closely. There are two people in the back of the car."

  Addison looked again, squinting this time. She really should go and find her glasses. Adam was right, there were two people in the back of the car. Daniel Haddad was sitting next to Malcolm.

  "I see," said Addison.

  "Exactly. It's not the only one I've found, either. Now if you were rich, and your regular driver got done for drink driving and had his licence suspended, you'd fire him and find someone else, right? Or at the very least you'd send him on his way for those six months."

  "I would have thought so," Addison agreed.

  "So why did Daniel Haddad spend his six months of suspension still travelling around with Malcolm?"

  Addison shrugged. "He's also his bodyguard, isn't he?"

  "Yes. But look at the size of the new driver. Malcolm didn't need two big guys protecting him, surely. No, I think he kept Daniel close for another reason. I think Isaac needs to dig deeper. There's more to Daniel Haddad's relationship with Malcolm Burchard than just bodyguard and driver."

  20

  Addison spent the rest of the afternoon tidying the house and catching up with Olivia, who arrived home from her day at the beach 'starving'.

  "You're nineteen years old," said Addison with a smile. "You're always starving."

  "True," said Olivia, standing in front of the open fridge. "What can I have?"

  "There's some of the lamb leftover from last night if you want it."

  "Oh, where? I can't see it?"

  Addison went over to the fridge and reached past Olivia into the cheese drawer. She pulled out a small container which she handed to her daughter. "I hid it from the boys," she said.

  "Thanks, Mum." Olivia grabbed a fork from the cutlery drawer, took the lid off the container, and ate the dish cold.

  "How's Max?" Addison asked.

  "He's okay. I think he might be thinking of going back to England, though."

  "Oh? Why?"

  "I don't know. I don't know if he even is, I just got that impression from the way he was talking today. Like he misses home. He told me about the village he grew up in, somewhere in Cornwall. It sounds divine."

  Addison started pulling salad ingredients out of the fridge. Hazel would bring a potato salad tonight, and Holly was making a pasta salad, but Addison wanted a nice garden salad to go with them. "It won't be divine at the moment," she said. "It's the middle of winter over there."

  "Yeah, I don't think he wants to go home just yet. He loves the summer here."

  "Most people do," said Addison.

  They continued discussing how nice it was in Getaway Bay until the writers finished work and came downstairs, and the guests started arriving. Hazel and Martin arrived with Holly and Hugh, and Layla bustled in a few minutes after them. Addison sent Adam and Lenny over to help Mrs Jones, and they all settled into chairs in the back yard.

  "When are we going to get the pizza oven going?" asked Martin.

  "You can't ask that," said Hazel, giving her husband a slap on the wrist.

  "Why not? It's been finished for a month. I thought the whole idea was for us to have pizza some Friday nights."

  Hazel looked mortified, but Addison just laughed.

  "He makes a good point," she said. "I'm waiting for Jason to be here before we use it for the first time, Martin. He was the one who built it, but he hasn't been able to join us the last few Friday nights. Plus, there was Christmas, and New Year. How about I ask Jason if he can come next Friday, and we'll christen it then?"

  Martin smiled and raised his beer bottle. "Sounds like a plan."

  Adam got the barbecue going and started cooking the meat. Addison and Olivia set the table, and Addison kept glancing at the side gate. She was just beginning to think Isaac wouldn't make it when he appeared with his customary bottle of wine.

  "Sorry I'm late," he said, handing her the bottle. "I had to finish the paperwork before I could get away. Kendall's still back there. I didn't want to leave her, but she insisted one of us come."

  "I'm glad you did," said Addison.

  Adam finished cooking the meat and they all took seats at the table. It was a fun meal, as it usually was, and Addison was once again grateful for the good friends she'd made since coming to Getaway Bay.

  She was itching to talk to Isaac about the case, though.

  "So what's happening with the murder?" Layla asked Isaac.

  "We're following up a few leads," said the detective.

  Layla shook her head. "Cagey as ever. Come on, man. The Murder Club needs some action."

  Isaac looked taken aback, but Addison just laughed. "Ignore her, she's baiting you. The Murder Club does not need any 'action'. Maybe we should start a book club instead?"

  Layla waved her away. "A book club? How boring."

  They joked for the rest of the meal, and Isaac avoided the murder discussion until he was alone later on with Addison and Adam.

  "Did you manage to interview Malcolm about his time discrepancy?" Addison asked. The three of them were still seated at the big outdoor table in the backyard. Hazel, Martin, Hugh, and Holly had gone home, and Layla was helping Mrs Jones home while the rest of the household cleaned the kitchen.

  "We did," said Isaac. "He admitted to being in town the night his son died but is adamant he had nothing to do with the murder."

  "So why did he lie?" asked Adam.

  "He says he and Daniel spent the night in the apartment. They were tired from the drive, and not interested in New Year's Eve celebrations. Malcolm wanted to rest so he'd be fresh for confronting Trent the next day. He lied about it because he realised it meant they didn't have much of an alibi. He apologised for misleading us."

  "Weren't you told he was out of the country on business?" asked Addison.

  "Yes. He said that's a standard line his secretary uses when he doesn't want to be disturbed."

  "Do you believe him?"

  "I don't know. We tried to get in touch with him for a couple of hours on Tuesday before he walked into the station. It was well into the day by that time. He was in town to confront his son, yet he didn't know he was dead until the afternoon.

  "I asked him what he was doing that morning, and he said he had another business matter to attend to. He wouldn't
elaborate."

  "What kind of business did he have on New Year's Day that he wouldn't take multiple calls from the police?"

  "He wouldn't say. Hid behind the lawyers on that one."

  Addison didn't know what to think. It was odd that Malcolm had lied, but then his explanation did make sense. And he had no motive, as far as she could see. She didn't buy the idea of Malcolm killing Trent because he was embarrassing the family.

  "Are you sure it wasn't an accident?" Addison asked Isaac. "Trent going over the cliff, I mean."

  "We're as sure as we can be."

  "It's just… it's difficult to find a motive for anyone. I mean, he obviously had issues with a number of people, but none of those issues seem strong enough for murder.

  "He was cheating on his girlfriend, but she could have just walked away. He was embarrassing his family, but Malcolm could have just stopped his cashflow. He upset the local surfers, but he would have been on his way and out of their hair soon. None of it seems big enough for murder."

  Adam picked up where she left off. "But any of those could have led to an argument, which could have escalated into a physical altercation." He turned to Isaac. "Why couldn't it be a fight that got out of hand? It would have been pretty dark up there on the cliff. Two people fighting could have just got too close to the edge, couldn't they?"

  Isaac shook his head. "I thought that too, but the forensics guys have ruled it out. They say the marks in the dust up there, coupled with the injuries Trent sustained, make it most likely he was pushed with a great deal of force."

  "Does that rule Erin out at least?" asked Addison.

  "It makes her very unlikely," said Isaac.

  They sat quietly for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Addison kept coming back to motive, and she couldn't find a decent one for any of the suspects. Chad, who now stood to inherit all of the family business, had the most to gain from his brother's death.

  "Did Malcolm at least let you talk to Chad and Brody again?" she eventually asked Isaac.

  "Yes, but not today. I'm interviewing each of them separately tomorrow. The lawyers will be present, but Malcolm won't."

  "At least that's something."

  "I think you should take a look at the driver," Adam said. He went on to describe what he'd found out about Daniel Haddad and Malcolm's apparent loyalty to him.

  "Yes, we found that DUI record," said Isaac. "Didn't realise Malcolm had kept him so close, though. Can you send me that research?"

  "Sure," said Adam, looking pleased with himself.

  "I'll get Kendall to check into it further." Isaac stood. "I'd better be getting home. Another long day tomorrow."

  Addison walked him to the side gate. "Do you think you'll get to the bottom of this one?" she asked as he opened the gate and stepped through.

  "I hope so. I'm not enjoying all this media attention again."

  "I know what you mean."

  21

  Addison had the kitchen to herself on Saturday morning, with the rest of the household sleeping in. She knew Brooke and Lenny tried hard to keep to regular hours in their writing, and usually gave themselves the weekend off. Adam was more irregular in his working hours, but he was still young and only working on his second book. He'd find his rhythm eventually.

  Hazel had requested a batch of scones and some blueberry muffins for today, and Addison soon had them piled into her basket and ready to go. She'd done a good job of getting the murder out of her head this morning, listening instead to some of her favourite music. Olivia had set up a speaker in the kitchen through which she could play something called Spotify. All Addison had to do was ask it to play a certain song or artist, and it did.

  The murder was firmly at the front of her mind when she got into town with Hazel's baking, though. The main street and the town square were teeming with news vans. There seemed to be even more than there had been yesterday.

  Addison quickly dropped the baking to Hazel, grabbed two coffees, and headed over to the police station.

  "Good morning," she said as she entered the station and found Kendall behind the counter sipping tea.

  "Morning Addison," said Kendall with a yawn. She opened the barrier and let Addison through.

  "Late night?"

  "Too much time in front of the computer. If I'd known police work involved so much Internet searching…" Kendall didn't finish the sentence before another yawn popped out.

  "You need one of these," said Addison, holding up the two cups of coffee. She felt guilty all of a sudden that she always brought cups for herself and Isaac, but never the others.

  "I don't drink it, thanks," said Kendall, letting her off the hook. "I prefer tea. And lots of it."

  "Fair enough. He in his office?"

  "Yeah. Go on through. Actually, tell him I'm just about ready for the debrief."

  Isaac's office door was closed, so Addison knocked and waited for him to call her in.

  "Good morning," she said, handing him the coffee. He looked as tired as Kendall. "Did you come back to work last night after the barbecue?"

  "For a couple of hours, yes. Kendall was here looking into the Burchards, and I wanted to mention what Adam had said about Malcolm's driver."

  "She says to tell you she's ready for the debrief, whatever that means."

  Isaac took a long sip of his coffee and stood. "Thanks," he said. "We're going to go over where we're up to. You want to stay?"

  "Sure."

  They went out into the main area of the station, where Kendall and Ryan Diaz were waiting. Ryan looked like the only one who'd gotten any sleep last night.

  "No luck with re-interviewing the surfers yesterday, Sarge," he said. "None of them added anything worth following up. We managed to check a few more pairs of shoes, but none matched the extra prints found at the crime scene."

  "Okay," said Isaac. "Good work anyway. What else?"

  "I've been digging deeper into the driver, Daniel Haddad," said Kendall. "I think Adam might be right. He seems to be more than just a driver or bodyguard. It turns out he's been with the Burchard family since he was fifteen."

  "Fifteen? That's interesting. He couldn't have even been driving at that age."

  "No. I don't know if he was employed by them at fifteen. But he lived with them."

  Addison took a seat at the spare desk in the corner. Her feet were sore from standing in the kitchen all morning. It was the one downside of baking for Hazel every day.

  "Do we know much about his family?" she asked.

  Kendall shook her head. "From what I can tell he was a ward of the state. Malcolm Burchard took him in not long after his wife passed away."

  "I remember hearing he lost his wife when his sons were very young. Cancer, wasn't it?"

  "Yes. The twins were four at the time. They were five when Daniel came to live with them."

  "Do we know why?" Isaac asked.

  "Why he took Daniel in? No," said Kendall. "I thought maybe he was a distant relative or something, but I can't find any connection. It went through the foster system, though. All above board."

  "So he's more than just a driver then," said Isaac. "Malcolm has kept that pretty quiet for such a high-profile family. I think it's worth another discussion with both of them."

  "That's twenty years he's been with Malcolm," said Addison. "Are you sure there's no family connection?"

  Kendall shook her head. "As far as I can see Daniel was an only child to a single mother, and the mother died when he was nine. He moved from foster home to foster home for six years, until he settled with Malcolm at fifteen."

  "Had Malcolm fostered before?" Addison asked.

  "No. Not since, either. Only Daniel."

  "As a single father, too," said Isaac. "Albeit a very wealthy one."

  "The Burchard twins spent a lot of time at boarding school," said Ryan. "Is anyone else thinking there could have been something inappropriate going on? Malcolm would have been fifty-something when he took on a fifteen-year-old boy."
r />   Kendall did some more searching on her computer. "There are no complaints against Malcolm Burchard," she said, reading her screen. "He doesn't have so much as a parking ticket to his name."

  "Well you wouldn't if you had a full-time driver, would you?"

  Kendall balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Ryan. "You know what I mean. His record is clean; there's no reason to suspect anything untoward."

  "Doesn't mean it didn't happen, though," Ryan replied.

  "All right, that's enough. I'll keep it in mind when I interview them again," said Isaac. "But Daniel is still the faithful driver and bodyguard, by all accounts. That at least gives the appearance of a healthy working relationship."

  While Isaac and the others discussed their assignments for the day, Addison tried to look at the situation from Malcolm's point of view. He would have been a very wealthy man long before Daniel came into his life, however that had happened. Perhaps he'd come across the young man somewhere in his business dealings, or he'd been related to a friend. However it happened, Addison wondered whether there was something sinister in the relationship, as Ryan had suggested, or whether Malcolm had just seen a young man in need and wanted to use his fortune to help.

  Addison liked to think the best of people, until they gave her a reason to believe differently. She hadn't even met Malcolm Burchard, except for seeing him in the police station the day his son had died. She had no reason to suspect he was anything other than the widower and businessman he represented himself as.

  But then again, he had lied about being in town when his son was murdered.

  22

  When Isaac and Kendall went off to interview the Burchard's again, Addison felt helpless. She wanted to be doing something to contribute to the case, but there was nothing she could do. They'd continued to discuss the circumstances surrounding the murder, and all the suspects, and concluded that interviewing Chad, Brody, and Malcolm again was the top priority. Addison couldn't be involved in official police work like that, and there was nothing else she could do for the moment, so she decided to see if Layla was free to have lunch.