Tangled

by Uc Amalu, Jr

CHAPTER TEN

  His blue Chevy rolled into the station house parking lot

  and eased gently to a stop. Ben cut the engine. He sat for

  a moment with his thoughts still lingering on Laura

  Beaumont and her philandering husband. He was unable

  to shake the meeting he’d had with her, from his mind.

  He knew how she felt. On some level he had connected

  with her feelings and emotions, he knew of her suffering

  and he sympathised with her pain. Laura had been so

  shattered by what Donald had done that her entire being

  was crushed. Ben too, knew this feeling. Another gift from

  Anna.

  It appeared that Donald Beaumont had begun an affair

  with Tessa Hunt purely out of loneliness, or so Laura

  thought. Who knows? Maybe he was lonely, maybe he

  wasn’t. Maybe he was just a man with needs that he

  wanted satisfied by someone other than his own wife.

  Perhaps that’s how it was for Anna too. She had needs

  that he was unable to fulfill and so she just up and found

  herself a new life, one he was no longer a part of.

  Ever since he had phoned Anna last night and told her he

  would sign the divorce papers, Ben had been on a roller

  coaster of memories and thoughts. Everywhere he turned,

  he saw things that reminded him of her and their time

  together. His decision to grant her a divorce cut him

  deeply. It was the single most difficult choice he had ever

  had to make and it didn’t come easily. As Jay had told

  him, Anna had moved on and made a new life for herself.

  Now it was time for him to do the same. He had to admit

  that apart from the pain of letting go, he did feel different.

  Something had shifted within him and oddly enough, it

  didn’t feel that bad.

  Perhaps the old story of loving something enough to set

  them free, wasn’t too far off the mark after all. He knew

  now that he had lost Anna for good, although the truth of

  it was that she was lost to him long before she had left

  him. Their marriage had been far from perfect. Right from

  the very beginning he was aware of that, but his pride

  wouldn’t let him walk away. Instead he took the coward’s

  way out and left it up to Anna to make the first move to

  end their long suffering relationship. He did love her, of

  that there was no doubt. He simply couldn’t try any harder

  and in essence, he gave up. It suddenly occurred to Ben

  that, that was possibly the very reason he had tried so

  hard to resist thendivorce his guilt. A better man would

  have swallowed his pride years ago and admitted that the

  marriage was over, instead of making Anna suffer until

  she could suffer no more.

  For a long time he had thought that having a baby might

  have saved them, but that too wasn’t on the cards. Due to

  an ectopic pregnancy in her teens, Anna was unable to

  have children. Another thing, which stacked the odds

  against them. The disappointment in her eyes when she

  was told was devastating, and instead of comforting his

  wife as best he could, he pulled away, distancing himself

  from Anna and the problem. It was no wonder everything

  went to hell in a hand basket after that. The more he

  scrutinized his marriage, the less he could rationalise his

  part in its failure.

  Ben rubbed his hands over his face and let out a

  deliberate sigh. The air rushing out of his lungs felt like a

  huge weight being lifted from him; out with the bad air

  and in with the good. His realisations were so profound

  that they seemed life altering. He had faced his failures,

  admitted to them and now he could move ahead. He had

  finally checked his baggage at the door. ‚Onwards and

  upwards,‛ Ben cheered to himself quietly, then pulled on

  the door handle, slipped out from behind the wheel of his

  car and made his way inside.

  It had been a few days since he had checked in at the

  station house and he was pretty sure that the boss was

  going to have a few words to say about it too. He found

  his desk exactly the way he had left it and exactly the way

  he liked it. Neat, organised and uncluttered. His ability to

  work and fill out papers was hindered if his desk space

  was invaded or overcrowded; it amazed him how Jay

  managed to get anything done with the state his desk

  was in! Ben pulled his chair back and was about to sit

  down when he heard an ungodly racket coming from

  down the hallway, it sounded like a man yelling. He

  walked over to investigate when a tall man with broad

  shoulders and an axe to grind, came bowling down the

  hall at full speed, a young police constable right behind

  him. Three other Detectives in the room all turned and

  stared.

  'Where is he?" yelled the man, his face red with rage.

  "Please, Sir…" the constable tried to calm him. The

  muscular man held out one of his brute sized arms and

  pushed the constable backwards, sending him hurtling

  off into a filing cabinet.

  "Ben Payne! Where is he?" The man hollered out,

  scanning the faces of everyone in the room.

  "I’m Detective Payne," Ben raised his voice and stepped

  forward. "How about we step into this office over here?" he

  asked, nodding his head in the direction of an empty

  room to his left.

  "No, I want everyone in this room to hear what sort of a

  Detective you are, interrogating innocent women, leaving

  them in tears and on the verge of a break down at their

  place of work!" The veins in the man’s neck were bulging,

  his anger growing.

  "And you are referring to?"

  "I’m talking about Laura. My wife," he spat back.

  "Oh, so you are Donald?" Ben moved closer to him and

  leaned in to his ear.

  "Perhaps we should take this into the office over here. I

  don’t think everyone here needs to hear about how you

  had an affair with a murdered woman and how you put

  your wife through sheer hell and how you, Mr. Beaumont,

  got her tangled up in this whole damn mess in the first

  place!"

  Don eased away from Ben and walked over to the office,

  his head lowered slightly and his temper much cooler.

  The other detectives in the room all stood in awe of how

  Ben had single handedly managed to bring such a

  rampant citizen into submission, using nothing more

  than words. Inside the small office, Ben offered Don a

  chair and sat opposite him so they were eye to eye.

  "You were saying"‛ Ben kicked off the conversation.

  "What’s with interrogating my wife? What’s she got to do

  with Tessa’s murder?"

  "You don’t sound terribly upset about Miss Hunt?"

  "I’m not. She ruined my marriage, but I didn’t kill her if

  that’s what you’re thinking."

  "She ruined your marriage?"

  "Yeah, because of her I nearly lost Laura…"

  Ben cut him off, "Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Beaumont but I was

  under the impression that it takes two people to have an

  affair?"

>   "What’s that supposed to mean?"

  "What I mean is, you are just as much to blame for your

  marriage falling apart. Miss Hunt could not have had an

  affair with you without you being involved, too."

  Don threw his hands into the air and slapped them on his

  knees on the way down. He knew Ben had him there and

  he was lost for something to say.

  "As for your wife, I am extremely sorry if I upset her this

  afternoon. It was not my inten-tion. However, I did have a

  lead that pointed to her accountancy firm and I merely

  went where the clues took me."

  "Well you did upset her. She was a complete mess on the

  phone babbling about Tessa being dead and that she was

  pregnant. She wanted to know if the kid was mine."

  "Was it?"

  "Hell knows. Tessa had many male friends. She made it

  quite clear that I wasn’t her only little adventure."

  "Can you tell me where you were on Friday the

  seventeenth of last month Mr. Beaumont?"

  "I was in Bayside with my wife. She had a conference there

  so we used the getaway to our advantage." He stopped

  and glared at Ben. "Regardless of what you think of me

  Detective, I made one hell of a mistake with Tessa and I

  am trying my hardest to win back Laura’s trust and love."

  "I’m not here to pass judgement on you or your life

  choices Mr. Beaumont, all I am trying to do is my job. I

  have a murdered girl here and she and her unborn baby

  need justice." His eyes fixed firmly on Don. "Now, all that

  aside. Can you tell me anything about Tessa? You said she

  had many male friends, do you know any of them?"

  Don shook his head and flopped back in his chair. "No. All

  I know is that she told me I was not an exclusive fling. I

  got the impression that she was looking for the best

  horse to carry her across the finish line."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I mean she was a gold digger. She wanted a rich

  husband and wasn’t shy about doing whatever it took to

  get one."

  "So you’re rich then?"

  "Let’s just say that neither Laura or I have to work. We only

  do because we enjoy it."

  "How did Tessa know you were wealthy? How did you

  meet?"

  "She was my personal assistant originally, that’s how we

  ended up in bed together. Laura was spending so much

  time getting her firm together and I guess I spent more

  time working, too. Tessa and I were drawn together and it

  just snowballed from there."

  "How did she take it when you broke it off with her?"

  "Not great. She threatened to go to my wife. When I told

  her that Laura knew all about us, she was livid."

  "She never mentioned being pregnant?"

  "No, I had no idea. Oh wait…"

  "What is it?"

  "Before I left her apartment, she grabbed at me and

  begged me not to leave her. She said she had something

  important to tell me. I just shook her off. I didn’t even give

  her the chance to explain what she meant." He got up

  from his chair and walked over to the window. His fingers

  dug in between the thin blinds and pried them far

  enough apart for him to see down onto the street.

  Ben sat silently and watched as Don was digesting the

  situation.

  "Do you think that maybe she was trying to tell me she

  was pregnant? Oh God… was the baby mine? Is there

  anyway of knowing? Can you do DNA tests?"

  "Mr. Beaumont," Ben stopped and reconsidered his words

  before continuing.

  "Look, it may be best if you don’t know. Is it really going to

  help you or your marriage in the long run?"

  The last thing Ben needed was Don taking action and

  wanting to DNA test a foetus that wasn’t present, and he

  certainly didn’t want to divulge the details of Tessa’s case

  by telling Don that there is no foetus to test. It was a

  massive effort trying to keep details from being leaked to

  the press as it was, let alone giving it out to possible

  suspects.

  Don was nodding his head in agreement, almost as

  though he were trying to convince himself that it was

  better not to pursue the test. "Yeah, yeah… you’re

  absolutely right. It could do more damage than anything

  else. And she did have other guys, any of them could’ve

  been the father, she might have just been trying to trap

  me."

  "It may be helpful in the future to get a blood sample

  from you though," Ben added.

  "How would that help anyone?"

  "Just that when we catch whoever did this, if it is a jealous

  lover or something, we might need to rule you out as the

  possible father of the baby. It just cements the case in

  court. Chances are, we won’t even need it."

  "Oh right, yeah sure, I understand." Don held out his

  hand to Ben, "Look, Detective, about before…"

  Ben took his hand and shook it, "Forget it," he said

  releasing his hand.

  "I am very sorry. I had no right to carry on like that. If

  there’s ever anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to

  ask." He handed Ben a business card and left the room.

  He eyed the business card; the ornate gold lettering and

  thick designer parchment told him that they were of the

  finest quality, an expensive make. The perfectly formed

  print simply read, Donald Beaumont, Investment Advisor.

  Followed by two phone numbers, one a landline and the

  other a mobile. Ben flicked the card between his thumb

  and forefinger and thought about the conversation that

  just took place. In particular, Donald’s heated behaviour in

  regards to his wife. Ben felt it was important to clear him

  as a suspect as soon as possible. With a temper like that,

  Don Beaumont would be a perfect candidate for Tessa’s

  murder. He had motive and his wealth certainly provided

  him with whatever means necessary to commit the

  murder or at the very least, pay somebody else to commit

  it for him.

  He opened the office door and walked back towards his

  desk, pulling from his pocket, the Bayside conference

  print out that Cindy had given him. His eyes scanned the

  names on the sheet of paper, none of them looked

  familiar to him. Ben then sat down and laid the paper on

  his desk. He opened the drawer of his desk and placed

  Donald Beaumont’s business card inside. Picking up the

  phone he dialed the number for the Bayside Inn, the

  location of the accountancy conference.