Unexpected Ties

by Gina Dartt

  Chapter Thirty

  Nikki usually enjoyed the sound of the train’s wheels clacking over the rails, but today it held a jeering note, as if the train delighted somehow in stymieing her progress. Frustrated, Nikki glanced to her left and behind her, seeing if she could make a U-turn and drive back to the street leading to the highway. That would get her to Shortt’s Lake ahead of Andrew, assuming he was headed to his home. But he might be headed somewhere else, and she couldn’t follow him.

  She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, resisting the urge to slam her fist into it. As she did, she realized how upset she was and that she was acting impulsively, the very thing she had promised Kate she wouldn’t do.

  Not being able to find out why Andrew had decided to leave work in the middle of the day, she told herself sternly, wasn’t the end of the world. Her relationship with Kate was far more important.

  Thoughts of her lover prompted a smile, and she reached down for the cell phone lying on the console beside her. The train had slowed considerably, undoubtedly requiring some kind of track change farther up the line; she could be sitting here for another twenty minutes or so. She put her car into park and shut off the engine, as many behind her were also doing, and dialed the number for Novel Companions. A male voice answered the phone rather than that of her beloved.

  “Todd? What are you doing there?”

  “Hey, Nikki. We’ve finished exams, and I don’t have to go back until the middle of June. I dropped by to see if Mrs. Shannon needed any help today.”

  “Good for you.” Nikki was pleased. She could talk with Kate and not worry about taking her away from her customers. “Is she handy?”

  “Actually, she’s not here.”

  “Will she be back soon?”

  “I don’t know. She and Mrs. Elliot went out to Shortt’s Lake to visit Mrs. Elliot’s brother-in-law.”

  “What!” Nikki sat bolt upright, gripping the steering wheel. “What did you say?”

  In a bemused tone, Todd said it again.

  “Why did she and…who, Mrs. Elliot? Which Mrs. Elliot? Hannah?”

  “Um, I’m not sure. She’s Mrs. Shannon’s age, with brown hair. She’s sort of pretty for an older woman.”

  “Sort of pretty” didn’t describe Tiffany, who was a bombshell at any age, and it definitely did not describe Hannah. It had to be Denise. Why the hell were they going out to Andrew’s? Nikki found it hard to catch her breath. Was that why Andrew was suddenly on his way home?

  “Damn it. When did she leave?”

  “Earlier this morning. Mrs. Elliot called not long after I got here. Mrs. Shannon went over to Bible Hill to pick her up. I don’t know if they’ve gone out to the lake yet.” Todd paused. “Do want me to tell her anything?”

  “No, I’ll take care of it. Thanks, Todd.” She grimaced and threw the phone down on the seat. To her great relief, she could see the end of the train in the distance and she started the car, leaning forward as if she could somehow hurry things along. Finally the caboose passed and the lights stopped flashing.

  Nikki barely waited for the barrier to clear her roof before she floored it, pulling away with a screech of tires and a bit of blue smoke in her wake that she noted in the rearview mirror. She didn’t know how fast her new car could go, but she was determined to find out. It only took fifteen to twenty minutes to get to the lake via this road. Andrew was probably already there, and her heart pounded as she sped out of town and flew through the communities between Truro and Brookfield. The road normally posted 70 to 80 km/h speed limits, and as she kept the needle hovering around the 120-km/h mark, she prayed a Mountie wouldn’t be lying in wait. She would have gone even faster if she were more familiar with the twists and turns on the road.

  As she came to the crossroads that made up the small village of Brookfield, she noticed the blue sedan parked at a drugstore on the corner. She pulled into the parking lot behind the car, blocking it. As she sat there, catching her breath, Andrew exited the store, a bag and a newspaper tucked under his arm.

  Nikki leaped out of the car to confront him. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but it would be far better to do it here in a parking lot than have him surprise Kate in his home. Besides, this was a public place, and he probably wouldn’t try anything with so many people passing by. Even if he did, someone would call the police, and right now, letting them deal with this situation sounded like a really good idea, despite her earlier reluctance to involve them.

  Andrew frowned. “Would you mind moving your car?” He took a second look, finally recognizing her. “Hey, what are you doing?”

  Nikki clenched her fists. She was in pretty good shape, but he was a big man, over six feet and bulky. She wished she had thought to get the tire iron out of the hatchback. “I know what’s going on. I know all about the phony employee records.”

  He stared at her blankly. “What?”

  “I know you killed Stephen.” Her voice shook. “He found out about you cooking the books, didn’t he?”

  Andrew stared at her, obviously torn between surprise and outrage. A little fear shadowed his eyes. “Are you crazy?”

  Nikki dug into the back pocket of her jeans, pulling out the letter from Revenue Canada and brandishing it at him like a weapon. “I’m talking about this,” she snarled. “These two people don’t exist as anything but an SIN and a post office box number on the Elliot payroll. How long have you been lining your pocket with their paychecks, Andrew? And how many others do you have on that executive payroll?”

  Andrew snatched at the letter, staring at the two names that had been checked and that Nikki had circled for good measure. “These two? They’re in the IT department.”

  “The what?” Nikki responded blankly. “IT?”

  “They’re computer specialists,” Andrew repeated with more patience than a great many other people would have displayed after being accosted in a parking lot. “They keep the plants operating smoothly, both here and in Windsor.”

  Nikki stared at him, scarcely able to believe that he was coming up with such lame answers. “Have you ever met them? What do they look like?”

  Andrew paused, uncertainty coloring his eyes. “I’m sure I have, at the company picnic or one of the Christmas parties.” Obviously he was having a problem putting a face to the names.

  “Oh, yeah? Did you ask them how hard it is to be traveling between Truro and New Glasgow when they don’t own a car, or have a valid driver’s license for Nova Scotia?”

  “What?”

  “These two men don’t own their own vehicles, they have no street address, no one else in the plant has ever met them, they have your wife picking up their mail, and, best of all, they don’t need their paychecks because they don’t really exist.”

  She waited for him to say something, but he looked dazed, so she threw some more facts at him.

  “Why the hell do you think Revenue Canada is flagging those SIN numbers? Why do you think the Mounties have your wife under surveillance?”

  Nikki wasn’t entirely certain of the last part, of course, but she thought she’d toss that in just for good measure. She was on a roll, feeling quite powerful as she stepped closer to him, momentarily forgetting the situation, only aware of a wild sense of exhilaration at confronting the man.

  “What happened, Andrew? Did Stephen figure out what you were up to? Did he realize you had set up the executive payroll to pay people he had never actually met and demand you stop?”

  “I don’t administer the IT payroll,” he finally responded, his face a dark mix of anger and confusion. “Stephen does…I mean, he did.”

  That stopped Nikki cold. “What?”

  “He always took care of the IT payroll. That was his department before Father’s death.” His mouth twisted bitterly. “Even after he became president, he stuck with it. Every two weeks, accounting received the hours and expense accounts from him so we could make up the paychecks, but he was the one who handed them out. It was always a major pa
in every January. I actually had to fight with him to get all the necessary paperwork so we could make up the year end.”

  “But Stephen didn’t handle payroll.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “His wife did. Denise said that when he found this letter, he got upset.”

  “I guess he never told her what he did, and frankly, he should be upset by that letter,” Andrew blustered self-righteously. “It was the second notice from Revenue Canada. I gave him the first and told him that he needed to find out why there was suddenly a problem with social insurance numbers that had been perfectly fine for fifteen years. He didn’t seem to want to listen to me. I had to put the second notice right on his desk.”

  “Is this the first time you’ve ever gotten this kind of notice for the IT payroll?”

  “Yes.”

  Nikki looked down at the letter, seeing it in a new light. “Did you kill your brother?”

  He didn’t seem to notice she didn’t have any kind of authority to be asking these sorts of questions. “No.” His tone grew ragged. “We had our problems, I’ll be the first to admit that, but…I loved Stephen. I would never hurt him.” He paused, regaining his composure. “What do you mean, these people don’t exist? They’ve worked for us for fifteen years.”

  “No, Andrew, they haven’t.” Nikki stared at him. “Do you love your wife?”

  “What the hell kind of question is that?”

  “Are you aware that she’s having an affair with your cousin, Martin?”

  His face darkened. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he demanded, looming over her, and suddenly she realized how big he was. She danced backward a few steps.

  “You’re telling me you didn’t have anything to do with this scam? Why are you going home in the middle of the day?”

  “My wife is ill.” He appeared too angry to realize he really didn’t owe her any answers. “She called me to come home, and I stopped by here to pick up the prescription she needed.”

  “Why didn’t she have it delivered? Why’d she need you? You don’t have any help at that big house of yours?” As she said it, she remembered that Kate was supposedly at that house, lured there by yet another Elliot spouse. “Damn it, where do you live? My girlfriend is there with Stephen’s wife. If what you’re saying is true and Stephen is behind this, then maybe Denise is involved too. Maybe she’s already taken care of Tiffany, and that’s why she’s ill. Didn’t Stephen’s death look like a heart attack at first?”

  Not much of this was particularly coherent, but the fear that came over Andrew’s face was very real. Without speaking, he gestured angrily for her to get out of his way. Suddenly terrified beyond reason for her own loved one, Nikki promptly jumped into her car and backed away from his sedan. Andrew maneuvered out of the parking lot, pulling quickly onto the street leading out of the village as Nikki followed him.

  He raced out of Brookfield, past the highway overpass and down the Pleasant Valley Road to the turnoff leading to the lakeside community. She kept close on his tail as he sped through the twisty road bordered by woods and large houses on one side and the sparkling waters of the huge lake on the other.

  As he pulled into a paved driveway leading to his home, Nikki’s heart jumped into her throat as she identified the familiar black SUV. Then she realized that the situation was even worse than she had anticipated. The battered green car she had seen at the Tideview Motel belonging to Monica Henderson was parked right behind Kate’s truck.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Martin Elliot demanded before yelling over his shoulder. “There’s another one in here, Pat.”

  Kate was not only deeply humiliated at being caught snooping, but a sense of imminent danger crawled up the back of her spine. She didn’t know what Martin was doing here, or the other man who was undoubtedly the missing Pat Spencer, but she had a feeling they weren’t supposed to be in the house any more than she was.

  “Where’s Denise?” Her tongue felt twisted, her throat full as she focused on the bottle he was carrying. It was full of a clear liquid, probably the same chemical compound that had killed Stephen.

  “What are we going to do?” The voice was Pat’s. He sounded panicked, as if things were not going according to plan.

  Kate couldn’t see anything beyond Martin, suddenly large and threatening, even though he had yet to make a move. Why wasn’t Denise saying anything?

  Chilled, Kate drifted behind the desk, trying to keep it between her and Martin. She also tried very hard to avoid making any sudden moves, as if confronted by a dangerous animal.

  “Shut up,” Martin shouted over his shoulder at his unseen companion. “Let me think.” He stared at Kate from beneath lowered eyebrows. “This might work in our favor, but we have to set things up before Andrew gets home. Tiffany would have called him by now.”

  “What’s going on?” Kate looked around frantically for something, anything, to help her out of what was turning into a very disturbing situation. She cautiously reached behind her and grasped the shaft of a golf club poking out of an umbrella stand.

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re doing snooping around here, but you’re going to be very sorry.” Martin stepped closer, and Kate tightened her grip convulsively on the club. He wasn’t aware of her weapon. He was glaring at the payroll book and income tax returns lying on the desk.

  “What are you doing with those?”

  “They’re payroll books from the Elliot Manufacturing IT department.” She tried to edge back a few steps.

  “I know that. I arranged to have them put in the house.” He jerked his head. “Where did you get them?”

  “From the safe behind me.”

  “Put it all back where you found it.”

  She hesitated, then, as he raised a fist, she quickly picked them up, turning to push them back in the safe. She kept an eye on him as she did so, but he didn’t come any closer. He was wearing gloves, something a person didn’t do this time of year…not unless they were intended for something other than warmth. He obviously didn’t want to leave any fingerprints. Meanwhile, she was leaving hers all over the place. Her hands shook as she picked up the file folders and replaced them in the drawer that Denise had left open.

  “How did you manage to plant this evidence?” She kept her tone conversational, as if they were just passing time in her bookstore, though she had never been so terrified. She scanned the study, looking for a way to escape.

  Martin glanced at his watch. Obviously he was on some kind of timetable. “Tiffany is more creative than people think. She always pretended she didn’t know the combination, but she did. Andrew’s such an asshole.”

  “What have you done with Denise?”

  “The same thing we’re going to do to you,” He smiled unpleasantly. “We just have to arrange it properly. Andrew will catch you snooping around in his study, kill you both, then kill himself out of remorse. The cops will find all the evidence right here, including the bottle of poison that killed Stephen. End of story.”

  “They know you’re sleeping with Andrew’s wife.” Kate found the club once more as she kept her body angled to conceal her right hand.

  “That’s my alibi.” He grinned. “Right now, Tiffany is in Halifax at a hotel after making a big show of checking in under her own name. No matter what else happens, she’ll swear I was with her, even if she has to admit she was having an affair.”

  “The police will figure it out.”

  “No, they won’t.” Martin shrugged. “They’ll have a nice, neat solution to a crime that’s giving them headaches. They won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

  “Nikki will know.” She wished she could snatch the words back even as they left her mouth.

  “Then that’s a complication Pat and I will have to take care of before too long.” He reached out, and Kate yanked the club from the stand.

  She swung wildly, smashing it across his forearm. With a yelp, he yanked it out
of her hands and threw it aside.

  Kate didn’t wait for him to regain his balance, but plunged past him into the hallway. She tried for the foyer, but faltered when she saw Pat standing between her and the doorway. Denise was sprawled on the carpet at his feet, blood staining her temple. Kate dashed the other way, hoping to find another exit, with Martin only a step behind. He was so close that she could feel a rush of air as he neared, and she dodged instinctively as he swiped at her, leaping for the stairs that led to the second floor.

  Her breath came hard as she dashed up the steps, running down the hall and flinging herself into the first bedroom she saw, slamming the door behind her. She fumbled at the lock, twisting it a scant second before Martin thudded into the door, making it shudder in the frame. She ran over to the dresser in the corner, pushing it against the door as a further barricade. It was surprisingly light, and she realized it had to be empty, making this a guest bedroom. She probably wouldn’t have been able to move it otherwise, and she doubted it would delay her pursuer long.

  Blood rushing through her veins like thunder in her ears, she ran over to the window, throwing it open in hopes of finding a quick escape. Unfortunately, the landscape sloped dramatically away from this side of the house, dropping more than two meters to the graveled shore of the lake. If she tried to jump from the second story, she’d essentially be doing Martin’s job for him.

  Martin was slamming himself repeatedly at the door, uttering a strange little laugh every so often that chilled her far more than his curses. Martin was apparently enjoying this pursuit, deriving a sort of twisted pleasure in the hunt. She tried not to let the dark thought of what would happen when he caught her overwhelm her. She needed to think clearly, keep moving, stay one step ahead of him.

  Across the room she discovered two doors. The first fronted a closet devoid of any possible weapons. The second led to a small bathroom, and she plunged inside, slamming the door behind her and locking it, providing another miniscule measure of safety, though she knew it wouldn’t hold long. Another door here let her into a second guest bedroom.