by Jane Blythe
“She’s in shock, but she’s strong, so she’ll be okay.” Ryan had just bundled Sofia into the back of a cab, with instructions to go straight home to bed. It had broken his heart to see Sofia break down in tears, and yet in her moment of need, she had turned to him, seeking comfort in his arms.
“How’re you?”
“You mean am I going to mess up this investigation by getting personally involved?” Ryan couldn’t quite keep a hint of bitterness out of his voice.
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” Paige looked genuinely dismayed. “But we have three people dead, a missing newborn, and at least seven more potential victims, including Sofia. I understand if you can’t remain objective, but we have a job to do and people who are relying on us doing it.”
“I like her, okay?” he hissed, frustrated that he couldn't fault his partner’s words. “But it doesn’t matter. She’s taken. All I can do for her right now is find this killer and make sure she’s safe. Once this is over, she’ll go her way, I’ll go my way, and that’ll be it.” Ryan knew he was destined to spend his life alone. As real as his feelings for Sofia were, he knew that all love brought was pain and misery.
“Okay,” Paige seemed satisfied. “Did she tell you anything helpful?”
“As a kid she sleepwalked. She said she would wake up sometimes, see things and hear things, but she wasn’t sure if they were real or not. She remembered seeing lots of women arguing with her father and she also remembered Brooke giving birth to Isabella.”
“Does she think her father is involved?”
“She’s afraid he might be and terrified he might come after her next.”
“Do you think she knows more than she told you?”
Ryan paused, considering the question before answering. “Yes, but I don’t think she knows she knows it. She also said Brooke was writing a book about the Everettes, but she’s not sure exactly what Brooke knew.”
“Well at least we have something to use on Judge Everette.” Paige gestured at the door to the interview room. “Come on, he’s waiting for us.”
Ryan followed Paige into the room where Logan Everette II was impatiently awaiting their arrival.
“About time,” Logan snapped. “My son was just murdered. Why am I here?”
“Because your son was just murdered,” Paige replied calmly. “I would think you would want to do everything within your power to help us find the person who did it.”
“Of course I do,” the judge rolled his eyes. “But I don’t know who killed Lewis.”
“You don’t think it’s strange that in the last two nights there have been three murders on your estate?” Ryan asked, taking a seat opposite Sofia’s father.
Eyeing him shrewdly, “Of course I think it’s strange, I just don’t know why I’m here. I should be at home with my family—my wife is distraught; my daughter is traumatized.”
“Who is your daughter’s mother?”
Panic momentarily flickered through Logan’s eyes. “What does that have to do with my son’s murder?”
“Perhaps nothing,” Ryan was sure it, in fact, had everything to do with the murders. “Maybe it has more to do with Brooke Mariano’s death.”
“I was under the impression you believed Ms. Mariano’s death to be related to her unborn child.”
“Maybe it had more to do with Brooke’s first child, Isabella.” He couldn’t help but feel pleased when the judge squirmed.
“Who told you Isabella was Brooke’s daughter?” Logan demanded.
“Sofia did,” Ryan informed him.
“And why does Sofia believe Brooke is her sister’s mother?”
“She saw Brooke giving birth.”
Calming, a condescending smile grew on his lips. “Sofia used to sleepwalk as a child, and she had very vivid dreams. My daughter also hasn’t been well lately; I wouldn’t take anything she says too seriously.”
Deciding not to get drawn in by the judge’s games, Ryan pressed on, “Still, it would look bad for you if it came out Isabella was the product of an affair. And by my calculations, since Brooke was thirty-one and Isabella is sixteen, that would have made Brooke just fifteen years old when you were sleeping with her.”
“Even if that were true, and it most certainly is not, the statutes of limitations for statutory rape are well and truly over. Now I was nice enough to come down here without my lawyer because I have nothing to hide, so you can either charge me with something or I am going home to my family.”
“Did you know that Brooke was writing a book? A book about your family.”
“And who told you that?” Judge Everette shot him a withering glare. “Let me guess, Sofia again?”
“She saw the manuscript,” Ryan informed him.
The judge chuckled. “Then why don’t you just arrest me for these horrible crimes that Brooke Mariano discovered I was guilty of? Look, detectives, I wouldn’t take anything Sofia says to you too seriously, the girl has quite an imagination.”
“Don’t leave town, Judge Everette, we may need to talk to you again,” Ryan kept his tone treacly sweet.
With a haughty glare, Logan paused at the door, “Detective Xander, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from Sofia.”
“Did you see the panic in his eyes when we mentioned his daughter’s mother?” he asked Paige once the door slammed closed behind the judge. “And the book. He’s worried about what Brooke knew.”
“Brooke is the key to all of this, I’m sure of it,” Paige looked thoughtful. “If we can figure out exactly how she fits into this family then we’ll know who the killer is.”
“Maybe Logan Junior can shed some light on the situation.”
As he and Paige headed next door to speak with Logan IV, Ryan wondered whether he should have put Sofia in protective custody. If her father was the killer, then Sofia had to be in his firing line for talking to the police. Perhaps he’d call her this evening or maybe even pop by her place to make sure she was okay.
“Was that my father leaving?” Logan Everette IV demanded the second they opened the door.
“He’s been helping us with our inquiries,” Paige smiled sweetly.
“What’s he been saying?” Logan was edgy and fidgety.
“Why don’t we sit,” Paige continued to take the lead. Since Logan clearly held women in low regard they were hoping he would let his guard down and let more slip.
“Whatever he said about me is a lie,” Logan reluctantly allowed Paige to lead him away from the window.
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Paige nodded sympathetically, taking a seat.
Dropping down beside her, Logan asked, “What did he say?”
“He said he thought you and Brooke had been having an affair and that you were probably the father of her child,” Paige fibbed.
“How dare he!” Logan raged.
“It’s true?”
“Who cares if it is?” He shrugged indifferently. “Adultery isn’t a crime.”
“Could you have been her baby’s father?”
“That whore said I was, but Brooke slept around, and she was just after my money. She would totally have lied about her kid if it meant she got a nice settlement.”
“Apparently Brooke was also claiming your father was a candidate for paternity.”
“The old man can’t keep his pants zipped, never could,” Logan growled.
“So you were both sleeping with Brooke?”
“I guess.”
“What about your other brothers? Is there a possibility Lewis and Lincoln were also involved with her?”
“Lewis wouldn’t cheat; he was too much of a goody-goody, and Lincoln is hardly ever even in the country.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your brother?”
“Not really, but I don’t really spend much time with Lewis.”
“Did you kill Brooke, Logan? Maybe you got angry that she was trying to pass her child off as yours just to get money? Maybe your brother saw something, threatened to
tell so you had to keep him quiet?”
“Lady, if I killed that whore, I certainly wouldn’t have spared her brat,” Logan said it with such calm it was chilling. “Look, I have things to do, places to be, so I’m out of here.”
“Logan, we’re going to want to talk to you again,” Paige told him as he strode out the door.
“Whatever,” he yelled through the closing door.
“He’s cold,” Ryan murmured. “The look in his eyes when he said he would have killed Brooke’s baby was as calm as if he’d been discussing the weather.”
“It could be either one of them,” Paige sighed and rested her head in her hands.
“With Logan Junior’s admission that both he and his father were sleeping with Brooke, we might have enough to get a DNA sample from both of them so we can see if we can establish paternity. Maybe that’ll give us some answers.”
* * * * *
2:19 P.M.
Paige couldn’t help but sigh as she watched Ryan on the phone to Sofia Everette. Her partner always thought he was so in control, carefully concealing his emotions, always serious, cautious about who he let get close to him. She knew it had to do with what had happened with his ex-fiancée, but Ryan was a good guy and he deserved to be happy. This idea he had that love only brought pain was only going to leave him miserable and full of regrets.
Despite the fact that Ryan evidently thought he had done a wonderful job of hiding his crush on Sofia, it had been common knowledge throughout the station for well over a year. The way his face lit up when he saw her, the way his eyes followed her whenever they were in the same room, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he had fallen head over heels in love.
Paige knew the feeling. It was almost six months since her wedding. She had fallen for her now husband, Elias, the second she had seen him. Even after six months she couldn’t imagine her life without Elias. He brought her so much joy and pleasure and happiness, everything she wished for Ryan. If he would just open himself up to the possibility that he was wrong about love, then he could actually have everything he wanted.
“How’s she doing?” she asked as Ryan approached.
“She’s all right. I told her I was concerned about her being home alone with a killer out there who may be after her family. She, uh,” Ryan paused to clear his throat, “she said she’d invite a friend over.”
Trying to hide her wince, Sofia didn’t know it but she could have been Ryan’s only hope at having a life. “The boyfriend?”
“I didn’t ask,” he answered with an overly serene calm.
“You want to talk about it?”
He shot her a withering glare, “Belinda and the others are waiting for us.”
Frustrated, Paige followed him to the meeting room. Sometimes Ryan could be so childish; he needed to accept the possibility that he had been wrong all along about what love meant so he could finally move forward.
“Let’s get started,” Belinda announced the second they entered the room. “Stephanie, forensics?”
“Nothing, really.” The CSU tech tugged on her curly shoulder-length brown hair, looking annoyed she couldn’t provide them with something to work with. “This guy is good, really good. He doesn’t leave anything behind, nothing, not a single thing. We printed the room, but it’s unlikely we’re going to find anything other than Lewis, Samantha, and the staff’s fingerprints. Unfortunately, I have nothing more to add.”
“Frankie?” Belinda turned to the medical examiner.
“Samantha died of blood loss. Killer slit the carotid artery; she would have been unconscious in seconds, dead in no more than a minute or two. Lewis received two stab wounds to the abdomen. The killer managed to pierce both the liver and the spleen, again possibly pointing toward someone who had studied the theory of where best to strike. Lewis would have been incapacitated but died slowly. In fact, I think the killer underestimated how long it would take for him to bleed out. Lewis received a third wound, this time to the heart.”
“Ryan and I assumed the killer eliminated Samantha quickly so he could focus on Lewis. Once he’d stabbed him, he taunted him with a cell phone just out of reach, then crushed it once Lewis was almost to it. Ryan also noted one of the armchairs had been disturbed; looks like the killer sat back and watched Lewis suffer. I guess he got scared someone would find them before Lewis was dead and had to finish him off quicker than he’d have liked.” Paige still couldn’t quite figure out the killer’s motivation.
“So, suffering was important for Lewis, but not his wife,” Belinda mused. “How does this fit into the Mariano murder?”
“We thought that perhaps Lewis witnessed something, and the killer had to keep him quiet,” Ryan began.
“But then why the focus on suffering?” Belinda interrupted.
“Exactly,” Ryan nodded. “So we thought perhaps Lewis was another potential candidate in Brooke’s baby’s paternity, but no one seems to think he was involved with her, and Brooke herself never mentioned him.”
“So we’re thinking maybe it’s someone with a grudge against the Everette family,” Paige explained.
“Where are we on the gardener?” Belinda asked.
“Mr. Hannigan was arrested for drunk driving early yesterday evening, spent the night in jail sobering up, so if we are assuming that the same person killed Brooke, and Lewis and Samantha, then he’s out.”
“What about the rest of the staff?”
“We talked to most of them this morning; no one stood out, no criminal records, most have been with the family for years. No one wanted to reveal too much about the Everettes; they all seemed very loyal,” she summarized.
“The house has a very sophisticated security system,” Ryan continued. “It wasn’t breached, so whoever killed Lewis and Samantha had to have the code. Other than family members, only senior staff have access to the code, so we’ll check into them in a little more detail.”
“Past employees? Anyone fired recently who may have a grudge?”
“One,” Paige answered. “Everyone we spoke to mentioned the same person … a Mr. Payne. He used to be head of security.”
“So he would have been able to navigate the security system,” Belinda nodded, pleased.
“Apparently an entire overhaul of the security system was undertaken after Mr. Payne was fired three months ago,” Ryan explained. “But since the guy’s an expert in the field, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he could have made it inside undetected.”
“We need to talk to Mr. Payne ASAP.”
“As soon as we get a current address, Ryan and I will go and see him,” Paige assured her boss.
“All right, and where are we on Logan Senior and Logan Junior? Are one or both of them still suspects?”
“Both,” Ryan affirmed. “We just finished interviewing them. Logan Senior unsurprisingly went with righteous outrage that we dragged him away from his family at such a sad time. He was pretty calm until we mentioned Brooke Mariano being Isabella’s mother. For a split second he was completely panicked; right, Paige?”
“I agree,” she confirmed. She’d seen the look in the judge’s eyes, too. “He covered quickly though, especially when he heard that it was Sofia who had told us. He immediately reminded us that she’s been unwell, he wanted to discredit her.” She snuck a look at her partner, whose face remained impeccably calm.
“How sure is Sofia of what she saw?” Belinda directed the question at Ryan.
“She seems positive,” Ryan replied mildly. “Logan Senior was quick to point out that even if he had slept with Brooke while she was underage that the statute of limitations for statutory rape is up. I don’t think it’s a stretch for him to have killed Brooke if he was the baby’s father; she was going to talk or take him for every penny she could get. But I'm not sure why he would have killed his son, especially in such a vicious manner.”
“What about Logan Junior?”
“Completely different than his father and totally creepy.” Paige couldn’t q
uite help but shiver at the thought of the cold way he had stated he would have killed Brooke’s unborn child.
“Creepy how?”
“As soon as we entered the room, he assumed his father had been talking about him, trying to blame him for the murders,” Ryan replied. “When we confronted him about the affair with Brooke, he admitted it, pointing out it wasn’t a crime.”
“He confirmed,” Paige continued, “that Brooke had approached him with claims her baby could be his and that she expected a bundle of money. We asked if he killed her to keep her from exhorting money from him, and he told us that if he’d killed her, he wouldn’t have spared her ‘brat.’ The way he said it though, it was chilling; he was so calm.”
“All right, so both Logans are still under suspicion,” Belinda took a moment to jot down some notes. “Ryan, I understand Sofia was here earlier, did she tell you anything helpful?”
“She said that Brooke was writing a book exposing the Everette family’s secrets, but she wasn’t sure exactly what they were since she didn’t get a chance to read the whole manuscript.”
“Does Sofia have a copy of the book?” Belinda asked.
“No, Brooke took it back. It didn’t turn up in the search of her apartment, but we weren’t looking for it. We should go back and search her apartment again. It might help us figure out who would want to kill her.”
Nodding, pleased, Belinda asked, “Sofia tell you anything else?”
“She told me a little about her sleepwalking as a child,” Ryan’s voice was carefully neutral. “She said she’d wake up in various places around the house, but she wasn’t sure if the things she’d seen and heard were real or dreams. One thing she mentioned was seeing her father arguing with different women. I think,” he paused, “I think she might know more. I think she’s locked away certain things she witnessed as a child. We should talk to her, try to help her unlock some of those memories.”
Belinda considered this, “All right,” she nodded. “Go and see her, see what you can get out of her. It can’t hurt and maybe she’ll remember something that will implicate her father or brother.”