“Yeah, and you said the guy was in her bedroom too.”
Kelly drifted off again, thinking once more of the rude detective this morning. No, he wasn’t really rude. Was he?
“Okay, Kelly, give. I’m not going to be put off this time. There’s something else bothering you, something other than this break-in. What is it? If you don’t tell me, I’ll find out anyway, and it’ll just be that much worse on you when I do.”
She knew that to be the truth, but how did he know there was something else bothering her. Ha! The same way she would know if something was bothering him. They knew each other too well. They’d had to. They’d virtually been orphans at the ages of twelve and fourteen. Even though their grandparents had taken them in and been terrific in every way, it wasn’t the same as going through their turbulent teen years with one or both of their parents.
She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush before answering him. “Yes, I guess there is something else bothering me.”
When she didn’t continue soon enough for him, he said, “And . . . ?”
Kelly smiled at his persistence. “Well, I answered the door this morning when the detectives came.” She looked over his head at a Remington on the wall behind him. When she started, it all came out in a rush. “It’s just that one of the detectives began staring at me the moment I opened the door. He didn’t stop until I left the room. He was quite rude, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
She could tell that Wayne was hiding a smile when he said, “What did he look like?”
Before she could think of why he would ask such a question, she blurted out her answer.” He’s only a little taller than me, with short wavy brown hair, almost golden brown eyes and a perpetual frown, no, more like a scowl.”
Wayne tried to speak, but he was laughing so hard that as he leaned back in his chair, he almost fell out of it.
Kelly felt a flush of heat from her neck to her hairline, and a hot flash of anger shot through her.
Wayne gained control of himself enough to say, “It sounds to me like this detective wasn’t the only one doing the staring.”
When the full implication of her brother’s statement hit her, Kelly’s flush became redder. Her anger disappeared, and turned into embarrassment.
“Okay, Kelly, I’ll back off, but I have just one more question. “What is this guy’s name?”
Again, she answered before thinking, “Grant Thompson.”
Wayne laughed out loud again but he maintained better control this time. “I just wanted to know the name of the man who was the first to ever be able to break through to my little sister, the iceberg.”
Kelly blushed again. “Okay, you’ve made your point. Yes, he did make an impression on me, but it wasn’t a good impression if you must know, so back off.”
“But Kelly, a cop?”
“Don’t even start down that path, Wayne. I’m not going to discuss this any further with you.”
Still grinning, Wayne changed the subject. “Okay, back to the break-in. I wonder if we ought to tell the detectives what we suspect about the break-in somehow involving Jane.”
“I’m on my way down to Grandfather’s office right now. I think I’ll tell him, and he can decide if we should or not.”
“That’s a good idea.” He motioned to his computer and said, “I’d go with you, but I’m right in the middle of that new sales projection report.”
Kelly pushed herself to her feet, then smiled and waved as she walked out the doorway.
She had only just decided to go to her grandfather’s office in the midst of her conversation with Wayne. She suddenly felt a need to talk to her grandfather about more than the possibility of Jane being the target of the break-in. Whenever Kelly had been troubled, her grandmother had always been able to sooth her if it was minor, but if it was anything major, her grandfather always had a way of making things come into sharper focus.
When Kelly stepped into the outer office, Martha waved her on toward the open door of Harold’s office. As she paused in the doorway, her grandfather looked up. He took one look at her face and immediately stood then walked over to his ‘conversation pit’ where he motioned for her to sit also.
Kelly laughed as she sat across from her grandfather. “Am I that transparent?”
Harold chuckled and said, “To me, little one, you are. Something is troubling you, and I want to know what it is.” He paused. “Is it about last night’s break-in?”
When she shook her head, he said, “I didn’t think so, and I don’t think it has anything to do with work.”
Again, Kelly shook her head. He grinned and said, “Then it has to be about a boy, or I guess I should say a man.”
Her only answer was a slight blush.
“Okay, I know there aren’t any new men here at the office, so it has to be elsewhere. I would venture to guess that it’s one of those detectives this morning.”
Kelly grimaced this time.
“Not only that, but I would say it was that Thompson fellow.” He leaned toward her and said, “Am I right?”
This time she shook her head and smiled. “But how . . . ?”
Harold laughed his normal booming laugh. “I saw the way he was looking at you this morning, and whether you want to admit it or not, you were looking right back at him when you didn’t think anyone else noticed.”
She really did blush this time. “I’m confused, Grandfather. I’m happy with my life the way it is right now. I don’t need a man in it.”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I had a feeling after that little meeting this morning, so I have already had him checked out.”
Kelly leaned toward him. “You what?”
His smile broadened. “Yes, I had him checked out.” He walked to the front of his desk and picked up a file there.
When he sat again, he opened the file and began to read. “Grew up here in Sycamore, twenty-nine years old, graduated from A.S.U. seven years ago with a degree in Criminal Justice.” He looked up at her. “Seems he’s always wanted to be a police officer.”
He looked back down at the file. “Let’s see. He and his younger sister were orphaned when he was nine and she was seven. They lived with their aunt who is now a retired school teacher. He has never been married, lives alone in an apartment complex on the corner of Main and Sixth streets. He has served well as a police officer. Do you remember a shooting outside a liquor store a couple of years ago where a policeman killed the robber?”
When she nodded, he said, “That was him. He was promoted to detective shortly after that incident. He and his sister are still close to each other, and their aunt.”
He placed the folder down on the coffee table in the middle of the sofas and with a twinkle in his eye said, “If there is anything else you would like to know, I guess you’ll just have to ask him.”
Kelly’s eyes had followed the folder down to the table and remained there. When she forced them back up to look at her grandfather, she didn’t know what to say. She just leaned or almost fell back against the sofa cushion.
“Is there a message somewhere in all of that, Grandfather? Knowing you, there must be.”
He laughed again as he also leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I would say that if there is any message there, it would be that he seems like a good, decent young man and I, for one, would not object if you got to know him better.”
Kelly didn’t think there was a safe answer to that, so she didn’t respond to it.
“Oh, I almost forgot the reason I came in here.” Harold dropped his arms to his side and leaned back toward her. “Wayne and I were talking before, and we think that the break-in must have something to do with Jane.”
“Yes, I’ve had that thought as well, and I intend to tell the detectives as soon as I talk to them again.”
He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “Kelly, I’m trying very diligently to begin thinking of Jane as my daughter-in-law. Especially since your grandmother is dow
nright adamant about it.” He smiled softly at her. “Don’t you think you could consider thinking of her as your step-mother too?”
Kelly had been thinking about that herself. “I can only promise to try.”
“That’s all anyone can ask. I don’t think it’s going to be easy for either of us.” A thoughtful look came over his face. “How about Wayne?”
She groaned. “I don’t think we’re going to see any miracles coming from my big brother for a long time.”
“That’s what I thought.”
* * *
Grant was quiet on the way back to the station, and Stan left him to his thoughts, having a good idea where they were.
When Grant finally spoke, Stan looked relieved at first.
“Stan? Have you ever met someone and you suddenly knew, without a doubt, that you used to know them, but maybe you didn’t really?”
Stan smiled and said, “Yeah, I saw how you reacted to the granddaughter back there, and she really is a looker too.”
Grant shook his head. “No, not her. Although, she did rock me quite a bit, but in a different way.” He was glad that Stan was driving as he looked out the side window to gather his thoughts. “I’m talking about the blond, Jane. Her smile was just like Sybil’s and Alison’s.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Alison has a unique smile.”
Grant missed the almost dreamy look that appeared on Stan’s face as he spoke of Grant’s sister.
Grant continued as if Stan hadn’t commented. “They said her name was Jane. That’s what Sybil said my mother’s middle name was.” He laughed. “It couldn’t be. She didn’t flinch or otherwise show that my name meant anything to her at all.”
Grant was almost relieved when Stan changed the subject. “I don’t know about you, Grant, but this job doesn’t sound like our boy.”
Grant turned toward Stan who continued, “I was shocked when Leo told us, away from everyone else, that the guy had a gun in his hand when Leo first saw him standing by the closet.”
Grant put every other thought aside and gave Stan his full attention. “Yeah, none of the surveillance videos show our guy armed when he goes in. He doesn’t need to be. He always hits places when no one’s home. I’m inclined to agree with you that this almost has to be something related to the general. Remember Agent Scott said someone had already tried to break into their apartment back in D.C.”
Stan pulled into the compound behind the station and parked. After turning off the engine, he said, “I think we’d better talk to Nordstrom to see what kind of coverage we’re going to have out there at night now. Looks like these guys are after something they think the general’s wife has.”
When he reached his desk, Grant flipped the switch on his computer. “Yeah, while you go in and talk to her, I think I’ll hit the computer and see if I can find out a little more about this General Newcomb.”
“What’s the matter, Pal, you afraid of the big bad sergeant?”
“No, but we both know that she’ll respond better to anything coming from you much quicker than if it came from me.”
Stan chuckled and headed toward the sergeant’s office.
As soon as Stan walked away, Grant’s thoughts turned away from the case and toward Kelly Newcomb. He knew she had to be about his age, and had probably grown up here, so why had he never noticed her before? She certainly didn’t go to Sycamore High School. She must have gone to some kind of private school. That was it. That would explain how they had never met before. With the kind of money that family had to have, she would have gone to a private school for sure. Big money! But she didn’t come across as uppity or snobbish in any way. In fact, she seemed quite down to earth.
His thoughts turned to her leg. What had happened and how bad was it? He felt sorry for her, but at the same time admired her for her apparent strength both physical and character to lead a seemingly normal life in spite of her injury. He had overheard that she worked at the corporate office of Newcomb Motors. She certainly wasn’t one of the ‘idle rich.’
Stan was back from the sergeant’s office and Grant hadn’t even looked at his computer monitor yet, so he started entering information for a search of the Internet.
“She said she checked with the chief and he said it would have to be limited to the three of us. Until Scott approves it, we can’t have anybody else involved.”
Grant looked over at him. “Looks like we’ll be putting in quite a bit of overtime for a while.”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll be missing some of my beauty rest.” He leaned over Grant’s shoulder. “Find anything?”
“Yeah, the guy was some hotshot fighter pilot who flew combat missions in every major or minor conflict our country’s been involved in for the past twenty-five years.”
Stan sat in his chair. “Wow. Pretty ironic isn’t it. This guy fought in all those wars and then gets taken out by his own side.”
Grant grunted. “Yeah, that’s too bad.”
“What else did you find?”
“Well, he was somebody’s golden boy throughout his Air Force career. It doesn’t look like it’s all due to his war record. He rose in rank as quickly as he was eligible. Stationed in Germany four different times, Japan, Alaska, and half a dozen different stateside bases.”
Stan leaned back in his chair and placed his shoes on his desk. “Sounds like he did it all.”
“Yeah. Look at this.” He pointed to the screen. “The same general keeps popping up everywhere I find Newcomb.” He turned to Stan. “Look here’s his photo.”
“Chet Walker. Hey, that’s the guy who’s staying over in Sedona. Stan dropped his pen and said, “Okay, now run a search on this guy.”
When they finished all their research on the two generals, they both sat back and pondered all they’d discovered.
Grant spoke first. “It sure looks like these two generals could have been in on some kind of extra-curricular activity. All the places they were stationed are on the list of bases that Scott gave us. Scott’s probably right about some kind of black market type of stuff.”
“Yeah, sounds good. I wonder if we’ll get anything out of Walker when we go there next week.”
Grant thought about that then said, “I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try. I also think that if we want any kind of cooperation from the Newcombs, we’ve basically been given orders by the old man that we’re to go through him.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right on that one too. But we’ve got a follow-up interview on that last burglarized house set for this afternoon. We’ll have to wait for tomorrow to talk to old man Newcomb.”
Grant shook his head. “No, something tells me that right now it’s more important to go back to Newcomb. I know I’ve got some more questions to ask him.”
When Stan nodded in agreement, they both stood then headed out of the station.
* * *
It was only four, but Kelly was just about finished for the day, and she was glad. Her ankle was hurting more than usual, and she had a headache to go with it. Her grandfather had just summoned her to his office, so she finished up what she had to do at her desk and took two folders with her that she needed to discuss with him.
When she walked into Harold’s outer office, Martha smiled at her and nodded toward the waiting area where the two detectives from this morning were sitting. They both jumped to their feet and called out in unison, “Good afternoon, Ms. Newcomb.”
After returning their greetings, Kelly walked up to Martha’s desk and asked in a low voice she hoped the detectives couldn’t hear. “Didn’t Grandfather just ask me to come in to discuss these two files?” She held up the files she’d been carrying.
Martha grimaced. “Yes, but he also wanted you in there when he talks to them.” Again, she pointed with her head toward the detectives. “You’re to go right in and I’m supposed to send them in exactly two minutes later.”
Kelly grinned at her grandfather’s antics or was it tactics as she opened his door and stepped inside.
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Harold was sitting in his ‘conversation pit’ when she entered, and he patted the seat next to him on the sofa. “Please, sit here Kelly.”
Once she was sitting beside him, he said, “Kelly, the detectives called to see if I could talk to them, and I wanted you in here to tell them about your suspicions.” He glanced at the files now in her lap. “Those can wait until tomorrow if need be.”
She only had time to give him a reassuring smile before Martha opened the door and ushered the detectives in. She had the sudden thought that her grandfather wanted her in here for anything but to talk about the break in. She was fairly certain that he wanted to see her together with Grant Thompson again.
Harold stood and shook hands with both detectives and motioned for them to sit across from him and Kelly. She didn’t move. This late in the day, it was too much pain and effort for her to stand just to sit back down again. So she took the time to take a quick look at the two men.
The one who hadn’t stared at her yesterday was taller than the other one. With his dark blond hair and blue eyes he was quite a contrast with the brown hair and brown eyes of the one who had stared at her. She realized where her thoughts were going and stopped them immediately to listen to the conversation around her.
The brown haired one, Grant Thompson, said, “We’d like to ask you a few questions that have come up since this morning.” He took his eyes off Harold and looked into Kelly’s eyes. “First, is there anything else that anyone has thought of since we were at your home this morning?”
When Kelly didn’t volunteer anything, Harold nodded toward her and said, “Kelly has made an interesting observation since then. Or you might even call it a suspicion.”
All eyes turned on Kelly, so she said, “It occurred to me that since my grandparents’ home has never been burglarized in the twenty-five years they’ve lived there that there must have been another reason for it to happen now.”
Lost Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 1) Page 7