A SEAL to Save Christmas

by Trish Adams

  So there was a knife. But there wasn’t enough blood in the room to indicate that anyone died there. Jason cocked his head. He opened his mouth to say something, but Helen was already ahead of him.

  “Why didn’t they tell me? Why didn’t they tell me that they’ve investigated a murder? Why aren’t they still investigating a murder?” she asked frantically.

  “Whoa. Calm down, Helen,” Jason said quickly. The use of her first name seemed to quiet her.

  “I asked them the same thing,” Joshua said. “They told me that the only prints on the knife were Timothy’s. They couldn’t rule it a suicide without a body, but that’s what they think happened.”

  “Nope. Not possible. Someone would have had to drag the body out of the hotel room. Tim didn’t know anyone in the Cayman Islands. At least, no one who would agree to hide his body.”

  Joshua hung his head. “I asked them not to, Helen. I wanted you to get the insurance. You and Davis. I’m so sorry I kept it from you.”

  He wasn’t lying. He seemed to truly believe that Timothy killed himself. Jason rolled his eyes. “Ask him how much money he loaned Timothy in the beginning to start up his company.”

  “He didn’t kill himself,” Helen said instead. “He wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t do it to Davis. We didn’t need the insurance money. Surely you know that!”

  “I thought maybe there was something else going on that I didn’t know about,” Joshua said. “I’m so sorry Helen.”

  “Stick to the plan, Ms. Myers. Ask about the money.”

  He watched as Helen took a deep breath. “How much money did you loan Timothy in the beginning?” she asked dully.

  Joshua looked up in surprise. “Nearly half a million. Why do you ask?”

  “And how much did he put in?” Jason asked. Helen repeated the question.

  “None. Timothy was flat broke.”

  Flat broke, huh? Wasn’t that interesting. “That’s all I need. Thanks Helen.”

  “Why would he kill himself, Joshua? You have to know something!”

  Joshua reached over and took her hand. “He drank a lot at the office, Helen. You were his shining light, but when he wasn’t with you, he seemed absolutely disgusted with himself. The more money he made, the more down he seemed. I don’t know what it was, but something was eating away at him. I just figured that whatever it was, he couldn’t handle it anymore.”

  This case just got more and more interesting. Jason’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it out of his pocket.

  It was Tallyhouse. And it was an address.

  “Bingo.”

  Thinking that he had nothing to lose, he texted Boy Genius back with an odd request.

  Helen joined him a few minutes later. “Timothy did not kill himself,” she said fiercely. “And what the hell was that all about anyway?”

  “Before Timothy started Myers Enterprise, he actually had a private consulting practice. A successful one. When he closed it down, it was estimated that Myers should have pocketed millions. So he didn’t really need the start up money that Mines gave him. So what did he do with the money?”

  Helen frowned. “Tim told me about the company. He said it wasn’t successful. You’re information is wrong. He wouldn’t lie to me.”

  Jason rolled his eyes. “Husbands lie, Helen. And this wasn’t even a big one, unless he was hiding the money in fear that you’d divorce him and take everything. But that was before he even met you.”

  “What does this have to do with Davis?” she asked.

  “Helen, this isn’t extortion. Snatching the boy after Timothy’s disappearance? Giving you two days to get the money together knowing that banks aren’t open on the weekend? This is personal. Davis knew who took him. Otherwise he would have screamed. Otherwise the kidnapper would have let you talk to him. And we aren’t going to find him until we figure out what Timothy’s secret was. And that secret lies with those millions of dollars that went missing.”

  She went quiet. “Where are we going?”

  “I have an address. We’re going to my office so we can figure out who has access to that address.”

  “You have an address? Davis is there? Let’s go right now.”

  “We can’t. Not until we know what we’re dealing with. Davis could die the moment we pull up. You’ve got the trust me, Helen.”

  “Trust you?” Helen snorted. “After what I’ve heard, you’re the last person I should trust. You have enough secrets to put the government to shame.”

  Clenching his jaw, he gripped the wheel. “You hired me, remember? We’re going to do it my way. I don’t need a dead child on my conscience.”

  She gasped and pressed herself into the seat. He had a feeling that he’d gone too far, but the words were already out there.

  She didn’t speak to him for the rest of the way. When he pulled up to the office, he ran his hands through his hair. “Helen...”

  “No. It’s Mrs. Myers. I am married, and my husband is still alive. So don’t ‘Ms. Myers’ me and don’t ‘Helen’ me. There is no familiarity here, and there is no thinking that I’m going to see you as my knight in shining armor. Find my kid, Mr. Leonard. And I’ll be more than happy to part ways,” she snapped as she got out of the truck.

  Well.

  His phone rang, and he looked down. Blocked number.

  “Tallyhouse, what do you want?” he growled into the phone.

  “I looked into his history like you asked. And then I went deeper. I couldn’t just let it go. It turns out that your case is way more interesting than what I’m looking for. I don’t think Timothy every actually made it to the hotel. I hacked into the police files and looked at their records. Not a single person in the hotel remembered seeing anyone that matched his description.”

  “But the blood was a match. And he checked into the hotel.” Timothy snapped.

  “Sure. It was. And since the deposit was made over the phone, all someone had to do was pick up the key and put a do not disturb sign on the door. It’s tricky and complicated, but it worked. All someone had to do was mail the blood, sign in, and stage the room. Two weeks went by before anyone checked the room, so that was plenty of time to get in and get out.”

  Jason frowned. “It makes sense. But that doesn’t tell me where Davis is.”

  “No, but that does mean that Tim’s body is somewhere in the states.”

  “I don’t care where his body is, Boy Genius. I want to know who killed him.”

  “Hold up. I wouldn’t call you unless it was important. I looked into his financial records. Myers gave away all that money from his consulting business. Every last cent. To multiple families.”

  “Why? It’s one thing to be charitable, but it’s another to give up everything you have.”

  “As it turns out, there was a huge scandal involved. One of Myers’ clients, Thomas Moore, killed himself because Myers’ lost all of his money. He and someone named Boyd Garland.”

  Jason stilled. “That was Myers’ old partner. What do you mean they lost all of his money? Myers made millions. He was incredibly successful at what he did.”

  “That may be so, but his partner was not. Garland was a con artist. He has a record a mile long. From what it looks like, Myers had a legitimate business running, and Garland was running a scam. He dug up dirt and extorted them for millions of dollars once Myers made them millions of dollars.”

  “Well,” Jason said softly. “That’s brilliant. Team up with someone who could make you rich, and then strip them of all that money. So Garland got caught?”

  “Yup. And Myers walked away clean.”

  “Thanks.” Jason hung up and shook his head. This case was getting more and more complicated by the minute. He went into the office and saw that Helen was seated at his desk.

  “Move,” he growled.

  “Give me the address. I’ll just go look at it and tell you what I see,” she pleaded.

  “What do you know about Boyd Garland?” he asked as he ignored her.

&
nbsp; Helen shook her head. “Is that who kidnapped my son? I think I’ve heard the name, but I don’t know how.”

  “He’s Myers’ old business partner.” He waved Helen away and typed the name into the Internet browser.

  Tallyhouse wasn’t wrong. Boyd Garland was everywhere. He was in prison for two life sentences for extortion.

  “Huh,” Jason whispered. “Timothy thought he was running a legit business. He thought he was helping businesses get started, and then his partner went behind his back and extorted their own clients for money.”

  “What?” Helen gasped.

  “Each of those clients must have lost everything. And when Timothy found out, he shut the business down, turned in his partner, and used everything he had to pay those families back.”

  Helen shook her head. “What does that have to do with my son?”

  Going down the list, he typed in the name of the original clients. Everyone that Myers paid back was thriving and doing well. None of the would stoop to murder.

  Frustrated, he leaned back and stared at the computer. “I’m still missing something.”

  Only Timothy’s prints were on the knife. If it were staged to look like a suicide, wouldn’t there be a gun?

  But a gun would mean a bullet or at least a casing. And if there was a bullet, then there would have to be DNA.

  So a knife was a better choice for a suicide. More loose ends, but easier to stage.

  Inspiration hit him. Two suicides? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Thomas Moore killed himself after losing everything to con artist Boyd Garland. It was the case that started the investigation and revealed it all.

  He had a girlfriend, Lisa Perry.

  And a son.

  Thomas Perry.

  And wouldn’t you know it? That son looked awfully familiar.

  “Gotcha.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Death and Resurrection

  “Call the police,” Jason said as he grabbed his gun. “Get them over to that address. It’s Thomas Perry.”

  “The guard at the gate?” Helen gasped.

  “Yup. He knew you’d gone to the park. And Davis would have recognized him, and even trusted him.”

  “He loved Perry,” Helen said softly. “If he’d needed money, all he had to do was ask.”

  “It’s not about the money. It’s about revenge. I’ll explain later.”

  He armed himself and vaulted to the Jeep. He wanted to get to the house first, before the police. If he could get Perry to stand down and release Davis, they would all be better for it.

  But if things didn’t go down like that, Jason would need backup.

  It was only a ten-minute drive to the house. Perry lived in a small one-bedroom home in the projects. He found in hard to believe that the security gig didn’t pay him enough to live in the suburbs, but there wasn’t a better place to hide a child. No one thought twice about a screaming and crying kid.

  Or a gun shot.

  The front door was open.

  Jason pulled out his gun and moved cautiously through the door. “It’s over, Perry. All you have to do is come out and give us the location of the boy.”

  There was a scuffle as a bullet rang out and Jason threw himself into the corner.

  “You thought you were so clever,” Perry taunted him. “I knew she’d hired you. All she had to do was wire the money,” the security guard said. “And this would all have been over with.”

  “Really? You murdered his father.”

  “Timothy Myers ruined my life!” Perry said from the other room. “He didn’t recognize me. Do you know that? He drove past me every day and not even a flicker of recognition.”

  Jason took a deep breath. “Perry, Myers paid for his actions. He gave money to every single client on the list. He bankrupted himself to make amends. Your father’s death haunted him that much.”

  “My mother said I looked exactly like my father. If Thomas haunted Myers so much, why didn’t he recognize me?”

  “He didn’t know that Moore had a son. No one did. You can’t fault him for something that he didn’t know!”

  He was arguing with a mad man. Why was he even trying?

  “My father killed himself,” Perry screamed. “I was ten!”

  “And I’m sure that was hard. But Myers was not to blame. The police investigated him and cleared him. He had no idea that his partner was running a scam. And he had no idea that you even existed. If he had known, he would have taken care of you.” Jason shook his head. “Timothy was a good man.”

  “He was a millionaire. I’ve seen his house. You can’t tell me that he gives all of his money away,” Perry snarled.

  “He shut his consultation business down, Perry, and he didn’t keep a dime of profits. He had to borrow money to start Myers Enterprise, and he’s given away so much money to charity. Timothy Myers was a saint. You can’t blame him for your father’s suicide. He had no idea what his partner was doing. He’s done everything he can to atone for it.”

  “The partner is dead. Timothy is the only one left.”

  Jason froze. “Garland is dead?”

  “Died in a prison fight two years ago. Someone got to him before I could. Myers was my only chance at revenge.”

  “And his death wasn’t enough? You needed to take his son, too?”

  “He should know. He should know what it feels like to be helpless. He took my father. I’m taking his son.”

  Jason cocked his head. “Perry, the police will be here any minute. Give up the location, and they’ll reduce your sentence.”

  “I can’t go back to prison. I won’t. This will be my final revenge.”

  Jason’s eyes widened. “No. No!” He hurled himself across the room, but it was too late. Single gunshot went off, and there was a thump as the body hit the floor. By the time he broke through the room, Perry was dead.

  He hissed. He’d underestimated Perry, and now the kid would starve to death. “Think. Think. Think!” He paced the floor as he heard the sirens in the distance. Where would Perry keep the kid? If he weren’t here, where else would he be?

  Jason knocked on the floorboards, but there was no hidden basement or hidden rooms or even a hidden attic.

  Suddenly, inspiration hit. This was personal for Perry. Digging out his phone, he called Tallyhouse. “I need you to look something up for me,” he said without preamble.

  “Now what?” the kid grumbled.

  “Perry is dead.”

  “Who the hell is Perry?”

  “Focus. I haven’t found the kid. Apparently Moore had a girlfriend and an illegitimate child. Perry. Is there anyway you can tell me where Perry grew up? Or where they vacationed? It would have to be somewhere remote.”

  He heard a clacking of keys. “Okay, give me a minute,” Tallyhouse muttered.

  “Moore owned a small cabin on Gaston Lake. When he lost everything, he had to see the cabin. It looks like the buyer died a few years ago, and no one has resold it. It’s probably empty.”

  “That’s it. Text me the address,” Jason nearly jumped with glee.

  He left before the police could question him about the body, and he picked up Helen on the way. She didn’t say anything as they made the ten-minute drive. Gaston used to be a sprawling lake, but droughts and the economy had taken its toll. Now it was a small polluted watering hole surrounded by housing that no one could afford anymore.

  “Davis,” Helen screamed as she jumped from the Jeep. Jason had barely stopped the vehicle before she started running to the cabin.

  “Christ, Helen,” he muttered as he fumbled with his gun. For all they knew, Perry was working with someone. But she threw open the door and ran inside anyways.

  “Davis!” she shouted. “Oh my, Timothy!”

  When Jason walked in, he saw what he already knew to be true. Timothy Myers had not killed himself in the Cayman Islands, and Perry had not murdered him in revenge. Instead, Timothy Myers been kidnapped and tortured by the man mourning a
dead father these past ten years.

  Timothy is the only one left.

  Jason picked the lock on the cuffs that held the boy and the man, and he stepped back as the family was finally reunited again.

  Well look at that. He’d done something right.

  ***

  Helen entered his office a few days later with an envelope of money. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said as she hugged him. “You gave me my son and my husband. This is the best Christmas present ever.”

  “Call me Santa Clause,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m glad it worked out for you.”

  “Those things I said,” she said as she dropped her gaze. “I wish I could take them back. I don’t know what Clare found, but it doesn’t matter. You’re doing good now.”

  Jason stepped back and held her at arms length. “I did good then, too. At least, I tried to do good. I don’t want you to think that I took advantage of my station or...”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said as she held up her hands to stop him. “What matters is the person that you are now. And I think that person is pretty great. I doubled the salary that you asked for. Frankly, you’re charging too little. I paid you to bring home my son, and you did one better. You brought home my son and my husband. You deserved to be compensated.”

  He knew that she was good for it, and he needed the money, so he didn’t protest. “Don’t be too rough on Timothy. Now that you know his secret, he’s going to need your support. He hid it from you because he couldn’t bear to think of how you would look at him.”

  “My husband is not a bad person. What Harland did is unforgivable, but it is not Timothy’s fault. He’s going to see a therapist, and we’re going to work through it. Trust me, Jason. I only look at my husband with love.”

  Jason. Go figure that now she had her husband back, she’d finally call him Jason.