Icy Betrayal: A Jack Keller Thriller

by David Keith

  A shocked and horrified look crossed her face.

  “When things were still good between me and your mother.”

  “Oh my God.”

  Lisa slowly lowered her head into her hands and began to cry. Thirty years of sadness and anger poured out of her.

  The waitress delivered the iced tea and glared at Keller. “Asshole,” she muttered.

  Keller let it go. He knew what it looked like.

  “Look, I need you to understand some things,” Keller said quietly.

  “I’m not here as an investigator. I’m here as your father because you need my help.”

  “Help? How dare you!” Suddenly, Lisa picked up her glass and flung the contents at Keller, hitting him squarely in the face.

  “Like the way you helped my mother when you walked out on her? Like the way you walked out on your family?”

  Tea covered Keller’s face and shirt. He made no attempt to dry himself off. He could see the waitress chuckling from across the restaurant.

  “I know I hurt you. And you’ll never begin to know how sorry I am for that. But let me be clear about something. I didn’t leave you and your mother—she left me. Now, understand there were plenty of good reasons to leave me, but she’s the one that pulled the plug, not me.”

  “You’re a fucking liar. You abandoned us. You left us without a goddamn word. You are dead to me—do you understand?”

  Lisa started to get up. Keller grabbed her arm and looked up at his daughter, his face still dripping iced tea.

  “Okay, I don’t know what your mother told you, but it didn’t happen that way. We can talk more about if you’d like, but right now we need to talk about what happened the other morning.”

  Keller paused and looked directly into his daughter’s eyes.

  “I know it wasn’t an accident, and you need to understand that George Lombard’s death is on your hands. And if you don’t listen to me, you’re going to prison.”

  Lisa Sullivan looked at this man she barely knew. Her mouth quivered. Dazed, she slowly lowered herself back into the booth.

  “I can help you. But I need to know what happened that morning.”

  “I need to know what happened between you and my mother. Tell me what happened that day almost thirty years ago. I need to know that before we go any further.”

  This was painful. In Lisa, Keller saw both a grown woman and the little girl he knew so long ago.

  Lisa continued, “Mom refused to talk about it. She wouldn’t even tell me your name. She said you were dead. She changed our last name for God’s sake. And now, here you are sitting across from me. I’m owed some fucking answers.”

  “Okay, then I’ll tell you. I was in my mid-twenties, a young detective with a big department in St. Louis, and I was feeling the pressure of a lot of new responsibilities. A wife, a new daughter, a mortgage on a house we really couldn’t afford… I don’t know. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I started working ungodly hours, which didn’t sit very well with your mother and understandably so. I started drinking heavily. I was trying to find peace in a bottle—a lot of bottles, actually. I realized that years later, and I got sober. Look, I’m an alcoholic. Being a drunk is a daily battle, but I’ve been sober for eight years now. Anyway, I came home one night, and you and your mother were gone. No note. Nothing. She just packed up, and the two of you were in the wind.”

  Keller had fallen on his sword, but Lisa showed no emotion.

  “Well, it sounds like you had it coming,” Lisa said. “So why didn’t you try to track us down? Can’t you do that as a cop? If you wanted to find us, you could have. So, basically you just left us behind. What, did you start a new family that wasn’t so much trouble?”

  “Actually, I did, years later, but it ended in divorce. And just like your mother—she left me. We had a son. He was killed ten years ago in a DUI.”

  Neither knew what to say next.

  “After he died, I hit the bottle even harder. I lost my job. And then one day, I just had enough and stopped. It wasn’t easy like it sounds, but truth be told, his death saved my life.”

  “What was his name?” Lisa asked, thinking about losing a stepbrother she never knew she had.

  “Brian.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Keller nodded quietly. “I was sorry to hear your mom has passed. She really deserved better.”

  “She did. The cancer took her quickly. She didn’t suffer much,” Lisa answered, tearing up again.

  “Once I got sober I thought about trying to find you, but I decided it best just to stay away. I figured I’d caused enough pain, and you were better off without me. Now, in some small way, I want to make it up to you. I want to help you.”

  “You want to help me now? And how are you going to do that?”

  Keller slipped his hand into his coat pocket and activated the tape recorder.

  “We need to talk about the accident. I need to know what happened the night George Lombard died.”

  “I already did this. I told you and your partner everything I know.”

  Keller knew this conversation would be one of the toughest of his life. He needed Lisa to trust him and given that she didn’t even know he was alive ten minutes ago, it would be a tall order.

  “I know I’m asking for something that I have no right to—for you to trust me. But you need to understand that I am here to help you. What we say here today will never be told to another human being. But you have to trust me. I’m sorry to put you in this position, but you really don’t have much choice. I know what happened that night. And if you don’t talk to me now, my partner will figure it out soon enough, and I won’t be able to help you.”

  Keller was stretching the truth but hoped she would take the bait.

  After a few minutes, the waitress reappeared. “What can I get y’all to eat?” she asked, with a sneer at Keller.

  “Nothing for me,” Lisa said, avoiding eye contact.

  “Maybe another Diet Coke,” said Keller.

  “Okay. And honey, I’ll get you another iced tea,” the waitress said, turning away. “In case you need to reload.”

  Lisa took a deep breath. “You think I could go to prison?

  “Yes.”

  She took another deep breath and out it came.

  “The whole thing was Scott’s idea. He said he needed the money from some insurance policy, and once he had the money he could leave his wife and be with me. God, it sounds like such a cliché. How stupid do I look? I tried to back out, but he wouldn’t let me. He kept saying we’re almost there, we’re almost there.”

  “Okay, start from the beginning. Tell me about you and Scott.”

  “I met him at a Tripp Barnes concert. He was there with some friends. There was no wife, no wedding ring on his finger, nothing. He was just there having fun, and my girlfriend and I were sitting in the row ahead of him and his friends. At one point, they spilled some beer on us and started to apologize. He and I locked eyes and things just sparked. He jumped the row and took the seat next to me. We just enjoyed the rest of the concert, and when it was over he asked for my number. He called the next day.”

  “So, the relationship began right away?”

  “Yeah, it went pretty fast. We started to see each other a few days after the concert. It was just something that happened. I had no idea he was married. Not until way later. God, I must sound like such a fool.”

  Keller sensed the change. Her anger was an opening. Lisa was starting to understand that Lennox had used her.

  “What happened with Lombard? How did that whole thing go down?”

  “Scott told me there was an insurance policy for $500,000 on Lombard’s life. He said they had taken the policies out when they became business partners a few years back. He kept saying with all that money we could start a whole new life together. And I believed him.”

  Keller wondered why Lennox had lied to her about the $2 million policy and made a mental note to consider the motives.

  “
Scott hit him with his car the night before the accident, on purpose. He was already dead when I called in the accident the next morning.”

  That explains the temperature of the body, Keller thought. It also meant Lisa hadn’t killed Lombard. Still, a conviction on accessory to murder would mean serious prison time. Things could get really bad if Lennox tried to hang her out to dry for the murder.

  “Tell me more about when Scott hit Lombard. You say he hit him intentionally the night before—then out on the highway the next morning it was just staged to make it look like an accident?”

  “Scott knew Lombard came into the office every Tuesday and Thursday evening to check the books. He always came in after everyone had left for the day, including Scott. That night, Lombard showed up and did whatever he does in the office. Scott put me upstairs by the window in the empty second floor office overlooking the loading dock. Then, he parked his car around the corner and waited for Lombard. It was maybe an hour. Lombard closed up and as he walked to his car, Scott ran him down. I don’t think he even heard it coming.”

  “Did Scott’s windshield break when he hit him?”

  “Oh yeah, he hit him pretty hard. He said he wanted to make sure he killed him.”

  “You saw the whole thing?”

  “I could see and hear everything. It made me sick to my stomach. Scott wanted to put the body on ice—to keep it from decomposing, he said.”

  Mission accomplished, thought Keller. But by putting the body on ice, Lennox had given investigators a rather large clue with respect to Lombard’s body temperature. That was a mistake that could haunt Lennox at trial.

  “Then what?”

  “Scott waved me down from upstairs. I couldn’t believe how calm he was—like it was no big deal to him that he had just killed another human being. I ran to where the body was and helped Scott cover him with a blanket. He then went and got one of the refrigerated trucks and drove it over. Then we picked up the body and moved it into the truck.”

  “When you put him in the ice truck do you remember if you laid him on his back or his stomach?”

  Lisa looked blankly at her father. She considered it an odd question. “On his back.”

  That explained the lividity issue.

  “Okay, then what did you do?”

  “Scott told me to park my car on the street. Then we went inside and waited.”

  Keller tried to assemble a plausible defense for his daughter. She hadn’t actually killed George Lombard—that was all done by Lennox. She was, however, certainly a conspirator in the crime—that much was clear. And because of her assistance, she would also be considered an accomplice. It wasn’t good, but it wouldn’t be a life sentence. With a good attorney, she was probably looking at 5-10 years in prison. That’s if she gets caught, thought Keller.

  “Then you staged the accident?”

  “We waited in the office until a couple hours before sunrise. Then Scott drove his car, and I drove Lombard’s car out to Highway 46. Scott wanted Lombard’s car to be found close to the accident scene.”

  “Did you wear gloves?”

  “Yes and a hat. Scott was worried about my hair somehow being found in Lombard’s car. We left it near where we planned to stage the accident and went back to the plant in Scott’s car. That’s when I got into mine. Scott took the ice truck and again we went back to Highway 46. Once we were there, we staged the accident. Then he left me, telling me to wait a few minutes before calling 911, and he drove the ice truck back to the plant.”

  “The damage to your car—how’d that get there?”

  “Once we got out on Highway 46, Scott drove my car into a tree. Not very hard, just going maybe ten miles per hour. He tacked some moving blankets to the tree so the bark wouldn’t come off on the car. Scott said that would leave enough damage to the front end and the police would believe that I hit Lombard on accident.”

  It almost worked, thought Keller. And most importantly, investigators would have no reason to look for any kind of link between the woman involved in the accident and the deceased’s business partner. The plan was pretty ingenious.

  “What about the hunting vest and the rifle?”

  Her answers were rhythmic, recited as though in a trance. “Scott took some keys from Lombard’s desk and got them from the safe and the locker. Once we got to the place on Highway 46, Scott put the vest on him and tossed the rifle into the brush. Then we took Lombard’s body out of the ice truck and put him on the shoulder of the road. Scott said everybody knew Lombard liked to hunt so it wouldn’t be suspicious.”

  “And you’re sure both you and Scott wore gloves while doing all this?”

  “Yes, both of us. But once the accident was staged I gave Scott my gloves, and he took them.”

  “And once all the pieces were together you called 911 and reported you hit someone crossing the highway?”

  “Yes,” she said, fighting back the tears.

  “Scott kept saying it would be okay. ‘I’m gonna take care of you, baby,’ he told me. I guess deep down I’ve always wanted a man to take care of me. Ever since I was little.”

  Keller winced. He knew her vulnerabilities were largely his fault. He reached down into his pocket and quietly switched off the tape recorder. Then he reached out and held Lisa’s hands in his.

  “Listen, consider the facts. Scott lied to you about being married. And he lied to you about the insurance policy. It wasn’t $500,000; it was for $2 million. He was playing you. If it came down to you or prison, what do you think Scott would do? He’d say it was all your idea, cut a deal, and hang you with a murder charge. Think about it.”

  “Two million dollars?” Lisa was stunned.

  “Yes, two million bucks. Lisa, I know I’ve been a horrible father to you. I want to make it up to you as best I can. I’m gonna do what I’ve never done for you, I’m going to take care of you, but you have to do what I tell you to do. It’s the only way to keep you out of prison.”

  Lisa turned toward the window. A light snow had begun to fall. She took a deep breath. “Okay, I understand.”

  “I promise I’ll take care of you now.”

  “Okay.”

  Keller reached down for the bag he’d brought in from the truck and set it on the table. “There’s one more thing. I have some phones here. They can’t be traced. You and I need to stay in touch, but we have to use these phones and these phones only. Don’t ever call me from your home phone or your cell phone. Don’t even use a work phone to contact me. Those can easily be traced by police. Do you understand?”

  Lisa agreed and took the phone.

  “Here are the numbers to the phones. The first one listed is yours. The second is the one I’ll be carrying. You can reach me 24 hours a day.

  “Okay, thanks.”

  The impact of the moment reverberated through them both. A photograph, taken thirty years earlier and posted on a worn out refrigerator had led a father and daughter back to each other. Maybe it wasn’t too late after all, Keller thought.

  They walked from the Mountain View Café toward an uncertain future together. Jack and Lisa shared an awkward hug. Like it or not, they needed one another.

  Keller watched as Lisa’s car pulled onto eastbound I-70 and disappeared from sight. He reached into his pocket and pulled the audio tape from his recorder. He studied it for a moment, dropped it onto the pavement, and smashed the cartridge with the heel of his shoe.

  There was no going back.

  FIFTEEN

  Father Jon Foley pulled into the parking lot at Rock Trail County Park just as Keller was stretching his aging hamstring.

  “There’s nothing like a nice run up the rock when it’s 35 degrees outside,” said the priest.

  “Why do I have the feeling it’s not going to slow you down?”

  Father Jon quickly went through his warm-up routine. He was younger and in better shape than Keller. The priest routinely beat Jack up the trail and never let him forget it. Despite the friendly competition, their run
s were mostly for fellowship.

  As Pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Castle Springs, Father Jon first met Jack Keller when he moved to Colorado to join the RCSO. The pair had become fast friends and would often take runs together or take in a Rockies or Nuggets game in Denver. The young priest was also a great sounding board when Jack faced struggles.

  It was less than a mile to the top, but the climb was steep, with an ascent of nearly four hundred feet. At the peak, the trail offered magnificent views of Castle Springs and on a clear day Pikes Peak was visible some fifty miles to the southwest. Today, the winds were so strong the men huddled behind a boulder for protection.

  “So, what’s going on, Jack?”

  “I’ve got a situation, and I need to talk to somebody.”

  “All right, what have you got?”

  “Do you remember me telling you that I got married really young and I blew it, and my wife just packed up and left one day?”

  “Yes, I do. You told me you couldn’t handle the pressure, and you used booze to cope.”

  Keller loved that Father Jon didn’t beat around the bush. “Did I tell you that I had a daughter from that marriage?”

  “No, I think you left that part out,” said Father Jon.

  “Well, emotionally abandoning my family wasn’t something I was very proud of,” Jack responded, his voice trailing off. “But, after nearly thirty years, I have reconnected with my daughter.”

  Father Jon tried to get a read. “That’s good, right?”

  “Yeah, I initiated it. But there are extenuating circumstances, you might say.”

  “Well, regardless of the circumstances, at least you made the effort to reconnect. Is that what you wanted to talk with me about? Did it not go well?”

  “I reached out to her because she’s in trouble. I sort of crossed paths with her working on one of my cases. It’s not a good situation.”

  “What can I do to help, Jack? Do you want me to talk to her?”

  “No, no… nothing like that. I guess I just need to figure out how to do the right thing. Father, do you ever think two wrongs make a right? Or that the end justifies the means?”

  “Typically, no, I don’t believe in either of those concepts. There may be rare exceptions but those are few and far between. Jack, you want to tell me what’s going on?”