“So, when you walked in on her they were at it?” Gordon asked for confirmation.
“No, but she had her hand on his face. They didn’t have any textbooks out and they were sitting on her bed way too close.”
“That’s not exactly proof.”
“She looked really surprised and got super defensive when I demanded to know what she was doing.”
“Did you react the way you reacted to me?” Gordon quizzed, his insinuation clear. Josh flushed with annoyance but clearly thought better of letting his temper get the better of him again.
“No! I would never lay a hand on a woman. Especially Millie.”
“Why especially her?”
Josh took a long drink of water before answering.
“Because I was a different guy before I met her. I didn’t believe in relationships or any of that stuff.”
“How chivalrous.” Gordon commented. Josh continued without acknowledging him.
“But Millie was different. I enjoyed just hanging out with her. I had to work hard at first to convince her to give me the time of day because she knew about my reputation.”
“But you managed it?”
“Yeah. We’d been dating a while when she and Derek started to get closer.”
“And because she spent time with him you thought she’d decided to cheat on you? Break her vow?”
“I’m not proud of the things I’ve done in the past, but… well, I was in her position once. I had a steady girlfriend and I cheated on her.”
Gordon nodded, his estimation of the man slipping a little further.
“So, you had words, left and never spoke to her again?”
“No. She tried to explain but I didn’t want to hear any more of her lies.”
“I’ll be honest, it’s a little surprising how quick you were to believe she was cheating on you, given what you knew about her.”
“One of the things I’ve learned is that it’s the quiet ones who are secretly the wildest. I always thought she wore that ring as a defensive thing to keep guys at arm’s length. I was happy to play along, but I knew she’d never wait until she got married.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because who does that? What’s the point?”
“So you didn’t intend to ever pop the question?”
Josh looked away from him and then shrugged.
“I dunno.”
“And now you’re with Tamsin. Millie didn’t know?”
“No, she didn’t. Tamsin and I got together after we graduated. She didn’t know I was working here as a personal trainer and when she came in we just… connected, you know?”
“I see.”
“If it weren’t for Millie I wouldn’t be with Tamsin now. Even though she hurt me, she changed me for the better.”
“So, the night Millie went missing, where were you?” Gordon asked.
“With Tamsin.”
“Doing?”
“Each other.” Josh replied with an oddly smug expression that Gordon found disgusting.
“She didn’t call Tamsin that night? Millie left her home saying she needed to do something. She didn’t take her car so that says to me she was meeting someone, either locally or who had a car.”
“Whoever she was meeting it wasn’t either of us.”
“And once she went missing you never heard from her?”
“Tamsin didn’t mention it and I definitely wouldn’t have heard from her.”
Gordon nodded and wondered what else he could ask him. As he pondered this, a police car pulled up outside; two officers exited the vehicle and hurried to the gym door.
“We’ve had reports of an altercation?” One of the officers announced as they approached the trio of Gordon, Josh and the receptionist.
“Gordon Crane, private investigator. He and I got into it a little but it’s taken care of now.”
“Is that the case, sir?” The officer asked Josh. Gordon turned to look at him and after a few seconds, Josh nodded.
“Yeah, it was my fault. I threw the first punch.”
The officer looked unconvinced.
“Do you have any surveillance tapes we could look at?”
“Tillie, can you show them?” Josh asked the receptionist. She seemed a little upset that her sphere of duties had expanded quite so quickly, huffing with annoyance at the suggestion, but she nodded before stomping off towards the staff room. One of the officers stayed behind to keep an eye on Gordon and Josh, his hand resting on his baton. When his partner returned a few minutes later, they shared a quiet moment of murmured conversation before drawing themselves up to their full height and eyeing the pair suspiciously.
“As neither of you are interested in pressing charges we’ll let the matter lie, but if we get any more reports of trouble from either of you, we’ll take you down to the station and book you.” One of the officers told them, emphasising the ‘book you’. Gordon offered a dismissive nod.
“I think we’re done here, Mister Grant. But if I have any more questions, I’ll be sure to be back in touch.”
“Whatever.” Josh said, rubbing his stomach as he stood up. The police officers watched for a few more seconds and then left, Gordon not far behind them. They parted ways and Gordon returned to his car. As he sat behind the wheel he pondered what he’d learned. Tamsin and Josh were providing each other with an alibi; was it possible that they were involved in Millie’s murder together? Gordon didn’t buy that. Sure, some couples could do some nasty, crazy things together but he wasn’t getting that kind of vibe from them. Josh was a hot headed punk who didn’t give the woman he claimed to love a chance to explain herself, and Tamsin… well, while what she did wasn’t wrong per se, he could understand why she had kept it a secret. No, he simply couldn’t picture them abducting, drugging, defiling and murdering someone, at least not as a pair. Could Josh have done it on his own, finding time away from Tamsin to exact his own brand of awful revenge on the woman he believed had wronged him? Maybe at the time, but to wait quietly for months before acting, that seemed strange. Also, the kill certainly wasn’t a heat of the moment action; it was premeditated and planned so it could be staged to arouse little or no suspicion. Again, he reflected, he had no reason to assume it was anything other than an accident, but his gut warned him there was more to learn. There was also something else that was gnawing at him - a mostly forgotten memory, which screamed from a distant corner of his mind that ‘it’ was relevant to the matter at hand. He sighed, cursing his inability to recall what it was.
Gordon watched the police vehicle drive away and idly thought about what he should do next. He needed to talk to more of Millie’s friends and see if he could shake loose who she was going to meet. Obviously, the person he wanted to talk to most was Derek, but he wanted to find out as much about him and his relationship with Millie as he could before he reached out to him. Gordon drove a couple of blocks away from the gym and parked in the lot of a supermarket. He retrieved his phone and began working through the ‘BFF’ list from Millie’s address book. Most answered their phones, and of those that answered, most were happy to speak over the phone but refused to arrange a meeting, although a couple arranged meetings for later in the day. Regardless of how they communicated with him, Gordon didn’t learn a great deal more than he had already. He did, however, get a little more insight into the young woman’s life and her motivations.
Millie had always had more than her fair share of admirers, they had informed him, but she never failed to show them her promise ring before they dated. She was committed to her lifestyle choices, not even taking a sip of champagne during their graduation party. Gordon would gently shift the conversation at this point to Derek, to find what they said tracked along with what Tamsin had told him. Derek was a part of their group, but they also disclosed that even before the incident with Millie, Josh and he didn’t really get along. There was an agreement that he was a little odd, not in a bad way but he was a little secretive, and that he was also very definitely at
tached to Millie. Gordon enquired as to whether it seemed there was more going on between them and, unexpectedly, there was some disagreement on this point.
The minority opinion was that they were secretly a couple and were surprisingly effective at covering their tracks. The majority opinion, on the other hand, believed there wasn’t enough chemistry between them and they didn’t believe she’d cheated on Josh with Derek. They were good friends sure but, although they spent a lot of time together, they were never seen to act intimate: no hands touching, no lingering looks or sitting close together. Conversely, she and Josh had great chemistry and there was genuine agreement that they were good together. Gordon didn’t broach the subject of Tamsin and Josh becoming a couple with any of them, as none had volunteered an opinion at Josh’s unexpected attachment to her after being so closely involved with Millie, plus, there seemed little point in asking for their viewpoint and perhaps causing them to be less forthcoming about events around Millie’s death. Derek, a few of Millie’s friends had gone on to reveal, had stopped hanging out with them since graduation and had joined his father’s company. A couple still had a contact number and offered them freely, which Gordon accepted, but when he probed to discover whether they knew how he had reacted to Millie’s death, none of her friends could say as they hadn’t spoken to him. He had closed his social media accounts after graduation and become, if anything, more secretive than he had been during his time at university. He hadn’t attended her funeral, much to their surprise, despite their efforts to contact him.
After interviewing over the phone or in person all of Millie’s closest friends who were interested in speaking to him, it was a little before six in the evening. Gordon was preparing to pick something up to eat on the way home before trying to find out as much about Derek as he could. He intended to access Millie’s social media and go back as far as he could to see if there was anything he could find that was posted by Derek. Perhaps, he considered, there might even be some remnant of Derek’s old accounts he could access. Beyond that, he also intended to find out what position Derek had taken up in his father’s company, as it might provide him with a way to meet him in a setting that wouldn’t potentially ring alarm bells with his father. This was Gordon’s plan - until his phone started to ring as he was heading towards his favourite drive through. He pulled over and looked at who was calling him. He took a patient breath and answered.
“Ms Reese-Smyth.” Gordon stated.
“Hi… I was… I was wondering if you’d learned anything?” She asked tentatively.
“Well, it’s still extremely early in my investigation but I feel I’ve made some progress.”
“Good. I… well…” She stumbled over her words.
“Is there something I can do for you, Ms Reese-Smyth?”
She hesitated for a second or two and then spoke again.
“I was hoping you would come by and update me.”
“I haven’t learned much and I’d hate for you to get your hopes up so early on. With that said, perhaps you could swing by the office tomorrow and I’ll--”
“Why not tonight? I’ll order some food and you can tell me what you’ve discovered?”
Gordon looked into his future and figured it probably wouldn’t hurt to make the trip out there.
“If that’s what you really want, Ms Reese-Smyth.”
“It is, and please, call me Izzy.”
“Then I’ll see you in about forty five minutes or so.” Gordon stated, hanging up after a brief exchange of pleasantries.
He made the long drive back out to Isabelle’s home, arriving roughly when he said he would. Rather than parking on the street as he had before, he pulled into her driveway and did his best to tidy himself up in the rear view mirror before calmly exiting his vehicle and approaching the front door. He didn’t expect she would like everything he had to report; after all, it seemed as though her daughter had been keeping quite a bit from her, but she had paid him to find out the truth and that was all he could give her.
Gordon rang the doorbell and casually glanced through the window into the main hall. The lights were on inside and, combined with the hazy evening sun which was streaming through the back windows, it gave the building a warmer feeling than it had owned during his visit earlier in the day. Isabelle appeared after a few moments from the direction Gordon knew to be the kitchen. She had changed into some dark jeans and a dark t-shirt, and, judging by the way her hair clung wetly to her head, she had recently taken a shower. Had she just decided to freshen up or was it in expectation of his arrival? It really didn’t matter which, but Gordon’s curious mind couldn’t help wondering. She padded towards the door and opened it, the ghost of a smile playing across her lips as she stepped aside to let him into the cool, air conditioned hall. After a day spent largely outside in the sweltering Nevada heat, it was a welcome relief.
“I ordered Chinese food; I hope that’s okay with you.” She told him, moving to walk alongside him after she had closed the door.
“That’s more than okay, thank you.” He responded, although he had already noticed the delicious smell of orange chicken wafting through the house.
Once they entered the kitchen, Gordon fully expected her to start bombarding him with questions, but she was a little more patient than he anticipated. She gestured for him to sit at the breakfast bar then started plating their dinner. This left Gordon to start the conversation.
“So, I spent most of the day interviewing Millie’s closest friends, the ones she called her BFF’s. I’ll be honest with you, I found some things that were a little surprising… nothing bad, I’ll add before you think the worst.”
“Please, tell me.” She said, sliding a paper plate and some plastic cutlery towards him. Gordon hesitated a moment, watching as she served her own dinner and then reached for the bottle of bourbon at the end of the bar; pouring a glass for both of them. Gordon hadn’t been planning on drinking, but accepted the glass gratefully. He ate politely and told her what he had discovered, skipping the part about the fight in the gym. Isabelle listened intently, picking at her food. He wasn’t surprised she ate sparingly, and seemed barely interested in it. Gordon’s mind, ever working, wondered how she was coping. It was obvious that she’d turned heavily to drink, but judging by the fact that her clothes still seemed to fit she was obviously still eating adequately. What was driving her, Gordon wondered. Was it a desire to see justice for her daughter? Most likely. If she didn’t find it, he wondered which way she would tip.
Gordon continued talking and eating his meal and, thankfully, Isabelle seemed to be taking the news relatively well. By the time he had finished eating and she was about half done - but on her third glass of bourbon – he had reiterated the salient facts about Millie and Josh. Isabelle shook her head in surprise.
“I can’t believe she was with someone for so long without mentioning it to me.” She commented, finishing her drink.
“She probably would have confided in you if they had still been together after graduation. From what I can tell she was involved in something with Derek and whatever they were doing, Millie respected him and was therefore totally committed to keeping whatever secret they shared; to the point that she let a man that she, by all accounts, loved dearly get away from her rather than reveal it.”
“And you’re quite certain she wasn’t… involved with Derek?”
“Most of her friends don’t think she was. As for what I think… I’ve no idea how they spent their time when they were together, but I’m compelled to believe if she was involved with him she would have taken off the promise ring and broken things off with Josh rather than cheating on him.”
“What about…” Isabelle trailed off as she grabbed the bottle and emptied it into her glass. “What about what happened to her that night? Do you think it was Derek she was meeting?”
“At this point it’s impossible for me to say. Derek apparently cut himself out of social media and the lives of the others in their group after graduatio
n, so whatever it is he’s been doing socially since is still something of a mystery. All I know for certain is that he has joined his father’s firm. If I can, I’m going to find a way to talk to him tomorrow.”
Isabelle nodded. Gordon glanced at his watch and saw that he’d been there close to an hour.
“Looking to leave already?” She asked.
“No, just checking the time.”
“Is there anything else you can do tonight?”
“I’m planning on researching Derek as much as I can when I get back to my office, but I can’t go to find him tonight.”
“Okay.” Isabelle said before sipping her drink and leaning back a little on her seat. “You asked me why I hired you.”
“That I did. You gave me an answer that satisfied my curiosity, and one I can respect.”
“I have some more questions if you don’t mind.”
Gordon thought for a second and then shrugged.
“Okay.”
“I understand you left the police force after your wife and daughter…were killed. How did… how did you deal with their deaths?”
Gordon had half expected her to ask something related to his family at some point. He wondered if she was curious because she wanted to know how to process her own loss or if the adage of misery loving company was true.
“I dealt with it badly. Booze,” Gordon said, pointing at the empty bottle beside Isabelle, “about as much booze as I could take to help me to deal with the anger that was consuming me. Eventually, I had to take some time off, and when I came back… it was as if I didn’t recognize the job I’d loved.”
“Where were you that night?” She asked softly, setting her glass down. Gordon swallowed. He rarely wanted to talk about it and, at first, wasn’t sure if he was going to now. But looking at Isabelle, he found her serene demeanour disarming. He figured if he told her his story then maybe, once she had the truth about her daughter, Isabelle would find a way to move forward. Not that the way he’d moved forward was exceptionally healthy, but he was still alive. Gordon reached for his glass of bourbon and took a sip, and then began to speak.
His Twisted Smile Page 7