His Twisted Smile

by Chris Thompson

  “Why was that?”

  “I probably shouldn’t say.”

  “You most certainly should.” Gordon informed him with a hint of menace in his tone.

  “Tamsin… Tamsin had a problem in university. Just a little buzz she called it. Truth was, it was a severe problem; her grades were tanking and she was missing classes. If Millie hadn’t helped her get clean of her cocaine habit, then I doubt she would’ve graduated.”

  “She helped her kick it?”

  “Yeah, cold turkey. Got her into exercise, cleaner living. Tamsin still liked a drink every now and then but not as much, and no drugs.”

  “Sounds like a lot happened while you were in university.”

  “That was before Millie and I met.”

  “Then how do you know about it? Did Millie tell you?”

  “No, Tamsin did. She was talking about how Millie was good at helping people and… well, she chose to share that with me.”

  “Interesting.” Gordon said to himself.

  “May I ask you a question, Mister Crane?”

  “Sure, why not?” Gordon replied with a shrug.

  “You think someone killed Millie, right?”

  “I do.” Gordon responded, not adding that he thought the monster had done far more than simply take her life.

  “Can you really do something about it? I mean, you’re not a cop.”

  “I can turn my findings over to the police and point them in the right direction.”

  “But the police didn’t find the right direction last time.”

  “Maybe not, but there’s no statute of limitations on murder. Whoever killed Millie will face justice, of that you can be certain.”

  Derek looked at him for a moment before answering.

  “I hope you’re right. For Millie’s sake. She deserved better.”

  “One last question, if you don’t mind.”

  “Anything.”

  “Where were you the night Millie went missing?”

  “You… you think I might be responsible?”

  “It’s just a question, Mister Leland. It’ll just help eliminate you from my inquiries.”

  “That was a long time ago. I was probably here, working.”

  “But you’re not certain?”

  “Can you tell me where you were four months ago, Mister Crane?” Derek asked a little defensively.

  “Four months ago…” Gordon trailed off for a second, and then he remembered. “I was investigating a missing person’s case. A guy disappeared after cleaning out his bank account. He just seemed to vanish. His wife wanted me to find him; turns out he’d run away with his mistress, but that lady had other plans. I found him handcuffed naked to a bed, without a penny to his name and even less dignity.” Gordon recounted.

  “I see.” Derek answered. “Well, my life isn’t quite so exciting, so forgive me. I’m confident I was either here or at home. I don’t have much of a social life.”

  “Alright. I guess we’ll just assume you were here working... for the time being.” Gordon added pointedly. He couldn’t think of anything else to ask Derek at that moment, so he started to stand, an action which Derek mimicked in moments.

  “Listen, can I give you my number? I’d like you to use it discreetly, but I want to know when you find out who did this to Millie.”

  “Sure.” Gordon responded. Derek grabbed a piece of paper and quickly wrote down his phone number, handing it Gordon when he was done. The two men shook hands and then Gordon picked up his phone and turned off the recording application. He stood and turned to leave, but heard Derek speak again.

  “And, Mister Crane?” Derek stated. Gordon glanced at him over his shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “Could you keep my father out of the investigation? He’s… well, he was keen for me to give the matter some distance. Bad press can have a severe impact on our business, so he didn’t want me to get tangled up in it.”

  “Is that the real reason you didn’t attend her funeral?”

  Derek looked at him, unable to hold the detectives withering gaze for long.

  “That was certainly an element of why I didn’t attend.”

  Gordon nodded and then turned away. He left the office without another word and rode the elevator back down in silent, contemplative thought. He felt he’d interviewed all the people of significance in Millie’s life, and now that he had those pieces of the puzzle, he could figure out his next move. It seemed Josh, Tamsin and Derek had all lied to him about something: Tamsin her drug problem, Josh his ‘devotion’ to Millie and Derek… well, he was hiding something, but what it was Gordon would have to discover when he had more to go on. The elevator dinged and the door opened quietly and smoothly. Gordon exited and headed back to the security station to retrieve his weapon. He handed in his visitor’s badge then left the Leland Security building and returned to his vehicle. As he slid behind the wheel of his car he wondered about Tamsin. She hadn’t mentioned her drug problem or Millie helping her through it; could Derek have been lying? Absolutely. Could he have been the one with the drug problem and he was simply switching himself out for Tamsin in the story? That seemed as plausible as anything else. He and Millie, by all accounts - and even in the way he spoke about her, after his initial offhand remarks - seemed closer than two people who were just taking the same classes together and if they weren’t in a relationship then it made sense that she was helping him with something.

  Putting that thought to one side, however, Gordon considered everything he knew at face value. If Tamsin was a drug user in the past then there was a chance she could’ve slipped back and was a user again. It might explain who was shooting Millie up with cocaine, which could implicate Josh as a result; after all, Millie had been engaged in rough intercourse with someone before she died. This looped Gordon back to what Millie had said before she left the house the night she disappeared.

  “Something she needed to do before her trip.” Gordon said aloud. If Millie was the giving soul she appeared to be then it seemed likely this could have something to do with one of her friends having a problem he or she wanted help with before she left. It could have been Tamsin with her drugs or Derek with whatever was really going on between them. Alternatively, she could’ve sought out Josh to tell him what was happening on the night he caught her with Derek. Gordon figured the best thing to do at that moment was to try and confirm the drug story, so, with the expectation she wouldn’t even take his call, Gordon retrieved his phone and began to dial Tamsin’s number.

  Chapter Seven

  Tamsin took a little persuading, and a promise from Gordon that it was fine if she brought Josh along, but Gordon was able to arrange a meeting for a little after lunch. He drove to the gym where Josh worked, arriving before Tamsin did. He waited in his car and watched Josh impatiently walking up and down, occasionally glancing out of the window. After a time, Tamsin pulled up in a small, two door hybrid and hurried inside, wearing a business suit and looking extremely professional. Observing them through the big windows as they engaged in a brief, animated conversation, Gordon could only wonder what they were talking about. He gave them a few moments and then exited his car and walked casually over to the gym. Upon opening the doors, the pair turned to face him with a rather unpleasant look shared across both their faces. The receptionist looked at him too, looking nervous as she recalled what had happened when he came calling the last time.

  “Mister Grant, Miss Muller.” Gordon greeted nonchalantly.

  “What do you want?” Josh demanded aggressively.

  “The truth.” Gordon responded, letting the door shut behind him as he approached, stopping halfway between where Josh and Tamsin were standing and the door.

  “We told you the truth.” Tamsin stated firmly.

  “That’s definitely a possibility. The problem is, someone told me their version of the truth and it highlighted some things which might have, shall we say, slipped your mind.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tam
sin wanted to know.

  “Are you sure you want to talk about this in front of your partner?” Gordon asked her.

  “I don’t have any secrets from him.”

  “Excellent. I heard you had a problem with drugs while you were in university and Millie helped you to get through it.”

  “I--” Tamsin started.

  “What the hell is your problem, man?!” Josh said taking a big, aggressive step forward.

  “Careful.” Gordon warned him, flashing the bigger man an intense look. “Remember what happened last time you let your muscles do the thinking for you.”

  Josh hesitated, seemingly torn between whether to back down or continue with his belligerent stance by throwing a punch. Tamsin caught up to him and pressed her hand against his shoulder.

  “It’s fine.” Tamsin said with a slightly defeated air. She looked at Gordon and nodded. “It’s true.”

  “Okay. The reason I ask is that Millie was injected over several days with the same drug, and it seems like an important detail for you to skip over while recounting your university days.”

  “It wasn’t for any reason other than I was embarrassed. Millie put me through hell to get clean and keep it out of any records. I am where I am today because of her.”

  Josh seemed to simmer down and looked at his girlfriend.

  “You don’t have to tell him, babe.”

  “I do. You see…” Tamsin trailed off, an uncertain look in her eyes as she lowered her head.

  “Don’t keep me in suspense.” Gordon stated.

  “I didn’t buy my drugs, not initially. I… well, my boyfriend at the time gave them to me. When we split he became... my dealer I guess. When Millie started getting me clean, he and she got into it pretty bad. I begged her not to go to the police because…” Tamsin hesitated, looking up at Josh with embarrassment. “Because I still loved him.”

  Josh didn’t look happy but said nothing.

  “So, Millie and he got into a fight. Physical or verbal?”

  “It was a shouting match between them on campus.” Tamsin informed him.

  “And you never thought any of this was worth mentioning to the police?”

  Tamsin looked away again and spoke without looking him in the face.

  “Kieran isn’t like that. He’s a loser and a scumbag, but I don’t believe he’d hurt someone. Besides, it was years ago. Why would he wait so long to hurt her?”

  “That I don’t know.” Gordon answered honestly. “However, I still need to talk to him. What’s his full name?”

  “Kieran Gladstok.”

  “Any idea where he is these days?”

  “No. We don’t exactly keep in touch.” Tamsin replied snarkily. Josh shot her an unhappy look and then decided to focus his attention on Gordon.

  “Is that all you need?”

  “One last question, for both of you, if I may. What month did you start getting together?”

  “July.” Josh stated.

  “September.” Tamsin replied at the same time. They glanced at each other and Gordon smirked.

  “You see I heard you had a wandering eye, Josh, and that it always seemed to land on Tamsin here. So I guess what I’m really asking is, did you really wait until after university to hook up?”

  “We didn’t--” Tamsin started.

  “Oh to hell with it, Tammy. I’m not ashamed and neither should you be.” Josh cut her off before rounding on Gordon. “Yeah, we were seeing each other since just after I broke up with Millie and I couldn’t be happier. I love this woman and I’m not going to hide that fact anymore! We got together after they came back from Cancun and we’ve been together ever since.” Josh declared proudly.

  “I thought you loved Millie?” Gordon questioned.

  “I did. I wasn’t lying when I said she changed me for the better; without her, Tamsin and I wouldn’t be together... and I’m not ashamed of getting together with her so soon after Millie and I broke up.”

  “Was there any overlap?”

  “No.” Tamsin stated firmly. “I would never have done that to Millie.”

  “And you’re sure she never knew?”

  “Positive. She would’ve said something, whether she was happy for or angry with us.”

  Gordon was a little surprised they gave up the information quite so easily. He decided to pose that as his next question.

  “I’m just tired of the half truths, man.” Josh told him. “When the police were asking around we didn’t say too much because we didn’t want it to look bad on us.”

  “So, before I leave, is there anything else you haven’t mentioned? Any small detail that might have slipped your mind out of fear of looking guilty?”

  Tamsin and Josh looked at each other and then back at Gordon.

  “Millie told me she’d argued with Derek recently about what happened the night she and Josh broke up. When I last spoke to her, she said that she was going to have one last attempt to get Derek to open up about what they were doing. She said before she left she was hoping to settle everything and put it in the past so she could move forward.” Tamsin answered.

  “Was that who she was meeting that night?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I got the impression the argument happened a few days prior but, as to when she was going to meet with him again, I don’t know.”

  “And you never mentioned this sooner because?” Gordon questioned exasperatedly.

  “Because Derek’s a decent guy.” Tamsin commented, drawing an ireful look from Josh. “In spite of causing you to split with Millie, I still think he’s decent. He cared about her, it was written all over his face when he looked at her. I guess I just didn’t want him to get into trouble.”

  Gordon took a short, calming breath and reached for his phone. He turned on the sound recorder.

  “I’m going to need to make this as official as possible and get it on tape.”

  “What for?” Tamsin asked, a horrified look on her face.

  “Because if anything you told me played a part in her death, then it’s evidence.” Gordon explained simply.

  He managed to get the receptionist to state her name and act as a witness that the conversation was openly and freely recorded without force or script. Then they went into the staff room, a small, drab place with just a few vending machines: a fridge, a microwave and a table to sit at. The pair seemed a little reticent, perhaps realizing that what they’d done could be construed as interfering with a police investigation, but to their credit they repeated what they had previously told Gordon. Perhaps, he considered, there would be something that could be worked out with the prosecutor as long as they testified should it lead to Millie’s killer. Gordon let them speak without any prompting, allowing them to tell their story in full and without anything that could be construed as coercion. Once they were done he stated his own name for the record, that he had recorded it and the date and time. Then he clicked it off and stood, moving towards the door without a word to them.

  “Mister Crane?” Tamsin prompted. He stopped and turned to face the pair who were still sitting at the table.

  “Yeah?”

  “Isabelle’s going to find out about all of this, right?”

  “That’s what I’m being paid to do.”

  “Can you… I don’t know, tell her I’m sorry?”

  “For what?” Gordon asked.

  “I loved Millie, but maybe I wasn’t the best friend to her.”

  Gordon scoffed.

  “That’s probably fair to say. I’ll be honest with you; the pair of you have weaved lies and truth together in such a way that I’m still not entirely convinced you didn’t have something to do with her death. But I’ll take what you’ve said at face value and tell you this: Isabelle probably won’t care. She lost the most important person in the world to her, and whether you started screwing Millie’s boyfriend while they were together - as I suspect you were - or not, that’s really not important to her. All Isabelle wants is to know why her daughter
is dead and who killed her. So, before you hope to assuage any guilt you feel by apologizing to Isabelle, just bear that in mind. What you did is what you’ll live with for the rest of your lives. Both of you.” Gordon told them harshly and then turned to leave. He exited the gym calmly, tapping out the number he wanted on his phone as he weaved towards the doors. He really wanted to talk to Derek again, but the lead about Tamsin’s old boyfriend and dealer needed to be dealt with first. This was how he had always solved cases; clear away what could be cleared away and then focus on the ‘meat’ as he saw it.

  “Jones.” Gordon said as his old partner answered.

  “Hey, Crane, what can I do for you?”

  “I need you to look someone up for me.” Gordon informed him.

  Kieran Gladstok, to Gordon’s surprise, had never been arrested. Jones was able to push through the request and passed him back the last known address, but warned him that Kieran had successfully applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which was how he was able to supply Gordon with his address. Gordon thanked him and drove to where he hoped Kieran was still living. It was a house not more than a few blocks away from where Millie had been found dead, which was an interesting coincidence to Gordon’s mind. Kieran’s home looked like every other on the block; single story, perhaps with a basement, with a small front and back yard bordered with a chain-link fence. Gordon opened the squeaky gate and walked up the short path to the front door. He glanced up and down the street as he did so, seeing a few people lurking who might have been lookouts to let Kieran know if law enforcement was on the way, or maybe they were just lurking for the sake of it. Gordon focused ahead and, once he was close enough, hammered on the screen door to announce his presence. A minute or two later the inner door opened allowing Gordon to see Tamsin’s ex for the first time. He looked at Gordon with confusion, his sullen green eyes running up and down the older detective. His head was shaved and he looked fairly muscular, but wasn’t as physically imposing as Josh, though Gordon could see Tamsin clearly had a type.

  “What do you want?” Kieran asked gruffly.