by Dale Mayer
“So,” Carter continued, “Fred’s death would make the ranchers and the town even angrier. And, if they turned on you, that would make your life even worse, right?”
She shot him a startled look. “I don’t think I like the way you think.”
“No, maybe not. How is your standing in town?”
“The same as always,” she said smoothly. “It’s only with you that I seem to have a temper.”
“Maybe you need to take a look at the people around you and get more of that temper up because somebody seems to be trying to screw you around.”
“I doubt anyone in my circle had anything to do with Fred’s death.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but I’m more concerned about Phil.”
“So am I.” Just then Hailey’s phone rang. She answered it to learn the sheriff was heading back to his office. She agreed to meet him there in thirty minutes. She stood, pocketed her phone.
“Are you going to tell him?” Gordon asked.
She shoved her hands in her pockets and nodded. “I don’t know what else to do.”
“The problem with that though,” Gordon added, “is that Raleigh is related to the Longfellows as well, right?”
“I forgot that.” Hailey winced. “It’s a very tenuous connection.”
“That’s the problem with this town,” Gordon continued. “Everybody has intermarried to the point we’re all connected.”
“Except you two, correct?” Carter asked Gordon and Hailey. “You two have been here forever, but, Gordon, you didn’t marry a Longfellow. Debbie came from out of town. And neither did your father marry into the Longfellow clan.”
“I know,” Hailey said. “Honestly, even after being born and raised here, I still feel like I’m an outsider.” Hailey left the men to meet the sheriff.
As she drove into town, Carter’s words rumbled in the back of her head. The problem with people like the Longfellows was how they were an insidious kind of poison. They were the original town founders and thought they were above the law and everyone else, yet always pretended to be good law-abiding citizens. Something was just slimy about the entire group, and she knew she’d have a hard time being nonjudgmental. As she pulled into the parking lot of the sheriff’s department, Raleigh pulled up beside her. He smiled as they both exited their vehicles and went inside. He motioned her into his office.
She looked around before saying, “Nobody can overhear us in here?”
He leaned forward. “Nobody can overhear us. Why?”
Hailey hesitated and studied Raleigh. She’d known the man since she was little. She had never had a reason to question his honesty and had never heard any rumors against him. “I’m a little concerned about something I found in the copier at work the other day.”
“And you’re afraid of who might be involved?”
“Yes,” she said. “And, of course, you’re related to them.”
Raleigh frowned and shuffled the papers on his desk. “I would hope my integrity never comes into question, particularly concerning that family. Three generations of them exist now. The younger ones are always on the edge of crossing the law. I have jailed several members. And we have something like four lawsuits and two court cases coming up against them.” He clasped his fingers and added, “The older generation has cleaned up their act as they’ve aged. No problems with them in eons.”
She laughed. “Don’t you just love family?”
He shook his head. “Some family, yes. Not that family. Now, what’s this about?”
She reached into her purse and pulled out two of the sheets of paper she’d found days ago and had copied several times over, along with digitizing them. She laid them both on his desk.
“What am I looking at?”
“Two similar pages, each from two different ledgers, one which looks doctored. One seems to be the original, and somebody is making changes on a second one.”
He frowned at that.
“The two pages contain the same basic items, just the numeric amounts have been tweaked. One page’s prices are well over six figures, and the difference between the two books is sixty thousand dollars. For all I know, it’s tax evasion or embezzling.”
Raleigh sat back and continued to stare at the pages. “Or money laundering.”
“Right, so definitely something else to keep in mind when investigating Fred’s murder.”
Raleigh asked, “When did this happen?”
“Just the other day,” she answered. “Friday, last week.”
He looked up at her, his eyebrows rising. “Interesting timing.”
“Exactly why I’m worried,” she said.
“I’ll take a copy of these.”
“Those copies are for you.”
“Were you coming to talk to me about these?” he asked curiously.
“I had already approached Fred about this. I would have talked to him again this morning,” she said, “but somebody got to him before I could.”
He winced at that. “And you think it’s related?”
“I don’t know. When a murder happens to one of the three partners within the company, you have to question how it couldn’t be related.”
“Right.” He nodded.
She hesitated, then asked, “I know you can’t tell me much yet, but did you find anything that pointed to a suspect?”
“No, and they haven’t found your missing partner either.”
She sank in the chair. “Did you do a home welfare check?”
Raleigh nodded. “The deputy went and knocked. No answer.”
She frowned. “Did he look in the windows or anything?”
He shook his head. “I’ll make a trip over there myself after this.” He checked his watch. “Like right now.”
“Can I come?”
He frowned at her. “How about I go first?”
“I’ve been in their house before. I know his wife. I have no problem walking through the house to see if something’s wrong.”
“I should go alone, make it an official investigation.”
“This is official,” she said. “One of my partners is dead, and the other’s missing. We have to find him.” She bolted to her feet. “I’ll meet you at Phil’s house.”
She didn’t let Raleigh respond. She hurried to the parking lot, then drove off. She was a mess right now. It wasn’t like they had a board of directors to worry about, but they had worse. Their multimillion-dollar clients themselves. This drama would definitely hit their bottom line. More than that, she was afraid it would hit her personally too. It was bad enough she’d already lost her friend. It was even worse to think somebody might have done this to frame her. If so, even just the hint of that could ruin her reputation in her field.
Phil didn’t live far out. As Hailey turned into his driveway, she scanned his place for any sign his vehicle was in the garage. Or if he had at least gotten home last night. They had checked his office but hadn’t checked his planner, after all. For all she knew, he’d taken a day off and gone somewhere. He’d been a little off lately anyway. She had asked him if he was okay, but he had just shrugged and gave her a smile, saying he was tired. Hailey tried her best to think positive and even thought about how much Phil wouldn’t appreciate it if somebody broke into his house, even if to check on him. Still, they needed to know if he was dead or injured. She winced. So much for thinking positive.
She parked her car and ran to the garage door. It was unlocked. When she opened it, she found Phil’s and Betty’s cars inside. Hailey’s heart raced. She rushed to the inner door, finding it unlocked as well, and raced inside the house, not minding that the sheriff was still a few paces behind her. She stepped into the kitchen and walked in a frenzy through the main floor. She found no sign of anyone. When she heard Raleigh at the front door, she opened it for him.
“The garage door wasn’t locked. And the inside garage door was unlocked too,” she told him. “I see no sign of a struggle—no sign of anyone in the whole ground floor. Both cars are in th
e garage.”
“Stay here.”
Hailey’s hands shook, and she paced about as she watched Raleigh climb the stairs to the bedrooms. She saw him enter the spare rooms by the bathroom. Then he disappeared from her line of sight. She waited on pins and needles. She stopped breathing and counted for a minute. She exhaled. Two minutes. Still no Raleigh.
She bolted to the stairs, worried someone might be holding Phil prisoner and now the sheriff too. She knew it was foolish, and she also knew Carter and her brother would yell at her if they knew, but she had to do it.
The master bedroom door was closed when she reached that room, and she cursed under her breath. She approached it in caution and put her ear against the door. She heard nothing. But then the door opened abruptly and revealed the sheriff, who stepped back in surprise.
“When you didn’t come back,” Hailey said, “I was afraid somebody held Phil and his wife and now you hostage.”
“No, thank heavens,” he said, but his voice was harsh, and his face was drawn. “But you won’t have to worry about a second partner. Phil and his wife are in there, … and they’ve both been shot dead.”
She stared at him, falling back against the railing. “What?” she croaked. “Are you serious?”
“It looks to be a murder-suicide.”
“But why?” she cried out.
“I don’t know. I found no suicide note. I’m waiting for my team to arrive.”
Hailey took several staggering steps, then turned to look at him. “As in, maybe Phil shot Fred first, then came home to shoot his wife and himself?”
“If that was the case, he would have taken the gun, don’t you think?”
“Unless he shot Fred and then remembered he’d left the gun in the wrong hand and realized he was likely to get caught, so he took out his wife and himself?” Hailey’s words came out in a rush. She honestly didn’t know what else to think. Her mind ran wild with a hundred thoughts per minute. It felt like everything was falling apart, and she couldn’t do much about it. She badly wished she could have some semblance of normalcy.
“And now we’re just reaching,” Raleigh said gently. “Go home. I’ll come to the ranch as soon as I can.”
She forced herself to nod. Her head felt heavy and stiff.
“Like those two sheets you showed me, who had access to all your client accounts?” the sheriff called after her as she walked downstairs.
She looked up at him and answered in a barely audible voice. “All three of us. All three of us had access. We were partners.”
“Well, guess what?” Raleigh’s voice was harsher than she would have liked to hear. “You now own it all.”
When she stepped out of the house, slamming the door hard behind her, she burst into tears.
Driving through town, Carter headed toward the airport. It was small but busy. There, he talked to some of the baggage handlers and asked about the fate of the dog. One man was open and willing to answer any questions, while another just shook his head and told Carter to talk to management. Carter took that to mean, if there were a lawsuit, that employee wouldn’t be part of it. However, the first man had made it clear that the dog had arrived, but the Longfellows hadn’t been there to pick it up.
“Did they come at all?”
“I can’t tell you,” the first man said. “I was off to lunch by then. But I can tell you that they weren’t waiting when I got back to work. The dog looked pretty exhausted too.”
“Long trip for him,” Carter said. “What happens if a dog’s not claimed?”
“It would go to animal rescue. They’ll hold on to it and make queries. In this case, I don’t know what happened. I imagine the sheriff would have been contacted. Surely someone made inquiries. The Longfellows didn’t receive the dog, so they don’t likely know anything about its fate.”
“But they said the dog didn’t arrive.”
“I heard that too,” the cooperative baggage handler said with a snort. “What probably happened is they arrived late, and somebody had moved the dog. Then they took that as an easy excuse to disappear.”
Carter had to wonder. “Do you know who was on the shipping label as the person to contact for pickup?”
The attendant frowned. “I think—but don’t quote me on this—I think it was Brenda Longfellow. Good luck trying to get answers out of the Longfellows. If there’s credit to be taken, they’ll take it, even if they don’t deserve it. But if there’s blame to be handed out? You could bet they won’t be anywhere near close by.”
Carter watched in amusement as the man walked away. He had an interesting attitude and one that also mirrored Gordon’s. Now, what the heck was Carter supposed to do with this? It was an interesting conundrum because the Longfellows were supposedly a well-respected family—one of the founding families in the city—and yet those who did business with them considered them sleazy, cheap, unethical, and downright on the edge of being illegal. And likely over the edge but with enough legal coverage to keep their asses out of jail. Apparently several lawyers were in the family too, which made life convenient for them. Were they all bad? Or, like many families, was one arm worse than the rest?
Carter needed intel, so he called Geir. Mostly to confirm the names of the players here.
“David Longfellow,” Geir replied.
“Yeah, that’s what I have down.”
“On the form here, we also have a Brenda Longfellow.”
“Right, she’s the contact for the adoption. I wonder if she and David are husband and wife.”
“Generally these dogs are only given to families,” Geir said, “or couples, to give some stability to the dog.”
“Okay, good. Now at least we know who we need to talk to.”
“I’ll send you images of the adoption form application, in case you can use anything on it. It’s got all the info there.”
“Thanks,” Carter said. Then he hung up and waited. Sure enough, he received several photos of the entire form. With that information, he dialed Brenda. He identified who he was when she picked up her phone.
“Oh my,” Brenda said. “That was such a long time ago.”
“It was just a few months ago,” he said in a dry tone.
“Well, it seems like a long time ago. We never got the dog. I don’t know why you keep calling.”
“According to the airport handlers, the dog did arrive.”
An odd silence came on the other end of the call. “I’m not sure what you’re implying,” she said slowly, “but we would not have left the dog to his own devices at the airport. We take our responsibilities very seriously.”
“The dog was left for one full hour after the time it arrived. What time did you go to pick him up?”
“I’m not sure I could tell you,” Brenda said in an offhand way. “I didn’t go myself. I sent one of my staff to pick it up.”
“Do you know what time that was?”
“It certainly would have been before the dog arrived. The animals are taken off the plane quickly. We would have been out of there in no time.”
“When did you realize you didn’t have the dog?”
“When the driver came back, of course,” she said in exasperation. “I don’t know what you expect to do about it now. Obviously somebody took the dog for himself.”
“Any idea who would want to?”
“No clue. I’m sure I can’t tell you anything more. Now, I’m only talking to you as a courtesy, so I’d appreciate the same courtesy back.”
That shot his eyebrows up because, as far as he was concerned, he was being very polite. “Of course. It’s just that the US Navy’s War Dogs division is eager to find out what happened to their dog.”
“I can’t believe they sent somebody in person!”
“Could I speak with the staff member who went to pick up the dog?”
There came that same silence, only this time it was a little more fraught with worry. “I’ll have him contact you. That’s the best I can do.” She hung up on him.
>
Carter stared at his phone and frowned. He went inside a nearby coffee shop, ordered a coffee, pulled open his laptop, and hooked up to their Wi-Fi to research the Longfellow family.
When a young woman brought his coffee, she smiled. “Are you looking for Brenda and David?”
“I just spoke to Brenda,” he said, carefully moving the laptop ever-so-slightly to the side so she couldn’t see the screen.
“Ah, well, it wouldn’t take long to find them anyway. They’re involved in everything here.”
“You know them well?”
“No,” she said, “but I know of them. Everyone does.”
“Right.”
“My brother knows the family too,” she said abruptly. Something odd was in her tone.
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“My brother got into trouble with one of them. Then my brother got suspended from school.”
“Ouch.”
She nodded. “Ouch is true. We’re trying to get him back in again, so he can finish his education.”
“What happened?”
“They said he punched a kid. One of their family.”
“One of the Longfellows?”
She nodded. “Burgess Longfellow goes to the same school.”
“Did your brother hit him?”
She looked him straight in the face and nodded. “He did. He had a damn good reason.”
“Sorry about that,” Carter said. “It seems a little too often that people with influence win out, even over justice.”
Her shoulders seemed to sag a little as she relaxed. She glanced around the empty coffee shop. “You just have to watch out who you talk to in this town. It’s very much a 70/30 split. Seventy percent of the population are all for the Longfellows, while thirty are against them.”
“Why do the Longfellows rate so high?”
“Because they’re in politics. They’re into the businesses big-time here. Own this whole town and all our jobs. Everybody wants to rub shoulders with them and hope for a little bit of help when they need various permits and stuff.”
“Do they take bribes?”
“Of course they do,” she said, but then she backtracked. “I don’t actually know if they do or not. It just seems to me that they’re the kind of people who would. Definitely sleazy. Not my kind of people at all.”