Rocky Road

by Josi S. Kilpack

  After reviewing sites that were accessed each Wednesday morning since Dr. Hendricks had disappeared, Sadie pulled out her phone. She considered calling Officer Nielson, but she didn’t think there was time to wait for the bureaucracy his help would automatically require. Instead, she called her son, Shawn. The call went to voice mail. She hung up and called again.

  “He-hello?” answered a sleepy voice.

  “I’m sorry to wake you up, sweetie,” Sadie said, “but I need an extra set of hands right now. Can you help me with something? It’s really important.”

  “Um, okay,” he said, still not quite awake. Sadie felt terrible for interrupting his sleep, but she also knew he understood that investigative work didn’t always take place during regular office hours. “What do you need?”

  “I’m involved in a situation here in southern Utah.”

  “I’m so surprised to hear that,” he said, yawning. She could hear him rustling around, and she assumed he was sitting up.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sadie said, waving off his joke. “There’s a man I think is hiding something, and I need you to do some fishing to make sure I’m on the right track before I take it to the police. You have better contacts than I do.” He also had a knack for accessing information she couldn’t dig into. She was careful not to ask him how he got this information, and he was careful not to tell her.

  Sadie waited while Shawn yawned again. “Well, I love fishing at five o’clock in the morning. Where do I start?”

  Chapter 41

  Sadie pulled up to Dr. Hendricks’s house around 10:00 a.m. and took a deep breath as her eyes scanned it side to side and up and down from the first to the third floor of the huge home. She couldn’t help but wonder how much of this house was paid for out of foundation profits.

  She automatically felt for the Taser in her pocket before remembering she’d left it in the dirt at the campsite. That was unfortunate—knowing what she now knew about this man, she could certainly use the Taser on Dr. Hendricks if she needed to.

  Sadie took another deep breath and glanced in her rearview mirror. A dark SUV was parked out of sight, and two patrol cars were parked a block away. Caro was in one of the police cars, which made Sadie feel better, too. Working with the police was a surreal experience, and she couldn’t deny that knowing they were there gave her more confidence. But the role she had to play for the next few minutes made her stomach tight and her head tingly. It was the best way to quickly resolve this case, and Sadie was the one who had suggested it, but Officer Nielson had told her what to say, how to act, and what kind of person she had to pretend to be. Even though whatever information Sadie collected wouldn’t be admissible in court, it would at least allow the police to detain Dr. Hendricks and keep him from skipping the country—which, according to Shawn’s research, seemed to be his plan.

  Before getting out of the car, Sadie bowed her head over the steering wheel and waited until a sense of assurance settled upon her shoulders. Then she breathed deeply, let herself out of the car, and headed up the cobblestoned front walk. The Hendricks children had spent the night with their grandparents because both of their parents had been at the police station, each of them for a different reason. Sadie’s heart ached for the mess their father had made of their lives.

  Before ringing the doorbell, she said another prayer and took another deep breath, pulling together all of her confidence and trying not to think about how the people who loved Dr. Hendricks were about to have their hearts broken all over again.

  A man opened the door, and Sadie had to look twice before she recognized Dr. Hendricks. In the hours since she’d last seen him, he’d shaved off the beard and trimmed his hair. Dressed in normal clothes, he looked like a different person, which only added to Sadie’s understanding of the way he’d played her for a fool. All that vulnerability had been a ruse.

  “Sadie,” he said, and he stepped forward to give her a hug. She returned it as though she meant it. She hated touching him. When he pulled back, he smiled widely. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

  Sadie smiled politely back at him. Even if she hadn’t known the truth, his comment and mood were completely inappropriate—his ex-wife was in jail right now, driven to the brink by his lies and manipulation, and his most recent wife was laid out on a slab in the medical examiner’s office in Salt Lake City. Had he even seen his children yet? Did he care? Being angry helped solidify Sadie’s determination. She could do this because it was the best way to ensure he got what he deserved.

  “Um, could I talk to you for a few minutes?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said, pulling the door open and waving her inside.

  “How about out here?” she suggested, not wanting to go inside. The police had assured her that her microphone would work indoors, but she still felt better if she stayed outside. “It’s such a nice day.” Such a hot day was more like it. The temperature gauge in her car registered eighty-six degrees already at ten o’clock in the morning.

  “Okay.” He leaned back and grabbed the doorknob to pull the door shut. He motioned to one of the two wooden chairs on the porch—the same way he’d motioned to her to sit on a log the day before. He’d been anxious and unsure of himself back then. A completely different man from the confident doctor she was talking to now. And she’d fallen for that first act. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again. She took the chair closest to the stairs and was grateful the porch was shaded, even though she was sweating anyway. The places where tape held the microphone wire in place beneath her shirt were starting to itch.

  “So what can I do you for?” he asked, leaning his elbows on his knees and facing her with a smile. He really thought he had everything under control, didn’t he? That was another boost for Sadie’s confidence. If he thought he’d already won, he might not watch himself quite as carefully.

  “How did things go at the station last night?” Sadie asked. She hadn’t seen him after they were put in separate vehicles at the cabin.

  “Boy,” he said, letting out a breath and shaking his head. He leaned back in his chair and put his hands on his thighs. “Longest day of my life, I can tell you that. My attorney told me what I could and couldn’t say, and I was home by one in the morning, so it all went pretty smoothly. They took the USB, and I’m hopeful things will work out. I can’t thank you enough for helping me like you did. This turned out more positively than I ever imagined it would.” He paused for a moment and then added, as though it were an afterthought, “And I’m so sorry for running like I did after you knocked Lori over—nice move, by the way. I’ve been operating on pure instinct for so long that I just went into ‘fight or flight’ mode. Apparently you can take care of yourself though—it was impressive.” He reached over and tapped her arm, offering a smile with his compliment. She wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face.

  Sadie hoped her own smile looked sincere as she nodded her acceptance of the thanks she no longer wanted. “And what’s happening with Lori?” These questions weren’t part of what she and Officer Nielson had discussed, but she wanted these answers as well, and she couldn’t let the opportunity to get them pass her by.

  “I hired the best attorney in the city to represent her,” Dr. Hendricks said, his expression turning appropriately serious. “Not sure I’ll ever get over all of that.”

  “All of what?” Did he mean the guilt of having cheated on Lori? The guilt of knowing Lori confronted Anita and that it resulted in Anita’s death?

  “It’s not every day you find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun,” he said. Of course, Sadie thought. He wouldn’t be thinking of anyone but himself. “And to think of how hard I worked to help her with school and everything—my attorney during the divorce had told me not to be so generous, that it would come back to bite me. I had no idea.” He paused to shake his head. “You just never really know people, do you?”

  “I assume you’ll be posting bond for her, though,” Sadie said.

  “Absolutely—i
t’s the right thing to do. I’ve got a meeting with my lawyer later today. He’ll advise me on the best way to go about that.”

  “And will the kids stay with her?”

  “I’m not sure she’s up to it right now, but I’m going to be so busy that I’m not sure I can put the time in at home that they would require from me. I need to determine what’s in the best interest of the kids, of course. They’ve got to come first.”

  Every word grated on Sadie’s ears. “You’re going back to the clinic already?”

  “Jake’s been on call for two months, you know. Ironically, I think I came back just in the nick of time. I’m not sure how much longer he could have run it on his own.”

  “Especially with Anita gone.”

  He frowned appropriately and nodded his head, staring at his hands clasped in his lap. “It’s overwhelming, to be sure. Hopefully I can keep us from losing any more ground. It’s going to be a battle, though.”

  Sadie nodded and allowed the silence to stretch between them. She wondered how long he planned to stay before disappearing to Grand Cayman—a week? Two weeks? From the internet history she’d seen, she’d concluded that when he learned about the memorial service, he’d decided to leave the country. She wasn’t yet sure why he hadn’t left earlier, though, which was why she was here. The police needed more information to look for the proof they needed against him.

  “You okay?” he said, gently touching her arm. She looked at him and took in the playful smile on his face. “You don’t seem like a woman who just saved a man’s life.”

  “I’m fine,” Sadie said noncommittally as she sat up straighter, remembering the plan she and Officer Nielson had put together that morning. “I just had a couple of questions for you before I head home—I live out of state, ya know.”

  “Answering a few questions is the least I can do,” he said with another charming smile.

  “I’m curious as to where Anita put all that money she was taking from the foundation.”

  He leaned back and shrugged slightly. “I have no idea. A secret account, I guess.”

  “Offshore?”

  He shrugged, but watched her closely.

  “Three and a half million dollars is a lot of money. But I guess the feds will find it, huh?”

  “I suppose,” he said, but she noted a subtle shift in his expression. “I don’t really know how that stuff works.”

  Liar. “Hmmm, it’s a shame you don’t have any way to access it.”

  She met his eyes and watched his expression as he tried to puzzle through her intent. She waited until he asked her a question she felt sure he couldn’t resist asking. “And why is it a shame?”

  “Because if you had access to the money, you might be able to keep me quiet about the things I’ve learned that I bet you’d rather the police didn’t know.”

  He pulled back slightly and raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

  Sadie reached into her bag and pulled out the manila envelope she and Officer Nielson had put together. “They didn’t take my statement last night,” she began. “I go in later this afternoon, but there were a few things that didn’t fit together.” She undid the clasp and pulled out the stack of papers. “I did a little research and learned about the account in Grand Cayman you’ve been moving money to every Wednesday for the last two months.”

  His eyes widened ever so slightly, but Sadie continued as though she hadn’t noticed. She showed him a printout of the bank’s home page. Then she let him see a paper from the University of Utah. “I also learned that you minored in business as part of your undergraduate degree.”

  “I think you better go.” He stood up, glaring at her while she carefully put the papers back into the envelope. She got to her feet as calmly as she could, keeping her expression neutral and her demeanor calm despite the way her heart was racing. She could feel the heat in her chest and hoped it wouldn’t spread to her neck and face too quickly and give her away.

  “Sure,” she said with a shrug, tucking the envelope back into her bag. “I haven’t yet told them how you said that you’re such a poor businessman, or how ignorant you pretended to be about the money you’re now blaming Anita for having stolen—that’s why I’m here.” He continued to glare. “If I tell them some of the things you told me and then give them a few nudges in the right direction,” she patted her bag, “they’ll likely find the same things I’ve found. For instance, you’ve taken a few trips to Grand Cayman using your brother’s passport, and on at least one occasion, your brother’s wife posted pictures of him at his son’s birthday party the same day he was supposedly out of the country.”

  She paused to let her words sink in, keeping a smile on her face the whole time. She gave him ample time to respond, but he remained quiet. “They don’t even know to look for those things—unless I tell them otherwise.”

  Fear mixed with anger on the doctor’s face as she continued to hold his gaze. “You think you can blackmail me?” he said.

  “You can’t afford for me to take what I know to the police,” Sadie reminded him. “Maybe Anita did set out to use the foundation to embezzle and scheme her way to wealth. Maybe you were a part of it, maybe you weren’t. Somewhere along the way, however, you decided to be the one that benefited from it instead of her, and it’s only fair that I get my share in order to protect your much larger portion, don’t you think?”

  He regarded her for a minute, his jaw tightening as he formulated a response.

  “You’re with the police,” he said, watching her. “You’re setting me up.”

  Sadie snorted. “You really think the police would let someone like me do this kind of thing? I’m a private investigator, and I cater to the highest bidder.” She stopped to smile at him, not sure whether to be proud of herself, or disgusted, for playing this role so well. “For fifty thousand dollars, I’ll corroborate any story you want me to, and then I’ll go away. You won’t hear from me again, and you can continue with your plan—because you most certainly have a plan, don’t you, Dr. Hendricks?” She opened her purse again and removed an item wrapped in a plastic grocery sack. He tensed as she held it out to him, the bag falling to the sides of her hands as though it were a silk scarf.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “The hard drive from the motel computer you’ve been using.” Actually it was a hard drive from a fried computer stored in the back of the police department. The hard drive from the motel was currently being picked apart by a forensics team who expected to have Dr. Hendricks’s bank account numbers and login information by the end of the day. She continued to hold it out to him. “It’s yours right now if we can make an arrangement. Otherwise ... ”

  His jaw tightened as he stared at the hard drive. She let him stare for nearly twenty seconds, and then she let out a disappointed breath as she rewrapped the hard drive and returned it to her purse. “Of course, if you’re not worried about covering your tracks, then I have no reason to protect them.” She turned toward the porch, trying not to panic at what seemed like the failure of their plan. Officer Nielson had told her that he’d have a plan B if this didn’t work, but they both knew this was their only shot at a confession. Had she botched it? Had she not played this out the way she should have? Was it a mistake for them to trust her to pull this off? She went down the first step. Then the second.

  “Wait,” he said. Sadie closed her eyes briefly before she lifted her chin and turned around to look at him. He now towered above her, since she was standing two steps down from him. She didn’t like the difference in their positions, and she stepped back up to the porch. “How do I know that’s the motel computer’s hard drive?”

  A rush of adrenaline shot down Sadie’s spine, but she was careful to hide her reaction. Officer Nielson had told her what to do if Dr. Hendricks took the bait. She pulled the hard drive out of her purse and extended it toward him again. He didn’t take it. “Check it out for yourself,” she said.

  “Like I know how to do that,” he said wi
th the slightest growl of frustration in his voice.

  She extended it closer to him—he had to take the hard drive from her to confirm that he knew there was something to hide. “Then find someone who can,” Sadie said. “All I need from you is confirmation that you’ll pay up—then I’ll keep what I know to myself when I meet with the police later today.”

  He stared at the hard drive. She was careful to keep her breathing even as she watched his face.

  Finally, he reached out for the hard drive, the plastic crinkling as he took hold of it. “I can’t get to fifty thousand dollars right now,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. “Not by a long shot.”

  “I know you have access to the money. You’ve been moving it for months.”

  He shook his head and looked at her. “I’ve been able to facilitate online transfers between numbered accounts in small enough batches that it doesn’t tip off the feds. I can’t get to any actual cash, especially right now. They’ll be investigating the foundation, and we were careful enough to make sure they’ll never find it as long as we don’t lead them to it.”

  We? “So you and Anita set this up together?” Sadie asked. “I figured as much. Then, what? You decided you wanted it all for yourself?”

  He didn’t answer, and she shrugged as though she didn’t care. “When can I get the fifty grand?”