by Kait Carson
“Before you call Monroe County, please, let’s go see Paul,” Hayden begged. “I think I should go in alone but I don’t want to drive. Not with my head the way it is. I want to see him when he sees me.”
“I can’t go with you now. It would muddy the waters. There’s no reason Mallory can’t go. Do you have a small tape recorder?”
“Err, isn’t that illegal?”
“Yes. And we wouldn’t be able to use it either. But what I’m suggesting is you dictate your impressions as soon as you leave him. When they’re fresh. Before you have a chance to forget or color anything. You’ve had a blow to the head. Your memory may be faulty. It’s a safeguard.”
Hayden pinched her lip between her thumb and forefinger. She had a tape recorder, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do it that way.
“She’s right.” Mallory spoke from the doorway. “You may forget, it would be the best way. I’ll drive you.”
Hayden kept turning and looking out the back window making sure Janice was in sight. They had convinced her that to tighten the case, she needed to be nearby. Mallory drove Hayden to the Coast Guard station and would wait in the lobby. Janice would park in front of a defunct dive shop right off U.S. 1 on the bay side. She’d wait for the women there and would supervise Hayden’s dictation, asking questions from a law enforcement standpoint.
The closer they got to the Coast Guard Station, the more Hayden’s head hurt and the surer she was about the scent she’d smelled the night before.
Hayden walked up to the reception desk. “Paul Mueller, Hayden Kent to see him.”
“Sorry, Lieutenant Mueller is out on his dinner break.” The duty officer pointed towards the bank of chairs lining the wall. “You can wait for him over there if you like. He should be back soon.”
Twenty minutes later, his dinner break over, Paul walked into the lobby of the station from the parking lot. Paul’s eyes narrowed and his smile dimmed when he spied Hayden and Mallory sitting in the lobby. Noting the response, Hayden smiled her brightest smile. Recovering quickly, he came up to Hayden and smiled a greeting.
“Looking for me?” he asked.
“I’m sorry to bother you. Especially so soon after you were so kind to me. I wanted to show you something I found. I thought it might help your investigation.”
“Sure, come on back. Are you two together?” He indicated Mallory sitting next to Hayden.
At Hayden’s nod he added, “Why don’t you join us?”
Paul opened the swinging gate between the public and private areas and stepped back for the women to pass. Hayden breathed deeply. Her jaw tightened in disappointment. She smelled a different scent. Paul’s aftershave had a more woodsy scent. Whoever met her in the hallway of her house last night wore a different aftershave than Paul now wore.
Although Paul walked behind Hayden, he asked no questions about the bloodstained gauze bandage on the back of her head. Gauze that Mallory had assured her looked so gory she’d offered to change it.
Taking a seat in his office, Hayden withdrew the photo from her handbag. Handing it over the desk, she watched carefully. Paul took the photo and glanced at it. He blinked twice, quickly and dropped the photo to the floor. Leaning over, he picked it up. Returning upright, he studied the photo. “Is there something I should be seeing here? Some reason I should be interested in this bracelet?”
“Someone broke into my house last night and took it,” Hayden stated baldly. “Monroe County seemed to think it was very important. Tied somehow to the death of Richard Anderson and human smugglers.” Hayden took a deep breath. She thought she might be going too far. But if he had broken into her house last night, and given her this awful headache, she wanted him to know he hadn’t won.
There were other people involved and she had a few cards herself. She felt Mallory tense alongside her. Ignoring the unspoken warning, taking a shot in the dark, Hayden continued, “People don’t smuggle in a vacuum. Anderson probably worked with his brother. My ex-boyfriend. The way I see it, Kevin used his county position to help figure out the patrol sectors.”
“And this concerns me how?” A muscle jumped in his jaw.
At a loss, she said, “You have an investigation, don’t you?”
“Not into your personal life. Thank you for stopping by. I’d like to keep the photo if I may.” Paul stood. Clearly, the interview was over.
Hayden and Mallory walked out into the sunshine. “Wrong scent, Mallory. I’m lost. I thought for sure he’d worn the same aftershave.”
“Men change it from time to time, just like women change perfume.”
“Yeah, but this was distinctive, and I smelled it before. Look,” Hayden pointed to a silver Crown Victoria parked in the cyclone fence enclosure alongside the Station. She walked over to the fence, took out her transcriber, and dictated the tag numbers into it.
“This car was on my street yesterday. With the rest of the police cars.”
Thirty-Six
Officer Barton and Detective Landsdown arrived within minutes of each other. Hayden’s driveway looked like a parking lot. Hayden’s car was the only one missing. Her Tahoe still sat in front of Mallory’s house.
Detective Landsdown parked his unmarked unit on the swale in front of the house. Mounting the two steps to the porch, he nodded to Barton waiting for him behind the screen door. She opened the door and ushered him inside, through the house and out into the air-conditioned Florida room. He nodded to Hayden who introduced him to Mallory and Janice. Hayden took a deep breath. Landsdown was wearing an aftershave, but it was tangier, more citrus than the one she’s smelled last night.
Barton took out her notebook and sat beside Landsdown. Neither one interrupted Hayden as she told her story, although Landsdown grimaced when she got to the part about conducting her own investigation. Hayden thought he would swallow his teeth when she mentioned telling Paul about the smuggling. She could nearly see steam coming out of his ears. She would have laughed, except her head hurt too much. Finally, Hayden ended her narration and turned the tape recorder over to him.
“This isn’t legal, you should know that. You’re a paralegal. Even if you don’t do criminal work, you should have a basic knowledge of the law.” He put the device down on the end table. “I don’t want to touch it. It compromises the whole investigation. Nothing we find from what’s on this tape will be admissible. Fruit of the poison tree.” He looked at Hayden and said, “You’ve heard of that doctrine?”
Hayden vigorously nodded her head. “I know, I know, you don’t have to worry. I didn’t illegally tape anything.”
A look of sheer disbelief crossed the detective’s face. “A trained law enforcement officer let you tape his statement?”
“No, of course not, I didn’t even ask. I recorded my recollections immediately after the meeting. Janice and Mallory suggested it.” Hayden nodded in the direction of the two women. “Just in case my physical state created questions about my memory. I didn’t tape any of it during the meeting.
“Another thing, there are some tag numbers on there. They belong to a silver Crown Vic. I’ve seen it three times now. Once in front of my house during the body recovery from the boat slip at the end of the street. A second time I saw it next door to Elena Anderson’s house on Big Pine Key. And now, parked in the Coast Guard officer’s parking lot.”
“Same car?”
“Can’t be sure. The tag came back to Paul Muller. Janice ran it.”
“Makes sense. He works there. Crown Vics are a dime a dozen. Many are reclaimed auction patrol cars; they’ve had hard use but you can get them cheap.”
“You’ve had a rough couple of days.” Officer Barton said, and patted Hayden’s hand. “You’re clearly in pain now. We’ll type up your statement and ask you to come up to Plantation in a few days to read and sign it.” Landsdown and Barton rose and headed f
or the door.
“One more thing.” Landsdown turned back and said to Hayden before he reached the door from the Florida room. “No more investigating. Stay out of the cop business. And that goes for your friends, at least as far as this investigation goes. Kirby, do you understand me or do I have to talk to your major? You need to get out of this investigation. Your sister is involved. At the least, she’s a suspect. As hard as it is for you, keep it professional or take leave.”
“I understand. Will you be raising the boat or should I get my agency involved from that aspect?”
Landsdown looked sharply at Hayden. “Did you tell Muller about the boat?”
“No, no I didn’t.” She struggled up from the couch. The pain in her head was now white hot. She managed to walk Barton and Landsdown to the front door.
“Good, keep it that way. This investigation is not his business, or FWC’s business.” He looked pointedly at Janice. “It’s in our jurisdiction. It needs to stay that way. Ms. Kent, no more investigating. You could be stepping on someone’s toes. You could get even more hurt than you have been.”
Hayden leaned in the open doorway and watched Landsdown and Barton walk to their individual cars. Landsdown’s car, she noticed idly, was a silver Crown Vic. No wonder he was so adamant about her jumping to conclusions. Landsdown called Barton over to his car. He leaned out his open window and spoke to her. Barton looked back up at Hayden’s house. Feeling like she’d been caught eavesdropping, Hayden waved and closed the door.
“I’m whipped,” Hayden announced when she got back to the Florida room. “Ladies, if you don’t mind, I need to get some sleep.”
Janice’s cell phone rang as she was walking out the door. Looking at the caller ID, she said, “My sister.”
“You’d better take it in the house. Once you get outside, the power lines kill the signal. A fact of life in the Fabulous Florida Keys.”
Even from across the room, Hayden could tell that Elena was hysterical. Color rose in Janice’s cheeks. She paced the floor and spoke to her in Spanish.
Elena’s hysterical voice carried through the room. Nothing Janice said calmed her. Clicking off Janice said, “Monroe County is at my sister’s house. They’re bringing the boat up. Elena is beside herself. She thinks they’re going to arrest her. Damn, I should have gone down earlier.”
Hayden looked down at the floor. Embarrassed that except for her urging, Janice could have offered her sister comfort, and maybe a little preparation. “I’m sorry, Janice, it’s my fault…”
Janice waved the apology away. “It wouldn’t have mattered, even now, I can’t tell her they won’t arrest her and she’d have had more time to worry if I’d gotten there earlier. I don’t know what to tell her. I’m going to Big Pine. If you need me, Hayden, let me give you my cell number.” Janice removed a card from her handbag, scribbled ten numbers on the reverse and handed it to her. “Landsdown was right about one thing. I need to take leave until I know where my sister stands in this. I won’t be at the office for a while.”
Nodding her thanks, Hayden tucked the card into her phone book. After assuring Mallory that she didn’t need to stay, Hayden locked the door, with the key Mallory had located in her junk drawer, made a mental note to call a locksmith and have the thumb locks replaced with deadbolts, and set the alarm on instant.
Thirty-Seven
Loud knocking brought Hayden back to her front door. She looked out and saw Janice on her front porch. Hayden deactivated the alarm and opened the door.
“Do you feel up to coming with me?” Janice asked. “Elena trusts you, has from the moment she met you. I’ll feel safer if you can be with her.”
A mixture of emotions filled Hayden. Fear for Elena made up one part. Curiosity another. A feeling that she could only describe as fate made up the lion’s share. If the boat was Richard’s, it could hold the answer to his fate.
Janice’s face fell as the silence dragged on. “I guess I overstepped.” A deep red blush covered her face. Hayden read disappointment and embarrassment in the officer’s eyes.
“Are you sure you want me there?” Their friendship was new. Why did Janice want her present at what might turn out to be the worst day of her sister’s life? A sudden thought struck Hayden with the force of a hurricane. Did Janice have some information that implicated her? If things didn’t go well for Elena, did Janice have a way to turn Hayden into a sacrificial lamb? She searched the woman’s eyes for a clue to what the invitation really meant.
Janice must have read something in Hayden’s face. Her eyes slewed away from Hayden’s. “I’m thinking that if you can stay with Elena, I’ll be able to join in the investigation. See what’s really going on.” She lifted her gaze to meet Hayden’s pale green eyes.
“Count me in.”
Controlled chaos greeted Janice and Hayden as Janice’s aging Toyota pulled around the corner. She expertly maneuvered the small vehicle into the gap between an ambulance and a Monroe County Sheriff’s office patrol unit. One of the cops double-timed it over to the car before either woman pushed a door open.
The uniformed officer made a cranking motion with his hand. Instead of restarting the car to activate the power windows, Janice cracked her door and stuck her head out the opening.
“One of you live here?” the cop asked. The look in his eyes expressed disbelief even before Janice answered.
“No. This is my sister’s house.”
“Stay in the car. Let me check with my supervisor.” He leaned over and looked past Janice. “Is this your sister’s house too?”
“Good friend of the family,” Janice answered for Hayden.
The cop keyed the mike attached to his shoulder as he walked to the rear of the vehicle. The Florida heat intensified in the car. Hayden saw that the stickiness ratcheted Janice’s anxiety level to a new height.
“It’s so hot,” Janice said. “I can’t imagine how Elena feels, pregnant in this awful heat.”
It occurred to Hayden that Elena was inside in air conditioning. Heat would not be an issue. Instead she said, “Tell him. Maybe he’ll understand that she needs her sister.”
Janice stuck her head around the door. “My sister is pregnant. The first three months are a real problem. She passes out. Escort us if you want to, but…”
“Janice Kirby?” The officer put his hand on the side of the window and pulled the door further open.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t recognize you. You should have said you were an officer.” A light blush tinged his cheeks. “What about your friend?”
“I brought her to stay with my sister. In case there are questions you want me to answer. I don’t want Elena alone.”
Hayden noticed Janice avoided using her name. Probably didn’t want to take the risk that the officer would know her status as a suspect.
He pulled the door open for Janice and nodded in Hayden’s direction. Hayden left the heat of the vehicle. Janice climbed out from behind the wheel and extended her hand. “Do I know you?”
A look of compassion blended with his air of confidence. “No, ma’am. But your tag comes back to Janice Kirby and the dispatcher tells me you’re with FWC.” He paused a few beats. “Damien Reilly. Officer Reilly. I’m sorry about your sister. Do you want to go to her now, or I’ll take your friend to your sister, if you want to watch the salvage?”
“We’ll see it from inside. The entire back wall of this place is glass.”
Reilly matched his stride to Janice’s and walked alongside her as they went to the front door.
“Have the divers been down yet?” Hayden asked.
“Only to attach the ropes.” He looked over her shoulder and seemed to concentrate on whatever he was watching. The man was stalling. Trying to find words to tell them something. Hayden could almost hear Janice search her memory for a topic she could a
sk that would help him. The dark haired woman shifted from foot to foot as she waited for him to allow them into the house. The silence lengthened. Janice put her hand on the door handle and prepared to turn it. Reilly’s green clad arm shot out to stop her.
“Officer, I want to see my sister. Is there a problem?”
The man’s Adam’s apple worked up and down. “Do you know the name of your brother-in-law’s boat?”
Her bloodless fingers dropped to her side. “Yes, she is the Elena Mia.”
“We haven’t told your sister. That’s the boat at the dock.”
“Is there more to this?” A trickle of sweat ran down Janice’s face from her hairline. To Hayden, her words sounded forced out from between clenched lips.
“Won’t know until we float her.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the back yard. “That could take some time. The water here is thirty-five feet deep. Unusual.” He swung the door open. “I think your sister is in the Florida room.”
Janice and Hayden walked through the open door and cold air wrapped around them. Hayden gave an involuntary shiver and followed Janice through the entry way and the more formal living room toward the back of the house. She nearly collided with her when she paused at the French doors that divided the kitchen great room from the Florida room. Elena stood with her head against the sliding glass windows of the room. Even from this vantage point, they saw the clenched fists and the tears that ran down her cheeks.
“Elenacita?” Janice whispered.
The tearful woman let out a howl loud enough to attract the attention of the officers lining the dock. The sharp staccato of footsteps sounded from the powder room. A policewoman half walked, half trotted to Elena’s side. The woman wrapped her arms around Elena, then held her at arm’s length. “Mrs. Anderson, can I get you anything? You should be in bed.”