by L A Dobbs
"Did he ever talk to you about his will or anything?" Sam asked. If Tommy's alibi checked out, then he could rule him out as the killer, but if it didn't, money was a big motivator, and since Mike had known about Tommy for several months, he might have put something in his will already.
Tommy's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, I know all about wills now since Mom died. He did talk about it, and if you're thinking that he might've changed it so that I inherited something, he didn't. He knew his wife was dying, and he didn't want his kids somehow finding out that he changed the will until we had a chance to tell them about me. So, you see, I would've had no financial motive to kill him, either." Tommy turned pleading eyes on Sam. "Please promise me you won't tell his family about me. He didn't want them to worry, not right now. I know how it is when someone is sick because of my mom, and they don't need any added problems. I'd like to honor my dad's wishes on that. Besides, now that he's gone, I doubt his kids would want to have anything to do with me. Maybe it's for the best if they don't know at all."
Sam left it at that. It would be easy enough to check Tommy's alibi and to check the will. But if Tommy was telling the truth, that opened up another pool of suspects, especially if Mike wasn't the only one that knew about Tommy. Sam had to wonder if it was possible one of Mike's kids already knew they had a half brother. That would give him a new motive to explore in Mike's death. Because both Melody and Brian Donnelly would lose out if part of their inheritance went to Tommy.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The thunderstorm had passed by the time they were done talking to Tommy, and Lucy was sitting on the front seat, staring out the window at the door, waiting for them. She stood and wagged her tail happily as she watched them walk back to the car. Sam had cracked the window for Lucy--too bad he'd cracked the window on the passenger side, and Jo's seat was now soaking wet.
"You could've cracked one of the back windows." She opened the door and leaned in, taking some napkins out of the console and using them to sop up the seat. Good thing the Tahoe had leather seats--cloth seats would've been a mess.
"Do you think Tommy was telling the truth?" Jo asked after they were on the road again.
"Easy enough to check out. If he was at the hardware store working that night, then we'll know he couldn't have killed Mike," Sam said. "But I believe him, don't you?"
"Yeah. I could tell at first he was nervous about something, but then once the truth came out, his whole demeanor changed. He was telling the truth." Jo pointed at the giant coffee cup sign for Brewed Awakening. "Can we stop for coffee?"
Sam had already put his blinker on. Jo got a bag of jelly donuts, and they both got coffees. At the drive-through, the girl gave them a treat for Lucy. Jo tossed into the backseat, and Lucy caught it and swallowed it whole.
"That's for being a good girl and staying in the truck." Jo settled into her seat and flipped the plastic lid on the Styrofoam cup. "Reese already requested a copy of Mike's will the other day. Hopefully, it's been faxed over. We'll see if he changed it. If not, then Tommy had no financial motive."
"But Melody or Brian might have," Sam said.
"Right. I thought of that too. But that means one of them must have known about Tommy. Do you really think they would be so cold blooded as to kill their father over that?"
Sam's gut tightened. "I hate to think it, but maybe it was more than just money. If one of them found out their dad had cheated all those years ago, the death might have had more to do with anger. And Brian did act a little off, don't you think?"
"Yep... But to kill his own father? Seems like it would make more sense that he would kill Tommy."
"You got a point there. Maybe he didn't intend on killing anyone. Maybe he confronted Mike with the fact that he found out he had a half brother and things escalated out of control," Sam said.
"Maybe. But how can we find out if Brian or Melody knew about Tommy? Tommy asked us to keep it a secret, and I feel like it's not up to us to let the cat out of the bag if they really didn't know," Jo said.
Sam pulled into the parking spot in front of the police station. "Maybe we won't have to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe there's another way for us to figure out if Mike's kids were involved. But first let's at least get a look at his will. If he did already change it, then that rules out the motive of these kids killing him for money."
"But not for passion." Jo hopped out of the truck then opened the side door to let Lucy out. "And if he did change it, then killing him might get Tommy a lot more money than those withdrawals Mike was making from that secret account."
"Learn anything new?" Reese looked up from her computer, her fingers still typing on the keyboard as she looked up at Sam and Jo.
"We learned that Lucy is afraid of thunderstorms," Sam said.
Reese bent down and opened her arms, and the dog rushed over to her. "Oh, you poor thing." She rubbed Lucy's neck and then looked up at Sam. "Did the mean chief of police make you go outside in a thunderstorm?"
Lucy's tail swished back and forth as she settled into Reese's embrace, looking back at Sam and Jo reproachfully.
"At least we didn't make her go outside and get wet," Jo said, glancing at the back of her jeans, which were still wet from the seat.
"That nice man that sent you the postcard stopped by," Reese said.
Sam rolled his eyes. There was only one man she could be referring to. "Harry Woolston? He's no nice man. Don't hang around with him, and don't encourage him to come here."
Harry had been the chief of police in White Rock when Sam was a kid. He was retired now. Problem was, Harry got bored easily. If Reese encouraged him to drop by the station, the next thing they knew, he'd be insinuating himself into all of their cases and giving unwanted advice.
Reese frowned. "Well, he seemed nice."
"Oh yeah, he seems that way. Don't let that old guy fool you," Sam said. "Anyway, we were wondering if Mike's will came in. It turns out there's an interesting turn in the case."
Reese raised a brow. "The will did come in." She spun around and plucked something off the printer. "Here it is. Wife's will is there, too. What's the turn?"
No one else was in the station to overhear, so Sam told her. "Turns out Mike had an illegitimate son."
"Get out." Reese's eyes widened. "This is like a soap opera."
"Yeah, except it's real life. So don't let it get out. We don't want the family to get hurt. But the new revelation certainly adds a twist into our suspect list."
"You don't think this illegitimate son killed him, do you?" Reese asked.
"I'm not sure. He wouldn't benefit unless he's in the will, but it might've been the motivation for the kids. With Margie about to die and Thorne offering a lot of money for the land, it's starting to sound a little sticky. I'm not sure where to look." Sam held the papers up as he slipped around the post office box divider into the squad room. "Maybe there's something in here that will point us in the right direction."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kevin pulled his Isuzu into a parking spot just a few down from the police station. Sam's Tahoe was back, so Sam and Jo must have already interviewed the suspect. Interviewing the suspect sounded a lot more interesting than the call Kevin had been on. Settling these minor disputes with the townies got old after a while.
He reached into his pocket, his fingers brushing against the plastic thumb drive. The drive had been empty according to his computer, but Reese had contacts, people with skills who might be able to find something hidden, and Kevin had a sneaking suspicion that something important might be hidden on there.
He knew he should hand it over to his contact. It had been found in Tyler's things, and they'd specifically said they were looking for data. But if Sam and Jo were on his side, shouldn't he hand it over to them? It might have to do with police work.
Never mind that they didn't have any unsolved cases or any information that was missing. Never mind that he didn't get to go and interrogate the suspect. He understood why Sam brought Jo. She w
as a sergeant. Kevin was just an officer. If anyone would do the detective work, it would be the highest-ranking officers, and it was Kevin's own fault that he hadn't gone up in rank because he'd chosen to work part time.
The money from his contact gave him enough that he didn't have to work full time, but Kevin was discovering it wasn't that satisfying to just take that money. He was starting to feel dirty. At first, they convinced him he would be helping to keep the police department free of corruption. Now, he wasn't so sure.
And today, he'd received a new note from his contact wanting more information. Kevin wasn't sure he wanted to give it.
Sam and Jo had started to include him, and it felt good. Sam had even said he'd done a good job.
But still Kevin suspected there might be some things Sam and Jo were doing that weren't exactly according to police procedure. Like, for example, the offhand remark he'd gotten when he went to his safety deposit box at his bank out in Colebrook earlier that morning. Maybe he was just being paranoid. The only way to find out was to ask Sam and Jo, and maybe he could use the thumb drive as sort of a way to prove to them that he was on their side, to become part of their inner circle.
Lucy trotted over to greet him as he opened the door, and his heart expanded. He had to admit he'd been wary of the large German shepherd mix at first, but he'd soon learned Lucy was a gentle creature, and since he connected better with animals than people, seeing Lucy was something he now looked forward to every day.
He pulled the thumb drive out of his pocket. It was the right thing to do to give it to Sam and Jo. He placed it on top of the folder he was carrying with the paperwork he had from the calls he'd been out on.
Jo and Sam were back in the squad room, looking at a piece of paper with Reese.
Sam looked up as he entered. "Hey, Kevin, did everything go okay?"
"Yeah, how about you? Did you get a confession?"
Sam laughed. "No such luck. Turns out it's even more complicated than we thought."
The phone rang, and Reese went back to her desk in the reception area while Jo and Sam filled Kevin in on what had happened earlier.
They were talking to him just as they used to talk to Tyler. As if he was one of the gang. It made him feel confident, so he decided to ask them outright about the safety deposit box. "I was at the bank over in Colebrook this morning. I have an account there, and they told me to tell you that there was no safety deposit box? Is that something to do with this case? Did Mike have a safety deposit box you guys were looking into?"
Sam and Jo exchanged a sharp look that put Kevin's nerves on edge.
"No," Sam said. "Oh yeah. That's right." He looked at Jo. "Remember?"
"Right, we thought Mike might have a safety deposit box because he took that money out of the ATM and we didn't know what he did with all of it."
Kevin frowned. That couldn't be true. He'd been here the whole time when they'd looked at the ATM tape, and it was clear Mike had gotten into the white Jetta right afterward. Sam and Jo had interviewed Tommy right away, so they knew where the money was going. And even if they suspected Mike hadn't given it all to Tommy, Kevin doubted they would have had time to make their way to the bank in Colebrook, because they would have started looking at banks closer to home first. And, even if Mike had stashed more money, why would they care where it was after learning about Tommy?
But why would Sam and Jo lie about that? A chill came over him. His contact had been right--Sam and Jo were up to something, and it wasn't exactly legal.
He inconspicuously shoved the thumb drive into the pocket in the front of the folder.
"Was that something for me?" Sam nodded at the folder.
"Oh, this? No. Just the routine case stuff. I'm gonna go put it all into the computer now."
Kevin sat at his desk, glad that he hadn't told his contact he was done with spying. What had he been thinking, anyway? Of course Sam and Jo were including him in everything--they wanted to keep him from being suspicious. Because they were up to something shady on the side, just as Tyler had been.
Now he was glad he hadn't confided in them. He would've forfeited all that money and probably been taken down along with them in the process.
Sam watched Kevin walk back to his desk. He could've sworn the officer was about to hand him something that was in his folder. Sam couldn't see much else but paperwork. Maybe it was his imagination, but Kevin's demeanor seemed to have changed while they were talking.
He glanced at Jo, and she was frowning at Kevin. It had been a big slipup that the person at the Colebrook bank had mentioned the safety deposit box to Kevin. Sam hadn't even thought about that when he and Jo had gone around pretending they were on police business while trying to find the box that fit Tyler's key. They'd have to be more discreet in the future. Even though Sam thought they might be able to trust Kevin, the fewer people that knew a lot about what they were doing, the better, especially in light of Tyler's big bank deposit. They might be into something that could get dicey.
"Hey, Sam, almost forgot you got an interview in fifteen," Reese yelled across the partition. Sam grimaced. He wished the whole interviewing process were over. He looked at Jo. "Maybe you could take this one?"
Jo made a face. "Maybe. Let's figure out this will thing first."
"Well, unfortunately, it could go either way. Here's how it's worded. He bequeaths all his stuff to Margie. If Margie predeceases him, the estate is to be split equally among his issue. It doesn't specifically name anyone, and with the DNA test, Tommy would clearly have an argument that he was Mike's issue. If Mike died after Margie, Tommy would have claim to one-third of his estate," Sam said.
"Then Tommy was right. He wouldn't have a reason to kill Mike. Quite the opposite, because Mike was already giving him money, but now that Mike is dead, that money will dry up. I assume Margie's will leaves everything to Mike, right?"
"Right. Which means Mike's kids could have a motive to make sure that Mike died before Margie did."
"If they knew about Tommy," Jo said.
"Good point. How would one of them find out?" Sam asked. "Melody was taking care of the mail. What if the bill for the DNA test came to the house and she found it?"
"We need to double check where Melody was that night. And Brian too. There was something funny going on with their alibis. Brian said he lives at those apartments across from the pharmacy--the Bluebell Arms--and he was home alone. Melody said she saw him, but I'm not sure I trust her. How can we verify Brian was at home in the Bluebell Arms apartments?" Jo asked.
A voice rang out from near the post office box partition. "That's easy. My friend Charlie Hobbs manages the place, and he knows everything that goes on there day and night. Nothing that happens escapes him. If your man was home, he'll know."
The voice belonged to Harry Woolston. He was tall and wiry, with a head full of thick white hair. He stood beside the partition, his keen blue eyes taking in every detail of the room.
Harry was pushing eighty but had a brain as sharp as a teenager's. Unfortunately, that meant that retirement didn't suit him. Harry got bored sitting around playing golf and bridge, and now that he was home for the summer, he wanted to insinuate himself into Sam's investigations.
Then again, in this case, it might not be such a bad idea. Sam knew how the good-old-boy network worked, and he knew that most folks didn't want to get involved and tended to be closemouthed with the cops. If Sam talked to the apartment building owner himself, he might not get any information, but with Harry along, he'd get the truth.
"Okay, Harry. We'll let you come with us to talk to this Charlie Hobbs, but that's it. You're not getting in on the case," Sam said.
"We'll see." Harry smiled, took his phone out of his pocket, held it at arm's length, and squinted. "Now let me remember how to work this thing."
The front door opened, and a young man of medium build walked into the lobby. He stopped at Reese's desk. "I'm here for the interview. Wyatt Davis."
Harry's attention wavered fro
m the phone, and he stepped to the side so he could look into the lobby. He glanced from Sam to Wyatt. "Well, you don't say. Come right in. We've been waiting to talk to you."
Chapter Twenty-Five
It turned out that Harry was pretty good at interviewing. He asked all kinds of questions that Sam wouldn't have thought of. Questions that went beyond general police procedure and into the psyche of the applicant. Sam felt like taking notes so he could ask the same kinds of questions on future interviews.
When they were done and Wyatt had left, Sam turned to Harry. "So what do you think?"
"All you young people depend too much on computers and technology. I think you need to get someone in here who knows how to figure out who the killer is with his mind." Harry tapped the side of his head and leaned back in his chair. "But I suppose this one seemed okay. He wasn't too green around the gills, but he wasn't the gung-ho type that'll drive you crazy, either. I haven't talked to the other applicants, though, so I can't measure him against them. You want me to talk to them?"
Sam got up from his chair. He didn't want Harry to get too comfortable hanging around at the police station. He did agree with Harry that Wyatt seemed like the most likely candidate, but he'd have Jo talk to him and maybe bring some of the others in again just to be sure.
Lucy barked out in the squad room, and Sam open the door to see Dupont standing there with a dog treat in his hand and Lucy raising her paw up in the air on his command. Lucy was becoming more trustful of Dupont--either that, or she was willing to overlook his personality flaws to get the treats.
Dupont straightened his blue Armani suit when he saw Sam, and his eyes drifted over to Harry behind him. "What brings you here? Are you in some kind of trouble?" Dupont asked.
Harry laughed. "Don't you start on me, Harley Dupont. I wouldn't be casting any stones if I were you."