The Sullivan Gray Series Box Set

by H. P. Bayne

  “Those two crazy birds with the death wish for your brother?”

  “You’d better not be anywhere in public right now,” Dez growled.

  “I’m holed up in my dad’s old fishing cabin two hours north of the city. No, I’m nowhere public.”

  “Listen, I’m happy to pass you info on investigations like this, but I need something from you too. If you hear of them getting back in touch with Greta, if you ever find any indication of their whereabouts, I need you to let me know. I need to stay on top of that, and so do you, for your wife’s sake.”

  “Believe me, I know. If I have any say in the matter, she won’t be going near those two loons ever again.”

  “But if they try, if you hear anything—”

  “I’ll let you know, all right? Listen, I’ve got to go. Soup’s boiling over, and I need to get Greta up for lunch. Call me once you have something.”

  Dez ended the call without responding, and just in time since his phone chose that moment to ring through with a second call, this time from Lachlan.

  “I’ve got an answer for you about Tessa Montague,” he said. “Yes, she’s employed by that PR firm Best Foot Forward. And, yes, it had the contract about five years ago to put together an educational video for the courts. I’ve managed to get a copy of Mrs. Montague’s curriculum vitae, and it says she graduated with a Bachelor of Education almost a decade ago. She worked as a substitute teacher in the public school division for a few years, which no doubt has something to do with how difficult it is these days to find a full-time teaching job in the city. I don’t know if that’s the reason she finally went into public relations, or if it was something else, but she started working for Best Foot Forward six years ago. I can’t imagine subbing pays the bills.”

  “What about Theresa Hanson and the whole Pintlake teaching job?”

  “Hanson is Tessa Montague’s maiden name, Theresa, her given one,” Lachlan said. “You’re definitely talking about the same woman here. As for the Pintlake Comp connection, an opportunity came up a few years back for her to teach half-time. She was asked to take on a couple of arts classes, including an elective for grades eleven and twelve in commercial art. I’m told she was allowed to drop her PR work back to half-time that year to allow her to teach. Despite that, she only stayed at Pintlake one year. When she was offered the chance to renew her contract, she turned it down.”

  It occurred to Dez he hadn’t yet clued Lachlan in to the teacher-student relationship, and he took the opportunity to do that now. He put his phone onto speaker mode so he could find and send his boss the photos Sully had found.

  “But here’s what I don’t get,” Dez said. “Why would Montague not know the woman he was involved with was working at Pintlake? He specifically told me she didn’t teach, that she worked solely in PR.”

  “Think about it, Braddock. My understanding is the judge didn’t meet her until she was partway through that teaching year. Given what you’ve just told me, she was already hot and heavy with a student, who also introduced her to another man she became involved with—and still is. If you were looking to worm your way into a high-class marriage, would you want it out there you were sexually involved with a teenage student and were basically three-timing several different guys? Good cheaters succeed by living two separate lives. If she could keep Montague clear of the school, chances were he’d never draw the connections that would prevent her making a good marriage.”

  “I guess she succeeded there,” Dez said. “He married her, and he’s still none the wiser about that other life. But maybe Carter found out about Tessa’s multiple relationships and was going to say something. I mean, if he talked, Tessa would not only be out one very lucrative relationship, she’d also lose both her jobs and be branded in a way that would prevent her ever finding decent work again. I mean, no PR firm is going to keep an employee who’s made a bad name for herself, and no school would ever hire her again. And with social media these days, she’d never be able to run far enough to get away from her past.”

  “Yeah, that’s some solid motive there—if Carter was, in fact, going to tell. Don’t be too quick to eliminate Lars Ahlgren or even Carter’s best friend or girlfriend from this. After all, from what you tell me, Lars, Evan and Roanna were the only ones to have known Carter’s whereabouts at the time of his death. Each of them has a potential motive here too.”

  “Hey, I’d like nothing more than to pin something to that smug jerk Lars. But Evan and Roanna? They were just kids. I can’t imagine them doing something like that.”

  “You know as well as I do kids kill just like adults do.”

  “I know. I meant the two of them specifically. I haven’t met Roanna, but Sully said she comes across really meek. And Evan, I just don’t see it in him. I’m pretty good with people, man, and I just don’t have either of them pegged as killers.”

  “Listen, my third homicide during my stint in Major Crimes was an 85-year-old granny—the killer, not the victim. She got sick of her husband bitching about the quality of her cooking, so she stabbed him to death at the kitchen table. Don’t be too quick to dismiss suspects because they don’t fit the murderer mold. You can miss the truth if you put those blinders on.”

  Dez huffed out a breath. “Yeah, okay. I hear you. I still don’t feel it, but I hear you.”

  “Good. Now, if you don’t need anything else, there’s a biopic on van Gogh on TV I want to watch. Let me know what you find out.”

  When Dez got home with Pax, Sully was waiting, his grin suggesting he was more relaxed than he had been when he’d set off for the university.

  “Good chat with Marc, I take it?” Dez asked.

  “Yeah. I’m glad I decided to reintroduce myself.”

  Dez was too. Since meeting up with Marc again, Sully seemed lighter—a difficult feat to accomplish at the best of times.

  Sully took it one step further and surprised him. “I’ve been thinking about it, and once this is all over with Carter, I want to see Mom.”

  “You mean our mom, right? Not your birth mom.”

  “Yeah, I mean our mom.”

  Dez couldn’t hold back the grin. “Marc changed your mind, huh? I owe the guy a dinner.”

  “He helped put things in perspective, the way he always does.”

  “Weird. Whenever I talk to him, I leave more confused than I started.”

  Sully chuckled. “He can have that effect on people.”

  “So I’m thinking we’d better get this thing solved then. I just talked to Lachlan, and he told me Tessa Montague is without a doubt Tessa Hanson.”

  “Then her husband doesn’t know about the school connection.”

  “Guess not. Lachlan thinks it’s likely she was looking to bury anything connecting her to the guys she was involved with. The school was one big connection.”

  “But he’s a judge,” Sully said. “He observes liars for a living. How’d she manage to pull that off?”

  “As they say, love is blind. People will buy into all kinds of crap if it means they can continue to believe the best about the person they’re in love with. Look at Raynor.”

  “Yeah, but Montague doesn’t believe the best about his wife. He’s looking for grounds for divorce.”

  “Sure, he is—now. Back then, I’m thinking he was more interested in everything that came with dating a beautiful woman in her twenties. Let’s not forget, he may be a well-respected judge, but he’s also known for having one hell of an ego. He’s getting older, and he’s very aware he isn’t the hot commodity he used to be. Having someone like Tessa on his arm probably fed a starving ego. Might be he was willing to overlook an awful lot.”

  “But now that he’s sure she’s cheating on him, his ego’s taking a hit.”

  “So time to dump the reason for it,” Dez said.

  “I’m thinking that means you’re going back to watching for evidence of cheating?”

  Dez grimaced. “Yeah. Guess it does. What about you? Any thoughts on where to go next
with the Carter thing? You still need to figure out what that key opens.”

  “And now I’ve got this keycard thing to figure out too.”

  “It might not turn out to have anything to do with this.”

  “I know. It just seemed like a weird thing to be tossed into that locked trunk with everything else. I was thinking, maybe the card unlocks whatever building Tessa was living in at the time she was involved with Carter. The keycard could be a security door, and the key itself could be to something inside her apartment. Or maybe they’re to the school or the PR firm; they might have been able to meet in either of those places after hours. The key itself might unlock a filing cabinet or something.”

  “It’s as good a place to start as any,” Dez said. “I’ve got nowhere to be right now, so why don’t we drive around to a couple of those spots and start eliminating them? I’m thinking we could also try Lars’s apartment while we’re at it. I didn’t notice whether the security door took a key or a keycard, so it’s worth a check.”

  “You think she would have taken Carter over there?”

  “I think this whole thing has gotten weird enough for anything to be a possibility.”

  With Pax enjoying the ride from the backseat, they spent part of the early afternoon driving to the places Sully had suggested. They came up empty at the PR firm, the door requiring a regular key rather than a keycard. The hour meant there was no way to check Pintlake; not only would the building be unlocked given the hour, but the presence of two strange men trying doors was likely to result in a call to police. They instead tried Lars’s apartment but, again, the security door took a regular key they didn’t have.

  “I think we’re going to have to ask the judge whether Tessa had a house or an apartment somewhere in the city back then,” Sully said. “It makes the most sense she would have taken Carter back there. Why risk getting caught if she didn’t have to?”

  “She was already having sex with a teenage boy. I think that proves she wasn’t the best when it came to thinking things through or avoiding risk.”

  But the question needed asked anyway, and there was only one way to do that without alerting Tessa they were on to her.

  Justice Montague had sent a pair of texts within the past couple of hours, alerting Dez his wife’s phone’s GPS showed her at her favourite mall and then at the gym. This was cardio and leg day, the judge said, meaning Tessa was likely to spend at least two hours at her regular workout.

  Dez took a moment to check with the judge, making sure Tessa hadn’t left the gym unexpectedly, before sending the text asking about a previous address for her. Montague responded a moment later with a location walking distance from Best Foot Forward.

  Dez steered them to the building, a three-storey renovated brick structure that looked to have been recently converted to condos, and took the keys from Sully to try the front and back security doors. Once again, neither granted access via a keycard.

  Dez dropped both the card and the key into the front pocket of his shirt, and returned to the SUV.

  “Nada,” he told Sully.

  “It looks like it’s been reno’d lately,” Sully said. “Could be they’ve changed the security door locks.”

  “Yeah, that’s a very real possibility. If that’s the case, we’re out of luck. Could be these keys are sending us on a wild goose chase.”

  “So what now? We wait for school to close to check that out?”

  “That might be our best bet. My bigger worry is the keycard is for a hotel room somewhere. That might make the most sense for a rendezvous point for two people who weren’t supposed to be involved. Maybe she rented a room for a few days and slipped Carter one of the keycards. Could be he just forgot to leave it behind at the end.”

  “That doesn’t explain the key,” Sully said.

  “Maybe nothing ever will. Face it, there are a hell of a lot of locks in this city, and a lot have probably been changed in the past four years. We might never find out what these keys fit.”

  “The keycard might not mean anything, but he led us to that key for a reason, Dez. It’s got to mean something.”

  “We’re not giving up, okay? Like I said, once school is out for the day and everyone leaves, I’ll start checking doors. For now, I should probably start thinking about getting into position so I’m ready to go once Tessa leaves the gym.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Sully said. “Why don’t you leave her to me? I’ll tail her. You look like you need a rest.”

  “What are you talking about? I had a great sleep last night. Too great, come to that.”

  “You’re still dealing with that cracked rib. I can tell it’s bothering you. Everything we had to do last night played me out, and I’m not dealing with a broken bone. I’m serious, head home and let me keep an eye on her. It will give me something to do besides sit around and stare at your walls.”

  Dez considered it for the couple of seconds it took to grasp the sense behind his brother’s suggestion. His chest ached, and he could use a painkiller and a lie-down, in that order.

  “Drop me off,” he said. “You can take the SUV. I’ll call if Montague lets me know of any changes in location. But don’t take any chances on being seen, okay?”

  “I’ll keep my hood up.”

  “I meant seen in general. I don’t want her knowing she’s being followed.”

  Sully raised an eyebrow, his expression reading unimpressed. “Given obvious past experience, I think I can manage to avoid being noticed.”

  “Just don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I never do anything stupid.”

  “Sully, you’re a smart guy who’s spent much of his adult life going from one dumbass move to the next. Don’t even go there. Call me if something starts going down, and keep me up to date on your location, okay?”

  Sully provided the necessary assurances before dropping Dez back off at his place and taking off for the gym. Dez watched the SUV disappear into the distance before heading inside.

  Emily Crichton was waiting at her open apartment door when Dez trudged up the stairs. “My, you don’t look well.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Your rib?”

  “Yeah, still killing me from that baseball bat attack you saved me from.”

  “Not soon enough,” Emily said. “Do you need it re-wrapped?”

  “I think I just need a couple extra-strength painkillers, maybe half a two-six of whisky as a chaser.”

  “Don’t do that, dear.”

  “I’m kidding.” Dez offered a grin to prove it. “Everything all right with you?”

  “Oh, yes, just fine. Where’s Sullivan?”

  “I let him take my SUV to work a job for me. Speaking of, can I bother you for your car again if need be? I might have to meet Sully somewhere, and I don’t have a quick way to get there.”

  “Of course. Come in, and I’ll get the key for you.”

  Stepping inside Emily’s apartment came with its own set of risks—mainly the very real possibility Dez wouldn’t be able to escape without a cup of tea, a handful of cookies and a glimpse through a photo album or two.

  This time, though, she had something on her mind other than a trip down memory lane. Having dropped the car key into Dez’s hand, she followed up with a piece of advice.

  “I don’t imagine it’s my place to interfere, but I wonder if you’ve spoken to Sullivan recently.”

  “Of course I have. He’s staying with me.”

  “I meant about something particular.” Emily offered a small smile, likely intended to provide some hint as to her meaning.

  If there was a clue to be found there, it stumped Dez just as thoroughly as the keys in the Carter Devereaux case. “What kind of particular?”

  “Again, I appreciate this isn’t my place, but you do know he doesn’t like feeling like he’s cooped up, don’t you?”

  “I’m not keeping him chained to a radiator, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “Oh, I know that,
dear. But a person doesn’t need to be physically restrained to feel trapped.”

  It occurred to Dez the recent conversation he and Sully had in his kitchen must have started here. “I get what you’re saying and, yes, he did say something to me about it. I know I’m overprotective sometimes, but I’m trying. The two of you need to give me some credit. After what he put me through, he’s probably lucky I’m not keeping him chained up.”

  “You’re angry.”

  “Damn right I’m angry. He put me through hell, and he expects to come back and have me act like nothing happened.”

  “I don’t think that’s what he expects.”

  “Isn’t it? I know he’s been gone two years, and I know he’s had to live hard. He was always older than his years, and the past couple of years no doubt aged him even more. But they’ve aged me too. I was struggling already with losing family, and he knew that. He knew it and he still let me believe he was dead. Two years, Emily. Two years he let me think that. So, yeah, I’m pissed. And, yeah, I worry about him. I just got him back, and I almost lost him all over again. He’s always in such a hurry to sort things out for his ghosts, he doesn’t notice he sometimes screws me over in the process.”

  “He doesn’t mean to. But a gift like that, it can be all-consuming. Seeing things like he and his mother always had to, it’s hard to turn a blind eye.”

  “I know that. I grew up with him. That’s not the problem. I’ve always been there for him. This one time I needed him to be there for me, and he wasn’t. He bailed. He let me down big time, Emily. I mean, yeah, he’s saved my ass more than once, but this was different. It meant more because I’d rather be dead than deal with losing anyone else. And he knew that because he knows me. You don’t have to defend him to me. I love Sully, always have, always will. And I know what he was dealing with at the time and why it meant he needed to take off like that. But he still could have let me know. He could have let me know. That’s what I’m having a hard time forgiving him for.”

  “It could be there’s more to it than you realize.”

  “Yeah, you know what? There probably is. In fact, I know there is. He’s been ducking around something with me, and I don’t know what. Like I said, I know him. And I know when he’s not being completely straight up. He’s hiding something, and I don’t know how to pry it out of him.”