Watson Manor My Journey Home (Watson Manor Mystery Series Book 4)

by Ronald S. Craig

  "Excuse me," Jenny said pointing to the middle car, a black Chrysler and pulling the photo of McBride from her folder," did this man check that car in?"

  "Yes, looks like him. With girl, maybe lady friend or daughter, half his age."

  Jenny pulled Brittney's photo out, "This girl?"

  "That's her, she make him laugh. I remember they here twenty minute before you."

  "What made him laugh?"

  "I hear her ask if they come topless, he laugh and say, not looking for kid's army Jeep. She happy, when he say sunroof and they leave."

  "They were talking about buying a car?"

  "Didn't know at topless, maybe when he say sunroof about car."

  Jenny pulled a twenty dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to the woman. "Thank you very much." She started to walk away and turned back pulling another twenty dollar bill out. "Can you tell me how many miles they put on the car?"

  A huge smile crossed the woman's face as she took the money and lifted the handheld device hanging from her belt. "One hundred, sixty four miles. Thank you, very kind."

  As Jenny ran to the parking lot to get their rental Jeep, she called Charlie and told him she'd pick him up at the taxi station.

  Charlie spotted Jenny in the center lane and walked to the Jeep and got in. "You OK driving?"

  "Drive on the right, signs in English, even the stop signs are red, shaped like ours and say s-t-o-p. I got it. I also have great information, Charlie!"

  "Did they leave a return addressed post card in the car?"

  "Almost as good, they, McBride and Brittney were joking, so not paranoid someone is here looking for them. Let me get this the way I was told by the woman that checked them in. Brittney asked him if they come topless, he laughs and replies that they are not looking for a kid's army Jeep and offers a sunroof."

  "They're car shopping, let's head into town. Sounds like 4-wheel drive, like we have and I'm figuring new."

  "I have more, Charlie. The car was filthy; dirt roads, they put one hundred and sixty four miles on it. An overnight rental and they didn't stay in town with that many miles. They went where we'll find them, a permanent residence, eighty some miles from the airport!"

  "Did you get a feel for when the car was dropped off, Jenny?"

  "Twenty minutes ahead of us."

  "We find the right car dealer and we could follow them right to that permanent residence."

  Chapter 32

  Driving into downtown Belize City, I quickly discovered Belize didn't control speed limits with an over abundance of signs. They used those annoying speed bumps in the road and not the gentle roll-over tolerable ones, but the hit the brakes kind. "These are not helping your injury, Charlie," I said, hearing the sympathy in my voice. Charlie was at the point where he could keep pace with me walking and still wear a smile, but running was out of the question.

  "The ones you see are okay." He flashed me a grin and continued, "I'll check in with Baker, see if we have a warrant on McBride yet." He pulled his phone from his pocket.

  "Special Agent Baker?"

  "They are definitely here in Belize and Jenny got some great information from a gal that checked in their rental car. Do we have a solid warrant for McBride yet?"

  "Working on it. A rental car, what name was used for that?"

  "Thomas Winters, Jenny confirmed it was them with photos of McBride and Brittney. She got an indication they were car shopping and that's where we're headed now."

  "That's what I was afraid of, Thomas Winters and Rebecca Townsend are complete dead ends and no tie to McBride."

  "Baker," I said slowing for another bump in the road, "we do have confirmation now, and at least that, McBride and Brittney used those aliases."

  "I hate to say this, with a warrant for Brittney Scott in place, but we can't have the local police take her until we have a warrant on him also, or he'll run freely away. Is Don Richards with you?"

  "We haven't found him yet, and no returned call," Charlie said. "We're thinking that to stay between McBride and Don is where we need to be."

  "Anything we get, we'll call. You do the same," I told Baker.

  "We gotta' go, our first stop, Baker." Charlie put his phone away. "We can't very well walk the lot if they're inside signing the contract, Jenny."

  I pulled to the curb of United Motors and saw a large banner stating 'New Cars Here'. Most of the lot had used cars, with all the stickers indicating low miles, model year like every used car lot back home. "Looks like new cars are in a beginning phase here."

  "That should help in our search, Jenny. His old car was a Lexus, and you found she had a Mercedes. Would they go for those?"

  "He mentioned Jeep, but it was 'not a kids army Jeep' I guess. We can't get out yet, maybe drive around the other 'New Cars Here' signs with our eyes open."

  "Frankly, the whole new car thing is a guess," Charlie told me.

  "Also a guess is his worth as a millionaire here. Charlie, as a place to start, we have to make some assumptions, and new cars with big bucks, seems that place to start."

  "There's no one walking in the new car lot here, but they could be on a test drive already. I've got the city map from Avis, but we'll need a phone book for new car dealers." I started the Jeep and we found a small market three blocks away with a phone booth outside. Charlie took photos with his camera of the car dealer yellow pages. When he got in the Jeep he said, "Clearly, new is the luxury, Lexus and Mercedes haven't made the plunge here yet."

  He gave me directions to Elite Car Sales and we headed there next. We found more activity there in the used cars area, but few cars on display under the new car sign. We watched awhile and drove on to the next dealer. After about an hour-and-a-half, we'd circled back to United Motors thinking it was safe to approach the salesmen. Under the new car sign were only ten cars and SUV's offered by Suzuki, Hyundai and Mitsubishi. The salesman's initial excitement, when we walked toward the new cars, quickly faded with our questions and photos, not an interest in driving away leaving him a commission on a sale. He confirmed he was the only new car salesman and he never saw either McBride or Brittney on his lot. After thanking him, we drove on.

  Bravo Motors was our next stop and we felt encouraged, every lot had used Jeeps, but Bravo was a new Jeep dealer. We approached slowly, looking through the windows of the showroom and seeing the area was clear, we went inside.

  "Hello. May I assist you?" the middle aged man, not a native of Belize, wearing a sports jacket without tie asked as he approached us. "I'm the owner of Bravo Motors, Matt Paulson."

  "An American?" I asked him, smiling.

  "Thirteen years ago I moved my family here, best decision of my life."

  "We can certainly see the lure here, Matt," Charlie said.

  "What can I do for you folks?"

  Charlie pulled out his PI license and said, "We are looking for some people we believe might have been here this morning." I showed him the photo of McBride.

  "Just over an hour ago, you just missed them."

  I showed him the photo of Brittney. "Is this the woman that was with him?"

  "Yes, his wife Rebecca. A delightful couple and a transaction I wouldn't have believed if I'd not handled it myself."

  "Did Thomas refer to her as his wife?" I asked.

  "Well no, but it was clear they weren't father and daughter."

  "What did they purchase, Matt," Charlie asked.

  "That's what was so remarkable; he'd bought it before they'd even looked at it. He sat at that desk, pulled out a checkbook and simply said I want your top of the line, four-wheel drive Jeep with a sunroof. In the back, we'd just received a dark gray, Grand Cherokee Limited, a risk I took for this new market and thought I'd sit on for most of the year."

  "Matt, you said he wrote you a check, a local bank?" I asked him. Something was nagging at me and I couldn't put my finger on it.

  "Yes, it cleared right away, but I'd not feel right giving you that confidential information."

  I wa
s deep in thought, when Charlie nailed it with the question I was struggling for. "You indicated it was clear to you that they were not father and daughter, but you knew they were related?"

  "Only his name was on the cash purchase order and the check, but both their names went on the registration forms."

  "Thomas and Rebecca Winters?" Charlie asked.

  "Not Winters, Thomas and Rebecca Langford."

  "Thank you, Matt; we'd appreciate it if you'd keep our visit to yourself."

  "Why are you looking for them?"

  "It's a simple tax thing, Matt. I'm sure we'll get it cleared up," Charlie said, shook his hand and we left Bravo Motors with one more piece of the pie.

  I was still holding the Jeep keys and asked Charlie if he wanted to drive. Apparently, I was doing okay because he opened the driver's door to let me slide in. "Let's find a better map showing more detail inside of our eighty mile circle from here," he said getting in the Jeep on the passenger side. "Lunch would be good and we can give Baker a new name to run."

  "He should have something on Don's credit card by now. It would be good to have the extra eyes with us now and stop worrying about being too late for him."

  "Jenny, I find it difficult to believe that Don has been as fortunate with leads as we've been, we'll get there first."

  I drove back to the little market where we found the phone booth and we both went inside for the map and their Deli. The store was definitely divided with the neighborhood market in the back half and the tourist section just inside the front door. Charlie was checking out the maps and I went to the deli counter for our lunch. There was a lot of excited chatter all around me as I set our sandwiches on a small table and watched Charlie.

  It was comforting that we were making new memories and I noticed he had a map and a real estate paper in his hand, but he was lingering in front of a rack full of attraction pamphlets. I'd seen our photo album of our real honeymoon in Hawaii. It felt like watching someone else's home movies, but strangely with my face in the photos as if creatively Photo-shopped in. I couldn't love that man more than I did in that moment, and didn't miss any part of it growing within me, the second time. I wondered if the first time, my heart exploded for him, could have been anything more spectacular. If I could fall for him twice, then we clearly were meant to be as we are, committed to be together and more importantly, thrilled about it. I'd hoped to relive those lost memories, but as we moved forward, they became less significant. Charlie dropping what he'd purchased pulled me back to our mission.

  "Jenny these will be great … You were off in a different world, anything wrong?" He sat down, studying my face.

  "Only that all of those attractions need to wait. We should touch bases with Baker, having a new name to investigate. Oh, one more thing, I really love you, Charlie Watson."

  "That's good, Jenny Watson; because there's no one on Earth I'd share that with."

  "Just on Earth? Got a Venusian babe I don't know about?" We laughed and I was back from my drift.

  "And twins on Mars, with that settled, I'll call Baker."

  "Charlie that was quick, got something for me?" Baker asked.

  "Yes, but any credit card trail on Don?"

  "He withdrew five thousand from his savings before leaving San Jose. He knows the capability of McBride and didn't want to show his hand. Budget needed a credit card and that’s all we have."

  "They just purchased a new Jeep as Thomas and Rebecca Langford an hour ago. With some luck, maybe you can find property Langford owns here."

  "I'm already on a first name basis with Public Records in Belize, I'll know something soon. Do I need to pull some weight at the car dealer?"

  "He paid with a local check; your bank search should pop with Thomas Langford's name."

  "That's great work, you two! You'll never cease to amaze me."

  "Your turn to amaze, Baker," I said from across the table. "We'll need that warrant for McBride soon."

  "I'm on it. It's still a lot of ground to cover."

  "I have Jenny here. She uncovered a potential ninety mile radius from Belize City, from McBride's rental car. Work fast, Baker. We wouldn't mind twiddling our thumbs on a snorkeling trip waiting, but we need to get to them before Don does."

  Chapter 33

  Charlie and Jenny had spent the first part of the afternoon north of Belize City and discovered it was very swampy and probably not the ideal place to live. Taking the Western Hwy south they were in Dangriga by late afternoon. They were disappointed when they left Beach Properties Real Estate at sunset that Don Richards had been there earlier and showing the same photos of McBride from the file Jenny had given him. The agent told them he couldn't help Don either as he'd never seen McBride before.

  Agent Baker confirmed the bank account in the name Thomas Langford, but there was no property in Belize held in that name. The account held only three hundred and fifty thousand, so the millions they were expecting to find were still hidden. Charlie and Jenny stayed in downtown Dangriga that night with plans of combing the area first thing in the morning.

  Jenny was up getting the coffee going first thing the following morning and grabbed her phone after the first ring to give Charlie a few more minutes sleep. She took the phone into the bathroom and closed the door.

  "Hello?"

  "Jenny, it's bad," Baker said. "We've been working closely with the Commissioner of Police, Ben Cordona. He just called me."

  "What's going on, should I wake Charlie?"

  "Yes, it's hard enough telling this one time."

  Jenny went into the other room and woke Charlie. She switched her phone to speaker. "Okay, Baker, we're both listening."

  "Don Richards is being held as a person of interest. McBride was discovered with his throat slit in a remote area off the road to Placencia. McBride was behind the wheel of that new Jeep, the passenger side was covered in blood; we expect a match to Brittney Scott. The blood trail leads to the water and they suspect her body was taken away in a small boat to be dumped at sea."

  "Oh my, God! Why are they holding Don?" Jenny asked.

  "My fault, I guess. As I've said, we've been working with Ben Cordona and he is aware that you two are there and why, he's also aware of Don Richard's reason for being there."

  "So the scene, McBride killed fast and Brittney dragged away?"

  "Yes Charlie, no thief. The keys were in the Jeep, McBride had all of his Thomas Langford ID's in his wallet, and Rebecca Langford's handbag was on the floor. Text book crime of passion."

  "How did they find Don so fast?" Jenny asked.

  "He was boarding a flight home, Jenny."

  "Can we speak to Don?" Charlie asked.

  "Central Headquarters in Belize City, Ben Cordona is expecting you." Baker disconnected the call.

  "We are too late! How do we tell Linda and Sandy we failed them?" Jenny said through tears of failure.

  "It looks overwhelming Jenny, but we need to talk to Don. I'd never have pegged him as a crazed killer."

  "If he'd found them, and Brittney went off on videos of Sandy again, he might have snapped, Charlie."

  "Let's get to Don and answer those questions."

  *****

  "It's safe here; one thing McBride did very well was to conceal the title of this place under a shell corp. that I now control," Brittney told him.

  "The Cayman Accounts?"

  "Even easier than lighting that fire under Don Richards to get him here to kill us. You've planned this all very well. McBride was all too eager to settle my financial worries and concern's, having already put the key stroke recorder on his laptop, he showed me those accounts. It led to the best sex of his life before I tainted his drink and called you."

  "When you told me about the side business your latest mark was in, and asked for help last year, it made sense to keep his money in the family."

  "My step dad was shit, but you were always a great uncle. I moved your half of his money this morning. I had no reason to move my share."


  "We had a few bumps along the way, Brittney, but your blood donation should quickly remove concern for the warrant on Britney Scott, aka Rebecca Langford. I need to get back home, you're staying here awhile?"

  "Maybe a month or so until I find something better. I know my face is still in circulation, even after my gruesome slaying by psycho-dad last night."

  "I was wondering how long I'd need to follow Don around before you called. He was getting too close and the Watsons were not far behind him."

  "Your plan was a great deal more public than I would have chosen, letting Charlie Watson see me at the gas station was uncomfortable as hell."

  "It was necessary to get the ball rolling behind us Brittney. It's not the brand new Jeep you had, but drop me off at the airport and it's yours."

  Brittney had cut her long blond hair, short and dyed it black when McBride was passed out and she'd waited for confirmation back from her call that Don was under control. She drew several vials of her own blood and put some of her blond hair in the bag to stage the scene and waited for the knock on the door.

  When that knock on the door came, he also had the man he'd hired to watch and follow the Watsons with him. They carried McBride out and put him in the passenger seat of the new Jeep and Brittney slid in the driver's seat to follow him, driving Don Richard's rental car to the location on the road to Placencia. Don was in the passenger seat of his rental, also passed out from a complimentary and tainted drink after his dinner that night. The other man drove the two year old Land Rover behind them both to the location.

  After setting the scene, he and Brittney drove the Land Rover back to the converted hotel and the other man got into his own car that they'd left there earlier, and drove home to Placencia, making an anonymous call to police from the first phone booth he'd found entering town.