by Dale Mayer
“That sounds great. I don’t have too much other information. I never get confirmation. I just send a quick email, and then I send the payment.” She sighed. “I’m forwarding the emails to you and sending you a separate email with the accounts and payment dates.”
“No names?”
“None.”
“We’ll get back to you if we need more. And thanks, Elizabeth. I’m so sorry for everything that happened. Life’s a bitch sometimes. But she doesn’t have to turn the screw at the same time.”
“Isn’t that the truth? I’ll talk to you later.”
He could hear her swallow, presumably a good strong drink of scotch going down as she hung up the phone. He sat there for a long moment. “That’s really shitty,” he said with a heavy sigh. He’d always liked Elizabeth. She came across as real. “She’s had a tough go of it. A part of me says it’s her business if she wants to end it. But I can see how it would have thrown her company merger off-kilter if those photos had been made public at the time.”
“So what does this guy do? Just sit on these suicide hills and take pictures of people trying to kill themselves?” Warrick asked incredulously.
“She said she did try to jump. How was it she didn’t kill herself in that attempt?” Corey frowned at Warrick. “I should have followed up on that, shouldn’t I?”
“I’ll send her an email right now.” Warrick started to type. Within a couple minutes, he hit Send and looked at Corey. “I’ve asked her to respond as soon as possible. She might even call you back.”
Almost immediately Corey’s phone rang. “Elizabeth?”
“Yes. A man caught me. I hadn’t even seen him come up behind me. He grabbed me by the jacket just as I went over. I almost did fall, but he dragged me back up.”
Corey leaned forward. “Do you know who that was?”
“No. He said his name was Reginald, I think. I just wanted to get away from him. I was so confused, terrified, scared. I don’t even know how to express what I felt. But I never heard from him again.”
“Unless he’s the one blackmailing you?”
She gasped. “He was a big man. Six foot, dressed in a business suit. I didn’t even ask him what he was doing there.”
“He could have been doing the same thing you were. And maybe, by saving you, you saved him too.”
“I hope so. He was nice.”
They hung up, and Corey turned to face the other two. “Well, what are we thinking about that?”
Warrick tilted his head toward Angela. Her face was pale, her eyes huge.
Corey leaned forward, picked up her icy-cold hand and held it in his. “Angela? What is it?”
“My husband’s man of business. He is six foot tall and wears a suit. His name is Reginald.”
Chapter 11
Angela stared at Corey. “It couldn’t have been him, could it?”
“What’s his life like? What’s he like?”
“It’s hard to know. He’s always buttoned-down, obeys orders, does everything as he’s told. He always had a smile for me though. Never spoke out of turn. He was always very respectful.”
“But then your husband wouldn’t have allowed anything less, would he?”
She shook her head. “No. You’re right. He demanded obedience from both of us.”
The two men nodded.
She sat back. “Reginald had a son. … Something happened … about a year ago.” She cast her mind back. “It’s so hard to remember even that far back.” She ran through the scenarios in her head. “It was the first year Joshua started school. We had lots of meetings over that. Often Reginald drove us back and forth. He spent a fair bit of time talking to Joshua. They were quite good buddies.”
She stopped and frowned. “For a while Reginald got very, very, very quiet.” Her gaze widened. “I think something might have happened to his son.” She tried hard to pull up the memories. “Can we do a search of his name, check to see if he has a child?”
“Sure. Any idea what his last name is?”
She thought about it for a moment and then said triumphantly, “Warring. W-A-R-R-I-N-G. Warring.”
She hadn’t even finished talking before both men were clicking away.
“What did we ever do before the internet?”
“A lot more running around on foot, that’s for sure.”
“Reginald Warring. Married in 2004, had a son in 2010. Son deceased in 2016.”
“What happened?”
“He was hit by a drunk driver while walking on the sidewalk.”
Everyone winced. “Ouch. That’s got to be rough,” Corey said.
“I remember that now. I didn’t see much of him after that, so I don’t know if he took longer off than I thought, or whether he was just working part-time, or whether my husband was keeping him away, off on business.”
“But he’s very loyal to your husband?”
She nodded. “Very loyal. I think he is also extremely well-paid for that loyalty.”
“That would be very typical of the business world,” Warrick said.
“So, in other words, you don’t think he would talk to us?” Corey asked Angela.
“I doubt it. That would be breaking his word. And I’m pretty sure that’s something he cares about. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think my husband cares one damn bit about Reginald. But I think, for Reginald, its part and parcel of his makeup.”
“Anybody else in the household who’s not quite so well-paid?” Warrick smiled at her.
She shook her head. “When I split with my husband, he was in the process of getting rid of the staff. I felt bad because I figured he was doing it solely for that reason—to make sure nobody knew anything about what went on previously.”
“He’s a real piece of work, isn’t he?” Corey asked. But he wasn’t looking at her. He studied the laptop in front of him.
So she figured he wasn’t really expecting an answer. “Yeah, apparently I suck at picking men.”
At that Warrick snickered.
Corey gave her a horrified look. “Let’s just say your judgment went downhill over time.”
She realized what she’d said and chuckled. “Okay, so you weren’t a mistake.”
Warrick said, “Aha, I knew I was right.”
She blushed. “And I figured he’d told you.”
Corey shot her a look. “Men don’t kiss and tell.”
She rolled her eyes. “Which puts me in a bad spot. Apparently I’m the one who let it out of the bag.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Warrick crowed. “I already figured that’s the way of it.”
She shook her head. “It was a long time ago.”
“That’s what they all say.” His smile was cheeky, his eyes full of laughter.
“As long as you don’t make too big a deal out of it, I’ll let you get away with that.”
He just grinned. “It’s really not a big deal. I know it was a long time ago because I’ve been working with Corey for a long time, and you weren’t part of that world.”
She smiled. “No, I was too busy finding a controlling husband to make my life miserable.”
“That’s okay. You have Joshua,” Corey reminded her. “And, as we well know, that’s worth a lot.”
“What you don’t know, Warrick, is I lost Corey’s baby a long time ago. An event that caused the breakup, mass depression, and a lot of self-evaluation.” She saw the surprise in Warrick’s eyes.
He glanced over at Corey and nodded. “I’m also a big believer in things happening for a reason,” he said gently. “So maybe it just wasn’t the right time.”
She nodded. “I went through quite a period of figuring all that out back then. I know miscarriages are common, way too common, but nobody really talks about them. It was certainly an early pregnancy that I lost, and, in the ensuing years, I’ve met lots of women who have miscarried. We all have one thing in common, at least the women I met. It is hard to deal with.”
“But you managed to have Joshua, so that’s
a blessing in many ways.”
She chuckled. “You should see him. He’s such an angel. He’s one of those kids who can take your words, twist them around backward and make you question what you might have said in the first place.”
Warrick chuckled. “Kids are great. I will enjoy getting to know him when this nightmare is over.”
She studied his face. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
He glanced up. “I rarely say something I don’t mean.”
She chuckled. “And that’s a really nice thing about you too. You speak from the heart. And that’s worth a lot.”
“We are good people.” Warrick nodded at Corey. “You should give him another chance.”
A stunned silence filled the room, and she sputtered, “What are you talking about? There’s nothing between us.”
Warrick looked at her, his gaze deep and dark and mysterious. “Isn’t there?”
*
Corey raised his head at Warrick’s words. But it was Angela’s face that caught his attention. There was shock, confusion and a whisper of something else. It was that something else he wanted to lock on to. Did she see they still had something between them? Or rather the reasons they were together back then were even better reasons now?
She stared at Warrick, her jaw open.
It wasn’t exactly the heartwarming response Corey had hoped for, but, as the color rose up her neck and cheeks, he realized maybe it was after all. He patted her hand. “He’s just trying to bug you.”
She switched her gaze to him, and he could see her shocked awareness.
He smiled. “Don’t let him scare you off.”
“Scare me off what?”
He gave her a slow drawling smile. “Me.”
She shook her head. “Wow. You two are deadly.” She was slowly regaining her equilibrium.
“And you two are easy to read. Both of you are doing this dance. Interested but scared. Lots of things to come between you but no real reason to keep you apart.” Warrick gave a nod of satisfaction. “I’d be quite happy to end this mess with the two of you together again.”
She shook her head. “It’s not happening. Not that fast, that’s for sure.”
“It is happening,” Warrick teased. “You just haven’t come to accept it.”
She glared at him. “Can we get back to business now? This is a little too embarrassing.” And deliberately she dropped her gaze to the images in front of them. Almost instantly she gasped.
They both leaned forward to see what she was looking at.
“Is that a gun?”
Corey leaned closer and studied the photo. “It is a gun.” He turned to Warrick. “Can you bring that up in the photo program? Let’s see what that is behind the car he’s standing by.”
With Corey and Angela crowded around Warrick, he made a few adjustments and focused in on the back of the vehicle. Corey stepped away slightly, his face grim as he stared at the image. “That’s a foot.”
Warrick did a few more manipulations. “It looks like a man is lying there. It’s a little hard to see.”
“It’s not that hard,” Angela said in a shocked voice. “It looks like the man with the gun shot the man on the ground. There’s something almost familiar about him, but I …” She shook her head and then tilted it. “It’s hard to see clearly.”
“But why didn’t we see that at the beginning?” Warrick murmured. He leaned closer. “A lot of people are in that photo. Were they all part of it?”
“Or did nobody know about it? Looks like they’re all having this animated conversation.” Corey stared at the faces.
And, indeed, everybody appeared to be either laughing or talking, drinks in many hands. Also a vehicle appeared to move away from where the shooting occurred.
“That gun has a silencer. The shooter could have just walked up, popped him, helped him collapse out of the way and rejoined the group, and nobody would have known the difference.” Warrick reached over and tapped the top of the truck. “Someone set down his drink glass. Either that’s the killer’s or the victim’s.”
“So what do we do with this photo?”
“The detective already has it,” Warrick said slowly. “I don’t know any of these men. Do you guys?” Slowly he moved the photo around on the screen, highlighting each of the faces. When he got to the shooter’s face again, Angela leaned forward. “I feel like I know that profile, but I can’t place it.”
“Meaning, it could have been somebody you’ve seen?”
“Sure. It could be one of the people who came to the house or one of Greg’s many associates. Or …” she said slowly, scrunching up her face, “It could be Reginald, but it’s not a good picture of him, if it is.”
“It’s grainy but we can look into that possibility. It gives us something to go on. We can’t identify the body from here though.”
“Or it’s a much younger photo of Reginald,” she added suddenly. “That’s possible.”
“We need a satellite hookup,” Corey said.
Warrick turned to look at him. Together they said, “Tesla.”
Angela stared at them. “The car?”
They chuckled. “No, Mason’s partner.” Corey frowned and looked at Warrick. “Or maybe Levi.”
“The trouble is, we don’t have a time or date stamp, do we?” He searched the bottom of the photograph, but nothing was there.
“Let me call Mason,” Corey said. “He might want us to get Ice involved in this. If Tesla hasn’t got authorization for the satellite system, we don’t want to get her in trouble.”
“Just call Levi anyway.”
“Then I need to go through Mason,” Corey responded. “I don’t really know Levi.”
Warrick held out his hand. “I know him.”
“Then you call him.” Corey picked up Warrick’s phone and handed it to him. Together he and Angela listened in as Warrick called Levi. With a quick explanation he said, “I found a photo here that appears to show a man having just shot somebody. But we can’t get any details on the victim. Or ID any of the men in the photo.” Warrick nodded. “I just sent it to you. You should get it in a few minutes.”
He hung up the phone. “They will take a look to see if they can do anything with it. He did ask if the police were involved, and of course I had to say yes.”
“Why is it the police appear to be a problem?” Angela asked.
“When we’re on a military mission, we can and do have access to everything we need. But we’re not officially on a military mission, so we don’t have access. And, by rights, it’s law enforcement’s case. They don’t like it when we step into their cases. And we don’t like it when they step into ours. So it’s a matter of respecting boundaries.”
“Isn’t it supposed to be a matter of making sure Greg gets stopped, and I get my son safely back?”
“Those are the end results we’re both gunning for—both the navy and the SDPD. Obviously we need to work together to make that happen.” Corey could feel her frustration. He felt the same.
Angela got up and walked to the kitchen. “I’m hungry.”
“You mean, for more than chips?”
She pointed at the bowl. “It’s empty.”
“Are you sure you want to eat? Will it stop you from sleeping tonight?”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s eleven o’clock?”
He nodded. “Considering the late hour, I would say bed, not food.” He caught sight of Warrick’s face. “What?”
“I just realized I didn’t even consider the time when I called Levi. It’s got to be one o’clock where they are.”
“Did it sound like you disturbed him?”
“No. But he’s Levi. If anybody needs the least amount of sleep, it’s him. And he’s on top of everything, so this is up his alley.”
“I don’t know any of these people. But the circle of those involved just keeps getting bigger and bigger.” She flung out her hands. “And yet nothing’s getting resolved.”
“How
about a cup of tea or maybe a hot bath and then bed?”
She stared at him.
He could see the fatigue pulling at her eyes. Even though she’d napped in the vehicle, it hadn’t been enough. She hadn’t had enough sleep in a long time. “Come on. Let’s get you set up in a bedroom. You can crash whenever you want to then.” He turned, grabbed her bags and headed up the stairs without giving her any option but to follow him. He stopped at the top and looked at the bedroom layout. He put her in the bedroom at the far end of the hall.
Behind him she asked, “Why that one?”
“Because it’s not at the top of the stairs,” he said succinctly. He turned to see her reaction, only to catch the whisper of fear and understanding as she got what he meant.
She stepped inside the bedroom and smiled. “This is very nice. Thank you.”
“There are two bathrooms up here. This one has a Hollywood bathroom. It’s here.” He walked through and showed her that it opened up to the other bedroom as well. “I’ll be on this side. Do not lock the door. I don’t care what the reason, don’t lock it. I’ll be sure to knock if I’m coming into the bathroom, okay?”
She frowned at him. “Okay. I’m just tired. I want to go to bed.”
He nodded. He walked back into her bedroom, checked outside the window and said, “There’s nobody and nothing that can see in here, so, if you want, you can have your curtain open.”
“No, I’d like it closed.”
He closed it, walked to the bed and flipped back the bedding. “Do you have everything you need?”
“Towels?”
He walked into the bathroom, checked the linen closet, but none were there. He headed back to the hall, opened a closet, grabbed several towels and washcloths, and brought them in for her. “This should get you started. If you need more, they’re in the hall closet.” He opened his arms and gave her a hug. “Now get some rest.” He kissed her gently on her temple, turned and walked out. If he didn’t leave right away, he would drag it out for as long as he could. He just found something so addictive about being back in her space, having her once more in his life. He hadn’t wanted to let her go in the first place.