by A Lexy Beck
Cain reached for the remote and turned on the flat screen mounted in the kitchen. A picture of Alice Bennett was on the screen as the reporter concluded her report.
“…again, details are murky right now and police are not elaborating on the circumstances, other than the fact that Alice Bennett, CEO of Pegasus, has been found dead in her home. We will bring you more details as we receive them. This is ....”
Cain turned off the television and I could see he was upset. Tears slowly pooled in his bright blue eyes and I stood to get closer to him. He reached around, hugging me at the waist, still sat at the table. It was the first time I had seen the otherwise unbreakable man crack.
“Cain, I’m so sorry.” Nothing I could have said would have eased the pain.
“The police are at the office. They want to speak with me. I should go.”
“Well, that’s to be expected, right? I’m going with you. If they ask, we’ll tell them I’m from the law firm that represents you.” I was sliding on my jacket and shoes from yesterday. He didn’t argue; he just kissed me and we left our retreat behind.
On the drive to Vawter, I called Dad. “Hey, Dad, listen, I’m headed to the office with Cain... Yes. I’ve just heard that the police want to talk to him. No, I don’t have any other details, I think it would be good to have someone there …yes, I can do that. Okay, I’ll keep you posted.” I tapped the phone off and followed Cain’s car into the parking lot. He slid his car into an empty spot and I pulled in beside him.
We walked in together and I coached him under my breath. “Be friendly, but not overly friendly. Try not to get defensive. I’ll be right there, alright? Dad said if you get uncomfortable, ask for your lawyer. If you go in with one you look guilty, or like you’re hiding something.”
“I’ll be fine, Jennifer. I just want to get through this and help them find whoever did this to Alice.” Cain was abrupt; angered and saddened all at the same time.
Detective Jackson and a few other officers were waiting in the lobby as we entered. “I’m sorry, I got here as quickly as I could,” Cain greeted them.
“Mr. Parker, your name has been coming up quite a bit lately, and never the same thing. First the break-in, and now this.” Detective Jackson didn’t waste any time getting to the meat of the conversation.
“Are they connected, detective?” Cain quipped back just as quickly.
“Right now, the only connection is you, Mr. Parker. We’d like to ask you a few questions. If you would like to talk somewhere more private…?” Some of the employees were nervously standing around, watching for what might happen.
“Sure, we can talk in my office. Do I need legal representation?” Cain’s jaw was taut.
“Not at this time, we just want to ask you a few questions.”
I followed behind the group, hoping to go unnoticed. “Ms. Dunning, we’d like to speak with Mr. Parker alone for now, if you don’t mind,” Detective Jackson ordered as he met Cain’s eyes.
Cain nodded at me—I took that as my cue to stay behind. I spotted Ashley nearby, so I went to talk with her. “How are you, Ashley”
The tiny blonde poked her chin out proudly but there were large, luminous tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening. What would I do if something happened to him?” She choked the words out, and others around us began to stare.
“It’s going to be okay, I promise,” I took her gently by the arm and led her into an empty office. I didn’t know whose it was, but Ashley need a moment to compose herself. “What do you know? Have they told you anything?” I swiped a tissue from someone’s desk caddy and handed it to her.
She dabbed at her eyes with fingers tipped with pink manicured nails. “No, they didn’t tell me much, and I sure wasn’t going to tell them anything. I would rather die!” she said with youthful, dramatic flair.
“I wonder why they think Cain would know something… I mean, if Alice Bennett died last night, he couldn’t have killed her. He was with…” The look on her face shut me up. “Well, I just mean, he couldn’t have done it.”
Ashley’s straightened her spine and stared at me. “Ever since Rachel died, I’ve been there for Cain. He was a broken man after it happened. He loved her like a crazy man. Since then, I’ve been the one that picked up his dry cleaning, hired his housekeeper, and rubbed his shoulders when he needed it. I’m the one that has held his hand at her memorial, defended him to everyone, including Dylan. It was me! He might flit about and entertain himself occasionally with something new, but I’m always the one that he comes back to. Just remember that, Miss Dunning.”
I withheld my contempt and desire to lash out in anger; I just didn’t have it in me. All I could feel was sympathy. Here was a young woman, living in her dead sister’s shadow, hanging on to something that was long gone.
“We’ve always had a connection. Even when Rachel was alive.” Ashley continued to look at the tissue in her hands and not directly at me.
“Ashley, don’t you think there’s a chance that Cain sees you as a friend, maybe even like his own little sister?” I tried hinting that everything wasn’t as she was seeing it. I wanted her to realize that she believed was real actually wasn’t.
“Never, I know how he feels, how he acts around me. In time he’ll…” Before we could talk further, a confused employee walked into the office to find one woman perched on his desk and another stood awkwardly before her.
“Sorry, Jerry,” Ashley mumbled and we left the room and moved back to the lobby.
I had heard everything I needed. I knew exactly what she believed. Cain’s office door opened and he walked out, escorted by the detectives. He leaned over to me. “I have to go downtown to answer more questions. It’s okay, you go to work. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“Are you arresting him, detective?” I was eager to know what they had discussed and the outcome, but knew I wouldn’t get the details from him.
“No, we just have some more questions and feel it would be better to finish this downtown.”
The group of onlookers peered from their offices and a somewhat hysterical Ashley tried to gain Cain’s attention, but to no avail.
I grabbed my purse and walked out after Cain, aggravated that the police department was wasting valuable time not searching for the real killer.
Chapter Eight
Dunning, Durst and Chandler was a beehive of activity. Someone had the television screens on a low volume, trying to track the latest updates. While the story was big to us, it wasn’t national news. I was grateful Cain was still under the radar and the news hadn’t picked up on him being questioned. We had been hired to stop this from happening, now there was nothing to do but ride it out. The overarching question was, “Who killed Alice Bennett?”
I knew it wasn’t Cain—we’d been together since late yesterday afternoon until this morning. There was no way he had slipped out during the night to commit a crime and then slid back into bed without me knowing. Not a chance.
“Where have you been?” Reese asked, in his typical surly way. Before I could answer, he looked at me; I was wearing the same clothes I’d worn yesterday, minus the jacket. “Oh, never mind. Listen, I’ve got some information on that phone call and those messages.”
I followed him into the office we shared. “He messaged me again yesterday. Pictures of Mom and I, and one of Dad and I… but there was something else…he sent me a picture of me, in the lobby. He was here.”
“Jennifer, this is getting dangerous—too dangerous—and we have no idea what he’s going to do next. From now on you aren’t going anywhere alone. Understand?”
I nodded. “Okay. Now, what do you want to show me?” I stood behind his desk.
“I tracked those emails. They came from phones, dead phones, you know the disposable kind that you can’t trace. He loaded the pictures on the phone, along with the spyware, and sent them to your inbox. I can’t trace them at all.” I sat on the edge of the desk, dejected. “I do have some good news, though. W
e have someone who has asked to come in and talk to us about things at Vawter. They asked we not mention anything to anyone else at the company, including Cain.”
“Who is that?” I asked incredibly.
“That kid, Hunter from the IT department. He called me this morning when he saw the news—he’s totally freaked out. Hunter says he lied at our interview because Dylan threatened him. Kid says he has digital logs, video, all sorts of proof to show that the creep was accessing ports without permission and hanging out after hours. Hunter might be young, but he’s not so young that he didn’t know he needed to cover his own ass.”
“Really? How did he do that?” It was the best news I heard in a long time. It might be the proof we needed to get Cain off the hot seat. “Is he willing to come in?”
“Yeah, actually, he’s here.”
I sprang to my feet. “Where? Which meeting room?”
Reese smiled. “Room C. Have at it, I’ve got some digging to do here.”
I paused at the doorway. “Reese…thanks for everything.” He waved his hand at me, signaling me to leave, and I strutted down the hall.
Hunter was alone in the room, I paused at the glass window to take a peek at him. His leg was jiggling furiously; he leaned on his hands, talking to himself. I put on a pretty smile and walked in with my notebook and pen. “Hi, Hunter, I’m Jennifer. Nice to meet you.” I extended a hand to him. He shook it and gave me a nervous smile. “Are you okay? Need some water or something?”
“Sure, that would be nice.”
I walked to the door and called to the receptionist. “Could you bring us two waters please?” I returned with my best smile. “So, Hunter, thank you for coming in today. You aren’t in any trouble, at least not that I know of, but I’m glad you decided to talk with us. That might be in your best interest.”
The temp receptionist, the one who stared me down yesterday, brought us two waters and quickly departed. I pushed my notebook and cell phone to the side and pretended that I couldn’t open the water. I slid it to him. “Could you open this please? I can’t seem to get it.”
He gave me an awkward smile. “Sure.” That’s it, Hunter. Relax and spill the beans.
“Reese tells me you conducted an audit recently? That sounds complicated—how did you do that?”
“It’s actually something I had been working on for a while. A little project I put together because I had hoped to impress Dylan and Mr. Parker. Then, with all of this data breach stuff going on—and with what Dylan had said to me—I was scared to say anything.” The nervousness caused Hunter’s voice to crack.
“What Dylan said? Reese mentioned he threatened you. Is that what happened?”
“Well, he told me that if I let people know about what was going on in corporate IT, it would look like I had something to do with it. He suggested I play dumb, and if I didn’t he would have to fire me so it looked like he was doing his job.”
“I see, and that’s why you lied. So why come forward now?” I was curious why he was so willing to put his neck on the line now. Hunter explained how had set a digital “tripwire,” which alerted him whenever someone accessed the system outside the normal methods. The skinny, blonde young man had managed to capture Dylan digitally, sending bogus emails, screwing with records and tapping into restricted data. It was proof. All the proof we needed to show that not only was Dylan in the office after hours, but he had been accessing the information remotely, too.
“When I saw that Dylan was likely behind this, and was kinda pinning it on me, I had to tell someone. I was scared to tell Mr. Parker, because I know him and Dylan are friends. I’m protected right? You know, like the client-lawyer thing?”
“Well, Hunter, it doesn’t exactly work like that. You see…”
Hunter started to get up. “Great, so I just spilled everything I know and now Dylan and Mr. Parker are going to know it’s me.”
“Hunter, It’s ok. Have a seat. Listen, I’m not an attorney, but we’re here to help. Cain, er, Mr. Parker will be happy to hear this information, and as far as Dylan is concerned, he won’t know you said a word until it’s absolutely necessary, and you’ll know way before that happens.”
A look of relief settled over his face and he eased himself back into the chair. “Thank you.”
“No, Thank you, Hunter. Your hard work might just help Mr. Parker. I know he will be grateful.” I rose to my feet. “I’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”
He stood to his feet and shook my hand. “I’m real sorry I lied before. I love my job and I was scared that I could be in trouble for something I didn’t do.”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around, Hunter. If I were you, I would write a detailed report about exactly what you found. What Dylan said to you, that sort of thing. You write it up and get it to me—here’s my card. Email me there, or fax it to me. I’ll make sure they know what happened. I’m on your side, Hunter.”
“Thanks, Jennifer. I appreciate it.” I led Hunter to the elevator and waved goodbye as he stepped inside.
My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down. It was Cain. “Hey, are you done? Everything going Ok?”
“Well, yes, but I’m a person of interest now. They said they found papers in Alice’s house dealing with Vawter. Papers with my signature on them. They said it’s not enough to hold me, but advised me to not leave the area.”
“Cain, we were together, you have an alibi.”
“Jennifer, it’s not just about Alice Bennett. They are asking me all kinds of questions not even related to her. Listen, I need some time to decompress and think all of this over.”
“Ok, let me finished what I’m doing here and I’ll be right over. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“No, Jen, I just need some time alone right now. I’ll give you a call later.”
The phone went silent and Cain was gone.
Chapter Nine
I realized my options were limited, and I needed to go to the only real resource I had. I tapped on Dad’s door, hoping that he would be willing to listen to me. “Got a few minutes?”
Dad took off his glasses and nodded. I closed the door behind me. Without asking, Dad picked up his phone. “Cynthia, keep working on that presentation and hold my calls. Thanks.” He turned to me and gave me a curious but guarded look. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s Cain.” I took a deep breath and tried to figure out exactly what I was going to say. “I just spoke with him. The police say he’s now a person of interest, they’ve asked him not to leave the area.”
“Lovely, just what he needs—what we need—right now, with all of this going on.” Dad’s harsh tone showed no empathy for Cain’s situation.
“Dad, there’s no way he was involved in Alice Bennett’s death. We need to help him through this, represent him and get him out of this mess.” I couldn’t believe I was on the verge of begging him for help.
“Jennifer, I—and the team here—will do what we can to help Mr. Parker when he needs us and asks us. I haven’t heard from him and we don’t have all the facts.” Dad continued his standoffish approach.
“I was with him last night! We were together. Cain and I.” The words fell out of my mouth and I waited for a response from Dad, but he said nothing. He simply stared at me. “I love him…” It felt good to admit it, I had been holding it inside, a secret from the world, from my father.
“Are you telling me that you’re involved with this Parker character, even after I asked you to use your head? Knowing full well that he’s a client—my client? Do you know how this looks for me?” Dad’s face reddened and he pushed away from his desk.
“For you? What it means for you? What about Cain? He could go to jail, Dad, for something he didn’t do!”
“So he sent you in here to beg me for help?” His sneer was apparent. “This guy is going to need a whole team of attorneys, if the evidence keeps stacking up against him.”
“No! Cain did not ask me to come in here. As a mat
ter of fact, he’d be pissed if he knew I was in here asking for help.” I stood, ticked off, ready to storm out. “Never mind! I’ll figure it out myself. You know,” I paused at the door, “I know I’ve disappointed you in the past, maybe rightfully so. That hurt, not being close to you anymore, not spending time with you, but I always believed you wanted what was best for me, Dad, that you cared. I’m asking you for help because Cain is what is best for me. He is not Christopher. He is a good man. Someone you would like, if you just gave him a chance.” I sniffed and opened the door.
“Is that it? You come in here, shoot off at the mouth, turn on some waterworks and then leave? I never thought he killed Alice; do we even know she was murdered? I want you to prove to me—give me proof—that he’s not involved in this security crap.”
I closed the door again, ignoring Cynthia’s concerned countenance. “Fine. You want proof? I just left a one-on-one with Hunter Livingstone, an IT guy from Vawter. He recanted his earlier statement. He claims Dylan told him to keep his mouth shut or else. Hunter has all the records we need to prove Dylan was behind everything that was going on there.” I clutched my notebook to my chest defiantly.
“Why the hell didn’t you say this to begin with?” Dad was back in his chair, back in legal mode. “Don’t poke your chin out at me. Get Reese in here. Where’s this Hunter kid? I need to talk to him myself. Let’s make sure he’s legit. Where’s Parker now?”
“He just left the police station, he was headed home.” I thought about how badly I wanted to be there with him, helping him through this.
Dad reached for the phone. “Cynthia, send Thomas McAleer in here now.” He hung up the phone. “I’ll have Thomas contact Parker. Make sure he doesn’t do—or say—anything stupid. That’s is the last thing we need. Does he have any idea where Rogers is?”
“Not that I’m aware of. No one has heard from him since the other day.”