“And you wound up getting fired anyway.” He shook his head in the affirmative.
“What happened to get Ralph fired?”
“I got him fired.” His fingers jabbed at his chest. “Yes, sir, that bastard was going down big time. You take something from me I take something from you. And I was gonna show him what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a payback.”
“So you’re saying an ‘eye for an eye’ sort of thing?”
“Damn straight.”
“So what happened?”
“Once he realized I knew what he’d done he thought he’d rub my nose in it a little every day just to show me who had control. He’d intentionally walk past my workstation several times during the day with a fucking smug expression on his face. I finally just lost it. That’s when I decided to rearrange his ugly face to make it uglier. We had a brawl right there in the office and the big boss came down, tried to break it up, and I lost my temper and broke his nose for interfering. He fired both of us on the spot.”
Jessie noticed a wide grin on Zach’s handsome face. She knew he would have done the same thing if someone had tried to cut in on his territory. Anxiety punched her insides because now, she’d never find out if that was true or not. She gestured for him to join her, but he shook his head and motioned for her to continue.
“Did Arco or the big boss press charges against you?”
“No. They took my pension instead.”
“You’re pretty lucky that’s all they took.”
“Oh yeah, real lucky. I wish that bastard would have pressed charges instead of the company denying me my pension, because now, I’m up the creek without a paddle.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.
“You’ll still have Carly’s insurance policy that pays triple indemnity for killings. So you’ll be set for life.”
He gasped. “How the hell do you know about what insurance I have?”
“It’s our job to know, Mr. Hawkins. We also know that your wife had an insurance policy out on your life for a million dollars that she’d collect if something happened to you, and if she wasn’t around, her kids would. Is that why you killed your wife? You were paying her back for the affair and found out she was protecting her life after you kicked the bucket?” Zach asked.
Harlan leapt out of his chair. Zach quickly stood upright. “How dare you,” Harlan’s finger wagged in Zach’s face. “Damn you. I didn’t kill my wife!”
“Then why didn’t you tell us about the insurance policy you had out on her, or that you didn’t insure yourself? It sounds as though you were planning this.” Zach said. Harlan’s hands continued to fist at his sides. “Calm down, Mr. Hawkins,” Zach said. “I’m asking important questions here. These are things we need to know. Things you’ll have to answer at trial.”
“No, you’re not asking questions. You’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.”
“So why didn’t you have an insurance policy on yourself?” Zach said.
“Because I’m cheap, that’s why. Okay? I’m a lot older than Carly. I figured she was capable of working if something ever happened to me, but I guess she figured out a way to take care of herself after all. Why wasn’t I contacted by the insurance company to ask me questions?”
“Didn’t you know that anyone can take insurance policies out on whomever they want? They don’t need a reason.”
“What I want to know is where did she get the money to pay for it?”
“That’s not my concern.”
“More damn secrets.” Harlan’s face flushed with anger. “Maybe,” he said and stopped.
“Maybe what, Mr. Hawkins?”
He held up his hand. “Nothing. I was just thinking out loud.”
Jessie half smiled knowing that Carly Hawkins, the woman who’d allowed her husband to bully her had some backbone after all. Nevertheless, shades of her past had her envisioning her mother doing the same thing—allowing the fleet of men who waltzed in and out of their lives to bully her. Jessie took a deep breath and blew it out. This was no time for her to show any emotional ties. She pushed forward. “Okay, so let’s move along here, has anyone else besides us questioned you?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Just because someone is poking their nose around, that’s all. If that happens, you call us immediately.” He nodded. “Okay, let’s talk about this other woman Morton lives with. What is her name?”
“I think its Velma Vincent.” Harlan sucked in a breath and released it through his nose in a deep sigh.
“Did you hear the two exchange a conversation about him moving in with her?”
“No, but he was always hanging around her, so I figured that’s who he was schmoozing up next.”
“Do you know if she still works at Arco?”
“I have no idea.”
“Okay, I think we have enough for today, Mr. Hawkins. We have some other people to interview and then we’ll get back to you.”
“What about those men in my apartment?” He made an angry face. “They’d better not have taken anything of mine.”
“Mr. Hawkins,” Zach sighed. “You will have a complete inventory of everything they’ve taken.”
“Like what?”
“Like your computers and laptops.”
“Her cell phone too?”
“Oh, so you didn’t cancel her contract after all,” Zach said.
“Damn right, I didn’t.”
“And why is that?”
“I wanted to know what and who she was texting to.”
“We’d like that phone.”
“Don’t you need a warrant for it?”
“Is this really how you want to play this game?” Jessie asked.
“Don’t you know that the service provider has a backup log of all texts, so it’s only a matter of a warrant and calling them with the phone number for a trace. Anything electronic can be traced. Didn’t you know that?”
He seemed to calm down somewhat. “I know she always cleaned out the history every few days.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was checking it.”
“I can assure you, regardless of what she cleaned out, it’s still on the hard drive.”
“And how soon will I get those back?”
“As soon as we’re certain we have all the information we need to help solve this case.”
Hawkins pushed back in his chair. “Are we done here?”
“Yes, sir. We are done…for now, that is. Don’t leave town.”
“Right. Like I’m going to take off before I bury my beautiful Carly.” He stood, tears forming around his eyes. “When is the coroner going to release her body so I can give my wife a proper burial?” he asked in a low voice.
“I can’t answer that. As soon as they’re done,” Zach said dryly.
Noticing the expression on Hawkins’ face, Jessie intervened. “I can check on that and get back to you, Mr. Hawkins. Why don’t you go ahead and get your plans in motion so you’re ready when the body is released?”
“Thank you, Detective Kensington. I appreciate your help.”
Zach bypassed the sentimentality. “The investigators will let you know when they’ve finished. In the meantime, stay down here, or go out and buy yourself a cup of coffee.” They rushed from the room without giving him a chance to say another word.
“Whew,” Jessie said, “it was getting pretty tense in there.”
“Yeah, and it’s going to keep getting tense until he can prove he didn’t do it.”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Arco.”
Jessie gave him a quizzical side-glance. “Boy, you really have a bug up your butt today. You really did get up on the wrong side of the bed.”
“No. I got up to an empty bed.” Jessie stopped him in his tracks. His cunning remarks were beginning to get to her. “But don’t you worry,” he said, “I have someone in mind to fill that vacancy.”
“Good for you,” she said hoping the words sounded sincere ev
en though his sharp comment felt like a wallop to her mid-section.
Neither detective said a word on the drive to the Arco Corporation. Jessie’s stomach was knotting into a tight coil. When they finally arrived, driving down the long and winding road to the entrance of the building, it hardly represented a New York office building with its spaceship-like architecture made from steel and glass. Sculptures lined the landscape.
“Wow, this is some building. I wouldn’t mind working here,” Jessie said trying to thaw Zach’s angry mood. He remained silent while he parked the car and exited without a word. Jessie stopped him. “Zach, wait a minute.” He took his hand off the door and turned toward her. “Listen, you’ve got to stop with the pot shots. Maybe you’re right, maybe partnering was a bad idea, after all. They say you can never go back and it appears they were right. I guess I thought we could pick up where we left off in our working relationship, but it looks like I was wrong. We can’t continue to deal with the tension between us and still do our jobs. What are we going to do?”
He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. It seems every time I look at you; I want to—” he flung his hand in the air. “Never mind. Let’s go inside.”
“Zach, please. We really need to discuss this or it’s never going to work.” She found herself wanting to pout but quickly stopped from making things worse. “We can still go to the captain and make the request.” She balled her fists in her coat pockets, praying it wouldn’t come to that, and wished she could make him understand how much she loved him. She really did, but he’d never believe it so it was useless to try to convince him otherwise.
“I’ll think about it,” he said straight-faced and continued toward the door. Jessie swallowed hard; her heart pumping the blood through her veins. What she really wanted was for him to reassure her. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Me too.”
The lobby was like an elegant winter wonderland with poinsettia Christmas trees scattered about the large room with plush carpeting, wraparound leather sofas and a perfect view of the decorations no matter where you sat. Overhead, Christmas music played, Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Remembering her first Christmas with Zach when he sang this song to her wearing nothing more than a Santa hat on his head, a bowtie around his neck and a glass of champagne in his outstretched hand, her eyes teared up. She bit down on her lip and listened to him tell the receptionist he wanted to speak to someone in Human Resources.
“I’ll have someone come to escort you to the office,” she said. “Please have a seat.”
“Pretty, isn’t it?” he said to Jessie as he looked around.
“It’s absolutely beautiful. Really puts you in the spirit, doesn’t it?” she said, wishing she hadn’t phrased her comment like that because it made it appear as though she was rubbing their breakup in his face. Zach simply nodded without comment and tapped his fingers to the sound of the overhead music. It wasn’t long before a young woman dressed in a suit approached.
“Good afternoon. I’m Joanna Reeves, secretary for Mrs. Garner, the director of Human Resources. If you’ll follow me, she’s waiting for you.” They entered the elevator. “Ready for Christmas?” she asked.
“No, not really,” Jessie said. “We’re always so busy and pretty exhausted by the time we get home. The only thing I’m ready for is bed.”
“How about you, Detective,” she asked Zach.
“Christmas? What’s that?”
“I’m sorry. I guess we don’t have an appreciation for how much you men and women give up to keep us safe.” She tilted her head to the side. “Thank you.” The elevator stopped and they followed behind her down the hall, stopping at an opened door with M. T. Garner’s name displayed on the outside wall. She was on the phone, but motioned for them to enter just before disconnecting the call.
“Thank you for seeing us, Ms. Garner,” Zach said. “I’m Detective Zach Gerard, and this is my partner Detective Jessie Kensington. We’re from the one-two in the NYPD,” he said as they simultaneously showed their IDs.
“I’m Melanie. But what is the one-two?”
“It’s the twelfth precinct, ma’am. Sorry, that’s how we refer to it.”
“Okay, how can I help?” she asked.
“Do the names Hawkins, Morton and Vincent ring a bell with you?”
“Yes. You’re the second detective today to ask about those people?”
“Who was the first?”
“Another detective from the NYPD.” She paused briefly when she noticed Jessie’s blank expression. “Uh-oh, that look tells me something’s wrong.”
“We believe there’s someone who’s been impersonating an NYPD detective asking a lot of questions.”
“Hey,” she said raising her palms in the air, “he showed me his ID. I glanced at it. The picture looked like him, so I didn’t question his credentials.”
“We understand. Did he leave you his business card or some way to contact him?”
“Not me, but my secretary. He didn’t have any more business cards on him, said he’d just gotten a new box of cards but they were in the car, and he’d leave it with her. Let me check with Joanna.” She called her over the intercom. “Joanna, did the previous detective give you his business card?”
“No. I didn’t know he was supposed to. He waved before walking out of the building and I haven’t seen him since.” She disconnected.
“Can you describe what he looks like?” Except for the hair color, the director gave the same basic characteristics as Jackie Ghosh, the attorney’s daughter, only she didn’t mention the scar on his face as Jackie had described.
“Blond hair?” Jessie said. “The last description we had was dark hair. Okay, go on.”
“He also exhibited signs of having been in the military, you know, the straight as an arrow posture, used the ma’am phrases…I guess that’s about all I can tell you.”
“Did he have any distinguishing marks? Say a scar, obvious birthmarks?” She shook her head.
“Nothing?” Jessie asked.
“This is becoming the biggest mystery of the week.” Zach added. “Okay, we’d like you to come down to headquarters and look at some photographs to see if you recognize anyone as him.”
“Gee, I’m going out of town tomorrow morning, but I’m sure Joanna can do the same thing as me.”
“Actually, we’ll need both of you to come down.”
“I won’t be back until Monday. Can it wait?”
“Alright. Monday morning before work?” She nodded in agreement. “What kind of information did he want?”
“Basic stuff. If they worked here…how long. He seemed especially interested in Ralph Morton.”
“Did he?”
“Yes. But as you know, the only information any of you will get out of me is if they were or are employees of Arco.”
“Understood. We do have a warrant to obtain personnel records on Hawkins and Morton, but we’d actually like to talk to Velma Vincent, whom we believe is an employee.”
“Before I respond to these questions, how do I know you two are legit?”
“Please call the telephone number listed on the bottom of our business cards and ask to speak to our captain.”
Melanie called, got the information she wanted and sat back in her chair. “Okay. I’m convinced. I’ll have Joanna walk you up to our personnel department after we’re done here. As for Velma Vincent, yes, she’s an employee here.”
“Can we talk to her?”
“I’ll call her supervisor.” She keyed in a few numbers. “Lionel, this is Melanie Garner in Human Resources. I’m here with two NYPD detectives looking for a Velma Vincent.”
She disconnected. “Well, detectives, she’s not in. She’s out of the office and her supervisor isn’t sure when she’s returning.”
“Did he give a reason for her absence?”
“Now, you know I can’t divulge that information.”
“Thank you for your time, Ms. Garner,” Zach said, “Can you ask Joanna t
o escort us to the personnel department?”
“Certainly. I’ll see you Monday morning.”
Outside her office, Jessie mumbled under her breath. “I think something’s wrong. Did you see the expression on her face when she was speaking to the supervisor?”
“I know, I thought the same thing. Why don’t you check the database for Vincent’s address while I obtain the personnel records so we can figure out which precinct handles the area.” She watched him walk away. Keying in Velma’s information, she found what she was looking for, jotted down the address and looked up when Zach entered the car.
“She lives in Morningside Heights, and it looks like it’s Guardino’s territory.”
“Okay. We’ll contact him, but first, I’m starving,” Zach said.
“Me too. What do you feel like eating?”
“Lizzie’s greasy hamburgers.”
“Really?” she made a face.
“Yep, that’s what I need and nothing else will do.”
“Okay. If you want to clog your arteries, I won’t stop you.” She checked out his profile. He smiled and she knew he felt the heat of her stare. “You know, Zach. I love working with you. We get each other—you know what I mean?”
“While we’re working we do.” Silence pursued.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about his comment, but she sloughed it off knowing she had to choose her battles wisely. A reminder of Zach winking at Morgan when they’d passed each other in the hall lingered on her mind like a disease.
Zach pulled into a space in the parking lot beside Lizzie’s and exited the car. “I guess you weren’t kidding about being hungry,” she said trying to catch up to his quickened pace. A gust of wind kicked up and Zach’s citrusy cologne filled her nose. She smiled remembering, but then Morgan’s sexy glance came to mind again and turned her cold. It was true she no longer had a claim on him now that they’d broken up. So why couldn’t she let it go? Because she couldn’t bear the thought of him being with any other woman, that’s why. She blew the air from her puffed cheeks and walked up the stairs inside the diner. The dining room was packed to capacity. Recognizing the two detectives, the hostess escorted them to the staff’s table. “This is the best I can do.”
Deadly Obsessions (Kensington-Gerard Detective series Book 3) Page 9