Off the Record: An Avery Rich Mystery (Avery Rich Mysteries Book 1)

by Sara Gauldin

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “I think we can wrap this case up.”

  “We can, and we will. You still need to eat dinner, and get some rest.”

  “I’m fine!” How could Kain be so willing to give up?

  “You're waiting for forensics, a car search, a cabin search, a suspect to be released from the hospital, positive identification of your murder victims, and a sketch artist. You once told me that you valued the sense of team work you had before you moved to this job, so let your co-workers be your team. You can’t do all of this foot work by yourself.”

  I took a deep breath. “What about the people like Lou Johnson who are only involved for the wrong reasons?”

  “They will always be there. They've been around you all along. The difference is that now you're aware of it. That doesn’t mean other people’s contributions can’t help you close this case.”

  I shook my head. “Whose side are you on, Ryan Kain?”

  “Yours. Now, let me find you some dinner and take you home to get some rest.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled.

  ***

  We unlocked the front door to my apartment, carrying the sushi take-out Kain had picked up on the way. I was genuinely surprised that he had agreed to let me get take-out food, but he seemed more interested in sending me home. I had the strangest feeling I was being grounded. It made me uneasy. I set the table while Kain made his paranoid rounds, checking the apartment’s safety.

  “Is everything locked up tight, just like I left it?” I asked.

  “Yes. You really should be careful, Avery. You've been stepping on quite a few toes and finding people who do not want to be found, doing things they don't want to be known for. You're doing your job, but to these people, you're in their way.”

  “Okay, I'll keep my ears open for intruders.” My stomach growled loudly as I laid out the food. “Now, let’s eat!”

  “No complaints here.” Kain looked at me for a fraction longer before turning his attention to the food.

  We ate quietly. The food was delicious, and I had no idea I was so hungry. As we finished our meal, I pushed my chair back, and watched Ryan Kain eat his dinner.

  “Why are you really here, Ryan?” I finally asked.

  “Because you broke your car,” he answered.

  “Oh.”

  Ryan glanced up at me. “Why do you ask?”

  “I was thinking about that hand with our names on it.” Suddenly fidgety, I began to clear my dishes from the table.

  “I feel pretty confident that Sean Quincy, if that's his real name, is not going to bother either of us tonight.” Ryan stood up to clear his own plate.

  “No, but what about other people who are on Will Collins’ payroll?” My hand trembled slightly as I poured myself a glass of wine.

  “Collins will know he's a suspect, but I don’t think that'll really deter him. If he was the person who gave Quincy our names, then he wanted us out of the picture before we ever paid him a visit.”

  Ryan looked me in the eye with an expression that made me feel desired. “Avery, would it be all right with you if I stayed?”

  I felt my jaw drop. “I…uh” Could he mean…?

  "Oh, I mean, I would sleep on the couch. I wouldn’t want to pressure you that way.”

  “I…of course. I’ll get some covers and a pillow." Get it together Rich, this is a working partnership. You need to quit making this man feel awkward by hoping there could be something more. I pulled the bedding out of the linen closet in the hall and headed back toward the living room.

  “Avery, I don’t want you to think the wrong thing. You're beautiful and amazing, you're everything anyone could want in a woman--strong, intelligent…Even so, we're working together. I don’t want to assume anything that would make you feel uncomfortable.”

  “I understand,” I lied. “Goodnight, I hope you sleep well.”

  “You, too,” Kain said.

  I walked into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. The cool sheets felt more empty than I ever remembered them being before. I lay awake, pressing my eyes shut, but sleep would not come. Thought after thought whirled through my mind.

  I remembered my job interview with Commander Calbert. I was so proud to advance to detective and to become part of a major metropolitan area department, I had not realized that Calbert would betray me to save his own family. Part of me wondered if he intended to smooth things over for me, like he claimed.

  I remembered how I met Ryan Kain, and how he has seemed like a deluded lunatic, but I was stuck with him, and somehow, he seemed to welcome my intrusion.

  I thought about the missing bankers, and how strange patterns of behavior led us to uncover layers of corruption that I'd never imagined existed.

  And then Kain and I were standing near a window, looking up at a crooked angle at the people who were inside.

  “I remember this. I've been here before!” I said to Kain. He kept staring through the window, as though I had not spoken. "We have to go in. They're going to kill him!” I shouted.

  The men inside the office space didn’t respond. Kain looked through me for a moment, and went calmly back to staring in as the murder unfolded.

  I heard Douglas White as he tried to convince Maple and Parker that he had not tipped me off. I knew what would happen next, so I pulled myself up on the window sill, and tried to knock on the glass. I couldn’t let them shoot Douglas White again and do nothing. As I tapped the glass, I heard the gun shot. I hit the ground with a thud that took my breath away. There, beside me in the alleyway, lay Kain, bleeding and dying on the hot summer asphalt. And I was paralyzed, there on the ground as the blood flowed over me, from Kain, from the window. The whole world was a whirl of pulsing blood, and I could not move away from it, or do anything to help anyone. I heard my own scream, and wondered how I had managed it when I was still frozen in the world of blood and death that was determined to swallow me up.

  Suddenly, I felt strong hands gripping me, helping me off of the ground. I realized I was crying when I felt the wetness of tears running down my cheeks. “Ryan Kain, please don’t die, please don’t leave me!”

  “Avery, it is going to be okay. I'm here,” Kain’s voice said. I felt the warmth of his arms as he helped me back into my bed. “I won’t let anybody hurt you, I promise.”

  “Just don’t leave me,” I begged.

  “I’m here,” he said. He kissed the top of my head as he held me against him in the darkness.

  I turned my lips to meet his. In that moment, no more thoughts of conspiracy and death could reach me.

  ***

  The ringing of my cell phone, plugged in on my night stand, woke me up. I rolled over in my empty bed and glanced at the time--Seven a.m. It wasn’t even quite time for the alarm to go off yet. I pushed the button to answer the call from the unknown number.

  “Rich, where did you get this sketch you sent over? Myra almost jumped out of her skin when she saw it. She was absolutely sure it was the scum bag that cut off her finger.”

  “Commander Calbert? Did they just bring over the drawings?” I hoped my voice didn’t give away the fact I had still been asleep when he called.

  “A courier just stopped by. Where is this punk? I expect him in the interview room by this afternoon. I want to question him myself!”

  “I understand, sir. I don’t blame you. He was a sick guy, and there's no excuse for what he did to your daughter or those other men, but sir, he's dead. That sketch was made in the morgue. He's chopped into at least twelve pieces. He won’t be torturing anyone else, ever again.”

  “Dead? Do we know who he was?” Calbert asked.

  “We have a possible name: Sean Quincy. If it's actually him, he worked for the same security company as Tom Parker, at one point. I'm waiting on the M.E. to give us a positive identification. With your daughter’s identification, and the newspaper pictures I found, I'm certain he's tied into this whole mess, no matter who he turns out to be.”

  “
All right, I’m on it. I’ll follow up on this guy. Keep me informed about anything else. I’ll see you at the station in an hour.”

  “Yes, sir.” An hour! I was still in bed.

  My feet hit the floor as I pushed the end button. My body complained it was still tired, but now was not the time to listen to its petty concerns. I scrambled out to the living room to find Kain already showered and fully dressed, cooking breakfast in my tiny kitchen.

  “Good morning, sleepy head.” He greeted me with a smile.

  “Oh, no, you’re a morning person,” I answered him, suddenly self-conscious that I was still in my pajamas.

  “I can get a lot done first thing.”

  “I see that. I have to take a quick shower, Calbert just called. He wants me at the station within an hour. His daughter recognized our creepy friend from the morgue as the same guy who cut off her finger.”

  “Breakfast first,” Kain said, gesturing to the table.

  “Just a quick bite.” I sat down across from him, wondering how bad my hair and lack of makeup actually looked.

  I ate my bacon as the memory of the night before slowly replayed in my mind.

  Chapter 28

  Kain and I walked into the station with no time to spare. My hair was still slightly damp, but it was camouflaged by the hurried up-do I used to wrangle it into place during the commute. We went directly to Calbert’s office.

  “You’re two minutes late, but I’ll let it slide this time since you seem to be ahead of the game,” Calbert said.

  “Ahead?” I asked.

  “The reports are coming in left and right this morning. I keep opening them like it’s my birthday, but it didn’t feel right without you two here to thank,” Calbert joked.

  “Let me guess: Dr. Cleary identified the victims?” I asked.

  “He sure did. We can confirm that the same Jim Maple you two were set to testify against in the murder of Douglas White was one of them, which is no surprise, since it was on his property, and he was the one reported missing.”

  “And the other two?" Kain asked.

  Calbert picked up the report and handed it to me. “One of them was that sicko you had my daughter ID. You were right, Rich, he was Sean Quincy. The other guy was Troy Lenard, one of Maple’s expensive lawyers."

  “That explains the Rolex,” I said.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t really explain why they ended up dead,” Calbert said.

  “No, but I think Mr. William Collins can clear that up for us. I'm hoping they release him from the hospital today, and we can have a little chat with him.

  “That isn’t all that came through this morning,” said Calbert with a grin. “We have finger prints from all three cabin victims, and Mr. Collins from the SUV that was processed. And we have these alarming pictures from the trail camera that tie the vehicle to the crime scene.”

  "I'll have another portrait that William Collins won’t be too happy to reminisce over when I show it to him.” I handed Calbert the photo of Collins with Caroline George. “Look at the security detail in the background, sir.”

  “Oh, this is fabulous. And we had already linked these lovely big-wigs, the Georges, through forensic accounting.”

  “And now we're waiting for a DNA match from Collins to the crime scene,” Kain pointed out.

  Calbert gripped the photo I'd handed him. “Perfect, as soon as we have the match, and I'm assuming there's a good chance there'll be one, I think it's fair to change Collins' status from a person of interest to a formal indictment on the charge of murder, racketeering, interfering with an investigation, and whatever else I can come up with before then."

  “Is he the only fish you plan to fry in this case?” Kain asked. His eyes lacked the sparkle they had held before.

  “No way, I want everybody involved to be pulled in as a witness. I want every assistant, secretary, accountant, security agent, or janitor who knew any of these folks brought in and offered a deal for their cooperation. If we have enough people here with their own case on the line, I bet we can get a good look at this whole situation. We know who stood to gain from the real estate rip-offs. We only need to prove they knew that what they were doing was a crime that they were willing to maim and kill just to cover their tracks.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll work on having all these people brought in and questioned,” I said.

  “And I'll track down the prosecutor and go over what we already have with him. I think he'll be ready to pursue the case against Collins as soon as we confirm our DNA evidence.”

  "I can't wait to see the look on Collins' face when he realizes he's being charged," I said.

  “Get back to work, Rich!” Calbert’s tone was fierce, but he couldn’t hide the wide grin that gave away his actual state of mind.

  Kain and I walked out of Calbert’s office. I headed for the coffee machine, and Kain followed. This had the potential to be a long day, and I needed a bit of caffeine to get myself moving.

  “And just like that, we're done,” Kain said.

  “Done? There's still a ton to do. I mean, we've pretty much connected the dots, but we need to build a tight case to prosecute all these idiots who were out to get rich because of other people’s pain.”

  “I hope you can build an impressive enough witness list to get our names off of it.” Kain spoke in a hushed voice.

  “I don’t think they're going to be after us now. With Collins out of the picture, going after us doesn't make as much sense.” I thought about Kain’s unwillingness to leave me alone in my apartment and realized he was not as confident.

  “These things tend to unfold in layers. We know the George family is rolled up in this. How many other layers are tied to this after them?” Kain asked.

  “I hope with these witnesses we're able to find out.”

  “I do to, but Avery, if we do take the stand, the way we started out with your working unofficially, and me assisting, it could compromise the whole case. It may be that whoever is rolled up in this would want to get rid of the other witnesses, so they could use us to destroy the case.”

  “If that’s so, then we won’t be in any danger,” I said as I set my cup of coffee on my desk.

  “I'm not sure about that. It depends on what we've uncovered, and how important it is to to whoever may want to hide it.”

  “Well, today's the day to find out,” I replied.

  I knew that the case coming to a close would end our working relationship, and I wasn't ready to let Kain go. There was a part of me that hoped that once there were no longer any official duties standing between us, maybe I wouldn’t need to use the case as an excuse to see a lot more of Ryan Kain. First, I had to tackle the mountain of witnesses and paperwork and finish putting it in a pretty package to present to the prosecutor. Today was the day this case would finally clear my desk.

  Chapter 29

  One Month Later

  To me, courtrooms are a paradox all unto themselves. On the one hand, you see the judicial system with all of its trimmings of pomp and circumstance. It is the epitome of formality, ceremonial dress, and excruciating details. Nevertheless, there, in the same building, is the other element of society, the dregs, the variants, and the petty criminals, who are dragged into be processed by the industry.

  The bankers' case forced me to recognize a middle ground that straddled the differences between these extremes. The white-collar criminals made up less of the prison population. Often their crimes were not as violent. Even so, the types of crime they chose could have a much further reach. In many cases, they have brought financial ruin, insecurity and pain to a huge number of people. These plotters and schemers come to court prepared. They use the very system that is supposed to protect the everyday citizen as a shield to hide their wrongdoings, all the while offering insincere public apologies. Truly, the white collar brand of criminal is a more even match against the court system that tries them.

  I had plenty of time to reflect on the situation while I was stuck in the witness r
oom at the General District Court of Alexandria. The trial of William Collins was underway. I was honestly surprised that the trial had been held so soon. The separate trials of Frederick and Caroline George had been pushed back indefinitely. Part of me wondered if they hoped the witness pool would be thinned a bit before they got around to standing trial. Either way, they hired an energetic team of attorneys and a publicist, all of whom seemed intent on painting a beautiful picture of the couple. If nothing else, the indictment had put a small speed bump in the political career of Fredrick George. His ‘lovely’ wife, Caroline, was really playing the victim, so much so that she was actually improving her social standing with the well-wishers who could not understand why she was being singled out.

  So here I was, a witness for the prosecution, stuck in silent, waiting-room limbo. To be honest, I was also a liability when the pattern of my police work that led to the arrests was taken into consideration. This entire process dragged on for weeks. I knew every ripple of paint on the wall. I counted the dots on the drop ceiling. It was very much like solitary confinement. I brought a book to read, but a case of nerves kept me from giving it my full attention. I'd testified in countless criminal proceedings in the past, however, in those cases, pristine police work had kept me from being scrutinized, but not this time, I knew I'd cut corners and made judgment calls that could cause this case to be thrown out of court. I knew it, John Calbert knew it, and Ryan Kain knew it. So far, only Calbert had testified. My CO was discreet and to the point. He only gave testimony about the evidence as it was obtained legally, but not the way we had found the web of corruption to begin with. I guess he owed me that much, considering it was him that had put me in the middle of this mess to begin with. I sincerely hoped this trial would end, and my testimony and Ryan’s would never be needed. There was just too much margin for error. For now, all I could do was to sit and wait.