Deadly Legacy (A Carmedy & Garrett Mystery)

by Bruce, Alison

  Kate flagged the report and moved on. The next hour was spent scanning business articles. There wasn't enough coffee in the world to keep her focused on the marketing hype and corporate lingo. None of it seemed relevant. She gave up and closed her eyes and tried conjuring up an image of Leon Eldridge.

  When Kate was in her mid-teens, she accompanied her father to a corporate Christmas Party. It was a lavish affair with a sushi chef at one end of the room, a Greek chef with a grill making your choice of lamb, chicken or shrimp kebabs at the other. In between, wait staff slid through the crowds with trays laden with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and bottles of hard and soft beverages. Kate had found a fruit drink she enjoyed and was on bottle number two before her father discovered it was a champagne punch. It was, therefore, in an alcohol-induced haze Kate first met Leon Eldridge.

  "Mr. Garrett! Well met."

  "Leon."

  Kate grinned and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Joe's daughter, Kate."

  Eldridge took her hand gingerly, then dropped it.

  "Merry Christmas." She was as bubbly as the punch. "Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Yuletide Greetings and May the Force be with—"

  Joe gave her an uncharacteristically stern parental look. Kate shut up.

  She stood by quietly as the two men talked about a couple of outstanding cases.

  "I hope we have them wrapped up in time for the holidays," Eldridge said.

  Kate paid close attention to the man's body language, putting to use things she had learned in communications class at school and picked up from paying attention to her father and stepfather. For instance, Eldridge liked his personal space. He maintained a buffer zone between other guests and kept his arms folded to avoid accidental contact. He didn't seem comfortable with the crowd or the moveable feast. He didn't have food or drink of his own and he kept a close watch on anyone near him who was carrying. With an inward giggle, Kate imagined the prissy little man in the middle of a food fight.

  Later, Kate found out Eldridge was responsible for a great deal of her father's business. He was the local claims manager for a large insurance company, making him the final word on which private investigators got hired for what jobs. That was before he started his own consulting firm.

  Kate's eyes popped open. She flipped through the articles on Eldridge, looking for some mention of which insurance company he had left and why. She found it inside a larger article on entrepreneurs. Touchstone Insurance had offered him early retirement because it was cheaper to do so than retrain him in the new technology.

  What new technology? Kate wondered. Nanotech had been around then and it made technology more accessible, not less. Even her father got online with Nanotech and he was a dinosaur when it came to that kind of thing. He still thought movies should come on discs.

  Kate made notes. Ten years ago, Eldridge was at the top of his field with one of the big four insurance companies. Six years ago, he was forced out and consequently started his own consulting company. A year later, Kate graduated from the Police Academy and was immediately recruited by the City PS. Her father held a party for her, inviting anyone and everyone who might assist her future career, including Leon Eldridge.

  Kate remembered thinking the years had improved Eldridge. He had updated his wardrobe and dressed in a retro-zoot suit. She guessed he had gone for cosmetic surgery or had been using anti-aging products religiously. He still referred to everyone formally, with the appropriate honorific. Otherwise, he seemed more relaxed. Being his own boss seemed to agree with him.

  "Being let go from Touchstone was the best thing to happen to me," she heard him declare.

  A waiter brought Kate the bill and pointedly removed her empty carafe without offering to bring more. Kate checked the time on her eCom. She had to go, anyway. She slid her cash card into his reader and added a tip calculated to criticize being rushed. To make her point, she took an extra five minutes to log her notes and start a new search on Touchstone. The first entry came up within seconds of her eCom acknowledging the connection to the Police Services Intranet. Delano Gage, Executive VP, Touchstone Insurance. Dead. Suspicious circumstances.

  7

  The Gage family lived at the south end of town in an adult-living enclave designed along the theme of an ideal English country village. The entrance was flanked by a lion and a unicorn couchant. At the centre of the enclave, there was an English-style pub with the same beasts rampant, carved in relief over the main door. Inside, Jake Carmedy met Vincent Valerio, who was picking at a plate of poutine.

  "Have a seat, my dear Carmedy, and let me finish my lunch. It's my compensation for such a gawdawful day."

  Jake sighed and ordered cola. He couldn't argue with the sentiment. In any case, few people could disagree with Valerio. He was too reminiscent of that teacher you respected but were always a little afraid of.

  "What has Thorsen given you so far?"

  Jake gave Valerio the short form. The police detective nodded eloquently from time to time. Meanwhile, he steadily devoured the plate of fries covered with gravy and melted cheese, paid for Carmedy's cola and gestured silently for his own bill. Delicately wiping his mouth a final time, Valerio acknowledged the conclusion of the report with a magisterial bow.

  "I suppose we're on the same page, then. Lim and I took preliminary statements from everyone in the house. We're going back to talk to Gage's daughter, Glynis Gage-Proctor, who should be at the house by the time we get there. We can also continue interviewing Mrs. Gage and the live-in. She was too single-minded and the live-in was too distraught. He's the one who found Gage."

  "Got a list of prime suspects yet?"

  Valerio spread empty hands. "So far, there are too many people who would benefit from his death, one way or another, to narrow the field. Ms. Gage-Proctor is the chief beneficiary. Mrs. Gage is actually better off with her husband alive, unless he was about to move onto wife number four. Then there are all the business associates. It seems he had his fingers in a lot of pies. There could be people who hated his guts whom we haven't heard of yet. Early days."

  Valerio left to pay his bill and wash up. Jake knew the latter task would take at least five minutes, so he tried calling Kate Garrett again, with the happy thought he wouldn't be able to speak to her very long. There was no answer. He should have been happy. Instead, he was irritated. Was she call-screening him? Then he noticed he had a text message waiting.

  "Thorsen says you know. Sorry I couldn't get through. Service Friday at 11. Wake Thursday night at Helios. Peter Filandros has details. KG"

  "Ready?" asked Valerio.

  Jake passed Valerio his com-pad. Valerio passed it back with only a brief glance at the message.

  "Kate called just before you got here. Evidently, Filandros insisted on holding a wake for Joe. The family is doing everything. No doubt it will be the kind of party Joe would have appreciated."

  "Kate Garrett got through to you? I've been trying all day."

  "She's been trying to get hold of you, too. I doubt either of you tried that hard. I, on the other hand, put a high priority flag on Kate's com address the moment I heard about Joe." He gave Carmedy a gently reproachful smile—the disappointed teacher face. "Maybe now is a good time to settle things between you. Well, not immediately. Let's go to the Gage house first."

  The homes in the enclave spiralled out from the Lion and Unicorn pub, both geographically and in size and grandeur. Those closest to the core, which boasted a general store, fitness club as well as the pub, were modest bungalows designed to look like country cottages if you disregarded the accessibility features. Further out were larger houses. Inner-city, they'd be housing an extended family. Since this was an adult community, most housed couples.

  Finally, there were the perimeter homes. They were the ones with six bedrooms and ten baths, not including the live-ins' suite. Many had their own controlled access through decorative wrought-iron gates. The Gage house was one of those. It was a majestic Georgian-style building, surrounded by what could
only be described as parkland.

  Jake had taken a cab out. He joined Valerio in his vehicle. It was recognized and allowed access without question or comment. Valerio pulled up at the front of the house. By the time the vehicle had come to a complete stop, a man in a black sweater and khaki pants had opened the front door and was beckoning them.

  "Carmedy, this is Daniel Ziegler, the Gages' man about the house. Ziegler, let me present Jake Carmedy. He's with Garrett Investigations."

  Ziegler gave a small bow of his head in acknowledgement and led the way to where a family group gathered. It was like one of those mystery shows Joe Garrett used to go on about. All the suspects were in one room, waiting to tell their lies. Life was rarely that neat. Yet, there they were in the library, judging by the shelves tastefully crammed with books, high-priced knick-knacks and framed photographs.

  Jake didn't need anyone to tell him who the widow was. She was the proud, mature woman with the figure of an Amazon and the face of a Nubian princess. Her dark hair was swept up into a classic French twist and her eyes were bright from tears held back. A class act if there ever was one, Jake thought admiringly. Apparently she even had her own retainer, an attractive blonde woman whose well-made but casual clothes brought to mind Ziegler's outfit.

  The blonde woman stepped forward and offered a hand to Valerio.

  "Detective, as you can see, my stepdaughter is here now. And I see you have a different partner today."

  "Yes, ma'am. Allow me to introduce Jake Carmedy. He has been brought in as a consultant."

  The woman Jake pegged as the retainer offered him her hand, then introduced the princess as her stepdaughter, Glynis Proctor. Both women were fortyish.

  "The coroner supports your conviction that accidental lethal drug interaction is unlikely," Valerio announced.

  The widow responded with grim satisfaction. "I knew it."

  A third woman, who Jake hadn't paid much attention to, was introduced as one of the family lawyers. She was accompanied by a young man who was her clerk. The last member of the group pre-empted introduction.

  "Jake! I heard about Joe. Terrible news. If I were a suspicious man, I'd be waiting for a third death to round out our tragedy."

  "Let's hope not, Felix."

  Felix Proctor was the claims manager at Touchstone. He was also married to Glynis, though obviously she didn't accompany her husband to the company Christmas parties or Carmedy wouldn't be mentally kicking himself for jumping to the wrong conclusion.

  "Mrs. Gage," said Valerio, "we need to conduct interviews with each of you individually. Can we use this room? Or is there another more convenient for you?"

  "This is fine. Can I offer you tea or coffee?"

  "Tea would be lovely," Valerio said.

  "Coffee," Jake said at the same time.

  Zeigler turned to Valerio. "Earl Grey, Darjeeling or Gunpowder Green?" He paused, then added, "We also have herbal infusions."

  "Earl Grey, please," Valerio said with a slight bow.

  "Drip, pressed or espresso, Mr. Carmedy?"

  Jake shrugged. "Whatever's convenient. I've no preference."

  Zeigler nodded and left. Mrs. Gage squeezed her stepdaughter's shoulder, then ushered the rest of the party out of the room.

  "Ms. Gage-Proctor," Valerio began.

  The princess gave them a tired smile.

  "Glynis is fine. I kept the name Gage to please my father and took the name Proctor to please my husband. Glynis is all mine."

  Valerio gave her a slight bow. A neat gesture, Jake thought, that communicated understanding or at least inferred it. Then, with an apologetic smile, Valerio informed her he was required to scan her hands for finger and palm prints. He also needed to take a retinal scan and a swab from inside her mouth for DNA.

  "Standard operating procedure."

  "Felicity warned me," she said, offering her hand for the scan. "You took biometric scans of her and Daniel even before my father's death was ruled suspicious."

  "Only to see if anyone besides them, and your father of course, handled Mr. Gage's medication. In fact, she insisted we do so. She's quite a fan of the Real Crime shows."

  Glynis' full lips pursed in a suppressed smile. Jake sat back and admired the way she submitted to the collection of biometric and statistical information with good grace. Her composure didn't falter when the questions involved her father. She maintained her princess standing in Jake's eyes.

  "Were you aware of your father's heart problems?" Valerio asked.

  "Of course. Though not many others knew. He liked preserving the illusion of invulnerability."

  "Who would have known?"

  "Our family physician and his heart specialist, naturally. Felicity and I knew. Daniel, of course knew. That might have been it. It's possible someone saw him using his nitro-glycerine spray during an angina attack. He always tried being discrete, but I know he was having more episodes lately. That is," she said, "Felicity warned me he was having more episodes after my father and I argued last week. I took her at her word."

  Valerio cocked his head to one side like an inquisitive bird. "May I ask what you argued about?"

  "The usual. My husband." She took a deep breath. "I am going to be perfectly honest with you because the truth will come out eventually. I would prefer if you treated the information with discretion. My husband is a rover."

  Jake stifled a snort of laughter. This was no secret.

  "My father isn't—wasn't—much better. Perhaps that's why he took Felix's straying so hard. He didn't want me treated like my mother. Father believed I should divorce Felix before Felix had a chance to leave me."

  "Was he going to leave you?" Valerio asked.

  "Not a chance!"

  Jake was startled by her vehemence.

  "Felix is too self-interested to leave me. I'm the goose with the golden eggs." She sighed. "Besides, Felix does love me, in his way. He's just the kind of man who sees nothing wrong in eating out on the way home for dinner."

  That attitude either made her the most understanding or the most cynical of partners. Jake wasn't sure which.

  "What kind of man was your father?" Jake asked. This was a sincere question. Joe might have known because he had personal dealings with the man. Gage was way out of Jake's league.

  "He was a good man." She sounded like she meant it. "Despite evidence to the contrary, he was a romantic. When he fell in love, he only loved one woman. When he fell out of love, he was ripe to fall in love with someone new."

  "Was he still in love with his latest wife?"

  "As far as I knew."

  "Yet, he was taking sexual enhancement drugs," Jake said.

  Glynis shot him a look that would chill lesser men.

  "My stepmother is my age, Mr. Carmedy. She is in her prime. My father was not. I think, this time, he was more worried about losing her than she needed worrying about losing him."

  A few minutes after Glynis Gage-Proctor left the room, Ziegler arrived with an oversized tray. On it were a pot of tea, a carafe of coffee, a plate of biscuits and a notarised copy of Delano Gage's Last Will and Testament. While answering the opening volley of questions, Ziegler poured tea and coffee, offered the biscuits and fussed with the tray until Valerio insisted he sit down.

  "Were you aware of Mr. Gage's heart condition?"

  "Naturally, sir. I am, amongst other things, his valet."

  "You're the only live-in, aren't you?"

  "Yes, sir. I am not the only staff member in service of the household. There are two dailies who come in the morning to clean, a landscaping service that comes once a week and the master and mistress also have personal assistants."

  "Personal assistants?" Jake asked. "Gage has an administrative assistant at Touchstone, doesn't he?"

  "True, sir. He also retains a personal assistant for his personal business. I believe his personal assistant is also an accountant and paralegal. Mrs. Gage hires a student from a business program every year to work part-time coordinating her appointm
ents and helping with her charitable activities."

  Valerio cleared his throat, reminding Jake who was the lead on this investigation. "Would any of them know about Mr. Gage's heart or possibly have a reason to do him harm?"

  "I doubt it, sir. The dailies are from a housekeeping service. We might get sent any two from a pool of six who are cleared to work here."

  "Cleared how?"

  "All their employees are bonded. Mr. Gage insists that everyone working in the house also have their hands printed, retinal scans and DNA registered."

  "You, too?"

  "I have been with the family long enough to be trusted. I started before Mr. Gage was promoted to Executive Vice President of Touchstone."

  Valerio sipped his tea as though he had all the time in the world. "Do you know of any reason Mr. Gage would commit suicide?"

  "Bloody hell!" Ziegler shut down his emotions almost as fast as they flared.

  Valerio acted like there had been no outburst, while Jake sat back and drank his coffee, doing a fair imitation of Valerio.

  "I do not believe," Ziegler said, enunciating each word with cold deliberation, "that Mr. Gage would have taken his own life."

  Valerio shrugged. "We have to consider the possibility. We've determined the drug interaction that killed him is not likely to have been accidental. Nor did many people know about Gage's heart condition, so there are only a handful of suspects who would have known how to kill him."