Deadly Legacy (A Carmedy & Garrett Mystery)

by Bruce, Alison

"You've really helped me out," Jake allowed, "but it doesn't necessarily help us with the Gage case. Except," he tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Gage was there the day of the fire, just because the fire bomb could have been set earlier doesn't mean it was, and he lied about his involvement with Moonlight Games. That's a big coincidence."

  "Coincidences do happen," Valerio said, sounding very like Joe. "And everybody lies."

  Valerio requested a warrant to go through Gage's business papers. The electronic notification of the warrant arrived at the Gage home just as Jake and Valerio were shown to the library by Zeigler. While Mrs. Gage consulted with her lawyer, Valerio confirmed a pair of officers had been dispatched to Touchstone to download Gage's files at work.

  "I suppose it's all in order," said Felicity Gage in a tired voice. "My lawyer says this is pretty routine in a murder investigation."

  "This is true, Mrs. Gage," Valerio assured her. "Mr. Carmedy is going to take care of the technical details while we chat."

  Mrs. Gage smiled and gestured to the desk where Jake was linking to the Gage's home files. She motioned to Valerio that they should take the seats opposite. Meanwhile, a couple of officers were boxing up hard copy material in Gage's private office.

  "You make it sound so friendly," Mrs Gage said, voice reflecting the strain she was under. "Still, I am the one who insisted it was not an accidental death. I suppose I just better tough it out."

  "I'll try to be as painless as possible. Perhaps you can start by telling me about your husband's business rivals."

  Jake listened while he waited for files to download. Mrs. Gage didn't seem to know a lot about that part of her husband's life. She knew he had diversified business interests and only part of their income came from Touchstone. Beyond that, her information was sketchy, not that it stopped her from talking.

  "Of course, you could ask Constance," she said eventually.

  "Constance?"

  "Del's first wife, Constance Gage-Imada. She stayed involved with Del's business right up until Glynis married. In fact, until Glynis married, she was receiving a regular income from Del and she's the beneficiary of a hefty life insurance policy Del took out when they first married."

  Jake's ear pricked like a blood hound on the scent. Valerio looked slightly puzzled.

  "This is a policy other than the matrimonial insurance?"

  Mrs. Gage nodded.

  "That's rather unusual, isn't it?"

  "Rather," Felicity Gage agreed. "To save you the trouble of asking, I'll let you know he did the same for Jennifer and me."

  Valerio sat back, eyes narrowed.

  "You didn't mention that before."

  "I didn't know before," she said, throwing her hands up in agitation. "She knew!"

  "Constance Gage-Imada?"

  Felicity Gage rolled her eyes.

  "She still uses the name 'Gage.' What does that tell you?" She gave a tense laugh as she stood and pulled her eCom out of her jeans' pocket. "Daniel." She waited while the voice-activated dialler did its job. "Daniel, bring us some coffee, please. I'll have a brandy with mine."

  Beckoning Valerio, she walked away from the desk and slouched down into a wing chair by the fireplace where a simulated fire crackled realistically. Valerio sat on the two-seater opposite.

  "You know my husband invented matrimonial insurance?"

  "Yes, Mrs. Gage."

  "You also probably know his family was rich and he had enough other business interests to be able to retire, if he that's what he wanted."

  "Yes, ma'am. He's one of the Gages of Gage Pharmaceuticals. When you first suggested murder, and we also looked into the possibility of an accidental drug intervention, we discovered his attending physician was based in Toronto. This seemed odd until we also found she was a consultant to Gage Pharmaceuticals."

  "Dr. Deepa's practice has been with the Gage family for years. Besides, as I mentioned before, Del didn't want anyone knowing he had a heart condition. He was sure of Dr. Deepa's discretion."

  "She wouldn't rat him out to Touchstone," Jake said, thinking aloud.

  "Exactly," said Mrs. Gage, surprising both investigators with her candour. "Touchstone has a pretty tough policy on health issues when it comes to executives. You can be a quadriplegic when they hire you, but if you develop a chronic sniffle afterward, you're out. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was Del didn't have to work. He liked it. He loved his job and he loved taking risks with new ventures. To cover his financial ass, as it were, he put aside money via insurance policies that were safe from debtors and tax collectors."

  "Why take out new policies on his new wives? Why not just change the beneficiary?"

  Felicity shrugged broadly. "He could afford it, I suppose. He like pulling the strings and this was one way to do it, and he loved insurance. I think there was another reason, too, just my considered opinion, you know, nothing I could substantiate."

  She paused and Jake had to bite his tongue not to prompt her. Valerio just waited patiently.

  "Del described himself as a serial monogamist." She gave a brittle laugh. "If he had lived longer, you might be talking to the fourth Mrs. Gage, not me. I think Del saw his inability to stay with one woman, 'till death do us part,' as a weakness. His parents toughed it out against the odds. His grandparents, from what I understand, were faithful and happy together. He couldn't do it. So, he decided that each wife would be taken care of in proportion to the number of years he was with her. Hence, the policies."

  She gave a fatalistic shrug. "Besides, if he wanted to, he could change his mind and cash the policies in. It was always his money."

  Coffee arrived, without brandy. Mrs. Gage excused herself to have a little talk with Daniel. Valerio rose languidly and strolled over to Jake.

  "It seems to me Delano Gage was inviting murder," Valerio said when he was close enough to speak softly and still be heard. "So many people profit with his death."

  "Maybe." Jake turned the monitor toward Valerio. "Maybe not so much. Take a look at this."

  He opened one of the documents he had downloaded. It was a statement of Gage's insurance policies.

  "The longer Gage lived, the more they would get. It wouldn't make a big difference to the first Mrs. Gage. Her policy capped. The second Mrs. Gage had more to gain from Gage by waiting a couple of years, since he was still adding to hers. Felicity Gage's only financial reason to kill her husband was stopping him from moving on to wife four. Her insurance payout is modest compared to the funds she had access to when Gage was alive."

  Valerio tapped the screen. "What if he was about to cash in the policies himself?"

  "That would be motive for all of them."

  Jake accessed another set of files and initiated the download. While he skimmed a couple of promising documents, Valerio watched over his shoulder.

  "Anything else useful in there?"

  "Forensic accounting needs to go over all of this. What jumps out at me is Gage seemed more involved in his wives' lives after their divorces, at least there's more paperwork after."

  The file upload completed, Jake shut down the terminal before continuing. "Constance Gage is the only one who got an income and childcare, but he co-signed a business loan for his second wife, as well as being a financial partner and paying for the business insurance. He also invested in the environmental consulting business his first wife and her second husband started. Both investments paid off, by the way. The environmental business is doing well and Jennifer Leigh, as you know, is rich and famous."

  Felicity Gage returned with a small brandy. She poured it into her coffee before serving Valerio and Jake.

  "Daniel is a bit protective," she said, though no one had asked. "He doesn't think I should drink brandy during the day, especially since I need a couple of brandies to get to sleep at night. My doctor has offered me sleeping pills. I think I'll stay away from prescription drugs for a while."

  "Understandable," said Valerio, ushering her to the chair across the desk.

  "Ze
igler must be an important member of the household," said Jake. "I noticed Mr. Gage had an insurance policy for him, too."

  "Del encouraged all the household staff to have accident and life insurance and he would start policies for them and carry the accident policy premiums while they were in our direct employ."

  Valerio sat beside her. He waved a hand at the now dark monitor. "Mr. Gage carried the premiums for Mr. Zeigler's life insurance, as well as accident insurance and private employment insurance. Am I correct, Mr. Carmedy?"

  Jake leaned back in his chair and gazed at Mrs. Gage. "Yes, Detective. If Mr. Zeigler should suddenly be let go at no fault to himself, and that includes the death of his employer, he collects a lump sum equivalent to three months' pay. If Zeigler is fired or quits suddenly, the household can claim up to the same amount in damages and inconvenience."

  "Did Mr. Gage have any other household staff covered in the same way?" asked Valerio.

  When Mrs. Gage didn't answer, Jake did.

  "He had employment insurance on his personal assistant. I suppose the temporary co-op assistants wouldn't be eligible for coverage and the daily staff came from a service contracted by the household. Only Mr. Zeigler had his life insurance premiums paid in full."

  "What's the big deal?" said the last Mrs. Gage, snapping. "Daniel doesn't benefit from Del's death unless I fire him, which I am not planning to do."

  "I don't imagine you are," said Jake. "Mr. Gage might have fired Mr. Zeigler if he knew about his police record."

  "Of course," said Valerio, nodding. "I had forgotten. We ran a background check on everyone in the household. Zeigler was arrested for stealing eight years ago. Though the charges were dropped, his credentials were revoked, and he can't be bonded. If your husband knew that..."

  Mrs. Gage pulled out her phone and called Daniel in. "Frankly, I'd rather you accuse me than Daniel."

  She repeated the detectives' line of reasoning to Zeigler, whose face grew paler with each word.

  "Typical," he said with quiet venom. "That would be very tidy, wouldn't it? Just say the butler did it."

  Jake bit his lip to stop a grin. It wouldn't fit his role of "bad cop" to Valerio's "good cop."

  "Mr. Gage did know about my past," Zeigler said. "I think he got a kick out of being able to hire a real English butler. We talked about it once when I was hired. The topic never came up again. For that, you only have my word."

  "Which is good enough for me," Felicity Gage said, patting him on the arm.

  Valerio gave a sympathetic sigh. "Please don't think we enjoy casting doubt on people. It is our job to turn stones and find out what is hidden underneath."

  "No matter what crawls out," Jake added.

  "Fine," said Zeigler, "but you'll pardon me if I do not trust your intentions."

  The trained and once certified manservant drew himself up to his full height. A stony haughty expression replaced his normally pleasant features. "I was accused of art theft. Certainly I had the opportunity, and because I pursued a degree in fine art before training to be a butler, I had sufficient knowledge to know about the stolen objects. Eventually, the charges were dropped, as you say. It was not merely because they had insufficient evidence. I was cleared because they proved my employer stole his own property in order to defraud his insurance company."

  Zeigler started tidying the coffee tray. If he was nervous, his hands betrayed no agitation. There was no clattering of cups or rattling of spoons to interrupt him. "If I were inclined to murder anyone, it would be my former employer, who was willing to see me imprisoned for a crime he committed. Not Mr. Gage, who gave me the benefit of the doubt, and whatever his other faults, was a considerate and generous master."

  He straightened and his eyes were blazing with anger, though he still managed to keep his voice level.

  "I might be tempted to kill the sodding bastard who refused to reinstate my credentials, though I am happy with my position here. Or I might even want to harm the CID officer who decided I was to blame and looked no further."

  "Don't worry, Mr. Zeigler," Valerio said. "We'll look further."

  Not far from the Gage home, in another controlled community, Jake and Valerio waited for Constance Gage-Imada in her home office. It was an elegant room, in what was designed to be the formal living room. In keeping with the space, the office furnishings were ornate, real wood pieces arranged on a rug Jake bet was hand-loomed, centred on a marble fireplace with a mantle which matched the furniture.

  "Sweet," said Valerio.

  Jake shook his head. "Not my style."

  "Let me guess, you like beat-up oak and wanted posters."

  "That's more Joe's style. I like simpler stuff."

  "Swedish neo-Shaker in neutral tones?"

  Since Jake didn't have a clue what neo-Shaker meant, it was as well he was saved from having to find a snappy comeback by the arrival of Mrs. Gage-Imada. She wasn't what he expected. He had conjured up the image of a tall, elegant woman, dressed to complement her decor. What he found was a short, plump woman who might be described as queenly, if you were comparing her to the late Queen Elizabeth.

  "Good afternoon, gentlemen. I was wondering when I would receive a visit from the men in blue." She took in Carmedy's khaki outfit and Valerio's charcoal grey suit and added, "Figuratively speaking."

  Inviting them to sit, she sank gracefully into her desk chair. She accepted their introductions, examined their identification and then got down to business.

  "What can I do for you?"

  "Did you have a close relationship with your ex-husband?"

  "Close?" She smiled. "We were married for fifteen years before our separation. We continued to co-parent our daughter after the divorce. We had joint interests we maintained for business reasons. We consulted regularly about Glynis and jointly managed her trust funds. To this day, I have financial power of attorney over his affairs and I am co-executor of his will with his lawyer. So yes, despite it all, we were close."

  Valerio prompted, "Despite it all?"

  "What you really want to know is if I held a grudge against Del."

  Valerio bowed his head to indicate yes, that's what he really was asking.

  "Right up until he asked for a divorce, I thought he loved me as I loved him. Naturally, I was very angry finding out I was wrong. I was especially angry because he expected me to be civilized about everything for the sake of Glynis." She sighed heavily. "I got over it. Life is too short to hold a grudge."

  Her delivery is perfect, thought Jake. I bet she rehearsed her answers in anticipation of this interview.

  "Did you know about his heart problem?" Valerio asked.

  She smiled at the question. She had her answer ready.

  "Yes. Delano never kept things like that from me. As executor, I am well aware of how his estate is settled and I will receive a sizable insurance payout now he is dead. I don't need the money. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet only because I wasn't expecting Delano to predecease me."

  "I don't understand."

  "I'm a cancer survivor, Detective. Two years ago, my health was precarious at best."

  Valerio hesitated—a deliberate pause. "I understand that Mr. Gage invested in your business."

  She gave him a regal nod. "True. I needed a business loan two years ago. Because of the cancer, I was not considered a good risk. I swallowed my pride and asked Delano to co-sign a loan. Instead, he bought into the business and became a silent partner."

  "What happens to the partnership now?"

  "My husband and I were in the process of buying him out."

  "That doesn't answer my question."

  Constance Gage-Imada pulled a very un-ladylike face. Finally, a question she wasn't prepared for. "According to the agreement, with the death of a partner, their share reverts to the remaining partners." She gave a huff of disgust. "That is, I suppose, what you'd call a motive."

  15

  Kate sat, drinking coffee and making notes for about an hour after
the last Touchstone employee went back to work. It seemed to her the coincidences were piling up. More and more, the threats against Eldridge and Gage's death looked like they were related. Of course, appearances could be deceiving. Her father used to delight her with stories of real cases, not necessarily his, where coincidence was a red herring. What looked like a criminal conspiracy turned out to be random violence or a series of unfortunate events.

  Her father's death was an unfortunate event. What brought him to the side street was not. At the very least, it was the result of a man's rampant paranoia. Or it could be the centre of one or more criminal acts.

  It was time to meet Leon Eldridge.

  When Eldridge left Touchstone, he didn't go far. He opened his office in the building around the corner, the same building that contained the Tea House. It was a relatively new edifice, constructed in the Deco style. The part of the ground floor and the entire second floor were dedicated to the bank that financed the construction. The third floor was leased to related financial and legal businesses. That Leon Eldridge, Risk Consultant, had managed getting one of the offices said a lot for his business contacts.

  The third floor offices shared an auto-receptionist. Kate pressed her palm to the scanner at the receiving kiosk and spoke clearly. "Kate Garrett to see Mr. Leon Eldridge."

  There was a brief pause before a generic voice replied, "Please state the nature of your business."

  "Personal."

  A longer pause followed.

  "Please go through the glass doors ahead and turn right. The office of Leon Eldridge, Risk Consultant, is at the end of the hall. Please walk briskly, without pausing. Your thumb print is required at the office door ninety seconds after you enter the inner corridor. If you require more time due to special needs, please say 'time' clearly into the receiver or press the pound key three times."

  Kate followed the directions. Ninety seconds was longer than she needed. It wasn't a long hall. She thumbed the scanner at Eldridge's door and it swung open. The first thing she noticed was although his office was not large, it had a river view. It was an excellent prospect, framed artistically by the stepped-arch shape of the window. The view out overshadowed the occupant within.