Deadly Sins

by Stacy M Jones

  The plan was to meet at the Little Rock Police Department in the morning. I was going to have to tell Cooper about this, and more importantly Luke, which meant I was going to have to explain more than I ever wanted to.

  CHAPTER 12

  LUKE CLICKED AWAY at the keyboard in front of him. His vision blurred the lines on the screen. He hadn’t slept well the night before after coming back from the river. He was frustrated. After speaking to the media and wrapping up at Murray Park, he went back to the station and dug through old missing person’s reports to see if there was anything that might give some clues to the identities of the deceased women. He didn’t find anything significant.

  At two in the morning, Luke finally went home, crawled into his king-size bed alone, laid his head on his pillow, and willed himself to sleep. It didn’t happen. His mind raced with thoughts of the missing and the dead, and in between, old memories of Riley crept in. He tried to push those out of his head as soon as they entered, but after seeing her earlier in the evening, he failed at that too.

  Luke expected that since so much time had passed he wouldn’t feel that old tug of emotion, but he had. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He hadn’t intended to lash out at her the way he did, but he really couldn’t help himself. So much had remained unresolved. Luke had to admit though, Riley still looked good. Her face still heart-shaped, lips full, eyes still dark as night. She still wore her hair long, and although he knew she was always trying, she hadn’t lost any weight. Not that he minded. She was the perfect hourglass shape, but he knew for some men, she probably had more on her curves than they would have liked.

  For him, Riley was perfect – a little thick in all the right places. Earlier, when he was standing inches from her, breathing her in, he had resisted the urge to reach out and brush those auburn strands of hair away from her face the way he always had when they were lying in bed together.

  Really Luke had been hoping that in some small unrealistic way that Riley would have gotten ugly or lost all her hair or something else ridiculous like that. The truth was, that even if she had, he imagined he’d still feel the same about her.

  Sleep never came. Luke tossed and turned until he just couldn’t take it anymore. He gave up and climbed out of bed, dressed in sweats and went for his typical morning run at six before he headed into the station to start another day’s work.

  Now that Luke was sitting at his desk, he was paying for his restless night. A full day ahead of him and his head felt like it was going to hit the desk at any moment. It was only through sheer will and practice that he would be able to get through a day with little to no sleep.

  Luke was getting older though, felt it in the way his body betrayed him. Although still muscled and toned, his bones creaked at times and his energy depleted quicker than in his youth. He even noticed a gray hair had found its way among the hair on his chest. Time it seemed was having its way with him.

  Luke rubbed his tired eyes as he continued to scan George and Maime’s financial documents. He had already reviewed them. He hoped he had missed something on the first look. They both made a decent income but were living close to their means. Luke wondered if they ever ate at home with the number of credit purchases for local restaurants and pubs.

  Maime liked to shop, too. She spent hundreds of dollars each month at local specialty retailers, online and at Dillard’s. Even with all those purchases, there was nothing to indicate where she might be or that gave any hint to a financial reason George might have harmed his wife.

  Luke was about to the pull out more financial documents when he heard the squeak of shoes in the hallway and raised voices. He got up, smoothed his blue tie over his white dress shirt, and navigated his way through the other detective’s cubicles to the main hallway to see what was happening.

  Luke pulled up short. He hadn’t expected to see George Brewer standing in the hall with Maime’s father Edwin and another man. They looked to be arguing with Captain Meadows. From Luke’s vantage point, he couldn’t hear the nature of what they were arguing about. Edwin’s face was red, and he was jabbing his finger into Captain Meadows’ chest. George hung back not saying anything. The other man with them looked enough like George that he could have been his brother. To Luke’s knowledge, George only had a sister.

  Luke stepped through the door in enough time to hear Edwin demand to know why they hadn’t found his daughter yet and what they were doing to find her. He also wanted to know the identity of the woman pulled from the river. Luke wanted to know the very same things. Edwin could yell and demand all day. They couldn’t give him what he wanted.

  “Sir,” Luke interrupted and pointed to a room down the hall, “I’m sure you’d be more comfortable over in the conference room.”

  Edwin stopped long enough to take a deep breath and then followed Luke and Captain Meadows into the conference room next to the captain’s office.

  As they each took a seat around the large table, Luke reached across to the man about to be seated next to George and said tersely, “I’m Detective Lucas Morgan. You are?”

  “I’m Dean Beaumont. My firm represents LaRue & Associates. I’m also a good friend of the family. We spoke on the phone earlier this week. As I told you, George was with me on Friday,” Dean stated as he shook Luke’s hand and then sat down.

  George’s alibi. Luke didn’t like having to speak with Dean on the phone, but the man said he’d been out of town, and the information needed to be confirmed. Luke didn’t like him on sight. His handshake was womanly, and his designer suit was too high-end for a meeting at a police station. The man had slick written all over him, from his perfectly coiffed black hair down to his Italian shoes. Luke thought this was probably the kind of guy that gets manicures and pedicures on a regular basis. Too perfect all the way around.

  Luke sat and got right to the point. He assured them they were doing all they could to identify the deceased woman but no leads had confirmed her identity yet so there was nothing new to share.

  “You’re sure it’s not Maime?” George asked. Luke noted how pulled together he looked in his polo shirt, pressed khaki pants and jacket. Luke thought he looked too well-rested for a man whose wife was missing. He was also curious why he had not received a call last night from George inquiring about the woman they found.

  Luke wanted to know if the reason he didn’t get the call was because Riley had told him or if George knew it wasn’t Maime because that wasn’t where he disposed of her. He’d have to remember to ask Riley if she spoke to George last night. Edwin had called the station around midnight and spoke to another detective. But they should have received a call from George.

  “Yes, we had someone who knows Maime make the identification last night.” Luke explained. “In fact, Mr. Brewer, it was Riley Sullivan, the private investigator from New York that you hired.”

  Luke watched Edwin grip the sides of his chair and turn to look at George, shocked. George lowered his eyes and didn’t meet Edwin’s gaze. Luke wondered why hiring a PI would be such a secret or maybe it was something about Riley that George was hiding. Luke didn’t like that he wondered about George and Riley or that his curiosity was more personal than professional.

  “Who is this investigator, George? How does this person know Maime enough to make the identification? Why hire someone from outside the state when we have our own investigators at the firm?” Edwin fired away questions not even giving George time to answer.

  Luke thought Edwin made some excellent points. Before George had a chance to explain, Tyler opened the door and was followed by Cooper and Riley. Luke had forgotten he demanded their presence here first thing this morning. Tyler must have assumed they were a part of the meeting.

  CHAPTER 13

  THE LAST THING I EXPECTED to see this morning was Luke and George sitting at the same table. It was hard enough to agree to come to a meeting with Luke. I had contemplated backing out of the meeting altogether, and seeing both of them at the table, I wanted to turn
and sprint out of the police station. Cooper and I planned to meet with George at his house after this meeting. He never told me he’d be here.

  George was seated in between two men; George’s father-in-law Edwin and another man I didn’t know. I had never met Edwin in person. He definitely had a commanding presence. Physically, he was an average guy but power seemed to ooze from him from the way he sat to the look on his face. It definitely looked as if he was controlling the meeting.

  I knew George didn’t like him. He never went into too much detail why, just said that Edwin was always too involved in their lives. That made sense. Edwin was George’s boss. He met Maime at work when her father hired her as a secretary after she graduated college.

  Prior to getting involved with Maime, George said he and Edwin always got along. After it was found out George was sleeping with the boss’ daughter, an immediate decline in their cordial relationship was evident. As soon as they married, George said Edwin was downright overbearing at work and at home. I was surprised they were here together.

  I trailed behind Cooper who followed Det. Tyler into the room, which didn’t serve me well because I was stuck taking the only seat available between Cooper and Luke directly across from George.

  I had been running late that morning and had grabbed clothes blindly from my closet. I wore a black knee-length skirt, knee-high black boots and purple v-neck shirt. The skirt seemed to be riding up inch by inch and the shirt was riding low. I bet if I leaned my head down I could rest my chin on a pillow of cleavage. Maybe my mother was right, and I had gained a few pounds. It had been awhile since I wore these clothes. Even Cooper did a double take this morning when we met outside the police station.

  Luke turned slightly to look at me when I entered the room. I caught his eyes glance down towards my cleavage but then quickly shoot back up. He glared at me. Just as easily as he bored his eyes into mine, he turned his head away as I sat down next to him. Luke made quick introductions around the table.

  The man on George’s right was Dean Beaumont. I knew the name. He and George had been best friends since middle school. They attended the same high school and college and were fraternity brothers. From George, I knew Dean ran his own high-end public relations firm. Or at least that’s what he called it. He cleaned up a lot of politicians’ messes. I wondered why he was here.

  I was hoping to get Edwin on my good side so I spoke up first and extended my hand to him across the table. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. LaRue. I’m the investigator that George hired to help find Maime,” I said and then added nodding towards Cooper, “Cooper is a licensed investigator here in Arkansas. Since I’m not, and only licensed in New York, I’ll be working with him.”

  Edwin didn’t respond to me and didn’t shake my hand. He barely even glanced my way but addressed Cooper instead, “You’ll be helping to find my daughter?”

  Cooper shifted in his seat. I’m sure he was wondering if he should respond or not. He didn’t so I jumped in. “Actually, sir, Cooper is assisting me, but yes, we are here to help find your daughter.”

  “I’ve never heard of a female investigator before and certainly not one that looks like you,” he said, taking a long hard look at my cleavage making no pretense at hiding his actions.

  I wanted to reach down and pull my shirt up but that would be too obvious. I ignored the remark. “I’ve been an investigator for several years including a few years as an investigative reporter here in Little Rock. I know your daughter and her friends as well as having other resources available to me. I’m hoping that we can work with the police to assist in finding her as quickly as possible.”

  I was hoping that if I threw it out there that we were willing to cooperate that Edwin would put a little pressure on the cops to make sure we had access.

  No one spoke up so I continued. “I just arrived yesterday. I haven’t even had a chance to meet with George to fully go over the situation. Maybe we can all get an update now,” I said, turning to Luke, hoping to toss the conversation back his way.

  It didn’t happen. Edwin glared at me and accusingly asked, “How do you know George? Are you one of his whores?”

  CHAPTER 14

  SO MUCH FOR SOUTHERN hospitality. Cooper looked like he was about to leap across the table. I held my hand out to stop him from saying anything. Captain Meadows, who had remained silent up until that point, leaned forward resting his arms on the table, looked directly at me and then added, “Ms. Sullivan, we’d also be interested to know the nature of your relationship to George.”

  I waited for George to come to my defense since he was the one who dragged me into this. When he didn’t respond, I finally did and tried to sound as professional and emotionally detached as I could.

  “We are acquaintances from several years ago. Other than his reaching out for investigative services a few days ago, I’ve not spoken to him in close to two years.” That was all technically true.

  “Yes, but did you bed him?” Edwin added directly to the point.

  I felt the anger rise up inside me. I slammed my chair backwards, crashing it into the wall behind me. It was only once I was standing that I realized I was stuck between Cooper and Luke. I needed one of them to move so I could get out. I just stood there fuming. I couldn’t get out words.

  Luke spoke up while George remained noticeably silent. “Edwin, that’s enough. We are here to discuss your daughter not Ms. Sullivan’s sex life.” His eyes betrayed his words though. He shot me a look I knew meant this discussion wasn’t over and to sit back down. I did so begrudgingly.

  “Fine, fine,” Edwin said, folding his arms over his chest clearly angry he wasn’t going to get a response. “What, if anything, have you been doing to find my daughter?”

  Captain Meadows gave us all a brief rundown about their efforts so far. It seemed the police had taken this report very seriously. They had already spoken to Maime’s family and friends. They pulled her phone and credit card records as well as did a thorough sweep of her house. They were going through financial documents. I’m sure to see if there was a financial reason Maime either took off or for motive to see if George killed her.

  They had set up a hotline for tips and were working with local search and rescue groups to search for Maime on foot. What I didn’t realize until this meeting, what hadn’t even occurred to me, was her vehicle. When Captain Meadows mentioned that her 2015 Land Rover hadn’t been found either, it caught me by surprise.

  “Wait,” I said, interjecting but not directly speaking to anyone in particular. “I didn’t realize that her car was missing, too. Anyone check video surveillance from her office or the routes she might have traveled that night?”

  Luke barked, “This isn’t our first case, Ms. Sullivan. Of course those things have been checked but nothing of any significance has been found. None of our leads have yielded anything of significance at this point, unfortunately, but we are going to keep working at this until she is found.”

  “The women found yesterday, how are they connected? Who are they?” Edwin demanded, interrupting us.

  “We are working on identification. We have no reason right now to believe the cases are connected to Maime,” Luke explained. Then he directed his attention to George. “We would, however, like to speak with you again. We have some more questions.”

  Dean leaned over and whispered to George. I couldn’t hear what he said but it was an awkward moment. When he was done, George turned to Luke and said calmly, “I guess I could do that, but I don’t think I really have anything else to say.”

  Luke was visibly annoyed at their exchange. He turned to Dean and asked what I was thinking. “What is your role in this?”

  Dean straightened his tie, made direct eye contact with Luke and said smoothly, “As I’m sure you are aware, George is employed at LaRue & Associates. They are a very important corporate law firm that has a lot of VIP clients. I’m here simply to make sure their reputation stays intact.”

  Why on earth would Maime’s fath
er think the law firm’s reputation was at stake unless he thought George had something to do with her disappearance?

  When no one responded, probably all thinking the same thing that crossed my mind, Edwin slammed his fist on the table and snarled, “He’s here because I told him to be here. I trust him more than I trust the lot of you.”

  Luke didn’t comment. No one else did either. Edwin looked like he was going to have a stroke.

  The awkward moment just hung in the air. Finally, Luke turned back to George and said in a calm and measured tone, “I think there are some things you can help us understand from some of the financial documents we were looking through.”

  “Sure,” George said with a slight catch in his voice. “I can come back tomorrow morning at nine if that works for you. I have an appointment to get to now, if that’s okay?”

  “The sooner the better, but I think that will work,” Luke said. Then he addressed Edwin. “Please let us know if you or your wife hears anything from your daughter or if you think of anything that might help us. Please know we are doing everything we can to find Maime.”

  Edwin stood. “I expect to hear as soon as you know anything.” It wasn’t a question. It was a command.

  Dean, George and Edwin got up to leave. When they moved by us on the way out the door, George stopped, grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. With his hot breath directly in my ear, he whispered, “I love that shirt, sexy as ever. I expect to see you at my place when this meeting is over.”

  I don’t know if anyone heard him, but they definitely saw me jerk my arm out of his grip and move backwards.

  CHAPTER 15

  THE ROOM EMPTIED. Luke, Cooper and I stood alone. Before I could make my way to the door, Luke shut it and held up his hand to block my exit. “Sit down,” he demanded, pointing to a spot across the table. “You are not going anywhere until we get a few things out in the open. I may have come to your rescue in front of Edwin, but we’ve got some things to discuss.”