by C T Mitchell
Jack scrolled through the list. “Where are these staff members now?” he asked. “We need to speak to them immediately.”
“They’re all around except for Dwayne Rogers,” Barbara said. “He is our Brand and Compliance Manager and seems to have gone missing some time last night after the exec dinner.”
“Is that a bit odd for somebody to leave the resort?” Jack asked.
“Dwayne is a rule unto himself. He is a bit different to most of us. ”
“How so?” Jo asked.
Barbara made a gesture to let them know Dwayne was gay. “Besides, it's probably not as odd as all that. He's got a place up in Cabarita Beach. I think he might have slipped up there with one of his ‘friends.’”
“So I take it that a Brand and Compliance Manager is an important role within your company?” Jack asked.
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “Dwayne is one of the executives being touted as a future CEO of Sovran when Nick steps down. Now he’s got a clear run.”
“Did Nick and Dwayne get on?”
“Yes and no.” Barbara frowned at some memory Jack doubted she'd share with them. “Dwayne was very good at his job, but Nick is a little bit old-fashioned. He is what you would call homophobic and he didn’t approve of Dwayne’s way of life. Nick and Dwayne would often have words. In fact, they had quite a heated discussion yesterday afternoon at the strategy meeting. It resulted in Dwayne storming out.” Barbara looked up and studied Jack as intensely as he was studying her.
“Detective, I know this is the early days of the investigation, but if you do find that Dwayne was involved in Nick’s death, would you keep his private life, um, private? We are a large company with many traditional stakeholders. Such a scandal surrounding Dwayne's way of life would not sit well with them.”
“I don’t think the killing of your CEO would sit well with your stakeholders either, Ms. Johnson,” Jack said. “For now, we need to interview your staff. Anything after that is determined by what we find.” Jack looked over at Jo. “Ready?”
Jo grinned. She liked interviewing and all the paperwork it entailed. Strange bird. “Always.”
CHAPTER 4
Dwayne Rogers' first floor apartment was well maintained. The furniture was simple but stylish. Everything was in its place. If Jack didn’t know about Dwayne’s lifestyle, he would have thought the apartment showed a women's touch.
Jack slid his hand across the granite bench top in the kitchen and noticed a small spec of meat on a chopping board. He collected it, carefully placing it into a plastic bag he stowed in his suit pocket, before moving on to the tidy bedrooms. The bed didn't look slept in.
Leaving the apartment, Jack dropped the key off with the apartment manager Karl and found his way to the pub. There, he ran into Chloe Baker, the Sovran Events Manager, who Jo interviewed yesterday. The man with her was not familiar.
“Who’s your friend, Chloe?” Jack asked.
Chloe motioned at the man beside her. “Detective Creed, meet Dwayne Rogers. He works for Sovran as well.”
“Actually, you’re just the man I wanted to see, Mr. Rogers.” Jack pulled a small notebook and pen out of his coat pocket. A lot of younger cops liked to use technology when taking statements, but not Jack. He was old school through and through.
“Me?” Dwayne raised one eyebrow questioningly. “What could you possibly want with me?”
“Where were you last night between 9 and 11?”
“Brisbane,” he answered without hesitation. “I left the dinner at about 8.30 and drove to a club in Fortitude Valley and caught up with some friends.”
“What’s the name of the club?”
“Is that really necessary?”
“Everything is necessary in a murder investigation, Mr. Rogers.”
Dwayne frowned. He looked unwilling to spill the details on the club, but finally relented. “It’s called Aladdin’s Cave. It’s a….gay bar. It turned out to be a big night and I spent the rest of the night at the club. They have rooms you can hire…oh, never mind. I woke up this morning a bit worse for wear and headed back down the coast. Chloe called me in the car and told me what happened to Nick and asked me to meet her here, so here I am. Any other questions, Detective?”
“Ms. Johnson tells me you and Nick didn’t always get on,” Jack said. “In fact, you had quite a heated argument with him yesterday afternoon before you went missing and he ended up dead. Care to elaborate on that for me?”
“It was nothing really.” Dwayne shrugged. “Just the usual stuff. I raised the issue about his succession. As I’m sure Barbara would have mentioned to you, the company has been in a fair bit of trouble financially. Senior staff members are worried, the board is concerned, especially as it affects their individual liability and we are losing brokers because they are worried they won’t get paid. We were set to lose millions. People were naturally calling for Nick's resignation.”
“So you wanted to discuss his moving on?”
“Yes,” Dwayne said. “We needed to steady the ship and I wanted to see where I stood in being able to get the top job. But in Nick’s typical dismissive fashion, he tried to blow me off and I reacted. That's why we argued. We seemed to always be arguing.”
“Reacted enough to kill him?” Jack asked.
“No, of course not.” Dwayne shook his head. “Nick was homophobic and basically ruled out any chance for me to get the top job. His reasoning was that the Board is too conservative. So after the dinner last night, I went to Brisbane and had a bender at Aladin’s Cave. I suppose the Board wouldn’t like that as well, but I'm beyond caring what the board thinks about me.”
Jack arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?” He knew he looked intimidating. It was a move he practiced all the time with great success. Dwayne wasn't the first to fall for it, and he wouldn't be the last.
Dwayne squirmed like a worm left out on the sidewalk to bake. “I—I suppose I care a little bit about what the Board thinks about me but I'm not—I'm not a killer.”
“You have yet to convince me or anyone else of that,” Jack said. “Don’t leave town Mr. Rogers, will you?”
CHAPTER 5
“Did you see his face?” Jo couldn't hold in her laughter after they left Dwayne Rogers to stew on the fact that they were watching him. “I thought he was going to mess his pants for sure.”
“All in a day's work.” Jack couldn't hold in his grin any longer. “I don't consider the case a success unless I get at least one suspect to crap his pants.”
Jo looked down at her notebook as they strode through the hotel on their way back to interview Barbara yet again. She was a good source of information if nothing else. “So what’s next?”
“We see what else Barbara can shed light on,” Jack said. “We have no solid leads. She's the best thing we have going to an inside source.”
“I hope you know what you're doing.”
Jack pushed open the double glass doors to the lounge. Barbara looked up from her cup of coffee as if already expecting them.
“May we ask you some more questions?” Jack sat down without being invited. Jo hurriedly grabbed a chair on the other side of the round table. “We talked to Dwayne Rogers.”
“And?”
“And he has an alibi like everyone else involved.” Jack waved a hand in the air helplessly. He hated being helpless. It wasn't good for his reputation or his cases. “We need some more details.”
“On what?” Barbara asked blandly. Jack got the impression that Barbara was used to just sitting back and seeing where the tide took her. She didn't make waves, but she did steer on a very even keel. That calmness would help them in this case, Jack was sure of it. Barbara was an ally, even if she didn't know it yet.
“Where is Mrs. Turner?” Jack asked. “I would have thought she would’ve been at the conference with her husband. I assumed Nick was married by the wedding band on his finger.”
“Prue is on her way from Melbourne,” Barbara answered emotionlessly. “She should arriv
e later today if all goes well.”
“Does she usually stay home while her husband runs around on business trips?”
“Well there are a couple of reasons why she chooses to stay home for most trips, Detective.” Barbara explained. “Prue is confined to a wheelchair, which makes it more difficult for her to get around than most. She’s an independent woman and can do most things by herself, but certain trips are not her style.”
“And what is her style?” Jack asked.
“She prefers dinners and award nights.” Barbara smiled at the memory of one such night. “Prue would always be in support of Nick, but she often joked about being able to stare into other men’s crotches all night thanks to the chair.”
“But she didn’t come for this National Awards dinner?” Jack asked. “Why is that?”
“Nick was having an affair with Chloe,” Barbara said as simply as someone who said 'the sun is shining today.' “It all blew up last year when Prue caught Nick and Chloe in bed at our Blue Mountains conference. She gave Nick an ultimatum to dump the bimbo, as Prue referred to her, or she wouldn’t be attending this conference. As you can see, Chloe is here and Prue is not.”
The loyalty that Barbara showed Nick was just delivered in spades. It was extremely evident to Jack that here was a woman who in some way felt she owed her life to this man. And perhaps she did. Eighteen years working with someone is a long time. More than some marriages could stand, including Nick and Prue Turner’s. But was this loyalty well-grounded or could Barbara be blinded by Nick’s charm? Perhaps Barbara’s heart harbored a flame that not even death could be extinguished, Jack thought.
“Well, somebody murdered him and I need to find out whom,” Jack said. “Dwayne Rogers obviously thought he was next in line for the big job. At this stage, he’s firmly in my sight.”
“Not anymore he isn't.” Jo put down her cell phone where she had discretely took a call during Jack and Barbara's discussion. “His alibi checks out, Jack. We're right back at square one.”
CHAPTER 6
Jack slouched in his lounge chair. Keeping good posture was not at the forefront of Jack’s mind, although it should be considering the number of chiropractic visits he had racked up over the years. But it was comfortable this way. Sitting straight up in a chair reminded him of Mrs. Jeffries, his Grade 4 maths teacher, who would often clip him around his ears while reminding him to sit straight with his back firmly pushed into the back of the seat.
Perhaps Mrs. Jeffries would have saved Jack from a bad back and in turn saved the nation a whole heap of medical claims if Jack was a dutiful student and did what he was told. He certainly did what Mrs. Jeffries told him to do in learning his multiplication tables. At the end of a random speed test, the whole class was made to stand on the chairs behind their desk, while Mrs. Jeffries walked around the room, hands behind her back and a glare that would outlast religion, marking her student’s tests. Getting less than 90% correct would result in an almighty whack around the head, often sending students crashing to the floor. Mrs. Jeffries was one tough mother and Jack quickly became proficient at mathematics.
But not in seat sitting. This was Jack’s rebellious streak shining through. With feet on the coffee table, Jack carefully balanced a chicken and vegetable takeaway from Jimmy across at Hot Wok Asian while scooping his celery up into his mouth, occasionally missing its target and coming to rest on his ‘Old Men Rule’ t-shirt. Melissa would not be impressed, having encouraged her father many times to serve his takeaway up on a plate and eat civilly at a table with a knife and fork.
The lounge doors leading onto the verandah were slightly ajar, allowing a fresh autumn breeze flow into Jack’s bachelor pad and ridding the apartment of the stale, stuffy odors Jack had stored away. The television blared sounds of Garry Clarke Jr. belting out “Bright Lights” at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads concert across the room and out into the grounds of the Seaview Motel, probably to the disgust of a few of the other guests.
Jack was in Jack’s world, fantasizing that he too could be a rock star, mesmerizing tens of thousands of people with his guitar maestro playing skills. Putting the takeaway container down for a few minutes to engage in some serious air guitar was about as close as Jack would come to actually playing a Les Paul to an audience. Two guitars sat proudly in the second bedroom but never a string had been strum. Learning guitar was one of those things Jack would do in retirement. He was way too busy solving crimes for him to take time out now, which was a pity because he craved some solitude and the solace he could find in the strings of a guitar.
The guitar virtuoso being played out by Gary was interrupted by a quick slide of the verandah doors opening. Jack sprung up in his chair so straight it would have made Mrs. Jeffries proud and looked around, cranking his neck at a speed that would almost guarantee Jack a visit to the chiro real soon.
Jo entered Jack’s man cave, noticing the half empty Chinese container on the coffee table, a bottle of J&B scotch within reach and a pile of old newspapers scattered under the table.
“What’s that crap you are listening to, Jack? I’m sure the neighbours must love you when you’re having a night in. I’m surprised you haven’t had a visit from Pete and the boys attending a noise complaint. Can you turn it off? I’ve got some interesting news about the case.”
“Unless it's a break or a new lead, it’s not worth interrupting my music.” Jack sipped his scotch.
“Oh, it's good,” Jo promised. “Real good.”
Jack opened his eyes. He could still hear the music floating in on the breeze from the concert across the street. He preferred his plush leather chair over some overpriced bucket seat any day. “It better be.”
“Chloe Baker dropped a few pearlers when we caught up,” Jo burst out like a cat that just caught a mouse. “She was getting ready to leave the company. Apparently the gossip machine was running pretty high about her and Nick, and the wife, Prue, along with the Board, had given Nick an ultimatum to fix up his act or he’d be out.”
“If you're saying you think Chloe killed him, I don't see why,” Jack said. “What's the motive?”
“Maybe it was a crime of passion,” Jo said. “Maybe she thought she was getting the heave-ho and if she left it would be all over between her and Nick. She was definitely in love with him. I could tell it in her eyes.”
Jack wandered around his three by two kitchen like a caged animal. He savored his scotch while rubbing his chin. “I'm listening.”
“Chloe also spoke about the Business Development Manager, Jody Green,” Jo said. “I get the feeling there is no love lost there between them. Maybe she even felt a little threatened in spite of her seniority. According to Chloe, Jody felt her workload was excessive. She spent most nights in the office working late and would get in with the sparrows most mornings. Not good for her home life. That’s why Jody’s boyfriend Marco flew in so they could have some time together. Apparently she and Nick would travel a bit together; another thing that ticked off Marco a bit. She was never home by all accounts.”
“That’s the life of a corporate exec,” Jack said. “But I still can’t see a connection to kill a man.”
“No, but she did get pissed off about some missing superannuation. Apparently she and a few of the other executives hadn’t received any superannuation contributions for over 12 months. Jody approached a Board member about the discrepancy and threatened to go to the tax office. To keep quiet, she strongly suggested that she should get a Board seat.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Blackmail?” Jack asked.
Jo nodded, still looking like a smug cat with a mouthful of bird feathers. “Blackmail.”
CHAPTER 7
Barbara sat quietly in the corner of the foyer, legs crossed, peacefully looking onto the pool area while sipping a cappuccino. The full bodied aroma of Jack’s long black sat opposite in anticipation of his imminent arrival. The ever efficient Barbara had pre-ordered Jack’s coffee, a sign of a well-organized personal assistant with
attention to detail. Or perhaps a little flame had been lit by the charismatic Jack Creed.
Jack slipped into the rattan chair, tossing his keys and wallet onto the vacant chair alongside. Letting out a sigh as his buttocks hit the seat cushion; he smiled at Barbara and thanked her for ordering his coffee in advance.
“That’s what a good PA does, Detective,” Barbara said. “It's my job to know everybody’s little nuances and preferences.”
“Tell me more about Chloe and Jody,” Jack requested. “Were they both lovers of Nick?”
“Well, Chloe certainly was. In fact, Nick was besotted by her. Not that I approved, of course. I felt sorry for Prue. She is a lovely person. But boys will be boys. And I suppose when a young blonde throws herself at a late 50s man, his ego is stroked.” Barbara shrugged. It seemed she had resigned herself to the fact that Nick was in lust with Chloe long ago. “What can I say? But yes, they were an item. I looked after all of Nick’s affairs, I mean matters, including booking his travel arrangements.”
“And what about Jody Green? I believe she and Nick traveled interstate at times.”
“Well, you’d expect that being the BDM and CEO of the company, Detective.” Barbara smiled ruefully. “But I must admit Jody kept turning up at events and meetings she really would have no need to be at. I didn’t book her travel arrangements; she did her own. I suppose the one that raised a few eyebrows was a four-day driving tour around the country in Victoria about three months or so ago.”