DEAD SET: Detective Jack Creed Mysteries - The Complete Short Stories Collection: 7 Book Box Set (Detective Jack Creed Murder Mystery Books Series 9)

by C T Mitchell

  “Jack,” Jo breathed as a memory of the crime scene surfaced. “Do you remember when we found Robert Walsh leaning over the body? He was trying to get something out of Kristie's hand. Could it be –?”

  “The missing half of the lotto ticket?” Dr. Russell finished for Jo. “As a matter of fact, that is precisely the reason we knew what to search for once we found the golf club. Kristie was holding the torn half of the ticket.”

  “Get Robert Walsh down to the sitting room at Stonehaven Manor immediately,” Jack barked. “I have some questions for him. And bring me the intelligence report on what we dug up on the search of his golf clubs.”

  “You heard the man!” Jo clapped her hands to get a rookie's attention. “Get to work!”

  The rookie scurried in the direction of Stonehaven Manor. Jo and Jack followed at a more leisurely pace.

  “So what's your gut telling you?” Jo asked.

  “That Gary Byrnes was telling the truth yesterday and Robert Walsh was not,” Jack said. “As long as the club we found comes from Walsh's bag, we have our who, what, when, where, and why.”

  ~*~

  “I hope you have a good reason for treating me like some criminal,” Robert Walsh complained as he was escorted into the Stonehaven sitting room by two armed police officers. “Should I call my lawyer?”

  “That depends.” Jack motioned for Walsh to sit on the empty couch. He had pulled over Carmen's writing desk in order to look more official and intimidating instead of sitting in the over-stuffed chair across from Walsh as if he were about to serve tea instead of start an interrogation. “Did you kill Kristie Byrnes?”

  Walsh gritted his teeth. “I told you before, Kristie and I were close. What reason would I have to kill her?”

  “I'll give you a reason,” Jack said. “In fact, I’ll give you one million reasons.”

  All the color drained from Walsh's face. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “Of course you do.” Jack held up the evidence bag with the two torn halves of the lottery ticket. “Look familiar? It's the lotto ticket you were trying to pry from Kristie's hand the morning her body was discovered. You're the only one who knew about it besides the deceased. Now, are you going to tell me why you've been less than forthcoming with information or do I need to read you your rights?”

  Walsh was silent for several long moments before, finally, beginning to talk. “Kristie and I were in love. We always were and we always will be. She knew from the start her marriage to Gary was a mistake but it's not the kind of mistake that's easy to get out of...especially when it involves telling Gary Byrnes you're leaving him.” He squinted at Jack, imploring him to understand.

  “You don't just walk up to Gary, hand him divorce papers, and walk away. Kristie needed to be smarter about it. She needed a plan. I helped. I mean it when I say I loved her, Detective. She was living paycheck to paycheck after she finally got out from under Gary's thumb. That didn't matter, though. We were still happy. We were planning a life together. We were going to get married once her divorce was final.”

  “Did you hit her in the head with a nine iron before or after you found out she won the lotto?” Jack bluffed the extent of his knowledge. “Unless you split the cost of the ticket, it was all hers. She had no obligation to share with you. That just ate you up inside, didn't it, Mr. Walsh? It ate you up so much you'd rather see her dead than split the money.”

  Walsh shook his head vehemently. “I would never hurt Kristie. Never!”

  “Tell that to the judge.” Jack glanced down when his text message alert sounded. It was from Jo. Walsh's clubs check out. No missing nine iron. No dirt. No reason to arrest. Jack didn't let his disappointment show. He had far, far too good of a poker face for that to happen. Instead, he set down his phone, looked straight at Robert Walsh, and said: “Don't plan on leaving Stonehaven Manor until Kristie's murder is solved, Mr. Walsh.”

  “But...But I have a job,” he protested. “I'm needed at the Northern Star.”

  “You're needed more here.” Jack snapped his interrogation notebook closed with a loud bang.

  “Stay put...or else.”

  CHAPTER 10

  “I'm sure you'd much rather be playing a round of golf than solving a crime here. I'm sorry we have to meet again under these circumstances.” Carmen sat down in a chair across the table from Jack. They were the only two people in the entire Stonehaven dining room. “We used to do a booming business. Now look at us.”

  Jack set his notebook on top of his smartphone's screen. He didn't need Jo sending a sensitive text that Carmen--no matter how well-meaning--could read. “I'm sure business will pick up again, once we--and the rumors--clear out.”

  Carmen shook her head. “I'm not so sure of that. Things haven't been great for a while. Peter is a proud man and will never admit that our dream is in danger of dying, but it is, Jack. It really is.”

  Jack sat up straighter. You didn't get to his level of expertise without being able to sense when a supposedly throwaway conversation line actually held great weight for a case. This was one of those conversations.

  “I'm sure he's just over-exaggerating the financial troubles.” Jack played along in hopes of stretching the conversation out as much as possible. If he asked the right questions, Carmen would give him all the answers he needed to crack the case without even realizing it. “Peter is worried about your comfort, Carmen. It was his idea to come to Bangalow and drag you along with him. If that ends, he’ll look like a failure in your eyes. He'd do anything to avoid that.”

  “Oh, I know,” Carmen said. “Peter would do anything to keep me in the level of comfort I've grown used to. What he doesn't understand is that rich or poor means nothing to me without him.”

  Carmen laced and unlaced her fingers and twiddled her thumbs. To some, it might appear as nervous habits, but Jack knew it really meant she was hiding something. And he was going to find out what.

  “Do you think he's hiding something from you?” Jack picked his words carefully. Just because he was now suspicious of Peter didn't mean Carmen had to be too.

  “I wish I knew.” She frowned and pressed her lips as she ran through the last 48 hours and before. “He's been shredding bills. I find the pieces in the trash bin. Anytime I bring it up, he tells me there's nothing to worry about and we have money coming in.” Carmen gestured at the empty dining room. “No guests means no money. The golf course itself does well, but you can't run an entire club just on games of golf. We need guests in the Manor if we truly want to survive.”

  “I'll let you be. Why don't I talk to Peter for you?” Jack leaned across the table to pat Carmen's folded hands. “Maybe he'll be forthcoming, man-to-man.”

  “Do you really think so?” Carmen's eyes widened hopefully.

  “There's only one way to find out.”

  ~*~

  “What did you want to talk to me about, Jack?” Peter Brown stuck his head in the sitting room that had served as the interrogation room since the investigation into Kristie's murder began.

  Jack kept his voice casual as Peter sunk onto the couch across from him. “Oh, nothing in particular. I've been reviewing my notes and all the witness statements and wanted to follow up with you.”

  “I'd be happy to help.”

  “You mentioned you went to sleep late the night of Kristie Byrnes’ murder. Did you hear anything unusual coming from her room? Any sounds? Perhaps the TV on?”

  “You mean for the lotto numbers?” Peter asked. “I did hear some commotion...some yelling and screaming.”

  “Did you think to check on Ms. Byrnes?”

  “It wasn't really my place,” Peter said. “If I checked on every guest that made noises, I’d be interrupting far too many intimate moments than is proper.”

  “Is that what you thought was going on in Ms. Byrnes’ room the night of her murder?” Jack asked.

  “I don't think, I know that's what was going on in Kristie's room. She didn't have a room adjoining that r
eporter's for nothing.”

  “Do you play the lotto, Peter?”

  “I've been known to dabble a bit,” he admitted. “I never had much luck.”

  “Unless Kristie had all the luck for you.”

  Peter sucked in his breath. “You should be saying that to that reporter fellow, not me.”

  “But I am saying it to you.” Jack held up his phone to show off a picture of the bloodied golf club. “Look familiar?” He swiped to the next picture of the torn winning lotto ticket. “Or what about this? With a mountain of bills to pay, a million dollars could solve all your problems and then some. Kristie was such a small woman. It wouldn't take much to silence her forever.”

  “Jack we are golf mates. You should be saying this to that reporter,” Peter insisted again. “Not me.”

  “The problem with your theory versus mine, Peter, is that Robert Walsh's alibi and golf clubs check out. Yours don't.”

  Tears welled in Peter’s eyes. “I didn't mean to hurt her,” he blurted. “She had secrets and I offered to keep them. She and that reporter were planning to run off to Bali together. You could live like kings in Bali on a million bucks. I told her Gary wasn't going to let her go away that easily-- especially since they were still technically married so half of those winnings were his. She didn't like that answer so...”

  “So you bash her head in with a nine iron?”

  Peter shook his head vehemently. “It wasn't supposed to go like that. I asked for hush money. Not a lot. Just enough to pay off the creditors and maybe take Carmen for a nice holiday.” He shook his head again. “It wasn't supposed to go like that.”

  In all his years as a detective, Jack had made it his business to be exactly the sort of hard nosed, by-the-book bad cop that everyone expected him to be. Now, sitting across from his friend, his heart softened slightly. Peter wasn't a bad guy, just in a bad position. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Unfortunately, Peter’s desperate measure included killing an innocent girl.

  “Look, Peter, I don't usually cut crooks a break, but if you come with me now to the police station, you can avoid a scene. You don't even have to tell Carmen where you're going. You just need to climb into my car, buckle up, and we'll drive.”

  “Are they going to lock me away for a long time?” Peter asked. “I don't know how Carmen will manage without me. We've never been apart. Not one night since we married.”

  “How long your sentence is, is for a judge to decide, not me,” Jack said. “I don't do this for everyone, Peter. Are you coming with me or not?”

  Peter nodded silently and followed Jack outside to his waiting car. The drive to the police station was silent. Peter looked over at Jack with wide, terrified eyes as they parked in front of the station.

  “I...I can't do this anymore. Can't you just let me disappear or-or-or—”

  “You know it doesn't work like that, Peter,” Jack said. “Accident or not, you can't hide from your mistakes. That doesn't make them go away. It only delays them for a little while.”

  “Will you be there with me?”

  “Every step of the way,” Jack promised.

  “Every step of the way.”

  DEAD SILENCE

  By

  C T Mitchell

  CHAPTER 1

  Nothing brought the people or the officers in the police station to the TV and radios faster than a big scandal. The whispers and yells came from all sorts of people who were talking about the mayor. The mayor himself—the man of the people—embroiled in a scandal that was caught on tape. Could it get any better than this?

  It wasn’t the usual “mayor got caught with a prostitute” type of scandal that people thought it would be. No, this particular fall from grace was more exciting and gossip inducing. Prostitute was expected. Drug scandal was not.

  The mayor was known to be very straight laced and tough on drugs which made it all the more amusing when he was caught on tape snorting cocaine. The media was having a field day. Supporters, video experts, and anyone that could look and sound professional on camera were being trotted out to over-analyze the video. Even the police were gossiping about in the station and had the TV blaring on a 24 hour news channel.

  Detective Jack Creed walked by a group of officers clustered around a TV. What a bunch of sheep, lapping up the gossip and speculation. He never went in for that sort of gossip. He preferred the cold, hard facts he found at a crime scene over anything on the news.

  “The mayor has canceled his speaking engagement…” The reporter informed the viewers. Jack rolled his eyes. The news stations must really be scraping the bottom of the scandal barrel if they’re talking about something like canceling a couple speaking engagements. Of course he was going to cancel. He’d be an idiot not too. Of course, he was an idiot for being caught snorting coke on camera too.

  Turning to into another, hopefully quieter, room Jack was surprised to see his partner Jo Boston-Wright and the forensic pathologist Dr. Jane Russell huddled together whispering. Based on the anxious frown line popping out on Jo’s brow, he Jack guessed it wasn’t about the latest shoe sale.

  Jack did his best to swallow a rude comment about women and shoes. Instead, he smiled as politely as he could with only one cup of coffee in him and said: “Good morning.”

  Jo jumped all over the chance to act -- if not exactly look -- normal. “Morning. Crazy with the mayor, don’t you think? That’s all anyone can talk about.”

  “Including you?”

  Dr. Russell muttered something to Jo before glancing quickly at Jack.

  In Jack’s opinion she was a good doctor, most competent, but he sensed there was always something just underneath the surface with her -- something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe she was lonely and she thought he was too, but all those sideways glances added up to more awkwardness than Jack was willing and able to deal with. He had a wife. He may not see her very often but she was still his. He may act tough but he took his wedding vows very seriously...just like he took a lot of things very seriously.

  “Did you hear about the video of the mayor going up on that website?” Jo asked.

  “Is it free for downloading?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “If I was sitting on a media gold mine, I wouldn’t put it up for free.”

  “No, that person is having some sort of bidding war on who gets the video,” Jane said. “They’re opening the bidding war in an hour or so.”

  “Jackals,” Jane muttered. “They sense blood and it’s everyone for themselves. Do we know who has ownership of it?”

  “We’re trying to get a warrant to the website hosting the video,” Jo said. “They refused to cooperate the first time we asked. They say they’re not responsible for what people put up on their server.” She waved a hand helplessly. “It was a typical ‘get a warrant’ conversation so...we got a warrant.” Jo moved to the laptop sitting on a table and typed in the website URL.

  “Kind of basic, huh?”

  The simplicity of the website surprised Jack. For something this explosive, for something that could break a man’s career and reputation, he expected something much more big and colorful. A beige splash page with red lettering reading “See the video the mayor doesn’t want you to see! Start bidding now!” ran across the top. Beneath the text was a counter with blue text that was set to all zeroes. Towards the bottom of the page were payment options reading “pay now” and “donate”. The person could enter a certain number or type in their own amount and enter the bidding war. It looked like a basic drag and drop or WYSIWYG website instead of created by someone with any sort of web design talent.

  Out of curiosity, Jack continued to scroll through the page. There wasn’t much to be seen other than that same beige color and he was about to give up when he got to the very bottom. In small letters there was something that looked like an e-mail address. The user’s name was “seethescandal” at the website’s address.

  “Hey, I might’ve found something,” Jack said. “It’s a long shot but i
t might be this person’s e-mail address.”

  Both Jo and Jane moved around to see what Jack was looking at.

  “Well, it’s worth a try,” Jane commented. “It’s the only solid lead we have right now and perhaps the only way to contact them until the warrant arrives.”

  Jack did his best to type out a quick letter where he sounded skeptical of the video’s validity. He hoped his bluff would be inflammatory enough to get the person’s attention and force a reply out of them. He knew, however, it could easily lead to a dead end with someone hoping to piggy back on the scandal and make some easy money while they’re at it.

  “Do you think it’ll get their attention?” Jo looked hopeful, even if her words were not.

  “Here’s hoping!” Jack clicked send. “I’m not going to be pleased if we’re wasting our time.”

  The computer dinged once signaling new e-mail.

  “That was quick.” Jo glanced at Jack when they saw the screen name “seethescandal” pop up.

  “Let’s see if we get lucky.” Jack clicked on the email to open it.

  Like others you have asked if the video is real and I can assure you it is. I can show you a sample of the video to prove its validity if you want to meet me some place private.

  A few back and forth e-mails later and Jack and seethescandal had agreed on a meeting place at dusk. Under different circumstances Jack would have joked about all transactions being at night yet it didn’t seem appropriate right now.

  “I’ll be nearby,” Jo promised as she finished wiring Jack up to record the meeting. She jogged back to the van where she’d be monitoring everything and waited. Neither of them had to wait long.

  seethescandal wasn’t tall and intimidating but small and covered in thick, dark clothing to hide their identity. “Are you Creed?” they asked.

  Jack didn’t bother with niceties. Instead, he cut to the chase by asking: “Do you have the video?”

  “I do.”

  “Let me see.”

  “Ah, ah, not so fast! What’s your phone number?” seethescandal pulled out his own smart phone. “I’m not going to give you access to my phone so you can probe it for information.”