Long Shadows, page 16
“And what does the trustee get out of it?”
“Reasonable compensation. And control over the trust funds until they are disbursed.”
“Funny that Cummins would have kept her ex as trustee,” said Decker.
“Yes, but as I said, she was going to change that.”
“She actually told you that?”
“Yes. But she just didn’t get around to it.”
“That doesn’t seem like the woman I’ve been learning about. She sounded efficient, organized, someone who executes on something promptly.”
Trotter leaned back in his chair. “You know, you’re exactly right about that.”
“But she actually talked to you about changing trustees and the executor?” said White.
“She did, several times. And I reminded her once.”
“What was her response?”
“That the time just wasn’t right.”
“What did she mean by that?” asked Decker.
“I don’t really know. Maybe she thought Tyler would be upset if she cut his dad out as trustee. But the last time we spoke about it was six weeks ago.”
“Res ipsa loquitor,” said Decker.
“Excuse me?”
“The phrase. It’s connected to Cummins’s death. Did she ever use that phrase with you?”
“No, never. I haven’t used it since I was in law school. And you say it figures in her death some way? How very strange.”
“And getting stranger by the second,” said Decker.
Chapter 36
I DID NOT LEAK THAT information to Roe or anyone else,” said Andrews angrily.
They were seated at an outside table of an Italian restaurant, where, by prearrangement, Decker and White had met the FBI agent for a late dinner.
“Well, she knew,” said Decker.
“Then she learned it from someone else. Are you sure you didn’t mention it?”
“I don’t mention shit to anybody,” replied Decker.
A visibly angry Andrews sat back and sipped from his glass of white wine.
“Anything come from the gate log review?” asked White in a calming tone.
“Nothing yet. And if Barry hired a hit man I don’t think he came through the gate. I requested a warrant for his financial records, as I said. We should have those very soon.” He put his wine down. “Now, we did receive info from Gamma on Draymont’s and Lancer’s backgrounds. Before coming to Gamma, Draymont worked in DC for the Capitol Police.”
“Interesting transition, coming down here and going private,” said Decker. “Draymont was way too young to be double-dipping,” he added, referring to the practice of a government employee’s earning his full pension and then going to work at another job.
“Maybe Gamma made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” suggested Andrews.
“If they did, it would be nice to know,” said Decker.
“You mentioned you met with Kasimira?” asked Andrews.
“I did. She wants me to figure out what happened to her father. That’s why she agreed to release those files on Lancer and Draymont, because I told her I’d look into it under certain conditions.”
Andrews looked surprised. “But that’s not the case you’re on.”
“I’ll only work on it if it connects with our case. I told her that.”
“But how could it? Kanak Roe presumably died three years ago.”
“And someone stuffed the currency of Roe’s native land into Draymont’s throat. That’s either one hell of a coincidence or there might be some common elements between the two events, even though they’re years apart.”
Andrews fiddled with his napkin. “I guess that’s possible.”
“And what’s the background on Alice Lancer?” asked White.
Andrews cleared his throat. “Lancer has been with Gamma for six years. Draymont about the same, by the way. Before going to work for Gamma she was a lawyer for a few years, then a communications director, and later a lobbyist at a political outfit in DC.”
“So the same city and basically the same arena as Draymont.”
“Yes. So they could have known each other back then.”
White drank from her water glass and said, “Lawyer, and then communications director, and then a lobbyist for a political group, and now she works at a private security firm? Odd career trajectory.”
Decker said, “It all depends on her personal goals.”
She looked at Andrews. “Family? Draymont and Lancer?”
“Draymont’s family is in Seattle. Parents still alive, and he has one brother. They’ve been notified. They’re coming in to claim the body.”
“And Lancer?” said White.
“We found out that Alice Lancer is an orphan. Her adoptive parents died in a plane crash over a decade ago. She has no siblings. And we really have no way of finding out who her biological parents were.”
Something clicked in Decker’s head when Andrews said this. Okay, that’s interesting.
“So, dead end there,” noted White.
“Seems to be. And there’s no sign of Lancer or Patty Kelly. It’s like they’ve disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“Funny how that always seems to happen when someone doesn’t want to talk to the cops,” interjected Decker.
“What will you do next?” asked Andrews.
“We learned from Duncan Trotter that Judge Cummins’s death resulted in her ex being the trustee of a twenty-million-dollar-plus fortune.”
Andrews nearly dumped his wine. “Shit. I knew she was loaded, but not that loaded.”
Decker’s phone vibrated and he read the message that had just come in. “This is from the ME. I had a hunch about something and it turned out I was right.”
“What was the hunch?” asked Andrews.
“That Alan Draymont wasn’t guarding the judge, he was sleeping with her.”
“What!” Andrews blurted out.
Decker briefly explained what he had found at the crime scene and also the confirmation from the ME. He also told Andrews about his theory of there being two different killers.
Andrews nodded, looking thoughtful. “I have to admit, the different methods of the killings were bothering me. You either see one or the other. But Decker, Trevor Perlman said he recommended Gamma to the judge. And she told others, including her son, that she was having protection.”
“Doris Kline told me that Draymont wasn’t there every night. And no one else was taking up the protection. Funny way to guard someone.”
“But then why go to Gamma at all if there were no threats?” asked White.
“Not really sure. But it looks like that’s what happened. You don’t sleep with your security guard. And your security guard doesn’t just not show up to guard you.”
“So she wasn’t really afraid of anyone?” said White.
Decker glanced at her. “Oh, I think she was afraid of someone. And that person killed her.”
Chapter 37
AFTER DINNER, DECKER SAT IN his hotel room staring at a wall.
He was not thinking of the case right now. He was thinking about the letter he’d gotten from the Cognitive Institute in Chicago.
Dear Mr. Decker, Your latest brain scans have shown various anomalies that will require further testing and monitoring. Preliminarily, new lesions are presenting, and it seems that previously unaffected sections of your cerebrum are at risk of being transformed in ways that…
Here, Decker stopped thinking about what the letter had said.
Lesions. Previously unaffected. Anomalies. Transformed in ways that…
Not a single bit of that sounded good.
Added to that was the fact that four men whom Decker had played football with or against in college and then in the NFL had died prematurely over the last three years.
One from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, one from a heart attack, and another from a stroke caused by his Type-2 diabetes.
And the fourth man had died by suicide, with his brain donated to Boston University’s CTE Center for further analysis to see if he had the disease. Which he did.
Realistically, how much time do I have left? I didn’t play long in the pros, for sure. But I’ve played a lot of football, and the shot I took that day probably did as much damage as five years in the NFL would have.
He looked around the confines of the small room. And is this really how I want to spend it?
But he also knew he could not make any life-altering decisions right this minute. So he lay back on the bed and thought about the case. It was puzzling, as all cases were. But this case was different in that the more he got into it, the more puzzling it became. Even the things he believed he had figured out, namely that Cummins and Draymont had had a sexual relationship, and that they were dealing with two unrelated murders committed in the same house and within minutes of each other, became more inscrutable the further he went into it.
The foreign currency in Draymont’s mouth seemed to connect with Kanak Roe, or at least the Roe family. Kasimira seemed to think it was directly tied to her father’s disappearance and apparent death three years earlier, but Decker had no evidence of that being the case. If the Roes had enemies in what was now Slovakia, had the killer or killers of Alan Draymont gone back there? If so, he had little chance of bringing them to justice.
And then there was Julia Cummins’s murder. It was personal, unlike Draymont’s. The multiple stabbings evidenced a frenzy fueled by hatred.
Was Barry Davidson, the ex who was, by all accounts, including perhaps his own, still in love with Cummins, also behind the woman’s murder? The problem was the man’s alibis were pretty solid. And if Davidson had hired a hit man, would that person have unleashed such a frenzied attack on the woman? With up-close encounters you could leave behind your DNA and other forensic markers. It made no sense.
But if Davidson was out as a suspect, who then? Was Cummins seeing anyone else? He doubted that Alan Draymont had been Cummins’s only romantic interest since her divorce years before. She was young, attractive, a federal judge, wealthy. She would be quite the catch for someone.
He would have to have another go at both Doris Kline and Maya Perlman, to see if they knew of any other romantic partner out there. Or one who had been spurned or dumped by the dead woman.
Decker looked at his watch. It was late, but Kline might still be up. Perhaps Maya Perlman, too, despite her travels, and the crushing news of her friend’s death. At least it was worth a shot.
He decided not to bother White, who had mentioned that she was going to help her kids with their homework over a Zoom call tonight.
He left the hotel and drove to the gated community. He had to show his ID to the security service via a video link, and then was allowed in.
He drove to Cummins’s house and parked in the driveway. All police presence was gone, but the crime scene had not been officially released yet. He supposed Davidson, as the executor and trustee of his wife’s estate, would have to come over at some point and decide what to do with the property and its contents. He doubted Tyler would want to keep a house where his mother had been brutally murdered.
Both the Kline and Perlman homes had lights on. He decided to try Kline first.
He knocked on the door but she didn’t answer. He peered in the sidelights but saw no movement. Her car was in the driveway.
Is she lying in there drunk?
He had no cause to force his way in, so he walked over to the Perlmans’ home and knocked. A few moments passed before a woman’s voice said, “Who is it?”
“Amos Decker, FBI. Do you have a minute?”
“It’s very late.”
“It won’t take long, and we’re doing our best to find out who killed your friend. Speed is of the essence.”
He figured a little guilt trip might go a long way.
“Oh, all right.”
She opened the door. Maya Perlman was dressed in gray slacks, a light blue shirt, and sandals.
She motioned him in and closed the door. They sat in the living room, where the walls were the same color as her slacks.
“Is your husband around?”
“He’s asleep. The trip took a lot out of us, and he’s quite a bit older than I am. Second marriage,” she added in explanation, not that Decker had asked for one. “So, what is it that you need?”
“Do you know if Judge Cummins was seeing anyone?”
“Seeing anyone, you mean as in dating?”
“Yes.”
She sat back and let out a long breath. “After the divorce, Julia hunkered down, as it were. She and Barry had it bad the last few years. Lots of fights and arguments. She tried to make it work, she really did, but Barry had some sort of midlife crisis and thought he was twenty again. Right after Julia went on the bench there was some big tax issue because Barry had done something that, if not criminal, went right up to the line. After that, Julia was done.”
“Yeah, I heard all that from others. And after she hunkered down for a bit?”
“I know she used one of those online dating apps. She had a few dates from those. None of them worked out, at least that I know.”
“I’m sure she would have attracted interest around here.”
“You’d think. But lots of older men like to be the center of attention and they also like to be the ones with the money. And her being a judge probably didn’t help matters. They also like to be the professional king as well. And the men who don’t care about any of that? Well, they bring their own issues.”
“Getting her to fall for them so they can raid her piggybank?”
“Exactly.”
“So, anyone she might have just run into somewhere and seemed to like? Or someone she ran into and it became a problem?”
Perlman sat forward, looking nervous. “You mean a big enough problem that he might have killed her?”
“The crime did have elements of being one of passion, of rage. You don’t usually get that when someone is just trying to rip someone else off. And it’s hard to fake, because, well, to do to Cummins what someone did? You have to be pretty damn angry.”
She shuddered and sank back against the chair cushions. “Julia did tell me about someone she had known from her past. I mean, her past before she came here.”
“Who?”
“Someone from New York. That person moved down here, while Julia was still married. After she was divorced, they went out for a while. It didn’t last, but…”
“But what?”
“Well, Julia was upset when she spoke about it. She said he seemed very controlling.”
“Do you know his name?”
“That’s just it. I don’t. She never told me for some reason, which was odd. She just spoke generally about it. And then it was over, and I never asked any more about it.”
“Do you know who might know?”
“Doris might. She and Julia were very close. Closer than Julia and I were, at least lately. I think it might have been because I’m married and they were both divorced.”
“Okay. Next question: Did you know the judge’s secretary, Patty Kelly?”
“Just in passing. I never appeared before Julia, for obvious reasons. Why?”
“Just needed to ask.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe this has all happened. It’s like a nightmare that you can’t wake up from.”
“So, Alan Draymont? Do you remember him guarding you?”
“I believe that he did, yes.”
“I need something more definitive than that. Were you able to find those emails from Gamma with the security personnel on them?”
“Yes, I can forward them to you.”
He gave her his email address. “Thanks. That should confirm whether Draymont guarded you.”
“Anything else?”
“Not for right now. You two will be in town for a while?”
“We were planning to be. But with a murder right next door?”
“Well, if you do decide to go somewhere, can you let me know first?”
“Why? Wait a minute, we’re not suspects, are we?”
“We checked with the airlines. They confirmed you had flown to New York and returned after the murders.”
“We were visiting my grown children from my first marriage. They both live there. They can certainly confirm we were there the entire week.”
“Okay. But I might have to ask you some more questions.”
She held up her phone. “Well, that’s what we have this for, isn’t it? With it, you can reach me pretty much anywhere on earth.”
She rose. “Good night, Agent Decker.”
Chapter 38
MRS. KLINE?” DECKER WAS KNOCKING on the woman’s door again. “Doris?”
He took a step back and peered up at the face of the house. Her car was still in the driveway. He tried the door, but it was locked.
He walked around back and opened the gate. The upper deck where Kline had been sitting when she noticed Cummins’s door open was unoccupied. He opened the door to the lanai and froze.
In the pool water something was floating. Or someone.
Shit.
He stepped onto the lanai for a better look. It looked like Doris Kline; he couldn’t tell for sure. She was facedown.
He rushed forward, knelt down, and grabbed her arm.
She came out of the water, screaming her head off, until she saw who it was.
A stunned Decker let go of her arm and fell back on his butt on the pool surround. Kline went under but came back up a moment later, sputtering and spitting out water.
When Kline saw him sitting there, she exclaimed, “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I was meditating. I meditate in the water.”
“Facedown, at this time of night?”
“My house, my rules. And a shrink I once dated told me about it. It’s like being in one of those floater tanks. Well, I can’t afford that, so I just use my pool. I float on my back and then flip over and hold my breath. I’m hoping it will improve my lung function. And you’re lucky because I usually do this in the buff.”
