One Deadly Sister (Sandy Reid Mystery Series #1) (22 page)

S
ix hellish days in jail for Ray seemed like six hellish months—and the worst was yet to come. He was awaiting the inevitable transfer out to the county jail. Strange to be told the city jail was child’s play by comparison. Whenever he heard the clang of the metal door, even late at night, he’d stiffen. They would soon be around to cuff him, put him in a van and carry him off to an even stranger and uglier world.

Worst of all, he realized, Sandy would be gone.

He knew she needed to go back to Philadelphia. He didn’t blame her. Even so, he knew when she left, the investigation would come to a halt. An aggressive defense wasn’t likely without her. They could do whatever they wanted with him.

That Friday morning Sandy and Jerry Kagan were across from him in the visiting room. Kagan spoke first, “I talked to the judge about delaying your transfer out to county. I’ve several motions pending and he’s going to use them as an excuse to delay the transfer as a favor to me. Said he’ll give us five more days. They were supposed to transfer you long ago.”

Sandy said, “I can see you’re on the edge of depression, and I hate to hit you with this right now, but five more days is all I can give you too.”

Ray was expecting that. He nodded and gave her a tight smile, “That’s okay. I appreciate all you’ve done.”

Unexpectedly, in a loud voice she said, “Hey, I’ve got a life in Philly, you know!”

Her defensive tone surprised him. “I understand, it’s fine.”

“I can’t spend my entire life down here straightening out your mess!”

“Of course not, it’s okay, Sandy.”

She shoved her chair back and walked rapidly to the window. She knew she would rather stay and see him out of this terrible ordeal. After a few minutes, Sergeant Lewis noticed and walked over beside her. He asked her something, she nodded she was okay and came back and sat.

“Okay, let’s get on with it.” She pulled out her notebook. “I had a second meeting with Tammy Jerrold. She was quite interested in how our investigation was going. She suspects Loraine now but still doesn’t want to see you, Raymond. I got her talking about Towson. She mentioned he was paying Loraine alimony.”

“Alimony? She’s getting alimony?” Ray said.

“Yes, big bucks every month. That’s what she lives on. Towson complained about it according to Tammy. Why then would Loraine kill him? If he’s dead he can’t pay alimony.”

“Damn! We thought we had her big motive, that blows it away,” Ray said. “She wouldn’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”

“Not necessarily. Life insurance might indeed be the motive.” Kagan explained. “The certainty of her alimony stopping upon his death provided her with a legal insurable interest. She could then have insured him even though not married. A large life insurance policy on Towson could have been part of the divorce deal. She still could be our suspect.”

Sandy said, “I get it. Lump-sum alimony payable upon death. Life insurance set up by the divorce agreement pays her a large lump sum to make up for the monthly alimony that would normally stop when the ex dies. If she kills him and gets away with it, she’s instantly an extremely rich woman.”

Kagan continued, “Is she so greedy she’d risk losing guaranteed monthly alimony payments for a possible lump sum, and take the chance of being caught and ending up with zero and in prison?”

“She might take the chance for enough millions!” Ray suggested.

“For some people everything is never enough,” Sandy observed. “How do we find out?”

“Her attorney doesn’t have to tell us without a court order,” Kagan said. “If she makes a claim for millions, however, some insurance investigator will be all over us.”

Sandy said, “We know Loraine definitely directed you to Towson’s apartment on the day of the shooting using that text message. That sounds like a plan. Only the killer would know to put you at the scene the very day Towson would be shot.”

Kagan said, “So, she did it and framed Ray for the murder.”

“Let’s not lock that down just yet, Jerry,” she suggested. “Could there be any motive besides insurance?”

“Divorces come with built-in motives, take your pick,” Kagan replied.

“Okay, here’s some other stuff I found out.” Sandy referred to her notebook. “About a year ago, Towson had something special going with some woman who lives in Palm Beach. Supposed to be very hush-hush, yet everyone I asked seemed to know about it. Everyone remembered her name, Elizabeth Montgomery. Same as some old TV actress everyone in the world has heard of except me.”

Kagan said, “That actress was a real dish. Loved her work. I have her on some old videos.”

“Last night I went online with my tablet and checked property records for every county in Florida. Do you know there are sixty-seven freaking counties in this state? I tried Palm Beach County first, of course, and got an immediate hit. I sat there until after midnight searching through the other sixty-six. Anyway, Towson does own a condo in Palm Beach County. I Googled Elizabeth Montgomery, and after seven billion hits on some old actress, I found the name in Palm Beach County. Sure enough that’s her address.”

“Perhaps she’s a little honey he has set up down there,” Ray said. “This Elizabeth Montgomery might be a woman scorned or might have a jealous husband.”

Kagan joined in, “At the very least, we’ve another suspect and more reasonable doubt.”

"I need to dig more into Towson’s life as well,” Sandy said. “See where he pops up in official records. Search for other names. See the court record of the divorce proceeding. Are there children no one knows about? Like that.”

“Jerry, could he actually have made it to the Governor’s Mansion? I heard he had big time opposition,” Ray asked.

“Slam dunk, as good as elected. His opposition was ruthless and well funded, but he definitely would make it. Some Cuban-American big-money interests were pushing to legalize casino gambling in Florida. They’re out already optioning land for casinos and getting politicians lined up. Towson stood for old Florida and the status quo, anti-growth and all that. The ideal candidate. The campaign would be tough but would be grass roots, John Q. Public against big-money.”

“Be less fuss to shoot a state senator now than assassinate a governor later,” Ray said.

“The link for us there might be Norma Martin,” Sandy said. “Here’s how her story goes so far. She breezed into town a couple of years ago and bought the Jardin Café. The owners weren’t even thinking about selling the place until she came along. The place wasn’t in good shape. They were thrilled when she said how much and handed them cash. The cover story was she cashed out on a large house up north in a divorce settlement. Everyone assumes she owns that restaurant. I found out she doesn’t. A Delaware Partnership owns it. The partners might well live in Tampa.”

Ray said, “Would the Tampa big-money go so far as to assassinate him?”

“I suppose that could happen here, happens in Miami. Billions are at stake,” Kagan replied. “The pro-casino faction definitely wanted the senator out of the way.”

Sandy’s phone buzzed. Meg Emerson said, “Sandy, I brought up reports on all the principals you named. Here we go. This is all confidential and a violation of every Federal privacy law, so cover my tail please. I found zilch on Norma Martin. Are you certain she actually exists? I’d need her social to check further. Tammy’s fine, owns a couple of small rentals, she’s a saver, no visible problems. Sonny Barner somehow got into financial trouble while he was a toddler, maybe earlier and hasn’t been out of money trouble since. Don’t buy a used car from him. Loraine Dellin is hurting financially, heavily mortgaged and margined. Not yet critical, but she’s been selling off her securities to live. She’s literally eating up her principal. Got all that?”

“You’re the best.” Sandy had another idea. “Two more names popped into my mind. Elizabeth Montgomery, West Palm Beach, and what about Towson’s campaign manager, Tony Hackett?”

“That last one’s easy. Not public yet, but Hackett is about to declare bankruptcy. His creditors have already moved in. Everyone thought he was inside on all the money deals that Towson pulled off, but I guess not. Somehow, he’s ended up broke. Word is he may have moved back to Virginia already. I guess you’ve a reason for asking?”

“The person who finds the body always goes on the suspect list. Thanks, Meg.” Sandy turned back. “Where were we? Ah, I’ll look into the Tampa connection. Detective Goddard also wants me to check on it.”

Kagan was surprised. “What did you just say? You’re doing work for Detective Goddard?”

She enjoyed the moment. “Yes, I made a connection that could be good for us. I had coffee with Detective Chip Goddard. He wants me to tell him whatever I find out. In return, he doesn’t tell me zip. How’s your heart, Jerry? I could hear it pounding over here.”

“Yes, that startled me. Never heard of such a thing, it just isn’t done. As your brother’s attorney, I must advise you of the considerable danger there. Whatever you tell him, even casually, can be used in court. Moreover, you can be put on the stand and made to repeat it.”

Ray jumped in, “And you say I’m crazy!”

“You are crazy.”

“But Sandy, that’s no kind of deal...all his way. He’s the one who arrested me. He’s on the job. He’s using you. Either that or he’s just trying to get you in the sack.”

“Maybe he’s not the sacker, maybe he’s the sackee,” she smiled and went on, “And it’s not all his way. He agreed to listen to what I have to say. Of course, I’m going to feed him only exculpatory information.”

Kagan looked at Ray who nodded that he understood the word. Kagan warned, “Even information favorable to the defense can be twisted around in court. You’re on dangerous ground, young lady.”

“He underestimates me. People have always underestimated me. It’s a neat little swindle I’ve been running all my life. It’s to our advantage with Chip, at least so far. He doesn’t believe he’s disclosing any info. I just get him talking and then read between the lines.”

“Hope you don’t fall, off the high wire,” Kagan said.

“If he has doubts about your guilt right now, wait until I get through with him. Plus, I can run around town without the police on my tail every minute. We exchanged phone numbers. If he calls take a message, okay?”

“Not funny, you’re reckless,” Ray said.

She rested her hand on Kagan’s shoulder. “Jerry, I wanted you to know. I didn’t want you blindsided later by the deal. Chip is okay. Notice I call him Chip now. Did you know some bastard shot his dad at a Stop-n’-Rob? He was police chief, wasn’t even on duty, just going out for ice cream.”

“I know,” Kagan said, “and Chip’s always been straight with me. He isn’t too popular around the station because he moved up to Detective so fast.”

“True, he needs to do a super job on this homicide. The worst thing that could happen to him in his career right now is to screw this up. Was he ever married?”

“Not as far as I know,” Kagan answered. “He’s not a wallflower. He was serious about a woman, the County Appraiser’s daughter, for a while. That was a few years back. An attorney at the courthouse told me his legal secretary now has something going with him.”

“Something going with him,” she repeated under her breath.

“What does the detective’s love life have to do with anything?” Ray wondered aloud.”

“I promise I’ll be careful about what I let him know. At least up until the point where
I
get something going with him. Did I tell you he has perfect eyes?”

“It’s in my notes somewhere.” Ray laughed and relaxed back in his chair; he just realized his invaluable sister might be interested in sticking around for a few more days.

S
he had been in Park Beach five days and Sandy wasn’t pleased with her progress. And Sunday was turning out to be a bad day to get things done. She had some notes to go over with Jerry Kagan, however his law office was closed. Linda would be happy to see her but wasn’t working at the newspaper that day. And Sunday visiting hours at the jail were not until later. She wondered if Chip was snuggled at home with Miss Legal Secretary. After looking through her notes, she decided it was time to check out Norma Martin, the woman who wouldn’t talk to Chip.

She pulled her Miata convertible into the lot behind the Jardin Café just as another woman parked and started walking to the restaurant. The woman was slender yet nicely filled out her peasant blouse and tapered designer jeans. She wore her dark auburn hair pulled back tightly and wrapped with a band; the long bunch at the back bounced around her bare shoulders. Sandy guessed she couldn't be over forty at the most. Sandy envied the confident way she glided effortlessly over the rough gravel in her stilettos like a fashion model on a runway.

She noticed Sandy and glided over. “We don’t open until five. Love your little red car. I’ve seen it around town.” Then she frowned. “I know where, the police station...you’re police!”