The Frailty of Flesh (22 page)

“And when he was convicted Brandy kept seeing his brother?”

“Brandy never thought Donny did it. Even when he went to jail.”

“Any idea what made her so sure?”

Wendy shrugged. “She’d had a crush on Donny. Had chased him around for years. Donny wasn’t interested. Brandy had been so jealous. At first, well, anyway, she never thought he did it. Donny got arrested, and Brandy and Darren ended up together.”

“Are Brandy and Darren still married?”

Wendy nodded. “Last I heard, anyway. Living in Kelowna.”

“Any chance I can borrow this photo, make a copy?”

She hesitated, then shrugged. “Just drop it in the mailbox.”

“Thanks for your time.”

“Sure.”

Craig smiled at the baby. “Bye, Hope.” The girl burrowed her head into her mother’s body. Craig thanked Wendy again and stepped outside.

Wendy shut the door behind him.

Just focus on the job.
That was the mantra that had played over and over in Ashlyn’s head as they’d set up the equipment needed at Byron Smythe’s offices. Smythe had been shielding the family as much as possible in an adjoining room.

“Do you figure he lost an important case?”

“Hmmm?” Ashlyn turned to look at Tain.

“Someone did a number on him.”

She looked away. “Did he file assault charges?”

“Apparently not.”

“Then who cares?”

She could feel Tain watching her, and her cheeks burned.

“You don’t really mean that,” he said.

How could she tell him that she was responsible? In her mind she’d seen Craig slam the door behind him a hundred times since Zidani had told her about Smythe’s beating. He’d been so angry…

Through the open doorway she could see Tracy Reimer reaching for her son. Christopher pulled away from her and finally stomped across the room and sat down in the corner on the floor. Tracy slumped back against the couch and stared blankly at some spot on the wall. Richard paced behind her, looked at his watch, stopped with his hands on his hips, paced some more, looked at his watch again.

She nodded at the family. “What do you think?”

Tain watched as Richard continued his pattern. “What is it about him that tells me he thinks we’re wasting his time?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. Something about all of them seems…off.”

Richard Reimer stopped pacing and stared straight at them. Then he marched around the couch, pointed a finger at Smythe, face darkening as he spoke. Richard brushed past Smythe, almost knocking the lawyer down in the process, and slammed the door.

“You know, that’s it,” Ashlyn said. “It’s like he isn’t waiting for a phone call. Shouldn’t one of them, at least, be in this room, where the phone is?”

“Smythe is still trying to shield them from us.”

“Yeah? Then why even have Christopher Reimer here?” Ashlyn asked. “What good does that do him?”

“Maybe they’re afraid to let him out of their sight.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “You really think that?”

A distant look crept into Tain’s eyes. “No. But having him with them makes it look like they’re unified. Like they’re still a family.” He was silent for a moment. “That’s what they think, anyway. In reality they don’t seem like a family going through a crisis together. They seem like three individuals stuck together.”

“I know what you mean. I keep seeing Tracy reaching for her son, which should be a very natural thing to do. But it just seems…wrong. Forced.” Ashlyn paused. “Like she’s doing what she thinks we expect her to do.”

“It was the mechanical way she moved. If it had been an impulse, a need, he wouldn’t have just slipped from her grasp.”

“She didn’t look surprised when he got up. Just leaned back against the couch and let him go.”

Tain nodded. “That’s why the family image isn’t working. Putting them in the same room only emphasizes the tension between them.”

The door opened and Byron Smythe hobbled into their room. He carefully reached back and pulled the door shut behind him, cast a glance at Ashlyn and Tain and then looked away. Whatever he said to the officer at the desk was muffled and low enough that Ashlyn couldn’t make it out.

When he turned around again his gaze met Ashlyn’s.

“If looks could kill,” Tain murmured.

There’d been a ferocity in Smythe’s eyes. The way he’d frowned, the flare of his nostrils, the hard edges of his jaw…

“Guess he doesn’t handle rejection well,” Tain said as Smythe disappeared into the other office again.

Ashlyn closed her eyes. Smythe had argued that, since his offices were located in Burnaby the Burnaby RCMP should handle the kidnapping investigation. Zidani had refused to budge on the grounds that the murder had occurred in the Tri-Cities and that if Shannon had been kidnapped that’s where she’d been taken from as well.

Something had been lacking in Smythe’s arguments. He’d gone through the pretense of protesting, but hadn’t pushed it further when Zidani didn’t budge. Smythe could be filing motions, could try to force Zidani’s superiors to reassign the case, could even press charges against Ashlyn just to get her off the investigation. Part of her expected Smythe to use any means necessary to get his way, which left her wondering why he hadn’t.

If Smythe did make his move, Tain would be caught in the cross fire, unaware.

“Part of me wishes we could hand this off to someone I trust,” she said.

“What about Craig? Do you think Zidani would let him handle monitoring Shannon’s cell phone, at least, so that Sims could come here?”

Ashlyn swallowed. Craig. “No. Zidani has him on something else right now.”

“Someone steal a tricycle?”

“There’s no way Zidani is going to let Craig anywhere near an investigation I’m supposed to be in charge of. And he’s right.”

“If not Craig, what about Luke Geller?”

The other door opened, to the outer office, and Luke Geller entered.

“Speak of the devil,” Ashlyn murmured.

He walked up to her. “Zidani sent me over.”

“For any special reason?”

“He doesn’t want you tied down here. This way, you can go back to the station.”

Ashlyn forced a smile. “You won’t be offended if I check on that.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Said with a grating edge to his words. As she moved across the room to use her cell phone Ashlyn glanced at her partner. There was a slight twist to his mouth that she’d seen from time to time when Tain was irritated. Most people overlooked the subtleties of his expressions, but that’s where the truth of his impressions lay. After partnering with him for months, Ashlyn knew that. The more people who were around, the more guarded his reactions.

She slipped her cell phone shut and walked back over to them. “No answer. We’ll have to wait.”

Luke offered a warm smile and managed to finesse the edge out of his tone. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Constable Hart. What good would that do? You’d find out and I’d be in a helluva lot of trouble.”

“And I’m responsible for this investigation. If Sergeant Zidani is satisfied you can handle this, I’m happy to pursue other—” The door to the adjoining room opened again, and Byron Smythe reappeared. Ashlyn lowered her voice. “Leads. But right now, the possibility Shannon’s been kidnapped is our top priority. And to be blunt, if Zidani felt I needed more manpower I’m surprised he didn’t put you on monitoring at the station so that he could send Sims here. You’re supposed to be a rookie. Why would I leave a high-profile kidnapping investigation that ties to the murder of a four-year-old child in your hands?”

“Just because your boyfriend wouldn’t give me a chance doesn’t mean I’m not capable.”

“This has nothing to do with Constable Nolan.”

“Bullshit. I’m sick of this attitude. There’s a break and enter at your boyfriend’s parents’ home and he’s nowhere to be found, hasn’t shown up for work, so I go out there to handle it quietly and when he shows up he practically throws me out. Tells his stepmother right in front of me that if she can’t reach him to call you.”

“Whatever problems you’ve got with Craig, don’t take them out on me. I have enough to deal with right now, and my priority is getting Shannon Reimer home, alive, and finding the murderer of Jeffrey Reimer. Now, if your ego is going to get in the way of you doing your job you can walk right back out that door. I don’t want anyone on my team who feels they’ve got something to prove.”

“Is that it? Or is it just that you don’t want to be upstaged?”

“I don’t want to knock on your parents’ door and tell them your pride got in the way of doing your job so you got yourself killed.”

“Is that how you explained it to Lori Price’s parents? The way her boyfriend keeps calling and threatening Craig, I’d say he didn’t take it too well.”

Ashlyn swallowed. Craig hadn’t told her about any calls. “What happened with Constable Price has nothing to do with you.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn’t give him a chance. “And if you want to prove yourself on the street you’re going about it the wrong way, Geller. You can start by showing you’re capable of following orders.”

Luke’s face darkened, but he drew a breath before he spoke. “I didn’t come here to get in an argument. I’m just doing what I was told. I’ll wait until you confirm it with Zidani.” He walked over to the desk, where they’d set up the equipment, and introduced himself to the other officers.

“Call Zidani,” Tain said. “Get him to send Sims here instead.”

Ashlyn considered that. Her first instinct was to have Luke kicked off the case, but she realized that was just to assert her authority. “Sims is doing some background checks that he wouldn’t be able to bring here. And after this little incident I don’t want Luke anywhere near that stuff. It doesn’t make any sense to lie about being sent over here, but something about that’s odd.”

“Geller’s in Zidani’s pocket.”

She looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Look, I’ve seen them talking a few times. Like they know each other. If it wasn’t for the fact that Craig’s been pretty much on desk duty for so long I’d swear Geller’s a plant, that his real job is to check up on Craig.”

Tain’s gaze met hers, and after a moment she looked away.

“Look, it’s none of my business—” he said.

“You’re right.” She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Zidani’s number. “It’s none of your business.”

Ashlyn forced herself not to look at Luke Geller during her phone conversation with her sergeant. When she hung up she leaned back against the wall, cell phone resting against her chin.

Tain’s cell phone rang and he answered it. After a moment he thanked the caller and hung up. “Sims says he found a bank account in the Cayman Islands in Shannon’s name with over two million in it.”

Ashlyn frowned. “Any word on the shoe prints?”

“They have them, but they need something to match them against to be more helpful.”

There was no doubt in her mind that her partner was waiting for her to tell him what Zidani had said. And from the other side of the room she could see Luke’s glances.

“Well?” Tain finally asked.

She moved her hand to the side of her face, to keep Luke or anyone else from making out her words. “It seems Luke Geller was reaching just a bit. Zidani sent him over here to assist us. It’s my call if we feel we can leave this in Luke’s hands. Until then, we’re babysitting.”

Tain’s eyes widened just a touch. “So why would he lie when he knows you’re going to check up on him?”

“It won’t be long before the second shift is here.” Ashlyn looked at her watch. “Maybe he thought I wouldn’t bother checking up so late in the day.” What Luke had said kept running through her mind, about Vish Dhaval making threatening calls. How would Luke know that? It wasn’t something Craig would tell his partner. Or anyone, it seemed.

And Craig hadn’t shown up for work. Steve’s old case was becoming an obsession. It didn’t make sense that Zidani would pick Craig to review the case when one of Zidani’s biggest complaints had been nepotism. Zidani had been convinced Craig had gotten an easy ride because of his relationship to Steve, and that was the main reason he’d given Craig such a hard time.

What Tain said about Luke and Zidani made a certain amount of sense as well. Put Craig in charge of someone who’s supposed to be a rookie, and use him to spy on Craig. See if he works by the book, see how he handles cases.

But it still didn’t explain this case review. If Zidani had been looking for an Achilles heel, he may have found it.

“Ash?”

“Hmm? Sorry. What?”

“I can handle this.”

“I know.” She straightened up. “That’s why I’m leaving you in charge.”

Ashlyn glanced at Luke Geller to make sure he’d heard that, and left.

The older farmhouse was in need of a fresh coat of paint. Streaks on the windows made the curtains inside appear dingy or at least, Craig guessed, more worn than they actually were. It was the kind of property that with just a little work would be enviable. Instead, it looked like the owners were in the early stages of letting it go.