Ring of Lies (53 page)

‘
So the passport is a fake,
’
Jack said.

‘
Almost certainly
,
’
Diego replied.
‘
But
the details on
Elliott’s
passport
are
legit
,
but
here’s the kicker.
He
died when he was six months old.
’

‘
That’s impossible,
you’re lying,
’
shouted Grace.
Icy fear slid down her backbone.
‘
I’ve seen photographs of Daniel as a child with his parents.
’

‘
They may have been his parents, but their name wasn’t Elliott
.
T
he British authorities checked the birth certificate
he
produced with his passport application against
death certificates
and
found that Daniel Elliott died in February 1971.
’

Diego
handed Grace a sheaf of papers.
She knew her hand trembled, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She
carefully read
the contents
, not once, but twice
.

‘
Then I don’t understand
how his passport
can
be authentic
.
’

‘
It’s a common ruse used by criminals.
They
trawl through
graveyard
s
until they find t
he headstone of an
infant
who
died
when they were only
a few months
old
.
They
order
a
copy of the birth certificate.
Once they’ve
received
that
,
they
can apply for a social security number, drivers’ licence, passport—anything
to make them
appear
a bone fide citizen,
’
Jack told her.

Biting her lip, Grace looked away.
Jack
had
confirmed what she already
suspected
.
Her marriage, like everything else
about
her life
of
the last ten years was nothing but a lie.
When she turned and faced the three men in the room none of them mentioned the tear tracks on her face.

‘
I
f Daniel Elliott
is another alias
,
just
who
i
s
my husband
?
’

‘
We don’t know
,
’
said Mike,
‘
which leads me to my next question.
Did you
identify
hi
s body following the accident?
’

Grace shuddered.
‘
Daniel was badly disfigured, so
Shaun,
his
business partner did that.
’

‘
Any chance he c
ould have been mistaken?
’

‘
Daniel and Shaun were partners. They’d worked together for
over
ten years. Besides, Daniel’s b
riefcase was found in the car
, along with his wallet
.
’

‘
That doesn’t mean the body in the car was
hi
s.
’

Disconcerted, Grace crossed her arms and looked away
.
‘
But if it wasn’t Daniel, who was it?
’

‘
That’s what the
British police
are about to find out. They’ve
appl
ied
for an exhumation order
.
’

Barely able to control her gasp of surprise, Grace
turned to Jack.
‘
Did you know about this?
’

Jack’s hand closed over hers, his thumb gently stroking the soft skin at her wrist.

‘
No, b
ut it makes sense
.
It’s
the
only
way to find
out Elliott’s true identity
.
’

Grace wanted to
argue
.
She couldn’t
.
‘
Do you think the order will be granted?
’

Mike relaxed.
‘
I think there’s sufficient evidence.
’

‘
In that case, tell me what you need me to do,
’
said Grace.

‘
Nothing, we don’t even need your permission, Grace.
The undertaker can identify the body, so you
don’t need
to be present.
The pathologist will take samples
of
DNA
for
analysis
, and
compare his findings
with samples on
national and international databases
.
That
could
tell us
who
Elliott
really is and whether he
had a previous criminal record.
’

Jack handed Mike
a paper
bag
containing the
cigarette stubs.
‘
These might help.
I found them in the
trashcan
at the house
.
It might be possible to
extract DNA from the saliva to enable us to identify who smoked them.
’

Mike leaned back in his chair.
‘
It’s worth a try, I guess.
What
else
have you got for us
,
Diego
?
’

‘
Elliott made regular calls to Parous and Associates from both his
office
in England and
the house on
Gasparilla Island.
He also called the First Apopka Bank on the first Thursday
of
each month.
His calls were routed through the switchboard, so we have no idea who he spoke to, but my guess is Cody, the guy
handling
his account.
’

‘
What about the calls from
the attorney’s
office?
’
Mike asked.

‘
We’re still checking the numbers,
’
replied Diego.
‘
Parous had a gambling habit, and
frequented the ‘Golden Dollar’
owned by José Mendez.
Word on the street is that
Mendez is
a front man for
the Fuentes family, but
we’ve been unable to confirm that.
’

‘
Did
he
owe any money?
’

‘
A few grand.
I checked with the Bar Association, one of
his client
s made a complaint recently about misappropriation of funds.
The allegation was dismissed for lack of evidence.
’

Mike inclined his head toward Jack.
‘
Anything you want to add?
’

‘
Elliott’s
laptop
, and a list of his clients
.
’
Jack
placed it on the desk
, along with a copy of the fax he received from Daniel’s secretary
.
‘
Grace couldn’t get it to work.
T
he battery is dead.
’

‘
Diego, get this over to the computer analysis response team
.
Let’s see if they can recover anything from the hard drive.
Anything else I should know about?
’

‘
I found a
notebook in the safe, but it’s written in some sort of code.
Grace has come up with a few theories about what it contains
, but
I’d like to hold on to it for the
time being
.
’