Irrevocable Trust (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller Book 6) (7 page)

“
Tell you?
”
Fornier blinked.

“
You were the responding officer, weren
’
t you, son?
”

“
Uh, yeah. I mean, yes, sir.
”

“
So, talk me through it. What did you find when you reached the scene? Don
’
t worry about the official report. Once it
’
s loaded up to the national database, I
’
ll be able to access it.
”

Fornier threw him a panicked look at the mention of the database, but he waved it away.

“
We can get someone to walk you through it. It
’
s easy. Just focus on the scene.
”

The officer cleared his throat and let his eyes drift up toward the ceiling as he recalled the morning
’
s activities.

“
It must have been a little before eleven a.m.
—
um, oh eleven hundred hours, sir
—”

Hank cut him off right there.
“
Just tell it to me like a story, officer. In a conversational way, if you will.
”

The young patrolman relaxed visibly. He lowered his stiff shoulders and flexed his tensed jaw.

“
Sure. Okay. So, it was a little before eleven in the morning. I was out chattin
’
with Patty, our secretary and dispatcher.
”
He pointed through a narrow doorway to the desk just inside the entrance to the station.
“
We were tryin
’
to decide if we should call in an order for lunch at the Pancake Palace. They don
’
t just serve breakfast, you know.
”

Hank nodded, suddenly regretting the suggestion that the young man tell him a story.
“
Sure.
”

“
Well, Patty had decided she was gonna go on and eat the salad she packed, when just then the call came in.
”

“
And it was the neighbor who called it in, correct?
”

“
That
’
s right. Lilah Stokes called it in. Now, you gotta understand that everybody in town knows Lilah is a busybody, and it
’
s been makin
’
her crazy, the fact that this new family had been living next door since the beginning of last year and she didn
’
t know any of their personal business. And it wasn
’
t for lack of trying
—
or, more like, prying.
”

Fornier laughed at his own joke, but he was warming to his story, now, and Hank had no need to prompt him to continue.

“
Rightly or wrongly, Patty was rollin
’
her eyes at Mrs. Stokes
’
concern. But it was a quiet morning, like most of them are, so I headed over to check it out.
”

“
What exactly did Mrs. Stokes report?
”

“
She said she was weeding her begonias
—
that
’
s the flower bed closest to the Bennetts
’
place.
”
He paused and gave Hank a meaningful look.

“
She was spying on her neighbors?
”
Hank asked.

“
Probably.
”

Hank tried not to grimace at the news that WITSEC had placed a family next door to a nosy neighbor.
“
Okay, sorry to interrupt. Go on.
”

“
She said she just happened to notice a woman
’
s foot and leg sticking out from behind the sofa. And, before you ask, no, you can
’
t see behind the Bennetts
’
sofa from her flower bed. At least
I
couldn
’
t, and I have 20/20 vision and about eight inches on Lilah.
”

“
Are you saying she was blatantly peeping in their windows?
”

“
More or less had to be,
”
Fornier confirmed.
“
Anyhow, she said she rapped on the window and then rang the doorbell and nobody responded.
”

“
But she didn
’
t hear anything
—
no fighting or screaming?
”

“
She says no. She said she
’
d been shampooing her parlor carpet earlier and that the machine makes a good bit of noise. While the carpet dried, she figured she
’
d go outside and do some gardening until lunch.
”
He shrugged as if to say
what are you going to do
?

“
So no one saw or heard the attack or the attacker?
”

“
Right.
”

“
And the kids were fishing?
”

“
Yep. They said they left before sunrise and came back when they got hungry. Thank the Lord they weren
’
t home.
”

“
Amen,
”
Hank replied automatically, although he
’
d be willing to bet that if they
’
d been home, there
’
d have been no attack. He
’
d bet a tidy sum that Mrs. Stokes hadn
’
t been the only person watching the Bennett house.

“
And I told you the rest on the phone. I entered the residence through the unlocked back door and found the victim.
”
He blanched at the memory.

“
Bad, huh?
”
Hank empathized.

Fornier swallowed hard before answering.
“
I
’
ve never seen anything like that before. I mean, we don
’
t have a lot of violent crime in Sunnyvale. I just
…
I can
’
t even describe it. Someone really worked her over.
”

Hank was silent for a moment to let the kid pull himself together.

“
Any defensive wounds?
”

“
The coroner says she probably didn
’
t have much chance to struggle. He thinks she was running from the guy and tripped over the fringe on her area rug and went down. Most of the blows came after she fell. He probably climbed on top of her and went to town.
”

“
Weapon?
”

“
Fists. And a garden trowel. Matches the rest of the set in her shed. He used it to bash in her skull.
”

“
Where
’
d you recover the weapon? Near the body?
”

Fornier shook his head.
“
No. It was weird. It was in the shed right where it belonged. I found it when I checked to make sure the premises were secure. He put it back, but he didn
’
t bother to wipe the blood off it. Who does that?
”

A highly disciplined, self-appointed leader who also happens to be a sociopath
, Hank thought
.
He
’
d be willing to bet a paycheck that Bricker had conditioned his family and followers to always return tools to their designated spot after use.

“
The shed was unlocked?
”
he asked.

“
No lock on it.
”

“
And you checked the house top to bottom?
”

“
Yeah. I swept the first floor before I called the body in. I had to wait until the coroner came out to bag her to do a more thorough search of the property. I was pretty busy trying to keep the oldest boy out of the house.
”

The boy.

“
Let
’
s talk about the boy. What exactly did he say when he asked you to call me?
”

Hank had to assume the kid had been in a panic and had blurted out that the family was in the witness protection program.

The officer scrunched his face up and thought.
“
Let
’
s see. He got rid of the sister. He sent her to put the fishing equipment away
—”

“
In the shed?
”
Hank wanted to know.

“
Yeah, as a matter of fact.
”

“
She didn
’
t notice the trowel?
”

“
Apparently not. It was pretty dark in there. It looked like she hung up the rods, dumped the rest of the gear, and rolled. The fishing equipment was along the back wall. The gardening tools were all arranged on a potting bench in one corner. Why?
”

“
Just trying to picture it, son. Go on.
”

“
Once she walked away, he got this stony look on his face like he was trying to man up. He asked if his mom was dead and before I could answer, he pulled out your card and said if I thought she was murdered I needed to call you.
”

Hank considered this piece of information.

“
And that
’
s what I did,
”
Fornier said.

“
Who else have you reported this to?
”

Fornier shot him a confused look.
“
No one. Who else would I report it to?
”

“
Well, your chief, for one?
”

“
Sure, ordinarily. I didn
’
t, though, because he
’
s out of town.
”

“
Business or pleasure?
”

“
Uh, vacation. I haven
’
t bothered him. Should I?
”

“
Not yet,
”
Hank said.

He tried to hide his excitement. If WITSEC had bothered to tell anyone in Sunnyvale that they
’
d placed a witness there, it would have been the local chief of police. Who would have been sworn to secrecy. So if Fornier didn
’
t know
—
and he didn
’
t appear to
—
and he delayed telling his chief, Hank could just maybe get a handle on the situation before WITSEC even learned about Anna Bennett
’
s death.

“
So, that
’
s pretty much it.
”
Fornier shuffled from side to side and tried not to make it obvious that he was looking at the wall clock.

“
Your shift ended a while ago didn
’
t it, son?
”

“
About two hours, sir. But I
’
m in no hurry,
”
the kid lied.

“
You
’
ve had a rough day, Officer Fornier. I
’
m going to turn in for the night, myself. You should go home and kiss your wife if you have one. We
’
ll pick it back up in the morning,
”
Hank lied right back to him.

“
Yes, sir. Do you need directions to the hotel?
”

Fornier was packing up his duffle bag as he spoke.

“
I
’
m all set. Thanks.
”

They walked out together. Fornier paused to say good night to his replacement, who was lurking around the reception area waiting for them to finish up and get out of his office.

Hank stepped up his pace. No need for the kid to see him driving the opposite direction from the hotel and start asking himself questions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~