An Evil Mind--A Suspense Novel (23 page)

1

Mark checked his watch. 2:13 p.m.

It had been two hours since Mark arrived at Andrew Broder’s house, and no one had left or entered the mansion yet.

If Jeff had switched bodies with Broder, Sam Curtis would sooner or later show up at his mansion. He probably lived here; this place was several orders of magnitude better than his old house.

There was a silver Mercedes coupe in Broder’s driveway. Mark had run the license plate number and found that the car belonged to a twenty-two-year-old man named Taylor Cowley, who lived in Dallas.

There were very few twenty-two-year-olds who owned ninety-thousand-dollar cars. Where had Taylor Cowley gotten the money to buy the Mercedes? Was he Andrew Broder’s son?

Mark googled “Andrew Broder son” and discovered that Andrew Broder’s son’s name was Logan Broder.

Why would a twenty-two-year-old guy hang out with a man thirty years older than him?

Cowley could be Broder’s nephew or illegitimate son.

They could be lovers.

Or maybe Cowley’s parents were Broder’s friends.

Mark googled “Taylor Cowley Dallas.” The fourth search result was a news story about a Dallas man named Taylor Cowley returning home safely on January 3 after being missing for five days. The Taylor Cowley from the news story was twenty-two years old.

The front doors opened, and a young dark-haired man came out of the house. When he got in the Mercedes, Mark started his car. He felt there was a connection between Taylor Cowley and Jeff and Sam, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

The Mercedes pulled out of the driveway and turned right. Mark followed it.

Cowley had gone missing before January 1 and returned home after that day.

Maybe Jeff and Sam had switched bodies with Andrew Broder and Taylor Cowley?

The Mercedes entered US-75 southbound and exited it five minutes later at Live Oak Street. Mark stopped following the car when it went into the parking garage of the Metropolis condominium complex on Liberty Street. Taylor Cowley lived in the Metropolis apartment complex.

Mark drove back to Broder’s house and made more inquiries about Taylor Cowley. He discovered that Cowley had changed his address two days ago and that he had bought his Mercedes from Logan Broder for seventy thousand dollars four days ago. Andrew Broder must have forced Logan to give his car to Taylor Cowley.

He needed to talk to Cowley’s parents and find out if his behavior had changed after his return.

Sam Curtis still hadn’t appeared when Mark went home at five o’clock.

2

Taylor Cowley’s mother lived in a three-bedroom house in Fort Worth, and judging by the furniture, she was not well-off enough to lend her son seventy grand to buy a car. Her name was Cindy Cowley. She was a short plump woman with a pleasant face and curly auburn hair.

“I’d like to ask you a few questions about your son, Taylor,” Mark said.

Cindy frowned. “Is he okay? Did something happen to him?”

“No. As far as I know, he’s fine.”

Cindy’s face brightened.

“Taylor was missing from December twenty-ninth to January third, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he was.”

“Did Taylor tell you where he’d been?”

“Yes. He said he was at his friend’s place.”

“What was he doing there?”

“He said they hung out.”

“Did he tell you the friend’s name?”

“No. I asked him for the name a dozen times, but he kept saying it didn’t matter.”

“Was it a guy or a girl?”

“He said it was a guy.”

“Did he explain why he didn’t contact you while he stayed at his friend’s place?”

“He left his phone at home the day he went missing because it was broken. I asked him why he didn’t use his friend’s phone, and he said his friend didn’t have a phone.”

It sounded implausible; everyone had a cellphone these days.

“How did Taylor look when he came back? Did he have any bruises or wounds? Was there blood on his clothes?”

“I didn’t see any bruises on his face or arms. And there was no blood on his clothes. By the way, he wore different clothes from those he had on when he went missing.”

Maybe Taylor had been on a drug or alcohol—or drug
and
alcohol—binge? That would explain why he hadn’t called his mother.

“Did Taylor have a job at the time of his disappearance?”

“Yes.”

“Did he go to work while he stayed at his friend’s?”

“No, he didn’t. He said he quit.”

“Why did he quit?”

“He said he found a better job.”

“Did he ever disappear for several days before this incident?”

Cindy shook her head. “No. This was the first time. Honestly, I was shocked.”

“Did he live with you at the time of his disappearance?”

“Yes, he did. He couldn’t afford his own apartment.”

“Does he still live with you?”

“No, he got his own place. I guess he’s making good money at his new job.”

“Do you know where he works?”

“He says he works for a real estate agency in Dallas, but he never told me its name.”

“When did he move out?”

“The day he returned home. And he didn’t take any of his things with him.”

“So he came back, you talked to him, and then he left?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know his address?”

“No, he never told me his address. All I know is he lives in an apartment in Dallas.”

It was obvious that Taylor didn’t want his mother to visit him.

“Does Taylor use drugs?”

“I know he didn’t use drugs before he went missing, but I don’t know about now.”

“Did you notice any personality changes in Taylor after he came back?”

Cindy nodded. “We were very close before he went missing, but not anymore. He never comes to see me, he doesn’t call or text and he doesn’t answer my calls or texts. And it upsets me very much. He can’t find five minutes to call his mother?” She sighed heavily.

“When was the last time you spoke to him?”

“January third.”

“Where is Taylor’s father?”

Cindy made a sour face at the mention of Taylor’s dad, which Mark interpreted as a sign that she disliked him.

“He lives in San Antonio.”

“Does Taylor talk to him?”

“I don’t think so. They’re not close.”

“Is his father wealthy?”

“No. He’s a mechanical engineer.”

So it wasn’t Taylor’s father who had provided the money to buy the Mercedes.

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m an accountant. Is Taylor under investigation? Did he do something illegal?”

“No, your son is not under investigation.”

“Do you know if he sells drugs?”

“As far as I know, he doesn’t. Did Taylor ever mention the name Andrew Broder?”

Cindy thought for a long moment and then said, “No, he didn’t. Who is it?”

“He’s an entrepreneur. Does Taylor speak any foreign languages?”

“He speaks a little Spanish, and that’s it. Do you know Taylor’s address?”

“No.”

The guy had moved out of his mother’s house and quit his job. He used to be poor, and now he owned a luxury car and lived in a luxury condominium complex (the price range for two-bedroom Metropolis condos was from six hundred fifty thousand to two million eight hundred thousand). These were drastic changes, weren’t they?

And he didn’t want to see or talk to his mother, with whom he used to be very close.

Either Sam or Jeff had swapped bodies with Taylor Cowley, Mark was sure of it now.

He needed to kidnap Cowley and interrogate him until he confessed to body switching.

Could he pull off the kidnapping alone? Cowley didn’t have bodyguards, so Mark supposed he could.

He could ambush Cowley in a parking garage and force him into the trunk of his car. Abducting Cowley from his apartment would be a riskier proposition because he might call for help on the way to the car.

1

At nine-thirty p.m. Mark plugged the flash drive sent by Aguero into his laptop and played Jeff’s confession video. Joan watched it together with him.

In the video, Jeff sat in a chair at a table in what appeared to be a motel room. Perhaps it was the room where his body had been found. He looked and sounded sincere.

When the video was over, Joan said, “I’m glad he’s dead.”

As Mark lay in bed that night, he tried to figure out a way to plant the knife used to kill Helen in the Phillipses’ house. Around half past midnight an idea came to him, which he decided to try.

He gave a copy of Jeff’s confession video to Edward Phillips’s lawyer on Tuesday. After work, Mark went to the Phillipses’ house and told Emily he had important information for her.

“I’m sorry about your husband,” he said when they went into the living room.

“Thank you.”

“Did Detective Aguero tell you about the video Jeff had sent him?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Have you seen it?”

“Yes.”

“You must be in shock.”

Emily nodded.

She seemed calm, and Mark wondered if it was just a façade.

“Your son was sentenced to death for one of Jeff’s crimes, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“I hope Jeff’s confession will help your son regain his freedom.”

“They must release him. He’s innocent.”

“I gave a copy of Jeff’s confession video to Edward’s lawyer today.”

“Thank you. Do you know Edward?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to get him a new lawyer.”

“That’s a great idea. Do you mind if I do a quick search of Jeff’s study?”

“Why?”

“I think there might be evidence of Jeff’s crimes there.”

“The police have already searched it. They didn’t find anything.”

“Did you search the study after Jeff left for Houston?”

“No.”

“Maybe Jeff hid the evidence before the search and then brought it back to the study.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he wanted to help Edward. Let’s do it together.”

“Just the study?”

“Yes. Look, Emily, Edward will have a much better chance of being released if there’s evidence that Jeff murdered that girl.”

Emily nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

There were two walls lined with bookcases and a double-pedestal desk in the study.

“You search the bookcases and I’ll search the desk,” Mark said, walking to the desk.

“What are we looking for?”

“Something odd, something you’ve never seen here before. Put these on, please.” He pulled a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and gave them to Emily. Then he took out another pair of gloves and put them on.

“Did Jeff speak any foreign languages?” Mark said as he opened the top left drawer.

“Yes, he spoke French and a little Spanish.”

Busy searching a bookcase, Emily wasn’t looking at him. 

Mark opened the bottom right drawer, took the plastic bag with the knife from his jacket pocket, and placed it in the drawer. 

“Does Edward speak any foreign languages?” he asked, rifling through the top left drawer.

“He speaks a little French.”

Mark shut the top left drawer and opened the one below it.

“I don’t see anything odd in here.” Emily closed the bookcase doors.

“Search the next one.”

Mark shut the middle left drawer, pretended to search the bottom right drawer, and then said, “Emily, come here. I think I found something.”

“What is it?” Emily walked up to the desk and looked in the bottom right drawer.

“Have you seen this knife before?” Mark pointed at the knife. “I found it in the back of the drawer.”

“No, I haven’t. Is it blood?”

Mark picked up the knife and pretended to examine it. “I think it is. It could be the murder weapon.”

He put the knife on the desk, took off his gloves, and said, “I’m going to call Detective Aguero.”

He called Aguero and told him that he and Emily Phillips had found a possible murder weapon in Jeff’s desk.

“Can you ask the Carrollton PD to send someone to pick it up?” he said.

“Okay, I’ll give them a call,” Aguero said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Forty minutes later, Homicide Detective Brady Strout of the Carrollton Police Department came and picked up the knife.