Betrayal with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Three) (15 page)

“
N
ot…” he started, but seemed to be as unable to form a complete sentence as she was.

She nodded.

“What does that mean?” he asked, not taking his eyes off of her.

She shrugged and shook her head, trying to make sense of it herself.

“Would someone care to explain what just happened?” Byman spoke up, his eyes shifting curiously between Rilynne, Ben, and the photo.

Rilynne opened her mouth, but to her relief, Ben stepped in and answered for her.

“Sarah is Christopher’s sister,” he said, the look of shock not leaving his face.

“What does this mean?” Byman asked, joining them in the confusion. “Have you been searching for the wrong person, or are they in on it together?”

“No,” Rilynne finally spoke out. “There was evidence directly linking Mifflin to the murders. They must have been in on it together.”

“Why?” he asked. “Could she have really been involved in killing her own brother?”

Ben let out a sigh of understanding. “He took out a life insurance policy on himself listing her as the beneficiary,” he said. “He left her two million dollars.”

Byman let out a low whistle. “So Mifflin killed his girlfriend, and this Sarah killed her brother. Sounds like a match made in heaven.”

“I need to call Wooldridge,” she said as she pushed her chair away from the desk. “Leann, I’m going to need everything you’ve got on this woman and the house she bought.”

Byman picked up the phone. “I’ll get a warrant if you want to start gathering everything and getting it ready. I’ll give you a call as soon as I have it.”

Leann nodded and rushed out of the door. Rilynne followed her out of the building, and dropped down onto the bench just outside of the door. She attempted to dial the number three times before she finally had the composure to make the call.

“I was wondering when I would be hearing from you,” Wooldridge said when the ringing stopped.

“I’ve found something,” she said on a long sigh.

When he didn’t respond, she continued. “We had the real estate and rental records pulled from around the time Mifflin disappeared. We weren’t able to find him on any of them, but we found someone else.” She paused to take a breath before going on. “Sarah Bennett purchased a cabin here just two weeks after Christopher died.”

“You’re joking!” he all but yelling into the phone.

“I actually wish I was,” she replied, though she wasn’t sure why. The truth was, it didn’t surprise her at all. She knew that Sarah loved Christopher, but she wouldn’t put anything past her with two million dollars involved. “We know where she is, so I wanted to let you know so you can start to get everything ready on your end.”

“When will you be making your move?” he asked.

“Hopefully soon,” she replied. “The only thing we know now is she’s living in the area. That isn’t enough to convince a judge to issue an arrest warrant. We’ll need to sit on the house and see if we can get eyes on Mifflin. I’ll let you know, though.”

Rilynne sat on the bench, staring up at the soft blue sky for several minutes after hanging up the phone.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on Sarah, but her mind was racing too fast for there to be any hope of success.

After finally forcing herself off of the bench, she slowly walked back in to the station and found the men still sitting in Byman’s office.

“The cabin was purchased under the name of Victoria Wilson,” Ben said as she stepped through the door. “I can’t get much off of the photo copy, but the ID card actually looks pretty good. It I had to bet, I would say that it’s a real driver’s license. I called a buddy of mine and gave him the information, so he’s going to find out what he can. You may be looking at a case of identity theft on top of everything else.”

“I’ve already called the judge and the warrant for the real estate documents is being sent over. We should have it within the hour. If we find anything there, we can petition the judge for an arrest warrant,” Byman explained. “I should warn you, though, he’s pretty tough. He won’t issue an arrest warrant unless there’s sufficient evidence for it, and circumstantial speculations won’t be enough.”

Rilynne nodded. “We need to sit on the house and see if we can connect her directly to Mifflin. There’s already an outstanding warrant for him, so if we find him at the house, we’ll be able to bring her in for questioning when the warrant is served on him.”

Byman nodded. “We can set up a surveillance schedule, and make sure that there are always two people watching the house. As soon as we have eyes on Mifflin, we’ll prepare to move in.”

“I would like to take the first watch, if that’s possible,” Rilynne said. “He’ll surely have changed his appearance, so it’ll probably be easier for me to recognize him.”

Byman hesitated, and Rilynne was sure he was going to refuse her suggestion, but after a few seconds he nodded. “You’re
only
to observe,” he said firmly. “If you see anything, you call us in and we handle the arrest.”

“Understood,” she replied with a quick nod.

“I assume you’ll be accompanying her?” he asked Ben.

“Like I would pass up the opportunity of a stake out,” he said with a grin.

Byman shook his head and chuckled. “Okay,” he replied as he reached for his phone. “That’ll give me enough time to get the boys updated and ready. As soon as Leann gets back with the property information, you can head out. I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you not to allow yourself to be seen.”

“It’s a cabin, isn’t it?” she asked, although she already knew the answer. “We can park up the road and work our way through the woods until we have a good view.”

As he nodded again, the look of uncertainty still on his face, Leann pushed the door open with a large box in hand.

“Is the warrant here yet?” she asked as she dropped the box down on the desk.

“It should be here any minute,” Byman replied as he peered into the box.

She nodded and pulled a pale blue tube out of the box.

“These are public record, so you can start here.” She popped it open and pulled out the papers inside, unrolling them out across the desk. “These are the property blueprints. You can see the driveway here coming off of the main road. This right here is the cabin.”

“Okay,” Rilynne said as she looked them over carefully. “We can park here and follow the stream right up to the side of the house. It’ll make it easier to navigate after dark. It’s one now, that should put us there around what, two?” Byman nodded. “How long will it take you to get your team ready?”

“I’ll have the first team in place no later than five,” he replied.

“I’m going to give my buddy running the alias your contact information so he can call you directly if anything turns up,” Ben stated as he reached for his cell phone.

“If he gets back with anything we can use, I’ll have the arrest warrant issued for Sarah Bennett. We’ll wait to execute it until we get eyes on Mifflin, though,” Byman said. “I think if we take her in too early, he might get spooked and run.”

“Agreed,” Rilynne said.

A young deputy stuck his head in the door and reached out his hand.

“I have your warrant,” he said as he held it out for Byman.

Byman took it from his hand and handed it straight to Leann. “Great,” he said. “Call everyone in. We’re having a mandatory meeting in thirty.”

The deputy nodded and disappeared through the door.

“Okay,” Leann said. “Here’s everything I have on the woman going by Victoria Wilson. Now, I looked over all of my records and I did note that a man was with her when she visited the cabin for the first time. I can’t give you a description of him, though. It was just too long ago.”

She flipped through her notes before leaning back in her seat.

“Okay, the original appointment was booked under the name Victoria Wilson. She looked at three different properties on August first, accompanied by a man. The name he gave was-” she flipped through the notes “-Mike Wilson. I remember telling her that if they were married, they would both have to be listed on all documentation. She told me that wouldn’t be necessary, because they were not married. She didn’t seem to want to elaborate, so I didn’t push it. I just assumed they were divorced.”

“Original,” Rilynne said as she shook her head angrily. “Michael is Mifflin’s middle name. Do you have anything on a Mike Wilson?” she asked Byman.

Byman stood up and walked out of the room without a word, returning five minutes later, shaking her head. “He’s never even been stopped on a traffic violation, nor has Victoria Wilson. They appear to be doing a decent job of laying low.”

“Ben, why don’t you send the rest of this information to your friend and see what he can turn up, then meet me out front,” she said before turning to Byman. “We’re going to head over to the cabin. Just let me know when your guys are on the way so we know when to be expecting them.”

Byman nodded and stood to walk her to the door. “Make sure that you aren’t spotted,” he said again. “It’ll take us at least twenty minutes to arrive if anything goes wrong.”

“I know that you aren’t comfortable with this,” she replied when they reached the front door. “It isn’t exactly standard procedure, so I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be doing it if all of the deputies weren’t out of the station right now,” he replied frankly, stepping aside so Ben could walk past them. “I looked you up, though, and you have a remarkable record. Just don’t make me regret it.”

She couldn’t think of a response to give him, so just nodded before walking out the door. Ben was leaning against the car, with his own concerned look. Rilynne ignored it as she handed him the keys and climbed into the passenger side. After programming the location into the navigation system, she sank down low into her seat.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ben asked as he pulled the car onto the road. “I mean, are you sure you’re actually going to be able to sit back and wait for backup if we get there and you see him?”

She wanted to be able to give him an instant answer, but she found herself needing to actually consider it. More times than she could count, she pictured what she would do if she ever came face to face with her former partner. Not a single one of them involved sitting back and waiting for backup to arrive. On the other hand, she knew that she didn’t have jurisdiction to bring him in.

“I can restrain myself,” she said, but she wasn’t entirely certain that he was convinced. She had a feeling, though, that it was due to the fact that she hadn’t convinced herself. “You know I have to be there. After this long, I have to see it for myself, otherwise I don’t know if it’ll feel real.”

He nodded and they drove the rest of the way in silence.

The trees, a thin layer of frost coating their branches, were swaying soothingly from the gentle breeze. The way they moved seemed to almost hypnotize her. It was surprisingly relaxing.

Before she realized it, Ben was pulling off the road. He reached over her and pulled open the glove box, removing a white piece of paper before opening his door and stepping out.

“What’s that?” she asked as she watched him rolled down the window.

“If you’re ever having car problems and have to leave your car on the side of the road, you leave a white cloth or paper rolled up in your window so other cars know your car is in trouble and to go around,” he said as he rolled the window back up, securing it in place. “It’ll make it look like the car simply broke down in case he happens to pass it. If they’re paranoid, which I imagine they could be, it might set off some flags if a car was just parked on the side of the road close to their property. It’s either this or take off the tire and set the jack up, but I think that might be taking it a little too far.”

Rilynne chuckled to herself as she walked through the tree line toward the sound of the trickling stream. Once they found it, it only took about fifteen minutes to work their way up to the edge of the tree line surrounding the cabin.

It was just as Rilynne had seen it in her vision, down to the smoke swirling carelessly from the chimney. When they found a large bush that would both provide adequate cover and a clear view of the front porch, Rilynne reached for her phone.