Old Flames Never Die (Valentine Mystery) (8 page)

“Yes.”

“There's no sign of disturbance. Even
his desk is neat. So he must have been sleeping when he was killed. She just
tiptoed in and let him have it.”

“The problem is that the time of death
clears her.”

“That's the kicker.”

“Perhaps she hired someone.”

“Maybe. But I don't think so.”

“She couldn't have pulled the trigger,
Tess.”

That still nagged at Tess. “But three
into the heart? A hired gun would mostly like shoot in the head. More
efficient.”

Daniel sat back. “So maybe she told him
to shoot him in the heart?”

“Why? If it's going to be done like
that, you'd want to do it yourself.” Tess sat back again. “Unless the killer
didn't want anyone to notice he was dead. Maybe she knew he slept there a lot
and the caretaker wouldn't disturb him. So she covers the wound. It's harder to
cover a gunshot to the head than the chest.”

“It still doesn't tell us who did it,”
Daniel said, but she noticed he was thinking about her idea that the shot to
the chest and the blanket were part of the killer's plan.

“No, it doesn't.”

“So what's next?” Daniel asked.

“Next, I want to talk to the caretaker
and Bobby Wilson.”

“About something specific?” he asked.

“Not really. I just want to hear their
statements directly from them. The caretaker found him and Wilson was his
partner. Partnerships often are like marriages. They can go very wrong as well.”
Tess thought back to the partnerships she helped dissolve in her law practice,
and in many ways, it was like a divorce.

“Do you need me to go with you?”

“No. But I would like you to go with me
to talk to Liv at some point. And I'd like to tag along when the son gets to
town.”

“Don't want to talk to Liv alone?”

“I just want her to be clear why I'm there.”

“Right.”

“Also, can you tell me about Theresa
Cromwell? What does she have to do with Danforth's murder?”

“Mrs. Danforth suggested that she and
Charles were more than business acquaintances.”

“And what was your opinion after talking
to her?”

“We talked by phone, so I couldn't
assess anything by body language. But I think it's possible that Mrs. Danforth
was right. Cromwell is supposed to come to the funeral and Sam and I plan to
talk to her then.”

“Can I sit in?”

He nodded.

“Can I get copies of this stuff to take
with me?” she asked.

“That's your copy. But…”

“I know, I know, it's confidential.
Don't worry, I've got a locked file cabinet at home.”

“But I'm sure Valentine has a key.”

“I'm sure he does, but he won't look.”

Tess could see that Daniel thought her
faith in Jack was naive. But she knew she wouldn't be hurt by Jack lying or
sneaking a look at her files. What Daniel didn't understand is that while Tess
believed one hundred percent in Jack's character, that didn't mean he'd never
hurt her.

Jack was already in a foul mood when he
entered his office at Worthington Corp. He didn't like Tess' mood when he'd
arrived home the night before after dropping Liv off at the hotel. He would
have preferred that she'd yelled at him. Instead she said all the right things,
but didn't seem to believe them. To top it off, she seemed nearly cheerful as
she got ready to spend the day with Daniel. The logical part of him reasoned
that she was glad to have something work-related to fill her day. But he couldn't
stand the idea of her meeting with Daniel and how he'd take advantage of that.
He threw his pen across the room.

“I see you've read the paper this
morning.”

Jack looked up to see the Senator,
Lauren, and Philip standing in front of his desk. God, could his day start out
any worse?

“What are you talking about?”

“What does Tess think about your late
night rendezvous?” Lauren said as the Senator tossed the paper on the desk.
Jack picked up the paper and read a brief article about the Danforth murder investigation.
It had the search on Liv's home as well as Jack's escorting her to the hotel.
Of course, it failed to mention that he'd dropped her off at the lobby.

“How do you do it? Murder just seems to
find you, doesn't it, boy?” the Senator said.

“I knew this whole deal was a bad idea,”
Lauren said.

Jack grabbed his coat. “I think you
forget that I don't need this deal. You do. If you have a problem with me, I'm
happy to take my money and my team and leave.”

“Now, now, don't get upset. We're just
concerned about how this will affect Worthington Media,” the Senator said.

“You don't have to worry about
Worthington's image.” Jack headed out the door.

“Where are you going?” Lauren demanded.

Jack ignored her. He was barely out of
the building when his cell phone rang. “What do you need, Brad?”

“Just checking in,” Brad said. “I'm
wondering if you enjoy bringing excitement to this corporate empire I've built
for you. I have to say, the board liked it better when you weren't so involved.”

“I see you read the paper.”

“Internet. How do you do it? Two murder
investigations in a few months?”

Jack didn't want to get into it with
Brad. “I'm on it. Tell everyone not to worry.”

“I already did that. I just wanted to
know if I was lying.”

“No, you weren't.”

Jack got into his car and headed to the
police station.

~~~~

“You just missed Tess,” Daniel said as
Jack stalked to his desk.

“My business is with you.”

Daniel pointed to a chair. “What's on
your mind?”

“Are you purposefully feeding the media
biased information about me?”

Daniel looked surprised and then amused.
“You're not really going to blame me for your actions, are you? Surely Tess
warned you that you'd be watched.”

“By the police, yes. So who here is
telling the media?”

“The Danforth murder is news. I'm sure
the media is staked out anywhere Mrs. Danforth goes. Probably more now after
last night's escapade.”

Jack's jaw clenched. “I just dropped her
off. The police know it and the media knows it, but no one seems to care about
the truth.”

“I don't really care about your personal
life.”

“The hell you don't! You'll take any
advantage to get Tess. But here's a news flash, Daniel. Even if I were out of
the picture, she still wouldn't fall in love with you.”

Daniel's eyes narrowed and Jack was glad
to have wiped the smug look off his face. “I know where I stand with Tess. My
interest now is in protecting her.”

“Fine. While you're working on ruining
my reputation and relationship, take this into consideration. I love her. And
you
will
watch her become my wife.”

“If you love her so much, why are you
running to a former lover in the middle of the night?”

“She was afraid to stay in the house.
The home her husband was murdered in and that you ransacked.”

“Why you?”

“Look. I'm not here to answer police
questions. I just want you to know that I won't tolerate misleading news
stories about me nor will I let you hurt my relationship with Tess.”

A woman approached Daniel's desk. “I'm
sorry to interrupt, Detective Showalter, but you told me to deliver these
directly to you when they were finished.”

“Yes, thank you, Karen,” Daniel said
taking the pile of folders from her. He set them on his desk and retrieved his
jacket. “If you have problems with the media, you need to take it to them. I
don't feed them information.”

“Whoever is sharing information should
at least get it right. I wonder if they'd be interested in how a certain police
detective was immediately at Tess’ boyfriend's home to tattle on him yesterday.
How his personal feelings are clouding a murder investigation.”

“There is no proof of that.”

“That's one thing I learned from Tess.
Except in court, it doesn't matter what can be proven. I can cast the same
shadows on your character and I will if I have to.”

“You don't scare me, Valentine. She
asked to work with me. And I won't back off this investigation.”

“I'm not telling you to back off the
investigation. I'm telling you to stop using your personal agenda in this
investigation. Do your job.”

“I am.”

Jack scoffed. “Not very well.”

“Let me give you a piece of advice,
Jack.”

“I don't need advice from you.”

“Take it anyway. When you have a woman
like Liv, who's nice to look at on the outside and probably pretty good in bed,
but lacks any sort of depth, compared to a woman like Tess who has all the same
qualities, plus she's smart, kind, and full of love, go with the woman like
Tess. Because right now, everything you're doing indicates you're choosing Liv.”
Before Jack could find a response that wouldn't get him arrested, Daniel picked
up the pile of folders, rounded his desk and left the building.

~~~~

Tess was beginning to think interviewing
the staff at the Danforth farm was a waste of time. The one person she really
wanted to talk to, George Boone, was running errands in town. The barn staff
reported the same information they'd shared with Daniel and Sam. And now the
trainer, Tanner Rogers, was echoing what the others said. If anyone asked her,
Tess would be able to report that Charles Danforth loved his horses more than
anyone or anything, he was indifferent to his wife, and kept his personal and
business issues to himself.

Undaunted, Tess pressed on with Tanner. “Had
Charles had any unusual accidents?”

Tanner's brows drew together. “No.Why?”

“Sometimes murderers don't get it right
the first time. I'm wondering if anything had happened to him before that might
have seemed like a fluke accident.”

“Not that I know of.”

“Did Mr. Danforth seem upset or worried
about anything?”

Tanner gave an indifferent shrug.

“As someone who works with horses, you
must be in tune to subtle changes of temperament in your horses. Maybe you'd
notice subtle changes in your boss too.”

“I guess. I suppose he was a little off
a few months ago.”

“What happened?”

“Mr. Danforth had wanted to step up the
quality of horses on the farm. He wanted the Triple Crown. So I found this
really great filly. She's a little old, but has great breeding, particularly on
her sire side. If he could swing the cost and breed her with Galaxy Rise, he
might get a horse. But he was distracted or something. I kept telling him about
the deal. That he needed to act fast. But he did nothing, which is odd, because
usually the horses come first in everything.”

“Do you have any idea why he was
distracted?”

Tanner shook his head.

“Maybe he didn't have the money?”

“That could be, but he never said anything.
And recently he asked me to look at a couple of yearlings he was eager to buy,
which would cost way more than this filly.”

“You mentioned earlier about him
'swinging the cost'. Was money an issue?”

Tanner shrugged. “I don't know the
accounting.”

“But you think the money might be an
issue?”

“I don't know. He was always tight with
the money. I think his family trust has limits to what he can spend. I think he
might have a business deal or something that he said would give him the money
he needed.”

“A business deal. The only other
business I'm aware of is the partnership with Mr. Wilson. Is that what he was
referring to?”

“I don't know. Mr. Danforth never gave
much information about anything.”

“What about Theresa Cromwell?”

“What about her?”

“What sort of relationship did Danforth
have with her?”

Tanner gave her an amused look. “She
owned horses, he owned horses.”

“Nothing more?”

“Danforth was a very private person.”

“Were any of the horses he wanted to buy
hers?”

“No. But her horse, Trimeter was sired
by Galaxy Rise and is currently heating up the track.”

Tess wasn't sure what all this meant,
but she made a mental note of it. She thanked Tanner and left him her number in
case he thought of anything further.

Once in her car, Tess wrote down what
Tanner had told her. She didn't know much about horseracing, but hundreds of
thousands of dollars in expenses with the goal of winning millions could lead
to murder, she supposed. She put a star next to the note about the business
deal that Danforth thought would bring him the money to buy the horses and
breeding services he desired. She put a question mark next to Theresa Cromwell.
Tanner didn't give any information, but his smirk suggested that there were
rumors about her and Danforth's relationship.