River Road(54)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Whitaker elevated his brows. “The other issues being those shares of Colfax Inc. that you inherited?”

“I see you’ve heard about them,” Lucy said.

Whitaker snorted. “Everyone in town knows about them. They also know that the Colfax family is tearing itself apart over a merger offer. I don’t have an MBA and I don’t know squat about mergers, but if I were you, I’d sell Warner Colfax the shares and get out of that dogfight before you get bitten.”

“I appreciate your views on the matter,” Lucy said.

Mason stirred and straightened away from the wall. “There is one other angle here that might be worth considering.”

Lucy and Whitaker looked at him.

“What’s that?” Whitaker asked.

“The orchard land is valuable, but the house itself may not have been important to the buyer that Kelly had lined up. The place was a nice example of the Craftsman style, but it’s small. You know how it is with the folks who come here to start wineries. They tend to build big houses and large compounds. At most, Sara’s place would have made a nice little guest house or a residence for a property manager.”

“So burning it down wouldn’t have done much damage to the overall value of the property,” Whitaker said.

“Right,” Mason said. “Kelly would still have made a big commission on the sale of the land.”

“But that doesn’t explain why he torched the house,” Whitaker concluded.

“Maybe he thought it would force Lucy’s hand,” Mason said. “With the house out of the way, she no longer had any reason to stall on the listing.”

“Huh.” Whitaker did not appear convinced.

“Yeah, I don’t like it, either,” Mason said. “But the only thing that explains the arson is just what Lucy suggested to you. Kelly must have been afraid there was something in the house that might incriminate him. Lucy was getting ready to start packing up all of her aunt’s belongings and papers.”

“And Kelly was worried that she might come across something that could hurt him,” Whitaker finished.

“Whatever it was, it has to be connected to the past and to the discovery of Brinker’s body,” Mason said. “There’s no indication that Kelly was concerned about the house as anything other than a real estate listing until that point.”

Whitaker sat silently for a moment. Then he made a note on the pad of paper in front of him.

“That’s it for now,” he said. “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Sheridan.”

“Of course.” Lucy got to her feet and picked up her tote. She started to turn toward the door, but she paused to look at Whitaker.

“I’m not in law enforcement, but I have had some experience with investigations that involve complicated family relationships,” she said.

“Right.” Whitaker glanced at his notes. “You work for a genealogy firm. Quite a business. I’ve got an uncle who paid a hefty amount of money to have one of those family trees drawn up, and guess what? We’re all descended from royalty. Who knew? Got a genuine family crest, and my uncle is now sporting a seal ring on his pinkie.”

“Chief Whitaker, what I’m trying to say—”

“I have to tell you I got a little suspicious when I checked out the family tree that my uncle commissioned. Couldn’t help but notice that the so-called investigative genealogist Uncle Bud hired had overlooked one of my brothers who happens to be still alive and kicking, by the way. The so-called expert genealogist also managed to get the middle name of my father and at least two other relatives wrong. I didn’t bother to go back any farther on the family tree.”

“As I was saying,” Lucy continued, “I am a forensic genealogist. In my experience, the answers to the kinds of questions we are all asking at the moment usually lie somewhere in the family dynamics.”

“If you’re talking about Brinker,” Whitaker said, “he didn’t have much in the way of family. No one has even come forward to claim the body. That case is closed as far as I’m concerned. For reasons we will never know for certain, but most likely because he attacked her, your aunt crushed his skull with a poker. If I was a betting man, I’d say the original theory of the crime was correct. It probably was a drug deal gone bad.”

“Now, just one damn minute.” Lucy stormed back toward the desk. “Are you saying my aunt was involved in drugs? That’s an outrageous lie.”

“Whether or not it’s true doesn’t matter to me. I just told you, that case is closed. Kelly’s death is what interests me now, and I don’t think you’re going to find any answers in his family dynamics, either. His father died a few years ago. His mother remarried and moved to Florida. As far as I can tell, there is no one else.”

Mason looked at him. “What’s your theory of the case?”

Whitaker exhaled slowly. “When I come up with one, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

33

What’s this about, Jillian?”

Jillian took a deep breath. “I want to know how much Warner offered you for those shares. Whatever it is, Quinn and I will match it. If we don’t have the cash up front, we’ll get it when the merger goes through.”

“I’ve got other things on my mind right now,” Lucy said. “In case you haven’t heard, Nolan Kelly died in the fire that burned down my aunt’s house.”

They were at Harper Ranch Park, standing at the edge of the river. Lucy wasn’t sure yet why she had suggested the park as a meeting place. But for some reason, it was the first location that had come to mind when Jillian had called her, pleading for another meeting. Jillian had sounded as if she had been crying.

The park where Brinker had held court on those summer nights thirteen years ago was a different place these days. The infusion of money into the local economy combined with a city council that was big on community space had wrought wonders. No longer neglected and overgrown, the land had been transformed. The grass was lush and green. There were paths for walking, running and bicycling. Families ate picnics at the wooden tables set out under the trees. There were two off-leash areas—one for large dogs and one for small dogs. Everyone knew that the owners of each size were, themselves, very different breeds and needed to be separated.

“I know about Nolan,” Jillian said. She slanted Lucy a quick, searching look. “I was horrified to hear about his death. We were in high school together, you know. People are saying that he went to your aunt’s house with the intention of setting it on fire and that he got caught in the blaze.”