Every Deadly Suspicion

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

W ITH THE FUNERAL OVER, the media presence in Dry Oaks dwindled to nothing. For the most part, Hanna had her small town back again. It still wasn’t quiet and uneventful. The day after the service, a huge fire broke out east of Dry Oaks. Fierce winds had blown a tree over into some power lines, and overnight the blaze had scorched thousands of acres. If the wind shifted, the Crest Fire would be a serious threat to Dry Oaks.

All Hanna could do was monitor the situation. It was mostly being fought by county and state personnel. Some of her reserve officers volunteered to support the firefighting effort. Terry Holmes had traveled to San Francisco to follow up on some information about Scott’s business issues. As a result, her office was short-staffed.

Grover said he’d bring in Valerie Fox for an interview today, Friday. Hanna was eager to talk to Fox. She still hadn’t been able to interview Chase or Everett.

Hanna had tried multiple times to arrange an interview and had been stonewalled every time. First the excuse was the memorial for Scott. Now it was the Crest Fire. Hanna had cut Everett some slack because the size of the conflagration and its possible path had everyone in town on edge.

Strangely, Everett didn’t seem at all concerned about the status of the investigation. He and Chase were not the last people to see Scott alive—that would be the people at the airfield—but they were the closest to him.

Grover arrived around eleven.

“Good morning, Chief. True to my word, here’s Valerie to see you. She’s only in town for a few hours, but she’ll answer your questions.” He stepped aside and Scott’s fiancée stepped in.

“Ms. Fox, how are you doing?” Hanna motioned to a chair in front of her desk so the woman could take a seat.

When Valerie entered her office, a few things were obvious. In spite of the grieving, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Hanna expected she could grace the cover of any fashion magazine and do it justice. Valerie was a lot younger than Scott, and she carried herself like a woman with a lot of money. Hanna doubted the woman planned to marry Scott for the Buckley money.

Fox looked back at Grover first. He nodded, stepped out of the office, and closed the door.

“I’m still standing, but it’s not easy.” She sat. “I know you wanted to talk to me. Thank you for being patient.”

“I need to speak to everyone close to Scott.” Hanna sat in her chair.

“Have you made any headway in the investigation?”

“I’m afraid that I can’t tell you yes. Right now, we have no suspects.”

“You’re sure it was poison that killed him?” Her tone was laced with resignation and defeat.

“Cyanide in his coffee. We never located Scott’s travel mug.” Hanna held her hands up, palms out. “Do you have any idea who would have wanted to hurt him?”

“Ever since I heard the word poison , I’ve wracked my brain. Hurt?” Ms. Fox gave a shake of her head. “Scott was a beautiful man. My soulmate. I sometimes don’t know how to go on.” Her voice broke and she paused. “I do know that he was preoccupied about something.”

“Any idea what?”

“I think it had to do with that blogger guy.” She frowned as if trying to remember a name. “Marshall, that’s it.”

“What was the problem?”

Fox nodded. “Scott was afraid he was writing a book about the family and their history. He was at the house a lot.”

“Scott didn’t want that?”

“No. He used to say that the nickname Muckraker fit. I don’t think Scott cared for Marshall.”

“Did they argue?”

“Sometimes. Scott didn’t like it when Marshall was around. He didn’t care for bloggers in general. People and their phones, ready to film tragedy and make a buck. Scott thought it was awful.” Her voice broke again. It took a minute for her to compose herself. “Marshall filmed the crash, didn’t he? How much money did he make at Scott’s expense?”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s the world today. So obsessed with the latest juicy bit of news.”

Hanna gave her a minute.

“We had so many plans. Please, Chief, you have to find out who did this. Scott bought a house in Corte Madera for us. Braden even has his own room there.” Tears trailed down her cheeks, and she dabbed her face with a handkerchief.

“Braden was going to live with you?” That news surprised Hanna. Braden was Chase’s grandson, not Scott’s.

“We talked about it. Scott has been like a father to the boy, and since Braden’s flaky mother left, he’s floundered. Scott and I thought it would be good to let him grow up in new surroundings. We were ready for a fresh start.” She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose.

“How did Chase feel about that?”

“He was fine with it. That’s what Scott told me. Chase is moody and unpredictable. He never had time for the boy. Everett spent more time with him than Chase.”

Braden’s father, Devon, Chase’s son, had died a few years ago. Braden’s mother, Kelly, was aptly described as flaky. She had left him in the care of his great-grandfather not long after Devon had passed. She took the life insurance check and went to Hollywood to be an actress. Hanna was not sure how things were going for her.

“Have you checked into the mechanic Scott fired? That was an unpleasant episode.”

“He is in the clear.”

“The only other point of friction was a business deal Scott was working on. He wanted to buy a building in San Francisco. He planned to demolish it and build something else. Some crazy activists protested the sale. Have you looked into that?”

“My investigator is in San Francisco now, checking on that very thing.” Hanna knew about the environmental group protesting Scott’s purchase. Terry had e-mailed that it was a dead end. None of the protestors had ever been in Dry Oaks.

“Losing Scott left a hole in my life that will never be filled. Someone needs to pay for snuffing out such a bright light.” She left the office still dabbing her cheeks.

Hanna considered the comment about Marcus. Fox had confirmed that there had been an argument. Strange she thought it had to do with something that Marcus was writing. Marcus had not mentioned that. He was usually chatty about his writing projects. If he was writing about the Buckley family with the same kind of exaggeration that he’d written about Joe Keyes, Scott would have good reason to worry.

Hanna had firsthand knowledge about Marcus’s literary talent. He was a shock jock. She had no idea how much he wrote about her father was true. She did know it had made life difficult for her and her mother.

But Scott saying no to a book idea did not sound like a motive for murder. Hanna could see him punching Marcus out; she couldn’t see the reverse. Marcus liked to murder people in print. Usually, people who couldn’t fight back. She would still investigate, she just wasn’t hopeful.

She finished her coffee about the time she got a text from Terry: I’m back and in my office .

Hanna headed to his office and leaned against the doorframe. “Scott’s fiancée was just here.” Briefly, she filled him in on the interview with Fox. “She says Scott was mad at Marcus because he thought he was writing a book about the Buckleys.”

“Really?” Terry frowned. “Funny Marcus wouldn’t mention that.”

“It is. Yet, if Scott was the one who was mad, I’d think Marcus would be the dead one.”

“True. What about the bit concerning Braden?” Terry raised an eyebrow. “Someone taking your kid might be a motive for murder.”

She nodded. “We need to have a conversation with Chase.”

“I have a pretty good picture of Scott’s life and movements in the weeks before he died,” Terry said. “Honestly, I haven’t found anyone with any kind of real motive to kill him. The activists were the graffiti, screaming, making-life-miserable types, but there’s no way they upped their game to murder. They really don’t have the resources.”

“I’ve read your reports. The only thing missing are statements from those closest to Scott.”

“And those closest to the victim are usually the guilty ones.”

Hanna said nothing for a minute. Chase and Everett would have had the best opportunity to give Scott coffee laced with cyanide. Did they have motive? Hanna didn’t want to believe that either one of them did.

Everett had been in her life for as long as she could remember, and she believed him to be a good man. In no way could she conceive that he would murder his own son. She laid this aspect of the investigation on Holmes, recusing herself because she was too close to it.

Now she second-guessed her decision. She was in charge, and it was her job.

“We’ll get the interviews, Terry, even if it means dragging Everett and Chase to the station.”

Back in her office, Hanna provided an investigation update to the mayor. “We’ve run down every lead.”

“I hoped we’d have a resolution by now. It’s been nearly a month since the crash.” Mayor Milton’s tone was not angry or accusatory, but Hanna felt the heat from the spotlight.

“I feel the same.” Hanna switched the phone from one ear to the other, trying not to let her frustration bleed into her tone. “We will keep at it. I won’t let this go cold.”

“I know you all work hard. Thank you for the update, Chief. Everett has been through so much. He deserves to know who killed his son.”

“We all deserve to know who killed Scott.”

Hanna certainly didn’t want the case to go cold—though sadly, right now it was on that road.