Chapter 77
CHAPTER
A WEEK LATER, NASH WAS IN Rhett’s office at the Temple estate discussing some security details at the property when there was a knock at the door. It was Colin, the butler. Behind him Nash saw Detective Ramos. He sat up a bit straighter and kept his gaze averted.
Rhett rose and said, “Detective? What can I do for you?”
Ramos planted his gaze on Nash. Rhett said, “My bodyguard, Dillon Hope.”
Nash shook hands with him, then went and stood in the corner, while the detective sat across from Rhett.
Ramos eyed Nash again and said to Rhett, “This is confidential, sir.”
Rhett glanced at Nash. “You can say anything in front of him you want to say to me.”
Ramos shrugged. “Okay. Are you still in touch with Mrs. Nash?”
“I am, yes, why?” asked Rhett.
“The thing is, sir, we’ve seen her out at the spot where her daughter’s remains were recovered.”
“What do you mean you saw her?”
“We’ve kept an eye on the place from time to time, just in case anyone shows up there. Killers sometimes come back to see if they missed anything.”
Nash felt his gut clench and he lowered his gaze to the floor. If they saw me…?
“I didn’t know she was doing that,” said Rhett, looking genuinely concerned.
“And another thing. She’s apparently leaving items related to her daughter there.”
Rhett leaned forward. “Items related to her daughter? What sorts of things?”
“A pom-pom, a framed picture, that sort of thing.”
Rhett sat back and adopted a weary expression. “Look, I’ve tried to get her to seek counseling, but she refuses. I’ll keep trying.”
“I just worry that her, well, obsession might lead to something… personally destructive.”
“Understood. I’ll do whatever I can. Anything else?”
“Yes, we discussed a long while back that the pathologist suspected that your father’s death was not a suicide, but a homicide.”
“I’m not convinced of that. And you never said why the pathologist concluded that.”
“There were marks around the neck, and the hyoid bone was fractured.”
“Excuse me, the hyoid bone?”
“Yes, when it’s damaged or broken, it usually means someone was strangled. Now, they ran some additional tests recently and because of backlogs and paperwork snafus I just got those results, which is the reason I came to see you.”
“What results?” said Rhett dully.
“It took specialized testing by an outside expert, but it has now been determined that one of the marks on your father’s face was not caused by the impact with the ground.
It was blunt force trauma caused almost certainly by a fist. This was determined by an exacting examination of the indentations of the skin at that spot, the manner in which the facial bones were damaged, and the like.
It was difficult because the impact with the ground tended to cover up any such underlying and preexisting injuries.
That was why additional testing was called for.
And it took a great deal of time. We even had to have the body exhumed. ”
Rhett looked outraged. “You exhumed my father’s body? Without telling me? Or getting my approval?”
Ramos didn’t look so deferential to Rhett right now, Nash noted. His look was one of professional stiffness. “It’s a homicide investigation, Mr. Temple. We didn’t need your approval.”
Rhett immediately backed down. “Right, of course. I’m sorry if I implied that you did. I’m just… this is just so out of left field. So you think someone struck my father and then strangled him, breaking his hyoid bone?”
“Yes sir.”
“Did he die by strangulation?”
“No. The impact with the ground killed him. That was conclusive.”
“So what are you envisioning actually happened?”
“He was beaten or strangled until he was unconscious, and then he was carried through those doors and thrown off the balcony.”
“It would have taken a strong man or men to do so. My father was not small.”
“Yes it would.”
“And this supposedly happened with his team of bodyguards nearby, my stepmother two floors below, and the butler nearby in his room?”
“You suggested that Walter Nash might have had reasons to kill your father.”
It was fortunate that neither man was looking at Nash. It took all his willpower not to pull his weapon and shoot Rhett in the head. He did his four-and-four breathing and became a statue once more.
Yet as he looked at Rhett, he saw something he had seen before in the man when he had been involved in business negotiations. He sees an opportunity and he’s about to go for it.
Rhett said smoothly, “As I told you before, I gave Nash a big raise and other perks right before the disgusting truth came out about his daughter. I did so because my father ordered me to. It had nothing to do with Nash’s business performance.
Between you and me, he was actually pretty mediocre at his job.
I had to step in quite often to rectify some of his poor decisions.
He was probably consumed with all the heinous stuff he was doing to his daughter. ”
“I’m sure,” commented a clearly interested Ramos.
During this exchange Nash had fixed his gaze on a spot across the room. It was a painting of a dog running across a field with a little girl trailing behind. He imagined the girl was Maggie, and the dog was his beloved labradoodle, Charly.
That was when Nash realized he had found his Sunshine, like his father had when he’d been a POW. He calmed dramatically.
Ramos continued, “You said before that you suspected that Nash was blackmailing your father.”
“Yes. With him being terminally ill he might have been about to expose Nash.”
“Right, but did Nash know that your father was dying?”
Nash glanced at Rhett to see the man’s reaction to this query.
Once more, he was observing a man who had been caught in a lie and was now searching for some plausible answer that would legitimize his false narrative.
He had seen Rhett do this many times when confronted by his father over some mistake or bad business decision.
Rhett normally tried to shift any blame to other parties, sometimes including Nash.
“I… I’m not sure. But Nash was very resourceful and could have found out. Or, hell, my dad could have confronted him and told him what he was going to do. That was the way he was. My father got in your face. And with what happened with Maggie, we know what Nash was capable of.”
“You really think he killed her, too?” said Ramos.
“Who else? And you told me you had evidence against him, right? Hair and stuff?”
“Yes, his hair and clothing fibers were found in her bed. They matched hair from his hairbrush, and the fibers were from clothes we found in the bottom of one of his drawers. And to your point about him being involved in Maggie’s death we found a hair fiber with her remains.
It matched samples we had taken from Nash’s hairbrush. ”
“And there was evidence he was involved in that other murder, right?” said Rhett. “You told me and Mrs. Nash about it.”
“That’s right, his shoe prints were found at the scene of the crash where the security guard was run off the road and killed.”
“Okay, I truly believe you have your man. Now you just need to find the scum.”
Nash thought about his hairbrush and the missing clothes and shoes. The frame had been well done, he had to admit.
Ramos said, “FYI, we checked your alibi with Laurel Burke a while back and she confirmed you were with her the whole time.”
“That’s right. And I had no reason to kill him.”
Nash drew his gaze from the painting to his new boss. Except for billions of reasons.
Ramos said, “Now, this is delicate, but do you think anyone here at this house could have been working with Nash to kill your father? Because, as you alluded to, it seems like more than a one-person job.”
Nash once more could tell that Rhett was thinking quickly to deliver falsehoods to the detective that would support his supposition of an “inside person.”
“Well, to be frank, that’s one reason I let my father’s old security team go. I… well, I just didn’t trust them.”
Ramos nodded in understanding. “I thought you might say that. And we will run those leads down. Now, this is even more delicate. Your stepmother?”
“Yes?”
“Any, um, concerns there vis-à-vis your father’s death? I’m assuming she inherited a great deal of money.”
Nash listened to this particular exchange intently. This might tell him a lot, considering that he well knew how Rhett’s mind worked, especially if he sensed personal danger.
Rhett was already shaking his head. “None. Mindy was devoted to my father. She had his child. And he was terminal. If she wanted him dead so she would inherit, well, all she had to do was wait a few months.”
Ramos nodded. “I thought so, too, but I just wanted to get your opinion. In fact, full disclosure, we asked her about you and she told us she believed you had no involvement in your father’s death. And she confirmed that you were not here that night.”
“Well, it’s the truth,” declared Rhett.
“I won’t take up any more of your time, sir. Just following up.”
Nash had swiftly processed all this. Rhett had not thrown Mindy under the bus, which would have been his first instinct. But something had prevented the man from defaulting to his usual ploy of blame shifting. The reason hit Nash before Ramos had even finished speaking.
She was with Rhett when Barton died. They’re covering up for each other.
As Ramos rose to leave, Rhett said, “Any word on Nash?”
“Unfortunately no. It’s like the man has vanished into thin air. But we’ll keep you in the loop.”
After Ramos had left, Rhett said, “It’s time to go to the office. I have someone to deal with today, and I want you there with me, Dillon.”
“Yes sir.”
As they walked from the room Nash looked at the little girl and her dog, running free and deliriously happy.
The exact opposite of his reality.