Chapter Thirteen #2
“What do you mean?” asked Jake in surprise.
“Max had a bad demolition job where the building came down early. Two people were injured. He was at the building doing a final walk through. It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t through the fault of his workers. Max is lucky to be alive,” Kepler told them.
“That was almost a year ago,” mused Sterling.
“That’s when the attempts start as far as I can figure.
” Kepler pulled out a list he had made. “Everett was boxing against a gentleman eight months ago at a local gym. You received a nasty concussion and he broke your nose. He was supposed to uppercut your nose, driving the bone back into your brain but he chickened out at the last minute. He was paid to attempt to kill you. Someone had paid off all of your attackers gambling debts. He is willing to testify for immunity.”
“What?” a stunned Everett said as he looked at Kepler. “Seriously?”
“Michael was jogging and held up by a man with a knife five months ago,” stated Kepler without emotion as he looked at his list.
“It was a botched robbery. Some other bystander scared the guy away,” explained Parker.
“No demands for money were made,” noted Kepler, his icy blue eyes meeting Parker’s. “You were injured when a car jumped the curb and you had to get out of the way about three months ago. It was right in front of the hospital. You had a small concussion when you hit your head on the concrete wall.”
“Things happen. These are all coincidences,” frowned Parker.
“These are a lot of coincidences that add up in a short period of time. I can name six other incidents where someone in your family was injured,” declared Kepler as he tossed the list onto the file.
“To me, this is someone trying to kill you all while making it look like just coincidences. The killer is getting desperate because they tried again with all of you at once at the Ramesly Hotel. They may further escalate their efforts since they didn’t manage their goal. ”
“This is crazy,” muttered Jake as he leaned back in his chair. “Someone really is out to get us. What about that carbon monoxide scare at Noah and Elle’s building?”
“You’re starting to understand the scope of the problem. This person is very intent on killing people in your family,” dryly said Kepler.
“We have a lead on the guy. It’s small,” quickly stated Ben as all eyes swung to him.
“The hacker who got into my programs at Ramesly Hotels at Christmas got compensated in a land deal. He literally was given a farm. I looked at the paperwork and I can’t trace the money as it is all tied up in a company out of the Cayman Islands.
However, the hacker had a good point. Someone local may know who owned the farm before it was sold.
I am going to follow up with the neighbors and see what I can find out. ”
“I’m happy to help,” offered Bree. “Everett and I can do some field work and go asking people door to door.”
“Actually, Sterling might be the best to assist us. The farm is just outside her hometown of Pendle,” responded Ben.
“What’s the address?” wondered Sterling in surprise.
Ben took out his phone, putting the address in GPS and showing it to her. He frowned in frustration. “There aren't any pictures.”
“That’s because GPS lies when it comes to the outskirts of Pendle,” snorted Sterling. “Give me a moment.”
She got up from the table, taking out her phone as she left the room.
“She’s probably going to talk to Dixby Cooley.
He will know the place or find out for us,” Jake confidently told them.
“It’s a small town. Everyone knows everything about each other.
Sterling and I are thinking of getting a vacation home there.
Although, we seem to just visit her parents at the moment. ”
“So this person has made several attempts on our lives, seems to have probably killed at least three of us, and we don’t have any solid lead on him other than his company owned a farm near Pendle?” wondered Henry with a touch of disbelief.
“We weren’t connecting all of the incidents before,” admitted Kepler. “The FBI still isn’t connecting them as this is my research and theory. Right now, as far as the FBI is concerned the case is concluded because Gerrit confessed.
“We have a general description, believe it is the work of one individual, and know he will likely continue to kill until his objective against the Ramesly family is fulfilled. What we don’t know is the motive,” grimly said Kepler.
“He thinks he’s going to inherit Ramesly Pharma and is greedy enough to want the rest of the Ramesly wealth and businesses as well,” mentioned Ben. “That’s our motive, supplied by the conversations our hacker friend had with him. By the way, the hacker says he’s psychotic.”
“More likely a sociopath that kills,” shrugged Kepler as he surveyed the room. “He believes he is going to inherit Ramesly Pharmaceuticals? Then he must be David Ramesly’s heir or in a position close enough to kill the real heir and take it all for himself.”
“Doesn’t Michael inherit? He’s David’s heir,” frowned Henry.
“No. The terms of David’s will are that his firstborn legitimate child and descendant is the heir.
David was in multiple marriages, most of them illegitimate by law because he was previously married.
Rachel, under the law, was his wife only because a previous marriage was annulled.
David was married to Margot Colborne in Kansas when she was fifteen before he married Rachel.
She had run away with David and under Kansas law, the marriage was legal.
She had her first child before the marriage was dissolved by her parents,” revealed Bree.
“That would make Jana Colborne the heir,” said Ben in surprise.
“No. She’s not David’s daughter. There was a paternity test which was negative,” replied Bree.
“So who would inherit everything?” questioned Henry. “If not Jana, then Drew? Or Michael?”