Chapter 22 #2
She ended her call and looked at Burke. “Kelsey finished searching Victor’s property. Found nothing. She and her team also recovered all of the remains and are loading them on the helicopter. She’ll get back to us as soon as she has a cause of death or any other information.”
Burke hadn’t wanted Kelsey to find another body, but he had to admit to disappointment. Locating Estelle might’ve led them to finding the person who’d stolen the crown. “So we’re left with the belt buckle as our only lead on the guy.”
“Sam’s still working the grave. She might come up with something viable.”
“Let’s hope she does.” Burke looked at Victor resting comfortably.
“When he wakes up, it’s definitely not a good time to show him the belt buckle.
The stress might cause another stroke. Not to mention his grief if he knows the person who died.
Even if he was estranged from his brother, if Vincent’s the person who was killed, it will come as quite a shock. ”
“I agree. We should be cautious and check with the doctor again before talking to him.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Burke said. “If she says it’s not a good idea, we wait for Victor’s family to arrive and take the buckle to the antique dealer.”
“But I won’t leave until I’m certain Victor’s out of the woods.”
“Agreed.” Burke’s phone rang, sounding louder than normal in the quiet hospital room. “It’s Sam.”
“If she’s calling you,” Abby said. “She likely has results.”
Hoping for good news, he answered. “Putting you on speaker, Sam. Abby is here with me too.”
“Great,” she said, her voice enthusiastic. “We’ve been working on fingerprints from the mansion. The bad news is, I don’t have any matches in AFIS so far, so some of the prints remain a mystery. On the bright side, one unmatched print was located at several locations.”
“Where?” Abby asked.
“The greenhouse, Estelle’s locket, trunk, and her journals.”
Burke’s hope for a solid lead deflated. “Those are all things Estelle would’ve touched, so probably her print.”
“Problem is,” Sam said. “We don’t have her prints on file, and we obviously can’t take them, so there’s no way to prove it’s hers.
If Victor could give us something he knew only she’d touched, we could make a match.
We did lift another partial from the locket, but it didn’t link to anyone.
We’re still comparing it with other prints. ”
“Did you find the same print on the crown hiding place?” Abby asked.
“No, but we recovered three sets there. One is Victor’s. The other two unknown.”
“And the safe?” Abby asked.
“Just Victor’s prints,” Sam said.
“Then he was likely the only one who could’ve put the journals in there.”
“Likely,” Sam said. “Unless someone else wore gloves. And before you ask, Victor’s prints wouldn’t be smudged and would remain intact even if someone wore gloves afterward.”
Burke clenched his fingers. “So we really don’t have a lot to go on here.”
“We’re not down for the count,” Sam said. “My assistant is still working on the secret compartment in the office, the exit doors, and the cells in the basement. I hope she’ll have results by the end of the day.”
“Any other results for us?” Burke asked.
“I finished analyzing the oil in the secret passageway. It’s definitely gun oil, but it’s old. My estimate says it was deposited in the eighties. And I matched it to the oil in the antique guns in Victor’s collection. It looks like there might be one gun missing.”
“So someone could’ve stolen one of his guns, and the oil timeline of the eighties could put it at the time our victim was killed and Estelle disappeared.
” Abby’s excited tone had returned. “Kelsey doesn’t know how the man was killed yet, but maybe he was shot and the person who killed him used the secret passageway to hide the gun. ”
“It’s possible, I suppose, but I don’t think the gun would drip oil in that manner. It most likely came from a leaky can.” Sam’s enthusiasm had mellowed. “But if you think this is an important lead, I can get with the weapons expert at the Veritas Center and have him weigh in.”
“Hold off until we have the cause of death for our victim,” Burke said.
Abby looked at him. “I don’t know. This guy might not have been shot, but Estelle might have been. Or if someone took her, her abductor could’ve used a gun.”
“But until we have a weapon, I don’t think there’s really anything we can do right now.”
“True,” Abby said. “Everything is basically on hold until Victor regains consciousness.”
“I’ll be praying for him.” Sam ended the call.
Burke turned to Abby. “This probably seems insensitive to bring up, but now that Victor will be okay, have you thought any more about his cryptic statement?”
“I still think it has something to do with the value of the crown. Likely something’s more valuable than it is.”
“He could be referring to the forged crown.”
“He didn’t even know about it until we showed him the pictures. Would that really come up in his mind after having a stroke?”
“He could simply be very good at lying, and he’d known all along.”
“No.” She shook her head hard. “No. You can’t fake his shocked response. He didn’t know.”
“I suppose he could’ve discovered something on the property regarding the crown after we showed him the pictures, but he was never alone after that to go looking around.”
She sat silently, peering at him for a moment. “What if he meant something totally different than the monetary value?”
“Like what?”
“Like money isn’t what’s important in life. Maybe the stroke caused him to think of his family and living to the fullest is what matters. Maybe he has regrets about the way he lived his life, and he wanted someone to know.”
“Sounds plausible.” Burke mentally chewed on her statement. “If only he’d wake up, since the doctor cleared us to ask him about it.”
“No way I’ll let you talk to him again!” The deep male voice boomed from the doorway.
The monster of a man standing by the door had dark hair, dark eyes, and dark complexion, but resembled Victor in the shape of his jaw and his nose.
He pushed back a long, black raincoat and clamped large hands on his waist. “You’re not going to cause my father to have another stroke.”
“I assume you’re Vidal.” Abby rose to greet him, her hand outstretched. “I’m Abby Day. We spoke on the phone.”
He ignored her hand. “I figured as much, but how can you be talking about solving whatever he hired you to do when he just barely survived a stroke?”
“I’m Detective Burke Ulrich.” He extended his hand, also ignored by Vidal. “We weren’t going to talk to him until we got his doctor’s approval. We located a hidden grave on his property and were required to tell him. That’s when he had the stroke.”
“So you did this? You put him in this position?” The pitch of Vidal’s voice rose with each word.
Abby let out an almost silent breath. “A stroke isn’t something anyone can predict. So, yes, we gave him the shocking news, but we had no idea something like this would occur. And it certainly isn’t something we would want to happen.”
“I’m not taking any chances, and even if the doctor says you can talk to him, I won’t allow it.” He crossed thick arms. “I don’t care if you’re a detective.”
They could get a court order allowing Burke to talk to Victor with the doctor’s permission, but that would upset Vidal more. Burke could still show the belt buckle to the antique dealer, and he would pursue that route before speaking to Victor. And maybe Sam would discover promising information.
But if it came down to zero leads and an unidentified body, he would have to follow the necessary steps to resolve the investigation. Even if that meant taking legal action to gain access to Victor.
“Just so you know, someone has made an attempt on your father’s life.” Burke shared the boating incident. “We’ve kept him safe in protective custody. For his safety while in the hospital, I am assigning a deputy to watch his door twenty-four/seven.”
Vidal shook his head. “What’s going on here? Why were you even searching my father’s property when you discovered the grave? What’s he mixed up in?”
“He had a valuable artifact stolen from his home, and he called the authorities and me to investigate.” She told him about the LLL team.
“While investigating, we discovered information leading us to believe your mother might be buried on the property. So we brought in a forensic anthropologist who located the clandestine grave.”
“My mother!” Vidal breathed in and out like a huffing furnace. “Did you think my father killed her?”
Burke wouldn’t pull any punches. “With the body potentially on his property, he’s a suspect.”
Vidal’s glare deepened. “Did he know you thought she was buried there?”
Abby nodded. “He said if her body was located, he didn’t kill her.”
“Of course he didn’t.” Vidal firmed his shoulders. “He still believes she’s alive.”
“And what about you? Do you believe the same thing?”
Vidal looked past them, staring into the distance. “I don’t know. I was only fifteen when she went missing. Dad made sure to keep the details from me and especially from Viviane. She was three years younger. But of course we both heard rumors.”
Burke couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult life was for them when they were younger. “Did you look into it when you got older?”
“Sure, I located Detective Orman even though he’d resigned from the job. He wouldn’t tell me anything, and Dad still won’t talk about it.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. All the bravado had drained from him, and he seemed tired. “What can you tell me?”
“I wish I could give you information about the investigation,” Burke said, “but I can’t.”
Abby flashed him a frustrated look, then turned back to Vidal. “After our investigation is concluded, if we don’t find your mother, I hope we can provide you with the information you’re seeking. Or at least persuade your father to talk to you about her.”
Vidal’s expression softened. “Do you think you’ll find her?”
“It’s unclear at this point,” Burke answered. He wasn’t about to speculate on how his investigation would go when he didn’t have a clue. And he wouldn’t disappoint this man again. He’d already gone through the loss of his mother and years of torment wondering where she could be.
Burke had seen too many times what happened to families when missing loved ones were never found. He wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone.