Chapter Three
Declan cursed when he saw the name on the driver’s license. What the hell? That was his first reaction.
Followed by a massive amount of concern for Cully.
Every drop of color had drained from her face, and she was frantically shaking her head. “It can’t be my father,” Cully muttered, though her voice hardly had any sound. “He ran off with another woman.”
As the words left her mouth, her gaze shifted to the other skeleton at this end of the wall. The female. And that brought on another What the hell? reaction from Declan.
Declan took hold of Cully’s arm, helping her stand, and he tried to think of something, anything, that might make sense. “Those remains might not be your father’s.” He stepped back from her so he could make eye contact. “Someone could have stolen his wallet, and it then could have ended up in this wall.”
As possibilities went, it wasn’t an especially good one. After all, he could see credit cards and even some cash so why steal a wallet and not take anything from it?
But Cully still seemed to latch onto that theory.
Even though hearing that her father was dead probably wouldn’t bring her to her knees. No. She had too much resentment and hurt for that. But hearing that he’d been dead all this time. Murdered. And not off with his girlfriend. Well, that would make Cully plenty unsteady.
“I have some bottles of water in my cruiser,” Owen said, looking at Declan. “Why don’t you take Cully outside and get her one?”
Again, she started shaking her head, and Declan could practically feel Cully trying to rein in all of her emotions. “No, I have a job to do here.”
Owen stepped toward her. “You know the drill. I can’t let you examine the remains. If that’s really your father, then another forensic specialist will need to be brought in.”
Declan watched as Cully processed that. He was doing some processing, too, and he had to wonder. Did Owen think Cully had killed her father and put him inside this wall?
No.
Owen knew Cully and trusted her. But as the sheriff, he had to go by the book on this since it was a quadruple cold case murder investigation. If it did turn out that Cully was a person of interest, then the entire crime scene could be compromised simply by her being here.
“Come with me,” Declan said, touching her arm to urge her to move.
She did, finally, after a couple of failed attempts to verbally respond to Owen. Declan led her out of the house but not to the cruiser. Instead, he took her to his SUV, got her inside, and turned on the engine so he could crank up the A/C to the max.
“I didn’t have anything to do with those bodies being put in the wall,” she muttered.
He gave her a flat look and handed her a Coke that he took from a cooler that he kept on the backseat. “Understood. Never thought you did.”
She nodded, drank some of the Coke. “You’re probably right about someone having stolen his wallet. He’s probably still living it up somewhere with his girlfriend.”
“Any idea where he might be doing that living it up?” he asked, grabbing a Coke for himself.
Cully didn’t hesitate. “None. Mom might know…” Her words trailed off. And he knew why. That wouldn’t be an easy conversation, especially with Alice’s Alzheimer’s.
“Who else might know where he is?” Declan pressed.
This time she shrugged. “Maybe someone connected to the woman he ran off with. Savannah Ellison. I don’t know much about her.” She stopped, lowered her head and muttered some profanity. “I learned a lot about her though, because after Dad left with her, I poured through every bit of her social media.”
“Yeah, I did the same,” he admitted.
Her head whipped up, spearing his gaze.
“You were hurting,” Declan went on. “Beyond upset. Your mom, too, and I just wanted to see if I could make sense of why your father had left with another woman.”
“And did you make sense of it?” Cully asked.
Now, it was his turn to shrug. “I figured your dad was having some kind of mid-life crisis. He was forty-two, and Savannah was twenty-five. She was beautiful, and he had money so I thought she might have wanted him for a sugar daddy.”
Cully sighed. “I reached the same conclusion. Dad had made a lot of money with his real estate business, and Savannah probably wanted someone to take care of her in high style.”
Declan considered all of that and everything else he knew about Cully’s father. “Is it possible your dad got involved in a shady business deal? Real estate is a prime market for money laundering and such.”
She paused, obviously considering that. “If he was caught up in something like that, he never mentioned it to me. And I never heard any gossip about it. The only gossip I ever heard about him was after he served Mom divorce papers and left town with Savannah. If he left town,” Cully tacked onto that, her gaze drifting back to the house.
Declan could see this was eating away at her. Unfortunately, it could get worse before it got better.
“Tell me about the day your dad left,” he said, not only to get her mind away from those skeletal remains but also because any details might help to get the big picture of what’d happened. “Did you actually see him?”
“Yes.” And that was all she said for several long moments. “He came by to give Mom the divorce papers, pack a suitcase, and tell us he was leaving town with Savannah.”
“Was she with your dad?” Declan wanted to know.
Cully shook her head. “She could have been waiting for him in the car, but she didn’t come in.” Another pause. “After he told us he was leaving and gave Mom those papers, Mom ran out of the room, crying, but I stayed to confront him. I couldn’t believe what he was doing.” She pulled in a deep breath. “I called him names. Called Savannah some, too…and he slapped me.”
Shit. Declan definitely hadn’t known that. “What’d he do then?” he had to ask through clenched teeth.
Cully swallowed hard. Obviously, this wasn’t a fun jaunt through the past. “Mom heard the slap, and she came running into the kitchen where we were. She was livid, and she shoved him.” Again, she stopped, and a thin breath streamed out of her mouth. “She grabbed a butcher knife and told him if he ever hit me again, she’d kill him. Mom did not kill him,” she was quick to add.
No way did Declan want to believe she had, but if Derrick had indeed been murdered, then someone had done it.
“I need to call my mother,” Cully murmured, and she took out her phone. “I, uh, won’t mention the remains. Or murder. I’ll just try to find out if she knows where he is.”
Declan wanted to volunteer to do that for her, but Alice hadn’t seen him in years. And she might hold some ill will for him because of Cully’s and his divorce. So, he just sat there and watched as Cully pressed her mom’s number and put the call on speaker.
“Hello,” the woman answered after several rings. He was pretty sure it was Alice. “Cully, is that you?”
“It is, Mom. How are you?” Cully surprisingly kept her voice level and calm.
“I had a bad dream,” she said after muttering something else that Declan didn’t catch. “But Tansy woke me up and made me some tea.”
“Tansy is Mom’s caregiver,” Cully mouthed to him.
“Are you at work?” Alice asked. “Are you coming back soon?”
“Yes, at work, and I’m not sure about when I’ll see you. But Tansy will stay with you.” Cully cleared her throat. “Mom, I told you about the new job I’m taking, and they need to run a background check on me and my family. Do you happen to know where Dad is so I can give them his address?”
It was a good cover, but Alice didn’t jump to respond. In fact, she stayed silent for so long that Declan thought maybe she’d ended the call.
“No,” Alice finally said. “And I have to go. It’s time for my meds. Love you, baby.”
“Love you, too, Mom,” Cully muttered, but she was talking to the air because this time, Alice had indeed hung up. “Don’t read anything into that,” she added to Declan. “She could be just having a bad day.”
Yeah, but if she knew Derrick was dead, she probably wouldn’t be eager to talk about it.
“I’ll see if I can find your father,” Declan offered, tapping into Sentry again.
But the search had barely loaded when there was the sound of an approaching vehicle. Declan expected it to be another deputy or CSIs, but it was someone driving a sleek red Porche. The driver stopped right behind Declan’s SUV and got out.
Declan groaned. Because he recognized the man, and this was someone he didn’t want to see. Roscoe Logan. The owner of several businesses in town. He was also the father of Declan’s high school girlfriend.
And Roscoe was also an asshole.
What the hell did he want?
Even though Roscoe was almost 60 now, the man didn’t look it, thanks to a personal trainer and some cosmetic surgery. He barely looked 40, and his tight khakis and shirt showed off that heavily muscled body.
When Roscoe started toward the house, Declan threw open the door of his SUV and stepped out, practically causing the man to skid to a stop.
“Why are you here?” Roscoe asked, taking the question right out of Declan’s mouth. Then, the man’s attention landed on the deputy’s badge clipped to the waist of his jeans. “Oh, that,” he said as if it were a nasty fungus to avoid. “I need to talk to the sheriff or whoever the hell else is in charge.”
“The sheriff’s busy, and you can’t go in there,” Declan said, stepping in front of Roscoe when he started for the house again.
“To hell, I can’t. That bastard Noah Kincaid owes me a whole bunch of money, and if there’s cash by his skeleton, it belongs to me.”
Declan forced himself not to react to that. “Skeleton?” he repeated.
Roscoe rolled his eyes. “I know what y’all found inside. Bones and shit. One of the guys on the work crew called and told me.”
Declan groaned. He hadn’t expected something like this to stay a secret in a small town, but he’d hoped it would take a little longer for word to get around.
“Well, did you find money?” Roscoe went on. “That dickwad Noah borrowed ten grand in cash from me, and if you found it, I want it back.”
“Why would you lend money to a dickwad?” Declan asked.
“I lend money to all kinds of people, but when I do, I expect to get paid back with interest,” Roscoe spat out.
The man would have to be questioned about that, but now wasn’t the time. That could wait until they knew what they were dealing with.
Cully stepped from the SUV, causing Roscoe to shift his attention to her, and he gave her a much warmer welcome than he had Declan. Then again, Cully had been his daughter’s best friend while Declan had been the boyfriend that Roscoe had never thought was good enough for his daughter.
“Cully,” Roscoe greeted. “Long time, no see. How the devil are you?”
She made a noncommittal sound and went closer. “Maybe you can help me. I’m having a background check done for a new job, and I need to find contact info for my father. I know you two knew each other so I’m hoping you stayed in touch with him.”
Roscoe’s shoulders went back, and while he kept most of his friendly expression, some of it went south. “No, sorry. I haven’t spoken to him since he left your mom and you.”
That felt like a lie. But then, Declan had to concede that he might feel that way simply because he didn’t like this guy.
“Do you know of anyone who might have stayed in touch with him?” Cully pressed.
“No,” Roscoe repeated, and he checked the time on his phone. “Gotta go,” he added, shifting his attention back to Declan. “Just let everybody know that I’m owed some money. I’ve got a promissory note that Noah signed so anything of value you find in that house, it belongs to me.”
With that, Roscoe got back in his shiny Porche and sped away. The car was barely out of sight when Owen came out of the house. He was carrying something in an evidence bag.
Hell.
One look at Owen’s face, and Declan knew something was wrong. What now?
“We found something else,” Owen said, volleying glances at both of them.
He lifted the clear evidence bag, and Declan saw the ornate gold heart necklace inside. It was covered with muck and tarnish, but it looked…familiar.
Very familiar.
Apparently, Cully thought so, too.
“That’s Jessica’s,” Cully blurted. “She never took it off. And her name’s engraved on the back of it.”
Owen nodded and turned the bag around so they could see Jessica’s name in script across the back of the heart.
“We found it in the wall,” Owen explained. “It was still around the neck of one of the remains.”
Hell. One of those skeletons was Jessica.