Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Carter hadn’t mentioned it to Audrey when he texted her earlier, but Knox was already digging into Edward and had asked him to stop by at some point.
He found himself once more in the lobby of Vantage Security after work.
The same pretty brunette behind the desk greeted him by name, then called Mason to let him know he was there.
A few moments later, the steel door swung open, and Kane appeared. “Cross.” He gave Carter a quick nod. “Come on in.”
Carter pushed off the counter and followed him through the doorway into the bullpen area he’d been in the last time he was there. Jaxon and Luke tipped their chins at him in greeting, and he offered one to the other men in the room.
Knox stopped beside Mason’s desk and pulled up another chair. “I’d like to go over this with both of you.”
“Sure.”
Mason lifted an eyebrow as Carter slid into the seat, almost as if he were challenging him to request someone else.
Carter honestly didn’t care who was working it as long as they got some answers.
Mason was just as good as anyone; the guy was one of the smartest men Carter knew—he was just a complete idiot.
Ignoring Mason, Carter turned his attention to Knox. “What did we find out?”
Knox lounged back in his chair and regarded him. “Taylor did a little digging on Edward Raines. He and Kellerman go way back, apparently. Went to school together, were even roommates in college. Unfortunately, nothing suspicious. Finances, from what we can tell, appear to be in order.”
“That doesn’t eliminate the possibility of blackmail,” Carter pointed out. “Greed is a pretty good motivator.”
“It is,” Mason agreed. “So is hate.”
Carter tipped his head in question. “The argument?”
Knox nodded almost imperceptibly. “What did Audrey say she overheard again?”
Carter thought back on the conversation. “Something about blaming Kellerman for the death of a patient.”
“We may have the answer to that,” Mason said, taking over the conversation. “Raines’s primary residence is over on Waterton.”
Carter had been there a couple of times, several years ago when he’d first joined the firm. Edward liked to entertain and show off his wealth. “Yeah, I know it.”
“According to the records, he also has a small home on the opposite side of town.”
Carter contemplated all the possibilities. The most likely was that it was a rental, or he could have a side piece he kept there. Wouldn’t be the first time it’d happened, and he couldn’t completely discount the theory. He shrugged. “Okay. That doesn’t tell us much.”
“Maybe not,” Mason agreed, “but I took it upon myself to scope the place out yesterday.”
Carter dropped his head back. “Jesus, Mason. Better hope you don’t get caught. He’ll sue you for breach of privacy and anything else he can throw at you.”
Mason made a face like it didn’t matter one way or the other, and Carter rolled his eyes as he continued. “Do what you gotta do. Anyway, apparently Raines’s wife was living there up until two days ago.”
Carter’s brows drew together. So, no mistress then. “I’d heard rumors that they had a huge blowup sometime last year and that she wanted to leave him. I guess she did.”
“Not exactly.” Mason picked up a pencil and tapped the eraser on the desk. “There was a company there moving medical equipment out of the place. Hospital bed, machines, all kinds of stuff.”
“Okay…” Carter drew out the word, unsure exactly where Mason was going with this. “So you think his wife is sick?”
Piercing golden eyes met his. “Not sick—dead.”
Carter reeled back in surprise. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Mason never mentioned anything about Lucy being hospitalized or terminally ill. Jesus. Had he hurt her? The thought made Carter sick. But if he was capable of hurting Lucy, he was more than capable of hurting Audrey, too, if he thought she was in the way.
“Do we have any idea what actually caused her death?”
Mason gave a brief shake of his head. “Not yet. We’ll probably have to wait another couple of days until the death certificate is officially in the system.”
Carter mulled that over, something not making sense. “Why would he blame Kellerman? He’s been at the VA, right? She certainly wouldn’t have any reason to be there.”
“We’re checking into both of them, but it may take a while to get hospital records and such,” Knox said. “We did run a cursory check on Kellerman, and it looks like he was a vascular surgeon prior to transferring to the VA roughly five years ago.”
Carter remembered seeing Lucy roughly a year ago, right around the Fourth of July, and she’d seemed to be perfectly healthy. What had happened in such a short amount of time?
He sighed and glanced at his watch. “I’ve got a client dinner in half an hour, so I gotta bolt. Keep me posted?”
“Give us a few hours.”
“Thanks.”
Carter left Vantage with more questions than answers, still stunned about the news of Lucy’s death. Were these incidents separate, or was her death some sort of catalyst? Either way, they needed to figure it out sooner rather than later—before Audrey got caught in the crosshairs again.