Bad News Travels
- Автор: Суэйн Джеймс
- Серия: Lancaster & Daniels #3
- Год: 2020
- Язык: английский
- Год: Thomas & Mercer
- ISBN: 978-1-5420-1644-5
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Bad News Travels». Краткое содержание книги:
No sooner do they arrive than suspicions are aroused. There’s the pair of Russians who seem to be watching every move the family makes. A final, cryptic phone call Martin Daniels made to his granddaughter. Strange blood evidence on his estate. More than $1 million missing from Martin’s account. And his cell phone, wiped clean, along with clues to a double life. To Beth, it’s disturbingly clear: the man she loved was a stranger.
As she and Jon delve into Martin’s past, they have no idea where the secrets will take them. Or how dangerous it will be to expose the conspiracies, the cover-ups, and the terrible truths of Martin’s life — and death.
A white Ford station wagon came to the intersection, slowed down, and began to turn. A Saab being driven at high speed in the opposite direction hit the Ford, destroying both vehicles. It was the loudest, most gut-wrenching noise she’d ever heard.
Her father went to help. But it was too late. The driver of the Ford was dead, as was the driver of the Saab. Daniels and her sister broke down and cried.
The police and an ambulance soon arrived, and the scene was cordoned off. Because they were witnesses, a deputy took each of them aside, and got a statement.
Back home, they sat in the living room in a state of shock. Their mother served them hot chocolate, and it soothed their nerves. They talked about the accident, and to Daniels’s surprise, their recollections of what had occurred were different.
Her father believed the Ford’s driver was at fault, and had turned into the path of the Saab without putting his blinker on.
Their mother said the Saab’s driver was to blame. She believed the Ford had turned its blinker on, yet the Saab hadn’t slowed, and caused the wreck.
Melanie believed both drivers were at fault, and that the Ford’s driver hadn’t used his blinker, and that the Saab was speeding.
Daniels had a completely different view. She felt that the driver of the Saab was impaired, and had crossed the middle line, and hit the Ford.
Four eyewitnesses to the same event, four different versions.
How was that possible?
To further complicate things, the local newspaper published a story claiming that a crime scene investigator had determined that the Ford’s driver was at fault, and that the Saab’s driver wasn’t to blame. Confused, she worked up the nerve to call the paper, and spoke to the reporter who wrote the story.
The reporter was very nice to her. He explained how people’s imaginations often distorted the things that they saw. This was especially true with stressful situations, when a person’s eyes could play tricks on them. The only way to get to the truth was to let an impartial person look at the facts, and then determine what actually happened.
“I want you to look at the video of my father in the board meeting,” she said.
They were in the local Starbucks’s parking lot, drinking coffee and sharing an oversize muffin from the bakery. It had become a ritual when they were working a case, and were faced with a difficult problem. Jon stared ahead, saying nothing.
“Is that a problem?” she asked.
“Can I do it later?”
“You mean when I’m not around.”
“Yes. I don’t want to say something out of line, and hurt your feelings.”
She popped the last piece of muffin into her mouth. Jon always left her the last piece, and he always paid. He had impeccable manners that way, and his request to view the video alone did not surprise her. “Nothing you can say at this point is going to offend me. My father had another side to him; so do a lot of men. I’ve accepted that. The reason I want you to watch the video is that I feel like I’m missing something important.”
“How so?”
“I watched the video several times while I was waiting for you. It doesn’t feel like I’m looking at my father. The behavior is wrong. Yet I can’t put my finger on why. I need another set of eyes to look at it.”
Jon drank his coffee in silence. She was not going to give him a chance to say no. Taking her briefcase off the back seat, she removed her laptop. Soon the video was playing, and she shifted the screen so it was pointing at him.
“My father arrived first to the board meeting. Watch what he does.”
The video was in color, and showed a sunny room with a boardroom table and six leather chairs. On the table were glasses and two pitchers of water. A door opened, and Martin Daniels appeared. He looked every bit the country doctor, wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches and a striped necktie. He glanced impatiently at his watch.
“Dad couldn’t stand when people were late,” she said.
“So that’s where you get it from,” he said.
Martin cordially greeted each of his colleagues as they arrived. When all were present, he took a seat facing the camera, and poured himself a glass of water.
The meeting started.
The video had audio, and the chairperson read the minutes from the previous meeting, then read the topics that they would be discussing. It was about as exciting as watching paint dry, and Jon smothered a yawn.
“Watch my father,” Daniels said.
“What am I looking for?” he replied.
“Just watch. Something weird is going on. See if you can spot it.”
Jon reached across the seats and took the computer from her lap. “Do you mind?”
“Go ahead,” she said.
He balanced the computer on his legs, and stared at the screen. His eyes were unblinking, his face cast in stone. A long minute passed.
“Your father looks agitated,” he said. “He keeps shifting in his seat and making faces. If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone was sticking him with a pin.”
“What do you think is bothering him?” she asked.
“Hard to say. But he’s clearly upset. He was in a good mood when he came in. Something happened after the meeting started that upset him.”
“Did someone at the table make a sarcastic remark?”
“If they did, the audio didn’t pick it up.”
The meeting droned on. The chairperson was talking about the hospital budget for the coming year. Suddenly, her father began to tug at his collar like it was choking him. It reminded her of the comic who used to say he didn’t get any respect. Only her father wasn’t doing it for laughs.
“Come on, Martin,” Jon said under his breath. “Tell us what’s wrong.”
Her father lifted the glass of water to his face. His eyes shifted around the table. Checking to be sure that the others weren’t watching him. His other hand removed his cell phone from his jacket pocket.
“Your father just caved to his desires,” Jon said.
“Yes, he did,” she said quietly.
“Is this when he gets busted by the intern?”
“Just watch.”
Her father held the cell phone below the table’s edge. His eyes shifted downward as he stared at the screen. His eyes narrowed, and he looked stunned. “What a transformation,” Jon said. “Did you ever see him act like that?”
“Never.”
The door to the meeting room opened. It was directly behind her father, and he didn’t hear it. A twentysomething woman entered the boardroom.
“That must be Demetria the intern,” Jon said.
“In the flesh. This is when it gets ugly.”
Demetria shut the door. In her hand was a pot of coffee. She came up behind Daniels’s father, and leaned over, ready to whisper in his ear. Her eyes found the screen. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she said, “Oh. My. God.”
The meeting came to an abrupt halt. Her father snapped his head up, seeing Demetria. He came out of his chair. The intern backed up, afraid.
“It’s not what you think,” her father said.
“You pervert!” the intern said.
Demetria grabbed the door handle. In a flash, she was gone. The other people in the room stayed in their seats, too stunned to speak.
Her father remained standing, looking ashamed. His shoulders sagged, and his body went limp. The cell phone fell from his hand to the table. For a moment the screen was visible to the camera, the images of a naked couple rolling around on a bed impossible to miss.