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.
“I’ll do that,” she said.
Chapter 29
Lancaster had stayed in plenty of dive hotels, and the Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Palm Coast ranked right up there with the best of them. Fifty bucks a night got him a noisy room with paper-thin walls and ugly striped carpet. The TV didn’t work, and the internet service was spotty. The only thing to recommend the joint was that it was one county away from Saint Augustine, ensuring that he would not receive any unwanted visits from Detective Sykes or his minions.
The desk in the room faced the parking lot, which was a stone’s throw from Interstate 95. In the distance, cars zipped past in a blur on the elevated highway. He had watched the video of Martin Daniels at the board of directors meeting four times, and he still didn’t have a clue why Martin had behaved so strangely, or continued to maintain his innocence after being caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
It’s not what you think.
He decided to deconstruct the sentence, just to see where it got him. What did Martin think the intern thought the video was? Two naked adults engaged in wild sex was porn. Or was it? Was the video another act, that looked like porn?
It’s not what you think.
Then what was it?
He watched the video again, and focused his attention on the moment that Martin got caught by the intern. The screen of his cell phone was briefly visible, revealing two adults rolling around on a bed. The resolution was poor, and he could barely make out their bodies.
It’s not what you think.
He scrolled through the contacts on his cell phone. Hector Morales had joined the Broward Sheriff’s Department the same week as him. Two weeks in, Hector had gotten shot in the gut while handling a domestic dispute, and lost the partial use of his left leg. Hector had gotten a desk job, and over time, had become the department’s top forensic expert. His friend picked up immediately.
“Is this Jon Lancaster, star of stage, screen, and television?”
“You got him. How you been?”
“Living the dream. I heard that Tinsel Town is making a movie about your life. Are they going to let you play yourself?”
“Fat chance. They picked some soap opera star from Australia. Guy’s six-foot-two with a washboard stomach and a perfect tan. We met last month over lunch. He took one look at my stomach, and rolled his eyes.”
“But your stomach is your most defining feature.”
“I agree. Some men have a six-pack, I prefer a keg. But this is Hollywood, where everyone is supposed to look perfect. You know how it is.”
“Sounds like a blast. So what can I do for you?”
“I have a video that I need enhanced. Think you can help me out?”
“Sure. There’s a new video quality enhancer called FonePaw. I’ll send you the link, and you can download it to your desktop. It’s super easy to learn.”
He coughed into the phone. He needed to focus his energies into reviewing the case, not learning a new software application. Hector caught his drift.
“Or, you can send me the video, and I’ll enhance it myself,” Hector said.
“That would be great. How long will this take?”
“I’ll do it right now. Are they letting you have final say on the script?”
“You mean the producers? Not final say, but they did send me a draft.”
“Was it any good?”
The script was typical Hollywood horseshit, the characters dumbed down to the point of not being lifelike, the dialogue stilted, the action scenes over the top. When he’d voiced his objections during a conference call, the producers had explained that these changes were necessary in order to appeal to foreign markets, the inference being that audiences in foreign countries were half-wits who needed to be talked to like children. He didn’t believe that for a second. It was the producers who were half-wits, and needed to keep the story cartoonlike in order to understand it themselves.
But he wasn’t going to tell Hector that, and burst his bubble. Hector, like many other people he knew, was entranced by the movies, and believed they were magic.
“I loved it,” he said.
“Cool,” Hector said. “Email me the video once we hang up. Do you want the entire thing enhanced, or just a portion?”
“Just a portion. There’s a man in it, holding a cell phone. Toward the end of the video, he stands up, and holds his hand so the screen is visible to the camera for a few seconds. There are two people in a video, having sex. That’s what I want enhanced.”
“A sex video, huh? Sounds like the plot for another movie.”
“I’m done with Hollywood, Hector. Once is enough.”
“You’re going to be famous, man. Just you wait.”
“I sure hope not. Has your email address changed?”
“Nope, still the same.”
“Then we’re good. Later, my friend.”
He purchased a can of Pibb Xtra from a vending machine in the hallway outside his room. Mr. Pibb had been his favorite drink as a kid, and he hadn’t had one since joining the navy. It had a spicy cherry taste, and brought back a lot of memories.
He sat at his laptop and watched the video of Martin again. Martin looked like a stuffy doctor until he pulled out his cell phone and started watching porn. The expression on Martin’s face changed, and his eyes took on a nervous look. Only when the intern caught him in the act did his facial expression go back to normal.
Lancaster shifted his gaze out the window. The whole scenario didn’t make sense. A man as intelligent as Martin wouldn’t commit an act so blatantly stupid that carried such enormous risk to his personal and professional life. Yet the act had been captured on video.
It’s not what you think.
“You could have fooled me,” he said aloud.
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Normally, he ignored his cell phone’s beeps and rings, not wanting to be a slave to any device. But a vibration meant that he’d gotten a text, and since only his friends had his number, those texts were usually important.
It was from Beth. She was on her way.
He considered calling her. He was curious to hear how her meeting at the FBI’s Jacksonville office had gone. But his mind was locked on Martin, and he didn’t need the distraction.
He put the phone away, then watched the video of Martin again.
He noticed something that he hadn’t seen before. The cell phones of the other doctors attending the board meeting lay on the table next to their notepads. Not Martin’s. His cell phone resided in his jacket pocket. Like he didn’t want the distraction.
Lancaster leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. Martin had deliberately put his cell phone into his jacket pocket so it wouldn’t disturb him. So why had he pulled it out in the middle of the meeting, and started watching a porno? It didn’t make sense.
His cell phone again vibrated in his pocket. He had a look, assuming it was Beth. And was wrong. An elderly neighbor in the condo building where he lived had texted him. Lancaster was the building’s de facto cop, and was often called upon to settle disputes or deal with undesirables who managed to get past security and invade the pool area.
His neighbor had sent him a reminder that there was an HOA meeting tomorrow night in the building’s recreation center. Would he be attending?
He texted her back, and said he was out of town.
He started to put his phone away. On his laptop’s screen, Martin had pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and was staring at it. The look on his face was filled with uncertainty.
That’s when it hit him. Martin hadn’t decided to start looking at pornography in the middle of the board meeting. That was out of character, and not plausible. In fact, Martin had received a text, assumed it was important, and taken a look.