Dead Broke (Lana Denae Mystery Series Book 1) (26 page)

Lana nodded sympathetically but didn’t answer his question. “How did you learn of the affair?”

“I suspected something was going on and when I asked, she admitted it. But she wouldn’t give me his name. All I know is that it was a younger–” Holloway abruptly stopped as it finally dawned on him what Lana had been hinting at. “You don’t mean...”

Lana nodded. “I do. I think the guy your wife was involved with is our very own Eric Schmidt. I didn’t put it all together until I was going over my notes this morning and read what one of the man’s neighbors had told me about Eric’s girlfriend being an older woman. That’s when it clicked.”

“I still fail to see how sleeping with my wife turned him into a criminal.”

“That’s easy,” Lana said. “When your wife broke it off with him, telling him she wanted to work things out with her husband, you, he became angry and plotted his revenge.”

“Revenge? For what? I didn’t do anything!”

“In his mind you did. You were a threat, the one preventing him from being with your wife.”

“Well, that’s some twisted logic.”

“Yeah,” Lana agreed.

“So, he decided to steal from my clients?” Holloway said with a frown. “How does that hurt me?”

“I think it’s more than that,” Lana said. “Stealing from your clients was just a means to an end. I think he planned to ruin you, your company, and your reputation—perhaps thinking that your wife would then not want to be with you. In any event, he was fixated on destroying you and wasn’t about to let a little thing like murder get in the way.”

Holloway quietly contemplated her words. After a brief moment, he took a deep breath and looked the detective in the eye. “Well, I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but I’m glad you came by. And I’m glad you were the one on this case. Anyone else would have had me tried and convicted by now.”

“Thanks,” Lana said, knowing he meant it.

“Now don’t be so modest,” Holloway said. “You didn’t give up pressing for the truth and for that I am truly grateful. Thank you,” he said again.

“You’re welcome,” Lana said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Changing the subject, she said, “There’s something else I’ve been wondering. Why did you, a financial guy, have a criminal defense attorney on retainer?”

Holloway gave her a blank look, and then smiled. “I see how that might have been confusing,” he said. “But Daniel isn’t on retainer. Our wives attended college together. We’ve all been friends for years.”

Lana nodded, glad to have that part of the puzzle cleared up. “One other thing, do you have a number where I can reach your wife?”

Nodding, Devin Holloway scribbled the number on the back of a business card and handed it to her.

Thanking him again for his help, Lana apologized for interrupting his work. “Hopefully, this is the last time,” she said, heading for the door.

At the precinct, a few minutes later, Lana made a quick call to Holloway’s wife, giving her a brief account of the case. The woman was at first reluctant to discuss the details but after a fair amount of prodding, she confirmed her secret lover had been Eric Schmidt.

Hanging up the phone, Lana sat back in her chair, gazing out the window, relaxed for the first time in nearly a month. Another case behind her.

There was just one more call to make—she’d promised to let Kurt Stabler know when they had caught his aunt’s killer.

The man was glad to hear from her and pleased at the outcome of the investigation. They talked a couple of minutes until the boarding call for his flight to Paris cut their conversation short. “Thanks,” Kurt said as he was hanging up.

“I’m just glad we solved the case—and thanks for your help,” Lana said.

Replacing the phone, Lana glanced at the mess of notebooks and papers still piled on her desk. Looked like she would be up late tonight.

“Got a minute?” came a voice from the door.

Lana looked up. “Rita,” she said, seeing the attorney. “Sure. Come in.”

“Thanks,” the lawyer said, stepping inside.

“What’s up?” asked Lana.

Rita took a deep breath. “Well, I just stopped by to apologize for the way I came across the other day. Maybe we could do lunch sometime?”

“Sure,” Lana agreed. “But an apology is not really necessary.”

“That’s kind of you to say, but I did sort of send you on a wild goose chase with Holloway.”

Lana laughed. “Actually, it wasn’t a wild goose chase at all.”

“What do you mean? I heard you arrested Holloway and then had to let him go when you learned Mr. Schmidt was the killer.”

“Oh, that’s all true,” Lana said. “But if it hadn’t been for you pointing me in the direction of Holloway, I would have never gone to question him that day and would have never learned about his wife—and her affair with Eric Schmidt.”

“Are you serious?” Rita exclaimed. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“Your usually reliable sources are slipping. Would you like a play by play?”

“Of course,” Rita said, just as her cell phone rang. “Hold that thought. I’ve got to take this call.”

“There’s a private room, next door down the hall,” Lana offered.

“Thanks,” Rita said, slipping out the door.

Reluctantly, Lana went back to work. That dreadful and slightly detestable aspect of police work, writing the report.

Half an hour later, Jamie stuck his head in the door. “Did you say you wanted to see Eric Schmidt before they moved him from his holding cell to the jail?”

“Yes,” Lana said. “But... I’ll be there in a few minutes... when Rita leaves.”

“Rita’s gone,” Jamie said.

“She is? I thought she was coming back after her phone call.”

Jamie shrugged. “She said something about a new client and rushed out of here.”

“Oh,” Lana said slowly, wondering if she’d just gotten snookered. Had the attorney only come by to get information? She shrugged. It didn’t matter.

“By the way,” Jamie said. “You never told me where you went this morning, or what you were up to.”

“Didn’t I?” said Lana, eyes twinkling.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Sorry,” Lana said, turning serious again. “I thought you guys would have heard the news by now. Where’s Damien?”

“Right here,” Damien called from the patrol room.

Motioning for Jamie to follow, Lana walked out from her office to where Damien had been talking with Ray. She went through a quick run-down of her morning’s activities, starting with her weird feeling of something not adding up, and ending with the meeting with Holloway, giving them the scoop on Eric’s youthful indiscretion.

“Well, that explains a lot,” Damien said after hearing the story. “The reason he seemed so scared of Holloway is because he was.”

 “After sleeping with the man’s wife, I suppose he was,” Jamie said.

“Yeah,” Ray put in. “And worrying if Holloway had discovered the full extent of his plans—that he’d set him up to take the fall for all his crooked deeds.”

Nodding, Lana said, “I went back and read through the transcripts of Eric’s interrogations. Even during the first questioning, he gave all the right answers, setting me up to believe Holloway was guilty from the start—long before he accused the man. A lot of little things he said pointed us in that direction, which is why it was so easy to believe it when he finally started to point the finger—and none of us picked up on it.”

“He did orchestrate the whole thing well, I’ll give him that,” Damien said.

“For all the good it did him, he still got caught,” Jamie said.

“Mm-hm,” Lana said. “Oh, and the reason Rita believed Cascade Global was in financial trouble was because Holloway had contacted a divorce attorney at her firm.”

Jamie nodded. “A divorce would have meant his wife getting half of the company’s net worth.”

“It all makes perfect sense now,” Damien said.

With a laugh, Jamie said, “Now that you’ve had it explained to you.”

“Hey, all that matters is that the case, or cases, are solved,” Ray said.

Smiling, Lana agreed. “Yes, they are. Thanks mostly to a half-senile and nosy old lady who can’t sleep through the night.”

“You?” Jamie asked with a straight face.

Lana shot him a scathing look. “Nellie Langstrom.”

“Ah!
The Nellie
.”

Damien nodded thoughtfully. “Hate to say it but every neighborhood needs one of her.”

“
The Nellie
could run a neighborhood watch all by herself,” Jamie said with a laugh.

“Don’t get too carried away,” Damien replied. “There were seven people murdered on her watch.”

“True,” Lana said. “But the killer was caught, thanks to her.”

“Yes,” Jamie admitted. “She did play a key role in the investigation.”

“And will in the upcoming trial as well,” Lana predicted. Then with a grin she added, “I’d hate to be the one questioning her in court.”

“Might be entertaining to watch, though,” Jamie said.

“That it would,” Lana agreed. “And I’m sure we’ll all get a chance to do so.” Then after a short pause, she said, “By the way, anyone seen Sophia?”

Everyone in the patrol room shook their heads.

“Why?” asked Ray.

“I just wanted to tell her she was wrong—again.”

“About what?”

“Take your pick,” Lana said. “Every profile she gave me for this case was off the mark.”

Ray shook his head. “Just let it go.”

“And miss a chance like this? No way. I’d like to bring the highfalutin woman back down to Earth.”

“I just try to avoid her, don’t want her profiling me,” Ray said.

Lana laughed. “I think she probably profiled me long ago. But that’s okay, she’s probably wrong.”

“So are you just going sit here and wait for her?” Ray asked.

“No. She’ll be in at some point,” Lana said. Then, with a thoughtful tilt of her head, she asked, “Did the cell phone provider ever get back to you with who called Eric from that unknown number?”

Ray shook his head. “No. But I would guess he probably called himself from a burner phone. He did everything else, why not that?”

“You’re probably right,” Lana said. Then, “Guess I could just ask him since I still need to go see him anyway.”

“More questioning?”

“No. Just wanted to tell him in person that I know about his little tryst with Mrs. Holloway.”

“Can’t resist rubbing it in a little?” someone behind her asked.

Lana recognized the voice of Captain Hayden. Turning, she grinned, “I suppose. Is gloating about solving a case such a bad thing?”

“Not at all,” said the Captain. “Still thinking of quitting?”

Giving him a squint-eyed scowl, Lana said, “What makes you think I was planning to quit?”

“I know the thought process that accompanies a case when it seems like none of the answers will ever be found. It’s tempting to want to go find another career. One that isn’t so nerve racking and exhausting.”

“Wouldn’t say I was actually planning to quit,” Lana hedged. “Although, I’ll admit, I have considered it more than once.”

“But then, you think how much you’d miss all of us, right?” Jamie spoke up.

“No,” Lana said with a serious tone. “I realize how much you guys need me.” Then, unable to keep a straight face, she added, “I
would
miss you, all of you, and the job. Not sure I could handle a normal job.”

“So, you’ll be sticking around?” The Captain seemed pleased.

Lana nodded. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Good,” said the Captain, handing her a large manila envelope.

“What’s this?”

“Your next case.”

“Wow, no time off between cases?”

“Murderers don’t take time off and neither do we,” Captain Hayden said. “Except Spencer and Wyatt.”

Lana glanced briefly at the two detectives. “Why do they get time off?”

The Captain shrugged. “As you requested, they’ve been credited with closing this case—along with you—seven cases actually. Which makes them the most improved team in the Bureau. That distinction comes with a paid week off.”

The stunned look Jamie and Damien gave the Captain, and then Lana, said neither had known about their lucky break until that moment. And clearly, they hadn’t expected Lana to keep her “promise” to share the credit.

The silence didn’t last long.

“Hope you don’t need any help solving your case,” Jamie said. “Because, we’re out of here!”

Damien’s response was a little more reserved. “Thanks,” he said, nodding first to the Captain, and then to Lana.

“You’re welcome, I think,” Lana said slowly. After a moment, she added, “I guess it’s true what they say.”

“What’s that?” Damien asked.

“No good deed goes unpunished.”

~ The End ~

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About The Author

Bruce A. Borders was born in 1967 in Cape Girardeau, MO. Bruce’s childhood years were spent in a number of states, including Missouri, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

During his high school years, he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, involved in various non-athletic activities such as school yearbook production and photography, and won numerous awards for his artistic creations. Bruce graduated Valedictorian in 1984.

While in school, Bruce held three part-time jobs; a store clerk, a janitor, and a dental technician, working about 60-70 hours per week. After graduation, he became employed full time as a dental technician. Other jobs have included restaurant manager, carpenter, and grocery store cashier. For the past sixteen years, he has worked as a commercial truck driver, logging more than two million miles.

At the age of fifteen, Bruce decided to become a writer. He began by writing songs, news articles, and short stories. Eventually, books were added to the list. Over the years, he continued to write and currently has a catalog of over 500 songs, numerous short stories and more than a dozen completed books. He writes on a variety of subjects such as the Bible and politics, as well as fictional novels of legal issues and westerns.

For more information, visit his websites:
www.bruceabordersbooks.com
or
www.bruceaborders.com
.