Dead By Dawn (17 page)

Gabe joined in. “Small world. She grew up in Canyon Country and my family was in Valencia.”

“That was a pretty small town back then. Wasn’t it?” Dan asked.

Gabe responded. “It was. I am several years older than Lindsay. That’s probably why we didn’t know each other.”

“Did your wife grow up there?” Lindsay asked.

“No, Ellen grew up in Las Vegas. I met her when I went to dental school,” Gabe said.

“That must have been a fun place to grow up. Do her parents still live there?” Lindsay asked.

“No, her parents died when she was a teenager. She pretty much was on her own after that,” Gabe said sadly.

“That’s a bummer,” Lindsay said. “Moving to Los Angeles must have been a big change for her.”

“She adapted pretty well,” Gabe said.

Dan said, “That’s so sad about her parents. Did she have siblings?”

“No, she was an only child,” Gabe said.

“Well, I’m sure all of that tragedy makes her a better mother. She probably really appreciates family,” Lindsay said. “Did you get married in Santa Clarita?”

“Yes,” Gabe said. “We’ve been married for eighteen years now.”

Lindsay changed the subject. “I’m going to go to the snack bar and grab something to eat.”

“I’ll go with you,” Dan said quickly.

“Gabe, I’m going to grab some water for the girls. They are going to get hot out there,” Lindsay added.

“Thanks,” Gabe said.

Lindsay and Dan walked down to the Green Store a couple blocks away. “What do you think?” Dan asked.

“I think she’s got a sketchy background,” Lindsay said. “I want to grab this water for the kid and take her bottle when we are done.”

“Why?” Dan asked.

“We are going to get DNA and see if she’s related to you,” Lindsay said.

“Doesn’t that take months?” Dan asked.

“No, there are labs that can test quickly,” she said.

They went into the store and picked up snacks, bottled water, and Ziploc storage bags. As they walked back Lindsay said, “As soon as I get the water bottle, I’m going to take off and start working on who Ellen really is.”

“Thanks. I really do appreciate this.” Dan said.

Back in the stadium, they handed out the water. Tracy McCarthy came over to the area they were sitting in and greeted her uncle and Lindsay. Ally and Kara came over to meet her. The girls giggled. Kara said, “I’ve never met anyone famous before.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself famous. But, thanks for the thought,” Tracy said.

Lindsay noticed that Tracy had a sports drink in her hand. “I see those in the store. Are they any good?”

“They’re all right,” Tracy said. “They sponsor us, so I get it for free.” She finished the small sip that was left in the bottle.

Lindsay finished her water quickly and pulled out the shopping bag. “Can I take your bottle? I’m recycling.”

Dan shot Lindsay a perplexed look. Tracy said, “Thanks.” She handed Lindsay the empty bottle.

Lindsay looked at the girls. “The tournament is about to start. You need to finish your drinks too.”

Ally Collins drank the rest of her water and gave the empty bottle to Lindsay.

Lindsay rose from her seat. “I think I’m going to walk around a little bit. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Lindsay prepared the bottles and sent them off to the lab. She started researching Ellen Collins. Lindsay found her marriage certificate easily. Her maiden name had been Harkins. She located Ellen Collins Nevada driver’s license. Lindsay pulled all of the normal reports to get a background. Nothing seemed to exist on Ellen Jericho before twenty years ago.

Lindsay decided she needed to call Taylor Kragen. She hadn’t updated him since the interview with Cammie Kent. He answered his cell phone, “Please tell me you have something good for me.”

“I think you will be pleased,” she answered back.

“Shoot?” Kragen said.

“Cammie Kent says that her sister told her about Marty fathering Letty’s baby,” Lindsay said. “She also told me that Darla wanted a divorce. She was involved with someone else.”

“Marty had a reason to want her out of the way,” Kragen commented.

“It gets better. Darla was blackmailing Marty into taking a smaller divorce settlement because she had something on him,” Lindsay said.

“Did the Kent woman know what she had on him?” Kragen said.

“Only that Marty and Bing Taylor were involved in Letty’s murder and that more people were killed over it,” Lindsay said.

“Darla Van Buren could prove this?” Kragen said with surprise.

“Apparently someone else gave the evidence to Darla. So not only Darla knew it, but someone else did too.”

“Did Darla’s sister have any idea who showed her the evidence?” Kragen asked.

“None. But, it sounded like Bing may have killed whoever did,” Lindsay said.

“Bing died a long time before Darla Van Buren was killed,” Kragen remarked.

“I know. That’s the part that doesn’t make much sense,” Lindsay said.

“Why did Darla Van Buren wait so long to tell her sister?” Kragen asked.

“She was embarrassed and humiliated by her husband’s fooling around. They lived separately for many years,” Lindsay said. “Darla made Marty live on his own money for the most part. When she asked for a divorce, he was going after most of her assets.”

“Any idea how much Darla was worth?” Kragen asked.

“Her sister says about fifty million,” Lindsay replied.

Kragen blew out a long breath of air. “Did he inherit that?”

“No, Darla changed her will and left most of her money to a charitable trust. Marty didn’t know about it until after she was dead.”

“Why did Darla wait so long to tell someone?” Kragen asked. “She could have put him away forever and not paid him a dime.”

“Mostly pride. She was a good woman who didn’t want her reputation sullied,” Lindsay said.

“Do you have any idea if she knew about this before Bing Taylor killed more people?” Kragen asked.

“I wish I could tell you more. Cammie said she had all of her sister’s things in her attic. She was going to try to go through them now that someone was looking at her sister’s death,” Lindsay said.

“Well, at least she’s cooperating.” Kragen said.

“She mentioned that Darla had a boyfriend. He lives in L.A. Do you want me to talk to him?” Lindsay asked.

“See what you can find out,” Kragen said. “Keep me posted.”

Lindsay hung up the phone. There were so many missing pieces to the puzzle. It seemed clear that Bing Taylor and Marty Van Buren had killed Letty and the baby. Who were the other people that had died because they knew? Was Darla killed over her money, or for something damaging that she was aware of? Lindsay had to talk to Vincent Morgan. She looked him up on the Internet. He could be reached through his agent. Well, that was a start she thought as she wrote the number down.

Jeremy reached the ranch in Shandon early the next morning. He was meeting several people to begin the work that needed to be done to start planting. The handyman that his aunt Terri had recommended was already there and walking around the property.

Seth Woodward did odd jobs at several of the vineyards in the area. He had retired from the insurance business several years back. After a year of puttering around his own house in town, he decided that he needed a job to keep him occupied. He was always good at fixing things, so he decided to take odd jobs. He was meticulous about his work and his new hobby had turned into pretty much full time employment.

Seth was walking around the partially burned barn when Jeremy drove up. Jeremy got out of the car and walked toward the older man. “Are you Seth?”

“I am. It’s nice to meet you,” Seth said.

Jeremy looked at the remains of the house and barn. “Quite a mess, isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” Seth agreed. “I was walking around. It looks like there is a tack room at the back of the barn. I didn’t go in. It’s padlocked.”

Jeremy walked to the back of the barn to see what Seth was referring to. “I didn’t notice this the day we were here. Do you have something that’ll cut the lock?”

“I think I do,” Seth said. He walked out to his work van and shuffled through the tools. “This will do the job.” He cut the lock from the door.

Jeremy walked into the room. It had been virtually untouched by the fire. It was an old tack room. “I never knew there were horses out here,” Jeremy remarked.

Seth looked at the assortment of tack equipment. He spied an old saddle in the corner. “This old saddle is an antique,” he said.

“All of this stuff looks pretty old,” Jeremy said.

“I have a friend in town that might buy some of this stuff. Do you want me to ask if he wants to take a look at it?” Seth asked.

“He can have it all. We’ve got to get this all cleaned out before the bulldozers come in tomorrow,” Jeremy answered.

“I’ll load it all up and take it to him later today. What about the old tractor?” Seth asked.

“I’m keeping that,” Jeremy said with a smile. “I thought we could put it out somewhere and plant some flowers and bushes around it.”

Jeremy instructed Seth about what needed to be done that day. “I’m going to take a walk around the property,” he said. Jeremy started walking around the fields looking at the terrain. He walked down the section of land that was next to the freeway. He walked the perimeter until his property abutted the neighbors. He knew where the property line was as soon as he saw the fence line. The other side of the fence had the neighbor’s vineyard. There were grape covered hillsides that led to a home at the top of the hill. He walked over to the edge of the property that bordered a creek bed. There was a thick grove of oaks next to the dry creek. He could hear the birds and squirrels playing and rustling the underbrush. He walked along that side of the property. A glint caught his eye. He walked closer to where he saw the shiny light. Through the thick brush, he saw what looked like a car’s bumper. He started moving the brush so he could get a better look. He caught motion out of the corner of his eye and realized there was a rattlesnake in the thicket of brush. He jumped back, away from the snake. The snake slithered away quickly. Jeremy moved more of the brush and found that under all of it there was a car. The car had faded red paint.

Jeremy went back up the hillside and out of the grove of oaks. He thought it was an odd place for a vehicle. Why had someone left it there and how was he going to get it out? Maybe he could leave it there. It had been there for years and it wasn’t hurting anything. The grapevines were not going to be planted that far out.

Jeremy kept walking until he got back to the burned out house. Seth had already loaded the contents of the tack room into the back of his van. “I’ll meet you out here tomorrow morning at eight.” Jeremy said.

“What’s on the agenda tomorrow?” Seth asked.

“The bulldozer is coming in to take the rest of the barn down and we are starting on the fields,” Jeremy said.

“It sounds like we have a lot to do around here,” Seth said.

Jeremy walked toward his car. “See you tomorrow.”

Lindsay had spent all morning tracing back Ellen Collins life in Los Angeles and was starting on the Las Vegas connection. She looked up the address on Ellen’s Nevada driver’s license in the computer. It looked like the same woman had owned the property for the last forty years. Lindsay called information in Las Vegas. “Do you have a listing for a Sandra Danforth?”

The operator answered, “I have two ma’am. One on Winston Street and one on Azul Way.”

Lindsay requested both. The address on Winston Street matched the address on Ellen Collins’ last driver’s license. She called that number first. A young woman with a perky voice answered. “This is Sandy.”

“Hi Sandy, this is Lindsay Carter. I’m a private detective looking into an old case. There used to be an Ellen Jericho that lived with you. Do you remember her?”

The girl said, “I manage these apartments for my mom. How long ago did she live here?”

“About twenty years ago, I think.”

“Mom would know then. She lived here and managed the place for Grandma. When Grandma died, she moved into her house and now I’m in charge,” Sandy said.

“Is she the Sandra an Azul Way?” Lindsay asked.

“Yep, that’s her,” Sandy answered.

Lindsay called Sandra next. Sandra answered and Lindsay explained who she was and that she was investigating Ellen Jericho.