Kill and Run (A Thorny Rose Mystery Book 1) (22 page)

Slowly, Murphy got up from the chair and moved to the office door. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “What was I supposed to do?” He turned back to where Joshua had sat down behind the desk. “If it was you, how would you have stopped the two of them?”

“Slipped them a mickey.”

“What?” Murphy replied.

“A mickey. A tranquilizer. Sleeping pill,” Joshua said. “By the time they woke up, hopefully the case would have been solved, or at the very least, the danger would have passed.”

“Is that what you do when Cameron wants to go off and do something dangerous?”

“Hell, no,” Joshua replied with a loud laugh. “If I did that, as soon as she’d realized what I’ve done, Cameron would kill me in my sleep.”

Chapter Twenty-One

In the padded chair behind the staff chief’s desk, Joshua enjoyed the sweet sound of Hillary Koch cursing in the break room down the hall. How she had managed to get on board with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service he did not know.
Correction
, he thought with a deep sigh.
I know exactly how she got with NCIS. Last time I’ll make a deal like that.

He refocused on the pile of medical examiner reports he had organized into four piles in front of him. Three were for the victims of the murders at Francine Baxter’s home. One for the host, Francine. Shot twice. Once in the back. Second to the head. The second stack held three reports for the women who had been poisoned. The third stack was for Petty Officer Donna Crenshaw. Shot five times. A fourth pile was for Emily Dolan, the anti-military blogger who had been gunned down the night before.

Remembering the reason for Cameron’s visit to Washington in the first place, Joshua told himself that he needed a fifth and sixth pile. One for Army Specialist Cecilia Crenshaw, who had been abducted and seemed to have jumped out of a moving vehicle on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. And the last pile for Pennsylvania State Trooper Nicholas Gates, who was run down while trying to identify her.

Sitting back in his seat, Joshua pressed the fingertips of both hands together while staring at the piles of reports.

Is it really possible that all of these murders are connected to one person? Someone paid a hitman to run Nick down. That hit man was connected to the Russian mob. Could the United States Army really be connected to the Russian mob? Illegal arms deals maybe?

“Dad?”

Joshua looked up to see that Murphy was standing in front of his desk. He held a laptop in his hand. Joshua silently reminded him of their earlier conversation with the arch of his eyebrow. Murphy jumped to stand at attention and brought his right hand up in a salute.

After returning the salute, Joshua said, “As you were, Lieutenant.”

“I apologize for interrupting you, sir,” Murphy said, “but we got the results from Izzy’s DNA profile. There are enough markers to confirm that Izzy is Cecilia Crenshaw’s biological daughter. Petty Officer Donna Crenshaw was Cecilia’s sister—Izzy’s aunt.”

“Cecilia’s autopsy shows that she gave birth less than two weeks before she disappeared,” Joshua said. “Her dying words were, ‘She’s safe.’ She must have been talking about Izzy.”

“Izzy’s birthdate works out with the timeline,” Murphy said. “To protect Izzy, Petty Officer Crenshaw raised her as her own daughter—never telling her about Cecilia being her mother and her disappearance.”

“And never coming forward to identify her sister in order to protect Izzy,” Joshua said. “Safe from what? Or who? The murders of Donna and those other women have to be connected in some way to Cecilia’s abduction.”

“If I may, sir.” Murphy held up the laptop. “We’ve downloaded the mirror image of Francine Baxter’s laptop onto this one.” He went over to the conference desk and set the laptop down. “We got her emails and files—everything. One folder was password-protected, but the IT department was able to crack it. You’re going to want to see this.”

Joshua took the seat Murphy offered in front of the laptop. After taking out his reading glasses and adjusting them, he pressed the enter button on the laptop to open up a folder that was titled: MONSTER

The folder contained over a dozen folders inside which were labeled. Among the names were Price, Clark, Davis, and Crenshaw.

“Aren’t those the names of the murder victims at Baxter’s house?” Joshua asked.

With a nod of his head, Murphy reached over Joshua’s shoulder to move the cursor to the folder labeled Crenshaw. Upon opening it, the folder contained numerous pdf files.

“Francine Baxter had been a human resource officer in the army. Some of the paperwork is dated after she’d left. She must have convinced someone to slip these documents from the army’s files.”

“She was putting together a case against someone she considered a monster,” Joshua said, “whoever that is.”

“She stated in a text to Crenshaw that they needed her in order to stop
him
. It’s definitely a man.” Murphy pulled a chair over to sit next to Joshua. “This folder she put together for Specialist Cecilia Crenshaw is particularly damning. Baxter was Crenshaw’s human resource officer. After she came back from a tour in Iraq, Crenshaw was sent to work at Foggy Bottom. She was getting rave reviews from her CO and recommended for awards from the commandant. Everything looked great until around March when she showed up in Baxter’s office first thing one Monday morning with a fat lip.”

Murphy hit the button to open a file that was filled with digital pictures of Cecilia Crenshaw with a fat lip and other bruises on her body. The images also included a torn skirt and panties.

“Who did that to her?” Joshua asked.

“The then commandant at Foggy Bottom,” Murphy zoomed in on a name in the report.

Joshua sucked in a deep breath.

“Crenshaw went on maternity leave right before Christmas,” Murphy said. “Izzy was born in Walter Reed Hospital on New Year’s Day. Cecilia’s sister reported her missing on January seventh.”

“Nick found her January sixth,” Joshua recalled from the case report Cameron had shown him.

Murphy went on. “Cecilia Crenshaw had four months maternity leave. She was to return to duty on April twentieth. She was reported AWOL on April twenty-first. Francine Baxter resigned from the army before the end of that year.” He concluded, “She must have known what happened to Cecilia and who was behind it. That’s why she put together this monster file and insisted that Petty Officer Crenshaw be at their meeting.”

Joshua dreaded the answer to his next question. “What’s in the other folders?”

“It gets worse.”

“I like the way you think, Izzy.” Cameron and Izzy bumped fists before digging into their respective banana splits.

Across the table at the ice cream restaurant, Denise and Duke grinned wistfully.

“Maureen loved ice cream when she was your age,” Duke said. “Then she became health conscious. She used to run marathons … until she stopped a couple of years ago.”

Denise said, “I was meeting her for breakfast on that day … the day she stopped.”

Jessica paused in sipping her root beer float to ask, “What made her stop?”

“I used to babysit Tommy in the morning while Maureen would run,” Denise said. “We’d meet someplace for breakfast at the end of a running path and she would pick up Tommy. That morning, she had come in and went to the restroom. When she came out, I saw a man bump into her and he said something to her. Her face got white—like she’d seen a ghost. I asked her what he’d said and she said that he told her she shouldn’t go running alone because he’d hate to see something happen to her pretty legs.”

“What did that mean?” Jessica asked.

“It was a threat,” Cameron said. “Did you find out who it was?”

“Tommy’s father,” Duke said.

“Colonel Clark?” Izzy asked.

Reminded of the girl’s presence, Duke and Denise paused.

“You can talk in front of me,” Izzy said. “I know where babies come from.”

“We’re discussing a murder case,” Cameron said.

“Yeah, my mom’s,” Izzy said. “Whoever killed Tommy’s mom killed mine, too.” She turned to the couple. “So spill it. Did Tommy’s dad kill my mom because he was ticked-off at his wife?”

“Lincoln is not Tommy’s biological father,” Denise said. “She was raped … It happened during Lincoln’s last tour. She said nothing to anyone … until she ended up pregnant …”

“Why didn’t she report it?” Jessica asked.

“Because she knew who it was,” Duke said forcibly. “She refused to tell us,” he shook a finger at them, “but Lincoln knows.”

“Then why doesn’t he—”

“Whoever it is has enough power to do whatever he wants,” Denise interrupted Jessica to say. “Lincoln was furious when he found out Denise was pregnant. Everyone knew Tommy wasn’t his. He couldn’t be. Lincoln was in Afghanistan for a full year. They had home leave in Europe but by the time that came about, Maureen was already eight weeks pregnant. Most of our friends think she had an affair and that any problems Lincoln and she had was because she cheated. Only the immediate family knows the truth.”

Duke said, “Whoever did it has some juice because right after Tommy was born, Lincoln’s career took off. I know Maureen told him who’d raped her and Lincoln took advantage of it.” He grumbled, “But she wouldn’t tell us.”

“Because she knew you’d kill him,” Denise told him. “Then where would you be?”

“Do you think Lincoln is blackmailing the rapist?” Cameron asked.

“I know he is,” Duke said. “He flat out told me that if I knew what was good for my career that I’d just go along and forget trying to find out who raped my sister.”

“That proves whoever did it was military,” Jessica said.

“Could Maureen have been lying about the rape?” Cameron asked as gently as she could. “Her husband was gone for a year. Maybe she did have a fling.”

“No,” Denise shook her head. “She told me how it happened. Not who it was but what had happened. He came to the house to check on her because he knew Lincoln was away and she was home alone. She invited him in for a drink, and then he forced himself on her. She said she kept saying no, and then when she started to scream, he pinned her down and bit her lip. She took pictures of the bruises on her arms where he held her down. I saw them.”

“If she invited him in,” Jessica said, “then she had to know him.”

“But then you said this guy threatened her a couple of years ago,” Cameron said. “Had he been threatening her all along? Why would he suddenly be threatening her years later if the rapist had an agreement with Lincoln?”

“Because Maureen started resenting Lincoln using the rape and Tommy to advance his career,” Denise said. “By the time she was murdered, she hated the army. She used to be active in the officer’s wives club, but Paige Graham practically ran her out.”

“Why?” Cameron asked.

“Because Maureen was making waves,” Denise said. “She hated the general. His wife, Paige is delusional—add to that vindictive. Every wife knows that General Graham is a skirt-chasing hound. But if Paige hears any of the wives even suggesting that it’s true … well, let’s just say things would not turn out well in the club if you so much as breathed the ugly truth.” With a shake of her head, she added, “I heard someone say he had a different mistress for every day of the week—including Sunday.”

“But Maureen was not one of them,” Duke insisted.

“No, she wasn’t” Denise agreed. “She hated the air he breathed.”

“Paige Graham was at the Clark home today,” Jessica pointed out.

“I still belong to the club,” Denise said, “but I’ll be leaving after Duke gets out.”

“This whole thing has soured me on the army, too,” Duke said. “I got an offer from a private contractor and I snapped at it.”

“Paige Graham had said something about Maureen making some accusations against General Graham,” Jessica said. “Is that why she ran Maureen out?”

“But that had nothing to do with the rape,” Denise said with a shake of her head. “It was shortly after Tommy was born. After the rape and … Maureen was very sensitive. The Grahams were having a party and Maureen slapped the general. She accused him of groping her breast. He denied it. Maureen went off on him.” She sighed with disgust. “Paige ordered Maureen to apologize to him in front of everyone and admit that she had overreacted, that it didn’t happen—that it was her imagination—”

“She had to or Paige would have ostracized her from the officer’s wives,” Duke said, “and General Graham did have the power to ruin Lincoln’s career.”

“If he had the power to ruin Lincoln’s career,” Cameron asked, “wouldn’t he also have the power to make it?”

Duke and Denise exchanged stunned looks.

“Maybe he did grope her breast and she overreacted because he’d raped her and she was scared he was going to do it again,” Jessica said.

“I flat-out asked her afterwards if it was General Graham,” Duke insisted. “She swore it wasn’t.”

“Look,” Denise said, “the general is a cheat, but he’s no
rapist
. He doesn’t have to be. Women are always throwing themselves at him.”

“Or so he thinks,” Cameron said.

“Rape is not about sex,” Jessica said. “It’s about power, control, and domination. It has nothing to do with sex. They are two different things. If he was the one who raped Maureen, she very well could have lied to protect you or your career because she knew you’d go after him and there was no way you could come out with your career intact afterwards.”

“You said she was threatened,” Cameron said. “Rape is traumatic enough, even without being threatened. That’s why so often it is not reported—even today.”

“Especially when the man is as powerful as General Graham,” Jessica agreed. “Just now, Denise, you said General Graham was not a rapist because he doesn’t have to be. He can have any woman he wants. After a lifetime of yes-men and women telling him that, he’s probably come to believe it himself—not just that he can have any woman he wants, but that he’s
entitled
to any woman he wants.”

Ashamed, Denise looked down at the table top. After a long silence around the table, she said, “Maureen was leaving Lincoln.”

Cameron asked, “Do you know that for a fact?”

“Definitely,” Denise said. “If she hadn’t been killed, she would have been gone by now. She was planning to take off while Lincoln was at work the other day. She was killed about twelve hours before she was going to leave.”

“That’s suspicious timing,” Cameron said.

“My thought exactly,” Duke said.

Denise said, “We had arranged for her to stay with a friend of ours in upstate New York until she got a permanent place to live.”

“Did Lincoln know about her plans to leave?” Cameron asked.

“She didn’t tell him,” Denise said, “but he could have found out. Maureen was scared to death that he would. He was always nosing around. She wasn’t just leaving. I think she was planning to file criminal charges against this rapist.”

“And Lincoln’s golden goose would have flown away with his career when the slimy cretin went to jail,” Duke said with a wave of his hand.

“Not only that, but it would not look good for Lincoln at all if word got out that he used a sexual attack on his wife to advance his military career,” Jessica said.

“But if his wife died before she could charge her attacker with rape,” Cameron said, “then all would be good.”

“Exactly,” Duke said. “If General Graham did rape my sister, from what we’ve seen, he has some powerful friends who will do anything to keep his dirty habit under wraps.”