A Right to Remain Read online

  “You spent the night with your wife the other night. That’s what’s going on. And do you even realize how ridiculous that sounds? I mean, how dare I have the nerve to be pissed off at you for spending the night with your wife? It’s the way it should be. It’s the way it always should have been. I was just a temporary distraction until you could get the real deal back.”

  “Lacey, what the hell are you talking about?” I asked, just as Sara came pulling into the driveway. Damn it! She had the worst timing ever. We had agreed she would drop off the papers I needed to sign for the realtor later on today at my work. So, why the hell was she showing up now when I needed to set things straight with Lacey about what had happened the other night?

  Lacey turned her head in Sara’s direction, barreling her way past me to get into her Jeep, wasting no time in making her exit.

  “Sorry, did I interrupt something?” Sara asked as she watched Lacey drive down the driveway.

  “No. It’s fine.”

  “Well, I know I told you I’d drop these off to you this afternoon, but I have a lot of running around to do this afternoon, so I wanted to make sure I got these forms to you today. Just please, whatever you do, make sure you sign them and fax them over to the realtor no later than the close of business today.”

  “Yeah, I will,” I responded with my mind a million miles away.

  “Okay, I have to run. Thanks again for all your help the other night. I was so glad we were able to tackle that together.”

  “You’re welcome.” We finally got through Andrew’s room. It was a difficult task, but we did it. I hadn’t planned on passing out on the couch all night and having Lacey thinking I slept with Sara, but I would make things right with her later on. Right now I had to get to work and do my best to concentrate on the day ahead.

  I got into my truck and looked down at my phone, foolishly hoping it would be Lacey, but seeing it was Detective Frankild instead.

  “Hey, Jim, what’s going on?” I asked as I pulled out of the driveway.

  “We finally tracked down the Lancer girl.”

  “Oh, yeah, did she give you anything to go on?”

  “I haven’t talked to her yet. I’m headed down her way tomorrow. She’s actually living in New York City. But get this. She has an eighteen-month-old kid. Could that child be Sullivan’s?”

  “Ah, man. I hope not.” I could only imagine Lacey’s reaction if it were true.

  “Do you care to meet up with me and question her?”

  “Yeah, I could do that. What time were you thinking?”

  “Well, I’m hoping to get an early start and plan on being in the city by ten or eleven. I’ll give you a call when I’m about an hour out.”

  “That sounds good, man. I’ll talk to you then.”

  ***

  I looked down at my watch to find it was already three p.m. and debated on calling Lacey, deciding to pay her a visit at work instead. I stopped off at the store and picked up a bouquet of flowers and was walking through the doors of her school just as the last bus left the parking lot. I was surprised to find her classroom empty when I reached it.

  “Oh, hey, Quinn, what are you doing here?” Neil asked, coming out of the classroom next door.

  “I was looking for Lacey.”

  He looked at me in confusion. “Oh, you didn’t know?”

  “Didn’t know what?”

  “She went up to Massachusetts. Her father-in-law passed away. I’m taking care of Gus for her.” He looked down at the flowers in my hand. “I’m gonna take a wild guess, but are those flowers to help get you out of the dog house with her?”

  “Yeah, we had an argument the other day. I saw her this morning, and she wouldn’t even allow me to explain myself.”

  “Did you try calling her?”

  “No, I didn’t. I just figured she wouldn’t answer.”

  “Well, give her time to cool off, she’ll come around. I know she’s got a lot on her mind, with her job and everything.”

  “Her job? What about it?”

  I could tell he was feeling like he was violating Lacey’s trust when he saw I was clueless to anything about her job. “She was told the teacher she was filling in maternity leave for is coming back in a few weeks instead of next school year like she had originally planned.”

  “Oh, man, so that means she won’t have a job after next month?”

  “Yeah, she had said the principal told her to get her résumé in for another position that will be opening in the fall. I thought she’d jump on it, but she told me she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do. I know this sounds selfish of me, but I hope she doesn’t move back to her hometown over this.”

  “Did she, ummm…tell you who she was staying with up there?”

  “She’s staying at a hotel. I can give you the name of it and her room number if you need it. Maybe you should pay her a surprise visit.”

  “Nah, I think I’ll give her some space. It’s probably the best thing for now. When is she coming home?”

  “Sunday.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, Neil.”

  “No problem. I hope everything works out okay between the two of you.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I replied, my shoulders sagging.

  As much as I was wanting to talk to her, I decided not to call her. I was going to give her some space and would hash things out with her face to face when she got home on Sunday.

  ***

  Detective Frankild was right on schedule. He was exactly how I imagined him to look after talking with him on the phone. Short, a little overweight, gray hair, and a goatee. It was so apparent that under his thick Boston accent and his tough demeanor there was a caring gentle guy. “Ready to do this?” he asked as we stood outside of the apartment door.

  “Yup,” I replied.

  He rapped on the door several times before a pretty, petite brunette holding a little boy in her arms answered, looking totally confused.

  “Ms. Lancer?”

  “Yeah?” she replied.

  “I’m Detective Frankild and this is Detective Lavery. Do you care if we have a word with you?”

  “About what?” She pushed her hair behind her ear, visibly shaken.

  “Aaron Sullivan’s murder.”

  “I’ve already been through this with that other detective who was working on the case, and I already told him everything I know.”

  “I understand that, but in light of some new evidence, we would like to talk to you again.”

  “Evidence? What are you talking about? I worked for Aaron Sullivan for six months. He was a great boss, and I don’t know why anyone would want to kill him. Okay, is that good enough?” Her voice rose in defense.

  “Look, you can either talk to us here or at the station, you take your pick. But since I see you have a little one, I think it would work out better for you if you talked to us here.” Detective Frankild pressed the issue.

  She let out a reluctant sigh before opening the door further and letting us in. “We’ll try and make this quick before your husband gets home so you don’t have any explaining to do there.”

  “I don’t have a husband,” she blurted out.

  “Oh, sorry for making that assumption. I just thought—” Jim looked down at the little boy in her arms, hoping she would elaborate more on who his father was.

  “Yeah, well, just because you have a kid doesn’t mean you’re married,” she snapped.

  I could tell she had it in for Jim already by the harsh attitude she was giving him, so I decided to try my hand at her. “Ms. Lancer,” I started.

  “You can call me Megan.” Her tone was much softer than just seconds ago.

  I nodded. “Megan, Detective Frankild talked to a few of your ex-coworkers and they said you and Aaron Sullivan were pretty close.” She quickly shook her head, and I was hoping I didn’t lose her gentler side with that statement. “So we’re trying to figure out if maybe he had given you some indication of any arguments he may have had with anyone or a mo
tive for someone to do this to him.” I tried my best to recover.

  “Look, I don’t know what those jealous bitches at that company are saying, but I didn’t have anything going on with Aaron. He loved his wife and would never cheat on her. He was a good man.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we’re hearing.”

  “Ms. Lancer,” Jim interrupted. “Can you explain to us the grounds for your termination and why you received a large lump sum payment?”

  I knew Jim was anxious to get to the bottom of this case, but clearly this girl didn’t like the upfront approach and needed to be chiseled away at piece by piece.

  “Wha-what are you talking about?” Her voice shook.

  “We have a bank statement from the company showing a payment in the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars deposited into your account three days prior to Mr. Sullivan’s death.”

  She was becoming more flustered, and her body began to tremble ever so slightly.

  “That money is child support for my kid,” she replied.

  My eyes widened. “Is Aaron Sullivan the father?” I asked.

  She shook her head and pursed her lips. “No. I told you. Aaron wouldn’t even look at another woman besides his wife. She was really lucky to have a husband like that. The way he would speak about her. You could just hear how much he loved her in his voice. It makes me sick to think someone could have done that to him and then…” She shook her head. “His poor wife. I always envied her for having a husband like Aaron, but I couldn’t imagine what she went through. That’s every woman’s worst nightmare.” Her words brought an ache to my heart just thinking about it.

  “So, Ms. Lancer, if you don’t mind me asking, who is the father?” Jim pressed on.

  “Adam Symons, that sorry son of a bitch excuse for a man he is.” She was seething more and more with each word. “He found out I was pregnant and didn’t want anything to do with it, so he paid me off to go away. I was so stupid to even sleep with that sleazeball, knowing how much he was obsessed over Aaron’s wife.”

  Suddenly my ears perked up. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, right after we slept together, he actually offered to pay me to try and get Aaron to sleep with me. Can you imagine that? I felt like such an ass for actually thinking he cared about me.”

  “Why did he want you to sleep with Aaron Sullivan?” I asked.

  “Umm...because he wanted his wife big time! Plus, he was pissed at Aaron over some business deal with one of Adam’s friends.”

  “Do you have any idea what it was about?” I asked.

  “I really don’t. Adam rarely discussed business with me when we were together.” She looked like she was deep in thought. “But, wait…something just came to me. I do remember this one time. It was about a week or two before Aaron’s murder. I had stayed a little late to help Aaron out on some end of month reports because like usual Adam wasn’t around to help. Aaron was in his office on the phone, and I couldn’t help but hear him yelling something about him not getting involved with some business because of something with drug ties. I’m not sure if he was talking to Adam or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was. Adam liked to dabble into snorting drugs up his nose every now and then.” She shuddered. “Thank God my little boy will never know about what a loser his father is.”

  I looked at Jim, and I had a feeling he was thinking the same thing as me. “Ms. Lancer, did you tell Detective Wise any of this when he questioned you?” Jim asked.

  “Well, not that part because I just remembered it, but I did tell him Aaron and Adam weren’t on the best of terms.”

  “So were you fired or did you quit?”

  “I ended up quitting. That was part of the deal. I go away and Adam pays.”

  “Did you ever tell Sullivan why you were quitting?”

  She sighed. “He asked me why I was leaving, and I told him I was having personal problems I needed to deal with. I don’t know if he ever found out I was pregnant or that Adam had paid me off before he died. I’m pretty sure he knew Adam and I had a thing going on. I did make sure I told him to watch his back and his wife where Adam was concerned.”

  “What was his reaction to that?” I asked.

  “You know, it was really weird because it was like he wasn’t even shocked to hear it. It seemed like he already knew. He just looked at me and nodded, almost like he agreed with me.”

  “You know, you could still get child support from Symons every month,” Jim said.

  “I don’t want it. I don’t want any part of him. I don’t want him around my boy. We’re doing fine without him. I just hope he never got what he always wanted.”

  “What’s that?” Jim asked.

  “Aaron’s wife. For her sake and for poor Aaron’s sake. Adam is so not worthy of her.”

  Jim looked over at me before replying, “No, he didn’t.”

  I looked down at the ground and got a sick feeling in my stomach just thinking about where Lacey was at right now and who she was probably with. I was hoping she didn’t tell him anything about what was going on between us. That would give him the perfect opportunity to swoop in and become her knight in shining armor.

  “Well, thanks for all of the info, Ms. Lancer, you’ve been a tremendous help. Good luck with your son,” Jim said just as his phone rang.

  “Thank you,” she replied. Her tone was much gentler than when we first got there.

  “Yeah, thank you,” I echoed Jim’s sentiments. “See ya, buddy.” I grabbed her little boy’s hand, and he broke out in a huge grin before burying his face into his mother’s shoulder. “See ya, Ms. Lancer.”

  “It’s Megan,” she corrected. “And it was really nice meeting you.”

  I gave her a smile back and headed out the door, waiting for Jim to finish up his phone call.

  “Well, what are you thinking?” Jim asked the minute he hung up the phone.

  “I’m thinking my original theory wasn’t too far off the mark. Symons has something to do with it. Maybe it was over Lacey or maybe it was over the business deal they were arguing about. But there’s no doubt in my mind he was part of it or knows who was.” I bit my bottom lip and stared straight ahead.

  “What’s the matter?” Jim asked.

  “Lacey is probably with him right now.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Her father-in-law passed away. She went to the funeral.”

  “Oh, yeah, Mr. Sullivan. I saw his obituary in the paper the other day. I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but he was a pompous ass during the whole investigation. It was like he was more concerned over how his son’s murder was going to affect his law practice than anything else. From everything I’m hearing about his son, it seems like he was the exact opposite of his father. He must’ve taken after his mother.”

  “I just hope Lacey’s okay up there by herself.”

  “Well, why don’t you go up there and pay her a little visit to make sure she’s okay?”

  I shook my head. I knew right now I was the last person Lacey wanted to be around. “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “Well, I know one thing. I have to get in touch with the detective who started with me on this case and find out what the hell else he forgot to document when he interviewed witnesses.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “They gave one of the worst guys in the department the lead on this case before I took over, Detective Allan Wise. He was like the joke of the department. He was on his way out. He had been reprimanded so many times in his years on the force, I couldn’t believe he still had a job…and as a detective of all things. I think he had Internal Affairs on his back over something, so he decided once he got his twenty years in he was gone. They happened to put him on this case two months prior to his twenty years. He had it out for everyone who worked there because according to him everyone was on his case. So he did the bare minimum that he had to do with this case, just riding out his time until he could retire, and that’s exactly what h
e did with this Megan Lancer interview. The guy is a first class dickhead.”

  “You think he’d even be willing to help you out now if he had such a hard-on for the Police Department?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out. He’s running his father’s bar now. It’s a shame. It used to be a nice place when the old man was alive, now it’s just a dive. We’re not exactly the best of friends, so maybe I’ll give him some of my business and have a drink or two with him to loosen the ice. You should come up and join me…then you can check in on the Sullivan girl. Even if she is pissed at you. Don’t you want to make sure she’s safe?”

  I creased my eyebrows. How the hell did he know Lacey and I weren’t on good terms right now? I had never said anything to him about that.

  He let out a hearty chuckle. “Quinn, once you’re on this job for forty years, you’ll be able to read people just like I do…it’s a gift, and it comes with time, my boy.”

  “Yeah, I’ll admit. That was pretty good.”

  “Stick with me and you’ll learn.” He chuckled once again.

  Chapter 38

  Lacey

  “I hate funerals,” I said to Adam as we walked from the funeral parlor to the car.

  “I don’t think anyone really likes them, Lacey.”

  “Yeah, I guess not.” I sighed. “That was a nice memorial service. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to be cremated, though.” I shuddered at the thought.

  “Does it really matter? Once you’re dead you’re dead, not like you know what’s going on.”

  “I don’t believe that. Not for one second,” I said in defense. “I know Aaron is still around. I can feel him.”

  “I’m sorry, Lacey. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “It’s okay,” I said as I got into his car. I just wanted to go back to my hotel room and lie down. It had been a long day of seeing Aaron’s relatives, whom I hadn’t seen since his funeral, putting on my best smile while they all looked at me the same way they had two years ago, like a fragile piece of glass just waiting to break. I had hoped to spend a little more time with his mother, but she was so out of it and had so much going on it made it impossible to do. I decided I would pay her another visit in a few months when things quieted down. We were never really close. Even though she did try, I never got a warm welcoming feeling from her, but I knew that was just part of her personality. She warmed up to me a little once Aaron and I were married, but I always felt like his parents thought he could do better than me. I always sensed they viewed me as not on their level. The only reason I was even able to go to college was because I had received a full academic scholarship. I was a product of a teenage mother who died of a drug overdose, an unknown father, and raised by a grandmother who worked two jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. My childhood was a far cry from Aaron’s privileged one. He grew up in a home that was ten times the size of my grandmother’s, didn’t want for anything growing up, and attended one of the best private schools around. His father was a hotshot attorney who was a partner with one of the biggest law firms in the state, and his mother never had to work a day in her life. I was able to ignore their arrogance when Aaron was alive because he was nothing like them. He never saw eye to eye with his father. His family came from a long line of lawyers, going all the way back to Aaron’s great-great grandfather. That line stopped with Aaron. His father would always put him down for defying his wishes and not attending law school, which I was pretty certain he blamed it on me.