Chapter 1
Regrets, I’ve had a few
Jack walked across the room and turned off the radio as he went to answer the soft rap on the door.
Jack was amazed when he opened the door. “Rachel?, Is that you?”
“Its gotta be over 20 years since you saw me last Jack, I didn’t know if you would recognize me. “
Jack, walked through the door into the hallway outside his office where Rachel stood. And reached around her bringing her too him with a hug and kisses on both cheeks.
“Rachael you were very important to me at that early part of my life. Ultimately I knew you would not stay long with a young cop, never knowing when I would be back or in what shape. It was amazing to me that you stayed as long as you did. “
“I loved you, Jack. And it made up for all the rest…almost.”
“Anyway Rachel, come in of course. Something to drink, tea? Still drink red wine? You know I’ll always have some available.
Rachel walked into the large one room office. A worn leather Couch was placed against the wall to the right of the door, facing Jack’s desk.
“Nothing thanks,” she said allowing Jack to take her coat and hang it on the tall wooden rack. Like everything in the office, it was old.
Rachel looked around as she walked over and sat on the couch. Lived in was maybe the best way to say it she thought to herself. All parts of Jack’s life were posed on the walls: photos, baseball tickets from championship games past, wine labels glued to a cork board that served as a backdrop to news articles of all kinds.
Yet his desk was neat, organized, files opened were those he was working on, nothing extra was around to distract him. A row of low book shelves behind him were underneath the high windows of the old building which look out onto the Capitol Dome.
She was registering all this when she realized Jack was standing and watching. “Did I pass muster?” he joked as he sat in the side chair next to the couch.
“Jack, I know I cant suppose on our love of long ago…but….I’m desperate. I did not know where to turn, and I knew you had become a private investigator after leaving the force.”
“Ahh, so this is not a social call. However it brings you to my door, I am glad to see you and I’ll do whatever I can. Whats the problem.”
“It’s my husband, Charles, Charles Gordon.”
“The Charles Gordon of the Gordon Bank family. Gee Rachel, you did take a step up after we split. “
“I told you when I left, that I married for love one time. You were it. I married Charles not long after out divorce. He was young and handsome then. He woo-ed me. I know that is an old fashioned term, but he really did. We went places and he bought me things and I was overwhelmed. Even so I made sure I had a great attorney to do the prenup before we were married. You remember Hotchkiss?”
“Yes I know what a shyster he is. If I’d had any clothes your size you would have got them too, even if was my last shirt.”
“Oh Jack, it wasn’t as bad as that. “
“Anyway Rachel, so you married Charles and got some good economic protection, which is what you always wanted. “
“Yes, well everything comes with a price. I found out that the charming and dashing man who swept me off my feet, tended to do that with a lot of women. After I got pregnant with our son William, he basically saw me as his child’s mother and nanny and left us at home to pursue his life as he pleased. “
“I adore Will and despite Charles efforts, he has turned into a nice young man. “
“So you have hung in on a loveless marriage and raised a son in wonderful surroundings. You could have split from him, you did it to me.”
“But he would have cut me off from Will. He told me so many times. And he also told me I would not get a penny, despite the prenup. So I stayed, making him look proper in public at events and corporate functions.”
“I have to ask, did you also find romantic diversions as we might say?”
“No, never. It was clear that if I did, he could divorce me and I would get nothing. That was in the prenup. And quite frankly, I did have my son and I made a life for me with volunteer work. I’m not pretending that I was a poor battered woman. Well, not physically anyway.”
Jack got up and walked to the small fridge next to his desk giving himself some time to think.
“A little rose perhaps?”
“Ok,” she said passively accepting the proffered glass.
“I still don’t understand what what has happened to bring you to me.”
“Charles knew about our marriage of course. I told him everything, he insisted. And the more Charles and I grew apart, the more my “Big Love” as he called you began to eat at him. He has accused me outright of having an affair with you. He knows its not true but I think he is building a case to divorce me and nullify the agreement. “
“Have you gone to see Hotchkiss? You need an attorney not a PI who may be involved.”
“He retired years ago. I’ve been using Charles family lawyers. And of course they belong to Charles.”
“First things first, Let me call Skip Jackson, he a really good attorney and friend of mine and is just down the hall. And then I’m going to look into Mr Gordon’s affairs, so to speak.”
From his old days on the force, Jack knew he could go down to city hall and get the available records on Mr. Gordon. Benny the librarian had been been filing documents for 35 years. If there was anything in the public domain about Gordon, Benny would find it.
Benny, stared over the stack of documents between him and Jack.
“I dont understand. It looks like in the last 6 months or so, all the Gordon corporations and subsidiaries have deregistered from this state. In other words, there is no trace of where these business are located, thus where go their profits.”
“Or where are his taxes to pay hard working public servants like you and me Benny, “ Jack joked.
“There is one thing here though that I do find interesting. There does seem to be one law firm that is listed on many of the transfer papers. It has an address in Panama. “
Jack looked at Benny and thought, “I just might be getting in a bit over my head. “
It was a week later when Skip entered Jack’s office with Rachael.
“I’ve just got these details from Panama. It seems the Gordon businesses have all been incorporated in Panama. There is no telling where any money is. It has gone through dozens of shell corporations. It will take a massive effort to track it down.”
Rachel, looked over at Jack. “What do I do”
“Well perhaps we should go see him. Might as find out what he has in store for us?”
Jack followed Rachel’s Jaguar as it drove up the curved entry to the grounds and mansion. She did live fine he thought.
Jack parked his classic black Studebaker GT Hawk, behind the Jag as she walked, key in hand, up to the door.
As she reached to insert the key, the door was ajar and swung open at her push.
Jack followed, listening intently.
“Charles? Charles? Its me, Rachel.”
She walked on through the center hall and turned right into Charles study, the door was open, something that never was allowed. She had never been in the roam alone before.
And she wasn’t this time either. Charles sat in the chair at his desk, brains splattered against the bookcase wall behind him. A vintage pistol lay on the floor at his side.
“Dont touch anything!” Jack shouted, freezing Rachel. Jack picked up the phone and called Lew Martin at Police headquarters, homicide.
After explaining the situation, he put the phone down. “The police will be here in 10 minutes. It gives us time to find what we can. “
Looking down next to Charles he saw a drawer open. A hanging file was spread. There were no contents. The tab read “Jack Driscol”.
Looking at the figure sitting in a suit at his desk he saw a piece of paper slightly pushing out from his handkerchief pocket. Reaching over carefully, he pulled out the unused return half of an airplane ticket.
Jack said, “Its a return ticket…to Panama. He was supposed to leave this afternoon.”
He looked at Rachel, There was no horror in her eyes as she stared at Charles. A Mona Lisa smile formed on her face.
“I’m going to regret this,’ Jack thought.
Chapter 2
It’s Me Under Suspicion
Jack stood in the corner of the opulent home office of the dead man next to the recent widow. Rachel Gordon sat in the deep red leather chair, no emotion showing on her face as the coroner finished taking a series of photos of the body and the room. Dr. Natalie Fontaine was gowned and gloved, taking every precaution to disturb nothing at the crime scene. Slowly evidence was bagged in preparation for taking down to the lab.
“I’ll be done here in a few minutes,” she said to Lew Martin, Detective Lieutenant of the homicide squad. “You can put him in the body bag and get him down to the Morgue. I’ll do a full autopsy then. Should have the results by the this evening.:
“What can you tell me? Do you have a time of death?”
Natalie removed her gown and gloves, putting them into a disposal bag. “I’d say, he died of a gunshot wound maybe around 10 am, two hours before we got here, from the stage of body rigor and blood coagulation. That’s about all I can tell you now until I do a toxicology report. I’ll let you know as soon as I have anything.” And with that she followed the EMTs as they lifted the body onto a gurney and took it to the ambulance waiting outside the front door of the large mansion.
The crime scene techs had finished dusting the room for prints and cataloging all the evidence. “We’re all done here Lieutenant, Sargent Pine reported. “I’ll take this all down to the station and begin to run prints and organize it. Do you want me to stay.?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I just want to finished taking some statements from Mrs. Gordon here…and Jack,” he said staring intently at his former colleague and boss.
“So Jack, tell me why you happen to be here and have called in the murder. ‘
“Lew, don’t you think it is a little early to be calling this a murder. Looks like to me a pretty straightforward suicide,”Jack began. “Look at the pattern of the blood splatter. It spreads out at an angle up from his head onto the books behind. Very much like it would have from being held in his right hand.”
“I think we have a long ways to go before we make a call, said Lew curtly. I assume you can tell me where you were two hours ago.”
“I was in my office. That’s where I was when Mrs. Gordon came in with Skip Jackson. She is a mutual client of ours. We have been working for her for several weeks now.”
Lew eyed him. ‘So what sort of case are you working on, a divorce? I guess that’s a moot situation now? “
“Now Lew, you know that is privileged communication between me and my client.”
“And Mrs. Gordon, where were you at 10 am?”
“I was at my appointment with Mr. Jackson, my attorney. It’s a half hour drive downtown from here and I arrived just before 10am. We reviewed some matters for about an hour and then went over to Mr Driscol’s office and then decided to come here to speak with Charles.”
“Was anyone here in the house with him when you left.”
“ I don’t believe so. I actually did not see Charles this morning. He gets up early and was locked in his office as usual when I came down. I had a coffee and then left for my appointment.”
“So were you two estranged?”
“Charles was always working. He’d been away a lot these last months. I had my life and my son to keep me busy.”
“Does your son live here.”
“Yes he does when he is not at University. He’s a Junior at Wabash College. I presume he is there.”
“Have you contacted him? “
Rachel shook her head. “This has all happened so fast. We got here and called you and you know the rest.”
At this point Jack interrupted. “Look Lew. If you proceed with questioning Mrs. Gordon, I believe it would be better with her attorney present. And there is one thing you should know because I want you to hear it from me. Rachel, Mrs. Gordon, and I were married a long time ago. It was right after I joined the force. It didn’t last very long before we divorced. Its been over twenty-five years. You know how hard it is being a policeman and having a normal family life.”
“Is that why Mr. Gordon had a file with your name on it at his desk? And do you know why there is nothing contained in the folder? “
“He knew about me and Rachel. Look Lew, we touched nothing except the telephone I used to call you. This is how it was when we came in the room.”
“I thought you said the door was locked, Mrs. Gordon.”
“It was when I left. But the door was open when we got here.”
“So you think a guy who commits suicide, is going to get up and unlock his door, leave it half open, then go sit back down and shoot himself?”
Jack spoke. “We do not know what happened here. All we know is what we told you.”
Lew paused. “Ok. Here’s the deal. I will want to open an investigation on all this. I’ll check some things out and then I’ll want to have a talk with you downtown, with your lawyer present Mrs Gordon.
It was three days later in the interrogation room at police headquarters that Skip Jackson, opening the meeting with a question?
“So Lieutenant, are you charging my client with any responsibility in the death of her husband?”
Detective Lieutenant Martin, was sitting in the center chair opposite Rachel, Jack and Skip. On his left was Milton Porter of the firm Porter, Liston and Reed, Charles Gordon’s long time lawyers. On his right was Deputy Prosecutor Wiggins, a small man with a narrow face and a habit of tapping his pen on the table. It was he who spoke”
“At this point we have made a determination of who is guilty. We do believe Charles Gordon was murdered, it was not a suicide.”
Rachael drew her breath in. Jack remained unmoved. He knew the drill. He had led it many times during his stint at Homicide. He decided to take the initiative.
“So Ok Lew, what have you learned.
“You want the facts. Here they are.
One, Charles Gordon had mix of barbiturates and cocaine in his system. But it was the gunshot that killed him
Two. Mr Porter here has reported that Mr. Gordon was preparing to divorce Mrs. Gordon. You were named as the correspondent.
Three. A private investigator had been hired to track your contacts with Mrs. Gordon over the last month. That empty file on Gordon’s desk was the report. We have obtained a copy of it from the investigator documenting the multiple occasions you have been with Mrs Gordon over the last month.
Four. According to the prenup between Mr and Mrs Gordon, she would receive nothing from the estate of Mr Gordon if infidelity was proven.
Five. You Jack have no corroboration that you were in your office between the hours of 9 and 10:30 am.
Six. A black older model car was first seen parked down the street then leaving the area at approximately 10:00 am by a neighbor across from the Gordon house. You still have that black Studebaker don’t you Jack? The security camera in your parking garage shows you arriving at 10:24 am.
Seven. You taught me well Jack. You always said there were two things required for a murder: motive and opportunity. You found yourself still in love with Rachel Gordon and saw the chance to help her keep a large fortune if Gordon died before filing for divorce. Opportunity. You knew Rachel had a meeting with her attorney at 10 am downtown. You were there watching her leave and then went in to confront Charles Gordon. He showed you the file and threatened to cut Rachel off totally from any money or future contact with her son and you killed him. You know how to avoid leaving behind prints or evidence. But it was your ego about your car that tripped you up. You lied to me about your whereabouts at the time of death.”
At this point, it was Deputy Prosecutor Wiggins who’s nasal voice cut in. “Jack Driscol, you are accused of the murder of Charles Gordon. You have the right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney before answering any questions. Anything you say will be taken down and may be used against you.”
Jack looked over at Skip and at Rachel who was shaking her head in disbelief. He then looked straight at Lew. “Yes, I did have an appointment with Gordon, at 9:30 am. He had called me saying he wanted to work this out for Rachel. I did know she had a meeting with Skip at 10 so I thought I’d see what was up. But what he really wanted was for me to go along with his plan. He showed me the file that had been compiled. He offered me $25,000 if I’d help him catch Rachel in an affair with me, if you get my meaning. I told him to go to hell. But I didn’t send him there. I got up and walked out. When I left he was at his desk with the file and that gun sitting on top. I didn’t do it. There was someone else in the house though, I could hear movement upstairs. That’s who you should be looking for.”
Skip cut him off, “Jack please. Say no more. We need to talk first.”
Rachel was staring at Jack, open mouthed and wide eyed in horror.
Wiggins stood up smugly, a blazing intensity in his eyes. “Oh yes, you’ll have your day in court and can try and create your fantasy killer. But first, Lieutenant, place this man under arrest for the murder of Charles Gordon.”
Rachel clutched at Jack’s arm as he stood, putting his hands forward for Martin to put handcuffs on him. He smiled at her “Can you feed Melba for me? She’ll miss me.” he said as he was led out. “Come see me Skip” were his last words as the door shut behind him.
Skip’s reply reverberated back at him, “I’ll have you out soon as possible.”
Lew Martin was behind Jack as they headed down the long corridor to the Booking Desk. Wiggins was already way out in front. “That SOB can’t wait to call a presser and shout out how “he” solved the case. I can see the headlines tomorrow, ‘Disgraced Cop Kills Husband of Lover!’ “, he thought to himself. Even though Jack had been exonerated of the scandal that had led to his removal from the force a few years back, that would not stop Wiggins from promoting the lie…and himself.
Jack looked over at Martin and gave him a confident smile.” Don’t worry Lew, It will be ok. I trust you to do your job.”
Lieutenant Detective Martin had been dealing with killers for over 20 years. And he had known Jack all that time. Jack, though gray now streaking his dark black hair, was still lean and comfortable in his skin, as he had always been. And Lew knew then in his soul that Jack had not killed Gordon.
As the Desk Sergeant took Jack back into the holding cells, Martin stood watching. He vowed to himself, “I’m going to do everything I can to find the real killer. I owe it to Jack.”