Page 45 of Ghostly Bother
Betty smiled. "Go rest. I'll be here if there are problems. Tell Jackson we're all looking forward to him coming home soon."
"I will." Lance wished he could give Betty a hug. "Thanks for this."
"Anything for my boys." She blew him a kiss. "Sleep well."
Lance headed to his bedroom, praying that Eden didn't follow.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Angus did not want to be working on a Saturday morning, but he didn't have a choice. He had too many loose ends that needed tied up. Today he would start going through names one by one and taking a close look at each alibi, and hopefully, crossing names off his list. He was still waiting for several warrants to come through, and he had a few more interviews set up for the following week, but slowly, he was crossing off suspects.
He didn't sleep well. He'd been away from home so long that he'd forgotten how his mother's music was almost constantly on. He didn't mind the heavy metal. Growing up with it, he'd learned to enjoy it, but he was used to the quiet of his and Lance's home where there wasn't music playing at all hours. His mother shut it off when she went to bed, but last night she'd stayed up until nearly two, working on her puzzle. Just like when he'd been a child, she'd been up and cooking him a full breakfast before he left for work. He loved her like crazy, but he missed being with Lance even more.
He glanced up as Detective Amy Burns walked in. She dropped her purse down on her desk and started rustling through the bag. Angus watched, wondering how women could find anything in a purse that size. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"
"Gretta didn't come home last night." Amy looked upset as she tied her long hair back into a ponytail.
"Is she okay? Have you heard from her?" Angus asked, a rush of worry coursing through him.
"Oh, she's far from okay. She's lost her ever-loving mind. My sister spent the night with your partner." Amy pointed at Angus as if this was his fault. "She sent a text late last night, after sheknew I'd be in bed, to tell me she was staying with Franks all night." Amy sat down hard in her chair. "Franks. What the hell, Angus? Did you know about this?"
Angus held up his hands as if to defend himself from her. He'd known about Franks' date, but not that it had been with Gretta. The news shocked but thrilled him. He could see the two of them together. Maybe she was exactly what Franks needed. "They're both adults. I think it's great that they are getting along. They both need someone good in their lives."
"But Franks? Seriously? She picks Franks. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a good guy, but this is my sister we're talking about. Franks isn't even her type." Amy shook her head. "I don't get it."
"What is her type? The asshole husband who treated her like shit for so many years?" Angus raised a brow. "Maybe her type is changing. Franks is a bit rough around the edges, but he's a good man. He won't hurt Gretta."
She sighed and dropped her head to her desk. "I know. He is a good guy. It's just that my sister is still dealing with a lot. She just got divorced. She needs time."
"Franks isn't going to slip a ring on her finger after one night. For all we know they're just enjoying each other's company. Give your sister some credit. She was married for a long time. Let her have some fun. Franks is perfect for her. He's not going to manipulate her or push her into something she's not ready for. Hell, I bet Franks is more relationship phobic than Gretta is." Though Angus was surprised, because Franks never took his dates home. If he'd taken Gretta to his place, that meant she was something more than the others he went out with.
"That's another worry. What if she wants to start a relationship with Franks and he doesn't want anything serious? He's going to break her heart." Amy groaned and reached for hercoffee mug. She stood and went to fill it from the pot Angus had just made.
"Are you listening to yourself? Your sister is an adult. She knows the risk and rewards. I'm sure they're talking about things so one doesn't expect more than the other is willing to give. She's not some virgin going out on prom night. She doesn't need you to protect her." Angus was amused at how upset Amy was about this, but he kept his face serious, not letting on the direction of his thoughts. He had enough problems of his own when it came to relationships right now. He didn't need Amy to be mad at him now when Lance was barely speaking to him.
"Talk to me about something else. Where are we on Eden Anderson's case?" Amy sat back, holding the coffee mug with two hands as she blew over the hot liquid.
"Nowhere. At least not with her murder. Franks and I found what we think is where the bribe money was going. Her sister is buying a lot of properties and expensive toys. Things that could easily be shared with Eden and her family. Condos, boats, cars, and I'm sure a bunch of other things I have yet to uncover. I wouldn't be shocked to find out that she has a nice bank account overseas somewhere where they've been stashing the rest of the money." Angus tapped the file in front of him. "I'm searching for property overseas in her name right now, but as you can expect, it's slow going. It's a big world out there, and a lot of tropical islands to weed through."
"Interesting. It makes sense. If I was going to trust anyone it would be my sister. And I'd want her to enjoy the benefits of the money as much as I do. If she didn't trust her husband, then I can see why she worked with her sister. Maybe Eden had a feeling her husband was going to divorce her and the best way to hide the money and any property from him was to have her sister's name on everything. You'd think at some point the I.R.S. would ask questions, but in small enough amounts, youcan move the money around easily enough." Amy set her coffee down.
"It's great we know where the money was going, but that's not helping our murder case. I'm sitting here investigating someone else's case instead of solving her murder." Angus tossed his pen down. "Anyone could have wanted her dead. Almost every department funded by the city is hurting and has either had budget cuts or layoffs due to lack of funding. It wouldn't shock me to find out it was some sweet old lady who works at the library upset because she couldn't fund the summer reading program."
Amy nodded. "Agree, but I think our killer had to be younger. Stronger. Strangling someone looks easy, but it's not as simple as you might think. Let's look at what we know." Amy opened a file on her computer. "Okay, so we know from the angle of bruising around Eden's neck the killer was probably several inches taller than her. So, Eden is five-foot-four. Her killer had to be around five-eight. Shoe prints show Eden's heels dug into the dirt, but also what appears to be boot heels digging into the area behind Eden's prints. So, we're looking for someone taller who wears boots. That eliminates Mrs. Carson from the library."
"You know her name?" Angus raised a brow.
"I read a lot." Amy shrugged.
"We know whoever killed her was aware Eden was planning on meeting Lucas that night and where the meeting was happening. Lucas Jenkin swears that he didn't tell anyone. Even his wife wasn't aware of the meeting. He claims he was the only one involved with the bribes and no one else in his company knew he was getting contracts this way. If he's telling the truth, then Eden had told someone where she was going. Several of her office staff were aware the bribes were taking place, but they all swear they had nothing to do with them and that Eden handled everything on her own. If she was giving the money to her sisterto protect, then she might have told her sister where she was going." Angus was frustrated. This was the kind of information Eden could give them if she was willing to talk about her case. He couldn't understand her desire to protect people when one of them was probably the person who killed her. It wasn't like they weren't going to find out who was involved in the pay-to-play scheme she had set up.
"From the interviews I've conducted at the Mayor's Office, Eden didn't have any close friends. She went out with staff for drinks from time to time, but no one knew of a best friend or someone she would just hang out with. Other than her sister and husband, it appears she didn't have much of a social life," Amy told him.
"Have we gotten call records from Eden's office yet?" Angus asked.
"Not yet. The city's legal team is fighting us on everything. They're claiming confidentiality issues and that calls to and from the Mayor's Office could hold confidential information. We'll get the call logs, but it's just going to take longer than normal. The roadblocks we're running into make me question everyone who works there. Too many secrets for a place that is supposed to serve the community. The governor is aware of these issues and has his staff investigating. I'm hearing he might work with the city council to totally restructure things. The problem with that is that the council is almost as dirty as the mayor was. It's going to take time for this city to recover from the damage she's done. And while she was taking bribes from business owners in the area, many think she was skimming money from the city as well. We know she's remodeled her office, leased new vehicles for her and her staff, and focused money on things that affected her life while the rest of the city went without, but many I interviewed hinted that she was also skimming off what they called petty cash. Being it was the city's petty cash the amount wasn't sopetty at times." Amy leaned back. "I can't say that she wasn't close enough to someone in her office and might have shared her plans to meet Mr. Jenkin that night, but I couldn't begin to guess who, if there was someone."
Again, simple questions Eden could answer if she wasn't fighting them on everything. He'd never known a ghost who refused to help find their killer. This was crazy. He pulled up the evidence log and the forensic results on those items. "Eden's hair was on the scarf. Her husband confirmed it was hers. But there was also another hair, just a shade darker than Eden's."
