Page 17 of Gage
“I’ve got it covered, Dad. Stay here and see what we can do to help Suzanna. If something comes up and I need you, I’ll call.”
“Now the rest of you, head to the living room and get comfortable. I’ll clear the table and then I have to head to the office for a bit.” Ms. Patti smiled at Suzanna, before adding, “There’s no nine to five in real estate. When the client calls, I gotta go.”
“Please let me help with the cleanup.”
“Nonsense. Besides, you need to talk to Destiny and Dane, make sure they know exactly what you need security-wise to keep you protected.”
Gage stepped up behind her and placed his hand in the small of her back, guiding her to the living room, and to the sofa, where he perched on the arm next to her. Destiny slouched on the cushion beside her, and Suzanna looked closely at her tattoos, admiring the artwork. Whoever designed them was a true artist. The ink was striking and vibrant, and made her wish she’d gotten one of her own. Except she hated needles, refused to get anywhere near one. She was a big chicken when it came to pain.
“Suzanna, first, I want to make sure you know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. Security on our spread is some of the best you’ll find anywhere. We had a couple of incidents in the past, and let’s just say it made us cognizant of the need to ramp up our protections.” Douglas leaned back in the big comfy chair in the corner, and folded his arms over his chest. “Nobody gets onto our ranch unless we want them here.We’ve got a pretty good size spread, and every square foot of it is monitored in one way or another. You’ll be safe here.”
“Thank you. Not feeling safe? That’s something new for me. Until Steven—my late husband—died, I never had a moment’s worry about security. In an instant that changed.” She shuddered, remembering Steven’s body lying in the bed, his eyes open and staring sightlessly in death.
“Destiny beefed up some of the cameras around the back of the property, close to the house, as well as the ones covering the front gate.” Dane smiled at his wife, leaning over to ruffle her short hair.
“Stop! We’re talking business here, and I need to act like I know what I’m talking about.” Destiny pulled out some type of remote from her pocket and pointed it at the television. The screen came on, displaying several camera shots in bright color. “I upgraded these babies where they have high-def, infrared capability, and night vision. These are military grade, not available on the marketplace yet. I’ve got connections with a government supplier, and I help test new products. These cameras and alarms will be used for government bases and buildings within the next six months. Trust me when I tell you, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Nobody is going to kidnap you, not on my watch.”
For the first time since she’d left New Orleans, she relaxed, letting the tension in her muscles loose. “I don’t know what to say. You people don’t know me, yet you’re opening your home, offering me protection. I don’t know what to say except thank you.”
Ms. Patti came in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron before taking it off and tossing it to Douglas. “You’re a friend of Gage. That’s all that matters. We take care of our own. By the way, I don’t think you had anything to do with your husband’s death. You haven’t got it in you to hurt anybody.”Ms. Patti leaned down and gave Gage a hug. “Now I’ve got to run. There are brownies in the container on the table, if y’all get hungry later.”
Leaning close to her side, Gage whispered, “I told you, everything’s going to be alright.” With that, Gage stood and walked into the kitchen, only to come back with two enormous brownies, gooey with chocolate frosting and handed her one.
“Dig in. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gage decided tomeet Chance at his office, which was in the court house building on the second floor. As the district attorney for Shiloh Springs county, the man spent far too much of his time in his office—at least according to Ms. Patti and his fiancée, Tina. Ranger was with him, leaving Bas to babysit Suzanna back at the Big House.
Since it was a Saturday, Chance’s assistant wasn’t at her desk, so Gage and Ranger walked straight back into his office with a perfunctory knock on the doorjamb, since the door stood ajar. Chance looked up and motioned them forward, pointing at the chairs. His landline phone held to his ear, he frowned, like whatever he was hearing wasn’t good news. Within a few seconds, he hung up.
“Morning, guys. Thanks for meeting me here. I swear I spend more time in this office than I do at my own place. Tina’s always ragging on me, wondering why I’m paying for a mortgage when I spend all my time stuck here. Sometimes I question my sanity and wonder why I ran for the position of district attorney in the first place.”
“Maybe because you like helping people, and putting away the bad guys?” Ranger’s quip pretty much summed up Gage’s opinion too. Chance was a good guy, one of the best. And he had the typical Boy Scout mentality all the Boudreaus seemed to carry.
“Anyway, I got the death certificate and autopsy report you asked for on Steven Dawkins, although I understand you’ve already seen them.” Chance shot him a look, and Gage shrugged.
“Carpenter Security’s computer guy got me a copy after I had talked to you. You have a chance to look at the autopsy yet?”
“Yes. As a prosecutor, I have to say I would never go to trial with that for evidence. I checked and the chief medical examiner for Dallas County was out of the state at a conference at the time of Steven Dawkins autopsy. He’d normally be the one to perform an autopsy on a high profile case like Dawkins. But going by this report, I’m seeing red flags almost immediately.” Chance tapped the stack of papers on his desk. “First, the cause of death is listed as a homicide. I think that’s probably the only thing they got right. Look at the date and time of death. Those are incorrect. They’ve listed them as when the body was found, not giving an actual or accurate time of death. Then you’ve got the amount of time it took to perform the autopsy.”
“We all noticed that right away. Thirty-five minutes? I understand the cause of death seems obvious, but somebody fell down on the job. This is either rushed or botched or maybe both. Is it a deliberate mishandling of the reporting? I don’t know. Then there’s no record of a tox screen being done, though I bet if you check into it, there was one. As far as I know, isn’t that routine on any possible homicide case?” Gage leaned forward in his chair. “I also spoke with Suzanna. She said her husband wasn’t taking any medications other than a prescribed inhaler for his asthma, which was well controlled and he rarely had to take the inhaler. He’d just gotten a clean bill of health from his physician, too, so it’s pretty easy to take the leap and say the multiple stab wounds and slit throat were the cause of death.”
“I’m surprised Suzanna didn’t wake up while all this was happening. Doesn’t it seem odd she’d sleep through the whole thing? I mean, her husband had to be thrashing around, possiblyfighting with his assailant.” Ranger ran a hand across his jaw, before taking a deep breath. “Even sound asleep, if somebody started stabbing me, pretty sure I’d wake up and start fighting back, trying to stop them. Unless Dawkins wasn’t able to fight back. If he’d been incapacitated with something like Rohypnol or GHB, he might not have been able to move, much less put up a struggle.”
“That makes sense. Somebody slips him the drug, waits until he and Suzanna are asleep, and makes his move, killing Dawkins and getting away without being caught.” Gage nodded, the theory making sense.
Chance raised his hand, and laid it on his heart. “I’m going to play devil’s advocate here, so don’t bite my head off, okay? You’re all assuming Suzanna is innocent. But, what if she is the one who drugged her husband and stabbed him? That’s the track the police are taking. She’s the primary suspect, and they are building a case as her being the person who killed her husband. Being alone with him, in the same bed, gives her the perfect opportunity to end his life. She stabs him multiple times, cuts his throat, and before she can raise an alarm or try to leave, she’s found by the maid, still covered in Dawkins’ blood. She plays the perfect victim. Maybe she could say somebody killed her husband and they were going to kill her too, but something spooked them and they ran, leaving her to take the blame.”
“But that’s not what she’s claiming,” Gage broke into Chance’s theory, unable to sit still while thinking about Suzanna being accused. “She says she was asleep when the maid screamed. Until that moment, she had no idea anything had happened. Not until she saw all the blood and realized Dawkins was dead.”
“Again, we only have her word for things,” Chance tapped the edge of the autopsy report. “Trust me, I’m going to be all over this. I’ve already sent a notification to the chief coroner, askingfor clarification of the things we just discussed. But, we have to be ready for pushback from the Dallas police. They are running with the theory she murdered her husband for his money. There isn’t any evidence pointing to another suspect. Suzanna is at the top of the list.”
Gage leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling, drawing a deep breath. He understood where Chance was coming from. He was a prosecutor, he looked at the facts of a case, what it would take to convince a jury of guilt. On paper, Suzanna looked like the perfect perpetrator. She was married to an older man. Lots of people suspected their marriage was about money.
“What about Dawkins’ will? Who stands to inherit his fortune, the business, his estate?” Ranger leaned forward, his gaze going between Gage and Chance. “I know cops, they are going to be looking at the money trail. Who stands to benefit the most from Dawkins death? Usually it’s the widow, i.e. Suzanna, but is she the sole beneficiary? Is there an insurance policy that would up the ante?”
“This is a bit of a tricky situation. I need to talk with Mrs. Dawkins, but the will hasn’t finishing going through the probate court yet. The courts are going to appoint an executor of the estate, which will deal with making sure everything Mr. Dawkins wanted and that is outlined in his will is handled promptly. Unless it’s contested. Gage, you have any idea if somebody is going to fight her for Dawkins’ estate?”
