Page 43 of Brokered Betrayals
Sawyer chuckled. “No. Darla and Royce are napping, but you don’t have to whisper too.”
“You should nap with them,” Charlie said.
“I was, but I woke up and needed a snack. What’s up?”
“I’m currently questioning my good judgment and probably my sanity too,” Charlie replied.
That made Sawyer chuckle. “Still?”
“More so now than ever, but I made you a promise. You are a dear friend, and I love you like a brother, so despite myreservations, I have some updates for you.” Charlie cleared his throat. “And this goes without saying, but I need this to stay between us.”
“I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone other than Royce,” Sawyer promised.
“The person at the heart of the investigation is Shania Price. She’s the owner of the adoption agency with the unethical practice allegations. I interviewed her within hours of the accident. Shania admitted to having a heated exchange with Ned Owens but denied threatening him with physical violence.”
“No one ever admits to doing that,” Sawyer said.
“To be fair, we only heard about those alleged threats through secondhand information.”
“The bread and butter of most investigations,” Sawyer pointed out.
“True, but I still have to prove it. The only irrefutable evidence right now is Shania’s alibi. The woman has cameras on all the doors of her house, plus coverage of the driveway going all the way to the street. Their vehicles never moved, and both she and her husband were seen taking their dogs in and out to do their business at various times. The kids left for school and got on the bus at the end of the driveway. Shania and Peyton stayed home.”
“Doesn’t mean she’s not responsible,” Sawyer argued. “She could’ve hired it done or someone could’ve acted on her behalf out of misplaced loyalty.”
“Yes, and that’s why I’m trying to learn everything I can about Shania and Peyton. On the surface, everything looks good. They live within their means, they pay their bills on time, they have consistent work histories, and neither has a criminal record. There’s nothing that jumps out or would justify a warrant to dig deeper. And I’ve had to be cautious about interviewing peoplethey know because I don’t want to tip them off. But I finally got lucky.”
“How?”
Charlie chuckled and said, “The receptionist at the agency seemed very uncomfortable during our first interview at the office, so I managed to bump into her at the grocery store. Reese was nervous at first, but we bonded over our favorite chips in the snack aisle. That’s when she suggested I look at Landen Jordan for Ned’s death.”
“Who’s that?” Sawyer asked.
“Shania’s stepbrother. He recently moved here from Atlanta, and Reese claims the two are very close. She even leaned in and whispered the last part, her wide-eyed expression telling me the salacious parts she didn’t want to say out loud.”
“Interesting,” Sawyer said.
“Uh-huh. So, I prompted her for a little more. At first, she focused on how sleazy Landen is before launching into how much time the stepsiblings spent together and how uncomfortable their body language makes her feel.”
“So, she thinks they’re fu—” The word died on Sawyer’s lips when he looked down at his innocent daughter. “Um, intimate.”
Charlie chuckled, then said, “Cleaning up my language was one of the hardest things about becoming a dad. You learn some bad habits around the cop shop.”
“Very true,” Sawyer said, casting his gaze at the box of donuts on the counter.
“Anyway,” Charlie said. “There’s nothing illegal about having an affair, not even with your stepbrother, but I looked closer at this Landen Jordan character anyway. Reese thought he was bad news, and her intuition was spot on. The dude has an arrest record longer than my leg, and he’s served time for boosting cars, receiving and selling stolen property, and assault. Turns out vice already had Landen on their radar because he works fora guy we suspect of running a chop shop from his auto repair garage. And guess whose previous employer in Atlanta is in prison for the same crime?”
“Landen.”
“Yep,” Charlie said. “Vice has documented Landen driving a dark late-model BMW with blacked-out windows. He usually comes and goes at night, so they’re not sure if the car is black or navy blue. The woman who’d discovered Ned Owens on the side of the road is certain she encountered the vehicle that had struck him. She’d nearly collided with a dark blue or black sedan when it ran a stop sign and barreled through an intersection at high speeds. The windows had a dark tint, so she couldn’t glimpse the driver, but she said there was clear damage to the front of the vehicle. She realized it had struck something and fled the scene. Her intuition told her that someone needed help, so she turned down that road instead of continuing forward. That’s when she found Ned.”
Sawyer rubbed a hand over his face instead of muttering the expletive that came so naturally to his tongue. “How terrible for her.”
“Yeah, she was devastated,” Charlie said. “I confirmed with Reese that she’s seen Landen driving a navy blue BMW with blacked-out windows, so I’m positive we know who killed Ned Owens and why.”
Hope flared in Sawyer’s heart. “That’s good news, Charlie.”
“Don’t congratulate me yet,” his friend said. “Our suspects pulled a disappearing act before I could bring them into the station for an official interview.”