Page 49 of Den of Iniquity

“And you’re thinking a lot of that evidence may not have been examined very closely?”

“Exactly,” Sandra Sechrest said, “and guess what? I can provide all the case numbers.”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” I said.

“Give me those names again.”

So I did.

“Okay,” she said, rising to her feet. “Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

She had no more than left the room when there was a tap on the door. When it opened, a frowning Scott Beaumont stepped inside. “I was coming on shift, and the clerk downstairs told me you were here. What’s up?”

I was momentarily stumped as to where to start. “Working a closed case,” I said. “It’s something Ben Weston asked me to look into.”

“Darius Jackson?”

Obviously he and Ben had discussed the situation. “Yup,” I said. “That’s the one.”

“Making any progress?”

“Maybe,” I said. “I’ve uncovered some other cases with similar circumstances. Detective Sechrest is helping me look into them.”

“Good-o,” Scott said. “Glad to hear it. If there’s anything I can do...”

The way he said it made me think he was about to head to his desk, but I needed to discuss a few other things with him before he left.

“Have you heard anything from Kelly?” I asked.

Scott frowned. “No, why? Is something wrong?”

Actually a whole lot of things were wrong, and I had been sitting on them. I gave him a very short version of the current family situation, leaving out the puzzling part about Caroline Richards having grown up as part of Witness Protection. Unsurprisingly, Scott was outraged.

“So Kyle is staying with you and Mel, Kelly and Kayla are living in an apartment in Eugene, and Jeremy is shacked up with his pregnant girlfriend in the house Kelly paid off with her inheritance?”

“That’s about the size of it,” I agreed.

“If I had known all this was going on, I would have driven down to Ashland and cleaned his clock.”

“I expect that’s part of the reason Kelly didn’t tell either one of us,” I said, “but don’t go off half-cocked. When I saw Kelly, she was holding it together, but only just barely. You can let her know that I told you about what’s going on, but don’t go inserting yourself into the drama. She’s dealing with enough right now, and your going to fist-city with Jeremy won’t help matters.”

Scott was about to take issue with that when Detective Sechrest showed back up with a piece of Post-it paper in her hand.

“Here they are...” she began. “Hey, Scotty. Sorry to interrupt. I was getting your dad some case numbers.” She handed them over. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Will do.”

Once she exited, Scott was still there. “I can hardly believe all this crap,” he muttered. “I never really warmed up to Jeremy, but I always thought the two of them had the perfect life.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “You’re not the only one,” I said. “My mother always used to say, ‘What you don’t know can’t hurt you,’ but for the record, I think she was wrong about that, because it sure as hell can.”

Chapter 23

Bellingham, Washington

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

By the time I left Seattle PD, a few minutes before fivep.m., it was raining pitchforks and hammer handles. I was soaked to the skin before I made it back to the parking garage. When it came time to pay the piper there, I was left with a severe case of sticker shock. When did parking in downtown Seattle get to be so expensive?