Page 4 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

“That is certainly possible,” Kate replied, “but we have to look at all the options, all the possibilities.” She pointed around. “While we’re here, could we have a quick look at his home office, please? We need to see if he left behind anything that would indicate why this happened.”

“Yes, of course you do,” Kendra muttered, reaching up a tired hand to wipe her eyes.

“God, I just want this to be over with.” But she stood up and walked them to a small and extremely neat office.

She even walked over and turned on the desktop, logging in for them.

“I can tell you that he wasn’t the kind to be involved in anything dubious.

He was all about following the book.” Kendra stepped out of the way and watched as they searched the office, filing cabinet, even his emails.

When Kate stood, Kendra stepped out of the doorway so they could pass.

“Thank you,” Kate noted, with a smile to Kendra.

“I’m happy to help. I just want this to go away.”

Kate nodded. “That’s understandable, but the investigation is likely to take us a little bit of time yet.”

“Of course, of course,” Kendra replied, then rubbed at her tears once more. “Can you at least let me know when I’ll be able to,… you know, have the body back?” she asked, stumbling over the phrase.

“As soon as we can, of course.” Kate patted Kendra’s shoulder. “We’ll let you know.”

“Yes, yes,… of course.” Kendra stared at Kate.

“It’s just so hard to believe that anybody could possibly have hit him that much.

You really don’t understand. He was so very mild-mannered, easy to get along with, truly one of the good guys,” she shared, tears filling her eyes instantly.

“Definitely one of the good guys.” And, with that, she started to cry in earnest.

“We’ll let ourselves out,” Kate murmured and headed to the door.

Just as she got to the door, it opened right in front of them, revealing a young woman walking in, looking distressed and in a hurry. She stopped when she saw Kate. “Who are you?” she snapped. “And what are you doing in my house?”

“I presume you are Sharlene. Is this your house?” Kate asked her.

With a wave of her hand, she completely nullified the question.

“Fine,… my mother’s house, my father’s house,” she clarified, tripping over that.

“I guess it’s my mother’s right now. I don’t know.

” Kate pulled out her badge, and the woman started to tear up.

“God,” she whispered. “Where is my mother? How is she?”

“We’ve just finished talking to her, so your return is very good timing.”

“I don’t live here,” she clarified. “I live over on the island, but I had to come and help her,” she whispered. “This is so awful.”

“When did you last see your father?”

“Oh, goodness,” Sharlene said, tucking back some stray hair. “Months ago. Maybe last September even. I don’t think we’ve seen him since.”

“So, you weren’t that close?”

“We came over for a few days every month or so to spend time with Mom and Dad, but Dad,… of course, was very busy,” she stated, with an eye roll.

“He was always busy, always had work to do, and was nearly always off doing work. I suppose, in his own way, it made him happy, but he certainly circumvented all the traditional family requirements by working all the time as he did,” she pointed out, staring at Kate.

Sharlene grimaced. “By the expression on your face, I know what you’ll ask me next.

Do I hate him for it?… God no. I loved him.

I loved him dearly, and he will be sorely missed.

But he was like—and don’t take this the wrong way—a family joke because he was so conscientious and so focused on doing the right thing for the company.

Yet the company didn’t give a crap about him.

Even now I’m sure they’ll just hire somebody else to do his job without a thought, if they haven’t already. ”

“That seems to be the way of the world,” Rodney noted patiently.

“And I think in a way, Dad knew that. I think he understood that he was just another cog in the wheel, but, to him, he was an important cog, and that alone kept him going.”

“Did you ever hear any indication of discontent at his job with anyone?”

“No, and I don’t believe he would ever talk about it if there were,” she stated, with a wave of her hand. “But then again, I never imagined he would be so despondent that he would take his own life.”

Kate frowned at Rodney, then faced Sharlene again. “Your father didn’t take his own life,” she explained. “Unfortunately he was murdered.”

*

Simon stared intently at his longtime banker in front of him and asked, “What did you just say to me?”

David harrumphed and muttered, “I was just thinking that maybe you shouldn’t be quite so anxious to buy more properties, when you’re already heavily invested in the ones that you have.”

Simon slowly raised his gaze to study the man in front of him. “Are you telling me that I’m broke?”

“No, no, of course not. It’s just that some of these buildings”—he waved his hand all around—“they’re hardly prime material.”

“That’s why I buy them,” Simon replied, trying to mask his anger. “And I’ve never had an issue with this bank before. Are you telling me that I’m having an issue now?”

“No, no, of course not.” David rubbed his temples. “I was just thinking that maybe you would do something a little less… touchy.”

“I have no intention of doing that,” Simon declared, with just the hint of a smile. “But if you’ll have a problem with me and how I run my business, I can take my money elsewhere.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do,” he replied, glaring at Simon. “We’ve worked together a long time.”

“Yes, but this is the first time you’ve questioned what I’m doing in my own business and the expenditures that I’m choosing to make. That’s not your place.”

“Yeah, well,… maybe there’s a reason for that,” he admitted, hunching over the papers in front of him. “The real estate market is down, and everything has just gone to shit in the world right now.”

Simon smirked. “Maybe your own personal viewpoint is taking a tumble. Maybe your personal world has gone to shit. I don’t happen to think everything is shit out there, and, by the way, I haven’t lost money on a single building that I own.

So I’m not changing my focus now, no matter what you think or say.

And overstepping boundaries by giving me advice isn’t appreciated,” Simon pointed out, staring at his longtime bank advisor.

David was a sharp, cunning, techy graduate from Harvard, and Simon liked him enough, at least until he opened his mouth today.

“No, of course not,” David conceded, with a sigh, “but it’s just not the same world out there today.”

“No, it’s not. Absolutely, it’s not, but I won’t sit here and get depressed because of it. Maybe the profit margin has shrunk…”

“Hate to point out the obvious, but it’s not only shrunk”—David put down the sheet of paper in front of him—“in some cases, it’s barely a margin at all.”

Simon acknowledged that. “That’s true, but, if I need to produce more money, I can do that.”

David frowned at him. “I don’t even know how the hell you could consistently do that all the time,” he muttered. “I just want you to truly understand what you are getting yourself into.”

“I’ve been buying and rehabbing real estate successfully for years, longer than I’ve known you, in fact.

It’s never been an issue—up until now,” Simon declared in frustration.

“So, I’m a little concerned over this meeting.

I don’t get the intrusion, and it’s not a meeting I called.

So, tell me straight. What is this all about? ”

David sank back in his chair. “Maybe I’m just having a bad day,” he muttered, as he tried to backtrack.

“Maybe,” Simon agreed, studying him carefully. “Problems in the banking world?”

“No, no, no.” He rubbed his forehead. “Never mind. Just forget I said anything.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” He stared at David. “When you say that stuff, it does make people wonder.”

“It’s fine,” he snapped. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“That’s definitely true,” Simon muttered to himself.

They quickly finished their business, Simon signing some paperwork, then heading down to City Hall to address some issues with planning permits.

One of his foremen was supposed to be down here dealing with some of them, but the city had given him quite the runaround, so Simon was about to go raise some hell and see if he couldn’t get things processed faster.

As he went through the downtown area, heading toward City Hall, his mind was consumed with the boxing vision he’d seen earlier.

He hadn’t heard from Kate, so he didn’t know whether anything was connected or she would even tell him.

That was one of the challenges of having her around.

Sometimes he got information from her, and sometimes he didn’t.

He had no right to the official information, and he knew that all too well.

The biggest challenge was always letting go of some of the things he got glimpses of, but generally, as long as he kept his psychic information flowing, the detectives kept their forensic information flowing in return.

Yet Simon understood on a personal level if some people didn’t want him to know anything. He was stuck in this weird loophole.