Crimes Past Page 14

Sanchez shot a glance in Underwood’s direction. For a long moment, no one made a sound. No one moved.

  “How—” Underwood stopped and cleared his throat. “How did it happen? Did she overdose or something?”

  “Why would you think she OD’d?” Mac asked.

  The two men exchanged glances before Underwood answered. “Derringer always made like she had it all together, but she didn’t. We saw tiny cracks in her tough-as-nails exterior.”

  “What kind of cracks?” David accepted Mac’s offer of a pool cue.

  “There were mornings when we could tell she was hung over,” Sanchez said.

  “How did she die?” Underwood asked. “Was it suicide or an accident?”

  “Someone put two bullets in her chest.” David chalked his cue stick.

  While setting up the balls on the table next to theirs, Mac saw Underwood and Sanchez exchange long glances. Underwood swallowed and hung his head.

  “Do you have any suspects?” Sanchez asked.

  “We believe someone pretended to have a delivery for her to get her to let him into her hotel room,” Mac said.

  “Isn’t that how the killer got into the honeymoon suite to kill Brie and Trevor?” Underwood asked. “Pretending to be a hotel employee delivering champagne?”

  Chalking his cue stick, Mac nodded his head.

  “Where were you two this morning?” David asked before taking the first shot to break the balls.

  “We hiked down here around nine o’clock this morning and went kayaking,” Underwood said. “We pulled in on the other side of the lake and hiked awhile. Then we paddled back. We got in about forty minutes ago.”

  “As upscale as this resort is, you gotta have the shooter on security video, Mac,” Sanchez said.

  “My security people are on it.” Mac took his turn at the table. “Did anyone see the two of you while you were kayaking?”

  “Maybe a couple of folks fishing on the dock,” Sanchez said with a growl. “Things didn’t get busy here until about a half hour ago.”

  “Listen, we can alibi each other,” Underwood said. “And Rod will confirm that he saw Sanchez renting the kayaks. He was drinking coffee and reading the paper on the dock when we pushed out.”

  “What motive would we have to kill Gannon and Derringer?”

  David watched Mac line up the next shot. “Maybe they figured out you two killed Brie and Trevor.”

  “Why the hell would we have done that?” Sanchez asked.

  “Brie almost broke up Underwood’s marriage.” Leaning across the table to take his shot, Mac peered up at them. “She screwed around with your partner’s family and then here she is having a huge fairy tale wedding.” He took a hard shot, sending balls scattering across the table in every direction. “Doesn’t seem right.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Underwood said. “And if I had my way, we wouldn’t have even gone to the wedding, but Joan insisted.”

  “What kind of woman would want to go to her husband’s mistress’s wedding?” David asked.

  “To show her,” Underwood said with a roll of his eyes. “No way was she going to let Brie think that we were hiding in shame.”

  “Underwood was with me the whole time on the night Brie and Trevor got killed,” Sanchez said. “We were all together. Him and Joan and Clarissa and me. You can ask Harrington. He joined us for a drink.”

  “That was right before Kassandra went upstairs and found the bodies,” Underwood said. “All five of us were together.”

  “Except when Joan went back to the car,” Sanchez said.

  Underwood’s eyes grew wide. “She was only gone a couple of minutes.”

  Noticing a harsh tone in Underwood’s voice, Mac and David exchanged glances.

  “Then you weren’t all together the whole time,” David said.

  “Joan realized that we had forgotten to bring in their wedding gift,” Underwood said. “She went to the car to get it.”

  “How long was she gone?” Mac asked.

  “Only a couple of minutes.”

  “Did anyone go with her?”

  “No.” Underwood slammed his pool cue onto the table. “What are you trying—”

  Mac grabbed his arm. “The person I really want to know about is Derringer.”

  “You just said Derringer was dead.”

  “We have reason to believe she was involved in Gannon’s murder,” Mac said. “You were there last night. Gannon admitted talking to the second witness but before he could do anything, he got arrested and Derringer took over the division. She had to have found his notes.”

  “She said she didn’t,” Underwood said.

  “Did you believe her?” Mac asked.

  Underwood slowly shook his head.

  “Why did she agree to be one of Brie’s bridesmaids?” Mac asked.

  “We never could understand that,” Sanchez said with a shake of his head.

  “Disliking someone is not reason enough to kill them,” Mac said. “The four of you worked closely together in the months leading up to the murder.”

  “Close enough for you to notice that some mornings Derringer appeared hung over,” David said. “What else did you observe?”

  “Derringer changed after Bruno got killed.” Sanchez told David, “Bruno Gordon had been Derringer’s partner when she was in vice. They got really close. That’s why she transferred to homicide. The two of them were involved and that’s against police department policy. When he died …” His voice trailed off.

  “I think Derringer thought Trevor should have been able to do something to save him,” Underwood said.

  “Gordon stepped out of the car and got shot,” Mac said. “What could he have done unless he saw the shooter ahead of time?”

  “He got out of the car because Trevor and Brie were fighting,” Sanchez said.

  Stunned by this news, Mac cocked his head. “Brie was there?”

  “On the phone.” Sanchez held his hand up to his ear with the little finger pointed at his mouth and his thumb at his ear, making a signal of a phone call. “Brie and Trevor were engaged at that point. Brie got drunk and called Trevor on his cell—madder than hell about something—and the two of them got into a huge fight. It got so bad that Bruno couldn’t listen to them anymore. He stepped out of the car and the next thing you know—it was officer down.”

  “I’d investigated that case—” Mac’s voice rose— “and nowhere was there any evidence of Bruno getting out of the car because Trevor was fighting with his girlfriend when he was supposed to be watching his partner’s back.”

  “That’s why he and Brie felt so guilty about it,” Sanchez said. “We only found out about it a couple of days before the wedding. Underwood and I were driving Trevor home after his bachelor party. He was drunk and crying like a baby. He felt like it wasn’t right that he and Brie were getting married since Bruno and Dani couldn’t.”

  “Brie stopped drinking because Bruno got killed,” Underwood said. “If she hadn’t been drunk, she never would have called Trevor. They wouldn’t have gotten into that fight and Bruno wouldn’t have gotten out of the car and been shot.”

  “Did Derringer know about any of this?” David asked.

  Underwood and Sanchez exchanged long silent looks before they both shrugged their shoulders.

  “If she knew at the time of Bruno’s shooting,” Mac said, “she would have told me. Trevor would have been suspended and brought up for review.”

  “What if she’d found out later, like they did?” David asked Mac while tossing his head in Sanchez and Underwood’s direction. “If so, Derringer had a very good motive to want Brie and Trevor dead. Murdered on their wedding night? You can’t miss the symbolism. In Derringer’s eyes, they stole her and Bruno’s happily ever after. She’d feel justified to take theirs.”

  “But Lynda talked t
o a man,” Sanchez said.

  “We don’t know for certain that man was the killer.” Recalling the difference in the year of the champagne checked out and the bottle found at the scene, Mac asked, “Did you see Derringer in the hour leading up to the discovery of the bodies?”

  “She was sitting at the bar,” Sanchez said. “I saw her there most of the time. I remember because when Harrington joined us he said he had to go talk to her first. He whispered in her ear and kissed her on the cheek.” He smiled. “I remember it so clearly because in all the years I’d known Harrington, I’d never seen him do something so … affectionate. It was weird. Creepy even.”

  “Harrington had been Derringer’s boss and mentor for a long time,” Mac said.

  “Bruno Gordon had been one of his best detectives,” Sanchez said. “I guess they shared that loss in common.”

  “We’d all lost something important,” Underwood said.

  The sunny day, companioned with a slight breeze and the beautiful kaleidoscope of colors among the leaves, made the horrid events of that weekend seem surreal. After a pitcher of beer and sandwiches at Robin’s Pub, Mac and David trekked up the trail to the top of the mountain.

  They broke through the trees at the rose garden, where Kassandra and the event planner were checking on the florist’s finishing touches in the garden chapel for the next day’s ceremony. Upon seeing them, Kassandra excused herself and joined them on the path leading to the entrance to the outdoor cafe. “We heard about Dani. This is a nightmare. Hector won’t tell me anything.”

  “Hector?” Mac was startled by her use of the security manager’s first name.

  “The good looking Australian tailing me.”

  “It is an open police investigation,” Mac said. “You know how it works, Kassandra. We can’t comment on an open police investigation.”

  “Does that mean I should cancel our date for cocktails? He said I might be able to seduce information out of him.”

  “Well, there’s no harm in trying,” Mac said.

  “I spotted him last night.” She blushed. “I told him that since he’s got me under surveillance why not have some fun with it and be my date for the weekend. He thought it was a great idea.” She cleared her throat. “I have a weakness for rugged men with Australian accents.”

  “Well,” Mac said, “I’m glad someone is having a good time this weekend.”

  “Is Dani’s murder connected to Brie’s and Trevor’s?” she asked. “Can you at least tell me that?”

  “Right now, we’re not sure,” David said.

  “Lou had said that he only found out about the second witness on the day the feds arrested him for that nasty business with his son.”

  “After Gannon’s arrest, allegedly Derringer was the only one who had access to sous chef’s information,” Mac said.

  “Maybe the killer took Dani out to shut her up,” Kassandra asked.

  “Why?” Mac stopped and turned to face her. “Derringer had kept her mouth shut all these years. I’m more inclined to think she was killed in retaliation for Brie’s and Trevor’s murders. After Underwood and Sanchez brought up the sous chef, someone realized Derringer had to be in on it and got their revenge.”

  “Are you thinking Dani—” Kassandra shook her head. “She was at the reception. She was never gone long enough to kill them.”

  “I’ve noticed that you’re not saying she wouldn’t have done it,” David said.

  “Brie and Dani had to be the worst pairing of detectives I’d ever seen,” Kassandra said. “Dani had no respect for Brie. She felt Brie was too much of a drama queen, and she was right.”

  “Then why did she agree to be one of Brie’s bridesmaids?” Mac asked.

  Kassandra shook her head with a shrug of her shoulders. “She was pleasant with the other bridesmaids. Mind you, she never got close enough to them to become friends. I’d known Dani for over twenty years. She’d never gotten close to anyone. But, leading up to the wedding, she softened a little bit.”

  “Dani?” Mac chuckled. “Soft?”

  “I said ‘a little,’” Kassandra said. “Dani was a very serious, no nonsense woman. One could even say she was devoid of emotion. Never made small talk. Never talked about her personal life. But, in the weeks leading up to the wedding, she seemed to warm up. I remember she and I had a long conversation at the bachelorette party a couple of days before the wedding. I had lost my husband on 9-11. Not even a year had passed. Dani understood. She had recently been devastated because she had lost someone she was close to.”

  “That someone was Bruno Gordon,” Mac said.

  Kassandra’s mouth hung open while she shook her head. “I had no idea. She never told me who it was.”

  “As a bridesmaid, she had access to all of the wedding plans,” Mac said. “Arrangements at the hotel. Everyone’s schedule. Who was going to be where.”

  “Of course, but—” Kassandra’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?”

  “Why else would she agree to be a bridesmaid for someone she didn’t even like?” David asked.

  Kassandra’s face grew pale. “That night, at the bachelorette party, when I was talking about how losing Gina would rip me apart, Dani took my hand and squeezed it. I remember now there was a look in her eye—like a knowing look. She said that she had a feeling that Brie would never be able to take Gina away or hurt anyone ever again.” She raised her eyes to Mac. “She said those words. ‘Brie would never hurt anyone ever again.’”

  “Because she blamed Brie for Bruno’s death,” Mac said.

  “Because Brie was fighting with Trevor,” Kassandra said in a soft voice.

  “You knew about that?” David asked.

  “Brie swore me to secrecy. She blamed herself because Bruno got out of the car so he didn’t have to listen to the two of them. She gave up drinking after that.”

  “That wasn’t enough to bring Bruno back,” David said.

  “But Dani couldn’t have killed them,” Kassandra said forcibly. “The second witness saw a man.”

  “I think Derringer became a bridesmaid to gather intel for the killer,” Mac said. “After the murders, she used her position as a homicide detective to protect him—or rather she tried to. She tried to force her way into the investigation, but I wouldn’t let her on the inside. I thought it was suspicious at the time, but she explained it as wanting justice for her partner.”

  “A partner she hated,” she said. “It makes sense. She covered the killer’s tracks when Lynda, the second witness, came forward. Either she or the murderer made sure the sous chef had an accident before she gave her statement.”

  “Last night, the killer realized Derringer was a liability since it was a short list of who had access to information about Lynda,” Mac said. “He had to take her out.”

  “Now, we need to find out who her accomplice was,” Kassandra said.

  “Do you know who else had information about Lynda?” Mac asked David and Kassandra with an arched eyebrow.

  “Who?” Kassandra asked.

  “Underwood and Sanchez.”

  “They were the ones who told us about her in the first place,” Kassandra said. “If they didn’t bring her up, we never would have known.”

  “Maybe they brought her up to get ahead of us finding out,” Mac said. “Last night was the first time all of us had gotten together since Brie’s and Trevor’s murders—including Lou Gannon. Now Sanchez told us that their informant had told them about this second witness and that Lynda had called the police years after the murders.”

  “After the reward for information had reached a hundred thousand dollars,” Kassandra said.

  Seeing where Mac was going, David nodded his head. “Underwood and Sanchez had to know that someone in the police department had knowledge of Lynda’s call.”

  “Especially whoever had made an appointment to ge
t her statement,” Mac said. “What if the informant told Underwood or Sanchez about Lynda earlier?”

  Kassandra’s eyes narrowed in confusion.

  “Informants become informants for a reason,” David said. “There’s something in it for them. If this guy had good information on the double homicide of two detectives, he wouldn’t have held onto that info. He’d sell it to Sanchez and Underwood ASAP.”

  “If Underwood and Sanchez were behind the murders,” Mac said, “They’d have no choice but to play the good cops and encourage her to call. That’s what good cops would do. To do otherwise would have aroused suspicion with the informant. Then, Underwood or Sanchez or both made sure Lynda had an accident before she can give her full statement.”

  “Problem solved,” David said.

  “Until years later when there’s a reunion of all the suspects.”

  “If Underwood and Sanchez don’t appear, it’ll look suspicious,” she said.

  “They know that Lynda the Sous Chef had talked to someone in the police department,” David said. “Being smart, they opt to be proactive and they call our attention to her.”

  “To divert suspicion from themselves,” Mac said. “After all, if they were the killers, it wouldn’t be smart for them to call attention to a dead witness who they’d killed.”

  “Smart,” Kassandra said.

  “Very,” Mac said. “Did you see them at the reception during the hour between when Brie and Trevor arrived and you’d found their bodies?”

  “Oh, man.” Kassandra chewed on her bottom lip.

  David noticed a slight roll of her eyes. “What did you see?”

  “I should have said something earlier,” Kassandra said with a shake of her head. “I am a trained investigator. I honestly didn’t think it was relevant and didn’t want to embarrass anyone.”

  Frustration seeped into Mac’s tone. “What happened that night?”

  “Troy and Dani. I’m sorry to say Brie was the first, but she wasn’t the last. My job as matron of honor was to make sure everything was perfect, and everyone was happy. I didn’t even get to ride in the limo with the bridal party because Brie wanted me to get to the hotel ASAP to make sure everything was just right.”