Cobalt Blue

Chapter 5

I woke much earlier than normal on Sunday morning or maybe I never actually slept much, either way I was up before the light and began packing anything I wanted to take with me when I left. As the sun began to illuminate the windows on the east side of the house I stopped long enough to fix a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs and buttered wheat toast. While I was eating, I called one of my oldest, closest friends, Jim Wheeler, a detective who works with me and told him what happened. He was as dumbfounded as I expected he'd be. During our conversation I told him where Sarah worked and what I caught her doing, that I now believed she had been cheating on me for at least six weeks and maybe as long as four months or so. I also told him that I had already begun packing my belongings and planned to move out as soon as I found another place to live, at least temporarily even if it had to be a motel.

"You're telling me that Sarah works for Sutton Real Estate? On Broad street? Paul Sutton, right?"

"Yes, she's been working there for about six months now."

"You need to talk to Detective Conrad over at the city."

"Stephanie Conrad? Yeah I know her, we've never talked very much but I've seen her around and we've exchanged pleasantries. Why do I need to talk to her?"

"Y'all just need to get together, she needs to see this video you made. I'll text you her contact information and you call her immediately after we hang up."

"OK, I'll call and see if she's working or on call today." I said.

"No, she's at home right now. You should get her card soon, I just shared it to your phone."

My phone's text notification sounded and I saved the included information as a new contact in my contact list.

"It just came in, I saved it to my contact list. I'll call after we hang up. So, what's the story with Conrad? How do you have her contact info on quick draw and how do you know what she's doing on her off day? And why do I need to show her my video?

"She and I went out a few times a while back before I started dating Rachael, that's all and she's been investigating Sutton Real Estate for a couple months now. Rumor is that he's running a stable out of his office to entice more sales and if the information you have is accurate then rumor might be a bit weak to describe that story."

"OK, well, I need to get off here and make some more calls, I need to find somewhere to crash until I find a more permanent nest. Yes, I'll call Conrad, too."

"Great, but do you know David Hunter?"

"Yeah, day shift Patrol Sergeant?"

"Yeah, I think he was saying the other day that he has a lake house or a camper or something over near Euharlee he's wanting to rent out. Give him a call, too, that might be perfect for you until you find something permanent."

"Thanks," I replied "I appreciate all your help. We'll get together soon and wet a hook or burn some beef."

"Sounds good to me, You bring the beer!"

I ended the call and instead of calling Detective Conrad, I called David Hunter next.

"Hello"

"Hey, Dave, how've you been?"

"Not bad, Gilmour, just having to watch everybody like a hawk considering current public sentiment and opinion regarding Police. How are things with you?"

"Well, to be honest, not so good. I just found out that Sarah has been cheating on me for some time now and I'm moving out. I'm told you have a place on the river you're looking to rent out."

"Yeah, it's down just off Hardin Bridge rd. You know the area?"

"Yeah, I do. I don't know how long I'll stay, just long enough to find something more permanent I suppose, but I'd like to get my things out of here before lunch this morning if I can, hopefully before Sarah gets home."

"That's not a problem, how long will it take you to be ready to meet me there?"

I looked at my watch, 0743. "I've already got most of my clothes and personal stuff packed or ready to pack from the house, I don't want much. Most of my important things are in my shop. I'll have to get my tools and equipment later, after I find somewhere to store them."

"There's an old barn on the Hardin Bridge property, it's a dirt floor and you can throw a cat through most of the walls but the roof is pretty solid and it stays dry inside. There's no power in there but you're welcome to store your tools and whatever won't fit in the camper that you want to keep until you find another place."

"That sounds great, I can be there in about an hour to meet you and get the keys if that's not too early for you." I ended the call after he gave me the address and directions to the unmarked gate to the property.

When I arrived, Dave was standing at a livestock gate leading through a fence line overgrown with Blackberry bushes, Honeysuckle vines and Eastern Red Cedar trees into a small clearing adjacent to what appeared to be an old home place although any house had long since burned or otherwise been destroyed. He led me through the clearing on a mostly obscured track and about fifty yards into the line of trees at the opposite side. Hidden within the copse of trees was a surprisingly modern and well-kept twenty-five foot camper trailer with two pull-outs and a roll up awning. The camper was sitting just back from the bank about twenty feet above the surface of the river beyond.

When I exited my truck and shook Dave's hand I said "Hell, I may decide to just stay here, this is nice!"

"Well, I might be convinced to sell the whole property if somebody twisted my arm just right. I've considered it for years but just couldn't let the folks' place go to somebody I don't know and trust."

"If you're serious about that maybe we can talk once I get finished with this business I'm going to be working on for the next few weeks or so."

"No problem, here are your keys, rent covers electricity but you'll have to keep the LP tanks filled for the furnace and cook stove. Water is from a 250 foot deep well and it's nice and sweet. Let me show you the gray water tank around the back here, there's no septic tank. When it's near full you can just disconnect this hose then it's ready to take and dump. There's a convenience site just up the road at the boat ramp where you can dump it. There's no charge for dumping your tank there, it belongs to the county."

"Thanks, I need to drop this load off and try to get as much of my tools and equipment as I can before Sarah gets home. Once I confront her I'd rather not have to go back to the house any more than I have to. I honestly don't trust myself, I'm feeling too calm about all this and that bothers me a bit. I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing and controlling my anger but I'd rather not take more chances than I need to."

As it turned out I didn't need to worry after all, I made two more trips and got enough that I was satisfied that if I never got anything else from the property I'd never miss it and had my shop tools and my project boat stored in the surprisingly large barn on the Hardin Bridge Rd property and returned to my new little perch on the river bank by four in the afternoon. I still hadn't heard anything from Sarah.

While I sat in a folding chair beside a ring of rocks surrounding a small fire, nursing an Amber Bock and watching the water drift by below, I remembered that I promised to call Stephanie Conrad so I picked my phone up and searched my contact list to call her number.

"Hello."

"Hey, Detective Conrad, how are you this evening?"

"Gilmour? Wheeler said you'd be calling me but I expected it a couple hours ago."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I've been moving today and never really got the chance before now."

"He didn't give me many details, he said you'd fill me in but he said you've got a video I need to see pronto. He said it concerns one of my active investigations."

"That's what he told me, too. I can meet you tomorrow, either at your office or we can meet for lunch somewhere if you'd prefer."

"I'd prefer to see the video this afternoon if that's OK with you."

I hesitated briefly. "Well, to be honest, it's been a long day, a long weekend actually, I'm tired and I've already had a couple beers, I'm afraid I'm holed up for the evening now."

"That's OK, I can come to you, just tell me where you're holed up."

"I'm on Hardin Bridge rd. off hwy 411. Do you think you can find it so far outside the city limits?" I asked, smiling to myself.

"Yeah, smart ass, we have this thing called Google Maps and can actually find our way around places these days."

We both shared a short laugh before she spoke again.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet" I responded "I haven't quite been in the mood today and I need to hit the grocery store before I can plan anything resembling a menu."

"OK, I'll be there in an hour"

"Call me back when you turn onto Hardin Bridge and I'll meet you at the gate on the right side of the road about two and a half miles from the four lane."

An hour and twenty minutes later I closed the gate behind the white Ford Expedition that might have been six or seven years old and led it to my trailer by the river.

The petite beauty that climbed out of the driver's door looked amazing wearing fitted denim jeans that failed to camouflage her near perfect figure and a loose, blousy pullover sweater that took the job of concealment much more seriously than the jeans did. Her shoulder length brown hair and bright green eyes catching and holding my attention, she reached back into the truck and pulled out a yellow box and a 12 pack of Guinness stout;

"I hope you like Cajun Fried Chicken and real beer. I didn't think you looked like you'd be interested in a bitch beer. Now that I'm here I seriously hope my assessment was accurate."

I grinned "I don't drink beer often but when I do the lightest I can stand is Yeungling, I've been drinking Amber Bock this afternoon but I love a good stout."

We went into the camper to eat without the company of a squadron of mosquitoes and gnats wanting to annoy us over our food. After we'd eaten, Stephanie asked me what I knew about her investigation of Sutton Real Estate.

"Nothing really, I only found out this morning that you, or anyone else for that matter, had an open case on the agency. My wife works there and I found out this weekend that she's been cheating on me for some time now."

Stephanie's face went slack and she said "Oh, shit, not Sarah Gilmour. I didn't make the connection." She looked down at the table top for a few seconds then looked back up at me and continued "Yeah, I guess she's been cheating on you for almost a month now best I can tell. I think they've been grooming her for a few months, trying to get her involved with their system, I'm pretty sure she became fully complicit three weeks ago at a party with several clients of the agency."

Staring out the window, listening to Stephanie drive the final nails into the coffin that my marriage now lay within I responded "She spent the last six Saturdays with Jessica Walker, at her dad's house in Kingston. At least that's what she told me she was doing."

Stephanie stood and walked to the refrigerator, returning with another two cans of Guinness, handing me one and we both filled our pint glasses from the cans. "Maybe that's what she was doing the first three of those weekends but I'm pretty sure the next two she spent entertaining with the other women from the real estate firm. And you say she did it again this weekend?"

"Yeah, on a couple of pontoon boats in a cove on Lake Allatoona."

"Well, that makes sense, I didn't have any tip that they were doing anything in town this weekend." She seemed to become lost in thought for several seconds then spoke without looking up from the table while twisting the can of Guinness between her hands "My case is coming together and I don't see how I can insulate your wife when I file the indictments, she has at least a half dozen with her name on them already."

"What kind of charges are you talking about?"

She hesitated again, then looked me in the eyes "Prostitution, Solicitation, Violation of Georgia Controlled Substances Act. Maybe more as the data and evidence is further analyzed. She'll be brought in with the rest, just as culpable as any of the others." Her eyes showing a sad sympathy for me and my memories of a happier time.

"Insulate her?" I asked "I'm not asking you to insulate her, I'm telling you to lead with her if you want. I have no interest in protecting her. She made her own decisions, she can pay her own costs."

Stephanie sat still for a time then nodded once and asked if I would show her the video.

When the video was finished I saved a copy to an extra thumb drive I had in my instructor's bag and gave it to her.

She told me that as a lone piece of evidence with no true sense of context it wasn't very powerful for her investigation but coupled with other information she had documented it was pretty damning since it was the most explicit of any video or photo evidence she had so far collected. She gave me a brief abridged version of her investigation beginning with a complaint from a competing Real Estate Agent who reported that a prospective client asked her if she was willing to "sweeten the pot" to guarantee a sale like the Sutton Agency does. When the agent asked what the client meant he explained that she had to know what he was talking about and that all successful sales agents were women because they were able to perform sexual acts to ensure the sales. After kicking the client out of her office she called the Police station to report what happened and Stephanie was assigned the case. The investigation She launched eventually revealed that Sutton was distributing drugs as well as running a minor prostitution ring with the realty agency as a cover. So far she had included three other agencies in her upcoming warrant applications. She and her Investigations Captain were working with the District Attorney in an attempt to decide how to proceed with charges against all involved. They were trying to decide how to handle the chaos that was sure to erupt in the community involving other customers of the agencies when the nature of the warrants would eventually be revealed because even though the majority of sales must have been brokered without the use of sexual coercion, the doubt that was bound to arise in those innocent families would likely result in a rise in domestic dispute calls. She said that both the Investigators and Prosecutors were ready to start the warrant process within a week or two and with this video she believed they'd be willing to go ahead and begin.

It was getting late and we had finished the rest of my Amber Bock and about half the Guinness she brought so Stephanie asked if I minded her staying the night so she wouldn't have to call someone to come get her since she was unfit to drive.

"Look, I don't intend to sound presumptuous and I mean no offense but I can't offer anything but an uncomfortable convertible bed. Despite what Sarah has done I've never broken my vow and until at the very least, the paperwork is complete and the order is issued at the courthouse I'm still married. Forgive me for my overthinking the situation but I have to admit, you're a temptation and we're both just drunk enough that logical thinking might not be our highest priorities at the moment."

"That's a relief, actually, my only other option was going to be sleeping in my truck until I sobered up enough to go home. I'm not taking the possibility off the table though, lets just agree to visit it again once things settle down a bit, maybe?"

"Sounds good to me. Do you have a Jump Bag in the truck?"

"No, I have a Bug Out Bag at home but nothing in my truck."

"I should have a big t-shirt you can wear if you want. Did you notice the shower head on the hose hanging on the bathroom wall? The whole bathroom is the shower, there's no tub. You go first, I don't have a clue how long the hot water will last and I'll lower the table and make your bed while you're in there."

When Stephanie stepped out of the bathroom wearing my old Pink Floyd 'Wish You Were Here' tour shirt that extended nearly to her knees I was treated to a bit clearer view of what her sweater had obscured so successfully. I began to question the sanity of my decision that we should sleep in separate beds but then realized that this self-questioning only reinforced our need for separation.

"What time do you need to be at work in the morning?" I asked before walking into the solitary bedroom.

"09:00"

"OK, breakfast around 07:00 and you should have time to run home and change for work." then I shut the door and climbed between the sheets.

Chapter 6

I woke Monday morning with a dry mouth and a slight throbbing in my temples but not truly hung over. I opened the door to the small bedroom that occupied the end of the camper trailer like I was on a mission and froze where I stood, staring at the image standing in front of my stove, still wearing my Pink Floyd shirt and apparently nothing else as she turned her head in my direction.

"Good Morning to you, too. But I don't think it's quite fair or polite for you to make me sleep out here on this uncomfortable pile of cushions if you're going to tease me like this in the morning." Stephanie said, smiling.

I looked down and realized what she was talking about, I sleep in the nude and had forgotten about my overnight visitor so I had neglected to put any clothes on before beginning my trek to the bathroom. I turned around and stepped back into the bedroom and pulled on a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt from the top of a cardboard box of clothing I'd taken from my chest of drawers when I moved out of the house the day before. So maybe I was a little hung over after all.

After I returned from the bathroom I apologized to Stephanie for flashing her.

"Don't be sorry, I promise I don't mind" Then she grinned again.

We ate a quick breakfast then dressed, although Stephanie only pulled the jeans she wore the night before on under my t-shirt, giving me a glimpse of exactly what she kept shaved bare beneath when she raised the front of the shirt to fasten and zip them while never removing her gaze from my face and smiling playfully all the while.

I secured the gate after both trucks pulled out and then headed to my office while Stephanie, presumably, went home to change into clean work clothes before going to work herself.

I was in the office early, before any of the other detectives and started reviewing my open cases to see which ones I needed to work on first. After a quick skim through the thirty-six active cases and pulling five out to concentrate on for the day I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and opened my message app. I had more than a dozen text messages and I noticed I had sixteen missed calls and nine voice messages. Now I realized why I never heard anything out of Sarah the day and evening before, I still had the ringer on my phone turned off. As I listened to the voice messages I noticed that they started out angry and argumentative but by the time Sarah left the last one she was crying, apologetic and contrite, wanting to know where I was, why I wasn't at home, why I had moved all my clothes and things out of the house and begging me to come back home. The progression of the text messages pretty much mirrored the voice messages, not really saying anything different. I sent her a text message saying that I was busy on a couple cases and I'd talk to her later in the evening if I got a chance. That just started her messaging me all over again and I turned the ringer back off once more.

Chapter 7

At almost 10:00 I called the Parker, Kilgore and Hughes Law Firm and asked for Ted's office.

"Ted Kilgore's office, how can I be of service?"

"I need to speak to Ted, please, this is Sean Gilmour. He's expecting my call."