The Perfect Crime Pt. 05: Atonement

"I hadn't noticed" I chuckled.

She went on: "Since my Mom passed away, he has been a workaholic. Bill and I have to practically kidnap him to get him to come play with his grandchildren. He hasn't stopped talking about her since he got back."

"Gloria, if I can help in any way, I'm glad. She's a good person. I think she could stand a little distraction, too."

"I'll tell him you called; and again, thank you for everything." I hung up, and saw it was almost 9:30. I walked out, and asked Janine if she had heard from our guest.

"He is on his way, Boss. I got coffee and tea, donuts, kolaches, and I even rustled up some scones."

"Smooth, Janine. Let me know when he gets here."

"You'll be the second to know, boss."

That was her standard reply. I went back to my office, and sat down, marshaling my thoughts.

I had 2 other errands to run this afternoon. I picked up the phone, and called Terry Kinkaid. "Police Department, Homicide, Sgt. Kinkaid speaking."

"Hey, Hoss, it's James Tremaine. I was just wondering if the asshole had been picked up?"

"AHA, Counselor, I was wondering how long it would take to hear from you. Your 'friend' was picked up early Tuesday morning, and remanded to Federal custody. I'm afraid he is no longer of any interest to us locals. But I did let my nasty streak sneak in."

"How's that?" I asked.

"I dropped a dime to the ADA who is handling the sex murder case, and told him the Feds are holding your 'friend.' I told him that he had been romantically involved with your late wife. He said he probably should go ask him some questions. I told him that might be a good idea."

"Well, I guess it might help him tie up any loose ends" I said.

He chuckled. "Your idea of nasty, and my idea of nasty, are two different ideas."

"How so, Hoss?" I asked.

"I had heard from reliable sources that he is Barbara Blaine's paramour."

"Oh, MY!" I said.

He chuckled again.

"I understand that he asked some innocuous questions, and got some innocuous answers. He finished his interview, and told him that was all, got up to leave, and when he got to the door, hesitated, and turned to him, and said "Oh, yeah, thank you very, very much."

He said "What for?"

"When your wife has an orgasm, she gets VERY VOCAL!!", and he turned and walked out. Rumor has it the guy came unglued, and had to be restrained.'

"HOLY SHIT!!" I exclaimed. I thought for a moment, and said, "Give me his name so I can send him a bottle."

This time he laughed out loud. "Tyler Radon."

"Thank you, Sergeant. I owe you one."

"Just keep being straight, Counselor, and we'll be fine."

"Talk to you soon, Hoss" I hung up, and looked at my watch. 9:55.

Janine buzzed, and I picked up. "Yes, Janine."

"Sir Robert is here."

"Show him in." Sir Robert Lawnvale, O.B.E., was ushered into my office. He was about 5'9" tall, 175 lbs, Blonde haired, brown eyed; nice looking guy, looked to be about 26 years old. He had a rather lackluster smile on his face.

I thought to myself, for no apparent reason, 'This guy has had a rough time of it.'

I rose, and extended my hand."Sir Robert, very pleased to me you."

He took my hand, and smiled, a much better smile. 'Maybe it's just jet lag' I thought.

"Please, just Robert would be fine." I motioned to a chair, and he sat, and put his briefcase next to his chair. "First of all, Mr. Tremaine, I am very sorry to hear about your wife's passing. You have my law firm's condolences, sir."

"That's very kind of you, Robert. Would you like some coffee, or perhaps tea?"

He raised his eyebrows and said "Tea would be marvelous. Some Earl Grey if you have it."

I buzzed Janine, and asked her to bring some coffee, some Earl Grey tea, and some goodies, plus what ever she would like, and join us. I asked him how he found our weather, and were the accommodations at the hotel to his liking? Small talk.

He said the hotel was very posh, and the weather was a little warm.

I grinned, and said "Probably compared to England, it was a tropical nightmare."

He chuckled, and said it was warm, but pleasant. Janine entered , and set up a table. One of our interns, Cynthia, brought in the refreshments. Robert smiled at Janine, but did a double-take at Cynthia, and stared. She smiled, and left. Janine pulled up a chair, and sat.

Robert was gaping at the door Cynthia had left thru.

"Ahem" I said.

He jerked, and turned to look at me.

"Who was that?" he whispered.

"That was Cynthia McMillan, one of our interns. Is there something wrong?" He looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Mr. Tremaine, we should clear the air about something before I go any further.

"Everything about your wife's holdings could have been cleared up over a video conference, and e-mails. But my Seniors, my firms partners, thought I needed to have a holiday. I was in the Royal Marines a few years ago, and was awarded the O.B.E. for heroism in combat, in Yemen. I got married when I got out; my wife and I started a family about 14 months ago." He brought out his cell phone, swiped a couple of times, and showed us a picture. "This is my wife. Her name was Cynthia."

Janine and I were looking at our Cynthia's twin sister. "She passed away in child birth, 3 months ago." He gave a lopsided grin, and started to tear up. "I've been told I was like a zombie ever since. That's why they thought I needed a holiday. This case is, how do Americans say, a 'no brain-er.' That's why they sent me. Change of scenery, breath of fresh air, and all that."

I was stunned; Janine looked like she was going to cry. She got up, and went to Robert and hugged him. "I'm terribly sorry, Robert. We had no idea."

"How could you? We've never met, and I've never been here before. I'm sorry, this is terribly unprofessional of me. Please accept my apologies."

I took a deep breath, and decided I could possibly take a little of the pressure off him. "Robert, I know you know my wife passed away. I don't know if you have all the facts. My wife was murdered in a sex orgy, along with 10 other people. I was in the process of divorcing her when it happened. They haven't caught the killer yet, and they may never find him. I knew nothing about her secret life, or her private financial holdings. I have a small inkling of your grief, but we have no children; she had her tubes tied before we got married, and led me to believe it was on me why we had no children.

"I can empathize with you, son. Life sucks, and then you die. But you're not dead yet. ...So suck it up!! ...Now, we are not a dating service, so we aren't going to throw you and Cynthia together. But if you would like to see her while you're here, well, this is America, and you're both adults. Let's get past this, and get on with our lives." Janine looked at me like I had two heads, then turned and looked at Robert.

"It just shocked me when I saw her...Again I apologize."

"Hey, while you're here, you'll meet Jillian Carstens. She has a daughter, 4 years old. Her name is Sonia. When I heard her name the first time, as attractive as her mother is, and as smitten as I was, I freaked out, and ran from the restaurant. But I got over it. I spent a year in the sandbox, in Afghanistan.

"Now, what say we adjourn to the conference room, and you can meet the rest of the estate team. We'll even invite Cynthia, if you would like."

He blushed, stuttered a little, then said "That sounds smashing, sir."

We progressed to the conference room, and took seats. Janine and Cynthia came in, with Cynthia giving Robert funny little looks. We were soon joined by Corey, Allison, and Jeremy. I started by introducing Robert to everyone. He proceeded to make his presentation. He informed us of the bungalow in Bermuda, which was on the west coast. It was used as a summer, and off season rental. The chateau in France was on the coast, south of Calais. It was on a long term lease. There were also several adult novelty item stores she owned. Actually, they were franchise units that were part of her company. There were 12 of them all over England. All legal, and above board.

As he pointed out, things were a little more liberal in the U.K.; the taxes and franchise fees were all up to date, and Her Majesties government had no problems with anything till next year. That was really the reason he was here- to see what the future of the franchises would be.

"I think we should divest ourselves of them; possibly looking to sell them to their current proprietors if they are interested. If not, dissolve them, and liquidate everything."

He informed me that several of the franchise owners had contacted him about exactly that, with 4 of them looking to acquire more of the franchises.

"Sounds good to me."

"That should net you approximately $4,000,000 American, after taxes."

"Well, I guess that takes care of everything. Get the paperwork processed, and sent over. Robert, could you, Janine, and Cynthia stay for just a moment?" Everyone else rose and left. Janine closed the door, and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Cynthia, you haven't done anything wrong. I'm sure you noticed how Robert was enthralled with your presence."

"Janine told me a bit about the circumstances. I'll terribly sorry, sir."

"Well, I think we should explain in more depth. Robert, show her the picture."

He looked a little unsure of himself, but pulled out his phone, and showed Cynthia the picture. She took his phone, and looked. She gasped.

"Her name was Cynthia also" he said. "She passed away in childbirth 3 months ago. Seeing you was a shock to my soul."

"Ohhh, I'm so sorry, Sir Robert. I had no idea."

"No offense" he said. "You couldn't know."

"Now, if you two are on the same page, maybe you would like to spend some time together...after hours. No pressure, and I'm sure Robert will be a perfect gentleman. If not, I'll just call your dad, Cynthia". I grinned. She blushed, he blushed ,and they both started laughing. "Now, let's go get some lunch."

Janine was shaking her head as we went back to my office. "Hey, I'm not saying he'll get lucky, but it beats having this crushed young man going to a strip club. Besides, I've seen her resume. She went to Texas Christian." Janine just shook her head again.

"I hope you know what you're doing, boss."

"We'll see." 'I hope .'

I had met Mike Petrofsky about 8 months prior. He was working at Walmart, as security. I was on my way in, when someone dashed out, with some items in his hand. Mike came flying out after him, and almost got to him, when he spun around and flashed a gun. Mike did a drop and roll on the concrete just as the gun went off. He came up in the guys face, and dropped him with one punch to the jaw. He wrestled him to he ground, and secured him with his belt. He held him till the cops arrived, and arrested the guy.

I stood and watched the young man as he handled himself professionally, and didn't take out any frustrations on the guy. After I had done my shopping, I found him, and bought him a coffee. I got his life story. He had recently been discharged from the U.S.A.F., having served in the Air Force Special Ops. He had served honorably, and had tried to get in with several police departments, but so far, no luck.

I gave him my card, and told him to come by for an interview.

"Sir, I have no legal background. What could I do for you?"

"Son, I have my own investigative branch, and I think you fit nicely. My lead investigator, Peter Donegan, is always looking for reliable investigators."

"Thank you, sir. I think I'll do that."

We hired him on the spot, and Pete was very impressed with him.

This was my guy whom Giselle had sent to Reno to investigate Jillian's marriage license.

Mike arrived at about 10:00 a.m. Thursday. He picked up a rental car, and drove to the clerks office, and went upstairs to the license bureau. There were 3 lines-two older guys, and a young, attractive woman. She had a 5 deep line, and he got on line there. The line moved quickly, though, and soon he was in the presence of Miranda Jones, customer service.

He showed him his investigators license, and gave her one of his best smiles. He explained to her that he needed a copy of Cyrus Carstens, and Jillian Ravenaux's marriage license. She consulted her computer, while Mike noticed there were no rings on her finger.

"So, is there a Mr. Jones?" She raised her head, smiled, and said no. Why did he ask?

"Well, I will probably be in town overnight, and I thought a local person might be a good companion for dinner."

She studied him for a moment, then said "Well, I think that might be arraigned" she said. Then she pouted, and said that no marriage license was registered in those names. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Petrofsky."

"Well it would appear that I'll have to do some more investigative work. What time do you get off?"

"5:45 this evening."

"I'll pick you up at 5:50."

"Don't be late" she said, and smiled at him.

He left, and went to his rental car. He drove to the Forever Young Wedding Chapel, and went in. He sat through 2 weddings, and then went up to talk to the gentleman who was running the show. He showed him his credentials, and the copy of the license he had.

He asked him what he could do for him. He told him that the courthouse had no copy, registered or otherwise. What gives?

He told him that he would need to consult his records. He brought up his computer records, and found the license.

"Here it is. That was a commemorative copy." He reached over, and handed him a blank license. "You have to have at least 3 days residency in the state, before we can submit a license to the courthouse. That is not legally binding. That's why you found no registered copy. The license was never submitted by us."

"Is that your signature?" he asked.

He didn't even look, but picked up a blank license, and signed without looking at him. He handed it to him, and said "You tell me."

He looked at the two signatures, and they weren't even close.

"Will you be willing to swear to that?"

"In court. And my wife is a notary . I will notarize my signature, and give you a statement about what I have just told you.

"We might want to fly you to either Biloxi, Mississippi, or Houston, Texas to appear in court."

"My wife and I would love a little vacation. Just say the word, and we are there."

He drew up the statement, and he got to meet his wife, as she notarized everything, with their secretary as witness. He thanked them, and went back outside to his rental car. He called Giselle, filled her in on everything, and told her he would get to a Fed-Ex center, and send copies to her, and overnight the originals.

"I love you, Mike. I take it we will see you soon?" she said.

"Probably tomorrow, early afternoon."

"Okay, be careful." She hung up, and went to the fax room. She called James on her cell, and broke the good new.

I was beside myself. Everything could go forward now.

To Be Continued...