Chapter 3

• 7❧
• “I do have a team that I trust that can be out here soon to do surveillance. I am going to start today. Give me some time see what I can come up with.”
• “How much for your services?”
• “I charge at least a hundred and fifty dollars an hour. The surveillance team is another fee so…”
• She handed him eighty thousand dollars and a paper for him to sign, “This is for three straight weeks, twenty-four hours a day. This covers your expenses and whatever else. I just want results and call my lawyer if you need anything else not to mention if I need to provide anything else. Good luck with my husband’s family they hate me so just a small heads up. Now, I have some business to do so if there is anything else?”
• “No. I’ll show myself out the door.”
• She smiled as he left because she had to admit he did look good but she knew it was business and nothing else. She wished Dave had stepped up and not put her through all this. She later went to the bank and had funds move from her account to a safety deposit box. She also put some cash up so that she could bring it back home. After a few hours she had hired her six bodyguards and two were to watch over her daughter and three were to patrol the grounds. The main guy was to be her shadow. She called her uncle to get some people to start building a fence and set up a gates then later as promised P.I. Masters had some people setting up equipment to keep an eye on things. She told her daughter that these men were here to protect her and keep an eye on things.
• Tina was at the door in no time after she heard what was going on, “Hey why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
• “I wanted to get advice. Look I got that private investigator to look into the past and our lawyer is also on the case as well.”
• “It’s a good thing you took those safety measures years ago when you thought Dave’s family would try to take Rachel or even sue you a few years ago.”
• “So right now we take further precaution okay. Have our lawyer prepare in case if someone tries to stir up anything with our investors that we have steps already taken.”
• She started texting their lawyer to contact their public relations person start preparing for anything that may come up. Tina was already contacting their web securities so that if anyone tried to hack their systems or their financing department everyone was on alert.
• Tina finally took off her high heels and finally was relaxing, “So tell me about the private investigator.”
• “He was around his late thirties and he didn’t look half bad.”
• “So was he handsome or average or a beef cake or what?”
• “He was military looking you know not half bad in an uniform. This is work related Tina.”
• “Oh come on. You haven’t been dating and I am surprised you haven’t invested in sex toys or battery company.”
• “I work a lot and I have Rachel who isn’t too far so keep the conversation somewhat clean. I don’t need her asking about sex toys and batteries.”
• “We have bars and clubs and you haven’t allowed yourself to have any fun in the last few years. Overseas you could have dated some foreign men and what did you do?”
• “I went out once or twice but it’s kind of hard with a baby and most men do not want ready made family.”
• “You could buy a beef cake and be a sugar momma.”
• “Yeah… no. So how about the new boyfriend?”
• “He had to make a phone call and settling in at my condo. I am leaving here in a few just wanted to swing by and find out what was going on. Seriously you should have told me what was going on.”
• “I am sorry. I didn’t want to panic till I knew what was going on.”
• “When are you going to California?”
• “The tenth of December.”
• “After Christmas do me a favor please.”
• “What is it?”
• “Go and have fun. I can contact you a personal matchmaker for the rich and need to get laid and have some fun before you become dried up down there and have bats coming out of your vag.”
• “Just go and oh my gosh you are worse than a school girl.”
• “Love you hun.”
• “Go.” Melissa laughing as her friend winked and out the door to get her juices flowing with her new boyfriend. He was already texting Tina some nudes to make her drive a little faster than normal.
• 8❧
• Melissa went upstairs to where her daughter was laying down and reading a book when Melissa came inside. One of the bodyguards was posted outside the little girl’s room and the other was sleeping because they were in shifts.
• “Hey momma.”
• “Hey baby. I am sorry I haven’t been paying you attention today sweetie.”
• “Momma, you were working plus tomorrow we are going to church and then we can catch up, right?”
• “Yes. You want to go to the city and have dinner or what?”
• “Can we find someone to cater the Christmas meal while we are out?”
• “I was gonna ask our cook to do it.”
• “But doesn’t she have her own family?”
• “Tell you what, let me talk to her first and if she cannot then we will make a special trip and find a catering company, okay.”
• “Momma who was that man earlier? Is he your new boyfriend?”
• “No baby. He is working for me and doing some research.”
• “Momma is it because of me you aren’t dating like aunt Tina?”
• Melissa kissed her daughter’s head, “Mommy is cautious for another reason and not because of you either. I will start dating but it takes time and something that isn’t rushed.”
• “Momma adulthood is so complicated isn’t it?”
• “No. It’s only complicated when people do things the hard way. There are good people who have to endure storms. Any time we want to move forward there are storms. There are bad people that cheat their way and they think they can get away with things. Enjoy your childhood baby and never wish to grow up so fast. Why momma wants to do what is right and not what is easy.”
• “Good night mommy.”
• “Good night my baby girl.”
• Rachel tucked her child in and then turned on the night lights before going downstairs to do some more work. She turned to the guard, “Protect my child at all cost.”
• CHAPTER 3
• It was seven in the morning so very few police officers were there and some she didn’t recognize from five years ago. Then again most of everyone she knew were mainly night shift. She looked herself over one more time before she got out of her car.
• Aylssa went to the sheriff department of course she didn’t look like the same from five years ago. When everyone knew her as Bethany. Oh no now she was wearing blond wig and plastic surgery fixed her to have a little more on top and some would say she looked like runway model. She wore contacts and never looked at the video cameras as she waited for a detective to be called.
• One finally did a woman who was at least in her late forties and had some weight to her but at least she dressed in a suit when she led her to her office.
• “I am detective Hillard, how can I help you?”
• “I have some information on a cold case. Dave Colbert. He was murdered.”
• “How do you know this?”
• “His wife found out he was cheating with a secretary named Bethany. Both Bethany and Dave were reported missing and Melissa knew all about it.”
• “You heard or saw something?”
• “Bethany before she went missing gave me this. I had hoped their deaths would have been solved a while ago but since nothing seems to have been done. Well..” She paused as tears rolled down her face, “I didn’t want to get involved but here is the recording my friend left me. You see Bethany thought she was pregnant and had been getting calls and when she thought someone was trying to kill her she gave me this.”
• The woman gave a statement and left leaving behind a number and where she was staying. Then the detective heard the recording and went to the cold case and started looking up everything. She had just transfered from the city police department to this small town police department. Then going to the chief’s office and handed in the recording and he heard it till the very end.
• “So you want this case then?”
• “In five years no leads until tonight and there was a lot that had happened so yes. I would like a swing at it.”
• “Dave’s wife is in the next town over. I will call the chief there and make arrangements for you to go over there.”
• “Thank you chief Howard.”
• “The Colbert were a long time friend and what happened to their business and with Dave gone missing and never found really hurt the family.”
• “Personal then?”
• “Very much so. Melissa I don’t believe she had anything to do with his disappearance but you got a lead and you gotta do your job.”
• “Yes sir.”
• “Start going through everything while I make this phone call then.”
• She started doing research on the Colbert family and where they were now. Then she looked up everything on Melissa and from the files another name came up was Tina. She looked up pictures and saw that very little evidence was taken. She had media clips from the news and some newspaper from five years ago.
• She got the green light and headed out to the sheriff department where she went to talk to the sheriff then headed over with a deputy to the Layton’s place. The guard at the door was just making his rounds when the deputy drove up and parked and there was another person with the deputy.
• “We got law enforcement here. Let Ms. Layton know, over.”
• He wrote down the badge numbers of both the deputy and the detective then jotted down their names and the number on the back of the car then the time. Upstairs Melissa was getting ready for church along with her daughter when she was notified about the law enforcement and she told her daughter to go downstairs for breakfast.
• The maid showed the two to the office and told them that she would be down in a moment. She finished her hair then turning off the curling iron before joining them in her office.
• “Sorry my daughter and I were getting ready for church. How may I help you?”
• “I am detective Hillard and this is deputy…”
• “Yes deputy York.. We went to school together.”
• “I am from your husband’s town and I am opening up the cold case with him.”
• The detective noted that Melissa wasn’t surprised at all and held up her hand. She pushed a button on the recorded to let the detective know why she wasn’t surprised at all. Once the recording was done Melissa looked over at the detective.
• “I have nothing to hide detective. I even hired a private investigator to dig into my husband’s past.”
• “Do you remember where you were the day of your husband’s disappearance?”
• “My husband would always leave the house around 6:30 in the morning and I use to wake up around eight. That day I woke up a little later because I had found out the day before I was pregnant. I went to Cheryl’s salon to get my hair and nails done then had lunch with my friend Tina around lunch time. Bethany called me asking if I had seen my husband or if he was home. Apparently he never came back to work after his lunch which was around ten. I went home he wasn’t there and then I drove around didn’t see him or his truck. I contacted the police department they told me I had to wait twenty-four hours. My husband’s truck was spotted and the only thing taken was a gun. I filed a missing person report and then contacted the media. A month went by I heard about my husband’s family business being burned down and then three months later I was kicked out of my home. I also took a polygraph on my own discretion and to prove I wasn’t lying.”
• “Did you know if your husband was cheating?”
• “At the time I didn’t want to believe it. I had feelings that maybe his secretary or others. Honestly after being married for three years and having my husband distance himself the last year of our marriage I should have known. I was getting ready to leave him till I found out I was pregnant. Rachel is the only child and sadly she never got to meet her daddy. When I was kicked out of my home I came here and lived in a camper then went to work for a local bank.”
• “Then you won the lottery?”
• “Yes. In the five years not one word of my husband’s disappearance then my business partner and I do this cover in a magazine and then I get this phone call asking for twenty million dollars.”
• 2❧
• “Do you mind coming to the station and answering some questions?”
• Melissa looking at the clock, “I can after church.”
• “The sooner the better Mrs. Colbert.”
• Melissa looked over at the detective and smiled, “Am I under arrest?”
• “No.”
• “Do you have a warrant?”
• “No.”
• “I am going to church with my child and when I am done. I will be over there.”
• The detective was about to say something when the deputy chimed in, “Detective Hillard, Melissa story hasn’t changed. Plus, she has been very cooperative and forth coming with all the information.”
• “Detective my lawyer will be calling your office and forward you anything else you may need.”
• The maid showed the officers out the door and then hurrying up to get the child ready to put in the car. Melissa annoyed for some reason feeling like the detective didn’t believe her but she had to shake off that feeling. She remembered the voice on the phone and new that the game had begun.”
• Melissa on the way to church called her lawyer before loading Rachel into the vehicle. Her lawyer told her not worry about it that he would send someone from the firm for her not to answer any questions until her lawyer was there. She then contacted the private investigator and left a message. The bodyguards got in their vehicle but the main guy would ride with the mother and daughter. They arrived a little early but that was fine by Melissa. Her daughter was escorted inside to the Sunday school class and she went inside. The preacher was waiting for her when she explained the situation about what was going and why she had bodyguards. For the safety of the other members she and her daughter went into another room though her daughter wanted to play with the other children Melissa had to tread carefully so that she wouldn’t worry her daughter but at the same time her daughter would understand it was just temporary.
• It saddened that her daughter couldn’t be with the other children however she had to agree safety of the others were just as important.
• 3❧
• Outside her home Dave was looking to see what they were doing and he saw the cameras and the other people and of course the gates were being put as quickly as possible. Bethany was on the other end of his radio, “We should just back away from this because she is gonna screw things up if we fail.”
• “I already had made preparations years ago. My brother shouldn’t have been digging so much into the past.”
• “I just hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces.”
• “Where are you going to go Beth? You are already in too deep.”
• “Are you threatening me?”
• “Take how you want. You were for this just as much as I did. Now shut up and make sure you do as I tell you or else.”
• 4❧
• Detective Hillard annoyed that the deputy interfere with her line of questioning but the chief agreed with the deputy. He even told her that if she was wrong that Melissa had the money to get every lawyer breathing down their necks. She tried contacting the Colbert maybe finding some new information but when she dug into their whereabouts she learned the mother of both Dave and Steve was in a coma and that there had been no visitors after three months since she was hospitalized. Steve then stop paying her medical bills and the family of Steve moved out of state. Steve and his wife and their kids were supposedly living in Canada. As she watched the old footage from the media from five years ago she was informed that she had a call from an anonymous caller from the tip line. The voice was a male and she heard him say that their were bodies buried on the Colbert old house. She informed her superior and an hour later they had a small task force searching the property once they secured a search warrant. She wanted to see what they found if they found anything at all. Melissa took her daughter back to the house where her uncle and aunt were waiting and dropped off her daughter knowing they would watch her along with the bodyguards. She called her lawyer and he said one of the firm’s lawyer would be there waiting on her. Sure enough the lawyer was waiting on her and Melissa waved at the young lady who was getting out of the red convertible.
• “Hello Ms. Layton, I am Ms. Kline. Let me do the talking so we can get this matter squash.”
• “Good enough for me.”
• Both ladies walked in to the police station where they were greeted by the Police Chief Richard Howard.
• “Mrs. Colbert it has been a while hasn’t it?”
• “I don’t go by that name but yes I agree it has.”
• He showed them the waiting area and had one of the front desk ladies to get both Melissa and her lawyer coffee while waiting Detective Hillard.
• Detective Hillard came in with a file and signal to both Ms. Hillard and the other lady whom she believed was the attorney. She thought to herself that Ms. Layton was going to need a lawyer if in fact the evidence proved she was guilty of homicide.
• She dropped the papers on the chief’s desk and they spoke for at least thirty minutes before she and another officer lead both ladies into the interrogation room.
• 5❧
• “Ms. Layton you say I am sorry I kept you both waiting. I am assuming you are invoking your rights to speak with us with your attorney present.”
• “My client will answer your questions until it infringes her rights.”
• “I understand. Ms. Layton you were married with Dave Colbert is that correct.”
• “Yes legally I am his wife.”
• “Did you have him declared dead?”
• “No. What his family did after I left this town was not my choice.”
• “How did you get along with him and his family.”
• “She doesn’t have to answer that. I am advising my client to only answer direct questions.”
• “Okay did your client know if Bethany was carrying Dave’s child?”
• Melissa was about to answer but her lawyer interrupted, “Was there ever confirmation of her being pregnant? My client has already stated she didn’t want to believe her husband was having an affair and being that the information had yet to be known how would my client know of the pregnancy? Already witnesses have came forwarded that my client was never allowed near the warehouse and her husband did in fact keep his office locked.”
• “I am just asking.”
• “No. You are in fact baiting my client.”
• The detective played the recording that had been given to her and both the attorney and Melissa heard.
• “Did you get a date of the recording? Have you contacted Bethany’s doctor to confirm the alleged pregnancy?”
• “We are working on that as we speak.”
• “So you have nothing to confirm the truth of this and this is he said she said?”
• “There was a friend who came by with this recording?”
• “I am going to subpoena this recording and the footage of who came in here with this. I will also request the name of this friend as well.”
• “Ok. Melissa do you have records of where you were the month you left this town and any witnesses to verify of your whereabouts.”
• Her lawyer pulled out documents and handed it over to the detective.
• “Is there anything else for my client?”
• “Not at this time however we are waiting on some evidence to come back so in the meantime do not leave the town because we…”
• “My client already has plans for the tenth of December to leave the state and to return on the fourteenth of December. She cannot reschedule those days. If I must I will obtain permission from the judge so that her work is not disrupted. So far you have no case or reason to hold here. We are done now.”
• 6❧
• Both Melissa and her attorney was out the door and the detective knew the attorney was so far correct so if she was going to make a case she would have to make sure everything would stick or else this lawyer would rip the detective and those involved a new one. The police chief walked in and looked at the detective, “I told you Melissa will have the best lawyer and this one wasn’t even in court and tore you up here. I think you need to scratch Melissa off your list of suspects and look at it from a fresh prospective.”
• “What if she is guilty?”
• “You are asking the wrong question dear. Why would someone come out of the woodwork to and want her to be guilty? I know for a fact that the Colbert family hated Melissa and there are people who would vouche for Melissa not just because she is rich now either. If I was you I would let everyone think you are looking at Melissa and in the process you will find out who is really behind it.”
• “You know something don’t you sir?”
• “Yes I do. You see Bethany left two months which was when Dave was declared dead. His brother Steve was in the middle of going through his brother’s files when the building was burned down. I think you are barking up the wrong tree. All the pieces are there but if you try to force the evidence it will screw you over.”
• “You are treating me like a rookie sir.”
• “Because so far you have treating this case as rookie. Only a rookie would do what you did so far. One person came forward with a recording that doesn’t show a date or handed you more proof of Melissa threatening Bethany. You need to talk to people who knew these people like for example Dave had more than one girlfriend. He kept his wife who you know as Melissa in the dark. Look I get you wanted to shake her up a bit but her story hasn’t ever changed. We don’t know who that friend of Bethany’s had been or how close. We don’t know anything from the site where you found those bodies. All we have are dust particles not even circumstantial.”
• “Who would be close enough to Steve and his wife if they were living in Canada?”
• “Steve and his wife were social butterflies especially their only daughter. There were rumors of their business never able to get back on their feet so the bank manager would be the one to talk to. He would be a starting point because the two played golf together and then you have the mother who is the comma. She was said to have had a stroke but she was friends with the medical committee and rubbed elbows with the mayor from time to time.”
• “I think I should enlist the help of another detective who knows everyone.”
• “Detective Franklin would be the one to work with.”
• “I am going to need some help to solve this. I am seeing this case through.”
• She got out another note book and she would be using two one for Melissa and the other for the case itself. Her chief was right she had approached this thinking it was an open and shut case. She left the city because she needed a break and a clean slate and here she was screwing that chance up. Going through her notes she decided that the best thing was to talk to the newspaper editor who would be the one to talk to first. The newspaper was filled news of the socialites. She also made a note to speak with the bartender at the local bar and the country club workers. They were the eyes and ears of the place and they heard a lot of gossip and maybe that would be another source that hadn’t been utilize. Later the day she went over to detective Franklin who would be retiring soon so he would want some easy work. Figuring he would just give insights and someone she could pass some ideas to as well. Taking a deep breath one thing she would do for now take notes of Melissa but for now she wouldn’t go near the woman till she exercise all other possibilities.