Skeleton Key (19 page)

The men all shook hands and then Hopper led Clay back to his car and told Clay to get in for a minute. “Did you learn anything?”

“
You’re not gonna believe this. He wasn’t being honest with us.”

“
Really?” Hopper said sarcastically. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m a trained police officer? Course he was hiding something. You have any idea what it is?”

“
Adrian raped Robbie’s wife, Luke. That’s the problem he had with Adrian. And he
was
in East Lansing. Now he’s worried that he’s going to go to jail for killing two men.”

“
Do you make this stuff up, Clay? Payne raped Stacy Gomez, which would be a good reason to want to kill the guy, and then Robbie admits to killing two men that night? How could all these people have all killed Adrian, yet the coroner and Adrian don’t seem to agree?”

“
I don’t have any idea; I’m just as confused as you are.”

“
Have you asked Erika if
she
killed her husband? Maybe
she
did it too! Maybe they all did it together and tricked Adrian into believing they were all innocent.”

“
Erika
is
innocent, Luke. But as for the others, we’re gonna have to keep digging.”

***

Clay made his way into the Depot, his heart pounding with excitement to see Erika. He entered the building, made his way up the stairs, and turned down the hallway toward her office, but it was empty. When he looked back at Morty’s door to ask where Erika was, he saw there was a meeting going on with Morty, Erika, and an attractive dark-haired woman. He returned to Erika’s office to leave a note asking that she call him when she got a chance. Though it was unnecessary, he jotted down his cell number and wrote that he had an errand to run but to please call him. Before he could leave, he heard, “
Skeleton key, Clay. Skeleton key.
”

Clay turned to the picture hanging on the wall. The ghost was talking to him, yet he was thinking, “
Wow, you are beautiful, Erika. I never get tired of looking at you.
” Eventually he checked himself and decided to talk to Adrian. “Why do you keep talking in riddles and clues? Why can’t you just tell me what happened?
Everyone
, it seems, wanted you dead, and everyone seems to think he killed you. How about Erika? Or Logan?” he added sarcastically. “Did they kill you too? Do you think maybe you could help me out?”

“
What fun would that be?
” he whispered. “
I give clues; you solve the mystery…if you can. By the way…ease the pain. Ease the pain.
”

“
Why would I want to ease your pain? You cheated on your wife, spent your partner’s money on prostitutes, didn’t care about your son who you physically abused, raped Stacy Gomez, ran people out of business, and gave alcohol to the train engineer, endangering lives just so you could play engineer. You’re stuck in some state between Heaven and Hell, haunting your friends and family, and instead of helping us figure out what happened, you leave indecipherable clues and ask me to ease
your
pain. You’re priceless, Adrian. No wonder no one cared about you. People were actually happy you were gone. How does that make you feel?”

“
Solve the mystery, and I’ll be on my way to Hell.”

Clay exited the room in frustration.

***

Marshall Mortonson had asked Erika into his office. His attorney, Toni Nickel, was present when Erika entered and sat down. Toni was an attractive woman in her mid-to-late thirties with long, dark hair and a polished smile. She seemed friendly enough, but Erika was a little leery of the surprise meeting. She felt like she was being ganged up on even before the conversation began. She found herself wishing that Clay was there with her.

“
We have some important issues to deal with now that Adrian’s legally deceased. I asked my attorney to come in to answer questions you might have. Toni Nickel, this is Erika Payne.”

They shook hands and then Erika smiled and said, “I think we get our hair done at the same place. Your hair is beautiful, by the way. I’ve seen you at the salon and around town a few other times.”

Erika’s genuine kindness was apparent to Toni, and she decided immediately that she liked her. Within seconds, the attorney had determined that she liked Erika more than the cheating, conniving client she was representing, and certainly more than Erika’s ex-husband, who she had known in a Biblical sense of the word, and had found to be a disgusting human being. She had no idea he was married at the time. “I’ve been looking over the contract that Morty and Adrian put together when they purchased the entire business. As you probably know, you’ve inherited fifty-percent of the business. Morty contractually does not have to share decision-making power with you, but he
does
have to share profits and losses, including the profits over the last seven years.

“
After perusing the company books, it appears that the business has been somewhat profitable since the time your husband went missing, so Morty is bound contractually to be fair and pay you your share. We’ll have to sort out an accurate number, but Morty is hoping that you will be satisfied with the amount and agree to not sell the business.”

“
I can’t afford to buy you out, Erika, but I want to keep the business. The bank is not willing to loan me what I would need. I’m hoping we can agree to the partnership as it is currently working. I can keep doing what I am doing, and you can continue to work in the office just as before—if you choose to. But we’ll split all financial interests fifty-fifty.”

Toni suspected that Mortonson wasn’t being honest. She wasn’t an accountant, but from what she had seen of the books thus far, she couldn’t see why Marshall would be so adamant about not wanting Erika to look at the numbers. It made her think that maybe what was written in the books wasn’t exactly the truth. It didn’t appear from the ledgers she had seen that the business was making large amounts of money, yet when she looked into the worth of the business, she learned from the bank that they’d done an appraisal for Marshall less than a year before, and it was determined to be worth about five million dollars. She didn’t know that Marshall was using two different sets of books for her and the bank. She could see how Marshall couldn’t afford to give Erika two and a half million dollars, but she couldn’t comprehend how the business, according to the books in her hands, was making so little profit.

“
Erika,” Marshall continued, “we’ll talk about this again. You can have as much time as you need to think about it, but I wanted you to know that I’d really like to keep the business as it is.” He reached over and grabbed the books from Toni Nickel and then reached into his jacket pocket and unconsciously pulled out his skeleton keys to prepare to lock everything back up.

Erika noticed the keys and remembered Adrian’s words. “
Was he talking about Morty’s keys?
” she wondered. “Morty,” she said, “how much is the business currently worth?”

Marshall nervously stuffed the keys back in his pocket. “Um, I really don’t know, Erika. That’s so hard to say.”

Toni raised her eyebrows as she glanced at her client. She didn’t say anything, but she already knew that Marshall was lying. The bank had told Morty the same thing they had told his attorney.

Because Erika was in her meeting, Clay headed back to his car, checked the purchase he had stored in the trunk, and started out toward town. He had an errand that he wanted to accomplish. He called the police station and was connected right away with Chief Hopper. He asked Luke a question, waited briefly while the police chief found the answer, and then he wrote down the information. He programmed an address into his Garmin GPS, and headed away from the Depot to an address on South Oak Street.

When he found the house he was looking for, Clay pulled into the driveway and nervously exited his car, climbed the porch steps, and knocked on the door. There was no answer after the first knock, so he tried again, only harder.

“
All right already!” screamed a voice from inside. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch; I’m coming!”

Clay’s heart started beating faster. He was beginning to understand how Erika could be afraid of midgets because that’s exactly how he was feeling. “
There’s nothing to fear but fear itself
” were words that came to his mind—words that Erika herself had spoken to him in the cave. He took a deep breath and waited a few seconds more before the door swung slightly open, but when it did, there was no one there. He began to survey the area inside the doorway, but there didn’t appear to be anyone there.

“
I’m down here, you moron!”

Sure enough, there he was. He was probably a few inches short of four feet tall. He had curly reddish hair, several crooked teeth that Clay could see as the little guy seemed to be growling at him, and a big purplish bruise on his forehead. “Um, excuse me,” Clay said nervously, “I assume you’re Jasper?”

“
No, I’m Barney the Dinosaur. Go away before I bust your knees with a baseball bat!”

“
I’d like a minute of your time, if you don’t mind.”

“
You have somethin’ stuck in your ears, you meathead, or do you just enjoy pain?” he growled angrily. “You want me to hurt you? Stick your head inside the door and I’ll kick you in the teeth.”

“
You’re an angry little midget aren’t you?”

The door flew open and the crazy little guy jumped right on Clay, knocking him backward off the porch. Clay managed to keep his footing, and then he threw the maniac off his body. Jasper landed on his back on the lawn. Clay pressed his foot on the lunatic’s chest and held him down with his foot.

“
You call me a midget one more time,” the psycho yelled, spit flying from his mouth, “and I’ll be all over you like white on rice! I’m a little person, and I have a name like any other man!”

Clay looked him in his wild red eyes and said, “Jasper, stop being angry right now, you hear? You will settle down right now and listen to me!”

Mind control did have its occasional benefits and there before him was a prime example. Jasper settled right down, and Clay removed his foot from the little person’s chest. “How about we have a talk, Jasper? I’m actually here to do you a favor.”

“
You’re the guy who broke my bike, aren’t you?”

“
I’m ashamed to admit it, Jasper, but yes.”

“
You have a good arm.”

Clay smiled. “My name’s Clay. Nice to meet you. And you, by the way, you’re the guy who broke my car window and dented my door and tried to hurt someone who’s very important to me. Why are you always trying to scare her like that?” They both sat down on the porch steps.

Jasper hesitated a minute then said, “The first time I ran into her—I literally ran into her—I was a teenager. She knocked me off my bike and bent my handle bars. She looked down at me and screamed and said something like, ‘Oh, no, I’ve killed a midget.’ Do you know how offensive that word is?” He waited a second for a response. “
Obviously
not—anyway I lost my temper. I know; it’s hard to believe, but true. I don’t recall any other confrontations for years, but I could tell she was afraid of me. Then one day while doing some legal documents for Adrian, he gave me some extra money and asked for a favor. Said he’d keep me as his attorney as long as I kept terrifying his wife. He thought it’d be a hilarious practical joke. I’ve been doin’ it ever since.”

“
Adrian Payne was a bigger creep than you—no offense, Jasper.”

“
None taken, Clay.”

“
You know that Adrian’s dead, don’t you? You certainly don’t have to worry about losing his business now. I can tell in just a minute of conversation you’re an intelligent guy. Why are you still scaring Erika?”

“
Didn’t know he was dead until just recently. He’s my last real client. Last time we met was a couple months before he disappeared. I’ve been holding his documents ever since. I’ve learned to be a little bitter about life, and I know I can be a real nasty creep at times, but I’m actually still his attorney, and I made him a promise. I went overboard with that rock, though, didn’t I? Sorry, Clay.”

Clay got up from the porch steps. He walked to his car and popped open the trunk. As Jasper walked to the car in curiosity, Clay pulled a small, new mountain bike out and set it on the ground. “This is for you. When you jumped me like a wild animal, I had second thoughts, but I’ve changed my mind again.”

“
Why would you do this for me?” Jasper actually had tears in his eyes. From Clay’s perspective, a look of shame seemed to cross his face. “I’m not a nice person, and I threw the first rock.”

“
You know, Jasper, I’m still learning how to live my life effectively, but one thing I’ve learned recently is that if I’m not helping other people, I’m not only being disobedient to God who loves me, but I’m missing out on some tremendous blessings in life. I’m trying to help Erika and her son find out what happened to Adrian Payne. Erika helped me to renew my faith, and I’m trying to renew her peace. She’s lived long enough without answers. And her son’s a troubled kid who really needs a break in life. In the meantime, I saw an opportunity to do something nice for you too…I didn’t realize I’d be risking life and limb, but here I am.”