Take the Fourth (32 page)

Chapter 49
 

J
orja called Greg into her office. She had just come back from seeing her uncle and she was standing beside her desk looking out the window.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Sort of…”

“Why did you come back? You need to take some time.”

“It’s just that I need… I need… .,” and with that her eyes filled with tears and she grabbed a tissue from the box. Greg really didn’t know what to do; he felt very uncomfortable but approached her anyway. He put his hand on her back but she quickly turned around and fell into his arms. He hugged her, he had no choice, and he didn’t say a word. He just thought.

“I’m sorry Greg, you don’t need to be here right now,” and she pulled away almost as in disgust.

“Jorja, listen, I’m here for you, we’re friends.”

“I know, I know… I thank you for that but really…,” and she dried her eyes and changed gears like a formula one racecar, “Did you find out anything… I mean through GE?”

“I found a bunch of information on Blake Linge.”

“That was his name?”

“Not exactly, and by that I mean the police report now states Blake Linge, but his social is tied to a Blake Remus in the system, he was thirty-eight, single”

“A lot younger than my Aunt.”

“Worked at a company called Beta Group.”

“I heard of them.”

“Well anyway, he seemed to have had some sort of agenda, I found a bunch of gmails back and forth between your aunt and him… pretty personal stuff at times.”

“What do you mean hidden agenda?”

“You’ll have to read them, it will take a few hours but see if you come to the same conclusion, plus I mean, this Blake character has an alias and a pretty good one at that.”

“What else?”

“You’re not going to like it… but…”

“But?”

“But your uncle looks as to be the only one home at the time, and Robin of course.”

“Greg, there could have been someone else… you know as well as I do that not everyone is in that system, it could be some punk kid, a jealous girlfriend even a burglar or something.”

“Yes Jorja, but can you be so sure, remember those finger prints and . .”

“Don’t say another word, just don’t, that has been with me all goddamn day, haunting me, don’t you think I know that, I’m wondering myself if my uncle was somehow responsible again. This time my Aunt Gracie… . she was like a mother to me, another mother… . it just doesn’t make any sense.”

“It sort of does, there is a motive of jealously… it’s a strong motive… . if your uncle walked in on the two of them… he could have been enthralled with rage… seeing the woman he loves in bed with another man… his political career going down the tubes.”

“Political career yes, seeing the women he loves… well that’s a different story. I know my uncle really never loved his wife, maybe at certain points in time there were subtle flashes but true love was never the case. He only really loved one woman… . and that was my mother.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a long story Greg, maybe I’ll go into one day but not today, not now, we need to find as much info as possible, maybe he is guilty, maybe not, he’s still my uncle who has helped me along the way, he deserves the truth, and justice. Can you get me a copy of the police report?”

“Sure thing, only take a minute, may I?” and Jorja stepped aside to let Greg use her computer. “See this never made any sense to me, this is a criminal investigation by the D.C. police. Why they have to load every tidbit of info to homeland is beyond me?”

“In this case I’m glad they did.”

“Here’s what it says so far, are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“It says, two victims, Grace Carson and Blake Linge, four gunshots. One to the back of the head of Blake Linge through the pelvis of Grace Carson. One to the face of Grace Carson penetrating the left check, exit right cheek. Third gunshot to the chest of Mrs. Carson. Then it goes into detail about blood splatter, phone was off the hook, lights were out, and other forensic material along with pictures.”

“Let me see those pictures,” Greg was hesitant, “just bring them up please, I can handle it”. There were one hundred four pictures all together. Jorja was alright until she saw a close up of her Aunt Gracie’s face. She turned away in horror. That is not how she wanted to remember her aunt but the image was already burned into her brain. She began to cry. “Greg, if you would, please leave.” Greg was all too uncomfortable and gladly walked through the office door.

Jorja cried for a solid twenty minutes before she sat back down at her desk. “Memories, too many goddamn memories to contend with,” she said aloud. She tried to push them aside but every time she saw her aunt’s name on the police report she would tear up as the memories returned. She decide to drop everything and concentrate on those memories, “get it out of my system,” she thought, besides there was a full box of tissues, so she relived as many memories as she could.

It was closing in on seven o’clock and not once did she even look at her monitor. She was disturbed only by a knock at the door.

“Yes.”

“Jorja, it’s Greg, are you…”

“You can come in.”

“You alright?” noticing her bloodshot eyes and a trashcan filled with tissues.

“Yeah… . I’m okay.”

“You sure… it looks as though a bunch of old ladies emptied their pockets in here.”

She laughed a bit, “Yeah, I’m sure, tough day but I need to get back to work.”

“What you need is to go back home, relax, take a hot shower, take the day off tomorrow.”

“I’m not going to do that and you know that, so why don’t you take a seat and we can pick up right where we left off. Did you find out anything else?”

“No, but don’t turn on any TV’s… it is all over the airwaves.”

“Not to mention it is all over for my uncle’s political career.”

“That does seem to be the case. Speculation of murder does not sit well with the American public… when there is speculation it’s guilty until proven innocent when it plays out on the networks.”

“And that’s not fair but I know that’s how it is… .”

“So what is your gut telling you Jorja?”

“I really don’t know, I saw my uncle this morning and he was a wreck.”

“Was he a wreck because of Grace or his career?”

“He looked genuine for his emotions regarding his wife, but he could have been channeling his emotions from a different source in order to portray his innocence. I keep thinking about those fingerprints on my mother’s boat.”

“It’s like the Kennedy’s all over again.”

“Don’t go there Greg, . .I… I know how it looks… and it doesn’t look good. Right now we are the only ones who know about those fingerprints and we are thinking of maybe two crimes involving my uncle.”

“It does look fishy but also very circumstantial… but what doesn’t look circumstantial is that your uncle was home at the time of the murders… that is a fact… you know that and I know that… . the police report gives an estimated time of the murders between eleven and one… our window is within five minutes… and that is a fact that only certain individuals know… you and me included, and that doesn’t leave much wiggle room.”

“Let’s restate motives here… why would my uncle kill his wife?”

“Rage?”

“I just don’t buy it.”

“Jorja, think about it, he comes home from a late dinner, he’s been drinking, he has another drink in his study, then hears something… he goes to investigate and he sees his wife in bed with another man—that’s enough to put any man over the edge.”

“There is more to it than that… I told you before, he really didn’t love her.”

“There is also his political career, he sees her in bed with this man and right away he thinks betrayal, being so close to the White House, his career ruined over a romp in the hay… again it’s enough to drive a man over the top.”

“What doesn’t make much sense, if my uncle heard a noise why would he take a gun to investigate, the house has state of the art security, he would have known something was up.”

“Maybe he was tipped off beforehand at the dinner somehow, he was home rather early from one of those events. He builds up rage the closer he gets to the house, he enters the study to get another shot of courage, grabs his gun and walks upstairs.”

“The police report states the man was in a very compromising position, that was probably the first shot.”

“If I were that pissed that’s probably where my first shot would have been.”

“The second shot was fired directly at my…”

“Wait, let me bring up your uncle’s cell phone records from last night,” a few minutes elapsed, “Jorja, look at this, right about eleven he gets a call… . the number is blocked.”

“Blocked, come on now, we know that number.”

“Hold on, hold on… someone tried to block it… I have the number… . here it is… . now that’s strange.”

“What?”

“When is the last time you saw a public pay phone in this day and age?”

“So someone called my uncle from a pay phone at eleven o’clock on a Thursday evening, minutes later he is in the car headed home, moments after he arrives, my Aunt Gracie is dead, along with Remus . .”

Either way, if someone tipped him off it still looks like he pulled the trigger.”

“It could be a setup, you said this Remus was using another name. Maybe he was the bait, kill them, then lure my uncle and it becomes a solid frame-up.”

“You’re stretching a bit don’t cha think?”

“Yes, I’m grabbing at straws, but that call tells me someone else is involved, you said so yourself that this Remus seemed to have an ulterior motive in his writings to my aunt.”

“Again either way, setup or not, each has your uncle pulling the trigger since no one else is around, except for Robin.”

“I know in my heart she would never.”

“Okay, so we have this elaborate setup, hire this Remus character to portray a lover, a phone call, your uncle is home at the time of the murders, and a person to be named later… I just don’t buy it… that’s a pretty elaborate plan and all for what, who would go to that much trouble.”

“The who is the easy part… the President.”

“Jonathan Whitaker?”

“Yes, he has the most to gain, another term in the White House. Now that’s a big motive… is it not?”

“One of the biggest I say, if the tandem team of Anderson and Carson goes down, the democrats are pretty late in the game to contend with this election, they’re pretty much screwed.”

“Not that my uncle and Anderson were going to make it… . Whitaker’s approval rating is still pretty high.”

“But they were closing, besides, they were going after the lower to low middle class, and although approval ratings are supposed to be across the board, most of those people could care less when the phone rings for their questionnaire. I think they would have turned out in droves to elect a president and vice president who stood behind them… and they are the true majority of this country. Yes, I think Whitaker knew he was going to be up against the ropes during this election.”

“See, he has the motive and most important, the potential to pull something like this off.”

“But murder, murder of a senator’s wife, that is certainly extreme and one hell of a frame up job. I’m sorry Jorja but I just keep coming back to those fingerprints on your mother’s boat, I have a strange feeling it was not a coincidence considering that you told me earlier that your mother and your uncle where together at one time.”

“I have that CIA training too… question everything… and believe me that is a juggernaut in my thinking, right now I cannot condemn my uncle until all the facts are in.”

“Jorja, if the President was behind this… just how do you propose to take him down.”

“As Indiana Jones once said, I’m making this up as I go along.”

“Just remember Jorja, this isn’t our case, never was, you have other priorities being the deputy director of DS and T.”

“On my own time, on my own time… speaking of which it’s getting late… I need to get home.”

“You wanna grab a bite to eat?”

“Tough long day, some other time maybe I just need a long hot shower right now and maybe some Xanax.”

Greg was disappointed at how that event went down. He was sure that Jorja would point the fingers at her uncle considering the timeline. Her quizzical nature was enough to drive him mad. “Damn her,” he thought, “this could have been the perfect opportunity.”

Jorja went straight home, after the news of her aunt, Jorja thought of only one thing… GOD and it had nothing to do with the spiritual salvation of someone moving on from this world to the next. She wanted answers and she wasn’t going to pray for them; she quickly logged into the system as the President—risky since she didn’t check the President’s itinerary first. Although she promised not to enter the site without Greg by her side she deemed this time necessary. She punched in her uncle’s social and pinpointed his location. Then she backed up the clock time and plotted out a timeline for his whereabouts. She confirmed for herself that her uncle was home during the murder, not a good sign. She quickly punched in the coordinates and a radius and tracked everyone within that radius. There were only three people, her aunt, her uncle, and her aunt’s rendezvous partner… . Blake Remus… age thirty-eight. Robin, the house maid was not listed; probably never had a shot that contained the tracking devices.