True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) (3 page)

“Missing person reports need to be made in person at the station, Mr Trent. How long has your wife been missing?”

“No one has seen her since Friday.”

“I see.” There was a pause and Mike could hear paper rustling. “Can you tell me what car your wife drives?”

He was slightly taken aback by the question. “Of course, a 2010 Honda Civic –can you hold on just a minute?” Sarah was gesticulating at him trying to get his attention. “My sister-in-law is trying to tell me something.” He put his hand over the mouthpiece again. “What?”

“She doesn’t have the Civic any more. She traded it for a Chevrolet Sprite, she picked it up on Thursday.”

Michael was surprised, he’d always picked her cars and he had no idea that she intended on changing it.

“Oh. Ok, thanks,” He spoke into the phone. “Sorry, looks like I’m wrong. She has a Chevrolet Sprite now.”

There was a brief pause on the end of the phone.

“I see. Listen Mr Trent, as both you and your sister-in-law are together at your house why don’t I come to you? I’ve got to go out on some other business anyway so it would be no trouble. What’s your address?”

Michael gave him the address and put the phone down, troubled. “He’s coming here.”

“Something’s wrong isn’t it? Why else would he come here? Oh god, something’s happened to her.”

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d agreed with Sarah but this time he had to admit she was probably right. “I don’t know Sarah, but he said he was on his way so we won’t have long to wait until we find out.”

Elliot Mitchell was one of only six detectives in the small police department and though the town seemed to get bigger every day, they were lucky that they didn’t have a lot of violent crime. This being one of the reasons he’d moved here from Boston in the first place, leaving behind a city that had almost destroyed him. So when the call came in about the car wreck he had no problem volunteering to deal with it as his desk was clear.

The car was still ablaze when he arrived at the scene and he had to stand well back while the fire department extinguished the flames. It had been burning for a while before another driver had called it in and by the time the flames were out, there was little left of the single occupant that still sat in the driver’s seat. He watched as the crime scene techs did their job before the charred remains were taken to the morgue.

Initial enquiries of who the car belonged to had led him to a local man, but that proved to be a dead end. He visited the address only to be told that he’d left that day to take a once in a lifetime trip exploring the Amazon. Inconveniently for Elliot, his family had no way of getting in touch with him and they had no idea to whom he’d sold the car.

That had been on Friday and up until now they’d been unable to identify the victim. It was only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, reported a loved one missing; and it seemed that they finally had.

***

The knock on the door made Michael jump, even though he’d been expecting it. He didn’t say a word as his eyes met Sarah’s across the table.

He wanted nothing more at that moment than to run in the opposite direction, away from the bad news he knew was waiting for him on the other side of the front door, but he couldn’t. Taking a deep breath he pushed his shoulders back and stood up to answer the knock.

He didn’t know what he’d been expected but the image he had formed in his mind of the detective on the phone bore no resemblance to the man standing in front of him. Maybe it was the deep voice that had made him think he was older, but the man standing in front of him could only have been in his late thirties and looked more like a biker than a detective. His dark hair skimmed the collar of a well-worn black leather jacket under which Michael caught a glimpse of a Harley Davidson t-shirt worn loose above a pair of ripped blue jeans.

“Detective Mitchell,” The man held out his hand. “You must be Mr Trent, we spoke on the phone.”

Michael took the outstretched hand. “Yes of course, come in.” He stood back and held the door open allowing the detective to come inside. Closing the door behind him he led him to the kitchen where Sarah stood with her arms crossed across her middle, hugging herself.

“What’s wrong, what’s happened to my sister?” Sarah asked as soon as he entered the room.

“Mind if I sit down?” the detective asked. Before anyone answered he pulled out a chair.

“Please, just tell us,” Michael pleaded. “Of course, I’m sorry,” Elliot reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag and placed it on the table in front of them. “Can I ask, do you recognise any of these items?”

Michael picked up the bag and held it in front of his face, examining the contents. Immediately he felt the earth shift beneath his feet. He would recognise Jennifer’s wedding ring anywhere, they’d designed it themselves. “That’s Jennifer’s wedding ring.” His hand shook as he placed the bag back on the table and Sarah immediately started crying.

“I’m so sorry. We recovered this ring from a car wreck outside town on Friday and from what you’ve told me, the victim does appear to be your wife Mr Trent.”

“You’re sure?” he didn’t recognize his own voice as the words caught in his throat.

“No, we can’t be sure until we’ve confirmed it with dental records.” He answered gently. “Did your wife have a regular dentist we can contact?”

Mike nodded and walked over to a kitchen drawer, taking out a pen and paper and writing down the details.

“What happens now?” he asked as he held out the paper.

The detective folded the paper and slipped it into his back pocket. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have any further news. Once again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Michael thanked the detective and showed him out, closing the door firmly behind him. He felt shaky, as if his legs couldn’t hold him up. Leaning his forehead against the door he closed his eyes, and let out a long breath. He couldn’t believe Jennifer was gone.
Not Jennifer
.

He didn’t hear Sarah come up behind him before he felt her hand on his shoulder. Without a word he turned to face her and they fell into each other’s arms, all bitterness pushed aside.

“It might not be her,” Sarah’s voice was muffled against his chest.

He didn’t know what to say. He wanted to believe it wasn’t her, to cling on to the tiny chance that it wasn’t, but realistically he knew it was. He took a deep breath. “Sarah…”

“No. Don’t,” she shook her head against him. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Okay.” He said, holding her close. What harm would it do to let her believe a little bit longer?

Elliot let himself into his apartment with a weary sigh. It had been a long day and it was always emotionally exhausting to deliver bad news, a part of the job he hated. These days he didn’t have to do it very often as it was usually the job of uniformed officers. He’d done more than his fair share though back in the days when he was a patrol officer in Boston.

The quiet struck him as he walked in and it bothered him, as it always did these days. Walking over to the stereo he switched it on before he even took his coat off. He didn’t care what was playing, it was just a trick to make his apartment feel less empty.

Going into the kitchen he opened his cupboards searching for a clean plate.
I really need to do the washing up
he chided himself, glancing at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Giving up on the plate, he got a fork from a drawer and took it through to the living room where his take-out was quickly going cold. He sat down and almost immediately leapt up again at the sudden vibration in his back pocket.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

It took a second before he remembered. “Shit. Sorry, I completely forgot.”

“Well get your backside over here now.”

He sighed. He really didn’t want to go out again. All he wanted was a hot shower and an early night. “I’m really whacked, why don’t we do it another night?”

“Oh, no you don’t. You’ve been trying to get out of this since you got here. Mum’s gone to a lot of trouble and you will not let her down, mister.”

From what she’d told him about her mother, trying to get out of this was a bad idea. “Okay, you’re right. Give me half an hour, I need to have a quick shower.”

“And stop on your way and get a bottle of wine. She likes red.”

He heard the dial tone before he had time to answer.
Like mother like daughter, apparently
he grinned as he dropped the uneaten take-out in the bin and went to shower.

***

Taking the bottle from the passenger seat, Elliott walked up the path to the house. He spent far more than he should have on the wine out guilt for having forgotten the invitation. The door opened just as he raised his hand to knock.

“At last.”

“Hello to you, too.”

“Just get in here, everyone’s waiting to meet you.” Lexi took the bottle and walked off leaving him to follow her into the dining room.

A woman who was undoubtedly Lexi’s mom immediately stood up as he entered the room, came over to him and gave him a hug, squeezing so tight he thought he might stop breathing.

“Ah! And this is your young man, Lexi!” She let him go and beamed up at him.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Mrs Constantinou.”

She waved her hand in the air, “No matter.”

“He’s not my young man, Mom.” Lexi interrupted, rolling her eyes at him. “He’s my partner. At work.”

“I know, I know but that is how it starts, no?” the older lady gave a wide grin.

Lexi shook her head, clearly used to her mother’s antics.

“Elliot, these are my brothers, Alexander, Andreas and Theo.” Each of the three men sat around the table lifted their hands in turn and gave him a little wave. It felt almost like walking into a job interview, facing a panel of people he’d never met before and was just as intimidating.

“Come and sit down, the food is getting cold.”

Elliot walked round the table to where Lexi was pointing to the empty chair next to her. Once he was sat the conversation started up again, and soon he was surrounded by several conversations going on at once as dishes were being passed around the table.

“Here, my mom’s famous moussaka,” Lexi said, passing him a plate with enough food on it to feed a small army.

“Thanks, it looks great.” It did. He had no idea what was in it as he’d never tried it before. But whatever it was, it looked and smelled divine. Far better than what now sat in his bin at home. It tasted even better, and the growl of appreciation his stomach let out at being fed told him just how hungry he was.

After the first few mouthfuls quelled the worst of his hunger pangs, he slowed down and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Despite his misgivings, he was glad he had come. It had been a long time since he sat down for a family meal and he’d forgotten just how comforting it was to be enveloped in the sounds of conversation and laughter.

By the time he got up to leave it was hard to remember that he had only met these people a few short hours ago. They made him feel welcome and as the evening progressed, he had been drawn into their conversations and felt completely at ease. It was easy to see how much they loved each other and as he said his goodbye’s he found himself not wanting to leave.

“Hang on, I’ll walk you out.” It was cold now. The sun had disappeared over the horizon and Lexi grabbed a coat before joining him outside, pulling the door closed behind her. “See, I told you it wouldn’t be so bad.” She smiled as she walked down the path with him to his car.

“It was great Lexi, you have a wonderful family.”

“Talking of families, you never mention yours.”

“Nothing to tell, I don’t have one.”

“No one at all?”

He shook his head. “No.” He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d had a family once, back in Boston. Maybe he would tell her about it one day, but not today.

“Well my mom would welcome you any time so consider yourself adopted,” she laughed. “And while she’s got you in her sights it stops her trying to set me up on blind dates.”

“Oh, I see, so you brought me here to use me as a decoy,” Elliott said, pretending to be hurt. “Good to know.”

“I know you’d do the same for me.” She punched him playfully on the arm. “Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow. My turn to get the coffee.” She gave a small wave as she ran back into the house leaving him to get into his car and head home.

Elliott was usually at work much earlier but after the enjoyable evening with Lexi’s family he’d slept better than usual. The nightmares that plagued him stayed away and that meant he managed to sleep uninterrupted until 7. He still arrived before she did, and had been at his desk for nearly an hour when she breezed in bearing coffee and looking as if she’d just rolled out of bed.

“Hey, we got the ME report on the body in the wreck.”

“Good morning, Elliot. How are you? Sleep well?” her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.

“Good morning Lexi. I’m fine, slept fine. Now, the report.”

Lexi sighed and handed him one of the coffees she was carrying. “Social niceties really are lost on you, aren’t they?” She sat down at her desk which faced his directly. “Anything interesting in it?”

“Well, dental records confirm that the victim was Jennifer Trent, I would have been shocked if they didn’t, but it looks like we have a suicide rather than an accident on our hands.”

“Really? How can they tell?”

“From what it says here, evidence shows both her wrists were cut pre-mortem and the ME says from the depth of the wounds, it was no cry for help.”

“Well it’s sad, but it doesn’t change anything.” She blew on her coffee to cool it down.

“Not for us, maybe, but I’m sure her family won’t want to hear it.”

“Do you want me to come with you or shall I stay here and get on with the paperwork?” she grinned.

“No, don’t you disturb yourself, I’ll go,” his tone matching her prior sarcasm. He didn’t really mind. He was still getting used to working with a partner and as much as he liked Lexi, he preferred to work alone when he could.

Grabbing his coffee, he left the office thinking about how he was going to break the news.