BOOK ONE: DECEPTIONS
Chapters One to Twenty Six
Vignettes 1 - 140

BOOK TWO: YESTERDAY ECHOES
Chapters 27 to
Vignettes 141 -

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Vignette #186: Connecting Bodies

Mitchell stayed on his knees. “Mr. Justyn…Ian. We’ve had questions, too. You aren’t the only one who knew that things didn’t add up the way everyone insisted they did. Both Kellen and I have been quietly keeping this investigation open.”

“Kellen?” Ian looked up at his friend.

“We deliberately kept everyone out of the loop. Very few knew we were doing an investigation on our own.”

“But why?” Ian didn’t know if he was hurt, relieved or more pissed off.

Kellen looked at Barrow and back to Ian. “Give us a moment to explain, please.”

“Kellen, a man is dead, I don’t feel safe in my own home and Ella has disappeared…a doubt a moment is going to make things right.”

“Ian, we found Ella.” Kellen looked at the floor.

Ian started to breath a sigh of relief until he got a good look at Kellen’s face. “No…please no…” When no one corrected him immediately tears began to quietly fall down his face.

“It’s one of the reasons you’re here.” Andy Mitchell said very quietly. “We found her body about a week and a half ago. We had her down as a Jane Doe. She was just identified positively this morning.”

“One of the reasons?” Ian didn’t like the sound of anything he was hearing. He didn’t dare close his eyes. The night discussed was vividly ransacking his brain along with visions of beatings and violations he couldn’t keep buried in moments of uncertainty.

Mitchell looked at Barrow who nodded. “Ian two days ago Peyton Balouche committed suicide.”

“Who’s Peyton Balouche?” Ian asked.

“The other detective assigned to the case.” Kellen answered.

“My partner.” Andy Mitchell looked again at his feet.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Detective.” He said honestly. “But I don’t understand how…”

“One of the reasons Andy and I were quietly investigating this is because we suspected Balouche of covering things up.” Kellen said. “We had to keep everyone in the dark or run the risk of tipping Balouche off.”

“And now everything is different.” Ian didn’t ask, but couldn’t quite believe.

“Balouche left a message on my answering machine telling me to meet him at this address.” Mitchell handed Ian a slip of paper. “Does that ring any bells?”

Ian looked, thought and confidently shook his head no. Andy Mitchell continued. “When I arrived the front door was unlocked. I went in and discovered Peyton’s body swinging from a rope next to a desk. He left a note explaining it all.”

“All of what?” Ian hated himself for asking.

“Balouche admitted that he and Blue Richards had used a third party at HRT to forge employment contracts, skimming well over a million dollars. The intent was to continue skimming until they gathered enough evidence to plant fingering you for the crime.”

“Me?”

Kellen nodded his head. “According to the note, when you caught on to the payroll fraud yourself things started to fall apart. He and Richards decided to kill both you and Ronnie forging a suicide note with your confession to the crime.”

“Holy…” Ian’s eyes shot wide open, he started to hyperventilate. He took a couple of deep breaths, got himself under control and then nodded for someone to continue, obviously there was more.

“When Blue was killed instead, Peyton covered everything up as best he could. But the third party admitted that Richards had killed two other people, witnesses they had used to aid things along. They fought and Balouche claims he accidentally killed the other party. He finally couldn’t take it anymore, wrote his confession and hung himself.”

Ian already knew, but he had to hear it out loud. “The third party.”

Kellen didn’t want to be the one, but he knew Ian had to hear it from him. “It was Ella, Ian. He named Ella as the plant.”

“Lab reports indicate she died a few days after Blue Richards was killed. We found he body in the alley, beaten beyond recognition and skull finally crushed in.” Andy filled in the details. “Balouche worked very hard to make it a Jane Doe, picking over facts for the reports. We’re led to believe what few instincts he had kicked in and he knew I was keeping that case open behind his back.”

Ian wiped the tears from his face and took a deep ragged breath. “Well, I have a lot o trouble believing Ella could be involved in any way, but it all makes sense now.”

“Yes.” Kellen nodded and quietly added. “Yes it does.”

“Everything is tied up in a neat little bow. Every I dotted and T crossed.” Mitchell added.

“Then it’s over.” Ian looked at the men in the room.

“That’s where I come in.” Barrow looked at Ian.

“Uh oh.” Ian looked in his empty cup. “I’m sorry, I need some more water, unless you have something stronger; a soft drink, alcohol, Valium…”

Kellen picked up the pitcher of room temperature water from a cart and placed it where Ian could help himself. “Ian, buddy, once again we need to be very careful. Rest assured that you and Ronnie are being watched and protected twenty four seven. I swear on my life nothing else will happen.”

Ian gulped another cup of water. “Kellen, I appreciate your assurances, but unless someone tells me what’s going on in a hurry, it won’t be a disposable cup splattered against that wall. Talk…now…all of it…”

Yancy Barrow smiled. “You are just a tiger when you’re riled aren’t you?” The joking smile left his face when Ian’s eyes bored holes through him. “Mr. Justyn for safety reasons…”

“You may be referring to the safety of myself and my son, but let me assure you Detective Barrow that your safety is the one on the line at this very moment.” The three men in the chairs all straightened upright. “I’m sick of all this. Fill me in or I call my lawyer…one…”

“Mr. Justyn…” Barrow sat forward.

“…Two”

“Alright, Ian…” Kellen grabbed the cane from his hand and turned to his co-horts. “He deserves to know everything. This all seems to be oddly centered around him. Maybe he can fill in some of the blanks.”

“Do I hear a three?” Ian’s expression didn’t change. His heart was bumping and he could feel something inside racing up and down.

“Mr. Justyn, are you sure that address Peyton Balouche’s body was found in is not familiar in any way?”

“Absolutely. Why?”

“Ian…” Kellen said. “It’s rented in your name.”

“What?”

“That’s just the beginning.” Andy Mitchell admitted. “As of yesterday, this all looked complete, almost every piece of the puzzle fell into place.”

“At least in a way that made sense.” Kellen said. “All but the Darla Hutton aspect, and we were willing to chalk that up into just something in Blue Richards brain moments before…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ian held up a hand. “I get the picture. If everything was so pat yesterday, what changed everything today?”

“I showed up.” Yancy Barrow said. “Let’s do this step by step if we’re going to lay it on the line. I have no problem with Mr. Justyn being involved. According to my information he may be the only one who can actually solve this sordid mess.”

“Then why all the patronizing and the secrecy?” Ian wasn’t convinced.

“That was my idea.” Kellen said. “I didn’t want you involved anymore than you were. I thought simply for your safety and sanity it was better to only tell you what you needed to know.”

Ian nodded his head and pushed him self slowly up using the desk as his fulcrum. He turned and caught Kellen off guard with a swift right hook.

The other men bolted up and stared at Kellen, caught by surprise and rubbing his jaw.

“Don’t make me use my good arm.” Ian flexed his right hand.

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