Chapter 9: Chapter Eight

Minka excused herself from Mr. Chemway and raced after her brother with Caela in tow. She didn’t want to take the time to unload her regular stroller from the trunk of the car, so she grabbed the buggy her aunt Sue had passed down to her. On the few occasions she’d used it, its cumbersome, old-fashioned wheels and the inability to fold it up lent to Minka’s appreciation of modern-day designs. Needless to say, it wasn’t cut out for a pursuit of this sort, but because it was right there in the den she made do.

She darted outside to hunt for Robin. Since he hadn’t been bold enough to take her car, he couldn’t have trekked far, unless a random taxi had finally stumbled across their block. He wasn’t a strong runner, but she didn’t want to give him much of a lead. A left turn would take him deeper into their secluded neighborhood, so Minka headed right, all while texting Cael. She figured he’d already been alerted of Robin’s escape thanks to the monitor on his ankle and wanted to assure him she was handling it.

Her focus shifted between her phone and daughter, who kept wiggling and rolling onto her knees. She entreated her to stay still. In the end, the baby’s persistence benefitted her distracted mother. She sat up just in time to spy their target.

“Boy!” she crowed, pointing at Robin from her kneeling position.

From his seat on a park bench, he cast a despondent gaze on his sister. Neither said a word as Minka joined him. In the silence, the vibration of her phone was noticeable, prompting Robin to steal a glimpse of the message she’d received. The instant he spotted Cael’s name, he lunged to his feet and began to take off again. She sped on to the sidewalk and cut off his path with the buggy.

“Where are you going?”

“Someplace where my sister won’t rat me out.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve had your back all along. For goodness’ sake, I left a complete stranger in my house while I ran after you to stop you from becoming a fugitive.”

“Yeah, right. You just wanted to trap me until your wannabe brother could capture me.”

“Once again, you’re wrong. I wanted to notify him that you were on the move, and I had tabs on you. That way, he might not seek you out and handle it with more force.”

At a stalemate, the siblings stared each other down like characters out of a movie about the wild west. For the second time in two minutes, Minka’s phone intervened, with Cael calling in. Robin swerved around the stroller.

Before he could make it far, she grabbed the handcuffs she’d slipped into her pocket at home. Though out of practice, she slapped them on with no effort, putting one on his wrist and the other on the handle of Caela’s buggy.

Robin started to jostle his wrist. “Hey!”

“Settle down. You may not always act in your own best interests, but you’d better not endanger your niece.”

For a change, he obeyed her and even assisted her by commanding Caela to sit down. With the two babysitting each other, Minka managed to answer the phone on the last ring.

“Hello?” She maintained a mild tone, considering the circumstances.

“What’s with your text?” Cael questioned. “What’s happening over there?”

“Robin’s lawyer dropped by to tell us the latest on Hamilton, and Robin stormed out of the house. I just figured his GPS alarms would be going off over there.”

“I’m on the road,” Cael said. “So I didn’t get a notice yet. Have you found him?”

“Yeah, I’m keeping a tight grip on him now.” She chose not to disclose how literal her statement was.

“I’d planned to stop by on my way back to the station, so as long as he’s there with you, I’ll just blame it on a technical glitch.”

Minka appreciated Cael’s support but getting her brother on board would be a challenge. Still trying to slip off the handcuff, he demonstrated he wasn’t going back without a fight. The restraint might have done the job of keeping him in place, but she couldn’t overpower him and push him the whole way back.

With no other recourse, she appealed to his heart. “After your abduction, I made you a promise in the middle of the night. I’m not sure if you heard it, but I told you I’d never let anyone hurt you again.”

He lowered his somber eyes. “I heard you.”

“I’ll admit I haven’t always followed through on that, but now I’m determined. I need you to trust me.”

He nodded, and she took the chance of spinning the stroller around to return home. He complied and kept a steady pace with her without incident. As they approached the driveway, he began to tinker with the cuff again.

“This thing hurts.”

“Be glad I couldn’t find my Taser.”

****

Minka and Robin shuffled through the front door. Once she unlocked the cuffs, he marched back into the garage, his stoic expression indicating he had no plans to reemerge anytime soon. Meanwhile, Chemway had stayed in his place in the living room and was uncomfortably tapping his foot.

“I’m sorry about that.” Minka lifted Caela out of the buggy. “He’s impulsive, to say the least.”

“I don’t blame him for being upset. I’ve never had a case take a turn like this. I’ll be doing my share of research.”

His remark sparked hope that her earlier perception of him was flawed, encouraging her to enlist his assistance. “Speaking of research, I’ve done some of my own, and I learned this isn’t Hamilton’s first time being an alleged victim of abuse.”

She detailed his experience in college and inability to provide convincing testimony against his supposed attacker. Despite her reservations, she even admitted her call to Toby Mead and his unnerved response. She waited for the attorney to manifest disapproval, but he didn’t whatsoever. Rather, he thanked her for her diligence and promised to review the links she gave him.

A few minutes after Chemway left, the front door opened again. Minka expected Cael to enter. Instead, Wes stepped inside. With the chaotic afternoon, she hadn’t noticed the later hour. She had yet to put the baby buggy away, so it still sat in the foyer, handcuffs dangling off the handlebar and all. He narrowed his eyes. “Honey?”

She flailed up her arms to proclaim her innocence. “Everybody’s fine.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“In total honesty, no. But in case Camille calls Child Services on me, I suppose I should.”

She gave him a recap of the debacle, and several times, a repressed grin flashed across his lips. She couldn’t get angry with him, finding the humor in it as she proceeded with the account. Right when she concluded it, Cael appeared in the doorway. He leveled the same puzzled frown his brother had at the stroller.

“Should I ask…”

Wes put his thumb to his chest, prideful. “My daughter made her first arrest.”

Minka sprinted over and tucked the buggy back in the den at last. “Really? You’re taking credit for that?”

Cael snickered. “Yeah, I don’t know the details, but she’d inherit those skills from Minks and me. The honor will go to you the first time she gets arrested.”

Wes laughed.

“Any news on the case?” Minka asked.

“Sort of. We subpoenaed Hamilton’s medical records and confirmed his doctor evaluated him late last week and gave him the go-ahead to drive.”

“So, that means Robin’s off the hook?” Wes asked.

“In a way. We can’t charge him, but the mother can still file a civil suit against him.”

Minka shook her head. “He won’t have much to give her, especially if he’s in prison by the time she takes him to court.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, sis.” Robin stood in the kitchen doorway, where he’d apparently been eavesdropping. He looked to Cael. “Is there any way I can get out of this?”

“With a good lawyer, there is. Since Hamilton was cleared to drive, his recovery must have been progressing well. If the accident was medically related, like if the driving restriction was lifted prematurely, liability could fall on his doctor.”

His freedom of speech surprised Minka. “You seem pretty confident, Detective.”

“Today told us a lot.” He shot over a look that assured her he had it under control. “We also talked to Hamilton’s secretary. She said he’d spent the last few days on the road, commuting to the branch office in St. Petersburg. Yesterday was his shortest drive.”

“He could’ve been exhausted,” Wes speculated.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t my fault,” Robin said, sounding happier than Minka had heard him in a long time.

He gave Cael a high-five and thanked him for his work, which astonished his sister. He strolled back into the kitchen; the sounds of rustling wrappers and opening cabinets left little doubt he wanted a celebratory snack. After the raid ended and the back door closed, she smiled at her brother-in-law, aware of how much his conversation with Robin violated his training.

“How are you going to testify against him in good conscience?”

He winked. “Easy. I’ll recommend Declan to take the stand.”

“Where is Declan?” Wes questioned.

“At court, as a matter of fact. I think he’s calling me now.” He grabbed his phone out of his pocket. His expression changed when he read the ID, and he ducked out of the room before he answered.

The action put Minka on edge, making her wonder if the matter under discussion would bear any weight on Robin. She quieted her disconcerted thoughts, remembering it could relate to another case. When he returned with an aggravated grimace, her nerves kicked up again.

To her relief, Wes took the initiative to learn what happened. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. That was the hospital. Tad and Jemma Frasier, the other victims of Hamilton’s crash, were recovering there. The nurse said Tad went on a rampage this afternoon and insisted on checking both of them out. The wife’s injuries were more substantial, so she should be under a physician’s care. Several nurses and the floor doctor tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen. I guess Jemma cooperated with him and had enough strength to make it into the truck that picked them up. I have to go to the hospital and talk to the staff.”

With all the other developments, it hadn’t occurred to her to ask Cael about the other victims. “So you never got to interview them prior to them leaving the hospital?”

“Her condition was too unstable. I tried talking to Tad Frasier first thing this morning. He said he doesn’t remember anything about the wreck.”

Given the man’s abrupt exit from the hospital, Minka had to question if he recalled more than he claimed. Because Cael had to leave, she didn’t voice her suspicion. After he left, she returned to her cyber stalking.

She ran a search on the Frasiers. Their wedding registry from two years ago topped the results, along with their marriage announcement. She didn’t have much interest in their nuptials, so she continued to browse the other results. Another article about the accident followed, and she skimmed it. It named them as victims but focused on Hamilton, highlighting his rise in the software industry and his contributions to Orlando’s community and charities. To further sadden her, it also mentioned his recent assault and posed the possibility of it leading to the crash.

She almost gave up on her efforts, but just before she closed the search engine window, she spotted the next result: an obituary that featured Tad’s name. She might well have disregarded it, if she hadn’t noticed that it was written in remembrance of a woman named Peggy Hickington Frasier. Her eyes scrambled over the tribute, in a quest for the list of survivors. Tad was her son, one of three boys, but she rushed through his brothers’ names. She had another name in mind, and a moment later, she pinpointed it on the screen.

Percy Hickington was Peggy Frasier’s brother, meaning Perry Hamilton was Tad’s uncle.

****

Wes shook his head once Minka finished telling him about her discovery over dinner. “So, Hamilton’s own nephew crashed into his car and killed him. And I thought you had issues because of cuffing your brother to our daughter’s stroller.”

She balled up a napkin and threw it at him. “I worked with what I had.”

In her highchair, Caela followed her lead and tossed the dirty one on her tray at Wes.

“See how you’re corrupting our sweet little girl.”

She winked at him, sliding a clean paper towel over to her daughter. “Jokes aside, you don’t buy that it’s an accident Tad and Jemma were in the other car?”

“I’m not the former detective, but in a big city like this, what are the chances?”

“They could’ve been headed to the same place, I suppose.”

He acknowledged the possibility with a nod. She pondered whether or not Tad even realized Hamilton had been the other driver. If not, could the revelation have triggered his meltdown?

She still couldn’t convince herself the wreck was a kooky coincidence. It struck her as odd from the very beginning, as the circumstances didn’t fit together. This new information made it even more suspicious. Her eagerness to report it to Cael burned inside of her, but she kept it contained. She didn’t want to compound his frustration over the Frasiers’ getaway or thwart his pursuit to track them down.

Robin entered the kitchen for another helping of spaghetti, his mood better since his conversation with Cael that afternoon. He stayed in the garage as usual, but every time he cut through to use the bathroom or rummage around for an all-too-frequent bite to eat, he checked in with Minka and made silly faces at Caela. The whole aura of the house brightened, making Minka realize how dreary it’d been.

He sat down for a few minutes and chatted with Wes, for the most part. Observing his joviality, she wished she could relieve him of this burden for good. Although he may not face murder charges, the assault charge still remained in place. The law couldn’t hold him accountable for Hamilton’s death, but a jury might still hold that in their thoughts.

She excused herself from the table when Cael called. Her anticipation over what he had to share rivaled her anxiousness to relate her findings. She nearly blurted it out the instant she answered but decided to yield to him.

“What’s up?”

He sighed. “I spoke with the nurses who were caring for Tad and Jemma. The entire ordeal has them baffled. The one who cared for Tad said he was good-natured and calm this morning, just concerned about his wife. Shortly after he learned Jemma was alert and stable, though, he threw a fit, yelling that he needed to get her out of there.”

“Did he give them a reason?” she asked.

“He claimed they didn’t have insurance, so the nurse assured him it wouldn’t impact the quality of care they received and that they could get assistance. She and another aide who heard him said they perceived something else was bothering him.”

Minka couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Maybe the fact that he killed his uncle.”

“Huh?”

“Tad is Hamilton’s nephew.”

“His nephew? How do you figure that?”

She related how she’d made the discovery and apologized for not telling him before about Hamilton’s unflattering birth name.

“I wonder why he’d go to the trouble of scrubbing it from all his records, except for the certificate that hung behind him every day,” Cael murmured.

“He must have assumed his inflated head would block it,” Minka quipped. “I should’ve told you right away but forgot after I ran into Maxwell and noticed his watch. I guess ‘Mommy Brain’ is a real thing, after all.”

“It’s okay. It wouldn’t have been of much benefit till now, anyways.”

She veered back to the Frasiers’ escape. “Did you try to hunt Tad and Jemma down?”

“Yes, Declan met up with me, and we headed to the address they gave to the DMV. It was just an abandoned old bar. We also tried to call them, but no surprise, their phones are disconnected. The hospital’s going to send us their surveillance so we can determine who their getaway driver was.”

The dead end made her heart sink, but she didn’t want to let it on to him. “I suppose that’s your best bet at finding them. Keep me posted.”

He promised to before they wished each other a good evening. Throughout the night, she continued to contemplate the reason for Tad’s exodus from the hospital. With Jemma in such poor condition, it didn’t speak well of his love for her. As a caring husband, he should want her to have the best treatment to aid in her recovery. True, the bills added up, but like the staff told him, there were provisions for that.

She didn’t hold out much hope the person who aided their escape would offer a lot of help. In many crimes, the accomplice didn’t cooperate unless under pressure to save his own skin. In this instance, no crime had been committed, so they wouldn’t have any bargaining chip to use. Nobody could be charged with aiding and abetting stupidity, despite the countless occasions she’d lobbied for such a law among her colleagues.

When she woke the next morning, all her invigoration over Tad and Hamilton’s connection faded away. It was nothing more than another link in a chain that continued to corrode before they could reach the end. Discouraged, she didn’t bother to look at her phone until after breakfast, doubting it’d provide anything of value. The moment she finally picked it up, a text from Cael dispelled her cynical notion.

—Bryant Maxwell picked up the Frasiers from the hospital.—

****

Minka read Wes the message as he prepared to leave for work.

“That’s the guy who bought Robin’s pocket watch, right? He must be pretty deep in this.”

“I agree, but they won’t make any headway with him until they can mount some solid evidence against him. They had a better shot at pinning him down for planting the watch than they do this. Picking up ill friends at a hospital isn’t a crime.”

After he finished adjusting his necktie, he kissed her. “Don’t drive yourself crazy over this. I’m confident matters will get sorted out.”

“I’m glad one of us is. Just don’t clue Robin in about any of it. Raising his hopes prematurely could lead him to crash if things go downhill. Aunt Sue’s buggy can’t take another wild goose chase.”

He pantomimed zipping his lips and retrieved his briefcase on his way out. In an effort to improve her mindset, she broke out the art supplies she’d been using every so often to start teaching Caela her colors. She hadn’t enjoyed art a great deal in the past and never excelled at it, but she liked drawing for her little girl, who scribbled over her sketches. She had to watch Caela closely to keep her from putting the markers in her mouth, but she cherished the bonding time.

While she attempted to shape a horse, the activity soothed her spirits. It reminded her of several of her childhood therapy sessions when her counselor made her draw. Though she hadn’t understood it then, she now realized the mental benefits of the task.

Even when thoughts of the Frasiers and Maxwell drifted into her head, she maintained a more objective focus. Misgivings about Hamilton’s plans for Riss Software resurged; the dots started to connect with regard to Maxwell’s involvement in the matter. If Hamilton had some secret scheme going, it made sense for a longtime accountant to be privy to it.

When Cael and Declan showed up that afternoon, however, their despondent faces let on they hadn’t met with much success in finding the Frasiers, let alone a corporate conspiracy.

Declan plunked down on the stairs in the foyer, his drawn expression a sign of profound weariness. “We called Maxwell’s attorney, who was happy to point out that if Maxwell knew Tad and Jemma’s location, he doesn’t have to disclose it. They weren’t responsible for the accident and aren’t obligated to help with the investigation.”

“It’s obvious they all have something to hide,” Minka concluded.

“On the bright side, the phone company finally sent us Hamilton’s phone records, so we can discern if distracted driving was at play,” Cael informed her.

“I’ll be scouring through them on my own because he’s taking the afternoon off,” Declan remarked.

“Yeah,” Cael murmured. “Autumn has us scheduled for tours at three wedding venues.”

Presented with a chance to participate in real police work, she jumped right on it. “Would you like an extra pair of eyes on the phone records?”

The offer seemed to brighten Declan’s mood. “Would you throw in lunch? I’m starving.”

****

Minka had hoped Declan would open up Hamilton’s phone records before they ate, but when Robin popped in to get a sandwich, she realized business would have to wait. He wore a confused expression upon spotting the detective, but Minka kept her explanation vague. With the chaotic state of the investigation, she didn’t want to build his hopes.

Surprising her, Declan engaged Robin in conversation. His hesitant responses revealed his continuing suspicions of the detective. Once he mentioned the upcoming superheroes movie, however, Robin couldn’t be quieted. From the little attention she paid to the exchange, she deduced Declan shared her brother’s love of comics, so the chat could last for hours.

Once they finished their banter about speculated plot twists, Robin took his leave, giving her and Declan some one-on-one time. They talked over police topics for a short while before personal ones crept in without either of them trying. By the meal’s conclusion, she understood why Cael and he had grown so close.

It didn’t disappoint her, however, when he retrieved his tablet, ready to get to work. He proceeded to open the police database and tap on the file that held Hamilton’s phone records. The CEO had several different numbers, and the first one Declan chose didn’t seem to be his primary means of communication. He hardly used it for most of the year since he obtained it, but his activity gained frequency in recent weeks.

Declan scrolled to the day of the accident and found a lot of calls leading up to the collision. All the conversations were to or from the same number, which repeated time and again over the past month. He ran a search on it to identify the caller. A new excitement in his voice, he sat straight up in his chair. “This is Tad Frasier’s phone number.”

Minka scrutinized the entry. “According to this, Hamilton called him right before the crash. Do you think he was giving Tad instructions or something?”

“It sure smells like it, especially since he’s been calling almost every hour afterward.”

“Must be good cell service from the grave,” she joked. “Does this mean he faked his death, or could somebody else be using it?”

“Beats me. His remains were recovered from the car. They were charred from the fire, but they matched his dental records and everything.”

“The records could’ve been switched. A guy as rich as him could pay someone off,” she speculated. “When was their most recent conversation?”

He scrolled up. “Ten minutes ago.”

“Can you track his location?”

He didn’t have the resources they had at the precinct, but he managed. “Some swanky downtown hotel.”

She smirked. “Want to go visit his not-so-final resting place?”