Deadly Legacy (A Carmedy & Garrett Mystery) Read online

  "There were people who knew about his heart."

  "Yes. Mrs. Gage, of course, and Mrs. Gage-Proctor knew. His doctors knew. You say that you knew..."

  "Mr. Proctor knew and he knew Mr. Gage was trying to get Miss Glynis to leave him. With the pre-nuptial agreement, Mr. Proctor wouldn't get much if she kicked him out. There were others at Touchstone who knew, mostly people on the board. They needed to assess the risks of keeping him on."

  "And who knew he took sexual enhancement drugs?"

  "He didn't generally. Now and then, when he and Mrs. Gage had a special night planned, he would take half the recommended dose but only if he hadn't taken his nitro-glycerine spray that day."

  "Did he take them for other women? Would you have known?"

  "I would have known if he took a pill because I monitored his prescriptions. There was once or twice when a half pill went and Mrs. Gage was occupied elsewhere. I never asked and he never told me about it."

  "So, until yesterday night, the drug was used sparingly and always with your knowledge."

  "Knowledge after the fact, yes. Besides, there were no pills taken out of Mr. Gage's prescription bottle."

  "Mrs. Gage, I'm going to be blunt," Valerio said a half hour later. "Were you aware your husband was having an affair?"

  She was equally blunt.

  "He wasn't. Not an affair. I know he strayed from time to time. They were one night stands, not affairs."

  "How can you be certain?"

  "Practice, Detective Valerio. Practice."

  She gave him a wry grin.

  "Delano and I started off by having an affair. He was still married to Jennifer, his second wife, when we started seeing each other. He wasn't my first affair, and when it started, I had no idea he would be my last. You see, Delano has—had—a strange, but a strong moral streak. As soon as he knew he was in love with me, he told Jennifer about us. From what I understand, the same thing happened with Jennifer when he was married to his first wife, Constance. If he had been having an affair, I wouldn't have had to guess. He would have told me."

  "What was your husband's relationship with his ex-wives?"

  Felicity Gage stood and stretched before answering. She took a turn about the room, scanning the shelves. She picked up a framed photo from one of the many shelves.

  "This is Delano with Constance and Glynis. It was taken about five years after the divorce, at Glynis' high school graduation."

  She passed the photo to Valerio, who looked at it and passed it on to Jake. Constance was a handsome, dark woman with huge chocolate brown eyes. There was a familial similarity between mother and daughter, though by the looks of it, Glynis inherited her statuesque figure from her father.

  "Constance was angry at Delano for years, and might still be angry for all I know. Delano only felt pity for Constance. He was sincerely sorry about how things worked out and always tried to keep any ill feelings in check for Glynis' sake. Although their prenup agreement only covered a lump sum settlement and child support, Delano supported Constance right up until she remarried."

  "And the second wife?"

  "Delano helped start Jennifer's career and began an investment portfolio for her. Since they had no children, and she had her own sources of income, they just split the community property when they divorced. Considering how well she's been doing she might have more money than all of us."

  "What does she do?" asked Jake.

  Mrs. Gage rolled her eyes as if the question was stupidly obvious. "She's Jennifer Leigh."

  Jake gave her a blank look, while Valerio's brows shot up. "The Jennifer Leigh? Former international model turned couturier?"

  "That's the one. She was doing well as a model when Del met her. He paid for her design education and helped her make some useful connections when she graduated."

  "She took the split well?"

  "She took it stoically. She threw herself a divorce shower and got on with her life."

  Jake couldn't resist. "Would you take it stoically?"

  "No, I would not, Mr. Carmedy. I'm not sure how I would feel, but I wouldn't be stoic and I wouldn't kill him. Apart from the fact I loved him, death or divorce leaves me in the same place financially. Glynis inherits the family wealth. I have the house, a modest annuity, a respectable retirement investment plan and my own money, of course."

  "Insurance?"

  Mrs. Gage gave them a sardonic smile. "The source of the annuity. It would also have been the source of my alimony had Delano divorced me. My husband invented matrimonial insurance, and on the strength of that idea, made Touchstone one of the top insurance companies. They're the ones with the substantial life insurance policy on Del."

  "Del Gage is a big man at Touchstone," Felix Proctor confirmed. "Matrimonial Insurance was his first big idea, not his last. He probably could have been chairman of the board, considering all he's done for the corporation." He nodded his head reverently. "Not just Touchstone, either. The Gage Foundation was started by Del's grandfather to incorporate the family investments and community works, no doubt to save on taxes. The Foundation invests in people and ventures that would not get financing through normal means."

  Felix flashed one of his charming smiles. "The old man was self-made and he liked that in others." He said it as though including himself in that category. "Not all his investments paid off, including Del's father. He cost the family plenty. Fortunately, Del's business savvy and risk management formulas turned the decline around. With them, the Foundation could pick winners and minimize their losses quicker when a venture went sour. I imagine the Foundation has Del heavily insured. He probably sold them the policy."

  Jake snorted.

  Felix smiled and gave Jake a knowing wink. "He was a canny one."

  In a casual tone, Jake said, "You were one of Delano Gage's protégés, right?"

  "Yes, one of the fortunate few. He persuaded me to go for my MBA while I was working as a claims examiner so when the post became free, I'd be ready to take the position of claims manager. Glyn and I joke about the fact her father had me earmarked for the position of her husband, too."

  Jake had a hard time imagining the regal Glynis joking about something like that. Perhaps Valerio had similar reservations, because in a cooler tone, he asked how Felix stood with Gage dead.

  "Well, there's no insurance policy with me as beneficiary, that's for sure. The bulk of the fortune goes to Glynis and our prenup makes it clear the money is hers, not ours. I guess the best I could expect is now I can compete for the VP job."

  "And of course" Valerio added, "Mr. Gage won't be trying to get rid of you."

  8

  Home is where you wear your hat. Or so the woodcut on the front door knocker told visitors. The knocker itself was in the shape of the double 'B' logo of Buckaroo Banzai, hero of comic books, a classic animated series and Magnus Lim's favourite movies. Magnus was Kate's ex-boyfriend and current roommate. He also happened to be the twin of one of Kate's fellow detectives, Xavier Lim.

  Kate pressed her thumb on the pad. As the door opened, a slightly tinny voice said, "No matter where you go, there you are."

  "Magnus! You home?"

  "Katie?"

  A tall, handsome man of Euro-Asian descent poked his head out of the bathroom. He stared hard at her, then rushed toward her and enveloped her in his arms. Kate hugged him back, though he was only dressed in a towel and it was slipping to the floor.

  "I heard about your father."

  "Xavier called you?"

  "Just as I was reading about it in the evening news blogs. I've been worried about you, sweetie."

  With a total lack of self-consciousness, Magnus scooped up his towel and flipped it over one shoulder.

  "I'm working tonight, so I've got to get ready. Coffee's made and I baked a banana loaf."

  "I love your banana loaf!"

  "I know."

  "I love you, too."

  Magnus flashed an over-the-shoulder grin and his tight behind as he sashayed back to th
e bathroom. "I know."

  Kate was deep into background reading on Touchstone Insurance when Magnus emerged dressed in olive green scrubs decorated with a print of tropical foliage and dinosaurs. A Registered Practical Nurse in the paediatric wing of the General Hospital, Lim dressed to please his patients. The fact his outfits almost always made him irresistible to members of the opposite sex was a happy bonus. That he took advantage of this at every opportunity was one of the reasons Kate and Magnus didn't last as a couple.

  Despite the failed romantic relationship, they made great roommates. Magnus could vent his frustrations and heartbreaks over his patients knowing she wouldn't have a personal connection to the families involved. She could similarly vent her emotions, something that didn't come naturally to police officers.

  "You're working?" Lim asked. "Would have thought you'd be given time off."

  "I was. This isn't police work, not yet, anyway."

  "Is this about you father?"

  "Sort of. It's about his last case."

  Magnus poured himself a coffee and sat down. He cut them each a slice of banana loaf and pushed Kate's under her nose.

  "When was the last time you ate?"

  "I had lunch with my mother after making arrangements at the funeral home. The service is on Friday, by the way. There's a wake tomorrow evening at the Helios. Will you be able to come?"

  "The service is no problem and I'll switch with someone for Thursday night."

  "Thanks."

  Kate set aside her eCom and broke a piece off her slice of banana bread. She nibbled at it, but suddenly found it hard to swallow.

  Magnus reached out and took her free hand. "It'll get better, sweetie. It'll take time and it will sneak up on you now and then, but it will get better. After the funeral, you'll go back to work and it'll be easier. You'll see."

  "No. I won't be going back. Not at once, in any case. I'm a full partner in Garrett Investigations now. Hell, I'm the Garrett in Garrett Investigations."

  "Kate, you're not thinking of quitting the police force, are you?"

  "I don't know yet."

  "You're a detective now. Xavier says you're paying your dues, showing you're not just Joe Garrett's daughter."

  "He said that?" Kate was genuinely astonished. Lim was one of her harshest critics.

  "I know he rides you. Personally, I think it's sexual frustration. After all, why would you settle for the other twin when you could have the first?"

  Kate smiled. Though technically identical, you wouldn't mistake the twins. Life experience and personal aesthetics had produced two very different men. Magnus the light and charming. Xavier the dark and cynical.

  Magnus continued. "Carmedy's an equal partner now, right? That's how you told me the estate was settled."

  "True, but my father always expected me to take over the business, with or without Carmedy."

  "He didn't expect you doing it at this stage in your career."

  "Maybe not."

  Magnus shook his head. "You're doing what you always wanted. You've got security, an extended medical plan and benefits. Why throw that away?"

  Kate shrugged. Put that way, it didn't make a lot of sense.

  Looking at the clock, Magnus jumped up and grabbed a lid for his coffee.

  "Got to run. Don't hand in your resignation before the funeral."

  She laughed. "I won't. I haven't made up my mind yet."

  "Well, don't! It's too early."

  The two bedroom apartment was in one of the older complexes overlooking the river. The owners put as little money as possible back into the property. In the balance, they didn't fight the rent control guidelines. Kate liked it because it was roomier than most places she could afford.

  Magnus had taken over the decor of the main rooms, which reflected his passion for Buckaroo Banzai, Japanese art and Chinese philosophy. In compensation, he took the smaller bedroom and gave Kate the big one, which she also used as a home office. Her walls were covered with crib sheets from when she was studying for her detective's exam. She hadn't gotten around to taking them down yet. One wall reminded her of the mathematical formulae she had to know in case her eCom broke down and she needed to calculate area, height, velocity or trajectory on her own. Another was plastered with policy and regulations. When she sat at her desk with her eCom docked into her desktop, wanted posters stared down at her. Most were current. A few were facsimiles of hand-drawn posters from the nineteenth century. They circled her wall-mounted monitor like Comanches surrounding a wagon train.

  Kate stared unseeingly at an archived article from a community gossip blog, one of many devoted to corporate scandal. Touchstone Insurance was starting to remind her of one of those reality soap operas where everyone is encouraged to screw, one way or another, everyone else.

  The company had been around forever. A decade ago it, it seemed to be poised to die or be eaten up by larger corporations. Then Delano Gage introduced matrimonial insurance, the first of a whole new line of insurance products, made possible by rethinking risk assessment. As a one journalist pointed out, Gage was no actuary. Someone else had to work out the math.

  She flipped back to a bookmarked news brief.

  "An angry Leon Eldridge will be suing Touchstone for wrongful dismissal after being forced to retire. Says Eldridge, 'This isn't about my job skills. This is about my unwillingness to get involved with sordid office politics. Perhaps if I slept around with my co-workers in order to form alliances, or better still, was dating the boss's daughter, I'd still have my job instead of Proctor.'"

  Later, Eldridge would retract and accept the golden handshake. He would open his own consulting firm and Touchstone would be his most lucrative client. Did he get his contracts through blackmail or goodwill? If it was blackmail, did someone want to end it?

  Kate rubbed her eyes. Her mother and David were expecting her for dinner. It was time she moved. Later, she would check in with Ike and look up a few of Eldridge's old colleagues.

  The Kesslers lived in one of the new neighbourhoods just beyond the huge park which had once been a garbage dump. Their house was on a hill overlooking the park on one side and the tree-lined avenues of the east end on the other. On the way up the hill from the bus stop, Kate paused to admire the holiday lights. By the end of the month, the whole street would be lit up with low energy fairy lights in a wide variety of designer colours. The Kessler home would feature an icy blue Star of David and coordinating blue and white lights on the spruce trees gracing the front lawn. Tonight, there was only the porch light.

  Kate pressed her hand on the scanner and the front door swung open. Before the automatic door closed, David emerged from the kitchen. In a few steps, the gap between them closed and Kate was nestled in her stepfather's arms. The tears kept at bay flowed again.

  David held her and stroked her back.

  "What an awful day you must have had."

  Kate looked up and nodded.

  "Tea?"

  Kate forced a watery smile and nodded again.

  Keeping his arm around her shoulders, David walked Kate to the kitchen where the smells of chicken stew and apple cake greeted her. Comfort food. While she poured tea, David sent a text message to his wife, via the house's intranet, letting her know her daughter was home and dinner was almost ready. Then he dropped the dumplings in the stew to cook before sitting kitty-corner to Kate at the kitchen table.

  "Tell me all about it," he invited.

  Kate did. She was up to her investigation of Touchstone and its connection to Eldridge when her mother joined them.

  "I remember when he was forced to retire," her mother said. "Joe did his best to stay clear of the mess, but it was difficult. At the time, he relied on Touchstone for the bread and butter of his business. On the other hand, Eldridge was a long-time friend. It didn't help that he wasn't too crazy about Proctor."

  "Why?" Kate asked, surprised. In her memory, Eldridge was a pain and Proctor was quite charming.

  "If your father was right,
Proctor was courting Glynis Gage—"

  "The boss's daughter," Kate cut in.

  "And one of the most influential people in the city. At the same time, he was in the midst of a long time affair with one of his coworkers, a very nice woman, according to Joe, who deserved better than she got."

  Kate shook her head. She had always rather liked Felix Proctor and was disappointed to hear ill of him. Her mother pinched her chin and gave her a knowing nod.

  "You'll find a lot of office politics are crazy and rather sordid. Not just corporate offices. I'm sure you've heard your share of locker room gossip."

  "Academia can be just as bad," David said. "That's why I see as many students as a counsellor as I do for physical ailments."

  "I don't suppose Dad told you which co-worker, did he, Mum?"

  Her mother looked thoughtful as she pulled a bottle of white wine out of the fridge.

  "I can't remember." She fetched three wine glasses. "I'm not sure Joe mentioned it."

  "Enough shop talk, ladies," David said, bringing steaming bowls of stew, one-by-one, to the table. "Grab the pepper, will you, Kate? And the crusty bread."

  A minute or so later, David bowed his head in prayer. Kate dipped her head respectfully, though she wasn't sure she believed in God. She had been brought up with almost equal doses of Christianity, Judaism and Pantheism. Whether or not God or the gods loved her, she knew David and her mother did. As David concluded, she reached out to both and squeezed their hands. For them, she said, "Amen."

  Kate lingered over coffee and dessert. She declined the offer to stay the night. She still had work to do.

  "What work?" asked her mother. "You're on compassionate leave. The funeral arrangements are made, the lawyer has all the documents to start probate." She glared at her daughter. "You're working on that case of your father's."

  Kate nodded, wincing slightly. She knew what was coming.

  "When do you start living your own life, Kate? I don't think your father ever meant you to live in his shadow like this and you sure as hell don't need to now that he's gone."