Chapter 22

T he next morning, Kate walked into the office bright and early. Rodney was there and already on the phone talking to somebody, setting up something for the day. Kate saw no sign of Lilliana, and she heard Owen in with Colby. She sat down to go through the information that Simon had given her the previous evening about the Feldspar sister in a nearby home. She quickly located the facility's contact info, and, with a short phone call, confirmed the sister was there. Kate planned to meet her after Doug's interview this morning. Then she made a list of questions she wanted to ask.

When she got the phone call announcing that Doug Feldspar had arrived, she asked for him to be taken into Interview Room One. With that done she looked over to see Rodney getting up. "You coming to join me?"

"Yeah, this is an interesting one."

"Yours isn't?"

"Mine is pretty simple, which is good," he said, with a laugh. "Normally we work in teams, but when we can break free and handle multiple cases at the same time, it's all good. But this guy? I didn't like his attitude yesterday, so I'm coming."

"Is that to give me support, or him?" she asked in a mocking voice .

He flashed her a bright grin. "Oh, I know you can handle it yourself. That's not the issue. I just want to see what this guy thinks he's up to. I hate that there's no movement on Amie's case either."

"I'm still waiting for the file from Manila and more forensics. We move forward on the cases we can, while we wait on others."

And, with that, the two of them headed to the interview room. She walked in, noting Doug had an attorney with him, and she took a seat. When she turned on her recorder, she introduced herself and had the others identify themselves, along with the time and the date.

She then turned to Doug. "I have a few questions for you, Mr. Feldspar." She looked over at Doug's lawyer and then back at Doug. "Didn't want to come in without a lawyer, huh ?" she asked, with a laugh.

"After your aggressiveness on the phone yesterday," he stated smoothly, "I decided I should have some legal representation."

" My aggressiveness on the phone?" she asked, still smiling. "I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself before you were ready to hang up, already so belligerent from the get-go."

He frowned at her. "You disturbed me."

" Apparently .… So, you always yell at people who call you?"

"Most of the time, yeah. I don't like people and don't want anything to do with them."

"All people?"

"Everybody avoids some people," Doug declared.

"Fine. What is your relationship with Rosemary?"

He stared at her in shock, then sat back and frowned. " What's this all about?"

Kate frowned at the lawyer, expecting an objection but getting none. So she turned to Doug and said, "Answer the question, please."

"No, I can't answer that question," Doug replied in a harsh tone, "not until you tell me what this is all about."

"You gave up your right to have a simple conversation over the phone yesterday," she explained in a smooth tone, "when you refused to answer a few basic questions. Now we're here with your lawyer—and on the record, I might add. So I want some answers, please."

The lawyer leaned over and whispered something in Doug's ear. Doug glared at her. "She's family."

"Close family?" she asked, writing down notes that she knew would make any suspect nervous, yet were just for her own purposes.

"Yeah, close family," he snapped.

"How would you categorize your relationship with Rosemary Mahoney?" As she looked up, she caught his facial muscles tensing. He seemed unwilling to divulge any details voluntarily. She raised an eyebrow. "Could you answer the question, please?"

"Close."

She nodded. "So, when you say close , you know about her marriage that's not a valid marriage then, right?"

"That fucking asshole," he roared.

"Why is that?" she asked, sitting back and staring at him.

Doug was fuming, and the tic in his jaw was more and more pronounced. "Because he fucking married her, saying that he was single and available."

"And yet, if you had even looked or contacted his first wife, Daisy would have clarified the matter. I am sure you must have known Daisy."

He stared at her. "So, hang on a minute. You're making this about me?"

"I'm not making this about anybody, but you're sitting here making accusations, and I would like some background for it."

"You already know an awful lot if that's why we're here. Rosemary is not at fault because she believed Jet was single. He was the bigamist. She was not."

"Neither was she legally married," Kate noted calmly.

"No, she wasn't," he agreed in disgust, "but she thought she was."

Kate shook her head. "I don't understand how the two wives did not run into each other, as everybody lived in town, right?"

Doug shook his head. "Vancouver is a big city, and Jet's first wife was a homebody. In fact, so was Rosemary, especially when the twins came along. They didn't run in the same circles."

Kate nodded at that. "I'm sure that was most difficult on Rosemary and Daisy to find out about Jet's deception."

"It was very difficult for Rosemary. Plus, she thought she would at least inherit something to live on, and instead it all went to Jet's first wife." Doug let out a snarl.

"Is that why you're so angry at life?"

"No, I was born this way," he declared sarcastically, glaring at her. "And, if you had any idea about my history, you would know perfectly well why I'm angry."

"I certainly know what happened to your parents and your sister and your grandmother."

"And my aunt," he snapped, "although everybody wants to forget about her. "

"What happened to your aunt?"

"I don't know for sure, but she's gone, and nobody's seen her since my family died," he replied. "Not exactly a positive family memory."

"No, it was a very, very difficult situation, and I can understand that. How much do you have to do with your sister at this point?"

"Nobody can have very much to do with her," he snapped. "She's got a brain injury."

Kate nodded and continued to write simple notes for herself. She already knew about the brain injury and was planning to see the woman as soon as this interview concluded. "What is the extent of that brain injury?"

"What do you mean, the extent?" he asked in disgust. "She's not the same person anymore."

Kate looked up at him. "Do you see her?"

"No, I don't, and you better leave it at that. She's a reminder of something I don't want to be reminded of," he growled, "and, if that makes me a shitty person, whatever. Apparently I'm a shitty person."

She considered him. "You have a very interesting attitude about life."

" Yeah ? I don't really give a shit."

She nodded. "What was your relationship with Rosemary's husband?"

"At the time it was fine."

"So, you had absolutely no idea?"

"No, I didn't. Jet and Rosemary were private people, happy to entertain at home. If I had found out earlier, I would have killed the bastard myself."

She nodded. "And yet you don't seem to think killing is problematic, do you?" she asked. "Or in any way wrong? "

"Certain things in life are right, and certain things in life are wrong."

"Murder is never right," Kate stated, "so, if you're involved in anybody's murder, I will nail your ass to the wall. Best to not make remarks like that."

He snorted at that. "You would have to catch me first."

And just something in his tone had her studying him carefully.

He glared at her. "No, I haven't fucking killed anyone, but my life was ruined because of somebody who killed my family."

She nodded. "What about Darrian?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Why are you asking me about Jet's former business partner? You've really done your homework, haven't you?"

"I'm asking the questions."

"Sure you are. You're digging for dirt, and there's no reason for it."

"Why is that?"

"Darrian's always been good to me."

"Is there any reason he shouldn't be?" she asked, eyeing him curiously.

He flushed. "No, he was always there after my parents were murdered. He did everything he could for me, and he's a good man."

"Is he helping you with your investments now?"

He nodded. "Yes, he handles quite a lot of it actually," he noted, his gaze narrowed. "He's ethical and honest."

She didn't say anything to that. "Do you know anything about the history between Darrian and your father?"

"Only that Darrian was Father's accountant, and then Darrian moved on to manage his own investments, and they became friends and business partners," Doug stated.

"So, Darrian and Jet used to work together and were business partners," Kate pointed out.

Doug sat up taller and growled. "If you're trying to dig up dirt on Darrian, you won't get any further answers from me."

"I'm not trying to dig up any dirt on anybody," she stated. "I want to make sense of what went wrong. From your remarks, I can see what you think of the police."

"The police couldn't solve the family murders," he snapped, glaring at her, "and I highly doubt you'll do anything about it either."

"It has been a while since those murders," she said, "and it's definitely much harder to get the information we need at this delayed point in time, but it is on my plate at the moment, and I will certainly do my best."

He sneered. "And you think you can do something about it when nobody else could?"

"I will do my best," she repeated. "Obviously that doesn't mean anything to you, and that's fine. I don't need your approval or your authorization."

He frowned at her, and she just ignored him. Doug continued. "I don't understand you people. What the hell would trigger any of this now? What has changed?"

"Obviously something has changed," she noted, facing him. "Are you aware that a body was found at the Feldspar house?"

He frowned at her. "A body?"

"Yes, a man was murdered, and his body was dumped there."

"Considering it's an abandoned building," Doug replied, "I highly doubt anybody gave a shit about the actual location, other than it was empty and probably convenient."

"Maybe, but the person murdered was somebody connected to Mr. Jet Mahoney."

"Rosemary's husband?" he asked.

"Yes."

Doug pondered that, as he stared out over her head. "That is interesting, but I still don't understand what any of it has to do with me. Are you asking these questions because I am a suspect in this recent death?"

"No, but, if you answer our questions, maybe we'll fill in some of the missing information and get some of this solved."

"I don't really care whether you solve anything or not," he declared, now slumping. "That part of my life was incredibly traumatic, and I have absolutely no wish to dredge it all back up."

"Even if it brings closure?" she asked.

"But will it?" he asked, glaring at her. "So far I'm just feeling the pain."

"So far, all you've done is fight me at every turn," she murmured. "A little cooperation might change how you feel about being a victim."

"I'm not a victim," he snapped, while she stared at him for a long moment. "I was a victim. I'm not anymore."

"If the murders still affect you to this extent," she pointed out, "then help me. Help me solve what happened back then, and maybe you can find some sense of closure and finally move on yourself."

"Meaning that you can't do it without my help." He sneered.

"That's an interesting judgment," she murmured. "If people have information on our cases and don't come forward with what they know, how do you expect the police to solve any crimes?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," he snapped. "You won't solve it either. I've heard so many cops tell me that, and it's ridiculous. Oh, we'll get to it. We'll get it sorted, Doug , and absolutely nothing happened. No one could ever tell me a damn thing about what happened or why."

She nodded. "I get that. For the fourteen-year-old boy who was in the family home at the time, it had to be incredibly traumatic."

"It was, and I believed the cops. More the fool, me."

"No, that's not it at all," she countered. "Everybody wants to believe there is an answer, but sometimes… it just takes a little longer to find."

He sneered at her again. "There's a little longer , and then there's impossibly long," he snapped. "I highly doubt that anything you could do will make a difference."

"What if I can?" she challenged. "Think about it. What if I can?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore. My parents and grandmother are gone. My aunt is missing and presumed dead. Plus, my sister's brain dead, gone for all intents and purposes," he said, with a finger twirling around his ear, "and I'm still just as alone as I was back then."

"Is that why you're so close to Rosemary?"

He shrugged. "We both have plenty of reasons to feel as if the world has dumped on us."

"There was a big age difference between her and Mr. Mahoney, wasn't there?"

"Sure, there was, but she was also feeling a little on the lost side."

"And why is that? "

He stared at her and pursed his lips, then became calmer than she expected. "It's her story to tell. I'm not sharing anything about her business."

"That's fine. I'll be contacting her later today."

He stiffened at that and growled, "Leave her out of this."

She tilted her head, observing him and his anger. "Why? If she has information, even just a little bit, it can make a huge difference to a case. You don't always know when something might be important," she added, stressing her point, "and that's the problem. Too many people think they don't know anything important. Yet they do, and it's very important that I have this information for my investigation. I'm the one holding all the pieces, big and small. Until I can get enough pieces to start putting them together, we're stuck."

"Maybe you're stuck," Doug muttered, "but that's your problem, not mine."

"So you won't help?"

"No, I won't," he declared in a deadly tone, glaring at her, "and you better leave Rosemary alone."

"No can do. I'm conducting an investigation into several murders of your family members. It's my job to ask questions of her and you and any other related parties."

Doug looked over at his lawyer. "I want to leave now."

The lawyer turned to Kate, who just nodded. "That's fine, just don't leave town." Doug glared at her, and she shrugged. "Hey, for all I know, you murdered your parents in order to get the inheritance." Without warning, he lunged across the table at her, slamming her backward onto the ground. Both the lawyer and Rodney pulled Doug off Kate. She got up, dusted herself off, then looked over at the lawyer. "He's no longer leaving. Now I've got every right to hold him."

And, with that, she called for a guard, turned, and walked out. She got back to her desk and just sat here for a long moment, letting her breathing return to normal.

When Rodney joined her, concern was etched on his face, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled. "He needs to be in court-ordered anger management classes. He's definitely a spitfire, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Jesus, if any of these murders were crimes of passion," Rodney noted, "I would definitely be looking at him. But I don't think any of them are, are they?"

"It's hard to say. He's also very easy to manipulate."

Rodney nodded. "Can't disagree with you on that one… but it definitely brings up some interesting points, doesn't it?"

"It absolutely does." Kate stared down the hall, watching a uniformed cop transporting Doug to jail. Her phone rang just then.

"Now you've got him for forty-eight hours," Colby greeted her. "Make the most of it."

"Oh, I will. I'm heading out to visit the sister right now, then Jet's second wife." She had just disconnected, when her phone rang again. Dr. Smidge.

"We found the gloves."

Typical of him to not issue a greeting either. Then it hit her. "Seriously?"

"Yes, I sent a team back in the house to look for them. They were in Amie's bottom dresser drawer. Yes, they have blood on them and GSR. They also have his DNA inside."

"So it's suicide?"

"It's suicide. No insurance payout for her." He gave a blunt laugh. "I'll send over the paperwork today. I wouldn't mind if you found evidence that points to her involvement with either of her first two husbands."

"I haven't given up on that yet. Waiting to hear back from Manila on the second husband. I also sent you the case file on her first husband. Any luck there with his suicide?"

"No. It was a bullet to the head, and he too wore gloves, and they were found on him. So that case was closed quickly as a suicide. Little more is in the file for me to go on."

"Then maybe Amie got no payout on that first suicide. Hence her attempt to interfere this time."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Hopefully Manila has answers for you."

*

Early the next morning found Simon on the steps of the Paragon building once again. He had a hot cup of coffee in his hand, and he sipped it. He turned and looked around, getting a feel for the neighborhood, for what would be good for it, what potentially could work really well for this property and this location. Of course hotels were always an option, but usually among the last options for him. He wasn't such a big proponent of tourists as much as he was about the residents who made Vancouver itself so special.

As he stood here, his phone rang, and he looked down to see it was Ariel, the nagging realtor. He shook his head.

Then she called out from beside him, "No point in not answering that."

"Now why is that, I wonder?" he asked, without turning around, hearing her advance on his position. "Why bother calling me if you're here anyway?"

She laughed. "Maybe I wanted to see if you would answer."

"I didn't, so what does that tell you?"

"It tells me that I can't trust you when you're not answering."

"It could just mean that I'm busy and don't want to be interrupted by a call," he noted, trying to hold back his irritation at the intrusion. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm waiting for a client," she replied smugly.

"Good."

Her frown fell away. "You almost said that as if you believe it."

"I do. This building needs the right person."

"Oh, and you're not the right person now, is that it?" she asked in a half-mocking tone. When he just gave her a flat gaze, she frowned. "Fine, that wasn't exactly called for."

"Considering somebody has just been murdered in this building," Simon reminded Ariel, "surely a little more respect is in order."

She glared at him. "Oh, no you don't. You won't turn that all on me," she muttered. "I get that somebody was murdered, but that has nothing to do with me."

"If you say so." He watched as two businessmen approached. He nodded, as they frowned at him. He just waved them inside. "Don't mind me. I'm considering the property, but, out of respect for the person who was just murdered here," he added in a dry tone, "I'm waiting to get the go-ahead from the police."

At that, the men stopped, and he heard the realtor hiss. He looked back at her and asked, "You did phone the police, didn't you?"

Recovering her composure, she pointed. "All the tape is gone now."

He quickly pulled out his phone and sent Kate a text. Good morning. I love you. When he got a heart emoji back, he smiled. Looking up from his phone, he announced, "You're clear to go." He stepped out of the way, then watched as the two men frowned at each other, then headed in. Ariel glared at him, and he stated in a clear tone, "You really don't want to start crossing the police on this."

Uncertain, she gave him an odd look, then quickly raced inside behind her clients.

He smiled in spite of himself. It was a little bit of a dirty trick, but, hey, if the prospective buyers didn't know that a murder had just happened here, he definitely didn't trust Ariel to fill out the paperwork to say that a body had been discovered on the premises, which should always be disclosed. Now at least, if they put in an offer, they would take that into account.

He laughed at that and decided to leave for now. Just as he turned to head out, he heard a voice calling to him. Simon figured he was the only one to hear the spirit speak. He slowly turned, hoping he was the only one outside at the moment, and, sure enough, that same white shimmering vision appeared in front of him yet again. He shifted so he could look at it with his peripheral vision, hoping it would be clearer and a little stronger. Instead it was still just more of the same hazy illusion. He also figured he was the only one to see the spirit too.

He frowned and replied softly, "Yes, I'm here." Nothing came for a long moment.

Then that voice once again said, "Feldspar."

"I get it. Feldspar is a big part of this." Then he stopped and asked in a shaken tone, "Did you have something to do with the Feldspar murders?" Horror slammed into him, making him wonder why it had never occurred to him before. Yet a case could be made for it. Still he didn't know, and he highly doubted that Kate had considered such a thing. He waited, hoping the spirit would say something more, but again nothing came.

Deciding that the rest of his day's activities could wait, Simon shared, "Fine, I'll head to the Feldspar house." He hesitated and then added in an uncertain tone, "However, you're connected to this place, aren't you?"

He wasn't so sure what was going on, but it was obvious he needed to go. Instead of taking a cab to the Feldspar house and back again, he made his way back to his apartment, picked up his wheels, and drove across town to the Feldspar property. He got there, then realized he needed to ask Kate if he could go in. He hesitated, sitting in his vehicle, then called Kate.

"What's the matter?" she asked, which meant she was caught up in something else.

"I'm at the Feldspar house."

"Why the hell is that?" she asked.

"Can I go in?" He sensed her shock, then pondered her question.

"Why are you even there? Maybe you should tell me that first."

"Because I was back at the Paragon just a bit ago, and I swear Shawn told me once again about Feldspar house."

" Hmm . That's interesting. I just released Doug Feldspar, who attacked me yesterday," she muttered. "He's out on bail and promised to behave."

"And what difference does that make as to whether I go into the property or not?" he asked, genuinely curious .

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if Doug heads over there."

Simon frowned at that.

"I'll head over there myself," she stated, and Simon heard her moving about. "Can you wait twenty minutes?" she asked him.

"Absolutely. I'll pick up a coffee and come back."

"You do that, but grab me one too." And, with a laugh, she disconnected.

He sat here and waited, not bothering to leave to pick up coffee because, out of the corner of his eye, he saw several ghostly figures moving through the place. The sight unnerved him, and he felt sick.

He shook his head. "Gran, you never once warned me about this," he muttered out loud, as he looked again, their shimmering forms lit up the place.

"Are these spirits of the Feldspar family members who had been murdered, or is this something else entirely?" He had to wonder, but he didn't know. If these were the ghosts of the dead Feldspar family, then who were the ghosts at the Paragon building, besides Shawn now? Was there even a connection? Didn't ghosts haunt a particular place, not two different ones? For all Simon's gifts, they sure brought on more unanswered questions. Plus, ghosts had no timeframe. They could have been in that particular location for well over a century in which case there would be no answers. Not only that, but Simon was starting to get a really weird feeling about the whole thing, and none of it was any good.