Into the Future: A Callahan Novel (8 page)

ELEVEN

Sunday had been the longest day in her life.

Thank goodness, Tristan had been her life line that day.  After picking up a few things from her home, including her SUV, she shopped for the kids some clothes to wear to school.

When she arrived at Paul’s mother’s home, cars lined both sides of the street. Lizzy had thought the house would be somber, but she heard music playing, people laughing, and kids playing.  It almost looked like a party. 

She entered the house with Tristan close behind.  Bea introduced her to a group of older women sitting around the living room.  “This is my ex-daughter-in-law, Lysette and this is her gentleman, Tristan.”

The women looked them up and down, then nodded approvingly.  “We were planning the memorial.  I’m having Paul cremated when they release his body.”

“That sounds fitting, Bea.  Let me know if you need any help with anything.”

Bea smiled.  “This is my quilting circle.  Also my support group.  The women have been wonderful this weekend.  The kids have been angels too.  PJ suggested the memorial.”

That sounded like her very mature son.  Wise beyond his eight years.  “It’s a wonderful idea.”

“I hope this doesn’t change anything between us, Lizzy.  I enjoy my time with the children.”

She reached for the older woman’s hand.  “Oh, no, Bea.  The kids can visit you whenever you like.  Just let me know.”

“Oh thank you, dear!  I was so worried that you’d cut me off since Paul is out of the picture.”

“Has anyone called you since his death?” Lizzy had to know. 

“Only the coroner this morning.  He said Paul’s body should be released on Monday. His insurance policies are in my safe deposit box. He’d placed them there when the divorce was final,” she explained. “So I’ll get them tomorrow.” Bea took a long exhausted breath.  “I still can’t believe my baby is gone.  He wasn’t much of man, but he was still my child.”

Lizzy rubbed the woman’s hand affectionately.  “I know, Bea.  I was worried about the kids, but they were more concerned about you.”

“Yes, they were such a help to me yesterday.  It like I was telling them about someone they didn’t know.  I kept telling Paul he needed to be a better father to those kids.  But he was just like his daddy.  Everything else was more important to him than family.” Bea wiped her eyes.  “Now it’s too late.”  She glanced at Tristan sitting across the room and talking to the other women.  “They like your man.  PJ spoke of him highly.  And you know that takes some doing.”

Lizzy nodded.  PJ didn’t give his love easily.  He and Tristan formed a quick and strong bond.  “Yes, he attends PJ’s soccer games.”

“I’m glad he has such a positive force in his life.  I just don’t want him to forget his daddy.  I know he wasn’t the best, but he was his father.”

“I wouldn’t do anything to smear Paul’s memory.”  Paul did enough of that in life, she thought.  She couldn’t erase all the time Paul lost to his son.  Lizzy felt they both lost out. 

PJ and Tatum entered the room and ran straight to their mother.  They both hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek.  PJ then went over to Tristan and hugged him, before plopping his body on his lap.  Tatum soon followed her brother. 

Tristan wrapped his arms around the kids and kissed both of them on the forehead.  Bea sighed.  “Now that’s how a man is supposed to be with his kids.  I have to admire Tristan.”

“How so?”

Bea nodded at him.  “I don’t know if I could sit in a room of white women and talk to them that easily,” she admitted.  “That takes a lot of guts or a lot of love for you and those kids.”

Lizzy watched Tristan.  She supposed growing up around the Callahans would have that kind of effect on most people.  The multi-race family didn’t see color and had hearts as big as Ireland.

Later that night, Lizzy decided that she had the world’s best kids.  They took the news of not going back home for a while like champs.  They considered moving into Tristan’s home an adventure. 

Lizzy helped the kids put their things away, while Tristan made dinner.  She knew he could cook adult meals, but wondered how he fared with a kid’s menu. As the smells of something delicious began wafting upstairs, she decided to find out. 

Tristan was pulling something out of the oven when she walked into the kitchen.  “Honey, it smells wonderful.”  She moved closer to inspect the dish.  “I think the kids will love it.”

“It’s chicken parmesan.  I used to love that as a kid.”

“I’m amazed.”  Lizzy reached into the cabinets for some plates. She thought how organic the whole scene was to her.  She placed the plates on the table, along with silverware and drink glasses.  She took a step back to judge her handiwork.  Everything was in place, including her.  Tristan’s wrapped his strong arms around her and he kissed her on the neck.

“Scary, isn’t it?  Everything in the right place at the right time and nowhere to run.  Yeah, the circumstances aren’t ideal, but that just makes the ride more fun.”

She turned and faced him.  “You knew exactly what I was thinking,” she told him. “It was never like this in my marriage.”

“Mine either.  We can’t let this scare us, just ride it out.”

“What are you saying?”  She looked at him, trying to figure out how much was Irish Blarney and how much was Tristan MacDonald. 

He chuckled.  “I’m not saying that we’re getting married.  We’re just enjoying each other’s company.”

“Of course.”  She hadn’t wanted to scare him, knowing that he was just as frightened of a trip down the altar as she was.

Tuesday morning, Lizzy was finally allowed back in her home.  The police were still there, but there were done searching.  Tristan had a very important meeting with some of the bigwigs of the city, so he couldn’t escort her, but he did the next best thing.  He had a Callahan escort her.  It wasn’t Brad, but his brother, Sean.

Sean was just as handsome as Brad, but instead of being built like a linebacker, Sean reminded her of a model.  He had a slender, athletic build, but he was a man with power.  Sean worked for the CIA. 

When Lizzy arrived at her home, Sean and his team was already there.  She also remembered Sean from Izzy’s wedding.  He was dressed in a dark suit that seemed to set off those green eyes. 

She extended her hand to him.  “Hello, Sean.  Thank you for coming.”

Sean smiled as he took her hand.  “Nice to see you again, Lizzy.  Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”  He released her hand when his cell phone buzzed.  He held up a finger, asking her to wait, and didn’t wait for an answer.  He took a step away from her to take his call. But not before she heard the words, “Yes, Mr. President.”

Lizzy gasped, knowing that she was in earshot of the president of these United States.  She quickly scanned the neighborhood, looking for other agents, but there were none.  Calm down girl, it was just a phone call, not a visit.

“Sorry, about that. Work,” Sean said.  “Now let’s go check out this house.”  He opened the door and they went inside.

This house wasn’t her house anymore.  The smell of death was very evident. It give her a chill. Initially, she had thought she’d pick up a few things from the house, but now she didn’t want to bring that energy into Tristan’s house.

“Intel says that the only room worth checking is your son’s room.  Analysis found your ex-husband fingerprints on the backdoor, your bedroom door, and the attic.  Most were in your son’s room.”

“Yes, that’s where his body was found. Can I check his room?”

“Sure, you can.”

They walked into the room of doom and Lizzy went straight to the video player.  She ejected the disc and inspected it, but didn’t see any flaws.  She wanted to play it but decided against it.  If there was something on it, Sean would take it. But could she really bring trouble into Tristan’s house after he was nice enough to let her family stay with him? 

“Sean, PJ had said the disc had some kind of writing on it.”

Sean reached for the remote to the video game and turned it on.  The company logo came up on the screen.  Then a spreadsheet appeared on the screen.  “Hey, what’s that?” Lizzy asked.

“Looks like your ex was keeping a second set of books.”  He quickly went through the data on the disc.  “Wow!  This account has about ten million in it.  Do you know where this account is?”

“No.  I didn’t know a thing about this.”

“Oh, no, I’m not accusing you.  I’m just wondering if he had a particular bank he used.  Don’t worry if you don’t know.  I can run it through our programs and find it.”

“I thought that kind of information was confidential,” Lizzy half-asked. 

“With the government, nothing is confidential.”  He pulled his cell phone from his waist and dialed a number.  “Callahan here. I need to trace an account.” He rattled off Paul’s name, last known address and social security number.   He ended the call and place the phone back in his holder.  “Should have the information in a few minutes.”

“Wow, Sean!  I’m so impressed,” Lizzy said.  “So do you know what he was doing that would have gotten him killed?”

“Classic falling out among thieves, I’d guess.  Once I get a look at the account, I’ll know for sure.  Most likely he was the fall guy.  You know the one who opened the account, and would probably go to jail for this.  The company was being investigated and money is missing.  Not ten mil, but enough for them to fire him months ago.”

“I feel like such a fool.  Here I was giving him all sorts of chances with the kids and he was doing all this.”

“Now Lizzy, don’t you worry about this.  This is a lot deeper than you.”  His phone rang. Sean hurriedly answered the phone.  “Talk to me.” 

Lizzy watched him as he nodded, pulling a pad out of his jacket pocket along with a gold pen. “Okay, give me that again.”  He scribbled numbers and names on a small pad.  “Suspend the account and route any inquiries to the net.”

Lizzy watched him put his phone back in its holder.  “Okay, I got some information about the accounts.  Some of it I can tell you, some I can’t because it’s now part of an ongoing investigation.”

“Okay, what can you tell me?”

“Paul wasn’t the only person on the account.  There was two other people.  My guess is that the disc is the key.  Apparently, he was killed before he could hand it over.”

“But why was this a government hit?”

“Oh, you know about that?”

“I’m a mom. I pay attention.  Two shots to the head.”

Sean sighed.  “You’re worse than my wife. You know curiosity killed the cat. The hit is still a puzzler, and there’s still some dots that needed to be connected.  Do you know any of his friends?”

“Not since the divorce was final.  You may check with his mother. Some G-men were watching her house for several weeks.  They stopped the day Paul was killed.”

The cartwheels in Sean’s brain were working overtime.  “Would this be Beatrice Hall?”

“Yes.”

He ushered her out of the room. “My guess is whoever interrupted him before he could retrieve the disc, killed him. Since this is a child’s room, no one thought to check the video player.  My men only searched the ones not in the player.”

“You’re hoping they come back.”  It wasn’t a question.  She’d watched enough murder mystery shows to know they always come back.

“Yes.  I would suggest you not come back to the house alone.  They will return, once they think the heat is off.”

Lizzy thought about his words.  She just wanted the whole ordeal over and done with. She wanted her life back.

TWELVE

“It was a beautiful memorial,” Lizzy’s mother said as she poured coffee.  Lizzy, Tristan, Cam, Izzy, and Lizzy’s father were sitting in Lizzy’s childhood home.  They were spread out on the couch, love seat, and assorted chairs.

“Yes, it was,” Lizzy said, picking up her coffee cup.  “I appreciate all you guys supporting us today.”  The kids were in the den watching TV and eating lunch.  “His mother took it rather well.”  She’d feared Bea would have caused a scene, but the older woman surprised her. 

“Oh honey, that’s what family does.”  Her mother finally sat down in a chair with her cup of coffee.  “Yes, we all know Paul was a piece of work, but was still the kids’ father.  His past just seem to catch up with him.”

“I can’t keep wondering why PJ’s room? Turns out he’d picked my lock on the backdoor.”

Her mother looked at her, then at Tristan.  “Do you plan on going home?”

The more Lizzy stayed with Tristan, the less likely she wanted to go home.  The kids didn’t want to go there at all.  “I think I’m selling it, and finding another one.  The place has too many bad memories now.”

“Yes, that sounds like a grand idea,” her mother said.  “I couldn’t imagine walking back inside that house.”

“It feel spooky and dark.  I don’t even want to walk in that house again.”

***

Over the next few weeks, Lizzy’s life finally settled to somewhat normal.  Living with Tristan could do that to a woman.  She’d thought he’d run scared and tell her to leave, but so far so good.

It had been one month since she and the kids moved in with him.  Had Paul only been dead a month?  It felt like years.  Questions still arose about his death and the circumstances and it didn’t look like there were any answers.

She sat in her office, looking over yet another proposal for a recreation center.  All the prices were way over the budget of three million dollars.  She just knew there had to be a decent contractor in the Turners Point area that would do the job under budget.

“Mrs. Hall, your mother is on line one,” her assistant said.  “It sounded urgent.”

“Thank you.” 
Please don’t let this be about Izzy
.  She normally spent the day with their parents while Cam was at work.  Lizzy picked up the phone and forced her cheeriest voice to answer the phone. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, baby,” her mother said.  “Izzy is taking a nap so I have to make this quick.”

Her mother never made anything quick.  “Okay, what’s up?” 

“How are things coming with the celebration planning?”

For a moment Lizzy stared into space, hoping something would visualize in her brain. Nothing. Only the contract bids for the new children’s recreation center floated around in her troubled brain. 

“Lizzy, did you forget?  I mean, you’ve had a lot on your plate, so it’s okay if you haven’t, but Izzy is feeling pretty down about the weight gain, and being shuffled around from house to house.  So I was thinking we should move it up.”

She too, had noticed her sister had not been her happy, contented pregnant self.  “Why don’t we do it next weekend? It will just be family and friends.”

“Sounds wonderful.  I’ll work on the guest list. I’ll keep it small.”

She also her mother’s version of small.  “Mom, it really needs to be small.”

“You know Cam has a large family.  Promise no more than a hundred people.”

It was more than she hoped for.  It could still be doable. Besides, she loved a challenge. “Okay, I’ll work my magic and get back to you about it.”

“Bye honey.”  Her mother ended the call.

Lizzy sighed.  “Another disaster averted,” she said the room.  “Superwoman lives!”

Tristan sat in his office, making notes for the next mayoral meeting. For a guy with no kids or a wife, he had a lot on his plate.  His father’s birthday party was at the end of the month.  After much discussion, Lizzy finally agreed to attend. He should be a happy man. Everything in his life was heading in the right direction.  But something was nagging him, taunting him. 

They’d checked Lizzy’s divorce records, but they didn’t run a background check on Paul.  Maybe there was something in his past that led to his getting killed in Lizzy’s house. With that thought, he dialed Brad’s cell number.  Sometimes it was good to have someone in the FBI in your corner. 

“Callahan,” Brad answered gruffly.

“Hey man, you’re busy?”

“Just working on some details for the Freedom Concert.  Singers. I could shoot the lot of them,” he said.  “What’s up?”

“I just had a thought. No one checked out Paul.   Maybe you can run a background check on him. Maybe there’s something that we’re overlooking.”

“Yeah, I had that same thought.  In fact, I just received the report about an hour ago.  I hadn’t had time to really go over it.  How about we meet for drinks?”

“Sure, I’ll just need to check with Lizzy.”

Brad chuckled.  “Oh, yeah, I forgot you guys were doing the living together thing.   How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. Actually better than I had thought possible. Even with two small children underfoot.”  He was happy and didn’t even care if Brad gave him the blues about it.

“So are you ready to take the plunge?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Tristan said.  “Just enjoying the moment. I thought her parents would have been giving me the blues about us living together, but they’ve been pretty cool.  Even Paul’s mother has been really nice to me.”

“Well that has got to be a sign,” Brad said.  “When the dead ex’s mother likes you, man you’re sunk.  You might as well plan the wedding date.”  Brad’s boisterous laugh crackled through the phone line.

“Man, you’re not even going to get to me,” Tristan said.  “I’ll meet you after work at the Brew.”

“Oh the new place down from the city building. See you there about six.”  Brad ended the call.

Tristan placed the phone in its cradle and took a deep breath.  Lizzy.  He walked down the hall to her office.  Her assistant had already left for the day, but her door was closed.  He knocked quietly.  “Lizzy, it’s me.”

“Come in,” she called. 

He entered her large corner office and smiled.  She was hunkered over some reports and her perfectly manicured hand was hovered over a large calculator.  Lizzy looked up and grinned at him.  “What are you doing here? What about the spreadsheet for the Freedom Concert?”

He held his hands up in surrender.  “Hey, who’s the boss here?  I’m supposed to be asking you things like that.  I just came to say that I’m going to have drinks with Brad after work.  So I’ll be home late.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” 

“Yes.  Tristan, we’re both adults.  I have two children who require a lot of my time. I know we can’t be together every second of our free time. I trust you.”

He was taken aback by her admission. “It must be the Irish in me.  I keep thinking if it was me, I wouldn’t be so trusting.”

“Ask me again.”

“I’m going out for drinks with Brad Callahan.”

She cleared her throat.  “What?  Brad?  Are you sure that’s where you’re going?”  She put the back of her hand against her forehead.  “Oh, what am I supposed to do alone with no man to comfort me?”

“All right, all right.  I get it,” Tristan said. “Thanks for the ego boost.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime at all.  Now get out of my office.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.  “I’ll see you later.”  He left without another word.   As he walked back to his office, he realized his old friend was right.  There was nothing left but to pick out the wedding date.

Lizzy took a deep breath the minute Tristan left the room.  That was close, she mused as she continued looking over the reports. Bea had faxed her some information and legal documents about Paul. He had several life insurance policies totaling over two million dollars.  His mother was the beneficiary on two of them, she was on one and there was another to Justin Hall.  Beatrice didn’t know who this Justin was and all she had was a social security number.

“Don’t worry, Bea, I’ll check it out,” Lizzy said. 

“Thank you, dear.  Curiosity is getting the best of me.  He’s never mentioned this Justin before and I don’t have any relatives by that name.”

Lizzy wondered at the mysterious man’s identity.  “As soon as I get some news good or bad, I’ll call you.”

“Thank you, dear.”  She ended the call.  

Lizzy looked over the policy.  The life insurance policy was only three years old and was worth $250,000.  Not an enormous amount, but enough to live on for a while, she mused.  She noted the popular insurance company’s logo and dialed their toll free number. 

“Barney Glassbow, please.”  Lizzy hoped her old friend still worked there. 

“Lizzy girl!” Barney shouted.  “It’s been forever.”

Bernadette Glassbow, alias, Barney, was one of Lizzy’s sorority sisters.  “Yes, it’s been too long.  How are you?”

“Great, girl.  Just got rid of husband number three.  Might as well just get a cat and call it a day.  Dirty dog was sleeping with one of my so-called best friends.”

“Oh, Barney, I’m so sorry,” Lizzy said.  Couldn’t anyone find happiness? 

“You know he’s trying to win me back,” she said.  “Like I’m just going to forget he was screwing her in my king-sized bed.  Men!”

“I’m sorry.  In your bed.  Seriously?”

“Yes.  In my bed.”  She took a deep breath, no doubt calming down.  “What’s up?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard Paul was killed.”

“Yes, I heard about it.  How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.  We were divorced over a year ago.  I was calling about a policy he had with your company.  The beneficiary is listed as Justin Hall.  His mother didn’t recognize the name.  I was hoping you could help me out a little.”

Barney laughed.  “Do you ESP or something?”

“I don’t understand.” 

“I have his policy on my desk. There’s been a lot of commotion around here about that policy.”

Lizzy was totally confused.  “Why?”

“In cases like these, there’s someone left in trust since the beneficiary was under twenty-one, but no one was listed.”

“Is that normal?”

“No.  We’d sent several letters and he’d gave us the name, but never sent in the paperwork to legally change it.”

Lizzy’s brain buzzed with the legality of it all.  Questions popped in and out her brain.  “How much under 21?”

“He’s five.”

“Five?”

“Lizzy, Justin was Paul’s son.”

Lizzy fumed as the information sank through her brain.  “If this kid is five, Tatum is six, this means that son-ofa-bitch was messing around while we were still married.”

“Yes.  The mother finally called me back this morning.  She’s being a little uncooperative especially once she found out that Paul never changed his beneficiary in her favor.  Then she tried to say that they were married a month ago, but couldn’t produce a valid marriage certificate.”

Lizzy winced at the legal mess.  “Sorry, Barney.  Sound like a lot of trouble.”  She debated her next question, but she had to know for her kids’ sake.  “Does Justin live here?”

“I shouldn’t be telling you, but you could get the information from public record anyway.  “Yes, he lives here with his mother, Natasha Allen.”

Say what?  The name sounded really familiar and in an instant, she knew exactly why.  The social worker.  No wonder she was giving her the blues at the meeting.  They had a mutual party.  Paul. Damn that man. 

“Do you know her?”

“Not socially, no.  She was the caseworker that had filed charges against me for neglect.  They were groundless of course, but she made my life a living hell for about an hour.  Now I know why.”

“Well once her superiors found out about that case, she was fired instantly for abuse of power.  That should have never been a case.  Now she’s livid Paul never placed her as a beneficiary.  So now she’s S-O-L.”

Lizzy tried to muster up some kind of sympathy for this insane woman, but she couldn’t.  Not when it involved her children. “So what happens now?”

“We can go either way.  We could release the money, but not to her.  All of Paul’s insurance policies were through us. Most likely, the money will be released to Paul’s mother and it’ll be up to her if she wants to release the money to Ms. Allen and her son.  Since no one in the family knew of the child’s existence and his name isn’t on the birth certificate as the father, our hands are tied.”

Lizzy nodded.   Allen had no grounds.  “Why on earth didn’t she name him on the birth cert?”

“The Deadbeat Dad Act has just started.  If his name showed up on anything concerning another child not in his marital union, you would probably have known Justin existed years ago.”

“True.  I would have divorced his ass on the spot.”

“Exactly.”

“So I guess the next step is DNA, right?”

“Yes, but she’s reluctant to do it.”

Lizzy shook her head.  “Doesn’t she realize that’s what standing between her and the money?”