Garrett was doing the math in his head, but he didn’t want to make the man feel any worse than he suspected he already felt.
“I’m not a filthy rich man, not by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, I’m comfortable, maybe a little more than comfortable, but I earned my money the old fashion way. I believe in hard work. Once that woman got a hold of me, I swear, she could’ve had just about anything she wanted. Unfortunately for me, she just saw me coming. Just another sucker and she wanted nothing but money.”
“At anytime did you suspect or think something could’ve been wrong?” Garrett asked.
“I knew something wasn’t right. I mean excuse after excuse regarding this restaurant, the shit just wasn’t adding up. I may have been stupid in love, pussy whipped even, but shit, I still had some fucking common sense.” Scott held his glass out to Garrett, like that might help get his point across better.
“When did you learn the truth?” Garrett asked.
“Which truth?” Scott wanted to know. He shrugged. “I mean which truth are you referring to?”
“When did you learn the truth about the restaurant?”
Scott took the snifter up to his lips and chuckled. “Oh, yeah that one. I just learned that she was running game on my ass. Funny too, because a couple of days before she was killed, I had told her I needed to go see this damn restaurant for myself. I wasn’t about to be footing a bill for something I hadn’t seen or touched with my own two hands.”
“I’m sorry you had to get it that way man,” Garrett said sincerely.
“When she comes to me in my sleep, everything is all right. None of that shit about needing more money, nothing about what’s wrong with the damn restaurant, she just wants to love me. I loved her, still do, and I want this investigation to wrap up so I can clear Abril’s name, she’s nothing like you think. And after that, I want to get Panthea the hell out of this house,” he said.
“So you gave Abril upwards of fifty thousand dollars to help with a business that didn’t exist. That must’ve really pissed you off, huh?”
“I’ve given Abril a lot more that fifty thousand dollars. I’ve bought her diamonds, earrings, tennis bracelets, clothes, whatever I thought might make her happy, and for a while she had me feeling like it was enough to please her, but all I was doing was maintaining my position with her. I feel sick when I think about how she was just using me all along.”
“You heard about the others?” Garrett asked.
Scott’s eyes began to pool, and he swallowed something without even taking a sip. “I heard about them,” Scott spat out.
“The way it’s all shaking out, she was doing the same thing to all of the men she was involved with. Making them think she loved them just to get their money."
“Yeah, I heard that too.”
“I know you're pretty mad about it, I’m guessing their probably feeling the same way,” Garrett said and Scott looked away. “You think any of these other men could’ve been mad enough to kill her?” Garrett asked.
Scott looked at Garrett before saying another word. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that if the others could’ve done it, then he too could’ve been lumped into that same category. And that was one group he didn’t want to be a member of. If the suspect pool was growing, Scott Daniels wanted to make damn sure his name wasn’t being added to that list.
“I don’t even want to think like that.”
18
Garrett slammed his car door and walked into the precinct that he once worked in. It was, as it always was when Garrett had business there, a bittersweet experience. It all started when three members of the drug task force that Garrett was assigned to, officers Barnett, Ridgewood and White came to arrest suspected drug dealer named Terrence Melson. When Garrett arrived on the scene, Melson had been shot in the head. He didn’t die from his wound, but he was paralyzed. While Melson was awaiting trial, Ridgewood was caught trying to steal over 600 pounds of seized cocaine from a police locker. When that happened the entire team went under the microscope.
In exchange for a lighter sentence, Ridgewood offered testimony against his fellow officers. He testified that Melson was unarmed and shot in the head while he was lying on the floor in handcuffs when White shot him. Barnett, who was the senior officer, ordered them to plant the gun.
That investigation led to a probe of what the review board considered unjustified shootings. After that, five officers were relieved of duty, and more incidents surfaced as the internal scrutiny continues. Although Garrett wasn’t implicated in any of those cases, he was accused of taking a bribe from a suspect. With Marcus’s help, he was cleared of the charges, but he had enough of the bullshit at that point.
“What’s shaking, Harold,” he said, greeting the desk sergeant.
“Same old same, Mason. What’s going on with you?”
“Here to see Detective Silver. Is he in?”
“Haven’t seen him, but that don’t mean he ain’t here. You can go on back. How’s Paven?”
Garrett took a step closer to the desk. “Me and Paven separated over a year ago,” he said softly.
“Damn, Mason. I’m sorry to hear that,” Harold said, thinking that maybe he should call on her now.
“I miss my kids,” Garrett said and he pushed his way through the double doors that led back to the section of the building that housed the homicide division.