CHAPTER 7
The next morning, Vince rode into work with Matt. CJ and Catey would be coming in a little bit later. Roy had planned for them to start on their first jewelry store job at 9:00am. When Matt walked into the office, the first order of business was making the coffee. Then he went and started up BABY and began pulling up information on William Bellwood. Vince joined him on the couch. "Man this brings back some memories."
Matt stopped what he was doing and headed over to the bar to get a cup of coffee. "Want some?"
"Sure." Vince took the cup that his friend brought him.
Sitting back down in front of the computer, Matt leaned back and took a sip. "I know y'all are happy with the restaurant and all, but I sure miss you being around. Not just you; the kids, Mama, Isabella – the whole gang."
"I miss being here, but right now, I think it's the right thing. But I have thought about eventually moving back." Vince drank some of the coffee. "Most people would think that was insane: leaving Hawaii and moving back to the smog pit." He laughed.
"That's okay, Vince. We already know you're crazy – otherwise you wouldn't hang around with us." The private investigator grinned as he started back in on his research. "Hmmm. The wonderful Mr. Bellwood was divorced not too long after the murders. Says here that his wife claimed he was cheating on her with," Matt scrolled down to the next page, "HELLO! Look at this Vince."
The former detective looked up at the screen. "Wow. Now there's almost certainly a connection there – gotta be." The two men read on through the transcripts of the divorce hearing. "Holy cow!" They looked at each other.
Just then the elevator chimed and Matt craned his head around to see who was there. "CJ, you gotta see this." She walked into her office and put Catey into her playpen and then came back out where the two men were seated.
"Oh boy. Well she sure didn't tell us about that, did she?" She came and sat down between them.
Matt reached for the phone and called Michael Hoyt. "Hey, I gotta ask for a favor."
Roy and Will stepped off of the elevator and headed into the office. Matt hung up the phone after explaining to Hoyt what he needed. "So are you boys about ready to get started?" Matt stood up and stretched.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Will looked at Vince. "You think we can keep this old coot in line?"
"This old coot is your boss, boy; you would do well to remember that." Roy popped his son on the back of the head as everyone else snickered. "Matt, are you sure you won't be need the van?"
"Well if I really get in a bind I'll just flap my wings and fly to Pensacola or wherever you are and take it in the middle of the night." He grinned at his uncle. "No, I'll manage. You boys need it more than I do right now. When y'all get done with your little cross-country tour I may need to trade it in for a new one."
"There will be a lot of miles put on it, that's for sure. Okay, boys, let's kick the tires and light the fires." He turned and started out of the office while the others exchanged a look and started laughing.
"Well since he's using movie lines today: "May the force be with you!" Matt cracked up. "See you later." Vince and Will caught up with Roy at the elevator and Matt and CJ could hear the three men carrying on as the doors closed.
"Do you think they'll actually manage to get some work done?" CJ wrapped her arms around Matt's neck pulling him down for a kiss.
"If you keep doing that I won't be getting any work done." He smiled down at her and kissed her back then sat back down in front of the computer and went back to work on the Mercer case. "Just because Bellwood was involved with her, that doesn't mean that he committed the murder. But it sure throws a whole new light on the case. And getting a look at the birth certificate might not mean much either – people have been known to lie about those things – and most likely would have in this case." He got up and hit the coffee pot again bringing back a cup for CJ.
"If what we think is true really is, what would be her motive? It's a little late for revenge, don't you think?" CJ pulled her legs up under her on the couch and took a sip of coffee.
"I don't know, Babe, that's what I'm having trouble with right now. But there's definitely something going on there." Matt continued reading but nothing else that he found seemed to have any bearing on the case.
"Alright, let's change gears here. I want to see if there are any red flags on your friend Terrence Whitaker." He punched in the man's name and address and started reading. "Okay, he's forty three, married, three kids, works as the manager of three GetNGo convenience stores: one on La Brea, one on Wilshire, and the last on Alvarado. Seems pretty clean. Did he mention why he was looking for a private investigator?"
"Nope. Kinda makes you wonder what your imposter got to hear, doesn't it?" She rubbed the back of his neck. Matt turned off the computer and it closed back into the coffee table.
They both heard the elevator and Matt turned to see who was there. He got up followed by CJ and headed for the outer office. "Hi, is there something I can help you with?" Matt walked on down the steps.
"Uh, yeah are you Matt Houston?" The man was wearing a short sleeve shirt with the GetNGo convenience store logo on it.
"Yes sir, I am."
"I'm Terrence Whitaker. And I'm guessing you're CJ?" He smiled as she followed her husband down the steps.
"I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She gave him a big smile as they all shook hands.
Whitaker gave Matt the once over. "Well that other fella sure wasn't you."
"No sir, I was in Texas Saturday afternoon. We've been working trying to find out exactly who that was that you talked to, and we've also got a couple of questions: when you met with him, did you come up in the elevator?" Whitaker followed them up the stairs and into the main part of the office.
"No, he told me it was down for maintenance. Guess that should have been a red flag, but that made sense – it was the weekend."
"Okay, something else I wondered. Do you remember him touching anything? The desk out front, the bar – anything like that?"
"Yeah, he did – and I was a little surprised. He pulled out a whiskey bottle from behind the bar and poured himself a shot."
"Okay." Matt walked over behind the bar and invited Whitaker to join him. "Can you point out which bottle it was?" There were four different whiskey bottles on the shelf.
"Yeah, that one right there. I noticed because it's my favorite." Whitaker grinned.
Matt looked around and didn't see a dirty glass anywhere. "He must have washed the glass – which means he touched the faucet." He walked back out from behind the bar. "Did he touch anything else that you can think of?"
"Well, we sat down at the bar and he was standing behind it, you know, with his hands on top leaning on it."
"Uncle Roy and the boys have been working there, so I don't think it will do us much good to dust it." He was looking at CJ, then turned to speak to Whitaker. "How did you happen to get in touch with him?"
"I called Friday about 11:00am and he answered the phone."
"That's about the time we were landing in Texas." CJ was standing next to Whitaker. "I understand why you might not want to tell us, but why were you wanting to hire us, Mr. Whitaker?"
"I'm the manager of three GetNGo stores. We've had some problems with our inventory disappearing at the store on La Brea. We've got security cameras, but someone has been tampering with the tapes from them. I need to know which of my employees is robbing me blind."
"Well, if you really want to hire ME," Matt grinned at Whitaker, "I've got just the thing to catch them."
"I do want to hire you, Mr. Houston, but I'm afraid that other fella took my money."
"Tell you what, considering you've been scammed and this won't be a very hard job at all, I'll do it for free. How's that sound?" Matt held out his hand.
"Okay, but how do I know that you are really you?" Whitaker shook the offered hand and was smiling.
"That's easy." Matt pulled out his wallet and removed his PI's license and showed it to the man. "From now on when you need to hire a private investigator, ask to check their license." He grinned as he put it back into his wallet.
"You know, I could kick myself for being taken in by that jerk. I sure do appreciate you helping me out – especially after I was so rude to your missus. Ma'am, I apologize again." He looked slightly sheepish.
"You had every right to be upset." She shook his hand. "Now, just so you know that we're legit, come on back to my office – we need to get you to sign a contract. That's another way to know that you're dealing with the real thing." She led the way to the office just as Catey Rose decided that it was time for a bottle and diaper change.
Matt followed them into the room and scooped up Catey. "I'll take care of this while y'all take care of that. Then I'll show Mr. Whitaker the solution to his problem." He smiled at his daughter. "Bet we can get done before they do, Sweet Pea. Whatcha think?" The pair headed down to the nursery and continued to talk back and forth during the diaper change and then came back up for a bottle. Matt was warming it in the microwave and giving Catey raspberries again, causing her to laugh.
Whitaker looked up at CJ, smiling. "How many kids do you two have?"
"That's the first." She was finishing up with the papers and making a copy for the manager
"Really? He acts like he's done that a lot. I've got three kids myself. The oldest will start college next year. Hard to believe how fast the time goes by." He folded the paper that CJ handed him and they walked back out into the main part of the office.
"How about I take Miss Catey Rose and you and Mr. Whitaker talk shop?" CJ took her daughter from Matt and the pair went and sat down on the couch to take care of the bottle.
"Would now be a good time to set up the surveillance or do you need to wait until your employees are gone?" Matt had pulled out a couple of his "critters".
"Now would work I guess. The office where the tapes are is in a separate room. We can close the door."
"Okay. CJ, I'm going to go get this set up. Can you call Michael about dusting for prints? Be back in a little while. Love you." He headed for the elevator followed by the convenience store manager.
"Alright. Be careful. Love you." She and Catey continued to work on the bottle. She picked up the phone and called Michael Hoyt. "Hi there. It's your favorite PI."
"Yep, you are, much better than that guy that you're married to – what's going on today?"
"Well, I hate to ask, but could you have somebody come back out to dust for prints again?"
"No way! Don't tell me they did it again!" Hoyt couldn't believe that anyone would strike again so soon.
"Nope, we talked to the man who got scammed and he showed us a couple of items that the imposter touched." As her mom said those last words, Catey decided to burp – loudly. "And just so you know, that wasn't me." CJ looked at her daughter and gave her the raised eyebrow – she just laughed.
"I thought it was Houston." Hoyt knew better but was trying to have a little fun. "Okay, I'll call down and have someone come over. I sure hope this gets cleared up pretty soon – it could be really bad for business."
"Yep. Matt just left to help the man who got scammed with his problem – pro bono." It wasn't that big of a job and would probably be resolved within a couple of days' time – not a major expense for Matt.
"Well that was nice of him. I'll get somebody over there. Talk to you later."
"Thanks, Michael. 'Bye." She hung up the phone and turned her attention back to Catey. "Looks like it's just us girls for a while."
