In Secret and Shadows 9
Chapter Nine
Mid-Morning, of the next day, found Jason, Ashley, and Stevie standing in the security checkpoint at the prison as the guard ran the scanner around them. then they were ushered into the visitor's area. They crowded into one visitor's booth waited. A few moments later, Matt Lake entered the room on the other side of the plexiglass.
He was clad in an orange jumpsuit with the numbers: 1182365 emblazoned on it. he sat down at the booth and picked up the receiver.
"Hi honey," he said to Ashley
"Hi Daddy," she said, "Her voice cracking a little."
"Oh honey," he said gently, "I'm Alright, don't cry."
Ashley took a couple deep breaths.
"Hey Stevie," said Matt when he saw his niece
"Hi Uncle Matt." Said Stevie taking the receiver for just a second, then handing it back to Ashley.
"Who's your friend?" said Matt motioning to Jason
"Daddy," said Ashley, "This is Jason Whyte. He's a private investigator I hired and he wanted to talk to you."
Jason took the receiver.
"Mr. Lake," he said, "I'm helping your daughter investigate your case."
"I'm not sure what you can do?" said Matt, "But I certainly appreciate you trying."
"He's already done a lot." Said Ashley taking back the receiver. "He's discovered that my FOI request to see your case file was intercepted by the postmaster and buried in the back of the police file room. and he also discovered that the crime scene photos in the case file were faked!"
Matt Lake looked impressed.
"Well, that's more progress than my lawyer has made in the last three years!" he said
"Thank you, Mr. Lake," said Jason, "I've read what was in the police report, now I want to hear your side of the story."
Matt nodded.
"Alright," he said, "When I first became the CEO of Lake Technologies there was an audit of the company books. In the process of this audit I noticed something that didn't make sense. It looked like there were more investors than there were shares of the company."
"It sounds like some sort of con game." Said Stevie
Jason nodded.
"Exactly," said Matt, "But a few days later before I was really very far into the investigation, I get an angry phone call from Ashley's mother accusing me of having an affair with my secretary Miss Carmichael! So, I drop everything and go home to try and straighten this out, that's when I found out that Miss Carmichael herself had been there to visit my wife and was the one that was claiming an affair between us. My wife stormed out of the house that night, jumped in her car, and drove off in a huff. She got into a car accident and has been in a coma ever since."
"That's why I'm not living with her." said Ashley
"I spent some time at the hospital with her." Said Matt, "But then the doctors encouraged me to get back to work. That they would call me if there was any change in her condition. I came back to the office and started to work again."
"Stevie told me that it was no secret that you were furious with Lydia the day before the murder." Said Jason, "Everybody assumes that it was because of the lies she told your wife."
"Ah yes," said Matt, "My 'Motive'. I must admit that was certainly part of my anger. But it wasn't it wasn't all of it. There was more to it that wasn't brought out at the trial. When I got back to the company headquarters, I found that Devlin and Miss Carmichael had taken up residence in my office!"
That's when things began to come together for me. Miss Carmichael was Devlin's girlfriend! Ever since that day I have suspected that I was the victim of a plot by Devlin to get me out of the way, so he could take over the company. After all, he was always furious that he had been cut out of his mother's will."
"Tell me," said Jason, "Do you think Devlin would kill his own girlfriend just to get rid of you and get his hands on the family company?"
"Truthfully," said Matt, "I wouldn't put it past him."
Jason turned to the girls.
"Ladies," he said, "I think your cousin Devlin just became my prime suspect."
"Humph, he's always been my prime suspect." Replied Ashley
"Mine too," nodded Stevie, "So don't worry about us having a problem with it."
Just then the guard signaled that the prisoner's time was up. Matt hung up his receiver and mouthed, "Good luck." to them.
Once outside Jason teleported the girls back to Pine Hollow.
"I'll meet you back here later." Said Jason as they entered the lounge and the rest of the Saddle Club joined them, "I'm going to Lake Technologies to snoop around a little, and also see what I find out from Devlin."
"But, Devlin, isn't going to talk." Said Stevie, "So what's the point?"
"From what you've told me, Devlin strikes me as the type of person who thinks that he's a lot smarter than he actually is!" Replied Jason, "I'll just bet that somewhere in that company is a mistake that will blow this case wide open!"
TO BE CONTINUED… PLEASE REVIEW