“Then call the real cops, asshole. Even if there was a round in the rifle it doesn’t mean I put it there. Anybody could have done it when the guns were stored in the prop area.”
“I’m betting it was your rifle. One you’ve used many times in Civil War reenactments. Once you killed Jack, you set your sights on Professor Ike Kirby, killing a hotel clerk to get to him.’
Nelson shook his head, eyes wide, incredulous. He glanced at the grill surface.
O’Brien said, “I imagine the Civil War contract would command a high price for bidders who want to own a piece of history.”
“You’re fucking crazy!”
“You have no idea just how crazy murder can make me. Have you already sold the diamond? Or are the two, the contract and diamond, going as a packaged deal?”
Nelson snatched the knife from the grill. He crouched low. The knife in his right hand. His upper body like a wound up spring, a predator readying to strike. “It’ll be self-defense. I’ll tell ‘em you came at me with the blade. I took it away and fought you off me. Shit happens.” He attacked, the knife slicing the air.
O’Brien jumped backwards. Max barked, running in front of O’Brien.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Paula Jordan stood on the steps near the back door and screamed.
Nelson glanced her way and ran as Laura opened the door. “Oh my God! Paula, go inside.”
Nelson bolted, running through the open wooden gate, down the driveway, jumping into his truck, squealing tires, knocking over Laura’s mailbox and leaving ruts in her yard. O’Brien watched him for a second then used his phone to call Detective Dan Grant. Laura walked up to O’Brien and said, “Put the damn phone down. Now!”
FIFTY-NINE
The call went to Detective Dan Grant’s voice-mail. O’Brien said, “Dan, its Sean. You’ve got the wrong guy for the murder of Jack Jordan. Call me.” He disconnected and looked at Laura, arms folded across her breasts, eyes heated. “Laura, let’s sit down.”
“Why were you fighting with Cory? He’s family.”
“Maybe you couldn’t see it from your angle, but Cory pulled a knife on me. I was about to take it away from him when Paula opened the back door. Let’s sit at the picnic table, under the shade, okay? There is something I need to tell you.”
She followed him and they sat on opposite sides of the table. O’Brien chose his words carefully. “Cory Nelson is not family. He’s not the man or the person you think he is, Laura. The reason he pulled a knife from the grill and wanted to kill me is because I told him that I know he’s the one who murdered Jack.”
She held her left hand to her mouth, gold wedding ring shining in a dapple of sunlight breaking through the boughs of an oak tree. “No, no you’re wrong. That can’t be. He’s like an uncle to Paula.”
“I wish I was wrong. I’m sorry, but it’s true.” O’Brien told her how he knew what happened to Jack and said, “Odds are that Nelson killed Ike Kirby and the hotel clerk too. Now he has the Civil War contract.”
“Oh dear God.”
“After I speak with the detectives, police will probably have Cory in custody in a couple of hours.”
Laura’s face was drained. Pale. Lips tight. Mouth turned down. She watched a cardinal eat from a birdfeeder in the backyard. “Why? How in God’s name could he have done these horrible things? Killed Jack and two other people…even killing the dog next door.”
“Greed. Jealously. A psychopath colors outside the lines. It often begins after using a black crayon on the page of their delusional mind to eliminate the face of the victim. Total detachment.”
“I feel so naïve. So duped by Cory. But now it’s making more sense. All the phone calls…phone calls of concern for me and Paula, he said. The meals he brought over to the house. The glasses of wine he poured to help me, as he put it, ‘take the edge off.’ I told him how the stress of Jack’s death, of becoming a single parent, the theft of the diamond, the contract, and even the painting you’re looking for — how all of it had made me really depressed for the first time in many years. That, on top of the threat’s I’d received made me scared and vulnerable. He was preying on my weak moments. He was causing those weak moments! I was so stressed my body has been in knots. After I told him that, he began massaging my shoulders one afternoon in the kitchen. When he tried to go further down, I stopped him. He made light of it and said there were more knots in my lower back. I trusted Cory. What if police can’t find him?”
“They’ll find him.”
She looked away, seeing but not seeing the white tufts of cottonwood seed drifting in the wind from a large tree in her neighbor’s backyard.
“When Nelson’s arrested, I’m hoping they’ll find the diamond stolen from Jack and the Civil War contract stolen from Ike Kirby.”
“Dear God…this means you think Cory killed three people for those two things.”
“It looks that way. If they find the diamond and contract on Nelson, they’ll be returned to you. It’ll be up to you to decide what happens to them.”
“And I’ll do what Jack wanted to do, return the diamond to England. As far as the contract, since there’s no more Confederacy, there is no one to return it to. England’s still here.” She looked over at Max on the ground and raised her eyes to O’Brien without lifting her head. “What if Cory isn’t arrested soon and he comes back? He has a key to the front door, and he knows the alarm code. I have to change the locks.”
O’Brien stared at her for a long second then looked at the open wooden gate where Nelson had fled. Laura said, “You look deep in thought. Why are you staring at the gate?”
“I don’t think Nelson will be back, but that doesn’t mean you and Paula are safe. If police can’t tie Nelson to the theft of the diamond, some may think it was never stolen, but rather hidden in your house like the contract was concealed. Do you have a place, maybe a relative’s home, somewhere you can go to for a while?”
SIXTY
On the drive back to Ponce Marina, O’Brien called Detective Dan Grant and filled him on the details. “Only because of the ultra-slow motion playback can we actually see ballistics from a 165-year-old musket.”
“And you can clearly ID the shooter as Cory Nelson?”
“Yes. There’s a crane shot, an aerial shot from a drone camera, and the ground-level angles. It’ll give you a good look at the trajectory from where and how he pointed the rifle to the spot where Jordan was killed. Nelson’s delusional. He thinks just because we don’t have video of him loading the rifle he can skate.”
“A jury just only needs to believe he pointed the rifle at Jack Jordan with the intent to kill. If Nelson killed Jordan, did he shoot Professor Ike Kirby and the hotel clerk? Did he break into Laura Jordan’s home and steal the Civil War contract?”
“If you find the Civil War contract, yes. The diamond is where the big money lies. From what I can gather, Nelson managed to ride Jack Jordan’s coattails. Jordan was the passionate historian. A devotee of Confederate legend and lore. He also was good at raising money to fund his documentary work. I think Nelson wanted to be not like Jordan — but rather to become Jordan. To seduce his grieving wife, to move into his house. Because he wasn’t entrepreneurial, like Jordan, he needed a long-term revenue stream. The sale of the diamond and the contract would do that.”