Murder In Forest Pines: A Forest Pines Mystery by Duncan Whitehead

Author:Duncan Whitehead [Whitehead, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

1990

A listair Pike regretted his outburst and veiled threat to Gordon and Sandy. He would never harm Steve, nor would he hurt Gordon. He had lost his temper after Gordon had threatened to go to the authorities. Maybe Gordon Calder had a point; perhaps he should admit everything. Hand himself over and face the consequences. Gordon wasn’t the only one whose conscience was biting him; Alistair Pike was also guilt-ridden.

He could sometimes see their faces when he closed his eyes. They were lying there, blood oozing from their wounds, the life snuffed out of them. At the time, it felt like the best thing to do, to bury them, but now, six years later, he saw that there could easily have been another way. They should have called the authorities. He wouldn’t have been charged with murder. At the most, the charge would have been involuntarily manslaughter, and so what if he had been sued? He could sure as heck afford to pay. He had sent the widow five hundred thousand dollars, just the first payment; for the next five years, he had anonymously sent another hundred thousand annually.

Still, it wasn’t enough. No amount of money could replace a son and husband, but at least he had done something. Alistair shifted in his chair. He didn’t want Gordon to resign, but his mind seemed made up. Alistair couldn't stop Gordon from doing anything, and if Gordon did go to the authorities, then so be it; Alistair would not deny a thing; he would, though, as a matter of honor, make sure that the best attorneys represented Russ and Gord. He would readily admit that he fired the fatal shots. All his friends did was conspire to hide the evidence.

He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed. “Hello,” said Russell Janzan.

“Russ, it's Alistair; sorry to call. I know I gave you guys the week off, but Gord was just here, at the ranch in Wyoming, and he's resigned."

“What?” said Russ, “Why?”

Alistair explained everything to Russ, who listened without speaking; when Alistair had finished talking, there was a slight pause before Russ said: "Do you want me to speak with him? When he gets back here? It's a three-hour drive to Forest Pine, so he should be home in two hours if he left an hour ago. Maybe I can talk him out of it.”

“You can try, but his mind is made up. Maybe I should hand myself in before he can do anything. What do you think?”

"I don't think that's a good idea, Pikey. If I were you, I would wait; give me the chance to talk to him and Sandy first; let's see if I can talk him out of it first," said Russ.

“Okay, I’ll do that,” said Alistair, “Man, this is a real downer; I’m meant to be flying to Monaco next week to close on a big deal. I’ll need you with me, by the way. Yeah, you speak to him. Give me a call when you have.

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