The Forger's Forgery by Clay G. Small

Author:Clay G. Small [Small, Clay G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: River Grove Books

Ortiz sat at the Wheeless Strategic Fund conference table lost in a daydream. She envisioned herself sitting at a candlelit table dressed in her low-cut, red satin dress. Her amorous companion, Lieutenant Will Klepper, gently held her hands on the middle of the white tablecloth. As he mouthed the words “I love you,” the sound of a phone ringing in the adjacent office jolted her back to reality.

Her apprehension was growing. The assault of her aunt Sherrie and Wheeless’s warning to stay out of Wichita had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. But what could she do? Tell her boss about the threat? How would she explain being picked up in a dive bar by two strange men with fake foreign accents? That her aunt had left with one of them after knowing him for all of forty-five minutes? The shabbiness of the whole episode would only fuel her boss’s growing contempt.

As she had discussed over coffee with Klepper, learning that the camera left in her apartment belonged to O’Brian helped solve at least one question: Wheeless must have ordered O’Brian to scare her from coming back to Wichita. The interview with O’Brian could clear up a few things.

Reviewing her iPad notes from her first interview with O’Brian, she confirmed her recollection about the flight log—O’Brian had not only informed her of its existence but also said the receptionist would make a copy of the relevant page for her. Her notes further confirmed that when she approached the receptionist, the copy had already been made. O’Brian clearly wanted her to have a copy of the page.

She silently rebuked herself for sloppy police work; she should have secured the original. Without it, the copy was undoubtedly inadmissible into evidence. In other words, useless. She had done extremely well on the evidence section of her criminal justice course. She scolded herself for making such a fundamental mistake.

So far her interviews had been futile. Wheeless had refused to see her because of the ongoing investigation of his niece’s murder. Starsky was an elusive ex-con who knew nothing from nothing, much less the location of the flight log. Mandy, the new receptionist, at least made a search of her credenza but came up empty.

Ortiz reached into her aluminum briefcase for the copy of the log she had been given on her last visit. It set out a month’s worth of trips including a flight to and from Dallas the night of Nichole’s murder. There was only one passenger listed on the Dallas flight—Guy Wheeless. She shook her head at the slipshod police work. Why the hell didn’t I secure the original log? Was it because all the evidence pointed to Wheeless as the murderer? Did I jump to the conclusion that I had a slam-dunk case? Will that leap end my career? No, Wheeless is the murderer. Hell, he even sent those goons to scare me off …

Ortiz was jarred out of her introspection by an aggressive knock on the conference room door.

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