Chapter 6 - An Unexpected WitnessThe morning sun filtered through the blinds of Detective Raymond’s office. Sitting on the couch across from Jack and Clara was an unexpected visitor: Mrs. Gable, Evelyn’s next-door neighbor of twenty-two years.
Her hands were clasped tightly around an old vinyl handbag, her eyes darting nervously toward the detective’s recorder on the desk.
“I didn't want to get involved,” Mrs. Gable admitted, her voice quavering. “Evelyn and I have shared a fence line since our boys were in Little League. But... what I saw two days ago wasn't right. It has kept me awake for forty-eight hours.”
“Take your time, Mrs. Gable,” Detective Raymond said gently.
“Evelyn had a man over on Thursday evening,” the elderly woman began, looking directly at Clara with deep apology in her eyes. “A younger man, wearing a cheap suit. They were sitting on her back porch. I was watering my hydrangeas by the fence, and the wind carried their voices. Evelyn gave him an envelope of cash. She said, 'Make sure the letterhead looks authentic. The girl is uneducated; she won't know the difference between an Army seal and a state stamp. Just deliver it and look solemn.'”
Jack sat motionless, though the muscle in his jaw ticked like a metronome. “Did you get a description of the man, Mrs. Gable?”
“A red Toyota sedan with a dented passenger door,” Mrs. Gable said, pulling a folded scrap of paper from her purse. “I wrote down the license plate. My late husband taught me never to ignore strange cars parked in the cul-de-sac at odd hours. Here.”
Detective Raymond took the slip of paper, his eyes widening slightly as he punched the numbers into his terminal. Within thirty seconds, a profile appeared on the monitor.
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“Derek Vance,” Raymond read aloud, his eyebrows arching. “Your cousin, Jack. Evelyn’s nephew. Expelled from state college two years ago for forgery and check fraud.”
The circle was closing. The conspiracy had not been a solitary madness; it was a ring of opportunists feeding on the presumption of a soldier’s death.
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