“How do you know they were there? Did you see them?”
“Gibson said she did.”
“Said she did? And you believed her?”
“She sent me these. Took them with a long-range camera.”
Sullivan pulled his phone out and held it up. “Just swipe across.”
Beckett did so and glanced up at Sullivan.
“Well?” said Sullivan. “You knew them, I didn’t. Could it be them?”
“It could be,” said Beckett slowly. “Can you text me those pictures?”
“Sure.” Sullivan took a few moments to do so. “So, do we head over there and arrest them?”
“For what?” said Beckett.
“For murdering their father. They might be intending to do the same to their mother, for all I know. And they’re after the treasure. Gibson is sure of that. She’s tracked some stuff down online and she says she can trace their digital signatures back to Francine.”
“Francine always was the smart one,” Beckett said absently.
“Yeah, so if we arrest them and make them talk, they can tell us where the money their father stole is, and that will all go to the government. It was mob money, after all. We’ll both probably get medals for that,” he added with a grin.
“Yeah, medals,” said Beckett absently again, his mind clearly elsewhere. “Did Gibson have any idea where the treasure is?”
“She’s convinced it’s somewhere at Stormfield.”
“Where? It’s a big place.”
“Gibson might be able to find it. Or we can get that from Francine.”
Beckett leaned forward and began speaking slowly and intently. “See, what I’m thinking is Francine is never going to tell us squat. You didn’t know the girl, but I did. She doesn’t give up anything without a fight. But if we can find the treasure on our own? That’s a whole different story.”
“But what about arresting them?”
“They can keep. Just put them under surveillance for now so they can’t slip away.”
“Okay, yeah. And then if we find the money we turn it in. Hold a press conference. Maybe the governor will come. And somebody from Washington. It’ll be a big deal. I’ve been waiting a long time to bust a big case like this.”
Beckett rubbed his chin and gave Sullivan a sideways glance. “Yeah, I bet you have. You really think Gibson can find it?”
“Well, she found the Langhornes. So my money would be on her. And she sounded really confident when I talked to her. Said she had it all figured out. This is what she does for a living, after all. And what could it hurt to see?”
“Couldn’t hurt at all. Sure save us a lot of trouble. You want to arrange things with her? Maybe the three of us can go there?”
“The three of us? I thought we would take a team over there tomorrow and just go through everything.”
“Tomorrow. Yeah, I guess that would make sense. Is Gibson at home now?”
“Yeah, she’s got the kids and all. I can contact her and set it up for tomorrow. You want to meet out there, say around ten?” Sullivan rose. “This could be really big for both of us, Earl.” He held out his hand. “Here’s to good luck tomorrow.”
Beckett stood and shook his hand. “Yep, to good luck tomorrow. I’ll see you there.”
Sullivan left, and Beckett immediately made a call.
Chapter 79
The doorbell rang around nine thirty that night at Gibson’s home.
When she answered the door, there stood Earl Beckett.
“Marshal, what can I do for you?” she said, looking surprised.
“Got your address from Sullivan. Mind if I come in?”
She stepped back and he walked past her, taking off his hat as he did so.
They sat in the small living room.
“Guess your kids are asleep?”
“Oh, yeah. They go down around eight thirty and explode again at around six.”
“Never had any kids,” said Beckett. “Guess my career was my family.”
“It is for a lot of people.”
“Look, Sullivan came by to see me today.”
“Right, he said he was going to do that.”
“I saw the pictures. Sure looked like the Langhornes to me. He said you used a software program to find them?”
“That’s right, proprietary software that ProEye uses.”
“Damn, I wish we’d known about it. We could have found them a long time ago.”
“Well, the software has only been available for a couple of years.”
“Thing is, I’d like to see them if I could. I wanted to let the kids, well, they’re not kids anymore, know that I was thinking about them. And—”
“—and you’re wondering if they killed their father?”
He looked uneasy with the query. “Look, I don’t want to think they did that. And it’s not my case to go after them. It’s Sullivan’s.”
“But still?”
“Of course they would have a motive to do it. He treated them bad, real bad. I told you about the play and how he wouldn’t let Doug do any sports.”
“Yeah, sounded really awful.”
“I told Sullivan to keep eyes on them.”
“Unfortunately, they disappeared before he could do that. But we’ll get on their trail again,” she said when Beckett looked stunned.
“Sullivan also mentioned that you know where the treasure is?”
“It’s what I do for a living. In fact, I was thinking that if I found it, I might get a finder’s fee. I’m a single mom with kids and, as you can see, I’m not rich. So the money would be very welcome.”
“But with Francine and Doug in the area, what if they’re after it, too? What if they get there first now that you lost them?”
Gibson looked alarmed. “Shit, I didn’t think of that. You believe they might?”
Beckett started talking fast. “If they killed him, they were probably after the treasure, too. You said they left the place where you saw them. Well, they might be at Stormfield right now. Sullivan said we would go there tomorrow, but what if that’s too late?”
“Damn, if they get there before we do?”
“So you really think you know where it is?”
“I do.”
“Look, I’m going to call Sullivan and tell him to meet us out there as soon as he can. Let’s go right now.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, but you can’t leave your kids.”
“That’s not a problem. My mom’s here. She can look after them. You call Sullivan and I’ll let her know that I’m leaving and that I’ll be back later.”
“Sounds good,” said Beckett.
While they were traveling to Stormfield in Beckett’s truck a storm system blew in and it started to lightning and thunder, the wind picked up, and the rain started to fall. It was nearly eleven when they arrived. With the cloud cover the place was totally dark.
Beckett and Gibson pulled out their flashlights.
“I don’t see Sullivan’s car,” noted Gibson.
“The weather might have slowed him down.”
“Okay, let’s go. He can catch up when he gets here.”
They ran through the storm to the entrance.
The front door was unlocked.
They went in and shook the water off their clothes; Gibson pulled her wet hair out of her face.
“So where is the hiding place?” said Beckett as their twin beams cut through the gloom.
Gibson shone the light on her face, looking triumphant. “The room where Langhorne was found is not the only secret room in this place.”
“What!”
“Yeah, I did a rundown on Stormfield’s history, and it seems that the man who originally built it was of Scottish ancestry. Well, the Scots are famous for putting hidden rooms in their castles. I spoke with John Turner, who sold the place to Langhorne. He said there’s a second secret room down in the wine cellar, and he told me how to access it.”