HOMESTAY 006

"We are on our way" was the only reply she gave and hung up.

Jannie was a key to open many doors, doors including the Willards case. She heaved a sigh and glanced at Kinner who was focusing on driving at the moment and back at her lap.

Jessie couldn't be dead, could he? She thought to herself.  It would kill Dwayne if it happened - God forbid.

She knew from the beginning that there was a high probability that Jessie could really be in trouble but she kept denying that just like every other time she told herself not to worry about him. She might get a suspension for digging up the Willards case again but now that it seemed to correlate with the recent investigation she was working on, the thought didn't seem to bother her at all.

It was only a matter of moments and they arrived at the Long Beach Intelligence. Griffin met her at the entrance, briefing her all the way as they marched to the questioning room. Sullivan took a deep breath and as she made to open the door, Kinner stopped her.

"Can you handle this?" He queried. He knew how much the case affected her but she was such a stubborn woman and would not admit it.

"I always do" she released herself from his grip and pushed the door open.

There was a woman sitting at the table in the middle of the private room only that a tinted glass made the fourth wall where Kinner stood with Tucci to observe. She couldn't see them, but they could see her. A white fluorescent was hanging above her head, illuminating the room and Sullivan settled in the opposite chair.

"Can you finally tell me what is going on and why I am being held hostage here?" The modest looking brunette queried with a hard-nosed frown. But Sullivan wasn't falling for that innocent-I-am-an-American-and-I-know-my-rights-bullshit. She had sat in a room and listened to better pretenders before and it didn't move a hair on her skin so, Jannie was no match.

"Ms Wesley, it's funny..." Sullivan started "it is funny it is Ms Wesley and not Gordon. I learnt your husband passed a few years ago"

"That's my work name. And I have been bearing that before I got married but what has that got to do with why I am here?" She snapped

"Do you know this person?" Sullivan tendered a photograph of a young man supposed to be Steve Craig. An artist has drawn it following Dwayne's description.

After taking a long look at it, she raised her head to look at Sullivan "I don't"

"You don't?" Sullivan produced a picture of Dwayne "what of this man?"

"I don't know these people"

Sullivan steadied her breath "why don't we start like this. Do you know of a Gordon property at Old-Gravel road?"

"Yes, I am the agent of that house"

"Good." Sullivan nodded "have you found a buyer?"

"No. The house is old and too remote, nobody wants to buy it."

"Okay, I get it. The house is too old but it is still up for sale and that is for how long?" Sullivan raised a brow

"A year, and April"

"Okay, so, nobody has been to the house for a year and April?"

Jannie paused "nobody" she grumbled.

"Not even security?"

"Security don't go in the house... They monitor the house"

"Really." Sullivan nodded then produced two other pictures. "Look here. That is a cracker that has no fungus on it and is still very crispy and here is a moist footprint in the soil"

"What has that got to do with why I am here?"

"That cracker isn't a year old neither is that print and it was found in the house after police search. Not a year dusty, floor swept..." Sullivan showed more pictures. "Don't you think this is weird Jannie?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. We have surveillance of the place..."

"Which we checked. Our tech guy says something got deleted. Here, look..." Sullivan showed her other evidence "Jannie, come clean with me and I promise, this won't take longer than the usual question and answer."

"Come clean? I don't even know what is going on here!"

"Here is my question..." Sullivan was still keeping her cool. "Did anyone go into that house since one year ago?"

"No one... Except me... That was nine months ago, I went to visit my husband's grave. That's all."

"Jannie, your husband's grave is outside the house about fifty meters away from the house. Did you go into that house?"

"I didn't."

"You just said you did"

"Yes, then I did. But just to look around not clean the place"

"Then who cleaned the place?!" Sullivan's voice was rising

"I don't know!"

Sullivan shot to her feet "its better you talk to me Jannie. What is going on? Why is the house up for sale when Gordon's wish was to make it an orphanage? Your husband is buried there and you want to sell it? Is that house even up for sale? "

"The house is up for sale!"

"Is it?" Sullivan leaned close, her hands resting on the table.

Jannie went silent then she stammered a muffled "yes it is"

Sullivan took her phone, dialed a quick number and put it on speaker. Immediately, it transferred her to an available receptionist "This is Connell and Bright Real Estate Agencies, how may I help you?"

"This is detective Sullivan from the FBI..."

"What are you doing?" Jannie asked, nervosa pulling in her chest but Sullivan ignored her.

"Yes, thank you. I want to ask if the cabin at Old-Gravel road owned by a Mr. Gordon is up for sale. We are investigating a missing person case; can you look that up for me?"

"Very well detective Sullivan. I will look that up right away, it would take about a minute, and I will put you on hold"

"Very well." And the call was placed on hold. Sullivan glared at Jannie who was already sweating and was trembling like there was cold or something affecting her irritability. "You have a minute to tell me the truth Jannie. If that receptionists calls back and tells me what I need to hear, then you are in big trouble."

"I did not kidnap anyone!" Jannie snapped

"Maybe not but you might be in a bed filled with shitty people who are murderers"

"Murderers?"

"Tell me what I need to know Jannie?"

"The family is broke!"

"The family claim to be in bankruptcy and they have the most expensive bottles of scotch on their shelves. What am I missing Jannie?"

Jannie went mute for few seconds. Her voice broke as she made to speak and her face began to flush with red. "I am just helping out the family. If I don't put the house up for a pose sale, they would sell it to the wrong people"

"Pose-sale. So, it is not up for sale? Who would sell it to the wrong people?"

"Linda. Simon's step sister. Simon is my husband. Linda is crazy; she is so nuts"

"So, it hasn't been idle for a year then. So, what do you do with the house?"

"I lease it out to people. Trust me, I do it for the money, so I can help - Linda has gambling problems. She owes a lot and we are trying to sort out the debt and Grammy is sick. She has cancer, probably going to die soon"

"So, according to you, you are doing so much for them, and they are throwing you under the bus."

"According to me is the only according to the matter. I am the only sane one in that house."

"Well, it didn't seem so. It seemed they knew what they were saying. Linda said the family was broke which isn't true but she seemed so evident that you had shady deals..."

"Yeah, Linda is a bitch. She is always like that; always on the defensive, wanting to gain everyone's sympathy. You want to know why my father-in-law didn't will the house to her is because of a, she has a gambling problem and b, she might sell it off to the wrong people."

"Speaking of wrong people Jannie, I need to know who you leased the house to last"

"I can't tell you that"

"Why not?"

"I signed a non disclosure agreement. These people offered good money and I signed to keep my mouth shut. If I tell you, they'll come after me and I might end up in jail."

"Well that's where you are going to end up Jannie if you don't start talking!" Sullivan banged the table in anger "here is what happens when you lease a house to someone who turned it into a home stay service and a client gets missing for days... It bumps into a criminal investigation"

"But..."

"Shut up Jannie, let me finish. And when a criminal investigation is going on and a suspect refuse to talk because of a shitty non-disclosure agreement, and later, somebody dies, it bumps into murder"

"I... Ah..." Jannie stuttered.

"And so far, we have three dead, four more to go. So, Jannie. If you are looking forward to not going to jail, you don't have it because, that's where you are going and I see nothing less than life sentence. So keep up the joke if you want" Sullivan snatched the files and picture from the table and marched to the door.

Tension filled Jannie's heart. Mariah had made jail so real to her that the thought of it alone shook her to the bones. She took a short breath before she cracked.

"Wait..." She stopped Mariah from stepping outside.

"For what?!" Sullivan snapped at her "so you can keep telling me how broke you are and how you can keep wasting my time?"

"I had no idea they turned it into a home stay service. I just leased it out and that is all."

Sullivan eyed her and reached for the door again "bullshit. You are wasting my time"

Jannie was scared. Sullivan was scaring her; Sullivan was taught to be scary so, she cracked "there was a Donna and Peter Craig."

"Interesting!" Sullivan turned back to her with a deep frown. She wasn't going to take it easy with anyone who had shady things with her case; not even Jannie Wesley. "So, you know this guy after all." Sullivan brought out Steve's picture.

"I don't. I swear, I don't. I only spoke to Donna and Peter Craig. We settled things and they were going to stay there for only a week. And the next day, I get this non-disclosure agreement in my mail and they were going to raise the money only if I said yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I swear, I don't."

"I mean, why did you sign it?"

"I did it for me. I was getting more money"

"Does the family know about this?"

"The family doesn't have to know shit. If they find out that I landed more money with their house, they will take it from me. Linda is crazy - she would do anything to get it. I have been there before. But we have debts and I can't let that opportunity go."

"What are you leaving out Jannie?"

"That's all I know. The money got wired and that was it."

"Then we are done Jannie" Sullivan turned to the police man at the door "lock her up. She is not ready to speak"

"I have told you everything I know!"

"Well, I feel you are lying to me Jannie. I'll be back and I swear to you, I won't be lenient.” She turned back to the police "keep an eye on her. She is a federal suspect" Sullivan said through clenched teeth and stormed out of the room only to crash into Kinner outside, in the lobby.

     

"Don't tell me I am being a prick right now Shawn, I don't need that from you"

"No, I'm here to tell you Dwayne is here at the reception."

"Why is he here?"

"You know why."

"Jessie" she grumbled and heaved a deep sigh "since when?"

"Since when you started lashing out on Jannie Wesley. He is anxious, uneasy, Griffin is keeping him engaged but he wants to hear from us"

"Talk to him Kinner"

"No, you are going to talk to him Mariah. He needs to be assured that everything is under control."

"There is nothing to assure him of."

"Are you scared that..."

"Kinner, I ask you for just one thing and all you do is whine or rub it in my face..."

"Mariah..."

"I have a case to settle, right now, I don't need this"

"This is not about you Mariah, it's about Jessie..."

"Yes, and the Willards and six other people so, tell Dwayne it is not just about his baby brother and tell him this is no more just a missing person case. If I have to whine about every god-dammed instruction, I won't be on this at all" she said quickly and walked briskly down the hall to meet Tucci. Now all she had to do was find Donna and her husband.

"It is logical." She began "Jannie is telling the truth but not all the truth..."

"What do you mean?" Tucci asked

"She is a fraud so is Linda. The only person left in the dark is the old lady. Here is the real story. The old lady husband dies, followed by her son and she is left with two females who have money problems. They make up a story of the family being bankrupt and they moved a motion to sell the only priced possession of the Gordons. They are not bankrupt, they are just hoarding money so they can buy back Simon's company which was sold two months before he died. ."

"Simon has a company?"

"I did my homework" Sullivan provided him a document "Simon owned a shoe company and he sold it to Mode Fashion company and after two months, he died. On the contract, here is Linda and Jannie signature as guarantors because they had shares in the company." She produced another document “Now, Mode is canceling and they are going to cut off some part of the company so, Linda and Jannie wants to get it back"

"Why did they sell it in the first place?"

"Because they had it all planned from the start. They knew Mode would cancel and they knew their company would be safe during the cause and if anything happened at all, it would just be a scratch. After all this is done, they will send the old lady to a mad-house and keep her away" Sullivan produced another document stating a rehab facility in Africa which was like a planet away and it had Mrs. Gordon name in its application form. "...And to get quick money, they lease the cabin at Old-Gravel out to people. But this time, they leased it to our guy"

"How did you know all this stuff?"

"I told you I do my homework Tucci. Now, it’s time to do yours. I want you to confiscate her phones, find Donna and her husband, and bring them to me even though you have to dig into every closed case in your precinct."

"What time do I have?"

"None." Sullivan said stating its urgency and she turned back around.

"Where are you going?"

"To stick it to Jannie." 

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