CHAPTER TEN
His blue Chevy rolled into the station house parking lot
and eased gently to a stop. Ben cut the engine. He sat for
a moment with his thoughts still lingering on Laura
Beaumont and her philandering husband. He was unable
to shake the meeting he’d had with her, from his mind.
He knew how she felt. On some level he had connected
with her feelings and emotions, he knew of her suffering
and he sympathised with her pain. Laura had been so
shattered by what Donald had done that her entire being
was crushed. Ben too, knew this feeling. Another gift from
Anna.
It appeared that Donald Beaumont had begun an affair
with Tessa Hunt purely out of loneliness, or so Laura
thought. Who knows? Maybe he was lonely, maybe he
wasn’t. Maybe he was just a man with needs that he
wanted satisfied by someone other than his own wife.
Perhaps that’s how it was for Anna too. She had needs
that he was unable to fulfill and so she just up and found
herself a new life, one he was no longer a part of.
Ever since he had phoned Anna last night and told her he
would sign the divorce papers, Ben had been on a roller
coaster of memories and thoughts. Everywhere he turned,
he saw things that reminded him of her and their time
together. His decision to grant her a divorce cut him
deeply. It was the single most difficult choice he had ever
had to make and it didn’t come easily. As Jay had told
him, Anna had moved on and made a new life for herself.
Now it was time for him to do the same. He had to admit
that apart from the pain of letting go, he did feel different.
Something had shifted within him and oddly enough, it
didn’t feel that bad.
Perhaps the old story of loving something enough to set
them free, wasn’t too far off the mark after all. He knew
now that he had lost Anna for good, although the truth of
it was that she was lost to him long before she had left
him. Their marriage had been far from perfect. Right from
the very beginning he was aware of that, but his pride
wouldn’t let him walk away. Instead he took the coward’s
way out and left it up to Anna to make the first move to
end their long suffering relationship. He did love her, of
that there was no doubt. He simply couldn’t try any harder
and in essence, he gave up. It suddenly occurred to Ben
that, that was possibly the very reason he had tried so
hard to resist thendivorce his guilt. A better man would
have swallowed his pride years ago and admitted that the
marriage was over, instead of making Anna suffer until
she could suffer no more.
For a long time he had thought that having a baby might
have saved them, but that too wasn’t on the cards. Due to
an ectopic pregnancy in her teens, Anna was unable to
have children. Another thing, which stacked the odds
against them. The disappointment in her eyes when she
was told was devastating, and instead of comforting his
wife as best he could, he pulled away, distancing himself
from Anna and the problem. It was no wonder everything
went to hell in a hand basket after that. The more he
scrutinized his marriage, the less he could rationalise his
part in its failure.
Ben rubbed his hands over his face and let out a
deliberate sigh. The air rushing out of his lungs felt like a
huge weight being lifted from him; out with the bad air
and in with the good. His realisations were so profound
that they seemed life altering. He had faced his failures,
finally checked his baggage at the door. ‚Onwards and
upwards,‛ Ben cheered to himself quietly, then pulled on
the door handle, slipped out from behind the wheel of his
car and made his way inside.
It had been a few days since he had checked in at the
station house and he was pretty sure that the boss was
going to have a few words to say about it too. He found
his desk exactly the way he had left it and exactly the way
he liked it. Neat, organised and uncluttered. His ability to
work and fill out papers was hindered if his desk space
was invaded or overcrowded; it amazed him how Jay
managed to get anything done with the state his desk
was in! Ben pulled his chair back and was about to sit
down when he heard an ungodly racket coming from
down the hallway, it sounded like a man yelling. He
walked over to investigate when a tall man with broad
shoulders and an axe to grind, came bowling down the
hall at full speed, a young police constable right behind
him. Three other Detectives in the room all turned and
stared.
'Where is he?" yelled the man, his face red with rage.
"Please, Sir…" the constable tried to calm him. The
muscular man held out one of his brute sized arms and
pushed the constable backwards, sending him hurtling
off into a filing cabinet.
"Ben Payne! Where is he?" The man hollered out,
scanning the faces of everyone in the room.
"I’m Detective Payne," Ben raised his voice and stepped
forward. "How about we step into this office over here?" he
asked, nodding his head in the direction of an empty
room to his left.
"No, I want everyone in this room to hear what sort of a
Detective you are, interrogating innocent women, leaving
them in tears and on the verge of a break down at their
place of work!" The veins in the man’s neck were bulging,
his anger growing.
"And you are referring to?"
"I’m talking about Laura. My wife," he spat back.
"Oh, so you are Donald?" Ben moved closer to him and
leaned in to his ear.
"Perhaps we should take this into the office over here. I
don’t think everyone here needs to hear about how you
had an affair with a murdered woman and how you put
your wife through sheer hell and how you, Mr. Beaumont,
got her tangled up in this whole damn mess in the first
place!"
Don eased away from Ben and walked over to the office,
his head lowered slightly and his temper much cooler.
The other detectives in the room all stood in awe of how
Ben had single handedly managed to bring such a
rampant citizen into submission, using nothing more
than words. Inside the small office, Ben offered Don a
chair and sat opposite him so they were eye to eye.
"You were saying"‛ Ben kicked off the conversation.
"What’s with interrogating my wife? What’s she got to do
with Tessa’s murder?"
"You don’t sound terribly upset about Miss Hunt?"
"I’m not. She ruined my marriage, but I didn’t kill her if
that’s what you’re thinking."
"She ruined your marriage?"
"Yeah, because of her I nearly lost Laura…"
Ben cut him off, "Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Beaumont but I was
under the impression that it takes two people to have an
affair?"
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"What I mean is, you are just as much to blame for your
marriage falling apart. Miss Hunt could not have had an
affair with you without you being involved, too."
Don threw his hands into the air and slapped them on his
knees on the way down. He knew Ben had him there and
he was lost for something to say.
"As for your wife, I am extremely sorry if I upset her this
afternoon. It was not my inten-tion. However, I did have a
lead that pointed to her accountancy firm and I merely
went where the clues took me."
"Well you did upset her. She was a complete mess on the
phone babbling about Tessa being dead and that she was
pregnant. She wanted to know if the kid was mine."
"Was it?"
"Hell knows. Tessa had many male friends. She made it
quite clear that I wasn’t her only little adventure."
"Can you tell me where you were on Friday the
seventeenth of last month Mr. Beaumont?"
"I was in Bayside with my wife. She had a conference there
so we used the getaway to our advantage." He stopped
and glared at Ben. "Regardless of what you think of me
Detective, I made one hell of a mistake with Tessa and I
am trying my hardest to win back Laura’s trust and love."
"I’m not here to pass judgement on you or your life
choices Mr. Beaumont, all I am trying to do is my job. I
have a murdered girl here and she and her unborn baby
need justice." His eyes fixed firmly on Don. "Now, all that
aside. Can you tell me anything about Tessa? You said she
had many male friends, do you know any of them?"
Don shook his head and flopped back in his chair. "No. All
I know is that she told me I was not an exclusive fling. I
got the impression that she was looking for the best
horse to carry her across the finish line."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean she was a gold digger. She wanted a rich
husband and wasn’t shy about doing whatever it took to
get one."
"So you’re rich then?"
"Let’s just say that neither Laura or I have to work. We only
do because we enjoy it."
"How did Tessa know you were wealthy? How did you
meet?"
"She was my personal assistant originally, that’s how we
ended up in bed together. Laura was spending so much
time getting her firm together and I guess I spent more
time working, too. Tessa and I were drawn together and it
just snowballed from there."
"How did she take it when you broke it off with her?"
"Not great. She threatened to go to my wife. When I told
her that Laura knew all about us, she was livid."
"She never mentioned being pregnant?"
"No, I had no idea. Oh wait…"
"What is it?"
"Before I left her apartment, she grabbed at me and
begged me not to leave her. She said she had something
important to tell me. I just shook her off. I didn’t even give
her the chance to explain what she meant." He got up
from his chair and walked over to the window. His fingers
dug in between the thin blinds and pried them far
enough apart for him to see down onto the street.
Ben sat silently and watched as Don was digesting the
situation.
"Do you think that maybe she was trying to tell me she
was pregnant? Oh God… was the baby mine? Is there
anyway of knowing? Can you do DNA tests?"
"Mr. Beaumont," Ben stopped and reconsidered his words
before continuing.
"Look, it may be best if you don’t know. Is it really going to
help you or your marriage in the long run?"
The last thing Ben needed was Don taking action and
wanting to DNA test a foetus that wasn’t present, and he
certainly didn’t want to divulge the details of Tessa’s case
by telling Don that there is no foetus to test. It was a
massive effort trying to keep details from being leaked to
the press as it was, let alone giving it out to possible
suspects.
Don was nodding his head in agreement, almost as
though he were trying to convince himself that it was
better not to pursue the test. "Yeah, yeah… you’re
absolutely right. It could do more damage than anything
else. And she did have other guys, any of them could’ve
been the father, she might have just been trying to trap
me."
"It may be helpful in the future to get a blood sample
from you though," Ben added.
"How would that help anyone?"
"Just that when we catch whoever did this, if it is a jealous
lover or something, we might need to rule you out as the
possible father of the baby. It just cements the case in
court. Chances are, we won’t even need it."
"Oh right, yeah sure, I understand." Don held out his
hand to Ben, "Look, Detective, about before…"
Ben took his hand and shook it, "Forget it," he said
releasing his hand.
"I am very sorry. I had no right to carry on like that. If
there’s ever anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to
ask." He handed Ben a business card and left the room.
He eyed the business card; the ornate gold lettering and
thick designer parchment told him that they were of the
finest quality, an expensive make. The perfectly formed
print simply read, Donald Beaumont, Investment Advisor.
Followed by two phone numbers, one a landline and the
other a mobile. Ben flicked the card between his thumb
and forefinger and thought about the conversation that
just took place. In particular, Donald’s heated behaviour in
regards to his wife. Ben felt it was important to clear him
as a suspect as soon as possible. With a temper like that,
Don Beaumont would be a perfect candidate for Tessa’s
murder. He had motive and his wealth certainly provided
him with whatever means necessary to commit the
murder or at the very least, pay somebody else to commit
it for him.
He opened the office door and walked back towards his
desk, pulling from his pocket, the Bayside conference
print out that Cindy had given him. His eyes scanned the
names on the sheet of paper, none of them looked
familiar to him. Ben then sat down and laid the paper on
his desk. He opened the drawer of his desk and placed
Donald Beaumont’s business card inside. Picking up the
phone he dialed the number for the Bayside Inn, the
location of the accountancy conference.