Page 10 of The Beachside Cafe 4
The photo hanging on the wall in that hallway, though, was a full face photograph and Coulter was looking directly at the camera.
Jaymee studied the man. He had an oval shaped face with big bright teal colored eyes behind thick rimmed glasses. He was balding and had no chin. He looked just like the kind of man Jaymee would suspect was in the financial business.
What Amanda saw in him was beyond Jaymee. Then again, it didn’t seem the other woman had much in the way of scruples. She just went where the money was.
The more she thought about it, the more Jaymee believed Amanda was partially responsible for what was going on. She had a part in Doug’s kidnapping and the attempted murder of Carmine Russo. But she didn’t think Amanda was working alone and so far, they didn’t have the proof they needed to even make a case against her. The detectives were waiting for the proof, some kind of evidence so they could arrest her. Until it was obtained, Amanda was free to roam.
They had eliminated Russo, Granger and O’Rourke from their suspect list. Amanda remained at the top with Dylan Lianetti running as short second.
If this proved to be fruitless and Coulter was cleared, those two would be the main focus of their investigation from that point on.
“Miss Mason?”
She spun around when Penny called her name. The receptionist was placing the phone back on the cradle. “He will see you now.”
“Thank you, Penny.”
She passed the woman, who gave her a brilliant smile and let herself into the office of Daniel Coulter. She kept her heartbeat normal and tried to tell herself he wasn’t a violent man.
Jaymee didn’t want to make up her mind the moment she walked in the door but it was hard not to. Like Granger and Russo, this man looked defeated and downtrodden. It was likely he was one of the rich ones but what good was the money when it left a person looking and feeling dead?
“Mr. Coulter,” she said, crossing the room with her hand out. He’d stood up when she went in and leaned over his desk to take it.
“Miss Mason. It’s good to see you again.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You remember me?”
“I saw you at the company picnics. You were always very good at darts.” He blinked at her for a moment before sitting down. “So what can I do for you, Miss Mason?”
Jaymee lowered herself in the seat across from his desk, placing her bag in front of her on her lap. She was more taken aback than she realized from him recognizing her.
“I’m here because of Amanda Dinklage.”
She almost regretted saying the woman’s name. Coulter’s face immediately fell and he looked away from Jaymee, out through the window at the blue sky.
“What about Miss Dinklage?” Coulter asked, without returning his gaze to her face.
“I know about your relationship with her. You must realize that I was with Doug. He was my husband.”
Coulter’s eyes swiveled to Jaymee’s face. She was half expecting him to burst out in tears.
“I loved that woman!” he hissed suddenly, leaning forward. “And she betrayed me. She continues to betray me!”
“Surely you’ve tried to do something about it,” Jaymee retorted, “other than pay the blackmailer for years.”
Coulter pulled his eyebrows together in a deep frown. “Do something about it? What am I supposed to do?” His voice cracked and Jaymee regretted that she felt sorry for him from that moment on. “She doesn’t want to be with me. She was just teasing me. Trying to get me to do things for her. Things that I won’t do! Do I look like someone who can scale the side of a building? I mean, do I?”
Jaymee curiosity was peaked.
“She asked you to scale the side of a building?” Her voice was incredulous.
Coulter frowned, his eyes darting to her face. “You didn’t know that? I assumed she came to you and asked you to do the same thing.”
Jaymee shook her head. “Doug was not her friend. I am not her friend. I came to you because we saw the pictures and…”
“You want to keep the blackmail going, don’t you?” Coulter’s throat constricted, making his voice very taut. “I don’t want to pay anymore money, young lady.”
Considering they had to be about the same age, Jaymee considered that a compliment.
