Page 16 of One Little Memory
Jagger leaned back in his chair. “You can’t tell another soul. Not your friends, not your boss, not anyone. The mayor doesn’t even know the truth. I let him believe that I went out there to help him because Arthur Marchand is popular, and the mayor doesn’t want to piss off his electorate.”
Now Jagger really had his attention.
“Six months ago, something came across my desk that led me to start investigating Lloyd Bondy. Turns out he was involved with one of those doomsday prepper groups.”
That did not surprise Phoenix one bit. “Nothing wrong with doomsday prepping,” Phoenix offered. It wasn’t his cup of tea, but he could see the appeal. Might be nice to think he’d be okay if the world was ending. On the other hand, might just be nice to end when the world did. Problem solved. Worries over.
“No,” Jagger agreed, “there isn’t, but Lloyd took it one step further. He got involved with a group that thinks they need to stockpile all kinds of guns and…other things that aren’t legal. Lloyd was only on the periphery of the group, but he had to be checked out. And to be prudent, I had to start digging around in Gus Marchand’s life as well. They hung out together. If Lloyd was involved, I assumed so was Gus.”
“And was he?” Phoenix asked.
“Not that I can tell.”
Phoenix frowned. “So, what’s with all the secrecy then? What are you not telling me?”
“First off, there are more people in town involved in this extremist group. I’m not going to give you names, but suffice it to say, if word got out, my whole investigation would fall apart inminutes and a lot of people would get away with the bad things they’re doing.”
Phoenix was trying to be patient, but he wanted to throttle Jagger. “Can you get to the point?”
“In working on the other investigation, I came across some weird anomalies with Gus Marchand, the main one being he’s not really Gus Marchand.”
Phoenix jerked forward in his chair. “What? What do you mean?”
“Do you know the story of the Marchand brothers and how they ended up here in Cherry Valley?”
“I’ve heard the short version,” Phoenix confirmed.
Jagger took a sip of coffee from a mug on his desk. “Here’s the long version. Gus showed up first about twenty-five years ago. He was a pain in the ass even back then, but he bought his place on the outskirts of town, moved in, and pretty much didn’t do anything except sit on that porch three seasons of the year. Prior to arriving, he’d had some sort of horrific accident. The details are sketchy, at best. He broke his leg and a whole bunch of other bones and had gotten somewhat disfigured as a result.
“Anyway, where Gus was mean and a recluse, his brother Arthur, who showed up six months after Gus, was the polar opposite. He immediately tried to get to know everyone and joined as many activities as he could in an effort to ingratiate himself into the town.”
“Okay, but what does all that have to do with Gus not being Gus?”
“According to Arthur, Gus’s accident changed how he looked but also changed his attitude. Apparently, they weren’t particularly close, and prior to coming to Cherry Valley, the two brothers didn’t talk more than once a year by phone. It took Arthur months to find out about Gus’s accident and then months more to find him.”
“So you think Gus isn’t who he said he was? He’s not actually Arthur’s brother?”
“No, he’s not. Whoever that man was, he committed identity theft and stole Gus Marchand’s identity.” Jagger leaned forward. “I can’t tell you details, but I can say that we had occasion to run the fake Gus’s DNA, and it didn’t come back as Gus Marchand.”
“Then who did it come back as?” Phoenix demanded.
“Someone who isn’t in the system. Gus was in the military. He stayed on in the reserves for years and there was an incident where a soldier died. They used DNA evidence to find out who was involved. Gus had given his for exclusionary purposes, so we had his DNA to compare it to. It’s not a match, and before you ask, yes, I’m sure the DNA came from the man who claimed to be Gus Marchand.”
Phoenix stared at Jagger for a full minute, trying to get his brain around what the other man was saying. Finally, he said. “Well, shit, that just opened up my field of suspects to practically anyone.”
Jagger nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, but I figured you should know. I have no idea who Gus really was, and I don’t know if his real identity could have anything to do with his death.”
Phoenix scrubbed a hand down his face. This was turning into a nightmare. First, he had Jo to deal with, and now Gus was not Gus. He let out a breath. “Do you think Arthur had a clue that his brother wasn’t his brother? I mean it seems like it would be a pretty hard thing to pull off. Fooling a family member.”
Jagger shrugged. “I know. That part bothers me. A lot. But Arthur said they weren’t ever close. Gus left home immediately after high school and they weren’t really in contact. Their parents died and according to Arthur, they talked once a year at Christmas up until Gus’s accident. I think it was a car accident but I’m trying to get more details on it.” He rubbed his chin. “I can’t see how Arthur would take care of some stranger and callhim by his brother’s name. It doesn’t make any logical sense. He must have really believed it was Gus.”
“I’m going to have to talk to him,” Phoenix pointed out.
“Yeah. Just tread softly and don’t let on what you know, okay? I’m working with the Feds on this one and we need to be able to keep this investigation as quiet as possible for as long as we can. Chief Bowers knows about it and now you, but I don’t want it to go any further.” He paused. “It’s not just guns. There’s a lot of weird shit going on, and until we can get to the bottom of it, I need this to be locked down.”
“I appreciate the information,” Phoenix said. He wasn’t sure if Jagger’s intel was going to help his investigation or not, but he was glad his teammate had shared with him.
“Hell, Phoenix, I didn’t have a choice. If it was one of the other detectives, I might have kept my mouth shut, but I know you, and you’re like a dog with a bone. There was no way you were going to let this go, and if you found something out, the whole fucking town would know in seconds. No bigger gossip center than the police department and city hall.”
