Fenton sat in the car, staring at the man in the driver’s seat.  He wished he could see Vincent Ellison’s eyes, but the Chief Financial Officer of Myelin Manufacturing stared straight ahead, out the windshield.  The man appeared nervous and scared, but not dangerous.  They were seated in Ellison’s car in an out-of-the-way corner of the hotel parking lot.  The security lights around the lot barely illuminated the inside of the car, not allowing Fenton a good look at Ellison’s face.

“You said you had information about Kevin?” Fenton asked, hoping to get Ellison talking.  He was getting a sense that Vincent Ellison was somehow connected to Kevin’s disappearance.  But Ellison was anxious and edgy, acting more like a frightened victim than a criminal with something to hide.

“I – I don’t even know where to start,” Ellison said wearily.

“Do you know where Kevin is?’ Fenton asked, hoping if he got Ellison started with a few leading questions, the rest would come tumbling out.

“Yes.”

“Is he alive?”

“Yes, of course!” Ellison almost shouted, and looked at Fenton fearfully. 

“Did he steal the money from the pension fund?”

Ellison sighed and leaned his head back against the seat, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  “No, he didn’t.”

“But you know who did.”  Fenton saw a look of pure anguish pass over Ellison’s face.  When he answered, his voice caught in his throat.

“My son stole it,” he said softly, obviously distressed.

“How is Kevin involved?”  Fenton asked, keeping his initial task in mind – find Kevin Cutter.  He could deal with whatever else Vince Ellison revealed afterwards.

“It’s all my fault,” Ellison’s voice broke and the floodgates opened.  “I was so distracted with Stephen, the theft, the threats…. I accidentally put the CD in with some others Kevin needed for the project he was working on.   He’s an intelligent young man; it didn’t take him long to figure out what was on it.  I went to talk to him, to try and convince him not to say anything.”  Ellison finally turned and looked at Fenton.  “I was in the process of trying to reimburse the pension fund for what Stephen had taken. I had no idea it would get so out of hand….I was just trying to protect my son.”

Even in the dim light, Fenton could see the look of grief on Ellison’s face and he knew exactly how the man felt.  Protecting his son…how many times had Fenton been in that same position?  Luckily, he’d succeeded more times than he failed but still, those failures were the ones he remembered so vividly.  Forcing himself to remain focused, he gently prodded Ellison to continue.

“Your son, Stephen. He works for Myelin also?”

Ellison nodded.  “In payroll.  It’s his job to set up the automatic deductions taken from the employees’ paychecks each month. Taxes, voluntary medical savings accounts… retirement plans.   He’s supposed to make sure they are correct, make any changes the employees want, things of that nature.”

“So he has easy access to both the employee payroll and the pension fund account.”

Ellison nodded again, clearly tormented by his son’s dishonesty.  “He’s a good man.  He really is.  He just…he got caught up in…” Ellison swiped at his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.  “Gambling,” he announced.  “He’s become addicted to gambling.  I had no idea until my daughter-in-law came to me about a month ago. He didn’t want her to know how much he was losing so instead of using their savings or credit cards he got a - loan.”  He looked at Fenton again, sorrow filling his eyes. 

Fenton easily read between the lines.  “Loan sharks.”

“I thought I could just pay off his debt and that would be it. He wants to get help for his gambling.  He understands he’s addicted and he wants to stop.  No one had been hurt. He kept track of all the money he took from the pension fund – every penny – so he could eventually pay it back.  That’s what the CD was for,” his voice trailed off as his train of thought suddenly veered in a different direction. 

“Marcus and I go way back,” he said, referring to Myelin’s CEO.  “I was fairly certain that if I explained everything to him, he’d let me reimburse the pension fund, get help for Stephen and keep it all quiet.  I mean, no one other than Stephen was really hurt by all this.”

Fenton’s mind was running at top speed as all the pieces finally fit into place, but he remained quiet, letting Ellison continue.

“I guess being a law abiding citizen all my life, I was pretty naïve.  I found out there is no such thing as paying off a debt to loan sharks.”

“It’s rare,” Fenton agreed.  “Criminals really don’t like to negotiate.”

“Once they found out I was willing to pay off Stephen’s debt they tripled the amount of interest.  Said if I didn’t like it I could go to the police.  I’ve been blessed in my career and have amassed a considerable amount of money, but even I can’t pay what they want – not on a continual basis.  Eventually I’d be wiped out.”

“And still in debt to them.”

“Exactly,” Ellison stared out the window for a moment, seeming to be caught between disbelief and despair.  “Then Kevin accidentally got involved and that complicated matters even worse.”

“What exactly happened there?” Fenton asked, not having been able to discern how he figured into the picture.

“I thought I had everything taken care of.  When I explained to Kevin what had happened, he agreed to remain silent as long as Marcus agreed to my plan.”  He shook his head again, this time in frustration.  “But Stephen was panicking.  He made a stupid – stupid – mistake!  He thought if the loan sharks knew someone else was involved now, someone they had no hold over, they’d accept the money I’d paid them up to that point and call it even.”

“Criminals don’t usually work that way,” Fenton pointed out.

“That much I did know.  When they found out Kevin knew what was going on, they told Stephen they’d ‘take care of him’,” he looked at Fenton, haunted.  “I couldn’t let them kill an innocent man.  Not under any circumstances.”

“So what happened to him?”

“I realize now what a chance I took, but I felt like I was backed into a corner.  I told them I would take care of Kevin. I guess they figured if I killed him there was no way I’d ever go to the police, so they agreed.”

Even if Ellison hadn’t already told him Kevin was alive, Fenton knew the man wouldn’t have killed Kevin.  He was a man trying to protect his son, but he wasn’t a killer.

“What did you do?  Where is Kevin?”

Ellison turned and looked at him, a tiny smile on his face.  “I told them I killed him and buried his body on the property near my vacation house. It’s about an hour and a half outside of town.  Very secluded area.  Obviously Kevin can’t be seen or they’ll know I lied and kill him themselves.  He’s been staying in the basement of my vacation house.”

“Voluntarily?” Fenton asked.

Ellison flinched.

“Mr. Ellison – is Kevin there voluntarily, or is he being kept against his will?”

Ellison exhaled loudly.  “At first he was there voluntarily.  We thought it would only be for a few days.  But things…they just kept escalating.  After about a week he insisted he was leaving – going to the police and telling them everything.  I still thought I could handle everything myself.” He stopped speaking and turned towards Fenton, his eyes pleading.  “I know now I am in way over my head with no way out.  That’s why I approached you tonight.  I just want it to end.  Can you help?”

“Before I agree to anything, I need to see for myself that Kevin is alive and unhurt,” Fenton replied.

Ellison never said a word.  He simply started the car, backed out of the space and headed off into the night.

*****

Frank drove steadily towards the airport, hands tight on the steering wheel.  He and Joe had made a brief stop at their parents’ house to tell Laura what had happened.  Her initial reaction had been that she wanted to come to Arizona, to be close by when her husband was found.  It took several minutes of persuasion on their parts, but they finally convinced her to stay in Bayport.  Laura had made them promise to call the minute they knew anything, and then hugged them both.  She had held tightly to Joe a moment longer, whispering something Frank couldn’t hear.  Watching them, Frank had had a chilling sense of déjà vu.

When he was a child, every time Fenton had to go out of town on a case, he would ask Frank to watch out for Laura and Joe, telling him he was the man of the house.  Frank had always swelled with pride at those words, until the day Fenton left and didn’t come home.  It was the first time Fenton had been seriously injured on a case, and for a few days the doctors were unable to tell Laura if he would live or die. It was the first time Frank learned about death.  He’d understood immediately that when daddy left the hospital he might be going to live with God instead of them.  Joe had a lot more trouble grasping the concept of death and every day he’d ask Laura when daddy was going to wake up and come home.  And every day she would pull him close, hold him tightly and whisper in his ear… just like she did tonight. 

Shaking off the distressing memory, Frank recalled the day Fenton came home from the hospital.  Laura had insisted the boys go outside to play so Fenton could rest, but Frank snuck back into the house, needing to talk to his father.   Fenton listened patiently as Frank asked his father never to call him the man of the house again.  In Frank’s mind, being the man of the house now meant his father might never come home.  While Frank assured Fenton that he would always watch over Joe and Laura when Fenton was away, he insisted there was only one man of the house – and that was Fenton.  Afterwards, Frank had curled up on the bed next to his father, lulled to sleep by the reassuring beat of Fenton’s heart.  True to his word, Fenton had never again referred to Frank as the man of the house.

As he turned into the airport parking lot and found a space, Frank realized Joe hadn’t uttered a word since leaving their parents’ house.  Looking at his brother, Frank saw Joe staring out the window, seemingly a million miles away.  Reaching out, he gently touched Joe’s arm.

“Hey, are you okay with this?” Frank asked.  He’d suddenly remembered Joe eliciting Fenton’s promise that Joe would not have to be involved in the Cutter investigation at all.  Frank assumed Joe’s feelings had changed now that Fenton was also missing.  Realizing they would probably have to come face to face with Jeff Cutter at least once, Frank wanted to make sure Joe understood it, too – and that he was ready for it.

Joe didn’t answer immediately as a look of mild confusion passed over his face.

“I think it’s inevitable that we’ll have to meet with Cutter at least once,” Frank explained, watching for Joe’s reaction.

Joe seemed lost in thought for a moment and then looked at Frank.  When he shrugged his shoulders resignedly, Frank knew he hadn’t thought that far ahead.  “Yeah…I guess we will,” Joe finally acknowledged.  “I don’t know how I really feel about that.  But I do know that I want to find Dad and bring him home – now!  If I have to see Uncle Jeff to accomplish that, well…I don’t know…” his voice trailed off but not before Frank heard the nervous edge to it.  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”