Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

Mountains. The mountains’ beauty was no less spectacular in the autumn months with the rich hues of aspen yellows and oranges clustered on the mountainside, or during winter with white crystal snow blanketing the landscape, often framed by a cloudless blue sky.
    Sometimes on mornings like this, Aunt June got up early and joined me on the sun porch with her cup of black tea. And on rare occasions, even though her number one priority was sleeping in, I’d convinced Sara that getting up early to enjoy the sunrise was a special time. I don’t think she quite got it. It usually required a bribe of hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.
    On this particular morning, I was alone with my music and coffee. My thoughts drifted to the concurrent murder investigations of Levi Vogue and Charles Watts. The two cases had become entwined. It was now impossible to think of either case independently. To solve the murder of Charles Watts was to unravel the mystery of Levi Vogue’s killing.
    It was simple before: Vogue gets whacked. We correctly identified the jealous boyfriend of the woman Vogue was stooping on the side. He was a violent ex-offender with one of the oldest motives in the world—jealousy. Problem was, he didn’t do it. Then Slick Watts came along. He turned out to be an even better suspect than John Merchant. He was the trigger, no doubt about it. Case closed. I should have been lying on the beach in Cabo sipping Long Island iced tea and reading a good who-done-it. But no, Watts’ death turned out to be a murder disguised to look like a suicide. Bye bye, R & R.
    At the moment, I was stumped. But I’ve always had a knack for thinking outside the box, and that’s what I needed to do now.
    One thing was clear—we had to locate the individual responsible for the forged suicide note, and we needed to find that person quickly. The forger’s life might be in imminent danger. If the forger was paid to create the false suicide note and was not a direct participant in the broader murder conspiracy, he could be perceived much the same way Slick Watts probably was: a loose end requiring elimination. On the other hand, if we were lucky, the forger may have been following the story in the local news. If that were the case, he might have gone into hiding or bought the first plane ticket out of Utah.
    ***
    Assuming I survived today’s trip to Hogle Zoo, which, incidentally, had grown from Sara and one friend to Sara and three of her schoolmates, I planned to meet Kate later in the evening at one of Salt Lake’s finer watering holes. We planned to compare notes on the people on our separate lists of forgers. Besides, by then I’d probably need a drink, and who knows, maybe more.
    Hogle Zoo, on a beautiful spring day, was a fun place to visit. I’d done my best to cajole Aunt June into coming, but she politely declined my offer. I wasn’t sure if her lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the prospect of having to walk endless miles on zoo property, or the company she would have to keep—four eight-year-old kids and me. Probably a combination of both.
    The trip came off without a hitch. I didn’t lose anybody, and by early afternoon, I’d managed to fill four children with enough cotton candy and other goodies to keep them on a sugar-induced high for the rest of the day. When we returned to Park City, I dropped them all off at the home of one member of the group whose parents had invited everybody over for a birthday party sleep-over. On the ride back up the mountain, I overheard one of the girls talking about tonight’s slumber party. Eight-year-old kids talking about slumber parties. Yikes!

Chapter Thirty
    By the time I completed my zoo duty and stopped by the office to pick up my list of forgery candidates, I was late for my rendezvous with Kate. If she was ticked about my tardiness, she didn’t show it. We met at the Timeout Lounge, a sports bar and eatery on Salt Lake’s east side.
    Unlike me, Kate had made it home for a quick change of clothes after her interviews with the Vogue family. I hadn’t seen her in casual duds. I liked what I saw. She was wearing a little more makeup than I’d seen previously. Her cheeks definitely showed more color and her lips were a deep shade of red. She wore her long auburn hair down but tucked behind her ears. She was dressed casually in black, form-fitting designer jeans that flattered every curve. The open-toe sandals had heels that made her already long legs look even