Flames, Frames, & Murder

by Jenna St James

  Trevor and Jax both laughed.

  “You didn’t?” Jax asked.

  “Noooo,” I said. “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “Really?” Mike asked. “So when he says my bully of a girlfriend and her Amazon thugs beat information out of him, he’s lying?”

  Trevor threw back his head and laughed…and it totally startled me. He was usually more reserved and rarely ever showed that much emotion. I hid a smile, kind of proud I’d taken him by surprise. I could tell Mike and Jax were just as shocked by his response.

  “I would have given anything to see that,” Trevor admitted.

  “Did the Chief overhear him?” I asked.

  Chief Miller and Gramps were old friends, so I wasn’t too worried about getting arrested and thrown in jail for threats of assault or something…if that even was such a thing. But I didn’t want Mike to get in trouble for my actions, either.

  “Luckily the Chief announced very loudly he needed to take a walk and get some fresh air when Carl started flapping his gums.”

  I grinned. “Must be my lucky day.”

  “Must be,” Mike agreed with a grin.

  “So do you think Carl did it?” Jax asked.

  “More importantly,” I said, “do you think he’ll confess?”

  Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence that says yes. We have a warrant coming for his house so we can search for the stolen paintings and the gun used to shoot Sophia. Finding those paintings or the gun would pretty much wrap it up nicely for us.”

  “Then let’s hope you find those things tomorrow,” I said.

  Chapter 14

  “Jaycee,” Jax called from her side of the room, “your phone’s ringing.”

  Groaning, I reached out and felt around for my cell. Making contact, I slid my finger across the green phone icon. “Yeah?”

  “Jaycee, it’s Mike.”

  I knew that tone. I sat up straight, wide awake.

  “What’s happened?” I asked.

  “I’m afraid Sophia didn’t make it. She died from complications around five this morning.”

  A sob ripped from my throat. I was barely aware of Jax sitting down next to me on my bed.

  “What’s happened?” she whispered.

  “Sophia died,” I said, tears falling from my eyes.

  “Oh no.” Jax gathered me close, and I put Mike on speakerphone.

  “I got Jax here with me,” I said.

  “I’m sorry to have to wake you up to this news,” Mike said. “But I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

  “Do Heidi and Bridget know?” I asked.

  “Not that I’m aware,” Mike said. “We’ve let Victor know, so pretty much word will spread soon, I’m sure.”

  “How’s Victor?” I asked.

  “Shaken,” Mike said. “He’s taking it hard.”

  I wanted to believe his grief was true.

  “Listen, Carl’s attorney will be at the station around eight-thirty this morning, so my phone will be off. If you need me, leave a message.”

  I sniffed. “Okay.”

  “I’m going to tell you something so totally off the record you can never repeat it.”

  I perked up at that. “Okay.”

  “The search of Carl’s home didn’t yield the gun or the paintings.”

  I took that in. “That’s…odd.”

  Mike sighed. “Jaycee, please sit tight and let me do my job. Don’t do anything foolish today.”

  “I’ll be with her,” Jax said. “I won’t let her get in over her head.”

  I stuck my tongue out at her and she chuckled.

  “I want to be reassured by that statement,” Mike said, “but I know Jaycee and how stubborn she can be.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Give me a break. What else is there for me to do? You have Carl in custody, and it was his bandana at the crime scene. It’s pretty much wrapped up, right?”

  When he spoke, Mike’s voice was tight. “You know we still need to find the gun and the paintings. We have feelers out on the paintings, so it’s just a matter of time.”

  “Right,” I agreed. “Hopefully by tonight this will be all wrapped up.”

  There was silence on the other end.

  “Don’t make me come looking for you today, Jaycee,” Mike said. “I’m liable to arrest you.”

  I snorted. “You just want to get me in handcuffs.”

  Jax swatted my arm. “Jaycee!”

  Mike laughed. “Maybe.”

  “Be careful, okay?” I said.

  He sighed. “Same with you two. Be careful and if you go anywhere, take your weapons.”

  I hung up and dialed Heidi’s number. She picked up on the second ring.

  “This better be good,” she said. “I was still sleeping.”

  “Hey, it’s me, Jaycee.”

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Sophia died this morning.”

  Heidi gasped. “You’re sure?”

  “Yeah. Mike just called me.”

  “Oh God! I’ll call Bridget,” Heidi said once she’d pulled herself together. “She needs to hear it from me.”

  “Okay.” I looked at Jax. “I’m thinking we need to stop by a place or two this morning.”

  Jax narrowed her eyes at me.

  “Where?” Heidi asked. “Whatever you need, Bridget and I are here for you.”

  Not taking my eyes off of Jax, I thought about everything Mike had said. “I think we look for the paintings. I know Mike questioned Victor at the hospital, and as far as I know, Victor was still there last night. Unless he stopped and got the paintings before we accosted him yesterday afternoon, I don’t think he’s had time to do a pick up and drop off. But just in case, we can look at Victor, but I think we have stronger suspects.”

  “And those stronger suspects are Marco and Carmen?” Heidi asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “But it also very well could be that Carmen gave them to Victor when he came to town early. He’d be able to stash them better.”

  “So we’re going to Sophia and Victor’s house?” Heidi asked.

  “No,” I said. “I want to go to the dentist office. If we don’t find them there, then I think we can safely eliminate Victor as a potential suspect.”

  “It’s Sunday morning,” Jax said. “They aren’t going to be open.”

  “I still have Sophia’s keys,” I said. “I’m willing to bet one of them opens her husband’s dental office.”

  “What if they have an alarm?” Heidi asked.

  “I think we take the chance,” I said. “Let’s meet at Gone with the Whiskey at eight.”

  Jax groaned. “Mike is going to hate me.”

  ***

  “Good morning,” Mom said as Jax and I stumbled into the kitchen twenty minutes later.

  Andrew was at the table with Gramps and Duke, while Mom flipped pancakes and Tillie poured coffee.

  “Not so good,” I said. “Mike called. Sophia didn’t make it. She died early this morning.”

  “Oh no!” Mom exclaimed, her spatula clattering onto the stove.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Tillie said. “The couple times I met her she seemed like an amazing woman.”

  “They still looking at Carl Baxton?” Gramps asked.

  “Yeah.” I grabbed the coffee Tillie handed me and went to the table to add a splash of Half & Half.

  Andrew gave me a smile and pushed out the empty chair next to him. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Thanks.” I took a sip of my coffee. “I’ve been meaning to ask how your next book is coming along?”

  “Pretty good. I hope to have the finished manuscript to my editor by Christmas. Release date by summer.”

  “That’s great.” I took a sip of coffee. “Maybe we’ll have a summer book party at Gone with the Whiskey. Get a certain handsome and talented local author to come read an excerpt from his book.”

  Andrew grinned. “I suppose I could do that.”r />
  I grinned back. “Oh, this is awkward. Did you think I meant you?”

  Andrew threw back his head and laughed.

  “Jaycee Sullivan!” Mom said. “Mind your manners.”

  Gramps snorted. “She can’t. You never instilled them in her.”

  “Good one,” I said.

  Mom huffed and carried more pancakes over to the table. “I don’t know where I went wrong with the two of you.”

  “I know you don’t mean me,” Jax said. “I’m the perfect one.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You wish.”

  “That’s enough,” Mom said. “Now, what exactly did Mike tell you.”

  I lifted one hand in the air. “Of course this goes without saying, but anything I say can never leave this room.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Gramps said. “Spill.”

  “Okay. They got a warrant for Carl’s house to look for both the paintings and the gun, but neither were found.”

  Gramps frowned. “That’s…odd.”

  Jax gasped. “That’s exactly what Jaycee said. In that same tone and with the same dramatic pause.”

  I lifted my coffee in a salute to Gramps. “Great minds.”

  He snorted. “What else?”

  I shrugged. “That’s about it. They think the paintings have already moved and changed hands.”

  “Who do you think did that?” Andrew asked.

  “That Carmen woman?” Tillie asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” I bit my lip before continuing. “I’m almost one hundred percent sure the paintings aren’t in her possession. I have it on pretty good authority that her house was—well, let’s just say it was pretty much empty of everything. Maybe she was keeping them in the garage, but that would be the only place.”

  Mom sat down at the table. “So now where? I’m assuming by the comfortable way you’re dressed you two are going sleuthing this morning.”

  I looked down at my black yoga pants with pockets, long-sleeved shirt, and running shoes. Jax was dressed exactly like me. “I’d rather not say. The less you guys know the better.”

  “Take protection with you,” Gramps said.

  “We’re taking the pepper spray and Jax’s new knife,” I said.

  “Do you want my stun gun?” Tillie asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all.” Tillie pulled out what looked like a tube of lipstick from her purse. “Use it aggressively.”

  I grinned and slipped the container in my pocket next to my cell phone. I didn’t want to get it confused with the pepper spray in my other pocket. “Will do.”

  “I expect you to be at the bar by one,” Gramps said.

  I huffed. “That’s when we open. Aren’t you opening?”

  “Nope. I’m thinking of staying here today at home with my new bride.”

  I rolled my eyes. “This is getting old. Maybe it’s me who needs to remind you that you have a job to do.”

  “You can try,” Gramps said.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “I’ll be done sleuthing by one.”

  Gramps took a healthy bite of his pancake before slipping Duke a piece of bacon. “Be sure to call me if you girls need backup. Duke and I have nothing else better to do today than watch some John Wayne and take down bad guys. Isn’t that right, Duke?”

  Ruff! Ruff!

  Chapter 15

  Heidi and Bridget arrived exactly at eight, and we wasted no time going over our plan. The girls agreed it was important to find the paintings and put a final nail in someone’s coffin. Because we might have to split up later in the morning, I drove my Jeep and Heidi drove her car.

  I pulled into the back alley behind Victor’s dental office, and Heidi parked next to me. I was relieved to see there wasn’t a single person this early in the morning on a Sunday. But then again, I hadn’t really expected there to be.

  “There looks to be only one door,” Bridget said.

  “I’ll go around to the front,” I said. “If I get in and no alarm goes off, I’ll whistle to let you know it’s safe.”

  I dug Sophia’s keys out of my pocket and jogged to the front of the building. There were only four keys on the ring. I recognized the car and house key, so I only had to choose between the other two. Looking around surreptitiously, I jammed a key into the lock.

  Or at least I tried to…it didn’t fit.

  Quickly exchanging the key, I fit it inside the lock and felt a jolt of excitement when it slid in effortlessly. Praying there wasn’t an alarm, I turned the key and heard the lock tumble. Pushing on the door, it swung open to reveal the waiting room.

  Silence.

  No beeping. No alarm.

  I poked my head back outside and gave a sharp whistle before ducking inside. Less than twenty seconds later, Jax, Heidi, and Bridget ran inside and slammed the door.

  “Let’s split up,” I said. “Make sure you check everywhere. Drag a chair over and check the drop-down ceilings.”

  Jax groaned. “Do you know the kind of nasty things that’re going to fall on us?”

  Heidi snorted. “You can always shower later.”

  We ran down the hall, each of us taking a different room. I was inside Victor’s office. I looked behind the small couch, under his desk, and when I didn’t find anything, I jumped up on his desk and started poking around and lifting the ceiling tiles.

  Nothing.

  I scanned his desk to see if I could find anything that might tie him to Carmen outside of the romantic pictures. Maybe Paul Renault’s name or the name of an art gallery outside of Heidi’s and Bridget’s.

  Nothing.

  Frustrated, I headed back out to the hallway. Heidi emerged from the room she was in and shook her head.

  “Let’s check where the receptionist sits,” I said, “just in case.”

  We were in the middle of searching the front office when Jax and Bridget found us.

  “We got nothing,” Bridget said.

  “We didn’t find anything either,” Heidi said.

  “At least we can mark Victor off the list,” Jax said.

  “Now what?” Heidi asked.

  “I think you and Bridget should stake out Marco’s house,” I said. “Someone is gonna have to move sometime with the paintings. With Carl in the clinker, and everyone focused on him, whoever has the paintings would be stupid to just sit and not move.”

  “Where will you and Jax go?” Bridget asked.

  “We’re gonna go back to the Brockman house,” I said.

  “Why?” Jax asked. “I thought we said Victor was off the list.”

  “I want to check out Sophia’s art studio in the back,” I said. “Make sure it’s locked up. We never checked to see if that had been robbed, too.”

  Heidi gasped. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that! Imagine all the paintings they’d have access to.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” I said. “You two stay on Marco.”

  “What about Carmen?” Bridget asked.

  I was beginning to develop a headache. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how the players all fit together. Or really who the players even were anymore. I wanted to solve this for Sophia. To give her and everyone else closure. I knew Mike could do it, but I really wanted to be the one who solved this one for Sophia’s sake.

  “How about this,” Jax said. I knew she was reading my body language and wanted to give me time to pull myself together. She was great at reading me like that. “You two go to Marco’s house. Don’t do anything rash. Don’t get out of the car, just stay put and watch. We’ll run to the Brockman’s house and check the studio. After that we’ll probably stakeout Carmen’s house. We’ll keep our phones on vibrate…you do the same on your end.”

  Heidi and Bridget both nodded.

  “We can do that,” Heidi said.

  ***

  Jax and I were silent on the ride out to the Brockman house. No matter how many different ways I worked the scenes out in my head, I still couldn�
��t figure out who might have the paintings. I was sure Carmen fit into the picture somehow, but I didn’t know how.

  My cell phone vibrated, and I fished it out of my pocket. Tossing it to Jax, I had her answer it.

  “Hold on,” she said. “Let me put you on speakerphone. My sister is the one who called.”

  I furrowed my brow at her.

  “It’s the person you called about Wyatt’s landscaping work.”

  “Hello,” I said. “I hope you don’t mind I called to check on Wyatt Davidson’s references, but your name was in his brochure.”

  “I don’t mind at all,” an elderly female voice said through the phone. “That’s why my name and number is in there.”

  “So he did work for you?” I asked.

  “Oh yes, honey, he sure did,” she said. “And it was so beautiful when he was done. Why, all the ladies in my neighborhood were so jealous. And he was the nicest man. If I needed help or couldn’t do something for myself, he always offered his assistance.”

  “So you’d recommend him for a landscaping job?” I asked.

  “Absolutely,” she said. “He does fine work.”

  “Thanks, I was hoping to hear that.”

  Jax hung up. “Well, looks like this Wyatt guy is more and more off the hook.”

  “But where is he?” I asked. “I wonder if maybe we shouldn’t try and find him out at the RV park?”

  Jax snorted. “What are we going to do? Drive the rows looking for his truck? And besides, do you really think he’d stash numerous paintings worth potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars out there?”

  “I suppose you’re right. Although, if you think about it, he’s had all the time in the world to move the paintings. I texted Mike and told him where Wyatt was staying, but Mike never told me whether or not he’s had time to drive out to the RV park and talk with Wyatt and check out his alibi.”

  “Well,” Jax said, “I think we need to stay focused on Carmen and Marco. One of them is bound to make a stupid move.”

  I drove up the Brockman driveway and parked in the side drive. Unless Victor had parked his Mercedes inside the garage, it didn’t look like he was home.