Triggered by Love

by Rachelle Ayala

  “I think she’s lying,” Avery cut in. “The question is why?”

  “We’ll have to ask her. I can pressure her now that I’m back on the force. Continuing on, you said Richie called you to ask how you liked the chocolates.”

  “Right, except Richie always signs and takes credit for his gifts.”

  Jason noted this factoid. “We also know Mrs. Bonet ate one chocolate and got sick. Let’s count them. There’s supposed to be twelve.”

  Avery opened the box. “There’s only nine. It’s quite expensive, twenty dollars apiece.”

  “Handmade with all the most expensive ingredients,” Jason said, reading the pamphlet. “There’s a piece with caviar inside.”

  “Ugh, can’t imagine how that would taste. Which pieces are missing?” Avery put the pamphlet down and matched the remaining pieces. “The minty pistachio one, the one with the ring, and the one Joan ate.”

  “Time to take them apart,” Jason said. “The ring was inside the cherry and liquor filled one that made Joan sick.”

  “Must have been she got lucky.” Avery picked up a pair of kitchen scissors and cut away the remaining pieces of chocolate. “What if Tatiana stuck a bug in here?”

  “You mean to spy on us?”

  The pieces revealed nuts, a pill, a plastic case with a rolled-up slip of paper, a piece of a porcupine quill that would have hurt if someone had bit into it, and another one that smelled like sweet almonds, or cyanide.

  “No bug as far as I can tell,” Jason said. “They’d need a power source for the mic.”

  “That’s good, but look at that piece of porcupine quill. Think it’s dipped in pufferfish liver?”

  “We should wear gloves,” Jason said. He took pictures of the objects. “Maybe I should have brought Riley in, because we just ruined the evidence and we can’t use this in court.”

  “Joan already bit into one of the pieces, and another one is missing.”

  “That worries me. What if the missing one is poisonous? That one that smells like almonds could be cyanide.” Jason’s pulse ratcheted up. “Remember Joan said she brought pieces to the show to share with you? That means at least two pieces. She ate one and got sick. Where is the other?”

  “I’d better call her,” Avery said. “Ask her what happened to the missing piece.”

  When she hung up, her expression was stark. “Joan says she bit in and there was a tiny chip inside, like something that goes in a computer. She thought it was important, so she saved it.”

  “Ask her to text a picture to us,” Jason said.

  “I don’t know if she knows how to text them. I should go over and pick it up. It might be a microSD card.”

  Jason’s heart stopped. “Call her and tell her we’re on our way.”

  “What do we do with these?” Avery asked, pointing at the box of chocolate pieces and suspicious items.

  “Let’s read the message.” Jason cut open the plastic case, and the blood drained from his body.

  “What is it?” Avery peered over his shoulder. “Oh, it can’t be.”

  The message read:

  Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,

  Catch a tiger by the toe.

  If he hollers, let him go.

  My mother said to pick

  The very best one.

  If you’re reading this,

  you are not it.

  Let me explain. You can choose to marry me, or you can choose to die. What you cannot do is go around telling everyone our dirty little secret.

  Loose lips sink ships. Everyone you tell will die.

  Choose wisely.

  Go ahead. Pick another piece.

  Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,

  Can you tell who’s friend or foe?

  There was no signature.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  “How am I supposed to know who to marry if he didn’t sign this?” Avery asked Jason on the way back to Joan’s apartment.

  “There might be a clue on the microSD card,” Jason said. “After we look at the card, I’m going to pick up Ivanna and charge her with accessory to attempted murder.”

  A chill tingled over Avery’s scalp. “I wanted to help Ivanna and Saul. I can’t believe I got taken in.”

  “You don’t know what’s in their hearts.”

  They didn’t stay long, only enough time to pick up the microSD card and assure Joan that the card contained Avery’s designs as well as favorite songs and video backgrounds for wedding ideas.

  Ugh. She hated lying to Joan, but she didn’t want to endanger her further. If the crook believed she’d told Joan, or that Brando had told Joan …

  Avery gasped at the realization. “It means my parents and brothers are also in danger, and that the suspect list includes every man who molested me, as well as their sons who might want to marry me.”

  “Ivanna’s notebook. The ones with names and numbers,” Jason said. “I still have it.”

  “What was she up to? And why did Saul think she was in danger?”

  “She might have been the collection agent for the blackmailer,” Jason said. “She definitely knows too much and is in grave danger if she’s not in cahoots with them.”

  “She’s in cahoots with someone.”

  “Her super, Roland, says that the guy with aviator glasses hangs out there. I’m betting it’s the guy she’s painting.”

  “But Harvey isn’t the one who’s dangerous,” Avery insisted. “He’s a gossip and a partier.”

  Jason wasn’t listening, because she tapped him as he frowned, flipping through his phone. “Let’s get these images onto your laptop before we jump to any more conclusions.”

  They raced to Avery’s apartment and stuck the microSD card into her laptop.

  A slide show started with pictures of Avery, first as an infant, then at birthday parties. Soon enough, the pictures took a darker turn, and Avery slammed the lid of her laptop down when the first naked image of her with budding breasts popped up.

  “I can’t let you look at any more of these,” she cried. “It must be Professor Leach’s video collection.”

  “Who had access to them?” Jason flipped through his notes. “Larry, probably. Can’t rule out Harvey. The professor, for sure.”

  “How about Tatiana?”

  “Possible.”

  “What do I do?” Avery’s skin flushed hot and cold with the creepy feeling of spiders and worms crawling and burrowing into her.

  “We can’t turn it in to the police, because Grimes is compromised,” Jason said. “This is too hard for your parents to see, but every man on that memory card has a reason to kill you. Can you give a list to your father’s lawyer?”

  Avery shivered, unable to warm up. “Those would be all the old men who molested me. I kept a diary, noting down their gifts and what they did.”

  Jason’s eyebrows lowered and he growled. “One of those fuckheads wants to kill you. I’ll kill them all if I have to.”

  “No, they’re trying to kill you and anyone I tell. I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but the old men like me. They enjoyed watching me grow up, and I don’t think any of them want me dead.”

  “Their sons or daughters might, or someone who has a vested interest in their reputation,” Jason said. “I don’t know about all the others, but in my book, it’s Larry Leach, Harvey Leach, and Richie Overton. Larry and Harvey have a motive to do away with you because Orson has you in the will. Plus, they don’t want Orson’s reputation ruined. Richie has to protect his father’s presidential ambitions.”

  “All I have to do to shut everyone up is to agree to marry one of them,” Avery said. “But who? No one’s asked me but you.”

  Jason tipped her chin up to look at him. “You’re not still thinking I’m the bad guy, are you?”

  “No, you’re just the badass.” She flicked him on the nose.

  His smile was both wolfish and devious. “We’re going to have to trap the killer somehow. Catch a tiger by the toe.”

  “I bet it
’s Richie,” Avery said. “As for why Larry’s fingerprints are on the box, I have no clue. Maybe he was trying to confuse me.”

  “He doesn’t seem the type to play with riddles,” Jason said. “He drops by with flowers, chocolates, tickets. Why send mystery games now?”

  “I don’t know, but I have an idea. I’ll ask my father to put up a reward for information leading to the arrest of the man behind Brando’s death. Meanwhile, we’ll go through Ivanna’s notebook and send an anonymous email blast to all of the men she’s blackmailing and tell them we have the video compilation. It’ll be mutually assured destruction. Richie will think the Leaches are behind it, and the Leaches will think it’s the Overtons. Not to mention all the other families involved.”

  “Throw a rock in a pack of dogs and see who yelps.”

  “Right, and they will all turn on the blackmailer. Meanwhile, the blackmailer will be trying to collect the reward. We set up the tipline and nab him.”

  “I like the way you think,” Jason said. “But wouldn’t Ivanna be in danger?”

  “Put her in protective custody. Or let her know she has to cooperate with us or her ass is grass.” Avery clenched her fists and huffed, feeling suddenly invigorated. “We’re going to get them. Meanwhile, we’re going to Hawaii when the shit hits the fan.”

  “What’s the reward?” He raised his hand for a high five, and Avery slapped it hard.

  “A cool hundred thousand dollars and my hand in marriage.” Avery slinked a smile and wiggled her shoulders.

  A determined expression crossed Jason’s face, and he pointed to himself with his thumb. “I’m going to win.”

  “I know you will,” Avery said as she closed in for another kiss. “I’ll let you monitor the tipline.”

  “You are diabolical,” he muttered in between long, slurpy kisses while the hand that wasn’t in the sling lazily fondled her breasts. “And I can’t wait to catch you by the toe.”

  Even though Jason told Avery they’d screwed up the evidence, he still handed the remnants of the box of chocolates to Riley and asked her to analyze them. He didn’t include the microSD with the lurid photos and videos and neither did he include the ring which turned out to be a perfectly cut five-carat diamond worth a cool hundred thousand dollars—the same as his wrecked Hellcat Challenger.

  Whoever had sent Avery the box would want it back or want him dead or both.

  He hunted down Ivanna and Saul and booked them for attempted poisoning. Chief Grimes didn’t seem to mind because as far as he was concerned, if Ivanna and Saul took the fall, his bigwig clients were safe.

  He questioned Ivanna first. The poor woman had bags underneath her red-rimmed eyes, and she shuddered with abject terror.

  “I swear I’m not the one doing the blackmailing,” she said. “I don’t even know what the book is for.”

  “It has nicknames, emails, and amounts.” Jason slapped it on the table of the interrogation room. “Do you deny it’s your handwriting?”

  “I’m just the idiot who keeps the records. He gives me a cut. A very small cut. I have no clue who they are or what they’ve done.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “Please believe me.”

  “Who is he?” Jason thundered, leaning forward in an aggressive posture.

  “I can’t say. He’ll kill me. Even in here.” She glanced at the walls of the room as if they had ears—which they did.

  “Is it Saul Guillory?”

  “Heavens no!” She blinked. “He’s the one who told me I’m in deep shit. He says I’m mixed up with the guys who killed his brother.”

  “Who does he think killed his brother?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Okay, then who dropped off the box of chocolates at Avery’s place?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You do know. I have proof you bought the chocolate.” Jason threw the receipt on the table. “I went back to the chocolatier, and he checked his video for the time and date on the receipt.”

  “I did it as a favor for a friend,” Ivanna said. “And there’s no proof the box I bought was the one Avery got.”

  She got him there, but he wasn’t going to give her an inch. “Then there’s no harm telling me who you bought the chocolate for.”

  “I can’t say.”

  “I can. It’s Larry Leach.”

  Her eyes flickered with a look of relief. She smiled. “Nope.”

  “Oops, I was wrong. You got me there. I bet it’s Richie Overton. These are more his style.”

  Again, she gave a confident shake of her head. “Wrong again. I don’t even know Richie.”

  “Tatiana Renzi. It’s a woman!”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re getting colder.”

  “Trent Gallagher?”

  “Hey, wait, you’re just going down the list of suspects and guessing.”

  Took her long enough to catch on.

  “Oh, shit. You’re right. I meant to say Harvey Leach. I got it.” He snapped his fingers like he’d won the lottery.

  Her face paled, and she swallowed before she set her jaw tight. “I’ve nothing to say.”

  It was Harvey. He could taste it. But it still didn’t mean Harvey was the blackmailer. He could have asked Ivanna to run an errand for Larry, or even for his father.

  Some people were too important to go shop for gourmet chocolate truffles.

  After Ivanna was returned to jail, Jason interrogated Saul. He started by warming him up with innocuous questions.

  “Can you explain why the poisoned quill ended up in Mrs. Bonet’s purse?” Jason asked.

  “No idea. I didn’t even know what stabbed Avery.”

  “What exactly were you doing when Avery was stabbed?”

  “Showing pictures from my camera.”

  “What pictures? Do you remember?”

  “Candids from the fashion show,” Saul replied.

  “What happened to the memory card?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You sure that’s your answer?” Jason asked. “What’s on it that you’re protecting?”

  “Look, I didn’t have time to take it out. If it’s missing, it’s that crooked cop.”

  “Then we’ll find it when he takes a deal with the DA,” Jason said. “You’re the blackmailer, aren’t you? You have any idea how dangerous it is to blackmail such wealthy, powerful, and ruthless individuals?”

  “No, no. It’s not me.” Saul gulped, his eyes bulging. He shook his head vehemently. “That’s what I told Ivanna. To not get involved.”

  “Then we have to help her,” Jason said. “You have to help me catch the murderer so he can’t hurt Ivanna.”

  “What makes you think the blackmailer is the murderer?” Saul asked.

  “Because he’s ruthless and cruel. He enjoys twisting people’s lives in the wind, and he’ll kill anyone who threatens his power.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Saul said. “The murderer doesn’t want the dirty deeds exposed.”

  “Ah, but we’ve been looking at it wrong,” Jason said. “Neither does the blackmailer. He’ll lose all his power and influence if all his marks are suddenly exposed.”

  “Who would do that?” Saul asked and then he, too, went pale. “Avery?”

  “Not Avery,” Jason said. “If anything were to happen to Avery or to any member of her family or to any of her friends, including Mrs. Bonet, an automated email will be sent to the press, the DA, and the FBI of everyone who is being blackmailed, including their dirty deeds for all the world to see.”

  “It’s not me,” Saul said. “I would never hurt Avery.”

  “But you know she’s the target. How?”

  “I’ve been spying on the Leaches.”

  “You mean feeding information to Larry Leach.”

  “It’s a double-edged sword,” Saul said. “The Leaches are responsible for my brother’s death. I’m sure the blackmailer knows, whoever he or she is.”

  “Tatiana Renzi?”

  Saul’s lowe
r lip shuddered, and he covered his mouth. “I can’t say. I want to live.”

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  The last thing Avery needed before heading to the airport was Matt Swanson stopping by with a fresh Hawaiian lei.

  “I’m glad I caught you,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I enjoyed working with you, but you keep getting into danger.”

  “Yes, well, I appreciated you working with me, too,” she said, not about to say she enjoyed his mauling of her. “Guess the fake dates are done now that football season is starting?”

  “Yep. Mind if I put the lei on you?”

  “You’re asking permission?” she shocked herself with her sharp remark. But then, he deserved it for not respecting her boundaries.

  “We’re not dating anymore,” he said. “I figured I should ask before touching.”

  “You should get consent even if you’re dating,” Avery said. “I wasn’t comfortable with the way you attacked me.”

  “Sorry.” He lifted the lei. “May I?”

  His “sorree” which sounded like a three-year-old forced by his mother to apologize was the most she’d get from him, so she decided to be gracious.

  “Yes, you may.” She quickly added, “I mean, you may put that lei on me, and that’s all.”

  “Not even a bon voyage kiss?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Not even.” She flashed the giant five-carat ring. “I’m engaged to the love of my life.”

  “Oh, really? Who’s the lucky man?”

  “Secret.” She made sure the assembled camera crew could see the huge rock. Lifting her face, she let Matt put the lei on her. “Thanks.”

  When she looked down, she noticed his striking athletic shoes. They were one-thousand-dollar designer sneakers. “Nice shoes.”

  And then, inspiration struck. She should get a few ideas to expand her Cocky Heroes line.

  “Mind if I take a picture of your shoes?” She flipped out her camera phone.

  “Only if you do a selfie with me, pretty girl,” he said.