One Little Lie

by Colleen Coble

  His deep-blue eyes darted to the left and then to the right. He pressed his lips together. “I didn’t kill her. I was supposed to meet her at ten last night, but when I arrived, she wasn’t there. I was about half an hour late. Our little girl wasn’t feeling good.”

  Jane wasn’t sure she believed him. “Where’d you go after that?”

  “Home. My wife will verify it.”

  “We still don’t have a time of death,” she reminded him. “I’ll have to speak with your wife.”

  “Tina took Ivy to urgent care at five.” He glanced at his watch. “An hour ago. I can call and see when she’ll be home.”

  “No, don’t do that. I don’t want you to tell her what’s happened.” She fixed him with a stern stare. “If you try to coach her, it won’t go well for you, Paul.”

  His cheeks grew ruddy, and his jaw flexed. “I didn’t do this, Jane.”

  “Then prove it.”

  He glared at her for a long moment. “Fine. Have it your way. If you stop by in a couple of hours, she should be home and have Ivy in bed.”

  “Until we know more, I’ll have to put you on leave. I don’t have a choice.”

  He ground his teeth together before he spun on his boots and stalked to his car. She rubbed her forehead. This all felt overwhelming. She never should have let the committee appoint her to this job.

  Five

  Reid gave Jane as much space as he could for the next two hours as she and her officers combed through the crime scene, but things would have to change. “Chief!” He jogged to catch up to her as she and her dog ducked under a water oak tree draped with moss to rush toward her SUV. She was fast moving for such a small woman.

  She turned and skewered him with a glare. “You’re delaying my investigation, Mr. Dixon.”

  “Look, Chief Hardy, I have every right to be here. You’ve got your orders. You might as well let me ride along with you instead of following behind.”

  She braced her hands on her hips. “Absolutely not.”

  “It’s what I was assured would happen. I can place a call to the mayor if I have to. I suspect you’d rather not get reamed out your first week on the job.”

  He had her over a barrel, and from the expression in her eyes, she knew it too.

  He didn’t wait for her to acknowledge her predicament. “I did some research before I arrived and saw the accounts of a vigilante in the county. One woman was forced off the road and trapped in her car while the masked assailant cut off her hair and wrote Liar on her forehead in black tar. She admitted she’d falsely made an attempted rape report. I saw another incident involving a man who was boarded into his bedroom for two days. Rescuers found the word Thief written in black paint on the boards. He was distraught enough to admit he had stolen two hundred dollars from his employer. This looks like it could be another vigilante incident.”

  “It’s too soon to know that.”

  He focused the camera on her face. “Do you think the vigilante is a local person?” He would have to find a new videographer. Getting all this on camera with someone else filming would be much more seamless.

  She shrugged. “We don’t know. The person strikes in the middle of the night, and witnesses have seen nothing. We had a report of an old pickup in the neighborhood when the victim who was labeled a thief was boarded into his room, but the elderly woman who reported it didn’t know the make or model. Just that it was a dark color.”

  “Where to next?”

  She gave him a long look. “This is what you wanted to talk to me about at the coffee shop, right?”

  That and other things. He nodded.

  “You could have told me right up front instead of pretending you wanted to get to know me.”

  “I was going to, but you got a call.”

  She tilted her head. “It made a convenient excuse, didn’t it? You could have told me before we even reached the coffee shop. That would have been more honest.”

  He held up his hand, palm up in a placating gesture. “Look, can we call a truce? I’m just trying to do my job while you’re doing yours. I’ll get a videographer as quickly as I can, and things will feel much less intrusive.”

  Jane lifted a brow. “I doubt that. How’d you like having a video camera stuck in your face all day long?”

  He gave her his best smile. “I’m used to it, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you don’t even notice.”

  He liked her spunk and the way the gold in her hazel eyes gleamed when she was animated. The opportunity to get close to her when she didn’t know who he was had been the impetus behind this documentary, but he hadn’t expected so much animosity from her.

  He still didn’t know if he’d ever tell her who he was.

  Thunder rumbled and the wind freshened, bringing the scent of rain to his nose. “It’s going to storm. We’d better take off. I’ll follow you to your office and leave my SUV.”

  “Fine.” Her tone said the opposite.

  He slung himself behind the wheel of his SUV and headed into town. At the station he parked in the visitor lot. Jane didn’t go inside but left her SUV running. The storm let loose as he dashed for the passenger seat with his camera bag, and he dripped water onto the seat when he climbed inside.

  She handed him a napkin. “This won’t do much good, but it’s all I have. You could always go home and change.”

  “Not a chance.” He mopped his face with the napkin, but water still trickled from his head. “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

  “To speak to Paul Baker’s wife.”

  “The detective you just put on leave?”

  “Yes.”

  She clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but that was all right. He’d heard enough to know Paul might be off this case permanently. He might even be a murder suspect.

  * * *

  The storm had let up by the time they reached Paul’s house, and Jane’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t had anything but coffee since last night, and there’d been no time for breakfast. She stood on the porch of Paul’s French-style house with its arches over the windows. He’d done a lot of work to it over the years, and his wife’s rose garden was in full bloom.

  Parker stood at her side with his ears forward, Reid behind him. She’d told Reid he couldn’t record this interview, and he hadn’t protested. Had Paul kept his promise not to tell his wife she was coming? Jane didn’t trust him. He was hiding something, and he surely warned his wife not to tell her anything.

  The door opened, and Jane smiled at Tina. Jane tried to look reassuring when the pregnant brunette stepped into view.

  Tina pressed her hand to the small of her back. “Jane. Is everything okay?” Her gaze darted past Jane’s shoulder to Reid. “Is Paul okay?”

  “He’s fine. I needed to speak with you for a few moments. Could I come in?”

  Relief lit Tina’s blue eyes, and she stepped out of the way. “Of course. Have you had breakfast? I’ve got pancakes ready to eat.” She didn’t ask about Reid, probably assuming he was another officer who was out of uniform.

  “I’d love some.” And maybe Tina would lower her guard over a meal. She didn’t seem prewarned by Paul.

  “Rest,” Jane told Parker. He settled on the tile floor by the door, his head relaxing on his paws.

  She and Reid followed Tina through the living room and into the kitchen in the middle of the house. A stack of pancakes sat on a plate beside the stove.

  Jane sniffed. “Smells fantastic.”

  Tina beamed. “Thank you.” She served the pancakes on three plates, then gestured to the white table abutting the living room seating area. Real maple syrup and butter were already on the table.

  Jane didn’t want to start with the questions until after they’d eaten. She sat at the table and tried to ignore Reid’s presence in the chair beside her. “Ivy is napping? Is she feeling better?”

  Tina nodded. “The doctor said it was just a virus. She’ll probably be down another hour.” She set down her fork
and fixed her eyes on Jane. “So what’s up?”

  Jane’s appetite evaporated. How did you tell a pregnant wife her husband was a murder suspect? And that she might be as well?

  She cleared her throat. “Do you know Nicole Pearson?”

  Tina blew out a breath. “Is that what this is all about? Paul’s affair? She isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last. I’ve come to some kind of peace about that.” She shrugged. “He’s a good man in a lot of other ways. Ivy adores him, and so will our son. He’s a good provider, and he has ambition. We won’t live in this little house forever.”

  A very pragmatic view that Jane recoiled from. Marriage shouldn’t be like that, should it? If she ever married, she wanted to be able to trust her husband with every piece of her heart. If there was one thing that broke trust, it was lies.

  “When did you find out about Paul’s affair with Nicole?”

  “I saw them together one day when I went to the library. I could tell by the way they were whispering.” Tina bit her lip. “He told me yesterday he wanted a divorce, but I talked him out of it. I reminded him how this always blows over. We’ll be fine.”

  “Is this the first time he’s asked for a divorce?”

  Tina nodded. “But it’s the pregnancy messing with his head. He admitted that and said he’d tell her he was staying with me.”

  “Was he going to inform her of that last night?”

  “Yes. He left here around eleven.”

  “What time did he get back?”

  “About midnight. He wasn’t gone long, and he didn’t want to talk about it when he came home. I’m sure it wasn’t pleasant.” Tina’s eyes flashed. “Women shouldn’t go after other women’s husbands. It’s not right.”

  “Nicole Pearson was found dead this morning.” Jane watched the bald facts register in Tina’s widened eyes. “The medical examiner has yet to rule on whether it was murder, or maybe manslaughter.”

  Tina sat back in the kitchen chair. “And you think Paul did it? He would never hurt anyone.”

  “We don’t have time of death yet. Did Paul leave after he got back at midnight?”

  Tears tracked down Tina’s face, and she sniffled. “No. We were both up and down with Ivy all night. She had a fever and threw up several times. He was here the whole time.”

  Which gave Tina an alibi as well. Jane struggled to keep her relief from showing. If the time of death came back before midnight, Paul wasn’t out of the woods yet, but Jane hated to think about having to haul Tina down to the jail.

  Tina reached for a paper napkin in the center of the table and mopped her face. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I believe you. Did anyone else know about Paul’s affair with Nicole?”

  Tina twisted her wedding ring around her finger. “Well, my small group at church. I asked for prayer.”

  “I’m going to need a list of names. This appears to be punishment for her behavior.” Tina didn’t need to know about the sign. Jane ripped out a sheet of paper from her notebook and slid it across the table to Tina.

  “None of my friends would kill Nicole!”

  “I’ll still need those names.”

  Tina frowned but began to write on the paper. Jane rose and took Reid’s plate with her own to carry them to the sink, where she rinsed and put them in the dishwasher. “Thanks for breakfast, Tina. And for being honest with me.” She took the paper Tina handed her and glanced at it. Jane recognized several names, including Olivia and her father’s girlfriend. She hadn’t realized they went to the same church.

  She stuffed the list in her shirt pocket. “If you think of anything else, here’s my card.”

  Tina pushed it away. “I have your number in my phone. I hope you find who did this. I wanted her to stay away from my husband, but I didn’t wish Nicole any harm.”

  Jane heard a cry from the hall. “Sounds like Ivy is awake. We’ll let ourselves out.” Parker rose and followed them to the door.

  The heavy clouds parted, and sunshine began to heat the moisture on the streets into steam. Reid hadn’t said a word inside.

  He thrust his hands in the pockets of his Dockers and followed her to the SUV. “What’s your take?”

  “Suspicious. Until the autopsy gives time of death, Paul’s still our best suspect.”

  “Where to next?”

  “The bridal shop to see if we can ID the dress yesterday’s victim was wearing.”

  “You had another murder? When?”

  “The body was found early yesterday morning. A shrimping boat pulled up a male torso in a wedding dress. We still don’t have an ID on the body. That might take a while with no fingers.”

  “No fingerprints to identify him?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And why did you get the case?”

  She shrugged. “The shrimper docks in Pelican Harbor and brought his boat in with the body for us to take. We’ve notified the Coast Guard as well, but they’re letting us handle it for now unless we need them.”

  “You think the wedding dress can be identified?”

  She buckled up and started the vehicle. “Maybe. There’s a bridal resale shop in town, and the owner is a friend of mine. The coroner has probably already removed the dress from the body, and I’ll see if I can get pictures of it. Maybe Fiona will recognize it or at least know the brand.”

  Six

  By the time Jane pushed open the door to the Tropical Weddings shop, she’d received the photos of the dress. She stepped into the bright store. Fiona was a one-stop shop including flowers that spilled their scent into the shop to mingle with that of handmade soaps and candles.

  She had Parker sit by the front door, then glanced at the photos to make sure there were no gruesome ones to make Fiona blanch.

  Reid’s long legs had kept up with her fast pace to the store, and he stood quietly looking around. “Nice place.”

  She darkened her phone and nodded. “Fiona’s shop is well known across the Gulf Shores area. She carries designer dresses for everyone from the bride to the flower girl. Lots of wedding accessories too.”

  Several customers glanced up as Jane made her way toward the back where Fiona was assisting a young woman. Jane didn’t recognize her, but patrons came from as far away as Pensacola and Mobile so that was no surprise.

  Fiona looked up and smiled, then guided the bride-to-be into the dressing room with an armful of dresses to try on. The girl’s mother went with her.

  Fiona was about thirty, and the two of them had become acquaintances when Jane came into the shop about five years ago looking for a cocktail dress for a function her dad wanted her to attend. Fiona always wore her blonde hair up in a bun, and Jane had never seen her in slacks, only skirts and dresses. She was a throwback to the fifties and was as nice as June Cleaver.

  Fiona slid her interested gaze from Reid to Jane. “Jane, what a nice surprise. Are you here to whisk me away for lunch with this handsome fella?” She held out her hand. “Fiona Hamilton.”

  “Reid Dixon.”

  Her smile widened. “I thought it was you. I saw your documentary on sex trafficking in Cambodia and Thailand. Heartbreaking with so much needed information.”

  “I always hope exposing darkness will send the rats scurrying.”

  Jane shifted restlessly. “I need your help identifying a dress.” She told her about the murder and watched the light fade from her blue eyes.

  Fiona shuddered. “Do I have to look at the body?”

  “No, I’ve got pictures of the dress only as well as the label. I was hoping you’d recognize it.” Jane pulled up the pictures on her phone and handed it to Fiona.

  Fiona flipped through the photos without speaking until she’d seen them all. She handed the phone back to Jane. “It’s a Vera Wang.”

  “Expensive?”

  “Not bad. This one is in the White line and costs about twelve hundred dollars new. It’s a ball gown style with a T-back.”

  “Have you sold anything like it
?”

  Fiona’s gaze flickered. “I had one just like it come up missing a couple of days ago.”

  Jane frowned. “I don’t remember that report.”

  “I didn’t report it. It was the only thing missing, and I honestly wondered if I’d sold it and forgotten to mark it down or something.”

  “You have a memory like an elephant.”

  Fiona smiled. “I’ve been a little distracted since I found out I’m going to have another baby.”

  A pang clenched Jane’s chest. She forced a smile. “Congratulations! When are you due?”

  “Around Thanksgiving. I’m still feeling a little green.”

  The bride-to-be exited the dressing room in a frothy white confection of a dress, and Fiona glanced that way.

  “Go ahead. We’re done here,” Jane said. “I might want to look at any surveillance video you have in the store.”

  “Help yourself. The monitor is in the back.”

  Jane moved with Reid toward the back of the store. “We know the brand, but I’ll bet it was the stolen dress, so it doesn’t help identify the body.”

  He was staring at her with an odd, contemplative expression.

  “What?” she asked.

  He blinked and shook his head. “Nothing. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a wedding shop before.”

  “You’ve never been married?” Such a stupid question was none of her business, but she couldn’t take it back.

  “I didn’t say that. My marriage was a little outside the norm.”

  Though she didn’t know what he meant, she wasn’t about to ask. She opened the door to the back room and led Reid to Fiona’s small office. A pile of wedding dresses lay across the only armchair in the room, and Jane had to move dresses on the desk to get to the monitor. She fiddled with the controls and scanned through the last few days of video.

  Reid took a spot in the corner of the room where he could video her at the monitor, but she barely noticed as she fast-forwarded through the frames. She recognized some of the customers, including Brian with one of his many girlfriends.

  She wrinkled her nose. He was probably buying one of his women some lingerie. Sure enough, the woman carried an armful of lace teddies into the dressing room. Paul Baker made an appearance too. He was with Nicole Pearson. Jane slowed the flickering video and watched them a moment.