by Liliana Hart
“Yep,” Coil said. “They’re not going to touch this until they see which way the wind is blowing. “I agree with you that it looks like Candy is playing for the money shot and those two guerillas are helping her out.”
“What do we do next?”
“Can you talk to Candy?”
“Doubtful,” Hank said.
“Then run the end around. There are other ex-wives who were at that party and talked to Buck.”
“You’re right,” Hank said. “One of them had to see him dead on the edge of the bed and rolled him over. Even if they thought he was sleeping. The body was definitely moved post-mortem.
“Aren’t they all nurses?” Coil reminded him.
Hank dropped his head. He knew Reggie was right. There was no medical misunderstanding involved in Buck’s death. Someone either killed him or knew he’d died and was purposefully trying to turn it against Heather.
Hank’s phone rang. It was Agatha.
“Morning, Aggie,” he said, his smile automatic in anticipation of hearing her voice.
“Hank, I need you right now,” Agatha said.
“No good mornings?” he asked.
“Get over her now,” she said, and hung up.
Hank felt a sense of panic. What if she was in danger? Maybe Ritzo and Kraken discovered it was her last night.
“Come on, Coil. Something’s up. She might be in trouble. Hank sprinted through his home to throw on a shirt and shoes, and he grabbed his gun. Coil was already on his way to Agatha’s when Hank ran out the front door and down the street.
Hank and Coil rushed toward Agatha’s front porch, and Hank took the three steps in a single leap. Agatha opened the door, a huge smile on her face. Hank hesitated for a moment. It was too odd, and maybe she was acting under duress.
“Are you okay?” Hank asked, trying to see any signs of strain on her face or body language.
“I’m great,” she said. “Now get in here.” She reached out and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside.
“Umm,” Coil said. “This seems like a personal matter. I guess I’ll leave.”
“You get in here too,” she said, and she pulled him in just like she’d done Hank.
She headed toward the war room, and both men followed, completely puzzled.
“I couldn’t sleep after my night of hot tubbing,” she said. “So, I put the pics back on the wall. The sandal bothered you, but you weren’t sure why.”
“You found something?” Hank asked.
“I wondered why the sandal wasn’t all the way beneath the bed if it got kicked hard enough for it to get flipped upside down and sideways. I researched the bed Buck was found dead on. Other than being ridiculously expensive, it isn’t hollow underneath.”
“There’s no under bed access?” Coil asked.
“Correct,” she said, pointing at him like a good student.
“And?” Hank asked.
“When the sandal was kicked, it could only go so far. So, I zoomed in on this particular area of the sandal. Ever stub a toe?”
“Sure,” Hank said.
“So did whoever kicked that sandal,” Agatha said. “But I bet neither of you stubbed a toe after a fresh pedicure.”
She brought an image into focus on the wall screen. It was the very edge of the sandal’s sole. There were carpet fibers and flakes of orange stuck onto the rubber sole.
“Orange?” Coil asked, “How in the world are we going to match that to someone at the party? We don’t have crime lab access for those samples.”
Agatha clucked her tongue as she waited for Hank’s reply. Hank felt his blood begin to pump as his mind raced back over every detail from Saturday night at Buck’s party. She was prompting him to recall a very specific detail. He enjoyed the cat and mouse because he knew she’d already figured it out.
“Okay, I’ll take a stab,” Hank walked toward the picture. “It was a fourth of July celebration, and in Texas at that. I couldn’t imagine a more patriotic gathering, nor can I fathom anyone crazy enough to not arrive decked out in good old American red, white and blue.”
“Getting warmer,” Agatha said.
“Except not everyone at the party was feeling patriotic,” he said. “Someone was wearing Buck’s favorite color instead. Just in case.”
“Bingo,” Agatha said.
“I’ll admit,” Hank said. “I have no idea if her toenails were painted orange.”
“Let a woman assure you,” Agatha said. “You’d better believe her toenails matched. Matching is everything.”
“Looks like we know where we’re heading next,” Hank said. “I’ll be back to pick you up once I change clothes.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I think your weapon looks kind of cute with your pajama bottoms.”
Chapter Fifteen
Theresa Hazard lived in Fort Worth, and her home was relatively tame compared to what her settlement from Buck could’ve afforded. It was nestled in a gated-community and on a cul-de-sac street, though the gate didn’t do much good at keeping them out since it was wide open. Her house was a two-story Greek revival with large white columns across the front, and she had a meticulously manicured front lawn.
Hank thought it was best to show up unannounced. Agatha, on the other hand, didn’t think a woman would appreciate a surprise visit without the chance to get herself fixed up. They’d soon see who was right.
Hank pulled into a circular driveway and parked right in front of the front doors. There was a giant fountain with a Greek statue in the center.
Hank rang the bell, and they only waited a few moments before it opened.
“Detective,” Theresa said, her smile saying she remembered him very well.
He felt the color rise in his cheeks as Agatha stared him down. It didn’t help that Theresa was wearing nothing more than a couple of scraps of black cloth for a bathing suit. There was nothing left to the imagination.
“Good to see you again, Theresa,” he said. “This is my partner, Agatha Harley.”
“Partner?” Theresa asked, raising her brows and looking Agatha over like she was day old meatloaf. “Where’s the sexy cowboy?
“With his wife and seven kids,” Agatha said blandly.
“Wow,” she said, eyes wide with surprise. “Seven children. There’s something very attractive about a man who’s that virile.
“Do you mind if we speak with you for a few minutes?” Hank asked her. “I just want to follow up after we spoke the other night.”
“I’m about to go layout,” she said. “I’m on a tight schedule today, and this is my only time to relax by myself.”
Hank took a step forward because it looked like she wanted to shut the door in their faces. A weariness had come into her eyes the minute he’d asked if they could talk. He took a quick glance down at her toenails. He recognized the color.
“What happened to your toenail?” he asked.
“I stubbed it out by the pool this morning,” she said. “It’s no big deal.”
“You know, Theresa,” Hank said. “I don’t think you meant to do it.” If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he never would’ve seen the slight widening of her eyes and the subtle hitch in her breath.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
“Do you really want to play this game?” Hank asked.
Theresa blew out a breath a dropped her head against the door. She spoke soft and low. “How’d you know?”
“We’ve been investigating this since Saturday night,” Hank said. “The evidence, and let’s just say other people at the party, led us to you.”
“Well, shoot,” she said. “Y’all might as well come in. I need a drink.”
“It’s ten o’clock in the morning,” Agatha said, following her inside.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Theresa called out over her shoulder.
Hank turned his phone recorder on while Theresa’s back was turned, and he shut the front door behind them.
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“Y’all want anything?” she asked. “Bloody Mary? Screwdriver? Mimosa?”
“We’re fine,” Hank said.
The kitchen was meant for entertaining, and Theresa moved to the Sub-Zero refrigerator and pulled out a glass pitcher of orange juice. She grabbed a bottle of vodka from the freezer and then poured a generous helping into a large glass and gave it a splash of orange juice for color.
“Holy cow,” Agatha whispered.
The entire back of the house was floor to ceiling windows that looked out over a beautiful pool and patio area. Theresa balanced her drink in one hand and then pushed the sliding glass door all the way into the wall so the inside and outside flowed seamlessly.
“Come on back,” she said. “The sun is just right this time of the morning.”
Hank raised his brows and then gestured for Agatha to go ahead of him.
“She’s a fruit loop,” Agatha whispered as she passed by.
But Hank didn’t think so. He’d gotten the impression the other night that she was more intelligent than she liked to let on. She wasn’t a ditzy airhead.
Theresa took a long sip of her drink and then set it on a glass table next to a lounge chair. And then she laid a towel on her padded beach chair, and without any modesty at all, she took off her bathing suit top and draped it over the back of the chair before laying face down.
“Ahh,” Hank said, trying to figure out where he was supposed to look.
“Fruit loop,” Agatha mouthed, circling her finger around her temple.
“Y’all have a seat,” she said. “Might as well make yourselves comfortable.”
“Tell us what happened Ms. Hazard,” Hank said.
She was face down in the towel, but Hank could mostly make out what she was saying. “I was so excited when I got the invitation to the party. When we were married, the Fourth of July bash was my favorite time of the year, and I haven’t been since we got divorced.
“I got the invite and I immediately picked up the phone and called him because, well, I thought it might have been a mistake with the invitations. But he was in a great mood and assured me that it was no mistake, and that he couldn’t wait to see me. Just like with Lorraine, he brought up the past, those happy, sappy memories that make you smile. And when we hung up the phone, I just knew there was still something between us, and that whatever big news he wanted to tell me at the party had to do with our future.
“Did it?” Agatha asked.
“Nope,” she said. “Just the opposite.” She turned her head and looked straight at them, and there was no mistaking the anger in her eyes. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and told me I would always hold a special place in his heart, but he was holding onto the past and it was time to let go.
“I asked him flat out what he was talking about, and he poured himself a Scotch and then said he wanted to make his marriage with Candy work. That he was getting too old to do the marriage-go-round anymore, and he enjoyed her company well enough. He said for them to have a fresh start it meant letting go of his past and cutting the rest of us off from our monthly stipend. He blathered on about how he hoped we’d invested our money wisely, but I didn’t really hear anything but the blood rushing in my ears after that.
“Of course, I haven’t been investing,” she whined. “Buck’s monthly support check was my investment. I’m not going back to nursing. I can tell you that. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” She blinked rapidly as her eyes tried to fill with tears, but Hank thought she needed to go back to acting school to make it believable.
“Did you see him often?” Hank asked.
“We saw each other at social events from time to time,” she said. “And I’ve dated one or two of his associates. Can you rub lotion on my back?” Theresa asked, holding a brown bottle out to Hank.
“No, I don’t think so,” Hank said.
“I’ll do it,” Agatha said with a gleam in her eyes, and then she made a motion for him to wrap it up.
Theresa looked at Agatha warily, but she handed over the bottle. Agatha shook the bottle with a little too much enthusiasm and squirted a cold stream of white right down the middle of Theresa’s back. She screeched and reared up, but Agatha put the flat of her hand against Theresa’s back and pushed her back down since she was flashing everyone. Then she rubbed the lotion in with all the tenderness of Nurse Ratched.
Hank coughed to cover his laugh.
“Look,” Theresa said. “I was angry. But I didn’t kill him. I started yelling and telling him the girls and I wouldn’t stand for it. He’d made us a promise and by the time we were done with him we’d own everything. I didn’t really notice how bad his color got because I was just so mad, but he grabbed for his chest.
“A heart attack,” Agatha whispered.
“Yep,” she said. “And at the moment I felt like the Lord was on my side. He reached for the nitroglycerin tablets in his nightstand, but it was too late. I’ve seen massive heart attacks before and there was nothing a whole team of medical people could’ve done for him. He was dead in less than a minute.
“You’re a nurse,” Hank said. “Why would you just stand there and watch him die, and not try to help him?”
“I used to be a nurse,” she corrected. “And why in the world would I look a gift horse in the mouth when God made him have a heart attack? That seems ungrateful.”
“It seems negligent and cruel to me,” Agatha said, wiping her hands on the towel and standing up. “But what do I know?”
“And now Buck is dead, and you’ll lose the monthly stipend anyway,” Hank said.
“Oh, no,” she said. “He always told us our stipend would continue even after he was long gone. Really, this was a win-win for everyone.”
“Except Buck,” Agatha said. “Because he’s dead.”
Theresa shrugged. “He died of natural causes. No crime in that.”
“What did you do after he died?”
Theresa rolled over so she was face up, and Hank quickly looked up at the ceiling(sky?). He heard Agatha say, “I’m not rubbing lotion on those,” and he coughed again to cover his snicker.
“I went and told Candy,” Theresa said. “She’s his wife, after all, and I figure she could deal with the cleanup. But she told me she wasn’t going to let Buck ruin the party for her whether he was dead or alive, and she told me if I breathed a word to anyone, she’d make sure that I took the blame. She told me she had a contingency plan in the case Buck died and to leave well enough alone. So, I got another margarita and rejoined the party.”
“What kind of contingency plan?” Hank asked.
“Something about how Heather was still the beneficiary in Buck’s will, and there was only one way to make sure she never saw a red hot cent. We all knew Heather was always his favorite, but I figured she was getting a stipend like the rest of us. I didn’t realize she’d be getting the whole enchilada when Buck finally keeled over.”
Theresa chewed on her lip for a moment and then looked at them. “Do you think I’m going to get in trouble? I didn’t kill him. But I saw what those detectives did to Heather, and I am not going to jail. I’m accustomed to a certain way of living, and jail doesn’t live up to that standard.”
“I think the more you help us, the more you’ll help yourself,” Hank said in a very official voice.
“What more can I do?”
“Candy wants to get control of everything,” Agatha said. “She thinks with Buck dead and Heather going to prison for murder, she’ll just step in and contest the will so she will be the one getting the inheritance.”
Theresa snorted. “Sounds just like her. It’s not like she wasn’t obvious about going after Buck and his money. Heck, I knew her back before all the plastic surgery and dye job. She made herself look like Buck’s type and then swooped in for the kill. It isn’t right.”
“Do you think you could call Candy and tell her that you changed your mind about staying quiet because you’re afraid the cops will find out the tru
th?” Agatha asked. “Tell her you’re nervous because of how they’ve falsely accused Heather. We’d like to record the entire conversation.”
Hank texted coil. If Theresa could get Candy to spill the beans, then law enforcement would have to get involved. The Texas Rangers would be the best agency to turn to, because they didn’t have a dog in the fight. With Ritzo and Kraken and the corruption that surrounded them, an outside agency was the only way to keep things by the book.
“I’ll do it,” Theresa said. “That baboon-faced booty call isn’t getting Buck’s money.”
It didn’t take long for Coil to text back saying the Rangers were a go, and he gave Agatha a thumbs up.
“Is there a robe I could get you so you can make the call?” Hank asked.
“It’s too hot for a robe,” she said. “I’ve got a sarong hanging over that chair.”
Agatha handed her the sarong, and Theresa got up and wrapped it around her waist, not bothering to cover her bare chest at all.
Hank rolled his eyes, and Agatha whacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. And they followed Theresa back inside. She led them into a room with a lot of animal print used in the decorating, and bold slashes of red to add color. But it mostly looked like a safari that had ended badly for all the animals.
“Just give me a second to get connected to Bluetooth,” Hank said, “And you can make the call.
Hank handed her a set of Bluetooth headphones and they tested them out before Hank gave Theresa the go-ahead to make the call.
“Remember what we talked about and stick to it,” Agatha reminded her. “Otherwise Candy will end up with all Buck’s money, and you might end up in jail.”
Theresa nodded, her blue eyes big and round.
“Why are you calling this number?” Candy said by way of answering.
Candy’s tone immediately had Theresa’s back going up, and her nervousness disappeared. “To sell you cellulite remover. I saw you in your bathing suit the other night.”
Candy gasped. “Why you…”
“Oh, put a cork in it, Candy. You never could take a joke,” Theresa said.