Vanished into Plein Air

by Paula Darnell

  “Sorry, Amanda. I can't find Olivia, and she's not answering her phone. It's possible she's here in the resort somewhere, but she's not in her room or any of the restaurants. I'll keep trying to locate her if you want me to.”

  “Yes, please. I have to go, but I'll explain later.”

  The nursing station was deserted, as was the hallway, except for an aide who was collecting breakfast trays.

  I rushed to Lieutenant Belmont's room and found him sitting up in bed, demanding that Samantha check the bedside monitor.

  “There's nothing wrong with the monitor,” she announced.

  “Are you sure? It keeps making a beeping noise. How's a guy supposed to get any sleep around here with that annoying racket?”

  I could tell from her tone that she was tiring of trying to pacify the lieutenant.

  “I'll check it again.” She looked over the instrument and pronounced it sound. “It's fine. I don't hear any beeping. I do have other patients to check, you know.”

  When she started toward the door, I moved into her path. “Wait a minute, please, Samantha.”

  “Yes, wait a minute.” The voice came from behind me, and I didn't need to turn around to know it was Olivia. She closed the door and swung back around to face us again, a gun in her hand.

  Samantha and I backed away from her, toward the lieutenant's hospital bed.

  “Olivia Durand, you're under arrest for the murder of Ulysses Durand. You have the right to—”

  “Oh, save it. Who do you think you are, anyway?”

  “Lieutenant William Belmont, Lonesome Valley Police Department, and you're under arrest.”

  “Oh, great, a cop.” Olivia sneered, tightening her grip on the pistol.

  I assumed she hadn't banked on having to deal with a police officer when she'd tracked down Samantha. Unfortunately, the officer in question was also a post-op patient currently confined to a hospital bed.

  Olivia looked at Samantha and gestured with her gun. “You move over there.” She indicated the side of the bed where Samantha had been checking the heart monitor earlier.

  Samantha, frozen in place, looked absolutely terrified.

  When she didn't budge, Olivia repeated, “Move!”

  This time, Samantha complied.

  “Give it up, Olivia,” I said. “You can't very well shoot three people and expect to get away with it.”

  “Shut up, Mrs. Snoop. Why are you here, anyway? You're always hanging around where you're not wanted.”

  I ignored that comment and tried to reason with her. “You might as well give yourself up, Olivia. I've alerted the police about you.”

  “What? This old guy? He's not very likely to cause me any trouble.”

  Lieutenant Belmont glowered at her.

  “Why are you doing this?” Samantha whimpered.

  “You're a threat to her, Samantha,” I said.

  “But I don't even know who she is.”

  “I'm Ulysses's wife,” Olivia volunteered. “He never bothered to tell me he had a kid, and you're in my way.”

  “No, I'm not,” Samantha protested. “I didn't know he was my father until yesterday. I haven't done anything to you.”

  “Not yet, you haven't, and you're not going to, either. Ulysses's estate belongs to me, not some daughter he never knew he had.”

  I could see that the full effect of Olivia's words were sinking in, and Samantha looked even more frightened than she had before.

  “Get over there, and get the cop out of bed,” Olivia directed, as she moved closer to Samantha.

  I was on the opposite side of the bed, so, even though Olivia's attention wasn't focused on me, there wasn't much I could do to stop her. She kept swinging the gun from side to side, alternately training it on Samantha, the lieutenant, and me.

  Samantha lowered the rail of the hospital bed, and Lieutenant Belmont tried to steady himself as his feet hit the floor, but, when he stood, he wobbled. Samantha braced him, and he managed to stay on his feet.

  “Now, there's going to be an unfortunate accident in the shower.” Olivia glanced at me. “I'll take care of you later.”

  In the split second that Olivia slightly diverted her attention, the lieutenant sprang forward and tackled her, but she got a shot off before they both landed on the floor, and the lieutenant cried out in pain.

  Samantha looked stunned. I yelled at her to grab the gun and scrambled to move around the bed. Olivia was starting to sit up when Samantha kicked the gun out of her hand while the lieutenant lay groaning on the floor.

  Olivia was back on her feet before I reached her. I grabbed her and as we struggled, I feared I wouldn't be able to overpower her. She yanked my arm and wrenched it so hard I screamed in pain.

  The lieutenant reached out and pulled her ankle. She went down again. This time, she stayed down.

  “Give me the gun,” the lieutenant croaked. I rushed to pick it up, but my right wrist hurt so much I had to lift it with my left hand before handing it to him.

  He leveled it squarely at Olivia and repeated, “Olivia Durand, you're under arrest for the murder of Ulysses Durand.” He continued until he'd informed her of her rights. Then, he told Samantha, “Call 9-1-1, and make it snappy.”

  While Samantha made the emergency call from the lieutenant's bedside phone, both he and Olivia remained on the floor, although the lieutenant was sitting up by this time and Olivia had complied with his order to lie prone with her arms behind her neck, fingers interlaced.

  A hospital security team burst into the room, followed, a few minutes later, by several police officers led by Sergeant Martinez.

  Dave Martinez took one look at the scene and another close look at his wounded colleague, who was still sitting on the floor with Olivia's own gun trained on her.

  “We'll take it from here, Bill. Help the lieutenant get up,” he directed Mike Dyson, while the other two officers handcuffed Olivia and led her away. Supported by Mike, the lieutenant hopped toward the bed, his foot dripping blood all the way, and sat on the edge.

  Still shaking from her ordeal, Samantha stood quietly in the corner, but, as soon as she saw that Lieutenant Belmont's foot was injured, she rushed to his side.

  In the blur of activity, I didn't realize I was holding my throbbing right wrist with my left hand. I could barely move my arm; it hurt so much.

  “Amanda, are you all right?” Dave Martinez asked.

  “Olivia wrenched my arm. You wouldn't believe how strong she is.”

  “Strong enough to strangle her husband,” the lieutenant confirmed. “Dyson, get a move on, and take Mrs. Trent to the emergency room.”

  Chapter 40

  “Thanks for the lift, Mike,” I said, as he steered his patrol car to the curb in front of my house.

  “No problem, Amanda. If you like, I can drop your car off here after work. With your arm in a sling, you're not going to be doing a lot of driving for a few days.”

  “That's true, but there's no need. I'm sure my neighbors will go pick it up for me.”

  “OK. Hold on, Amanda. Let me come around to open your door. You can't very well open it with your arm like that.”

  Mike jumped out, came around to the passenger side, and opened the door for me. Moving awkwardly, I got out of the police car and saw Brian rushing toward us.

  “Amanda, let me help. It looks like you've been in an accident.”

  “Take care, Amanda,” Mike said, as he hopped back into his patrol car. “Gotta get back.”

  Automatically, I started to lift my right arm to wave, but the searing pain quickly reminded me not to move it.

  “Keys?”

  I eased my purse off my left shoulder and handed it to Brian. “In my bag. Would you mind digging them out?”

  After some rummaging, Brian found the keys, and we went into my house to be greeted by a desperate Laddie, while Mona Lisa hopped up on her kitty tree to observe us from on high.

  “Could you please let Laddie out, Brian?”

  “Sure
. Come on, boy.” He patted his leg, as I pointed him toward the door.

  “And stay with him?” Brian looked at me, his eyebrows raised. “Just to be on the safe side. Coyotes: it's not likely they'd bother him, but you never know.”

  “Oh, sure. I should have realized.”

  I settled myself on the sofa, relieved to be back in my cozy home.

  When they came back in, Laddie settled himself by my side, and I draped my left arm around him, while Brian sat in the chair opposite.

  “I suppose you're wondering what happened,” I said.

  “I sure am.”

  “It's a long story.”

  “I'm all ears.”

  “It all started when I received an invitation to go to the very first show at the new art gallery at the resort. . . .”

  As I told my story, Brian listened without interruption. When I finished, he asked, “All this has been going on since I moved here?”

  I nodded.

  “I had no idea. No wonder you seemed distracted. I'm totally in awe of you. You really are the most amazing woman!”

  “You think I'm amazing?”

  He stood and leaned down toward me. “And how!” he said, planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

  * * *

  A few weeks after Brian had met me as I returned from the emergency room, Belle, Dennis, and I were enjoying a barbecue on their patio, while the dogs frolicked in the backyard, running over to us from time to time to beg for a tidbit.

  “Hear anything from Brian lately?” Dennis asked slyly.

  “You know I have.” Brian was back at work on the rig, and, although he wasn't able to phone, he'd sent me several emails.

  Dennis winked at me.

  “You two make a cute couple,” Belle said.

  “Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're going to take it slow.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Belle! I mean it.”

  “I know you do. Just kidding. So what's the latest on the crime front? We haven't seen you all week.”

  Belle and Dennis had taken a short vacation to see the sights in the Four Corners area with a stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home.

  “Not by her own choice, but Gabrielle's back, and she's claiming that Olivia staged her own kidnapping. She says Olivia left the gym bag—the one I identified for Sergeant Martinez—in Gabrielle's car and all she herself did was bring it home. Of course, her story doesn't hold up. I'm sure she contacted Olivia from the art auction, right before Ulysses got that call from the kidnapper. He was talking to his own wife—well, maybe; I'll get to that later—but he didn't recognize her voice, because she was using some device to distort it. By the way, the police found several packets of money when they searched her suitcases.”

  “Sounds like they split the ransom,” Dennis said.

  “It's strange that Olivia staged her own kidnapping and then murdered her husband. If she was after his money, why bother with the kidnapping in the first place?” Belle added.

  “I don't think she planned to kill him at first,” I said. “If Ralph hadn't come along and caused the accident, maybe she never would have decided to do it, but, when Ulysses was in a coma, I really think she expected him to die, leaving her a rich widow, and maybe she figured that millions were better than hundreds of thousands. He threw her a curve when he woke up.”

  “So it was all about the money?”

  “With a side of self-justification, because both Olivia and Gabrielle had convinced themselves that their husbands didn't appreciate them. Oh, and here's another crazy fact: Ulysses never did divorce Jill, so it turns out that Olivia wasn't legally married to Ulysses, anyway. Ulysses didn't have a will, but Olivia was counting on that to work in her favor. As Ulysses's surviving spouse, she would have inherited his entire estate if he had no children.”

  “So, when she found out he had a daughter, Samantha had to go, I suppose,” Dennis said.

  “As Ulysses's daughter, she stands to inherit three-fourths of his estate. That would have left Olivia with a mere one-quarter, which evidently wasn't enough for her. She wanted it all. Of course, at the time, she didn't know that she and Ulysses weren't legally married. Since she wasn't his wife, it turns out she wasn't his heir, either. Since he never divorced Jill, she may be in line to receive an inheritance, too.

  I feel bad for suspecting Samantha of strangling Ulysses. Jill didn't tell her Ulysses was her father until after he was murdered. She probably never would have told Samantha if the police hadn't questioned them both.”

  “Poor Samantha! It had to be a lot to take in,” Belle commented.

  “Yes, but I think she'll be able to cope. She was back at work the day after she found out. It may be what saved her. If she'd been alone when Olivia found her, the outcome might have been very different. It took all three of us to subdue her.”

  “I still can't say I like Bill Belmont,” Dennis said. “I've never been a fan of his, but I give him credit for taking her down. You, too, Amanda. It's a good thing you figured it out when you did.”

  “When I saw you with that sling on your arm, my heart sank, I can tell you,” Belle said. “I knew you'd be worried you wouldn't be able to paint.”

  “I was lucky I only had to wear it for a few days.”

  “Is your wrist still bothering you?”

  “Not too much. I can paint as long as I don't work for too long at a time. I was finally able to finish that pet portrait of Toby, the bloodhound.”

  “That's great, Amanda! I'm so happy things are getting back to normal,” Belle said, as she cut us each a slice of coconut cake. “Aren't you glad you moved to Lonesome Valley?”

  “I really am,” I said with a smile, “but I have to admit I thought it would be a wee bit quieter here.”

  We laughed at that, while Laddie and Mr. Big joined in, wagging their tails and yipping with joy as they raced around us.

  Read all about how Amanda unravels a new mystery in Hemlock for the Holidays, Book 3 in A Fine Art Mystery Series.

  Recipes

  Cheese and Sour Cream Enchiladas

  Amanda made these cheese and sour cream enchiladas for Ralph, who enjoyed having a home-cooked meal that he didn't have to prepare himself.

  If you prefer spicier enchiladas, you can add chilies to the filling and top the enchiladas with hot enchilada sauce.

  Ingredients

  6 eight-inch flour tortillas

  1 sixteen-ounce container sour cream

  1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

  2 ½ cups Cheddar cheese

  ½ cup chopped green onions

  1 ten-ounce can mild red enchilada sauce

  Directions

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  Reserve one cup shredded Cheddar cheese for the topping. To make the filling, combine sour cream, remaining cheeses, chopped onions, and ¼ cup enchilada sauce in a mixing bowl. Spoon mixture onto each tortilla a bit off center and roll up. Place seam side down in a nonstick, 9” x 13” baking pan. When all six enchiladas are made, spoon the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas and sprinkle the reserved one cup of Cheddar cheese on top.

  Bake 35 minutes.

  Makes six enchiladas.

  Individual, Open-Faced Cheeseburger Quesadillas

  Here's a quick meal for one. The recipe can easily be expanded to make more servings simply by multiplying the quantity of each ingredient by the number of quesadillas you want to make.

  Ingredients

  1 eight-inch flour tortilla

  ¼ pound 85% lean ground beef

  ¼ cup chopped onion

  ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese

  1 tablespoon ketchup

  dill pickles

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  Brown chopped onion and ground beef, breaking up ground beef, and cook until done. Drain on paper towels. Put the ground beef mixture into a small bowl and stir in ketchup. Place the tortilla on a baking sheet and spread the g
round beef mixture on the top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes.

  To serve, cut into quarters and top with dill pickles.

  Makes one serving.

  Chocolate Mousse

  Amanda's quick version of chocolate mousse takes less time to prepare than the traditional French version and tastes just as yummy.

  Ingredients

  2 cups heavy whipping cream

  6 ounces finely chopped dark chocolate

  ¼ cup sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  Directions

  Chill mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for an hour. Warm one cup of whipping cream in the top of a double boiler over medium heat or in the microwave (do not boil). Remove from heat or microwave, add chocolate, and stir until chocolate is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

  In the chilled mixing bowl, whip the remaining cup of cream, slowly adding sugar and vanilla, until soft peaks form. Remove and reserve one-half cup of the whipped cream, which will be used for the topping. Whip the remaining whipped cream mixture until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream mixture, quickly and gently, into the chocolate and cream mixture. Spoon into four small serving dishes and chill for at least one hour before serving.

  Optional: top with chocolate curls or chopped walnuts before serving.

  Makes four servings.

  Date Cake

  Belle's grandmother gave her this recipe decades ago, and it's as yummy as ever, especially with a dollop of whipped cream on top!

  Cake Ingredients

  1 cup pitted, chopped dates

  1 cup boiling water

  2 tablespoons butter

  1 egg

  1 cup sugar

  1 ½ cups flour