“Because if it were my family, I’d do the same.”
Chapter 27
Max led the way up the stairs to Johnny’s second-floor apartment. I would have suspected Johnny lived some place with a bit more security around the premises. This complex didn’t have a single camera in sight.
A man was washing his car, and a woman was walking her dog. Otherwise, the complex was quiet.
Max lifted his hand to knock, and I stopped him. “You promised to stay out of this until I get answers.”
“I promise not to bust his mouth until he gives you answers,” Max corrected.
I knocked.
No answer.
I knocked again and put my ear to the door. It was dead silent. “Maybe he’s not here.”
“His truck is downstairs.” Max gestured down to the parking lot.
I slowly turned the doorknob, and the door opened. “I’d think he’d protect his home better. Stay here while I check things out.”
Max dismissively shook his head and followed me in.
The muscles in my arms tightened. We were technically breaking into a place where the occupant was sure to own a gun and knew how to shoot.
“Johnny?” I called out, easing around the corner into the living room. The room was cloaked in darkness. The shades were drawn.
“McIntire, get out here. We need to talk to you,” Max called out and flicked on the living room lights.
I walked into the clean kitchen. The cooking knives shined like the counters. He was a neat freak. I would have totally guessed the opposite. “I need his maid’s phone number.”
“Knowing him, he probably poached one of Carter’s” Max said.
I gestured to the glasses in the sink and pointed to the lipstick on the rim. “Looks like he had company, and judging by the color of the smudge, it was the same person he’d been kissing when I snuck into Petunia’s room.”
I stepped out of the kitchen and headed down the hallway. The first door was a bathroom. “Two toothbrushes.”
“Roommate?” He asked.
“Girlfriend is my guess.”
I put my ear to the bedroom door, listening for any signs someone was on the other side. Nothing. I pushed it open.
Max stilled beside me, his palm landing on my arm. “Is he…”
“Dead?” I asked, staring at the gruesome scene. Johnny had his hands and legs tied to the bed. A bloody sheet lay over the lower half of his body. Blood and cuts covered his chest. A marble-handled butcher knife protruded from his heart. I pulled out my cell phone and fired off a text to Ms. Delany.
“Ms. Delany is going to call it in. We’ve got fifteen minutes to find what we’re looking for. You check the living room but don’t leave any fingerprints. I’ll check the bedroom.”
“You shouldn’t go in there,” Max said. “If you were to lose a hair follicle, that’s all they’d need to point the finger at you.”
“Let’s hope I don’t shed or that I have an alibi. Judging by the fact he talked to your sister an hour ago, my alibi is you and a drag queen.”
“Good point,” he said heading back into the living room.
I stepped into the bedroom, opened his dresser drawers, and hit the jackpot in the sock drawer. There were pictures of Johnny and Amelia in a compromising position. This wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.
“How much time would I do for stealing evidence from a crime scene, Counselor?”
“That’s not even funny, Gwen. Whatever you’ve found, leave it.”
“I’m not so sure you want me leaving these,” I said as I turned to leave, seconds before spotting a framed picture on the dresser. I bent down to get a better look.
It was Carter, Max, Amelia, Petunia, and all of Carter’s staff, only they weren’t dressed in work clothes but in casual clothes. My gaze went straight to Johnny, who was staring at Amelia in the picture. I followed Amelia’s gaze, and it went to Petunia, who was grinning from ear to ear with Chef Robin’s arms wrapped around her.
I grabbed the picture and headed into the living room. “Tell me about this picture.”
Max glanced up from the magazine. “That was taken at the lake house. Carter likes to throw parties for the staff and their families. That was from a barbeque last year.”
I walked into the kitchen and held the picture to the glass. “Chef Robin wears the same color lipstick. Why doesn’t she wear it at Carter’s house?”
“Hell if I know, but the lipstick won’t get us anywhere. A million women probably wear the same shade.”
“Look at where their gazes are going, Max.” I said, pointing at Amelia, Johnny, and Robin.”
Max glanced at the picture. His jaw ticked before he led me out into the living room. He gestured to a magazine on the table before picking up a book from the shelf.
I picked up the magazine and thumbed through it. This one had cut outs just like Kilnery had at his house. A shiver skirted down my spine.
“All of those magazines have cut-outs, and I found this.” He opened the book to show me a partially complete death threat, just like the others Amelia had received. “Looks like Johnny was trying to scare Amelia back into his arms.”
“I’m betting if that didn’t work, he’d planned to blackmail her,” I said and handed him the photos I’d found. “You sure you want me to leave these here?”
I could see the war in his mind. The way his jaw tightened and the moment hopelessness entered his body. I had my answer. The pictures were coming with us, the evidence be damned.
“Judging by the knife in the heart and your sister having an alibi, I’m betting Ambrosia did this.”
“Who?” he asked.
“Lipstick lady. That was the color on Johnny’s collar and it’s the same color on the glass.” I led Max out of the house.
“There have to be a million lipstick colors. How in the heck can do you know what that one color is?”
“I was helping my sister research cosmetics for her shop. I learned everything I could.”
“About lipstick shades?”
“Among other things. Lucky for you, I retain all the information, but that’s not how I know the color,” I said before I jogged down the stairs.
He met my gaze over the hood of the trunk. “How?”
“It’s the one I wear, and there’s only one place in town that produces that exact color,” I said, putting the pictures of Amelia into the trunk along with the death threat and the book.
“Where?”
“This is just a theory, without running the shades through my forensic department to be 100% certain, I’d say whoever is wearing that lipstick, got it from my sister’s shop.” As I slipped inside my car, my phone rang, and I glanced at the caller ID.
“What’s up, Rose? Amelia okay?”
“Cassandra still isn’t answering.”
I shoved the key into the ignition. “They don’t get good reception at the park, remember?”
“I know.” She lowered her voice. “I’m worried, Gwen. None of the team Ms. Delany sent is answering either.”
My blood froze. “Max and I are fifteen minutes away. We’ll check it out, and whatever you do, don’t mention this to Amelia until we have a status report.”
“Don’t tell Amelia what?” Max asked.
“Cassandra is out of cell range, and the team Ms. Delany sent in isn’t answering either, but I’m sure it’s just a phone issue. How much trouble do you think five operatives, a chef, and a five-year-old can get into on a picnic?”
Chapter 28
We turned into the playground parking lot overflowing with cop cars and ambulances. Bodies lay in the field near a picnic table. I recognized several of the security detail men sprawled out unconscious on the ground. Everyone but the people I desperately needed to find, were missing. My heart shuddered as I prayed, I’d find Petunia, Cassandra, and Chef Robin in the back of one of those vehicles being treated.
“What the hell…”
A cop blocked us and told us
the park was closed and ordered us to leave. I pulled back out and parked by the curb. “I need to get to the ambulances. You have pull with the PD?”
“Yeah, let me make a call,” he said just as I slipped out of the vehicle.
Cops had the perimeter blocked off with cones. Only one cop patrolled the perimeter and I waited until he was called away before sneaking past the barricade and behind the ambulances.
I peeked in each as I passed, trying not to get caught. That was when I spotted Cassandra on a gurney. She was responsive but wearing a respirator, unlike the others lying unconscious on the playground where emergency personal were still working.
I ran to her. “Cass.”
The paramedic stepped in the way. “You can’t be here.”
“She’s family, and she was babysitting. I don’t see the girl. Please, let me talk to her. Please.” I lied about the family part, but my begging seemed to work.
“You’ve got two minutes, but I have to get her to the hospital,” the paramedic said.
“What happened? Where’s Petunia?”
“I don’t know. One minute we were all singing happy birthday to Petunia again and eating the sweets, and the next, I woke up unconscious on the ground.”
“You were eating sweets?” I asked, knowing she was on a sugar-free diet.
“I only had one cookie to celebrate with Pet.”
I glanced up at the playground. “And the others had more?”
“Yeah, they were eating huge slices of cake.”
“This isn’t good,” I whispered, realizing that they were probably all drugged. “Did Petunia eat the same cookies and cake?”
“No, Chef Robin had baked her a special one. It was healthy, as if that was possible,” Cassandra said, trying to climb off the gurney.
“I’m afraid that’s enough,” the medic said and tried to put an oxygen mask on her.
Cassandra removed it. Sheer panic laced her face. “You have to find Petunia. Chef Robin was the last person with her.”
“I will. Was she wearing her necklace?”
“I wouldn’t let her out of the house without it,” Cassandra answered as they shoved the mask back onto her face and wheeled her into the ambulance.
I stopped the medic after he closed the door. “Have them run a tox screen for poisons.”
He nodded as he ran around the truck and slipped inside.
“Ma’am, you can’t be here,” The same cop that stopped us at the perimeter approached us.
“Right,” I said, holding up my hands and walking toward my car. My gaze fell on the other bodies. Women and children were included, along with our operatives. If Petunia or any of them died, it was on me.
Max paced by the car with the phone to his ear just as camera crews parked at the curb. Max lowered the phone as I approached. “Is Petunia okay?”
I swallowed around my dry throat. “She’s not there.”
“What the hell do you mean she’s not there? Did you overlook her?” Max growled and pointed an accusing finger at the park.
“I think their food was poisoned. Petunia not being there means she’s still alive, Max. I can get her back.”
A muscle popped in his jaw. “How are you going to do that, Gwen? You couldn’t even keep her safe.” He hung up the phone and started punching at numbers. “I’m doing what I should have done from the beginning. I’m calling in the FBI. No more amateur hour.”
He had every right to be mad. If it were me, I’d be fuming. “Get in the car, Max. I’ll take you to Carter’s.”
He climbed into the car and talked on the phone while I sent Ms. Delany a text with an update of what was going on. My phone rang.
“I’ll meet you at Carter’s house, and I’m sending a team to the playground and to the hospital.”
“Thank you.” My words came out a whisper.
“Gwen, this wasn’t your fault,” she said, but no matter how much Ms. D. believed it, that didn’t make it true.
“I have to find Petunia. The last one seen with her was Robin, and I didn’t see her as one of the unconscious victims. Can you call it into the police and have this treated as a possible child endangerment abduction?” I swallowed hard.
“I’ll fill them in on what’s going on, en route to Carter’s house.”
“Thanks, Ms. Delany,” I said, opening my door and climbing into the car. I shoved the key into the ignition and drove while Max talked on the phone.
My mind raced in a million different directions in the twenty minutes it took to get to Carter’s house. Security was no longer in the gatehouse. They were standing guard at each entry point into the home. Rose was outside the house door, holding her weapon. Carter had Amelia in a hug. Her body kept going limp as she sobbed. I no longer wondered if word of the incident had made it back to the house. I was seeing the effects first-hand.
Max got out of the car and didn’t bother to wait to see if I’d follow. The guards let him and me both pass. Rose jogged down the steps toward me as Max stormed into the house.
“Is it true? Was Petunia taken?”
I swallowed and nodded. “I think everyone at the park was poisoned.”
Rose grabbed my arm and squeezed. “Cassandra?”
“She only ate one cookie. She was conscious when I got there.”
Rose leaned over and rested her hands on her knees. “Thank God for that stupid diet.”
“Ms. Delany is on the way, but right now, I need to see Robin’s room to look for clues.”
“She was living in the guest house,” Rose said, leading the way back into the house.
We’d just stepped foot in the foyer when Amelia charged at me with her fists clenched, yelling. “You promised to protect her. You promised to keep her safe.”
Max grabbed her around the waist. “This wasn’t her fault.”
“Amelia, I’m going to find Petunia. I promise.”
Amelia’s tears returned, covering her already stained face as she collapsed in Max’s arms.
“Carter, I need to get into Robin’s guest house.”
He gestured with his hand. “Amelia is devastated. I’m sorry she attacked you.”
“It’s understood. I’d be the same way,” I answered honestly.
“Maybe if I’d listened to Max and we’d called the FBI, none of us would be here right now and Petunia would be safe and home.”
“This isn’t Gwen’s fault or Cassandra’s. There was no way to know that your chef was a psycho. Hell, how long has she lived with you and you didn’t notice?” Rose growled, coming to my defense.
“You guys can point fingers at me later. Right now I need access.”
I stormed through the kitchen and out the back door to the guest house. Carter appeared by my side and used a master key; unlocking the door, he pushed it open.
Chapter 29
I stepped inside the clean house. There were no dust specks in sight. From the beige couches to the beige walls, everything was in its place.
“I’ll take the kitchen,” Rose called out as I headed down the hall. The bedroom and bathroom were just as neat and tidy. I opened the last door, and I froze in place.
The room looked just like Petunia’s, down to the princess bed. I stepped farther into the room. “Carter, did Petunia ever stay with Chef Robin?”
“No, why?” he asked, stepping into the doorway. “What in the world?”
Any lingering doubt of Robin’s guilt vanished. The matching lipstick, the glasses at Johnny’s house, the butcher knife. The death threats in Johnny’s apartment. “They were working together.”
“Who?” Carter asked.
“Johnny and Robin. They each wanted something they couldn’t have.”
I picked up two pictures on the dresser. One was of Petunia and Robin at the lake with the rest of the people cut out. The other was of Robin with another little girl that was similar to age and looks as Petunia, at the same lake. I turned it around to show Carter. “Who is this little girl?”
Carter
took the picture from me, and his brow furrowed. “That’s Chef Robin’s daughter, Sabrina who died. She lived here with her mom. Sabrina and Petunia grew up together.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“Two years ago, she drowned,” Carter answered, handing the picture back.
“This is a classic case of transference. Same features, same house, friends, Robin believes that she knows what’s best for Petunia. We know that by breakfast the other day.”
“So, what are you saying? Robin took Petunia? She’d never do that.”
Yet she had.
Rose peeked her head in. “I found arsenic under the sink in the kitchen.”
I handed her the pictures and walked into the kitchen, letting my gaze linger around the room. It landed on the knife block. The same marble-handled knives filled each hole with one missing—the butcher knife.
Carter came up behind me.
“She killed Johnny with one of her butcher knives, and it looks like she was trying to poison everyone else. You need to throw away any baked goods in your kitchen and don’t trust anything.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“She poisoned five operatives and killed a man. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill you and your family. She’ll view you as a threat, as the only people standing in her way of being happy again with a kid just like hers. Throw out everything.”
Carter’s eyes widened, and he took off toward the house. Rose and I followed. Ms. Delany was in the kitchen with Max. His jaw ticked when he spotted me.
“Don’t eat anything. Robin used arsenic,” Carter yelled and grabbed a trash bag, throwing out all of the food sitting out in the kitchen.
Ms. Delany grabbed me and stopped me from checking cabinets. “Gwen, we’ve been fired. Rose is going to stay with Amelia until the FBI shows up, and I’ll fill them in on where we are.”
Determination rippled through my body settling into my gut. “I can find her.”
Max shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’ve done enough.”
Carter stopped his frantic search of cabinets. “You haven’t seen Robin’s house. She has a room set up just like Pet’s bedroom.”
Rotten Apple (Bennett Dynasty Book 1) Page 13