Last Resort of Murder (A Lacy Steele Mystery Book 9)

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  “You dated her.”

  “I didn’t.” He frowned and looked toward the desk as if for a rescue. What was the signal for, “I’ve been cornered by a deranged guest?” She was probably about to find out.

  “People saw you.”

  “What people?”

  “People, the people,” she said. She wouldn’t name names. If he were the killer, he would want to get rid of witnesses, right? “Many people. All people.”

  “I doubt all people saw me with Jill,” he groused.

  “So you admit you were with her?”

  “We worked together. Occasionally we hung out.”

  “You kissed her. The people saw you.”

  “Look, because I kiss a woman doesn’t make her my girlfriend. This isn’t the second grade.” He checked his phone again.

  “Are you waiting for a call?” she asked, momentarily forgetting the resort’s no-phone policy.

  “No, I’m seeing how late to work I am now. They dock our pay if we don’t clock in on time,” he said.

  “Do you always work this time?”

  “I work whenever they need me.”

  “But you were here early yesterday, about the same time Jill was killed.”

  He froze, his eyes set in mid-stare at his phone. “Wait, what are you saying?”

  “I’m not saying anything. I’m asking. Did you go out with Jill?”

  Now he shoved his phone impatiently in his pocket. “Jill was hot, okay? We had a thing, but it wasn’t serious.”

  “You seem to have been the only person who liked her,” Lacy said.

  “Who says I liked her? You don’t have to like a woman to…”

  She held up her hand to cut him off. “Got it, thanks.” Sleazebag says what? She smoothed her expression and regrouped. If it wasn’t a great love story, then what would have been his motive for murder? “Some people told me Jill was onto something and might be leaving the resort.”

  “The people again, huh? Chatty group, the people. Look, Jill was always hinting and saying that she was onto something, the next big weight-loss thing. She was probably talking about that drink Sven gave her. She wanted to bottle it and sell it in the US.”

  “But it had strychnine in it,” Lacy exclaimed.

  “So? She knew and didn’t care. She figured other people wouldn’t care either, if it got results. Sven found out and got mad.”

  “Because she was cutting him out of the deal?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him, if you can get a word in before the police arrest him.” The smirk was back. Lacy didn’t like that smirk. She wanted to make it go away again.

  “You knew the drink contained poison. You could have dosed her with it.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  Why, indeed? She wondered as she studied him. She took a stab in the dark. “Because she dumped you.”

  The smirk disappeared and his face darkened. “She didn’t dump me. We were barely going out.”

  “But she did break things off, right?”

  “I guess, yeah, but it wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like I thought she was going to be the mother of my children. She probably couldn’t even have kids after taking so many ‘roids.”

  “Why did she break things off?”

  “She said she would be leaving the resort as soon as her big break panned out.” He used air quotes when he said, “big break.”

  “You didn’t believe her.”

  “She’d been saying the same thing forever. Always with the big break. It would make her rich; it would make her famous. She’d be like those trainers on TV; everyone would know her name. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “You never asked her what the big break was?”

  “Of course I did. She wouldn’t tell me. She said it was a secret because, and I quote, ‘I’m still working out the kinks.’”

  “Do you think it had something to do with Sven’s drink?”

  “Personal opinion? Yes. I think they were in it together, something went wrong, and he killed her.”

  “What makes you think they were in it together?”

  “Because a couple of times I overheard her talking on the phone about a prototype, and it wasn’t the way you talk to someone who’s working under you. It was the way you talk to someone who’s on your level, like a partner. She was…solicitous, and Jill was never like that. It must have been important for her to be nice about it. But she knew Sven was her supply connection. He wouldn’t tell her where or how he got the drink. Without him, there would be no product.”

  Things weren’t looking good for Sven. But was Derek simply using him to throw suspicion off himself? Lacy couldn’t tell. Lucy began to stir and whimper. Derek jumped.

  “Holy Moses, is that a real baby?”

  “You thought I was sitting here with a fake baby this whole time like some sort of escaped mental patient?” Lacy said. When he didn’t answer, she was relieved.

  He stood. “I gotta get back.”

  Lacy wanted to ask him more questions, but Lucy was fully awake now and not in a mood to be patient. She and Derek parted ways without a word, and she went to hand her niece over to Riley.

  Chapter 17

  Jason was tired. For most of his life since his brother died, there were nights when sleep was elusive. Weighed down by the anxiety of trying to keep everything in his life together, he tended to fixate on worries and mental to-do lists. Only since he had started dating Lacy had things gotten better. He was learning to let things go, to live more in the moment, to not be the fixer of all life’s problems. Sharing his long bottled feelings with her had been as good as therapy, and loads cheaper. And she made him laugh, which had done more for his mental health than anything. But now he was worried about her and her family situation and the old anxieties were pressing on him again. What if, in trying to involve himself in her parents’ separation, he ended up messing things up more than they already were? What if he did irreparable damage to a family for whom secrets had become a way of life? What was the best thing to do in the situation?

  He had tossed and turned, going over and over the things he knew and the things he suspected. At last it occurred to him that he didn’t have to be alone in the situation; there was someone he could call, someone who had an even more vested interest in the situation than he did. So he got up early and used the resort’s public phone to make several calls, one to the secretary he shared with the sheriff and Detective Arroyo, one to a buddy at the state crime testing lab, and one to Mr. Middleton. Jason had been sure that his former high school principal, and Lacy’s grandfather, would know the right thing to do, and he had.

  “I think it’s time this family got some things out in the open,” Mr. Middleton said.

  “What about Mrs. Craig?” Jason asked. Lacy’s grandmother had been loathe to tell Frannie anything about her past.

  “Let me worry about her. I’ve been preparing her for this moment, and she’s starting to come around. You take care of Lacy, and we’ll trust that everything will work out in the end.”

  Jason hung up feeling lighter than he had in days. At last everything in the Steele family would be out in the open. Whether it would work to get Clint and Frannie back together remained to be seen, but at least the truth would be out there. Lacy wouldn’t have to be the bearer of family secrets anymore, something that had weighed on her since she found out the truth of her mother’s parentage. He was so anxious to get the weight off everyone’s shoulders that he almost called a family meeting right then. It was too soon, however. He was still waiting on an important phone call.

  In the meantime, he left to get more coffee. The carob juice wasn’t cutting it for him. He needed the good stuff, and at this point the battery acid they served at his office would have sufficed. On impulse, he bought another coffee for Detective Green. Maybe it was kindness or maybe it was the giddiness of being nearly done with the Steele family secrets that made him momentarily bighearted.

  He regretted the gesture as s
oon as he handed the coffee over. “Two days in a row, Cantor? Are you angling for a job with our department?” Detective Green said, though he accepted the coffee and took a grateful glug.

  “Just being friendly,” Jason said, trying to hide how peeved the comment made him. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as some overeager young pup who couldn’t get enough police business when the truth was that he was glad to be away from work and wanted no part of the Detective’s investigation. He turned to go. The Detective hailed him back.

  “Hold up there. We could use you, if you’re willing?”

  “Use me for what?” Jason asked.

  The Detective smiled wryly. “No need to look so suspicious, Cantor. We’re not going to dress you like a dame and make you wear a wire or anything. We’ve hit a snag with the case.”

  “What sort of snag?”

  “The poison. She definitely had some strychnine in her system, but not enough to do the job. The ME thinks it was the cyanide that did it.”

  “And you haven’t been able to link that to Sven?”

  “Nope. The so-called health drink he gave us to test didn’t have it. There was no rat poison in his place, none here. He must have stashed it somewhere, which wouldn’t be too hard, what with the amount of trash this place goes through. You could throw out anything, and it would never be found.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “We thought if you talked to him sort of friendly like and made up to him, maybe you could make some headway, give us some direction with a motive.”

  “What makes you think he’ll talk to me?” Jason asked. “He knows I’m a cop.”

  “But he also likes your girlfriend. He thinks she’s on his side. Maybe you could use that, play up to him all buddy buddy. We’re close to a breakthrough, I can feel it. We need the scales to tip a bit more, and we’ll have him.”

  “I’ll give it a shot,” Jason said. “Is he here now?”

  “He’ll be here in an hour.”

  “He’s still coming to work?”

  “He’s not the brightest bulb,” Detective Green said. “If you find him on your own, it’ll look less like a setup.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Jason promised. He eased away again and the Detective didn’t hail him back. He walked to Lacy’s room and knocked on the door. Riley answered while bouncing the baby up and down. “Is…” he began, but Riley preempted him.

  “Lacy, it’s Jason,” she yelled and closed the door in his face.

  Lacy appeared a minute later. “She was abrupt,” he said.

  “After taking a turn with the baby a couple of nights, I can’t say I blame her. We’re lucky she isn’t pulling out shivs and stabbing people at this point,” Lacy said.

  “Well, the baby’s young. Give her time,” Jason said. “Do you have an opening for breakfast?”

  “I have a few minutes before I meet Snaps.”

  “Then you definitely need to fuel up. Bird watching is a calorie burn.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  “Have you ever seen an overweight birder? I haven’t. Then again, I’ve also never seen one under the age of eighty, but to each his own.”

  “Hey, I’m excited about this. I’ve always wanted to see a snowy owl.”

  “Always?” he said.

  “Or maybe since Snaps told me about them last night, but it feels like forever.”

  “So have breakfast with me before you head out to your lifelong dream of twelve hours,” he said.

  “Okay,” she said. She was smiling as she took his hand. “Guess what?”

  “What?” he asked, and now he was smiling, too. She had that effect on him.

  “I’ve lost seven pounds.”

  “Oh.”

  “That’s it? Oh?”

  “That’s it,” he said.

  “I thought you’d be happy,” she said.

  “Why would you think that?” he asked.

  “Because I did it. I met my goal, stuck to my diet and exercise, and lost the weight.”

  “Are you back on normal food now?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so,” she said.

  “I’ll withhold my joy until you’re back on people food,” he said.

  She didn’t say anything, but he could tell by the furrow between her eyes that she was peeved. They finished the walk to the dining room in silence. A waiter held her chair for her and they sat down. Jason picked up the menu. Lacy stared longingly at hers until the waiter appeared.

  “Did Sven leave instructions for me?” she asked him.

  He asked for her name and consulted an electronic device in his pocket. “Yes, I’ll bring it right out, madam.”

  “Okay, thank you,” Lacy said with barely concealed disappointment. Jason remained silent until the green striped drink arrived.

  “What is it?” he asked the waiter.

  “Chef’s specialty—kale and seaweed smoothie.”

  “Mmm,” Jason said, rubbing his stomach. “Sounds delicious.”

  The waiter left without comment. Jason and Lacy stared at each other over the smoothie that smelled like old fish. “What?” Lacy said. She threw the word out like a challenge.

  “You know,” Jason said. He was as determined not to have an argument as she was determined to have one.

  “I don’t think I do. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

  “This diet is crazy. You don’t need to lose weight,” he said.

  “My pants were getting tight,” she said.

  “So? Everyone’s weight fluctuates a few pounds. You would have lost it eventually in a sensible manner through diet and exercise.”

  “What if I didn’t? What if I kept gaining and gaining until I was back at my high school weight? And what if I surpassed that? What if I kept gaining weight until I became one of those women the fire department had to cut out of her house?”

  Ding, ding, ding. Finally, he understood. It had eluded him why a few measly pounds should put her into such a panic, but it wasn’t a few pounds she was afraid of—it was the loss of control and a whole lot of pounds.

  “That’s not going to happen,” he said.

  She threw up her hands in frustration. The menu fluttered to the floor. She bent to pick it up and cracked her head on the corner of the table. “You can’t possibly know that. Women gain a lot of weight all the time.”

  “Your mom didn’t,” he pointed out.

  “Mom and I are different,” Lacy said.

  “Genetics,” he began, but she interrupted him.

  “Genetics don’t outweigh environment.” She was still rubbing her head where she had cracked it on the table. Her eyes were watering. She had barely slept in two days, and she hadn’t eaten anything that required chewing in days. Now was not the time to be having a serious discussion, but now that they had started, Jason couldn’t see a way out of it.

  “Worst case scenario, you gain an obscene amount of weight. What do you think is the worst thing that will happen?”

  “I won’t feel good about myself, none of my clothes will fit, I’ll be unhealthy, and we’ll break up.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you the first three, but why would we break up?”

  “Because I’ll be fat,” she said.

  “So? You think I would dump you because you gain a little weight? Do you think thirty extra pounds will fundamentally change who you are as a person?”

  “No, but the only difference between the person I am now and the person I was in high school is those same thirty pounds,” she said.

  “That is not even a little bit true. You were insecure in high school. You have grown and matured immensely. And you’re not in love with Chester Campbell anymore,” he said.

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “You were so into him that you never looked twice at me. Maybe if you had…”

  She snorted a laugh. “What? You would have run off the football field, into the bleachers, grabbed my clarinet away, and kissed me passi
onately?”

  “I guess we’ll never know,” he said.

  She laughed, a real laugh this time. “You’re delusional.”

  “No, you’re delusional if you think a little bit of extra weight will change how I feel about you. Besides, do you think I’m going to look like this forever?”

  “I had kind of hoped so, yes,” she said.

  “I hate to disappoint you, but apparently you haven’t seen a recent picture of my dad. Even though he doesn’t drink anymore, he still has a beer belly. And a bald spot.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I was kind of hoping we could grow old and saggy together, otherwise you’re going to look like a trophy next to my paunchy baldness.”

  She took his other hand and gave it a squeeze. “Jason, you are adorably sweet and you always know the right thing to say to talk me down from the ledge. I’m glad you accept me as I am, but I don’t think I can date a man with male pattern baldness. I have standards.”

  “Chester Campbell standards?”

  “That’s right, and you, my friend, are no Chester Campbell.”

  “It kills me to constantly be second fiddle to that guy,” he said.

  “I keep hoping you’ll shrink a foot, lose all muscle tone, and ugly your face until it resembles a weasel like Chester. In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to work with what you’ve got,” she said.

  “Thank you for taking me as I am,” he said.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. She brushed a finger over his lashes. She loved his lashes. He knew because she had told him so, repeatedly. It was the one feature he had always hated about himself. To him, they had always seemed girly. Men weren’t supposed to have long, thick lashes. Lacy didn’t seem to know or care, though.

  His breakfast arrived and he began to eat. Lacy used a spoon to nibble at her smoothie. Whether she was trying to make it last or delaying actually having to eat it he didn’t know and didn’t ask. They had talked enough about her food for the day. The rest of breakfast was pleasant, and then it was time to say goodbye.

  “Have fun with the owls,” he said.

  “I’ll try my best,” she said.

  “Don’t fall for this Snaps guy. He looks like your type.”

  “That’s mean,” she said.