Paradise Valley Mystery 02-The Heart of Lies

by Debra Burroughs

  “A bunch of us went in and I guess we filled up the reception area. Stella said there were too many of us and we were making too much racket, so she shooed us out and locked the doors. She said the police chief would come out and talk to us as soon as she located him and got him to come down here. It is Sunday, you know.”

  “Yes, you said that.” Emily turned to Colin and whispered in his ear. “I’d be interested to know what’s happening with that money, too.”

  Colin nodded, then figuring there wasn’t anything they could do, they continued on to the barbecue place down the street for lunch.

  Colin got his finger-lickin’ fix, while Emily, having only a salad, took pleasure in watching him devour the ribs.

  “Did I mention how good it is to have you back? Even if it’s only for a little while.” Emily had her eyes fixed on him—the crop of dark hair, his smoky hazel eyes, his strong angular jaw. She would enjoy what little time they had together, hoping that in the midst of the murder investigation and comforting Maggie, she and Colin would have a little time for themselves before he dashed back to San Francisco.

  “I think you may have mentioned it.” He grinned and licked his fingers. “Once or twice.”

  “I was very surprised to see you this morning. It made me so happy when you took me in your arms. I miss that—you holding me.”

  She reached across the small round table to wipe a little drop of barbecue sauce from his lower lip and he caught her hand in his. He provocatively licked the sauce off her finger and kissed the top of her hand, bringing it in close to his chest.

  “Do you feel that?” he asked.

  “Feel what?”

  “My heart. When I’m not here, that’s where I hold you.”

  CHAPTER 16

  After lunch, Colin received a phone call from Ernie, asking him to meet down at the county coroner’s office. The medical examiner had some news and Ernie said he figured Colin might want to hear it. Colin didn’t ask if Emily could come, but he knew she’d be miffed if he failed to take her with him.

  Ernie seemed a little surprised to see Emily when they showed up, but he put on a smile, hiked up his pants by the belt, and offered his hand. “It’s good to see you again, Emily. I wish it was under happier circumstances.”

  “Good to see you, too, Ernie.”

  “Doc’s expecting us, so let’s not keep him waiting.” Ernie ushered them into the autopsy room.

  “Dr. Walters, you know Colin Andrews,” Ernie introduced.

  The doctor was an older man with a thick head of snow-white hair and wire-rimmed glasses. His hunched back was evident under his standard white medical coat that he wore over his street clothes.

  Colin politely extended his hand, but the doctor had latex gloves on and raised his hands to show him.

  “And this is Emily Parker. She’s a private investigator working on this case for the suspect who’s been arrested, Josh Sullivan.”

  “Ms. Parker,” the doctor said as he nodded in her direction.

  “What do you have for us, Doc?” Ernie asked.

  The medical examiner walked over to the sheet-covered body lying on the examination table. “As you know, my initial observation stated that the victim had been beaten to death—” Dr. Walters pulled the sheet back to expose Lucas Wakefield’s head.

  “But he wasn’t?” Emily interrupted, averting her eyes.

  “Now hold on, ma’am, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the old doctor warned. “He was beaten pretty badly, but when I examined him more fully, I found that he had actually been hit in the upper rear quadrant of his head with some sort of sharp jagged object.”

  “A jagged object?” Ernie questioned, scratching his head. “Like what?”

  “I can’t say for sure. We’ll have to figure that one out.” He took a couple of steps over to the computer on his desk. “I made a digital mold of the wound. Here, let me bring it up on the screen.” Dr. Walters hit a few keys on the keyboard and turned his computer screen toward the others. “Have you any idea what would make a deep gaping wound like that?”

  The screen showed a digital outline in 3-D of an object approximately four inches wide with several rough, pointy areas about three inches high.

  “Maybe a big rock or something hard that broke and left a jagged edge?” Colin suggested.

  “Perhaps,” Doc Walters replied with a nod.

  “Could he have hit his head on the corner of his desk when he fell?” Ernie asked.

  “Not likely. It would need to be more uneven, more jagged,” the doctor answered. “It could be the size of what’s on the screen, or that mold may be the tip of a larger implement.”

  “Emily? What do you think?” Colin glanced at her, but she remained silent. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

  Without a word, she reached into her large leather handbag and held out the mountain-shaped crystal paperweight, still in the plastic zip-lock bag.

  The three men stood silent, gazing with quizzical looks at the sharply-peaked paperweight.

  “Could this be it?” she asked.

  Their collective gazes moved from her hand to her eyes.

  “Let’s see,” Dr. Walters said, taking the mountain of crystal from her. He held it up to the screen at an inverted angle to match the wound, then he took some measurements. “I think this could be our murder weapon, fellas,” he announced.

  They all looked relieved at finding what made the unusually-shaped gash that ripped through Lucas Wakefield’s skull—for a few moments, that is. Then all eyes turned to Emily as if they simultaneously realized the same thing. Why did she have the murder weapon?

  “Emily? Care to explain? Why do you have the murder weapon and why is it in a baggie?” Colin questioned.

  She shook her head. “This couldn’t be the murder weapon.” There was no way. She’d had it with her the entire time. “Doc, you said the time of death was approximately six thirty to seven o’clock. Well, I was with Maggie at her place, from five-thirty up until we walked into Lucas’s office, after he’d been killed.”

  “Where did you get this thing, Emily?” Ernie asked with an inquiring tilt of his head.

  “Off Maggie’s bookshelf at her house,” she explained. “I slipped it into a new plastic bag and put it in my purse when Maggie wasn’t looking. I had hoped to get Lucas’s fingerprints from it.”

  “You stole it?” Ernie’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “No, just borrowed it. Look, I had every intention of returning it. I just didn’t want her to know we were investigating Lucas.”

  “We?” Ernie questioned.

  “My friend, Isabel, and I. She works for the FBI and she was going to have their lab try to get his prints off of it.”

  “That’s too bad. I guess we didn’t find the murder weapon after all,” the medical examiner said, disappointment lining his voice.

  “It must be something similar though.”

  “Agreed,” the doctor concurred.

  “Now that Dr. Walters has the body here,” Emily flashed a coy smile at Ernie, “can you take his fingerprints and run them through the system? Find out if he was hiding something?”

  “Why do you want me investigating the victim?” Ernie scratched at the stubble sprouting on his chin. “Seems to me we already know Maggie’s boy killed him. He had opportunity and motive, and from the video tape, their brawl fits the timeline.”

  “Ernie, with all due respect, I think there’s a lot more to this than what we’re seeing on the surface,” Emily asserted. “Won’t you please just run his prints?”

  “What could it hurt, Ernie?” Colin put a hand on the detective’s shoulder. “Do the lady a favor.”

  “All right, I’ll run ’em,” Ernie agreed. “I always was a soft touch for a pretty girl.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Doc interjected with a chuckle.

  “Then I can slip this paperweight back on Maggie’s bookshelf before she notices it’s gone,” Emi
ly said.

  “Not so fast, Emily,” Ernie said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I’m going to need to take that into evidence—at least have Crime Scene spray it with Luminol to check for blood. If it’s clean, I can give it back to you.”

  Emily now wished she hadn’t brought it out. She should have known better. There was no way it could be the weapon and now she couldn’t sneak it back onto Maggie’s shelf. She handed it over to Ernie. “Try to be quick, Ernie, please. I don’t want Maggie asking about it.”

  Colin put his hand on her arm. “We better get out of here while we’re ahead, Emily.” He placed a guiding hand at her waist, prompting her toward the door.

  “Oh, and can I please get a copy of those prints, too?” Emily requested, throwing a glance at Ernie over her shoulder. “I’d still like to have the FBI do their thing.”

  ~*~

  Emily tried Sully’s cell phone again as Colin drove back to her house. Still no answer, just voicemail.

  “Sully, this is Emily Parker again. Please call me back as soon as you get this message. It’s critical that we talk. Josh is in trouble and he needs your help. Call me.”

  “No luck?” Colin glanced at her as she clicked her phone off and tossed it in her purse.

  “Not yet.” She crossed her arms. “I have to find out how Sully is involved in this and why he pulled a gun on Lucas.”

  “There must be more to it. You said it was unlike Sully to do such a thing and Josh said they had been arguing about money—that Sully sounded really angry. That does make his uncle look bad.” Colin reached across the seat and took her hand. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. That’s why I’m here, Emily, to help you.”

  She squeezed his hand and nodded. “I appreciate it.” Then she turned and stared out the window.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “Poor Maggie. Do you remember those first few days after Miranda died?” she asked, still looking at the buildings blurring by the window as they drove. “I sure remember the first days after Evan died.” She reached up and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

  “Hardest days of my life,” he said. “Maggie’s lucky to have her friends.”

  “I need to return the favor, be there for Maggie, but seeing her like that brings it all back to me.”

  “Maybe the best way you can help Maggie is finding out what really happened, hopefully clearing her son—if he didn’t do it.”

  “Do you think he’s guilty?”

  “He might be.” Colin shrugged and turned the car into her driveway, cutting the engine. “He certainly had motive and opportunity. There’s no denying he beat the crap out of the man right before he died. If it’s true what Josh said, that Lucas threw the first punch—no, even that is a stretch. Self-defense only goes so far. We need to follow the evidence, Emily, find the facts, you know?”

  She nodded.

  “Since I’m not as emotionally connected to Maggie and Josh as you are, I’ll try to be the voice of reason and help you work through this investigation.”

  “Are you saying I’m an emotional female?” she snapped. He certainly knew how to push her buttons, whether he was trying to or not.

  “No, but they’re close friends of yours,” he replied. “If the evidence points to Josh, or Sully, or one of your other friends, please don’t shoot the messenger.”

  “No promises,” she responded.

  “What?” he asked with a grin. “I tell you, woman, if you weren’t so, so—”

  “So, what?” she asked with a smirk, leaning her body toward him, her face not far from his.

  “So pig-headed, so irritating, so funny and adorable, yet so frustrating and stubborn, so sexy, so—”

  “I get it,” she interrupted. “You just couldn’t stay away.”

  “No, I couldn’t.”

  “I love…um, having you here.” She caught herself just in time. Emily needed him to be the first to say those three little words—but, by God if he didn’t do it soon, she was going to explode. “I wish you didn’t have to leave again.”

  “Me, too,” he agreed, “but it won’t be for long. Let’s not talk about it, though, let’s just enjoy the time we have.” He leaned in and kissed her softly.

  She pushed back and giggled. “Yes, let’s, but we should go enjoy it inside, before the neighbors start gawking at us making out in the car like a couple of teenagers.

  CHAPTER 17

  While Colin marinated the steaks and fired up the grill, Emily slid up on a barstool and phoned Maggie to see how she was doing. Camille answered the phone and reported that Maggie was sleeping, that she’d given her some of her Xanax to help her relax. She said Isabel had stopped by in the afternoon and that she and Alex were bringing dinner back for them. Jonathan would be back later in the evening, too.

  Then Camille asked Emily when she was coming back over—Maggie had asked for her.

  “Colin and I have been working on the case, Cam, trying to figure out what happened to Lucas.”

  She held back from telling Camille how she was afraid the deep despair she’d experienced when Evan was murdered would come flooding back to her if she was there, comforting Maggie.

  “We were able to speak with Josh at the jail, too, and we’re trying to piece it all together,” she told Camille.

  “I don’t understand, Em. Josh got in a fight with Lucas and accidentally killed him, didn’t he?”

  “Oh, Cam, is that what Maggie thinks?”

  “I believe so. No one has told her anything since the police came and arrested Josh. What else are we supposed to think?”

  “Colin and I learned some things today and we’re trying to fit the pieces together. It’s a lot more complicated than we thought.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say at this point,” Emily hedged, “but we’ll figure it out and let you all know as soon as we can.”

  Feeling somewhat disloyal, it was hard for Emily not to blurt out all she knew to her friends. They had shared everything with each other for the last five years. But this was different from when she had lost Evan. When she was in Maggie’s shoes, her friends were constantly by her side, supporting her, comforting her, encouraging her—but they couldn’t help her figure out who killed her husband—or why—not even Isabel.

  Out of their tight circle of friends, only Emily had the skills to give that kind of help to Maggie. Sure, Isabel could give an assist, she had the FBI connections, but as an overworked financial analyst, she couldn’t take the lead.

  “I’ll try to make it over there tonight,” Emily promised before hanging up.

  “How’s Maggie?” Colin asked, picking up the tray of marinating meat.

  “Sleeping for now, but I should go see her tonight. Everyone’s going to be there with her for dinner—everyone except me.” Even she could hear the sadness in her voice, knowing she should be with her friend, but that she chose to stay away a little while longer.

  “We could go, you know. This meat will keep.” Colin set the tray down on the counter and moved to stand closer.

  “Maybe later,” Emily said, slipping off the stool. She slid her arms around his torso and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her snuggly into an embrace. She laid her head against his strong chest and listened to beat of his heart.

  “I don’t understand. Why are you holding back, Em?” He gently kissed the top of her head. “That isn’t like you.”

  “Self-preservation, I guess. The situation hits a little too close to home.”

  “For me, too,” he whispered.

  She had been so consumed with her own feelings, for a moment she forgot about his. Guilt pricked her and she forced her eyes to meet his. She noticed they glistened with emotion—turning the guilt from a prick to a sharp stab.

  “I’m sorry, I was so self-absorbed, I wasn’t thinking about your loss.” She laid her head back down against his chest.

  He did not reply, but his arms t
ightened around her and she felt safe, hearing the soft thumping rhythm of his heart. They stood clinging to each other and the world seemed to fade away.

  “I would be a wreck without you,” she muttered.

  “Not you, babe. You’re a rock.”

  Emily felt his hold loosen. She pulled back a little and looked up into his face. “Maybe on the outside, but total mush on the inside.”

  “Just the way I like you,” he quipped, a slow smile spreading across his face. His head dipped close and he covered her lips with his. He kissed her tenderly and she felt a gentle sensation radiate down to her toes.

  Emily had missed his kisses and his warm hands gently caressing her body. These last few months apart had been agony. As much as she would prefer to spend their brief time alone in each other’s arms, she knew it would mostly be spent working the case. Priorities dictated it.

  Maggie needed Emily. Emily needed Colin.

  Disrupting their private moment, the ringtone on her cell phone began to jingle.

  “Phone,” she murmured.

  “Let it ring.” Colin moved in for another kiss.

  “Can’t,” she chirped. “Could be important.”

  He groaned and released her.

  She grabbed her phone off the counter. “Hello.”

  “Em, this is Isabel. Do you have a minute?”

  Emily glanced up at Colin with a grin. “Can it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

  “It’s about Jethro.”

  “Jethro,” Emily repeated. She shot Colin a serious look as she settled onto a stool.

  “I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. Are you coming to Maggie’s later?”

  “Yes, Colin and I.”

  “We can talk then.”

  Emily clicked her phone off and set it on the counter.

  “Who’s Jethro?” Colin asked.

  “A retired FBI agent. He’s the one I showed the old photo to, the one of Evan and the woman.”

  “He has news for you?”

  “I don’t know. Isabel didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. I guess we’re going to Maggie’s this evening, after all,” Emily said, scrunching up one corner of her mouth.