Paradise Valley Mystery 02-The Heart of Lies

by Debra Burroughs

  “We still don’t know for sure who put it in the purse, but when I reveal the paperweight, the reaction of these women should tell us if it was one of them. Have you got it for me, Ernie?”

  He reached into the same drawer where he had placed the other one and pulled Maggie’s out. “Sorry about having to take it, Emily. You understand, I was—”

  “Just doing your job, Ernie. Yeah, I know.”

  He handed it to Emily and then locked the evidence drawer.

  Emily pulled it out of the bag. “Do you have that ketchup and white hanky I asked for, Ernie?”

  “Right here.” He handed the items to her and watched with interest, as did Colin and Maggie.

  Emily smeared ketchup on the jagged tips of the mountain-shaped paperweight with her finger and set it on the desk in the middle of the hanky to dry. “Colin, can you wire me?”

  Colin chuckled at Emily’s decoy murder weapon and pushed off the desk, grabbing the box of equipment from behind it. Emily lifted her blouse, with her back to Ernie, and Colin began taping the wire in place.

  “Ernie will be in the van listening while you’re talking with Fiona and Gloria,” Colin said, “waiting for your signal to move in.”

  “I have the surveillance van out back and I’ve already briefed a handful of officers on the plan,” Ernie explained, fastening his bullet-proof vest. “They’ll be in place around the restaurant’s parking lot, out of sight, before Fiona and Gloria arrive. As a matter of fact, they should already be on their way over there.”

  “What about me?” Maggie asked. “I want to come.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Colin warned, continuing to affix the wire to Emily.

  When he had to run the wire up through her bra, she slapped his hand away playfully. “I think I can manage the rest of it myself.”

  She took the mic out of his hand and threaded it under the front of her bra, then taped it to her chest.

  “She can keep you and me company in the van,” Ernie proposed. “She’ll be safe enough.”

  Colin shot Emily a questioning look.

  Emily shrugged and rolled her eyes as she stuck the earbud into her left ear. “I guess it’s okay, as long as she’s quiet and stays out of the way, but it’s not my call. Ernie?”

  “I’ll be quiet as a church mouse,” Maggie promised. “Y’all won’t even know I’m there.”

  “Looks like you’re in.” Ernie grinned at Maggie.

  “Let’s load up.” Emily pulled the handkerchief around the paperweight, the same way she had found the murder weapon, and stuck it in her own purse.

  ~*~

  “I’m pulling in,” Emily said out loud, making sure her microphone was working. An eerie shiver crept up her spine as she anticipated what she was about to do.

  As Emily pulled into the Copper Kettle Restaurant’s parking lot, she spotted Fiona and Mrs. Wakefield sitting in Fiona’s silvery blue sedan. Emily remembered seeing her driving it into the office parking lot a few times.

  Glancing around, Emily noticed the restaurant’s parking lot was almost empty, grateful there were few patrons in the place in the middle of the afternoon.

  “We hear you loud and clear,” Ernie replied in her ear. “I’m starting the recording.”

  Emily swung her white Volvo into a parking space near the sedan. If she had to wrestle one of them to the ground, she wanted to leave an empty space between them for room to maneuver. “I’m getting out.”

  She climbed out of her car and slung her own purse over her shoulder, carrying Gloria’s bag in her hand. As she cautiously approached the women, they got out of the car to meet her. Her heart was thudding so loudly she was certain Ernie could hear the pounding through her microphone. A bead of sweat trickled down her temple and she inhaled deeply, wondering if her plan would work.

  Breathe, Emily, just breathe

  She plastered a friendly smile on her face.

  You can do this.

  “Hi, Fiona, Mrs. Wakefield.”

  “Oh, Emily, thank you so much for bringing me my purse. I hope it wasn’t too far out of your way.” Gloria took the bag from Emily. Turning, she set it on the hood of the car. “You’re simply a doll, Emily.” She dug around inside of the purse as if she was looking for something, slowly at first, then erratically. She spun back to Emily with a pallid, rattled look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” Fiona asked at the older woman’s odd behavior.

  “Is this what you’re looking for?” Emily held up the bloody paperweight enrobed in a white cotton handkerchief.

  Gloria’s eyes grew as big as saucers, then narrowed to a scowl.

  “I don’t understand. Why did you bring that?” Fiona’s eyebrows wrinkled together in obvious surprise. “Isn’t that Lucas’s paperweight, from the office? And why does it have blood on it?”

  Gloria did not answer. She stood stony silent, glaring at Emily.

  It was clear to Emily that Gloria was the culprit. “Fiona, this is the murder weapon. I found it in Gloria’s purse.”

  “What?” Fiona screeched and turned to Gloria. “Momma? The murder weapon was in your purse?”

  “Momma?” Emily asked. “Gloria is your mother?”

  “You killed my husband?” Fiona wretched.

  “Lucas was your husband?”

  “You stupid girl! Shut up!” Gloria ordered between clenched teeth.

  “No one was supposed to get killed, Momma, especially not my husband.” Angry tears began to flow down Fiona’s cheeks.

  “You were the mastermind of this whole resort scheme?” Emily asked.

  Gloria reached behind her and pulled the gun out of her bag and pointed it at Emily. “No one would suspect an old lady.”

  “Get ready to move.” Emily heard Ernie give the order to his men.

  “Not yet,” Emily mumbled.

  “Hold up, fellas,” Ernie ordered.

  “What did you say?” Gloria demanded, pushing the muzzle of the gun against Emily’s chest.

  “I said, not yet—that anyone would suspect an old lady.” Emily raised her hands in surrender. “But they will.”

  “Momma, you killed my husband!” Fiona cried. “How could you?”

  “Pull yourself together, girl, if you want to get out of this. Now do as I say. Pop the lid on the trunk,” Gloria ordered Fiona.

  “It was all her idea,” Fiona babbled as she opened the car door and reached for the trunk release. “She planned everything, even having me move here first so Lucas could hire me.”

  “Stop talking, you idiot!” Gloria yelled, as she wagged the gun and motioned for Emily to move to the trunk. “Get in.”

  “Are you going to kill me like you killed Lucas?” Emily asked, with her hands still raised. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she worked the two of them to confess on tape.

  “We’re moving in.” Ernie’s voice came through the ear piece.

  “No!” Emily erupted, wanting to stop the police from charging just yet.

  “Stand down, men,” Ernie ordered.

  “Let Ernie send the guys in now,” Colin snapped into Ernie’s mic.

  “I’m not doing that.” Emily gave Gloria a steely stare, trying to force her hand.

  “I’ll shoot you right here, then.” Gloria glanced around to see if anyone had eyes on her. She pressed the gun against Emily’s chest.

  “Momma, no!” Fiona shouted.

  In a split second, Emily’s hands flew down on the gun and she deftly twisted it out of the woman’s hand in one smooth motion. Gloria’s eyes grew big and she raised both hands. Taking a small step back, she bumped into the car as Emily pointed the gun at her.

  “Please, Emily, don’t shoot her!” Fiona pleaded.

  “Move in, boys.” Emily lowered the gun, keeping her eyes on the old girl. “You don’t think I’d hand you a purse with a loaded gun in it, do you?”

  “Go, go, go!” She heard Ernie give the order. Several police officers raced from behind the shrubs and took
Gloria and Fiona into custody, as a dark blue-and-white squad car squealed into the parking lot.

  Maggie came running from the van and threw her arms around Emily. “Oh, Em, that was great.”

  “Good job, Emily.” Ernie stepped in with congratulations, her slender hand completely swallowed in his bear claw. “But you had us all plenty worried when the old bat pulled the gun. I wish you’d let us in on the fact the gun was empty.”

  “Sorry, Ernie, but what would have been the fun in that?” She grinned at him, then glanced around, looking for Colin. She saw him climbing out of the van and moving toward her, wiping the back of his hand over his eyes.

  Ernie saw him, too. “He was real concerned about you, Em,” he whispered.

  Colin stepped up and scooped Emily into his arms. His eyes were moist as he studied her face, then he drew her in so tightly she could hardly breathe. “What were you thinking?”

  Maggie peeked up at Ernie and they turned and wandered away.

  “I thought I was doing my job,” she squeaked.

  “Ernie wanted to send in the troops, but you kept saying no. When that woman pulled the gun on you, I thought I was going to lose you.”

  “I’m okay, see. I’m okay.” She gently cupped his face in her hands, meeting his gaze.

  He loosened his hold a bit, but kept her firmly in his arms. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again.”

  “I can’t promise that.” Peering into his misty eyes, she saw genuine concern, forgetting for now her suspicions of him. “What I will do is promise to let you know the whole plan next time. Deal?”

  “That’s better than nothing, I guess.” He lowered his eyes and looked away. His jaw twitched against her palm as her hands still tenderly cupped his face. She brought his gaze back to hers. She kissed him softly and she tasted the saltiness of a tear that had trickled down his cheek.

  They stood for a minute clinging to each other, as if the rest of the world had faded away. Hearing a ruckus in the background, they suddenly seemed to remember they weren’t alone and stepped apart. A uniformed officer was struggling to help Fiona into the squad car.

  “I want a deal!” Fiona hollered from the back of the cruiser. “I’ll tell you everything!”

  “Shut up, Fiona!” Gloria screamed as Ernie aided her into the back seat on the other side of the vehicle.

  Emily and Colin looked at each other. Chuckling, they wandered over to check out their suspects.

  Emily approached the side of the cruiser where Gloria sat and she rested her forearm on top of the open car door. “Just between you and me—no mic this time—why did you have to kill Lucas?”

  “I guess it doesn’t matter now if I tell you. It was because he and Fiona were going to disappear with all my money.”

  “You took a man’s life because he was stealing your money?” Emily clarified, crouching down to her level.

  “Oh, it was more than just that. It wasn’t just because he was stealing my money—he was stealing my daughter,” Gloria grumbled. “They would have run off and I’d never see her again.”

  Emily grimaced.

  She had seen how her beloved daughter was turning on her, but she noticed Fiona was now listening to what her mother was saying.

  “She’s not much,” Gloria admitted with a note of sadness, “but she’s all I have.”

  Then her voice and her eyes turned steely cold. “No one takes what belongs to me and gets away with it. No one.”

  CHAPTER 27

  It didn’t take long for the murder charges against Maggie’s son to be dropped, and Camille and Isabel offered to throw a big backyard party at Isabel’s house to celebrate. Maggie, of course, accepted. She had been so worried about losing Josh to prison, she decided that every moment was precious.

  The night of the party arrived and Emily stood in her somewhat-organized walk-in closet, trying to choose a memorable outfit for the evening. This party would also be a farewell to Colin, who needed to return to San Francisco in the morning, so Emily took special care to look her best.

  She slipped into her tight white jeans and pulled a black off-the-shoulder, short-sleeve sweater from the rack and slid it on. “There.” She fluffed her tousled blonde curls with her fingers and turned in the full-length mirror to admire her derriere. Gold hoop earrings and a little lipstick and she’d be done.

  She checked her watch and realized she still had a few minutes to kill before Colin would arrive to pick her up. Traipsing through the house shoeless, she headed to the breakfast bar to fetch the lipstick out of her purse. While painting on the soft pink lip color, she noticed the stack of mail that she’d brought in earlier. She might as well sort the mail while she waited.

  The first envelope was her credit card statement, the second was a misdirected piece of mail—Mr. Terrence Biggens. She marked it with “wrong address” and set it aside. The third envelope was addressed to Evan, from All Security Storage, likely a promotional piece.

  She was about to toss it, but there was something about it that made her suspect it might not be junk mail after all. She slid her finger under the flap and ripped the envelope open. Unfolding the paper inside, she glanced over it. It was a letter on company stationery, informing Evan that the advance payments on his storage unit had run out and payment for the next twelve months was due the first of the following month.

  Why would he have a storage unit?

  The key!

  Like a light bulb going on in her head, she thought of the brass key. Dare she hope her mystery was solved? She checked the coin purse on the side of her leather wallet to make sure it was still there—it was.

  She didn’t have time to do anything about it right now, but tomorrow she would definitely go and check it out. She tucked the letter back in the envelope, folded it in half, and shoved it in her bag.

  If her stalker broke into the house again while she was gone, she wasn’t giving him the address and unit number of the storage place. Whatever was in the unit was obviously something Evan wanted kept secret. And as for Colin, she thought it best not to mention it to him either—not yet anyway—not until she was certain she could trust him.

  A sharp rap on the front door brought her running from the kitchen. Seeing the crown of his dark brown hair, she took a calming breath and swung the door wide. Holding it open for him, she struck a sexy pose with one hand on her hip. “Hello, Colin.”

  His eyes lit up and an enthusiastic smile spread across his face. “Wow, Emily. You look amazing.”

  He stepped over the threshold, unable to take his eyes off of her. “Babe, you are smokin’ hot.”

  “That’s the look I was shooting for,” she teased, pushing the door shut.

  “Well, you definitely hit your target—three shots to the heart.” He groaned, throwing his right hand over the center of his chest and wincing as if he’d been hit.

  He better be the real deal, ’cause this man is definitely stealing my heart.

  She stepped closer and his arms were instantly around her, drawing her into him. He lowered his face to hers, their lips brushing softly together, sending a thrill down her body.

  Her off-the-shoulder sweater invited his next kiss there, as his lips tenderly grazed her sensitive skin.

  She couldn’t stop the little shiver that danced up her spine.

  He leaned back, studied her face, as if he were memorizing it. When he closed his eyes, she knew what was coming next and she steadied herself against him as his soft warm lips claimed hers.

  “You are such a distraction, Emily.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. It’s just that I was going to tell you something when I came in, but when I saw you, everything else flew out of my mind.”

  “What did you want to tell me?” Emily ran her hands over his broad shoulders, feeling the pulsation of energy streaming between them.

  “It may be nothing, but there was a black sedan parked across the street. I’m pretty sure it was a BMW.
”

  Emily ran to the window and peeked out through the blinds. “No one there now.”

  “It drove off when I swung into your driveway. I wasn’t able to see the license plate.”

  “What about the driver?”

  “Tinted windows, but it looked like a woman to me—light skin, dark hair pulled back, sun glasses.”

  “Isabel drives a black BMW.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

  “Why would it be Isabel?”

  “Oh…um, maybe she was coming to see me,” Emily covered, “but decided not to bother when you pulled up. She probably figured we wanted some alone time, you know, after everything that’s happened.”

  It was probably best to keep her doubts to herself.

  Colin looked puzzled. “Wouldn’t Isabel be at her house right now? I mean, the party is at her place tonight.”

  “Yes, of course, you’re right. I don’t know why I said that.” She tightened her hold around Colin’s waist and laid her head on his chest, hiding her face. “The only other person I know with a black BMW was Delia McCall’s late husband, but that would be silly to think it was her.”

  “The car would have passed to her when he died, right?”

  “Yes. I think it was owned by her company, so she may still have it, but why would she be following me?”

  “We don’t even know if it was her, or if it was even the same car. It could have been someone innocently visiting one of your neighbors, couldn’t it?”

  “I suppose.” Emily leaned back and looked up at Colin. “This is your last night here, so let’s not talk about it anymore tonight.” Emily was determined to shut the thoughts of the black car out of her mind for the evening. She had more urgent things to concentrate on.

  ~*~

  Camille planned the party menu around Josh’s favorite foods. He deserved it after all he had been through, thinking he was coming home for a happy wedding and then getting caught in the middle of a murder.

  The food was beyond amazing—her rib-eye steaks, baby back ribs, grilled salmon, fresh corn on the cob, homemade sides, juicy watermelon and four different desserts. Maggie and Josh couldn’t stop raving.