Never Con A Con Man (An Arizona High Country Mystery Book 1)

by Suzanne Floyd

  “Thanks, I think.” I laughed. I knew exactly what she was talking about. I’d already had a run-in with a couple of parents who thought their son or daughter could do no wrong.

  “As long as I enjoy what I’m doing, I’m content,” she continued quietly. “When my husband died, he left me with a nice nest egg, and my house is paid for. I don’t have to worry about finances.” Her dark eyes clouded over with a deep sadness. “Money doesn’t keep me warm on cold nights, but it pays the electric bill.”

  She gave a small gasp, and her mouth dropped open. I started to turn around, but she stopped me. “Beth Ann just walked in. I guess you were right. She’s checking to make sure you really did have plans.”

  You could hear a pin drop as she walked across the small room. Ignoring the other customers, she marched over to our table. “Well, hello.” She gave us a frosty smile. “Is this a business meeting?”

  “Of course not. Why would you think that?” My smile felt stiff on my face.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you socializing before. Maybe this was a spur of the moment thing?” She looked between us. Linda seemed paralyzed in her seat. Her eyes were as big as dollars. Getting caught in a lie wasn’t a good position to be in.

  “What are you suggesting, Beth Ann?” I asked, deciding the best offense is defense. I wasn’t going to let her make me feel guilty. “Linda and I work together. Is there any reason we can’t be friends as well? Most people become friends with the people they work with.”

  “Well, I thought you were probably lying about being busy to avoid going to lunch with me.” Her tone was aggressive. She didn’t bother to keep her voice down.

  I didn’t know what to say to that, and an awkward silence settled over us. I could feel the stares of the other customers. They seemed to be holding their collective breaths. “Are you ladies ready to order?” Darlene casually approached our table. She propped her hand on her hip, a playful smile tugging at her lips.

  “Um sure,” Linda finally found her tongue. “Would you like to join us, Beth Ann?” Her gracious question shocked Beth Ann as much as it did Darlene and me.

  “Oh! Um, sure.” She pulled out the spare chair.

  “All right then.” Darlene was the first to recover from this turn of events. “Our special today is grilled ham and cheese on rye with French fries or onion rings. I don’t have gluten-free bread.” She gave Beth Ann an apologetic smile. “Do you have allergies like your mother? She was allergic to almost everything we serve, and was never able to eat here.”

  Beth Ann ignored the snarkiness in her tone. “No, I don’t have any allergies, but thank you for asking. The special sounds great. I’ll have the fries.” Linda and I agreed on the special as well, and Darlene bustled off.

  We were all silent waiting for someone to speak. Customers at the other tables were quiet as well. No one wanted to say something that would be embellished and repeated. This was torture, and I couldn’t wait for it to end.

  But Linda and I weren’t the only ones eager for the meal to be over. Beth Ann finished her sandwich in record time, and pushed back her chair. “Thanks for inviting me to join you. It’s been…fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime.” She hurried out the door before we could say anything. Everyone in the diner seemed to give a sigh of relief once she was out the door.

  It wasn’t until she was gone that Linda and I realized she’d left us with the tab for her meal. I had to laugh. “Well, that was certainly an interesting meal, but I wouldn’t call it fun.”

  Linda nodded agreement. “I’m sorry I asked her to join us, but I couldn’t think of a way to get around it. Since it was my idea, I’ll pay for her meal.”

  “Nonsense, we can split it.” I laughed. “To think I was starting to feel sorry for her.”

  Darlene walked up to the table with the tickets in her hand, looking at Beth Ann’s empty chair. “That was about the most awkward meal I’ve ever witnessed in my diner. I don’t know what surprises me more, the fact that you asked her to join you, or that she stuck you with paying for her meal.” She shook her head. “Actually, that part doesn’t surprise me. I really thought she’d leave when I came to take your orders. That’s the first time she’s eaten in our lowly establishment.”

  “I really didn’t think she’d agree to join us, or I wouldn’t have suggested it.” Linda gave a little shudder. “She is just like her mother, and that woman scared me to death.”

  Darlene let out a loud laugh. “Don’t let her know that. You’ll be in her sights for the rest of your life.” She tore up all three lunch tickets. “This one’s on me. It was worth it to see her tongue-tied for a change. Would you like some dessert? Maybe you can actually enjoy part of the meal.” She gave another boisterous laugh.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “It’s gone,” He had to work hard to keep from yelling.

  “What’s gone?”

  “What the hell do you think? Our money, it’s gone.”

  “How can that be? Where did it go?”

  “If I knew that, I could just get it back.” He started pacing, trying to work off some of the agitation bottled up inside him. How had he gotten himself into this mess?

  “No one but Max and Fred knew what you were doing, so how could it be gone? Where would it go?”

  “No, they weren’t the only ones to know what we were doing,” he said. “You knew.” He didn’t want to tell her about Max’s lover. That would create a whole new problem.

  “Are you seriously accusing me of taking the money? How could you even think that? It was supposed to be for us to start our life together.” There were tears in her voice now.

  “I’m sorry, honey. You know I didn’t mean it like that.” He was silent for several minutes trying to make sense of this. Where could the money have gone?

  “Are you sure it got transferred? You did check it, right?”

  “I took Fred’s word that the transfer went through.”

  “What? Why didn’t you check it when you knew Max was on to you?”

  “What could he do once the transfer was made? It was a numbered account with passcodes and everything.”

  “Yet the money is missing. What are we going to do now?”

  “It has to be that damned librarian. Max said he left evidence, and he’d been to see her. She’s the only one who could have taken it.”

  “Then we’ll have to do something to get it back. I’m tired of this town. I want out of here.” Before he could think of an answer, she disconnected the call.

  ~~~

  Drake showed up on my doorstep with a pizza, a bottle of wine, and a six-pack of beer. The last time he brought wine it was a peace offering. What was the excuse now? Did he have more bad news? Coming in, he placed a kiss on my lips before going to the kitchen with his offerings.

  “What’s the occasion?” I asked as he set the bottle down on my kitchen table. One glass of wine was my limit. If he drank the entire six-pack, he wouldn’t be fit to drive home. He’d spent one night on my couch before he installed the new locks. I thought that was enough to teach him not to try it again. Until I could buy a new couch, I was stuck with the one I had while in college. It had seen better days.

  “No occasion, just a simple dinner. The wine is for you, the beer is for me, the pizza is for both of us. I hope you still like pepperoni pizza with extra cheese.” I was in love with him, but there was still a lot we needed to know about each other before we could move forward. Hopefully that wouldn’t take long.

  “What’s this I hear about you having lunch with Beth Ann today?” He chuckled at the thought. “What did she want?”

  “I’m not really sure. It was the most uncomfortable half hour I’ve spent in forever.” I shook my head. “No one said more than a few words once she came into the diner.”

  “Don’t let her fool you,” he warned. “She’ll pump you for information then use it against you. Did she ask a lot of questions about the case?”

  “Like I said, w
e barely talked. I thought I was going to have indigestion from eating so fast. We just wanted it to end. I was with Linda when Beth Ann came into the diner. She was checking up on me.”

  He looked up from opening the bottle of wine. “Checking up on you? What’s that about?”

  I explained about Beth Ann’s visit to the library that morning. “Linda heard her ask me to go to lunch with her, and called my desk to ask me to lunch before I gave my answer to Beth Ann. She thought I was lying, so I guess she followed me to the diner.”

  He frowned at me. “That’s bordering on stalking. Why would she do that?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about Beth Ann any longer. “Did you really figure out who started this whole thing with Dynamic Corporation? Or was that just a way to keep me from snooping?”

  “I’ve got it taken care of. In fact, Mr. Fletcher came to my office to let me know they weren’t going to pursue building a store in town.”

  That sounded a little ominous to me. “So where are they going to try to build it?” I picked up my glass, taking a sip of the sweet white wine. He didn’t answer my question.

  “I don’t really care as long as it isn’t in Pine Mountain.” Without waiting for a plate, he took a big bite out of his slice of pizza.

  “You might want to check with the County Supervisors. Since he didn’t get what he wanted in town, he might try something outside of town. That would have the same effect on the local stores.”

  “Damn, I hadn’t thought of that.” He put down his pizza, pulling his phone off his belt. “I might have to hire you as one of my detectives.” He gave me a wink.

  “Who are you calling? You won’t be able to get any of the supervisors on a Saturday night.”

  “Hi, Dad, you might want to check with the County Supervisors first thing Monday morning.” He explained about my theory. Talking this over for several minutes, he asked another question before he hung up. “How are things there?” He listened, shaking his head. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “What was that about?”

  “Things don’t look good right now out at the ranch. Jane won’t tell him where she spent Thanksgiving night and has locked him out of their bedroom. If she tries to take Hannah away, he’ll fight her with everything he has. This is the first time he’s admitted how bad things are.”

  “I can guess where she was and who she was with.”

  “How?” His eyebrows lowered over his eyes.

  “When I was looking at the town’s web site I saw the man she spent so much time with on Thanksgiving Day. If Jane didn’t spend the night at the ranch, I’d say she went somewhere with that guy. How could she do that to Jim?”

  “Never mind about Dad, he’s a big boy. He got himself into this mess. How could she take off with some guy and leave Hannah all night?” Anger tinged his voice. “What’s the guy’s name? You said you saw him on the town website?” I nodded my head. “What department?” He shot the questions at me as he paced.

  “His name is Wendell something. He was with Jane every time I saw her after the argument in the kitchen. Why would Jim invite him?”

  “I doubt that he did. There were only a couple of people from the mayor’s office at the ranch. The others were from the store. If she was spending that much time with the guy, she probably invited him. Do you know what department he works for?”

  “The IT department. That would give him access to all sorts of things. He might even be able to pick up passcodes to the bank. That’s what Max wanted me to find.”

  “Damn,” he swore again. “Can you find his last name for me? If he’s behind the embezzlement, he’s also a killer.”

  My heart was pounding in my ears. “Do you think Jane knew what he was doing?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going to jump to any conclusions yet. That’s where everyone went wrong in the first place. We all assumed Max was at fault.” I cleared my throat, and he gave me a small smile. “Okay, you and Bill were the only ones willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. I should have known better. That is one thing we’re taught at the academy, follow the evidence and don’t assume anything.” He shook his head in frustration. “Find that guy’s last name for me. I’ll start there.”

  I opened up my laptop. I hadn’t used it since the night of Jim’s first town hall meeting. Whenever I needed to look something up, I used the computer at the library or my tablet. “What’s going on?” I muttered, staring at the screen. The icons on the desktop had been rearranged.

  “What’s the matter?” Drake looked over my shoulder.

  “Everything is moved around. Someone has used my laptop.”

  “Maybe there was an automatic update that changed things. Don’t worry about it now. Check out that guy’s last name for me.”

  Studying the different icons, I shook my head. Updates wouldn’t rearrange things on the screen. Someone broke into my house. A burglar would steal my laptop, not mess with it. I looked at Drake. “There’s a new folder on the desktop.” I frowned at the screen trying to decide what to do. “Max told me to follow the trail. I don’t know how long he’d been in my house before I got home. I don’t take my laptop to work with me every day because I have access to anything I need at the library.”

  Moving the curser over the new file, my heart beat faster. “This is it,” I whispered. “It has to be.” I started to click on it, when Drake put his hand on mine.

  “What if it wasn’t Max who put it there? Whoever killed him beat him first. What if the killer made him tell where he put his evidence? There could be a virus on that file that will destroy your computer. You’d lose anything Max sent you along with anything you have on there. Can you isolate that folder from the rest of your computer?”

  I shook my head. “I would need an external hard drive for that. I’m not equipped to do that here.”

  “Okay, for now leave that file alone. Look up Wendell’s last name so I can check him out.”

  I pulled up the town’s website to find Wendell’s last name. Then remotely logging on to the Police Department’s computer, Drake plugged Wendell Kramer’s name into system. Fifteen minutes later, he leaned back with a frustrated sigh. “The guy looks squeaky clean. He doesn’t even have a parking ticket to his name.”

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t do this,” I argued. “It just means he hasn’t been caught at something. Besides, he isn’t exactly squeaky clean. Whatever else he’s done, he’s having an affair with Jane,” I said with disgust.

  “We don’t know that’s what’s going on with them. I don’t like her any more than you do, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not going to assume anyone is guilty until I have all the evidence.”

  I understood where he was coming from. Jane isn’t a very good mother, but that doesn’t mean she is involved with embezzlement and murder. He hadn’t convinced me that she wasn’t having an affair though. “Whatever happens with Jane, I feel sorry for Hannah. She deserves a better mother than the one she has. Is your dad still going to have the birthday party tomorrow? Will Jane even bother to be there?”

  He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. We’ve done all we can do tonight. Can we discuss something that won’t ruin our dinner?” He had already eaten two big pieces of pizza. What was left was cold. I turned on the oven to warm it up. Some people don’t mind cold pizza, but I’m not one of them.

  Picking up the beer he’d set aside, he drained it in one gulp. It looked like he might be spending the night on my couch again. It wouldn’t be good if the Chief of Police was picked up for DUI on his way home.

  He finished off the last of the pizza, and we went into the living room. While he watched football, I opened my Kindle hoping to forget all the problems plaguing our town. It didn’t work. My mind kept churning, trying to sort things out. I finally gave up, setting it aside.

  I wished I had an external hard drive at home, but that would have to wait until I got to work on Monday. Ther
e were several spare drives I could use to transfer the folder from my laptop. I didn’t want to take any chances of releasing a virus that would destroy my computer.

  Drake said he knew who sent the original emails to Dynamic Corporation. I stopped that thought. No, he said he had it under control. I wasn’t sure what that meant.

  “Did the same person that embezzled the money contact Dynamic about building a store here? Or was it two different people?” He was lost in the game. I had to wait until half time for my chance to ask my questions.

  “All I have right now is circumstantial,” he said with a sigh. “Fletcher said Dynamic thought they were dealing with the town treasurer. I’ll call Dynamic first thing Monday morning to see if there is anything else they can tell me. Dad informed the County Supervisors about a possible bid to build there. Most of the land outside of town is either National Forest, private property, or county and state land. There isn’t anything we can do about a private owner selling their land to whoever they want. National Forest and state land is a different matter.”

  “Who would benefit most from one of those stores being built around here?” I asked. “If someone was hoping to sell their land to Dynamic, they wouldn’t want the company to build in town.”

  “None of the current store owners would welcome that store in town or just outside. Their businesses would all end up closing. I’ve seen it happen in other small towns. I don’t want that to happen here.”

  “Max kept telling me to follow the trail. Were you able to figure out what he meant?”

  “I can’t follow something if I don’t know where I’m supposed to look. I hope that folder you found is what we’re looking for.” He raked his fingers through his hair causing it to fall over his forehead. I reached up, following the path his fingers had made. I loved the silky texture of the thick strands. Drake missed most of the second half of the football game.

  ~~~

  Sunday morning was cold, but sunny. June and Jill hijacked me before I got to the steps of the church. “Have you checked out Facebook this morning?” The question came out of left field.