by Laura Durham
“It might have been something she didn’t tell you.”
“So someone wanted to make sure she never got the chance to spill the real secrets?” I asked.
Richard clutched my arm. “If that’s true, then the person is still running free.”
I put a hand over Richard’s and looked Reese in the eyes. “Which means we need to find out who wanted to silence Sherry and what all this has to do with the kidnapping before someone actually gets killed.”
Chapter 18
“We should call in the cops,” Reese said, stepping further down the hallway.
“I already did,” I said as I followed him. “You’re not telling me your colleagues would do a better job than you, are you?”
The door at the end of the hall opened, giving me a peek into the bustling garage-turned-catering-kitchen and sending a cloud of savory smells wafting into the house. Several chefs in white jackets stood chopping and slicing at long tables, while waiters in long bistro aprons filled water pitchers and bread baskets. A waiter poked his head inside, saw the crowd in the hallway, and closed the door again.
Reese narrowed his eyes at me. “Nicely played, babe, but you know I can only do so much working outside the system.”
I glared at him. “Even if more cops means Kate could be killed?”
Richard pushed his way through the crowd in the doorway and joined us in the hall. “I think I’m developing late-onset claustrophobia.”
“I wouldn’t call this house a small, confined space,” I said.
Richard shot a look at the people gathered around Sherry in the office. “What do you call the syndrome where being around people for more than two minutes annoys you?”
“Being Richard?” I suggested.
He cocked one eyebrow at me. “Hilarious.” He looked from Reese to me. “Am I interrupting a lover’s spat?”
“I was telling Annabelle I need to call in reinforcements, especially since there’s been an attempted murder,” Reese said.
“And I think any more law enforcement puts Kate at risk,” I explained.
Richard studied us both for a minute, arching a perfectly coifed brow before pivoting to face me. “You know I’m not a big fan of us playing detective, darling.” He held up a hand before I could argue. “But I also know you’d never get over it if anything happened to Kate.”
Reese let out a burst of breath. “I’m trying to save Kate, but I honestly don’t know if I can do it on my own.”
“You’re not on your own,” I said, throwing an arm around Richard’s shoulders. “You’ve got us. Not to mention Fern, Buster, Mack, and Alexandra.”
“None of you are trained investigators,” Reese said.
“But we have been involved in more than a few criminal investigations,” I argued. “And we’ve helped you nab murderers.”
Reese did not look convinced.
Richard looked over his shoulder into Sherry’s office and headed toward the kitchen door. “Let’s take a break from the drama.”
“I think we’d have to leave the metropolitan area to do that,” I said as the three of us proceeded to the kitchen. “Between the wedding, the kidnapping, and the attempted murder, this is drama central.”
“Attempted murder?”
I hadn’t noticed the mother of the bride, but her voice made me turn to see her sitting at the long kitchen table beside her sister. The women wore robes and held mugs in front of them with what I hoped was coffee.
My mouth fell open as I tried to figure out a way to break the news to Mrs. Hamilton about her assistant.
“There’s been an accident,” Richard said, stepping forward when I clammed up.
Aunt Connie eyed us. “She said attempted murder.”
“We don’t know for sure.” I made my way around the kitchen island, gathering empty glasses out of habit as I went. “Sherry was found unconscious in her office.”
Mrs. Hamilton leapt to her feet. “Sherry? My assistant?” She clutched her hands in front of her. “It must have been an accident. Why would anyone want to hurt Sherry?”
“You sure she didn’t pass out?” the grandmother asked, walking into the room.
Mrs. Hamilton shot her mother a look. “Where is she?”
Aunt Connie stood up. “I’ll come. I might be able to help.”
Their mother jerked a thumb in Connie’s direction. “She’s a trained nurse. Comes in handy, although she can’t write prescriptions or give you notes to carry your emotional support gopher on an airplane.” She guffawed at her own joke.
Mrs. Hamilton pressed her lips together, obviously fighting the urge to snap at her mother.
“Mom, please,” Aunt Connie said in a warning tone, but her mother continued laughing.
“Your daughter is helping her now,” I told the aunt. “They’re in Sherry’s office.”
Mrs. Hamilton pulled her robe together in the front as she rushed out of the room toward her assistant’s office with her sister close behind her. Their mother took a seat at the kitchen table and pulled one of the abandoned coffee cups in front of her.
“You don’t look worried,” I said as I watched the grandmother lean back and stretch her legs out in front of her.
The gray-haired woman twitched one shoulder. “These are rich people problems. Maybe if my son-in-law wasn’t so greedy they wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Reese slid out a chair across from her. “You think this is all because of money?”
“What else? Doesn’t all crime have to do with sex or money?” She leaned forward, giving him a cross between a smile and a leer.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is granny moving in on your man?” Richard whispered.
I gave him an exasperated look, and he gave me one back of pure innocence.
“What? You have to watch out for cougars these days,” he said so only I could hear. “Although, even on your worst day, you don’t have to worry too much about this one.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”
Mrs. Hamilton’s mother turned her attention to me and Richard, waving her hand at us. “You two are thick as thieves. Are you a thing?”
“Bite your tongue,” Richard said.
“Again, thanks,” I said to him, catching Reese turning around and grinning at me.
“Money might explain the kidnapping, but what about someone attempting to kill Sherry?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the crimes.
The grandmother slapped her hand on the table. “Why does my daughter need a personal assistant? You tell me that. It’s not like she’s got a job, unless you count going to lunch or attending fundraisers a job.”
I knew many wealthy women in the DC area did consider those things their profession, but I didn’t point that out.
“She’s always been too big for her britches,” the woman continued. “That’s her problem. Thinks she’s better than everyone else. Well, what she’s got isn’t so great if you ask me.”
“I’ve heard she’s been pretty generous with you and her sister.” I knew I shouldn’t say anything, but I felt like someone needed to defend my client when she wasn’t there to do it.
The grandmother eyed me. “You did, did you? She used the word generous?”
Before I could answer, Mr. Hamilton entered the room. He wore tuxedo pants and a shirt open at the collar with a bow tie hanging loose around his neck. He froze when he saw his mother-in-law at the table.
“There’s the big man himself,” Mrs. Hamilton’s mother said.
“I’m really not in the mood right now, Candace.” He made his way to the refrigerator where he reached in and took out a bottle of water. “All I care about is getting my daughter back, so you can save your snide remarks for someone who cares.”
“Snap,” Richard said, his expression telling me that the father had moved up a few notches in his estimation.
“Far be it from me to criticize,” the grandmother said, arching a painted-on eyebrow. “I’m glad to see you co
ncerned about one of your children. It’s a nice change.”
I realized I was holding my breath as I watched Mr. Hamilton and his mother-in-law stare each other down from across the room.
“Stephen, there you are.” Mrs. Hamilton rushed into the room from the hallway, wrapping her arms around his waist.
He looked down at her in obvious surprise but returned her embrace. “What’s wrong?”
She peered up at him, her face tearstained. “Sherry’s been attacked.”
“What?” He held his wife by the shoulders. “When? Is she okay?”
Mrs. Hamilton nodded. “Cara and Connie say she should be fine, but it looks like someone knocked her over the head on purpose. I don’t understand. Why is all this happening?”
Her husband’s face hardened. “This is all my fault. I’ve put everyone in this house at risk.” He let out a breath and kissed the top of his wife’s head. “I’ve made arrangements to deliver the ransom myself.”
I noticed Reese straighten up.
Mrs. Hamilton dabbed at her eyes. “What does that mean? Will you get in trouble?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s my responsibility to fix this, even if it means I go to jail.”
Mrs. Hamilton began sobbing silently as her husband held her, and her mother looked on, a look of disapproval set firmly on the old woman’s face.
I motioned to Richard and Reese to follow me out of the room so we could escape the awkwardness of both the private moment and the barely concealed hostility.
“Did you know anything about all this family drama?” Richard asked me once we’d reached the foyer.
“Not a clue,” I said. “But at this point I couldn’t care less. If the father pays the ransom, we’ll get Kate back.”
“You still think this is about someone getting their hands on the poison gas?” Reese asked.
“All I know is Kate is being held for a ransom which is about to be paid.” I felt a flutter of excitement, but told myself not to count my chickens before they’d hatched.
“So I’m too late?”
I turned to see a dark-haired man in black cargo pants and a black henley shirt coming through the front door. For a moment I thought it was a member of Mr. Hamilton’s security team.
“Isn’t that . . .” Richard asked, giving the muscular man a once-over.
“Daniel Reese,” I said as Mike stepped forward to give his big brother a one-armed hug. “What are you doing here?”
Reese thumped his brother on the back. “He’s my backup.”
Richard rubbed his head. “They’re multiplying.”
Aside from the touches of gray at his temples and the extra inch Daniel had on his brother, the men looked similar enough to warrant a double take. Mike’s big brother was also in law enforcement, or at least he had been until he’d retired and opened his own private security firm. I’d worked with him on a previous wedding that required extra security, and he’d accompanied his brother to Bali to surprise me, but I hadn’t seen him too much over the last few months. This wasn’t a big deal since I was in the middle of my busy wedding season, and my cop boyfriend had been putting in extra hours so he could angle for a promotion. Most of the few hours Mike and I had managed to spend together, I hadn’t wanted to share him. I wasn’t even sure if Daniel knew his younger brother had floated the idea of us moving in together. Not that now was the time to bring it up.
“Hi, Annabelle,” Daniel said, bending down to give me a peck on the cheek. “Hi, Richard.”
“He remembered my name,” Richard muttered to me as he puffed out his chest.
“How did you get in?” I asked, trying to ignore Richard preening beside me.
“I know your security guys,” he said. “Some of them have worked for me.”
Reese gave a brief nod. “I thought you might have some insight into them.”
“I do,” the older brother said. “These guys are good. If someone managed to slip by them, they’d have to be even better. Professionals.”
My stomach dropped as I heard Richard’s quick inhale.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Reese said.
Chapter 19
“So what does that mean for Kate?” I asked, biting the edge of my thumbnail and feeling grateful I didn’t bother with expensive manicures. “And the bride, of course.”
Daniel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Mike gave me the bare bones information about what happened, but I don’t know enough to say for sure what we’re dealing with.”
Richard cleared his throat. “I hate to bring this up, but how are we going to explain another tall, dark, and out-of-place guy to everyone? And before Fern even thinks about it, I do not go in for any type of ménage à trois, pretend or otherwise. Being romantically linked to one Reese brother is enough for me, thank you very much.”
Daniel’s eyebrows shot up so high I thought they might meld with his dark hairline.
Mike put a hand to one temple and massaged it. “It’s not what it sounds like. I’ll explain it to you later.”
“Please do,” Daniel said, the side of his mouth curling up into a half smile.
“As it stands now, the father of the bride, Mr. Stephen Hamilton, is planning to deliver the ransom by himself,” Mike said. “According to the kidnappers, the bride, Veronica Hamilton, will be released, presumably with Kate, Annabelle’s assistant.”
“I remember Kate,” Daniel said.
I was sure he did since my flirty assistant had kissed him rather enthusiastically during a moment of relief and excitement in Bali. Although they hadn’t seen each other since then, and I knew Kate didn’t have any serious designs on my boyfriend’s older brother, I liked to think his fond memory of her would make the rescue personal for him as well.
Daniel pivoted to face his brother. “And did I hear you correctly when you told me the kidnappers aren’t asking for money?”
“That’s right.” Reese rocked back on his heels. “They want some of the highly toxic nerve gas that Hamilton’s pharmaceutical company has been developing.”
Daniel frowned. “You know this is way out of our league. Even if I was on the job and you were here in an official capacity, we’d be calling in Homeland Security or the bureau.”
“Yeah, I do,” his brother said. “But something about this kidnapping and ransom is off. I know it seems like we’re dealing with terrorists after a potentially deadly biological weapon, but my gut tells me this is less about the ransom and more about the guy who’s being forced to give the ransom.”
“You mean because everybody hates him?” Richard asked. “Especially his own family?”
“That and how low-tech this plan was,” Reese said. “They didn’t kill anyone when they extracted the two women, and the only person injured so far is a woman who was leaking family secrets to Annabelle.”
“How do you explain the kidnappers getting past security?” Daniel asked.
“Until the women disappeared, the security team was solely focused on watching the dad. Either they missed it because they weren’t looking for it, or the kidnapping didn’t look like a kidnapping.”
Daniel moved his head up and down slowly. “You mean the women left without knowing they were being kidnapped?”
“It would explain why we found no signs of a struggle and no one heard a thing.”
“Outrageous!” Sidney Allen bustled into the foyer, his hands over his head. He’d clearly recovered from his earlier shock and even cleaned the grass off his face, but bright green stains still covered the front of his dress shirt and pants.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Not only did your renegade floral designers stretch out the fabric of the two capes they took, the doge costumes are still missing as well as several of my imported Pulcinella masks.” Sidney Allen took a breath and glared at me. “I cannot work under these intolerable conditions.”
I put a hand on his arm, removing it just as quickly when he stared me down. “It’s a stress
ful day for all of us.”
Sidney Allen paced a small circle on the marble floor. “How can guests be welcomed by an authentic Venetian doge and his retinue if I don’t have the costumes I had made for the doge and his wife?” He stopped and gave us all hard looks. “What kind of person would steal costumes?”
Richard sniffed and picked a piece of imaginary lint off his beige suit jacket. “Don’t look at me, little man. Wild horses couldn’t get me into embroidered satin on a summer day like today.”
“Well, I’m going to question every single person here until I track down the culprit.” Sidney Allen hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his pants and jerked them up. “Starting with those two thugs you call florists.”
“Good luck with that,” I said to his back as he stomped out of the foyer in the direction of the kitchen.
“I thought we were dealing with an abduction, not costume theft,” Daniel said.
“That was Sidney Allen,” I explained. “He’s putting together all the performers and entertainment for today’s wedding. Since we’re trying to recreate Carnival in Venice, it’s a pretty tall order. It seems someone made off with a couple of his costumes.”
“You know,” Reese said. “I may talk to that little fellow just to rule out the possibility that his missing costumes aren’t connected to the abduction.”
“You aren’t suggesting someone is randomly snatching things from the wedding, are you?” Richard asked. “First the bride and a wedding planner, next some costumes.”
Reese cocked an eyebrow at him. “Not exactly, but I’ve found that coincidences rarely are just that.”
“And I’m assuming the thug florists are your friends Buster and Mack?” Daniel asked.
“Did someone say our names?” Mack called out as he ambled into the foyer from the hallway with Buster right behind him. Both men looked startled and pleased when they spotted Daniel. “It’s a Bali reunion!”
“Except for Kate,” I said, instantly regretting my words as their faces fell.
Mack took Reese’s hand while looking at me. “We have faith the detective will get her back.”