Killer Investigation

by Amanda Stevens

  “I remember that cop,” Boone said. “Bad temper. God complex. Guys like him give all the other police officers a bad name. If he had career setbacks, it was because of his incompetence and attitude. He’d already been suspended once for unreasonable force, by the way. Then he had those two inmates work you over. He should have been fired on the spot. No second chances.”

  “Why wasn’t he?”

  “My guess is someone with enough money and clout decided he could be useful. That’s how this town works, too.”

  Was it you? Reid wondered. Are you the reason John Graham still has a badge?

  “I’ll talk to some people,” Boone said.

  “No, don’t do that. All I want from you is Ginger Vreeland’s address. Or at least her last known whereabouts.”

  “So you can try to bargain with Brody?” His father leaned in so close that Reid could follow the roadmap of those tiny red veins in his eyes. “Has it ever occurred to you that Ginger would have had more than one name in her book? More than one name, more than one secret. Her disappearance had nothing to do with me. Maybe she left town because she was afraid.”

  That stopped Reid cold. “Someone threatened her?”

  Boone straightened. “I’ve said all I can say. You need to let this one go, Reid. Forget you ever heard the name Ginger Vreeland. You have no idea the can of worms you’re trying to open.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Arden was seated behind Reid’s desk working on her laptop when he got back to the office that afternoon. Despite yesterday’s experience, she barely glanced up when he came in the back door, she was that engrossed in the photographs.

  “What a day I’ve had.” He glanced in from the kitchen doorway. “You want a drink?”

  She answered without looking up. “Thought you’d stopped drinking for now.”

  “I meant water or a Coke.”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ve had a day, too,” she said, letting excitement creep into her voice. “You’ll never believe what I have to show you.”

  She heard him close the fridge and then pop the tab on a soda. “So what are you working on?” he asked. “The website?”

  “No, not yet. Right now, I’m going through some photographs.” She finally glanced up. He stood in the archway leaning a shoulder against the door frame. He’d removed his coat and tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves, revealing his tanned forearms. He looked tall and lean and handsome, the grown-up version of the boy she’d once loved beyond all reason. A thrill raced up her spine in spite of her best efforts. And with those tingles came a memory.

  Don’t be like that, Reid. Just say it.

  Why do I need to say it? You know how I feel.

  Because I need to hear it, that’s why.

  All right, then. I love you, Arden Mayfair. I’ve loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you, and I’ll love you until the moment I leave this earth. How’s that?

  “What photographs?” Reid asked.

  “What?”

  He nodded to the laptop. “You said you were going through some photographs.”

  “Oh. Right. The photos.” She cleared her throat and glanced away. She was letting herself think too much about the past today, falling into the trap of all those old memories. She and Reid had known each other forever, and, yes, she’d once felt closer to him than anyone else on earth. But that was a long time ago. They were adults now with career setbacks and bills and a plethora of other problems that had to be dealt with before she could even think about the future.

  “Arden?”

  She cleared her throat again. “I want to show you something, but you have to promise you won’t get upset.”

  “I already don’t like the sound of that, so no.” He pushed away from the door frame and ambled over to the desk, leaning against the edge as he gazed down at her. “I’m not making you any promises.”

  “Okay. Just keep in mind that I’m perfectly safe. Nothing happened.”

  “Arden.” He drawled out her name. “What have you done?”

  The intensity of his gaze...the way he tilted his head as he stared down at her...

  She sighed. Even suspicious Reid was suddenly irresistible to her. Maybe it was that death thing she’d read about. Someone dies and suddenly all you want to do is have sex so that you can feel alive. She’d never personally experienced such a reaction. Maybe it wasn’t even a real thing. Maybe she was just—

  “What is going on with you?” Reid asked. “I’ve never seen you so distracted.”

  “I have a lot on my mind, as I’m sure you do.” She brushed back her hair. “Maybe I should just show you the images and then we’ll talk. Talk not yell,” she added.

  “We’ll see.”

  He turned to lean in, placing a hand on the desk and another on the back of her chair. Too close. She couldn’t breathe, so she rolled away slightly, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

  “What? Did my deodorant fail me or something?”

  “You smell fine,” she said with an inward cringe.

  “You’re acting really weird today.”

  “I know. Let’s concentrate on the photographs.” She clicked on the thumbnails to enlarge the images. “Brody didn’t lie. He really did take photos of you and the victim in that bar.”

  Reid leaned in even closer. “Where did you get these?”

  “Someone emailed them to me.”

  He reached over and clicked another image. “Who?”

  “I did,” she admitted. “I emailed them to myself.”

  He turned with a frown. “Where did you get them?”

  “They were on Dave Brody’s laptop, which I found in his apartment after I broke in.” She said it all in a rush.

  “You what?”

  “I didn’t actually break in,” she clarified. “I used a key that I found in a flowerpot.”

  He gave a quick shake of his head as if he couldn’t keep up with her explanation. “Hold on. What key, what flowerpot?”

  She gave him a mostly abbreviated version of events, but there was no way to sugarcoat her hiding in Brody’s bathtub to avoid him.

  Reid swiveled her chair around so that she couldn’t avoid his gaze. “What were you thinking? Did you even consider what would happen if he caught you in his apartment?”

  “But he didn’t catch me. I’m perfectly fine. And I kept my head enough to wipe my fingerprints off the laptop before I left. He’ll never know I was there.”

  “Did you wipe down the doorknobs? What about the key? Are you certain the landlady didn’t see you enter or leave?” Reid looked to be hanging on to his cool by a thread. “Damn it, Arden. That could have gone wrong in so many ways. I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

  “How about, good job, Arden. How about, let’s take a closer look at these photographs.”

  He wasn’t amused. “How about, you put yourself needlessly at risk and proved that I can’t trust you.”

  Arden was starting to get a little irritated. “You’re making too big a deal of this.”

  “I’ve barely gotten started. We had an agreement, remember? My office, my firm, my rules.”

  “I wasn’t in the office. I was on my lunch break. I would assume my free time is my own.”

  “Now you’re just being deliberately willful.”

  “And you’re being—what was the word you used the other night—pedestrian,” she shot back. “When has either of us ever played by the rules? You actually followed Brody into a dark alley where a woman had been killed the night before. So don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my place.”

  “That’s different.”

  “Oh, because you’re a man and I’m a woman?”

  “No, because this is my problem. I don’t want you taking that kind of risk on my behalf.”

  “It’s not just
your problem and, for your information, I didn’t do it just for you. I want to find out who killed Haley Cooper as much as you do. For all we know, I could be the next victim.”

  That seemed to take the wind out of his sails. “I won’t let that happen.”

  “Unless we find out what’s really going on, you may not be able to stop it. That’s why I went up to Brody’s apartment. I hoped I could find evidence of the real killer’s identity or, at the very least, whether or not someone is paying him to frame you. If you’d settle down for a minute and look at the photographs, I mean, really look at the photographs, you might find something interesting.”

  “Arden...”

  “I don’t want to fight about this anymore,” she said.

  “I don’t want to fight, either. I was just about to say I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” she asked suspiciously.

  His eyes glinted and a smile flickered. “For being too much like Boone Sutton.”

  “You’re nothing like Boone Sutton. You never were.”

  His hands were still on the chair arms as he gazed into her eyes. Lips slightly parted. Heart starting to race. Or was that hers?

  He leaned in, brushing his lips against hers and Arden’s pulse jumped. It was a brief kiss, barely any contact at all, and yet she felt a tremor go straight through her, making her crave a deeper connection. She wanted to feel his tongue in her mouth and his hands on her breasts. She wanted him to whisk her upstairs and undress her slowly with the balcony doors open and the scent of jasmine drifting in on the breeze. She wanted time to melt away, but those fourteen years of estrangement were right there between them, creating obstacles and barriers that she didn’t dare breach.

  He moved his head away, just a few inches, and smiled down at her. “Sorry again.”

  “For what?”

  “For being too much like the old Reid Sutton.”

  “Don’t ever apologize for that. The old Reid Sutton was pretty wonderful.”

  “As opposed to the current Reid Sutton?”

  “Time will tell,” she teased.

  For a moment, she thought he might accept the challenge and kiss her again, but he turned back to the laptop and the moment was gone.

  Arden scooted back up to the desk and sorted through the photographs until she found the one she wanted, and then she magnified the image.

  “What am I looking for?” Reid asked.

  “Just study the picture and tell me what you see.”

  “It’s pretty dark, but I recognize a couple of my friends in the background. There I am standing at the bar. The woman next to me is the victim, Haley Cooper. I know because Detective Graham showed me a picture of her. At least I think she’s the same woman. It’s hard to know for certain.”

  “Even in the dim lighting, certain faces stand out,” Arden said. “Keep looking.”

  Reid frowned. “Why don’t you just tell me who or what I’m looking for?”

  “Check out the man at the end of the bar. His head is turned toward you, and he appears to be staring at either you or the victim or both.”

  Reid concentrated for a moment and slowly turned his head toward Arden. “Is that who I think it is?”

  “Sure looks like him to me. What are the chances that Detective Graham would be in that particular bar on that particular night?”

  Reid focused on the photograph. “Are you sure it’s him?”

  “Not one hundred percent. As you said, the photograph is dark, but look at the hair, the way he holds his drink. The expression on his face. You can almost feel the contempt. I don’t think his being there was a coincidence. My question is this. Why didn’t he tell you that he’d seen you on the night Haley Cooper was murdered?”

  “Maybe he wanted to catch me in a lie. Or see if I’d incriminate myself.”

  “Did you? Lie to him, I mean?”

  “I told him she looked vaguely familiar. There was a chance I might have seen her around the neighborhood.”

  “And he didn’t say or do anything to give himself away?”

  “No, but I was concentrating pretty hard on not giving myself away. I might not have noticed.”

  “I did some digging while you were out,” Arden said. “There’s a lot of information on the internet about cops if you know where to look. Detective Graham has a pretty checkered history with the Charleston PD. Suspensions. Internal Affairs investigations. And that’s not all. His personal life is a mess, too. He’s going through a second bad divorce. Lots of debt. That kind of guy could be bought off.”

  Reid gave her an admiring look. “Where did you find all this stuff?”

  “Blogs, message boards, news sites. A person’s whole life is online.” She paused. “Do you think he could be the one who came into your house yesterday?”

  “You tell me. You saw him on the porch. Could he have been the intruder?”

  She thought about that for a moment. “He’s the right size and height, but I never got a look at the man’s face. I figured Dave Brody. Regardless, how did the intruder get a key?”

  “Maybe he found it in a flowerpot,” Reid deadpanned.

  She made a face. “Or maybe he got it from the real estate agent who sold you this house. He could have spun any kind of story to get the agent to cooperate. What about motive, though? I get that he doesn’t like rich people, but it’s hard to believe he’d nurse a grudge against you personally. All because your father got you out of jail?”

  “He also thinks Boone meddled in his career. Don’t forget that part. And speaking of the devil...” Reid went around the desk and sat down in one of the client chairs. “I saw him today.”

  “Your father? You went to his office?”

  “No, I went by the house. I thought Mother and the housekeeper would be out and I could search his office. See if I could find anything that connects him to Ginger Vreeland.”

  “Did you?”

  “He came home before I had a chance to look around. I told him I was there to see Mother, but I don’t think he believed me. Luckily, he was too preoccupied—and possibly inebriated—to press me. Anyway, I brought up Brody’s name. He pretended he didn’t know who he was until I mentioned Ginger Vreeland. Then he became visibly distressed and implied that she’d left town because one of her clients had threatened her.”

  “Did he say who?”

  “No, but he was pretty adamant that I leave Ginger alone. He told me in no uncertain terms that I should walk away.”

  “You’re not going to, are you?”

  Reid’s gaze hardened. “How can I as long as Brody has leverage over me?”

  “Then should I move forward with the website and business cards? The sooner we contact her uncle, the closer we are to finding Ginger.”

  “Yes, go ahead, and make sure you run everything by me before you do anything else. In other words, don’t go off on your own trying to track this guy down.”

  “You have my word.” Arden closed the laptop and began gathering up her things. “It’s been a long day. I’m heading home now. I’ve been so distracted by everything that’s happened here, I’m behind on the things I need to do at Berdeaux Place.”

  “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll drive you,” Reid said.

  Arden stood and hooked her bag over her shoulder. “That’s not necessary. I enjoy the walk. Gives me a chance to get reacquainted with the city.”

  Reid rose, too. “You’ll have plenty of time for that later. It’s a long walk and it’ll be twilight soon. I don’t want you out on the street with Brody lurking around. Before you argue—it has nothing to do with your gender,” he said. “It’s just common sense.”

  Hard to disagree with that. Arden nodded. “You’re right. We both need to take precautions these days. A ride would be great.”

  They walked out the back door, pausing on the porch for Reid to l
ock up. Then they went down the steps together and crossed the yard to the driveway. Arden took a moment to admire the sleek lines of his car before she climbed inside and settled comfortably onto the seat. She ran a hand over the padded leather as Reid started the engine.

  “Nice ride. But it kind of stands out in this neighborhood, don’t you think?”

  He grinned. “Why do you think I park around back? I thought about selling it when I got rid of the condo. I could have used the extra cash, but I’m a Southern boy born and bred. When it comes right down to it, I’d sooner cut off my right arm than get rid of my wheels.”

  “I sold my car before I left Atlanta,” Arden said. “I sold or gave away everything except whatever I could pack in my bags.”

  Reid shot her a glance. “Clean break.”

  “Yeah.”

  They were out on the street now heading toward the tip of the peninsula. Reid checked the rearview mirror and then checked it again.

  “What is it?” she asked anxiously.

  “Probably nothing. A beige sedan has been behind us for a few blocks. No, don’t turn around,” he said.

  Arden looked in the outside mirror. “Two cars back? Do you think it could be Graham? Looks like an unmarked cop car.”

  “Let’s find out.” Reid gave her a warning glance. “You better hold on!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Reid jerked the wheel, executing a sharp right turn at the last minute. Then he goosed the accelerator for half a block, threw on the brakes and reversed into an alley.

  Through all the maneuvers, Arden clung to the armrest and the edge of her seat. When he finally came to a full stop, she released her held breath. “Are you insane? You nearly gave me a heart attack back there.”

  “I did warn you to hold on.” He focused his gaze on the street in front of them. “Anyway, that’s just adrenaline. Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.”