Death By High Heels (The Kim Murphy PI Series Book 1)

by Violet Ingram

  “Mrs. Hardin, I guess I should thank you for your hospitality.”

  “Don’t thank me, I had nothing to do with this.” She turned and looked at Kevin seated on the couch next to her.

  “Sorry, Miss Murphy. When you fell asleep I thought I should bring you here.”

  “Why?”

  “You know, so you could rest before you helped us.”

  “Help you?

  “Yeah, well, us.” He pointed unnecessarily at Mrs. Hardin before pointing to himself.

  “Kevin, this is ridiculous. She’s in no shape to help anyone. Besides, she already turned me down.”

  “There were extenuating circumstances.”

  “Of course there were. You conveniently forgot to mention you were friends with my husband’s latest little slut.”

  “Huh?”

  “Lindsay Pembrook.”

  “Oh, well, she’s just a neighbor. I don’t know anything about whatever.”

  “Yeah, right. I’ve gotta say, I figured you’d be a better liar than that.”

  I thought it funny she was concerned about the woman her husband was sleeping with while she was dressed in a gray silk robe, snuggled up on the couch against Kevin, who looked mighty comfortable there. “So, I guess you and Kevin are just friends?”

  “Now, Miss Murphy, this isn’t what it looks like. We’re in love.”

  “Congratulations. Does Mr. Hardin know?”

  “No, and we’d like to keep it that way, for now anyway.”

  “I’m sure you do.”

  “I told you, Kevin, she wouldn’t understand. Just get her out of here.” Mrs. Hardin moved as if to stand up. Kevin grabbed her hand and pulled her back against him.

  “You didn’t give her a chance last time. I mean, you lied to her. I’m sure if you tell her the truth, she’ll help us.”

  He may have been sure, but I certainly wasn’t.

  “Fine.” She sighed and turned toward me. “When I came to your office I lied about needing proof my cheating scumbag of a husband has been busy banging his little bleach blonde bitch.”

  I had to fight the urge to warn her about the whole pot and kettle saying, but I figured she probably wouldn’t understand.

  “Lizzie, come on, start at the beginning.”

  Oh, yes, please, Lizzie, please do. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have anything better to do in the middle of the freaking night than listen to your self-absorbed ramblings.

  “A few months ago, I found out about my husband’s, uh, infidelities. I wanted to hurt him. One afternoon I was at Evan’s office and met Kevin in the waiting area. We got to talking and, well, one thing led to another.” She stopped talking and turned toward Kevin. Their eyes met and both wore the same silly smiles on their faces.

  Oh, gross. “And?” I prompted.

  “We fell in love, Miss Murphy. We didn’t mean to, it just happened.”

  “Congratulations. Now what does any of that have to do with me?”

  “Go on, Lizzie, tell her.”

  “Well, my husband has been married before, twice actually. So when we got married he insisted I sign a prenup.”

  “So you tried to hire me because you wanted proof of his cheating,” I said.

  “Yes, but that was only part of it.” She turned and looked at Kevin.

  “Brian had pictures of us. He threatened to give the pictures to Mr. Hardin if we didn’t help him with a problem,” Kevin said.

  “Your friend was blackmailing you?” I asked.

  “No, I mean, yeah, sort of, but he didn’t want to. He just didn’t have any other choice.”

  I couldn’t believe Lizzie and Kevin had just given me a large motive for Brian’s murder. Though I couldn’t see how any of the others fit into this.

  “Look, Miss Murphy, I know what you’re thinkin’ and I swear we didn’t mean to do it.”

  I so did not want to hear a confession right now. Though I had no one to blame but myself for getting into this mess, all I wanted was a shower, my bed, and the cops to arrest Brian’s, Adam’s, and Angie’s killer or killers. Was that really too much to ask for?

  “Wait a minute. Did you say something about needing my help?” I asked, hoping to put off the confession until I was safely surrounded by, oh, I didn’t know, an entire SWAT team maybe.

  “Oh, well, we were hoping you could help us find the pictures.”

  “What makes you think I could find them?”

  “Because you had one on your desk when I was in your office,” Lizzie said.

  “What? Wait a minute, the picture of the party?”

  “Yes, Kevin and I were in the background. Brian took a bunch of pictures that night. He didn’t even know about us until he printed the pictures off his computer and looked at them.”

  “Yeah, they were partying at a hotel and some old buddies were in town. Lizzie and I were having our own party. I didn’t know which hotel the guys were staying at, so we got out of there as fast as we could.”

  “It just wasn’t fast enough,” said Lizzie.

  “Please, Miss Murphy, we’ve looked everywhere for those pictures. Where did you find the picture?”

  I considered my answer carefully. Since it didn’t matter now I figured it was safe to answer the question truthfully—sort of.

  “At Angie’s apartment.” I tried unsuccessfully to block out the image of Angie that slammed back into my brain. I had to get out of here and call the police.

  “Why didn’t I think of that?” Kevin asked.

  “Well, they were broken up. Why would he hide something at his ex-girlfriend’s place?”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He smiled.

  “You know, as much as I’ve enjoyed this, I’m exhausted. Why don’t the two of you meet me in my office later tomorrow or today or whatever?”

  “Fine,” Lizzie said before turning toward Kevin. “Take her home and then hurry back.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to be a bother, I’ll just…” I stopped talking because I wasn’t quite sure how to end that sentence.

  “It’s no problem, really. It’s the least I can do for all the trouble I’ve caused.”

  “Trouble? What trouble?” I asked, forgetting I wasn’t really in the mood for answers.

  “Well, you see, it’s kind of my fault you got hurt.” Kevin stared at the floor.

  “Your fault? You hit me in the back of the head?”

  “No, I’d never do that.”

  “Then what the hell are you talking about?”

  “I…it’s just. Oh hell, I’m the one who searched Lindsay’s apartment after Brian was killed.”

  “I’m going to need more than that.”

  “I was looking for the pictures and I was so scared about the cops showing up I left without locking the door. I was halfway home when I realized it. I turned around and went back. That’s when…”

  “When what?”

  “When I…found you on the patio.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, you were out cold. I didn’t want to just leave you outside like that, so I carried you inside Lindsay’s apartment.”

  “You left me there? What about calling 9-1-1 for help? What if the person who attacked me came back?”

  “They didn’t. I stayed with you until you woke up then I got in my car. When the first cop car showed up, I left. I figured you’d be okay then.”

  I stared at Kevin, unsure of what to say. He had brought me inside, but instead of calling for help, he just watched over me. Of course there was nothing creepy about that or anything. Yeah right. I was at a complete loss. Between the alcohol, two kidnappings, finding Angie’s body, and my long escape, it was all just too much. All I wanted was to crawl into bed and when I woke up in, say, a day or two, the murders would be solved, the reporters would have kindly dropped off a cliff, and these two would never darken my door or life again.

  “You know, you should be thanking him.”

  I turned to look at Lizzie. She was staring at Kevin
like he’d just pulled a family from a burning building. Yeah, the man was a real hero. “Thanks. Look, I need to use a phone.”

  “It’s four o’clock in the morning. Don’t you think you should wait a while before you start callin’ people?"

  “I need to call the police.”

  “The police? No way are you calling the cops from my phone. Kevin, take her home now!”

  “Okay, okay.”

  I followed Kevin into the garage, grateful to be leaving. Once inside his car, the pizza smell wrapped around me like a giant blanket. After giving Kevin directions he probably didn’t need, I couldn’t stay quiet. There were so many unanswered questions. “Why did you search Lindsay’s apartment?”

  “Well, you know, since Brian was killed there, I figured he may have gone there to give her the pictures.”

  “Okay, but why did you try to search for them after the police sealed the door?”

  “I didn’t know about that. Not until I got to Mrs. Kanisky’s apartment.”

  What the hell? Little warning bells were going off in my head but the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “How did you know Mrs. Kanisky?”

  “I didn’t. Brian did, sort of.”

  “How?”

  “It’s really not important.”

  “She was a nice old lady. What did she have to do with Brian?”

  “Nothing, just drop it,” Kevin snapped. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly it looked as if someone had super glued them to the wheel.

  Whatever Kevin, Brian, and the others were up to somehow involved my former elderly neighbor. Mrs. Kanisky’s death had been attributed to old age and several medical problems but I’d always felt something just wasn’t right about her passing. I’d chalked it up to my sadness over her death. She had waved bye to me as I got into my car that morning. That evening when I returned home, one of the neighbors told me she had died during the day. Had their actions somehow caused her death? I didn’t know how they could have, but I knew if Kevin and Lizzie were involved, I’d make sure they spent some quality time in the prisons of the court’s choosing.

  I looked at Kevin and wondered if that was the face of a killer. He had seemed so nice, even helpful, but was that just an act? Didn’t the neighbors of serial killers always describe them as friendly? “Stop the car.”

  “What?”

  “Stop the car. I’m gonna be sick.”

  “Hold on.” Kevin pulled the car to the curb. I jumped out, bent at the waist, and pretended to have the dry heaves, though it didn’t take a whole lot of acting skills at that point.

  “Jeez, Miss Murphy, are you okay?”

  Unable to speak, I nodded my head.

  “Wow, you don’t look so good.”

  “Thanks, just what I needed to hear.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “If you’re feelin’ better, let’s get in the car. I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

  I stood back up and froze. Behind Kevin two men in ski masks, guns in their hands, were heading toward us. “Shit!”

  “Are you feelin’ sick again?”

  He had no idea. “Kevin, why don’t you take off? It’s not too far, I can walk from here.”

  “No way am I leavin’ you on the side of the road.”

  Ironically, that was exactly where he had found me a few hours before, but at the other end of town. If only he’d left me there, he wouldn’t be about to pay for it now. One of the gunmen grabbed Kevin while the other stepped around them and closed his free hand around my arm.

  “What the hell?” Kevin struggled with the man holding onto him.

  “Kevin, don’t!” I had images of the gun going off in the struggle. If we were lucky, it would hit one of our attackers. I didn’t figure Kevin or I had that kind of good luck.

  “Listen to her, Kevin. It seems she’s the smart one.”

  I’d have thanked him for the compliment if not for the fact that they were leading us to an old van with blackened windows.

  “Let’s go. Our boss would like to talk to you, Kimberly Murphy.”

  “It’s Kim.” What the hell was I doing correcting him? I really must have lost my mind.

  “Look, guys, since I’m the one your boss is so eager to talk to, why don’t we just leave Kevin here and the three of us can go?”

  “A threesome, huh?” the one holding me asked. “Tempting, very tempting,” he said, pulling me up against him.

  The one holding onto Kevin chuckled. “Maybe later, sweet cheeks, after the boss is through with you. Afraid we’re going to have to take your friend here.”

  Kevin and I were shoved into the back of the van. I wondered if my own face mirrored Kevin’s panic-filled one. While one of our ski-masked kidnappers got in back with us, the other got behind the wheel of the van. The driver, before pulling away from the curb, yanked off his ski mask and tossed it onto the passenger seat. He probably figured it wasn’t wise to draw attention to himself by driving in the summer with a ski mask on. Both of our kidnappers were wearing identical outfits of black pants and black long-sleeved shirts. They reminded me of a couple who had the poor taste to dress alike, minus the matching ski masks, of course.

  Beside me, Kevin whimpered. Our companion in the back chuckled. So, okay, Kevin was scared. Who wouldn’t be after two guys pointed guns at you and shoved you into a van? Being kidnapped was scary as hell. I should know, since it was quickly becoming a regular occurrence for me. The only reason I wasn’t sitting in the corner babbling incoherently to myself was I had had my fill of scary for one night. The fact that I’d escaped from these idiots once gave me a bit of encouragement that my luck hadn’t run out yet. Not so lucky was the fact that who other than me could have managed to get kidnapped three times in under eight hours. It must be a gift, the kind you were desperate to return the day after Christmas.

  Kevin didn’t look so good. His face was pale and he was sweating—a lot. “Hey, you okay?”

  It was a stupid question but it was the best I could come up with at the moment. Kevin didn’t answer me at first, but eventually he nodded his head. I scooted closer to him. “Take slow, deep breaths.”

  He did and seemed to calm down a bit. That was good because the last thing we needed was Kevin freaking out. Our masked and unmasked companions were likely to be way too eager with the trigger fingers, especially since I’d escaped their little party earlier. They were sure to be on their guard for any antics from me. If not, all the better for me and Kevin.

  “Sorry, not much of a view back here,” my ski mask-wearing buddy said. All of the windows in the back of the van had been blacked out.

  “That’s okay, it’s too dark to see much anyway. Now, if there was something we could do to make the floor more comfortable, that would be nice.”

  He laughed. “Maybe next time we’ll use a limo.”

  “Sounds great,” I replied, as long as it wasn’t me and it wasn’t the inside of the trunk.

  I looked back at Kevin to see how he was doing. The labored breathing had stopped but his eyes were glued to the gun still pointed in our direction. I assumed we were traveling in the general direction of where they’d taken me the first time. Could they really be taking me back there? The question had just popped into my head and now we were once again crossing over train tracks. Now my own heart began to race. Kevin and I were being taken back to where Angie’s body had been dumped like any other garbage. No one deserved that. Well, except pedophiles and rapists. They deserved that and oh so much worse. Kevin had returned to whimpering. I’d have joined him if I thought it would do any good.

  When we stopped at what I assumed was a red light, the driver glanced back at us. He chuckled at Kevin’s obvious fear. Looking at me, he licked his lips and winked.

  “Get moving. The light’s green.”

  Our driver turned around and once again we were on the move. Before long we stopped once again. Only this time our driver put the van in park and tur
ned off the engine. He got out and a few seconds later the back doors opened. Kevin, experiencing a moment of either bravery or stupidity, rushed forward, knocking Mr. No Mask backward. Kevin turned toward me, his eyes large and round like two DVDs. He was as surprised as I that it had worked.

  “Come on, let’s go.”

  Kevin grabbed my hand. In his excitement he must have forgotten about Mr. Ski Mask sitting in the back with us. I turned to look and found myself staring at a large, shiny gun. I looked back at Kevin, and he had his own problems. Mr. No Mask had gotten back up and was also pointing a gun, at Kevin’s head.

  “Move it, asshole, and don’t try to play hero again.”

  Kevin scooted toward the back of the van. When he got to the edge Mr. No Mask grabbed him and yanked him out, tossing him onto the ground. Kevin struggled to his feet just in time to collide with Mr. No Mask’s fist. I shouted for him to stop but he ignored me and landed several more punches to Kevin’s head and stomach. The last punch sent Kevin sprawling to the ground.

  I crawled out of the van and leaned down next to Kevin. He was still breathing but his face looked like someone had mistaken it for a piñata. Except instead of sugar-coated treats trickling out, a steady stream of blood dripped from his nose. Mr. No Mask pulled his foot back as if to kick Kevin.

  “Enough! Get them inside.”

  I couldn’t see the person who belonged to the voice but it was obvious this was someone in charge. Mr. No Mask half dragged, half carried Kevin while Mr. Ski Mask grabbed my arm and escorted me inside. Having learned a lesson from their previous attempt to keep me here, they stuck us in a small room with a window the size of my head on the first floor. Neither Kevin nor I had been bound, which should have been good news, but it wasn’t. They hadn’t bound us because a quick look around the small room revealed nothing, absolutely nothing. The room was as empty as Brandon’s refrigerator, if you ignored the beer and the science experiment in the back.

  This sucked. They had even kept my purse this time, not that I had anything useful in it, but I’d only used it twice. Maybe now wasn’t the right time to focus on the loss of my purse but it at least took my mind off the very real possible loss of me. Which I was pretty sure was the only outcome possible. The worst part, well, one of them, was I’d inadvertently gotten Kevin dragged into this mess. His murder would weigh heavily on my conscious, if only for a short time. I figured these lunatics wouldn’t take long to kill me after getting whatever it was they wanted from me. Angie’s death felt like it was my fault as well. I couldn’t figure what all this mess was about. I just hoped before the end they had the decency to explain it to me. No sense in leaving a lady in limbo for all of eternity.