by Gale Deitch
“Surveillance. Had a warrant and hacked into his computer. Ally purchased the tickets online yesterday morning and emailed a copy of the reservation to him.”
For once, I was speechless. How could this be? Zach promised me just two days ago at the funeral that there would be no more secrets between us. He was my best friend in this world. Now I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to trust him again.
Daniel’s cell phone rang and he flipped it open. “Goldman here. Yeah…okay…okay. Right.” As he spoke, he glanced at me then flipped the phone closed with one hand.
“What? Is it about Zach?”
“Yeah. The judge on call is back at work this morning. He released Zach on bail. You can pick him up any time. And because today is Sunday, you’ll have twenty-four hours to pay by certified check. You can do that at his arraignment Monday morning.”
“He’s free to go? That’s wonderful news.” I threw my arms around Daniel and kissed him on the lips.
He pushed me down onto the bed, pinning my arms on my pillow, his face hovering directly above mine. A bead of water from his damp hair dropped onto my cheek, and when he chuckled, I got a whiff of his warm, minty breath. “I guess I’m going to have to give you good news a little more often.”
Daniel leaned in closer for a long lingering kiss. When he released me, I groaned.
“I guess you will.” I grinned up at him, my spirits lifted like muffins rising in the oven.
After Goldman left, I got right down to business and called Ally. For now, I wouldn’t mention the plane tickets to Toronto. I needed to get back in her good graces and get the name of the lawyer who’d helped Zach get off once before.
“What do you want?” Those were the first words out of Ally’s mouth when she heard my voice.
Okay, this could be a little harder than I thought. I might have to knock some sense into her, kind of like tenderizing a chuck steak.
“I need your help, Ally. Well, Zach needs your help. He’s been arrested.”
“Arrested? For what?”
I decided that bluntness would be the best way to get through to her. “For the murder of your father. With peanuts.”
“What? Where did they get an idea like that? Zach wouldn’t hurt Daddy.”
“I know that and you know that, but Detective Goldman is convinced that Zach is the murderer. The police keep records. They know about Zach’s prior arrest and what happened to that college girl who ate the cookie bars laced with peanuts. Your cookie bars, Ally.”
“Trudie, I told you I did not put peanuts in those bars. You’re not going to incriminate me, are you? I just can’t go to jail. I couldn’t stand it. I’d kill myself first.”
I wasn’t going to let on that I’d already let the cookie bars out of the bag, so to speak. I needed her help and would say anything to get it. “Ally, don’t worry about that. Right now you have to get in touch with that lawyer who helped Zach. The bond hearing is tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, and Zach needs him to be there.”
“Oh, let me see. His name was Bernstein. That’s right. David Bernstein. He was Daddy’s attorney for many years. I’ll get his number from my mother.”
“Ally, just remember that Zach took a fall for you, a big one. You owe him.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “I’ll see if my mom will help out with the lawyer’s fee. Just don’t tell the police what you know about me. Okay, Trudie?”
“Agreed.” Of course, I wasn’t going to tell them something they already knew.
I DRESSED QUICKLY and headed to the police station to pick up Zach, so relieved that he wouldn’t have to sit in jail another night. I had to get a few things straight with him. If we were going to remain friends and business partners, he would have to come clean and stop keeping secrets from me. I wanted to know what in the world he was thinking, trying to leave town in the middle of an investigation, and without telling me.
At least it was Goldman’s day off and I wouldn’t have to face him again at the station. My feelings for him and my loyalty to Zach clashed every time I thought about them. I would have to put my emotions aside for now and take care of business.
I spotted Zach hunched over on the same bench where I’d found him the week before. As long as I’d known him, he’d been hyper about everything, always active, moving from one thing to another, hard to keep still. The boredom of his jail cell must have driven him nuts. Seeing him now, wallowing in defeat, I felt my anger soften like butter set out at room temperature.
“Hey,” I said, trying to put a cheerful note in my voice.
He turned toward me and smiled. “What’s new, Tru?” This was the way he often greeted me growing up together. As adults, he’d say it whenever things weren’t going well to try to cheer me up.
I put on the brightest smile I could. “I spoke to Ally. She’ll get the lawyer to your hearing tomorrow.”
Zach stood up to give me a hug. “This is going to cost us plenty. I’m sorry, Trudie.”
“It’s only money. We’ll make it up at another gig. By the reception we got last night, some of the Lewises’ guests will be calling soon. Besides, Ally’s going to ask her mother to pay the attorney fees.”
We were both silent for a good part of the drive home. I kept glancing over at him waiting for him to come clean, but he just sat looking blankly out the window.
“What?” he asked. “Something’s on your mind, so spit it out.”
After all these years, he knew me too well.
“Zach, the only way I’m going to be able to help you is to get everything out in the open. No more secrets.” I spoke quietly. “Ally told me about the girl that died from the peanut allergy. She told me everything.”
He turned to me, and I knew he understood what I meant. That I knew the entire story and how he had taken the rap for Ally and stood trial for murder.
“You’re a good person, Zach. Too good. Ally didn’t deserve what you did for her. But that’s your nature, and I’ll bet if it happened again, you’d do the same thing.”
He put his head down and nodded.
“So I’m not going to yell and carry on and scream at you for doing such a stupid thing. But do you know why Detective Goldman arrested you last night?”
Zach looked up at me. “Why?”
“It’s not just the fact that you were arrested several years ago for the exact same type of murder. He could have waited to collect more evidence of your guilt. Oh no. You had to go ahead and make plans with Ally not just to leave town, but to leave the country.” My voice grew louder as I spoke, and now that I pulled into his parking lot and into a space, I could face him and watch his reaction.
“Leave the country?” The question in his eyes almost convinced me he had no idea what I was talking about. But the proof was in his computer.
“Oh, don’t play Mr. Innocent with me, Zachary Cohen. You know exactly what I mean. You were planning to fly off with Ally to Toronto. Tomorrow. When were you going to tell me, your best friend, your business partner? Huh?” I pounded my fist on the dashboard to emphasize each question.
“Toronto? I wasn’t planning on going to Toronto—with Ally or with anyone else.”
“Don’t lie to me, Zach. There have been too many lies between us, and I’ve had enough. You know that she’s already made the flight reservations.”
Zach took both my hands in his, and I tried to pull away.
“Trudie, sit still and listen to me.”
Reluctantly, I glared into his face.
“Remember the other day at the funeral when I walked Ally to her car to console her?”
“Yes. How could I forget?” It still hurt that he left me standing at the graveside.
“Well, she kept begging me to leave town with her, to get away from everything. She said she would make it all up to me; we’d get married and be so happy together and forget everything that had happened between us.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?” I asked.
“At one t
ime, when I thought I was in love with Ally, I would have jumped at the chance. But at some point I realized she’s not the woman I want to live my life with.” Still holding onto my hands, he gently rubbed his thumbs across my knuckles. “You are. You’re the one who makes me happy every day as we work side by side.”
I stiffened, thinking about Goldman, and hoping that Zach wouldn’t find out about our attraction to each other and his spending last night on my couch. “So why did you tell Ally you’d go away with her?”
“I didn’t. I just told her things would get better and I’d always be here for her, if she needed me. She must have gone ahead and made the reservations thinking she could persuade me to go. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”
“And again, Ally Schwartz lands you in jail.”
Chapter Fourteen
After dropping Zach off at home, I headed to Georgetown. It was almost one o’clock, and Mr. Lewis would most likely be leaving soon for his romantic afternoon tryst. The phone conversation I’d overheard while hiding in his closet could only mean one thing. Bob Lewis was having an affair.
I couldn’t get his words out of my head. “We’re halfway there.” What did that mean? Maybe he was in love with Mrs. Schwartz. They’d eliminated her husband, and now they were plotting to kill Barbara Lewis. I had to find out. If my suspicions were correct, this might be the evidence I needed to prove Zach’s innocence.
I parked my car down the street from the Lewis house and waited. This could be a total waste of time. Mr. Lewis might have left earlier in the day to go to “the club,” as he referred to it. Or he could be at his office or golfing or any number of places.
Still, I waited.
After so little sleep the night before, I was afraid of dozing off. My mind wandered to Goldman. I didn’t understand what his motive was in staying the night at my apartment. Was he just being protective or did he really have feelings for me? Guys never treated me the way Goldman had. At twenty-eight, never having had a boyfriend, a girl starts to put up splatter shields so she doesn’t get burned by the hot grease.
So what was Goldman’s angle? Trying to sort out my feelings for him was like sifting through a bowl of confectioner’s sugar. Every time he touched me, I melted right into his arms. I sighed just thinking about his kisses.
The sight of the Lewis’ garage door opening jarred me to attention. I checked my watch. One-twenty. A silver Mercedes convertible sports car emerged through the iron gates and headed right past my car. I ducked as he passed but doubted he would notice me, even in my orange Honda. He had no reason to suspect that anyone was watching him and no reason to suspect that I would know anything about his secret meeting, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
I pulled onto the street and followed, two cars behind him, not sure exactly which way he was heading. This was my only opportunity to find out the identity of the mystery woman, and I was convinced that her identity played a significant part in the murder of Mr. Schwartz.
Heading north on Wisconsin Avenue, we must have hit every red light. When Mr. Lewis crossed an intersection just as the light turned red, I thought I had lost him. But, a couple of blocks later, I caught up.
We continued through Chevy Chase, into Bethesda, where Mr. Lewis finally pulled into the Hilton Garden Inn parking garage. For some reason, I’d expected the love nest to be at some cheap motel where I could watch their comings and goings from the parking lot. Now I had no choice but to park in the garage and try to make my way through the lobby without being seen. Before leaving my car, I pulled my hair into a ponytail, put on sunglasses and a Food Network baseball cap that I kept on the back seat of my car. Once in the lobby, I sat on a bar stool in the lounge adjacent to the elevators.
At the registration desk, Bob Lewis wore jeans, a white polo shirt, and a red Washington Nationals cap. At least he was a fan of the home team. I guessed this was his idea of going incognito. This was not the wealthy businessman I’d catered to the evening before. He walked across the lobby to the elevators and pressed the up button. Once he’d entered the elevator and the doors closed, I watched the illuminated number change until it stopped at six.
I ordered a Diet Coke and waited. It was just about two o’clock, and I wasn’t sure whether the woman he was meeting had already arrived. People came and went, families with cameras heading out for some sightseeing, men holding garment bags with business suits checking in for early Monday morning meetings, and twenty-somethings meeting friends at the bar.
Then I saw her. She also sported a cap, all white, the kind she wore to play tennis. Today, her hair was completely concealed under the cap. Her white tennis outfit had a very short skirt that showed off her long, tanned legs. I would have recognized her anywhere.
Ally.
I turned around and sipped my soda until I heard the ding of the elevator arriving and waited a moment for her to enter and for the doors to close. Then I turned back to watch the numbers ascend…one…two…three…four…five…six…bingo!
There was no point in hanging around the lobby. I had accomplished what I’d set out to do, but my mind was completely muddled. I had been sure the mystery woman was Mrs. Schwartz. But, Ally? Ally was having an affair with Mr. Lewis? Why? He was old enough to be her father. And did that mean they were in cahoots to kill Mr. Schwartz? Again, why?
I HEADED TO the warehouse. Zach had told me the van still needed to be unloaded from the party last night. He’d planned to tackle the task this morning, until Goldman intercepted him with an arrest warrant. I figured I’d give him a break today and do it myself.
The door to the office swung open too easily. I stepped in and stopped short. Files and papers were strewn all over the desk and floor, file drawers pulled out and dumped, tables and chairs in the display area overturned. I rushed to the warehouse door, opened it, and flicked on the light. Most of the heavy metal storage shelves had been thrown to the floor, which was covered with shattered china and glassware. The place had been ransacked. Who could have done this? And what were they looking for? Or was this just a warning for me to back off?
As I descended the four steps down into the warehouse, my legs wobbled like overcooked spaghetti.
In retrospect, I should have called 9-1-1 immediately. Or even Zach. But for my own peace of mind, I needed to see if the walk-in cooler, the pride and joy of our catering business, had also been damaged and if the contents were still intact. Just this past week, we had received a delivery of expensive Russian caviar for a vodka party we’d be catering the following week at a large law firm downtown.
With no sign of movement in the warehouse, I stepped carefully over the minefield of shards toward the walk-in. The aluminum door was dented as if someone had tried to kick it in, but the combination lock sat untouched. My hands shook as I turned the knob on the lock. It took me three attempts to get it open. I flipped on the light switch at the walk-in entrance.
Entering the cooler, I sighed with relief to see the cans of Beluga stacked neatly on the shelf. I opened the freezer door at the rear of the walk-in and that, too, appeared fine.
Then I heard the crunching sound of someone walking across the broken glass, pieces skittering across the floor. The vandal was still here, in the warehouse.
I pulled my cell phone out of my purse to call for help, my hand trembling and wet from perspiration, even in the cold temperatures of the walk-in. The phone slipped to the floor.
The crunching noise sounded closer and louder.
I whirled around just as the cooler door slammed shut.
All went dark.
Chapter Fifteen
Was I alone? Or had he, or she, followed me in to take care of me once and for all? I held my breath and listened. I could almost hear the pounding in my chest. I waited. Nothing. No one.
I scanned the floor for my cell phone, but the LED had gone black and I couldn’t see it. I slid my foot out in front of me, feeling in the dark. Gently, I thought. You don’t want to kick it across the floor. Finall
y, my toe touched something solid. I bent down to retrieve the phone and pressed the menu button. The screen lit up. “Okay, Trudie. You’re doing fine,” I whispered, trying to calm myself.
I pressed the numbers 9-1-1 and hit the send button. Nothing. I tried again. 9-1-1. Send. No dial tone. No connection. No ringing. No signal in the walk-in. The cell phone went black again.
I needed light. I rummaged in my purse until I found my keychain with the pen light attached, then turned it on and swept it across the room just to confirm that I was, in fact, alone. Alone inside the walk-in, maybe. But who was in the warehouse? I moved to the door and listened. Would I even hear anything out there while stuck in this insulated, aluminum box?
I knew about the safety latch to get out. After all, I’d been in and out of this walk-in cooler for the last year and a half. What I wasn’t sure about was what or who I would find once I got out of here. Then I did hear something, a scraping sound of something being dragged across the warehouse floor. Something heavy being moved. The sound became louder and, I realized, closer and stopped at the cooler door. Footsteps, sending fragments of glass and china skittering across the floor, became fainter, moving further from me.
Then silence.
My adrenaline must have been keeping me warm to this point but now, I realized, I was cold. My recollection of when we’d purchased the walk-in was that the refrigerator averages about forty degrees and the freezer a good ten degrees colder than that. Even in my coat, scarf and gloves, it would be pretty chilly. But on a ninety-degree July day like this, I wore only a short-sleeved blouse, cropped pants and sandals. I began to shiver.
I needed help. Zach was at home, probably catching up on his sleep. This was Goldman’s day off, and even if he tried to call me, he’d just leave a message. I started to tremble uncontrollably. I was freezing. I had to get out.
I swung the pen light beam back and forth across the door until I located the red plastic knob. Should I open the door or not? I didn’t know who’d be waiting for me out in the warehouse.