CHAPTER 32
While waiting for Matt to return her call, Rachel sat out on the pool deck with Stacy.
“It feels good to take a few minutes and relax,” said Rachel. “I feel like all I’ve been doing is running around with my head cut off. We’ve been to Baton Rouge, Metairie, Houma, and all around New Orleans this past week. The only good thing to come out of this so far is the fabulous food we’ve been eating. I think I’ve gained back all the weight I lost in Mexico and then some.”
Stacy pulled her short honey-blond hair up and secured it with a clip. Her tan skin complemented the two-piece white bikini she was wearing. Stacy stretched out lazily on the chaise lounge, picking up her sunscreen stick. Rachel watched as Stacy swiped it across her freckled cheeks.
“That’s a good thing,” said Stacy. “I was getting worried about you.”
“I’m doing okay. If we don’t get anywhere with this case in the next couple of weeks, I’m going to leave it to Red and fly back to Miami. There’s something I want to check out.” Rachel told Stacy about her latest visit to Madame Verdene and her suggestions about Mallory’s disappearance.
“I’ve done stories before on psychic mediums. They are a dime a dozen in south Florida,” Stacy said.
“I know. I’ve seen the advertisements all along the Miami downtown area. But I’ve never been tempted to call or visit one. This just kind of happened.”
“How did you feel about it? Think Verdene is the real deal?” Stacy asked.
“Well, I don’t know how she could’ve known about my grandmother. Even you don’t know that we called my grandmother Queenie.”
“True.”
“She seemed to know plenty about Mallory. Although nothing that provided any concrete details.”
“If psychics could solve crimes, we’d all be out of business.”
“She did say something unusual that she said related to Mallory. Peaches. What the hell does that mean?”
Stacy shrugged. “Maybe her adopted family grows peaches or something? What else have you found out about Scotty? He could be connected somehow?”
“Before I left Miami, I met with a former drinking buddy of Scotty’s. He mentioned some places that Scotty used to hang out at. I’m going to check those out and see if I can find more of his old acquaintances to talk to.”
Rachel then told Stacy about the disturbing phone call from Scotty.
“You haven’t heard from him since then?” Stacy looked worried.
“No, but Agent Lewis had a tap put on my cell. I don’t think he’s dumb enough to call that number again.”
“I’m going back with you to Miami. We’re going to find this bastard and put him away,” Stacy said.
Rachel felt her cell phone buzzing next to her. “Local number. Probably Matt.”
She answered the phone only to find out that it wasn’t Matt, but a person she never expected to call.
CHAPTER 33
“Hey, Rachel, this is Alanna Brennan. We met earlier today at Madame Verdene’s place.”
“Oh, yeah. Right. I remember,” Rachel said. She put the phone on speaker so Stacy could hear the conversation.
“Melinda told me what happened to Erin. I didn’t know they had found her…um, body. It’s just all so tragic,” Alanna whispered into the phone. Rachel could hear the noise of kids playing in the background.
So much for keeping it under wraps, Rachel thought. Agent Krapek would have a fit if she knew that Melinda was going around talking about the case.
“Yes, it is,” Rachel agreed, wishing that Alanna would get around to the reason that she had called. She glanced at Stacy, who was listening intently. Rachel grabbed a notepad from her bag and hastily wrote, “Melinda’s friend,” and Stacy nodded.
“Have you found anything else about the kids?” Alanna asked.
“Not yet. We’re still searching.” Rachel pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and then wiped the sweat from her face with a pool towel. “What can I help you with?”
“I just wanted to give you my number. Check to see if I can help in any way. I was good friends with Erin as well. We all went to high school together, and now my kids are friends and classmates with Erin’s children. This is breaking all our hearts.”
“Thank you for offering to help. I didn’t realize that you went to school with Erin.”
“Yeah, well, Melinda and I were closer in high school. Erin didn’t really travel in our social circles.”
“Where did you go to school?” Rachel asked, making notes on her pad.
“We attended Sacred Heart Academy—it was a private Catholic school, very small but we still had our cliques. Erin was the outsider up until our last year.”
“I thought Melinda and Erin were good friends in high school,” Rachel said, remembering that Melinda told her that when they first met. The way she put it, they were the best of friends.
Alanna laughed. “Not really. Actually, far from it. Melinda and I were on the cheerleading squad. Erin was very shy in high school. She was what you’d call a wallflower. And kinda geeky. Glasses, braces, tall and thin. Until the summer of our senior year, when she lost the braces, got contacts, and grew some boobs. Then she became a real knockout. All the boys stood up and took notice of her.”
Rachel thought back to the conversation in which Melinda told her about growing up with Erin and how close they were. She listened as Alanna opened up about her friendship with Melinda and Erin, providing more detailed information than Melinda had ever offered.
“It wasn’t until our senior year, when Melinda and Matt broke up, that Erin starting hanging around our group,” Alanna continued.
“Wait a minute. Melinda and Matt O’Malley dated in high school?” Rachel said, incredulously. She looked at Stacy, who had a big smile on her face. They may be on to something, she thought.
Alanna sounded surprised. “You didn’t know that?” She continued without waiting for an answer from Rachel. “Yeah, Melinda and Matt were hot and heavy throughout high school, until our senior year. Then Melinda broke up with him and started dating his best friend, Jason. Erin became popular, and suddenly all the guys were hot for her. Matt won, probably because he was the best catch. Smart and handsome. Total package. He still is, right?”
“Do you have any high school yearbooks from your senior year?” Rachel asked.
“I sure do.”
Rachel looked over at Stacy, who gave her a thumbs-up.
“I’m staying over at the Hilton at Riverwalk. Would it be too much to ask you to drop it off with the concierge?” Rachel asked.
“Not a problem. I live close by. I’ll drop it off later.”
“Thanks, Alanna.” Rachel remembered something else she wanted to ask. “By the way, do you know Gavin Beckwith?”
“Sure. We’re good friends. He owns Orleans Gallery.”
“Right,” Rachel confirmed. “Were Gavin and Erin…friends?” Rachel waited for Alanna’s answer. She wanted to see if Melinda shared this secret with Alanna as well.
Alanna was silent for a moment. “I introduced Erin and Gavin at a charity function. My husband and I bought artwork from Orleans Gallery and thought it was a perfect fit for Erin to showcase her work. You know she does some fabulous work with watercolors and pencil drawings…”
Rachel wondered why Matt had never met Gavin if they all ran in the same social circles. But she didn’t want to ask more questions and possibly alert Alanna to the fact that she was suspicious of Gavin. Rachel changed the subject. “What’s Melinda’s maiden name?”
“Donnelly.”
“When did Melinda and Erin start to become closer?” Rachel asked.
“Oddly enough, when Erin and Matt started dating. By then, Melinda had her paws all over Chris, Matt’s older brother. They went out on double dates. I went off to Ole Miss for school, and most of my friends, including Erin and Melinda, stayed around New Orleans and Baton Rouge for college. When I would come back to town, we would all hang out. It
was clear that Erin and Matt were in love. I think Melinda was a little jealous because she had Matt first and dumped him like a fool.” Alanna lowered her voice, “But you didn’t hear that from me.”
“You think she still had a thing for Matt?”
Alanna seem to ponder the question for a moment. “Maybe a little. But it was too late. Matt and Erin were meant to be together. Everyone could see that. As for Chris and Melinda, who knows if they would have stayed together if it wasn’t for her getting pregnant. The rumor mill has it that Chris was getting ready to break it off with Melinda when that happened. The O’Malleys come from a very strict Irish Catholic family. Chris had no choice but to marry her.”
“Wait,” Rachel said, feeling confused. “I thought Melinda and Chris didn’t have any kids.”
“They don’t,” Alanna responded. “She miscarried and almost hemorrhaged to death. It was awful. They operated on her, but it was too late. She couldn’t have any more children. The surgeon had to remove her uterus to save her life. They tried to adopt and looked into surrogacy, but nothing worked out. Not many people know about that. Melinda doesn’t want people to think she has problems. She likes to present a pretty picture.”
“She does a good job,” said Rachel. “Don’t you think?”
Rachel wanted to keep Alanna talking. All this news about Melinda was opening up some new avenues for investigation.
“Yes, but I think she pays a price,” said Alanna. “God, now I feel like I’m gossiping.”
“What do you mean, a price? Melinda seems to be happy enough,” Rachel said, hoping Alanna would take the bait. “A nice, good-looking husband and a beautiful home…” she prompted.
Alanna didn’t let her down.
“Well, not really.” Alanna lowered her voice again. “This didn’t come from me…”
“I won’t say anything,” Rachel promised.
“Melinda ran up some pretty hefty debt. She has very expensive tastes. Her parents died in a car accident when she was little. Her grandmother raised Melinda and her brother, Adam. When Melinda turned twenty-one, she had access to the trust fund that her parents had set up for her when she was born. Melinda blew that money within a few years. After Chris’s dad died, Matt gave Chris some money for his portion of the house. As far as I know, that money is gone, too. Meanwhile, Matt has continued to do very well for himself and his family by making investments. Melinda has complained to me for years about the fact that Chris didn’t take Matt up on his offer to go in on some real estate deals. I honestly think she feels like Matt is a financial genius whereas Chris is a total failure.”
Rachel remembered the last couple of years that she was in real estate and how everyone was getting in on the great deals on beachfront properties in Florida. She’d invested in several properties herself, buying property that was a steal one day and then turning around and selling it weeks later for double the profit. Many people made millions of dollars doing the same thing. The money she’d made in smart real estate investments had helped her create Florida Omni Search; without that money, it may not have been anything more than an idea. The business operated solely on the money from her savings account plus any donations that came in through their website or fund-raisers.
“I thought Chris did pretty well for himself. They seem to have a lot of nice things.” Rachel felt a little bad for leading Alanna on, but Alanna didn’t seem to mind sharing the story of the O’Malleys’ troubles.
“Oh, they live well. But Melinda has a problem with spending. They’re hundreds of thousands in debt. She has run up every credit line they have. Chris put her in therapy a couple of times, but Melinda always quit after the first couple of visits. The therapist pissed her off by telling her that her spending habits were a result of her parents’ deaths and being raised by a psychotic grandmother.”
“Is Melinda’s grandmother still alive?”
“Yeah. She was committed to the loony bin years ago. I remember her from high school. She was a batshit crazy old rich woman. Melinda has been counting the days until her grandmother bites the dust so she can get her hands on the inheritance. But I wouldn’t be surprised if her grandmother left all her money to the homeless cats of New Orleans. She’s that cuckoo.”
Rachel was starting to see a new side of the family dynamics. Erin had gotten her man, the house, the two kids, and the white picket fence—well, in this case, the ornate wrought iron fence. Melinda was stuck with a man who was forced to marry her, a suburban house she hated, a childless future, and debt up to her eyeballs. Rachel doubted that Agent Krapek or Detective Jones had all this juicy info.
But was jealousy enough of a motive to injure Matt, kill Erin, and kidnap her own niece and nephew? She wasn’t so sure.
“You don’t think Melinda had something to do with this?” Alanna asked in a hushed tone when Rachel didn’t respond.
Rachel could picture Alanna getting on the hotline to all her friends after she hung up to give them the rundown of their conversation. Rachel quickly answered, “No, of course not.” But deep down, she was wondering the same thing. She thanked Alanna for her time and said she would be in touch soon. She discussed with Stacy all the aspects of the conversation and its surprises.
Stacy shook her head slowly before jumping into the investigative reporter mode that Rachel knew so well. “Okay, let’s break this down. First off, why did Melinda lie about her friendship with Erin?”
“Obviously, she wanted to paint a pretty picture about her friendship with Erin and her happy home life,” said Rachel. “So we’d never think of her as a possible suspect.”
“And now you are thinking of her as a suspect,” Stacy said in more of a statement than a question.
“I don’t know yet,” said Rachel. “But she definitely has a dark side that she didn’t want us to know about. Melinda was jealous of Erin and all that she had acquired. The husband Melinda wanted, the house she wanted, the kids she couldn’t have on her own. And she knew about the affair Erin was having, yet didn’t share that information with her own husband.”
“Because she knew Chris would say something to Matt? Maybe she didn’t want to betray Erin’s confidence.” Stacy was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “It really boils down to one question. Does Melinda have the balls to kill Erin?”
“Maybe. But Melinda is not the type to get her hands dirty. She would have someone else do it,” Rachel answered. “That I’m sure of.”
“Like the art dealer?”
“Maybe. We’ll know more once Red does a background check on him.”
“If Melinda’s really behind it all, maybe that explains why Matt is still alive and Erin is dead. Maybe Melinda wants him all to herself? What about the kids?” Stacy asked.
“Maybe Chris and Melinda have guardianship of the children if anything happens to Erin and Matt. We should have Red look into that.”
“With Matt still alive, they wouldn’t, though,” Stacy speculated. “Maybe he wasn’t supposed to be alive. Maybe they left him, thinking he was dead. He sustained a pretty big head injury, right?”
“Hold up. I’m not sold on the idea that Melinda had anything to do with this. She could just be putting up a front so she doesn’t seem suspicious. It doesn’t mean she actually killed her sister-in-law,” Rachel said.
“Agreed. But I definitely think we should go have a little talk with her. Run this by Red and see what he thinks we should do.” Stacy grabbed her towel. “I’m going to hit the pool for some laps before we go to dinner.”
“I’ll stay here. I need to be by the phone in case Matt calls. We need to get him to take a look at this photo of Gavin Beckwith. Maybe he’s our missing piece of the puzzle.”
Rachel watched as Stacy expertly dove into the pool. Stacy was petite and had the body of an Olympic swimmer. Being a Florida native, she had a perpetual tan complete with freckles on her face, making her look younger than her thirty-six years. Rachel admired Stacy’s tenacity and competiveness to go after what she wante
d and the wherewithal to hang in there until she got it. Rachel saw a little of herself in Stacy. Before she’d met Rick and got married, she was a successful agent selling high-end real estate in Miami. She’d put in sixty hours a week learning everything about the business. She’d always been the first person in the office and the last person to leave. Rachel never took no for an answer and closed twenty-five million in sales her first year in real estate. Stacy worked just as hard as Rachel and chased down every lead until she had the story she needed.
With the O’Malley kids still missing and time running out, Rachel was glad Stacy had joined her team.
CHAPTER 34
Matt sat across from Rachel at Flora, trying not to think about the fact that this very spot was the place he’d seen Erin kissing another man. It wasn’t busy at this time of the day. It was late afternoon, and only a couple of patrons were present, enjoying their cups of coffee. Matt drummed his fingers on the scarred wooden table while studying the picture.
“It’s him,” Matt said. “How did you track him down so fast?” Looking at the photo of the art dealer, he was amazed at how quickly they had found him. The man his wife was supposedly having an affair with. The private investigator he’d called on his own hadn’t even called him back yet. Matt was becoming more impressed with Rachel and her team by the minute.
Rachel gave a small smile. “Red found him. It was really a combination of luck and good timing.”
Matt nursed his cup of Ethiopian coffee while staring at the art gallery brochure Stacy had pilfered.
“I’ve heard his name somewhere before.” Matt read the brochure. “Gavin Beckwith. Huh.”
“Gavin’s an art dealer and owns a gallery near Jackson Square. From what Red can gather, he and Erin were introduced by a mutual friend. Gavin wanted to sign Erin on as a client.”
“From what I saw that day, he wanted to do more than just sign my wife on.” Matt folded up the brochure and stuck it in his pocket.
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