I hope you can convince your sister not to sell, at least before I can spend a week or ten making love to you in paradise.
The picture is me and my squad before we went out on recon two weeks ago. Buddy didn’t make it back. He’s the one in the Jeep. He was a damn good man.
Love you, Beth, with everything I am.
Andy
Lucy looked at the picture, and her eyes immediately went to Buddy in the Jeep. Her dad was working on base by the time she was born, and her oldest brother, Jack, had enlisted when she was still a toddler. She knew what these men went through.
Was the fact that Beth was dating a soldier clouding her judgment? Lucy hoped not, but she hadn’t found anything in Beth’s room to indicate that she was embezzling money.
Lucy carefully put the letter back exactly as she’d found it and the box on its shelf, next to a framed photo of a man in uniform that had to be Andy. She went through the bottom drawer of Beth’s desk and found bank statements. Up until last April, she’d had deposits of a little over five thousand dollars a month. Since April, she’d made small monthly deposits of fifteen hundred dollars. Unemployment? Rent checks? Did her sister pay her a salary?
Beth hadn’t withdrawn much money, either—she had a balance of just over nine thousand in her checking account, about the same in her savings, and two CDs of ten thousand dollars each, maturing at different times, both purchased before she’d moved here.
Suddenly, Lucy felt guilty for poring over Beth’s finances. There was nothing here to show that Beth had been stealing. She put everything back and would have left, but someone was in the kitchen.
Steve and Grace.
Heart thudding, she eavesdropped.
“Please, Steve, don’t do this. Your health is more important to me than anything.”
“I need to. On Monday I’m going to Jackson and getting a mortgage. I need you to sign with me.”
“You’ll be in debt for the rest of your life. You’ll put yourself in an early grave. I can’t go through that again. Not what I went through with your father. Him dying in my arms because we couldn’t get him to the hospital fast enough.”
“Please, don’t—”
“We can sell. That will solve all our financial problems.”
“I’m not selling!”
“Beth, tell Steve that a mortgage isn’t the solution.”
Beth must have stepped into the kitchen, or had been silent at first. “Actually, I’ve been thinking it might be a good option. Not a large mortgage, but ten percent would be more than enough to replenish the emergency funds. I’ll stay here, at least another year, and work out a budget and growth plan. It’s my forte.”
“But it’s not about the lodge, it’s about Steve!” Grace said. “His health.”
“You need to go to the doctor, Steve,” said Beth. “I’ll help you with the mortgage papers—we’ll go to my old boss, he’ll find us a good program. But then you have to promise to go in for the tests.”
“All right,” Steve agreed.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Grace said.
“It’s a win-win,” Beth said. “Steve gets what he wants, you get what you want. Steve, can you help me clean up the guest rooms?”
“Sure. Thanks, Beth.”
“You’ve grown on me. I want you happy and I want you healthy. Okay?”
Lucy didn’t know if Grace had left, and she couldn’t open the door to check. Though she wasn’t dressed for the weather, she went out the side door and walked around the porch to the front door. The snow was still falling, but didn’t seem as severe as earlier this morning. Drifts had accumulated against the porch and she couldn’t see the stairs. She shivered and tried the front door, but it was locked.
Dammit, this wasn’t a smart idea. She knocked, getting colder by the second. She knocked again and the door swung open.
Grace said, “What are you doing outside dressed like that?”
“I stepped out to get fresh air and must have locked the door, or someone else did. I was only out here for a few minutes.”
She shook off in the foyer, feeling like a wet dog, her long hair already damp against her cheeks. She tucked it behind her ears. “Thanks,” she added when Grace didn’t say anything.
“Beth said your brother was sick.”
“Stomach flu, I guess. I don’t know, but he’s finally sleeping again. I think I’ll go check on him.”
She walked upstairs, feeling Grace’s eyes on her back.
EIGHT
Fifteen minutes later, Lucy was bundled in ski clothes. She knocked on Angie and Kyle’s door. Kyle opened it. He was disheveled. Angie leapt off the bed and headed for the bathroom; Lucy noted she was naked.
Lucy blushed. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to, well—”
“It’s okay. Is Patrick feeling better?”
“Yes, but still queasy. Can I come in?”
“Sure.”
He closed the door behind her. Angie emerged from the bathroom in a robe.
“I need your help,” Lucy said.
“Like when you asked me to talk to Beth about Trevor?” Angie asked.
“Right. I need to go to Patrick’s truck, but I don’t want anyone coming with me. At least, anyone but one of you.”
“I don’t get it,” Kyle said.
“I have to trust someone, and I don’t have anyone else. Alan and Heather are probably fine, but Patrick thinks you’re on the up-and-up.”
“What’s going on?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, not willing to give up the fact that Vanessa was murdered. “But something is weird around here, and I think Patrick figured it out but then he was drugged. He’s not sick—he was intentionally drugged. And he doesn’t remember what he did last night.” That wasn’t a total lie.
“Was Vanessa drugged, too?” Angie asked, wide-eyed.
“I honestly don’t know. But I talked to the sheriff, and he’s working on getting deputies here by the end of today, but there’s no guarantee.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kyle said. “What do you need?”
“Well, I need a lookout because I’m going to search the barn. And Patrick’s gun is in his truck. And then—I need to get into the cottage.”
“You’re going to break into Grace and Steve’s house?”
“No, not exactly. I have a key.” She’d taken it from the office where everything was neatly labeled, even the extra key to the cottage. Considering Beth’s immaculate room, Lucy wondered if Beth had reorganized when she came over the summer.
“I’ll be downstairs in five minutes,” Kyle said.
Lucy turned to leave. Then she asked, “Yesterday, when you were dizzy, what had you been drinking?”
“Orange juice, why?” Then he shook his head. “You think there was something in the juice? Is that what Patrick drank?”
“No, but Steve has been dizzy and I saw him drinking orange juice last night.” She asked Angie, “Did you have some?”
“No, and I told Kyle he should have asked.”
“I just wanted some juice. Beth said to help myself between meals.”
“That was your third glass.”
“It was good.”
What could have had that fast of an effect? Or was it simply the quantity? And what would have caused light-headedness or fainting?
“I’ll see you downstairs.”
Leaving was much easier than Lucy had thought. She and Kyle traversed the fifty or so yards to the barn. She’d already verified that Grace and Steve were both in the main lodge. Beth was cooking soup in the kitchen for lunch. Lucy couldn’t count on the cottage remaining vacant, but she would have to take her chances.
The wind had died down, but the snow still fell. It was almost picturesque, except that she could barely see the barn. She had never seen such odd light before—almost everything appeared gray or white through the thickly falling snow. It was both eerie and beautiful.
And silent.
Because there was no wind, it took only a couple of minutes of plodding through the snow to reach the barn. Lucy went in through the regular door, which was unlocked; the large main doors were braced from the inside to keep them from breaking off in the heavy winds. The barn was dark, and she didn’t want to turn on the lights and attract attention. Angie had been instructed to tell anyone who asked that Kyle had walked Lucy to the garage to get something for Patrick, but why encourage followers?
She went straight to Patrick’s car and retrieved his gun.
“What are you doing?” Kyle asked.
“This is just a precaution.”
He looked skeptical. “I don’t like this. Someone’s going to get hurt.”
“Kyle, I trusted you; I need you to trust me.”
He was torn. “I don’t like guns. I don’t like what’s going on here. Tell me the truth.”
“Vanessa was murdered.”
He paled. “How can you be sure?”
“We can’t until an autopsy, which is why Patrick secured the body in the root cellar. The only people who were in the house during the time of death were Trevor, Beth, Grace, and possibly Steve. Alan and Heather returned from town at four, which is on the tail end of the window, and you and Angie were on a walk. Unless you lied and conspired to kill a woman you’d never met before this weekend.”
“We were on a walk! I didn’t kill anyone.” He was too stunned at her comment to be insulted or angry.
“I also suspect that she was drugged before she was killed. Again, I can’t prove it. But we have a lot of circumstantial evidence to back it up.”
“Why?”
“That’s the million-dollar question.” Why indeed? Lucy was still missing a few pieces to the puzzle. She hoped to find them in the cottage.
She threaded the holster through her belt and tucked the gun inside her thick ski pants. It wasn’t visible with the bulky clothing, but there was no way she’d be able to hide the .45 on her person once inside, even if she wore an oversized sweater. She’d have to think of something.
She walked around the barn, looking for anything that didn’t belong. There were a lot of tools, Steve’s truck, a Jeep Cherokee, and a classic Mustang.
She looked in the glove compartment of the Jeep first. It belonged to Beth—Elizabeth Ann Holbrook. It was registered in San Rafael, California, and Lucy wrote down the address. Beth’s car, like her room, was immaculate. Service records were folded neatly in the pocket of her car manual. The Jeep had been serviced at the same place she’d bought it four years ago. She found a business card holder. Beth had been a manager at a national bank in San Rafael.
She had the knowledge to embezzle, but what was her motive? Jealous of her sister? Needed the money? Nothing in her bank statements seemed to indicate a need for funds, but Lucy knew she could have hidden accounts, could be in debt, could be involved with something nefarious.
Nothing else in the car gave Lucy more information. She next went to the Mustang.
“What can I do?” Kyle asked.
“Look for anything that seems out of place—something that doesn’t belong in a barn or garage.”
In the Mustang’s glove box was the registration. Grace Delarosa, at the lodge. Behind it was an older registration. Grace Anderson, Orlando, Florida. She was about to put it back when she saw there were three other papers.
Grace Ann Summers, Chantilly, Virginia. Grace Brooke Jackson, Monterey, California. The last, Grace Marie Holbrook, with a Phoenix, Arizona, address. That registration had expired nine years ago.
Phoenix. Vanessa was from Phoenix.
Heart racing, Lucy wrote down all the names, addresses, and dates and put them back in the glove compartment. She couldn’t get into the trunk, which needed a key because the classic model didn’t have a trunk release.
“Kyle,” she called.
“It’s hard to look for something when you don’t know what you’re looking for,” he said.
“I know. I found what I need.”
“What?”
“Let’s steer clear of Grace for a while.”
“You don’t think—”
“I’m thinking nothing right now except I need more information, and I’d rather not talk to her first.” She also needed to call the sheriff again and give him Grace’s aliases, and tell him that she’d once lived in the same town as the deceased. Phoenix was a big place, but it was too much of a coincidence.
Lucy thought back to Vanessa’s message to her brother.
You were right. We win.
What did she mean?
Trevor hadn’t called Vanessa’s brother yet, and Lucy wanted to be there when he did. But if she let on to Trevor that Vanessa’s death was a homicide, she didn’t know what he would do, or if she could control his reaction. It was best to keep the information to themselves.
Leaving the barn, Lucy looked toward the lodge. Visibility was still poor, but she didn’t see anyone walking around on the porch. The lights in the cottage were off. She turned back to Kyle. “I need you to go back to the house and hang around the porch. Delay anyone coming to the cottage.” She looked at her watch. “I need ten minutes.”
“You’re going to search that place that fast?”
“I know what I’m looking for.” Or she had a good idea.
Kyle reluctantly agreed, and he and Lucy parted ways at the short path—at least, she thought the path was where she turned, buried deep in the snow—that led to the cottage.
She opened the door with the key she had taken. More silence, though as she listened she heard a ticking grandfather clock. The hum of the refrigerator. The deep drone of the generator.
She quickly assessed the layout. There were only two bedrooms, no den, and one great room that had a kitchen and dining area attached to it. She went to the room that was obviously Grace’s and immediately searched her drawers.
At first she found only clothing. She went to the closet, which was packed with thick winter clothes. The floor was a mess of clothes that had fallen off hangers and shoes and folded blankets.
If Lucy needed to hide something, where would she hide it? Not under the bed—though she checked there quickly. Grace wouldn’t have wanted Steve to find it, even accidentally.
She thought back to her brothers and how they never liked to talk about “girl stuff”—namely menstruation. Carina had once told her that she used to hide her chocolate in a Tampax box so Patrick wouldn’t steal it.
“He never looked there, didn’t even consider it.”
Lucy went to the bathroom. The bottom drawer was filled with feminine hygiene products. She opened every box and there it was.
Maybe she didn’t know what she was looking for specifically, but she had certainly found it.
A box full of pill bottles. Prescriptions for Thyrolar, made out to Grace Marie Holbrook, and several prescriptions made out to Leonardo Delarosa. She lined them up by date—first a basic diuretic, common for high blood pressure. Then lisinopril, which was a stronger medication. That started after his heart attack three years ago. Then six months before his death, the doctor increased the dosage.
There were pills in some of the bottles. She opened one and it was coated in a fine powder—more powder than would naturally rub off the pills from friction. Lucy looked in the drawer and found a small mortar and pestle—a classic tool used for hand grinding. Such as to grind pills into a fine powder that would more easily dissolve in liquid. And the bitter taste would be masked by a strong-flavored drink. Like orange juice.
The front door opened and Lucy quickly put everything back and closed the drawer.
“Angie and I wanted to use the snowmobiles this afternoon if the snow lets up,” Kyle was saying.
“I think tomorrow.”
Lucy breathed in relief. It was Steve. But she didn’t want him to know about Grace, not yet. Not until the police arrived.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Look, Kyle, I’m sorry, I’m just really tired. It’s been a l
ong couple days and I need to check the barn, the wood—”
“Let me help. Please, I’m going to go insane in that house without anything to do.”
“Okay. Fine. I just need to get my parka.”
Two minutes later, they were gone.
Lucy didn’t want to tempt fate. She watched out the window until she saw Kyle and Steve go into the barn, then she left the cottage and retrieved her snowshoes from where she had stashed them out of sight, around the side. She crossed over to the lodge, retracing Steve’s and Kyle’s tracks.
She saw something odd to her right where the root cellar entrance came out of the ground on the side of the house. The doors were open.
Who had gone down there? Trevor? The killer? Patrick had the key—but he was in no condition to check on the body.
She needed someone to investigate with her—she wasn’t going to go down in the cellar alone, especially when no one knew she was checking it out. She stepped toward the lodge, but movement on her left startled her. She turned and saw Grace Delarosa skiing rapidly toward her. Before she could move, Grace had rammed into her, sending Lucy sprawling into the snow.
She struggled to get up, the snowshoes making it difficult, and Grace grabbed her arm. Lucy opened her mouth to call for help, and Grace backhanded her with a gloved hand. Lucy tasted blood and spit into the snow.
She felt a pinprick in her neck and hit at it. Something warm trickled down into her shirt.
“You’re too late,” Grace said and she pushed Lucy back down. Lucy tried to talk, but her muscles weren’t working right. She tried to stand, then crawl, but couldn’t control her limbs.
Grace dragged her to the root cellar. Darkness ate at the edges of her vision.
“I’ll be long gone before anyone knows you’re missing.” She reached into Lucy’s pocket and pulled out Patrick’s keys.
“W-why did you?” Lucy managed to whisper.
“You’re so smart, you figure it out.”
Grace pushed Lucy down the rough earth staircase that led down into the root cellar and closed the doors. Lucy heard the lock slip into place.
If I Should Die Page 37