Not This Time

by Vicki Hinze

  Nora set a plate in front of Beth. “Robert was playing it both ways—where he could seize control through Sara or you, Beth. He’s put that evidence where it’d hurt either of you girls.” She stilled, scrunched her lips. “Got to be at SaBe.”

  “He doesn’t have keys.” Sara paused, her fork in midair. “Unless he stole them.”

  Beth finished her cake.

  Joe stuck his head in the doorway. “Beth, we need to go.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To SaBe to look for evidence.” Beth winked at Nora.

  She glared at Joe. “You’re taking her there tonight? What are you thinking, my boy?”

  “Robert doesn’t know she’ll be there. He has no reason to go there, Nora.”

  “He’ll do it because he can—before the restraining order’s in place.” She seemed exasperated. “You know the man’s an arrogant fool, bless his heart.”

  “Nora’s right. Don’t go, Beth. I have a bad feeling.”

  Beth didn’t. “It’ll be fine. Worst case, he shows up. What’s he going to do? Nothing. He doesn’t want SaBe tied up as a crime scene. He wants access, remember?” She put her dishes in the sink. “Right now, SaBe is probably the safest place on the planet for me.”

  “She’s got a point.” Nora looked at Sara.

  Sara stilled a long moment and then caved. “She does. But I still don’t like it.”

  Beth didn’t like any of this, but it was the best opportunity they were going to get and they needed to seize it. Robert could destroy the evidence. Then where would they be?

  Nora hugged her. “Be careful, my girl.”

  “I will.” Beth prayed being careful would be enough.

  After Joe parked the SUV in Beth’s usual spot, he ran a perimeter check while Beth chatted with Margaret, who was leaving for home.

  “His majesty phoned here looking for you. I told him you were at police headquarters, hoping that would knock him back on his heels,” Margaret said about Robert. “I had no idea when or if you’d be back.”

  “When was that?”

  “Right before I left the building.” She scrunched her nose. “He pushed me again for the financial records. I told him they were in the vault and I’d request them, but since I didn’t have authorization, we’d have to wait until Henry gave it before either of us could get them.”

  “Bet he wasn’t happy to hear that.”

  “No, he wasn’t. If cold tones could kill, I’d be six feet under.”

  “Where was he when he called? Did he say?”

  “No, but I heard background noise. My guess is he was in his car.”

  “Red Hummer, right?” Joe asked Beth. When she nodded, he scanned the parking lot again.

  “Margaret, did Robert ever come to SaBe when we were all gone? Maybe nights or on weekends?”

  “A week ago, I’d have said no. But Glenn from security told me not two days ago that he guessed Robert wouldn’t be coming here for peace and quiet anymore.”

  “Peace and quiet?”

  Margaret nodded. “That’s what he told Glenn. He came here to write because he couldn’t take all the noise at home.”

  “What noise?” With just him and Sara, there was no noise.

  “Logical question. He had an entire house in a gated community and restricted traffic with a guesthouse office and a backyard on the cove, for pity’s sake.”

  Joe faced the hot night wind funneling in under the overhang. “Looks like you were right, Beth.”

  “About what?” Margaret parked her glasses atop her head, her car keys jangling.

  “Nothing significant.” Adjusting her purse strap, Beth shifted her weight. “Just Robert running away from home every chance he got.”

  Joe started to correct her, then caught her gaze and knew she didn’t want to share. No sense worrying Margaret needlessly. From the smudges under her eyes, she wasn’t sleeping.

  “I’ve got to get going.” Margaret turned for her car. “Game night at my house. I have to get the munchies ready. It won’t be the same without Nora. I do wish they’d find her.”

  “Me too.” Beth waited for Margaret to get into her Tahoe, then told Joe, “That woman is a walking contradiction.”

  “Yeah, she is.” He waved as she drove past. “I like that about her.”

  “Me too.” She tipped her chin and touched a hand to his chest, then noticed his puzzled expression. “What?”

  Joe frowned. “Why didn’t you ask her about Robert and the blood? You know Roxy was here. Margaret’s probably already looked.”

  “Roxy wouldn’t tell her what she was looking for, and if I’d told Margaret, she would have stayed to help us look. She’s exhausted and needed to go home.”

  Joe took a long look at Beth. “You didn’t want her here because you were afraid Robert might come after you and she’d be at risk.”

  The security lights and streetlamps came on. Dark had officially fallen. “Anyone in Robert’s path is at risk.” A body need look no further than his parents for proof of that. Beth shoved her hand in her pocket, curled her fingers around her cell phone. “But I figure we’re safe here.”

  They entered the brick building, took the elevator up, and entered the office. The lamps were on in the reception area, and Beth didn’t bother with the overhead. Slashes of light streaked down the hallway and they walked straight to the kitchen.

  Joe turned on the light.

  Beth opened the freezer door and they looked inside. Thin red streaks were on the right side of the inner wall. The bottom had a few flecks of ice here and there but no tinges of red. “Joe, Roxy wouldn’t have missed this.”

  He called her, spoke briefly, then told Beth, “She never got the door open. There were people in the kitchen, and not knowing who was and wasn’t with NINA, she didn’t want to tip our hand on knowing Robert was alive.”

  Feeling better with that explained, Beth pointed to the traces on the inner wall, then scooted over so Joe could position to see them. “Sliding the bags in.” He removed the ice bin, started to put it back, but stopped and pulled it out all the way.

  Beth glimpsed the curled edge of something. “What’s that?” She looked closer. A corner of the little piece of paper stuck to the back of it. “It’s blank.”

  “Doubtful, sha. Can you peel it free without tearing it?”

  She did, then flipped the paper. “Not this time.” Her heart rate soared, her gaze collided with Joe’s. “It’s Robert’s handwriting. I’m sure of it.”

  “What does he mean by that—not this time?”

  “He says it all the time, always meaning he comes out on top. Remember, the Martins mentioned it too?”

  “I remember now.”

  “In this case, he means he wins and I lose. Well, me or Sara. However it worked out.” She stepped away.

  Joe set the bin back into place, bagged the note, and then started digging through the drawers and cabinets.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “If he pulled units of his blood herewith the idea of blaming you or Sara for it, then he probably stashed what he needed for that here too.”

  Beth shut the freezer door and helped Joe search.

  He paused and reached for his phone. “Jeff, it’s me. Yeah, you’d better get to SaBe with forensics. Yeah, we found something in the freezer.”

  “And here we have the rest of it.” Beth backed away from the bottom cabinet, under the sink. “Behind the trash can.”

  “We were right. He did it to himself and planted the stuff here to tag anyone at SaBe. Yeah.” Joe closed his phone, bent down, and looked. “Jeff’s on his way.”

  “It’s all there—blood bags, tubing, needles—everything he needed.”

  A woman’s voice carried into the kitchen. “No. No, I won’t do it.” She cried out. “Please, don’t!”

  23

  Beth went still, felt the blood drain from her face.

  “Beth?” Joe whipped around, whispered, “Who is that?”r />
  “Sara.” Beth ran toward the voice.

  “No, Beth. Wait! It’s not her.”

  Beth didn’t slow down. Robert must have found her at Three Gables, forced her to come here. She ran toward the voice, into Sara’s office. “Sara?”

  The television was on. No other lights, no movement, just the television. Beth’s skin crawled. She walked through the darkness to the set; someone had set the timer. It could have been done weeks ago. No one was ever here this late.

  On the screen, Sara screamed.

  Beth instinctively backed up and saw Robert hitting Sara with a golf club. Hearing he had done it was awful, but seeing it … “Oh, sweet mercy.”

  Joe stopped just inside the door. “Beth, you okay?”

  She swiped at her face. It was wet with tears. “Someone set the timer.”

  “Please, Robert. Stop.” Sobbing, Sara had begged him. He used the club like a baseball bat, striking her feet until she collapsed on the floor.

  “That’s the rusty shed. He took her to that awful place?”

  Beth remembered the stench that stole her breath. “She’s chained, Joe. He chained Sara in that awful place and he beat her.”

  She turned to face him. “You warned me on the terrace. You knew then that he did this to her?”

  “No. All I was told was that she was in trouble and she wasn’t in the hospital for her attacks. I thought if I warned you, you’d confront her and she’d tell you.”

  “She stayed and put up with this to protect me.” A sob broke in Beth’s throat.

  Joe curled an arm around her shoulder. “She’s fine now, sha. Remember that. She’s fine now.”

  “You are going to give them what they want, Sara,” Robert said. His face wasn’t on the screen, but his voice was clear and unrelenting. “You won’t do it for me, but you will do it. They’ll kill us both.”

  Sara looked up at him, her swollen face red, streaked with dirt and tears. “Why are you doing this to me? I loved you.”

  “You’re forcing me to do it. I don’t want to die, but you’ll let them kill me. For what, Sara? Some noble sense of patriotism?” He grunted his disgust. “No. No, you’re protecting her, aren’t you? You stupid woman. You think you can save her?” He laughed, hard and deep. “You can’t save her or yourself. Now tell me where you moved the money.”

  Sara clamped her jaw shut.

  “I said”—he swung the stick and the sound of it hitting Sara’s foot reverberated through the office, through Beth—“tell me!”

  Sara screamed in pain. The shrill peal curdled Beth’s blood and a wrenching mewl broke loose from the back of her throat. She wanted to turn away, to throw something through the screen to make the horrific images go away, but it was like passing a car wreck, she had to look. She had to know exactly what this monster of a man had done to Sara.

  “No.” Sara pulled herself to a sitting position, and then struggled to her feet. They were raw and bloody and crusted with dirt. “You will not get that too. I don’t care if you kill me. Please, do it. I’d rather be dead than married to you.”

  “Oh, you’ll tell me, Sara.” He motioned with the tip of the club. “You’ll tell me or I’ll beat you to death.”

  Sara didn’t move.

  Robert tucked his chin, slid her a warning look that dripped venom. “Make the call.”

  Her voice cracked, her chest heaving, shoulders shuddering. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “It’s what I want.” He stilled her with a stare so ice-cold it chilled Beth.

  She rubbed at the goose flesh peppering her arms. Sick inside, Beth covered her face with her hands and turned away. “Turn it off, Joe.” She pressed her hands against her roiling stomach and opened her eyes. “I—I can’t watch it. I can’t—Joe?”

  He lay on the floor, deathly still.

  “Joe!” What happened? She hadn’t heard anything. How had he ended up on the floor? Beth ran over to him, dropped to her knees. He was bleeding. His chest! He’d been … shot? She’d heard nothing.

  Silencer.

  “Oh no. No.” Her fingers trembling, she positioned her fingers at his throat. He had a pulse. A strong pulse. He was alive. She reached into her pocket to get her phone and call 911 while tapping his cheek. “Joe. Joe, answer me.”

  “Dead men don’t talk, Beth.” Robert Tayton stepped out of the shadows, pointing a gun with a silencer at Beth’s head.

  Terror pumped through her veins, clamped her chest, paralyzing her.

  “Get up.” Robert backed away and motioned with the barrel of his gun.

  Beth didn’t argue. He thought Joe was dead. If she kept his attention diverted …

  “Despite what you see on the screen, Sara learned to do what I wanted, when and where and the way I wanted.” He sniffed. “You’re going to regret not following her lead.”

  She hadn’t. Sara had fought him and won. Hand still in her pocket, Beth swiped at her face with her free hand to claim his attention, silenced her cell phone, and dialed 911. Thank you, Joe. Thank you for insisting I keep the special phone on my body at all times. Thank you.

  She swallowed hard, stiffened her spine. Think steel. Jeff and forensics are on the way. They’ll pick up the 911 call and rush. Just keep Robert talking and you might live. Joe might live. “Sara didn’t listen to you.” Beth contradicted him. “Not about the money. Not about NINA. She told you nothing because she knew nothing.” Beth grunted. “Even now you have no idea where her money is, do you?”

  “Soon enough. It’s my money now.” He clicked on Sara’s desk lamp. “You and Joe—why don’t you call him Thomas? No matter. He’s dead, you’ll die, and Margaret will be blamed. She has been handling my finances for Sara. It was easy to manipulate transactions so it appears she wanted full control of all assets. A nice little paper trail leads directly to her.” He winked. “Always have a backup plan for your backup plan.”

  So that’s why he chose SaBe and not their home or Beth’s. So Margaret could be in position if needed. “Why Sara? She was a good person who never hurt anyone. Why did you do this to her?”

  “Actually, she was my second choice. My first had more class and was totally at ease in my social circle.” He pulled a sour face. “Sara was horribly inept—a social cripple.”

  “The widow you took advantage of that caused the split with your parents? You rushed that man’s death so you could marry and control his wife and her fortune. But what you’d done was discovered, so you found another victim. Sara.”

  “You’ve been busy.” He hiked his eyebrows. “Surprisingly resourceful, Beth.”

  No remorse. None. No regret or even acknowledgment that he’d deliberately inflicted suffering on another human being. According to Joe’s sources, the man was terminal and Robert had withheld his medication, fed him vitamins and aspirin in its place. Of course, the truth wasn’t discovered until the autopsy, but his widow was suspicious and so Robert disappeared and they’d been searching for him ever since. Was Robert psychotic? No, no, he knew what he’d done was wrong. He could differentiate between good and bad. “Why Sara?”

  “NINA chose Sara. It was her or you, and Sara was, shall we say, more malleable? I was fine with that. Still, she required incredible patience. Tedious work. Sara was inept, awkward, drearily clingy, and oh-so needy, but she was very, very rich. That made up for a multitude of flaws.” He hummed. “Hers was the perfect murder.”

  He hadn’t killed her but he’d planned her murder. He was Phoenix.

  “Sara was easy to control until I pushed her on Quantico.” He lifted a hand. “Even after I died, she was too ashamed to tell you about me. You, her best friend and partner, the one person in the world she trusted.” He laughed. “That was amusing.”

  “She wasn’t ashamed. She was disgusted. And while she didn’t protect you, Robert, she did protect me.”

  “Her mistake, wasn’t it? Considering she’s dead and all.”

  Sorely tempted to dispute him, Beth bit h
er tongue. “What kind of monster are you?”

  “No kind at all.” He shot her a scathing look. “I warned Sara not to restrict my spending. I warned her NINA would kill me, and she still refused me. Me! So she got what she deserved.”

  All of Sara’s odd behavior and reactions, her warnings, made sense. She really had mentally divorced him. Sara couldn’t stand the sight of him.

  “Sara’s inability to act guaranteed my success.” Robert stepped around Sara’s desk. “You would be in jail for Sara’s murder and, of course, my abduction, and I’d have her personal fortune, half of SaBe’s assets and full run of your half and future earnings.” He smiled broadly. “Sweet, eh?” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Now you’ll be dead and Margaret will be blamed for everything, including killing you and Joe, and I’ll still have it all.”

  Robert walked over to where Joe lay in a heap on the floor, still out cold. “This is all his fault, really.” Robert gazed back at Beth. “He should have stayed out of Georgia and away from you.”

  The television screen went blank; the background turned solid blue. Robert clicked off the set with the tip of the gun barrel. “Everything still would have been fine, but you two just wouldn’t mind your own business, and then you found my parents.” He paused a few steps from Beth, the lamplight pooling at his feet, glinting off his watch. “How did you do that?”

  She didn’t answer. Just stood silently, not sure how much more of this she could take—the images of Sara on that screen replaying in her mind, Joe so still on the floor—and … Oh, please let Jeff get here soon!

  “You were foolish to try to come between me and what is mine.” He lifted a hand. “How dare you try?”

  “You’re threatening to take my life, and you ask me how I dare?” He was crazy.

  “Oh, I’m not threatening, Beth. I am going to kill you.” Robert said that with the same ease of saying he’d played eighteen holes of golf. Chilling. “I considered killing you a year ago—if Sara hadn’t agreed to elope, I would have. But now, after all the trouble you’ve caused me, well, of course you must die.”