Dan turned in a slow circle. “Think carefully, Mia. Did you see anything out of the ordinary tonight?”
Besides a stabbed man in a lake? “I didn’t see anything. Just Polly and Sam, then I pulled Dante from the water.” My heart hammered painfully with the memory. “I should talk to Bernie again. The killer might’ve driven Dante’s car out of here. She doesn’t stop people on their way out.”
Jake widened his eyes slightly, refocusing on Dan. “Did your men secure the gate?”
Dan nodded.
The Archers moved swiftly in the guard gate’s direction.
I dialed Bernie. The killer could’ve been long gone before Dan gave that order. “It’s Mia. Have you seen anyone leave in Dante’s car?” I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled.
The men spun back.
“Bernie said the car hasn’t left.” The killer was still here. I scurried to Jake’s side. Suddenly, staying with him seemed like a really smart idea.
From my new vantage, the parking lights of a town car caught my attention. “Look.”
The car was half on the curb, still running, and the driver’s door hung open. We were little more than a block from the lake, as Jake predicted.
The men approached with care, each with one hand on their sidearm and eyes vigilant. Wind tussled the limbs of a reaching tree, manipulating shadows over the car.
The brothers circled the vehicle like a pair of sharks. Jake reached into the open door and shut down the engine. He fisted the keys and headed for the trunk. The look on his face sent terror through me.
I swallowed bile. “If there’s a body in there, I don’t want to see it.”
“Worse. Luggage.”
Dan snapped on a pair of gloves and opened the back door. “He was running.”
Jake slammed the trunk and swore again. He dug the phone from his pocket and dialed. “Weiss was a runner. We’ve got his car with a trunk full of suitcases. Wherever he was headed, he didn’t pack light.”
So Dante had made an appointment to meet with the US Marshal Deputy Director, offered to dish the scoop on a fugitive, then changed his mind. Why? He had the director’s card in his pocket. Maybe he planned to reschedule? Something had changed his plans.
Or someone.
Panic seized me. I looked for a place to sit before I fell over.
Dan poised his phone and snapped another photo. “Check this out.”
Jake leaned over his brother. “What’d you find?”
I crowded in and peered around them. “What is it?”
Dan ran a blue-gloved finger along a tear in the seat’s ruined fabric. Blood saturated the leather and pooled at the seam between the seat and back support. “It looks like he was stabbed while he was in the car. The door’s open. He probably made a run for it.” Dan called someone on his team for evidence markers, bags and a spare crime scene technician. “It suggests the killer was here.”
Jake moved methodically along the street, shining his phone’s flashlight app on the asphalt. He followed a sparse trail of blood in the direction we’d come. “He definitely made a run for it. The volume of blood loss increases. His heart was pumping hard.”
A young woman jogged to Dan’s side with his requested supplies. She handed off the bags and set up little numbered plastic teepees beside the blood spots in the street as Jake pointed out the trail.
I wandered ahead, speculating about the final moments of Grandma’s dear friend. A man, it seemed, she didn’t truly know. He’d been headed in the right direction until he crossed the street toward the lake. Why hadn’t he steered clear of the lake if he couldn’t swim?
Jake stopped at my side and stared across the field with me. “He was leading the killer away from Mary’s house.”
I turned my eyes on him. A lump formed in my throat. “Yeah?”
“That’s my best guess.” He put his arm over my shoulder and tugged me to his side. “We’ll figure this out.”
I sniffled. “Okay.”
“Really.” He squeezed me tight before releasing me. “We’ve got this. You should get some sleep. Check on Mary in the morning. Dan and I will find out who did this.”
I nodded, emotion reemerging from nowhere. “I’m sorry about our date.” I pulled the coat tighter around my middle. I was a human train wreck. Every time we met after being apart, it was at a crime scene. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Dan,” Jake called. “I’ll be back.”
Dan gave him a thumbs-up and kept working his way around the car.
Jake nudged me forward. “I’m walking you home. I’ll wait while you shower and change if you want.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
“Maybe just walk me up.”
“Fair enough. I’ll come back and check on you before I head home.”
As we reached the guard gate, the candy-cane-striped lever rose and fell. Grandma’s boyfriend, Marvin, rolled through in his Lincoln.
He powered the window down and stopped. “I heard what happened, Mia. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
I shook my head. “Jake’s walking me home. Grandma could use some company, I think.”
He tipped his hat. “I’m on my way.” He powered the window back up and drove away.
Jake smiled. “I like that guy.”
Me, too. It helped to know Grandma wasn’t alone. I didn’t particularly feel like leaving my apartment again tonight, or possibly ever. I imagined sliding into bed and sleeping for a month.
After Jake saw me home, I locked and bolted the door. My brain powered on in the shower and went berserk, tossing questions and wild theories into the abyss. There was a zero percent chance of sleep in my future.
I slipped into my favorite college T-shirt and cotton shorts, then headed for my living room laptop. I opened two windows and typed Dante Weiss into the first search engine and Terrance Horton in the next.
Every search result on Dante suggested Grandma was right. The world had known him as she had. He was a brilliant investor who picked winning projects and supported them until they were on their feet. Dante exchanged startup funds, business contacts and sage advice for a percent of the receiving company’s earnings.
He didn’t show up on the criminal justice website. Not even a parking ticket.
Terrance, on the other hand, was slick enough to slide off my screen. He’d made off with millions of dollars from unsuspecting people following a number of frauds, and he didn’t discriminate. He’d posed as a high-powered broker to the rich, charmed them out of their money for stock investments, then took off with it. He’d also swindled elderly shut-ins out of their retirement by pretending they’d won the lottery. He offered to act as their liaison and collect their winnings for them, if they paid him a fee. The fee was small, compared to what he claimed they’d won. The fee was usually the content of their bank account. He’d even posed, briefly, as a scientist holding clinical trials for AIDS research and charged Medicaid for nothing more than saline and vitamin B infusions. He’d transferred those monies to diverse holdings and disappeared when the FBI came calling. When he went dark, he made the fugitive list and became the marshals’ problem.
According to Jake, Dante had laundered the money for Terrance that kept him out of the marshals’ reach. Terrance knew Dante was trustworthy because Dante had already helped others go to ground, change their identities or flee the United States altogether. How had a lifelong philanthropist gotten in bed with criminals? Was he ever clean? Maybe the person Grandma thought he was had always been a lie. Whatever his deal was, something had spooked him and he was trying to run. Why? My best guess was that Terrance had gotten wind of his CI status and threatened his life. If so, the Archers would figure it out.
Grandma’s voice sprang from the speaker
of my cell phone. “Hello, hello! Hello, hello!” Marvin had introduced her to the option of voice-recorded ringtones at Christmas. Guess what her gift had been for everyone?
I grabbed my phone and collapsed onto the couch. “Hey, Grandma.”
“How are you, pumpkin?” She sounded better than when I’d last seen her. Marvin undoubtedly had a lot to do with that.
“I’m okay.”
“Marvin said he saw you with Jake. Is he with you now?”
“No, but I’m fine. He said he’d stop by before he heads home.”
“Good.” She went quiet for a long beat. “Listen, Marvin and I have done some digging.”
I swiveled upright fast enough to blur my vision. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t dig. Dan and Jake will handle this.”
“Dante was my friend. I knew him longer than I’ve known my daughter. He was your grandfather’s best friend.”
“I know, but—”
“I want whoever did this to be punished.” Her voice broke anew. All pretenses of calm and strength gone. “I just want answers. I have so many questions.”
“I know you do, but please promise me you won’t look into this yourselves.” Horrific memories of being chased through the darkened fairgrounds flashed in my mind’s eye. She was over seventy and no match for a lunatic bent on stopping her amateur investigation. I swallowed a painful ball of terror. “You know what happened to me.”
The silence filled my heart and lungs.
“Grandma,” I pleaded. “I promise to hound Jake for information and give it to you at every turn. I’ll dig a little, too, and help in any way I can.”
She sniffled and sobbed quietly. “You’re excellent at finding dirt.”
I liked to think of it as finding truth, but yes. I was. “Let me. Okay? Not you.”
“Marvin and I weren’t going to beat the pavement.” Her voice was suddenly sharp and clear. “I don’t want you doing that either. It’s dangerous.”
“I won’t.”
“But you’ll look online? Where it’s safe? And report back what you hear from the Archer boys?”
“Yes.” Using the internet to find every minute detail of a person’s life was a longtime hobby turned lucrative side business of mine. I could tell Grandma the remaining balance on Dante’s high school girlfriend’s mortgage in an hour. “It’s no problem.”
“I still won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
That made two of us.
Chapter Four
I woke with a headache and a keyboard imprint on my cheek. It was probably fitting I start the day with a pain in my neck. If life had foreshadowing, this was mine. I had lunch plans with Bree, my twin sister and real-life pain in the neck. My muscles were uncooperative in lifting my head from the laptop. My back said I was ten years too old to sleep at my desk when I had a fantastic queen-size bed two rooms away. The rest of me didn’t disagree.
“Yeesh.” I pushed my roller chair back and willed my body upright with a creak and a groan. Either thirty was the new fifty, or I needed to take better care of myself.
I kneaded the muscles along my shoulders as I puttered into the bathroom for another piping-hot shower. Two steaming cups of coffee later and memories of my evening swim had me back on edge. Someone had murdered a very important person from my grandma’s life. And they’d done it inside the walls of Horseshoe Falls, the place I’d moved to feel safer.
I slid bare feet into new kitten heels and grabbed my keys. I’d done enough research last night to know Dante Weiss shouldn’t have died like that and Grandma deserved answers. Plus, she’d all but threatened to look into things herself, and that was definitely not happening on my watch.
Early summer sun warmed my cheeks as I emerged from the building and headed toward the scene of the crime. Hard to believe anything bad could happen in a place so beautiful and alive. Wraparound porches overflowed with potted plants and hanging baskets. Emerald-green lawns were outlined in every variety of flower. The air smelled of roses and wisteria. Even the soft blue sky was decorated in dainty white puffs.
The world was deceiving.
I stepped off the perfect cobblestone path leading to the clubhouse and outdoor café and into the pristine field. Fifty yards away, a cluster of people watched the local police drag the community lake. A few residents seemed offended by the unsightly scene. Others snapped photos. The overwhelming majority looked blatantly alarmed.
Darlene Lindsey pulled a red Radio Flyer wagon over the lumpy ground behind her. Trays of lidded paper coffee cups with Dream Bean, her shop’s logo, bounced and jostled on the little transport. She handed the cups to onlookers with a smile and a gentle squeeze of her friends’ and neighbors’ arms.
I jogged to catch her, poking my tiny heels in the ground with every step. “Darlene.”
She turned with a bright smile that faded when she recognized me. She dropped the wagon handle and met me with a tight hug. “Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry. I heard about what happened.” She released me and rubbed my arms with her palms. “You must be a mess. Did you sleep?” She wrinkled her nose. Probably at the stubborn imprint marks on my cheek and temple. “Would you like a coffee?”
“Always.”
She handed me a cup and looked over the crowd. “It’s good you’re here. They need to see that you’re okay. Everyone’s pretty shaken. Things like this don’t happen here.” She blinked against the sun and plucked windblown hair from her eyes. The short dark locks returned to her face faster than she could keep them away. “Coffee makes things better. I have tea, too. Anything to warm us from the inside. You know?”
I blew into the tendrils of steam rising from my drink and curled my fingers around the cup like a security blanket. “Have they found anything?”
“Not yet. Bernie said they’re looking for the—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—murder weapon.”
A greasy feeling slid into my gut. Murder weapon. The words felt pointed at me. A result, no doubt, of the PTSD I’d struggled with after my most recent run-in with a killer. “I’m going to check on Grandma. She knew the man.” I glanced pointedly at the lake.
“Of course.”
I hastened past the commotion, unable to smile, not even for the reassurance of my community. I had no idea what really happened. How could I tell anyone that life here would be unaffected? That they had nothing to worry about? I nodded and waved, keeping my brisk pace until arriving on Grandma’s doorstep.
I knocked before letting myself in. The entire family had keys to Grandma’s and my parents’ homes. Almost everyone had keys to Bree’s. My key had been revoked following a birthday incident wherein I’d assumed she was at work, when in fact, she and her husband had taken the day off to celebrate in their birthday suits. In my defense, I’d stopped at my Mom’s for breakfast to plan the details, and Bree had dropped her daughter off as usual, giving no indication she hadn’t planned a normal day at the office. Not one clue she and Tom had planned a day of hide the pickle. When I’d shown up with two enormous balloon bouquets and an armload of bags to decorate her house, the naked party was already in session. I hadn’t eaten at her kitchen island since. I’d resented her taking away my key for a long time. I was clearly innocent, but I still worried anytime I entered another person’s home unannounced.
“Grandma?” I shuffled along the high polished floor to her kitchen, half holding my breath.
Grandma’s home was all masculine lines and wide, inviting woodwork. The super-sized craftsman style matched her personality perfectly. Her kitchen alone was enough to make Frank Lloyd Wright weep with jealousy.
“Good morning, Mia. Come in. Eat.” She stood at her large marble island clicking the button on her television remote. The flat screen flipped from station to station. “I thought there’d be something on the news about Dante. Surely they’ve heard by
now. Where’s that windbag from Channel Three when there’s an actual story to report?”
She posed an excellent question. “The police might be using the walls to their advantage. I can call Bernie and see if she has a directive to stave off reporters.”
Grandma tossed the remote onto the island, disgusted. “I plan to take Bernie some lunch and see what she remembers about last night. Tell me you found something.”
I’d found lots of information, but I wanted to talk to a human. Someone who’d been with Dante in his last few days. “I took some notes on Dante’s recent mergers and acquisitions. I’m thinking of meeting his personal assistant, Lara, for lunch Monday.”
“Good. What about his company? How was business going? Anyone out to get him?”
“Nothing stood out as hostile. All the online articles back you up. He was a beloved member of the community. A successful businessman. Maybe the grouchy tones I heard in his voice mails were the natural sounds of stressed-out middle-aged men.”
She leaned on her elbows over the island. “You want to say something else. I can see it on your face. What else did you find?”
I pressed my lips together, sorting the words into a direct and nonjudgmental framework. “I uncovered some details that suggest Dante was known to associate with people on the wrong side of the law. Possibly even a fugitive.”
She looked away.
“Also, you mentioned his ex-wife was a pain. I looked into her a little bit and it looks like she’s his beneficiary on a sizable insurance policy.”
Grandma blanched. “Define sizable.”
“A quarter million dollars.”
She tilted a palm left and right, indicating that could go either way as motive for Angelina. “She’s loaded from the divorce and probably makes more than that annually.”
“True.” Angelina Weiss was a leading scientist at Happy Farmer, an organic grain and produce company. “Her finances looked good. No significant debt, healthy account balances. No evidence of gambling problems or anything hinky like that. Even still, a quarter mil is a lot of money.”
A Geek Girl's Guide to Justice (The Geek Girl Mysteries) Page 4