Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2)

by B A Trimmer

  “I’ve read your file so I know what you’ve already told Lenny. I’d like some more background information. How’d you two get together?”

  “See, it’s like this. I’ve known Jackie-D for a couple years. Everyone knows Jackie-D. She’s sort of a groupie for the band. First time I saw her was when we were playing Barcelona. That was a few weeks before they closed it down, which was a damn shame, by the way. It was a great club. But, Jackie and me didn’t actually get together until last month. She came down to hear the band when we was playing the Roxy and we got to talking after the show. You might have heard I’m the talent of the band Dog Farts.”

  “You’re the talent?”

  “Yeah, all great bands are based around a talent. Some, like the Stones, or U2, are built around two talents. But in Dog Farts, I’m the one.”

  “You know that’s a terrible name for a band, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I get that all the time. But it only sucks when you first hear it. It actually promotes ridiculous name recognition. How many time have you gone to a club and then can’t remember the name of the band a week later? Everyone remembers Dog Farts.”

  I handed him the picture of Jacquelyn from the file. “Do you know how old this picture is?”

  “She texted this to me right after we got together, so about a month maybe?”

  “Any idea where this is or who took the picture?”

  “She just said she was at the beach with friends. She didn’t say where or with who. Jackie gets around, you know?”

  “Any idea where she can be now?”

  “She usually hangs out at the clubs, but no one has seen her all week. I’ve gone over to her house a couple of times since she took off but it looks like no one has been over there either. The newspapers and mail are piling up.”

  “Do you have information on her friends? Can I get some names and addresses?”

  “Names are easy, addresses are tougher. There’s Shannon, Elle, Annie, Sonia, Pammy, and Cindy. I don’t know any of their last names, but they’re an easy group to find. They’re older, but still hot. Annie is the only young one in the group. If you want to learn about Jackie’s friends, go to the Roxy, or Dakota, or Maya, or the Casablanca, or even the Rock Bar. It’s only Tuesday, but some of them will probably be out trolling tonight.”

  I told him to give me a call if he heard anything. He said he would.

  ~~~~

  Golf is to Scottsdale as skiing is to Aspen or gambling is to Las Vegas. Golf drives the economy and directly, or indirectly, employs most of the people living in the city. Most of the best courses are part of large golf resorts. These golf resorts are surrounded by some of the most desired real estate and housing to be found in Arizona. Jackie’s house was located along a fairway at one of these upscale resorts.

  I drove up Scottsdale Road, past Thompson Peak Parkway, and then onto Greyhawk Drive. I drove until I found Jackie’s house and parked in the driveway. Like most of the houses along the golf course, it was beautifully landscaped and well maintained. As Terry has said, there were was a small pile of newspapers in the driveway and the mailbox was full.

  I rang the doorbell, and when no one came to the door, I tested the lock. Having no luck, I went around to the side of the house where there was a gate in the wall leading to the backyard. It was unlocked and I let myself in.

  I couldn’t see in any of the windows, since all of them had inside shutters. The back door was locked, but I could see the deadbolt lock was covered with fresh scratches. It appeared someone, who didn’t know what they were doing, had tried to pick the lock. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell if they had succeeded or not.

  I spent another ten minutes walking around the house, trying to look into windows and testing door locks, without success. Finally, I convinced myself the house was indeed empty.

  ~~~~

  As I drove back down Scottsdale Road, I called Sophie at the office.

  “Hey chica, anything on my missing person yet?”

  “I’m still gathering,” she said, “but nothing exciting so far. I’ll have the report put together in the morning.”

  “You interested in dinner before the schedule goes to hell again? I need a burrito.”

  “Oh, dinner sounds great. It’s been a long day and I could use a margarita or maybe even a Top Dropper. Gina should be here in about a half hour. I’ll see if she wants to come too.”

  “Perfect, I’m stopping by my place to change then I’ll swing by the office. See you in about an hour.”

  ~~~~

  I took the elevator to the third floor and walked down the hall to my apartment. As I got close to my door, Grandma Peckham opened her door and stuck her head out.

  I had met Grandma Peckham when I first moved into the apartment, just after my divorce. She came over the first day and had offered me a Diet Pepsi as a housewarming present.

  Diet Pepsi is all I’ve ever seen Grandma Peckham drink and she has me hooked on the stuff too. Sometimes she slips in a little Appleton rum with her Diet Pepsi. She calls these drinks Jamaican Jerks. I know from experience it only takes two Jerks to make Grandma loopy.

  “Well Laura, come on in,” Grandma said. “It’s been weeks since we’ve talked.”

  I went in and saw Marlowe was asleep on his afghan on his chair. Grandma also has a cat door in her bedroom door to the balcony. Marlowe thinks he lives in both apartments, which he sort of does. About two years ago, Grandma had crocheted a cat-sized afghan for Marlowe and designated a chair for him to sleep on.

  Grandma went to the fridge, pulled out two Diet Pepsis, and handed one to me.

  “It’s so good to talk to you,” she said, lightly touching my arm. “I was wondering if you are doing OK. Did you break up with that policeman boyfriend of yours again?”

  “I’m not sure he even really is my boyfriend again. We get along OK for a couple of days, then nothing for a week. I don’t know what to think.”

  “Well, that explains it,” Grandma said. “I knew you two had started dating again. Oh, if I could ask you a favor from you? Let me know ahead of time if you’re going to start dating someone like that again. The first time you brought him back over was about two months ago. I was asleep when you started moaning and screaming. It startled me awake and I had to listen for about five minutes before I figured out you were with the policeman again and not being chased around the apartment by an axe murderer.”

  Oh God, how embarrassing.

  “Of course, the thing clinching it for me was the little high-pitched whimper you always get towards the end. Only the policeman ever made you do that.”

  Really? I do?

  “I’m not sure what to do with him,” I said. “Our schedules are so messed up we hardly ever see each other for dinner. Getting together for sex almost takes a miracle.”

  “Well, I’d tell you about my sex life, except I don’t have one. I told you about the time a while back when I tried to have sex with Walter from the drugstore and what a disaster it was when his penis wouldn’t work. Lately, I’ve been thinking the best way to get some action might be to put an ad on one of those internet-dating sites. I’ve been looking at one called NaughtyMatureBabes. Land sakes, the site is crawling with men looking for some no-strings-attached sex.”

  “Is that what you’re looking for?” I asked.

  “I think so. To be honest, I’m not sure I want a full time boyfriend. I’m kind of settled and I don’t think I want to go through the problems of learning to be with someone new. But it would be nice to have a gentleman caller from time to time. It’s been so long even once would be a nice change.”

  “Sounds good to me. Can I do anything to help?”

  “Well, now that you mention it, I’ve noticed most of the woman who put ads on the web site put in a lot of naked pictures of themselves. I guess the pictures drive the men wild with thoughts of having dirty sex with them. Back in my day, a man would need to marry a woman before he got to see those things, but I guess times change.
I’m going to need some naked pictures to put in my ad. Maybe you could come over and take some pictures of me?”

  I got a cold shiver at the thought at taking naked pictures of Grandma Peckham.

  “Umm, I’d probably stick with selfies or maybe you could try taking some in front of the bathroom mirror. I’ve heard guys really like those.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll let you know how it works out.”

  ~~~~

  I went back to my apartment and changed into a mid-length navy blue dress, one good enough to hit the clubs later on. It wasn’t one of my favorites but since I was going to spend an hour or two sitting on the picnic table in Paul Marston’s backyard it was definitely good enough.

  ~~~~

  I pulled into my space behind the office and went in through the security door. Lenny was out, apparently for the night. Gina was there and said she had time for dinner, so we all went out the front. Sophie stopped to lock the door and set the alarm.

  The three of us walked across the street and down Craftsman Court to our favorite Baja place, Dos Gringos. We like that all of the tables are on outside patios, underneath either a big umbrella or one of several large trees. Colorful lights are strung everywhere and upbeat music is constantly pumping from a dozen overhead speakers. It’s a great place to day drink, the food is good, and the atmosphere on the patios is always lively.

  We walked in from the street and grabbed one of our favorite tables, up front near the sidewalk. From here, all three of us could watch the guys as they walked by on the sidewalk or cruised by in their convertibles.

  Our waitress came over and I ordered a margarita, Gina had a Corona, and Sophie ordered a Top Dropper with an extra shot in it. Within five minutes, our drinks arrived and we ordered dinner.

  “How’s it going with Paul Marston?” Gina asked.

  “Slow, I need to get the money shot before Mrs. Marston comes back into town on Friday.”

  “If you can’t get a good photo by then,” Gina said, “I don’t think we’ll have a choice but to install cameras in the house. I know Mrs. Marston doesn’t like the idea of cameras in her bedroom but it may be the only way. What about your new one, the missing person? At least it’s a break from cheating spouses.”

  “Too soon to tell,” I said. “The woman in the photograph looks vaguely familiar and her boyfriend doesn’t think there was foul play. Sophie’s running the standard checks. So, we should know more in a day or two. What about your assignments? Aren’t you working on three of them?”

  “Actually, I’m working four of them. Three are cheating spouses but one is an old friend of Lenny’s who’s trying to put together an alibi for a crime occurring a few months ago. Apparently, the police are sniffing around and he’s getting nervous.”

  “You mean he is rich,” Sophie said. “Every time Lenny has an ‘old friend’, it means he’s a rich guy Lenny happens to know.”

  “You’re right, I’ve noticed the same thing,” Gina said with a laugh. “The police apparently suspect this old-friend may be involved in a string of drug related crimes that have happened over the past two years. The police seem to think he’s some sort of broker or middleman in massive volumes of cocaine and heroin that have come up from Mexico. They apparently have evidence he was directly involved in receiving a heroin shipment coming up from Mexico about three months ago. I’m trying to show our client was elsewhere when the drug deal took place.”

  “How’s it going?” I asked.

  “So far, I’m getting nowhere. His story isn’t checking out and the people he was supposed to be with at the time can’t be found.”

  “That’s never a good sign.”

  “Nope.”

  “What about the one where the wife’s supposed to be cheating with the pool boy?” Sophie asked.

  I cocked my head to the side. This was a new one for me.

  Gina saw my look and started laughing. “We were hired by the husband to gather evidence the wife’s cheating. She’s the one with the money and she made him sign an ironclad pre-nup. The only way to break the contract is for him to prove infidelity. The husband suspects the wife’s been cheating with the pool boy, possibly for quite some time.”

  “Well?” Sophie asked.

  “I don’t know about the wife, but Raul, the pool boy, is having an ongoing affair with the daughter. She comes home from high school about three o’clock and seems to have a standing appointment with Raul every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The house is empty then because mom is always at one of her charity or social events until five or six. I got permission to record in all of the bedrooms, not only the master, so I got some amazing material. She is really flexible, as in feet crossed behind her head flexible.”

  “She’s a gymnast,” Sophie said.

  We both looked at her.

  “What?” she said, looking back at both of us. “I read it in the file. She’s been on a gymnastics team since she was a little kid.”

  “Well,” Gina said, “it would explain how she could get into some of those positions. I’m not kidding. It was like watching a circus act.”

  “Are you giving the information to the dad?” I asked.

  “Nope. Lenny’s only contracted to obtain evidence the wife’s being unfaithful for use in the upcoming divorce,” Gina said. The daughter’s eighteen and it’s outside the scope of the investigation. Per the contract, after I viewed the video to make sure it wasn’t material evidence, I destroyed the tape.”

  Sophie held up her glass. “Here’s to pool boys and the women who love them.”

  We all clinked our glasses. Living in Scottsdale, most every woman has a happy pool boy memory or two.

  ~~~~

  I got to Paul Marston’s house about eight-thirty but the house looked dark and empty. I opened the gate to the backyard and went in. I saw the bedroom was dark but my opening in the curtains was still there. I walked around to the living room side of the house when Buddy trotted around the corner. He walked over to me and sat down. He licked his drooling doggy lips and slowly wagged his tail.

  I reached into my bag and pulled out a thick sirloin I had bought at the same Bashas’ as the night before. Buddy’s tail wagged a bit faster as I held the steak out for him. He took it with a fast snap of his massive jaws but he didn’t eat it. Instead, he held it in his mouth, like a baby with a Binky.

  I walked to the living room window and peered into the darkened room. I couldn’t see anything inside, other than a few dark shapes. When I looked down, I saw Buddy had followed me, tail still wagging. I walked to a window looking into a side hallway and again the dog followed. I then went back to the bedroom to see if I could see anything in the dark room through the opening in the curtains. Once again, Buddy followed beside me.

  I looked down at the dog, who was wagging his tail harder. He looked so cute, I couldn’t help myself. I reached down and scratched behind his big ears. With the steak in his mouth, he flopped on the ground and rolled over so I could rub his tummy. After a few seconds of rubbing and scratching, he started kicking his back leg and began making happy doggy noises.

  “You aren’t much of a watchdog, you know?”

  I sat on the picnic table and waited. It appeared the house would be empty for the night, but you never know. I was hoping Paul Marston would still show up and he’d have the women with him again.

  By ten o’clock, the house was still dark and I decided to call it a night. I got up and stretched, then started walking back to the gate. Buddy hadn’t left my side as he had gnawed on his dinner. He got up and trotted next to me as I walked through the yard.

  When I got to the gate, Buddy let out a sad whine. I looked down at him and scratched behind his ear again.

  “Don’t be sad,” I said. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  ~~~~

  I drove back down into Old Town and parked in my space behind the law office. One convenient thing about my place of employment is it’s within half a mile of twenty of the best bars, restaur
ants, and nightclubs in Scottsdale.

  First on my list to look for Jacquelyn Wade was the Casablanca Lounge. Terry had mentioned Jackie and her friends often went there. It seemed like as good of a place as any to start.

  The Casablanca is on Stetson drive, a couple of blocks from the office. I’d been there a few times before and I really like the place. It’s a cocktail lounge located on the third floor of a building where most of the tourists don’t think to look. There’s a beautiful patio with great views of both Old Town and Camelback Mountain, plus there are several fire pits, which are perfect in the winter. They also have menus with tiny lights in them to show you what new drinks they’ve concocted.

  I went in and looked around to see if I knew anyone. In my line of work, I tend to meet a lot of people and I seem to keep running into them. The way I look at it, Scottsdale isn’t such a big city.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone I knew, either in the lounge or out on the patio. I went to the bar and asked both of the guys who were working if they knew the woman in the picture. The first looked, but didn’t recognize her. The second immediately knew who she was.

  “That’s Jackie-D,” he said. “She’s usually here with a girlfriend or two but I haven’t seen any of them for a while.”

  I asked him if he knew the names of Jackie’s friends. He said he only knew them as Elle, Pam, Sonia, and the young one, Annie.

  ~~~~

  Next on my list was the Rock Bar. It was only a short walk to Craftsman Court, down the street from Dos Gringos. I hadn’t been in since it was called the Acme Bar. I went in and really liked the changes. It’s always been a great place to watch a band and the drinks won’t make you go broke.

  I went in and looked around. Once again, I didn’t find anyone I knew. I went up to the bar and showed the picture to the woman tending the bar.