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

by B A Trimmer

  “As things turned out,” he continued, “the police arrived in time to confiscate his shipment of drugs and to arrest several of his guys. Now, getting a truckload of heroin into Arizona no doubt took several months of planning and cost his organization several million dollars. They, of course, had been counting on making many times that when they distributed the drugs. Having the police confiscate the shipment will put a serious dent in their operations for a while. It was unfortunate Carlos was able to get away. My guys were on the lookout for him, but once the police moved in we were forced to back off. But, I’ve known from the first this wasn’t going to be a quick or easy problem to solve.”

  “Tony, I hope I didn’t make it worse for you. I was trying to get Jackie back. I didn’t mean to get in the middle between you and Carlos.”

  “Not at all. It was the not knowing who the enemy was that was holding us back. Now that we know whom we are dealing with, we can take steps to correct the problem. You have a solid head on your shoulders. I’m glad you’re on my team.”

  “Tony, I hope you understand the life you have isn’t for me. I was only there to help get Jackie back and then things sorta snowballed.”

  “I understand Laura Black. You’re a nice girl and the life we lead might be somewhat outside your comfort zone. But I do find it interesting this is the second time we’ve had a conversation similar to this. If there’s a third time, I’ll start to wonder if you’re truly not interested in becoming more involved in our little family.”

  Yikes!

  ~~~~

  Reno called me back as I drove back to my apartment. I could detect he was still annoyed at me but he sounded sincere when he said he’d been busy all night and hadn’t been able to talk until now. I told him I wanted to get together as soon as he had a night off. He said the first time he knew for sure he was going to off was on Friday, three nights away. Again, he sounded sincere, so I set up a dinner for Friday night at Frankie’s.

  ~~~~

  On Thursday morning, there was a beautiful funeral for Roger Wade. Most of the old money and elite of Scottsdale came to the services, well over three hundred people. Several people spoke about Roger and the exceptional man he had been. Everyone talked about the Wade family and the part they had played in building Scottsdale into what it is today. The mayor and most of the city council came. I saw that both Muffy Sternwood and Tony DiCenzo were among the mourners. In the back of the crowd, I even saw Howard Spencer and Terry Lennox, although they both left as soon as the service was over.

  Jackie was there and doing well, considering the circumstances. Although she still seemed somewhat shaken, she was surrounded by her friends and she seemed to draw strength from them. Even though she’d experienced a troubled marriage and she’d been separated from Roger for almost a year and a half, I could see the deep emotions Jackie felt as they laid her husband to rest.

  ~~~~

  After the funeral, I stopped by the office. Lenny had given me several days off but I hated to be out of the loop for so long. Of course, my days off were always subject to a new assignment coming in. I told myself I could only chat with Sophie for a few minutes. Otherwise, I knew Lenny would think up something for me to do out of reflex.

  As I walked into reception, Sophie and Gina were both there, still talking about the funeral. When she saw me, Sophie perked up.

  “I forgot to tell you,” she said, “but you have a box.”

  “I have a box?”

  “Yeah, a delivery guy brought it over yesterday afternoon.”

  “Where is it?”

  “It’s sittin’ on your desk.”

  “What’s in it?”

  “Don’t know, but it sloshes when you shake it.”

  Curious, I went back to my cubicle and found a box, a little bigger than a shoebox. It hadn’t been sent through one of the major carriers. Instead, it looked like a courier service had driven it over from somewhere local. I looked at the box for a minute, wondering if perhaps it had come from Carlos. It made me wish I knew more about mail bombs.

  I carefully unwrapped the outer paper and slowly removed the lid. Inside was a bunch of bubble wrap and a wooden box with a card on top. I took out the card and read:

  Dear Laura,

  I know I told you the other night, but I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for my family and me. I remember the first time we met you seemed particularly to like this. I hope you enjoy it and think about me when you drink it.

  Sincerely,

  Margret Sternwood

  I unwrapped the bubble wrap and opened the box. Inside was a bottle of Balvenie Cask-151 scotch. The hand numbered label said it was bottle fifty-seven of eighty-one.

  I remembered when Muffy had first given me a glass of it, she said it was older than I was and even she thought it was expensive. If Muffy Sternwood thought it was expensive, it must really be expensive.

  Overcome with curiosity, I went to the computer and looked it up on the internet. I then walked out to where Gina and Sophie were laughing in the reception area.

  “What’s up girlfriend?” Sophie asked, slightly concerned.

  “Yeah,” Gina said. “You look kind of pale. You get another death threat?”

  “And what was in the box?” Sophie asked. “Not another severed body part, I hope. Whenever you get a severed body part, I always feel like vomiting in the nearest trash can.”

  “Muffy Sternwood sent me a bottle of sixty year old scotch costing over twenty thousand dollars.”

  “What?” Sophie asked. “Are you serious? Holy crap on a cupcake!”

  “Is that the scotch you were telling us about?” Gina asked. “Liquid sex?”

  “I guess Mrs. Sternwood doesn’t know what a piece of shit car you drive.” Sophie laughed. “If she did, she could have gotten you one of those instead.”

  “Oh, I don’t care about my car,” I said. “It was sweet of her to think of me. Let’s wait for a special occasion and open it up. You both should know what liquid sex tastes like.”

  “Works for me,” Gina said.

  “Me too,” Sophie said. “But don’t wait too long. The thought of liquid sex is starting to turn me on, you know, a little bit.”

  ~~~~

  After making sure it was all right with Jackie, Lenny invited her and her friends over to the office Friday evening for a private gathering. By six o’clock on Friday, the office was closed for the week. Sophie and Annie set up the wet bar and a small buffet in the main conference room. Gina had found some great piano Jazz and was playing it over the office sound system.

  By six-thirty, the cougars had already started to arrive. By seven o’clock, they were all there, Jackie, Pam, Elle, Sonia, Shannon, Cindy, and Annie. As always, I was totally impressed seeing them together as a group. Since it was a Friday evening, they were all dressed for a night of trolling for men at the clubs. Perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect shoes, and perfect clothes. As usual, the delicate scent of their mingled perfumes filled the air.

  The lone exception was Jackie, she was dressed in a conservative navy blue pants suit, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Everything considered, she seemed to be taking events in stride. Within a few minutes, the room was filled with talk, music, and laughter.

  I wore my diamond pendant for only the second time. Sophie had told Gina about it, of course, but this was the first time she’d actually seen it. After they both had a nice laugh at seeing the real thing, Gina broke out in a big grin, held up her hand, and gave me a high-five. When Lenny saw it, he stared for a moment, but fortunately he didn’t say anything or ask any questions. After all, how could a simple investigator at a law office possibly have a real diamond that was anywhere close to being that big and sparkly?

  You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

  After half an hour of eating, drinking, and telling stories about the past two weeks, Lenny called the group together in the big open space in front of Sophie’s desk.

  “Everybody, I w
ant to thank you all for coming and to say today is a truly great day. After much delay, today is the day our friend Jacquelyn Wade officially comes into her own. Jackie, if you would, please come up.” He then waved Jackie to the front.

  To the sound of everyone clapping and cheering, Jackie walked up to where Lenny was standing. Lenny reached into a folder, which had been sitting on Sophie’s desk. He then pulled out a creased and battered document with several signatures and notary stamps on it.

  “This piece of paper has caused us all a lot of trouble,” he said. “This is the document transferring ownership of the Scottsdale Saguaro Sky resort from Jackie to Spencer-Wade Land Development. I’d like to give Jackie the honor of destroying it.”

  Everyone in the room clapped and shouted as Lenny held out the document to Jackie. She took it with a trembling hand. She then looked down at it with an odd look of wonder and anger, probably thinking of all of the problems and damage it had caused. She closed her eyes and slowly tore the document in half.

  There was a loud cheer from everyone in the room and Jackie collapsed in Sophie’s chair. There was a look of relief on her face and I knew in my heart she was going to be OK.

  Lenny popped the corks on several bottles of Crystal champagne while Annie and Sophie walked around the room, filling everyone’s glass. Lenny then held up his glass for a toast.

  “To Jackie Wade. You are now the sole and permanent owner of the Scottsdale Saguaro Sky resort. This is in addition to the partial ownership of five other Scottsdale resorts and several undeveloped Scottsdale properties going to you fully, once the estate clears. This makes you one of the largest land and resort owners in the state of Arizona. Congratulations.”

  We all clapped and cheered and then everybody drained their glass. I saw both Elle and Pam were smiling and crying over the good fortune of their friend.

  Seeing Annie standing with the cougars gave me an idea. I called Sophie and Gina over and we had a conference. We came to a quick agreement and elected Gina to be our spokeswoman. We then motioned Annie over.

  “Come with us,” I said.

  We all walked over as a group and stood in front of Lenny. He was seated in one of the red leather chairs, still sipping his champagne.

  “Lenny,” Gina said. “Annie will be graduating in two months with an associate’s degree in business. We’d like you to take her on as the new admin.”

  Annie broke out in a huge smile then looked expectantly at Lenny. He thought about it for a moment.

  “Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” he said. “We still need an extra pair of hands and she doesn’t seem insane like Amber.” He looked over at Annie, who was closely following the conversation. “Well, what do you think? I should warn you, I’ve often been told I can sometimes be, umm, difficult.”

  Sophie barked out a sharp laugh. She realized what she had done and quickly covered her mouth with embarrassment. I noticed her face had turned bright red.

  Lenny looked over at Sophie, a little annoyed. “OK,” he said. “I’ll be honest. I’m a pain in the ass. But, what do you say? Would you like the job? You can work part-time until you graduate then switch over to full-time. We’ll negotiate your salary, but I think you’ll be happy with it.”

  Annie squealed with happiness and started jumping up and down. She spread her arms and hugged Gina, Sophie, and me. We all took this as a yes.

  We all had another glass of champagne and everyone was starting to get a little giggly. As we were celebrating, Pam came over and gave me a nudge. She motioned to have me look over at Lenny. He was now standing with his mouth open, staring across the room. When I saw what was going on, I laughed and nudged Gina, who laughed and nudged Sophie. We all looked and saw Lenny was staring at Elle. What was funny was the look she was giving him back. She looked like she was hungry.

  Champagne glass in hand, Elle slowly walked toward Lenny, like a lioness walking toward a wounded gazelle. She swung her long dark hair and licked her lips as she slowly closed in on her prey. She got to Lenny and stood close to him. In her heels, she was several inches taller than he was and Lenny was having a hard time deciding where to look at her. We saw him nervously start to fidget. I couldn’t help but think “Beauty and the Beast.”

  “As you know, I usually don’t date guys my age,” Elle softly said as she lightly brushed her fingertips across Lenny’s cheek. “But there’s something about you. I like the way you took control and handled the situation for my friend. After this is over, why don’t we go out on the town and make a night of it. Can you cook? I have a big kitchen. You can make me breakfast.”

  “Ahhh, ummm, sure,” Lenny stammered out. His face had turned bright red.

  At this, we all held up our champagne glasses in a salute and everybody was laughing. Lenny was never very good at talking to women in social situations, especially beautiful women. But, I got the feeling Lenny wasn’t going to need to do a lot of talking with Elle tonight.

  Jackie walked over to me. She paused for a moment, took off her thick diamond and ruby bracelet, and handed it to me.

  “Roger gave this to me when we built our first resort together and I’ve worn it ever since. Even after we separated, I’ve worn it to remind me of the good times we had together. But, after everything that’s happened, I think it’s time for me to let him go and to say good-bye. I know this doesn’t nearly make up for everything you’ve done for me but I wish you’d take it. Think of me when you wear it. I think it will look great with your diamond pendant.

  “It’s not real!” Sophie and Gina said together.

  I took the bracelet from Jackie and then I burst into tears. I couldn’t stop them and I didn’t even want to try. It had been a long two weeks and I was happy everything had worked out so well. It could have easily gone horribly wrong. I gave Jackie a long hug and I knew I had made a lifelong friend.

  After they all had another glass of champagne, the girls were ready to hit the town. Taking Lenny in tow, they took off through the front door and we heard them singing and laughing as they walked down the street to one of the nearby clubs.

  Gina had stopped drinking after the first glass of champagne and was giving Jackie a ride home. Before she left, Sophie and I hugged her again. We extracted a promise she would send out daily status reports on her mood for at least the next week. We then made plans to all go out together as soon as she was up for it.

  Sophie had a date arranged with Milo for after the party. They had planned on meeting up at a club but she called him and told him to pick her up at the office instead. From tone of her voice on the phone and the soft pink glow that was starting on her cheeks, I doubted if she and Milo would make it any further tonight than the bedroom in her apartment. After all, Sophie is a woman of many needs. Somehow, I got the feeling Milo wouldn’t mind the change in plans.

  ~~~~

  Reno and I had planned on meeting at Frankie Z’s for a late dinner. So far, he hadn’t called it off and Lenny hadn’t come up with any new assignments for me. I took both as good signs. After the first glass of champagne, I had switched to Diet Pepsi in anticipation of actually being able to see Reno.

  As I drove to the restaurant, the thought of being with Reno was giving me a wonderful case of the butterflies. I was starting to have hopes that maybe Reno and I could be together tonight for more than a dinner and a quickie in the parking lot. Maybe we could even have a real date like normal people. Maybe even a date lasting until Monday morning.

  A girl can always dream.

  As I walked into the restaurant, Frankie greeted me and walked me into the lounge. As usual, Little Zappy was mixing drinks behind the bar. As usual, he waved when he saw me. The place was full of people, all laughing and talking at once. Reno had a table in the corner of the lounge and I sat close to him. After a minute, Dominick came to our table and we each ordered a scotch.

  We slowly sipped scotch and talked. Every few minutes, Dominick, or one of the other waiters, would bring out a tray of food from the kitc
hen. As they walked past us, we would catch the wonderful smell of the dinners.

  We each ordered a dinner then had a few minutes to talk before the food would start to arrive. I knew discussing the rescue was probably a bad idea. I also knew Reno was still upset about finding me in the warehouse. But, I still had questions. Plus, the champagne and the scotch were making it hard for me to keep my mouth shut.

  “What happened the other day?” I asked. “How did you find us?”

  At first, he looked at me, as if he wasn’t going to say anything or maybe start to get angry. Instead, I saw him hang his head in defeat. After a moment, he lifted up his head, lowered his voice, and started talking.

  “We’d been getting indications for weeks there was a truck coming up from Mexico with a shipment of heroin. By late last week, we had the date narrowed down to last Tuesday. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where it was headed. Border patrol let it through on Tuesday morning, but only after they’d put a tracking device underneath the trailer. The truck had passed through Tucson when we got a tip the drugs were going to an abandon warehouse on Mary Street in south Scottsdale. The tipper also said the drugs were being transported by a group called the Muerte Negra cartel and it was possible Jacquelyn Wade was being held as a hostage there.

  “So you got a lucky break, having a tipper call it in?”

  “Yup, we caught a break. It gave us enough time to set up a plan on how we were going to make the arrests. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of information on the group. They apparently haven’t been operating in the area for long. We made some phone calls to the DEA and found out this group is headed in Arizona by a man called Carlos the Butcher. But other than his name, that’s about all of the information they had on him or the group. Since you had already said someone called Carlos the Butcher was holding Jackie Wade as a hostage, we took the tippers information as credible. So, in addition to our drug intervention team, we also called in the hostage rescue team. We were looking for Jackie Wade. We weren’t looking for you. I had to look twice when I saw you there. I’m still not sure why you’re always in the middle of everything.