Wicked Women Whodunit

by Davidson, MaryJanice

  “So Fred’s killer brought that with her. She had to get it somewhere. And if it’s Linda Riley’s stepdaughter—”

  “But we didn’t see any pink ones there,” he pointed out.

  She started scrolling through some screens. “But they may sell them on the Internet, meaning they have stock in the store to ship to customers. Here.” She pointed to the screen where she found the erection enhancer like the one Ark saw at the shop.

  Ark stood up and set his hand on her shoulder. “It’s blue.”

  “Let’s see what other colors they have.” She clicked on the word colors, and a drop-down screen opened up. It listed black, blue, green, pink ... “There!” Tess pointed.

  “So the stepdaughter could have gotten the pink cock ring from Sensual Delights. And she could easily have given Fred a bag from there to get into the store to do his articles. Fred probably had the Viagra, and my condoms—I don’t know what my condoms was about.”

  Tess turned around. “I do. She couldn’t get you to use your condoms with her. So she used them with another man. Trust me, it’s a female thing. You rejected her.”

  Ark rubbed his hand over his face. “Who?” He dropped his hand. “We have to get the first name of Linda’s stepdaughter.”

  “Yes, but let’s think for a minute. Josie’s take was that this woman is on the fringe of your life. To accomplish everything we think she has, she would have to have access to Sensual Delights. She would have had to have access to your suite somehow since there was no forced entry. She would have known that you and I were at the restaurant long enough to lure Fred into your room and kill him. Plus, it’s likely the killer leaked the sex toy part to the media so they now refer to it as the Sex Toy Murder.”

  Ark was impressed as hell. “That’s good. So who knows me that well? There’s Giles, but he didn’t do it, obviously. And who can get in my room?”

  “Someone who works at the hotel. It’d be easy enough to get a job there right before the big race. Did you see anyone you recognized as a maid or something?”

  He shook his head. “Don’t think so.” Something bothered him about getting into his room. “The police are checking all the hotel staff.” But that wasn’t it. What bothered him?

  Tess said, “Ark, think—”

  She stopped talking when his cell phone rang. Ark pulled it from his pocket and looked at the screen. It was Maureen. He felt a twinge of guilt. She’d been working day and night since the murder to try and contain the fallout and figure out a way to keep Ark’s reputation, such as it was, from suffering too much damage. He answered, “What’s up?”

  “Couple things, Ark. First I got the name of Linda’s stepdaughter.”

  Ark started pacing the kitchen. Now they were getting somewhere. “What’s her name?” He could feel Tess’s gaze on him, but he concentrated on Maureen’s voice in his ear.

  “It’s Heidi.”

  He stopped pacing. “Heidi? Groupie Heidi? She is Linda’s stepdaughter?” Ark had trained himself to process information very fast. His life depended on it when he was driving upwards of 180 miles per hour. Heidi was on the fringe of his life, and he had rejected her sexual advances countless times. She had been there when Ark made his original plans with Giles. She could probably have gotten a job with the hotel ...

  “Yes, that Heidi. But, Ark, I have more information, and it’s not good. You’re not going to like it.”

  A twinge of uneasiness rolled through him. “What? Just tell me.” He glanced at Tess to see her watching him.

  Maureen said, “I found the reporter who published the e-mail. After using a little persuasion, I got him to tell me who sold him the e-mail.”

  The twinge took root inside of him. Ark knew how she persuaded the reporter—her uncle ran a large Hollywood movie production studio. All Maureen probably had to do was promise the reporter a chance to pitch his story. They always had a story. “Who?”

  “Dr. Collins.”

  He looked at Tess. “No.”

  “I’m afraid so. She sold it to him Friday after she left the hotel sometime. They paid her five thousand. He said she put the check with the stub attached in her laptop case.”

  She looked so damned honest. He’d believed her—that the e-mail had been an honest mistake. But why? Did she need the money?

  “Ark?”

  “Yes, I’m here.” He heard the coldness in his voice.

  So did Tess. She frowned at him.

  “We need to have a press conference, and you need to distance yourself from Dr. Collins. We’ll say that you dated her once and realized she wasn’t the kind of woman you admire ... I’ll have it all written up. Then we’ll talk about how we are cooperating with the police, etc. In an hour, Ark. Be back at the hotel in an hour. I’ve already secured a conference room to use.”

  “Press conference at the Speedway Hotel in an hour. I’ll be there.” He hung up.

  Tess started firing questions at him. “Who is it? Did she give you a name? Ark?”

  Tess didn’t kill Fred. Ark knew that, she’d been with him. But she’d lied to him, used him. She wasn’t real. Hurt and a feeling of betrayal ripped through his gut. If she’d needed money, he’d have given it to her.

  Obviously she’d been there at the hotel to sell Fred the e-mail. She’d been staying with Fred, too—so was there more? It didn’t matter.

  Her face tightened with anxiety. “Ark? What’s the matter? Do you recognize the name Linda gave you?”

  He walked toward her. Then looked down at the floor between Tess’s chair and the wall where she’d put her laptop case. He’d seen her get it from its place by the front door in the living room and bring it in here, then pull out her laptop and boot it up. Ark went behind Tess’s chair, bent over, and grabbed the case.

  “Ark? What are you doing?” She twisted around to see him.

  The part of the case that had held the computer was unzipped. He stuck his hand into the smaller pockets. He touched a piece of paper. His breath locked in his chest. He didn’t want to look. He wanted, desperately, to believe in Tess.

  But Ark dealt with life head on.

  He pulled out the paper. It was folded in half. He dropped the case and unfolded the paper.

  A check stub. The vendor was Dr. Tess Collins. The amount was five thousand. No check was attached. Most likely because it had been deposited.

  He dropped the check stub on Tess’s lap. He went to the other side of the table where he’d left his shirt and shoes while having sex with Tess.

  Just sex as it turned out. Sex he paid for in a manner of speaking since she sold the e-mail about him for five grand.

  Tess grabbed the check stub. Her face was blank and pale.

  Ark said, “I have no room for liars like you in my life.” He left.

  Eight

  Tess was stunned for about three minutes. Then devastated. She read the check stub over and over, trying to understand. She never sold her e-mail. She never went to a tabloid. She hadn’t lied to Ark.

  But he believed she had. She wasn’t worth fighting for. She wasn’t worth taking the time to ask for an explanation.

  She didn’t have an explanation.

  A painful lump filled her throat. God, it hurt. Now she knew why she didn’t take chances with passion, with caring so damn much. The pain was unbearable. Tears ran down her face, but she didn’t care, didn’t wipe them away. She couldn’t even see her computer screen.

  Wait.

  Her computer had been at her house while she’d been staying at Josie’s. She had found it in its usual place next to the foyer table by the front door.

  How had the check stub gotten in there?

  Someone had broken into her house. She had been gone for days. Someone set her up.

  Tess shook off her heavy self-pity. Someone was trying to separate her from Ark Underwood. Someone who knew him well enough to do it. Tess got up and grabbed her cordless phone.

  Heidi? Tess fought to clear her head and think. That was th
e name Ark said—Groupie Heidi. So Heidi was a groupie and Linda’s stepdaughter? Had Ark rejected her advances and she decided to pay him back? Get revenge? Make money? Did she get a job at the hotel as a maid or something like that to get into Ark’s room?

  Who told Ark’s publicist that Tess sold him the e-mail? Obviously that’s what Maureen told Ark on the phone. That was the reason Ark knew to look in her laptop case for the check stub.

  Tess dialed the phone and, when it was answered, said, “Jo?”

  “Tess, what’s wrong?”

  She swallowed and took a deep breath to get control of herself. “Ark’s meeting someone at the Speedway Hotel in an hour for a press conference. We have to get there. Something’s wrong.” Tess took the cordless phone with her to get shoes and her purse while explaining what happened.

  Ark didn’t want her. That was fine. She could live with that. Tess had a good life; she loved her life.

  She might have loved Ark, but that didn’t matter now.

  What mattered was that someone was screwing with both Tess’s and Ark’s lives. With their decisions. That she was not going to allow.

  Josie broke into her thoughts. “Tess, if it’s Heidi, Ark will have the police on her before the press conference. So what are we going for? To tell Ark he’s an ass? ’Cause if that’s it, I’m there.”

  Tess walked back into her kitchen and was slapped with the memory of making love with Ark. And the pain. She closed her eyes. Think, damn it. “No. Jo—I’m not convinced this Heidi is the killer. That check stub has to be a fake, and someone had to plant it in my laptop.” She pushed aside the creepy notion of someone breaking into her house to stay focused. “What would Heidi gain by convincing Ark I sold the e-mail?” She was trying to solidify her thoughts. Zero in on what was wrong, what didn’t make sense.

  Someone knocked at her front door.

  Tess ignored the knock.

  “Tess,” Josie’s voice was gentle. “I’m in my car. I’m on my way, honey. Just stay there.”

  Tess damn near cried just from Josie’s caring. Ark might not want her, but her friends—they had chosen Tess just like she chose them. They loved her. And now, Jo heard the pain in her voice and was desperate to get to her.

  She had a good life. And a damn good reason to fight to clear her name.

  And yes, to protect Ark.

  “No. Jo, I’m okay. I promise. I’m just trying to think this out. To get clear. It has to be someone close to Ark. Could a groupie get that close? Close enough to plant a check stub at my house?”

  Jo added, “How would she know where you live, Tess? And that you weren’t home? How would a groupie know that?”

  “Exactly.” Tess looked around the kitchen as the pieces in her mind came together. “That’s it. Oh, God, Jo. Ark’s publicist—how would she know about the check stub if Heidi planted it? Why would she tell Ark that? Jo”—she had that flash of everything suddenly making sense—“it had to be Maureen who planted the check stub.” Was Maureen the killer?

  “Tess! Get out of the house!” Jo’s voice had an edge of panic.

  “Meet me at the Speedway Hotel.” Tess hung up and headed for the door to the garage, her thoughts whirling. Maureen had enough connections and experience to figure out where Tess lived. And she probably knew from Ark that Tess had been staying at Josie’s house. Ark said he’d sent Maureen to Sensual Delights—she could have been Fred’s source. And, God, how had she missed it? Maureen had been with Giles when he went in Ark’s room the night Fred was murdered. She could have left the door unlatched or something. Tess pushed open the door to the garage and hit the button to open the garage door. She hurried to her car.

  “Going someplace?”

  Tess looked up just as the cell phone in her purse rang. She ignored the phone and looked up at the voice.

  Oh, God.

  Maureen. She had a gun. All the karate in the world wasn’t going to help her against a killer with a gun.

  Ark was fifteen minutes from the Speedway Hotel when he doubled back to Tess’s house. He grabbed his cell phone, clicked on Tess’s name, and hit send, praying that she would answer.

  He was an ass. Christ. Tess hadn’t sold that e-mail. It didn’t make any sense. Why would she fight with a reporter earlier that day in Josie’s garage if she had sold the e-mail? She would have just given a statement. He saw the bruise. And she had stayed with him Thursday night; he was reasonably certain she hadn’t had the e-mail with her.

  He was positive that she hadn’t had her laptop with her. He had gone into her house with her and seen her get the case by the front door. The house had smelled closed up and musty. Not bad, just normal for a few days away. So Tess had clearly left her laptop at home while staying at Josie’s house. Ark smelled a setup, and God knew he’d seen a few of them by reporters desperate for a story.

  Tess had told him the truth from the very first moment. And he had called her a liar. Told her there was no room in his life for her.

  Jesus, he knew he’d hurt her. Badly.

  She wasn’t answering her cell phone. He hung up on her voice mail and dialed again, hoping she’d answer.

  So how had that check stub gotten in her laptop case? Someone had to plant it. A shiver of cold fear ran down his spine. It was one thing if someone was after him—Ark could handle that.

  But not Tess.

  Did someone break into her house and plant a fake check stub? How had they gotten into her house?

  The thing that had been nagging at him suddenly popped up in his head.

  How had the killer gotten into his hotel room? They knew of two people that had been in his room. Giles and Maureen.

  Giles wasn’t a killer. But he’d probably let one in. Then all Maureen had to do was tape the door latch, or not close the door, whatever ...

  Fear slammed into Ark. Deep, blood-freezing, mind-numbing fear. He dropped the cell phone and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. And floored it.

  Tess sat in the same kitchen chair she had occupied while talking to Ark earlier. Maureen stood with her back to the sink and the gun trained on Tess and said, “Ark Underwood is all I have left, so you’d better consider this deal I’m going to offer you.”

  A deal? The woman had forced her back into her own house at gunpoint and closed the automatic garage door. Now she wanted to offer Tess a deal? Something Ark had said at dinner Thursday night came back to her. Tess had joked that the newspapers still called him the bad boy of NASCAR. And Ark had answered, It sells papers and tickets. And I give them reason occasionally. My publicist likes it; it gives her something to do.

  Maureen wanted to keep Ark as the bad boy? Tess had the sick feeling they’d been wrong all along. This whole thing from the blackmail scheme to Fred’s murder hadn’t been about money or revenge. It had been an attempt to force Ark back into his place as the bad boy of NASCAR.

  Tess tried to take control of the conversation by picking up the check stub and saying, “This was clever. You did it on a computer?”

  “That was easy. Harder was getting into your house but I have contacts with skills.”

  She’d hired someone to break into Tess’s house to put a fake check stub in her laptop case. This woman was determined or deranged. And scary.

  Maureen didn’t miss a beat. She reached into her black designer handbag and pulled out a paper. “A cashier’s check for fifty thousand dollars. Here’s the deal: shut up and stay away from Ark.”

  She glanced at the check, then back up to Maureen’s face. Her freckles stood out under the glare of the overhead lights. “Why?”

  Her jaw hardened. “You wouldn’t understand. You just wouldn’t. You have a PhD, a fancy career, friends. Ark is all I have. Uncle Spence created my publicity agency to give me a career. It went well for a while. I married a client. I was so damn good at putting out fires. I had all the connections, but my problems started when Ark stopped creating trouble. Suddenly there were no fires left to put out. He rarely dates these days, he d
oesn’t drink much, and he doesn’t lose his temper. My clients started drifting away to publicists who were getting famous for spinning bad behavior of other famous people.” Maureen looked down at the check in her hand. “Then my husband left me.”

  Oh, Lord. Maureen believed she needed Ark to get her life back. The breakup of her marriage had probably been the final stressor that sent her over the edge. It was easier for her to blame Ark than to accept responsibility for her own life imploding. And to focus on fixing Ark, rather than herself. It was common to see people doing this in therapy.

  Just not to this extent.

  Maureen lifted her gaze back to Tess. “So I have to recreate the magic. Ark needs some controversy. Once I’m done spinning it, he’ll have twice the fans. More endorsements. Commercials. I’ll be the most sought after publicist.”

  Tess didn’t have time to do the years’ worth of therapy to help Maureen fix her life. But she needed to get her redirected. “Maureen, have you talked to Ark about this?” Maybe she could establish a connection while she figured out what to do. The woman may have convinced herself she was going to pay Tess off, but Tess was sure Maureen was going to have to kill her. Tess simply knew too much now.

  Maureen waved the check. “I’ve tried to talk to him. I’ve sent him girls that could attract publicity. But lately, Ark’s complaining to Uncle Spence about me. He doesn’t understand how much he needs me.”

  “So you killed Fred to prove to him how much he needs you?”

  “The original plan was blackmail for orgy photos that would get into the media. Just enough to make Ark look a little bad again. Just enough to need me. I was going to prove those were doctored photos.” Her face paled in anger. “But Fred ... I should have known he’d double-cross me. He was a sleazy tabloid reporter.”

  Whom she was more than willing to use. And kill, Tess thought.

  The anger cleared from Maureen’s face. “But killing him was even better. Having Fred found murdered wearing the sex toy and in Ark’s hotel suite bedroom, now that was a disaster for Ark. A publicity nightmare I could really sink my teeth into.”