“Hello?” A woman’s voice spoke from a few feet away, almost startling me out of my skin. Shit! She’d answered Toni’s phone. We were so screwed. I looked at Toni. Her eyes were big as quarters, her pupils tiny in all that white. She mouthed something I couldn’t make out, and then she tapped my arm with...her cell phone? How...? And then I understood. The ringing had come from the blonde’s phone. I almost wept with relief.
Meanwhile she was still talking. “I forgot to adjust the volume in the upstairs bedroom. I had to come back. You said yourself you couldn’t make out anything she said when she was in her bedroom...I am not...Besides, you heard her yourself. She never even saw whether the driver was a man or a woman. Even if she notices me, she’d never recognize me in a million years.”
Toni’s hand gripped mine and squeezed.
The blonde was the one who had been behind the wheel of the hit-and-run car. But evidently, she wasn’t alone in this plot. Whoever was at the other end of that phone was at least a co-conspirator. Who the hell was it?
I listened hard, trying to hear what was being said at the other end. It was faint—too faint to make out any words. Was it my imagination or did the voice sound male? Steven’s? I couldn’t tell.
“Don’t worry, I’m finished. I’m leaving right now. I’ll be there in half an hour.” There was a faint click followed by the sound of footsteps walking away. A few seconds later the front door opened and closed.
I stayed frozen in place, my heart still racing madly. I almost wept in relief.
Next to me, Toni exhaled. “I think it’s safe to go now,” she whispered. “But be quiet, that equipment can probably pick up sounds from this side too.”
I scrambled out, scooping my crutches under my arms. I brushed dust bunnies from my coat and my hair, and hoofed it over to the window, hoping to get the license plate. Too late. The Audi was already halfway up the street.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go,” Toni whispered urgently from the doorway.
I scampered after her, down the stairs and through the kitchen, with my heart still pounding against my ribs. I closed the back door and locked it, replacing the key in the fake rock. Only then did I breathe normally. We hightailed it back to my place.
I was about to open my back door, when it dawned on me. “We can’t say anything inside.” I said. “Everything is being recorded.”
“You look sick. Are you all right?”
I didn’t feel well. My stomach was in turmoil. Somebody had been listening in on my every word. It felt like such an invasion of privacy. “I’m fine,” I said.
She gave me a half smile. “Just thank your lucky stars lover boy is in New York, otherwise they’d be entertaining themselves with porn audio.”
“Toni,” I said sharply, blushing. “This is no time to joke.”
She looked at me wide-eyed. “Who’s joking?”
“I don’t even want to stay in my own home anymore. I feel violated.”
“You don’t have to stay here. We can go to my place if you like.”
“You wouldn’t mind? I’d have to take the dogs.” An idea came to me. “Oh my God. That was probably her, wearing a wig.”
Toni looked at me, confused, until a light lit her eyes. “You mean the crazy woman? You think that was her?”
“It must have been.”
“You could be right,” said Toni. “We already know she was driving the hit-and-run car.”
A dozen questions crowded my mind. “But why? Who is she? Do you know her from anywhere?”
“No, other than seeing her go into Mitchell’s place, I never saw her before in my life.” She planted a fist on her hip. “If that bitch comes anywhere near us, she is so dead.” She gave her pocketbook an ominous pat.
“You’re not still walking around with that gun in your bag, are you?” I whispered, darting glances around.
She ignored my question. “Should we call the police?”
My mouth dried with dread. The thought of having to deal with the gruesome twosome again was more than I could handle right now.
“Bad idea.” I shook my head. “I can tell you what they’d say. They’d accuse us of breaking into my boyfriend’s house, which is illegal, and they’d say that Mitchell put in the listening devices. Then he’d be in trouble. I say we have to figure out who this woman is, and how she’s involved in all of this.”
Tears sprang to Toni’s eyes. “It’s got to be Steven. She’s just his type—blonde and gorgeous, and a decade younger than me.”
“What makes you think she’s younger? As far as I’m concerned she doesn’t look a day younger than you. And for all we know she might have been involved with Charles or with Jennifer’s ex. You realize what this means, don’t you? Even if they have alibis, either Jennifer’s ex or her brother could have planned this.” I was thoughtful for a moment. “What I can’t figure out is, why the surveillance equipment?”
“Somebody obviously wanted to listen in on your conversations. Tell me, are you certain Mitchell trusts you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I didn’t even want to imagine that possibility. It would be just too awful.
She shrugged. “Just a thought. You know, if I really am the intended victim, Steven knows I confide everything to you. He knows I tell you things I’d never tell him, like how I’d change my will.”
“Supposing you’re right, how would he have known to use Mitchell’s house?”
We mulled this over until Toni said, “If we look at all the people who know you and Mitchell live next door to each other, that’s practically everybody we know—Charles, Jake and Marley, Scott, and Steven.”
“But why would any of them want to listen to our conversations?”
She thought about this, wrinkling her forehead. “Maybe to find out if we suspected them?”
I was happy to know Toni was considering somebody else than Steven, although as far as I was concerned, finding the surveillance equipment had changed everything. I was now convinced somebody wanted Toni dead, and very possibly me too. “You’re right,” I said, deciding to keep my opinion to myself.
“There’s one other person we never considered,” she said.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear this. “If I die, and you inherit, and later marry Mitchell...” She let that thought unfinished.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said,” I snapped. But even as I said this, I couldn’t help remembering how unworried Mitchell had sounded when I told him it didn’t look to me like any movie was being shot in his place. What if the blonde was his co-conspirator? What if she was his girlfriend? It wasn’t as if I’d never been made a fool by a boyfriend before. I was notoriously bad at picking good ones. I chased those thoughts away. That was in the past, I told myself. Mitchell was different.
Toni had been watching me in silence. Now, she said, “Some people would go to a lot of trouble to inherit the kind of money I have.”
I remembered Crawford’s words, “seventeen awfully good reasons.” But Mitchell? “Come on, Toni. It’s got to be somebody else. What about Jennifer’s brother?”
She paused. I could see how much she wanted to believe that, but she shook her head. “You’re only trying to make us feel better. One thing we can be pretty certain of is that Charles had nothing to do with any of this. And, just between you and me, I doubt Jennifer’s ex or her brother are involved either. I mean, with the hit-and-run, the restaurant connection, and now the spying equipment, it’s just too farfetched.” She frowned. “We have an even bigger problem now. Whoever has been listening in knows everything we know, everything we even suspect.” She gasped. “Oh my God. If it is Steven, he knows that I suspect him. Not only that, he knows I lied when I told him that I met with my estate lawyer.”
“Well then,” I said, “if he knows, doesn’t that prove he’s innocent? Why would he kill you if he knows he’s not in your will?” Her panic was starting to rub off on me. “Hold on. The woman said something about having to adj
ust the volume a few times. So, if he couldn’t hear clearly, maybe he thinks you kept your appointment with your estate lawyer.”
She grabbed my hand and almost shrieked, “That’s even worse. If he thinks I did, and then overhead me talking about making Judy my beneficiary, that means he’ll have to kill me before my next appointment with my estate lawyer—” she calculated quickly, “—next Thursday. I only have about a week to live.” She looked ready for a meltdown. She gave my hand another bone-crushing squeeze. “Oh my God, Nicky, I’m too young to die.”
“I have an idea,” I said, with a conspiratorial smile. “Maybe we can use that recording device to our advantage. Here’s what we’ll do.”
if i die you get it all
We walked in not a minute too soon. Any longer out there and my feet would have turned to ice. We headed for the living room, where the microphone was sure to pick up.
Toni spoke loudly and clearly. “I forgot to tell you, we’re meeting Judy and her husband at seven for dinner.”
I continued with the conversation we’d rehearsed. “That’s nice. I look forward to seeing her again.”
At the same time, she pulled out her phone and punched in my number. My cell rang. I let it ring a few times before answering.
“Oh, hi, Jake, what’s new?”
Toni smiled and turned her cell phone off. I continued my pretend conversation.
“I know. I feel so awful for Charles.” I paused for a few seconds. “What do you mean the police suspect him? Why?” I gave a dramatic gasp. “They found evidence? Oh, my God. Toni and I thought it was—never mind what we thought. We were obviously wrong. Is Charles under arrest?” Another pause. “I just can’t believe it. No, I’m not suggesting you’re lying. It’s just such a shock. Let me know if anything else happens.” I waited a beat and said goodbye. And then I said to Toni, “You’ll never believe what Jake just told me.”
“What?” Toni asked, playing her role to the hilt.
“The police found evidence that Charles killed Jennifer.”
“You mean I was wrong thinking it was...”
“See? I told you, you were just being paranoid.”
“Do you think it’s good idea for me to leave an inheritance to my sister? Maybe I should make Steven my principle beneficiary. After all, I do love the man. I plan to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“You don’t have to decide anything right now. Your appointment isn’t for another week.”
She gave a hearty laugh. “And in the meantime you remain my principle beneficiary. If I die, you get everything.” We had decided that if Steven really was behind Jennifer’s murder, it would be safer for him to know that Toni had not yet changed her will in his favor. He couldn’t very well kill her until she did.
“Ha-ha, very funny.” I waited a beat and then said, “What are you wearing for dinner?”
“I haven’t decided. I’d better get going. Why don’t you come over to my place? We can get ready together.”
“Okay. Let me get my things together.”
As conversations go, this one wasn’t exactly worthy of an Academy Award, but hopefully it did the trick.
I limped around gathering all the stuff I needed—an outfit for this evening, my makeup and toiletries. I packed the dog food, some wee-wee pads and all the dog’s accoutrements, including—most important—their playpen, a foldable wire-fencing system. I could not allow the dogs to run around loose in Toni’s fancy condo. And then I went in search of Jackie.
“Jackie? Where are you, little girl?” No answer. “Jackie, come and get a treat.” The puppies came galloping over and I fed them each a liver treat. But there was still no sign of Jackie.
“I found her,” Toni called out from the front hall. She pointed to my bag, where Jackie had huddled inside, hiding her face under her front paws.
I burst out laughing. “Jackie, you little rascal. Just because you can’t see us, doesn’t mean we can’t see you.” I scratched the top of her head. “You wanted to make sure I took you with me, didn’t you?”
Toni picked her up. “Is that what she was doing?”
“She does that sometimes. She sees me getting ready to leave, and if I happen to have left my bag open, she sneaks inside.”
Jackie squirmed excitedly, trying to jump from Toni’s arms into mime. “Don’t worry, baby,” I told her. “You’re coming too.” She threw me a grateful look.
We packed the car and fifteen minutes later we were in Toni’s BMW with Jackie and the puppies, and on our way to Hazleton Lanes.
“Tell me one thing,” I said as we drove into the underground garage. “If you’re so sure it’s Steven, how do you know your place is not bugged too?”
Toni cranked the wheel, narrowly avoiding the parking garage wall. She was maneuvering down the circular drive a bit too fast for my taste.
“I’m not,” she said. “But what I do know is that nobody could have bugged me from a next-door apartment, at least not without attracting an awful lot of attention. The walls are concrete and any drilling would have caused a flurry of complaints from other condo owners.” She threw me a wink. “I normally can’t stand condo associations. They’re usually made up of a bunch of old ladies with nothing to do but spy on their neighbors, looking for any excuse to lodge a complaint. But in this case, I guess it’s a good thing.”
“What if you were bugged from inside your apartment? Nobody would have had to drill. Steven could have planted bugs while he was visiting. It’s not as if you follow him around every minute he’s there.” And then I added quickly, “Not that I believe for one minute that he’s the one behind all this.”
Her mouth tightened. “If there’s a bug anywhere in my place, I’ll find it.” She came to a tire-screeching stop in front of a parking space, threw the gear into reverse and backed into it.
“And then what will you do? You can’t take it out. If you do, he’ll realize you know.”
“Audio equipment is very sensitive to water. I’ll just accidentally spill water all over it.”
“How do you know so much about listening devices?” I asked. “You recognized the equipment in Mitchell’s place in a flash. Until you told me, I thought it was just a regular sound system.”
She turned off the motor and pocketed the key. “You forget. I used to be an actress.” From the way Toni told the story, she was a major movie star. I didn’t bother pointing out that, as far as I knew, she’d only acted in one movie and had only had a secondary role in it.
She continued. “I know how sensitive microphones are because the boom operator was constantly screaming at everyone to be careful not to get them wet. As for the spy equipment, I’ve used some myself.” She grabbed her purse, opened the door and climbed out, leaving me dumbstruck.
I snapped out of my astonishment and clambered out. She helped the doggies out, and handed me the leashes. Each of the three dogs was pulling in a different direction. “Er, Toni. I won’t be able to handle the dogs with my crutches.”
She hurried away, calling over her shoulder, “Stay there. I’ll be right back.” A moment later she reappeared pushing a shopping cart. She opened the trunk of her car, transferring the bags into the cart, and then picked up the dogs and set them on top.
“Ready?” She headed for the elevator and I hurried along.
“What do you mean you’ve used that kind of equipment yourself?”
She pushed the elevator call button and gave me her get-real look. “What do you think it means? When I first suspected Steven of having an affair, I went shopping for a few listening devices of my own.”
“You did? Is that how you caught him?”
“No, Steven is smart—much too smart to get caught.” The elevator doors slid open and we entered. “But this time,” she said, giving me a knowing smile, “I have a plan.”
To my surprise, instead of pressing the button for the twentieth floor, where she lived, she made a stop at the ground floor. “Hold the elevator for me. I’ll only be a
minute.” She disappeared down the hall. I heard her speaking with someone. A male voice answered. A moment later she was back.
“What was that all about?”
“I checked with the doorman. If there had been any noise complaints lately, he would have heard about it. I made up a story about putting up a couple of paintings and hoping I didn’t disturb any of the neighbors.”
“Good thinking.”
A minute later we were in Toni’s gorgeous condo apartment. I looked around in surprise. The entire decor was changed. The white walls of only a month ago were now taupe. The white silk-covered sofas were coffee-colored chenille. The white lacquered coffee tables were gone, in their place dark wood tables. And the wall-to-wall white carpet was now a travertine floor. All this work had been done in record time.
The first time Toni had invited me to her place, about a year ago, I’d jokingly asked her why this predilection for white didn’t extend to her wardrobe. Toni had laughed and quipped that white was a bit too virginal for her. She’d had a point. Now, there wasn’t a spot of white left anywhere.
“What did you do? Did you get rid of absolutely everything?”
She picked up the dogs from the cart and then set them on the floor, handing me the leashes. “It wouldn’t have been very smart of me to keep my white rugs with an untrained puppy, now would it? And you know me. If I’m going to redecorate, I won’t do half a job.” She took the cart back out to the elevator and reappeared. Until now I’d had my doubts about how much she really wanted Trouble—no more.
She gave me a lopsided smile. “You look surprised.”
I slipped out of my coat. “I never imagined you’d go to this much trouble.”
She hung my parka in the entrance closet, chuckling. “I told you I’d get ready for Trouble.” She picked up the dogs’ bag. “Now let’s get those wee-wee pads down before one of those mutts has an accident.” She rummaged through it until she found them, and marched off toward the living room, dozens of pads in hand.
Getting Rich (A Chef Landry Mystery) Page 21