Embracing Danger

by Olivia Jaymes

  That was news Shane wasn’t expecting. David’s motive was weak at best. “Is he awake yet? I would imagine the police would want to talk to him.”

  “Not yet. But when you see this you won’t be concentrating on him anymore. If I were a betting man – which I am not – I would say that gun was given to him. We’ll have to wait until he wakes up to find out by whom because the serial numbers were filed off.”

  “This case gets stranger by the minute. Do you have anything else for me?”

  Wyatt tapped a legal size envelope on the table between them that Shane hadn’t noticed before. “You were right. When I went looking it was right there. I thought it might be something you’d want to see right away.”

  Shane pulled the piece of paper from the envelope and quickly scanned the contents. His fingers curled into fists and he had to concentrate on relaxing his hands.

  “It says Susannah’s trust fund was to be turned over to her on her twenty-sixth birthday and she died just thirty days shy of that. She never received the money. Are you one hundred percent sure about this? It’s a hell of a coincidence, the timing and all.”

  Wyatt nodded, his own expression somber. “I am.”

  Scraping his fingers through his still damp hair, Shane shook his head, his mind still trying to come to grips with what he’d read. “This changes everything.”

  “Can Arden handle this? She has to be reeling from all she’s learned in the past few weeks.”

  Arden was a strong woman but this would put her to the test. Shane felt a pang of remorse for the speech he’d given her last night. This new blow wasn’t going to be something she’d come back from easily. It was going to take time and he’d be by her side every step of the way.

  “She’s tough and we’ll all be there helping her.” Their food was placed in front of them and the waitress slid the check on the table before heading back to the kitchen. Shane looked down at his plate, his usually strong appetite suddenly gone. “I guess it’s back to Tremont, then. That’s the only way to know for sure.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “I hope I’m wrong.”

  “Are you wrong a lot?” Shane asked hopefully, but he knew the answer and it wasn’t in his favor.

  “About women and relationships? All the time. About stuff like this? Hardly ever. I’m sorry, man.”

  No one was sorrier than Shane.

  * * *

  Arden’s grandmother Elaine Graham lifted the delicate china teacup to her lips and sipped daintily. She was the first person Arden had wanted to see upon her return from Chicago yesterday. Now they were sitting in Elaine’s parlor having tea and cookies while Arden answered her grandmother’s questions about her trip.

  Elaine was dressed in her usual Chanel suit, this one a frosty pink with white buttons. Her hair was perfectly done and her face made up to look at least ten years younger than her actual age. The perfect matriarch to an incredibly dysfunctional family.

  “I’m so glad you’re back in Tremont, my dear, and you found that heartless father of yours as well. That’s good news.”

  Arden drummed her fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair. Her grandmother was smiling as if everything was lovely and wonderful when clearly it was not.

  “That was the only good news I had, Grandmother. Did you hear me earlier when I said that I found out Mother was murdered and that Ben isn’t my real father?”

  The older woman sighed and sipped at her tea again before reaching for a cookie from the silver tray. “I did, dear. I suppose we should have told you years ago but the time got away from us and you were happy. There didn’t seem any reason to upset you with such news. I mean, it doesn’t really make any difference, does it? Your mother is still gone and Ben is still your father.”

  Gasping, Arden almost dropped her teacup at Elaine’s matter-of-fact tone.

  “Grandmother, Ben isn’t still my father. Not really, anyway. And Mother’s unsolved murder is heartbreaking. I don’t feel like she can rest in peace until I find her killer and see him brought to justice.”

  “What can you do to solve a murder that happened over thirty years ago? If the police couldn’t do it, I doubt you can.”

  Arden set the cup and saucer on the table between them. “That’s why I’ve hired Jason Anderson’s law enforcement consulting firm. With their help, and Shane’s too of course, I’m sure they can make some headway. Science has come a long way since then and Shane said that cold cases get solved all the time.”

  Nibbling at the shortbread cookie, Elaine nodded. “I’m sure they do, dear. And how is Shane? Did you two…kiss and make up, as they say?”

  They’d done a hell of a lot more than that but Arden wasn’t going to be confessing any of her sins. Not today. She had more pressing matters to deal with.

  “We did, but then I think you knew that. Isn’t that why you encouraged me to ask him for help?”

  Elaine smiled triumphantly. “You’re perfect for each other. Ben should never have interfered. Shane wouldn’t care if you could have children or not. He’s not that kind of man.”

  “You’re right, he’s not. But I’m still very angry with you, Grandmother. You and Father kept so much from me all these years. I understand why when I was a child but when I became an adult you should have said something.”

  Swallowing down the giant-sized lump in her throat, Arden pressed her palms to edge of the table, the knuckles turning white. Her stomach was turning somersaults in her abdomen and her heart was racing a million miles a minute against her ribs. She had to get herself under control quickly or this was going to go south.

  “It was for the best,” Elaine sniffed. “I knew it would upset you and I was right. Sometimes the less we know the better.”

  That was true. Arden would love to go back about twenty-four hours ago but sadly she lacked a functional time machine.

  “I can’t argue with that logic but I’m still upset. My mother was shot and Ben seems to think David did it.”

  “And David thinks Ben did it.” A smile played on Elaine’s lips. A smile that shouldn’t be there. She was talking about her own daughter’s murder like they were discussing the latest episode of Sherlock. “Don’t you think one of them did? The police do.”

  Arden gripped the table more tightly until pain shot up her fingers. “No, I don’t think either one of them did it. I don’t think you do, either.”

  Elaine shrugged and picked up another cookie. “I don’t remember what I thought at the time. It was many years ago, my dear, and best left in the past. There’s nothing to be gained by digging up old hurts and putting them on display.”

  Funny thing about shovels and digging up ghosts…you’re sure to get the crap scared out of you.

  Unfurling her clamped fingers, Arden placed them on the arms of the chair. It was now or never. She was losing her nerve and she’d told Shane she could do this. She’d wanted to do this for her mother. It was all she could do for Susannah Hollis. Arden gathered her courage and took a deep breath to calm her destroyed nerves.

  “How did you get in and out of the house that night without anyone seeing you? Or did David see you?”

  Elaine blinked a few times at the question but then took another bite of cookie. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, dear. What night? And what about David?”

  Arden licked her dry lips and tried again. “The night you shot my mother. Was David there? Did he see you? How did you convince him not to tell the police?”

  “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Arden. Have some more tea, perhaps that will clear your mind.”

  For the first time in a very long time, Arden’s mind was clear.

  And her heart was broken.

  “Was the only reason the money? Or were there other reasons you shot her?”

  Placing the cookie back on the china plate, Elaine dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a snowy white linen napkin.

  “You and Shane were quite busy, but not in the way I thought. When I told yo
u to ask him for help I assumed you two would fall into bed with one another and forget all about this. I see I miscalculated that one.”

  A chink in the older woman’s armor. A small one, but it was a start.

  “I doubt that happens often, Grandmother,” Arden offered, holding her breath in a wait and see. “I’m sure you’re very detail-oriented.”

  “I’ve had to be. There’s no excuse for sloppiness in any endeavor. If you’re going to do something you owe it to yourself to do it well.”

  “You must have thought of everything. After all, thirty plus years and not one person suspected you.”

  “My dear, most people are not very bright. The vast majority of the population is simply waiting for someone to tell them what to do. So I did.”

  Her grandmother’s sense of privilege was breathtaking and it almost left Arden speechless.

  Almost.

  “You mean the little people?”

  Elaine sat back on the sofa, a small smile on her lips. “I mean all people.”

  “And that’s why you were never a suspect?”

  “I was never a suspect because I never did anything that could be construed as suspicious.”

  Arden wouldn’t win these verbal spars.

  “So you’re are denying that you shot my mother.”

  Elaine leaned forward, the blue eyes so like Arden’s own as cold as ice chips. “Are you accusing me of killing my own daughter?”

  Everything in that moment was amplified. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner. The bergamot aroma of the Earl Grey tea and the vanilla in the shortbread cookies. The slight creaking sound as a gust of wind blew the old oak tree outside the window.

  “I’m not asking you, Grandmother. I’m stating a fact. You killed my mother. And you did it all for money.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ‡

  Shane had been listening in to Arden and Elaine’s conversation from the library located right next to the sitting room where they were having tea. The police hadn’t had time to get a warrant and frankly, if he hadn’t been West Anderson’s cousin, they would have laughed him out of the police station when he came to them with his farfetched theory. Even West had groaned and shaken his head when Shane had shown him the paperwork from Wyatt.

  “You better be right about this, because if you’re not all hell is going to break loose in Tremont,” West had warned.

  “I’m positive. Trust me.”

  West and the head of detectives had now put their asses on the line and here they were listening in on a tense conversation. Shane hadn’t wanted to send in Arden but she’d argued that she had the best chance of getting her grandmother to confess. In addition, the older woman was hardly a threat to anyone with her advanced age and crippling arthritis. Reluctantly he’d agreed to stay on the other side of the wall but close enough to intervene if needed.

  No recording devices could be used without a warrant as this was a two-party state, and Elaine Graham was not going to agree to be taped while Arden tried to wrangle the truth from her. If the older woman did confess West had already warned Shane that the information could be given to the Hemingdale police but it wouldn’t be grounds for an arrest. Not yet.

  “I think I’ve heard enough,” Shane whispered to West, who had accompanied him and Brandt Dane, the head of detectives. “I’m going in and see if I can help her.”

  West nodded and Shane stood quietly, opening the door between the two rooms and slipping through. He must have made a noise because the two women, whose heads were close together as if exchanging a confidence, jerked up to see who or what it was.

  “Shane,” Elaine exclaimed, a smile on her lined face. “Come have a seat. I haven’t seen you in so long. Goodness, you are getting more handsome every day. Would you like some tea, dear? Arden, you should pour your man a cup of tea.”

  With trembling hands, Arden reached for the teapot but Shane patted her leg and shook his head. “I’m not that thirsty, thank you. It’s nice to see you too, Elaine. It’s been a long time.”

  “Too long. I must have you and Arden over for dinner so we can catch up. Any wedding plans yet?”

  “I think it’s a bit early for that but we’ll let you know the minute we have plans,” Shane replied smoothly. Arden was looking a little frazzled and he’d hated sending her in here alone. This was her grandmother and the entire situation had to feel surreal. It was time to step in. “We learned some very interesting things on our trip, Elaine.”

  Elaine Graham had never been a warm woman but right now she was an iceberg.

  “That’s what Arden was saying but I think she’s become confused, poor child.”

  Feeling Arden stiffen beside him, he placed an arm around her waist, letting his hand rest on her hip. “How about we talk about your husband Charles? He was a very successful businessman from what I could tell. He inherited a fortune and then made another one from his inventions and patents.”

  The only tell-tale sign Elaine displayed when Shane mentioned Charles was the tightening of her fingers on the delicate handle of the china cup. “My darling Charles was always so clever. Just one of his many wonderful qualities.”

  Unlike Arden, Shane had no love for this woman so he didn’t hesitate.

  “But you didn’t love Charles. In fact, you hated him. You told the funeral director that you had won since Charles died first. You two made each other’s lives a misery, didn’t you?”

  “All marriages have their ups and downs.”

  “But you and Charles never loved each other. Your marriage was a farce, a nightmare and in the end…when you thought you had won…he struck the final blow. He left every dime of his estate to Susannah, bypassing you completely.”

  The cup clattered in the saucer, and two flags of color appeared in Elaine’s pale cheeks.

  “He shouldn’t have done that.”

  “So you set things right,” Arden whispered, an aching pain in her voice that Shane longed to be able to soothe. “You killed my mother for the money. Right before she would have come into her trust fund.”

  Carefully, the older woman set her tea on the table between them, her features more composed than before. “You can’t prove any of this.”

  Shan shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. But I’m going to try.”

  Her fingers traced the edge of a lace doily. “Let’s say that I did shoot Susannah. Not that I did, but let’s say that I did. How do you think I did it, Shane? How did I get away with it all these years?”

  Shane leaned forward, his elbows propped on the table and his fingers steepled under his chin. “You bought an untraceable weapon. Probably from one of your staff or maybe even at the youth center where you donated money and time. I’m guessing you parked on the other block and walked between the houses. At that time of night, you wouldn’t have been seen and since you’d spent time in the neighborhood you knew who had dogs that might bark or who would leave their porch lights on.”

  “This is fascinating, isn’t it, Arden?” Elaine’s gaze touched on her granddaughter briefly but rather coldly before returning to Shane. “Do continue. I love a good fairy tale. I hope this has a happy ending.”

  “You snuck in the house. I imagine the doors were unlocked as it was a good neighborhood in a small town. You crept up the stairs to the bedroom and waited until Susannah exited the bathroom. She wasn’t afraid, of course—you were her mother, so she didn’t run or scream. Maybe she even smiled and greeted you, although she would have probably asked why you were there.”

  Arden turned to Shane, playing along as they’d discussed with West and the detective. “If Grandmother did it, then how did Delilah see David running from the house?”

  Shane nodded. “That’s a great question and one that’s been bugging me. But then I remembered Delilah’s statement to us. She said that she was watching ‘Dallas’ the night of the murder.” He straightened in his chair. “I didn’t catch it at the time but when I looked at the date of the shooting on the ca
lendar I realized your mother was shot on a Monday night. She couldn’t have been watching ‘Dallas’. The police didn’t take her statement until a few days later and by then Elaine had paid a visit. She convinced Delilah that she’d seen David that night.”

  Playing with the double strand of pearls around her neck, Elaine smiled. “I had no idea I was so powerful. I can make people see things that weren’t there. If only I’d known earlier it might have come in handy.”

  “You were the single richest woman in the county, so you were quite powerful. Delilah, like so many in Hemingdale, courted your favor. When you were sure that David did it, she was sure as well. Over the years, it became stronger.”

  “So she shot my mother and escaped in between the houses,” Arden replied, tapping her fingers on the table. “But how did David get the gun? Are you sure he didn’t kill my mother?”

  Shane placed his own hand over hers. “I’m sure. Elaine gave David that gun right after the murder when she gave him money to disappear. She told him that he’d be the biggest suspect, especially with his history of booze, drugs, and women. She gave him the gun and a chunk of money to disappear, which he did quite well until recently. In fact, until this morning David was convinced Ben had killed his wife.”

  Arden frowned and shook her head. “Father thinks David did it.”

  Shane pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and laid it on the table. “Isn’t that interesting? I’m betting that Elaine made sure they suspected each other all these years so that no one suspected her. She’s been playing them since the beginning using her money as bait. She even gave your father the seed money to start his business here in Tremont. Smart, huh?”

  Elaine waved her hand as if everything he’d said was nothing at all. “All this is very interesting but you have no proof. None at all.”

  Shane pushed the folder paper across the table. “I have proof of the money you gave David just days after the murder. He disappeared not long after that. I also have proof of the cash you’ve funneled to him over the years along with money you gave Ben.”