“I’m sure you do,” laughed Charlotte.
“No really,” Lacey said, “I found some pictures I want to show him.”
“What kind of pictures?” asked Charlotte.
“Well, it’s weird,” pondered Lacey, “I found some pictures from the grand opening that just don’t make sense.”
Charlotte said firmly, “If you found something about those murders you better call Wyatt right now.”
Lacey reassured her that they were probably nothing and she would talk to him about them in the morning.
She couldn’t resist teasing her sister just a little about the picture of Cody Westerfield and promised to show her all of the pictures tomorrow.
They said their goodnights. Lacey turned off the bedside lamp and snuggled into the covers to get some much needed rest.
She fell asleep thinking about seeing Wyatt in the morning. Her man…she thought sleepily.
Chapter 24
Lacey became gradually aware that something, some noise was trying to intrude into her sleep-muddled brain.
Just as her subconscious was rising to the surface complete silence descended again and she drifted back to sleep.
Then something fell nearby and brought her rigidly upright.
She was still not completely awake but getting there. She rubbed her eyes and instantly became alert, there it was, something or someone was moving around in her apartment.
She listened intently, there, that rustling noise. Someone was here! She moved stealthily under cover of the muffled sounds coming from her sitting room and crept carefully to the doorway.
For a moment, she couldn’t seem to register what she was seeing. She must have inadvertently made some sound because just then, Tricia Moore looked up from the subtle glow of Lacey’s laptop screen.
Lacey stepped backward and tried to gather her senses and get back into the bedroom and shut the door.
The sitting area wasn’t that large and in an instant, Tricia was holding tightly to her arm and pulling her towards the small love seat in the window alcove.
Now, Lacey noticed the small black gun in Tricia’s other hand. Still confused she started to speak.
Tricia waved the gun close to her face and spoke first.
“Too bad little girl,” she said with a menacing whisper, “But I was going to have to get you up anyway. I can’t find them. Now tell me where they are!”
Lacey sputtered, “What, what are you looking for?”
“The pictures!” Tricia spat between gritted teeth, “The interesting pictures you were telling your sister about.”
Lacey thought quickly, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she lied.
“Oh no you don’t girlie. I’ve been watching and you spent a lot of time on this laptop. They have to be there. Now show me where!” Tricia demanded.
“You were watching me tonight?” Lacey asked
“Yes, I thought I would take some time to do a thorough search while you were gone. But you came back sooner than I thought and instead I overheard you talking about those damn pictures so now I have to get them!” Tricia explained.
Lacey was confused, “What were you searching for? Who are you?” she asked.
“I guess I can tell you. I was making sure my Johnnie hadn’t left anything that identified me while he was here. Then you came home and I decided to wait until you fell asleep to get out of here. Good thing, because then I heard you talking about the pictures you found.” Tricia could barely contain her hate.
“Your Johnnie?” Lacey questioned.
“Enough!” Tricia spat, “Give me the pictures or I’ll just kill you now and destroy the laptop. Your choice!”
“Okay, okay. “ Lacey said and took the laptop and began loading up the file.
“Oh, how sweet. You even named it after your boyfriend.” Tricia mocked, “I guess it’s fitting since he will be the one to find you tomorrow.”
She said this last sentence almost casually but Lacey knew she was someone very serious and very dangerous. She just couldn’t figure out the connections, why did this woman want to kill her?
Tricia deftly deleted the picture file after looking through the four pictures with obvious frustration.
“I told him to let me handle it. Not to come here, but he was worried about his Mama. My dear boy. He deserved so much more than I could give him,” Tricia said.
“Mama? You are John Braverman’s mother?” Lacey asked weakly.
“Come on,” ordered Tricia, “I’ll tell you the whole story while you change.”
She turned off the laptop and replaced it carefully just where it had been on the desk. Then she gestured with the gun while pulling Lacey to her feet. She led her back into the bedroom.
Chapter 25
As they entered the bedroom, Tricia turned on the overhead light and leaned against the doorframe. She kept the gun steadily pointed at Lacey.
“Get changed into your bathing suit. I know a pretty girl like you must have a couple of pretty ones. Choose your favorite; it will be the last thing you will ever wear,” she said in a matter of fact tone.
Lacey was afraid not to follow these instruction. She opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a blue one piece, trying not to think of the last comment.
“I get it; you are going to kill me. But at least you can tell me what this is all about,” she pleaded.
“Fine, I guess I can tell the story. It’s not as if you will be able to tell anyone,” Tricia spoke quietly.
As Lacey changed from her usual tank top and boxer nightclothes, Tricia told her an almost unbelievable story. Almost unbelievable but obviously true since she was going to die because of it.
Tricia admitted to killing Adam Mason.
Heather had said that they had never had children but that was only the truth, as Heather knew it. Before marrying Heather, the love of his life, Adam had a brief dalliance with a pretty waitress, Tricia.
Tricia had borne him a son, John Braverman. Braverman was a married name that Tricia had long abandoned.
Adam had no money and no desire to ruin his relationship with Heather. He wanted nothing to do with Tricia.
Tricia had monitored the couple, almost stalking them for years.
As she told the story, her mouth twisted in bitterness. Tricia thought it was justified karma that Adam had died so young and left Heather all alone.
However, she hadn’t quit watching Heather.
It seemed to have given her some kind of pleasure to watch the woman go through her life alone. She continued to watch Heather and that was how Tricia had discovered the secret.
Heather wasn’t going through her life alone. The supposedly dead Adam met for regular trysts with his wife. No, he had not died in the car accident.
Heather and Adam had waited patiently for the years to pass until Adam could be declared legally dead.
Heather continued going to her boring job as an admissions clerk, seeing her husband in secret.
Then the time limit was over and Heather collected the millions in insurance money.
Heather “retired” and she and Adam began living out their bucket list. Heather would travel alone to each wished for adventure and then Adam would secretly join her and they would enjoy everything together.
Europe, a cruise and then climbing Pikes Peak.
However, for this adventure, Tricia was waiting for them. She was tired of watching them get away with everything, laughing and loving their way through wonderful adventures.
In a weak moment, she had told her son, John, about her plan to corner Adam and make him share the wealth. Not for herself but for her newly married son. John deserved some of that money.
John was worried about the confrontation and arranged his honeymoon here at the Inn to make sure his mother was okay. Such a good son, Tricia had added wistfully.
John suspected what had happened but didn’t want to think that his mother had actually murdered someone. However, murder she had.
Tricia had waited in the shadows of the Inn until everyone went to bed following the grand opening reception. She had watched the couple long enough to know the pattern.
Sure enough, Heather had crept downstairs and let Adam into the Inn. Hand in hand, they had quietly giggled up to her room. Making their plans to meet up the next day and complete one more adventure.
In the early hours of the morning, Adam was sneakily making his getaway from the Inn.
Tricia had met him at the top of the stairs, not far from his lover’s door.
He was shocked to see her but laughed at her demand that he share the money or be revealed as the lying cheater he was. He laughed and that was the last straw.
Tricia had grabbed up the antique railroad spike in desperation and plunged it into his cold heart. He fell to the bottom of the staircase. Even the fall was amazingly quiet she mused while telling her story.
When she ran to the bottom, he was dying.
But even that brought no satisfaction; his last words were for his wife, Heather.
“Tell her I love her,” he had gasped.
Tricia had cleaned up, wiped her fingerprints from the spike and quickly left.
Just in time, she added, because lights were coming on and the body was discovered.
She wished she could have stayed to see Heather‘s stricken face but the description John had given her was almost as good.
John suspected she had done something. He wanted to believe his mother when she told him that it was that witch, Heather.
That should have been the end of it but her hatred had gotten the better of her. She had waylaid Heather on the trail to Pike’s Peak the next day and tried to ruin her love for Adam. Nothing she said changed the fact that Heather would grieve for her Adam for the rest of her life. So Tricia had made sure that was a short amount of time. She did however, share Adam’s last words.
She whispered them into Heather’s ear as she pushed her into the rocky abyss below.
No evidence, no connections, even her own son wasn’t sure she had done anything.
That was until; Tricia had overheard the conversation about the pictures. It was supposed to be a simple clean up, remove any evidence that could connect John to Adam.
Now she was going to have to kill one more person. Lacey would have to die.
This would have to be an accident. She couldn’t afford another suspicious death. When it was done, she would disappear and no one would ever know the whole story.
They might wonder but they would never know.
Chapter 26
“Oh my god!” thought Lacey. She would have never figured out this convoluted tale. But that would not help her now. She knew too much to be allowed to live.
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked Tricia.
“You haven’t figured it out?” countered Tricia, “You know those hot tub spas are very dangerous. People should never get into one alone. I read once that a few people drown in those every year. This year there will be one more!” she actually laughed. “Let’s go! Put those nightclothes into the hamper. Got to tie up all the loose ends.”
Lacey looked into the not quite sane eyes of her captor. She had one more card to play.
“It won’t work,” she said, “I already emailed the pictures to Wyatt.”
“Oh, really?” said Tricia holding up Lacey’s smart phone, “I looked through your latest messages and emails and I already deleted the pictures you sent yourself.”
Tricia led her at gunpoint downstairs and over to the alarm system.
“Disarm it!” Tricia yelled, “And don’t try to pull anything or I will shoot you right here! I’ve got nothing to lose; I’ve already killed two people.”
Lacey did as she was told. She didn’t know how she was going to get out of this. They headed to the French doors leading to the sanctuary.
Tricia leaned into the guest bathroom and pulled a big fluffy towel off the rack. Damn, thought Lacey, crazy as she was, she thought of every detail.
As they entered the dark walled in patio, Tricia pushed her in the back to hurry her up.
She made Lacey lift the protective cover off the spa, and then ordered her to get in. Lacey slowly climbed into the warm bubbling water. A small splash hit the water right next to her.
“Oh darn, look! Your cell phone fell into the water and was destroyed.” cooed Tricia, “Just in case you had any more tricks up your sleeve.”
Hopelessly Lacey looked up at Tricia.
“Please,” she said, “you don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, but I do,” Tricia said almost regretfully.
She suddenly leaned forward and forcefully pushed Lacey’s head under the steaming
For a second Lacey was so surprised she just gulped water.
Then her survival instinct kicked in and she tried to fight. She tried to fight but Tricia was unbelievably strong and had the advantage of surprise.
Lacey tried valiantly to scratch her attacker and at least get some skin under her fingernails, create some sign of struggle so they would know this was no accident. But she couldn’t get a hold of anything.
She was drowning. She thought of Charlotte. Would Charlotte know that she would not get into the spa by herself? No, unfortunately, Lacey had not always used caution. It was believable that she would think nothing of a moonlit soak in the spa.
Then just as she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, she thought of Wyatt. She would not know the deepening of the love the blooming between them. Sadly, she thought he would lose another woman that he cares about. Poor Wyatt was her last conscious thought as she gave in to the inevitable and sank beneath the surface.
Chapter 27
Abruptly, Lacey felt herself pulled to the surface. Hungrily she gasped to pull in as much air as she could to her starving lungs.
Strong hands held her upright, face above the surface of the water. Wyatt, she thought with relief.
Then the voices above her head penetrated her oxygen-deprived senses.
She heard John Braverman say, “Mama! Enough! You can’t do this!”
Tricia began weeping.
Then she heard Wyatt’s voice, “That’s right, drop the gun and turn around!”
Wiping water from her eyes, Lacey focused on the scene around her. John Braverman was still holding on to her. Wyatt was holding a gun on Tricia Moore and Charlotte was standing right behind him with a worried expression on her face.
Tricia, sobbing dropped the gun and allowed Wyatt to handcuff her. John Braverman and Charlotte helped pull the weak and dazed Lacey from the spa.
Charlotte said quietly. “I’ve got her.”
She wrapped Lacey in the towel that Tricia had made sure they brought with them.
Lacey was aware that other officers were arriving as Charlotte led her shakily into the dining room to sit down at the wide worktable.
Charlotte ran to get blankets from the linen closet in the hallway. She made a hot cup of tea and then sat with her arm around Lacey while the chaos around them settled into quiet.
Lacey was warm, her teeth were no longer chattering and she had begun to absorb the reality of what had happened.
Wyatt came into the kitchen, weary lines of worry creasing his face.
“Is she okay?” he asked Charlotte.
Charlotte said quickly, “I think so. I’m going to run her a nice hot bath.”
Then she looked at the two of them and added, “I’ll probably be awhile.”
Wyatt pulled Lacey into his arms.
Lacey realized that his entire body was shuddering.
“I’m okay,” she said shakily.
“Thank God!” was his grim reply, “You wouldn’t be if your sister had not called me and told me that she thought you may have found something. And even then we would have been too late to save you!” he shuddered again and held her even tighter.
“John Braverman got here first. Thank God, he was worried about what his mother might do! I don’t know if I coul
d stand to lose you after I finally found you,” he murmured close to her ear.
Between kisses and soothing touches, Lacey filled him in on the entire story.
He assured her that Tricia Moore would not ever hurt her again.
They both felt sorrow for John Braverman who had loved his mother but still couldn’t let her destroy another life.
“What am I going to do to make sure you are safe?” Wyatt asked against her lips.
“Well, for starters you are going to spend every moment you can right here with me!” answered Lacey.
She looked down at his strong hands holding her tightly. She caught her breath when she realized the thin gold band was no longer on his finger. It was time to move forward.
“I think I can handle that,” smiled Wyatt, kissing her deeply.
Lacey knew this was only the beginning. They had a lifetime to love each other.
Charlotte backed away from the doorway to allow them some privacy. Let them enjoy each other she thought with a grin. It’s about time her wonderful sister had someone who deserved her love.
Be sure To Check Out The Next Book In TheAspen Valley Inn Series:
Death Checks Inn (Aspen Valley Inn 1) Page 7