Scottsdale Sizzle: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 3)

by B A Trimmer

  Glancing at the food, I saw Annie wasn’t kidding when she said we should come hungry. I saw trays overflowing with cubed fruit, cut veggies, chilled crab claws, shrimp the size of my hand, skewers of grilled chicken, filet medallions, and even chilled mini-lobster tails with bowls of drawn butter.

  A separate table was set aside for a dozen different types of desserts. In the center of the table was a chocolate fountain, along with bowls of strawberries and cut bananas. My eyes immediately focused on a dark chocolate fudge cake and I knew I was eventually going to snag a slice or maybe even two.

  A DJ booth had been set up next to a dance floor in the back corner of the room. Instead of the dull music of a typical afternoon reception, the DJ was playing some seriously upbeat dance music. I noticed there were already several people dancing to the pounding beat. They all looked to be college age and I assumed they were classmates of Annie. The DJ was a short skinny guy with about five pounds of gold chains around his neck. He was spinning disks and dancing in place along with the crowd on the dance floor. I suddenly recognized him as the lead DJ at Nexxus, one of the high-end clubs in downtown Scottsdale. I could only imagine what it had cost to have him come up to the resorts and play an afternoon reception.

  We found Annie talking with a group of people who had just come in. We walked over and each gave her a hug. I then introduced her to Elizabeth.

  “I’m so glad you could make it,” Annie said to all of us. “It means so much that you’re here.” She looked over at me. “I’m glad nothing came up, I know how things get when you’re working on your assignments.”

  “Are you kidding?” I asked. “I wouldn’t have missed it. You’ve been talking about this for months.”

  Annie took off to greet the new people as they came in. Gina, Sophie, and I walked Elizabeth around the room, introducing her to the people we knew. We found Elle, Shannon, Pammy, and Cindy. Each one looking like a model on a catalogue shoot. Although I always felt a little intimidated when I was around the girls it also made me feel good to know I had such friends.

  We had each gotten another glass of champagne from a waitress with a silver tray when Jackie walked over.

  As always, Jackie was dressed to match the occasion. She had on a stylish print skirt and matching jacket in what I assumed was the latest season of Prada. She had black sparkly sandals with a five-inch heel. Her hair and makeup were flawless. She was wearing a stunning gold necklace with a center diamond that must have been five carats surrounded be a several diamonds and emeralds that were at least a half carat each. I noticed she also had matching diamond and emerald earrings. As she got closer to us, I caught the light and delicate scent of a high-end perfume, one I’d never smelled before. The five of us formed a circle while I made introductions.

  “Jackie, this is Elizabeth Bright Murdock. We’re helping her out with a few things that have come up. Elizabeth, this is Jackie Wade, our friend and the owner of the Scottsdale Saguaro Sky.”

  “You’re lucky to have Laura, Gina, and Sophie on your side,” Jackie said. “It’s because of them that I now own this.” She spread her arms wide and looked around at the beautiful resort. “They pulled me out of a mess that was way beyond what I could have done by myself.”

  Jackie got a sad look on her face and became quiet. I saw her looking at the diamond and ruby bracelet on my wrist. The bracelet she had given to me as a token of our friendship. I knew seeing it was bringing back some powerful and unpleasant memories for her. Jackie then motioned Elizabeth to come closer and lowered her voice so only our group could hear.

  “Actually, you should know if it wasn’t for Laura, I’d probably be dead. Not a lot of people know the full story but she risked her life more than once to save mine. Don’t ever make the mistake of looking at her and seeing a skinny and helpless woman. I’d put her against any five guys you can find. If you want to know the truth, I’ve seen her take on a room full of harden criminals and come out on top.”

  At this, I felt my face grow hot. It was sweet that Jackie said those nice things, but I certainly wasn’t what she thought I was. Plus her words had brought back a flood of horrible memories from a couple of months before, when Jackie and I really had faced a room full of criminals. Men who had tried to kill us. I then noticed my eyes had started to tear up. I did my best to shake off the memories.

  “Thanks,” I quietly said. “But don’t believe everything Jackie says. She’s being nice since it’s her party.”

  Gina raised her glass. “To Jackie. I’m glad we met you. I’m glad we could help in our own small way. Mostly I’m glad we’ve made such a good friend.”

  We all raised our champagne and drank to Jackie. Each of us was lost in thoughts of how Jackie had indeed almost died but instead became our friend. After a moment where no one said anything, Sophie looked up. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I see some crab claws and shrimp that have my name on them. I’m going to see if I can put a dent in the buffet.”

  ~~~~

  An hour later, all of us had put a serious dent in the buffet. Elizabeth and Gina seemed to go mainly for the seafood. Sophie and I concentrated on the dessert table. Sophie’s favorite turned out to be the chocolate fountain. I had found the chocolate fudge cake, twice. The champagne had been flowing freely and all of us were in a good mood.

  The DJ was spinning his last set of records when Jackie and Elle stopped by our table.

  “Everyone is heading out to the clubs tonight,” Jackie said. “I hope you four can make it.”

  “Clubs?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Sure,” Elle said. “We’ll go around to a few of the clubs in town and maybe dance a little. Sophie, Laura, and Gina come with us all of the time. We’d love it if you came too. In fact, I insist.”

  Elizabeth look at me, a little flustered.

  “Of course we’ll go,” Gina said for everyone. “Where shall we meet?”

  “I was thinking tonight we’d start off at the lounge at Nexxus,” Jackie said, “sometime around ten. It’s a nice place to talk while everyone gathers. Then we’ll probably go across the street to the Maya Day and Nightclub. They have a new DJ and he’s really good.”

  After Jackie and Elle left, we agreed we’d all drive to the office separately then go over to Nexxus in one car.

  Sophie looked over at me. “Are you going to make it this time?”

  “Of course I’ll make it.”

  “You don’t think something’ll come up?”

  “What can come up?”

  “You know, I think I’ve heard you say that before. We’ll probably leave the office to go to Nexxus about ten. If you can’t make it to the office by then, hopefully you’ll be able to meet us at the club.”

  “I’ll make it.”

  ~~~~

  After the reception, I dropped Elizabeth off at her hotel. She asked if it would be all right if she wore the dress out to the clubs. I told her it would be a shame to waste a dress that fit so well. I also told her I’d meet her at the office at a little before ten.

  ~~~~

  I drove back to my apartment and took the elevator up to my floor. As I got out, I saw Grandma Peckham and Grandpa Bob walking down the hall towards the elevator, both dressed for a night on the town. Grandpa was in the middle of telling some lively story and Grandma Peckham was looking up at him and giggling.

  “Hello,” I said, as I got closer.

  “What’s buzzin’ cousin?” Grandpa Bob asked.

  “I’ve been at a graduation reception for a woman from work. It was nice. Where are you two off to tonight?”

  “Grandpa Bob and I are going to dinner at the Compass Arizona Grill,” Grandma Peckham said. That’s the restaurant at the top of the Hyatt downtown. I haven’t been there in years, but I love the views of the city as the restaurant slowly rotates.”

  “That’s right,” Grandpa Bob said. “It’s hard to get a bad seat when the whole place is turning. Every seat has the same great view.”

  Grandma got
a funny look. If I didn’t know her better, I’d say she was slightly embarrassed. “Dear, are you staying in or going out tonight?”

  “I only came home to do some stuff. I’m heading back out in a little while.”

  I saw Grandma looked a little relieved.

  “After dinner, Grandpa Bob and I are planning to come back here to watch a movie.” She lowered her voice and bent closer to me; “thin walls.” I swear she blushed a little bit.

  “Oh,” I said. “Not a problem. I’ll probably be out until late.”

  I told Grandma and Grandpa good-bye and went into my apartment. The main thing I wanted to do was to stash Jackie’s bracelet. It was no problem wearing it at a reception at a nice resort but to wear it out to the clubs wouldn’t be a good idea. Marlowe got up from the couch and followed me as I went into the bedroom. I put the bracelet away, went back to the living room, and sat on the couch. I picked up the remote and started flipping channels. Marlowe lay down in my lap and started to purr.

  I had slowly flipped through every channel and was about to do it again when my phone rang. I saw it was Horace Morningstar.

  “Miss Black,” he said. “I would like to see you tonight. We need to discuss our efforts of today.”

  “What, now?”

  “Why yes, is this a problem? Perhaps you have something more important to do tonight?”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “We’re now staying at the Scottsdale Tropical Paradise as I wanted to be close to Lester. Let us meet at the lounge in the main building. It’s called the Headhunter and it should be adequate for our needs. It’s a public place but we should be able to talk there. By all means, bring Elizabeth along if she also wishes to come.”

  “It will only be me tonight. What time?”

  “I like a woman who gets straight to the point. It tells me that you are still taking this matter seriously. Very well, let us say ten o’clock.”

  Ten o’clock. It figures.

  ~~~~

  I slowly flipped channels until nine-thirty then I took off. I decided not to change out of my dress from the reception. I was still planning on meeting everyone at Nexxus or Maya and I didn’t want to change clothes for the meeting with the hoodlums.

  I parked in the main lot in front of the reception building at the Tropical Paradise and walked up the hill to the main valet entrance. It’s always fun to see the collection of sports cars they arrange in the courtyard near the front.

  Surprisingly, I was early. I walked into the lobby and spent a few minutes looking at the tropical rain forest and the waterfalls that make the lobby of the Tropical Paradise so unique. I told myself I shouldn’t linger in the lobby for too long. Since this is where Tony DiCenzo has his main offices, I knew I was tempting fate by even being here.

  I walked through the lobby and went down a hallway to the main casual lounge for the resort, the Headhunter. As with everything at the Paradise, the Headhunter has a tropical island theme. In this case, the theme of the lounge is a camp of European jungle explorers in the nineteen-thirties had been attacked by a group of savage headhunters. There was an area of the bar with canvas tents, old tube radios, and antique scientific equipment from the time before World War II. There was also an area set up as the headhunter’s village, complete with a waterfall, grass huts, and a big iron pot -- large enough to cook four or five people at once.

  I looked around the lounge and saw that Morningstar and Les hadn’t arrived yet. I took a seat at the bar. I looked behind the bar and saw there were several glass shelves full of high-end alcohol in front of a large mirror. Seeing the shelves and the bottles made me smile, thinking about an incident that had happened here about six months before.

  A henchman by the name of Sonny Boy Muzzi had gone on a mini-rampage and had smashed up the lounge. At the time, he had worked for Tony DiCenzo. Since DiCenzo also happened to own the bar that was smashed, Tough Tony didn’t take too kindly to Sonny’s actions. I looked all around the bar, but I couldn’t tell if anything was missing or out of place from the previous time.

  Right at ten, Morningstar walked into the lounge with Les and Magic in tow. The hostess sat them at a large table and I walked over and joined them. A cocktail waitress came over and we all ordered drinks.

  “Well, Miss Black,” Morningstar said. “I hope you’ve had a more productive day than we did.”

  “Not really, we went through the entire house again. I keep thinking we’ll find something that looks out of place or if we pull on the right book on a bookshelf it will open a secret door.”

  I am such a fibber.

  “Very good,” Morningstar said. I see we are thinking along the same lines. What are your plans for tomorrow?”

  “Well, in addition to the house on Camelback, Lester’s granddad also owned four big tracts of land and a bar in Prescott. Elizabeth and I are thinking we’d go to Prescott tomorrow and then maybe going out to the parcels of land on Monday.”

  “What do you hope to find out in Prescott?” Morningstar asked somewhat suspiciously.

  “At this point, we’re looking for anything unusual. We’re hitting dead ends on South Mountain and at the house. Speaking of South Mountain, did you find anything up there today?”

  Les perked up and was about to say something when Morningstar interrupted him. “No, no unfortunately our efforts there were also fruitless. However, I think we will concentrate our efforts on the house tomorrow. But tell me, I don’t want us to duplicate our efforts, in which parts of the house did you look today?”

  I noticed that Les was giving Morningstar a strange look.

  “We looked all over the house,” I said.

  “Yes, but did you concentrate on any specific areas? Say, the pool perhaps or umm the master bedroom. As I said, I don’t want to duplicate your efforts.”

  Oh my god. He’s found the coffin rock and wants to know if I know too.

  “Well, the master bedroom is still sealed and it will be hard to get in there without the police knowing. We’ve searched the pool twice so far but there doesn’t seem to be a lot out there. Mostly it’s lounge chairs and umbrellas. Certainly nothing big enough to hide a chest.”

  At this, Morningstar brightened up. “Excellent, yes, by all means you should go up to Prescott tomorrow and see if you can find anything helpful. The three of us will be at the house searching, in vain no doubt, but searching nevertheless. Remember, if you do find anything I expect to be notified immediately. After all,” he laughed a hollow laugh, “we are partners in this little endeavor.”

  ~~~~

  I had made it out to my car and was about to pull out of the hotel parking lot when my phone rang. This time it was agent McCoy. I pulled the car back into a parking space and answered.

  “Miss Black, this is Special Agent McCoy. I’m sorry to say we’ve lost track of Lester Murdock. Do you have any information as to his current location?”

  “I just left him. He’s with Morningstar and Magic at the Headhunter Lounge at the Scottsdale Tropical Paradise, Lester’s hotel.”

  I heard agent McCoy repeating everything I was saying to somebody, probably agent Conquest.

  “By the way, Morningstar and Magic have switched hotels and are now both at the Tropical Paradise too.”

  “Morningstar and Magic have switched hotels and are now also at the Tropical Paradise. The same hotel as Lester Murdock,” agent McCoy repeated. “We were not aware of that. Thank you for the information. Are you getting closer to the recovery to the chest with the inheritance?”

  “I’m making progress but nothing’s final yet. Elizabeth and I are heading up to Prescott tomorrow for the day. That’s a tourist town in the mountains. We think the next clue is up there with a woman named Penelope.”

  “Miss Black, I need to be honest with you. We’re getting concerned about the safety of Lester Murdock. We need him to testify and he can’t do that if he’s dead. We’re considering bringing him in. Of course, it will end any credibility he has with h
is group and we’d rather it not come to that. But we also can’t take the chance Morningstar will suspect anything and overreact.”

  “I won’t tell you how to do your job, but I’d hold off for a couple of days,” I said. “They’re all still looking for the treasure and I don’t think Les is in any danger until they actually find it. Of course, once it’s found, all bets are off.”

  “We understand Miss Black. Please keep us apprised of your movements and discoveries.”

  Jeeze, why can’t anyone do their jobs by themselves?

  “Alright,” I said. “I’ll let you know what’s going on.”

  Twelve

  The drive downtown was uneventful. Since it was almost eleven-thirty, I knew the girls would have moved on from Nexxus. I hoped they were still at the Maya.

  I parked in a public lot and walked to the Maya Day and Nightclub. As always, there was a large knot of people at the front entrance. Since I wasn’t with the cougars, I had to wait several minutes until I could get in.

  Once in the club, I walked out to the pool. Finding the girls was easy since they always had an area all to their own.

  I got to the circle of benches under a big canopy and everyone said hello. Being late is not unusual for me and no one was surprised. Elle was talking to a young guy who looked like he could have played football for ASU. Two new guys arrived with fresh drinks for Pam and Sonia. I was somewhat surprised to see Elizabeth talking to a man roughly her own age. He was dressed nicely and from the way he was talking, he seemed to have an education. I slid in next to Sophie.

  “Why are you so late?” she asked. “Are you having another shitty night?”

  “Well, not exactly shitty, more like sorta crappy.”

  Sophie stopped and looked me over.

  “Well, you didn’t get tossed in your trunk or peed on by a dog again, did you?”

  “Umm, no.”

  “OK then. Shut up about your sorta crappy night and let’s have some hot men buy us drinks. You can pretend they’re Max, or Reno, whoever’s at the top of your list at the moment. You can even take one home if you’re still feeling horny.”