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

by B A Trimmer

  “Yeah,” Sophie said. “So much for suing our asses off. We call our video The Man Behind the Anchor, The Truth Revealed.”

  George sat back down, but I could see he was still angry and still not in a mood to listen to what we were saying. I hit the play button and the video started.

  It showed George laying naked on a bed with a woman on top riding him. We had chosen angles that clearly showed not only George’s face, but also anchor tattoo on his arm. We had been careful not to include Connie’s face or anything that could be used to identify who she was. We wanted to make sure George was the center of attention.

  I looked over and could see George had gone from being angry to being slightly concerned. He was shifting in his chair and his eyes were getting a slightly unfocused look, as if he was thinking rapidly. He knew as well as we did that anyone who had grown up in Arizona would recognize him by the tattoo. He was starting to get the idea we were serious and his reputation could be in some amount of jeopardy.

  “Since, by law,” Gina said, “we weren’t allowed to record sound in the video, we supplied our own soundtrack.”

  I reached over to the computer and hit the sound button. As the volume came up, we heard a cheesy music soundtrack that gave the video the feel of a cheap porno movie. We also heard a woman’s voice, a woman that sounded suspiciously like Sophie, telling George over and over: “Come-on honey, you can do it, at least try.”

  As the video went on, I again looked over at George. I saw his forehead had started to sweat and he was looking more than a little nervous. I could also see that he was still thinking about how to handle this situation.

  After a minute of watching the video, George made a decision to challenge us. He told us, in a voice that was supposed to be loud and angry, but instead came out as little more than a high wobbly squeak; “That’s enough. Turn it off. This is disgusting. I won’t put up with your blackmail.”

  “But we can’t turn it off now,” Sophie said with a devious smile. “My favorite part’s coming up.”

  After another thirty seconds of the woman telling George: “At least try,” she then said; “That’s it, I give up, you’ll never satisfy a woman.”

  The woman in the video rolled off to reveal George in all his glory. The video clearly showed that George was no bigger than Sophie’s index finger. The picture on the screen froze at the moment where George’s undersized manhood was the most clearly visible. The music then switched from sleazy porn music to the screeching violin sounds of the shower scene from the old Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho.

  Screech, Screech, Screech, Screech!

  “Oh Jeeze,” George weakly said. His face had flushed red with shame and embarrassment.

  The three of us tried our best to hold it together and remain serious. But then Sophie started to giggle. She tried to hold it in, but that only made it worse. She clamped her hand over her mouth, but the giggles came out even harder and she had started to shake with laughter. Now that Sophie had lost control, I couldn’t help it. I started laughing and I couldn’t stop. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe and tears had started rolling down my face. Even Gina gave a small chuckle as she smiled and shook her head.

  George had started to shake with emotion and then hid his face in his hands.

  “Dude,” Sophie said between giggles. “It looks like you never went through puberty. What’s up with that? Were you in some sort of industrial accident? Maybe something happened to you on a farm? Were you kicked by a horse or something?”

  George was quiet for almost thirty seconds before he lifted his head. When he finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper.

  “The doctors found out about my hormone imbalance when I graduated from high school and I still hadn’t shown any signs of developing. I’ve been on hormone replacement therapy for years, but they weren’t ever able to fix -- that.” He then pointed to the picture of his tiny member on the computer screen and hung his head down again.

  He sighed a deep sigh of defeat. “Alright, you win. What do you want me to do?”

  ~~~~

  An hour after George Anson went back into the conference room, both George and his attorney sulked back out. They quickly left out the front door. A minute later Lenny came striding out of the conference room, beaming with happiness.

  “It went well?” Gina asked.

  “It went like I expected it would,” Lenny said, a little boastful. “I told George not only was he was going to give his wife the standard formula spousal support, but I said he needed to add an additional thirty percent for having an affair in the same bed his wife slept in.”

  “It sound like you really put the screws to him,” Sophie said.

  “Yeah,” Lenny said. “He really didn’t stand a chance. It turns out I didn’t even need to show them the videos of the affair. George admitted it and said he didn’t need to see the evidence. I pressed him on the support and he caved. Actually, opposing council still wanted to play hardball on it, but George said he only wanted it to be settled. He even agreed to pay my fee. He gave me everything I wanted and then some.”

  “Congratulations,” Gina said. “Debbie’s lucky to have you as her attorney.”

  Sophie snorted a short laugh. She then turned red and clamped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with embarrassment. Gina looked at her with a disappointed expression and shook her head.

  “You know,” Lenny said, “I don’t care why you’re laughing or what you’re up to this time. Everyone did good work, the client will be happy, and we’ve accumulated some good billings on this. I’d be happy if every case went as smoothly as this.”

  ~~~~

  Lenny walked back into his office and ten seconds later, my phone rang. I saw it was Les.

  “Hey,” he said when I answered. “I have a few minutes to myself. How Elizabeth is doing? She must really be freaked out by all of this.”

  “She’s doing OK. She’s a lot stronger than you think. Listen, I’m going to try and get Morningstar and Magic out of the house soon, like within an hour or so. I’ll need you to stay there. Let Morningstar know you’re starting to feel sick. Tell them you need to throw up or something. Maybe you could even ask to lay down and sleep. That way you can stay at the house when they leave. I need you to really sell it so they don’t get suspicious.”

  “OK,” he said. “I can do that.”

  I hung up with Les and made another two phone calls. I then went up front to find Gina. I really needed her final advice on what I was about to do.

  “It still sounds risky,” she said after I told her the last of the details. “But it also sounds like it’s gone too far to stop. My only advice for you is to stay strong. You have two other people counting on you to get them out of this in one piece.”

  Fourteen

  I got into my car and drove to the Hyatt to get Elizabeth. When I went up to the lobby, I found her standing next to her palm tree.

  “Well,” she said. “If nothing else, I’ve learned what a queen palm is.”

  We walked down to my car in the parking lot and then drove to the base of Camelback Mountain. I parked in a deserted area that would have the right background noises. I waited until exactly noon, and then called Horace Morningstar.

  “I’m at South Mountain,” I said, excitement in my voice. “I think I found something. I need to show you what I’m seeing. There is a coffin shape on the side of Camelback Mountain next to the house. How soon can you get here?”

  Morningstar had been claiming ignorance about finding the coffin rock for three days. I knew he would have to either come up to Dobbins Lookout or admit he had known about it the entire time and had been lying to me.

  “Well,” he said with a hollow laugh. “That is good news. Perhaps you should come down to the house and tell me about it. I’ll want to know all the details.”

  “It isn’t anything I can describe. You’ll need to see it. Besides, we’ve been looking for the damn thing for a week. I’d think you’d want to s
ee it for yourself. You still aren’t getting anywhere at the house, are you?

  He then paused for several seconds. I could tell he was rapidly thinking.

  “Very well,” he said at last. “We’ll be there in half an hour. But I hope you really have found the coffin rock. I’ve been to the top of that dusty pile of rocks so many times that it sickens my soul.”

  Morningstar hung up. I then drove my car to a place where I could see Morningstar’s car as it drove down Camelback Mountain.

  My first fear was that Morningstar would insist that Les go with them. That would ruin everything. My second fear was that Magic would stay at the house to keep an eye on things while Morningstar was gone. That would be almost as bad.

  Five minutes later, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Morningstar’s car drive down the mountain. Magic was at the wheel and Morningstar was beside him. No one in the back seat.

  I took in a deep breath and sent two text messages.

  “OK,” I said. “Let’s go do this.”

  We drove up the hill and I parked my car on the side of the road, about a hundred yards further up the mountain from the mansion. The road curved so no one could see it from the house. I didn’t think Morningstar would be looking for it in any case.

  Elizabeth and I hurried down the road and then into the house. Les was waiting for us inside the front entrance.

  “I got your text. What’s going on?” he asked. “I’m not sure where Morningstar went or how long he’ll be gone.”

  “I needed to get him out of the way for a little bit so we could get the jewelry,” I said. “Come on. It’s in the library.”

  The three of us hurried up to the library, I explained to Les what we had found as we trotted down the hall. Les opened the big wooden library doors and Elizabeth and I rushed in behind him. We walked to the middle of the three alcoves on the wall against Camelback Mountain and looked at the discus statue on its marble pedestal. It looked as if it hadn’t been disturbed from the night before. I took a step back.

  “Elizabeth, would you do the honors? Quickly, we don’t know how long we have.”

  Elizabeth pulled on the arm of the statue. It again moved slowly forward until there was a click and then the whirring sound of motors. The wooden panel in the rear of the alcove slid upward and the sculpture and pedestal slowly sank under the floor. Les walked over and looked at the touch panels.

  “I see what you mean. These appear to be scanners. From the size and placement on the vault door, I would assume they’re thumb scanners. You said you tried them and nothing happened.”

  “When I put my thumb on my side,” Elizabeth said, “the red light above my scanner went off and the green one came on. The red light over your scanner didn’t change. Granddad’s note said we needed to do this together.”

  “It makes sense we’d need to do it at the same time if Granddad wanted us to work together on this,” Les said. “Maybe he was trying to get us back together after all. I wonder how he got our thumbprints. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I don’t remember Granddad doing anything obvious to get it.”

  “He could have given you a clean glass and then lifted the print off of that,” I said. “He probably did it with both of you.”

  “Granddad went through a lot of trouble to make sure we’d need to work together to get the jewelry,” Elizabeth said. “You’re right. I think he was trying to help.”

  “OK,” I said. “Hurry up. Both of you put your thumbs on the scanners at the same time and let’s see what happens.”

  Elizabeth walked over and put her thumb on the glass scanner. As had happened the night before, a blue light shone behind the glass. The red light above her scanner switched to green. Les then put his thumb on his scanner and we saw the same blue light. His red light also switched to green. We waited several seconds, but nothing happened. We all looked at each other.

  “This is so lame,” Les said, now angry. “What’s next, another clue that‘ll lead to yet another dead end?”

  “Something should happen,” Elizabeth said, a touch of panic in her voice. “Last night there was a click.”

  From the inside of the door, we heard the sound of two loud metallic snaps, one after the other. Neither Les nor Elizabeth moved. They were both mesmerized, staring at the door. I reached out and pulled on the handle of the vault. With the sound of several metallic pops and creaks, it swung open.

  What lay behind was a brightly lit passageway, seven feet high and five feet wide. The floor and the walls were a brilliant white marble.

  Les went first, Elizabeth went next, and I followed behind. The passageway was about twenty feet long and it gently curved to the right. From the location in the house, I knew it was going deep into the solid rock of Camelback Mountain. The passageway ended in a room about the size of my living room at home. The floor and walls were the same smooth white marble.

  There were only two objects in the room. The first was a small table made of a polished dark wood. Sitting on the table, and made of the same dark wood, was a large and ornate chest.

  “Granddad’s treasure chest!” Elizabeth squealed out. “I’d forgotten how beautiful it is.”

  “Well,” Les said. “I honestly never thought we’d see this again.”

  We formed a circle around the box, our fingers lightly touching the wood. It was beautifully made. The surfaces of the chest were intricately carved with a delicate flower, leaf, and vine pattern. For the flowers, there were hundreds of tiny mother-of-pearl inlays. The vines appeared to be made of solid silver. I could see it had taken a master woodworker months. if not years, to make it. The chest was something you’d expect to see in a museum, not in somebody’s house.

  We saw there was a card laying on top the box. It appeared to be the same neat cursive writing as the previous notes. Elizabeth picked up the card and read:

  I congratulate both of my grandchildren for finding my treasure. Think of me when you wear these pieces of art and history. If you will allow me to give you both some words of advice from beyond the grave -- I lost years of time that I could have been friends with your father, I don’t want that happening between the two of you. I hope that through the process of going through my little treasure hunt, you two have begun to grow close once again. I urge you both to find ways to overcome your differences and to remember you two are all that is left of our family. May you both have lives filled with peace and happiness. I love you both dearly, Granddad.

  I looked over and saw that a tear was running down Elizabeth’s cheek. Lester walked over to his sister and gave her a long hug.

  “Well,” I said. “Let’s open it up and see what’s inside.”

  We heard movement from behind us. We turned to see Morningstar standing in the passageway and next to him was Magic. Both of them were holding pistols.

  “Did you seriously think I was fooled by your feeble attempts at deception?” Morningstar said. “As I correctly deduced, you had discovered the location of the chest and were merely trying to lure me out of the house so you could swoop in and remove it. Well, this makes things simple, for everyone.”

  Morningstar glanced around the room. I saw the look of greed on his face as his eyes focused on the chest. He wanted to open the box and hold the pieces of jewelry as much as we did. I also saw him looking at the cramped space of the vault.

  “Come out into the library. I'm not going to go into such a tight space. It would be too tempting for one of you to grab for my gun. Come out now or I'll have Magic shoot you where you stand.”

  Magic walked around behind us, motioning that we should follow Morningstar out.

  We walked down the passageway, stepped back out into the library, and gathered in front of the alcove. Magic took several steps to one side, his pistol still pointed in our direction. He then let out a loud giggle.

  I looked over and saw Morningstar had a strange twisted look on his face. I was about to ask him about it when he turned and casually shot Magic twice in the c
hest. In the enclosed space of the library, the sounds of the twin gunshots were deafening.

  Magic’s eyes opened wide with surprise. He then fell in slow motion to his knees. His gun slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. As he fell, I saw him trying to speak. I also saw the results of his wasted life painted as a death mask of confusion and disappointment.

  Elizabeth screamed and Les stiffened. After the initial shock settled in for about three heartbeats, I got really angry.

  “Why did you do that?” I shouted to Morningstar. “He didn’t do anything to you.”

  “In the room behind you is upwards of thirty-million dollars of historic and extraordinary jewelry,” Morningstar said. “I didn’t trust Magic to keep his head. It might have been too big of a temptation for him to resist. There’s nothing worse than a maniac with a gun. I’ll be frank with you Miss Black. I have the jewels and soon you three will be also be dead. I’m not the kind of man who shares nor am I the kind of man who leaves loose ends.”

  It was as if a light went on in my head.

  “Les didn’t kill Frankie Two Guns in the vault Tuesday night, you did.”

  “Clever girl,” Morningstar said. “Yes, that’s true. After I saw you, Lester, and Elizabeth leave the house on Tuesday afternoon, Frankie and I broke in. We waited in a room down the hall from the master bedroom. Lester had previously told me about the vault and it wasn’t hard to find the right bedroom. I assumed Lester already had the combination and was merely waiting to open the vault when his sister was not present, consistent with the terms of the Will. I knew he’d be back as soon as possible to take possession of the treasure. We were simply going to wait down the hall and pick up the jewels after he got them.”

  Morningstar looked over at Les.

  “I was a little surprised when you showed up again and you didn’t have your shadow with you,” he motioned with the pistol that he was talking about me.