“Okay.” He slumped back in his chair. “Yes, I knew Sophia was here because she told me she’d kept in contact with Susanna. Susanna didn’t just screw me, she also screwed her sister. The fact is, we all were supposed to benefit from the, uh, scheme. The plan was to embezzle about twenty-two million total—about ten million each for me and Susanna. Susanna had promised to give Sophia some of her take to help ease her sister’s financial burden. Two million for Rosemary and everyone would leave the country. Susanna was always vindictive; she couldn’t put her personal animosity aside and just go through with the plan. She wanted more. She wanted me to leave my wife so the two of us could share our cut and I couldn’t do that.”
Jonelle didn’t believe they had planned to give Rosemary two million dollars. She let it go. “Did your wife know what was going on?”
“No,” he said, a little too loudly.
If it wasn’t for the fact that there were two dead women, Jonelle would almost feel sorry for the man.
“Rosemary’s boyfriend also worked for you. Maybe the brothers were pissed because she has a young child and you guys stiffed her on the money and left her to take the blame for everything.”
“Listen,” Finkleberg said in a stronger voice. “Nobody was supposed to die. Ever. You have to believe me when I say I don’t know why the twins were killed. I didn’t do it. If the Yazzie brothers were involved they either did it on their own or somebody else paid them.”
“What other reason would they have to kill the sisters?” Burt asked.
“I have no idea. To my knowledge they’d never killed anyone before.”
Jonelle fingered the gold necklace. “Did you offer them some of the money to keep quiet about the embezzlement?”
A large, frustrated sigh escaped Finkleberg. “Yes. I had to. They drove me to the bank several times. More times than I needed for personal business. Plus, Susanna and I felt it safer to use the Limo when we, uh, met. It seemed more private, more secure.”
“So, when Susanna split, they got nothing, right?” Burt asked.
Finkleberg nodded.
“Seems like they’re eliminating everyone involved in this.”
Jonelle agreed. She held Finkleberg’s gaze. “They can’t get to Rosemary; she’s in prison. Looks like you’re the only one left.”
Finkleberg’s eyes watered behind his glasses.
“Not exactly,” Burt reminded Jonelle. “There’s still Kelly.” Burt stood. “Stay here the both of you. I need to make a phone call.”
The door clicked as Burt left. Jonelle had no intention of waiting for him to return to pursue her own ideas about the case. “You got yourself into one helluva mess, Norman.”
To her great satisfaction, he nodded. “I don’t know how this got out of hand.”
“Do you have any idea where Susanna stashed the money?”
Finkleberg shook his head.
“The police looked all over that hotel room in Baltimore. The manager said Susanna had him lock up a leather satchel in his office, but it’s not there.” Jonelle stood as tightness developed in her chest. “Sorry, but I’ve gotta open the door a crack.” Afterwards, she stuck her head out and took several deep breaths.
“Touch of claustrophobia,” she said and decided to go for broke. “I think those two goons spooked Susanna and she took the money and hid it somewhere. They don’t know where it is either, which is why I suspect they followed me. Were you with Sophia when she took an envelope out of Kelly’s desk?”
“What … how?” He looked incredulous.
Jonelle had to take advantage of the fact Burt was out of the room. With him in charge, she couldn’t be as free to ask what she wanted without implicating herself. Plus, she was getting sick and tired of Finkleberg dancing around the truth.
“I’m asking the questions right now. Well?” Jonelle put all the authority in her voice she could muster. Bottom line: if Finkleberg clammed up there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She tried not to show her relief as he answered her question.
“Sophia was spooked when she noticed the Yazzie brothers also following her. She accused me of hiring them to tail her, but I convinced her I didn’t. Since it wasn’t me, the only other person involved had to be Kelly so she wanted to search his office. Everything was locked up but Sophia knew he kept a spare key under the pen and pencil holder—except it wasn’t there. So we had to uh, force the drawer open.”
“How did she know about a key?”
Finkleberg raised his hand. “I swear I don’t know. We found an envelope with a few documents and left with it. That’s all.”
Jonelle believed him on that point. She tried a different tack. “Was Sophia here before Susanna was killed?”
“Yes.”
“Were you and Sophia in contact that entire time?”
Finkleberg swallowed hard. “Yes … and no.”
“What does that mean?”
“Susanna called a few times. Mostly to taunt me, I think. On each call I tried to convince her to return the money. She screwed us all when she split early. Sophia was supposed to convince her to come clean, but she failed. So, Sophia said she’d try and find out where the money was and let me know. No harm, no foul.”
“Except for the fact someone slit Susanna’s throat.”
“I almost lost it when you called and told me.”
Jonelle had trouble believing him. “You mean to say that Sophia didn’t call you right away? I’ve been told that the two were seen together just before Susanna’s murder.”
He shook his head over and over. “Your phone call was the first I’d heard about her death.”
“Did you speak to Sophia afterwards?”
He sat back in his chair. He looked as if the weight he’d been carrying around was slowly dissipating. “Oh, yeah. We were both freaked. Sophia even more so.”
“Can’t blame her considering it was her sister.”
“Yeah. But … she seemed different somehow.”
“What do you mean?”
“More scared than angry. Not as self-assured as before. Sophia was always the ring leader. The one Susanna looked to, to plan things. Now she was acting, I don’t know, lost I guess is the best word. You know?”
“Go on.”
“We talked after she hired you. And she said something peculiar.” He paused.
Jonelle gestured for him to get on with it. Any moment now Burt would reappear.
“Well, she said she needed help in recovering the money. As I said, she felt she was being followed and was getting nervous.”
Jonelle honed in on the remark. “Hold on. She said recovering, not finding”
“It didn’t hit me until later,” Finkleberg said with a nod. “We were so focused trying to figure out what Kelly knew that I completely forgot about what she’d said.”
Jonelle opened her mouth to ask another question but stopped as Burt entered. He had a frown on his dark, round face. “I tried calling Kelly but couldn’t reach him.”
“You try his home? Oh, sorry, I’m sure you did.” Burt’s expression warned Jonelle he was in no mood to be second-guessed.
“After I tried his cell I called his office. The people there are worried. They haven’t seen him in a few days and aren’t able to reach him. I dispatched a few uniforms to check out his place. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
CHAPTER 39
Fear brought out the worst in people. And based on everything Finkleberg had revealed, those involved had an acute case of the nerves. Jonelle also knew there was no need for her to pursue anything since her client was dead. The advance Sophia had paid covered the expense of traveling to Michigan and the several hours of work up to her death. Case closed? Not exactly. If anything, Jonelle was more determined than ever to find out what was going on.
She’d already withstood Burt’s wrath when she gave him information on what she knew about the two men. Finkleberg mentioned their prior arrests in the Upper Peninsula and Burt had left to issue a BOL
O—be on the lookout—for the Yazzie brothers. When he returned, she told him she had a plan for enticing the men to reveal themselves. Since they were on to her, she knew they wouldn’t be too far away. The idea of using herself as bait to tempt the men into action was met with strong disapproval from the detective.
“Uh-uh. No way. If these two are our killers, you’re risking your life. I can’t let you do that.”
“Hear me out. You know I can handle myself, and I won’t take unnecessary risks. All I want to do is lure these guys out in the open. How about it?”
Burt rubbed his head. “It’s that word unnecessary that I’m worried about. What I’m gonna do is pay them a visit at their hotel. See if I can get a sense of where they’re coming from. Think I’ll mention the fact I know they’ve been following you. See what kinda reaction I get.”
Finkleberg, who’d watched the entire exchange, piped up. “I vote for letting her try. Those guys are street smart. They’re used to dealing with the cops, so you’re not gonna get much out of them. I don’t want to end up like the Quinley twins.”
Burt shot him a look which forced Finkleberg to slump back in his chair. “We’re doing it my way.”
All the way home, Jonelle had kept one eye on her rear view mirror, wondering if she’d see the familiar gray sedan somewhere behind. Every time a gray car of any type came into view, Jonelle tensed. If she didn’t relax, Burt’s assessment of the situation and her involvement in it would prove him right to be concerned. Jonelle didn’t want that to happen. While he tried, and failed, to get her to promise not to do anything until he could gather enough police resources, it became obvious to her that the two men were operating on their own. What was the trigger which led them to kill both women?
The fact that Burt couldn’t reach Kelly worried Jonelle. The man didn’t appear able to control two seasoned felons. With these murderous goings-on taking place all around her, Jonelle felt a desperate need to sort everything out. Something nagged at her just beyond her grasp and she knew she had to pull it in before it slipped away.
Jonelle drew up in front of her building. Before she slid the Jeep into her assigned spot, she scanned the area. No sign of the men or the gray sedan. She locked and engaged the Jeep’s alarm before rushing to the entrance. Once inside she didn’t even stop to check the mail. No time. Adrienne should’ve left the university by now, unless she’d been delayed. A quick call followed by a promise to stop by in thirty minutes made her feel better.
She had little in her refrigerator to offer her skinny, yet somehow always hungry friend. A jar of creamy peanut butter and wheat crackers, a frozen pizza and a container of hummus with sesame seed breadsticks were all she had to suggest as a snack. She did however have every slot in her wine rack filled.
A little over half an hour later the buzzer sounded on the outside door of the building’s security system. Normally she’d just press the release since she expected Adrienne. This time, she poked her head outside her unit and walked to the spot where she could see outside the glass doors. Adrienne stood with one hand on the door handle and the other around a large plastic bag. Jonelle walked over and opened the door. She looked up and down the street.
“Why didn’t you buzz me in?” Adrienne asked.
“Wanted to make sure it was you, first.”
Adrienne followed Jonelle, and stopped outside the condo. “Isn’t that why you have an intercom? It’s not broke, is it?” She cocked her head. “Hey. How come I don’t hear music?”
“Hamilton’s away.”
“Darn.”
“The intercom works. Just needed to check on something outside. What’s in the bag?”
“Knowing your ‘empty cupboard’ syndrome, I decided to stop and pick up Chinese. Hunan shrimp for you and shrimp with garlic sauce for me.”
“Egg rolls?”
“Of course. Wouldn’t be Chinese food without them.”
Idle chit-chat prevailed while Jonelle dished out the food and poured glasses of white wine. Never one to beat around the bush more than necessary, Jonelle plunged right in to the dilemma she faced. “Do you remember the case I’ve been working on? Sophia Reyes, twin of the murdered Susanna Quinley?”
Adrienne nodded, mouth full of food. “Hmm.”
“And about Sophia’s murder, right?”
Adrienne nodded.
“At first, I thought the county commissioner was involved, especially after Susanna’s accomplice told her lawyer that the plan was originally to steal a helluva lot more than just the 300,000, and that their tracks were covered by someone higher up. The only higher up above Susanna was Finkleberg.”
“He’s the commish, right?”
“Yep. He came down here at Burt’s request to help with trying to figure out what might’ve happened to the missing money. And I think he was the one with Sophia who searched Kelly’s office.”
Adrienne stopped chewing. “And you know this, how?”
Her best friend knew her better than anyone, except her uncle. “Kelly’s main office area was already open, so technically I didn’t really break in.”
The look on Adrienne’s face indicated she didn’t buy the explanation.
Jonelle continued. “Anyway, once I got one of the desk drawers open”—Adrienne sighed dramatically, which Jonelle ignored—“there was an envelope with car rental and hotel receipts. The car rental papers showed the sedan that had been following me as well as the name of a hotel. I know the Yazzie brothers drove that car and stayed at that hotel.”
The entire time Jonelle talked, Adrienne had sipped wine without comment.
“Everyone suspects Susanna originally hid the money in the hotel’s office,” Jonelle said.
“Why not put the money in the hotel’s safe?”
“The place is kinda shabby. All the manager could offer was to lock it inside. Imagine all that money sitting in a flimsy, locked closet.”
Adrienne waved her chopsticks at Jonelle. “Continue.”
“This is where it gets hairy. Only two people were supposed to be involved. Finkleberg and Susanna. Susanna wanted help from Rosemary who, as a single mother and for a share of the money, was more than willing to keep her mouth shut when she noticed her boss funneling cash into different accounts. Though, to be honest, I think a person could’ve waved money in front of Rosemary’s face and she wouldn’t put two and two together.”
“Elevator gets stuck a few floors from the top?”
“That about sums it up. So, now we’ve got three people who know about the embezzlement. To make matters worse, Susanna and Finkleberg got into a major argument having to do with their affair, and I find out one of the men hired by him to do quote, odd jobs, is Rosemary’s baby-daddy.”
A sly grin crept slowly across Adrienne’s face. “I love it. ‘Rosemary’s baby.’”
Jonelle rolled her eyes. “Anyway, they wanted to embezzle several million, but after the fall out, Susanna got pissed, took what they’d accumulated so far and she and Rosemary split.”
“And good ole Rosemary ended up in jail. And the baby-daddy is pissed.”
Jonelle nodded. She took a few bites and drank wine before continuing. “My guess is Susanna noticed the men, got scared and called Kelly. He claims he knew nothing about the embezzlement, but I don’t believe him, and Finkleberg said as much. Claimed when he called Kelly and told him what Susanna had done, Kelly admitted he’d heard from her.”
“So now, we’ve got, what, four people involved in this?”
“Five. I’m convinced Susanna told Sophia.”
Adrienne reached over, grabbed the wine bottle and filled her glass. “Talk about amateurs. Why not send out a bulletin for crissakes?”
“Exactly.” Jonelle played with her necklace. “See, I think Kelly tried to help Susanna as a way to get back into her life. Guy still loved her.”
“Ahh. Okay. So the two bad guys did all this killing for Rosemary? Seems a bit extreme.”
“Problem was you had all these peopl
e circling each other and nobody really talking to anybody else. Rosemary didn’t know where Susanna was, so she couldn’t have sent the Yazzie brothers down here. My guess is when Kelly told Finkleberg he’d heard from Susanna Finkleberg sent the brothers here to get the money back. But, in order for that to happen Susanna had to tell them where she hid the cash. I’m guessing she wouldn’t … or couldn’t. So, when Kelly heard Susanna was killed, he got nervous.”
Adrienne wiped her mouth on a napkin, and held it to her lips, suppressing a burp. “Tell me something. If your client’s dead, why are you involved in this mess? I’ll just bet Burt isn’t too happy.”
Jonelle grimaced. “I don’t really care if Burt is happy or not. I want to find out why Susanna and Sophia were killed. And here’s another thing. The community up there is really small and close-knit. It didn’t take long for the bulletin to go out about me and what I was doing there.”
“No offense, but you couldn’t exactly blend in with the natives. Am I right?”
Jonelle ignored the dig. “My point is, once the plan opened to more than the two having knowledge about it, all bets were off. We find Kelly, everything falls into place.”
“So, where is he?”
“Don’t know. He’s not at his office or at home. He could’ve left the area. Or … damn!” Jonelle bolted upright.
“What?”
“I think I know where he is.”
CHAPTER 40
The next day, Jonelle rejected Adrienne’s pleas to wait until she got off work so that she could go with her.
“Okay, fine. But no matter what,” Adrienne had said, “you call and let me know what’s going on, or I’m calling the cavalry.”
Jonelle had dismissed the idea that Kelly would go back to the hotel where Susanna stayed because he couldn’t risk running into the Yazzie brothers. In spite of everything that had transpired, Jonelle still had problems believing that Kelly was the force behind Susanna’s death. Not only that, why kill Sophia? She had to find the missing doctor. The location was obvious once she thought about it. Susanna hid in plain sight, so why not her ex?
The Trickster (A Jonelle Sweet Mystery Book 3) Page 24