A Few Good Women (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 9)

by Camilla Chafer

  "I do know that, hence, my question. Have you come across anything like that?"

  "Sure, we investigate the occasional burglary out in Bedford Hills."

  "I'm thinking houses that are extravagantly magnificent. More so than even Bedford Hills. Like mini mega mansions."

  "They're either mini or mega. You can't have both. I only got one call out to a mansion but it wasn't empty. The owners thought the gardener was stealing from them but it turned out their son had a nasty cocaine habit. That kind of thing?"

  "No, definitely just empty homes."

  "Who would burglarize an empty home?"

  "That's what I want to know! My hypothetical perp breaks in and leaves before anyone knows they were there. I need to work out why and here's the thing: they might prefer places with lots of bedrooms and other private rooms rather than an open plan."

  "I've heard of stuff like that happening. Vice in Boston took out an operation that rented out high-end homes and used them for big parties. New place every month. Nasty stuff. Prostitution. Drugs. They charged a large fee to get into them. We eventually prosecuted a bunch of well-connected dudes."

  That sounded familiar. "I think I remember reading about that in the newspaper."

  "There were a couple of high-end, illegal poker games too. They brought in liquor, women, and dressed up the apartments for high rollers, providing anything they could possibly ask for. No one ever got caught. They hired a cleaning crew to make sure it looked like no one was ever there."

  "So whatever my guy is up to, it's nothing good."

  "Good stuff is legit. Bad stuff is shady," said Jord. "Is this something I should take to my captain?"

  "No, it's all hypothetical," I lied. "Hey, I'm just off Century Street and ready for lunch. Want to meet?"

  "I wish I could but I'm stuck at the office," he said smoothly without missing a beat.

  "Really? You're stuck there all day?" I asked, my heart thumping at catching Jord in a lie. "I thought I saw you on the street earlier."

  "Me? Nah. I have a mountain of paperwork. Next week?"

  "Sure; so long as the baby isn't here." I waited for him to say something about the baby but he didn't. Maybe the mystery woman didn't know his wife was pregnant. That was worrying. Why hide it? As Jord said, good stuff was legit, and there was nothing more legitimately lovely than a newborn baby.

  "Catch up later, my captain just walked in," he said as he hung up.

  I checked my phone for any messages but the screen was blank. Nothing from Ruby, nothing from Lily, which was great. At least, I wouldn't have to tell her my brother just lied to me about his whereabouts.

  I headed back to the office, confused and worried about my conversation with Jord. As I entered the agency, I had to push it to the back of my mind. I needed to focus on the case for now despite the little information we had. First step was Lucas, IT geek, resident genius and good friend. He waved as I entered and walked over to his wall of computer screens.

  "I have a job for you," I told him.

  "Tell me."

  "I need you to track down some money."

  "Oh? Your annual bonus?"

  "Haha, no. I don't get an annual bonus, just a case bonus, which is why I need you to track down some stolen money."

  "I think Solomon only wants to pay us in legal bills," said Lucas with a cheeky grin. I knew, without a doubt, he was messing with me. "Shoot. Who stole what?"

  "It's complicated," I said before explaining Olivia Steadman's lost millions and her theory on who was responsible.

  "Is this one of our cases?"

  "I'm getting to that. Her husband is Anthony Steadman whose smeared blood we found a few days ago in our Booth Realty case. MPD suspect he was shot and killed but his body is still missing. I need you to find the connection that ties Anthony to that money. Before you ask, here's the second part of what I need from you."

  "I'm not only listening but taking notes," Lucas replied, reaching for a pen.

  "Good. I need you to find Anthony."

  "If he's dead, that could be tough."

  "But not impossible. However, I don't want you to find his body. I want you to track his movements leading up to his death. Say, a week before? I want to know where he went, whom he was talking to, and what he was doing in Montgomery. I need to find a connection between him and a bunch of open houses too."

  "Any houses in particular?"

  "I'll send you a list."

  "Do you want me to notify Solomon when I get something?"

  "Send it to me first so I can put it all together. I want to make sure everything is perfect before I submit it."

  "What do you think he did?"

  "I feel sure he was the one who broke into our clients’ houses. I'm trying to find out why so we can stop it from happening to our clients again, as well as to absolve them of any responsibility."

  "I'll get started right away."

  "I'll need his phone records, credit checks, anything else in his name. I tried already, but got nothing. It's like Anthony Steadman never existed."

  "I'll find something," Lucas assured me. "Do you have anything I can start with? A photo for the facial recognition? Or a social security number?"

  "I can get you a photo. Not so sure about the social security. I'll email you whenever I have something."

  "No problem. I'll find them but it'll take me a little longer. If you can find a past location he was definitely at, I can start there."

  "The only place I can tie him to this minute was the house where Solomon and I went right before Anthony was ostensibly killed. It's out in the middle of nowhere. As far as I know, there were no street cameras."

  "Any vehicle?"

  "A Lexus. I wasn't paying attention and only saw it briefly. Maybe Solomon got a photo?"

  "I'll call him," Lucas said as he picked up the phone. "He's downstairs."

  "I'll check in then," I told him, leaving him to the mammoth task I'd just assigned him, certain he would come up with something. Few things flummoxed Lucas, and the cyber world was his domain. Anthony might have managed to evade the law but he couldn't evade a multitude of cameras and must have had the means to pay for his activities somehow. Regardless of what he was doing, he had to buy food somewhere. If he used his own identity or even someone else's, Lucas would find it; and when he did, I could put all the puzzle pieces together, including the ones I already had. The more I thought about it, the surer I was that we stumbled onto our home invader. I only wished I knew why.

  Solomon looked serious as I approached his office but beckoned me inside anyway. "What happened?" I asked.

  "Booth Realty wants answers. I stalled them."

  "I interviewed Taylor and I have Lucas investigating Steadman's movements in the week leading up to his death. Taylor and I will check out the properties tomorrow."

  "Good thinking. What do you think Lucas will find?"

  "Truthfully? No idea."

  "Maybe he'll stumble over his body."

  "Or over the money," I added.

  "Money?"

  "The missing millions Olivia Steadman claims he stole. I told Garrett we should look for the money," I said, explaining my theory again. The money must have been the prime motivator in Anthony's murder even if it weren't entirely connected to the realtors’ problem. "We need to find it."

  "Do you have any ideas on how?"

  "No," I said, succinctly summing up my plan, or lack thereof. "Lucas is on the trail and Maddox said..."

  "Maddox?" interrupted Solomon. "You spoke to Maddox about this case?"

  "I saw him..."

  "When?"

  "This morning. I mentioned the case and he suggested we begin by looking for the money."

  "He just got back in town and immediately tracked you down?"

  "I don't know about tracking me down. We simply ran into each other. That is, he got into my car and surprised the hell out of me and we spoke for a little bit. The case came up and he suggested I start looking for the money.
Would you do anything differently?"

  After a moment, Solomon shook his head. "No. I would do the same. The money has to be found because, like you said, no one killed Steadman until he had the cash lying around. We know Olivia wants it back; so we should assume someone else either wants it even more or already has it."

  "What if they already have it?"

  "That would make finding it almost impossible. They could be out of the state by now. Or maybe even the country. Our only hope is that Steadman hid it. Is that something he would do?"

  "Definitely. I found out he had all kinds of things hidden when we split up; hiding anything of value is exactly how he operates."

  "Why do you think Steadman needed so much cash?"

  "Who knows? Greed?" I suggested. "Or maybe something more sinister? Maybe someone was threatening him? Maybe he needed to pay off someone?"

  "Gut feeling?"

  "Greed. If his rich wife wants out of the marriage, Anthony would definitely want a big settlement. Maybe he thought that was the best way of getting it. She already admitted the marriage was a business arrangement. She intended to stay in the country permanently. There had to be something in it for him though. I initially assumed the cache of being married to a gorgeous, rich model might have been his end of the deal."

  "Presumably, the marriage was a temporary arrangement and Anthony expected to get something out of it," said Solomon. "Two million seems like a lot."

  "Plus, Olivia says he stole it; she never paid it to him."

  "She could be lying."

  "Why would she?"

  "She readily admits lying to the government," pointed out Solomon. "She's not against getting around the law as long as it suits her."

  "Also true. I'm going to speak to her again. I'm also going to speak to his family."

  Solomon steepled his fingers together, resting his elbows on the desk. "You've given this a lot of thought."

  "I have, and I think we're on the right track. What will you do?"

  "With the realtors? Until we get to the bottom of this, I'm negotiating a contract to improve their security. We're having a business dinner tonight so I'll be late getting home."

  "No problem. I promised Lily I’d meet her."

  "Sounds good. And Lexi? Let’s leave the murder to the police. That's not for us to get involved in. Promise me you won't get involved any further."

  I nodded. "I promise I won't look into Anthony's death." But if I happened to stumble over his body... That was a different matter. "I need to get to work."

  "One more thing..."

  "Yes."

  "Don't discuss this case with anyone else. Not even family. Not even Maddox."

  "He could help..." I started but Solomon shook his head. "No one," he warned. "This case needs complete discretion. One more thing... I know you were upset about the engagement dinner so I booked a restaurant. It's not Alessandro's and it's a week later than we planned, but they can accommodate us all. I already rearranged the dates with my sister and brother and also changed their flights. You don't have to worry about a thing."

  The engagement dinner totally slipped my mind, not that I would admit it. It was great to hear that despite everything else, Solomon solved that problem. Like he said, it wasn't Alessandro's but that didn't matter anymore. "Thank you," I told him, leaning across the desk to give him a lingering kiss. "You're so awesome."

  Returning to my desk, I puzzled over Solomon's final words. Did he really want discretion? Or did he just want me to stop talking to Maddox? For that matter, how did he know Maddox had only recently returned to town? How did he even know Maddox was away? Was there anything Solomon didn't know?

  Chapter Twelve

  "Om nom nom," said Lily, pausing to savor her burger. "Om. Nom. Nom."

  "You sound like a child."

  "Now I know why people say that when they're eating. This burger is the definition of nom. They should change the name from Good Cop Burger to the Nom Nom Burger. How's your Bad Cop Burger?"

  "Tasty. But it makes up for the silly name. Next time, we'll order the Captains."

  "Who makes this stuff up? This is a cop bar. Why aren't they outraged?"

  "Too busy eating, I guess."

  "Speaking of eating. How much do we hate Serena right now?"

  "Huh?"

  "For stealing Alessandro's only available date for her engagement party. She was even ecstatic when she found out you wanted it. I think she's sliding right back to her mean, old self."

  "I don't know about that but she's still a lot nicer now than when she was married to Ted." I thought about Victoria saying my name and smiled. "She thinks I'm a bad influence on Victoria. She pretended to shoot her mom with her two fingers."

  "How good was her aim?" asked Lily after her giggling almost caused her to choke.

  "Pretty good. Anyway, I'm annoyed with Serena but there's nothing I can do about it. Solomon said he booked a restaurant that could accommodate us all and we only have to postpone it a week later than we originally planned." I dipped a fry in ketchup and popped it into my mouth. "Serena can have Alessandro's! Sometimes, it's better to be kind than just to win."

  "This is why you're my best friend. You say stuff like that. Did he say which restaurant?"

  "No, and I forgot to ask. I'm sure it will be very nice," I decided even though I couldn't summon up any enthusiasm. I was pleased that Solomon actually found a restaurant. It was just a little disappointing that it wasn’t Alessandro's. Having attended several private events at the restaurant, be it a birthday dinner or a Christmas party, Alessandro's was always perfect. They left nothing to chance between the flawless decor to the wine that was always flowing. I was partly happy for Serena, but another part of me was cross that she was so determined to have it. "I don't want to get into a bridal war with Serena."

  "Can you imagine? Definitely no shopping for a wedding dress together."

  "I won’t even tell her the date," I decided.

  "That's right. Book everything, pay the deposits, and tell everyone later. Then she can't spoil it. Will she be a bridesmaid?"

  "No."

  "Will I?"

  "No."

  Lily's face fell. "Seriously?"

  "You're the maid of honor."

  Lily smiled brilliantly and took another bite of her burger before licking her fingers. "Do you want the ten thousand wedding magazines I collected?"

  "Maybe not quite that many."

  "I'm joking. I counted. I have seventy-eight. What the hell! Let's get new ones and we can try on all the dresses we didn't try on last time."

  "You seem really happy," I said. It made me glad to see she was her bubbly self and not the anxious person she'd been in the last few days. "Do you feel better?"

  "I feel exactly the same except I'm no longer hangry."

  "Hangry?

  "Hungry and angry. A dangerous combination."

  "You're eating for two now."

  "I'm eating for two thousand and I want to sleep. Pregnancy is exhausting. I wish we were dancing on tables and drinking cocktails without a care in the world."

  "Would you really swap those years for now?"

  "No, they were great; and we'll have nights like that again but no. Right now, I just want everything to be okay. I want to know my husband loves me and my marriage isn't falling apart. I want to ride a spin cycle again without it collapsing under me." Lily paused to finish the last of my fries. "Did you speak to Ruby about the surveillance?"

  Since I didn’t want to tell Lily that Jord lied to me, I simply chose another part of the truth. "She didn't see anything. She didn't see any redhead entering or leaving." I didn't add Ruby’s message that there was a bus stop nearby which blocked her vision from seeing anyone enter or exit.

  "Too bad. I need to go home. I might fall asleep."

  I dropped my napkin on the plate. "Let's get some ice cream on the way."

  "Rock and roll!"

  ~

  I was asleep before Solomon returned f
rom his business dinner and awoke after he got up the next day. The only evidence that he joined me in bed at all was the hot cup of coffee, made just the way I liked it, steaming on my nightstand and a note propped against it, saying I was “overdressed.” He signed it with a single x. I peeked under the covers at the tight, lace shorts I had on and wondered what his version of underdressed was.

  Pulling the covers under my chin, and burrowing down like a ground squirrel, I turned my thoughts from what Solomon might have been wearing to the day ahead of me. I had a nervous feeling deep in my stomach. So much had happened and I had so many questions that I was sure they wouldn't fit onto a single sheet of paper, no matter how neatly I wrote them. Even worse, I had no idea how to answer them.

  I hoped I wouldn't have to answer anymore questions from MPD. I had no way of explaining Anthony's reappearance and subsequent disappearance in a way that wouldn't set off more alarms and raise even more questions. By the time I finished breakfast, I was in a state of distress. I couldn’t stop worrying about whether Detectives Turner and Grant would go after Solomon again. As I stepped out of the house, the distress gave way to anger. How could Anthony do this to us? How could he so selfishly disturb our happy existence?

  It took me a long time to get to my happy place, a point where he was no more than a distant memory. My anger rising, I wouldn't have been the least surprised if Anthony actually masterminded a big getaway. After all, where was his body? If it were dumped somewhere, why didn't someone discover it by now? Perhaps, there was no body to find?

  I sat in my car, musing over that idea. What if Anthony staged his own murder? What could have made him so desperate that he would fake it? Even as I thought it, I was already assembling a list. Two million dollars, a rich wife that wanted a divorce, two girlfriends, and a criminal plan that was foiled by me… Those were plenty enough reasons to fake his own death and escape to somewhere quieter.

  Except Anthony couldn't have known he would run into me at that house. So he couldn't have planned to fake his own death in those few minutes, or could he? It would have been far too clever, and required a lot more planning to pull off something like that so quickly. And what about all the blood and the bullets?