Pride of a Hunter

by Sylvie Kurtz

  He couldn’t let his feelings for her get him sidetracked. Not when he was the one who’d put her in danger. He had a job to finish before he could pursue any future with Luci.

  Using an online reverse directory, Dom looked up Davina Pedley’s old address.

  “Hi,” Dom said when a gruff voice answered the phone. “This is John Gibson of Holliday & Houghlin. I’m looking for Davina Pedley.”

  “Sorry, the Pedleys moved out about ten years ago.”

  “Well, Mr….”

  “Turillo,” the man supplied. “Robert Turillo.”

  “Mr. Turillo, I have a check here from a policy where Ms. Pedley was named a beneficiary and I’m trying to locate her. Would you know where she moved to?”

  “No, I can’t say that I do.”

  “How about the neighbors? Would anyone know where she’s gone?”

  A tick of silence. “Well, there’s the Mullins and the Jacksons, I suppose. They’ve been there forever.”

  “Thanks, I’ll give them a try. You have a good day now, Mr. Turillo.”

  Dom looked up both numbers and dialed the first. The Jacksons weren’t home, so he moved on to the Mullins. “Mrs. Mullins? This is John Gibson of Holliday & Houghlin. Your neighbor, Mr. Turillo, gave me your name and said you could possibly help me locate Davina Pedley.”

  “What for?” came a brusque voice creaky with age.

  “She’s the named beneficiary in a policy we’re holding and we’re trying to locate her to pay off the benefits.”

  “Listen to me, young man, if Davina Pedley’s involved, she’s probably got you duped.”

  Maybe Luci was right. Maybe Amber was the scam’s mastermind. By why would Swanson go along? Money? That was certainly a great motivator and they were raking it in. “Why do you say that?”

  “Ha! She’s done it before and if Billy hadn’t sweet-talked Maude Rosenfeld into dropping the charges for trying to rob her blind, then that girl would be in jail where she belongs.”

  “Billy?” Dom asked, loosening his tie. Swanson in his first incarnation?

  “Billy Wright, the no-account boy she used to hang around with. He put his mother in the hospital and walked away scot-free. The pair of them was always trouble. But they’re like greased pigs. Nobody can catch ’em.”

  They certainly had to have a layer of Teflon to work scams this long without another arrest. And his gut started vibrating like mad at the mention of the incident with Wright’s mother. He’d have to look into it. “Do you have any idea where I can find this Billy Wright? Maybe he knows where I could find Ms. Pedley.”

  “Pah! He hasn’t set foot in Brevard County since he left town with Davina.”

  “When was that?”

  “Twelve, no thirteen years ago. Good riddance, I say. You’re better off keeping the money, son.”

  “I’m afraid the law won’t allow me.”

  Mrs. Mullins released a big sigh. “She never gave two hoots about the law, but it’s nice to know some people still do.”

  As he spoke, Dom spread out Swanson’s case file on the kitchen table. “What about Mr. Wright’s mother? Is she still around?”

  “Not that it’s going to do you any good. That woman ain’t been right in the head since the accident.”

  “She’s still in the hospital?”

  “Doubt it. It’s been ten years.”

  Dom rubbed the heel of one hand on his temple. “Do you know where she is?”

  “Umph, we weren’t that close,” she said and made it sound as if garbage was more fragrant than an association with the Wrights.

  “Because of her son?” Dom asked.

  “We’re a respectable community here. People like the Pedleys and the Wrights just didn’t fit in.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Loose morals,” Mrs. Mullins whispered, as if the neighbors could hear her.

  “Did Ms. Pedley have any other friends in the neighborhood?”

  “The girl was a loner. Maybe if she’d had friends, she wouldn’t have turned to crime to get away from home. Maude tried to help her out and look how she got paid back.”

  Mrs. Mullins seemed more than willing to gossip, so Dom kept the questions coming. The picture the old woman painted wasn’t a pretty one. Neglect and abuse had stamped both Davina Pedley’s and Billy Wright’s childhoods. With a neighborhood standing in judgment, it was no wonder they’d turned to each other. The question was, who was leading whom?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Red, orange and yellow stripes invited patrons in and led them inside the fitness center. The main room held a variety of treadmills, elliptical machines, bikes, steppers and Cybex machines facing four television screens set to various stations. At the back, a mirror-lined exercise room for classes was set off for privacy, along with what looked like a couple of offices. Through the exercise room’s window, Luci spotted Amber teaching a class. Tinny flute music emanated from speakers. Luci made her way across the empty exercise floor.

  Amber was leading the five students in the class through a final stretching pose. In spite of the gray one-piece yoga suit that sapped the color from her skin, the glow of sweat added a certain kind of beauty to Amber’s doll features.

  An interview was a conversation with purpose, and Luci’s nerves fired wildly at the thought of getting something out of this one. Dom was the talking head. Not her. She’d almost flunked the negotiation portion of the training. Dom had aced it. What if she blew it? What if she got nothing usable out of Amber and it made things worse for Jill?

  Luci pasted on a smile and waved at Amber. Amber dismissed the class, then said, “Give me a minute and I’ll meet you in my office.” She pointed to the second closed door and headed toward what Luci assumed must be the ladies’ room.

  “Okay. Take your time.” Luci stepped into Amber’s office and adjusted the camera inside the starburst pin on her sweater and her loose hair over the earpiece Dom had fitted her with.

  “I’m in Amber’s office. Can you hear me?” she whispered.

  “Loud and clear.” Dom’s smooth voice buffed the edge off her raw nerves.

  She took in Amber’s space. “Everything’s neat and tidy.”

  “You’re going to do just fine,” Dom’s voice spoke into her ear like a caress. “Just relax.”

  He breathed with her and she found her muscles loosening their tension.

  A poster with a tropical island scene graced the back wall of Amber’s office. Otherwise nothing cheered the dreary room. No window, just an overhead fluorescent fixture that buzzed and clicked. The computer screen was black. The calendar—an exercise company give-away—on the corkboard had rectangles of classes blocked out in black pen. Amber’s agenda, opened to today’s date, showed several appointments with clients. Luci quickly flipped back through the pages and noticed several lunch dates with Jill, but nothing with Warren or any other man. All of the phone numbers in the telephone directory section were local. She brought the camera pin close. “Can you see the numbers?”

  “Hold it steady.”

  Footsteps approached on the industrial gray carpet. “She’s coming.”

  Luci retreated to the guest chair in front of the desk and pretended to be engrossed in the soft music tinkling through the speakers. “What’s playing? It’s so soothing.”

  “An instrumental mix. I’m not sure exactly who the group is.”

  “It’s very nice. You looked as if you were really enjoying your class. What was it?”

  “Pilates.”

  “Made me want to join in.”

  “Pilates strengthens and conditions core muscles and improves flexibility and joint mobility.” Amber opened a drawer and retrieved a brochure, as well as a pale blue sheet outlining payment options. “Here. We’re always looking for new members. We have beginner classes as well as more advanced ones.”

  Luci feigned interest in the brochure. “Have you been doing this for long?”

  Amber shrugged. “A while. I’m a certified i
nstructor, if that’s your worry.”

  Dom’s voice wafted seemingly right into her brain. “That’s it. Build rapport.”

  “No, I was just thinking that you’re lucky to have found a job that feels like play,” Luci said. “Jill said you took over running the center from Dana Booth when she left on maternity leave.”

  Amber gave a small smile. “Yes, a fortunate opening for me.”

  “Is that what you did before you moved to New Hampshire?”

  “I’ve always had an interest in fitness.”

  Luci stuffed the brochure in her purse. “How people land where they live fascinates me. Did family bring you here?”

  “I came for a vacation and liked it so much, I decided to stay.” Amber plopped her forearms on the blotter. “So, do you have any ideas for Jill’s shower?”

  Luci dragged her chair closer to the desk and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Actually, I was wondering if we could talk about Warren first.”

  Amber blinked her surprise. “Warren, what for?”

  “Well, you introduced him to Jill, so I thought you might know a bit more about him.”

  Amber sank back in her chair. “I don’t know him all that well.”

  “Mirror her,” Dom reminded Luci.

  Luci leaned back. “But well enough to introduce him to Jill.”

  Amber shrugged one shoulder. “We just ran into him at the club, that’s all.”

  “Do you know him from his work?”

  Amber bit onto the offered explanation just a bit too fast. “I had him do a search for a client who skipped out without paying her bill.”

  “Oh.” Luci played the disappointed card for all it was worth. “What do you think about him?”

  The pale pink of Amber’s manicured nails skated up and down the sides of her black leather agenda. “He seems nice enough.”

  “That’s just it.” Luci infused her voice with puzzlement. “There’s so much mystery about him. None of his friends or family is coming to the wedding. My mother’s so disappointed.”

  Amber straightened her back and crossed her legs, giving off an aura as elegant as a finishing school graduate. “Well, the state wouldn’t have given him a private detective’s license if he didn’t pass the background check, so he has to be all right. He found my missing client and the center got paid.”

  “Still, you’d think he’d want someone there for his big day.”

  Amber tilted her head. “Maybe he doesn’t have anyone. It’s not everybody who has a nice family like yours.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Luci leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Do you think he comes from a troubled background?”

  “Well, if he did, he’s overcome it.”

  “She’s shutting down,” Dom said. “Move on to the statement script.”

  “The thing is, Amber, I haven’t trusted Warren from the second I heard about him. And nothing you’ve said has changed my mind about him. I know he’s going to hurt Jill and your answers make me think you know he is and that you’re helping him.” Luci paused, waiting for Amber’s reaction. It came swiftly and vehemently.

  “Why would Warren want to hurt your sister?”

  “I know what he’s going to do.”

  Amber’s pale pink nails trailed down her throat. “As far as I know, he has no reason to want to hurt Jill.”

  “He steals money, Amber. He breaks hearts. Why would you think that he wouldn’t hurt anyone?”

  Amber snapped the agenda shut as if she could close the conversation just as easily. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course you do, because you’re helping him. You’re the one who handles the fund transfers that cleans out the victims.” Luci leaned closer into Amber’s personal space. “Did you know he killed Laynie McDaniels and Carissa Esslinger?”

  Her eyes widened. “He wouldn’t kill anyone.”

  “So you were the one who killed them?”

  Amber stood, arms soldier-stiff and still at her side. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I think you should leave now.”

  “Show her you believe she’s a good person,” Dom said.

  “Tell me the truth,” Luci said, standing as straight as Amber, then softened her stance just a bit. “Me, I’m not anyone, except Jill’s sister. Nothing you tell me can be used against you. The cops won’t be as nice. I know what Warren’s done. I know you’re helping him. What I can’t understand is why you would want to. You seem like such a nice person. The way you’re running the fitness center, you seem to have such potential to serve the community. Why would you help Warren scam innocent women out of their life’s savings?”

  “Innocent women?” Her brown eyes slitted and her mouth pinched.

  “I don’t see a bad person in front of me. I’m thinking that he has to have something on you to gain your cooperation that way.”

  “Of course not. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  Luci put a finger to her lower lip. “Not even when you tried to scam a little old lady when you were eighteen?”

  Amber’s fingertips went white against the desktop. “That was wrong of me and I gave every cent back. That was a long time ago and it has nothing to do with my life today.”

  “Play up the cognitive distortion,” Dom coached in her ear.

  “I’m thinking that you must have been desperate to steal from the employer who trusted you,” Luci said pensively. “Was she so old that she sometimes forgot to pay you? Sometimes it’s hard for old people to remember what they’ve done. And with your mother drunk so much of the time, you probably needed money just to survive.”

  “What do you know about my life?” Amber scoffed.

  Luci noticed that Amber was no longer denying her allegations. “I know you had it rough. I know that you made a wrong decision, but that you were smart enough to realize you’d acted wrong and returned what you took.” She made a show of looking around her. “And I know you can do good, if you want to.”

  “You don’t know anything.”

  Luci tilted her head. “Then make me understand.”

  “There’s nothing to understand. Whatever you think I’ve done, I swear to God I didn’t do it.”

  “I just want to protect Jill,” Luci said. “She has a young son who depends on her—just like you wanted to depend on your mother, but couldn’t because she was drunk.”

  Amber gasped. “I want you to leave now.”

  “Minimize her culpability,” Dom whispered.

  “I can’t hurt you,” Luci pressed. “But if you’re not going to help me, you’re not going to leave me any choice but to turn over all I have to the police. You haven’t done anything wrong yet, but if you keep protecting Warren, then you’re going to become an accessory. You’ll go to jail. But if you help me catch Warren, then there’s no crime on your part.”

  Amber rose from her chair, tracked to the door and opened it. “We’re done talking.”

  Her face was set in a you-can’t-make-me-talk-no-matter-what-you-pull manner. All color seemed to wash out of her skin, leaving it a pasty white. She licked her lips repeatedly as if their dryness was painful.

  Law enforcement rarely dealt with people who wanted to tell the truth. People lied in two ways—by commission or by omission, meaning they told whoppers or danced around the truth. But deceit of either kind left clues. Amber’s vague answers, her swearing to God, her paling face and drying mouth all but secreted the scent of stress. They’d hit a nerve, but Amber was holding firm.

  “Yank her chain and see what happens,” Dom said.

  “I have proof that Warren is pulling a sweetheart scam,” Luci said. “I have proof that he’s changed his identity at least five times. I have proof that he killed two women.”

  Amber shook her head. “He didn’t kill anyone. That’s just not like him.”

  Luci moved to the door and swiveled so that Amber couldn’t escape. “I have proof that he’s going to pull the same scam on Jill and that
you were the one to set up the meet. Now I’ve seen Warren in action. I know he can be quite charming. He’s the type of person that’s really hard to say no to. But he’s using you, Davina. And you don’t want to be the one taking the fall for what he’s done.”

  “Which is nothing.” Her voice was low and harsh. “If you had the proof you say you have, you wouldn’t be here harassing me.”

  “Show her the file,” Dom said.

  Luci pulled out the photographs of Warren with his victims from the case file in her bag. She fanned them out as if they were playing cards and waved them in front of Amber’s face.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Amber insisted.

  Luci shrugged and stuffed the photographs back in the file, making sure Amber could see the fullness of their investigation. “You deserve better than the way Warren is treating you.”

  “Warren cares about me.”

  “He’s sleeping with another woman.” Luci tilted her head. “What does it mean when a man says he loves you, but sleeps with another woman?”

  Amber frowned. “He’s not sleeping with them.”

  “You can’t be that naive.”

  “He’s not sleeping with them.”

  “Jill says the sex is good.” Luci returned the file to her purse. “When a man disappears from your life for months at time, when he courts another woman, sleeps with that woman, marries that woman, he has no feelings toward the woman he’s cheating on.”

  Amber cranked her chin up. “It’s not cheating if I know about it.”

  “When a man refuses to talk to a woman in public, refuses to touch her when anyone else is watching, refuses to acknowledge she exists, he has no feelings for her.”

  Amber opened her mouth.

  “When a man loves a woman,” Luci interrupted, a sudden restlessness squirming through her stomach, “he treats her like a queen. He makes her feel good. He lets her know he wants to be around her, with her. He keeps his word. He’s there for her.”

  Luci’s stomach plummeted to her feet. Oh, God, Dom loved her. He really loved her. She cleared her throat.

  “I saw you talking to Warren at the carnival. That’s not the right way to treat a woman, Davina. You’re pretty. You have brains. Why would you accept to be treated like garbage?”