by Lee Hollis
“Griffin’s been in a few illegal scrapes since moving here!” Violet piped in.
Wyatt glowered at his grandmother. “You said I could tell her!”
Violet put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I am so sorry, dear. I just got caught up in the excitement of the moment!”
“I was the one who found all this information so I wanted to be the one who told Poppy!” Wyatt protested.
“I won’t say another word, dear. I promise! You go right ahead, you smart boy!” Violet exclaimed.
“Someone please tell her before I die of old age!” Iris bellowed.
Wyatt waited to make sure he would not be interrupted again and then continued, as Iris rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Griffin Goodwin has been arrested twice, once for stalking and once for aggravated assault.”
“So it appears he has a violent temper,” Poppy said.
Wyatt nodded, drawing the moment out, enjoying being the center of attention. “That’s right.”
“In both cases the victims were men Goodwin suspected of having sex with his wife,” Iris added.
Wyatt spun around and glared at Iris, furious.
“Iris!” Violet cried.
“What?” Iris howled.
“Don’t say the s word in front of the child,” Violet implored.
Iris wrinkled her nose, utterly confused. “What s word?”
Violet mouthed the word sex.
Wyatt sighed. “I’m twelve, Grandma! I know what sex is!”
Violet blanched at her grandson repeating the word sex and sighed. “Just say Griffin targeted men he thought had relations with his wife, and let’s just leave it at that, thank you very much!”
“Relations? You make it sound like they were second cousins, but whatever!” Iris snorted, throwing her hands up in the air.
Poppy rolled all of this over in her mind, and then swallowed the rest of her Chardonnay and slammed the wine glass down on the counter. The pieces of the puzzle were suddenly falling into place. “That must be it! Tony Molina needed a jury plant and so his wife, Tofu, suggested Alden Kenny, whom she knew had a big crush on her, and was like a puppy dog, willing to do anything to make her happy. That would make him an easy sell. Tony probably didn’t care that the kid was in love with his wife as long as it resulted in a hung jury. Griffin and Tammy recruited him; Tony paid him fifty thousand dollars, which was wired into his joint account with Jay Takamura; and then Griffin and Tammy got Gladys to make sure he was in the jury pool. Sometime after he got recruited to help out Tony by Griffin and Tammy, Alden must have entered into a secret affair with Tammy. . . .”
“Griffin probably found out sometime after the trial that Alden and his wife were having sex!” Iris exclaimed.
“Iris!” Violet cried again.
“What, Violet?” Iris squawked before realizing. “Oh, right. Sorry. Having relations!”
Poppy’s mind raced. “Once Griffin found out about the affair, given his history, he probably flew into a jealous rage and showed up at Alden Kenny’s house and drowned him in the pool just before I arrived. Griffin Goodwin is a big, strong, powerful man. He could have easily overpowered a slight kid like Alden.”
“But why did Alden call you to come see him after the trial?” Violet asked.
“It has to be what we’ve suspected all along. He felt guilty for tampering with the jury and was going to come clean with the foreman.... Me . . . ,” Poppy said softly.
Poppy knew in her gut that they had just solved the murder of Alden Kenny.
But she had no idea, however, that their troubles were only just beginning.
Chapter 48
Before leaving the office, Poppy tried calling Detective Jordan to bring him up to speed on her investigative team’s discovery, but she was told by a very dull and spiritless desk sergeant that Jordan was not at the station, and was not expected back anytime soon. However, he would take down a message. Poppy suspected the sergeant wasn’t even going to bother to jot down what she had to say, until, that is, she got to the part where she mentioned that she believed she knew who killed Alden Kenny. That finally got the sergeant’s attention, and from that moment on, he was exceedingly interested in getting all of her contact information copied down correctly.
After hanging up, Poppy was about to call Heather to let her know she was on her way home, but before she had the chance, her cell phone lit up and she glanced down at the name on the screen.
Poppy took a deep breath and turned to Iris and Violet, who had hung around for moral support after Wyatt had hopped on his bike and peddled home. “It’s Rod.”
“Are you going to answer it?” Violet asked.
“You absolutely should not, Poppy!” Iris shouted. “You need to stay out of it now and let the authorities handle whatever they are going to do with that nasty, destructive daughter of his!”
“He texted me earlier and told me he was heading to the courthouse in Indio to try to bail out Lara with whatever amount of money the judge sets at her arraignment,” Poppy said, checking the wall clock. “It should be over by now.”
“Don’t do it!” Iris warned.
Poppy turned to Violet, who gave her a more sympathetic response, flashing her an encouraging smile.
“I can’t just cut him off,” Poppy decided. “It’s not his fault what Lara did.”
Iris snorted, signaling her disagreement. She had always been of the opinion that spoiled and unpleasant children had to learn that behavior from somewhere.
“I’m going to take this outside,” Poppy said, slipping out the side door of the garage office into the walkway that led to Iris’s spacious and well-kept backyard. She pressed the accept button and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello, Rod. How did it go?”
“We’re home now. Judge Levy set bail at five hundred thousand dollars despite the prosecutor hammering home his point that Lara is a flight risk. I promised to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere, and thankfully the judge was a fan of Jack Colt and mercifully granted bail.”
“Well, that’s a relief, I’m sure. How is she?”
“In her bedroom stewing. She’s not happy about any of this. She still doesn’t comprehend that she did anything wrong and maintains that she had every right to protect herself from Tofu. I’ve got some calls into a few high-priced lawyers who might be willing to take on her case given the headlines this is certain to generate. Ironically one represented Tony Molina at his trial.”
“I’m sure it will all work out, Rod,” Poppy said, and then wanted to kick herself for coming off so blasé about the situation. She cared for Rod deeply and knew this ordeal would not be easy for him, so she sincerely added, “If there is anything I can do . . .”
“Thank you for your kindness and support, Poppy, but that’s not why I am calling you. . . .”
She prayed he wasn’t going to ask her to come over for dinner again because she had no desire to be in the same room, let alone the same house, with his daughter ever again.
“I just went to check on Lara, and to see what she would like for dinner, and she was on her phone, talking to someone.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t mention a name, but they were discussing Matt.”
Poppy’s face fell. “Matt?”
“Yes, I heard Lara say that she knew for a fact that Matt has been sneaking around with this man’s wife, and that he has been pressuring her to file for divorce and run off with him. Do you know anything about this?”
Poppy felt her heart hammering in her chest. “She’s making the whole thing up.”
“I figured as much,” Rod said sourly. “But why would she do that?”
“Revenge,” Poppy answered flatly. “Revenge on Matt for messing up her plan to be with him and get away with shooting Tofu.”
There was a pause as Rod took all of this in before he spoke again. “After she hung up, I went into the bedroom and confronted her, and asked who it was she had called, but she refused to divulge
anything. She just told me it was none of my business. I wasn’t sure if I should bother Matt with this or not since it was probably not true, but I wanted to let you know in case—”
“I have to go, Rod, I’ll call you later,” Poppy said hurriedly, ending the call and then speed dialing Matt.
She got his voicemail.
Poppy was suddenly experiencing shortness of breath as panic quickly set in.
She had to find Matt.
There was no doubt in her mind that the man Lara had called was Griffin Goodwin. She must have been aware of Griffin’s short-fused temper and raging jealousy, and given the amount of time she had spent at the Tony Molina estate, there was also the probability that she was also aware that he had drowned Alden Kenny. If she knew that Griffin was capable of violence whenever he suspected his wife, Tammy, of cheating, like he did with Kenny, why not plant the seed in his head that she had been doing the same thing with Matt? That would make Matt another cheating louse who needed to be dealt with, just like he had dealt with Alden Kenny.
Poppy tried calling Matt one more time.
Voicemail again.
Poppy leaned up against the side of the garage.
Her hands shook as she quickly made another call.
Heather mercifully answered. “Hi, Mom, what’s up?”
“I’m looking for Matt. It’s an emergency.”
“He’s not here,” Heather said, suddenly worried. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“There is no time to explain. Do you know where he is?”
“Yes, he texted me about a half hour ago and said he was going to take the tram up the mountain and hike the trails. Mom, what is it? You’re scaring me!”
“I’ll call you as soon as I can,” Poppy said, ending the call and trying Detective Jordan again. She got the same disinterested desk sergeant.
“Is Detective Jordan back? It’s Poppy Harmon and I need to speak to him right now. It’s urgent!”
She heard the sergeant sigh. “No, ma’am. As I told you the last time you called, he’s out working on a case and I have no idea when he’ll be back—”
“Can’t you call him on his cell phone?”
“Not unless it’s an emergency,” the sergeant said with another sigh. “I’d be happy to take another message—”
Poppy cut him off. “It is an emergency! A man’s life is in peril and he may be killed if we don’t help him immediately!”
“I’m going to need more information than that, ma’am,” the irked sergeant barked.
Poppy ended the call.
Time was running out.
She had to somehow get to Matt before Griffin Goodwin did.
Otherwise, Matt Flowers was a dead man.
Chapter 49
Iris squeezed her eyes shut and howled in fear as the Palm Springs Aerial Tram left the floor of the Coachella Valley and began its two-and-a-half-mile ascent past the cliffs of Chino Canyon up to the near peak of the San Jacinto Mountain. Minutes before, when Poppy, Iris, and Violet had raced toward the Valley Station in Violet’s Mini Cooper in order to ride the next tram up to the top in a desperate bid to find Matt, Iris had made it quite clear she had a nauseating and debilitating fear of heights. As Violet had raced to the window to buy them tickets, Poppy had explained to Iris that she would completely understand if she waited at the bottom until they returned, hopefully with Matt safe and sound.
But at the last minute, Iris chose to board the tram, in an unexpected and last-minute heroic decision. However, once the door shut and the tram began to move, she instantly regretted it and started banging on the windows to be set free. Unfortunately, none of the staff heard her, and as the rotating tram left the station, rising higher and higher from the ground, Iris knew she was trapped. Luckily other than the three of them, there were no other passengers on board.
“Iris, calm down. I assure you that no one has ever died riding the tram,” Poppy promised.
“That’s not quite true. Back in nineteen eighty-four a bolt from a shock absorber crashed through that Plexiglas window and struck a woman,” Violet said, oblivious. “Killed her instantly.”
Poppy shot Violet a peeved look. “Okay, only one person has died since they built the tram in the early nineteen sixties! That’s a darn good track record, if you ask me!”
“We are all going to die!” Iris wailed, covering her eyes.
Poppy chose to ignore her and continued trying to call Matt’s cell phone. She knew there was no cell service at the top of the mountain and it was pointless, but, she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
“Iris, you need to confront this head-on,” Violet said, determined, as she marched over and put an arm around her and lifted her up to her feet. “That’s how I got over my fear of heights.” Violet led Iris over to the window and faced her out. “Now, open your eyes, Iris, and take in this breathtaking view.”
“No!” Iris cried, refusing to look, clenching her eyes shut even tighter.
“It’s beautiful! It would be a shame for you not to see it,” Violet said gently.
Iris stopped struggling, working up the courage to open her eyes.
“You can do it!” Violet said with all the enthusiasm of a licensed life coach.
Finally, Iris slowly opened her eyes and stared out the window at the lush scenery and almost smiled until Violet abruptly ruined the moment by commenting, “Now look down there. We’re almost eighty five hundred feet off the ground! Isn’t that amazing?”
Iris screamed, shut her eyes again, and flew into Poppy’s arms, rocking the tram back and forth with her sudden movement, panicking herself even more.
The tram ride to the top felt endless, but the fifteen-minute voyage finally came to an end, and as soon as the doors opened, Iris pushed past Poppy and Violet, hurled herself to the ground, and kissed the dirt, smearing her Satin Pink & Proper lipstick.
Poppy meanwhile approached a staff member and showed him a picture of Matt. The young man recalled seeing him about an hour ago get off the tram, along with a family of four and one other man, who had the same description as Griffin Goodwin. Big, brawny, and kind of mean looking. There were a bunch of trails Matt could have chosen to hike, but, to Poppy’s vexation, the staff member did not happen to see which direction he went.
“We’ll just have to split up! Violet, you take that trail over there, and I’ll head this way!” Poppy said, before turning back to Iris, who was struggling and failing to climb to her feet. “Iris, are you coming?”
“I do not feel very well. I think I may be sick,” Iris sobbed.
“Your body probably is having trouble adjusting to the elevation,” Violet offered. “You have altitude sickness!”
“Stay here, Iris!” Poppy yelled. “In case we miss Matt and he comes back this way!”
Poppy and Violet set off toward the wooded trails, leaving Iris back at the tram, on her hands and knees, nauseated.
“Matt! Matt!” Poppy called out as she veered off from Violet and pounded down a marked trail. Poppy had to keep telling herself that Matt was capable, strong, lean, and fast and could probably outsmart and outrun a big, lumbering brute like Griffin Goodwin. But not knowing he was a target put Matt at an extreme disadvantage, and she prayed that they would not be too late.
She could hear Violet in the distance calling out for Matt as well.
Poppy had perhaps run about a quarter of a mile down the trail when after another attempt at screaming his name over and over, as her throat started to burn and her voice became hoarse, she stopped dead in her tracks.
She had heard something.
It sounded as if someone had called her name.
Was it Violet?
Poppy stood there, freezing cold from the forty-degree drop in temperature, and listened intently. The wind was blowing and the trees were rustling. She began to suspect it was her imagination. She took a step forward to continue her hunt when suddenly she heard it again.
“Poppy . . . ?”
It was f
aint, but it definitely was not Violet.
It was a man’s voice.
It was Matt!
He had heard her.
“Matt! I’m here! I’m over here!” Poppy cried, running forward, following the sound of his voice.
A few minutes went by and she didn’t hear him again. She feared she had traveled in the opposite direction, away from his location, or the unthinkable had happened and he had already encountered his pursuer, Griffin Goodwin. But then, she saw him. Matt jogged around a corner, in gray running pants and a black LA Raiders hooded sweatshirt, surprised to see Poppy in his sights, standing in the middle of a hiking trail on top of a mountain. He ran toward her, smiling.
Suddenly Poppy noticed a flash of light off the trail, near a thicket of trees, which distracted her. She zeroed in on a man dressed in military camouflage clothing and tactical gear. He had a rifle aimed at the trail. The telltale flash was from a rifle scope reflecting off the sun. She was certain it was Griffin Goodwin, in sniper mode, about to take out his target.
“Matt, look out!” Poppy screamed, pointing in the direction of Griffin, who spun around toward Poppy, frustrated she had just given away his position. Griffin turned back to Matt, raised his rifle, about to take his shot. But Poppy’s warning had come just in time and Matt launched himself off the trail, hit the ground, and rolled out of view. Poppy also dashed off the trail and hid behind a tree, pressing her back against the bark, and staying as quiet and still as possible.
After five minutes, she carefully peered around the tree to see if she could spot Griffin, but he was gone. She looked around for Matt but there was so sign of him, either.
Poppy dropped to her hands and knees and crawled through the brush until she reached a large rock and hid behind that. She lifted her head and scanned the area again. Still no sign of Griffin or Matt.
She then stood up and ran along the trail back toward the tram station when suddenly a shot rang out and a bullet ricocheted off a granite rock nearby.
Poppy screamed and zigzagged, trying not to run in a straight line, which she knew would make her an easier target. She stayed off the trail this time and darted behind another tree. She was out of breath and her legs were tired, but she knew she had to get back to the tram station, where someone on the staff could radio for help. She started off again, leaving the tree cover, and ran smack into a man’s chest. Before she had a chance to scream, his hand was clamped over her mouth. She feared it was Griffin, but he whispered urgently in her ear, “Poppy, it’s me, Matt!” He let her go and she hugged him tightly.