3 The Ex Who Conned a Psychic

by Sally Berneathy

  Amanda snorted. “Don’t bother. I only had liability.”

  The fireman regarded her with a puzzled expression. “You don’t want us to conduct an investigation? Vehicles don’t usually spontaneously combust and burn for that long without a little help.”

  “He thinks you set it on fire,” Charley supplied. “But don’t worry. You had no motive since you had no insurance.”

  “You think I set it on fire?” Amanda exclaimed. “I didn’t set it on fire! I have no motive since I have no insurance!” Oh, dear. She was quoting Charley. “But it did seem like an awfully big fire for a truck that was mostly metal and had very little gas in it. I’m not sure it even had any oil in it. A big puddle underneath it, but I usually add oil when I get ready to drive it.”

  “Stop talking, Amanda,” Charley directed. “Don’t say another word until you have a lawyer.”

  “A lawyer?” she repeated, aghast.

  “What?” the fireman asked, his brows furrowing as his expression changed from confused to suspicious.

  “I said, ah, lawdy,” Amanda improvised. “I’ve lost my truck and have no insurance.”

  This man might not have the authority to haul her off to the mental hospital, but he looked as if he thought she might need to go there. “At least your building’s safe. I’ll file this as turned over to owner. Good night, ma’am.”

  As the fire truck drove away, Amanda surveyed the wreckage of her former wreck of a truck. Gradually her anger went from simmering to boiling as hot as the fire they’d just extinguished.

  “Why would anybody want to burn that piece of junk?” Charley asked.

  “My thought exactly. Why would anybody want to burn my truck and why would anybody want to shoot my tree? Could be the same person, somebody who wants me to give up my business without a fight.”

  Charley shuddered, the movement shimmery and a little creepy in the pre-dawn shadows. “Yeah, I can see old Ronnie doing something stupid like that. He doesn’t have a very high opinion of women and thinks he can bully them. It works for him more often than you’d think.”

  “Why don’t you go haunt him? Rattle chains and scare him and tell him there’s a curse on this place!”

  “I’d never leave your side, Amanda.”

  Like he had a choice. “Fine. Then I’ll find him, take you to him, and I expect you to do whatever you can to spook him. Remember, Teresa said you have to start righting your wrongs.”

  “I don’t think it would be a very good idea for you to confront him.”

  She whirled on him. “And I don’t think it was a very good idea for you to sign away my place to him! He’s already threatened me, shot my tree and burned my truck. What’s next? Shoot me and burn my building? I’m not going to wait until he destroys something important. I’m going to take the bull by the horns…or the arsonist by the balls, as it were.” She turned and stomped into the shop.

  “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”

  “Something productive since I can’t do anything about Collins right now and there’s not much chance I’ll be able to go back to sleep after all this. I’m going to make a copy of that passport and flash drive, and I’m going to see what’s on the drive.”

  She went inside and sat down at the computer. After scanning the passport and saving it on the hard drive, she studied the covers and all the pages of the forged legal document carefully.

  “I don’t like the idea of giving this to Goodwill. There may be all kinds of clues to the killer that we can’t see but Ross could, clues that might exonerate Teresa.”

  Charley settled onto the edge of the desk. Actually, he was more in the middle of the desk, but Amanda assumed he was trying to sit on the edge. “I agree. I don’t trust Anthony. Just because I can’t lie doesn’t mean the same rules apply to everybody. Maybe all the rules are individual, based on what the person did in life. Telling lies got me killed so now I can’t tell them. But maybe Anthony can tell lies. Maybe he’s directing Teresa where to put these things because he has a partner who isn’t dead and that guy is going to pick them up.”

  Amanda nodded slowly. “Much as I hate to admit it, sometimes you do come up with suggestions I’d have never thought of.”

  Charley smiled smugly. “Always glad to help.”

  Suggestions only someone with a criminal mentality could think of.

  She was able to open the files on the flash drive with one of the obscure applications Dawson had loaded onto the computer, but the data yielded no secrets. Strings of numbers and letters. Nothing that made any sense. Nevertheless, she copied the contents onto the hard drive. Maybe Dawson could figure it out.

  Leaning back in the chair, she studied the flash drive and the passport closely, turning them over and over in her hands. “I think we need to take these to the police instead of leaving them on top of the Goodwill bin and maybe giving them to a criminal. We can make copies for that. Teresa said it’s symbolic, so as long as she thinks they’re the real thing, she’ll be making the gesture.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to work,” Charley said.

  “Sure it will. I can get a flash drive that looks just like this one, and nobody will know the difference unless they actually check the data. But how am I going to replicate the passport? Maybe I can take it to Jake and let him study it then return it to Teresa.”

  Charley snorted. “Yeah, like that cop’s going to let you have it back.”

  Amanda hated to admit it, but Charley was probably right. Once the cops got their hands on the evidence, they weren’t likely to return it any time soon.

  “Tell me where I can find somebody who makes fake passports.”

  “Uh…” He dropped his gaze. “What makes you think I’d know somebody like that?”

  “Do you?” She waited.

  Charley cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “The only guy I know who could do that isn’t very good at it.”

  “I don’t care. All I really need is a reasonably good cover. I can send your guy a copy of the picture, and the rest of the pages are just standard forms. I don’t think Teresa will check it very closely.” She set the items back on the desk and bit her lip. “I don’t like the idea of deceiving Teresa. But I don’t think she really understands how bad things could go for her. I’ll give Dawson a chance to look at these first. If he finds something we can use, I’ll tell the cops about it but I’ll give the passport and the drive back to Teresa. If Dawson doesn’t find anything, I have to give them to the cops in the hopes they can find something. This may be Teresa’s only chance.”

  “You’re going to trust those cops? I just hope you won’t feel too guilty if Anthony won’t tell Teresa who killed him and she goes to prison.”

  “I wish you were still alive so I could slap you. You’re the one who pointed out that Anthony’s spirit may not be trustworthy.”

  Charley put his hands in the vicinity of his pockets and tried to look trustworthy. “He may not be, but neither are the cops.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. How do I contact your friend to make me a dummy passport? I hope he’s not like your other friend Ronald Collins. I’d hate for him to mistake me for a tree and shoot me.”

  *~*~*

  “Bank accounts,” Dawson called after spending some time alone with the flash drive.

  Amanda set down the headlight she’d been working on and went to the door of the office. “Bank accounts? Plural?”

  “Yes. Four of them. The routing numbers are on here, so it was easy to track them down. One in Switzerland, two in the Grand Cayman Islands and one in Cancun, all in the name of the guy on this passport.”

  “Can you tell how much money is in each account?”

  Dawson nodded. “I should be able to. Some of these other strings of digits are probably passwords.”

  Amanda walked slowly across the room to stare at the computer screen. “Wow. If Teresa hadn’t taken the contents of that safe and if Anthony hadn’t been murdered, he’d be sitting
on a sunny beach right now, having a margarita and feeling smug.”

  “Now Teresa can have all that money,” Charley said. “She’ll be able to buy a new house and make her car payments and not have to be a psychic.”

  Amanda would have liked to say something scathing about Charley’s continuing failure to grasp the concept of honesty, but since Dawson was there, she framed her response as a generic statement. “I suspect the SEC is going to be interested in that money. Jake said they were investigating him.”

  Dawson nodded. “This could be a huge piece of evidence.”

  “What about the passport?”

  He shook his head. “It appears to be just a normal passport. Whoever did the work was good. I can’t find anything on it other than the standard information.” He took the flash drive from the USB port and handed it and the passport to Amanda.

  “Thanks. I’ll…uh…take these to the police and be back in a couple of hours. Maybe longer if I get, uh, detained.” Like if Charley’s friend didn’t have the phony passport ready when she got there.

  *~*~*

  Amanda’s trip to Charley’s forger friend provided her with a reasonable facsimile of a passport. Comparing the two documents side by side showed that Anthony had more skillful criminal friends than Charley did, but it was adequate for casual inspection purposes.

  Next stop was an office supply store where she bought a flash drive that looked like the original and an envelope to store the two phonies in. Guilt stabbed through her as she walked out of the store, guilt at duping her friend. But it was for Teresa’s own good. Leaving vital evidence on the top of a Goodwill bin in the middle of the night just didn’t make sense.

  With Charley on the back of her motorcycle, Amanda rode to the police substation. Having him always around had been bad enough when she thought she was the only one who could see him. After meeting Teresa, she wondered how many other people could see him. Was the man standing on the corner looking at her because he liked her bike or because he saw the ghost riding on the back? Was the little girl she’d just passed pointing and asking her mother to buy her a motorcycle or was she asking her mother about the strange man on the back of the bike, the one who wasn’t wearing leathers or a helmet?

  Hester Prynne thought she had it bad, being forced to wear a scarlet letter. How would she have felt if she’d had a ghost tagging along everywhere she went, a reminder of her bad judgment in marrying him?

  Amanda parked in the lot, pulled off her helmet and walked up the steps to the police station. The late morning was pleasant, warm and sunny, and she was going inside to make contact with an attractive man who seemed to find her attractive too. This could be an enjoyable experience…if her ex-husband didn’t have to come along.

  “We need to get back to your shop,” he complained, dragging his feet through the floor. “You can just leave this stuff with the receptionist.”

  “I’d like to see Detective Daggett,” Amanda said to the receptionist.

  “It’s not right to let Dawson do all the work at your shop while you fiddle fart around like this,” Charley said.

  Amanda focused her attention on the door through which Jake would come and tried to close Charley out of her sight and hearing. Not a good idea to get into an argument with a ghost while standing in the police department.

  “Dawson’s always ready to help you out, but sometimes you take advantage of his generous nature,” Charley continued, moving around to stand in front of her.

  Jake walked through the door, looked at her and smiled. She felt her own lips turning up in a smile to match his.

  Charley stepped in front of her, blocking her view.

  She forced herself to walk directly through him and not to shiver at the cold, eerie sensation that action caused.

  “I brought you something,” she said to Jake. “Can we get a room?” Oh, damn, did that sound as suggestive to him as it sounded to her?

  “Sure. Come on back.” He held the door for her to go through then closed it in the middle of Charley.

  “That was rude,” Charley said, shaking himself and following close behind her.

  Jake moved ahead and opened the door to the interrogation room they’d been in the day before.

  Amanda took a seat and put the passport and flash drive on the table. “These were in the safe when Teresa emptied it out.”

  “And you’re bringing them instead of her because…?”

  “I live closer than she does.”

  Jake arched a dark eyebrow.

  “She doesn’t want to get anywhere near you all. Can you blame her? You’re trying to pin this murder on her.”

  Daggett picked up the passport and looked inside. The eyebrow arched higher. “Why didn’t she say anything about this yesterday?”

  “We found it last night when she dumped out the bag.” That was sort of true. They had found it last night, just not for the first time.

  “So Anthony Hocker had a phony passport. What’s on the flash drive?”

  “How would I know?”

  He looked at her in silence, his expression somewhere between grim and amused.

  “Bank accounts in foreign countries.” She spread her hands. “It’s proof that jerk was getting ready to skip the country.”

  Jake nodded. “The SEC was poised to come down on him big time. We figured he was getting ready to run, especially the way he emptied all his bank accounts. I really appreciate your bringing this to us. Maybe we can return the money to some of the people he cheated.”

  More guilt settled over Amanda. Maybe Charley had been right after all about giving the money to Teresa instead of telling the cops about it. “All the money? What about the cash Teresa took from the safe?”

  Jake nodded again. “She’ll probably have to give that back. All five thousand dollars of it.”

  Amanda could tell by the way he said it that Jake knew there had been more than five thousand dollars in the safe but he wasn’t going to press the issue. Give him a point for pretending to believe it.

  Of course, if Teresa collected on the insurance policy, she wouldn’t have to worry about money.

  Unless she was in prison, in which case she wouldn’t have to worry about money for a different reason.

  “The fact there’s only one passport means Hocker wasn’t going to take his girlfriend with him, so she probably killed him when she found out.”

  “Or Teresa killed him when she found out he was planning to leave.”

  Amanda slammed a fist on the table. “How can you say that? Isn’t this proof of…of something?”

  “It’s strong evidence that Hocker was planning to leave town. You did the right thing, bringing it in.”

  Amanda shot to her feet. In this one instance and for all the wrong reasons, Charley had been right. She snatched the flash drive and passport off the table.

  Jake scowled. “What are you doing?”

  “Taking them back.”

  “You can’t do that. This is evidence.” He extended his hand. “Please give it back.” His voice was calm, extremely calm, as if he were speaking to an irrational person.

  “And what will you do if I don’t? Arrest me?” That would serve Charley right for always hanging around. If she was arrested, he’d go to jail too.

  The door opened and Ross looked into the room. “Got some results.” He looked at Amanda and smiled. “Hi, Amanda. Jake, come see me when you get a chance.”

  Amanda took a step in Ross’ direction. “What did you find? Have you got something new on Teresa’s case?”

  “Don’t say anything!” Jake ordered.

  Ross opened his mouth then closed it. “I’ll catch you later.” He backed out and closed the door behind him.

  Amanda slapped the flash drive and passport back onto the table, picked up her helmet and strode out the door.

  “Amanda…” Jake called after her.

  She kept walking. Maybe Charley wouldn’t have the chance to interrupt her date with Jake. Maybe there wouldn�
��t be any date.

  “I guess he showed his true colors,” Charley said smugly. “I told you he wouldn’t give you back Teresa’s stuff. I warned you about him. You didn’t want to listen to me, but I was right. I know I’m not always right, but I was right this time. I’m doing my best to take care of you. You can’t trust cops anyway, and that Daggett guy has an evil look about him. Did you see the way he raised that one eyebrow? That’s not natural.”

  Amanda gritted her teeth as she walked out of the station. Whether or not she ever saw Jake again, she really wanted to get rid of Charley.

  Chapter Nine

  After Charley’s scolding about leaving all the work to Dawson, Amanda took back a pizza which cooled because she strapped it to the back of her bike and Charley sat on it, chilling it as he chilled everything he touched.

  Dawson lifted the lid and inhaled deeply. “Smells wonderful!” He took out a piece but paused with it halfway to his mouth. “I almost forgot to tell you. Ronald Collins came by to see you while you were gone.”

  Amanda sighed. “Of course he did. Did he mention the truck?”

  Dawson shook his head, swallowed his bite of pizza and took a drink of Coke. “He said he had a friend who was selling fire insurance if you were interested. I told him if he showed up here again, we’d call the police. I think you should call them anyway and tell them what’s going on. That man’s crazy. He could set the shop on fire next.”

  “I suppose I should call the cops, but I don’t have any evidence he’s done anything except be obnoxious.” And she didn’t want to draw Jake’s attention to any more oddities in her life. How many crimes could she be involved in before he decided a social life with her wouldn’t be a good idea? “I don’t think Collins will burn down the building since he seems to want the place. He’s trying to scare me, but what he’s done makes me very angry.” With a vicious movement, she yanked the tab on a can of Coke. It popped loudly.

  Charley jumped.