“Why not? It’s a nice day as you said so we might as well get outside and enjoy it.”
They were finishing up breakfast when Tom strode into the dining room and right up to their table. He was dressed as informally as the rest of them but the hard set of his jaw looked to be anything but relaxed.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere, Caro.”
The strange dynamics at work again. To her credit, Caroline didn’t bark back at him that her whereabouts weren’t any of his business. She composed her features into a sweet smile and dabbed at her lips with the napkin.
“I’ve been here for the last hour so I’m not sure what the mystery is. What’s going on?”
Clearly annoyed, Tom exhaled noisily, his nostrils flaring. “Alana needs to talk to you. The police have been up in your suite questioning her about the cufflinks.”
The dining room overlooked the lobby but Prather must have come in the back door to avoid the press that had started to camp out in front of the building since Iris’s death. Even if Prather didn’t think there was a connection, the reporters had different hopes. They had to sell papers and a double murder would ensure that.
Caroline’s eyes widened at the news and she tossed her napkin aside, beginning to lever up from the chair. “I better get up there.”
Shane put his hand on her shoulder and pressed her back down. “No need. It looks like the detective is coming to you. I’ll stay right here with you. You shouldn’t answer any questions without a lawyer present.”
“I don’t really have one so thank you. I guess I could call Granddad’s attorney. He was with me the last time.”
“That’s not a good idea. It would be a conflict of interest for him to represent both of you,” Travis warned. “It’s best to have your own lawyer. Shane can fill that role until you find a local person.”
Detective Prather was flanked by two other men both in plainclothes which made Travis feel slightly better. If they were there to arrest Alana or Caroline uniformed cops probably would also have made the trip. Their absence was a positive sign.
“Good morning, Mrs. Livingston.” The detective nodded at the group. “I was hoping you could come to the station for a few questions we need answered.”
Shane didn’t let Caroline answer, squeezing her hand reassuringly. “Why can’t we do this here?”
“I’d feel more comfortable at the station.” The gleam in the detective’s eye told a different story. This new wrinkle wasn’t anything good.
“I’m accompanying Mrs. Livingston as her counsel,” stated Shane, standing so he was eye to eye with Prather. “Unless you are charging her I reserve the right to call a halt to your questioning at any time.”
“Of course,” Prather answered smoothly. “It’s just a few questions that came up after talking to Mrs. Guinness.”
Tom’s face had grown darker with every passing moment, muttering under his breath. “I’m coming along as well.”
“I’m fine.” Caroline shook her head. “Shane will be there. You should go up and be with Alana. I’m sure she’s very upset.”
“I’m more worried about you,” he argued, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’m not alone. Please go up and check on Alana.” Caroline didn’t budge and finally Tom spun on his heel, a few choice words on his lips, and stalked to the elevator. “I’m ready to go, Detective.”
“We’ll follow you in our car back to the station.” Shane placed his hand on Caroline’s arm to guide her but it was probably more for moral support. “After you, Caro.”
Detective Prather and his men filed out of the dining room toward the back entrance.
Were they building a new case against Caroline or was this questioning to bolster the evidence they thought they already had against Martin? And what had Alana told them that made them want to question Caroline? At the station, no less.
Prather had to know something that they didn’t, which had Travis catching up to Shane before they could exit the resort.
“I need the name of that reporter you’ve been talking to. I think we need to know everything he knows.”
West’s words echoed in Travis’s brain, over and over again.
Don’t worry about the motives. Look at the evidence.
He wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until he heeded his brother’s words. He thought he had been but he could see clearly now that he’d been caught up following the police’s investigation rather than leading his own. Prather was looking at motives, concentrating his efforts there. Travis needed to look at the places and people that the detective was ignoring.
That’s where the truth would lie.
Chapter Thirty
‡
The questioning of Caroline had gone on for over two hours but Detective Prather had finally let her come back to the resort with Shane. Aubrey was proud of the way Caroline had held her own, not letting the cop shake her. One thing was clear, there was no way Caroline was guilty of killing her husband. Aubrey had been in foster care and she’d met evil people and this young woman didn’t even come close.
The two of them had decided to spend the rest of the day in Caroline’s suite watching pay-per-view movies and ordering room service. Caroline deserved it after the crappy morning she’d had and Aubrey had promised to indulge her brand new friend with anything that would get her mind off of all that had happened in the last week.
“We can order pizza and chocolate cake and eat it while we watch chick flicks,” Aubrey declared as Caroline slid the key card into the suite door lock. “I think the guys are a little jealous. Not of the movies but of the junk food. Travis has quite the sweet tooth.”
“You’re so lucky to have someone like him. I’d love to be adored like that.”
The lock clicked and they crossed into the living room, the blast of cold from the air conditioning chilling their skin. This suite looked very much like their own although the furnishings were a different style, more traditional with darker wood and fabrics.
Caroline headed straight for the phone on the coffee table. “I’ll order the food and you can pick out a movie.”
Aubrey had already taken a few steps toward the oversized flatscreen on the wall when she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Caroline had received a text from Alana saying she was having drinks with a few friends but apparently she was still in the suite. Although Aubrey was admittedly uncomfortable around the older woman she was still Martin’s wife and it would be rude to exclude her from the planned festivities.
“Alana,” she called, walking over to the door to the bedroom but hesitating just outside. The door was half open and she could hear movement within the room. “Caroline and I are going to order some food and watch a movie. Do you want to join us?”
No answer.
Caroline was holding the phone in her hand, a confused expression on her face. “Alana is downstairs in the bar having drinks.”
“No, she’s here.”
Caroline laughed and hung up the phone, breezing past Aubrey and pushing open the bedroom door. “Alana, did you change your mind? We’re having a girl’s afternoon and you can join us.”
Aubrey’s heart stuttered and her stomach clenched. Standing before them was Tom Lovell with a knife in one hand and a prescription pill bottle in the other.
His mouth was hanging open and his skin had gone pale.
Then just as quickly he recovered his charm, smiling casually as if there was nothing strange about him standing in Martin and Alana’s bedroom holding cutlery with a handkerchief.
“Caroline, I thought you were still at the station.”
The young women blinked once, and then twice. “They let me come home. Shane called a halt to the questioning and they didn’t charge me with anything.” She moved farther into the room. “What are you doing in here, Tom?”
He shoved his hands, and everything in them, in his blazer pockets and chuckled. “Alana asked me to get her a few things, t
hat’s all.”
Aubrey’s gaze darted back and forth between Caroline and Tom as the tension in the room ratcheted up uncomfortably. Despite the cool temperature, sweat had popped out on Tom’s forehead and was trickling down his temple and into his dark hair.
“I don’t think Alana would do that.” Caroline was shaking her head slowly, her shoulders tense. “I think you need to leave.”
“Sure she did. She wanted me to grab a sweater for her. The dining room is cold.”
Still the charming smile but Tom’s lower lip trembled slightly at the corner. Aubrey remembered that same “tell” on Alan Morton but at the time she hadn’t known what it meant. Then he’d kidnapped her and Gigi and tried to kill them.
How did she manage to get herself into these situations?
Swallowing down a lump of fear that had risen in her throat, Aubrey grabbed Caroline’s arm and cautiously took a step back. “You know, we should take that sweater down to Alana and join her for that drink. It’ll be fun.”
Luckily Caroline seemed as creeped out as Aubrey. She too moved back toward the door but kept her gaze on the man standing next to the dresser. “I could really use a drink. Yes, let’s go join Alana and the boys. Why don’t you send them a text and tell them to meet us downstairs instead of coming up here?”
“Good idea.” Aubrey cautiously reached for the zipper on her purse, nerves making the skin on her back damp, her t-shirt sticking to the flesh. “We can always sit out by the pool or something.”
Caroline turned around to make a hasty exit, Aubrey right on her heels, still fumbling with her handbag. Aubrey was breathing easier when they made it all the way out of the bedroom and were only a few feet from the door but then she heard Tom’s voice.
“You need to stop. Drop your purses on the floor and kick them back here.” Aubrey’s breath hissed out and she closed her eyes for a moment as her heart pounded against her ribcage. She was fucked. Again. “Turn around. Slowly.”
Handbags thudded to the floor while the two women reluctantly, glacially, turned back.
It was then that Aubrey saw what deep shit she and Caroline were in. The dangerous and deadly kind.
Tom had a gun pointed at them, his face gray and his eyes glassy and dead.
They’d be lucky to get out of this alive.
* * *
Shane and Travis sat at the dining table in the suite, papers spread all over the surface. Shane had once again contacted the reporter and after promising unprecedented access to the Anderson family personally in addition to Anderson Industries, they now had copies of every piece of paper that the reporter had including coroner reports, forensics, and statements made to the police.
Travis held up one of the files, pulling Shane from what he was studying. “This is interesting. These are the statements from the guests at the party. Aubrey and I were dancing at the time of the murder. Caroline was at the bar talking with an old friend of the family. Alana and Tom were sitting outside on the patio chatting and Iris said she went upstairs to her room to change her stockings because one had a run. A waitress said that she saw Iris heading for the elevators.”
Shane shrugged. “So everyone is accounted for. That’s nothing new.”
“The elevators are on the way to the back exit which would take her to the beach.”
Frowning, Shane rubbed his chin in thought. “Okay. So you’re going with the police theory that Iris killed Bruce and then got upset about it and accidentally drowned.”
Travis flipped open the file and tapped on one of the papers. “Stay with me here. That’s not what I’m thinking at all. Look at Alana and Tom’s statements. They alibi each other. Don’t you think that’s strange? They’re off on the patio, no one else sees them, and only they can vouch for each other.”
Shane stood and walked over to the windows overlooking the Gulf, stretching his arms over his head after being seated for so long. “That is weird. But it’s not evidence that they committed a crime and then helped each other cover it up.”
Travis sat back in the chair, remembering back to that morning when they’d visited Martin’s suite after Bruce had been killed. “Bruce had sleeping pills in his system and Alana takes sleeping pills. She admitted it the day after.”
“You think Alana and Tom are working together? For what purpose? Why kill Bruce? And maybe Iris? What’s the end game?”
Scraping his fingers through his hair, Travis groaned in frustration. “I don’t fucking know. Why kill Bruce? What does anyone gain from it? He didn’t have any money to inherit. He was cheating on his wife but how would that affect Tom and Alana?”
Shane picked up a watered down glass of soda and drank what was left. “Well, whoever did this managed to disrupt many lives while they were at it. You, me, and Aubrey have stayed extra days. Caroline now faces widowhood. And Martin is sitting in the county jail.”
And so far Travis hadn’t been able to do much about that last item.
“So many unintended consequences–” Travis began but then stopped, an idea slamming him straight between the eyes.
Unintended.
I’ve been thinking about this all fucking wrong.
“You’ve got that ‘I bought a stock and it just went up four hundred percent’ look. Want to share what’s going on in that brain of yours?” Shane asked, his brows shooting up almost to his hairline. “You’re scaring me honestly with the look on your face. I think you had that same expression when West accidentally hit you with a two by two when you were both cleaning out the horse barn. Stunned, I believe is what your mom called it.”
Travis sprang to his feet, a grin spreading across his face. “We’ve been assuming all this time that these were unintended consequences. But what if they were completely intended? Planned, in fact?”
“You think someone planned that Caroline be a widow and that Martin is in jail? Why? Who benefits?”
Leaning back against the windows, Travis tapped his chin, his thoughts going a mile a minute. Finally it felt like he was making progress after days of standing in quicksand.
“West says not to look at the motives. Look at the evidence,” Travis reminded his cousin. “And the evidence says that Alana and Tom have lousy alibis. Not to mention that they’re behavior has been strange as hell. I thought something was weird with them.”
Shane was nodding but he didn’t look convinced. “I know West says to ignore the motives but I still want to know what they gain from all this.”
“Let’s review the usual motives then. Money?” Travis began to pace the small strip between the table and the windows. “Alana has a prenup with Martin so if she leaves him, she gets nothing. I remember Martin telling me about it before they got married. His lawyers insisted on it. But if he goes to prison for murder she gets a fortune to spend as she pleases while he rots behind bars. Remember she had access to the cufflinks. She could have planted it under Bruce’s body to frame her husband.”
“What does Tom get? Or do you think he’s just helping Alana with an alibi? Or does he want Alana?”
Travis thought about the strange dysfunctional goings-on that day when he had talked to Caroline. Tom had been over the top protective and nothing in his demeanor spoke of a hidden passion for Alana.
“Caroline. He gets Caroline. The motive is love and money.”
Deep in his gut Travis was sure he was right. That day he’d been puzzled by the behavior exhibited by Tom but now it made sense.
Tom wanted Caroline. And the money she would have too.
Alana wanted Martin’s money.
“What about Iris?” Shane asked. “How does she fit into this?”
“I’m not sure,” Travis admitted, his mind still whirling with all the possibilities. “Maybe she does or doesn’t. I’m more worried about where Caroline fits. What if she’s in on it?”
“You know what Jason would ask you. What’s your gut telling you?”
Travis considered the question but his instincts had already answered it. “She�
��s not interested. She barely glances at him when he’s around. There’s no way that she loves him enough to kill her husband. Hell, I don’t think she even hated Bruce enough to kill him and she had ample reason to. No, my gut is telling me that Caroline is innocent.”
But Alana and Tom? That was an entirely different matter.
“So what do we do now? We can’t prove any of this and Prather thinks Martin is guilty. I doubt we can get him to look elsewhere by talking about gut feelings and crappy alibis.”
“Let’s go talk to Caroline.” Travis shoved his cell in his pocket along with his key card. “Maybe she can shed some light on the relationship between Tom and Alana.”
What they needed was hard proof.
Chapter Thirty-One
‡
“Tom, what are you doing?” Caroline’s voice came out as barely a whisper but he heard her anyway.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to be here and find me. Now that you have I need time to think.”
Tom tapped his forehead with the gun, a frown on his boyishly handsome face.
He could take all the time in the world to think things over. In the meantime, Aubrey wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She liked being on this end of a gun for the second time even less than the first. “Put the gun down, Tom. Don’t do something you’re going to regret for a long time after this.”
Tom didn’t react as she expected him to. Instead of arguing and brandishing his weapon, he threw back his head and laughed loudly, almost hysterically. “The time for regrets has already passed. I’ve come too far to turn back now. The only problem is that Caro shouldn’t have been here. I’ve been trying to protect her from all this.”
“Protect me from what, Tom?”
Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 3) Page 18