Lawyers, Liars and Lemon Tarts

by A. R. Winters

  “Except for now,” I said. “I bet you’ve got the gun in your handbag.”

  I reached for her bag, but Teresa took a quick step backward and reached in to pull out her gun.

  “Stay back,” she said. “You know I’ve got no trouble shooting people.”

  I looked at Beth and gave her a slight nod. Immediately, Beth dashed across the street.

  Teresa swiveled around to keep the gun pointed at Beth, and I used this opportunity to lunge forward and grab her hands. I pointed the gun down at the pavement and fired off all the rounds, one after another.

  By the time I’d used up all the bullets, Beth had come back, and she helped me wrestle Teresa to the ground.

  “You can’t do this,” Teresa said, while I pinned her down and Beth pulled out her phone. “I’ll sue you for assault!”

  “You pulled a gun on us!” I said. “And you killed Lana.”

  “There’s no proof of that.”

  “Yes, there is. The cops will be able to match the DNA in that hair they found to yours.”

  Teresa snorted. “I went to her office. My DNA could be there anyway.”

  “Not her office keyboard,” I said. “The one she kept in her home office.”

  Teresa was silent for a few seconds, and I looked at Beth and beamed. I’d struck a nerve.

  As Beth called the cops, Teresa said, “I never wanted to kill her. It was just a misunderstanding.”

  “What misunderstanding?” When Teresa stayed silent, I said, “You might as well tell us what happened. I know you must be dying to tell someone the truth. And we might be able to help you out with what to tell the cops.”

  “You’re not lawyers,” grumbled Teresa.

  “No,” said Beth, who’d finished telling the cops where we were. “But we’ve solved lots of cases and we know how these things go.”

  “Okay,” said Teresa finally. “Lana and I were supposed to work together. I went to her office to discuss my uncle’s will, and I could just tell from her tone that I wasn’t the main beneficiary. My uncle’s worth millions, and I know I could’ve used that money well.”

  “So you asked Lana to change the will?”

  “Well, at first Lana wouldn’t even tell me what was in the will. So I called Alice, pretending to be a rich, eccentric client, and got Lana’s address. I showed up at her house and explained that I needed to inherit that money. If she helped me, she’d get a nice cut. I just wanted her to think about it. Two days later, she told me to come over to her house again, and she showed me the will and how I could forge a new one. She didn’t want to do the actual forging, but she said she’d upload it to her computer for me.”

  “So you went and forged a new will on your laptop,” I said. “But then your laptop was stolen. Hang on—it wasn’t really stolen, was it? You just destroyed it to cover your tracks.”

  “Yeah,” said Teresa. “I wasn’t going to take any risks. Anyway, I didn’t hear from Lana for a few days, and then she asked me to go to her office. She would’ve told me to go to her house if we were still going ahead with the plan, because it’s not like we could talk about the details in public. So I knew she’d changed her mind about it.”

  “That’s why you canceled the appointment,” said Beth.

  “Exactly,” said Teresa. “I sent Lana a text that I’d come to the office after hours. When I got there, Lana told me she couldn’t do it. We got into an argument, and then I had to pull a gun on her so she’d give me the paper copy of the will.”

  “And you made her delete the original scanned copy and upload your new forgery.”

  “Bingo,” said Teresa. “I made sure to take some random files with me, too, so that later on, people would think it was just Lana being messy.”

  “Well, that plan worked,” I admitted. “But why couldn’t you just leave after she’d uploaded your forged will?”

  “And have her go to the cops or delete my forgery? No way. I was going to get millions—I wasn’t about to risk it.”

  “Well,” said Beth, “you could’ve just broken into the office one day and done all that, instead of asking Lana to. No murders required.”

  Teresa shook her head no. “I wouldn’t know the passwords, and it’s hard breaking into a building. It was easier just to use Lana to do all the work. I didn’t want to kill her, you know. We just had an argument.”

  “Sure,” I said. “But none of my arguments lead to murder.”

  As the cops pulled up and led Teresa off into a car, she glared at us. “It wasn’t intentional,” she growled. “It was kind of self-defense.”

  “I’m not sure the self-defense angle will fly here,” Beth said. “But maybe your lawyer will have a better idea.”

  Chapter 24

  The Beach House Café was a few blocks away from the beach, and slightly east of the main tourist drag. It was, however, popular with locals and families who lived nearby—the seating area inside had large tables and booths, as well as a few smaller tables for couples. One wall was exposed brick, and another was covered with a large, beach-themed mural. Soft pop music played on the speakers, and the place smelled of freshly baked cookies.

  I was sipping a cappuccino, waiting for Ethan to show up. He’d texted me a minute ago, saying that he’d been held up and would be there within fifteen minutes. Since Teresa’s arrest, Ethan and I had been out on one date, and though we were still keeping our relationship a secret, we both enjoyed spending time together, and I thought that perhaps we might actually have a future together.

  “Mindy!”

  The voice pulled me out of my reverie, and I looked up to see Neve smiling down at me. “Oh, hi.” I looked at her rather uncertainly. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about her, now that I’d had to spend a while listening to Liam and learning that he wasn’t faithful to Neve.

  “Are you waiting for someone?” she said.

  I nodded. “Yes, actually. But he just texted to say he’d be a little late. Would you like to join me for a bit?”

  Neve sat down opposite me. “It’s nice to run into you like this. I won’t be long, I know you must be busy.”

  I nodded vaguely.

  “I just wanted to say thanks for helping out Liam,” said Neve. “You pretty much saved his life. I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t found out it was Teresa all along.”

  I shrugged modestly. “Just doing my job. Besides, Liam was paying me double, so I couldn’t refuse the work.”

  Neve shook her head. “That’s not true. I know you guys had a bad breakup, and you could have just been petty and refused to help him out. I really… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really appreciate it. It was really nice of you. You’re a good person.”

  I looked down and shifted awkwardly in my seat. “Thanks, I guess.”

  “No, I mean it. Maybe I misjudged you and Beth earlier. I feel like maybe I’ve been a bit rude to you, or I should’ve tried harder to be your friend. I’m sorry about that.”

  I looked at Neve. She was just as narcissistic and airheaded as ever, but right now, I didn’t find her annoying. I actually felt sorry for her.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “You can’t really get to know somebody too well in high school, and things just never change.”

  “Well, I’d like things to change.” Neve smiled at me hesitantly. “It would be nice if you, me and Beth could be friends. I’m going to give up this PI gig, it’s not for me. But my family knows a lot of people here, so I can help you get clients. You could be super busy, if you let me spread the word a bit.”

  I looked at Neve doubtfully. It’s true, her family is rather prominent in Santa Verona, and they do know people. If Neve kept her word and told people about us, I wouldn’t have to stress about paying the bills again.

  I nodded. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

  “Great! It’s the least I could do for you.”

  “But what are you going to do if you’re not going to be a private investigator?”


  Neve shrugged. “I don’t know. When I was younger, I was so sure I’d be a famous celebrity. I never even bothered to go to college—and now I’m not sure that I’m smart enough to graduate. I don’t know what kind of work I could do.”

  “I didn’t last in Hollywood either,” I reminded her. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to change careers. It would be so boring to have to do the same thing all the time.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” said Neve. “You’re smart, and you can figure things out quickly. I’ve never been too good at things like that. Perhaps all I can do is try to marry well, and then I’ll be a housewife for the rest of my life.”

  “You don’t have to give up on dreaming,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with being a housewife, if that’s what you really want, but perhaps you could look into going back to college. You could try out a few courses, and you might find something that you like—who knows, you might even decide to go to med school and be a doctor.”

  Neve smiled. “I can’t see myself becoming a doctor, but maybe I could consider going to college. I don’t know what Liam’ll think of that.”

  “Are you sure you want to be with Liam?” I said, unable to help myself. “If we were friends, I would definitely warn you to stay away from him.”

  Neve shook her head. “I know, he was seeing other women when he was with me. We had a long talk, and he admitted that he was still with Lana. But he told me that he’s sorry, and that we never actually agreed to be exclusive.”

  “And you’re just buying it?”

  “Well, like he said—we never agreed to be exclusive. I could have seen other guys too.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “It doesn’t matter now. We’ve decided that we’ll be exclusive, and we’ll try to work things out.”

  I looked at her doubtfully. I didn’t believe that Liam was cut out for monogamy, and I wasn’t sure that Neve deserved to be with someone like him. However, it wasn’t my place to harp on about it.

  Just then, Ethan walked through the door. His shirtsleeves were rolled up almost to his elbows, his jaw was covered in a thin layer of stubble, and his eyes glimmered darkly. When our gaze met, my heart started beating a little faster.

  Neve followed my eyes to see who it was, and then stood up immediately. “I should get going. I really do hope the three of us can be friends. Perhaps we could get together for coffee or drinks sometime?”

  I nodded. “Sure. That sounds like fun.”

  Neve and I said goodbye, and she smiled and nodded at Ethan on her way out.

  “What was that about?” said Ethan.

  “I’m not too sure,” I admitted. “But it seems like Neve wants to be a different person.”

  “Well,” said Ethan, “I’m late because I was busy getting a status report on your murder case.”

  My eyes lit up. “Really? Is there anything you can tell me?”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be talking about it, but I know you can keep this to yourself. And given that you and Beth helped us find the right suspect, you might as well know.”

  I nodded vigorously. “So? What turned up?”

  “Well, you might have been bluffing when you told Teresa that there was a hair in the keyboard, but it turned out you were actually right. There was a hair. And we were able to match it with Teresa’s DNA.”

  “That’s amazing!” I said. “Who knew my little white lie would turn out to be true!”

  “Yes, and we managed to recover some deleted files from Lana’s computer—one of them was an original scanned copy of Tom Hutchinson’s will. He gave away most of his estate to charity. The scan was deleted just minutes before Lana’s time of death.”

  “Does this prove that Teresa forged the will?”

  “Well, the will that Rita found for Tom Hutchinson was different from his original one. So Teresa definitely altered things to benefit herself. And, it turns out that Teresa was there on the day that Rita and Lana had a huge fight, which she overheard. So she found one of Rita’s fake fingernails and put it in Lana’s office to frame Rita. Of course, Teresa got lucky that Lana and Liam had a fight earlier in the day, and Felicity had thought Lana had planned to meet Liam.”

  I nodded. “Teresa really had things figured out. She had stolen guns and stolen driver’s licenses. Did you guys look into my hunch that she got them through her work at the employment agency?”

  Ethan nodded. “Yep, you were right. Jobs for All works with rehabilitating a lot of ex-cons, and Teresa used her contacts to get hold of things she’d need.”

  “And she tried to kill Liam, because she realized that Liam must’ve seen her when she went to Lana’s, and he might even have overheard bits of their conversation.”

  “She hasn’t admitted to that yet,” said Ethan. “But we’re pretty sure that’s why she tried to run him over.”

  “She had everything sorted out.”

  “Until you and Beth showed up.”

  I shrugged. “Perhaps the cops could have uncovered everything in time.”

  “Perhaps,” said Ethan. “But you and Beth really sped things along. If Teresa had left Santa Verona before we finished investigating, that would have been a real nightmare to deal with.”

  I nodded. “Now that you’ve got the case pretty much wrapped up, do you think Teresa will try to strike a plea deal?”

  Ethan shrugged. “Liam’s back at the DA’s office, and I don’t think he’ll go easy on her. Plus, the evidence is pretty damning.”

  “Well, I’m just glad it’s all over.”

  “Why?” Ethan teased. “Didn’t you like seeing your old boyfriend again?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I always thought he was a horrible person, but dealing with him during this case just highlighted his terrible personality. I’m so glad I won’t have to deal with him again.”

  “I am too,” said Ethan. “Although, I really wish you’d told me you were investigating this case.”

  I smiled wryly. “You know I couldn’t have done that. You and your cop buddies would have made the investigation so much more difficult for us.”

  “Maybe you’re right. But now the chief’s even more serious about trying to bring you two on as consultants for the police department. If that happens, you can work on open cases without getting in our way.”

  “Really? That would be great if it actually happens!”

  “Are you thinking about settling back in Santa Verona for good?”

  I looked away. “I’m not sure of anything; I can’t really imagine being a private investigator forever. But working with the police department would be different. I guess I’m kind of like Neve—I’m not entirely sure what I want to do for the rest of my life. I just can’t see what the future holds.”

  Ethan nodded seriously. “When do you think you might know?”

  I shrugged. “I wish I could know for sure. But it feels strange to move back to the town you grew up in. I always imagined myself moving to a big city, and having a new and exciting life. I never thought I would live in Santa Verona forever.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Santa Verona.”

  “I know. It’s just… I always thought my life would be glamorous and exciting. And now I’m back home. I thought I would move back here and take some time to think about what I wanted from my life. Instead, I got caught up in this private investigations business.”

  “And now you’re going to try to think about what to do?”

  I shook my head no. “Perhaps things will just fall into place. Maybe one day I’ll wake up and realize what I want for the rest of my life.”

  “Okay,” said Ethan. “I could live with that.”

  I looked at Ethan carefully. “You’re not scared that things will be ruined if I decide to move away?”

  Ethan shook his head. “We’re both adults. And I can move too, if I need to. We can’t let a fear of the future keep us from enjoying the present.”

  Chapter 25

  A few days later, I was waiting
for Beth at a restaurant that was currently one of Santa Verona’s most popular.

  The Lebanese Lantern was a recently opened Lebanese-fusion restaurant, and Beth and I had made reservations weeks ago. I’d arrived a bit early and was waiting for Beth at the bar.

  The place was packed and filled with laughter and conversation. Both the restaurant and the bar were dimly lit. Tall, swiveling barstools lined the bar, and I sat on one of them and sipped my margarita. The restaurant seating area was through a door off to my right, and the bar was lit by a romantic wall of candles. The occasional scent of delicious cooking wafted in, and I was starting to get hungry.

  Beth was going to meet me after she dropped off a few cakes at her clients’ places, and I didn’t mind waiting for her by myself. I took another sip of my drink, and then someone sat down on the seat next to me and touched my arm.

  “Mindy.”

  I turned to look at the speaker, and one eyebrow rose involuntarily when I saw that it was Liam. “Funny running into you here.”

  Liam shrugged. “I thought I would meet some friends at the bar. But I guess they’re running late. What about you?”

  “I’m meeting Beth. But I came a bit early—we’ve got reservations.”

  “Lucky you. The food here’s supposed to be amazing.”

  Liam took a long swill of his beer, and there was silence for a few moments. And then he said, “So. Just you and Beth, huh? No boyfriend?”

  “My love life really isn’t any of your business.”

  Liam smiled. “Perhaps it could be. I really enjoyed working with you on the case.”

  I took another sip of my margarita and murmured politely, “It was my job, and I’m glad the case was solved.”

  “Maybe things happen for a reason. It was good that we got to spend some time together again.”

  I shook my head. “Liam, I’m not sure what you’re saying, but you know there’s never going to be anything between us again.”

  Liam smiled. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for the past few days. Mindy, we make a great team together.”

  “No, we don’t.”