Sticky Sweet

by Connie Shelton

  Sam laughed at the image of Jen lassoing the woman and tying her up, but she felt a rush of gratitude. A tiny part of her had wondered whether Jen would succumb again to the con woman’s charm. Then she wondered whether any of the deputies had spotted the red car yet.

  “You know, I think I’ll walk over to Beau’s office and see how things are coming along,” she said, remembering Beau’s suggestion that she spend the morning with him. “Aside from Missy, we haven’t seen anyone here all morning and there’s barely any traffic out on the streets. You guys can call me if anything comes in that I need to handle.”

  Sam put away the pastry bag and cleaned up the worktable, stowing the baby shower cake in the fridge to await pickup. A few minutes later, she bundled into her coat and stepped outside into a crystalline world.

  Despite the sunshine, the air held no warmth. Her breath came out in a frosty plume. She pulled her scarf tighter around her neck, hiked her bag onto her shoulder, and began walking as quickly as the snowy sidewalk allowed.

  Chapter 38

  The station seemed warm when Sam stepped into the squad room after her five minute walk from the bakery. The morning briefing must have already taken place; things seemed quiet. She spotted Rico at a table at the far end of the room, where he appeared to be watching TV, except it wasn’t the lively banter of any morning show she’d ever seen. The younger deputy, Travis, seemed intent on his computer monitor. She didn’t see any sign of Beau. Maybe she should have called first.

  She was about to interrupt one of the other men when she heard Beau’s voice. He came around the corner from the niche where the coffee machine sat and spotted her immediately.

  “Well, my number one tipster,” he said, waving her toward his office.

  “Did you guys stop Missy’s car? Sorry, I mean Ramona.”

  “Not yet, but I’ve got a BOLO out for it. She may have dashed straight home after the bakery—I mean, who wouldn’t, for one of your cinnamon rolls—but she has to come out sometime. I sent one officer over to the apartment we searched yesterday, but that doesn’t seem to be her current hiding place.”

  “I wonder … ‘Missy’ told Jen she was married to some rich guy, and she talked about a big, nice house they own. Maybe in addition to her own place, and Percy also having a house, she really does have somebody else on the side.”

  One of his shoulders gave a half shrug. “Could be. I know the landlord where Percy lived has already cleaned the place out and may even have a new renter in there by now. I cruised by yesterday, and the few personal items belonging to Mr. Lukinger were stacked at the curb for the garbage men to take. So, she wouldn’t go there.”

  Sam pondered that. “You said there wasn’t much. And Ramona’s apartment didn’t hold a whole lot of her personal things either, right?”

  “Yeah, they live a fairly portable lifestyle, it seems.” Beau picked up his mug, apologized that he hadn’t offered Sam anything, but she declined. “It’ll be interesting to see what, if any, information I can get from her when we bring her back in. Now that I know her history with Percy and all the con games they pulled, I want to see if I get a positive ID from that witness, Helen Flagler. Several of the other neighbors were also swindled. We might be able to put together a decent case. San Diego PD is also looking for her, and maybe they can put her away.”

  His phone rang and the desk officer’s voice came over the intercom, announcing a Jorge Rodriguez on line one.

  “Well, well, speak of the devil.” Beau picked up the phone. “Detective—what’s up?”

  Sam heard a male voice at the other end. Beau said “Really?” a couple of times then told the man he wanted one of his deputies to listen in. He hit the speaker button.

  “… went back to one of the Lukinger’s victims—a Mr. Hiram Efram—from our files. I’d told you we were primarily on the trail of Percy, but this one was perpetrated by both of them with Ramona served up as the main dish.”

  “What do you mean?” Beau asked.

  “A classic sweetheart con. Attractive woman takes up with an older man, always a rich one, and proceeds to bilk him of his life savings. Or as much of it as she can get her hands on before he catches on. They start out with gifts of expensive clothes and jewelry. Then the guy starts giving her ‘spending money’ and eventually, in the cases where she gains his full trust, he’ll add her as a signatory on his bank accounts. That’s when the big money really vanishes fast. I’ve seen them clear out a person’s whole estate in under a month. They grab all they can and get out before the next bank statement reveals what’s going on.”

  “Even in this day of electronic banking?” Sam asked. “I check my bank balance every few days, and my daughter’s on hers all the time.”

  “Remember, we’re dealing with an older generation who are more trusting and not tech savvy. These are the guys who wait around for the bank statement in the mail. One month he’s got all his cash, the next month he’s broke—and always completely stunned.”

  “But if she married this Mr. Efram, isn’t that bigamy? We know she was married to Percy,” Beau said.

  “Or we think we do. Most likely, Ramona and Percy really were married and she went through some kind of sham ceremony with Efram.”

  Sam looked at Beau, questioning.

  “That’s the real reason for my call,” Rodriguez said. “Efram is after the Lukingers and he’s headed your way.”

  “You’d better fill us in,” Beau said.

  “Okay. From the start—or close to it—here’s the nutshell version. Ramona met Hiram Efram, age eighty-three, on a cruise out of San Diego. The Mexican Riviera, they call it. All the party ports south of the border. Lots of margaritas, Viagra’s cheap at those Mexican pharmacies, old guy thinks he’s the luckiest man on earth that he can please this young hottie. Says he bought her some gorgeous silver jewelry in the boutiques, she swore she’d never met anyone like him, batted those long lashes a lot, and he fell hard.

  “She was on the cruise with her ‘brother’—we later figured out it was Percy—and the brother gives his full blessing. Over late-night drinks with Mr. Efram, Percy tells him he’s never seen Ramona this much in love. He hopes Hiram won’t dump her the minute the cruise is over because it would break her heart. Hiram swears that won’t happen. Obviously he’s getting the best sex of his life, although he doesn’t tell the brother that. He’s had a few scotches and says ‘Call for the captain. I want him to marry us right now.’ Well, that won’t do because it would actually be legal, so Percy says he’ll talk to Ramona. She’ll want to get a nice dress and everything. Next port, they’re on the beach saying vows. I have no idea who officiated this ceremony, but my guess it was some well-dressed Mexican who would say what he was told to say for a few hundred pesos.”

  Sam tried to wrap her head around the idea of such a quickie marriage.

  “Fast forward to home. They settle into Hiram Efram’s home. His kids have an absolute fit but there’s nothing they can do. Dad is a stubborn old guy and won’t listen to a thing they say. He’s got a marriage certificate and the sex is still pretty good, although he has to admit having a few nights off a week is all right. He can use the rest.

  “Being old-school in his ways, he immediately puts the new wife on his bank accounts, gives her a checkbook and three credit cards. She tells him she’d love to redecorate the house, and he basically tells her to spend away.”

  “Oh boy,” Beau said.

  “Yeah. While the kids are trying to figure out what they can do legally, Ramona isn’t bound by such constraints. She does a few test withdrawals of a few hundred, then a few thousand dollars. Hiram doesn’t care. He thinks the new furniture will be delivered any day now. She must have prowled through all his business papers. She had his social security number and practiced his signature. Within three months, she managed to divert his retirement savings, drain a great big 401k account, and cash in all the CDs he’d ever purchased. We’re still trying to track
where the money went, but Percy’s name shows up on some of the accounts that received it. Meanwhile, on the day—the very same day—the last withdrawal happened, Ramona said she was going shopping and she never came back. The car he’d given her turned up at a used car lot in Bakersfield, but the lot owner swears he never took it in trade and has no idea how it got there. Most likely she just parked it there and caught a ride with Percy to wherever.”

  “You said Mr. Efram is heading to New Mexico?” Beau asked.

  “That’s what his daughter told me this morning. Her brother, Danny, age fifty-seven, is the one who’s been pushing us to catch this pair. Apparently, when they got wind of the Lukingers being in your area, Danny and Hiram decided to take matters into their own hands. They left California and Danny’s parting words to his sister were, ‘I’m going to kill Ramona.’ Now you’re telling me Percy’s dead under suspicious circumstances … Well, I have to wonder if the Eframs didn’t catch up with them.”

  “Okay, then.” Beau was rubbing both temples as he stared at the speaker box. “I’ll see if we can get a lead on where these Eframs might be.”

  “Good luck with it. I’d offer our department’s assistance, but we’re short staffed and underfunded. Nothing outside our immediate jurisdiction gets any notice. I personally can’t spare enough for a plane ticket out there.”

  “That’s okay. Not your problem. If we uncover anything that’ll help your case, we’ll pass it along.”

  The line went dead and Beau blew out a long breath as he looked up at Sam.

  “Holy crap,” she said. “This is way more complicated than I imagined.”

  “No kidding. Last week I thought we had a simple traffic accident.” He stood and paced to the door and back.

  “I’ll grab a refill for your coffee,” Sam said.

  “Better not. I’m wired six ways to Sunday already.” He sat and flipped through the pages of notes he’d taken on the case. “So, Percy’s dead. I suspected a double-cross by Ramona, and it still could be that. There’s also Grant Mangle, the guy who lost a diamond ring and a bunch of cash to Percy. And now we’ve got this father-son team from California, who could have easily been here in Taos when it happened.”

  “I think you said Percy died from some kind of drug, right?”

  He nodded.

  “So, let’s think who would have access to that substance. Someone in a medical profession, a pharmacist, anesthesiologist …”

  “Most likely,” he agreed. “I’ll call back and see if that applies to any of the Eframs, and Travis is doing some background on Mangle. I’ll see what he’s got. Mangle was furious with Percy, and I really thought he was our best bet.”

  “If furious-with-Percy is the criteria, it sounds like people will have to line up to join it.”

  “You’re so right.” He chuckled and picked up the phone to punch the two digits for Travis’s desk. “Update me on what you’ve found on Grant Mangle.”

  A minute later, Travis appeared at the doorway to Beau’s office, notebook in hand. “He’s got no criminal record, so there isn’t much. Basic credit and background check shows him self-employed in property rentals, his wife is a nurse with a steady job at the hospital, average-sized mortgage, no kids. Looks like they went on a seven-day cruise for their tenth anniversary last fall.”

  “The wife was the one most upset about the loss of her diamond ring, and she works at the hospital.” Beau glanced toward Sam but spoke to Travis. “Pay a visit to Sally Mangle and see if she’ll come by and answer some questions.”

  “Can we make her come in? I mean, if she resists the idea, is it okay to give the impression her ring may have been found? We did find that loose fake diamond among Percy’s things,” Travis said.

  “Use your imagination. Hopefully, she’ll come willingly since she’s eager to know about her ring.” Beau let Travis go, asking him to send Rico in.

  The other deputy seemed relieved to be off video monitor duty. He stretched when he stood up, and rubbed his eyes as he crossed the squad room.

  “Got you a new task,” Beau told him after he’d greeted Sam cordially. “Pretty routine, but better than staring at those tapes.”

  Rico grinned. “Most anything would be a nice break from staring at those tapes.”

  “We need to find out if a Hiram Efram or Danny Efram have been in town within the last two weeks. Hotel records, credit card charges, the usual. I’m looking especially at any visit around the time of Percy Lukinger’s auto accident.”

  Rico wiggled his fingers. “Back to the keyboard and phone,” he said.

  “Okay, while all that’s going on, I’m starved and would like to take my prettiest deputy to lunch.”

  “You’d better rephrase and say you’re taking your wife to lunch. The other guys will be jealous.” Sam picked up her bag. The weight of it reminded her the carved box was still inside.

  Over burgers at Five Star, Beau reiterated the facts in the case. Sam knew it was his way to process, to mull things over until it began to coalesce. She decided to help him along with questions.

  “So, aside from this Grant Mangle and the man from California, do you have any other suspects for the murder?”

  “I had considered Mangle as number one—the guy was furious. His wife most likely has a way to get the drug, and they’re both pretty cranked. But the loss of a diamond ring doesn’t hold a candle to what the Eframs went through.”

  “Yeah, can you imagine your entire life savings gone in a couple months like that?”

  “So they’re all viable candidates. And, of course, there’s Ramona herself. Who’s to say she didn’t get Efram’s money and decide to strike out on her own. She had to consider, why bother to share it with Percy.”

  “And yet they were such a team. I have to wonder if she could carry off another of those big cons without him,” Sam said, dipping a French fry in ketchup.

  Beau’s hand was halfway to his mouth with his soft drink cup when he stopped abruptly. “I think she may already be working on one.”

  Before she had the chance to think about what he’d said, Beau’s shoulder mike squawked. Whatever the code meant, clearly he didn’t think it was a good idea for Sam to go along. He told her to wrap up her burger; he’d be dropping her off at the bakery.

  Chapter 39

  Sweet’s Sweets felt like a little patch of quiet after the excitement of the sheriff’s office and the new discoveries in Beau’s case. Sam worked automatically as she rolled fondant to create the vase for a spring bouquet cake. Obviously, another customer was tired of winter. Julio had asked if he could leave early because he’d already baked more than they could possibly sell to the trickle of customers and because his ride was leaving. Jen had cleaned and refreshed the display cases, the counters gleamed, and she’d added a few new touches to the window presentation.

  By three o’clock it was obvious business was fairly well done for the day. No school kids, few after-lunch desserts, and the afternoon tea-and-scone crowd never materialized. It would be dusk soon and the lowering temperature guaranteed the slush on the roads would soon become icy.

  “We might as well close up,” Sam told Jen as she put bright, finishing touches on the flowers in the vase. “I’ll give you a ride if you’d like.”

  Her van gave a bit of argument about starting in the cold, but once running, it warmed quickly and purred along. Jen thanked her for the ride and Sam made her way carefully back to the clearer roads, and home. Pulling in beside her snow-covered truck, she made a mental note to take the bigger vehicle with its four-wheel drive tomorrow morning. She grabbed her pack from the space behind her seat and headed for the warmth of the house.

  First order of business was to pull out the carved box and stow it safely away. Isobel St. Clair had already sent one reminder text during the day. Sam had bit back a flash of irritation over the woman’s persistence, although she knew Isobel only meant to keep her safely out of the clutches of those who
wished to steal the valued object. She entered the combination for Beau’s gun safe, hidden away at the back of the coat closet, moved a couple of fat envelopes aside and stashed the box. With the door securely locked once more, she gave a sigh of relief. Okay, Isobel, no worries now.

  She was browsing the freezer for dinner ideas when Beau called.

  “Hey you. Sorry I had to bail so quickly on lunch.” In the background, she could hear the familiar sounds of the squad room—voices, radio calls, an occasional laugh. “We had a house fire. Faulty gas stove, whole family incinerated. Nasty stuff.”

  Sam felt a flash of empathy. “Oh, Beau, how awful. I can’t imagine.” Unfortunately, having just handled the box, she could imagine. A ghostly image of a burned structure appeared to her.

  “I’m lucky the fire department investigators handle the really gruesome parts, but I had to get the names of the deceased, locate next of kin, and notify them. Not fun.”

  She closed the freezer door, unable to think about food after that news.

  “Anyway, just calling to see that you got home okay and let you know I’m on my way. Do we need anything from the store?”

  She told him of her indecision about dinner plans and suggested he bring whatever his appetite would handle. He’d had the more disturbing afternoon. When he showed up an hour later with a bucket of chicken and full selection of side dishes, she knew he’d be just fine.

  “I guess it’s a little early to have more information on any of your suspects,” Sam said as she got plates from the cupboard.

  “Travis came back with Grant Mangle’s phone records, and the calls he claims between himself and Percy seem to check out. It looked as if Grant tried multiple times to reach Percy after the episode in the restaurant parking lot, but the calls were so short he could have only left messages.”

  “It would be a clever way to cover for himself, right?” Sam helped herself to a chicken leg and a biscuit from the bucket.