Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 05 - Family is Murder

by Carolyn Arnold

  He picked up the phone and dialed Adam Laverty at Universal Acquisitions Corporation. The kid had said to call if they ever needed anything, and that time had come.

  “Mr. McKin—Sean, how are you?” The excitement in Adam’s voice couldn’t be masked.

  “I need you to do me a favor, if it’s not too much to ask.”

  “For you? Fire away. I’d be more than glad to help.”

  Sean had to be careful how he chose to phrase his request. He didn’t need Adam catching the scent of disagreement between him and Sara. “You have to keep what I’m going to ask between us.”

  “Okay.” Adam sounded both intrigued and apprehensive.

  “Sara was adopted and I need your help—”

  “Oh, Sean, do you think it’s a good idea for us to—”

  “You leave that part up to me to worry about. I’ll pad your bank account with a little extra funds if you pull through for me. Got it?”

  There were a few seconds of silence. Sean thought back on their first introduction. Edward Cranston had told them the kid was smart. It was apparent that his negotiation skills were up to par.

  “Five hundred,” Sean offered.

  “Whoa-ee.” Adam let out a whistle.

  “Shh.” Sean cupped the receiver and looked around. It was an automatic reaction that, in the situation, wasn’t necessary. Sara wasn’t even home to overhear anything. “I’ll make it a thousand if you keep it down.”

  “What do you need?” It must have been the quick double in pay that had Adam questioning whether he wanted to get involved. Hesitancy laced each word of his question.

  “I need you to find the agency where Sara was placed.”

  “It would help if I could get her birth date and location.”

  Sean gave him the information he required. “Anything else before you start?”

  “So you’re just wanting anything on it?”

  “Yes. Specifically the identity of her birth mother.”

  “Can I ask a question?”

  Sean took a deep breath. Sara should be gone for a while, but a part of him feared her returning early. “Adam, I’m not paying you to ask questions. I’m paying you to find answers.”

  “Yes, of course, sorry, Sean.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I need this information as fast as you can get it. Got it?”

  “Yes, no, yeah, I mean.”

  “Actually, there is one more thing. Get whatever you can on a woman named Leslie Summers from Augusta, Maine.”

  “Augusta, Maine. I got it.”

  “Good stuff. Talk soon. Thank you.” Sean hung up the receiver. There was an underlying sensation of betrayal and this was one time he wished he was in the wrong for getting involved. He wanted Sara to be right about Leslie Summers.

  Missing People

  “SEAN!” SARA RAN THROUGH THE house yelling as loud as her lungs would allow. With the deep beating of her heart, she thought passing out might be getting close. Her voice became weaker as she went into each room. She finally found him in the den, lowering the receiver, the look of concern darkening his face. He hurried over to her.

  “Darling, what is it?” He took her hands, but she pulled them back, gesturing as she spoke.

  “My mother, Leslie, she wasn’t at the hotel. She’s missing.”

  “It seems she might not be the only one.”

  “Sean, what are you talking about? My mother wasn’t there. They said she left. No, I can see it on your face. It’s not like that. And what do you mean she’s not the only person missing?”

  He gestured to the phone. “I just tried Angela Banks. There was no answer at her place. I thought we could drive by and now you’re back.” He put his hand on her arm, his facial expression softening. “Maybe Leslie went back home.”

  “You never believed her, did you? You’re telling me that she’s not my real mother?”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what to say.”

  She willed herself to pull from her inner strength. She loved this man with all her heart, but why was he being so difficult when she needed him the most?

  Sean wrapped his arm around her. “Like I told you before, if you believe—”

  “No, Sean, you say that, but they’re just words.” She freed herself of his touch. Again, the flicker of sadness paraded in his features. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to keep pushing you away. I know you’re trying to protect my feelings.”

  “Do you know? Or are you just saying that?”

  The way he looked at her made her smile. He had used what she had said back on her.

  “Touché.”

  “All right, now we have that out of the way, I want to make something very clear.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “We—you and I—are on the same team. Do you understand that?”

  She smiled at him.

  “Now, what did they say at the hotel?”

  “They told me that she checked out last night. No, Sean, please don’t look at me like that again.”

  “Please consider this, if Leslie isn’t your real mom, maybe, and I’m saying maybe, she had a bad conscience and went back home.”

  “Again, you’re assuming she is a liar and a thief who was posing as my mother to get our money.” She hated that when she spoke the words aloud, they echoed back with a flavor of possible truth.

  “Something is going on here. I know that a part of you knows that.”

  “Fine, yes, of course I wonder.”

  “There’s my girl.” He kissed her and pulled back. “Let’s get to the hotel and see what else they have to say.”

  A Little Bribery Goes a Long Way

  “AS I WAS TELLING YOUR lovely wife here, Leslie Summers checked out of her room last night.” The clerk, whose name was Chester, clasped his hands in front of him, letting his long arms dangle past his waist.

  “Did she come down to do this?” Sean asked.

  “No.” His tone was incredulous, as if no one checked out that way anymore and everyone should know that. “She did it through the in-room system.”

  Sara adjusted her purse strap and tucked a strand of hair behind an ear. “Was she supposed to leave last night?”

  “One moment. No, it looks like she had us booked for a couple weeks. Hmm, that’s strange.”

  “What is?” Her heart thumped in her chest.

  “Her original booking was just for a week. She extended it by another two.”

  Sean glanced at Sara.

  “She probably wanted more time with me,” Sara said with a smile.

  “Well, that’s not the strange part. She extended her stay last night.” The concierge looked up, bewildered.

  Sara turned to Sean and tapped his arm. “Why would she do that, only to check out overnight? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I give you that one.” Sean looked to the clerk. “Has her room been cleaned yet?”

  “No, but I’m not sure—”

  “We need to get in that room.” Sean pulled out a wad of bills from his pocket and slapped them on the counter. “Key.”

  The clerk’s eyes fell to the cash and back to Sean. He held a keycard in his hand seconds later.

  The light flashed green and they entered the room. She picked up on the faint smell of a floral perfume.

  “What do you expect to find?” She gauged the look in his eyes. It was one that frightened her at the best of times. His jaw was taut and his eyes, sharp and intent.

  “I don’t know, but we’re getting to the bottom of this.” He set out into the room.

  She reached for him and grabbed his arm. He spun to face her and she kissed his lips with passion. He was doing all of this for her because he loved her. He didn’t want to see her hurt. If she believed, even partially, that Leslie Summers was her mother, he was playing along and giving in to the benefit of doubt.

  When they parted from their kiss, she felt the heat in her cheeks and saw the hunger in his eyes.

  “I just wante
d to say thank you.”

  He took a heaving breath. “You’re welcome.” He brushed a hand to her cheek and left her to look around the room. “Well, she did go to bed last night. The bedding is all messed up.”

  “I agree.” Her heartbeat was still irregular, beating faster than normal. Why was he so quick to wander from their embrace? Normally he’d be encouraging her to take advantage of the room and she’d have to play hard to get. Something wasn’t right, but she didn’t know what. It was too vague to pinpoint. She let it go, for now, and continued. “And, it doesn’t look like there was a struggle.”

  He let go of the comforter he had been holding. “You think she was taken by someone?”

  His skeptical tone set her insides on fire, but she managed to dose it down with reason—something that seemed harder to come by these days. “I don’t think she left of her own free will, no. She is my birth mother, Sean. I know it in my heart, and now she’s gone and I’ll never get the answers. I’ll never understand why she left me and why it took so long for her to come back.” Her hand snapped up to cover her mouth, to stave off the tears from falling.

  “Oh, darling.” Sean went to her and held her.

  They embraced in silence, both entertaining their own thoughts, until she lifted her head, her eyes moist with tears. She blinked them away. “I know I’m not myself these days.”

  He pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her. “You’re going through a lot.”

  “I’m so happy that you understand that.” As she dabbed her eyes, for some odd reason, her mind skipped back to their relationship, before they were married. She thought of all the women Sean had dated, none of the affairs lasting very long. Some of the reasons offered by him were weak, but tended to center around the women being emotional. For one woman she was simply too connected to her pet. Would he dismiss her now that she had deeper feelings than she ever remembered experiencing in her lifetime? Would he judge her as irrational and be wishing he had run away from her too? Her heart shattered as the thoughts paraded through her mind.

  “I don’t know exactly what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, but I’m sensing it’s dark.” He kissed her forehead and she savored the smell of his cologne. “I’ll always be here for you. Always.”

  “All right. Enough of this.” She cleared her throat and straightened up, handing the handkerchief back to Sean, then clapped her hands and pressed on a smile.

  “You’ll be fine. You’re a strong woman.”

  Her eyes drifted from his mouth to the floor as something caught the light. She went past him and picked it up. It was a diamond, or cubic zirconium. It could have fallen out of a piece of jewelry. She held it between her painted fingernails, angling it for Sean to see.

  “I’m not sure where this gets us,” he said.

  “Stop being so negative would you, darling?” She raised her brows. “Leslie Summers wasn’t wearing anything with diamonds when she was with us.”

  He shook his head. “Well, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t have what it belonged to, or that someone else who stayed in this room…” He let his words trail off, a smirk blooming on his lips.

  “You’re such a brat.”

  “Yes, I can be sometimes.” He drew her to him. “But only when my wife teases me with her delectable kisses and I know it can’t go anywhere.”

  She thought back on her earlier insecurities. This situation with Leslie and the claim on being her mother really had her messed up. She slapped his chest and pulled back, playing her familiar role of hard to get. She winked at him before speaking. “Let’s go out on a limb here and assume Leslie didn’t leave of her own free will.”

  “All right, I’ll play along.”

  She narrowed her eyes.

  He laughed. “In all seriousness.” His snickering came to an end and he continued. “Whoever has her, had a way of getting her to leave without a struggle.”

  “I agree. They were armed.”

  “So the person who took Leslie likely had a gun.” He glanced to the diamond still in Sara’s hand. “And, if we’re thinking that belongs to our perp, then we might be looking for a woman.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  He cocked his head.

  “It could have come from a tie pin or cufflinks.”

  “Beautiful and smart.”

  “All in a day’s work. But please, we need to find her.” She ground her heel into the carpeting.

  “Yes, and we will, darling. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

  “Ha ha.”

  Hunting Down The Help

  SEAN TURNED DOWN THE STREET noted on Angela’s resume.

  “Can’t this wait until we get all of this sorted out with Leslie?” Sara asked.

  “Well, from what I understand, we’re still in need of a maid.” That’s what he said, but there was more to it than that. His gut instinct told him something was wrong. He didn’t understand his suspicion that Leslie’s disappearance was somehow connected to Angela not showing for her interview. How would that puzzle piece fit together? Right now, it seemed he was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

  “I suppose, but—”

  He took his hands off the steering wheel and she squealed.

  “I know we don’t have to worry about money, but let’s try not to crash the six-figure car, shall we?” She was smiling.

  “It’s all right, baby.” He replaced one hand to the steering wheel, the other he ran down the back of her head. “Yours should be in soon.”

  “Yes, you’re a brat. It’s official.”

  “I’m a man in need.” He bobbed his head side to side. “But it could be misconstrued.”

  She playfully rolled her eyes and looked out the window. “Here it is.”

  He was pulling into the lot as she spoke.

  “Oh.”

  “Good memory on you, though.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “You know it.”

  They entered the unsecured building. “You think they’re connected, don’t you?” Sara asked. “Angela could have just gone away, or maybe she forgot about the interview?” She made the suggestions, her attention going up and down the hallway.

  “I just have a feeling.”

  They knocked a few times. No answer.

  “This is silly.” She took a few steps away and Sean grabbed her arm.

  “Where are you going?”

  She pointed toward the neighboring apartment. “Maybe they’ll know something.”

  “They could, except for neighbors rarely talk anymore.”

  “There it is again.”

  “What?”

  “The skepticism. Where is it coming from anyway? Is our money making you paranoid that everyone is out to get us and then, by extension, tainting the rest of the world? Where did my happy man go?”

  He let go of her and took a deep breath. Her question hit home. He hadn’t really thought about it, even though she had already brought the matter up. Somehow, it just slid beneath his grasp. This time, the way she put it anchored. Even though he had suppressed his pride before, he found it hard this time. He nodded his head toward the apartment. “That’s a good idea.”

  “Yep.” Her knuckles were already rapping against the wood.

  The door cracked open, but only the amount the chain would allow. “Yes?” a woman said.

  “I’m looking for Angela.”

  “Angela? Who’s Angela?”

  Sean was smiling. He knew he shouldn’t be.

  “Your neighbor.”

  “Ah, Angela.”

  Sara spun around to flash him a know-it-all smirk. God, he loved her.

  The woman’s voice came again. “As far as I know she should be home. She hasn’t left the place in over a day.” The door shut and the chain was released. This time the woman opened the door all the way, giving them both a view of her unkempt apartment and bringing with it a strong odor of kitty litter. “You’re Sara McKinley, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I am
.”

  “Well, I’ll be—” She peeked down the hall to Sean. “And you’re Mr. McKinley.”

  “That I am.”

  “Well, well.” The older lady smiled, seemingly pleased with herself. “Why are you here to see Angela?”

  Sara looked to him to take the lead, but he didn’t see any harm in going about this the truthful route. “We’re here to talk to her about an employment opportunity.”

  “She must be something special for you both to show up like this.”

  Sara slid her eye contact from him back to the woman. “We’re actually a bit worried about her. We’ve tried reaching her on her phone, and now there’s no answer at her door.”

  The woman scratched her chin. “Yes, that is very odd. I’m pretty certain she’s home. Like I said she hasn’t left in a long time. Wait a minute.” Her finger shot into the air, thrusting upward. “She had a friend over late. Now, when was that? Ah, yes, a couple nights ago. Angela came in about two in the morning…guess that would make it closer to a day ago. Another woman came to her apartment, say, an hour after that.”

  Sara looked to Sean. “That was the morning of the day she was supposed to meet up with us.”

  He nodded. So, by the sounds of it, Angela stayed out partying and came home late. They were worried for no reason. She probably had too much to drink and passed out. Still, it didn’t explain why there was no answer at this point.

  “Was the other woman her roommate?” Sara asked.

  The lady guffawed and it rocked her entire frame. “She’s a strong-willed woman. I can’t see her cohabiting with anyone.”

  “And you said you’re certain she’s in her apartment?”

  “Yes.” She dragged the single word out, carrying the s like a hiss.

  “What about her friend? Did you see her leave?”

  “Yes, she left not long after arriving. Who knows what people are up to these days? The only reason I know any of this is because I’m a light sleeper. It’s a curse.”

  There was that cinching in his gut, the infusion of adrenaline. Sean stepped forward. “We’re going to need in her apartment.”