Not Quite a Murder

by Liz Turner

  “Lily,” Garcia cautioned.

  Levi’s usually friendly demeanor shifted into a sneer as he looked at Lily. “I don’t know what Tasha told you, but it’s news to me. If her father was trying to prevent our union, then no amount of threatening letters was going to stop the love we have for each other.”

  “And if his threats were real, what were you going to do about it?” Lily asked, her grey eyes burning with a cool fire.

  He held her stare with his own blazing eyes before breaking into a grin. “Elope.”

  “Did Douglas ever send you any threats?” Ryan asked, backing Lily up.

  “Nothing written or formal. Just verbal teasing,” Levi answered calmly.

  “Where were you on the night of Douglas Radley’s murder?” Lily pressed.

  A flicker of annoyance crossed Levi’s face as he turned back to Lily. But he quickly recomposed his smile. He scratched his chin. “I was out with the guys for a drink. Then I took my girlfriend and future mother-in-law to the cinema. We watched a movie, I took them home, had coffee with Tasha, then I went home and went to bed.”

  “What time did you leave Tasha’s?” Lily persisted.

  “Around three. You can check the security footage at the front. That’s about the time I walked in and crashed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, visiting hours at the hospital have opened and I need to take Tasha to see Doug. I’m already late in picking her up.”

  Garcia nodded. “Thank you for your assistance. Should you think of anything else that can help us with the case, please contact me.” He handed Levi his card.

  “Will do. Thank you, detectives, for all the long hours you’ve put into this case,” Levi offered sincerely before closing his apartment door behind them and disappearing down the corridor.

  Chapter 9

  The Love Letter

  “You were a little feisty in there,” Garcia commented to Lily as they took the stairs down from Levi’s floor. “Well done, though. You managed to get to him and he dropped his guard a little.”

  “You saw it too, didn’t you?” Lily asked, secretly chuffed with herself.

  “You definitely managed to create a tiny crack in that cool and collected exterior of his. That guy is definitely hiding something,” Ryan said.

  “So why don’t we find out what he’s hiding?” Lily asked with a naughty smile.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Garcia objected. “We can’t just nose our way through a man’s apartment on a whim. We need to have probable cause before we can get a warrant to search his apartment, and that’ll take a lot more digging.” He then proceeded to ramble off the various rules and regulations that officers had to abide by in order to uphold the honor of the force and the trust of the nation. This lasted several flights of stairs before they made it outside the building. “Where’s Lily?” Garcia asked, noticing that she’d disappeared.

  “She said she forgot her coat,” Ryan said as he climbed into the passenger’s seat of their vehicle.

  “But it’s still summer. She wasn’t wearing a coat.” Garcia arched an eyebrow and spun round to stare at the apartment building they’d just left.

  “Oh, looks like she found her way back inside,” Ryan pointed out as Lily’s silhouette passed quickly by the window of Levi’s apartment.

  “The captain will have your head on a plate if he knew you allowed one of our consultants to break-in and enter without probable cause!” Garcia snarled at Ryan. He frantically started waving his arms around to catch Lily’s attention, but she seemed to be ignoring him.

  Ryan shrugged. “I didn’t know what she was planning to do. But if she does happen to find something, at least we’ll know whether we’re barking up the wrong tree. Oh, look,” Ryan pointed to his vibrating phone. “I guess she did find something after all. Hey Lily, we lost you along the way, I see,” he commented and then paused to listen to an excited Lily on the other end. “Okay, we’re looking at the window…” Ryan said as he and Garcia moved to get a better view.

  “Oh, jeez,” Garcia muttered. “Is she holding up one of Doug’s blackmail letters?”

  “Sure looks like it.” Ryan strained his eyes to see as he hung up his phone. “She’s coming down now with more information. She says we need to get to the hospital fast.”

  Lily suddenly bolted out of the apartment building and leaped onto the backseat of the car, gesturing wildly to get them into the car. “Let’s move it, guys!” she yelled breathlessly.

  “We’re not going anywhere until you explain what’s going on,” Garcia commanded. “I’m the one in charge of this team, remember? I’m the one who calls the shots and gives the orders, which means I need to be kept in the loop at all times about everything!”

  Lily sank back into her seat and Ryan looked away guiltily.

  “You’re right, Detective Garcia,” Lily said. “I’m sorry for disobeying you back there, but I had real reason to believe Levi was hiding something.”

  “Fair enough,” Garcia conceded. “What did you find?”

  Lily quickly whipped out her phone and held it up for Garcia and Ryan to see. “It’s another blackmail letter,” she explained quickly. “But this one, as you can see, matches the same materials and style as the one we found on Doug that morning in the park.”

  “Who was blackmailing who?” Ryan asked, craning his neck to read the writing.

  “It says, ‘Stay away from her,’” Lily quoted. “And then it says in smaller letters, ‘You’re a cheater!’”

  “If that was the last letter Levi received, then it would have been pretty easy for him to figure out who was blackmailing him,” Garcia concluded.

  “There’s more,” Lily added, her finger flicking her screen to the next photograph. “These are photos Doug obviously sent Levi, and they clearly show that Levi was cheating on his girlfriend. If you look at the date-stamps, this took place not so long ago, and Levi was already singing proposals to Tasha.”

  “Okay. If we think about what happened to his colleague, Rob, and his ex-wife, Elise, it’s the same story, just with Doug’s future son-in-law,” Ryan reasoned. “So this is definitely Doug’s work. Doug was blackmailing Levi in an attempt to get him away from his daughter.”

  “But that doesn’t exactly make Levi our killer,” Garcia countered.

  “Would it make Levi look guiltier if I told you that he had found out about the millions?” Lily said. “I found a copy of Tasha’s inheritance trust stashed in the same hiding place as the rest of this stuff. And as we know, Tasha is set to inherit ten million in two months. I wonder when he planned to marry her?”

  “Okay, you’ve got a point,” Garcia admitted.

  “And,” Lily continued, “let’s not forget that Tasha said Levi left at two in the morning, and he claims he was home by three. That leaves a whole hour gap where he has no alibi. Plenty of time for him to lure a fuming Doug into the park and end things.”

  Garcia’s eyes widened slightly as all of Lily’s information clicked into place. “Ryan,” he ordered as his foot hit the accelerator, “call Tasha and see if they’re at the hospital yet. And then get a warrant for that blasted apartment. Lily,” he eyed her in the rearview mirror, “did you leave everything as you found it?”

  “Yeah. I just took photos and put it all back. I know the rules.” She grinned at Garcia, but stopped when she noticed he was scowling at her.

  “Hi, Tasha?” Ryan switched his phone to speaker and continued. “This is Detective Scott. Where are you now?”

  “I’m just at the hospital with Levi,” Tasha answered, her voice growing anxious. “What’s wrong now, detective?”

  “Tasha, is Levi still with you?”

  “No. He just went to go see my dad while I’m waiting for our takeaway coffee.”

  “All right, hold on.” Ryan quickly muted the call. “We’ll be there in two minutes,” Ryan estimated. “What do you reckon, Garcia?”

  “There should be an officer on-duty outside the hospital room. Warn him and tell him
to keep his eyes on Levi all the times.”

  Ryan nodded and unmuted the call. “Tasha, we’ll be there soon. Stay away from your father’s room.” He then cut the call and tried contacting the officer on-duty, but got no response.

  “What about hospital security?” Lily suggested.

  “Levi is escalating. Our questions spooked him. If Tasha or security officers rush in there, Levi might do something extreme,” Garcia explained. “Call security and get them into position around the room.” Garcia slammed the breaks, and the Chevy screamed to a halt in front of the hospital.

  Chapter 10

  Rest in Peace

  Levi looked down at the man he had already tried to kill once, resting peacefully in his hospital bed. Months of work had gone into figuring out that Douglas Radley, his future father-in-law, had been behind the blackmailing letters and incriminating photographs, which could have destroyed his whole plot to get his hands on Tasha’s money.

  He’d painstakingly put up with Tasha’s neediness and insecurities for months, building a relationship with her and promising to make her his wife. It had been tiresome, but he’d endured this far, and Tasha had finally entrusted him with her delicate heart—and along with that came ten million dollars.

  But Doug had almost ruined everything by daring to resist Levi’s efforts to kill him in the park. His resilience and stubbornness forced Doug to fight for his life and miraculously survive Levi’s first murder attempt. This made every single breath Doug took a scathing reminder of Levi’s failure.

  Any second, Doug could wake up with his memory fully restored, ready to reveal everything to the police.

  Levi couldn’t allow that to happen.

  His eyes filled with hatred and his lips snarled with loathing as he watched the pathetic and weak Mr. Radley resting, unaware of the fate that awaited him. Levi laughed softly to himself as he raised the pillow and lowered it onto Doug’s face, pressing down firmly and ensuring all oxygen—all possibility of survival—was cut off.

  Levi had taken all the necessary precautions so that nothing would disturb him this time. He had even turned off the monitors and machines, aware that the increased beeping would alert the nurses to Doug’s failing life source. He’d even dealt with the idiot police officer sitting outside the room, and Tasha was safely out of the way too.

  Nothing would stop him this time.

  He grinned manically as Doug began to cough and gag beneath the heavy pillow.

  “Freeze!” Ryan yelled, kicking the door in and leveling his weapon at Levi.

  “Remove the pillow from Mr. Radley’s face and put your hands in the air!” Garcia shouted, moving in behind Ryan, his weapon also raised.

  Levi slowly lifted the pillow off Mr. Radley’s face.

  “Good. Now put your hands in the air, nice and slow,” Ryan ordered.

  Levi dropped the pillow to the ground, but quickly raised a concealed gun he’d lifted off the officer he’d knocked out. He pointed the gun at Doug’s head. “One more step and he’s dead!”

  “You’re not thinking, Levi,” Garcia cautioned. “You’re outnumbered and you have nowhere to go. Lower your weapon and no one gets hurt.”

  “And he just gets to walk free?” Levi shouted back. “This man tried to blackmail me into staying away from his daughter! He threatened me to leave the love of my life!” Levi’s eyes teared and his hands started shaking.

  “Then why did you cheat on the love of your life?” Ryan demanded. “We have officers raiding your apartment right now. You cheated on Tasha and her father found out. He was going to expose you for the lying scum you are unless you left his daughter alone. But all you cared about was her ten-million-dollar inheritance!”

  Levi’s face changed instantly, his fake flood of emotion drying up now that the truth had been aired. “You have no real proof that I did anything,” Levi spat. “So what if I cheated on Tasha? That’s my business.”

  “It’s our business if you pull that trigger,” Garcia pointed out. “Right now, you’re facing charges of attempted murder—no more. We installed a camera in here after Elise tried to kill Doug, and it’s been recording everything since you stepped inside this room.”

  Levi’s eyes left Garcia’s and started scanning the room and shelves for the hidden camera, his panic visibly rising upon realizing there was no way out.

  “If you pull that trigger,” Garcia continued, “that’s first degree murder in front of two police officers. No jury will sympathize with you, and you’ll get yourself the death penalty.”

  “You don’t want to do this,” Ryan said. “You have your whole life ahead of you.”

  Levi’s shoulders slumped in defeat as he slowly lowered his weapon. “I plead temporary insanity over what this man did to me emotionally.”

  “I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” Ryan stated, disarming Levi and tightly cuffing his hands behind his back.

  A nurse rushed into the room and attended to the monitors and Mr. Radley. “He’s stable,” she announced. “His heart is beating strong—a good sign considering how long the machines were off.”

  Lily entered too, once the threat had been neutralized. “Is Mr. Radley going to be okay?”

  “Looks like he will make a full recovery,” Kendra informed the group. “The results from today’s tests were very positive.”

  Lily approached Levi while snapping on surgical gloves. “Hold still,” she ordered as she pulled out a needle. “We have a warrant for a sample of your blood. It’s in your best interests not to resist at this point.”

  Levi flinched slightly as Lily withdrew her sample and handed it to the officer who would rush it over to Banks’s lab.

  “Surely I have a right to know why you need a sample?” Levi asked resentfully.

  “We found blood at the scene of Doug’s first attack. We suspect it belongs to his attacker, judging by the bruises on Doug’s knuckles,” Lily explained. “A simple test will prove whether you were there or not.”

  Levi turned to Garcia. “And if I confess?”

  “Then a good report from us explaining that you cooperated will go down well with the jury sentencing you,” Garcia answered.

  Levi nodded, his face grave.

  “You cheated on me?” An emotional Tasha had burst into the room.

  Levi rolled his eyes and sighed. “What do you want me to say, Tasha?”

  “I want you to tell me this is all part of some sick joke!” Her voice caught in her throat as she watched the man she loved treat her with such hostility. “Was there any part of you that loved me at all?”

  Levi shrugged. “I loved your inheritance trust.”

  Tasha reached out and slapped Levi across the face. “My father was right about you!”

  “Tasha,” Lily touched her arm as they watched Levi get led away by the detectives, “it’s going to be okay.”

  “How could you possibly know that?” she snapped. “My whole world has just fallen apart!”

  “I know, but the one man who truly and deeply loved you—and who did his best to protect you from money-hungry people like your mother and Levi—is still alive and he’s going to recover,” Lily reasoned. “Your father saved you from the worst mistake and hurt of your life! Douglas Radley was willing to risk his life for you, Tasha. I wish I had a father like yours.”

  Tasha nodded slowly, raising her hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “You’re right,” she sniffed. “Do you mind if I spend some time alone with him?”

  “Of course.” Lily smiled. “It’s over now, Tasha. Your family can finally rest in peace.”

  As Lily found her way out of the hospital and down to the parking lot, she contemplated her own heart’s recent endeavors. Tasha had been convinced of Levi’s love and sincerity, only to discover he was a murderous con-artist after her money.

  How easily one misguided decision based on a blinded heart could cause a lifetime of devastation.

  Lily couldn’t judge Tasha for the choices she’d made thoug
h, considering she could feel her own heart throbbing to chase after its desires. It was so hard to cut her emotions out of the decisions she needed to make and think with a clear, rational head.

  Lily had worked hard in med school; to walk away now would mean the end of her medical career. No school, no professor, and certainly no hospital would take her seriously after she’d given it all up six years in.

  No one wants to work with a quitter.

  Yet, she’d found herself in some strange kind of bulletproof family that she trusted with her life and didn’t want to leave. She had discovered a new and exciting world of possibility and endless discovery, where the patients might not be alive, but their bodies contained clues on the truth.

  Lily’s thoughts were interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. She looked down at it, expecting to see a text from Ryan but surprised to see Dr. Banks was requesting a meeting instead.

  Epilogue

  The Compromise

  “Where have you been?” Ryan asked when Lily finally showed up at the station. “I’ve been wrapping up paperwork for hours.”

  “Sorry, I got caught up elsewhere after the hospital.” Lily sighed. “Can we grab a coffee? We need to talk.”

  Ryan eyed her suspiciously, a shadow of worry creeping over his face as he nodded and followed her out. “What’s up?” he asked gravely, clearly expecting the worst.

  “I’ve been thinking about what I need to do. I can’t hang around here consulting forever, Ryan,” Lily explained, her heart thudding in her chest.

  “I think we have a pretty good setup here, actually,” Ryan countered, his back stiffening.

  “We do, and I love every day here.”

  “So why does everything have to change?”

  Lily felt her countenance weaken, but she looked away and strengthened her resolve. “I’m living in limbo, Ryan. It’s like I’m shipwrecked and I’m just floating around in the ocean. I have to start swimming again. Otherwise, I’ll drown…”