by Diane Bator
She watched the men as discreetly as possible, shoving all thoughts of jewel thieves, murderers, and stalkers out of her head. With any luck, neither man would have reason to look her way. When Clancy turned his head, she ducked below the window sill and pressed her back to the wall while her heart thumped against her spine.
A dozen outlandish scenarios flashed through her head before she gave a small laugh. Since when did she become so paranoid? He was just a tattoo artist. When she recalled their conversation the day before, she sucked in a shaky breath. “He’s a private detective.”
Was the Ponytail Man one of the friends who could help find answers about the mysterious jewelry? Wide-eyed, she raised herself up slowly until Clancy and Ponytail Man came back into view. She grabbed her camera and used the zoom feature for a better look. Ponytail Man’s face seemed carved from marble, yet handsome in a rugged way like the photo of the hunk she’d pulled off the Internet. Unlike the male model, this guy scared the crap out of her even from afar.
While Ponytail Man walked his motorcycle onto the driveway, Clancy glanced toward Lucy’s house then led his friend up the sidewalk toward his parents’ house.
Chapter 19 ~ Danny
Danny and Katie had spent the night in front of his freshly cleaned out fireplace with a crackling fire, a bottle of wine and Thai food. He’d even turned his cell phone off so they could have some time alone—finally—and only turned it on again after dropping Katie off at her house that next morning.
He left the phone on the floor between the front seats. It sprang to life and vibrated with over a dozen text message alerts on his way to Bishop Street.
Someone had replaced Lucy’s broken bedroom window with a piece of plywood. Pale light streamed through the smaller window a few feet away, which meant she was already up and seated at her computer. So much for the man-hungry party girl image. She could always Skype someone and have an on-line affair, but even that didn’t seem to fit with what Leo found. Nothing about Lucy Stephen seemed to fit.
“What the hell are you up to, lady?” Danny parked in front of her house and rubbed his temples before he reached for the phone. A long list of texts from Clancy, Leo and Bobby filled the screen. Not a good start to the day. Katie had certainly distracted him from the case last night. Repeatedly. His entire body warmed and he smiled at the thought.
Clancy’s texts were cryptic, but urgent. Something big had happened. Since Leo’s Harley already sat in the driveway, he had to assume the worst. He parked around the corner, out of sight of Lucy’s house, then skirted around the wide veranda to knock on Clancy’s front door.
“It’s about time you got here.” Clancy let him inside then strode from the door to the dining room table where Leo stared at a laptop screen. “Where the hell have you been hiding? We have a big problem.” He waved a sheaf of papers. “Lucy found some key evidence in the case and Bobby is on his way.”
A punch to the face couldn’t have shocked Danny more. “Lucy did? What evidence?”
“Since you weren’t answering your phone, I called Bobby.” Leo straightened and cracked his back. “He and a forensics team are on their way with a search warrant.”
Danny winced. “I was at the house and didn’t have my charger.”
Leo rolled his eyes and grimaced. “A likely story. Be honest, you and Katie finally got together and the phone was turned off and left in your car.”
Clancy paled. “Lucy and her kids might be in danger.”
“How do you figure that?” Danny clenched his jaw and shot Leo a scowl.
“Let’s compare notes, shall we?” Leo tapped his keyboard. “Roger Stephen had a long string of girlfriends starting since before he left Lucy. Sound right so far?”
“Yup.” Danny sat next to him. “What does this have to do with Lucy finding evidence?”
Leo pulled up the images of one dead woman after another and left them all as smaller images until the screen was covered in a macabre collage. “Renata Yalof. Caroline Taylor-Smith. Cynthia Mathias. Cora Lee. Michelle Donovan. All the women were killed in the same way. Each was strangled then her head bashed in. They also had two other things in common.”
When another image flashed onto the screen, Danny’s stomach clenched. “Roger Stephen.”
“That’s one. Each woman was also missing an expensive piece of jewelry.” Leo rubbed his face and indicated a crime scene shot. “Apparently while Lucy was packing for her kids to go away this week, she found a bag full of jewelry inside a shaving kit. She showed them to Clancy, who sent photos to Bobby. The pieces look identical to the ones missing from the vics.”
Danny tried to swallow, but his mouth had dried considerably. He needed a pitcher of coffee to kick start his brain. “That is big. Have any of the pieces been positively identified?”
Clancy handed him a cup of coffee. “Not in the lab, just by the photos Lucy gave me. I’ve also seen the pieces first hand, which is why Bobby’s on his way. Lucy’s a writer. She’s got books about all kinds of grisly murders, poisons, weapons, and so on. Hubby could have used one to get ideas about how to get rid of his nagging girlfriends.”
“Yeah, I knew she was a writer.” Danny stirred in cream and sugar. “What I don’t know is why is my life plagued with crazy people. Do we all think our client is a murderer?”
Clancy nodded. “What are the odds of such similar pieces turning up in one bag together in a suspect’s former home if they don’t belong to the vics?”
He sipped his coffee then frowned and added more sugar. Clancy’s coffee was a grade below motor oil. “About as high as our suspect hiring me to keep his wife under surveillance. You’d think attention would be the last thing he’d want.”
“Damn straight.” Leo glanced up. “Except our focus has been on Lucy, not Roger. You got the make, model, and license plate of his car, right?”
“Of course.” Danny added more creamer to his coffee. “I forwarded everything to Bobby.”
“Which means you were suspicious too.” Leo pulled the photo of a dark-haired woman. “Let’s recap before Bobby gets here, shall we? Renata Yalof worked as an agent in the office Roger started out with and was his biggest competition for clients. She was on a business trip to Detroit when a maid found her dead in her hotel room. Roger was supposedly at home with the stomach flu, but no one confirmed his alibi with his wife.”
Danny glanced at the papers Bobby had sent. “Did you read these already?”
“Of course. I take my job seriously, you know.” He grinned. “Caroline Taylor-Smith was one of Roger’s clients who bought a two million dollar loft. She headed up a society to shelter the homeless, a noble cause until Roger got involved. When the auditors did the books, she accused Roger of embezzlement. Less than a month later, she was found dead in her small cottage near Erie.”
Danny rubbed the back of his neck to calm the hairs standing on end. “So why hire private detectives to watch his wife while he took their kids on vacation?”
“Dude’s either a psychopath or he’s trying to throw us off his trail.” Leo pulled up a new photo of a dark-haired woman wearing an emerald necklace. “Cynthia Mathias. Married, two grown sons. She and Roger lived together for a month before she crawled back to her millionaire husband who’d threatened to cut off her generous living allowance. Ditching her boy toy seemed like a good trade off.”
Danny covered his mouth. Her crime scene photos just as horrific as the previous ones. “For her, anyway, Roger didn’t seem to take it well.”
“Nope.” Leo shook his head. “She had so many stab wounds the coroner had to zip her together just to examine her. Michelle Donovan. Her family owns stables from here to Kentucky. She dated Roger for a week then disappeared. She surfaced last week floating in Lake Erie.”
Danny nodded. “And right now, he has Lucy’s kids and his new girlfriend away on vacation and they could all be in danger. We don’t know who’s in danger, but you can bet Lucy won’t get those kids back without a fight.”
&
nbsp; “Then we’d better find them soon.” Clancy sat back in his seat and tapped his foot. “Where do we start?”
“With what Lucy knows.” Danny got up to refill his coffee cup. “She has to have some idea about what her husband’s been up to, especially now that she’s found evidence.”
Leo pulled a map up on his screen. “I plotted out all the main players, Roger’s condo, Lucy’s house, Roger’s parents’ house, their cottage, all the murdered women, where they were buried, everything.”
“You have way too much time on your hands.” Clancy tried to joke, but his face was ashen. He blew out a long breath. “So you guys think Roger killed his girlfriends, leaving Lucy alive for the sake of their kids?”
Danny stared at the photo of a bloated corpse. It could have been to anyone, including Lucy. Why hadn’t he hurt Lucy? “He hired us was to prove she’s an unfit parent, which would give him sole custody. He could’ve killed Lucy on Sunday while the kids were in the car and taken them out of the country without anyone even knowing. With Lucy being a bit of a recluse, it could’ve been days before anyone even realized she was missing.”
After a long silence, Leo cleared his throat. “So he parked you outside as a witness. You're the guy who can say she was alive when Roger left with the kids in case he came back to kill her. The worse he makes Lucy look, the more Roger can hide. No one’s looking his way, we were all watching his wife.”
“The kids are in as much danger as Lucy and his new girlfriend.” Dread washed over Danny and he scrubbed his face with both hands. “Maybe they’re not cooperating and he had to put his plans for Lucy on hold.”
“The more we know about our client, the better we can help him. Right?” Leo pulled up Lucy’s blog and stared at his screen. “As long as you guys are watching Lucy, she’s safe. We need to look for those kids. They could be in serious trouble.”
Danny hesitated, his impulse to shove Leo out the door to hop on his bike to go look for the kids and Tanji. “Let’s talk to Bobby first then find Roger’s cottage and make sure everyone’s okay. Bobby can get some legal reason to make a bogus visit.”
Clancy refilled his cup, hands shaking. “What if Roger and the kids aren’t there?”
Danny blew out a long breath. “Then we’ll need to ask Lucy some tough questions.”
“Do you think she has any idea what her hubby’s been up to?” The doorbell rang as Leo sat back.
Danny opened the door to a police officer outside on the porch. “Hey.”
Blond and blue-eyed, Bobby Holland looked more like a male model or an athlete than a cop. “I see Leo and Clancy finally tracked you down. Did they bring you up to speed about the jewelry? We’re on our way to her house now.”
“I want to go with you.” Danny set his coffee cup on a side table. “Lucy’ll freak out when she sees the police at her door.”
Clancy pushed past him. “Which is why you and Leo should stay here. She doesn’t know you. She knows me.”
Danny snorted. “You don’t need to introduce us. She and I have met.”
“You met her in the dark after a party.” Clancy’s nostrils flared. “She and I are friends.”
“Some friend.” Danny scoffed. “You tried to seduce her.”
“I agree with Clancy.” Bobby held up a hand. “You and Leo wait here. I’ll take Clancy with me to keep her calm and we’ll fill you in after we check out Lucy’s evidence and search her house.”
“And what are we supposed to do?” Danny folded his arms across his chest.
Clancy clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Drink coffee and keep trying to get Roger on the phone. We’ll fill you in when we’re done.”
Chapter 20 ~ Lucy
Lucy bit her lower lip as the rest of her froze in place. When she was satisfied Clancy and his red-haired friend had gone inside, she eased onto her chair and take a deep breath. She poised her hands above the keyboard, the temptation to write what she saw down and add it to her book was strong. From her bedroom window, her heroine saw two men talking on the street and…
Reality intruded. Clancy seemed like a nice neighborly guy, but wasn’t what he appeared to be. She should have asked if he worked for an agency so she could check him out and see exactly who and what she was dealing with.
She looked out the window in time to see the blue Honda drive past. The dark-haired man wore a scowl that sent more tremors down Lucy’s spine. Maybe he worked with Clancy, another detective looking for someone on Bishop Street. A domestic case, perhaps. Someone with a nasty ex-husband or wife who wanted them followed and proven guilty of some sordid crime.
Someone like her.
She leaped to her feet and paced. Did other mystery writers have these kinds of delusions? Writing murder mysteries had warped her normal sense of decency. She stared at the computer monitor unable to think straight. With her heart vibrating, she dragged her weary body down the stairs and reached for the coffee maker. Not that caffeine would help retain her sanity.
The doorbell chimed just as coffee began to stream into the carafe. Still in her pajamas, Lucy peered through the side window. Her breath caught in her throat. Clancy stood on the porch, hair dishevelled and face pale. Next to him stood a tall, blond police officer.
She opened the door and hid behind it. “What do you doing here?”
Clancy frowned and averted his gaze. “Uh, Lucy…this is...Bobby. The friend I told you about. He wants to check out those pieces of jewelry you found.”
“What’s going on?” Lucy’s anger turned to concern. As she stepped into the doorway, she nearly forgot she was wearing a thin bathrobe over her nightgown until Clancy’s mouth dropped and his gaze wandered from her bare feet upward. She tightened her robe and folded her arms over her chest. A feeble attempt to cover her torso.
Out on her front lawn, a small band of police officers assembled on her front lawn armed with boxes and bags, her jaw dropped. “You brought the cops here? Are you kidding? If Roger finds out, he’ll kill me.”
Clancy held up his hands and reached to pull her into a hug. “Lucy, I don’t want you to get into even more trouble. I think you were right. Those pieces could be vital to Bobby’s case. You need to let them come in and make sure there’s nothing else Roger’s hiding that could help their case.”
“I’m still asleep, right?” She shook her head and backed away. “Please tell me this isn’t really happening.”
The officer stepped forward and handed her a card and a folded piece of paper. “No, ma’am. You’re wide awake and this is no joke. My name is Bobby Holland. Clancy told me about the jewelry you discovered and my team would like to search your house. I do have a search warrant, but I’d prefer if you let us in without incident.”
“Oh, wow.” Lucy’s lower lip quivered. “I’m not even dressed yet. ”
Bobby was all business. “We can wait a couple minutes, but we’re not leaving the premises until we conduct our search.”
Clancy still seemed distracted by her pink satin bathrobe. “We need to come in, Lucy.”
“Let me get dressed.” Lucy started to close the door, but when her eyes met Clancy’s she reconsidered and stepped aside. “The coffee should be ready. Help yourselves. Since you’re going to search my house anyway, you should be able to find everything.”
“That’s really nice of you, Mrs. Stephen. Thank you.” Bobby’s smile did little to calm her looming panic attack.
She led them to the kitchen then opened the cupboard for mugs. While Bobby poured coffee, Clancy followed Lucy to the stairs. She wheeled around with tears welled in her eyes. “What have you done?”
“I want to help you.” His concern made her knees weak. “You don’t seem like the kind of lady to be involved with whatever your husband’s up to and I don’t want you to suffer for his crimes.”
“What crimes? You don’t even know if he’s done anything.” Her face grew hot and she pushed him away. “You’d better hope Roger doesn’t find out the police were here. He’ll go nuts the
n I’ll be in trouble and I’ll never get my kids back.” She tightened her jaw. “I’ll be right down. After I get dressed, you can leave.”
“No, I’m not going to leave you alone. I’ll wait in the kitchen.” Clancy stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You and I can wait in the backyard until the cops are done.”
“This is not going to end well.” She muttered then climbed the stairs. Half-way up, she checked over her shoulder to make sure he’d stayed put. Only his sad gaze followed.
By the time Lucy returned to the kitchen, the coffee pot and cups were empty. Clancy slouched at the table flipping through a copy of her completed manuscript The Deceivers while Bobby roamed the house taking pictures with an expensive looking camera.
“Leave that alone.” She snatched her manuscript from him and stuck it on top of the refrigerator like he was one of her kids. He reddened and he sat upright. “Hey.”
“What is that?” Bobby crossed the room in three large steps.
“My manuscript.” Lucy shot Clancy a glare then turned to Bobby. “So where do you want to look first?”
“We were just talking about that.” Bobby’s eyebrows rose. “You’re a writer? What do you write?”
She bit her lip. “Mysteries.”
Bobby glanced at the refrigerator. “Has Roger ever read your manuscript?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “Roger thinks my writing’s a frivolous hobby and I should give up. He’s never read a word I’ve written. Why?”
“Still, I’d like a copy anyway, if I may.” Bobby fingered his camera then moved into the livingroom and took pictures of her family photos and the books on her shelves. “My men are going to start in the basement then spread out. We’ll be done in no time unless we find something incriminating.”
Lucy gnawed on her thumb. She didn’t like Bobby’s evasive answers, nor the lack of answers. “So what do you want me to do?”