The Missing Piece

by Sala, Sharon

  Satisfied she was where she said she’d be and that she was safe, he went upstairs, picked up his laptop and went back to his suite to go through his email. Work was another way of filing away the heartache of Annie’s unstoppable descent. All he knew was that he felt off-kilter. This case needed to be over. It was already so convoluted, but it had to come to an end. He needed to go home and put his world back in order.

  * * *

  Wyrick walked until the truth of her existence was neatly put away again, then came back inside and went upstairs.

  The door was still open between their suites, but Charlie was absent. Good, she thought and started pulling up everything she could find on Vivian Morrow Deutsch.

  Nineteen

  It was nearing dinnertime when Wyrick logged off and went to change. She switched from the jeans and the big shirt to a black long-sleeved jumpsuit. The neckline mimicked a priest’s collar, including the little white tab below her chin. The back of the jumpsuit was bare to her waist.

  Her heels were red spiked Louboutins. They matched the bloodred color on her mouth, making her lips rather than her lack of hair the focus.

  She was leaving her bedroom when someone knocked on her outer door.

  “It’s open,” she said.

  Charlie walked in and stopped. Damn!

  She looked up long enough to indulge in one of her many fantasies about him, then frowned because he was still staring.

  “What?”

  Charlie blinked. “Trying to decide if I should confess my sins now or later.”

  “I’m ignoring you. Are you going down to dinner?”

  He nodded, then as she sauntered toward him, he caught a glimpse of red shoes. A priest collar, and hell-bent red on her feet. And then she passed him on the way out, giving him more than a good view of her bare back, and another piece of that dragon tattoo—this time a foot climbing up her body.

  The dichotomy of piety and temptation was too much to ignore. He said nothing, but when he slammed the door behind him, Wyrick had one moment of satisfaction that, once again, she’d rattled his cage.

  They went downstairs in silence and entered the dining room the same way, but once they crossed that threshold, Wyrick dialed herself down and she and Charlie cordially greeted the family.

  “Good evening!” Carter echoed.

  Dina was wearing a summer gown, a pale butter yellow, blinged out with an embarrassing amount of Swarovski crystals and something else—an engagement ring, finally—on her hand.

  Wyrick immediately spotted it and smiled. “It appears congratulations are in order tonight. Best wishes to both of you,” she said.

  “What did I miss?” Charlie asked.

  Edward piped up from the far end of the table. “What’s going on?”

  Carter heard Edward’s question as he entered the room.

  “Dina and Kenneth are officially engaged,” he said. “Kenneth asked for my blessing, which was unnecessary but very thoughtful, and of course I gave it on behalf of the family.”

  “Wonderful!” Edward said, and clapped. “We should drink a toast to this. Congratulations, Dina and Kenneth. I am very happy for both of you.”

  Dina gave Wyrick a teary smile for noticing while Kenneth beamed.

  “I also asked Jason for his blessing, and he gave it,” Kenneth said. “We both want the same thing for Dina, which is to see her happy.”

  Carter sat down just as Ruth stepped into the room.

  “Ruth, we’ll be needing a bottle of one of our best champagnes for a toast.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said and left to fulfill the request.

  A few minutes later, she came back with a bottle of Dom Pérignon on ice. Carter eyed the label and nodded.

  “A 2004 vintage! Excellent choice, Ruth.”

  “Thank you,” she said, then skillfully opened the bottle as Arnetta came hurrying in with a tray of champagne flutes and placed one at each seating.

  Ruth looked concerned. “If I’d known there was something special to celebrate, I would have had your sommelier come in.”

  “No need,” Carter said. “This is a family event. We’ll save him for our large gatherings.”

  Ruth filled the glasses and slipped out of the room as Carter stood and raised his glass.

  “To Dina and Kenneth, and the ties that bind. We wish you both a long and loving union.”

  “Hear, hear!” Edward said.

  Dina was beaming.

  Wyrick had one brief pang of longing for what she’d never had, and then it was gone as she lifted the champagne flute to her lips and took a slow sip, savoring the taste and the sparkle as she swallowed.

  Charlie smiled in all the right places, and laughed at someone’s joke, and tried not to think of how this family would fare when the truth about the attacks was made known.

  Once the celebration was finished, the meal began.

  They went through the first course and then the second, and were waiting on the entrée to be served when the conversation rolled around to young love.

  Carter was the first to mention his, and it was obvious the family knew the story well, because every time he tried to talk about the incident, Dina interrupted and corrected his version of the tale. Finally, Carter held up his hand.

  “Dina! This was my girlfriend, not yours.”

  “But I knew her,” Dina muttered.

  “So did I, but you weren’t in the backseat with her, and I was!” Carter said, which made everyone laugh, even Dina. “Since Dina and Kenneth just got officially engaged, I don’t think we need revelations about past loves from them.” He looked straight at Charlie. “What about you, cowboy?”

  The reference to Texas made everyone smile, including Charlie.

  “My life is an open book. My wife was my first love, and she still is,” he said.

  When Carter glanced at Wyrick, she stared back without comment. Carter quickly moved to Edward.

  “Eddie, fess up! You’re five years older than me, so there’s bound to be someone from your past that we know nothing about.”

  Edward smiled. “I did a little socializing when I was younger, but the only girl who stayed in my memory came along after I went blind.” At that moment, the room went silent, with everyone listening as Edward’s tale unwound. “It was New Year’s Eve and my friends had talked me into going to a party with them. I was hesitant, but they swore the guests would be people I already knew, so I gave in. I was having an okay time drinking spiked punch and listening to the sounds of a party without being an actual part of it. And then a woman’s voice was in my ear, asking me if I’d dance with her to ring in the New Year.”

  “Oh, Edward, that sounds so romantic,” Dina said.

  Edward managed a wry grin, but it was obvious he was moved by the memory.

  “I told her I would be honored, but since I couldn’t see, it was very likely that I’d stomp on everyone’s toes. She said we’d go into the library across the hall so we couldn’t bump into anything but the furniture. She said we’d still hear the music from in there, and she promised to watch out for her own feet. She made me laugh, and so I went.”

  He paused, silent for a moment, remembering. Then he sighed. “It was the first time I’d touched a girl since I went blind, and it was my last dance with one, as well. The night was... It was... She was... She was special, and that’s my best memory.”

  Wyrick leaned forward. The move was barely noticeable, except to Charlie, because her hand was locked onto his forearm and he didn’t think she even knew it.

  “What was her name, Edward?” Wyrick asked.

  “Vivie. She called herself Vivie. I didn’t get a last name, and it didn’t matter.”

  Charlie grieved at the revelation and what it was going to do to Edward. Wyrick wouldn’t look at him, but he felt her squeeze his arm.

 
“That’s a beautiful story,” Wyrick said. “Thank you for sharing it.”

  “I never knew a bit of this, Eddie. You’re a heck of a guy and my favorite brother, but don’t tell Ted,” Carter said.

  Everyone laughed, and the mood became even more cheerful when the entrée was served.

  The meal finally came to an end, and when everyone began moving to the library for nightcaps, the back of Wyrick’s jumpsuit, or the lack thereof, triggered a whole new drama of its own.

  “Wyrick, at the risk of getting my feet cut out from under me again, may I say the bits and pieces of your badass tattoo are intriguing. We have a dragon topiary in the heather gardens,” Carter said.

  “We’ve met.” Wyrick followed Charlie to the bar.

  “What’ll it be, pardner?” Charlie asked as he moved behind it.

  “Sparkling water with a twist of lime,” Wyrick told him.

  A couple of minutes later, he handed it to her, then poured brandy for Carter. Edward passed on any more alcohol, and not long afterward, it was his decision to go to bed that ended the evening.

  Charlie and Wyrick ascended the stairs in silence and said nothing until they reached her room. The moment the door shut behind them, they looked at each other in disbelief, and then Charlie started talking.

  “Can you believe what just happened? A random conversation at dinner, and all of a sudden another piece of the puzzle falls in our laps.”

  Wyrick’s face was emotionless, but her voice was not. “Neither Vivian nor Edward could have dreamed what the consequences of that night would be. Edward was blind, and so much older than Vivian, that I think Miranda automatically excluded him. And she took a wild guess that Ted would’ve been too young, which left Carter, but she was wrong,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie nodded. “We can’t be sure why she wanted him dead, but it now seems likely that she’s behind it all.”

  “If I can find a trail of payments going out to three different people, we’ve got her,” Wyrick said.

  “In the morning,” Charlie said. “We’ll search more in the morning.”

  “Agreed. I’m ready to turn off my thoughts,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie grimaced. “If only that was possible.”

  “Right, if only,” Wyrick said.

  She wasn’t about to tell him she knew how to turn off all thought and just be. She’d already revealed more about herself than she’d meant to. It was not good for her peace of mind to be living next door to the boss. It made her careless.

  “See you in the morning, and great job,” Charlie said, then went into his room and pulled the adjoining door shut.

  Wyrick locked herself in and spent the next few minutes getting ready for bed. Finally, she crawled between the sheets and logged out of her thoughts, just like she logged out of her computer.

  * * *

  Even without a motive to tie her to Carter and Jason Dunleavy’s case, Detective Bruner was coming to believe Miranda Deutsch was their best lead, but he had to be damn careful about how he proved it without some snitch in the department alerting the media. Blaming someone like her for criminal activities without the backup to prove it got people fired and police departments sued.

  What he needed was motive and a money trail from Miranda to Wilma, Rey and Buddy. He’d put one of their best guys on the research, and now all they could do was wait to see what turned up. There was no one left to interview.

  It was late, and he was tired of dealing with murder and deceit for today. The sun was setting as he left the precinct, and as he headed west, a beautiful sunset led him home.

  * * *

  Wyrick was already at work, looking for a money trail, when Charlie showed up to walk her to breakfast. He realized, as he approached the table where she was working, that the cut on her head had healed and the bruises were so faint now that he’d forgotten they’d been there.

  “I’m not going to get dressed and sit through a whole hour or more of conversation when we need to figure this out before someone else winds up dead,” she said.

  “If I had someone to tail, I wouldn’t be going, either,” Charlie said. “Okay if I ask Ruth to bring you up some coffee and a Danish?”

  “Yes.”

  Charlie rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome,” he said before shutting the door without so much as a click.

  Wyrick ignored him. She was already into Miranda Deutsch’s business.

  But when Charlie showed up alone, everyone assumed she was ill.

  “Is Wyrick okay?” Carter asked. “If she’s not feeling well, I can call our doctor to stop by.”

  “She’s fine,” Charlie said. “She’s busy working and didn’t want to leave what she’s doing.”

  “We can send her some food,” Dina said. “Sometimes I have breakfast in the suite, especially if I’m not feeling up to par.”

  Ruth overheard the remark as she came in with a basket of hot biscuits and set them on the sideboard.

  “I’ll see to getting a tray to her,” Ruth said. “What does she want?”

  “Coffee and a Danish...or any kind of sweet roll,” Charlie said.

  Ruth smiled. “I’ll get it sent right up.”

  “Thank you,” Charlie said and went to the sideboard to serve himself. Those hot biscuits were calling his name.

  As the meal progressed, Charlie became quieter. He couldn’t help thinking about what they knew and the Dunleavys didn’t. It wasn’t as if any of them had betrayed the others, but it was going to impact Edward and Jason the most. One had a daughter he never knew existed, and the other had fathered a child who’d been aborted without his knowledge.

  Carter noticed his silence, and when Charlie glanced up and caught him staring, Carter reacted.

  “What’s wrong, Charlie Dodge?”

  Charlie shifted into his poker face. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking through everything we’ve learned so far, and trying to make sense of it. As you know from Detective Bruner’s visit, it’s more complicated than we first thought. I’m afraid my social manners are still in mothballs, which is where I put them when Annie had to leave our home.”

  “No apologies necessary. But ask if you ever need anything,” Carter said.

  “I will. If you’ll all excuse me, it’s time I got to work, too. If anything breaks, you’ll be the first to know.”

  * * *

  Wyrick was licking sugar off her finger and watching one of her search apps sort through data, knowing if there was any data anywhere that had to do with money and Miranda Deutsch, this app would find it for her. She’d written the program she was using, and while it was very effective, it also broke a good number of privacy laws.

  She wiped her finger on her jeans and was reaching for her coffee when a digital voice from the computer program suddenly cried out, “Hallelujah!”

  Wyrick grinned as a new screen opened on the monitor. It was a financial readout of a trust fund belonging to Miranda Deutsch, and up until four months ago, no withdrawals had ever been made. The first withdrawal was for half a million dollars. Within a week, another one for fifty thousand, and yet another for two hundred thousand, withdrawn the same day Jason Dunleavy was shot. And there was a matching deposit the next day.

  Just then, Charlie walked in.

  She jumped up, pointing at the screen.

  Charlie knew from the gleam in her eyes that she’d found something.

  Wyrick started rattling off her latest revelations. “First off, I found registration for a handgun in Miranda Deutsch’s name, and it’s the same make as the one used to kill Buddy Pierce and Rey Garza. And then this!”

  Charlie leaned over to look at the screen.

  “This resembles a bank statement, but it’s not. What am I looking at?”

  “A readout of cash withdrawals from a trust fund belonging to Miranda Deutsch. There’s the half-
million-dollar amount we were looking for. And here’s another withdrawal for fifty thousand soon afterward, maybe for Buddy Pierce. And here’s the third withdrawal on the day Jason was shot, but it went back in the next day. So why—”

  Charlie grinned. “You did it! Hot damn, girl, you did it! Don’t you see? The breakup between Jason and Miranda was unexpected and he’d never been a target of hers before, so she didn’t have a chance to pay anyone ahead of time. This was going to be a payment on completion of the job. And when Garza didn’t kill Jason, she killed him and put it back.”

  “That’s it!” Wyrick said, then shook her head. “I know how to do all kinds of things, and I can make money hand over fist, but I still don’t understand human emotions.”

  Charlie frowned. “Why not?”

  “Oh, I meant because of how isolated I was from interaction with normal people.”

  “Oh. Yes, I can see that,” he said. “For a minute I thought you were going to try and make me believe you were an alien life-form, and I was gonna call bullshit on the whole story.”

  Wyrick laughed. “I’ve had plenty of people think I was an alien, but I’m an Earth hatchling. Now, how do we do this? I can’t tell your detective how I found this. But can we tell him it’s there, and he’ll go through the proper channels to get the same info?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” Charlie said.

  “So what are you waiting for?” she asked. “What I want to know—and we’ll only find out if Miranda talks—is why she wanted to kill off her birth father, or rather the man she believes is her birth father—and the baby of the man she supposedly loved.”

  “Bruner’s going to need motive, so it’s time to give up the DNA and abortion info, too. Are there any records of her paying for the abortion that we can access legally?” Charlie asked.

  Wyrick grinned. “Actually, she paid for it with a credit card, and I’m guessing they have an accountant who just pays the bills without questioning the expenditures. I guess she thought if it wasn’t filed through insurance, no one would know. Let me start printing hard copies of what we have.”