3 The Chain of Lies (8 page)

Emily felt a little jab of envy at the sight of them, wishing she could go somewhere and totally relax without a care in the world. Someday, she promised herself, she would take a vacation too—when Evan’s murder was solved.

As the claw-foot tub filled, she slipped out of her clothes and set her towel on the vanity chair, laying her phone on top. She climbed into the tub and immersed herself, still feeling a little unnerved and exposed.

Leaning back, she closed her eyes and tried to rest, but the thought that someone might be right outside her window kept her on edge.

As the warm water finally began to relax her, Emily mulled over the pieces of her puzzle.

Natalia was Jethro’s daughter. Was Delia also his daughter? Evan had said in the note he felt guilty for getting Natalia killed. Jethro had said when he was showing Evan’s photo around to his colleagues, that someone had mentioned something about revenge for her death.

Isabel had explained that Jethro had moved to Boise from Virginia recently, after retiring from the FBI. Had Delia given him her late husband’s black BMW after his death, maybe before Jethro’s move to Boise? Is that why it still had Virginia plates?

Did Delia know Evan was involved in Natalia’s death? If so, why would she have hired him to investigate her husband? And where did the file go, the photos and reports of the work he had done for her? Did his murderer take the file? Why wasn’t the background check in that file?

Emily had chosen to take a bubble bath hoping for relaxation, but as her mind began to unwind, the questions flew at her in rapid success, one after the other. There was no rest in it whatsoever, only more questions. She dragged herself out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her breasts, tucking it in beneath her arm.

She threw on her jeans and a knit top and decided to make herself a cup of Chamomile tea, hoping that would help. While she waited for the tea kettle to whistle, she sat at the breakfast bar and opened her laptop to cruise the Amazon.com site for a while, hoping to occupy her mind with something else.

Colin phoned. Emily smiled as his photo popped up on the screen of her cell phone.

“Hello, Colin.”

“Hey, Babe, how’s your day going?”

“I took Isabel out to the storage unit.”

“How’d that go? Did you girls find anything useful?”

“Actually, yes. We found a printout of a background check Evan had done on Delia McCall.”

“Why is that important?”

“Delia
Banderas
McCall.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“I didn’t tell you about the note I found, did I?” she asked sheepishly.

“Note? What note?”

“I found a note Evan had left me in the safe deposit box. I hadn’t seen it before when I first checked the box.”

“When exactly did you find this note?” The suspicious tone of his voice told her he wasn’t pleased she had kept this from him.

“Right before you left. Are you sure I didn’t mention it to you?” She tried to shift the onus on him. After all, she hadn’t been sure she could trust him until she had spoken to his old friend, Ernie, the night of the party at Isabel’s, which put her suspicions about Colin to rest. Then later that same night, Colin had professed his love for her. That wouldn’t have been the time to tell him about the note. Then he was leaving for San Francisco early the next morning. She knew she was making excuses, but she hoped he’d let it go.

“No, I’d remember something like that.” His voice was flat and almost accusatory. “Tell me now.”

“Please don’t be cross with me. I’m sorry. It must have slipped my mind. I have had a few other things jostling for front position lately.” She waited for his response, which took a painful few seconds for him to formulate.

“All right. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I’d hate to think you were keeping something from me on purpose.”

“I promise, from now on I’ll be totally upfront with you, whenever I can.”

Colin choked out a sarcastic snicker. “What do you mean
whenever you can?
”

“Look, Colin. I want to be honest with you about everything. But in my line of work, as in yours, there will always be things we can’t divulge.” She hoped he would understand. She also hoped he wouldn’t notice that the note had nothing to do with her work.

“Keeping something confidential is one thing. Hiding something is another entirely. I need to know I can trust you, Emily.”

It felt peculiar having the trust-table turned on her. “Okay then. You can’t see me, but I’m raising my right hand to take an oath. I promise from here on out, not to hide anything from you. I want you to trust me, to be confident that I love you and I have our best interest as a couple at heart.”

“I can live with that.”

“I want to hear you say it too. Raise your right hand.”

Colin repeated her promise, word for word, in his deep, rich voice, and she enjoyed hearing every syllable of it. As for the hand, well, he didn’t say.

“Now tell me about the note,” he insisted.

CHAPTER 7

When Emily arrived at Isabel’s, she was mixing together a big green salad. Alex was out on the patio trying a new recipe for grilled pizza.

“Grilled pizza?” Emily was a little dubious. She peeked out the window at him standing before the hot grill. “Has he ever grilled pizza before?”

“No. It was a recipe he found in a magazine and wanted to try it.” Isabel brought the large glass salad bowl from the kitchen island to the table. “I got a text from Maggie and Molly this afternoon.”

“Me too, with a photo. They looked like they were having fun.”

“It’s good to see Maggie smiling again, what with her son having been arrested and all.” Isabel opened the refrigerator and hunted for something.

“Not to mention the scumbag she was engaged to,” Emily added, noticing four glasses on the table. “Why are there four glasses?”

“Alex didn’t know you were coming. He invited Peter.” Isabel grabbed a few bottles of dressing from the refrigerator door. “I guess Camille and Jonathan had some function to go to.”

“I see.” Emily hadn’t told Isabel about Peter having asked her out.

“Is that a problem?” Isabel grabbed a stack of dinner plates from the cabinet.

“No, why should it be?”

“Just the way you said,
I see.
”

“No problem, but—”

“But what?” Isabel stopped what she was doing and focused on Emily’s reply.

“He asked me out to dinner. Of course I said no, that I was already seeing someone. It was a little awkward, if you know what I mean.”

“I see.” Isabel chuckled as she said Emily’s words back to her.

“Say, while Alex is outside,” Emily glanced around, “before Peter gets here, why don’t I let you in on an idea I had about Jethro, or should I call him Jerry?”

“Let’s just call him Jethro, in case anyone else overhears. What’s your idea?”

“What do you think of inviting him to meet you for lunch tomorrow? I’ll find his car in the parking lot after he’s gone into the restaurant and put a tracking device on it. We can track his movements and see what he’s up to.”

“You mean see if he’s the one following you?”

“Yup.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Em, but we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“He called me this afternoon, said he’s heading out of town for a few days to do some consulting work in DC. He asked about the gun again.” Isabel paused and dipped her chin toward Emily. “He suggested taking it to DC with him in his checked luggage to have it tested at a government lab there.”

“What did you say?” Emily asked.

“I told him I didn’t know if there really was a gun, which is kind of true—I’ve never seen the gun for myself. I told him that as far as I knew it was a hypothetical question you had asked him.”

“You think he bought that?” Emily filled the glasses with iced tea.

“Probably not, but what was he going to say? Accuse me of lying?”

“I guess I’ll have to wait ’til he gets back to bug his car.”

“Bug whose car?” Alex asked as he walked through the door carrying a beautifully grilled pizza with a vaguely rectangular artisan crust.

The doorbell rang and the girls were saved. “Our guest is here, honey, right on time. Why don’t you go and let him in,” Isabel suggested as she took the pizza from him.

He glowered at them, then proceeded to the front door.

~*~

After a delicious dinner and lively conversation, the men went to the family room to watch Sunday Night Football on Alex’s seventy-inch flat screen.

Isabel and Emily puttered around the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner, giving them a chance to talk in private.

“Working on any interesting cases, Em?” Isabel put plastic wrap over the leftover salad and stuck it in the crowded refrigerator.

“Just another wife having me dig up evidence on her cheating husband.”

“Any luck?”

“I followed the guy down to a massage parlor on Overland Road, over in Boise.”

Isabel cut the peach pie she had made into wedges and scooped them onto small plates. “Oh, yeah? What’s it called?”

“The Jade Thai Spa. Why?” Emily laid a dessert fork on each plate.

“I think the Feds have been watching a few of those places.” Isabel shook the aerosol can of whipped cream.

“Really? Can you find out if that particular one is on their watch list?”

“Sure, if it’ll help.” Isabel spritzed a mound of whipped cream on each piece of pie.

“It might.” Emily moved to the sink, looking over the breakfast bar to the family room, watching the guys hollering at the screen.

“Emily?” Isabel prompted. “Emily? I asked you a question.”

“Yes, Peter is really a nice guy, I agree.”

“That’s not what I asked you. I asked if you had any other ideas about Jeth—Emily?” Isabel snapped her fingers. “Em…does Colin have something to worry about?”

“No.” She broke her stare and turned back to Isabel. “I was thinking about Maggie.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be looking for another man for Maggie? She just got out of a serious relationship, almost married the creep.”

“I know, I know. It’s just that she’s had such poor luck with men. I’d love to see Maggie with a great guy like Peter, you know, when she’s ready.”

“But Peter will only be here a little while longer, then he’s off to Seattle.”

“I know.” Emily turned back to her task and began scraping the dinner plates into the garbage disposal. “It was just a thought.” She looked up from the sink and peeked over at him once more.

Peter must have sensed her looking at him because he turned his head and met her gaze, flashing her a quick smile before returning to the football game.

Her cheeks flushed red as her stare was discovered. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea.

~*~

Before Emily went to bed that night, Colin phoned again.

“Did you do anything fun today?”

“Isabel invited me over for dinner so I wouldn’t have to spend another lonely night microwaving a frozen dinner by myself.”

“That’s good. Just you?”

Why did he have to ask that? Now she’d have to tell him about Peter. “No, I wasn’t the only one. Alex didn’t know Isabel had invited me, so he invited Peter who was going to be stuck at home alone too.”

“So it was Isabel and Alex, you and Peter—how cozy.”

She was sure she detected a hint of jealousy in his voice again. Who could blame him? Peter was a great guy, handsome, too. But Colin had to trust her or what hope was there for the two of them? Their relationship wasn’t that flimsy, was it? “Don’t be jealous, Colin. I love you and no one else.”

“I know that deep inside, but it’s nice to hear it from your lips.”

“Speaking of lips, I’m missing yours.” She cringed, wondering if that sounded too cheesy, but it was the truth.

“Well, you won’t be missing them for long.”

“What?” she shrieked with excitement. “What are you saying?”

“Looks like I’ll be back in Paradise Valley, back to my old job before long.”

“Oh, Colin, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time! I can’t wait.” She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Her hand flew to her throat as her heart fluttered in her chest, tears of joy brimming in her eyes.

“Neither can I, Babe.”

~*~

A few days later, Maggie and Molly returned from Hawaii. Camille, Jonathan, and Peter drove to the airport to pick them up.

The three sat in the waiting area, expecting the arriving passengers to come through the automatic glass doors before long. Watching through the glass, Camille noticed Peter catch sight of his niece approaching the threshold, then she saw him notice Maggie. He jumped to his feet at the sight of the stunning blonde, clad in white shorts that exposed long, tanned legs.

Camille and Jonathan hopped up and followed.