Laina Turner - Presley Thurman 08 - Vows & Victims (12 page)

“OK. I just wonder how she got my number.” A thought I was still mulling over when we pulled up in front of Edna’s house.

She was sitting on her front porch, presumably waiting for us.

“It’s about time you showed up. I could be dead by now.”

I started laughing. “I somehow think you’ll live for a while.”

We joined her on the porch where she had a tray set out with lemonade and what looked to be ice tea, glasses and ice in a glass bucket. Clearly, she had expected me to hop right on over. She must have known my curiosity would get the best of me.

“Have a seat and help yourself to drinks. I’m not going to wait on you.”

“Is this ice tea?” I said, pointing at the dark liquid.

“Yes, but be careful, it’s strong.”

I poured some ice tea, and Katy got some lemonade, then we sat down in the chairs facing Edna.

“Edna, before you tell me what you brought me here for I have to ask—how did you get my number?”

“You think you young kids are the only ones who can use the Internet? Not hard to track down anyone these days.”

Wow. I was impressed. My mom, who was younger than this woman, didn’t even like email.

“What? Did you just Google me?”

“Facebook. Your phone number’s on there. You should probably change your privacy setting. It’s not really safe for a young lady to have her phone number where just anyone can get it. There’s a lot of crazies out there.”

“You are absolutely right. I didn’t realize my number was visible, but I’m glad it was, or you wouldn’t have found me so easily.” I took a sip of the ice tea and promptly spit it out, choking.

“I told you it was strong.”

When she had said strong, I thought she meant ice tea strong. Not strong because it tasted more like a Long Island ice tea. There was alcohol in this drink and it wasn’t for the fainthearted. I noticed she had a tumbler half full on the table next to her. It took my appreciation of her to a whole new level. She was my kind of woman.

Taking a much smaller sip this time, the alcohol only making my throat burn slightly, I asked her what it was she wanted to tell me.

“Someone else came looking for Jeff.”

My interest perked up. “Who?”

“I’m getting to that. Some pushy, large man.”

I took another careful sip of the iced tea, and while it was getting easier to drink, I decided if I had any more, I would probably fall asleep. It was that strong. Edna had drained half her glass and it didn’t seem to faze her at all.

“And he didn’t give a name?”

“He said he was looking for Jeff. That Jeff had some important documents he needed. He got very belligerent when I told him Jeff was gone and he needed to leave. He didn’t like that answer. He was very uptight, wringing his hands, very nervous.”

I thought for a minute, then had an idea of who it might be. The very nervous, wringing hands part tipped me off. I took out my phone and went to the browser. Pulling up Mills and Associates, I went to the agents tab. I clicked on the image of Jonathan Mills and then blew it up a little and handed my phone to Edna.

“Is this the guy?”

“Yes. That’s just a better picture than what he looked like when he was here. He seemed about five seconds from a heart attack or stroke or something.”

I turned to Katy. “Why do you suppose Jonathan wanted to talk to Jeff?”

She shrugged, but Edna answered.

“Jeff was a CPA. Maybe Jonathan had worked with him in the past?”

“Jeff was an accountant?” I asked.

“For one of the biggest firms in town,” Edna said.

“And you’ve never seen this man around here before?”

“I don’t routinely spy on my neighbors. So, no.”

I found that a little hard to believe, but I wasn’t going to say anything. “I’m glad you called, Edna. It was nice visiting with you,” I said, standing up.

“I must say you passed the test of coming out here to see an old lady.”

“Any time, Edna. I may just drop by and visit for some of that great tea.”

That got a smile out of her. “We’ll see.”

We walked to my car and I handed my keys to Katy. “I’m not sure I should drive. I only had a little of that iced tea, but I think I would still blow the legal limit. Damn, that stuff was strong.”

Katy laughed and we got in the car.

“Since we’re already out this way, would you mind seeing if we can find those two unhappy housewives Tobey and I were going to go see?”

“Sure. As I said earlier, I’ve got plenty of time. What’s the first address?”

Tobey texted me the directions and I told Katy to head to Highway 41 and go north.

“Do you think Jonathan really did business with Jeff West? It seems like he would use a local accounting firm in Alkon. You know, keep it in the community.”

“Funny you should say that. I was thinking the same thing. Made me wonder if maybe Jonathan wasn’t trying to talk to Jeff for some other reason. “

“What? You think maybe that was just something he told Edna? I guess he did say only business, not accounting. Jeff may have been buying real estate.”

“Maybe. I was actually wondering if Jeff might have been trading services.”

Katy took her eyes off the road for a second to glance at me. “You mean he might have been doing Bethany as well as her books?”

I laughed. “That’s an interesting way to put it, but yes. So maybe Jonathan wants those records for some reason. Oh. Turn left up there and the subdivision should be on the left,” I said to her, calling out the directions showing on my phone.

We found the place easily enough, the Jonathan topic put on hold for just a moment.

“This is where Diane Abbott lives. Rachel, the girl we talked to said she was very unhappy with Bethany for leading her husband off the straight and narrow.”

“Well, let’s see what she has to say,” Katy said.

Our knock on the door was answered by a pretty woman, probably late thirties. A toddler was hanging on to her leg.

She smiled at us and said, “How can I help you?”

“Diane Abbott?” I asked, wanting to make sure I had the right person.

“Yes.”

I introduced the two of us and then hoped what I was about to ask wouldn’t get the door slammed in our faces.

“We were wondering if you would talk to us for a minute about Bethany Granville,” I said, almost cringing, expecting her to yell at us or something.

To her credit, she maintained composure, barely flinching. So either she was a very controlled person or she didn’t care anymore. Though with a toddler, I couldn’t imagine the latter being true.

“What about her?” she finally said.

“I’m sure you heard she was murdered?”

“And you think I did it?” She snorted. “I already told the police I wouldn’t waste my time on that trash. Plus, I was out of town visiting my sister when she was killed. Now if you don’t mind, I have things to do,” she said, closing the door.

I turned to Katy, “Well, I guess she has an alibi.”

“True, but we don’t know any more than we did.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky at the next house.”

We were driving and I couldn’t help but think about the plan Dirt had to clear his name.

“Do you think Dirt’s plan will work?” I finally asked Katy.

“I don’t know. It seems a little like grasping at straws, but I can’t think of anything better.”

“Me, either.”

“Did you call Cooper?”

“And tell him Dirt’s plan?”

“Yeah.”

“I left a voicemail and I haven’t heard back from him, but I know he’s busy.” Since things had seemed a little less tense last time we talked I wanted to believe he was just busy and not avoiding me.

“He’ll call back. What house number are we looking for?”

“1927.” We pulled up in front of a nondescript ranch home. There were kids’ toys on the front lawn and a Prius in the driveway.

“Well, she’s eco–friendly,” Katy said, pointing at the Prius.

Walking up to the front door, I hoped we would be more successful this time. We were running out of options.

“We might not get very far with this one,” Katy said.

“Why?”

“Look at the lawn. It hasn’t been mowed. The mailbox post is rolled and flowerbeds are overrun with weeds.

I looked at her strangely. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“These are all things that a husband might do. I can tell it hasn’t been that long that the flower beds or the grass have been abandoned, so my guess is her husband recently moved out and she’s too depressed to do these things, or I’m just completely off base and making things up.”

“Sounds good to me. I would have never thought of all that, but it makes complete sense.”

“You don’t live in a home with a yard, so you just don’t think about it the way I do.”

“True.” My condo in Chicago had a doorman and a small dog run for those pet lovers. Not a yard and outdoor responsibilities.

I knocked on the door and after a few seconds when I didn’t get a response, I knocked again.

“I swear I heard Trish moving around in there,” I said to Katy after still no response.

“Yeah, me too. Maybe she just doesn’t like opening her door to strangers.”

I tried once more, knocking hard this time and still nothing.

“I saw a curtain move. At least I think I did,” Katy said. “Someone is in there. They just clearly don’t want to come to the door.”

I sighed in frustration. I was stumped and wasn’t sure as to what the next move should be to get closer to finding who killed Bethany.

“Come on, Pres. Let’s go. We can’t camp out on her front porch,” Katy said and started walking back to the car.

Since she was right, of course, I had no choice but to follow her.

We were heading back out of the subdivision when I just happened to glance at my side mirror. I sat up a little more quickly, and looked more closely.

“Pull into the next side street.”

“What?” Katy asked.

“Just turn right up there.” I pointed to an offshoot from the main. “Here, quick. Turn around so we’re facing the main road again and pull over.”

“What is going on?” Katy said, doing as I asked.

“Shh…just a second.” I watched the main road and a few second later the Prius that had been in Trish’s driveway drove by with a brunette at the wheel.

“Guess someone was in the house ignoring our knocks,” I said.

“Apparently.”

“Let’s follow her,” I said.

Katy pulled out and turned back onto the main road just in time to see Trish turn left onto Highway 41. Katy pulled out a few car lengths behind her.

“Don’t get too close. I don’t want her to notice she’s being followed.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t want to lose her,” Katy said.

After about ten minutes, we were definitely headed out of Clermont. I wondered where she was going. I initially had figured we would be wasting our time, that she was headed to the grocery store or something. But once she passed the turn off to go into town I had no clue. She could be going anywhere.

“Do you think she might be headed to Alkon?” I asked Katy.

“It kind of looks that way. I mean, what else is out this way?”

“Hmm, it will be interesting to see where in Alkon she’s headed then.”

Trish made it into Alkon for sure, but then she went all the way through town.

“Where in the hell is she going?” I wondered out loud. “We’re almost out of our town.”

“I don’t know, but if she doesn’t stop soon, we will have to. We’re almost on empty and your light just came on.”

“Dammit. OK. We still have about forty miles of gas left but you’re right, if she starts to head out of town, we’ll have to stop.”

There was a car in between Trish’s and ours, but I was watching and could see her brake lights come on.

“She’s slowing down,” I said to Katy. “She’s pulling into Mills and Associates. Drive ahead to the next building.”

Next to the strip that housed Mills and Associates was a family restaurant, and if she hadn’t noticed us following her yet she probably wouldn’t notice us parked over here.

Katy pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and turned before she parked so we had a perfect view of the offices. But it wasn’t as if we could see inside, so right now that didn’t much help.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be like Superman and see through walls?” I said.

“Sometimes. Not sure I’d want to see through everyone’s walls. Some things should be kept private.”

“The door’s opening. Whatever business she had didn’t last long.”

“Why didn’t she just use the phone?” Katy said.

“Ooh, look. Something’s going on,” I sat forward, excited, as I saw Trish walk out of the building, Jonathan on her heels. I saw him grab her arm to stop her, and she turned around and pushed him. He fell back a step because he clearly wasn’t expecting it. I could tell they were angry, but of course from here I had no idea what they were saying. A few more heated exchanges and then Trish stuck her finger in Jonathan’s chest, poking him several times until she finally turned around and stalked to her car.

She headed back the way we had just come and I assumed maybe she was going home. Of course, I didn’t know for sure. And we didn’t have enough gas to follow her anyway.

“What now?” asked Katy.

“Dare we go in and talk to Jonathan?”

“It might liven up our day. Why not?”

Katy made the quick hop to his parking lot and we walked into his office. He charged out of his office to the front reception area with a scowl on his face, which changed to a semi–smile when he saw us. I had a feeling he thought it might have been Trish coming back.

“What do you want?” he said gruffly, super nice salesman persona very absent today.

“Nice to see you again, too, Jonathan.”

He sighed and to his credit tried to put on a friendly smile. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough day. What can I help you ladies with?”

“What were you fighting with Trish Young about?” I said bluntly, deciding there was no reason to beat around the bush. It quickly brought the scowl back to his face.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we had some matters to discuss.”

“It looked like you were arguing.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” His eyes narrowed. “Were you spying on us?”