Passion, Betrayal and Killer Highlights (25 page)

“You’re in a good mood,” I noted, hanging my purse in the hall before coming into the kitchen.

“I’m in a great mood!” Leah sang. “I got the most wonderful news today.”

“Really? Do tell.” I tried to stick my finger in the mixing bowl, but Leah slapped it away.

“That reporter Jerome called me this morning.” She stopped stirring and grinned at me. “He wanted me to be the first to know that the Gatsby caved to public opinion and fired Cheryl. I called the hotel and confirmed it!” Leah clapped her hands together happily. “Tell me how great that is!”

“It’s spectacular,” I agreed. “Does this news somehow tie in to your urge to bake cookies?”

“I’m making them for the management at the Gatsby as a little thank-you, and I think I’ll make a few extra for the staff there since they’re the ones who had to put up with her all these years.”

“They’re probably planning a party.” I peered into the silver bowl. “Well, I have news, too, but if you want to hear it it’ll cost you a dough ball.”

“You’re not supposed to eat food that has raw eggs in it—it could give you salmonella or something.”

I shrugged dismissively and held my index finger above the bowl in preparation. “I like to live dangerously.”

Leah sighed and motioned for me to help myself, which I eagerly did. I let the mixture of flour, butter and sugar melt in my mouth while I figured out how to present everything to her in the most positive light. “You might want to sit, because this is pretty big.” I waited, but Leah remained standing. I took a little more dough and continued. “Taylor Blake has admitted to sleeping with your husband, and I have it on tape!” I threw my arms out in a
ta-da
-like motion.

Leah stood completely still and stared at me. “But…but there’s no way. He couldn’t have.”

“Oh, but he did,” I said. “Anatoly has the tape, and as soon as Lorenzo gets back to his office, I’m going to hand him another suspect that he can’t ignore. This could be your reasonable doubt, Leah!”

Leah blinked, and then slumped against the counter.

I dropped my arms. “You’re not happy.”

“I liked my news better.” She absently ran her dough-caked fingers through her hair. “I just don’t understand it. Taylor isn’t Bob’s type at all!”

“Leah, maybe you didn’t know Bob’s type.” I looked down at the floor. “Maybe you didn’t know Bob.”

I peeked up at her and noted the beginning of tears in the corners of her eyes. I reached out to her, but my gesture was interrupted by the sound of a buzzer.

“It’s probably Anatoly.” I went over to the intercom.
“Hola, como se llama?”

“
Me llamo
Detective Lorenzo.”

I stepped back from the intercom. Had the people at the station told him I called? But even if they had, why would he come here? I pushed the intercom button again. “Just a minute.” I went into the kitchen. “Okay, Leah, step away from the mixing bowl and get out that photo album you’ve been working on—you know, the one featuring Bob in all the stages of his miserable life. That way you’ll come across as bereaved.”

“But what about the cookies?”

“We’ll just say that I was making them.” The buzzer went off again. I threw a dishtowel at Leah. “Come on now, wipe off your hands and get the pictures. Hurry.”

I went back to the intercom. “Do you want me to come down or do you want to come up?”

“I want to come up—now.”

I looked over my shoulder. Leah had pulled out her album, along with a Tupperware container full of pictures, and was tossing them around her to look as if she had recently been sorting through them.

“Okay, I’ll buzz you in,” I sang.

Seconds after pressing the button, Lorenzo was up the stairs and standing in front of me. “Hello, Ms. Katz. Am I mistaken or were you stalling before letting me in?”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I have a horrible habit of stalling whenever an obnoxious person asks to see me. I’ve got to work on that.”

Lorenzo smiled and stepped inside my apartment. He nodded at Leah, and then at the sarongs still hanging on the wall. “I don’t think you had those up last time I was here.”

I had forgotten that Lorenzo had been here before, way back before Bob had died and I was mixed up in an entirely different murder investigation. Actually I hadn’t so much forgotten as I had purposely suppressed the memory. I followed Lorenzo’s gaze to my carefully covered mirrors. “It’s part of sitting shiva,” I said. “This is how Jews mourn the loss of loved ones.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep, we hang sarongs over the mirrors.”

Lorenzo nodded as if he had heard this before.

“Leah’s been putting together a photo album with all her favorite pictures of Bob.” I pointed to the pictures scattered about.

“Great. Mind if I sit?” he asked after making himself comfortable in a dining room chair.

I took a seat opposite him. “Did the guys at the station tell you Anatoly called?”

“I got the message,” Lorenzo said. His eyes never left mine.

I was being studied but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

“Anatoly and I had a little talk with Taylor Blake today—that would be the former CFO at Chalet.com.”

“Really?” Lorenzo’s voice didn’t hint at any interest.

“Yep,” I said, forcing myself to keep my rising nervousness under control. “It seems that Taylor had a thing for her subordinates. One subordinate in particular. I don’t suppose you’d like to guess who that was, would you?”

“If I answer correctly do I get a cigar?”

“No, but you might get a new suspect. She was sleeping with Bob.”

Lorenzo lifted his chin. “And she admitted this?”

“Yep.”

“And how does this give me a new suspect?”

“What do you mean, how?” I fell back in my chair, confused. “She had an affair with Bob, her boss found out and asked for her resignation—and guess who was offered her job as soon as she relented and quit?”

“I feel certain that you’re going to tell me.”

“Damn right! The job was offered to Bob! He screwed her, both literally and figuratively. Now tell me that doesn’t give you the perfect motive for murder.”

“Do you have any evidence of this?”

“Ah.” I shook my finger at him teasingly. I was feeling less nervous now that I was about to play my trump card. “You think that this is all hearsay. You think that if you ask Taylor about any of this, she’ll deny it and you’ll be back to square one.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m exactly at square one.” Lorenzo’s eyes traveled to Leah, who was hunched over a photograph of Bob standing in front of a Dairy Queen.

“Whatever. It just so happens I have the best evidence of all. I have Taylor’s confession on tape. Anatoly recorded the whole thing.”

Lorenzo shook his head. “I hate it when PIs take it upon themselves to do things like that.”

“You just hate being wrong.”

“No, my main goal is to find the person responsible for killing Bob Miller. Whomever that person may be.” His eyes went back to Leah. “I would be very interested in hearing that tape.”

I stood up. “I’ll call Anatoly right now and ask him to bring it over.”

Lorenzo held up his hand to stop me. “Before we do that, let me ask you a question—when’s the last time you talked to Erika Wong?”

The nervousness came back with a whole new force. “Erika?” I repeated. “I don’t know. Leah, how long has it been since we’ve seen Erika?”

Leah and I had practiced for this. She looked up from her pictures and chewed on her lower lip while I fixed Lorenzo with an inquisitive stare.

“I haven’t talked to her in days,” Leah said truthfully. Of course we had
seen
her last night but she hadn’t been talking. “Why? Is there something wrong?”

“How many days precisely?” Lorenzo pulled out his handy notebook without bothering to answer Leah’s question.

I couldn’t help but note that he hadn’t pulled it out when I was giving him the information about Taylor.

“Um, I don’t know….” Leah pressed her hands together as she struggled to answer Lorenzo’s question. “Before Bob’s—before I found him.” She looked down at the pictures and swallowed hard. “I had spoken to her that morning. I wanted her to help me figure out a way to win him back. She was so kind and…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away as if to hide her tears.

“I’ve spoken to Erika since then—a few times,” I volunteered. “I went by her work to ask her to help with the memorial service, and she called me two days ago and asked if I could pick up Bob’s personal effects.”

“Did you?” Lorenzo asked without looking up from his notebook.

“Mmm-hmm, it was just a bunch of photos and stuff.” I pointed at the large black album that Leah had begun. “I think Leah’s put some of them in there.”

“How did she seem?”

“Who? Erika? I don’t know, tired, maybe a little stressed. She asked after Leah. The two of them are friends—isn’t that right, Leah?”

Leah nodded but didn’t look up.

“Did she talk about anything else?”

“Not much,” I said. “James Sawyer and Taylor were there. She made some comments after they left that implied that she had a problem with Taylor. Detective Lorenzo, do you mind telling me what this is all about?”

“What was her problem with Taylor?”

I desperately wanted to look to Leah to see her reaction, but I didn’t dare. It would be great if Lorenzo thought Taylor was jealous of Erika. That would give her a motive in both murders. On the other hand, if I let on that I suspected Erika was romantically involved with Bob, Lorenzo would assume that I had shared those observations with Leah, which would give her a motive, as well. I looked up at the ceiling as if trying to recall the conversation that was so fresh in my mind.

“I think she said something about—”

The buzzer rang again, giving new meaning to the expression “saved by the bell.” I flashed Lorenzo a grin that I hoped looked more apologetic than relieved. “Excuse me for a moment.” I walked over to the intercom. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me.” I felt myself brighten at the sound of Anatoly’s voice, although there wasn’t a lot he could do for me at the moment. I just wanted him there to lean on. I quickly pressed the buzzer, then I heard his footsteps as he climbed the stairs.

When he arrived he paused inside the foyer the moment he spotted Lorenzo in the living room.

Lorenzo stood up in greeting. “I got a message that you wanted to see me.”

“Right,” Anatoly said, as if Lorenzo’s statement somehow explained his presence in my apartment. “There was some information that I wanted to share with you. Sophie and I spoke with Taylor Blake and James Sawyer.” He stepped inside and leaned his shoulder against the wall.

Lorenzo nodded. “Yes, Sophie’s told me all about it. She also told me you have a tape.”

Anatoly shifted his weight. “Uh, yes…or at least that was my intention.”

My head snapped in his direction. “Your
intention?
What do you mean ‘your intention’?”

Anatoly stuffed his hands in his pocket and looked out the windows. “It didn’t work. There’s something wrong with my tape recorder.”

I shook my head, unwilling to accept what I was hearing. “Maybe it recorded the conversation but it just won’t play it back. Did you try another tape player?”

The expression on Anatoly’s face told me he had. Lorenzo let out a heavy sigh.

“But I don’t get it! Tape recorders don’t just break for no reason. What the hell’s wrong with it?”

Anatoly’s chin was jutting out a bit now, but I was pretty sure that the anger he was feeling was directed at himself rather than me for once. “I think it needs batteries.”

Lorenzo started laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall out of his chair. Leah kept her eyes on her pictures, but she seemed to be inadvertently crushing the one in her hand.

I sidled up to Anatoly. “You don’t get to make cracks about my ‘amateur’ detective skills ever again,” I said in a hushed voice.

Anatoly nodded solemnly.

“Well,” Lorenzo said while wiping a few tears away, “thanks for the laugh. But when you came in, Sophie was just about to tell me why Erika Wong had a problem with Taylor.”

Anatoly raised his eyebrows at me.

“I don’t remember exactly what was said.” I spoke quickly, so Anatoly wouldn’t have time to give away the fact that he knew about the true nature of Erika’s relationship with her boss. “Just that Erika didn’t think Taylor was very nice to her employees and she kind of implied that Taylor used to have Bob wrapped around her finger.”

“Is that where you got the idea that Taylor was involved with Bob romantically?” Lorenzo asked.

“Yes,” I said firmly, “that and the fact that she’s been seen with him at the Gatsby. Erika said Taylor used her influence on Bob to manipulate him. She didn’t offer any details and I didn’t ask.”

“You didn’t ask.” Lorenzo looked up from his notebook. “That seems odd to me, since you’ve been so intent on launching your own personal investigation into this case.”

“At the time it didn’t seem relevant,” I said, immediately defensive. “It wasn’t until I sat down with a cup of coffee and thought about it that I began to put the pieces together.”

“Right.” Lorenzo made another note.

“Detective Lorenzo.” Leah gently put aside the photos that were covering her lap and pushed herself to a standing position. “You’re beginning to scare me. Erika and I are close. Please tell me she’s not in any kind of trouble.”

I suppressed my surprise. That had been so perfectly executed! Leah had sounded concerned and poised—not manic at all. Even Anatoly looked convinced.

Lorenzo straightened in his chair and studied her face. “Mrs. Miller, have you ever known Erika to use drugs?”

“Drugs?” Leah blinked and looked at me. It wasn’t the question we were expecting. “She gave herself insulin shots to control her diabetes, if that’s what you mean. And she had a heart murmur, I know she takes something for that.”

“Actually I was thinking of illegal narcotics.”

“No!” Leah took a step back as if the question had been a physical blow. “Well, I’ve always been a perfect friend to her but I suppose it’s possible she was keeping secrets from me.”

“Leah’s a strong advocate for the ‘just say no’ movement,” I explained, and shot Leah a warning look.