Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) (15 page)

“Got it. That makes it easy. Doesn’t even matter if I burn your food.”

“Not funny. It’s my birthday. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”

Riley gave him a peck on the cheek. “Go play with fire, caveman.” Then she turned back to Kasey and said, “So how long are they going to be here?”

“They’re leaving tomorrow for Texas to shoot a commercial.”

“That’s a long ride.”

“It’s not so bad in those big luxury buses.”

“Do you think he’d show us around?” Riley asked.

“I’m sure he’d be happy to. Besides, he promised Jake he could sit in the driver’s seat today.”

“What if you end up in a torrid love affair and go on the road with him? And I don’t mean as his photographer either.” Riley pursed her lips.

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know. He’s on the road all the time. He’s famous. He’s rich. He’s out of my league.”

“He is
not
out of your league. You’re amazing.”

“And you’re biased because you’re my best friend.”

“I’m not biased.” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I might be a little biased, but I know you deserve someone in your life. Nick’s gone.”

“You don’t have to remind me. I’ve missed Nick every single one of those days.”

Riley hugged her. “I know you have, but moving on doesn’t take away from what y’all had. You’re too young to be an old maid.”

“Thank you. I think? Shh. Here he comes,” Kasey said as Cody walked off the bus and headed toward them.
Damn those butterflies.

Riley leaned in. “No one can get that close to my best friend without me getting to know him very, very well.”

She nudged Riley. “Don’t you start in on the twenty questions with him.”

Kasey knew that look in her best friend’s eye. She tweaked Riley’s arm. “Promise me,” she said under her breath but Riley was already on the move.

“So?” Riley walked toward Cody. “It’s great to see you again. How have you been?”

“Doing fine,” he said to Riley, but Kasey could tell, even from this distance, that he was putting on a happy face. This stuff with Lou and Arty had him feeling low. No one else might notice, but she could see it.

Kasey walked over, hoping she could keep Riley from saying anything too embarrassing.

Riley looped her arm around his well-muscled bicep. “We were just heading out back to start the grill. Join us?”

Grill?
Kasey flashed a warning look at Riley.
Poor Cody had no idea what kind of grilling he was in for with Riley.

With everyone full on lunch and cake, Jake was the only one with any energy but once he brought his football out, Cody and Von were easy to talk into a game of catch in the yard.

Riley and Kasey cleared the dishes as the guys horsed around outside.

“Did you go look at the building on Main Street?” Riley asked as she put the last plate in the dishwasher.

“I did, but I don’t know that I need to have a building to frame pictures. Maybe I can do that from here. I could even turn the carriage house into a dedicated space for it.”

Cody walked in with Von. “Uh-oh,” Von said. “It’s never good when these two put their heads together. It usually means more work for me.”

Riley smirked. “Not this time.”

“That’s a first,” Von said to Cody.

Cody sat at the table. Jake came running in from the yard and jumped right into Cody’s lap.

“Oomph,” Cody said.

Jake giggled. “Can you take me to see the bus now?”

“You got it,” he said.

Riley spun around. “Can I come too?”

“Sure. Come on.”

Jake grabbed Cody’s hand. “Come on. We can cut through the house.”

Cody let Jake drag him through the house and Riley leaned over and whispered to Kasey as she walked by, “Aren’t they sweet together?”

“You coming, Kasey?” Cody called out.

“I’ll be out in a second.” She started the dishwasher, and by the time she walked outside Jake was already sitting in the driver’s seat of the bus. He honked the horn and just as she waved, Scott pulled into the driveway in his sheriff’s car.

She walked out to meet him. “Hey, Scott. This is a nice surprise. You said you had to work all day.”

He glanced over at the bus as he got out of his car. “Where’s the other one? Cody leave town?”

“No. The guys drove up to Roanoke Rapids for some supplies.”

The door opened on the bus and Jake yelled out to Scott, “Hey, look at me! I’m driving.”

Kasey waved enthusiastically. Scott barely gave Jake a nod. It wasn’t like Scott to act so uninterested.

Scott turned and looked her square in the eye. “Heard about Tuggle’s outburst at that party last night. I didn’t know y’all were going together.”

His tone smacked of sarcasm. “We weren’t. We didn’t. It was a surprise to me when he showed up there too.”

Scott didn’t look convinced. “What happened?”

“They had an argument. It was practically over before anyone realized it was happening.”

Scott lifted his chin toward the bus. “Why do those star types think they can get away with that kind of behavior?”

“It wasn’t like that, Scott.”

“If it was such a little argument, why is it on the news?” Scott looked smug.

“I didn’t know it was.”
Cody must not either. He’d have mentioned it for sure. His publicist usually called as soon as something like that happened.
“Reporters love a good scandal, and if there’s not enough excitement they’ll amp it up. It happens all the time.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Well, I was there, and I’m telling you it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Are they still planning to leave tomorrow?”

Before Kasey could open her mouth and respond, Riley came down the stairs of the bus and joined them. “I swear I could live on that thing,” Riley said. “Have you been in
there?” she asked Scott. “That’s nicer than most people’s houses.”

“Probably cost a lot more than most people’s houses,” Scott said.

“How much does one of those things cost?” Riley asked.

“I have no idea,” Kasey said. “It has to be a lot.”

Cody climbed down from the bus with Jake up on his shoulders, and then grabbed his hands and flipped him down to the driveway.

“Do it again!”

Kasey called Jake over. “Come on, buddy. It’s all fun until someone gets hurt.”

“Good to see you again.” Cody reached out and shook Scott’s hand.

“You might not say that in a minute.”

Kasey straightened. “Scott?”

The other bus pulled into the driveway.

“Excuse me a sec.” Cody walked down the driveway at a fast clip toward the bus.

Scott started to say something then stopped. His jaw tensed.

Kasey wasn’t sure what was on Scott’s mind, but her heart was picking up its pace in reaction to his mood, and she had a feeling something was about to go terribly wrong.

T
he last thing Cody needed was for one of his buses to clip Calvin’s cruiser. He jogged over and guided the driver, then waved him off when he was in a good spot to shut it down.

Pete came barreling down off the bus. “Cody. We need to talk.”

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s Arty.”

Cody raised his hand. “I’m not taking his calls.”

“No. You’ve got to—”

“Look, you don’t know what all is going on. I said I’m not taking his calls. End of discussion.” Cody turned to walk away, but Pete grabbed him by the arm.

Cody gave him a have-you-lost-your-mind look.

Pete’s jaw set and his eyes widened. “Listen to me. No one is taking Arty’s calls.”

“Good. Then we don’t have a problem.” Cody strode off. He was in no mood to talk about Arty Max.

Pete jogged two steps forward to catch up with Cody. “We don’t have a problem,” he said. “But
he
does. He’s dead.”

Cody stopped so quick that his body lurched forward before he turned around with his mouth hanging half-open. “What?”

“It’s all over the radio.”

Cody raced back over to Pete. “What happened? I just saw him last night.”

“Yeah. That’s all over the radio too. Sounds like y’all had one hell of a fight.”

Scott walked up behind Cody. “I need to talk to you,” he said.

Is anyone going to give me any good news anymore? The last thing I need is a smitten cop with a confidence problem on my ass.
“I just got some bad news. Can it wait?”

Scott put his hand on his hip just above his gun. “No.”

Whatever.
“Fine. What ya got?”

“Arty Max—”

Cody cut him off. “Yeah. I just heard he died. I can’t believe this. Do you know what happened?”

“Some folks want to talk to you about that,” Scott said.

“Me? Okay, sure. He seemed fine when I left. Was it a heart attack?”

“No. It definitely was not a heart attack.”

Cody glanced over at Pete, then back to Scott. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying someone killed him. We’ve got some questions for you.”

Cody jerked his head back. “Wait. What? Killed?”

“Apparently so. Can you come down to the station with me?”

“Yeah. Absolutely. Did it happen at the estate?”
Holy shit. Dead?

“Let’s talk at the station.”

Cody fell in step behind Scott. “I can’t believe this. That place is a fortress. There are cameras everywhere. No one
could sneak in unnoticed. Do they have a suspect?”

Scott’s eyes narrowed. “You?”

Cody took a step back. “No. You can’t be serious.”

Kasey ran up to them. “What’s going on? One of the guys just said Arty’s dead? We just saw him last night.”

Scott motioned Cody toward the car. Kasey jogged alongside to keep up with their long strides.

“You’re not going to make me sit in the back seat, are you?” Cody asked.

“No. Just get in.”

“What is going on?” Kasey asked.

“Just need to get a few questions answered,” Scott said.

Don’t be an ass to her.
Cody opened the passenger door and propped a foot on the door sill. He made eye contact with a confused Kasey over the top of the car. “Someone killed Arty. They want to ask me some questions. It’s fine.”

“What?” Kasey ran to Scott’s side. “Why do you want to talk to Cody? I was there too.”

“The county police have listed him as a person of interest.”

She folded her arms and lowered her voice. “And how did you get involved?”

“I let them know where he was. I had information about the case. That’s my responsibility.”

Cody sat in the front seat, but he could still hear them.

“What?” Kasey stood still. “Why didn’t you come and talk to us first?”

“I’m just doing my job, Kasey.”

“It’s fine.” Cody motioned through the windshield to Kasey. “He’s doing his job.” Kasey was probably thinking the same thing he was—that Scott was enjoying this tough
cop act a little too much. The sooner he got this over with, the better.
He’d love to get me out of the picture, or at least out of his town.

Kasey walked to the front of the car and pointed at Cody. “I’ll follow you over there,” she said.

“No. It’s your birthday. I’ll get back. Go on and have your day.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“Please,” he said.
Don’t ruin your day. Hell, by the look on her face it was a little too late for that.

Cody watched Kasey from the side mirror as they drove off.
What’s going through your mind?

It was awkwardly silent in the car. Cody was thankful that it was just a short ride to town. He wondered if Scott would be the one talking to him. Would that even be legal with his relationship with Kasey, and apparent dislike for him?
But then again, with him being the sheriff I guess he makes the rules.

Scott parked by the rear entrance of the station and got out. Cody followed alongside into the building and down a long colorless hallway to an equally bland interrogation room.

“Have a seat,” Scott said.

Cody sat in the cold metal chair and placed his hands on the table. “What happened?”

“I’m hoping you can help shed a little light on that.”

“Arty was very much alive when I left.”

“But you argued?”

“Yeah. We argued, but I don’t think that’s important in the scheme of things now.”

“What did you argue about?”

“It was personal.”

“Folks are saying you were pretty mad. Might have even thrown around a couple threats.”

“Yeah, I did, but Arty and I have been working together for years. It’s not like it was the first time we’d ever argued and no matter how mad I was, I sure as hell wasn’t going to do anything to him.” Cody sat back in his chair. “Do I need my lawyer?”

Scott mimicked Cody’s body language. “Guess that’s your choice. Do you have an alibi?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Let’s timeline your night. Start me off when you left Arty Max’s estate.”

“I got there about nine and was out of there by nine twenty. I’m sure the valet will remember. There was a hundred bucks in it for him.”

Scott took notes. “I’m sure he’ll remember that.”

“His name was Jace. I signed his hat.”

“Nice of you,” Scott said, but the words sounded condescending coming from him.