Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2) (26 page)

He paused for a moment. He dropped his voice further and he leaned close to me.

“Half of the Scottsdale PD is about to come into this van. Before they do, is there anything else I should know about this?”

Why does he always do this?

“Umm, nope, nothing else you should know about.”

Reno looked at me for a moment. I could see my answer didn’t make him happy and he also wanted to keep asking questions. Instead, he stood up and started talking again in a normal voice.

“I’m glad you both are alright.” He looked at Jackie. “A lot of officers and detectives have been looking for you over the past few days. There’ll be a lot of smiling and happy people as soon as we make some phone calls.”

Reno took off to make his calls, leaving Jackie and me by ourselves. I suddenly felt a wave of relief and happiness. I realized Jackie was free and we weren’t going to be killed. I looked over at her and I saw she must have felt the same thing. She had a big smile and she was crying. I realized I was crying too and we gave each other a long hug.

“Thank you,” she said. “They would have killed me if you hadn’t been there.”

I wanted to tell her I was sorry I had messed up everything so badly. I wanted to say it was my fault she had been kidnapped and it was my fault she had almost gotten killed.

Instead, I said, “Sure, glad I could help.”

~~~~

Jackie and I were checked out by a couple of EMT’s
,
then transported under police escort to Scottsdale Memorial for a further check. I know a medical check is standard police procedure for something like this but it is still a pain in the ass.

On the way over to the hospital, I called Sophie and let her know the basics of what had happened. I knew both Gina and Sophie would want the complete story but she could hear how beat I was and she didn’t press too much. I then asked her to tell Lenny. She wasn’t thrilled but she said she would do it. I know I should have called him directly, but I was mentally drained and I didn’t want to deal with his questions and cross-examination.

I called Pam, told her the news, and that we were going to be down at the hospital for a while. She said she’d let everyone know, then she’d come by the hospital to pick up Jackie. Since Jackie’s house was still a crime scene, Pam said she was going to have Jackie stay at her house for the next few days.

While we were waiting in the emergency room for the third doctor to examine us, the lead detective in the Roger Wade murder investigation came in. When Jackie saw him, I saw her body tense. Apparently, she had forgotten about the murder and she’d been the lead suspect. But as the detective started talking, I could tell from his body language and the way he spoke to her, he now had doubts she committed the murder. Of course, I could also tell he was too much a professional to let that interfere with his job.

He said he was glad Jackie had been released from her ordeal but he still had a couple of things he wanted to get cleared up about the murder. He said he didn’t want to rush her but if it was alright with her, he had arranged with Lenny for an interview the next morning at ten o’clock.

Ten minutes later, Sophie and Pam came in together. There was talking and hugging all around for the next few minutes. They both wanted to know what had happened and I tried to tell the basics of it without going into too many details. Every time I thought about what had happened, I got a hard knot in my stomach.

~~~~

We said our good-bye’s then Jackie left with Pam. It was still going to be another week or two until the police released Jackie’s house and allowed her to return. I was glad Jackie would have someone to be with until things calmed down.

Sophie drove me back to the warehouse to get my car. As we drove up to the building, we saw there were still a dozen police cars surrounding the scene along with three news vans.

The reporters and cameramen from the news vans were milling around and chatting with each other. I guessed they were in-between news broadcasts. I could envision all of them standing in a line, everybody giving a similar report, at the same time, to the three local TV stations.

Seeing the warehouse and remembering what had happened in there gave my stomach another hard twist. After explaining to the officer at the perimeter who we were, we were allowed into the scene. Fortunately, the incident commander from earlier was still there and he did not consider my car to be part of the crime scene.

I thanked him and drove my car back to the office.

~~~~

Sophie and I got back to the office at the same time. Lenny was in his office and Gina was up in reception.

“Are you doing OK?” Gina asked me.

“Yeah, but it came close to going completely to hell.”

“But it didn’t and you never gave up. I’m glad you got our client back.”

Lenny heard the talking and came out from his office. He was in a good mood since his client wasn’t dead and he’d be able to collect his fee.

“Good work on getting the client back,” he said. “From what I hear, Carlos wasn’t too keen on letting you go, even after he had the document. Sounds like he’s a man who can’t be trusted. When you and Jackie didn’t come back out of the warehouse, I called the chief of police directly. I let him know about the drug shipment and that I also believed Jacquelyn Wade was being held there. I thought that by calling the chief directly, I’d get an immediate response. I’m also hoping he will keep my name out of the official reports. But either way, he now owes me a big one.”

“Did you happen to tell them I was in there too?”

“Well, mentioning ahead of time you were in there would have opened us up to some questions I didn’t want to answer. I thought it would be best if they found you along with Jackie. I’m hoping now that Jackie has been rescued they won’t need to ask a lot of questions about why or how you got in there. I hope it wasn’t too much of a shock to them when they had to rescue both of you.”

“I don’t think Reno will talk to me for a few days. He was more than a little upset I happened to be in there with Jackie.”

“It couldn’t be helped. Besides, he should have been happy you’re still in one piece.”

“The lead detective in the murder investigation stopped by to see us in the hospital,” I said. “It seemed strange he was there but he didn’t even try to press us for any information.”

“Not to worry,” Lenny said. “I had a conversation with him before he went over to the hospital. I imagine he wanted to see with his own eyes that Jackie was free. Since my conversation with him, I’ve gotten some inside information. The police no longer consider Jackie to be a suspect in the death of Roger Wade. Howard did a good job of implicating Carlos. It was a class move on his part. Unfortunately, he’ll need to keep low for a while. He might even need to go into some sort of witness relocation program until this Carlos thing gets straightened out.”

“So Jackie is off the hook?”

“There will be some formal questioning but then she will be a free woman.” Lenny got a wistful look on his face. “It’s a damn shame we had to give everything away to free the client. We still might challenge the transfer document but it was signed over a year ago and Jackie won’t be able to show it was anything out of the ordinary. Even after all of this, Jackie’s still going to lose the resort.”

“Oh,” I said, “about that. I then reached into the back pocket of my pants and pulled out the folded and wrinkled document. In the excitement of almost being killed, I had completely forgotten about it.

Lenny’s eyes got big and his mouth dropped open. Gina and Sophie started laughing then Gina gave me a high five. I handed the document to Lenny.

“No shit?” he asked as he unfolded the document. “I don’t believe it. You rescue the client and save the resort? Damn, you are getting good at this.”

I suddenly had a terrible thought.

“What about Carlos,” I said. “Won’t he just kidnap Jackie again and make her sign more documents?”

Lenny looked at me as if he was disappointed I had missed something obvious.

“Having Jackie sign a document now wouldn’t do him any good. The previous document would have held up because there was a long history of Jackie transferring properties between herself and Spencer-Wade Land Development with little financial gain to herself. However, there is now ample evidence any transfer document Jackie signs after the date she was kidnapped would have been signed under duress. Carlos could make Jackie sign a dozen documents and none of them will be valid. I’m sure he knows that.”

“So Jackie’s safe. I mean really safe.”

“Yes, Jackie’s safe.”

I looked over at Gina and she was nodding her head. I got a new feeling of relief and happiness.

“Perfect,” I said. “It’s finally perfect.”

~~~~

Sophie, Gina, and I spent the next hour talking about the events of the past two weeks and I filled them in on all of the details. The only thing I left out was the rescue by Max and Gabriella. Gina would have had problems with it from the legal standpoint, which was something I didn’t even want to try to sort out. Sophie would have seen it as yet another sign Max and I were meant to be together. Since I already had a lot of confused thoughts when it came to Max, I didn’t need Sophie adding to it.

But honestly, the main thing keeping me from telling was a feeling slowly growing in the back of my mind for the past few days. It was a feeling I was slowly being sucked into the middle of a war, squeezed between two powerful groups. I could see it becoming crystal clear and I wasn’t sure if I knew of a way to keep myself out of it. I did know I wanted to do whatever I could to keep my two best friends from being dragged into it with me.

~~~~

After Gina and Sophie finally had all of their questions answered, I went back to my cubicle. I didn’t want to be alone tonight and my mind went to Reno. From the look on his face from earlier in the day, I wasn’t so sure he would want to see me, at least not right away. But, I
decided to give him a try anyway.

I took out my phone and called but he didn’t pick up. I didn’t want to read too much into it since he often couldn’t answer my calls and he usually called me back soon after.

“Hey,” I said to his voice mail. “Thanks for rescuing me today. Jackie and I were in a tight spot. It would be nice to be able to talk to you about it. I was thinking maybe we could get together tonight for dinner or whatever. If not tonight, then tomorrow? Let me know.”

I disconnected and stared at the phone for a moment. I started to pack up my things to go home when the theme from the Love Boat started playing on my phone. My heart did a little two-step and I answered.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello yourself. How are you doing?”

“I’m OK. Thanks for the rescue today. When the storage room door opened, you were the last person I expected to see walk in.”

“Glad to do it,” he said. “I was wondering if you were free tonight. Maybe I could take you out somewhere nice for a quiet dinner? I’m sure you could use some quiet time.”

“Umm, sure. I’d love to see you. But would you mind if we kept it to drinks?”

“Are you still having those conflicting thoughts about us?”

That’s an understatement.

“I think drinks would work better for me tonight.”

“Alright. No problem, where?”

“Let’s keep it simple. Back to the Casablanca?”

“Great, see you in half an hour?”

“I have a few things to do before I get out of here.”

Like completely redo my face.

“Let’s make it an hour.”

~~~~

As I walked down to the lounge, I was definitely feeling some mixed emotions about Max. It was true he was gorgeous and I was definitely attracted to him. But, there were the nagging facts that he committed crimes for a living and I was trying to form a lasting relationship with another man, who happened to be a cop.

Why are things always so complicated?

I got to the lounge first and got a table on the patio in the corner. It had a lovely view and we were far enough away from everyone else so we could talk without whispering.

I saw Max come in, as did several other women in the lounge. Even though I had told myself he was forbidden fruit, my heart still kicked up a notch and I suddenly developed a case of the butterflies. I also suddenly had some very naughty thoughts about what I would love to do to this man if I ever got him alone.

Stop that.

Max sat and we each ordered a drink. I had a scotch and it felt great to take that first sip.

“Are you going to tell me what happened today? I asked. “Jackie and I were trapped in a storage room, surrounded by a dozen bad guys with guns, and then you come strolling in. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to see you but what happened?”

“From the information you gave us, we put together where the shipment was going. You said you were calling it in to the police, so we wanted to be nearby to make sure things went smoothly for them. We’ve had continuous surveillance on the warehouse from a nearby rooftop location. We saw them bring in Jackie about eight o’clock and we saw you go in about ten. When the truck with the drugs arrived and neither of you had come back out, we thought we should set up a distraction and help get you away. Unfortunately, by then, the police had started to set-up a perimeter and there was no way we could have gotten you out of the building without a lot of uncomfortable questions being raised. I had to be content with moving you to a safer place. Apparently, it wasn’t as safe as I thought it was. I’m glad you and Jackie were rescued by the police before the bad guys found you.”