Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2) (9 page)

Reno walks with confidence and is always in control. Part of it is his police training, part of it is his great smile, but most of it is simply the way he is as a person. He’s one of those people with charisma and natural leadership abilities. It’s always drawn me to him. He’s the one people always turn to in a crisis and he doesn’t take shit from anyone. Well, anyone except me.

He walked over to the table and gave me a quick kiss. Nice, yes, but not exactly what I had been hoping for. OK, so maybe my fantasy about him dragging me into the back room and bending me over a pool table was a little over the top.

But a girl can always dream.

“So, you heard about my day?” I asked.

“It’s hard not to. I think homicide was running an office pool on when you’d find the next dead body. How long has it been? Two months?”

“Jerk, you know exactly how long it’s been.”

And that dead body had his hands hacked off. Yuck.

“It’s not like I enjoy it,” I said. “Finding these dead bodies really creeps me out.”

“Have you considered a different line of work? Maybe your old job? You could go back to working with your friend Mary behind the bar at Greasewood Flat. Bartenders almost never find dead bodies.”

“Yeah, but bartenders almost never pay their rent on time either."

“From what I hear, Roger Wade had been there a while. I imagine it was pretty nasty.”

“The grossest part was the smell. As I walked through the house, I had assumed I was smelling rotting hamburger from the kitchen. Turns out I was smelling rotting Roger. It’s a good thing Jackie had left on the air conditioning. Otherwise, he would have been both dead and runny.

“From the office scuttlebutt, it doesn’t look so good for Jackie Wade. How well do you know her?”

“I’ve only really gotten to know her yesterday and today. She seems like a nice person. I think Lenny’s going to represent her.”

“Well, if anyone could help her, it would be Lenny. He’s slime, but he does seem to always win his cases.”

“If you were going to show someone was innocent of a murder, how would you do it?”

“Well, the easiest way would be to show she was somewhere else when it happened. If she has a solid alibi, then she’s home free. From what I hear, the M.E. had the death sometime between a week ago Monday and a week ago Tuesday.”

“That won’t help. Border patrol will show Jackie crossed over into Mexico Monday night about six. If they could say for sure he was murdered on Tuesday, then she’d be in the clear.”

“Maybe they’ll narrow it down but the victim had been there for over a week. I doubt it’ll get a lot better than what they already have.”

“Jackie said she’d been called and threatened, which made her run to Mexico. What can I do with that?”

“There’ll be a record of any calls she received. Does she know where the call originated?”

“Only it was made from a pay phone in Phoenix.”

“Does she know who made the call?”

“She thinks it was an associate of her husband, she doesn’t know his name, but she could probably recognize his picture. There must be records of who Roger Wade did business with.”

“Probably. I assume you told the detective all of this?”

“Three times. I don’t think he believed Jackie had been threatened.”

“Most everyone who flees a murder has some story about why they fled. It usually involves being threatened or they were somehow fearful for their safety.” He stopped and looked at me.

“You really think she’s innocent?” he asked. His voice had a lot of doubt in it.

“I’m sure she didn’t do it but I need to prove it.”

“Well, you were always the queen of lost causes,” he said. “OK, assuming someone did call and threaten her. If you could find out who made the call, it would go a long way to explaining things. The other obvious path is to find out who tossed the house. The detectives are probably going to conclude Roger was alone and in the process of ransacking the house when Jackie came home. They’ll say she shot him in her bedroom then panicked and fled. If you can discover there was someone else ransacking the house with Roger, it will give you another path. Talk to Gina, she has more training than I do in this sort of thing. She may have some better ideas.”

I looked down at my watch. “I need to stop by the grocery store before it closes.”

“Shopping at nine-thirty at night?”

“I need to buy a dog a steak,” I said. “Long story.”

Reno walked me out to my car and gave me another kiss. Again, it was nice, but not exactly the kind of kiss a passionate lover should give his horny girlfriend. Plus, I was also sort of hoping he would at least offer to give me a quickie in the back seat. I really need to talk to Reno about his attitude.

FIVE

I got back to Paul Marston’s house at about ten. I wanted to be home in bed but Mrs. Marston was due to be home in the morning and I didn't want to lose my last chance at collecting the evidence.

There were two cars in the driveway and I could see lights on in the house. I opened the back gate and looked around but Buddy was nowhere to be found. I quietly went to the bedroom window and was glad to see I still had my opening in the curtain. Unfortunately, the bedroom lights were off.

I went around to the living room side of the house and the lights were on but here the curtains were tightly closed. Feeling a little frustrated, I went back on my perch on the picnic table to wait until they made it back to the bedroom.

As always, the hardest part of surveillance is I start to crave cigarettes. I had quit about nine months ago and I’m usually OK about it. I only get serious cravings when I’m stressed, drinking, or have to sit for long periods of time.

Before I had quit, I would pass the time while waiting on surveillance assignments by smoking cigarettes. It took about fifteen minutes to smoke each of the long skinny ones that were my favorites, so I could tell how long I had been there by how many butts were laying on the ground. I haven’t had a serious craving for two or three months, but after everything that had happened today, sitting here in the dark reminded me how much I used to enjoy them.

I sat on the table for about an hour and a half, and was thinking about calling it a night, when there was a noise from the living room side of the house. I heard the patio door slide open, then close. Buddy came trotting over the table and looked up at me, head cocked to the side, tail gently wagging.

I pulled the steak out of my bag. Buddy’s tail wagged harder and he licked his slobbery dog lips. I unwrapped the steak and handed it down to him. He took it eagerly enough, but again didn’t wolf it down. Instead, he laid it gingerly on the bench of the picnic table. He then started walking back to the living room side of the house. After about ten paces, he stopped and looked back at me. When I didn’t follow, he walked back to the picnic table and gave a little
woof
. Curious, I got up and followed.

The dog led me back around to the living room side. They must have opened the curtains to let him out, because there was now a beautiful view of the entire living room. With a feeling of triumph, I saw that all three of them, Paul Marston, and the two women, were naked on the couch. I looked down at Buddy who was wagging his tail. I could swear he was smiling.

I watched for almost a minute and tried to process what I was seeing in the living room. Again, it was the same two women from the other night. All three of them were on the couch in a wiggling tangle of arms and legs. There were butts and boobs everywhere but it was sort of hard to tell whose was whose.

I shook it off, grabbed a plastic chair from the patio, sat down, and pulled out the camera. I had the lens to full zoom and the camera set to high-definition video. I spent almost twenty minutes recording as they went through some amazing feats of flexibility and sexual stamina. I got Paul Marston from every angle, including a few that were extremely unflattering.

When everyone in the living room was finished and the champagne and cigarettes were being passed around, I got up and walked back to the gate. As always, Buddy trotted next to me.

When I got to the gate, he sat down and looked up at me. He had a pitiful look on his big doggy face. When I reached out my hand out to open the gate, he let out a little whine. Feeling a little motherly, I sat down next to him, rubbed his head, and scratched behind his big floppy ears.

“That’s OK boy.” I said. “You’re a good dog. I’ll come back and visit. Sometime soon.”

Buddy started wagging his tail again. He walked over to the picnic table and picked up his steak. He then trotted to the corner of the yard to gnaw on it.

I got up, opened the gate, and walked down the street to my car. I was exhausted and I couldn’t wait to get to bed.

~~~~

I woke up to my Friday at six with the alarm happily chirping away. I hopped out of bed and quickly got ready. I was feeling terrible about what was happening with Jackie and I wanted to get on it right away.

After two false starts, I pulled on a pink print top and black capris. I put on a pot of coffee and plopped a can of Tuna Delight into Marlowe’s bowl. As always, Marlowe ran to his bowl and sucked up the food as if he was starving.

I did a quick job on the makeup and hair. It wasn’t great, but it was passable. I felt ready for whatever was going to come my way today.

I went into the kitchen, poured myself a coffee, and sat down at the table. I needed to get myself organized and I hated the feeling of not knowing what to do next.

After staring into space for about ten minutes, I still didn’t have a game plan. Maybe I’d get a better idea how to attack this problem after Jackie and Lenny had a chance to talk it over.

From the corner of the kitchen, by the refrigerator, I heard a disturbingly familiar sound:
Aaack! Aaaaack! Aaaaaaaaaak!

I didn’t need to look. Marlowe was throwing up his breakfast. I knew from experience he would go out onto the balcony or even next door to Grandma Peckham’s, to wait until I left the apartment. He would then come back to casually eat his previously chewed breakfast. The thought of this always brought on a wave of nausea. At least he only did it in the corner of the kitchen on the tile.

Sometimes, I seriously think about trading him in on a hamster.

~~~~

The drive up to Pam’s house was quiet and I was starting to feel better about the day. Pam lived in a upscale neighborhood near the Pinnacle Peak Golf Club, not too far from Jackie‘s house. This part of Scottsdale is a nice blend of desert landscaping mixed in with a lush tropical oasis wherever there’s a swimming pool.

I knocked on the front door to Pam’s house and Jackie opened it right away. The first thing I noticed was she was beautifully dressed in a cream short sleeve blouse and a tasteful navy blue pleated skirt that hung just below her knees. She had on brown medium-heeled sandals and only a few pieces of gold jewelry. I remembered Jackie and Pam were about the same size and realized Jackie must have borrowed some of Pam’s clothes.

As I looked closer, Jackie’s eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles her make-up couldn’t completely hide. I doubted she had gotten a lot of sleep.

When Sophie and I had dropped Jackie off the night before, we hadn’t gone any further into the house than the front entrance. But even from my brief glance into the house, I’d seen the high vaulted ceilings and the extensive woodwork. I always wondered what people did to make enough money to afford one of these houses. It certainly wasn’t what I did.

Jackie led me into Pam’s kitchen, which was as beautiful as the rest of the house. The counter tops were polished marble and the cabinets were dark cherry. There was a fresh pot of coffee and Jackie poured each of us a cup.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“It was a long shitty night,” she said. “I was holding it together and doing OK, until I watched the ten o’clock news. Apparently, I’m officially a person-of-interest in the death of my husband. I’m afraid I kept Pam up most of the night with my talking and crying. She only got to bed about two hours ago. I knew you were coming over soon, so I decided to stay up.”

“I’ve talked to Lenny and he’s eager to get started,” I said. “I’ll be working full time with him to get this cleared up as quickly as possible.”

“From the questions the detective asked yesterday, they think I did it. At first I thought they were only fishing for something wrong in my story but now I’m not so sure.”

“Right now, they only have a lot of crazy coincidences.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I hate to ask, but do you keep a gun in your house?”

“Sure, I have a Smith & Wesson Model 10 .38 Special. I keep it in the nightstand and I keep it loaded. I’m a woman living alone and I’ve always known how to shoot. Is that bad?”

“Lenny heard a rumor that a .38 was the cause of death. Nothing’s official at this point but I thought you should know.”

“This is really starting to suck.”

I looked at her and saw there were tears in her eyes.

She dug in her purse, which was sitting on the counter, and pulled out a card in a small pink envelope.

“This is for Terry,” she said, handing it to me. “I know you’ll have to see him when you tell him you found me. It says he’s a nice guy, but I never want to date him again. I thought it would help you finish up things with him.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Come on, let’s go see Lenny.”

~~~~

The drive down to the office was uneventful and if it hadn’t been for the current situation, I would have said it was a beautiful day in Scottsdale. I pulled into my space behind the office, then Jackie and I went in through the rear security door.

Sophie and Gina were talking in the front offices when we walked in. Sophie went to Jackie and gave her a long hug. I made introductions with Gina, who expressed sorrow to Jackie for her loss. I then walked Jackie into the inner office and made introductions with Lenny.

I left Jackie alone to talk to Lenny. He always prefers a one-on-one meeting for the initial consultation. He says it gives him a chance to size-up the client. Whether he means their personality, their truthfulness, or their bank account, he’s never really said.

I went out to where Sophie and Gina were talking. Gina put her arm around me, knowing I was taking this one harder than most.

“Thanks,” I said, trying to sound normal. I took a sniff and noticed there was the faint odor of microwaved cat in the office.

“Was Amber here today?” I asked.

“Yup,” Sophie said. “She got here about a half hour ago. Last time she looked like a slut. This time, I swear she was in her jammies. Lenny told her to wait in the conference room and he’d come in to talk with her. She waited about fifteen minutes then came out and said she had the start of a migraine and needed to go home.”

“So, she’s still working here?” I asked.

“For now,” Gina said.

“How’s your drug dealer alibi assignment coming along?” I asked. “I might need your help with this one.”

“It’s slowly coming together, although so far it looks like it may be coming together in the police’s favor. The deeper I dig into our client’s activities, the more it looks like he’s involved in some big time drug trafficking. I’m talking quantities of drugs beyond the Scottsdale PD and more into DEA territory. From what I can gather, there’s going to be some sort of exchange next week on Tuesday or Wednesday, somewhere in south Scottsdale. Our client has been overly generous with the information and in letting me know he will be nowhere near the deal when it goes down. His actions seem rather transparent. He couldn’t possibly have this type of information unless he was deeply involved but I guess we’ll see. Actually, if you’re free by Tuesday, I may need your help. If his information on the drug exchange seems to be authentic, we’ll need to let the proper authorities know and then see if the exchange actually takes place. If it does, I’ll recommend to Lenny the client turn himself in and we go for a plea deal.”

“If I’m free by then I’ll be glad to help,” I said. “How’s your pool boy assignment coming along?”

“That one’s getting interesting too,” Gina said. “I was telling Sophie it turns out Raul’s having sex with the other daughter too. This one is twenty-two years old and goes to school up in Flagstaff. From what I’ve found out, she comes down into Scottsdale once or twice a month. She meets up with Raul in her old bedroom on Sunday mornings, when she knows everyone will be out of the house. Apparently, it’s been going on for some time. I don’t think older sister knows about the younger sister.”

“Is she as flexible as the younger sister?” Sophie asked.

“Not by a long shot,” Gina laughed. “Older sister is more into being tied to the bedposts, blindfolded, and then being spanked with a long leather paddle.”

“Leather paddle?” Sophie asked. “You know, I’ve been thinking I could really use one of those. Spanking those bare butts always makes my hand hurt, especially when the guy works out a lot and has a really firm butt. I wonder where I could get a leather ass-spanking paddle. I’d need a quality one, not one that would fall apart after I’d used it four or five times. Maybe you could ask Raul where he got his, if you ever talk to him.”

“Maybe you could go to the internet,” I said. “Isn’t that where you’ve gotten all of your other S&M toys?”

“Yeah, but when I spank a guy’s butt, I like to put some effort behind my swing. You can never tell about the quality of the merchandise when you order over the internet. Half the time it’s some cheap imported junk that falls apart the first time you use it. I’m looking for something a bit more heavy-duty.”

“OK,” Gina said with a smile, “if I see Raul, I’ll ask him where he gets his spanking supplies.”

“If you’re serious about this, I’ll introduce you to Suzie Lu,” I said. “She lives in my apartment building and she’s a Dominatrix. I’m sure she would be glad to give you some tips on where to buy your equipment.”

“You know,” Sophie said. “Since big sister thinks she has an exclusive on the pool boy, I imagine the fur is gonna fly when it comes out.”