The Heart of Lies (17 page)

Feeling somewhat disloyal, it was hard for Emily not to blurt out all she knew to her friends. They had shared everything with each other for the last five years. But this was different from when she had lost Evan. When she was in Maggie’s shoes, her friends were constantly by her side, supporting her, comforting her, encouraging her—but they couldn’t help her figure out who killed her husband—or why—not even Isabel.

Out of their tight circle of friends, only Emily had the skills to give that kind of help to Maggie. Sure, Isabel could give an assist, she had the FBI connections, but as an overworked financial analyst, she couldn’t take the lead.

“I’ll try to make it over there tonight,” Emily promised before hanging up.

“How’s Maggie?” Colin asked, picking up the tray of marinating meat.

“Sleeping for now, but I should go see her tonight. Everyone’s going to be there with her for dinner—everyone except me.” Even she could hear the sadness in her voice, knowing she should be with her friend, but that she chose to stay away a little while longer.

“We could go, you know. This meat will keep.” Colin set the tray down on the counter and moved to stand closer.

“Maybe later,” Emily said, slipping off the stool. She slid her arms around his torso and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her snuggly into an embrace. She laid her head against his strong chest and listened to beat of his heart.

“I don’t understand. Why are you holding back, Em?” He gently kissed the top of her head. “That isn’t like you.”

“Self-preservation, I guess. The situation hits a little too close to home.”

“For me, too,” he whispered.

She had been so consumed with her own feelings, for a moment she forgot about his. Guilt pricked her and she forced her eyes to meet his. She noticed they glistened with emotion—turning the guilt from a prick to a sharp stab.

“I’m sorry, I was so self-absorbed, I wasn’t thinking about your loss.” She laid her head back down against his chest.

He did not reply, but his arms tightened around her and she felt safe, hearing the soft thumping rhythm of his heart. They stood clinging to each other and the world seemed to fade away.

“I would be a wreck without you,” she muttered.

“Not you, babe. You’re a rock.”

Emily felt his hold loosen. She pulled back a little and looked up into his face. “Maybe on the outside, but total mush on the inside.”

“Just the way I like you,” he quipped, a slow smile spreading across his face. His head dipped close and he covered her lips with his. He kissed her tenderly and she felt a gentle sensation radiate down to her toes.

Emily had missed his kisses and his warm hands gently caressing her body. These last few months apart had been agony. As much as she would prefer to spend their brief time alone in each other’s arms, she knew it would mostly be spent working the case. Priorities dictated it.

Maggie needed Emily. Emily needed Colin.

Disrupting their private moment, the ringtone on her cell phone began to jingle.

“Phone,” she murmured.

“Let it ring.” Colin moved in for another kiss.

“Can’t,” she chirped. “Could be important.”

He groaned and released her.

She grabbed her phone off the counter. “Hello.”

“Em, this is Isabel. Do you have a minute?”

Emily glanced up at Colin with a grin. “Can it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“It’s about Jethro.”

“Jethro,” Emily repeated. She shot Colin a serious look as she settled onto a stool.

“I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. Are you coming to Maggie’s later?”

“Yes, Colin and I.”

“We can talk then.”

Emily clicked her phone off and set it on the counter.

“Who’s Jethro?” Colin asked.

“A retired FBI agent. He’s the one I showed the old photo to, the one of Evan and the woman.”

“He has news for you?”

“I don’t know. Isabel didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. I guess we’re going to Maggie’s this evening, after all,” Emily said, scrunching up one corner of her mouth.

“Then we better get back to business. Now where were we?” Colin leaned in, as she sat perched on the stool. His lips met hers, warm and moist. Just when she was relaxing into the kiss a sharp knock came at the front door.

“Expecting anyone?” he questioned, looking in the direction of the noise.

“No.” She slid off the stool and padded to the front door. Colin trailed closely behind her. Emily could see sandy blonde hair skimming the bottom of the little windows spread across the top of her front door.

“I think it’s Sully,” she whispered over her shoulder.

She opened the door and found the mayor standing on her porch, dressed in casual jeans and an un-tucked button-down shirt.

“Hello, Sully,” she greeted politely.

“If I could have a few minutes of your time, I really need to talk to you, Emily.” The dark shadows under his eyes were evidence he hadn’t been sleeping, and she detected a slight quiver in his voice.

“Certainly, come in.” Emily stood aside.

“Colin Andrews, Mr. Mayor.” Colin took a step forward and offered his hand, which Sully grabbed and shook firmly. “I had worked for the city of Paradise Valley for a while.”

“The police detective, right?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor,” Colin replied.

“Please, call me Sully.” He offered a weak smile.

Emily noticed a nervousness about Sully that she’d never seen before—shifting eyes, a jittery resonance to his voice, the dark circles. It wasn’t that they were ever close friends, but because he was Maggie’s brother, they were well acquainted.

“Would it be possible to speak to Emily alone?” Sully asked, eyeing Colin.

Emily glanced at Colin and quirked an eyebrow.

“Sure, I’ll just go check on the grill.” Colin made himself scarce.

“Let’s go in the living room and sit down.” Emily gestured toward the sofa. What could Sully want with her?

Sully took a seat at the end of the couch and Emily sank down on the chair perpendicular to it.

“Can I get you something to drink, Sully? I could get you a glass of wine or something.”

“No, thank you. You left me several messages, so I thought it best to come and talk to you in person. I don’t have much time, so let me get right to the point.” His voice was quiet, his gaze darting around. “I don’t want Colin overhearing this conversation. I know he’s not working as a cop right now, but he will be again. And if he knows I did something illegal, he’ll be duty-bound to arrest me.”

“Oh, Sully, what have you done?”

“Lucas came to me last week and offered to let me buy a couple of condos at his new resort, for a deeply-discounted price. He convinced me that if I bought them, with a quick turn around, I could make a lot of money. With Carolyn so sick,” his voice began to crack, “the doctor and hospital bills are piling up.” He worried his hands in his lap. His eyes moistened and he appeared as if he was fighting back tears. Sully took a deep breath.

Emily had questions, but she held her tongue and let him continue.

“He knew I was desperate enough to jump at the opportunity. I told him I didn’t have the money, that I’d have to pass, but he convinced me to borrow it from the city retirement fund.”

“Oh, Sully, no.”

“I thought I’d have time to sell the condos and get the money back in the account before anyone noticed it was missing. I knew it was wrong, but I…I…aw damn, I don’t know what I was thinking,” he exclaimed under his breath.

He went on to explain how he’d received the notice from the auditor and had asked Lucas for the money back at the engagement party.

The private pow-wow—I knew something was wrong.

Sully described how Lucas had told him no and that, in fact, the whole resort project was a scam.

“I don’t understand. Why would he come right out and tell you that?” Emily questioned. “I wouldn’t think he’d want anyone to know.”

“He said he was telling me so he could hold it over my head. He wanted me to use my influence to get others to invest in the project, knowing that if I didn’t, he would expose me. If I did what he asked, he said he’d return the hundred thousand dollars to me before the audit.”

“So, basically, he was blackmailing you.”

“That’s right. The night he died, I paid him a visit. I went to his office and begged for the money back. I threatened him with a gun, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. He said he wouldn’t give me the money back yet.”

“You pulled a gun on him?”

“He knew I wasn’t going to kill him, because if I did I’d never get the money back. He warned me that if I breathed a word of this to anyone he would ruin me, and he would ruin Maggie.”

“Oh, Maggie…poor Maggie. She was going to marry that shyster.”

“No,” Sully said, shaking his head, “that was never part of the plan.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“He was never going to marry her. He said he was going to disappear with all the money before the wedding, that Maggie was just a front, a beard, a way to involve me to help him suck in more investors.”

“Maybe knowing what a slime-ball he was will help her get over him,” Emily hoped.

“He was more than a slime-ball, he was a—” Sully’s face flushed red with anger and the whites of his eyes seemed to grow as his eyes widened. Pulling in a deep breath and releasing a low guttural sound, he appeared to get control of his anger. His rage deflated and he flattened his voice. “Well, we’ll leave it at that.”

“You do realize Josh overheard you that night.”

“No, I didn’t know that. He never said anything.”

“Colin and I interviewed him this morning and I could tell he was hiding something. He didn’t want to tell me, but when I pressed him hard, he told us he’d gone to the office that night to have it out with Lucas, but you were already there. He overheard part of your conversation and knew you’d pulled a gun on him.”

“I didn’t know.” Sully hung his head as he propped his forearms on his knees. I’m so ashamed, Emily.”

“I don’t understand why you’d steal the city funds and invest in this scheme. That isn’t the Sully Sullivan I know.”

“When you’re desperate for money, you do things you never thought you’d do. It changes you. Between the crappy economy and Carolyn’s illness, everything I had has been wiped out. I didn’t look at it as stealing—Lucas had me convinced I was only borrowing the money.” Sully sat up and ran a hand over his face. “I can see now he was never going to give me the money back. He was just hanging a carrot out to get me to do what he wanted.”

“But it was stealing—grand theft is what you’ll be charged with.”

“I know.” Sully’s voice sounded weak and shaky. “I don’t know what to do.”

“As much as I’d like to help you, Sully, my main concern is Maggie. She needs me to find out who killed Lucas and I hope to God it wasn’t Josh.”

“Me, too,” he agreed.

“I hate to say this, but you had motive and opportunity, too. You’re on my short list.”

“Emily, you can’t think I would do this.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Like I said, if I killed him I’d never get the money back.”

“In a fit of rage, knowing he was never going to let you have it, I could see you killing him.”

“He wasn’t shot to death, was he?”

“No, someone hit him hard in the head with something, shattered his skull. That someone could have been you.”

“I’m not a murderer!” Sully’s sunken eyes bulged with anger. “I could never kill someone.”

“Anyone could kill under the right circumstances,” she shot back.

“So now you think I’m a murderer
and
a thief?” He jumped to his feet at the accusation.

She rose to face him. “Like you said, Sully, a desperate man will do things he never thought he would do. Those were your words.”

“You’ve got to believe me, Emily,” he begged, grabbing her by the arm. “I did not kill Lucas. When I ran out of the office, someone else was there. I heard a noise—that’s why I left. From the sound of things, that someone was Josh. I bolted out of there and went home to Carolyn. She’ll verify it.”

She yanked her arm loose from his hold and glared at him.

“Everything okay in here?” Colin asked, his hands planted protectively on his hips, filling out the doorway.

“Fine. The mayor was just leaving.” Emily’s hand motioned toward the door.

Sully stepped close to Emily and whispered in her ear. “You’ll keep the other thing just between us, won’t you?”

“For now,” she replied softly.

“Sorry to bother you,” Sully muttered to Colin as he breezed past him and out the door.

“What was that all about?” Colin approached Emily.

“I guess the Mayor didn’t like me accusing him of killing Lucas.” She slipped her arms around Colin’s torso and he returned the gesture. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she agreed with Sully—if Colin knew what Sully had done, he’d have to do something about it. For Maggie’s sake, she’d keep her brother’s secret for as long as she could.