The Scent of Lies: A Paradise Valley Mystery (17 page)

“Tell me, what does that mean?” Delia asked.

“This is the address of the condo where I followed Ricardo a few times. I wasn’t having any luck finding out the names of the tenants, but now—Anna is the mystery lover who came to see your husband right before he died.”

“Do you think she killed him?”

“Maybe, but that isn’t even the point. Your neighbor actually saw Anna and Ricardo arguing. Not you and Ricardo.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Well, yes and no.”

Delia looked puzzled by Emily’s response.

“What I mean is that it helps to corroborate your story about being in your bathroom when all this happened, but it doesn’t prove she killed him, or that you didn’t overhear them and then kill him after she left.”

“Could she have come back?” Delia asked.

“Anything’s possible, I guess,” Emily said. “I’m just not sure we could prove it.”

“Or maybe the man in the car slipped in and killed Richard between the time Anna left and I came downstairs.”

“That is another possibility, but what was his motive? And wouldn’t you think Marcela would have heard him come in and struggle with Ricardo?”

“Unless she went back to her room after Anna left. She could have had her door closed with her television on or she was music playing. That’s often how she spends her evenings.”

“The police report said she was in her room reading, so I would think she could have heard a struggle,” Emily reasoned.

“Unless there wasn’t one,” Delia suggested. “Maybe Ricardo knew the man and he let him in, then that man stabbed my husband before he knew what was happening.”

“With one of
your
kitchen knives?” Emily pointed out. “Not likely.”

“You have a point there.”

“So, what are you going to do about Anna? How can you work with her now?” Emily asked. “We don’t want to tip her off that we’re on to her.”

“I don’t know,” Delia said. “Maybe I’ll go home for a few days and sort this out. I’ll tell Anna I’m going to work from home because I’m not feeling well, that I have a headache and pains in my stomach, which is pretty much the truth.”

Emily looked at her watch. “I hate to run, Delia, but I need to go see Alex.”
And then I have to see Colin.
The thought of him gave her an unexpected warm sensation
. Five o’clock isn’t that far off
. She bolted from her chair and was out the door.

Chapter 14

Alex’s office was just a few miles from the Heaven Scent headquarters, so Emily arrived quickly. “Hello, Janet,” Emily greeted Alex’s secretary. “Is Alex in?”

“Yes, but he’s—” Emily didn’t wait to be announced. She went ahead and opened the door to his office, not realizing she was interrupting a meeting.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you had someone with you.”

The man in the chair turned around. “Hello, Emily. Why don’t you join us?” Colin invited her.

“Colin, I didn’t expect to see you here.” She eyed him with caution as she perched on the open seat beside him.
There goes my chance to explain how I accidentally let the info slip about the man in the car before these two met.

Colin looked like he was trying to read her mind, sitting there, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

“I have some good news, Emily,” Alex said.

“Oh? Good news?” She turned her gaze to Alex.

“Yes. It seems Delia’s neighbor, Mr. Osterman, told our young detective here all about a car and a man he saw parked in front of Delia’s home the night her husband was killed, and Colin just dropped by to share that information with us.”

“How nice of him,” Emily replied, still suspicious of what Colin was up to.

“Colin was just saying how he tracked the license plate number to a car rental agency and was able to discover the man’s identity. It looks like he came all the way from New York for some mysterious reason.”

“New York? Really. That’s good detective work, Colin,” Emily commended him.
What is he up to?

“Thanks, Emily. That means a lot coming from you.” His sarcasm was not lost on her, although it may have been lost on Alex. “I also contacted a detective I know in New York City, and he’s going to see what he can dig up on this guy. I’m hoping to hear back from him soon.”

“Will you let us know what you hear? We all want the truth, Colin,” Alex said.

“I understand.” He stood up to leave. “I’ve also made the ADA aware of this new information, so she’s anxious to know what I find out.”

“I’m sure she is,” Emily mumbled, recalling how she’d caught the woman flirting with the handsome new detective.

“What was that?” Colin asked.

“I said I’m sure she is anxious to know.”

“I doubt she would be very happy that I’m here telling you both about this, so if we could keep that on the down low, I’d appreciate it,” Colin said.

“Absolutely,” Alex responded. “Our lips are sealed.”

“Well, I have to shove off. We’ll have to wait and see where this new info leads. It was nice seeing you again, Emily.” He looked directly into her eyes, holding her gaze momentarily.

Her breathing stopped for that moment, and she felt him peering right into her heart. When he was out the door, she began to breathe normally.

“Listen, Emily, I know I told you I didn’t want to share that information with the police just yet—what could I do?” Alex shrugged. “Colin came here and shared it with me, which rather took me by surprise. I didn’t tell him I already knew about it.”

“I guess that’s good for us in a way. No one can accuse us of withholding evidence.”

“So, tell me, what have you found out today?”

“Actually, I had a lengthy discussion with the housekeeper. She didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. I asked her about Harry Andropov, the guy in the car—she claimed she didn’t know him or that there was anyone parked out there.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. I talked with Delia to see if she recognized the man’s name or if she knew about the parked car. I didn’t detect any recognition in her eyes or her facial expression, so I don’t think she knew anything about it.”

“That’s good to know. I’d hate to think I was defending a murderer.”

“It gets better, though. I found out who the mysterious woman was that visited Ricardo before he was murdered, the one he was having an affair with.”

“Okay, spit it out, Em.”

“It was Anna Petrova, Delia’s assistant.”

“Are you kidding me?” Alex exclaimed in surprise.

“I know. Big shock, huh?”

“Does Delia know?”

“Yes, I told her.”

“How did you figure that out?”

“I began to suspect Anna because she kind of looks like Delia, only younger. When the neighbor said he saw Ricardo and Delia fighting, it occurred to me that he might have seen Ricardo arguing with someone who looked a lot like her. Today I walked into Delia’s office and thought it was her with her back to me, but it wasn’t. It was Anna.”

“That’s how you put two and two together.”

“She even said people mix them up from time to time. That’s what got me thinking. So I asked Delia to call her accounting department and get Anna’s home address. Turns out it was the same as the condo I’d followed Ricardo to a couple of times. Guess I can call Isabel off from searching that info for me.”

“Speaking of Isabel, she did a background check on Ricardo and couldn’t find any records on him going back any farther than when he moved here to Boise a few years ago.”

“That would mean Ricardo Vega was probably not his real name.” Her mind immediately jumped to Evan.
I wonder if Evan Parker was my husband’s real name.

“Makes sense,” Alex agreed. “Isabel’s going to dig a little deeper and see what she can find. She might need to get some fingerprints from the house.”

Maybe Isabel could discover Evan’s true identity, while she’s at it.
Emily cleared her throat to refocus. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Delia will be as anxious as we are to learn his true identity. You know, this could open a whole new can of worms. Think about it – it could reveal why he was murdered, if he was running from the police, or hiding from someone, or—” Emily’s mind raced through the possibilities, forcing more questions.

“Or what?” Alex pressed.

“Or if he had anything to do with Evan’s murder, if somehow the two were connected.”

“What? What are you talking about? How did you make that leap?” Alex scratched his head and stared at her. He had not been privy to Emily and Isabel’s recent conversations about Evan and the secret safe deposit box. He looked puzzled by Emily’s sudden leap to tying Ricardo’s murder to Evan’s.

“It’s a long story, Alex.” She hoped that response would be enough. She really didn’t want to get into it further.

“Sounds like an interesting one.”

“Puzzling one is more like it,” she said. “But if you have to know the whole scoop, ask your wife, she can fill you in.” Emily was reticent to rehash her painful suspicions, but rather she desired to focus on the business at hand. “Let’s get back to talking about the dubious Anna Petrova.”

“Do you think Anna could have killed Ricardo?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered, shaking her head. “She’s certainly a possible suspect. We need to show the Assistant District Attorney that someone else could have done it, because you know that Allison Laraway, she’s like a bulldog. She’s convinced Delia is guilty and won’t let go of it until we bring her hard evidence pointing to the real killer.”

“Then let’s find it and bring it.” Alex slumped back into his big leather chair.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep digging. In the report, the housekeeper said she heard Anna leave and she heard Ricardo shut the door. However, I was thinking—the house does sit on a corner, so it is possible Anna could have gone around the corner and snuck back into the house without anyone noticing, and then left the way she came in.”

“That’s a good theory,” Alex commented, “but how do we prove it?”

“That, my friend, is the million-dollar question.”

“Well, you stay at it and remember to keep me in the loop,” Alex ordered, “and I should let Colin know what we found out about Anna, since he came to me so quickly with info on the mystery man.”

“No, no, Alex. I know you have a lot on your plate.” Emily stood to leave. “I’m happy to make the call for you, one less thing for you to have to do.”

“I appreciate that, Em. Are you sure? I know you don’t like him very much.”

“Well...I’ll do it for you,” she said as she backed out the door.

* * *

The second Emily was in her car she phoned Colin.

“Detective Andrews.”

“Colin, this is Emily,” she said, wondering if he could hear the smile in her voice.

“Emily...I thought I might hear from you.” She definitely thought she detected a smile in his.

“Very clever, Detective Andrews, going to Alex before I did, making it sound like you discovered the information at the same time I did. It certainly saved my bacon and I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, I do have some other information for you now, with Alex’s blessing, so I thought maybe we could meet at the coffee shop again and discuss it.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we discuss it over dinner? My treat.”

“Dinner?” Why was she surprised by his invitation? He had asked her once before, and she was able to casually wave him off. This time it was different—it felt real, like something she wished to say yes to. She swore she heard the door creaking shut on her life with Evan. Then, in her heart, she felt the screech of the size-eleven shoe again, abruptly sticking a wedge in the door to keep it from closing all the way.

“Yes, dinner. You know...that meal that comes after lunch.”

“Ha ha, you’re so funny,” she replied sarcastically, shifting in her seat, twisting ringlets around her finger, like an infatuated teenager.

“Let’s say I pick you up at your house at six o’clock.”

“You don’t know where I live.”

“I have my ways of finding these things out. They don’t call me a detective for nothing.”

His comment made her giggle. “Where are we going?”

“Let me surprise you.”

“But you don’t know the area very well, yet.”

“That’s why it’ll be a surprise.”

“All right, I’m game,” she laughed, giddy as a school girl.

Chapter 15

At the stroke of six, the doorbell chimed. Emily looked herself over one last time in the entry hall mirror, checking her lipstick and running her hand down her little black dress to make sure it fit smoothly.
Perfect
.

She peeked out of the small glass windows at the top of her front door and saw Colin standing on the porch of her bungalow, handsomely dressed in a dark sport coat, a white button down shirt and jeans. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.