The Scent of Lies: A Paradise Valley Mystery (21 page)

“Not necessarily,” she replied. “He told us she may have been the one he saw stab Ricardo, he couldn’t be sure.”

“But why would he implicate his own niece?”

“He said he wasn’t going to prison for her—every man for himself, as he put it.”

“What a gem. Well, I need you to put all of this information in a report for our files. Then we’ll have it handy to refer to.”

“What about Delia? Shouldn’t we fill her in on what we found out? Bring her up to speed, so to speak?”

“Absolutely. We’re meeting at her house at three, so why don’t you have the report written and printed out by then and meet us there?”

“Sounds good.”

“So, tell me. How was it working with Colin?” he inquired.

“Actually, I think it went pretty well. His buddy, the New York City detective, gave me a new nickname and Colin seems to like calling me that.”

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“Well, I’m probably going to regret telling you, but...”

“Oh, come on, don’t leave me hanging.”

“He called me the smokin’ hot lady PI.” She could hear Alex laughing out loud, one of those deep belly laughs that fills a room. “It’s not
that
funny!” she shouted.

“I’m sorry, Em,” he apologized, curbing his laughter. “It could be worse,” he said, breaking out in laughter again.

“Bye, Alex.” Emily hung up the phone and poured her coffee, stirring a little sweetener into it.

The photo on the counter seemed to be calling to her. She picked it up and looked at it again. She couldn’t help but focus on the woman but then she shook her head. She didn’t have time for ruminations—she had a report to write. Emily retrieved her trusty notepad from her handbag, set her coffee down and pulled out a chair at the table. She flipped her laptop open and began perusing her notes.

As she finished typing the last details, she contemplated who could have killed Ricardo if it wasn’t Delia and it wasn’t Andropov.
It had to be Anna, didn’t it?

She looked over at the photo. Could it have had anything to do with Evan’s death? Were they tied together somehow?

The sound of the phone ringing in the otherwise quiet house jerked her out of her thoughts. “Hello.”

“Hey, Em, it’s Isabel.”

“Hi, what’s up?”

“Delia gave me access to their company records, passwords and everything. I’ve been doing some snooping under the radar. I thought you might like to know what I’ve found as I’ve been going over Ricardo’s financials.”

“What did you find?”

“Ricardo was getting a sizable salary and his car expenses paid for. Beyond that, he took a few additional bonuses of five to ten thousand dollars each. They seem to be legit. I haven’t been able to find any hidden bank accounts anywhere yet.”

“Try looking under the name Richard Vale instead of Ricardo Vega,” Emily suggested.

“Why? Who’s Richard Vale?”

“That’s Ricardo’s real name, before he came to Paradise Valley.”

“Well, that could change everything, Em.”

“I thought it might.”

“But there was something else. In going over the company’s financials, there were some...let’s call them irregularities,” Isabel said.

“Irregularities?”

“Some things that just don’t look right. Maybe I’ll be able to figure it out when I search for Richard Vale’s financials, because someone is definitely siphoning off funds. If it wasn’t the husband, then it was someone else at Heaven Scent.”

“Could it have been Delia’s assistant, Anna Petrova?”

“I can’t say yet. I don’t know what kind of access she has. So I’m going to dig into this Richard Vale, now that I know, and do some more research in the Heaven Scent accounts. Anna Petrova, huh? I’ll check her out, too.”

“Thanks,” Emily said.

“You’re welcome, smokin’ hot lady PI.”

“Oh, brother! You’ve been talking to Alex.”

Chapter 19

Emily arrived at Delia’s home, finding Alex already there.

“Come in, come in,” Delia welcomed her, holding the door open. “Alex is in the living room.”

Greeting Alex, Emily took a seat next to him on the sofa.

“Did you bring your report?” Alex asked.

“Yes, right here,” she replied, patting a folder on her lap.

As Delia was taking a seat in one of the chairs that faced the sofa, Marcela walked in with a tray of cookies and tall glasses of sweet tea. She set the tray on the coffee table, not making eye contact with any of them.

“Thank you, Marcela,” Delia said, as the housekeeper left them alone.

“How has it been for you, working from home?” Alex asked, taking a glass of tea.

“Awkward,” she replied. “I don’t have some of the things I need, yet I don’t want to call and ask Anna for anything. Please tell me it won’t be much longer.”

“I can’t really say at this point, but we are making some headway,” Alex assured her. “As you know, Emily went with Detective Andrews to New York City yesterday to interview a pivotal witness.”

“So, what did you find, Emily?” she asked.

“It’s all in there.” Emily handed the folder to Alex.

He opened the file and scanned the report then closed the folder. “Where do I start?” he muttered.

Delia looked worried.

“Some of this report is—well—rather shocking. So prepare yourself, Delia, but we’ll sort it all out,” Alex said.

“Shocking? Please tell me, I need to know.”

Alex opened the folder again and began reading the highlights of the report out loud. “Ricardo’s real name was Richard Vale, he owed a Russian gangster several hundred thousand dollars. Ricardo told Andropov to kill you, Delia, and he would pay his debt from the life insurance money.”

“What?” Delia gasped. “Ricardo hired that man to murder me?” Her eyes grew wide as she put a hand over her open mouth.

“I’m sorry, Delia. I tried to warn you to prepare yourself,” Alex said.

“Give me just a moment. I’ll be all right.” Delia shifted in her chair and breathed deeply. “Okay, please proceed.”

“Andropov claimed he saw the murder take place,” Alex continued. “He says he saw a woman stab Ricardo several times, but he wasn’t sure who she was. It could be his niece or it could be Richard’s wife, he said.”

“Who is this man’s niece?” Delia’s brows knit together.

“Anna—your assistant,” Emily responded, picking up one of the glasses.

Delia’s eyes somehow grew even wider. “Oh, no!” she cried, again throwing her hand over her mouth, muffling her utterances. She sat up straighter in her chair and wagged her finger at Alex. “Well, I know I didn’t do it. So it
must
have been Anna.”

Marcela stepped into the room and offered napkins and small plates for the cookies. Emily wondered how much Marcela had overheard. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air and no one spoke until she left the room.

As soon as Marcela was gone, Emily leaned forward and spoke in a soft tone to Delia. “Is it possible that Marcela killed Ricardo?”

“Marcela? Why would you think that?” Delia chuckled.

“What’s so funny? She’s rather attractive. Could she have had a relationship with your husband, too?” Emily asked.

“Marcela and Ricardo?” Delia laughed quietly and shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m just saying...” Emily shrugged. “Delia and Anna were not the only dark-haired women in the house that night,” she explained, taking a sip of tea.

“You’re really reaching. She’s like a little mouse. She hardly says two words to me, and as far as I know, she hardly spoke to my husband either.”

“What would possibly be her motive to murder Ricardo?” Alex asked.

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Emily replied, taking a cookie.

“Well, I think you’re on the wrong track with that one. That’s just plain crazy.” Delia took a long sip of sweet tea.

“You’re probably right.” Emily felt silly now that she’d said it out loud.

“I think we should focus on Anna,” Alex said. “We know it was Anna who was having an affair with Ricardo—your housekeeper said she overhead them arguing about Anna being pregnant.”

“Anna’s pregnant?” Delia coughed, spraying tea out of her mouth toward her guests.

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew.” Emily handed her a napkin.

“I’d think Colin would be all over Anna after the interview with her uncle,” Alex supposed.

“He probably is,” Emily responded. “I haven’t seen him since he dropped me off at home this morning.”

“Well, I know it was not me, so I say Anna’s your killer. She had motive and opportunity and someone saw her here right before he died,” Delia pointed out.

“Yes, Delia, but the police will say the same thing about you,” Emily said.

“Then that’s all the more reason to prove me innocent, Emily. Prove Anna did it.”

* * *

Colin dialed Emily’s number and she answered on the second ring.

“Hello, this is Emily.”

“Hey, Emily, it’s Colin. I wondered if you were free to meet me for coffee at Moxie Java.”

“Yes, that sounds wonderful. I was just driving home, but I can be there in about twenty minutes,” she replied cheerfully

“It’s not far from the station, so I’ll head over there and get us a table and some drinks,” he offered. “Chai latté?”

“Sounds good. See you soon.”

Colin drove to the coffee shop and stood in line to place his order.

“Fancy meeting you here,” a familiar female voice came from behind him.

He whipped around and found Alison Laraway in line behind him.

“Yes, small world.” He was next in line, so he stepped up to place his order for the two hot drinks.

“Expecting company?” she asked.

“I don’t follow,” he said.

“You ordered two drinks.”

“Oh, yes. I’m meeting a friend.” He turned back to the counter and paid for his order, then stepped to the side to wait for them.

“Tall caramel macchiato,” she told the female barista. “I heard you flew to New York to interview a witness in the Vega murder, Colin,” she said as she handed over some cash to woman who took her order. She received her change and stood to the side with Colin to wait for her drink order.

“That’s right, just a quick trip. I turned in my report.”

“Yes, I got it. I know we’re not in the office right now, but since we’re both here and this place is pretty empty at the moment, do you mind if I ask you a question?” She looked around the room, keeping her voice low.

“Shoot.”

“Your report says Harry Andropov was at the house and witnessed the murder. Could he be lying? To protect himself?”

“I don’t think so. He made a good point when he said his boss would kill him if he did anything to screw up getting the money from Richard Vale,” Colin explained.

“And what about this Anna Petrova? Andropov claims she’s his niece, yet he says she may have done it?”

“I’m still checking that out. I know Anna Petrova was having an affair with Vega and she was at the house shortly before he died.”

“That sounds like a pretty strong motive for Ms. McCall. From what I’ve read in the reports, Delia McCall could easily have overheard her husband and his lover arguing. Then she could have killed him in a fit of jealousy, which is what I think Andropov saw. It should be a pretty easy sell to the jury.”

“Maybe, but I’m going to keep digging into Anna Petrova and see what turns up,” Colin said.

Both of their orders were called and they picked them up off the counter.

“Sounds like a waste of time and taxpayers’ resources to me,” Laraway noted, taking a sip.

“I’m a detective, it’s what I do. Besides, I don’t have any other big cases right now, so I have time to devote to this one. I want to get it right.”

“Hmmm.” she placed her hand on his chest, suggesting she wanted to switch the conversation to a more personal level.

Colin looked down at her hand and wondered what she was trying to do.

“If you’re not that busy with a case, does that mean you might have time for a drink with me, later?” she asked. “Let’s say seven o’clock at Bar deNay’s?”

He placed his hand over hers to remove it, but before he could, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emily walk into the shop and stare at him for a moment before rushing away.

“Emily!” he called out, but she was gone. He was sure she’d read the situation wrong.

“Emily?” Allison asked, dropping her hand and turning toward the door. “The friend you were meeting?”

“Yes,” he said, walking toward the door.

“Emily Parker?” she asked.

He stopped in his tracks. Colin frowned, wondering what this woman was up to.

“Why don’t we step outside, Colin, in the interest of privacy?”

He pushed the glass door open and held it for her to walk through first. Once outside, he glanced around for any sign of Emily’s car, but she was gone.