Sweet Taffy and the Millionaire's Murder

by Dana Moss

  Then Macy’s face crumpled, and she looked slightly horrified. “But what if I remember I did do it?” Her hand covered her open mouth. “I couldn’t have, could I? But what if.”

  Cher said, “No darlin’, it wasn’t you. You don’t have to go through hypnosis if you don’t want to. She doesn’t, right, Taffy? She can stay home, and you and Maria will prove that Lorne is the real murderer without all this.”

  Taffy shook her head. “We don’t know that for sure. At least we can’t prove it yet.”

  “But my hypnosis might help with that? I might remember seeing him there?”

  Taffy said, “No one has any idea what a hypnosis session might reveal, but it could help. It certainly can’t hurt.”

  Cher said flatly, “Don’t do it, Macy. We’ll just sit tight until Taffy and Maria find the right evidence to arrest Lorne. It’s not so bad staying at Taffy’s, is it?”

  “About that…” Taffy said. “Without the hypnosis session, Maria says the judge will probably order that you remain in jail, because you could be a danger to yourself or someone else.”

  Cher blurted, “That’s not fair!”

  Taffy gave her a look. “Murder and fair don’t fit in the same conversation.”

  Macy looked on the verge of tears. “I’ll do it if it will help make all this go away.”

  Taffy didn’t assure her whether it would or not. “You should consult a lawyer. Luke offered to call his cousin.”

  “Is there someone local I could talk to?”

  Taffy thought of Finn, but before suggesting him, Macy seemed to steel herself. “Never mind. I’d rather just know the truth. Even if it’s the worst outcome.”

  Taffy’s esteem of her just went up a notch. Macy might not be that bright, but Taffy saw courage showing through, but she still felt nervous for her too. Cher, on the other hand, seemed panicked.

  “Macy! You don’t have to do this!”

  “But you’re so sure I’m innocent, Cher. Why would it bother you?”

  Cher leaned back. “I’m just thinking of you.”

  “Maybe I’m not as delicate as you think I am.” She paused and then asked Taffy. “Can Cher go with me?”

  Taffy shook her head. “She can drive there with us, but it will just be you and the therapist during the appointment. Cher can have her own session if she wants.”

  “Not on your life,” Cher said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The next morning, Taffy and Cher drove a nervous and worried Macy to Dr. Tess Goodwill’s home office.

  On the way, Taffy explained she had to go away for a couple of days, but that Ellie would stay and take them to work with her as they long as they promised to behave. The girls whined and whimpered that Taffy got to go to New York and they didn’t, but they were willing to stay put so long as Taffy came back with a long list of cosmetics, specialty foods, and fashion supplies. Taffy was vague about her reasons for going, citing issues with her Nana’s health, which made the girls worry unnecessarily, but only for about five minutes.

  As soon as Macy met Tess in person, she felt much more at ease. Tess said she’d text Taffy when the appointment was over.

  In the meantime, Taffy took Cher to Chrissy’s Cute Cuts for a trim. Her pixie cut had begun to look limp, and she wanted to freshen up. She hoped Chrissy could do some highlights too.

  This gave Taffy about an hour to herself. She was tempted to drive over to the police station, but thinking better of it, she drove to the Magpie Brewing Company and settled for calling Maria from a back booth while sipping on a vanilla latte.

  “Macy’s with Tess now.”

  “Good.”

  Did Taffy detect a bit of coldness in Maria’s voice? She did her best to ignore it. “If she doesn’t remember something that leads to a full confession, will you finally be able to let her go?”

  Maria sighed. “I’m sorry to say it, but Lorne’s videos don’t help her case.”

  “But they make him look bad, too, don’t they? What else did you get out of him?”

  “I can’t talk about it now, Taffy. But, like you, I do have a feeling he’s hiding something.”

  “I think he has some kind of connection to Veronica.”

  “Maybe.” But Maria didn’t say anything more. She really did seem to want to cut Taffy out of the case.

  So Taffy changed the subject and told her about her plans to go back to New York for a few days. Maria was surprised.

  “Are you sure Ellie can handle them?”

  “It’s just a couple of days.”

  “I’m so sorry about Nana’s health issues. I hope the tests turn out all right. I’ll get my mom to call her.”

  Taffy felt so guilty about her little white lie. “No need. I’ll tell Nana to call Rosa after it’s all done. I’m sure everything will be fine.” And she knew it would be because nothing was really wrong. “I’d just like to be there.”

  “Stay as long as you need to.”

  Perhaps, like Ethan, Maria welcomed a little break from her too.

  “If I can find anything out while I’m gone, I’ll let you know.”

  “What would you find out there? You’ll be with your Nana.”

  Right. Maria didn’t know about Mitch, and she didn’t need to.

  “I mean if I think of anything. If something comes to me while I’m away.”

  “Forget about the case, Taff. Just take care of Nana. I really want her at my wedding.”

  The wedding. Taffy hadn’t given it much thought in the last few days. That’s what Maria needed from her: to be a good friend and maid of honor.

  “I’ll look for something cute for guest gifts if I have the time.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And Chef Albert said his pastry chef can set up the cake tasting.”

  “We’ll do that when you get back. Give my love to Nana.”

  By the time Taffy hung up, her latte was cold.

  * * *

  Cher’s appointment had run late so Taffy went to collect Macy first.

  When Taffy arrived at Tessa’s house to pick her up, Macy was tight-lipped and puffy-eyed, as if she’d been crying.

  Without a word, Macy walked past Taffy, down Tessa’s front steps, and climbed into the car.

  Tessa shared a sympathetic look with Taffy. “She won’t tell me what exactly what’s bothering her now, but her recollections from last Sunday night fit what she’s already said. She walked in, saw the bloody mess, got close to Blake, picked up the knife so she could get it away from him. That kind of thing. Partway through the session, she got into some deeper childhood memories. There’s some abuse there, Taffy. As her friend you may or may not have been aware of that.” Taffy shook her head. She’d had no idea. “And I can’t go into detail, of course, but I’ll write up a report for Maria. Tell Macy she’s welcome to come back for another appointment if she wants to work on the personal stuff. But it’s my professional opinion she isn’t repressing anything that could help solve the mystery of what happened aboard the boat that night.”

  Taffy thanked Tessa and joined Macy in the car. No words were spoken as she backed the car out of the driveway, but a few blocks away Taffy tried to get her to talk.

  “What did you remember?”

  Macy stared out the window. “Nothing.”

  “You can talk to me if you want.” Taffy probed gently, but Macy was firm.

  “I remembered some other things but nothing from the night Blake died.”

  Then she turned to Taffy. “Except for one thing about that scoundrel Lorne.” Her tone was now bitter. “It was like I knew but didn’t know at the same time… like I was pretending not to know. But my memories clarified in that office. I found out he’d been videotaping me and Blake! Private stuff. Today I remembered overhearing him and Anya talking about it. But I never confronted him. What a shifty, perverted bastard… And to think I thought he had an innocent crush on me, but no. He was probably getting off on—”

  She grabbed Taffy’s ar
m, which made the steering wheel jerk. “If Blake had known what he was doing he would have killed him! And maybe he did find out, and so Lorne killed him first!” Macy’s eyes shone with revelation.

  Taffy hated to burst her bubble, hated to twist a knife in an already tender wound, but there was no point hiding it from her.

  “He did know.”

  Her mouth gaped. “Blake knew Lorne was taping us doing—?” She closed her mouth and closed her eyes. Quietly, she whispered, “He knew.” Not a question but an acceptance, a resignation. “So they were both laughing at me.”

  “No, it wasn’t that.”

  Taffy was afraid to make it worse, but Macy deserved the truth, so she told her. Macy grew paler as the details fell into place.

  “When Maria found out, she thought maybe you’d found out about it and—“

  “Lashed out at Blake?” She nodded. “Maybe if I’d known the extent of it, I would have.”

  “Even after I realized the extent of it, I didn’t think you would have done that. You were already putting up with a lot. You knew about the porn. You knew he was using you sometimes for sex.”

  “But I didn’t know he was profiting from it.”

  “Technically, that was Lorne.”

  Macy balled her fists. “That makes me feel like some prostitute.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “When did you find out about it?”

  “Only last night.”

  “When you were talking to him at the party? That cad!”

  “If it’s any consolation, the night Blake died was supposed to be the last night.”

  Her lips twisted into a mean smile. “Obviously.”

  “I mean that he had told Lorne that it was all over and done. He was going to propose to you, settle down, change his ways. He wanted to have a baby with you.”

  A single tear trickled down Macy’s cheek. She pushed it away and laughed bitterly. “I really haven’t had much luck with men, have I? And to think now I might go to jail because of it.”

  Taffy reached out to pat Macy’s knee.

  “You won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “You know,” Macy said musingly. “Before we decided to come see you in Oregon, Blake suggested we get on a plane and go to Las Vegas. I thought he was crazy, and I didn’t want to, but maybe that’s where he was going to propose, because then we could have married right away. There was an urgency to his… um, attentions in these past weeks.” She gritted her teeth. “But maybe that was just something for the cameras.”

  Taffy wondered if she should tell Macy that he really was anxious to marry her, and for different reasons, but she didn’t see how that would make Macy feel any better right now. Maybe it was easier for her to just be mad at him.

  The car slid alongside the curb in front of Chrissy’s Cute Cuts. Cher exited the salon looking sharp and sassy. Macy’s eyes were still puffy and her cheeks were splotchy from holding back her anger and grief.

  Cher’s big grin tilted and sank into a worried frown. Before she opened the door and climbed into the back seat, Macy whispered, “I also remembered something about Cher.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Taffy had guessed the hypnosis session might be emotionally draining for Macy, so she’d arranged for Alice to come to the house to give the girls massages in the afternoon.

  Alice set up her portable table in the front room with the piano. Cher ran a bubble bath for Macy, who said she wanted to soak before her massage, so Alice was going to work on Cher first.

  Alice said, “Do you want a massage, too, Taffy?”

  “Maybe next time. I still have to pack.”

  Taffy hadn’t talked to Ethan since the night before. She wanted to see him before she left that evening, and this seemed like the best time to slip away. So she left the girls with Alice and drove to Castle Rock State Park to find Ethan at work.

  When she pulled up in her Bentley, she saw him shoveling fresh bark mulch on one of the paths near the campground. He looked rugged and handsome in his ranger uniform, but also rather foreign, like someone from an outdoor magazine. Taffy was already dressed for her trip to New York—slim stretchy pants, fashionable sneakers (not the kind she could wear on bark mulch paths), and a Burberry jacquard sweater.

  He looked up when she arrived, but he was slow to smile.

  Taffy wasn’t sure how to take that. She supposed she should get right to the point.

  “Why did you say that stuff last night about staying in New York if I want to?”

  Ethan rested the edge of his shovel on the ground. He looked at his feet, and then he looked at the sky.

  Then he looked at Taffy. “Because Macy and Cher told me about Luke…”

  Taffy let out a surprised gasp and an impulsive foot stomp. A bit of dirt landed on the toe of her sneaker.

  Ethan continued, “They said that you were once very much in love with him and were heartbroken when he broke up with you.”

  “They’re exaggerating. First, it was a mutual breakup. We weren’t right together.”

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. “They said you went off the deep end and that was one of the reasons your grandmother sent you out west.”

  Taffy felt a blush rise. Defensively, she said, “So maybe I was a little less stable then than I am now.”

  Ethan raised his eyebrow even further and tried his best not to smile.

  Taffy saw where this might be going. She crossed her arms and snapped, “You don’t have to make fun of me.”

  Ethan shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to. I just want us to be honest with each other. And I know what’s it’s like to have your heart broken. It takes a while to heal.”

  “Yeah? Who broke your heart?”

  “It was a long time before I met you. Before I lived out here even. And the ‘who’ doesn’t matter. The point is, if you’re still getting over something old, maybe that’s part of why you’re not really sure about committing to something new.”

  Taffy frowned. “I’m not getting over something ‘old.’ Macy and Cher are just trying to stir up trouble. I’m done with Luke. I’m interested in you.”

  “Interested?”

  “You know what I mean. I’m in love with you. I want to be with you.” There was no romance in the way she said it. She could even hear irritation in her voice.

  “Why would they want to stir up trouble?”

  “Well, Mr. Ex-FBI Agent, aren’t you able to deduce the obvious?”

  He looked away for a moment, scratched his scruffy chin, and nodded knowingly. “They don’t like me.”

  “It’s not that they don’t like you. You’re very likeable.”

  He nodded again. “Then they don’t think we’re a good match.”

  Taffy threw up her arms. “Who does?!”

  “I do.”

  “You don’t count.” She crossed her arms again.

  “What about your Nana?”

  Taffy shrugged thoughtfully. “She doesn’t mind you.”

  “And your dad, in his brief visit here, seemed to take to me. Don’t families matter more than friends?”

  “But I don’t even know your family! Except for Mitch—oh, but he’s not your family, is he?” That little lie still irked. “And as much as he might appreciate that I’m helping him, I’m pretty sure he thinks you’d be better suited with someone else. I can feel it.”

  “That’s just because… It’s because of something in the past.”

  “It’s because he knows you so well, let’s be honest. Better than I do.”

  Ethan shook his head. He seemed to want to say more but didn’t know where to start.

  Taffy checked the time. “I have to head home and finish packing.”

  Ethan nodded. “And then you fly tonight?”

  “I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

  He shrugged and switched his shovel from one hand to the other. “I guess then I’ll see you in a couple days.”

  She could tell from his voice that he wasn’t convinced sh
e’d really come back. And after the things he’d said the night before, she didn’t feel like she could throw her arms around him and give him a juicy kiss goodbye. They were at some kind of new, unfamiliar impasse.

  “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you in a couple days.”

  * * *

  When she got back home, Alice had finished Cher’s massage but hadn’t yet started on Macy, who had just emerged from her bubble bath.

  “Hey, Taffy, we’re in here.” The three of them, with Macy wearing Taffy’s fluffy bathrobe, were in the parlor discussing tattoos. They had pages of sketches scattered over the coffee table and were comparing different designs. Macy and Cher were still keen to get matching ones and wanted Alice’s opinions on their designs.

  “I’ve got a good one for you,” Alice said. She started sketching. “This is a nice one. I’ve only seen it once before, on a client, so it’s pretty original.”

  “It looks foreign.”

  “Might be.”

  “Maybe too simple?”

  Taffy didn’t have much patience for tattoo conversations. She stood over Macy and Cher with her arms crossed.

  “Why did you tell Ethan about Luke?”

  They shared a guilty glance.

  Alice looked slightly uncomfortable. She got up and said, “I’ll just go change the sheets on the table.”

  Taffy stared at Macy and Cher. “Well?”

  Macy said, “It just sort of slipped out last night.”

  Cher said, “We were talking about what we were going to do when we got back to New York.”

  “And you said what? That I’d probably go back with you? Even though I never said that?”

  Macy and Cher shared another glance. “It was more of a what-if kind of thing.’

  With a smile, Cher interjected, “Like what if you came back to New York and married Luke and moved to the Hamptons?”

  Taffy rolled her eyes. “And had a kid name Chyna?”

  “Exactly!” They shared another look. “Isn’t that the real reason you’re going back to New York? To see him?”

  “No!” Taffy couldn’t tell them the real reason. “It’s for Nana.”

  Cher smiled. “Right. Nana.”

  “I’m not lying.” Except she was.