Maddie's gaze wandered across the sand to where Leo was now talking to the newly arrived Randy, Carrie, and a crying Ashley.
If this were his case? His number one suspect would be Leo Gordon. Just where had he been last night? And who was the man with Bibi?
10
Maddie was sitting on the beach later that morning when Ashley joined her, pointing at the empty lounge chair that Tanner had left behind when he went upstairs to make a phone call.
"Do you have a moment?"
"Sure," Maddie replied, setting her book aside. "Have a seat."
Ashley's gaze rested on Maddie's enormous straw hat. "Do you not like the sun?"
"I love the sun but sometimes it doesn't like me. I need to be careful."
Settling on the chair, Ashley crossed her long legs. Today she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a pink tank top. She appeared far more composed than she had this morning. "I wanted to let you know that Leo has decided to have a get together for Bibi tonight. Sort of a celebration of life. I've been helping him with the preparations. He'd love for you and your husband to attend if you can. Seven o'clock. There will be a lot of people there. Bibi was well-loved in this town."
"Tonight?"
That's...fast.
"Bibi had always been very clear about her wishes, apparently. She didn't want a formal funeral and all that fuss. She wanted a party and then to be cremated, her ashes sprinkled in the Gulf. So Leo is making sure she gets what she wants...wanted. No sense delaying it. It only drags out the inevitable."
"I'll talk to Tanner about it," Maddie replied, deliberately noncommittal. Their conversation last night had been about spending more time together than with their temporary neighbors.
Ashley stood, seemingly happy with Maddie's response. "Seven o'clock. See you then."
Waving, the woman walked down the beach, talking to a few people on her way. Tanner returned a few minutes later, lying back in his chair. He had two cold drinks and handed her one.
"Ashley stopped by. She invited us to Bibi's wake."
"We're leaving on Saturday so I doubt we'll be here."
Au contraire.
"It's tonight."
His brows shot up. "Tonight? That's–"
"Fast," Maddie finished for him. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Apparently, Bibi had always been clear about her wishes and she didn't want a funeral. Just a party and to be cremated."
She'd been thinking about this for the last five minutes and it wasn't adding up.
"You seem really angry about that," Tanner said, his tone cautious. "Are your cheeks red from the sun or are you pissed off? Because whatever I did, I'm sorry and I didn't mean to."
She gave her husband a sour look. "Don't do that. Don't act like you're some pussy whipped husband who tiptoes around his wife because we both know you're about as far from that as one human being can get. And no, it's not the sun. I'm wearing sunscreen and a hat, plus I have this sun umbrella. I'm not getting a sunburn this vacation."
Tanner was laughing at her, his shoulders shaking and his lips turned up. He was trying to pretend he wasn't but he was a terrible actor.
"Did I say something funny?"
"Yes," he replied honestly. "But I'm mostly laughing at the situation, not you specifically."
"Right. Care to tell me why you're so damn amused, husband?"
Grinning, Tanner chuckled. "Well...wife, hearing you say the words pussy whipped is pretty damn funny."
"Is that it?"
"No," Tanner said with a shake of his head. "And I agree that I'm not henpecked. What I am is wise. Or at least I hope I am. It's not worth starting an argument when I don't want to fight with you. It's our vacation and I want us to have fun."
"Henpecked," Maddie muttered. "I hate that phrase."
"You really do have a bee in your bonnet. What's going on?"
She should let this drop. She really should. But...
"Let me ask you a question. Have we ever in all of our years together talked about what kind of funeral we want or how we should handle death? Because I don't think we have."
Leaning back in the chair, Tanner strummed his lower lip for a moment. "We did have a will drawn up. That's about death."
"But we didn't talk about funerals. We talked about money and bank accounts, and the deed to the house. We talked about Sherry raising Amanda if something happened to both of us. We didn't talk about burial versus cremation."
"To be fair, that's kind of morbid. It was bad enough talking about what we did. That was the most fucking depressing appointment with a lawyer I've ever had and I've been divorced. That's saying something."
It had been a somber occasion but they'd both known that it needed to be done.
"Do you want to be cremated?"
That question had her husband sitting up straight, his legs straddling the chair. "Do whatever you want. I'll be dead and I won't care. Honestly, honey, I try not to think about death too much. It's bad enough that I'm older than you and will probably go years earlier. Maybe I'm a little superstitious but planning my funeral feels like inviting death in for tea and offering him a cookie. Do you think about death much?"
Did she? Not until lately. And it wasn't so much death as just feeling older and wishing that she could freeze time.
Wait...that's just a roundabout way of thinking about it.
"I wouldn't say that I dwell on it," she finally replied. "But we're not getting any younger, are we?"
Her husband was looking at her like he'd never seen her before in his life.
"Since when do you worry about getting older? You're young, Maddie. You've got many, many years ahead of you."
"You think that I'm young because you're older, but I'm not that young. I'm going to be forty-one on Friday."
Her thirties had flown by so quickly they were a blur, and people always said that life sped up as a person aged. If that was true, she was going to get whiplash from her forties.
"You're still young."
Bless her husband. He would always say that.
"I am still young," she conceded. "But I'm not as young as I once was."
"None of us are."
He didn't get it.
"I don't think we're getting anywhere here. The reason I brought up the subject was that I found it strange that Leo and Bibi had talked funerals, that's all. I didn't intend to start a philosophical discussion about death, aging, and the meaning of the word old."
Tanner swung his leg over the lounge chair so he was now facing her directly.
"Maddie, tell me what's bothering you."
She’d happily answer that question but she didn't even know herself. So she ducked the question.
"I just find it suspicious that Leo Gordon is having this celebration of life party less than twenty-four hours after her death. He's having her cremated, too. And that inexperienced sheriff is probably going to let him."
"You think Leo had something to do with his wife's untimely demise?"
She wasn't the cop in the family but she didn't think she needed a badge to be able to see that Leo Gordon was acting suspiciously.
"Let's just say that I wonder when Leo started making these party plans. Did he call the caterer last week?"
She sounded frustrated because she was.
"That's a good question."
"A question Sheriff Ken Smith probably doesn't know to find the answer to."
"You sound like you think I should get involved with this case."
Tanner did this sometimes. His expression would go bland and he'd make even blander statements as he waited for her to get to the point. The problem was she wasn't sure what the damn point of all of this was. She didn't even know why she was irritated. Tanner hadn't done anything to deserve this except sit down next to her.
"I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that his behavior raises my suspicions and I'm not even a cop."
"Then it should raise the sheriff's as well," Tanner replied. "Leo Gordon might very well want
to cremate his wife as quickly as possible but he has to wait until the medical examiner finishes the autopsy. He can't speed that process up, and if this little town is anything like Springwood he's going to have to wait awhile. He can throw his party as soon as he wants but some of this is out of his control."
"I don't really want to go to that party," she blurted out before she could stop herself. "We probably should go, but I don't really want to. I'm not even sure I like those people. Ashley was nice but I got a weird vibe from all of them, to be honest."
If her husband was surprised, he didn't bat an eyelash at her declaration, simply nodding in agreement.
"That's fine. We only met them once for a few hours, after all. If we don't go, I doubt anyone would notice. If you want, we can walk to that drugstore a few blocks down and pick him up a sympathy card. We can send our condolences that way."
He was doing it again. Wearing that blank expression.
"You think I'm a terrible person, right? You think I'm awful?"
His smile was slow but sweet. "Honey, I think you're the most amazing person I've ever known. I get why you don't want to go. The whole group was a little too soap opera drama for me, but for the most part they seemed like nice people."
"One of those people might be a killer," Maddie pointed out. She couldn't get that out of her head.
"It's a possibility. Cops usually look at the spouse first, statistically speaking."
"It could have been Randy that she was with last night."
"Or someone else. We don't really know. Hopefully it was captured on a security camera. They're everywhere these days. We do know that the security guard has one at the gate. If the killer came in that way, then there's a record of it."
"If I were a killer, I wouldn't come in that way. That would be stupid."
Tanner's smile grew wider. "Okay, honey. How would you do it?"
She'd given that question some thought this morning.
"If I didn't already live in the building, I'd park somewhere else and walk here on the beach."
"You might be captured on cameras," Tanner said.
"Yes, but I might be able to stay in the shadows."
"That's true. Then what?"
"I'd lure Bibi outside. I'd call her and have her meet me somewhere on the beach that was dark and deserted."
"Then you're assuming that she was killed by someone she knew?"
Was she? Yes.
"I am," Maddie confirmed. "You're always saying that stranger murders are uncommon."
"It's nice to know that you've been listening. Then what?"
"Well...then I'd strangle her, I guess."
"With her own scarf? You didn't bring anything with you? That's not good planning."
"You're saying that the murder may not have been premeditated?"
He shrugged carelessly. "I'd vote for a crime of passion."
She nudged his leg with her bare foot. "So...talk. How do you think it happened?"
"They used her own scarf. That leads me to believe that it was a crime of passion or opportunity. Now, I could be wrong. They may have brought a weapon with them but ended up using a more convenient one, but if I had a gun or a knife, I would use those items first."
He levered to his feet and beckoned to her, turning her so that she stood facing the condo buildings, her back to the water.
"Now tell me what you see."
She wasn't sure what he was getting at.
"It's a building, Tanner."
He shook his head. "No, really look at it. Look at all of those windows on our building and the two next to us. You know what those are? Possible witnesses. When we were talking last night, I noticed that it wasn't unusual for people to leave their drapes open. With a great view like that it's not a surprise. I don't know about you but if I were planning to murder someone, I wouldn't do it in full view of several condo buildings. Even in the middle of the night, someone might have seen."
"That's why you don't think it was premeditated."
"It could be. I just think it's more likely that Bibi and whomever she was with argued and it got heated and she ended up dead. Hell, for all I know, she was out here alone and was killed for her wedding ring or something. It's not common but it could happen. Even in this little town. But if I were planning to kill my wife? I wouldn't do it here."
They'd gone in a circle and were back where they started.
"Every time we answer a question all we get are more questions."
"Welcome to policework, honey. It's frustrating as hell."
That was an understatement. No wonder Tanner wasn't anxious to jump into the middle of this case. Maybe it was better that they keep their distance. They'd get Leo a nice sympathy card and give him a wide berth. This was their vacation and they didn't need to get mixed up in a murder.
Even if one of their neighbors was a killer.
11
For some reason Tanner didn't want to admit to Maddie, he'd already called in a few favors from his law enforcement buddies.
In other words, he wasn't as uninterested in this case as he outwardly appeared.
It certainly wasn't because it was interesting and unique. Sadly, murder between husbands and wives was all too common... If that's what this was.
It was more that he needed the challenge. He'd managed to keep his body busy since he'd been fired but his mind was begging him to try and solve this case. Because he was fucking bored. Retirement sounded like hell right about now.
He didn't play golf, or hang around the coffee shop. He didn't do woodworking and he hadn't gone fishing in a damn long time. He was a lousy candidate for rest and relaxation. At least his brain was. His beaten and battered body might want to weigh in on this discussion too, with an entirely different opinion. But in the meantime, here he was returning a phone call from his best friend Logan Wright regarding any information he might have been able to dig up about Leo and his friends.
"Hell of a vacation you got going there," Logan declared when he answered the phone without even a hello. But that was Logan. "Nothing like a murder to spice up a second honeymoon and your wife's birthday."
"This wouldn't have been my choice," Tanner replied, quietly closing the door between the living room and the bedroom. Maddie was in the ensuite bathroom taking a shower and the chances of her overhearing this conversation were nil, but just in case he'd close it. "I just wanted Maddie to have a good time but as usual, trouble seems to follow us. You know how that is."
Logan and Ava had had their share of trouble as well. Hopefully, it was cleared up for a long time.
"I do know how that is."
"So did you find anything?"
He could hear Logan laughing on the other end. "Hell, yes. Of course, I found stuff. I swear everyone has a past of some sort and most people couldn't take the kind of inspection that Jared and I gave your suspects."
"Then talk to me."
"So demanding. I usually get dinner first," Logan joked. "Does Maddie know what an impatient bastard you are?"
"It's one of the things she loves about me."
"I highly fucking doubt that. Now where should I start? How about with Bibi herself? She was thirty-five years old and had been married to Leo Gordon for about ten years. They had no children. Not even a dog or a cat from what we can see. Before she married Gordon, she worked for him as his administrative assistant. He was in the process of divorcing wife number two. Bibi kept herself busy volunteering at a local animal shelter and spending time with friends. She had no close family. Her parents have passed and she and a brother only spoke a few times a year from what we can see so far."
"Did she have any assets of her own?"
"Not much," Logan replied. "We're checking for a prenup but that's going to take some time. If they divorced and didn't have one, she would have come out fine. With one? Who knows? It depends on what it says."
"Tell me about Leo Gordon."
"Now this guy is interesting. He inherited money. Not a fortune, but enough t
hat he was able to invest and also start his own business. He owns a string of dry cleaners but he handed off the day to day operations a few years ago after a mild heart attack. He lives well but not ostentatiously. He's owned that penthouse since it was built. He keeps his cars exactly three years and then trades them in. He doesn't spend crazy amounts of money and neither did Bibi. Whether that was her own idea or his, I don't know. He gives generously each year to the same animal charity where Bibi volunteered. He has no children from his previous marriages."
"No offense but that doesn't sound all that interesting to me. That sounds kind of normal."
Logan didn't take offense, laughing at Tanner's statement. "Because I haven't gotten to the interesting part yet. Give me a minute. Now Gordon has been married twice before, right? He divorced his second wife and he didn't make a fuss about the financial settlement. He handed over a chunk of money and settled the divorce case right away. No fighting."
Tanner was beginning to get that feeling in his gut. "What about his first wife?"
"Caroline Treager Gordon had been married to Leo Gordon for three years when she drowned in their swimming pool. Supposedly she was walking in her sleep and fell in the pool. Her arms and legs got tangled in her loose nightgown and she drowned."
That sounded shady.
"Sleepwalking? Do people even really do that? I thought it was something you only see in movies."
"Certain prescription pharmaceuticals can have you walking, driving, and eating in your sleep. You can even have sex in your sleep."
Who in the fuck would want to do that?
"So was Caroline Gordon under the influence of one of those drugs?"
"I don't know. I'm still working on getting more information about her death. All I have is a few newspaper reports."
"I have to say that Leo Gordon must be the unluckiest husband to have lost two young wives in his adult life. While I'm certain it could happen, the odds have to be astronomical, especially for a guy that isn't that old."
"He's sixty-two."
"That's not that old."
"I didn't say he was old, I said he was sixty-two. Damn, you're prickly. I thought a vacation was supposed to be restful."
Bitter Justice (Cowboy Justice Association Book 12) Page 8
