A Lie in Every Truth

by Jamie Lee Scott

I wondered if my sister got an extra mom gene, and I’d been born without one. Unlike Charles, I didn’t mind children. I just seemed to feel better when they weren’t around. As for having my own, I had no urge, but if it happened, I would be thrilled. I just didn’t see it happening any time soon, and my biological clock’s batteries were getting low.

  “I’m going back to the office tonight,” Nick said as he stood and gathered the dishes from the table. “I want to do what I can before we leave in the morning.”

  “I came home early so we could get ready, and you’re going back to work?” I couldn’t keep the frustration out of my voice, and yet I was kind of glad.

  “Welcome to my world.”

  “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I wasn’t good with surprises and I was still processing the last one.

  “Just relax and enjoy. It’ll be nice to get away,” Nick said.

  I grabbed the rest of the dishes from the table and followed him into the kitchen. “Just tell me one thing, okay, two things. What kind of weather should I pack for, and will I need a passport?”

  “Warm weather, but bring a sweater just in case, and no passport. That would require more than a weekend, and I have to be back Sunday night.” He rinsed the plates while I loaded them in the dishwasher.

  “I’m not sure about this,” I grumbled.

  “Have I ever steered you wrong? We need this. It’s been a stressful couple of months. Charles, Lydia, and Piper can hold down the fort.”

  “My mom is out of town, so there’s that,” I said.

  “Stop it already. We’re taking some time off,” Nick insisted.

  I grumbled again as I grabbed a dish towel and walked over to wipe off the dining room table.

  Nick grabbed me from behind and turned me around. After a long kiss, he said, “Pack tonight, so you don’t get us behind tomorrow morning.”

  “I will,” I said, giving him a peck on the lips.

  He grabbed his jacket and briefcase and headed out the door. We certainly needed the weekend to decompress. But for now, I needed to get back to my office.

  I loved the late evenings in the Gotcha office when I was there alone. The quiet soothed me, and I wasn’t really alone, because I’d brought Lola along. She didn’t get to hang out as often, and I think she liked the quiet, too.

  As I looked through the photos Piper had uploaded to the computer, I downloaded the shoeprints to my cell phone. Lola stood with her chin resting on my thigh, asleep. I didn’t realize it until I heard her snoring. As if she didn’t get to sleep enough during the day. I didn’t want to move and disturb her, but I didn’t have a choice. I had someplace I wanted to be.

  I patted her on the head. “Let’s take a ride.”

  She knew those words and trotted to the back door, waiting for me to hurry up and get there.

  I loaded her up in the backseat of my SRX and headed to Clive’s house.

  Lola paced in the back of the car as if she needed to pee, but she’d peed right before getting in, so I wasn’t sure what was wrong. She whimpered a little, then paced from the front to the back, looking over my shoulder, then doing it again.

  I patted her on the head and said, “It’s all good. But I do need to find you a sitter, don’t I?”

  I told my car’s phone system to call Charles.

  He answered on the second ring. “Charles Parks speaking.”

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  “Yes, the caller ID told me as much,” he said.

  “Nick is taking me out of town for the weekend. Can you watch Lola for me?”

  There was a hesitation on the line. Then he said, “Sure. Drop her off tonight.”

  “I just left the office, and I’m headed to go have a chat with Clive, so I’ll have to stop by my house before I bring her over. It might be late.”

  “Just drop her off. It’s not like I don’t have things for her here. Besides, I’m going to bed early tonight.”

  I sighed. “Fine. I’ll drop her at your place as soon as I’m done with Clive.”

  “Why are you going to visit him? It’s late on a Friday night.”

  “I just want to check a few things. He didn’t let me in the house when I was there with Lydia. I wanted to get a look, see what the house looks like. Hopefully, he’ll let me in.”

  “Wait a minute. That’s not a good idea. You shouldn’t go alone,” he snapped.

  “His wife committed suicide, Charles. He’s not a killer. Besides, the gun she used is still in evidence, so I don’t think he’s going to shoot me.”

  “I looked at that file, Mimi, and he said his wife didn’t have a gun. That gun wasn’t registered to Edie. Didn’t you read that part of the file?”

  “Okay, so?”

  “Mimi, the gun was registered to Clive. Did he conveniently forget to tell you that? I’m surprised Piper or Lydia didn’t say anything.”

  I was just turning onto the street where Clive lived. “Lydia didn’t read the file, so she wouldn’t know. And yes, he told us. But what does that have to do with anything? He doesn’t have possession of it.”

  “Wait for me. What’s the address?” I heard shuffling. “Never mind, I can see where you are from the GPS. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Wait for me.” He hung up.

  Charles had installed GPS on all of our work cars, but I didn’t know he’d put it on my car, too. It should feel like an invasion of privacy, but I understood his reasoning.

  I wasn’t going to wait. Nothing I planned to do would upset Clive.

  Pulling up to the house, I parked in the driveway, making sure Charles would know which house I was at when he arrived. I put the car in park and took a deep breath before getting out. I left the back window rolled down, so Lola could get some fresh air while I visited with Clive and walked up to the house.

  Just for good measure, I turned around and told Lola, “Stay.” She didn’t tend to jump out of car windows, but if I didn’t tell her to stay, she’d do it just to spite me.

  I hesitated for a moment because the front gate was open. Instead of ringing the buzzer, I walked into the front garden area. I saw the table and chair overturned and thought twice about waiting for Charles. But someone could be hurt. I hadn’t brought a weapon with me, not thinking it necessary. Damn it. I walked up to the front door anyway.

  I knocked. I waited a few minutes for someone to answer, then knocked again. Still no answer. I tried the doorknob; unlocked. I opened the door a few inches and called, “Clive?”

  I heard a noise, but no one answered. I let myself in.

  The front foyer looked fine, with sweaters and coats hanging from hooks on the wall, and a rack for shoes. I knew it would be polite to take off my own shoes, but that wasn’t happening.

  I pulled my phone from my pocket and brought up the image I’d downloaded from my computer. Then I picked up each set of the five pairs of men’s shoes on the rack, comparing the treads. No match. Well, it was worth a try, and the reason I was there to begin with.

  Then I saw a pair of shoes across the room, so I walked into the living room, where the light was on, and picked one shoe up. Bingo.

  I heard movement in the kitchen. I stopped.

  My heart raced. What was going on? Holy crap, what had I walked in on?

  I crept down the hall, waiting for someone to jump out at me, maybe with a gun. When I turned the corner, I saw Piper standing at the kitchen table. Clive was sitting in a chair across from her, with his hands cuffed behind his back.

  “What…?” I didn’t even know how to finish the sentence. “Why didn’t you answer me when I called from the door?”

  “I didn’t hear you. I may have been a little busy.”

  “I see that.”

  Piper didn’t take her eyes off Clive. “He’s got a good story to tell.”

  I looked back at Clive.

  “I ain’t got nothing to say. This crazy woman stormed into my house and now she’s accusing me of killing my wife,” Clive’s entire body shook.
>
  I couldn’t tell if it was rage or fear making him shiver.

  “Talk to me, Clive. Piper isn’t unreasonable. Something made her cuff you and sit you down.” I said the words as calmly as possible, but my insides worked overtime. I needed to stay calm.

  Piper answered for Clive. “His shoes match the print in the car.”

  “So what?” he spat. “It’s my wife’s car. I’ve been a passenger in her car before. We were married, you know.”

  I walked over and whispered in Piper’s ear. “Did you specifically mention where the shoe print was?”

  Her head barely moved, but she shook it all the same.

  “Clive, what did you do?” I walked over and sat across from him.

  He leaned forward and screamed. “I didn’t do anything! Are you two completely crazy?”

  “Are you?” I countered. “You lied to us about Edie’s disorder. She was bipolar, and you knew it.”

  He stared straight ahead, not responding.

  “I cross referenced the contacts in Edie’s phone with contacts in Clive’s phone,” Piper said. “I saw seven contacts relevant to both people, so I called them.”

  “I didn’t give you permission to get into my phone,” Clive yelled.

  I looked at Clive and said, “But you did. When you asked us to investigate your wife’s death, you gave us permission to dig into your life, too.”

  “I did no such thing,” he said, not yelling this time.

  “Did you not read the paperwork Uta had you fill out while you were waiting to see me?” I said.

  His face went slack.

  “I’ve read it,” Piper said. “It gives us permission to access whatever information we need to do our job. Were you so sure you wouldn’t get caught that you hired us, even though you got lucky and Edie’s death was ruled suicide?”

  “What made you look in his phone?” I asked Piper, kicking myself that I hadn’t thought of it.

  She barely took her eyes off Clive, but he jumped out of the chair and rammed his full body weight into her, knocking her to the ground. And me along with her, since I’d been standing to the side and slightly behind her.

  “Umph.” I heard the wind get knocked out of Piper as she landed on me. I was surprised I didn’t get the wind knocked out of me, but I’d been hit just to the side. I might be sore in the morning.

  I groaned as I tried to reach out and grab Clive’s leg as he darted by me. Damn, I missed by inches. Where did he think he was going? His hands were cuffed behind his back. He couldn’t get far.

  “That’s gonna smart,” I said as Piper sat up, and I moved from underneath her.

  “Sorry,” Piper winced as she tried to stand. “God, I hate that. Feels like I’ll never catch my breath again.”

  “Well, that makes two of us. And I don’t much like being knocked to the ground, either. Sorry about that. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

  “He’s quick for an old guy,” Piper said. She sat for a second longer, then stood.

  She put her hand out to help me up, and I gladly took it. “That went south in a big old hurry.” I dusted off my pants and straightened my shirt. “And don’t let Lydia hear that old comment, she’ll take you down next.”

  Piper laughed a little. “I’m not as young as I used to be, either. Maybe I need to get back in the gym.”

  “You ladies looking for something?” Charles said as he entered the dining room holding Clive’s elbow tight.

  “Thank you, but I’d have gone after him. How far could he have gotten anyway?”

  Charles deposited Clive into a chair. “Not far. Lola had him on the ground and was standing over him. I think he’s worried her bite might be worse than her bark. And her bark was about to wake the entire neighborhood.”

  I couldn’t believe I didn’t hear her. Maybe the sound was muffled from the driveway. Or maybe the blood rushing to my ears from embarrassment at being taken down had overwhelmed me.

  “Oh, no, is she okay?” I asked, ready to run outside and check on her.

  “She’s pretty proud of herself. I have her standing guard at the front door. She’s fine. Peachy, in fact.”

  Piper said, “Gotta love that dog.”

  She probably remembered Lola’s help with the child predator case we worked together.

  I looked back to Piper. “Finish what you were going to say before Clive made his move.”

  “All of the signs of homicide were there for me. And I didn’t like Clive from the beginning, so I thought maybe I should look into him. See where he’d been, and who he’d been talking to.”

  “You not liking Clive was completely transparent,” I said.

  Piper shrugged.

  “And?” Charles said.

  “Oh, yeah, I called the numbers I’d cross-referenced, saying who I was, and also mentioning I was calling because I’d seen the phone numbers in both phones, and was wondering what their relationship to the Pratts was. One was their daughter, two were coworkers who knew both of them, one was Lydia, then there was the pharmacist, and Edie’s emergency contact for her support group.”

  “You said seven.”

  “Yes, I did. The last number I called was Clive’s fiancée.”

  It was so quiet I thought I could hear Lola breathing at the front door.

  Clive’s face fumed bright red. “That’s not true.”

  “Ginger Odenburg. She told me they were getting married in the fall. She told me all about Clive’s crazy, bipolar ex-wife, and how he’d left her last year because she refused to take her meds. Said he couldn’t live like that anymore. And she went on to say what a great guy he was, if only his crazy ex-wife would leave him alone. She said Edie had called her last week, and told her that Clive was still married, and how they still lived together. She said that couldn’t be, because she’d never seen her at Clive’s house.”

  “Clive’s house?” I didn’t get it. “He’d brought her here?”

  “Yep. Apparently, during the times they’d been separated, Clive brought Ginger here. When they got back together, he’d tell her something was being renovated and he’d spend all his time at her place. But she thought it was weird he never spent the night.”

  Clive’s eyes dropped to his lap.

  “She was on her meds, Clive, except when you made her stop taking them. And funny how you never mentioned her medical condition when we asked you. Hell, you said she was on drugs.”

  “Oh, and that was a lie, too. Clive was the one visiting the drug dealer at that house. In fact, he’d been there that night. I think Edie followed him. She parked across the street, and I think he saw her. I don’t know why she followed him, but it’s just a theory right now.”

  “That’s crazy,” Clive said, without as much conviction.

  “I’ve been a busy girl these last couple of hours,” Piper said. “I went out to the dealer’s house. I explained who I was and what happened. They were delightful. Even welcomed me into the house.”

  “Tell me you didn’t go in,” Charles said.

  Piper grimaced at him. “Do I look stupid?”

  He said nothing.

  I said nothing; it was rhetorical.

  “We stood on the front lawn and chatted. The conversation made me look deeper into the Pratts’ bank accounts.” She walked over to Clive and shoved his shoulder hard. “You’ve been a bad boy. When did you realize Edie closed all the credit cards and moved the money?”

  Wait. What? Had Clive written us a check? Holy mother of a goat, we weren’t getting paid. I wished I had my gun, so I could pistol whip him.

  He shook his head.

  “He was in deep. Drug habits will do that to you. Clive may have been supplying Ginger’s habit, too. It’s amazing what people will tell you when they think the conversation is confidential.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Ginger said something about meth being great for sex.” She shoved Clive again. “Is that true?”

  Clive muttered a swear
word under his breath.

  “What I don’t understand is why he went to Lydia,” Piper said to me.

  Charles said, “Because he was sure he didn’t leave any evidence in that car. Too cocky for his own good. He went to Lydia because when he killed Edie, making it look like suicide, he didn’t take into account that life insurance didn’t pay out for suicide. Then he needed it to look like homicide, and he needed you all to prove it.”

  “No,” Clive wailed. “I didn’t kill my wife.”

  “Oh, really,” I said.

  “It’s true. I was never there. There’s no way you can place me there. This is nuts. I should never have hired you.”

  Piper laughed. “That’s not what your dealer said.”

  “You’re taking the word of a career criminal over the word of the victim’s husband?” He sounded incredulous.

  “The gal I talked to called you a pompous jerk, and said you’d left your car in the driveway that night. She said she heard two gunshots, but didn’t think anything of it, because it’s not all that unusual in the country.” Piper looked at me. “Where have we heard that before?”

  “Right?” I agreed.

  “She said your car was in the driveway for a couple of hours. The only reason she noticed was because it was gone before the police arrived.”

  “What did you do? Kill her, then hide out? Wait to see if anyone heard the shots fired, then stay hidden a little longer, but not long enough for the cops to find your wife? Was this all planned? Of course it wasn’t. You never expected her to follow you there, did you?”

  I couldn’t believe this story. Truth was stranger than fiction.

  “My theory is that you threatened her. Said you could make it look like suicide. She’d already tried it before. No one would doubt it. And it would have worked, too, except you needed the money.”

  He shook his head. “There is no money.”

  “There isn’t now,” Charles smirked.

  We’d all leaned toward suicide, especially after talking with Zoe. But with that shoe print and the dirt, it all came together.

  “You thought you were so clever. It would end up being a cold case. You never dreamed my investigators would learn what they did about you and Edie.” I got right in his face. “You deserve to be penniless and in prison, after what you put Edie through all these years.”